Ritha, still curious about the circumstances that got her involved in the game, buys some information about the Great Illusionist Agachock. He is a troll illusionist, a well-known Adept, adventurer, and friend to the rich and powerful, who fought slavers and horrors and travelled the fire plains. One day, however, he disappeared without warning, and he hasn't been heard from in ten years. There are rumours that he has a castle located somewhere between the Liaj Jungle and the Tylon Mountains. Ritha files away all this information for later.

The group hears several rumours about possible quests to do next. One of these quests seems vaguely political, something about quelling an uprising, or getting involved in a power struggle. Also, the rumour about the items-of-power peddler is still going strong.

However, our heroes decide to seriously check out the rumour about a lost adventurer. Agace goes to a tavern and buys everyone there a round of beer (InfoBeer! For all your rumour-gathering needs!). He quickly learns the name and location of the farm settlement where the adventurer, Azlos, was last seen. Azlos has quite a reputation, it seems. He was a great warrior, an accomplished Adept, very independent, and quite smelly.

The farm settlement is far away. How to get there? Ritha initially objects to the idea of taking a canoe. She doesn't want to spend several days rowing, saying that her arms would give out. Then the GM points out that she's a weaponsmith: repetitive arm motion is what she's all about. Latke, however, retorts that only ONE of Ritha's arms is super-strong; she'd end up rowing the canoe in circles!

After haggling a bit with the infosellers, and checking out the available transportation (with great efFISHiency, groan), our heroes hire a fishing boat to take them where they want to go. Before they leave, the four Adepts buy some extra rations. Latke is disappointed that no one seems to be selling pie.

The trip to the farming village is uneventful; our heroes arrive safely, albeit a few silvers lighter. Once there, they ask around for any news of Azlos, and learn that he was here about a month ago, but left for a hunting settlement located a ways inland. They also learn about nasty things to be avoided in this area, such as bugs, quicksand, carnivorous vines, wild tribes of T'Skrang, and the usual assortment of shambling horrors. Ia! Cthulhu f'taghn!

Our heroes wisely decide not to wander blindly off into the woods by themselves in hopes of finding this hunting settlement. Charismatic Sine goes to the fields to find a guide to take them there. A couple of overseers brush her off, but a great charisma roll ingratiates her to the third one, who takes her to his house, feeds her, and offers his son as a guide (all he wants in return is some wood, furs, carvings, and a keepsake chest for his daughter's dowry). Unfortunately, the son isn't too pleased about this.

Sine gets to sleep in comfort at the overseer's house; the rest of the group spends the night in common lodgings. The next day, the group is off, following the overseer's son along various game trails. Everyone's charisma roll with him is 2, at odds of one in forty-eight thousand. Until Ritha tries to engage him in conversation again, and gets a 1. Impressive.

Agace picks up some bark and tries to sketch a rough map of the area on it, until Ritha offers to take over with her parchment and ink. From then on, she takes notes on the trails and the area between the farm village and the hunting settlement. Hopefully these notes will be useful on the way back.

As soon as our heroes get to their destination, the overseer's son ditches them. Big surprise. Latke pipes up with, "I know horror lore; maybe if I'd tried to bring it up in conversation I'd have impressed him more." The GM replies, "Yeah, talking about faceless babies and souls screaming in terror will make you the life of any party."

This small settlement is well-guarded; every single person is busy. Sine chats with a rooftop guard, and learns a bit about what happened to the lost adventurer Azlos. It seems that a local trader guy named Jethlus took Azlos to visit a nearby wild tribe. Unfortunately, Jethlus is away right now, so the four Adepts have to hang around the settlement, killing time until he shows up.

Sine joins in with village guard duty. Latke tries (unsuccessfully) to learn the local set of trail markings from the young village kids. Agace and Ritha go out to get some food; they find some berries that are probably not poisonous, then spot a game trail and hunker down beside it. Soon, a pig-like animal approaches, they attack, Agace spears it, then Ritha darts ahead and impales it on her sword. "I'm covered in pig blood!" Agace gets to return triumphantly to the settlement, carrying three hundred pounds of pig meat.

That night, while the pig is roasted and shared with the villagers, Ritha asks some locals about the berries she found: are they poisonous? In response, a villager crams a fistful of them into his mouth, chews, swallows, thinks for a second, and says, "Nope."

Next: Working for Jethlus
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© Megan Jones 2002. This story wouldn't be possible if not for my endlessly entertaining friends, and the Earthdawn RPG originally by FASA.