Laying low has been the occupation of choice these last few months.  She made no shortage of enemies in Tronsket as of late, and Piquo was no friend of hers either.  Strilhome was for the birds, literally, and cold.  She had tried to head to one of the larger islands in Belka, where she could avoid the water, but the ship she had been on had a hell of a run of bad luck.

In the end, she had found herself in Faq U in the dead of winter.  For months, she hid indoors from the wind, going out in the town for food.  Renting a room long term, buying fish, sometimes drink.

Getting a big sailing ship out of Faq U would take a while.  It was on a fairly large island, over 30 km in length, with some ruins she had seen in rocks beyond the forest... on the water.  The town of Faq U itself was set among a series of strange, stony hills.  But mostly, it was windy and cold.

Out in the Aifla Archipelago... or the Belka Archipelago for that matter, she had water.  Lots of it.

Now, it was spring.  Just starting, but with the thaw would come ships.

She was just enjoying her time and waiting.  She had slept through the day, and was up past dinner when there was a loud hammering below.  Growling, shouting, and cursing...

A loud whine would escape her as she was woken up. She was a night cat, not a day cat! What was this racket about! "...damnit. What's it take for me to get some sleep around here..." She muttered as she finally rolled out of bed, literally.

She would crawl over to the door, and shimmy up the wall to a standing position. Sighing softly she would open the door just a crack to see if she could see what was going on. Or hear a little better what all the ruckus was about.

Up and about, she looks around... to her surprise, it was dark out.  Though right now, dark also meant -cold-, and she had enough of that.  Not as bad as the winter, the night wind still howled outside.

A gruff voice was speaking.  "Bandits!  Raiders!  We have to do something, we have to -find- them!"

Another voice, the proprietor of the inn, was speaking.  The heavyset woman sounded angry, but also tired.  "What are you going to do?  The only ships are under repair or are setting sail, and it's too dark to see anything.  They already left."

"I'll... commandeer the remaining craft."  "That'll go over well.  Do you have a plan for what to do after that?"  There was a curse, and silence...

She muttered and went back into her room and got dressed rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She grabs what she needs and then heads back out of her room, looking downstairs for the moment.

Then she climbs up on the banister and leeps down onto the floor below. Landing on her feet, she does a small roll and then stands up. "What's the problem?"

The heavyset woman Murleena remembers, but what she wasn't expecting was the halfling... a short earthfoot, maybe three and a half feet, couple inches less... in metal armor.  With the face and body of a shaggy dog, he looks up at the sudden appearance in surprise.

"Problem?  Kidnappers is the problem!  Damn clerics, they came back into town and took people!"  The earthfoot says, growling and shaking in anger.  "Cowards in the night, they swept in and now have fled!"

The proprietor spoke up.  "They left in the middle of the night.  It's unusual, it's hard to see to sail off in the dark.  But no one can really pursue that..."

"There's two ships in the harbor.  They are doing repairs, but if at least one works..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:50, Sat 08 Jan 2022.

A small whine escapes her at the mention of ships and water. "...they probally had one like me. I can see at night, and in the shadows..." She said with a simple nod, an ear flick, and a tail twitch. "...we sure they left by boat?" It was obvious she had no love for the water, none. Zero was an overstatement.

The earthfoot squints at the whining noise, glancing at Murleena before looking to the proprietor.  "I'll take a boat.  Even a fishing boat.  If they went near, maybe..."

The woman glances at Murleena and sighs, then glances over at the dog-tetraling.  "Moft.  Fine."  She moves around behind the bar, and starts rummaging.  Murleena can hear a box being opened.

When she comes up, she sets what... looks like a large ball on the table.  It's some kind of rough-textured seed, covered in a weird crystalized sap.  'Moft', the armored earthfoot, reaches up to grab it.

But the woman keeps her hand on it.  "I need to know you'll make it back, Moft."

Whatever this drama is, Murleena wasn't privy to it!  But it seems to be about this ship, and a kidnapping?

"Who was kidnapped? And what IS going on with this ship?" She said firmly, getting a little frustrated at the idea of water being involved, but more so at being kept in the dark.

She places a single claw on the bar between the pair of 'people'. "I can see you must be friends, or at least know one another well." Then she looked towards this 'Moft'. "If you cannot see in the dark like me, then you will not find even the leaves you walk on. My eyes and ears are better than anyone. I can even see at night." She said as she tapped the side of her face near her eyes.

The claw makes a 'tap' as it lands on the wood.  The proprietor looks over to Murleena, then over to Moft.

Moft makes a sound like a grunt, and she can see him blowing air out of his mouth for a moment.  "Three ships came into harbor today.  One of them priests, some kind of cult out of... of somewhere west of here.  Damasto."  He corrects himself quickly.

"They started a scene in the market this afternoon, but were moved to leaving.  But they snuck back in the night, robbed the stores at the market, and kidnapped people!  Farisha, Gordon, Mel!"

The names drew a wince from the proprietor, who interjected.  "She's right, though.  You won't spot a ship in the night like this."  She looks over to Murleena for a moment, her brows furrowing a little.  "You'll help him, then?  One of those two ships out at the dock may be seaworthy.  If not that, someone may be back with fish..."

Moft was silent.  But then he took the seed off the counter.  "Well, you'll help me girl?  I don't have anything to pay you with- not much."  He rustles around, checking himself.  There was a muffled grunt as the proprietor set out a small sack, but one that clinked loud.  "If you are going to go, go fast.  Before that ship is too small to see."

"...I hate the sea." She said with a frown. Then with a quick swipe she snatched the pouch up, and peaked inside of it. "But, I been having bad luck lately..." She said, as she looked from the pouch towards the proprietor and then to Moft. "...you make sure I don't drown if I end up in the sea, and I make it back, I'll do whatever I can to spot the ship you're looking for."

Then she looked at the gathered again. "...anything I should know about it? That'd tell it apart from other ships?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:38, Sat 08 Jan 2022.