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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8003501" data-attributes="member: 7015827">In order to pass the time, Dermot suggested a bit of storytelling, as both he and Shanni were interested about how the adventuring group known as “Helm’s Shadows” had originally got together. Aerikoth and Darrow took turns talking about their adventures, explaining how they had first joined the group and describing the different enemies and encounters they had together. Aerikoth’s story focused on the group’s discovery of and struggle against the ancient lich Ashnakzeroth, while Darrow’s tale featured their descent into the Clan Ironhelm Deep Delves and the recovery of the clan’s legendary axe, named Haelgrim, which Darrow bore.As Darrow finished his tale, Aerikoth excused himself and went into the cabin he was using in order to study his spellbooks, shutting the door behind him. Rahnee then staggered out of her cabin, looking pale and complaining that the grog Darrow had given her must have been off, because she does not get seasick. The dwarf in response just shrugged and pithily observed that “Sometimes ye get th' troll, sometimes th' troll gets ye.”Pincer arrived and invited the group to come up on the main deck, although he had no intention of bothering the wizard at his studies. Shanni and Rahnee leapt at the chance of getting some fresh air and were followed up to the deck by Darrow and Dermot. The dwarf expressed his amazement at the amount of water visible, as Pincer pointed out that their island destination was visible at a distance off the starboard bow, through the fog. Dermot briefly disappeared down the ladder to the hold area, but was observed by Pincer, who called Dermot back immediately, advising him not to try the captain’s patience, since the hold was off limits.After the group had a chance to catch their breaths and adapt to the movement of the ship, Red Ortho clambered up from below deck. He said they were more or less on schedule to land at their “resupply island” in two hours. He described how the ship captain would need to time the tide and then beach the ship in some soft sand by the island, there being no pier or other facilities for the ship to dock. Shanni questioned whether that would harm the ship, but Red Ortho reassured her that it would not, if done right.Red Ortho then moved on to describe the situation they would face. He related how the last time the ship had been at the island, they had encountered problems on land. Three of their camp guards had disappeared at night, with no sign of a struggle or anything else that had happened to them. Dermot threw in a jest about giant tortoises, but Red Ortho was not amused. He added that some of “the boys” had felt something cold during the night, but that was all; he noted that the island was not very big. When Rahnee incredulously questioned how three men could have simply disappeared from camp, Red Ortho cursed and said that was why the adventurers had been hired, to tackle the problem.Following some additional questions about the island and the three guards’ disappearances, during which it was spelled out to Shanni that the ship was run by slavers, the four fell to discussing what could have been responsible, with speculation running from invisible dragons to shades. Some color commentary was also provided by One-Eye, who came up from below decks to puke his guts out at the ship’s rail, one of the lingering results of his fight with Darrow.Pincer at this point came up on deck and offered to show Darrow something in his cabin. After several minutes, the dwarf returned and casually motioned his companions over where they could speak privately. Whispering, Darrow told them that Pincer had provided some additional information on the incident with the guards. Apparently two of them had decided to take a girl from the slave pen and had gone off with her into the night. Later, however, the girl had returned alone and screaming, unable to say to anyone what had happened. Despite the guards being doubled, another one of them also disappeared. The four companions considered the ramifications of this, speculating that a desire for revenge might be behind the actions. (Pincer privately volunteering this information is an indication that not all the slavers are necessarily alike in their depravity, although you will have to judge for yourself whether justice is served in the end. --R)</blockquote>

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