Days 7 - 10: Flamerule 12 - 16
Bummin' in Bremen
Flamerule 12
Dannika stops by first thing in the morning, to make sure you're willing to stay a few more days until after the new moon. She will head to Bryn Shander to report to Mithann, priest of the House of the Morninglord. What you learned about Auril and Talos seems crucial but it also raises more questions than it answers. Hearing you're willing to stick it out, she gives you a Lantern of Tracking, which burns green in the presence of elementals. It might help you to find chwinga and attempt to communicate with them. She thanks you again, and is on her way.
It's an exceptionally clear (but of course, dark) day with no snow falling for the first time since you arrived. On your way through town, through the darkness you notice what seems to be an abandoned house built on pilings on a small island located in the head of the Shaengarne River. The building is fronted by a dilapidated dock with a large grounded, half-sunk rowboat tied to it.
You spend the morning treasure hunting, finding an old key and what might be a gemstone. Later, talking to Ewin, you recoup a gold piece for the key, but the stone is worthless. You ask about selling the spear tips you found in the Hall of Giants but he admits he doesn't have enough coins to pay you what they're worth. He recommends trying in Targos or Bryn Shander. He does offer a reward if you tell him where you found them, but you decline. You ask Ewin about the house in the lake. He tells you it's known as Wetrock. There was a woman who lived there who was rumored to be a witch, but he never took much stock in the rumors. Sightings of the woman were always rare, but there haven't been any since the long winter began. Most town folk leave it alone, fearing it to be cursed.
Wetrock
Carefully crossing the ice, you make it to the dock. Entering the house, you find mostly junk - it looks as though not everyone was afraid of coming here. Elva comes across a broken knife handle made of a strange wood neither of you are able to identify. Numchucku finds a journal detailing the account of the last few years of Thurdenne's life.
In the journal, you find there is no truth to the witch rumors. Thurdenne had fled a brutal husband in Waterdeep decades ago and could never bring herself to trust people anymore, especially men. She spent all of her remaining gold on hiring help to build, then rebuild, the house following spring floods and rarely left the island. Finally, in what would end up being the last spring the Dale has known, health problems from old age became too much for her to bear. The last entry details her plan to swim out a few hundred feet behind the island and allow herself to be taken by the lake.
In the bedroom, you find signs of recent activity. Ropes were cut and lay at the foot of the bed. You assume someone spent some time here tied up before taken elsewhere.
Back at the mansion that night, you ask Dorbulgruf about Wetrock. He replies he had met Thurdenne briefly when she moved to town and she didn't strike him as a witch. Although he never understood where she would go from time to time. Her rowboat would disappear for days at a time and she never seemed to be in good enough health to row more than a few hundred feet. She couldn't have rowed as far as Targos.
You ask him about both the rock you found (he confirms it's worthless) and the knife handle. He's seen the material before, both in the Dwarven Valley and in Ironmaster. It is zurkhwood, from the underdark, taken from mushrooms that grow to towering heights and develop wooden-like stalks. It does not appear to fare well in these sub-freezing temperatures. Elva wonders if it means Drow are taking advantage of the perpetual darkness and are up to something.
Later that night, while in meditation, Elva has a very vivid vision of the dilapidated rowboat you saw at Wetrock. It speaks to you, asking for your help in restoring it to it's former glory. You awaken with a new mission.
Flamerule 13 - 15
You're surprised how easily the frozen rowboat comes free from the frozen dock at Wetrock. Making quick work of it, you push it back the short distance to the fishing docks of town. Grynsk, still upset about you damaging his boat and your lack of commitment to fishing for him, shakes his head at the sight of you and refuses to help. Further north in the fish houses, you meet a dwarf shipwright named Naupegus Stith who offers to either fix it for you for thirty gold ("It might be cheaper than buying a new one, I suppose") or for you to work under his tutelage for eight. You opt for the latter and will be spending the next few days at the boat house when not minding after Dorbulgruf. Naupegus seems relieved you chose to do the work. He admits he's a bit superstitious about working on a witch's boat.
Once the ice is melted and the boat is cleaned up a bit, you find the nameboard with her engraved name "The Quagswag". Naupegus feels confident the boat is a hundred years old if it's a day.
When not teaching you the basics of boat repair, Naupegus seems to only talk of the sea monster whose description seems very different than your observations ("A neck thirty feet long! Teeth as big as your legs!") Eventually, he admits he has not seen it himself. Numchucku asks if he remembers any event that corresponded with the creature showing up several tendays ago, but he can't think of anything.
That night, you bring up the subject of the "sea monster" with Dorbulgruf who offers his thoughts:
"I asked Dumbworthy if anyone has tried talking to that monster. He rolled his eyes and ignored me, that pissant. The ladies love being able to talk. It seems the ice witch who did this isn’t too happy with the ladies, though. They don’t seem to be interested in doing her bidding. Of course, the only reason animals do what we want in the first place is because they’re not that intelligent. Give them that and they’ll have no interest."
