Dann goes down as well and looks left and right, ready to react if something unexpected happens. "Hurry friend. I don't like the setup."

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 16):

Kores heads further downstream next to the river, looking for branches that he can pick up and hopefully use to reach for the barrel...

He is not inclined to get wet in this weather just for an empty, floating barrel of air....

Trivel looks impassively. As long as nobody gets wet - which he would rate as suicide in this weather - he's fine with letting the thing float away.
It could be wreckage with fine treasure, but what are the odds?

Tobias fires and against the odds his arrow hits the cask, despite being badly thrown off by the addition of the rope to its flight, Tobias grabs hold of the rope and begins to pull on it carefully.

Danns keen eyes seen Tobias foot slip and he also grabs hold of the rope to steady Tobias and haul on it.

As it gets closer to shore Kores is able to guide it up onto the bank with a piece of driftwood.

Retrieving the arrow there is a rich peaty aroma rising from the arrowhead that had pierced the cask.

OOC: not sure to understand if only the arrow was retrieved, or the cask as well.

OOC: Cask as well.

In reply to GM (msg # 21):

Kores, with a dark, negative expression looks on.

"Well, doesn't anyone want to find out what it holds?"


Standing back, in case it explodes...  3m away...

"Let's just hope that's the smell of fine liquor and not gunpowder." Tobias cheerfully examines the tip of the arrow, then runs his finger along it, to see what comes off. "Though the latter might have its uses." He sniffs at the substance gingerly, then licks the tip of his finger, grimacing slightly at the taste.

Dann is as wary as Kores, not wanting to come too close to the cask.

A smile comes to Tobias' lips, the clear liquid within is whiskey....very good whiskey....

In reply to GM (msg # 25):

"Fine liquor, it seems." Tobias laughs - at least partly in relief. "Why the devil is a cask of whisky floating the Shadowspan?"

He turns his gaze again to the flotsam, to see if there are any other signs of unusual debris - or what produced them...

In reply to Tobias Garrick (msg # 26):

"Maybe the last owner didn't like whiskey."

In reply to Kores Varias (msg # 27):

Tobias clamps his pipe back between his teeth, and - satisfied that they are no longer in danger of a conflagration - begins trying to light with his flint as he eyes the river. "In that case," He grins, "we are truly dealing with a fiendish and alien mind..."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 12:14, Thu 10 Mar 2016.

In reply to Tobias Garrick (msg # 28):

"....don't like whiskey myself..."

Dann is relived, but just a little. "Expect to see a burnt house or a sunkun ship up the river. I know all too well how this kind of property ends up drifting in the water..." Turning to his mates, he adds: "And we should probably be prepared to deal with those who attacked."

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 30):

Artair smiled, " Such as may be, but theres nought about now."

" Lets move on, we can sell the flask or drink it, up to you lads."

He gees the oxen along again after harnessing them, " Only a few more miles to go and we'll be out of the chill."

Seeing no sign of wrecks or pillaging the companions continue along until they come to a small trail, which has seen regular use, leading off into the interior. It curls away from the river and over a rise towards a small gully in the hills.

" The inns down this way, unless you've changed your mind."

"I know I haven't." says Dann.

In reply to Dann of Clan Valin (msg # 32):

"Hide the barrel.  They might try to reclaim it."

"The inn would still be welcome. Though if that cask is theirs, we may find the inn a smoking wreck, from the sounds of things..." Tobias muses.

Adair laughed, " If it was we'd see the smoke by now."

" Come on..."

"I suggest we should just be grateful", Trivel says, breaking his silence. "We got fine drink for free. If everybody is lucky, it has just dropped off a barge in the night. And if someone has been unlucky, well, it wasn't us-which we should be grateful about".
He looks at the road leading to the inn.
"I'd put a string on my bow, though, at least until we reach said teahouse. And I'd suggest we chat less, and look more for ambushes".

Tobias nods thoughtfully at Trivel's observation. "Right enough." He unslings his crossbow and carefully begins to load it before they move out.

In reply to Tobias Garrick (msg # 37):

You soon arrive at a low building, with stone walls and a thatched roof. An inn sign creaks in the wind, and a beam of light falls from the front door onto the wooden verandah that completely surrounds the main building. In the beam of light stands an old man, his body stooped and his hand up to his eyes, watching you approach.

"Hello there old man! Is your inn open for outsiders?" asks Dann, all the while looking around for a possible ambush.

"And for honest people like us, as well", Trivel adds, maybe showing his own sense of humor. Or maybe he just disapproved of the "outsiders" moniker.