Day 09 (S7)

The next morning we are all up around sunrise, and Roger leaves by just walking into the river and starting to swim.
Rina - Day 4 Leaving Boggy Roger, Going to and leaving Duskford

We get to the next town, Duskford. It is a bit nicer than the little towns like Mistbrook and Stoneslope. Everything is mostly paved. The bridge that goes over the river is a big part of the town, and it has a reasonably sized port for barges, etc. There is also a sewer system made of trenches along the road. In this city, it is more common for women to also be doing manual labor here

The people here are wearing huge wide-brimmed hats, large goggles, and full cloaks. These people are the Druse - another species of humanoid who have long, thin limbs and white skin. Most naturally have black hair.

There were a few places in town worth visiting: Tavern/inn combo, additional seedy bar, general store, the port, and an odd cubed-shaped building. The Cube building has no name on the outside, but the sign is a pair of red lips that have fangs.

We start by going to the general store. The owner there buys the remainder of the deer meat from the night before, Rina handles the sale - 7 silver, intending to use it to do something for Roger in the future. She also gets some Jerky in replacement for later. Kin wants to buy a hat like the ones the Druse are wearing. The shop owner came back with his own hat that he had gotten as a child. Children are given the base hat when they are young, and their parents add more to the hat each year. These hats have a tree-like pattern on them and the additions are more leaves in the pattern. Kin also bought a fishing rod and tackle.

The shop owner tells us that Castle Frey has the oldest and largest ShapeSmithing school in the continent, so we should go there for weapons, etc. (be prepared with a list of what you want in this city). There are also scholars that may have information. We asked him about the Fearsome 5 but he did not really know about them.

We then decide to head to the cube building, called the Vampiress' Bite. Inside it is mostly dark with a hallway that leads to a lit desk. Man at the desk asks if we have an appointment. We say no, and ask what the place is. It is a pleasure house. We ask the man about the Fearsome 5, who we know have some members from Basta'Thrope' & are likely Therianthropes /Beast people. He says that one guy with wings and lion legs came in around the time we figured the F5 would be coming through here. They had his name in a ledger - could have bribed him for it, but we decided not to pursue that information right now and to ask around Castle Frey instead.

Afterwards we go to the port area and find a woman directing boats. We ask her if she knows of any boats going to Castle Frey within the next day or two. She says that there is a guy with a large boat leaving in a few hours, and to find him in the seedy bar to talk to him - Bradley is his name.

We went to the bar and asked the bartender if he knew which person Bradley was, he pointed him out. Rina bought a round for everyone at the bar, now everyone likes us (but I did forget to give any of them our names haha oops). Bradley gladly offers us a ride on his boat in a few hours, it is 7 gold for all of us (plus the horses).

We overhear a couple of farmers talking about their wives. One man keeps saying how he misses his wife’s cooking and cant wait for her to return. The other mentions that he remembers when this happened to him, and how annoying it was. We ask why their wives are gone, they tell us that they have been chosen for the Blood Tax. The Blood Tax has been a part of this country since even before its founding. It is basically jury duty, but for blood sacrifices to the Dhampir lords.

We leave the bar and spend the rest of the 3 hours talking to our horses (those who have beast speech / speak with animals at least). We reassure them that they will be ok on the boat. Kin’s horse is flawless as usual. My horse acts like she’s more of a stoner than my character is. Aurelius’ horse is just like “I am a horse” - Rina tried to name him MidHorse but that didn’t go over well. MidHorse got mad. The donkey flailed for its dear life upon hearing the news of water.

We share a little room on the boat with cots. Both Rina and Kin watch the sunset - Rina loves the yellow in the sky, Kin loves the sunset and sunrise. We then turn in for the night, and awake at sunrise.