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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 7845365" data-attributes="member: 7015827">The “Mermaid’s Lance”By late morning of Nightal 4, everyone had assembled in the main guest house room to depart. Veran's return was welcomed, although he was less than scrutable regarding the success of his researches. Jokull excused himself, saying that he had some messages to deliver before meeting the others at the Urdo docks, from where they would set sail to explore the island under the Mercenaries Guild contract. The rest of his companions left the guest house shortly thereafter, heading for the Market district.At the docks, the Urdo guards informed them that the ship would be ready to depart shortly; they would be let on board, as soon as all of the adventurers hired by House Urdo were present. While the guard was explaining the situation, an elf walked up to the docks and was recognized by the guard, just as Jokull was arriving. The newcomer, Velduin Leafwalker, introduced himself as a recent arrival in Westgate and new member of the Naturalists Guild. Apparently House Urdo had seen fit to hire him as an expert for the expedition to the island, since "Helm's Shadows" had no one in their company with significant wilderness lore. Velduin commented that this was his first task as a Naturalists Guild member.The Urdo guard instructed the group to board the ship, since the captain was ready to depart. One of the sailors graciously assisted Rahnee across the boarding plank, the others boarding without incident except for Brok-Tul. The large half-orc needed a few moments to get up his determination to cross over, quickly moving to the center of the ship once aboard and as far away from the water as possible. The captain, after welcoming the group to the Urdo ship "Mermaid's Lance," shouted orders to his crew to raise sail and cast off the mooring lines, explaining to the group that he wanted to depart the harbor soon to avoid getting in the way of the larger merchant ship traffic.Once the ship had cleared the harbor and turned its prow northeasterly, heading into the Dragonmere, Captain Kelteel invited the group belowdecks and made proper introductions, sharing out some "grog" for those who wanted something stiff to begin their journey. The captain explained that the voyage would take around four hours, the gods willing, and explained the rules of the ship. These, it seems, boiled down to obeying the captain's commands at all times.He told the group that the "Mermaid's Lance" was a small, fast ship and should be able to outrun any pirates spotted, but he hoped to avoid any contact with other ships. In the event the ship was attacked, the adventurers were expected to help repel boarders, and could use the crew's weaponry stored on the top deck (heavy crossbows and halberds) if needed. After arriving at the island, it was expected that the party would have several hours of daylight remaining for their initial exploration. The ship would anchor at the island overnight, then head back for Westgate in the early afternoon the following day. The captain reminded the party of the rules of the contract: no one was to remove anything from the island - except for Velduin, who was allowed to take wildlife samples - and all of them were subject to search before and after landing.</blockquote>

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