[Meanwhile back on Yacg'harr Island.]
DAY 536 (21st Eleasis) (August) ...
As we had as much excitement exploring the portals as we could about handle today we decided to refocus our efforts on defending them.
The first priority, it seemed to me, was to identify and eliminate any threats that existed on the island.
We were all assigned tasks and set about them for the rest of the day. Lavinia returned to Sasserine to hunt out a decent mason, Jiggles and Dak went to the pub (separately) to see what the word around town was and I went back to visit Egnol Galeborn the local historian. Sylvia would remain at the barrow with Molly and keep custody of the key.
In the pub Jiggles learned that 'Pirate Town' as we referred to it, was a repair port, their was no permanent pirate presence on the island and the people that lived here were mainly either boatwrights or farmers who grew food and sold it to the ships that came to the docks.
As it happened there were no ships in the port currently, pirate or otherwise. She also learned that there was no official ruler on the island, not even a council or any form of government at all. If their was a dispute it was resolved by the Innkeeper of the tavern she was now in who seemed to have a certain amount of diplomatic skill.
In addition there was a retired pirate captain in town, a man who came across as a jolly old guy on the surface, but who had been of the rough ones back in the day. He also commanded the loyalty of six of his former crew that had settled on the island and it was them that had come to investigate the lightning at the barrow when we had first opened the portals.
Jiggles tried to gauge if the Innkeeper was a good man, a bad man or just someone who went with the flow. After talking to him for a while she suspected it was the last option - he served his customers - whoever they were, pirates or otherwise. This, indeed, made him no different from any innkeeper in Waterdeep or Westgate!
While that was happening I went to tea with Egnol Galeborn in my guise as 'Salty Sam the Naval Historian'. I even went as far as bringing some nice tea leaves I had gathered on the island. He seemed very happy with this.
Like Jiggles I wanted to find out if he was a good or bad elf, and I tested his patience by asking if I could stay with him for a few days. He didn't welcome me with open arms, but he didn't kick me out on my ear either. He suggested I try the Inn.
I asked about the locals and he told me much the same as Jiggles had learned. 'Mainly they are farmers, fishermen, carpenters,' he told me. 'There are not many interesting people here, it is a very small island after all.'
I took his advice and went to the Inn. I changed my disguise to be that of a ravishingly attractive young lady, to see what I could get out of the Innkeeper that way.
He was very informative, when I started asking questions, and my disguise seemed to be working a treat. I hadn't counted on Dak though as he was sat nearby and got quite cross with the Innkeeper who had not answered any of the same questions earlier when he had asked them.
The Innkeeper was not impressed with Dak's gnashing of teeth though and told him to go away.
'What about trading slaves, eh mate?' asked Dak. 'Can I buy slaves here?'
'No!' cried the Innkeeper. 'I'll have none of that sort of thing in my inn!'
'Ah, don't worry, I was just testing you,' smiled Dak, which was true enough I'm sure, but it didn't wash with the Innkeepers or any of the locals so in the end Dak had to leave.
Wittingly or not though Dak had laid the ground work for me to ask the same questions as a sort of concerned citizen.
'What does happen with slaves the pirates bring?'
'I don't know,' he said evasively. 'If it happens, it happens from ship to ship, we never see it here.'
After that he was not be drawn any further on the subject.
Anyway, once we were all back at the barrow, we came up with a plan to see what else we could find out about the island.
I'd better get some sleep now as it's an early start tomorrow!
DAY 537 (22nd Eleasis) (August)
At three in the morning I went to Egnol Galeborn's house, turned into a rat and sneaked into his house.
He was awake and at his desk and as he noticed my scuttling he then chased me around the whole house with a broom! I did at least get a good look in all the rooms as we rampaged around the place and I saw no pentagrams or bowls of blood or whatever else you might expect a baddie to have in their house.
I escaped up the chimney and then tried the Inn. I managed to get into the Innkeeper's bedroom and found a journal on his desk!
This is more like it, I thought to myself, as I turned into a baboon and slid under the bed to read it by hooded light.
The left side of the book was accounting, for the inn I assumed, and the right side was in code. I gave up, put the book back and left as I had arrived, by squeezing under the door.
If the Innkeeper was a wrong 'un it would have to be put aside for now as codebreaking would require more time.
And so I scuttled over to my final visit of the night, the house of the old Pirate Captain. Given my lack of findings in the first two places I assumed that he too would be living a simple and unremarkable life.
On that regard I was wrong though! I found a room with a magical circle in it and a big chest in the corner. I turned into my normal human form to open the chest, but triggered a trap that shot out poisoned whirling blades.
These left some nasty cuts, but I could now open the chest unimpeded.
In the gloom my eyes focused for a second and I did not quite understand what they were looking at, at first, but as they readjusted I suddenly
realised that the chest was jammed full of skulls!
No comments:
Post a Comment