"This? No. My homeland is far far away. Much more shade and not nearly as hot."

"Who are you?" comes the cautious call as a small group of the locals some within shouting distance.  They are dressed in heavily-worn and fairly minimal clothing, none of it very clean, and they look nervous.  Only men have approached you, all of them with skin of a deep brown shade, likely as much due to much hard work outside as their own natural coloring.  Two of the four look to be carrying wooden hoes, and the other two have short wooden spears in their hands, without metal heads.

"We were with a caravan but got lost," says Elboc. "What is this place. Is there a city nearby?"

Voran nods and adds an introduction to each member of the party. "We seek a city to rest in," he adds.

Approaching the armed men, dripping with water, the odd wizard made a gesture of greeting, or whatever approximation thereof he thought appropriate. From what he'd read, this could be dangerous, as often something simple as an upturned hand could have many very different meanings amongst several cultures.

"Hail! I am..." he paused. "I am..." The masked face cocked to one side in confusion. He began again another time or two, but wasn't able to express his identity for some reason. It was quite curious to be sure, as if there were more than one personality vying to the fore.

His head felt leaden and light at the same time.

"Ham...burg, yes, Hamburg."

The bedraggled-looking stuffed raven on his shoulder seemed to be just as confused as the mage.

"F-food, mushrooms! Have you any?"

"Xeriops is that way," one of the men says, gesturing upriver, toward where the boat is.

"It will be your best bet for accommodation, for you and your..." another starts, then blanches when seeing the exceedingly heavy packs on the goats, "your livestock."

"We definitely can't help you here," another says in an overly-harsh tone, then he's elbowed hard by another of his companions who is holding his hoe overly-tightly and looks fairly frightened.

A fourth looks confused, then asks Hamburg, "What are mush-rooms?"

Voran nods sagely but frowns slightly. "Are you folks having some kind of trouble here?" he asks off-handedly.

The odd wizard paused, surely blinking behind his mask, "Mushrooms. You know... Food. Not meats. They, they're grown and harvested for eating, or sometimes for smoking, occasionally for making shampoo and perfume... or for stuffing mattresses even."

He seemed to be at a loss that anyone would not know what a mushroom was. It was such a staple part of the Cynidicean lifestyle that he could scarcely fathom the man's question.

"What's your word for mushrooms?" he asked his companions, thinking that perhaps this poor fellow just didn't understand the nomenclature.

The sand seemed to be shifting beneath his feet, making him feel queasy as if he might tip over.

"Perhaps he meant fungus. It seems he'd like to eat some fungus. On the other hand, if you have some meats and wines, I think that would be more to my tastes."

"Please forgive my companions here," the first speaker explains, visibly relaxing a bit, "but no one comes out of the desert from the direction which you came.  They are unnerved, and a bit frightened by stories they heard while still in their cradles.  My name is Nemeter, and this is the village of Artenofre.  Our homes are meager, and you truly will be able to find better accommodation in Xeriops.  The barge is being loaded with the early harvest now, and I suspect that the captain would be glad of even what little coin he could extort from you."  The man's face forms into a half-smile at this last pronouncement.

Voran bows. "Thank you, Nemeter; well-met. Is this barge headed for Xeriops down this river?"

"Indeed it is, and it is due to put off in the next hour," he explains.  "It will take a bit less than half of that to get to it, if you intend to travel with the good captain."

Voran nods and quickly turns to his companions. "I propose we seek passage. The worst he can say is no."

Elboc agrees, and strikes a goat or two to get them moving in the direction of the boat.

Cajoling the goats to travel toward the boat proves to be more difficult than originally anticipated.  They want to stop and eat some of everything, and it is only with the assistance of the locals that the party makes their appointment with the captain before he shoves off.

Passage upriver is shortly obtained, at the exorbitant sum of three pieces of gold for the group and their livestock, and they are crowded into the boat, along with a large amount of local vegetables and a couple of other passengers.

The boat might be called a barge only in euphemism.  It measures a mere fifteen feet from side to side at its widest point, and perhaps fifty feet from curving stern to curving prow.  With the exception of an exceedingly small cabin in the prow, the whole of the inside is open, and all parts of the vessel show signs of long use, but good repair.

Elboc will check how low the boat lies in the water. It presumably wasn't designed to carry as much gold as it currently is.

Roak, meanwhile, organizes the party into a perimeter around the goats, keeping them toward the center of the barge.

Elboc checks how the boat sits in the water, and while he finds that it seems quite heavily laden, it's at no risk of capsizing, short of a sudden and violent storm.  He scans the sky and finds no indication of such a storm.

The sky is an unrelieved blue above, but the heat here on the river is noticeably less than the punishing heat of the desert.  Palm trees grow on the banks of the waterway, shading both the water and lower-growing plants.  A light breeze moves along and carries the worst of the heat away with it, while adding a faint mist that refreshes more than soaks.

Two hours later Xeriops comes into view.  The land around here gives a brief glimpse before a low hill obscures it again.  When rounding the hill the much larger settlement opens out before our heroes.  Xeriops is no metropolis, but looks to house several thousand souls, and has a low wall encircling what most be the oldest part of the small city.  Flat-roofed, clay brick structures squat in haphazard rows, often one atop another, in a city bustling, but obviously winding down.  The sun is starting to set, and temperatures are dropping fairly swiftly.

In the distance, to the north, are purple gray smudges that the captain tells you are part of a mountain range.  More desert can be seen to the south, west, and east (from whence you all came).

As the boat slides up to the docks, you estimate that you have about an hour until dark.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:01, Wed 28 July 2021.

Roak works with the others to herd the goats off the boat and waits for someone to tell him where to go with them.

During the journey, Voran asks the crew of the boat discreetly for a good place to water and watch their little flock of goats for the night. He spends some silver on them (from his coin purse, never ever opening the sacks and chests on the goats) if it loosens their tongues.

Once they reach the city, Elboc will try to find a wizard who could make or locate a bag of holding. That has to be easier than using goat to transport their riches.

Elder Voran gets directions to a local stable that regularly houses livestock from up and down the river.  The captain himself delivers this information, obviously well pleased with the money he already received from the party.

Once the goats and their packs are settled, nearby lodgings are fairly easily found, and the sun has completely set by the time the party is ready to rest from the day's journey.

Elboc will need to take some time to see if there is a wizard of any sort here, likely starting in the morning.

"Are we leaving the bags with the goats?" asks Elboc. "If so, we should set up a guard here. I can take first watch."

Roak nods. "Yeah, we totally are, and we should watch in pairs. Voran, why don't you watch with Elboc; Vsaati and me can take second watch and then Hamburg and Lanliss can take the third watch."

OOC:
I think you guys have forgotten about Sherborne.