Kass catches the end of this when he lands his hippogryph on the lee side of the deck. He comments "the vessel sailed out on the morning tide. They were encamped around the northern promentory and had sent a ship's boat in for supplies. Deeper sea fishermen noted the ship in question, a 4-master, when it was anchored farther out earlier in the week. I heard mention of the Northern waters, but I think that was just speculation on the part of the fishermen.

"I guess this means we'll be setting sail now," Jak groused a bit.

"I don't mind a little bit of water now and then. I little bit of water is nice. We're talking nothing BUT water as far as the eye can see! 'Cause, of course, we'll be sailing out of sight land, right?"

"Which one of you can be used as a flotation device?"

The Tengu casually strode aboard, nodding in thanks and giving a short bow.

”Indeed, it seems that we must venture forth to the sea. While I shall be unto you useless as a floatation device, if I understand the ordinary properties of wood correctly, you will find that just about any piece of the ship will work just fine.”

"Thanks for the not-so-helpful advice, Aikio," Jak responds sarcastically. "When I get washed overboard, I'll be sure to break off a piece of the ship first."

"Okay, now that we're altogether, who gets to play Admiral to Ochnam's Captain? Somebody needs to be in charge or we ain't gonna go anywhere or get anything done."

"And nobody better suggest that dang fairy! For that matter, is she still around?"

He glances around nervously, knowing that she's normally invisible.

"I'm still here, Furball," an invisible voice pipes up practically in Jak's ear. "Insult me all you want--you're not going to get rid of me that easily!"

"We know where they went!" she then adds in a mocking sing-song tone.

"This assignment is hard! Normally, we can gather a lot of information about the people we're hunting... to get a sense of who they are, what they want, and where they might go. We'd have to go to Qadira to do that for these mutineers."

"'Cause... if only good people are allowed on Hermea, how do we know that the mutineers will be accepted? They mutinied, after all. Does that make them bad people even though they did it with good reason?"

"If they aren't allowed on the island, where will they go then? Sooner or later, some of them are going to get homesick. But 'home' means 'death' for them now. They may not be pirates yet, but if that's the only option left to them...?"

About halfway through her little speech, she turns visible so everyone can see her flying in the midst of them.

"Hmm... I doubt they'd try for Hermea. Without charts, it would be risky to sail too long away from shores. Unless they risk a stop in Cheliax, I think it would be more likely for them to sail to the pass between Rahadoum and Cheliax, and deciding from there whether to risk the Shackles, or head north for Varisia." Arthur suggests. "Either way, we'll have to do our best to follow along, and gather what clues we can as we do."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:58, Tue 08 Nov 2022.

"But that's the point, isn't it?" Ochnam responds. "We don't know what charts they had."

"At least one of the crew seems to have known about Diobel. And while we haven't found any information that indicates they picked up any charts here, we don't know that they didn't. They could have stolen them rather than buy them. If they stole them from a ship that was here in the harbor, that ship is long gone, too, and even if they've discovered that their charts are missing, they have no way of reporting it here."

"I just don't think we should rule out Hermea."

"If they need supplies, they'll need to put into a port. If all they need is food and water, though, any bay will do."

"I expect them to put ashore somewhere along Thuvia's coast. Thirty to sixty days... no need to go longer when land is close at hand."

Kelmanor approached the ship after his travel from Absalom with a bit of caution. Although it was the only ship in the harbor that looked like the ship he was supposed to be joining, he still wasn't sure it was the right one.

"Ahoy, Starwind! Permission to come aboard!" he calls out. "Kelmanor here with a message from Captain Braddock!"

As owner and captain of the ship, it was clearly his responsibility to grant permission to board his ship. He didn't recognize this Kelmanor but perhaps he really did have a message from Braddock.

"Permission granted!" Ochnam calls back and then moves to wait for the man to reach the top of the gangplank.

"So, what's the message? We're were just getting ready to sail."

"Yeah, I figured as much! Which is why I had to rush to get here before you sailed," Kelmanor replies.

"The Captain did give me the details but Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are being recalled. I think there's a special mission that only they can... um, perform. At least, that's the scuttlebutt."

"If you feel it's necessary, I am to be their replacement. Well, not necessarily their equal, of course, but another body since  you've got an entire crew to get."

When the message is relayed to Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, they semi-protest for a bit, but quickly realize that the Captain wouldn't have gone to this extreme if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

They say their goodbyes to everyone and then disembark from the ship. The Skywind has a different direction to go and getting another ship to sail back to Absalom wouldn't be very fast, so they head out overland. By themselves, they can make good time.

"We are ready to sail, right?" Ochnam asks the others.

"Do we know where we're heading yet?"

"My pappy always said if you don't know where to go, pick the second star to the right and go straight on till morning," Jak offered. "Of course, that means we'd have to wait till dark to see a star..."

"So, Ochnam, do we need to wait for the outgoing tide, or is your magic ship capable of moving against the tide?"

Having not sailed to Diobel, he had no idea what the ship was capable of.

"Yes, it can move against the tide, but I'd prefer not to show off its capabilities unless it becomes necessary," Ochnam answered.

"We still haven't decided where we're going, so we'll be sailing with the tide... as soon as we decide."

"Well, Arthur suggested they'd sail to the pass between Rhahadoum and Cheliax before deciding they were going," Zaira added.

"Makes sense to me. By then, they'd have an idea of how rough the going might be... whether they needed to put into a port or not."

"And remember, that ship is a PRIZE! Just like here in Diobel, they wouldn't risk sailing it into a port. Although... I suppose they could offer to sell it to someone. Maybe trade it for a smaller less conspicuous ship."

"Ooo! If they do that, are we still going to be able to return the ship? Is there a bounty on the ship? Or is it just on the mutineers?"

Kass chimes in "I verified that the ship has 4 masts for increased sail speed and maneuverability. Makes it pretty easy to discern it from other vessels at a distance. And every 6 hours or so I can take my mount aloft and do a little scouting from on high. Just need to bring a telescope along next time."

From the dock, a half-elven woman calls out near a ship several berths away, "Kelmanor, where are you?" She had stayed behind to settle her tab at the tavern and had lost track of Kelmanor during that time. By this point, she looked tired as she made her way down the wharf stopping near each ship to repeat variations of her call until she received a response from him.

"YO!" Kelmanor returned Elena's call from two ships away.

"OVER HERE!"

When she got aboard, he asked her:

"What happened to you? I thought you were right behind me, but then I looked back and you weren't anywhere in sight!"

"I had an important message to deliver. Besides, I was pretty sure you could take care of yourself."

"Probably would have come looking for you before too long... once I delivered the message."

Elena answers, "I know, I said that I'd be right behind you after I settled my tab, but then the tavernkeeper had to help another table and then a party of 12 came in." She gestures with her hands as she continues, "And I couldn't just leave her to deal with all of that on her own, and I knew that you were headed down to the docks. So I just had to help her, and next thing I knew half an hour had passed." She smiles at his last comment, "See, it all would've worked out fine. Are these the people we were looking for?"

”So, we travel West, making whatever stops could plausibly be made, see if we find clues as for their direction, and hope to uncover enough information by the time we get beyond the Inner Sea to know whether to turn north or south. Does that seem reasonable?”

Kass adds "if I spot any intelligent flyers perhaps I can ask them if they've seen such a vessel? Never overlook a possible source of Information, I say."

"That's what I was expecting," Ochnam agrees. "I was just waiting for the tide and seeing if anyone had any other information."

"As Zaira said, it's a lot harder to find information out about the mutineers. Even if we went to Qadira, I'm not sure we'd learn anything useful. By mutinying, they pretty much burnt their bridges. From what I know about Qadira, which isn't really all that much, there wouldn't be anywhere safe there."

"Good point, Kass, but how many intelligent flying creatures are there likely to be? And would they fly over the sea?"

"If we spot a pod of whales or other swimmers, that's a possible source of info as well. I rarely ask sharks though. Information will cost you an arm and a leg ......"

Arthur nods. "Honestly, finding the ship will likely be our best bet to find the mutineers. As far as we can tell, only one of them was willing to leave the ship so close to their country of origin, and it's the one who slept through the fight. I think the others will probably want to keep sailing far from here before they consider splitting up."

Sensing a lull in the conversation, Elena steps towards the rest of the party to introduce herself, "Hello, my name is Elena. I came here with Kelmanor as part of the relief sent by captain Braddock to supplement your team after some of your number were recalled." She takes a curious look over the assembled group and asks, "So who are all of you and what do each of you do? Captain Braddock didn't really say much about all of you."