Port Henry – Tusk’s Docks District.

Port Henry is still under construction, but you can get a sense of what it will be like when it is finished.  A single jetty sticks out into the lake, with boats clustered around and pulled up onto the foreshore.  A large open area, nearby is used to clean fish, clean game, bundle reeds and carry out similar sorts of work -  before the goods are carried off to other businesses or sold directly to the public.   A number of other buildings ring the area - a granary, a leather workshop, a smithy, Tansy’s Tavern and another ‘bar’ called The Bottled Nymph.  There are a couple of cheap tenement blocks, but an awful lot of temporary housing – huts, shacks, tents all jumbled together.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:54, Mon 02 July 2018.

It is a busy afternoon in Port Henry, The fishermen have sold their morning catch and are preparing their nets and basket traps for setting out again in the evening.  Half a dozen people are hawking fish – some are as small as your thumb and can be eaten whole, or just thrown into a stew to give it a bit of flavour.  There are a water-swallows, slender fish that are about four inches long with sweet tasting flesh, and even a small snapping turtle ready to make a fine meal for a family.  However, the bulk of the catch is made up of mud-eels, a dull tasting favourite of the soup-shops and working men’s kitchen.  Other things are on sale as well - rabbit meat, a few eggs, a pile of kale and even a few ramsoms.  A handful of dried barley, some kale and a bit of mud eel in a stew,  will serve as dinner for most of these people tonight.

A fairly normal day, until someone down by the jetty raises a shout.  There is a ship sailing up the lake, coming towards the jetty as if it going to dock there.  While it isn’t a massive ocean going vessel  although it about three times the size of the fishing boats that are normally seen in these waters.  ”It’s a keeler …” someone mutters quietly.

The ship arrives at the jetty and a couple of sailors make fast as others tidy up the sails and put the rowing sweeps away.  Two armed men, dressed in leather armour and carrying duelling swords, step ashore and stand guard at the end of the gangplank.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:43, Sat 30 June 2018.

Wyn steps off of the boat and takes a few paces towards the end of the jetty -  nodding a greeting to the guards as he passes them.  His knee length black coat is neatly pressed, the silver symbols of Pharasma on his collars almost glowing in the afternoon light.  Bare headed his flowing hair almost seems to ripple in the breeze as he surveys the sights before him.

”This’ll be it then …” he mutters quietly.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Sat 30 June 2018.

Cloak billowing as she steps lightly onto the gangplank, Berta looks out at the port arrayed before her.  Tall and strong, the unruly red tresses jammed under a much-loved, wide-brimmed hat can't be made worse by the stiff breeze as she lithely covers the distance to the dock, a pair of blades swinging by her side and her confident expression as she nods to the guards betraying nothing of her feelings.

"Looks quiet enough," she tells her brother.  "Smells of fish, though."

She shrugs and smiles, clapping him on the shoulder.  "I like fish.  As long as they have something palatable to wash it down with."

"Seems we've got the locals' attention too," she tilts her head to bring the interested stares to Wyn's attention.  "Maybe they haven't seen a priest before in these wild lands ?"

Gedd walks down the gangplank a few paces behind Berta but doesn't look around at the scenery until his feet are firmly on the wooden planks of the jetty. Even then he looks a bit disconcerted.

"After so long at sea you'd think I would be used to it by now," he grumbles. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this. I know this jetty is solid, or at least I hope it is, but it feels just like it is moving underfoot like the boat did!"

He sighs and adjusts his grip on the composite longbow he carries in his left hand. He glances at the onlookers then grins at Berta.

"Oh, I expect this place is just crawling with priests. I bet they just haven't seen a redhead in months!"

"I'm wearing the hat !" Berta retorts to Gedd.  "And if you think the locals are staring at me, just wait till Marceline gets down here !"

"Will Winnie be alright ?" she asks Wyn, voice less strident and showing concern.  "Should I go back and help Marceline ?"

"Oh, I'll be fine ... and I am sure that Marcy will as well." Winnie says softly from right behind her sister-in-law.  "Is your hearing still Ok, Berta?" the girl questions mischievously, teasing that Berta hadn't realised that she was right there.

"It is a bit of an ... unfinished ... place, isn't it?  I wasn't expecting it to be quite this basic.  Mind you, that tower up there looks as if it means business." she adds thoughtfully as she notices Tusk Keep overlooking the docks district.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:49, Sat 30 June 2018.

A lithe, cloaked and disheveled armored mess follows the Roths off the boat, red hair messily peeking out haphazardly beneath the hood. Pulling her hood down to get a better view of her surroundings, Marceline huffs a few wayward strands from her face and looks around at the still-being-built town impassively as she fall in behind the Roths, eyebrow tweaked at their banter.

"I am fine, although it is good to be done with ships." she says in her quiet way as she stretches the stiffness out of her arms, giving Berta a look. "If red hair is all it takes, we'll be queens by the weeks end." She quips subtly as she takes in the town.

"Hm. It's very...rustic. Maybe we will cause a stir."

The older, grey-haired man who follows them down the gangplank looks old enough to be the father, or perhaps even grandfather, of any of the three young women. He looks like he would fit right in among the locals staring at the boat.

"Two redheads and a blonde stepped off the boat and stared at the town in front of 'em.
"It's very rustic!"
"It's a bit unfinished!"
"It smells of fish!" they said.

"Ha, you lasses are priceless! That's what a proper frontier town looks like, all right. And the folk here'll be just as rustic and unfinished, too. But don't you go telling 'em that's what you think of the place. They'll be good folk despite how they might look on the outside, but proud of what they are building here and none too happy to hear a bad word said about it. Don't give 'em reason to decide they don't like you before they get to know you - that's my advice as one who's seen frontier towns before and made some good friends there too."

Winnie allows herself to smile gently, and responds to Pete's comments out of the side of her mouth  "And now he is trying to teach me, an ex-barmaid who relied on customer tips, how to schmooze the locals ..."

"Ha, and very good at it you were as well," Pete agreed with Winnie. "But you're not behind a bar now, lass." At that he smacks his lips and adds, "Speaking of which, I wonder what the local drinking hole is like here. I wonder if they've anything close to Poacher's Pale Ale?"

"What an excellent idea." Wyn agrees, before turning back to talk to the boat's captain.  "If you would be good enough to keep our trunks aboard until we return, I'll stand the drinks for your crew tonight."

At the nod from the captain Wyn strides out into the square "It that a bar?" He asks one of the locals, pointing at Tansy's Tavern.  When he gets a nod, Wyn thanks the man and leads the way across to the tavern.

By the time anyone else gets here, there is a crowd of people down by the jetty, looking at the new vessel that has arrived, but keeping well back from the two guards, both armed with Aldori duelling swords that guard the gangplank.

Another small crowd hang around outside Tansy's tavern, some craning their necks trying to see what is going on.

Pipre stops by the Bottled Nymph, letting Thistle find her own way into the back yard. Thistle is often times more reliable about being where she should be than her mistress, Pipre, is. She nods at Big Job, leaning against a crude caryatid column-- still a work in progress-- before squinting down towards the port. "Huh, a to-do. Go grab Serenity for me? We're going to drum up some business. You don't have any compunctions in dealing with sailors, do ya Big Job?"

"Nah, I hain't got any compunctions," Big Job says, puffing his pipe and going inside just as a few girls in lace and expertly placed faces stick their heads out the window nearby.

He returns in time to disrupt Pipre's casual flirting and teasing with the girls.

"Sailors? Brutally uncomplicated most of the time, gives one a sense of a night's work well done to see them line up to head out in the morning. May have to bring in the whole cleaning staff, though."

Serenity takes Pipre's offered arm and strolls down toward Tansy's Tavern as a first stop.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:08, Tue 03 July 2018.

Pipre stops Wyn on their way to the bar, "Good day, sir, all of you. Are you, by chance, recently arrived here by way of that fine ship at port? I'm Pipre, a Councilor of Tusk Town, and would like to greet you properly. We haven't had.. well, any arrivals by the port so far, none that we hadn't arranged with our other holdings at least. Let me ask, what brings you here to our burgeoning town? In other words, how may we welcome you?"

Pipre sends Serenity on to head to the ship and to work her wiles on the captain, promising a safe place for their men to take care of business.

Wyn is just about to follow his family into the bar when Pipre stops him.  He looks her up and down for a moment, and then grins.  "It's OK guys, this lady has offered to buy the drinks ...." then he holds the door to allow Pipre to enter the tavern in front of him.

As serenity approaches the guards, their swords suddenly appear in their hands.  Onlookers could see that they drew the swords, but so quickly and smoothly it almost deceived the eye.  Standing with their swords out they block the way   "The jetty is closed." they say very formally.

Serenity doesn't push her luck and instead goes back to the Bottled Nymph.