Dawn comes and it's stinking hot already.

Flies buzz, bite and sting.... promising a nasty trip ahead for those without the use of the fetishes gifted by the Shallow Water family.

Tolkazzi had turned up as promised with a contract, binding the Rangers to guarding the boat, it's crew, passengers and contents up until Pavis is reached. Final payment would be handed over at the Ingilli Trade House, to be found in the area known as Riverside.

Hoskar finds himself in the possession of a heavy purse, filled with exactly 120 silver coins.

It's quite crowded already down the docks, with a small contingent of Marines guarding Handsome Desi until he is handed over to the care of the Rangers.

Indigo Hue is there too, in his company a naked slave, covered in writing, that as soon as anyone tries to read or look at, wriggles and shifts across his pale skin. The Wizard has a large pile of belongings with him: Chests, a barrel, sacks, leather tubes and wooden crates. He acknowledges the Rangers with a small nod, saying that he is glad that they saw sense and had decided to join him on his trip. If he knows anything about them being the guards of the boat he doesn't show it, or simply just doesn't care.

Locals are helping to load the Pavis boat with trade goods, with the result that the deck and small hold fill up quite quickly. There's a crew of three locals, Deep Channel men by the looks of it and they nod at each of the Rangers in turn.

The boat has a shallow draft, a central sail and a tiller at the back, covered in runes and filled with magical power. The Ranger's familiars and spirits inform them that a water spirit of great strength is bound into the rudder, presumably to help power the boat against the current.

For shade there are several hide tarpaulins angled against Bright Treasure, and the braves are informed that they will sleep on deck with everyone else.

Everyone else being Indigo Hue, his slave, the three crew, Handsome Desi, two Lunar scribes and a small group of women and children, who turn out to be some of the newly widowed Black Eel folk, heading back to Pavis and ultimately their homeland in the Lunar Empire.

Soon everyone is on board, with a chained Handsome Desi handed over to Kobal.

"Make yourself known to the first Lunar soldiers you see in Pavis and they will take him off your hands" orders the Lunar officer, eyeing the Rangers up and down before marching his men back up to the settlement.

Handsome Desi scowls at everyone present and sits down in a piece of shade. He's chained wrist to wrist and ankle to ankle. There are no locks, meaning that the bronze links will need to be cut at some later date.

Tarnessh made sure to wear the fetish that the Shallow Water Folk had given him. He then took position and tried to look all guardly. Inside though, he was wondering how he was going to break the revelation that Sun Hawk had given him about the River and Oasis people. He wished that Smokey Jojo was around to talk about it with.

Handsome Desi scowls up at Tarnessh as he passes "Damn Lunar arse lickers."

Indigo Hue positions his naked slave in the best, shady spot and then begins rummaging around his belongs, finally coming out with a rolled parchment, a very tall but conical blue hat and a strange wood and canvas contraption, which after some fumbling turns into a comfortable looking chair of sorts.

He proceeds to sit down, unfurl the long scroll and read, ignoring everyone about him.

Ohanzee isn't best pleased to see that the vast majority of the passenger numbers is made up by the widowed Black Eel women folk and children. First we murder their men folk and older sons and now no doubt Amara will have us kill them too, or leave them to fall victim to the inhabitants of the River too.

Oh, but of course they deserve it after all their evil raising children and cooking food!

He frowns and then moves to the now seated Indigo Hue and points at himself and then the bow of the boat "Me be at pointy end." raising his voice and taling slowly and stilted so that his Praxian is better understood.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Sun 14 Dec 2014.

When he sees the women and children, he sighs. "Great, just when I thought we'd be free from the sound of crying women and children." He says loud enough for them to hear, then he follows Ohanzee to the pointy end of the boat, They would make good slaves, though we still have far to go

"Shut your mouth," Kobal warns, giving a hard tug on the chains.  Metal chains, hmm, they might be worth something if we're able to get them off Desi.

Indigo Hue smiles, nodding his head, though looking as if he doesn't care nor understand.


Desi grimaces in pain and sits muttering to himself, barking like a dog when one of the Black Eel kids looks at him, which sets the child off, shrieking and running to his mother's skirts.




The women don't understand Melock, but they get the idea from his tone. One of them stands and starts shouting at him, waving her arms, and then complaining to the boat's skipper in Boatspeech.

He just shrugs, but the noise attracts interest from the dock, with those river folk remaining standing around and grinning.

It's whilst this goes on another marine patrol comes jogging up, it's officer yelling at the crew to hold on, just as they're untying ropes to get going.

The Lunars have three men with them, each carrying large bundles of cloth.

There's a shouted conversation between skipper and officer and the three men are pushed on to the deck, as the boat at long last moves off, it's sail catching the wind and the incoming tide....

The three men, grumbling as they gather their gear and look for somewhere to sit, look to be a trader and his two assistant/guards.

Tarnessh ignored Desi, knowing that his vow to tell the truth could get him in a lot of trouble in this situation. He would need to speak rarely and choose his words carefully.