Day 8 - As we were so badly beaten up by the harpies, we decided that we would rest up for the rest of the day and over night as we had some things to do. We investigated the corpse of the man that the harpies were hovering over, but all we could tell was that he had washed up on the beach after drowning at sea and hauled further up the shore and into the woods by the harpies - his injuries (including a missing left ear) were all post-mortem. He was dressed in what looked like maybe a guard's uniform but he had no arms or armour, or anything of value on him in fact. We buried him and I said prayers over his body to speed him into the Otherworld. We slept well, and were not disturbed by any sounds in the night.
The following morning we rose reasonably early and continued our journey. We found that the forest road we were traversing was actually very close to the sea, and the town of Uskarn was barely ten minutes away. If we had known, we might have carried on yesterday and healed up over night in an inn.
As we approached the town we became aware of how busy the docks were for what seemed like a small village. Boats of all types (warships, merchant ships, fishing vessels) continued to come and go and the docks were as crowded as any I had ever seen. Navda, our party rogue, made his way to the authorities to let them know about the dead man and that we had killed and scared off a large flock of harpies, then caught up with us in the tavern later.
Most of us headed into the largest tavern in town - the Frog and Fog. It looked like it used to be a warehouse judging by its huge size, and patrons were from all walks of life; dock-hands, merchants, guards etc. We ordered up mugs of a wonderful frothing ale (Planke's Plank) and some venison sausages and took in our surroundings. We asked around whether anyone knew about a certain dwarf named Marley Tobe but all we got was blank stares.
After a few more rounds of ale and no clues to finding our quarry, we headed out in search of a cloth merchant in case Marley Tobe had sold anything to one of them. We hit upon one such trader and she mentioned, after a few coins exchanged hands, that she had bought a few bolts of fine silk from him, and that he seemed like he was in a bit of a hurry to be away. He headed over to Firewatch Island as soon as he could and was not seen again.
We thanked the merchant for the information and went back to the docks in search of a boat to take us over to the island. We chanced upon a small keel boat with a half-orc captain, Raskil, and crew who offered to take us over for a number of coins - he seemed a little confused by his numbers and was constantly settling upon differing amounts in gold and silver, but we finally got a fair price from him. On the way over we were able to garner some more information from the captain, for a few extra coins, that he had ferried a dwarf matching Marley's description to the island around four days ago. He said that Marley didn't come back and that Raskil would not wait overnight anywhere near the island as it was haunted by strange sounds.
The crossing was smooth, and the island with its three peaks, fortress and towers didn't look particularly busy. The jetty, when we got there was deserted, so we disembarked and requested that Raskil come back the following morning to pick us up. He rowed off as quickly as his craft could carry him and his crew.
A quick search of the remarkably well-kept jetty and area revealed several sets of footprints going to and from the water's edge. Other than them being humanoid, with some being in shoes and others not, we could make no sense of them.
Firewatch Island - from a screenshot in Fantasy Grounds
We decided to go and investigate the fortress-like building, but just before we reached it we were attacked by a large bird-like creature, with deer-like horns on its head, that had presumably swooped down on us from one of the nearby peaks. We stood our ground and fought back but, once again, our attacks were rarely successful. Gladreth, our wizard, Navda the rogue, and Dharion the ranger seemed to have more success than the fighters in our party. Again my spells were ineffectual but my sling was more sure - I really must make amends with Pelor to put things right - maybe a large donation of the treasure I have accumulated will assuage his anger with me?
After a fierce struggle, we eventually managed to subdue our foe and carry on with our journey to the fortress.
The large building seemed all but deserted as we passed through the archway entrance. The grounds were quite well-tended, but there were one or two wild looking shrubs and bushes off to one side. A quick look around the side of the building revealed a make-shift distillery in a tower, and more grounds.
Druss, the dragonborn barbarian, heaved open the main (only?) double-doors to the fortress, which were held closed by a makeshift barricade on the inside, and we made our way in. The main entrance hall had arrow slits on either side to create a killing zone, but those on our right had been blocked up and those to our left were thick with cobwebs. There was a lot of blood on the floor, sure signs of a deadly struggle, but nothing else of note. A quick peek through the arrow slits into the room beyond revealed more webs and not a lot else.
As there was only one other way to go, we approached another set of large double-doors opposite the entrance. Again, our strongest members pushed the doors open to reveal a large room with some broken furniture and more blood stains; signs of a very recent scuffle.
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