The captain takes the stack of forms and looks over them briefly before passing them to the clerk. "Looks in order," he says. "We 'ave to make sure we don't hire the same people over an' over again, y'see. Th' mayor insists on it - need to spread the work around an' not depend on a single group anymore. In this case, tho' - only four o' ye, we can't afford to turn anyone away." The clerk nods.
"So, here's what's going on..." The captain unrolls a huge nautical chart, covered with lines interweaving in complex patterns that make your head spin. "This here charts the most important of the drifting rocks and isles between here an' the Near Lands - the ones we know about, at least. A few weeks ago, a new island drifted into the sea lanes, around this point here. Nothin' new about that, you chart it an' adjust yer routes, but this one's brought trouble with it. It's shrouded in winter, an' it's playin' havoc with the seas around it."
"To be more precise," interjects Alanax, "The island radiates intense cold, causing the sea around it to freeze. Chunks of ice have broken off and begun drifting on the currents, forming dangerous obstacles. Occasionally, sailors have reported ice chunks as big as ships! And the effect is getting worse - the island is drifting closer to Daunton" -- Captain Torian slashes a line across the map with his charcoal to illustrate -- "and the zone of cold is growing larger as well."
"This is obviously a magical effect of some sort. We've tried to dispel it from a safe distance, but none of our rituals have had any success. We need to land someone on the island to investigate."
"'At's right," says Captain Torion. "Me own ship, the Kraken's Grasp, stands ready with a bold crew. We'll force our way through the ice pack around the island an' land you as close to the shore as we can get, then stand to at a safe length an' wait fer yer signal. Yer job is to find out what's causin' the spell of winter, an' break the spell if possible, or return with enough details fer our weather mages to make a counter-spell if not."
"We've got three an' a half hours to the evening tide, so we've got that long to get affairs in order if we want to set out today - which I recommend. Then it's two days journey to our goal, so I hope you've got the knack of sleepin' on shipboard - wouldn't do to get there faint from exhausting. Har!'
"Any questions?"
