The ride out of Ptolus is fine and they barely notice the various eyes scrying them. Or maybe that is just imagination. Or paranoia. Still – just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they ain’t out to get ya. A gentle ride through the countryside and skirting the forest brings them to a town named after a ferry. The ferry no longer exists because some wizard got pissy and changed the flow of the river. Goodbye income stream. Goodbye jobs. Goodbye townsfolk.
Some time spent in the remaining tavern has them cross paths with folks looking for free drinks. A glass here, a tip there and they have a lead. Lothar the Shiv has relocated to a different river town…one that still has a river. A bigger river, in fact, since the diverted flow adds to the existing river. Off they go!
The countryside is bucolic and the ride is uneventful except for the part where bandits try to use them as targets, but that is a minor annoyance. The town is towning and it isn’t too long before they wheedle some info out of a barfly – who directs them to Lothar’s house on the riverside. Off they go!
The house is broken into and shows signs of hasty departure. Like…teapot still warm and fire still smoldering levels of recent. Some preliminary breaking and entering attracts the attention of a group of thugs and their wizard pal. Zaall introduces himself with a Fireball. The party is in the process of overwhelming the outclassed thuggery of the river town when it seems they have attracted the attention of the Loivitards – a paladin, cleric, acolytes and foot soldiers. There is a moment of teeth gnashing and hissing and the desire for blood is overwhelmed by the need to put distance between the do-gooders and the not-so-do-gooders. While the group retreats out the back door, the paladin and company arrest the damaged bandits and do some cursory investigation of the premises before declaring victory and departing with their captives.
Further information is obtained that points towards Lothar having been visited on multiple occasions by folks from a nearby town – seedy folks of a most unsavory sort. Great! Our kind of people. Off they go!
As they journey they run across a hijacking/robbery/murder scene. Dead drivers, looted wagon, but nothing really taken. Curious. Entering the town, they realize it is a nest of smugglers. Initial inquiries at one tavern result in rudeness. Inquiries at another tavern are more forthcoming, and the group consumes stolen goods in an unusually high-quality dive bar experience. A little of this and a little of that and they come to learn that Lothar blew through here like he was being chased by devils – chartered a boat and headed out to sea. There is a possibility that he could be headed back to the town they just left! Off they go!
Tearing back across the land, they return to the river town. No sign of the Lothar, but there is a tip from one of the smugglers that the tattoo shop has underworld connections, so they stake it out and eventually assault the place. There’s some fighting, some killing, some raising of the dead as zombies, followed by more killing. Along the way, Fingers takes off in hot pursuit of what appears to be a head honcho and his henchman, but the rest of the group is trying to take what isn’t nailed down and looking for clues. Kegdrain notices that there is a group of Loviatards fording the river and suddenly the focus shifts back to escape. Bayge finds a map fragment between the moist and fragrant mattresses of the head honcho’s bed, and while Sniffles sends her zombie horde out the front door – the rest of the group escapes to the back through a secret door.
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