PART THREE

- In which our Heroes complete one Task and begin Another -

One of the Light Wizards then kindly offered to relieve Marcus of the ailment afflicting him, the consequence of which is that the young student is indeed cured, but the helpful wizard is rendered temporarily blind. While Heidi took her turn on sentry duty, the Horizondweller siblings departed the inn on their own nefarious business.

Unbeknownst to the others, they were intent on returning to the Jolly Boatman. Here they spoke with Hugo Buisman, who earlier offered the group information in exchange for carrying out a punitive beating on a man called Dobbe. They now took him up on the offer, and made their way to the dismal flophouse in which their target resided.

When Tyrella’s initial attempt to bluff her way into his room failed, they came to the conclusion that the door is too sturdy to allow forced entrance and withdrew to consider their options. Fortunately they saw a figure emerge not long afterwards, and after taking a quick look into his room to assure themselves that it was now empty, they attempted to discreetly follow him.

This soon devolved into violence however, and the two Elves swiftly incapacitated him with arrow fire. Ever conscientious, they then broke his legs before passing on Mr Buisman’s warning and then going through their victim’s pockets.

After that they returned to the Jolly Boatman and met up with Mr Buisman again. On hearing the news that Dub has been suitably chastised, he took them out into the back alley in order that they should not be overheard and told them that a witch-hunter went aboard the ship and got beaten up. They also mentioned rumours that malevolent imps had been seen aboard, all things of course that the group are already aware of, but went on to tell them something new. The witch-hunter had an assistant called Klemens Grier, a short, balding man with a thin moustache and wearing an armband depicting a flaming sword. He was given some stuff by his master and sent off up north to the village of Fauligmere. Cavindel recalls this village as a gathering place for local hunters.

Once Mr Buisman had finished, Tyrella thanked him and pays him a couple of silver for the pleasure of brutalising the unfortunate Dob. The Elves then left the area, and shortly afterwards Heidi arrived, searching for Mr van Oosten. Her thirst for revenge was destined to go unsatisfied as the elusive van Oosten was nowhere to be seen and no-one seemed to know to where he is. She departs, to continue her unsuccessful search at the nearby docks before returning to the Three Barrels.

She managed to get back before the Elves did, and was greeted by Marcus. The scribe was eager to get someone to take over the onerous duty of watching wizards scribing, but Heidi was not keen on the idea and an argument ensued. Marcus eventually won by pulling rank but the whole issue was neatly circumvented when the Elves arrived and Tyrella suggested that the wizards copy the symbols down. This way the book could be returned to Miss Reiva immediately and the wizards could translate the copied symbols at their leisure. A lot of people felt rather foolish at this point, especially when it took the wizards about twenty seconds to be make a brass rubbing of the engravings in the book.

Cavindel told the group some of what he had learnt from Mr Buisman and the possibility was mooted of them heading out to Fauligmere in pursuit of Mr Grier. Firstly however, they had to return the book to Miss Reiva. Just before they left, Cavindel was called aside by one of the Light Wizards for a private word. The wizard asked him to transport some kind of dangerous object out to the swamp and to dump it there. It was inside a box, for the protection of those not blessed to be Elves. Cavindel agreed.

At Miss Reiva’s home, the group got paid. Cavindel managed to get more money from Marcus for the rest of the information he had learnt, specifically details about Mr Grier. The others agreed to accompany Marcus to Fauligmere, after some haggling over payment for this new job and arranged to meet up the following day at the Silver Plate tavern in the north of the city where Cavindel knows some boatmen. Then they went their separate ways, to get supplies and do other needful things.

One of Heidi’s other tasks was to speak with Roderick again. He told her that he would be leaving for the Empire soon, and that in future she would need to communicate with him through the priests of Sigmar. She then did her shopping and got a few hours sleep before the morning.

The group then met up with the guide that Cavindel had arranged, one Jekil Sumpfmund, at the Silver Plate and he took them out into the Cursed Marshes. They had been travelling for some time, listening to Mr Sumpfmund’s tall tales about giant octopuses, when Marcus felt the need to address a call of nature. Unfortunately the tree he chose he to unburden himself against was home to a nest of lashworms which promptly assaulted the offending object. Now in some distress due to the intimate nature of his injury, Marcus staggered away from the tree, and Heidi leapt in to crush the lashworm nest with her hammer. Fortunately the injury was superficial, if embarrassing, and Marcus was able to conduct his business successfully elsewhere. This time however, and despite his protests, Heidi was with him, watching out fro possible threats.

They then resumed travelling. After a few hours they spotted a troll in the distance. The group was divided about what to do next, with some wanting to avoid the troll and press on and others wanting to fight the creature. The decision was promptly resolved when Tyrella shouted out at the creature.

It raced towards the boat at alarming speed, into a hail of arrows from the two Elves. The group noticed to their horror that the wounds inflicted were closing up rapidly, so Heidi grabbed a torch from Marcus’s backpack and started trying to light it.

The troll struck Marcus a heavy blow, lifting him off his feet. The others tried to hit the creature but were overcome by terror and fled, only Heidi and the boatman standing their ground. The boatman struck it with an oar, while Heidi finally managed to ignite the torch and swung that at the creature. The troll roared with anger when the flame hit it and vomited corrosive slime at her.

Heidi hit it again, and this time it responded by bringing its fists down on the end of the boat, flipping it over and catapulting the contents into the swamp. The boatman, however, delivered a mighty blow to the troll and it dropped. Heidi was about to move in and burn the fallen creature when a vast bulk rose from the foetid waters nearby.

A tentacle emerged nearby and seized the troll, dragging it back to the centre of the mass. The new arrival then subsided into the murk with its prize, leaving the shocked group staring at each other. They then swiftly departed, Marcus loudly bemoaning the loss of his pack and possessions.

They got to the village of Fauligmere without further interruptions, just in time to witness the local lord having a man hung for killing and eating one of his prize pigeons. The stench of dead fish hung heavy over the village, and Cavindel recalled that it was notorious for the fact that no fish live near there. Their first stop was the village inn, where they quizzed the regulars for local information.

• There is rumoured to be a cave nearby, called the Mouth of Morr, which is supposed to lead into the underworld.
• The curse of dead fish is ascribed to a local witch, whose identity and existence are unproven.
• An anchorite lives in a hut just outside the village
• The cobbler, Seth Reizbar, is a fanatic devotee of Sigmar and has the ear of the local Baron
• A man matching the description of Mr Grier has had long conversations with the Baron, and appeared to be waiting for someone. He has now left, where to is unknown, but he did leave without the large amount of gear that he arrived with.

It was late by this point, so the group booked rooms and went to sleep. In the morning they decided to speak with the Baron himself and made their way up to his manor house.

Cavindel managed to bluff the baron into believing that he and his companions were allies of Mr Grier, which the Baron readily believed as he had already been told by Mr Grier that a group of mercenaries would be arriving to assist him. Cavindel was careful to explain that he had heard about a group of imposters who were also on their way. The Baron was most obliging from that point on. He explained that the cobbler had been suspicious of Mr Grier, testing his knowledge of Sigmar orthodoxy and finding it lacking. Mr Reizbar believed that the Mr Grier may instead have been an agent of Solkan. The Baron went on to tell the group that Mr Grier had left in search of the rumoured witch, probably at the Mouth of Morr.

The group then returned to the village. Heidi picked up some chalk in the hope that the anchorite, while unwilling to speak, may be able to write down some useful information about the Mouth of Morr. The villagers received orders from the Baron to arrest the group of imposter mercenaries should they arrive.

The anchorite, when they finally reached him, was unhelpful. Unable, or unwilling to write as well as speak, they got nothing from him. However he was visited by the local herbalist, Saskia van Oort, while they were there and they were able to ask her questions. She was most insistent that she was not a witch, despite nobody suggesting so, and seemed alarmed by the idea that the group was associated with Mr Grier. After some confusion, they were able to reassure her that they were not, and she volunteered to put them in touch with a group of local “free traders” who had associated with Mr Grier and might be able to help them. With that she left and the group remained behind.

Eventually they decided to return to the village themselves. They could see smoke on the horizon, but before they got there they saw a group of unsavoury looking men on the road. The Elves took cover while Marcus and Heidi went out to meet them. These men turned out to be the free traders of whom Saskia had spoke, and knew about the gem which the group were seeking. Unfortunately they had sold it on to a merchant in Marienburg, and were unwilling to divulge his name. This led to some tension in the discussion, and almost resulted in bloodshed when Cavindel mistook a repeated comment of Heidi’s as a code signal for attack. Fortunately his first shot went wide and Heidi was able to call off the attack before things went any further. Marcus then suggested that they speak with this merchant and ask him to get in touch with the group at the Three Barrels Inn in Marienburg and in return for a hefty bribe the smugglers agreed. Then they parted company, and the group made its way to the village in order to pick up their boat.

The village was damaged but intact, having fought and captured the mercenaries. Mr Reizbar’s suspicions seem to have been confirmed when it turns out that they are all worshippers of Solkan. For their part, the group just wanted to get their boat and leave, before the holes in their story became too apparent.