Malachi,
The tracks of the Captain and Jonah are not hard to follow, as they walked close alongside the muddy riverbank.
One odd thing that you do notice, however, is that after a few miles of the Captain's and Jonah's tracks, a third set of footprints joins them, walking alongside and in the same direction.
Also at the conjunction of these tracks is a leaf, pinned to the trunk of a willow tree with a six-inch steel dart, a decidedly dangerous looking instrument.
The elves do not say anything beyond monosyllabic words, either to you or between themselves. They are reminiscent of bloodhounds, latched onto a trail and excluding all outside distractions.
Malthas,
The chieftain considers your words.
"I do wrong," he says slowly, "In speaking of you and your Brethren - and your Kep-tan - as friends or lackeys of...of...Inchin'dewah*. You - " he makes a sweeping motion with his arm, accomodating all in the boat, and presumably the rest of the crew of the CALYPSO'S GRACE - "Are a people after my own heart. If your Kep-tan lives when we find him, I speak with him as equal, though the blood of my Brethren is on his hands."
Reiter,
Your mind still befuddled with laudanum, you have a vague impression of people - eight, or maybe four - emerging from the trees, although the trees in question waver in strangely contorted fashions, and their leaves gleam dully with colors not normally associated with trees.
The other impression you have is of a pair of oddly identical (or perhaps you're seeing double) figures wearing blue captain's greatcoats nudging you none too gently in the ribs.
You catch the words "Wake," "Useless," and "Grugach." You also hear someone in the background speaking gibberish in smooth, musical tones.
(OOC: Sorry that I haven't included you in the latest posts; I figured that, laudanum being a narcotic and an anesthetic, Reiter would be unconscious or at least in a barely coherent state for some time...Btw, the laudanum is imposing a -4 initiative penalty until it wears off, as well as an effective -2 to DEX and INT. I'm roughly extrapolating the effects from Broadsides! chapter on pharmacopia and from my own off the top of my head knowledge about laudanum and opium.)
*Grugach curse word, probably meaning something along the lines of "diggers of clams" or some such.