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By Scott Kujawa
Part 15
Date: 18th day of the 2nd tenday of Mirtul in the year 1375 - The Year of Risen Elfkin
Time: Morning to Evening
Location:The Moonsea on the way to Shadowdale.
Weather: Temperate and overcast.Addoc started that morning’s dawnfry before everyone was awake and after he offered his devotion to Gond but this time, since he was using left over fare, it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Once Caerlin and Auy were awake, they prayed to their deities.
Around mid-afternoon, Caerlin, since she was still trying to keep watch and she saw a sealed wooden barrel floating on the west side of the barge. Caer called out about the barrel, and she looked around while she tried to figure out how to get it on board the barge. Some of the merc’s relayed her message and a few of them joined her as she stood on the west side of the barge.
“We can try to hook the barrel or lasso it maybe. Or just dive in for it with a life line in tow,” Luie answered from where he stood next to her.
Caer, with a mischievous smile on her face, looked at Luie. "Are you volunteering to go swim for it?"
“I was thinking that Aris could,” the hin rubbed his hands together. “I need to get a rope.”
Aris, who at that time was watching the water, heard the hin. "I could give it a try and I know how to swim but the other variant saves us the trouble.”
Caer chuckled. "I have some rope with my gear, be right back."
True to her word, she crossed the deck, opened her pack, retrieved the rope, and returned to where she was standing a moment ago and she tied a grappling hook to the end of her silk rope. Once she reached the railing, she ties the other end of the rope to the rail, so it wouldn't get lost over board.
Auy stood with the others. "I can do it if you want, granted I’ve never swam in water like this, but it looks entertaining."
Ragnar walked up to where Caerlin and Luie were talking and he looked on with interest. “I’m afraid I won’t be much help here. I can’t swim.”
“Is anyone good with rope, we can try to lasso it before I get volunteered to jump in,” Luie remarked.
"Ye may want to check with the barge folk," Addoc volunteered from where he sat, still going over the book on poisons. "Like as not they've somethin' just right for pullin' in things that go overboard... a hook or such."
"Watch out everyone!" Caerlin yelled as she started to swing the hook over her head and once she thought the hook had enough momentum, she released it towards the barrel and it caught on one of the metal bands that helped hold the barrel together.
“Thank the Goddess,” said the hin, ”I don’t think I would have been able to ignore my dislike long enough to go for a swim.” He reached into the folds of his shirt and then placed something in his mouth.
Caerlin carefully pulled the barrel towards the barge so that the hook doesn't pull loose and she made sure to take it slow so that she doesn’t damage the barrel. After a few moments it was close enough to the barge that she lifted it onto the deck. She saw that the top and bottom was sealed with pitch and the rest of the barrel was covered with more pitch to make it waterproof.
Caer checked the barrel for marks that might give them information on what is in the barrel or who it belonged to. The only mark she saw, which she doesn’t recognize, is anchor burned into one side of the barrel. After that, she carefully opened the top of the barrel and looked inside to see that it was filled with silver trade bars.
Caerlin gave a low whistle. "Well, this is the kind of catch I like." She smiled and tipped the barrel to the side a bit, so that those that are near can see what's in the barrel.
“Are those real?” Luie asked with his mouth a jawed. “Tymora smiled on you today, I think you just gained salvage rights.”
"Best if y'check with the Captain 'bout that," Addoc rumbled. "And best if ye check with the bargefolk about that brand. If it belongs t'folk who might... overlook such things as "salvage rights", t'would be best t'wait til we're far from the water before ye begin tradin' with 'em."
Caer nodded as she put the barrel upright and pulled one of the bars out of it. "Aye Addoc, you are right, we should ask about that. And my thought on any 'salvage rights' would belong to everyone here and not just me because of a lucky throw." She looked at the bars and she saw the same marking that is on the barrel before she looked at the others that are gathered around. "Does anyone here know who this mark belongs to? The ones on the bars is the same as the one on the barrel."
She put the bar back in the barrel, unhooks her grappling hook from the barrel, and started to wind up her rope after she got no answer to her question because none of the Red Shields have an answer for her. After she would her rope and untied the hook, Caer resealed the barrel and she moved it so that it is with the rest of the cargo. Once she was satisfied that it was where she wanted it, she wandered off to find Jelitha and the caravan master was resting near the first wagon.
Luie popped out of one of the water barrels, surprising the female knight as she started to get a drink. With a laugh, she pulled him out of the barrel and the two started to spar.
The giant harrumphed. "I hope you washed your feet 'fore you jumped in there, lad. Some of us drink out of that... or we did."
“I’d not worry about that Addoc,” Ragnar told the large man. “The water in the Moonsea is quite drinkable.” He grinned, “Though I find it strange to call a body of freshwater a sea, I must say.”
"That's as may be, lad," the Gondsman rumbled back. "But all things bein' all, I'd still like a choice tween "water that fish live in" and "water that halfling has soaked in."
Addoc cooked the eveningfast and he made up for that mornings dawnfry by making a thick stew. Luie mediated after the meal before he practiced his forms to keep himself in shape. Once the two had finished cleaning up the pots and pans, Caerlin and Addoc found an out of the way place and the scout taught the cleric some more Illuskan before they got to tired to continue and then they slept.
The content of Champions of the Silver Wyrm is the property and copyright of Scott Kujawa and is not to be published or redistributed without permission.