I Went to the Desert With a Party With No Name

General Summary

The party went to dinner at the same halfing restaurant they had lunch in, meeting the dinner rush. Murtagh and Guy had the mushroom tart again, while Bayleaf and Tethrys had the chef's special, a salad with berries and almonds.   At dinner, the party bickered over whether or not to get a guide- Tethrys beliving in her blind confidence and ability to walk straight into the desert, and Murtagh insisting that they take a guide into the very deathly desert, with Guy ultimately coming down on Murtagh's side. "You have to remember, we only have one adult now," and as much as he hated to admit it, "Murtagh is often right."   As they were leaving, Guy looked around for something to add to his Small Things collection- at dinner rush, there were many filled tables with humans, some naval officials, some merchants passing through Port Greta, some merchants who were stationed in Port Greta and dressed like the Navy Lite. At a table of Navy Lite merchants, Guy spoted several shinnning objects but honed in on a small book, and asked Tethrys to make a distraction.   As the party stood to leave, Tethrys stood on her chair and bellowed "this food is excellent! It deserves an orcish chant!" and extended the celebration chant into a minutes long yelling and gnashing of teeth, giving Guy the chance to dart in and stealthily steal the book.   Back onboard, Guy flipped through the book to find it was someone's diary- the left pages used for daily tasks, and the right pages uses for daily reflections. The owner seemed to be making progress with their own mental health, and improving their lot.   They gave Bayleaf dock fees and price for expenditures, 100 gp each from Guy Fieri and Tethrys, and the next day sent Bayleaf inland with the Dauntless, to keep the ship in longerm storage, with Magrat for company.   They stopped in at the temple of Ægir/Triton. The building was clearly here before the human occupation, consisting of graceful, sweeping lines, reminicient of large ocean waves,m and seemingly made of seemless stone.   A priest dedicating to helping visitors met with them, Aien, and after asking what they were after ushered them into the greater library, which seemed to take up 80% of it's buildings. Shelves climb the walls, following the arches upwards, some magic holding each item in place as it hovered over the floor. Aien used a magic index to find the information they were after.   Observations from Triton's priests 700 years ago recorded Stormwind passing through Port Greta, leaving the same day for the Waste, and several days later an other observation was recorded paladins of Adlet coming to hunt down Stormwind. Adlets paladins are known to hunt down the undead and abominations escaping death- anyone being hunted by them has almost certainly done a terrible thing.   About Stormwind himself, they were able to find out he was a mischief mage from stories, known for doing the right thing, if often by accident and for the wrong reasons. A prophecy of Stormwind's fate, written 500 years ago, is barely legible from the age and the poor first transcripton. The lines that could be made out were:

Stormwind, by hook or by crook...   ... threw himself on the mercy of a moment...   ... chose prison over destiny and our union...   ... trapped by pride and destiny...

    Murtagh asked about the Waste itself, and learned that thousands of years ago, when the Heart of the Land was smaller, the Waste was arrid rather than full desert. The existing towns and villages have been covered by shifting sands of the desert. (Murtagh gets a lowered DC check for survival in the desert). He learned some of the ways to get water from the desert, mostly by learning how difficult it was, and how valuable a guide would be to them.   The crew took the ferry across the straight, and found postings for several guides into the waste, one of whom, a Beatrice Tossfeather, was able to sell the team sun screen, dessert attire, and some deluxe waterskins for travel. Ultimately the crew chose to wait and hire Ahshala Joqen, an elvish druid and her vegepygmy Saguaro. Ahshala agreed, for her fee of 30 gp up front, 5 gp a day, and after trying to talk the crew out of visiting the waste at all, she agreed to walk them one week into the desert, and then take them back out again. They are to meet her by the road to the Waste at sundown, to begin their nocturnal travels.