Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

Fourteenth Day of Olweje-hamba (Olweje Descending) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)

"Tom..." the name it first on your lips and rightly so. Still a spear alone is a spear bent, as the old saying goes and it applies as much in the proper form as in the more bawdy one you had heard it first as an innocent lad not yet thirteen. "Hugh," you continue, the man was old enough to keep his head in a tavern, of that you are sure. And one more... "Mark, do you want to get some use out of that net you have been tossing these days or not?"

"Yes m'lord," the pox scared man pulls on his forelock and steps up with solid step, although he has trouble keeping the smile off his face. He has been spending a long time with that thing.

"Are you certain you should go without one of more... arcane skills?" Esha asks. As you look to her with surprise she quickly adds. "The girl offered to go."

"Best that you stay here just in case..." just in case the ship decides it is not satisfied with goat, you think but do not say. Truth be told you have no intention of dragging Inge though every house of ill repute in this city looking for the missing cook, but there is one man who can help you, he might even know what direction to point you in.

The seer Eririan is looking a good bit healthier then when he had woken from his cursed slumber and in far higher spirits from having the mysteries of his tome unraveled is all too happy to strike another deal, one that will get him off the ship no less. You pay no more had half of what you had been willing to offer, confirming your suspicion that his services are so sought after... and making ou wonder all the more what was in the book that he gave up five times the sum for it.

Lost 100 GP


Though you do not leave the Heaven in search of the missing Zuan it does not take you long before the light and fresh breezes of the waterfront are far behind you for a world of narrow paths and muddy ways though which you could not squeeze a goat properly, much less a horse. You had thought to bring our horses, thinking that the strange beasts might intimidate the locals and counting upon another pair of hidden eyes in Silver but the seer had said that where you are going it is better not to be seen at all than to be feared, and so you go mantled in dark colors after the local manner and hiding as much as you and the shine of steel beneath the cloaks. Not that your company of five will ever pass for anything but warriors that much is clear, but there is no lack of warriors down the Street of Honey and Ale.

Ale you will grant, the smell of it spills out from every open door along the way along with the faint sounds of those who for one reason or another had to take their midday meal here, fishermen in with the tide, tarrying apprentices and local strong arm men weary of their duties the night before mingle with the travelers too discerning to move on to Fartown, but lacking the deep pockets to eat closer to the docks.

Of course to come this far is to risk your pockets to a scourge of another sort. Thugs and ruffians throw baleful looks from crooked corners and you suspect that were their eyes not so heavy with sleep and red with drink they might take even more affront at your presence in their hunting grounds. Had the cook fallen prey to one of these? Given what the man knows one might almost hope he had...

Alas you do not find yourself so lucky... or perhaps it is better to say that your luck seems to be far better than that of the ill favored Zuan, somehow you manage through vague directions and guesswork on the part of your guide to find the very tavern, long and low and filled with the smoke and soot of many busy nights, where he had taken last night's repast and there you learn that he had left in the company a strange trio.

Lost 20 GP

"One was a woman of the Sunset Isles, she spoke the tongue just like you do... well not just like bu close eh..." the tavern keeper shows crooked teeth and a smile lathered in enough grease to cook a hog in. Perhaps you should have paid him less. "And she had two fellows with her all set uot in armor as well, one was bronze that looked almost Ibanoran... let me tell you I almost tossed him out on his ear then and there but they paid in silver and showed silver if you know what I mean?"

"I don't know what you mean, I'm not from around here," you reply, not even much trying to keep the weariness out of your voice, you doubt it will dissuade him while there is the promise of more coin to to be had.

The man swings the old rag he had been wiping the equally filthy table in front of him round and round in his fingers. You are starting to see why Zaia has such an aversion to dirt. "A talisman from the temple of Ikomi she had see, trusted she was, said she was helping them out with something... didn't ask no more than that."

"But you heard more," you press. "Not out of any ill will or malice of course, words carry after all and you have a tavern to care for..."

"Right you are honorable one, right you are, they was talking about something with a storm and and a girl and dead men walking... well I don;t rightly know but they left together."

It could have been worse, you tell yourself... and almost believe it. At the very least you have some lead now.

What do you do?

[] Go to the temple of Ikomi and ask about the strange trio by description

[] Try to have Eririan scry the table (must be done by stealth the tavern keeper will not allow magic under his roof)

[] Write in

OOC: Well this was supposed to be a longer search before you got here, but... well. Not yet edited.