Move 196:  To Thurmaster

Milborne--Early Morning, 12 Eleint 1374 DR

Aloysius, Blacky, and Azrun made last minute preparations and chatted with the man who was giving them passage on his barge while they waited to depart from Milborne.   Shortly after the sun peeked over the horizon, Arachne and Daelen came down to the river as well.   With the sun up, the day started to warm, although a thin line of clouds in the west threatened afternoon storms.   A few minutes later, Capella, a tough looking woman in her mid-thirties, arrived, leaving the riverman free to go on his way.   After he collected the money for the trip from his passengers, they boarded the barge and set off towards Thurmaster.

Aloysius had assisted in loading the barge to the extent he could. After Arachne and Daelen boarded, he asked Daelen, "Did you have any luck in locating your dog?"

"Yeah. But he seemed happy enough with this Sam character.  I suppose it'll save me the cost of paying someone to feed him while we mop up the mess in the tunnels." Daelen said, helping with whatever was left.

Aloysius appeared puzzled.  "Where did this man find him?" he asked.  "Was Snow injured?  I recall there was some blood at the top of the ladder when we left."

As the trip wore on, Daelen sighed and nodded at Blacky.  "You think you and me can go a few rounds once we get there? After that last fight with the orcs I feel like I need more practice."

"Sure, I need some practice with this sword, just in case." Blacky replied.

After the trip began, Aloysius sat himself down next to the cargo, took out a book, and began writing in it.

Azrun sat with his legs crossed reading a spellbook Aloysius had given him.  He hummed to himself, occasionally singing actual words to the songs he hummed. Every once in a while, he'd look up from his book and look around at what else was going on.

Arachne spent much of the trip gazing at the river.  Part of this time, she had her journal open in front of her and an inked quill in her mouth.  Not much got added to the journal, though.

At one point, Arachne went over to Blacky and, sitting next to him, asked, "If I wanted to get myself some leather armor to wear --?  I don't think dresses are working out too well in the sorts of places we keep going to.  Certes, if we're going even further underground, I think I'd better do something about wearing more protective clothing.  So, do you think I'd have a better chance of finding something that would fit me in Thurmaster or Millbourne?  Oh, and have we collected any small swords -- something I might wield -- in our miscellaneous armory?  Or should I be looking to try to buy something like that, also?"

"You're probably more likely to find armor and weapons in Milbourne, but we can look while we're in Thurmaster. I don't think we still have any of the smaller swords with us. Too much to carry around. I'll bet
Semeren has one we can buy for you if we don't find one around here." Blacky replied

Thurmaster--Mid-Afternoon, 12 Eleint 1374 DR

The hours spent on the river were mostly uneventful.   Some movement and a couple of humanoid shapes were seen on the banks at one point, but the thick trees of the Thornwood blocked any more detail than that from view.   On their arrival in Thurmaster, the barge captain docked on the west side of the little rundown village and stayed only long enough to let his passangers unload their cargo and to turn a few boxes of supplies over to the owner of the local store.   The clouds seen off in the distance had moved in over the course of the day, and a thunderstorm seemed likely at any moment by the time the group was on shore with the chests.

Aloysius looked at the sky and quickly stuffed his book back into his pack. "I like not the portents of
yon clouds," he declared. "Let us make haste for Tauster's lest we are all soaked to the bone."

Azrun nodded, "Aloysius, let's grab a chest and we can carry it to the Inn."

"Very well," agreed Aloysius as he moved to help Azrun carry the smallest of the three chests.

As the group unloaded the cargo, Aloysius looked up at the clouds. "Stargazer hath been working on a formula that may assist us with the chests," he said finally.   "I know not if I will be able to remove the wards, but I would like to try. If I can, we may save some money. In light of that, let me suggest that we
advise Tauster of what we shall need from him in terms of identifying auras, and then return to see him on
the 'morrow. In the meantime, Stargazer can attempt to remove the wards, and . . . ."  A hint of red filled his cheeks.  " . . . . .we can attend to other matters this evening."

As the boat came into dock, Arachne took one try at making one of the chests disappear.  This involved standing close to the chest and staring at nothing in particular -- which she did a lot, anyway.

The chest sat there and did nothing in particular right back at Arachne.   It did not disappear.

Sheets of rain began to fall across the village about the time the group got  the chests to the Hound and Tails. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as they made their way inside. Other than Weismar, the surly owner of the place, and the young Gloris lookalike that some of the group had seen working there at an earlier date, the common room was deserted. The girl was mopping with water so filthy that it looked likely to get the grimy floor even dirtier than it already was. She splashed the mop into the bucket when she saw the group enter and straightened her dress across her mostly nonexistent chest. She came over to them with an affected hip swaggering walk, which looked quite silly from a girl her age, and a smile, "How ya doin''? My name's Darcy. What can I do fer ya? Need drinks? Rooms? A bite to eat?" She flinched visibly from the noise of a particularly loud thunderclap.

"Now this is the kind of place I'm used to." Daelen said, stretching out his arms after having set down one of the larger, heavier chests.  "Well, almost..." he amended with a shrug, his armor creaking with the
motion.

"Darcy eh?" Daelen said with a smile, mostly because he was trying hard not to laugh. "Well ain't you a pretty little thing. What's the house special?"

The girl beamed at Daelen, batting her eyelashes at him in what she probably thought was a coy manner. "House special's mutton pie," she replied. "You want me ta bring ya some?"

"Well met, Darcy," said Aloysius quietly. He looked around the place for a moment. "Is Gloris about?"

"Naw," Darcy told him.   "She'll be here 'round suppertime though."

"Rooms," Arachne said absently.  She walked past the girl to look at the bucket, mop and water.  Then looked around the place.  "Rooms right away," she decided.  "Food and drink, I think can wait until it's suppertime."
"Rooms fer all of ya or just the one?" Darcy asked, looking the group over again.
Azrun looked at the girl and smiled, "I think for now, I'll just have some bread and a cup of wine.  I think I'd like to have a room to myself tonight," he looked to the others for their response.

Arachne looked at the chests.  "You want to be by yourself tonight?" she asked.  She looked at Azrun.  "_Alone_ by yourself?" she asked.  She looked again at the chests, glanced around the pleasant (!) surroundings, then looked again at the chests.  "I mean, I'd like to be by myself tonight, too.  A little time by myself, even though I don't take up that much space in a bed.  But perhaps we ought to be a little bit cozier than that," she mused, then waited for another rumble of thunder to pass.  "Weather can sometimes do that to you," she suggested.

"There's five of us," Arachne said.  "Maybe two and three with one of these stupid chests in each room?  I can be part of the trio, so it wouldn't be that much more crowded than the duo..."

Azrun shrugged his shoulders, "That's fine. I wasn't sure what everyone's plans for the evening were. I didn't want to be in the way of anyone's extracurricular activities."

"I'm lookin' fer Anth, if she be about." Blacky said to the young girl.

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