[To return to Waterdeep. You may remember, Veddic, Billitoppe, Ariel and Cavu had just finished laying some evil mummies at the Singing Sword Tavern]
DAY 260 (26 Uktar)(November) cont ...
Cavu did his best to organise the tidy up and had Ariel wrapped in a bed sheet and taken over to the Temple of Illmater which was not far away from the Tavern.
For the rest of the evening everyone went their separate ways, in order to prepare for their journey the next day.
Veddic went to the Temple with Cavu and had a long chat with him there while Ariel was resurrected. Ariel could only have been brought back to life by the mysterious personage known as Gertrude the White, but she did not talk about it when she came down the stairs from wherever it was she had been taken and revealed nothing of how she suddenly was back in the land of the living.
The Temple was a small affair, no more than a converted town house, with the front room serving as a nave and the dining room as the altar. The temple was served by a single cleric and an acolyte.
Also this night Billitoppe ran into an old friend of his, a half orc barbarian known as Durz. Not only was he an old mercenary companion of Billi's, he was also the full brother (do half-orcs have half-brothers?) of recent adventuring partner Drashnag the Eye of Grummsh.
DAY 261 (27 Uktar)(November)
As Cavu had arranged the night before they all met at the Temple in the morning. Cavu had a chat with Durz, decided he was a good enough egg and welcomed him onboard.
After going over the plan once more (and several more times for Durz who was not the sharpest tool in the box) they set off on the first leg of the journey, which was to meet Corum and Fenrir at the South Gate.
Billi kept a good look out behind them and noticed that they were being followed down the busy Waterdeep streets by not one, but two human figures.
By stealth and cunning he managed to accost them both. It turned out one of them knew Billi from a mercenary company although Billi could not place him. His name was Turnus and all he said was that he was here in the street markets buying some ribbon.
Durz looked over and roared an intimidating demand along the lines of 'Get lost!' to Turnus and not only made the rogue scamper off sharply, but about ten other random people that were also in the street!
While they continued on their way Rocky revealed to the party that he had been given a Stone of Sending by an agent of Maaril the Dragonmage the night before with which he was supposed to report back the progress of the group. He said he wanted no part of this subterfuge and handed the stone over to Dwerry who promptly pocketed it.
At the South Gate they were accosted by a crazy man that was familiar to anyone of the city passing this way in the last few months, 'Ware! Ware! Here come the brave souls! Away to seek the serpents! Away to seek the snake demon!'
Veddic was rather worried that this mad man seemed to know something of the nature of their quest, but the man was quickly carted off by the gate guards, saving him any further distress.
Fenrir and Corum met them at the gate as arranged along with a company of twenty or so city guard (Lead by a man called Captain Nardo) who were being sent out to calm the roads around Waterdeep and to investigate abandoned dwellings along the way.
They made good progress, passing by the Byndraeth Estate and coming to an abandoned farm by nightfall.
The guards set up camp within the farmhouse and out buildings, but for reasons of their own Durz and Ariel slept outside of the safety of the farm walls.
Durz leaned up against a nearby tree and Ariel skulked about in a small copse. This made them targets, though, of one of the many bands of desperados that were around this area and three arrows were shot at Durz, none of which did him any damage.
He tromped up to the copse to see where the arrows had come from, but appeared to flush out a rhinoceros instead, much to his confusion, that charged off seemingly randomly into the night. To add even more to his confusion, the rhino spoke to him as it went by, saying,
'Don't worry, it's only me!'
Durz then squinted his eyes and saw three small humanoids running off at high speed over the fields and with a grunt decided the game was not worth the candle and went back to his sleeping tree.
Ariel too (for it was she!) gave up the chase and then tramped into the barn to find a place to sleep. As she stomped in, five guards ran out.
DAY 262 (28 Uktar)(November)
They spent another uneventful day on the road. A company of Waterdeep guards act as a very good escort under most circumstances and they arrived at the village of Amphaul unmolested.
They spent the night at the Stone Stallion Inn.
DAY 263 (29 Uktar)(November)
Once more their journey was unremarkable and sticking to the main road the found themselves in Hommlet that evening and wearily entered the Inn of the Welcoming Wench where the head of the Bullette slain by Oz and Alduin (with more than a little help from Jaroo the druid!) still hung over the bar.
They had been told to ask for Cavu's agent in Hommlet by the name of Mr Pin. He was not hard to find and it was none other than Mathmoss, my good friend and occasional crew member of the Sea Wyvern.
He said he would take them to the Portal on the morrow.
Ariel found she still had some energy left and while the others ate and drank in the tavern mshe went to the Druid's Grove and talked to Jaroo who was greatly interested to see such a young and unusual fey turn up at his doorstep. He offered her tea and they had a long chat.
Billi took the air as well and had a chat with a passing militia man who was patrolling the streets.
Back in the tavern Durz noticed that the bar maid known as Derndie seemed to have her eye on him. She perhaps was feeling that she had all but been abandoned by Alduin and was on the look out for another brave man (or half man) to take care of her.
They all spent the night in beds made up in the stable due to the Inn being full.
DAY 264 (30 Uktar)(November)
Durz, a gentleman who appears to often find himself in confusing situations, found that he had a large breakfast brought to him by Derndie while he was still abed. She seemed to know what to feed a half orc as it consisted mainly of bacon, pork chops and liver.
Ariel seemed upset by the amount of dead animal that Durz was consuming and the gnome and half orc treated her to some of their earthy barrack room humour on the subject of 'meat'.
Dwerry told her to ignore them and pointed out to Durz that Derndie had a soft spot for him.
Durz, apparently, couldn't have cared less though.
After breakfast Mathmoss lead them to the Moathouse, which was about an hours walk away and where the portal was situated.
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