as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, 11 Arodus

Still need to buy better ink. But I think I know how to make do wi h this for now. Dammit!

Anyway, Kali, called out, in Elvish, for me to come to her. She conjures up two horses, and quietly tells me at least one escaped out the back and we need to make sure they don’t create more trouble for us. Riding quickly in that direction, we quickly came across a mutilated body. It hadn’t reached the perimeter. Does that mean …

Something between a purr and a snarl sounded way too close, and we both turned our horses and rode back towards the house. It turns out that while these magical horses weren’t too bad, the magical lions were better and tended to gain on us. Two lions took up pursuit. On an open field, we’d have been lion food. But we both aimed for the exit with the rune, hoping that if we shot through it the lion would be trapped within. And fortunately for us, we were right.

I had a brief glimpse, I think, of Etayne in the doorway of the house looking first surprised as we approached at a high rate of speed, and then concerned as she saw why. I’m a little concerned myself that her apparent response to that was to close the door.

Meanwhile, Kali talked to Nihali, who told her that the escapees, as it were, had been handled by the cats. But she called them le pards. Dammit!

If I’m not mistaken, leopards are faster than lions. It’s good that they stopped when they did. The only other alternative would have been to try to lead them somewhere harmless (to us, like a party of arriving revelers). Which, it turns out, Nihali said was coming up the road. We took our horses off the road to quiet their hooves, and cautiously rode towards them, as much to check them out as to check for escapees meeting them.

Encountering none, we turned back before reaching the group. Returning cautiously to the perimeter of the yard, it appeared that the leopards had disappeared. Although, I suppose they could have been hiding in wait, but we both had the impression they were there for protection, not ambush.

We encountered the rest of our group exiting the house. Apparently they’d questioned Asvig and he’d died rather than answer their questions. And from all appearances, it was not his choice. His wife at first held us responsible but realized from our questions that perhaps he was wrapped up in more than she knew. Technically, the wereguild had been satisfied with Asvig’s death, but we still didn’t have the sword. We had more work ahead of us. When the rest of the group had left, they had left with the understanding that business between us and Asvig’s wife was concluded. Neither of us was happy with the result, but neither could dramatically improve on it either.

An uneasy truce. She did not know where the sword was, but if Snorri had it, it would probably be valuable. And a funeral boat is not just a means of saying goodbye .. it’s a means of taking it with you to the afterlife. Could the sword be on the boat?

About this time we heard the other party coming closer. We all hurried off into the bush. They had been preparing for the party (and a couple of them were already well prepared, if you get my meaning) so they weren’t really looking around much. We did overhear some comments about Stone-Eye that suggested whatever he’d died of had not come up suddenly, but rather had been noticeable for a while. “He ain’t been right for a few weeks” is what I recall hearing.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Technically, it’s now Moonday, but yesterday is running smoothly into today with no interruption for sleep. We decided we needed to go to Flyn’s and let him know of our failure, but we were surprised to find when we got there that light shone from within. It was after midnight by this point, and although we’re not familiar with Fynn’s normal sleep habits, it seems late by almost any standard.

He was still awake, talking with someone by the name of Ookshaka. She looked bruised, or battered, andwsa worried that her husband Ulf had gone missing and that Asvig might be responsible. We grimly told them both that if he was responsible we’d never get a confession now …

Our interest in this was doubled as we heard more of the story fro Ookshaka. Two weeks ago, in response to our need for a guide through the north (we suspect) Asvig had imposed upon the guild for the guides to be busy for a while. Now Ulf had chosen to remain independent and claimed no allegiance to the guild, but Asvig had asked to hire him specifically for a special job over the next several weeks. Asvig was not happy when he’d refused.

And now he was missing.

But there was no body, no blood, just a strangely missing person. And it occurred to us that if the sword was on Stone-Eye’s funeral boat, maybe they’d try to get rid of Ulf the same way. It cemented our belief that we needed to inspect that boat.

Fynn and Ook looked at each other. The boat, it turned out, would be set ablaze at sunrise. There’s a good chance it had already launched, with a lengthy “fuse” so that it would be ablaze at sunrise. Ook said she could bring kayaks, however, for us to paddle out if we wished. Since the boat would be solely drifting, at the mercy of wind and tides, we stood a good chance of catching it.

Sigh. But still no rest. This will take its toll on us eventually; our spellcasters must be feeling it even more acutely.

And since, technically, that ends another day I shall report, again, that Qatana is still alive.

4am, Moonday, 13 Arodus

We found ourselves at Spearshaker’s Point, with Ook quickly explaining how one uses and balances in a kayak. Reluctantly, I left my armor at the caravan because armor and water simply don’t mix. Aside from the maintenance required after any lengthy exposure to water, there’s the whole idea that it makes me dozens of pounds heavier, in a medium where walking on the bottom is a poor choice. Ook said she’d meet us at a temple afterward and wished us luck.

The kayaks were all two-person, and we were bringing an extra one on the assumption that we’d be bringing back a sword, an extra person, or both. That meant two of us were riding solo – Sparna and Etayne. I rode with Qatana, in a half hearted attempt to keep her, well, I don’t know, I guess safe. Or maybe to stop others in the group from being annoyed by her. Or maybe to punish myself for some past or future misdeed.

Before we could launch, however, I noticed something in the water. It actually wasn’t too subtle. A giant crab was lying in the water near our kayaks, and rose up as we approached the shoreline. Apparently we looked like food, but food doesn’t bring sharp objects to dinner like we do. A tremendous amount of crab meat is available to us now … I wonder how long this will remain edible? I do like crab the few times I’ve had it.

Focus. Need to stay focused. But a little melted butter … focus.

We finally boarded the kayaks and took off, which allowed me to experience Qatana talking to me about the importance of Groetus. I reminded her that the end of the world was not happening at this instant, and that we should stay focused. But in terms of focus, I fear she had the better of me, because all I remember is replacing her words with visions of a great seafood breakfast. And regular, synchronized stroking to get us closer to the future funeral pyre that was our goal.

Etayne tipped over, and needed a little help. Otherwise, nothing of significance happened.

Finally we reached it, tying three kayaks to port and two to starboard. First item of importance was killing the “fuse” of embers that would otherwise burn through and set the boat on fire in a couple of hours. We hoped to be long gone by then, but why take the chance?

Radella and Ivan thought they heard something down below and went to check. This was an ordinary longboat, but with some planks laid across the gunwales to create an upper ‘deck’ and of course a lower one as well. Since we felt particularly vulnerable out here – none of us are really sailors – we (myself, Etayne, Kali, and Anavaru) stayed up top watching for unpleasantness while they (Rudella, Ivan, Qatana, Sparna) went under to find what was down below. We heard noises and the “corpse” topside was nothing but a mannequin.

It wasn’t too long before I spotted two boats in the distance, approaching us. They looked to be camouflaged to approach secretly, and each held four people dressed all in black. I doubt it was any local fishermen. Meanwhile, down below I caught bits of sound indicating there was a battle of some sort. Kali and I discussed how to best address the advancing figures. What we came up with (mostly her) worked very well.

When the figures got within range, she dropped rocks on them. That damaged some of them individually and their boats generally. At the same time, Nihali had been convinced to try dropping some alchemist’s fire on one of the boats. We held our breath as the flask bounced harmlessly off one boat, but then onto the other, shattering into flames.

Attackers started drinking potions of invisibility, but not being at the boat yet meant that as they entered the water, it was still apparent to our archers where they were. One, then another, then more found themselves at the gates of whatever afterlife they believed in. The very last one did in fact reach the boat, but when we offered him the opportunity to surrender, he replied, as though a mantra: “We are the shadows of the night. We are not the first and we will not be the last to come for you.” So we shot him.

Meanwhile, I was a little surprised to see our companions emerge from below carrying … well, a lot! They had not been counting, of course, but Sparna thought we’d brought up at least 12,000 gp worth of items and coins. Old Stone-Eye had apparently been some sort of undead, but true to funeral pyre form, the boat had indeed been loaded with his wealth and belongings.

But not the sword, and not Ulf. However we were able to recover from the four ninjas who had not sunk too deep …

[260] 4 things that look like eggs with delicate shells
[261] 4 potions
[262] 4 tindertwigs
[263] 4 daggers
[264] 4 MW shortbows
[265] 4 MW short shaft w/point
[266] 4 closefitting suits (MW)
[267] 4 jade raven statues
[268] MW thieves tools

We set the ship ablaze, Etayne gleefully using a spark, and made for shore. I don’t believe we got everything that was on board, but we got a good fraction of it and time’s just working against us. I am ready to take a good sleep, even though now day is breaking. Closing my eyes is all the darkness I need …