24 Lamashan 4709 AR
Diobel

I noticed that we were being followed by three men. Normally, this would not be a problem for the two of us, but we were trying to not call attention to ourselves. I turned to look for a merchant’s stall to hide in, but all were full of clay pots, glassware and other assorted breakables. In fact, there was nowhere to hide; what few people were out seemed to part for our pursuers. I grabbed Tythe and ran for the north gate. We were chased, but luck was with us and we were able to get away.

Somehow, our luck continued, and we ran into Salma, Deaglan and Candal. They had found us passage on a ship, but first we had somehow managed to be entrusted with a task (Deaglan had apparently not mentioned to the others that we were marked by the town guard). I thrust the extra clothes I had purchased at the ranger as we were filled in on our mission. Well, actually, I was not entirely paying attention, as I was still looking for our pursuers, but some not-well-liked pirate captain from Cheliax had stolen some rather important Azlanti tablets, and owed money to a local merchant. I suspect we are supposed to find either the pirate or the tablets. Tythe already is making designs on the pirate’s ship, one Hydra’s Fang.

Now that we were together, we decided it was time to find an inn and get some rest. We picked the first one we saw, called the Shadow Gull. I guess we looked like neither townsfolk nor pirates (or perhaps someone recognized Tythe from her pirating days), but all eyes were upon us as we made our way to the bar, to get a room and rum. Plans were discussed further, and I managed to catch the name of the local merchant (Staizkel) and the dread pirate (Domore). Apparently the merchant had an import office nearby, though it was getting dark, so we headed up to our room.

Oh, Salma is sneaky— she left the inn without us. Candal decided to follow and keep an eye on her, but he is not the least bit stealthy. I followed him for a bit, then, when I realized he was absolutely not paying attention to his own surroundings, leapt on him from the dark. Paladins are even less stealthy when leapt upon. Someone on top of a nearby building saw the resulting brief commotion— Salma. She was watching Staizkel’s building. Candal and I went up to the door and he asked me if I had a lockpick. Well, I do have a means of opening doors strapped to my back, but it turned out that was not necessary. I placed one hand on the door and it silently swung open.

The way I figured it, if the door was already open, then something bad must have happened before we got there. I did not want to do anything that might bring town guards upon us, so I suggested that we go back to the inn. Salma signaled that she would stay and keep an eye on the door.

We got back to the inn and Tythe and Deaglan looked, well, awkward, for lack of a better description.

Morning arrived, bringing Salma back with the news that the door stayed ajar all night on Staizkel’s building. She needed to get some sleep, so Candal decided to take up watch on the building, while Deaglan wanted to check out the local merchants. Tythe went with the paladin, so I went with Deaglan.

He had decided he needed a proper companion animal, and since Zandu’s dog had met with an unfortunate demise, he decided a wolf would be his animal of choice. He even had the name “Fuzzball” already picked out. In no time, we came to a merchant selling “exotic” animals, and he just happened to have a wolf. Now, where I come from, wolves roam in big packs, but I guess on an island maybe they are a rarity. It took some doing, but we got the cost down from 200 gold to 165, along with the promise that the vendor’s seventeen children would be starving at that price.

We have rum to occupy Tythe and a wolf for Deaglan— now I need something to keep myself out of trouble.