The others had already killed time in town. Saina got to know the locals and let a human who aspires to be a druid in service to Zavonis. After a bar brawl where she was nearly detrained he told her a story about the Dregordian druid that trained him and how he overcame his terrible temper. His name was Roy Cole.
Carn picked up the Wright edge and for training, had a hell of a time finding items. He was low on money, so he improvised with what he had. the blacksmith is a racist, so he sent Sabine (with her camonere accent) to go speak for him. In the end an apprentice wright happened to swing through town and they talked shop and he picked up his feat (he pulled a joker in DITL).
Kodiaster spent a lot of his time hunting alone. One day he was sure he saw a flying figure in the clouds, but he couldn't pin it down.
The rangers spoke for a while about what to do. One one hand they had 10 refugees staying with them and they needed to get them .... if not all the way to Mindoth's Tower, at least part of the way. On the other hand, they still had not gotten to the bottom of the Red Headed Woman and her bandit raiders. Also, they were concerned about the Prelacy Paladin and his column of men scavanging the countryside for the refugees. they tossed around a lot of ideas. the plan they favored was to make a show of moving the refugees south and then sneaking them back in at night to stay at the Duke's manor. When they presented this idea to teh Duke, he was not thrilled about risking the lives of his people to hide ten illegal refugee outlaws that he did not know (and who could cause a political explosion with Camon). He refused. they went with their backup plan: they snuck the refugees around town at night and headed for a port. Their best option was Lake Hold and so they went.
Along the road, early in the morning, they ran into five men on the road and as they got closer it was clear that they were bandits. After some brief conversation (they didn't want to risk the refugees) the bandits were convinced to let them pass. They have orders and those orders don't include waylaying poor travelers. As the rangers passed, they saw that the numbers were three times what they had guessed, with the rest paying in wait. they turnerd every oncoming caravan they encountered for the rest of the trip around.
Once through Dooly (which they found boring) and into Lake Hold they made for hte sprawling docks past the tall buildings made to resemble mountain architecture. When they got there Solvayus saw The Joker's Plenty, the ship that had brought him from Korindia to the main land. He tracked down the first mate (an eldakar woman named Faella) and asked after Captain Pole, who was doing business at a tavern. They found him talkign to two fat Dregordians. After he'd concluded his business he talked to the rangers and said that he had room and would agree to take on the refugees as far as Riverbend if they would agree to stop some pirates that were going to be after his cargo: whatever the Dregordians wanted him to move (it was eventually going to Mindoth's Tower itself) . They were given a description of the pirate ship and taken to the bottleneck where the Lake becomes river, tended by lighthouses and signal houses to prevent collisions. There they borrowed hook ladders and rowboats and waited for the pirate ship, saying goodbye to their refugee friends.
The boat was signaled to stop and did not. As it came forward an ornately dressed Dregordian came forward at the Aft and blew a Jet of solid air into their blue, specially prepared sails. The sails held and propelled the boat forward in a small burst. The rangers hooked it as it sailed between their rowboats and climbed aboard as an Obscuring mist covered the whole ship. Crossbow bolts fired out of the mist toward the Rangers, but the mist hurt the attacking pirates as much as it hurt the Rangers in their attacks. After several volleys failed (with Carn missing the sail repeatedly), the mist finally fell to reveal the enemies to one another. The rangers fired at the Dregordian spellcaster, but were thwarted at every turn by his Armor spell. One of the men as threatened into betraying the captain and turned and fired upon him. he also didn't manage to pierce the armor, but he did anger h is vengeful captain, who turned a powerful Jet on him (and anyone caught in the blast).
A potent Blast of electrical magic from Kithain stunned the spellcaster just as his armor wore off. That was all the time Kodiaster needed to drop an arrow into his skull and end the battle. With the captain dead the crew began to surrender and were forced to pull the ship to the side of the river and drop anchor. The Joker's Plenty got away and the crew and the refugees lived to fight another day.
Notable personalities:
- Roy Cole: aspiring human druid in service to Zavonis
- Captain Pole: tall lanky captain of the Joker's Plenty. Human Male. (WC)
- Faella: serious capable first officer of the Joker's Plenty. Eldakar female.
- Assalak na Vishala: pirate captain of the Blue Jet. Dregordian Male (sorcerer). (WC)
