No More Boats!
Sure, the day started off nice and pleasant. I was still sore and scratched up from our encounter with the crypt ghouls the previous night, but nothing feels better than paying off a debt. Except for gold. And ale. But ale had arrived with breakfast, and based on what Arina said about her mark in Grausee, it was clear that gold would soon follow. The morning air was filled with adventure, and the day was ripe for the taking. And then we got on that blasted boat, the Trandafer.
Rutger Reuter was the merchant who hired us. He was all smiles and charms, promising us three gold crowns each to oversee some construction in Grausee for a couple weeks. Sounded like a good deal at the time: we’d get to ferry to Grausee for free, earn some extra money, explore some new taverns. So we shook on it. It wasn’t until later that I realized the ship was a wooden death trap, the Strigany folk manning it were pretend sailors, and the barge master’s mother was probably a witch!
The old hag was chanting and mumbling to herself about a river monster the entire trip! At first I thought it was just senile delusions, so I didn’t pay any mind to her, just focused on seeing the sights. As we got closer to Grausee though, that’s when I noticed Crespin kneeling next to her, and chanting with her. I didn’t put it past Crespin to join in with the old crone and sputter out his own delusions, but I should have known better and recognized the bad omen. Instead of bracing myself for the worst, I went ahead and uncorked my brandy for a little afternoon sip. And that’s when it all happened.
Our Strigany master sailors drove the boat straight into a bed of rocks! They in fact rammed it in with such force that I flew right overboard into the ice cold water! And what’s worse, it seemed like the combined magicks of our baby wizard and the old hag lured an enormous hellspawn fish towards us! The damn thing’s maw was as large as a small keg, with a hundred dagger-like teeth. I tried to stab at it as it swirled around in the water, but it jumped at me and came an inch away from biting my head off. Luckily, Riverwynd shot a stone right in its eye and scared it off. Never in my life did I think I’d be glad to be companions with an elf. But that single stroke of luck quickly drifted away downstream. The sorry excuse for a boat began to crack open. We rescued the ship’s cargo to the shore before it completely fell apart, but alas, most of my brandy spilled during the whole commotion.
Meanwhile, that damn fool Rutger just kept on grinning, completely unfazed by the disaster. “What a fun adventure”, he says. “I guess you’ll have to carry the cargo the rest of the way to Grausee”, he says. “But, don’t worry, there’s an extra gold coin in it for you”. Oh yeah? How about we see some shinies then, huh? “I’d pay you now, but I don’t have the money on me at the moment”. Hrumph! Haven’t heard that one before. His gold better be real or his pretty idiot smile is gonna be missing some teeth real soon.
