Pulyana 22, 1423.
After an uneventful rest at the bugbears' encampment, the PCs travel due west through the woodlands to arrive at the Skorbi River. Once they arrive at the banks, they head southwest until they can find a narrow point to cross. Bjork can see the top of a tower some ways off across the River. En route, they nearly encounter a trio of nasty looking, giant hawks which are taking turns picking salmon from the waters. They sneak off and eventually arrive at a 10-15' width portion of the Skorbi, and the troubles fording it begin. After tossing a grappling hook off to a rock formation on the opposite bank, Aldren ties off the rope to a tree and then attempts to pull himself across, instead plunging into the waters, where he is carried about 50' downriver until he finally saves himself (and nearly attacts the attention of another of the giant hawks). An attempt to tie off two ropes by Bjork also fails, and inevitably it is Pavli who suggests they fell a tree tall enough to provide a better support. Rucia tosses Nebel'shoy to the opposite side, and the rest do manage to cross the log, although Bjork takes a dip, easily swimming to the far banks.
Soon encountering a thickly reedy area, great for fishing, they persist along the northern bank of the Skorbi into the evening and beyond, deciding to press for Zolovny. A few miles outside the village, Nebel'shoy notices a place where some trees have been broken (or fallen), and there are a number of clicking and hooting sounds that seem unusually frequent. The party decides not to press their luck investigating the strangeness, and soon arrives at the up-all-night riverside village. Rucia hatches a plan to procure lodgings for Pavli at the House of Drawn Veils, and manages to trade some healing for the brothel's employees in return for a basement storage cot where the boy might remain safe. As it turns out, the basement is also where some of the brothel's kinkier chambers lie.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group arrives at the Flapping Salmon where they brave a bustling, rowdy crowd to get a 'private' booth. Nebel'shoy introduces himself to Smoker, a dwarf bouncer who knows Lubomir, and Mockleg teaches Aldren some gambling tricks, earning some coin for them both. Bjork tries to find the stage, and when he does, he kicks off a drunkard. The minotaur's first performance does not go so well, but after reading the room he launches into a gypsy ballad that rouses the crowd. He also rouses the interest of an old rival, Snowcock the Sonorous, who shows up and then challenges Bjork to a bard-off the following night at the Fairgrounds. The minotaur accepts, and Rucia shows up and then threatens violence about Snowcock, which results in the dragonborn getting tosses from the Flapping Salmon for the foreseeable future. Mockleg chases after him.
The group heads off to the Fairgrounds to check out the night market stalls, and Bjork buys a pie once they find out that Snowcock frequents the place. They also see a knife-throwers' cutlery outlet, and meet an alchemist who sells them a questionable concoction. Rucia unsuccessfully dons Mockleg's fake beard to try and get back into the Salmon, but literally nobody is falling for it. The PCs buy a pearl and Mockleg is able to identify the Frostwine Lyre for Bjork. The dragonborn and Mockleg head back to the brothel to check on Pavli, and Rucia meets a Soverat soldier named Bekked en route, who leads him there to meet Senior Lieutenant Strada, who commands the slovenly local garrison. When they arrive, Strada is outraged at being disturbed, but after hearing out the dragonborn orders Bekked to transport Pavli back to Svodnikha and help the villagers there who have recently lost Captain Krykba. Bekked passes out drunk in the basement near Pavli's cot, while Mockleg disappears, and Rucia sleeps in the nearby woods. The other PCs find an abandoned tent near the Slack Mallard vessel at the docks, and gets their rest, although a drunk almost interrupts them.
Pulyana 23, 1423.
In the morning, nobody seems to be able to find Mockleg, but the rest of the PCs reunite near the brothel. They set out to the Trawlers' Union to find Ekaterina Belov, the survivor of the supposed undead near the reedy stretch of river. Aldren buys a yellow poisonous frog off a peasant girl and then lets it free into the Skorbi. Once they meet Belov, she tells them her tale, that her father, brother and a family friend were devoured but she was able to flee (the PCs had earlier found the chewed remains of one of them). She claims the undead were a 'carpet of forms', not only some which fit Rucia's description but also wolves and other humanoids, led by a haunting, chanting voice. They ask her about the beads they found in the corpse's pocket, and it was probably a gift for her deceased family friend via his daughter. They thank Ekaterina and give her some coins, and she offers to row or fish for them if they need. They then set off to speak with Old Shard, whom Taanka referred them to, and they pass by the Ganelari Family camp before arriving at the Bloombark Tabernacle, a beautiful church that blends in naturally with the woodland and wild flowers around it. They meet the dwarf priest, who it turns out was once a lover of Taanka's, and is excited to sample her tea once more.
He tells them that there has been increased undead activity within the Deepwood Barrows to the North, and that he fears it may spill into Zolovny before long; the PCs decide to investigate once their business at the village is complete. They bid the dwarf farewell, and head back to see if they can track down Mockleg. Nebel'shoy creates an illusion of the magician's wooden leg above the village, but only one local scamp notices, and when he learns of the upcoming bard-off, he warns Bjork that he will need good luck. They finally locate Mockleg at the Flapping Salmon eating lunch with Pavli, and then Bjork prepares for his upcoming showdown with the pompous Snowcock...
NPCs
Bekked (human male): A drunken, low-ranking soldier of the Zolovny Soverat with a thick moustache wet with sweat and vomit. Carries a fighting spear and wears a lop-sided iron helm. Beyond gullible.
Ekaterina Belov (human female): A girl of early teenage years, she has a dirt-streaked face with large brown eyes, and boyish, tightly cropped curly brown hair that she packs into a gray wool cap. She wears a white apron, smeared with fish and worm guts, and several pouches that seem packed with dirt and who knows what else. Beneath she has on a leather pair of breeches and galoshes over her shoes. A knife and small fish-beating club are tucked into her apron’s sash, and she swings a bucket from which come the croaks of several frogs.
Grigorii Goryachev (human male): A large, fat-armed man with a bushy, long but well-kept mane of hair that hangs nearly down to his waist. His arms and shoulders are coated in tufts of body hair, clearly visible around his sleeveless leather jerkin. His facial features remind one of a hedgehog, with a slightly pug nose and a chin bristling with whiskers the same brown shade of his hair. He’s constantly grabbing and shaking various bottles and then pouring them en masse into mugs and tumblers that line the bar-top, and he maintains a wide grin as if he’s heard a patron’s funny joke or just really enjoys his trade.
Lukeyka (human male): An elderly man with wispy, greasy white hair, decked out in an apron and with a pick of thick spectacles with warped glass, causing his eyes to look in two opposite directions to the sides of whomever he is speaking. He runs an alchemical stall at the Zolovny Fairgrounds, from which he sells all sorts of potions, mostly with ill effects to those who imbibe them.
Madame Iulyana (human female): A stately, graying woman who looks as if she once have been a treasured beauty of Brazoskov, she wears a fine robe of cream and crimson, and her hair is held up in an elaborate bun by a number of gem-tipped hairpins, ruby and sapphire and emerald. The nails on her wrinkled hands have been painted gold, and the web of Crow’s feet around her sharp, deep blue eyes betrays her calm, calculating demeanor. She carries a ledger and quill, as well as a wooden fan and a purse suspended on a golden chain through her belt.
Old Shard (dwarf male): A bare-chested dwarf knotted in muscle, he wears the brown breeches of a peasant, held up by a twine belt, and a forest green cloak is draped down his back. He is older than most you’ve met of his kind, with long, thick gray and brown hair and a braided beard that seems to have formed into dreadlocks out of mere neglect. The left side of his face has been heavily raked with a claw, and the pink and white scars surrounded a clouded, sightless eye. He wields a long oak staff with the leaves still attached, and a spear tip with a raccoon tail attached. He doesn’t look to have washed in several weeks, and emits a musky smell which is half comfortable and half repulsive.
Senior Lieutenant Strada (human male): A man looking no older than 30 winters, he has tawny-colored hair that hangs messily down to his shoulders, and a short but bushy moustache to match. His Soverat duster is splashed with mud, his rank pips disorganized and some barely hanging by a thread. The navy blue dress shirt is heavily stained, and several of the buttons missing, giving you a glimpse of chest hair that matches the rest. He reeks of at sweat, ale, rotja, and several other spirits all at once, and waves about a brass-handled shashka recklessly in its sheath while he walks and speaks.
Snowcock the Sonorous (human male): A large, proud slab of a man bedecked in a magnificent coat of white down-feathers speckled in black. His head is blocky, his jawline square, and his black, pony-tailed hair covered in a white, feathered cap with a black beak above his brow. Fat sideburns streaked with silver flank his face, and he bears a wind-up timepiece of lacquered birch about his neck. A small ash mandolin is slung over his shoulder, and a goatskin tambourine from his belt.
Vanisza (D'vryn female): A narrow woman who disguises her age with black hair dye, she runs a jewelry stall at the Zolovny Fairgrounds which sells all manner of gems.
