Barrels upon Barrels

Waking up after a pretty uneventful night - except for the passing of the bugbears - the party set out for the edge of the forest. Finally.
The elf was still not in a good way, so we made haste towards the village. Upon exiting we noticed that the sign i tossed on the little man was re-erected. Peculiar. In spite I pulled this one off the ground as well and brought it with me to the town. Upon arriving we found ourselves ushered into the mayor's office. The elf was rushed to the herbalist and tended to there. We were given plenty of praise and recieved our payment. Every ounce of gold brings me closer to the sea, and so every ounce is precious. We were also, upon us showing the sign with the peculiar symbol, told what it was written upon it.
 
The sign was marked with the symbols of deep speech. It spoke of ownership, of the forest. Appearently the gang of bugbears and ogres wanted to make it very clear to the world that this gathering of woods was the property of the group of "Aldoillithid". The first part - "Aldo" - tells me nothing. The latter part though, sent a shiver down my spine. The tall tales of old sailors in a dark old bar, fueled by beer and dementia, often told of an old race, that hated everyone to the point of them wanting to dominate them all through the mind. This was of course disregarded as hogwash by everyone over the age of 10, but the mere thought of there being even an ounce of truth to that rumor was bad enough. It would make sense, seeing as the magic-wielding bugbear obviously was influenced by something or someone.
 
After being tasked by the mayor to go to the capital, to my great surprise and relief, we headed out to Marion's bar. Out of mere happiness and thankfulness from coming back alive, I decided to treat the townsfolk. I went outside to the town square and bellowed out my promise - the first round on me. Seeing as the village barely had woken up, my mighty bellow brought in all of about 7 customers. The little man had more luck though - and all in all we managed to bring in 19 townspeople that noon. They all drank and enjoyed, and the mercenary even taught Marion how to brew true Zimian ale. Now the old bugger might finally get some good beer. He's a good lad but the beer he served was not a brew that would ever see a cargo hold.
The Zimian beer though, there is a reason that we have carried it all across the known world. It's a marvel. Light enough to drink a barrel of, while tasty enough to keep you coming back for another barrel. Needless to say, good journal, I came back for many barrels.
The large inventor made his move on the Blacksmith. Never thought I'd see the day. They actually kissed, I think the whole bar fell silent right about then and just watched in awe of this absolute maddened lad.
 
Soon after, the bar mellowed down and the Captain of the Guard made his prescence known - and that the Elf had awokened. We all hurried over to the herbalist and met a weakened woman. She did not remember much, but when I spoke to her in the tongue of her ancestors she let me know that it was indeed Thorpe that had visited her a few weeks before. She had sown him a robe stitched with a detail of a kraken, and after her giving this over to him he had overstayed his welcome and chatted on with the elf. Me and the mercenary quickly realized that that could be Thorpe's stalling maneuver to mark her house for "later gathering". We found the door - or rather what was left of it - and searched through the rubble. What I first thought was a telltale sign of Thorpe turned out to just be the doorsign, but the mercenary found the mark in question. It was now without a doubt that Thorpe had a hand in her abduction. One more crime for him to answer for. We let the elf rest, and set back to the bar. I now realize that I forgot to ask her about her ramblings in the night about a ship. I need to check in on her before we leave tomorrow. Very important Dormaruk. Do not let the ale make you forget.
 
The calm in the bar was not to last. As soon as the sun set, the townsfolk started to make their return. The little man successfully unmasked a cheater, the large inventor forged on in his romantic quest and the mercenary was settling in her temporary role of brewmaster/barmaid. I did what I do best, I drank barrels of the Zimian ale and watched. Another joined me in this feat, a fellow sailor, a Tiefling. He had served on the Wapapa, which I served on just before I enrolled on The Pitched Wanker. We shared stories of the few crewmates still sailing her, and toasted to her butchered fox figurehead. He brought news from the capital - appearently The Pitched Wanker was seen moored there during the night for a week prior to the Tieflings departure, which was just a couple days ago. They had seemed to dissappear in the morning, just to come back full with loot in the cover of night. I clench my fist at writing this, Thorpe has led the good men of the ship straight into piracy without even lending a thought to the suffering of their victims. Scum of the sea is what he is.
 
I will get to the bottom of this mess when I get to the capital. Thorpe has the answer to what happened to The Horned Merchants, and he will tell me one way or another. I might just have to tie him to a rope and use him to wash the hull of a ship if he is not willing to part with the information. Might have to do it anyway. I'll have to tell the others that it is a common thing, but to be fair, Thorpe has earned this.