Freeday Evening, Fireseek 7, 591 Common Year

Due to the delay caused by the rain and wind that morning, it is dusk before the Javan Queen arrives at the juncture of the Hool and Javan rivers, where the small stockade enclosed trading post called Cypress Hill is located, or rather, where it should be located. Moss enshrouded cypresses and cypress knees cover the banks of the river, except for a small clearing where the blackened ruins of a dock and a ferryboat stick up out of the sluggish waters. On the rise above the dock nothing remains of the stockade but ashes and charcoal drifting in the wind.

Captain Olnut gazes out upon the devastation from his place at the wheel atop the deckhouse and sighs heavily. “I had friends who lived there.” He spits over the side and says stoically, “No more I reckon.” He looks to Ragnbjorn, “What now, Sir Ragnbjorn?”

Ragnbjorn, standing next to Captain Olnut, takes out his spyglass and scans the shore. “Yes, there are bodies there. Looks like some broken spears and axes, lots of arrows too. These aren’t lizardfolk make however. Looks like the Amedi struck here. Hmm, someone’s out there, hiding in those reeds. Human, I’m pretty sure, but I can’t see if it’s an Amedi or a survivor from the trading post.”

Ragnbjorn turns to Fingol and the Marinus brothers with a grim smile, “Well, you know what they say: when the shit goes down, you better be ready.”

Lorindel readies his bow. “I await your orders sir.”

Rain is up on deck, bow with arrow nocked loosely held in her left hand down at her side. Rain murmurs, “I’m ready.”

Fingol voices his grim assessment, “Well, we aren’t likely to land with surprise, if we tried moving upstream they would just follow us. If there is only one person visible it would be reasonable to think that the person is a survivor. I just don’t like the fallout of a bad guess. Whatever we do, the crew should be ready with that ballista, and every available archer should be ready as well.”

Gar puts on his chain mail and says, “Aye, aye, sir,” as he pulls out his light crossbow and puts a bolt in it.

Aramek has, by this time put his clothes back on and is coming up by Rain, Snoop safely in his pocket and the invocation for his Mage Armor ready on his lips. Aramek says to Rain, “Can you see anything? It looks as if the entire post is a complete loss.”

Rain responds, “No, not yet” and tries again to make out what Ragnbjorn is seeing.

Ragnbjorn says to Captain Olnut, “Okay, bring us in, and you may want to have that ballista manned and ready.”

Captain Olnut nods, “Aye, aye, sir. Uglash! Get the ballista armed and ready. The rest of you, take us in!” The rowers then begin taking the Javan Queen to the north bank of the river by the ruined dock.

Ragnbjorn orders them to split up into three groups. “Sir Indranil and Sir Lorindel, you see that bed of reeds over there just west of the docks? I want you to take some of Sgt. Apone’s men with you and see if you can find out whose hiding out there. Father Gar, why don’t you go with them? If it’s a survivor out there they may need your healing. Sgt. Apone, lets you and I take a couple other men from your squad and we’ll look over the ruins. Fingol, take four others and scout east of the docks. Sgt. Apone, assign three of your men to stay behind. We’ll want someone on the bow, someone on the stern, and someone up on the deckhouse. There’s about an hour of daylight left to us, so let’s do this quick. If we need to I have my everburning torch, and Sir Lorindel can use his.”

Sgt. Apone quickly assigns Dale, Kash, and Ferro to stay behind on the boat. Rain and Hex are assigned to help the Marinus brothers. Vaskez and Drake are assigned to go with Ragnbjorn and himself. Aramek, Noch, Frost, and Hadsyn are assigned to accompany Fingol.

Rain says quietly to Aramek, “Be safe, and stay close to Noch”, she then heads over to Indranil and Lorindel and says to them, “Got yer back”. Rain still has her bow strung and ready.

The Javan Queen is rowed up near to the ruins of the docks and the three teams jump down into the muddy waters and wade ashore.

Indranil carefully checks over his party to make sure they are all properly armed and armored. ”Spread out people and stay frosty,”

As Gar gets out of the water, he stays low and says a little prayer of resistance.

Aramek hops off the boat in the wake of Sir Fingol and quietly intones, “Vestighu sorch-kirase” as a subtle glow surrounds him.

As soon as they hit the beach, Fingol arrays his men in a wedge with Noch in the front leading by about 10′, then Aramek and himself, followed by Frost and Hadsyn about 10′ behind. As they’re getting arranged, Fingol tells them, “No heroics.”

Indranil aligns his squad in line abreast with 10 foot spacing in between each one saying, “Stay together and aligned on me. Keep your eyes and ears open. Forward!” Lorindel is on the furthest left, and then Gar is to his right, Indranil in the center, Rain to his right, and Hex on the far right.

As Gar follows orders, he walks past Rain and touches her shoulder, “May Obad-Hai bless you and give you resistance from harm.” Then he moves to position ten feet on the other side of Indranil, gently touching his shoulder as he passes by him.

Rain says, “Thanks, Gar.”

As Indranil’s team approaches the reeds a young girl, maybe no more than 15 years old stands up from among them and moves slowly towards them. She is skinny with dark eyes, filthy black hair, and covered in muddy rags and ashes. In Keolandish she says, “Milords, help, milords!”

As the girl makes her way toward the group Rain looks her over quickly looking for anything out of place then turns her attention back to scanning all around them as others deal with the girl. 

Lorindel does the same. His bow is readied to react at the first sign of threat.

Gar waves at the girl and replies, “Hello! Are you okay? We won’t hurt you….”

She says, “Milords, our homes were attacked two days ago. I can’t find my parents and all my friends are dead!” She sobs, “I have nowhere to turn. Will you not help me?” She does not appear to be armed except for a fillet knife stuck in her belt.

“Of course, young lady, we’ll help you. Would you like some fresh water?” Gar taps his water skin, “Are you hurt?”

“Thank you, milord. You are very kind. I am not hurt, but haven’t eaten these past two days. That’s when our homes were attacked. I can’t find my parents and all my friends are dead!” She sobs again and after a moment continues, “I couldn’t risk looking for food because I didn’t know if the raiders were still about. Could you spare a morsel?”

In a quiet calm but firm voice, so as not to scare the young girl, Indranil says, “Everyone hold position. Father Gar, please ask her to stand still for a moment and ask her if she knows of anyone else nearby.”

Turning to his left and right Indranil then says, “Sir Lorindel, Guardsmen Rain and Hex, do you see anything or anyone from where you are?”

Before Gar can say anything further to her, the girl looks to Indranil and asks him, “Do you know if the raiders are yet in the area? Did any others survive the attacks?” She starts choking on her sobs as she remembers the slaughter, but still trying to speak, “They’re all dead, aren’t they? Oh, what am I to do? I can’t stay here alone!” She then makes a visible effort to pull herself together, obviously trying to show that she’s brave.

Indranil says, “Father Gar please assure her we are here to help and can give her shelter and food. Ask her to lay down her knife and walk slowly over towards you. Okay this is the time of most risk for an ambush, everyone be vigilant and ready, as the girl moves towards us. Sir Lorindel and Rain please be prepared to fire if you see any movement in the reeds.”

“We are here to help you with food and shelter, young miss,” says Gar, “please lay down your knife and walk over here slowly, please.” Gar waves her over with a genuine smile on his face.

She does as she is asked, laying the knife on the ground, and comes over slowly towards Gar.

“Wonderful, wonderful,” and to his comrades Gar adds, “Did anyone bring some rations with you?”

Hex says, “All the food is with our gear on the boat.”

Indranil says, “Let’s send her back to the boat for her safety where she can get
warm dry clothes and some food. Then we can continue searching the area. Is everyone okay with that?”

“Guardsman Rain, would you please discretely check her for any hidden weapons and then you and Hex escort her to the bank and wait for the boat crew to come and collect her? We will wait here for you to return and then continue our sweep. The rest of us hold position and stay alert.”

Indranil then calls out loudly, “Ahoy! Javan Queen!  Ahoy! Captain! Please send someone over to collect a young girl survivor we found.”

Rain approaches the girl saying, “Hi, I’m Rain. What’s your name?”

“My name is Adelina, milady, but everyone just calls me Newt.”

Rain smiles, and says, “I just need to check you really quickly and then we’ll head over to the boat and get you some food.” Rain looks her over, finds nothing, and gives Indranil the all-clear signal. Then she and Hex begin walking towards the riverbank nearest to the boat.

After Rain and Hex take the girl away, Gar says, “Sir Indranil, while we are waiting, I would like to walk into the reeds where the girl was hiding, if you don’t mind?”

“Father Gar, nay. We will all go together when we can provide support and cover for each other. It is too dangerous to search by yourself. Please continue to wait and be vigilant. It won’t be long.”

At just that moment, Captain Olnut calls out to shore, “Sir Ragnbjorn! We’ve got company!” Just upriver from Cypress Hill the joining of the two rivers forms a Y. The Hool River flows in from the southwest, and the Javan River flows into the juncture from the northwest. The Javan River then continues to flow down to the Azure Sea eastwards, the direction that the Javan Queen traveled from Westkeep. Silhouetted against the setting sun and coming downstream from the Hool and the Javan rivers a fleet of canoes can be seen, while back eastwards on the Javan River another fleet of canoes makes its way upriver towards the junction. The three fleets are each about 120 yards away, but already flaming arrows begin streaking towards the Javan Queen as they close the distance.

At the same time, Sir Ragnbjorn, followed by Sgt. Apone, Vaskez, and Drake, come jogging back from the ruined trading post followed by the hum of arrows that can be heard as they land all around the clearing, though not quite yet reaching the riverbank. “That’s funny,” says Ragnbjorn. “We’ve got company over this way as well. Fingol, Sir Indranil, get everyone to the boat!” He and the others with him crouch down and fire their arrows back into the trees on the other side of the clearing.

Fingol shouts out the order, “To the ship, double time… move, move.”

“To the ship!” shouts Indranil. With that he sheaths his sword, draws his bow and starts firing as he runs back towards the riverbank.

At Fingol’s shout, Aramek’s first thought as he turns to begin running, is to look for Rain. His training takes over however when Snoop gives him a ‘get your ass moving’ nip from his safe haven in Aramek’s pocket. He begins running while taking in the surroundings as the fire arrows begin to rain down, a magic missile invocation ready to go.

Rain hurries Newt aboard and says, “Newt, get into the deck house and stay out of the way.”

Newt looks around the deckhouse and sees a dozen longspears and two masterwork guisarmes. She figures that if the keelboat is boarded she could perhaps use one of the spears. She also looks for oil, but doesn’t see any because the only light in the deckhouse comes from an everburning torch. Cautiously she peeks out from the shutters to watch the carnage that unfolds.