The evening before he'll leave for Absalom, Henricus is summoned to his father's chambers. Theodric offers him some brandy and informs Henricus of his expectations. The name Corentyn and Taldor shall be held in high honor while abroad and regular reports are due to arrive on his desk. He also returns Henricus signet ring which he had taken from him a few days earlier. The ring has now been enchanted to turn invisible when a command word is spoken. Once it's invisible, Henricus will have to return home to render it visible again. Theodric makes it very clear that this ring is not to be lost at any cost. Then one of the servants notifies Theodric that he's running late for another meeting, and after a handshake a carriage carries him off into the night.
Henricus decides to look for his mother and finds Silvianella en Viniana in the library going through some artsamples. They're trying to decide which artist will paint Viniana's wedding portrait and Henricus joins them with some advice. After a while Silvianella starts playing some music while Henricus and his sister share a small meal and some conversation. Silvianella then announces she will join Henricus towards the docks and retires for the evening. Around midnight both Henricus and Viniana head towards their chambers.
~ Toilday, 2 Rova, 4711 AR ~
In the morning Henricus bathes and joins his mother and sister for breakfast. After breakfast he and his mother ride through Oppara towards the docks, accompanied by an Ulfen bodyguard and butler Livius and his daughter. The group is the last to arrive at The Trident, the ship that will take Henricus to Absalom. While his horse and gear are brought aboard, Henricus says his goodbye and boards.
While The Trident slowly leaves port, Henricus quickly checks out the other passengers, and is shown to his quarters. The movements of the ship quickly take control of Henricus' stomach but he's able to keep his cool. In his quarters, one of the sailors informs him the captain will talk to the passengers in about an hour so Henricus spends some time sketching. An hour later, the sailor fetches him and he's brought to the quarter deck where the captain and the other passengers are waiting for him. While the captain explains the rules of the ship, Henricus observes the other passengers, a dwarf, a merchant and his bodyguard, and a somewhat posh looking gentleman leaning on a cane, holding up a hankerchief against the smell, also accompanied by a bodyguard. The gentleman looks like he just walked out of a ballroom party and seems very out of his element on the ship.
Henricus' interest is piqued more by the presence of a dwarf on a ship and decides to strike up a conversation after the captain's speech. The dwarf introduces himself as Reidan, and together they head over to the kitchen for a light meal. After the meal they head over to the dwarf's cabin where Henricus learns that he's working for a trademaster from Absalom as a specialist in packaging. Henricus pays attention as Reidan rants on about chests, iron and wood and has the dwarf appraise his own material which turns out to be of adequate quality but more geared towards looking pretty than to durability. After that they play some cards to get through the day, waiting until the evening meal in the captain's quarters.
During the meal there's a lot of general chit chat. Henricus pays attention to the dandy who's a travelling scholar who talks about some of his 'cases' and seems a bit disappointed that nobody has heared of Herkul van Poros. He retires to his quarters early while the rest crack jokes and play some more cards until it's eleven, the time for everyone to return to their cabins. Henricus did get the feeling that the captain is trying to be very friendly towards him, probably hoping for some more travels.
~ Wealday, 3 Rova, 4711 AR ~
After an uneventful night, the next day is spent talking to Reidan and sitting on deck making some sketch of the ship. Seeing this, the captain invites Henricus on the quarter deck for some small talk about art and his ship. Other than that nothing happens during the day and the evening is spent gambling in the kitchen.
In the middle of the night Henricus wakes up from a horn and screams on deck. When he looks out of the porthole, he sees some light on the water and burning pieces of wood are being thrown overboard. Thinking the ship is on fire, Henricus hurries up to the deck and finds the captain and Reidan looking over the rail. Apparently some wreckage has bumped into the ship alerting the crew who are now trying to get a better view of the ocean by throwing burning wood overboard and shining with lanterns. One of the sailors suddenly discovers a human figure in the water, on top of a large piece of wood. Some of the crew row towards the figure and find an unconscious young woman, who's brought aboard, and given some first aid in one of the spare cabins. In addition to the girl, a jambiya, a curved dagger of Qadiran make, is also found sticking in the wood. Prior to heading off to bed again, Henricus makes a quick sketch of a girl on a piece of wood floating in the ocean, to keep the image in his head. Curse those desert dogs, they'll pay for this!
Memorable moments of roleplay
- Me announcing to the DM : "My 17 personal servants will accompany me on my travels and their names are ..."
- Henricus informs the old butler Livius that he doesn't have to get up in the morning. "Let one of the lower ranks wake me up." Tongue-in-cheek DM reply: "Even lower than me ? You mean the cockroaches Sir?"
- Another tongue-in-cheek moment when Henricus boards The Trident. "Did you check the name of the ship prior to boarding ? No ? Aha ! One second, let me take the lastest adventure path. You're off to China now."
The story so far
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