Session 16: Messing about in boats.

General Summary

After a good night's rest at Lady Cassandra's family home, the party planned their day. First a visit to the Woodwage home in the Middle Row area of The Hill district to inquire about the missing earrings and then some errands to run. Lady Cassandra was looking forward to seeing the finished mask being made for her by Darius Dougel at The Brain Pan.   The party headed off towards the Woodwage home at the opposite end of the middle ring. As they approached the house they heard screaming. A hunched, dark figure came flying out of the front door, a silken gown trailing behind him and closely followed by a large, buxom, middle-aged woman. She screamed "Thief, thief!" as the dark figure ran straight into Dinglepop knocking both to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Malcer made a grab for the thief and held him up by his collar, dazed after his collision.   The woman was Gladys Woodwage, mother of Ferro Woodwage, the young lady who put a task on the Help Wanted board asking for help to find her missing earrings. She turned to Lady Cassandra to remonstrate about the thief but was quickly placated when presented with the earrings that the companions had been give in the underground dock by Matimer. These were indeed the missing earrings and she and Cassandra disappeared into the Woodwage home to fetch the reward whilst the Malcer and Dinglepop, now recovered from his crash, waited outside still holding onto the silent, beaked creature who called himself Grouch and seemed quite happy hanging there. When Lady Cassandra emerged from the house with a large bag full of coins, Lady Woodwage did not follow and seemed to have completely forgotten about the theft. The companions gathered around the figure who stood silently, rather grubby and very hungry-looking, with a lyre strapped across his back.  

  It seemed the creature could not speak and merely mimicked the companions which annoyed them at first, until they realised that this was in fact it's way of communicating. Malcer produced a hunk of bread and the creature devoured it voraciously, clearly it had not eaten in a while and they took pity on the wretched vagabond. Leaving the creature sitting in the dirt they made their way south but looking back after a few steps they saw it trailing behind them, giving off the occasional satisfied crawing sound. Ignoring the strange bird-man/woman they headed towards the Old Temple District where they had an appointment at the Temple of Bast. They walked slowly through the district marveling once again at the many varied, colourful and sometimes imposing temples and churches in the area. Passing the Excriptory of Jamboor reminded Malcer that he had an errand to run and he popped into the building, the bird creature followed him in and stood quietly behind him, still clutching the stolen silken dress! A very old, geriatric priest stood up from behind the shrine of Jamboor and wearily trudged towards them in his somber grey robes. Malcer inquired about having the symbol of Jamboor engraved onto his family signet. The old priest was rather suspicious of the odd figure standing behind Malcer but became less suspicious as the Kenku offered him the, obviously valuable, silken dress as a donation to Jamboor. Malcer wondered about the creature, he seemed harmless enough.... Malcer made the arrangements and was told to head to a jewelers in the Hill district to get the engraving done. He would need to spend some time communing with Jamboor to bless the ring after the engraving was completed.   In the meantime Lady Cassandra head over to the Temple of Bast. A large marble statue in the shape of a tall, lithe female cat formed the building and there were smaller statues of cats everywhere. She entered the Temple, a cool, peaceful place after the midday sun and approached a priest standing near another statue inside. She also noticed that there were many cats walking freely around the temple, they wore magnificent jeweled necklaces. Cassandra made the delivery, a beautifully-made golden mask of a cat's face to the priest Haldor there and met up with the others outside. The compnaions took a few moments to further explore the Old Temple district before heading back to Darius Dougel so Cassandra could collect her own new mask.     After running their errands and with their new companion following behind, constantly eating bread, the party headed south towards the Docs once again. Following up the tip about talking to Riverfolk they entered a rough but popular Inn on the quayside. Many salty sea dog types and shifty looking sailors stood around and a sea shanty was being played enthusiastically by several musicians in one corner as old sailors danced a jolly, drunken jig in time.   The Landlord, one Chase Fernow, seemed jolly enough and poured the adventurer's drinks whilst they made inquiries. From the Landlord they managed to find the location of Katrin, head of the Riverman's Guild and passage across the river. After their drinks, particularly Dinglepop they followed their pilot out to the quayside and carefully climbed into his launch. As he silently rowed them across they harbour they tried to engage him in conversation. However, he was a pretty taciturn fellow and apart from the occasional nod they got little out of him as he rowed. He was a man in his late 40's/early 50's they estimated and his weathered, brown skin made it clear he was often at the mercy of the elements. His boat was a cheerful and well-maintained vessel, colourfully painted as was the fashion among the taxi boats of Bard's Gate, a large eyes painted on each side of the bow. Lady Cassandra eventually had a little more luck with him. His name was Aicha Gowder and he spoke with the thick accent of the Riverfolk (Arkaji) more commonly known simply as 'Riverfolk' he told of Katrin, knew little about the missing children and reported that not all riverfolk liked Katrin as she policed the boats coming and going across the river.  

Character(s) interacted with

Gladys Woodwage, Ferro Woodwage's mother
Grouch, Kenku, thief and guttersnipe
Haldor, High Priest of Bast
Reginald, Caretaker of the Shrine room, Excriptory of Jamboor
Numbus Parch, Librarian at the Excriptory of Jamboor
Chase Fernow, Landlordof the Last Drop Inn, The Docks
Aicha Gowder, Riverfolk boatman.