V. Business Ventures

Over the course of the next two months, the party rested, observed the progress of the Darksea recolonization effort, and began to practice their various crafts and professions in order to generate income. Arnold reached an agreement with the new operator of the newly renovated Darksea stockyard (another Enterprise member) by which Arnold would be supplied by the stockyard at a large discount. Firiona went back to the magic academy, supervised its restoration, and started brewing potions. Green Arrow reopened a bowmaker's shop in the north end of Darksea, while Edward reopened a smithy in the same vicinity and began forging weapons.

One night about a month after the party's return to Darksea, Edward heard a knock on his door. He opened the door and saw Miae, a bottle of newly brewed ale in her hand. "May I come in, big boy?" she inquired. Edward invited her in. They sat down in the parlor, and Edward asked her about rumors she might have heard, and about her business. Miae replied seductively, "You know I didn't come here to talk business." Edward, coming to his senses at last, invited her on a tour of his mansion, ending up in his private chamber. Miae proceeded to push him onto the bed, jumped on top of him, and whispered in his ear, "I hope you don't mind getting involved with an older woman . . . " Edward proceeded to prove that he didn't mind at all.

Next morning, Miae told Edward that she was leaving on a business trip and would be gone for some time. Edward gave her a key to his mansion, and instructed his butler to allow her in when she came by. On the way out, Miae returned to Edward a bag of coins she had previously lifted from him! "If we're going to be involved, you have to start paying attention," she cooed, and then with a flip of her long red hair, she was gone.

The next day, both Edward and Green Arrow were summoned to Pellak to meet with Enterprise officials; their assistance with various administrative matters was needed.

While Edward and Green Arrow were away, a stranger appeared at the south gate of Darksea, craving admission to the city. Neither the guards, nor Firiona whom the guards summoned, knew of the stranger, and so Firiona brought in another wizard to help determine whether the stranger was telling the truth about himself.

The man introduced himself as Mediel, a monk and student of Moreshi, the former companion of Edward and Green Arrow. As he told his tale, Firiona was advised by the wizard that he was telling the truth. The monk, motivated by Moreshi, wished to join with the party. After due consideration, Firiona agreed to let Mediel enter the city and introduce himself to the remainder of the party.

Several weeks passed while Mediel trained (using the facilities at the old temple of Kord) and familiarized himself with Darksea. Then, Firiona, Lou and Arnold were contacted by three Enterprise members and asked for their assistance. At a meeting the next day at the inn at the south gate of Darksea ("The Sign of the Cloud"), the three members described the mission for which they needed the party's assistance.

Over the course of the last several months, life and commercial activity had begun to return to Darksea. Several mines had been reopened, craftsmen and traders had moved into the city, commercial buildings and residences had been restored, and inventories of various goods had built up. After examination of records found in the government center and in several old trading company offices, it was decided to organize a trade expedition. The mission would transport trading goods (metals, weapons, tools, horseshoes and jewelry) by wagon out of Darksea to the trading center of Thornward, on the Fals River. From Thornward, the mission would hire a boat to take them down the Fals and Velverdyva Rivers, to Mitrick, the capital of Veluna, and eventually to the city of Verbobonc (from which Greyhawk could eventually be reached). As well as trading, the mission would gather trade and geographical information.

The party agreed to join the mission, lending their protection to the traders. They also invited Mediel and Edward's cohort, Bedevere, a stalwart marshal, to accompany them.

A week later, the trade mission prepared to depart from the south gate. The three organizers (Manius the banker, Aston the merchant, and Garth the weaponsmith) assembled together with eight guards and six wagons to transport the party and the trade goods. The party was surprised to see the last member of the trade mission: Miae! She gave the organizers the Enterprise recognition sign, to the surprise of Firiona, Lou and Arnold.

The mission set out from the south gate of Darksea, progressing down the newly restored highway that later leads along the river flowing out of the Darksea lake. After about fifteen miles and two stops at newly restored taverns along the way, the trade mission emerged from under the mountains, passed through a new village under construction at the tunnel's mouth, and proceeded on the road to Thornward.

During the evening, the mission encountered and defeated a clutch of yrthaks whose territory the Thornward road crossed. Two days later, the mission entered the city of Thornward. The horses were stabled, the wagons were put in storage, and the group found lodging at a high-quality inn ("The Motley Devil").

Next day, both Bedevere and Arnold began gathering information about local conditions, rumors and the like. Arnold learned from various patrons of the Motley Devil that hill giants, as well as pirates, had been sighted at various locations along the river system.

Arnold and Lou also decided to use their time attempting to steal from the patrons! Lou gave a remarkable performance which entranced the audience, while Arnold stole several coin purses from them. After the performance, however, as the two began to leave, they are stopped by Hulk, the bouncer, who had (along with the tavern owner) observed their actions. Hulk took the two mischievous halflings to the tavern proprietor, who sternly rebuked them and recovered the stolen purses (by having Hulk shake Arnold upside-down until they fell out from his clothing!). They were then invited to leave the inn and never return.

Meanwhile, Miae and Firiona went shopping, as girls are wont to do. The trade organizers conducted their business, arranging for the sale and purchase of various goods. And later that night, Bedevere attempted to placate the tavern owner, offering a large premium to the robbed patrons in return for the owner's putting aside the incident. The owner agreed.

Two days later, after Manius and the other organizers had arranged for the purchase of various goods to be picked up on the return voyage, the trade mission embarked on the keelboat "Not for Hire". The boat cast off, with a fine breeze behind them, and began the journey to Mitrick and beyond. After about 60 miles, the boat entered a gorge, the river being strewn with rocks along the south shore, making navigation difficult. The party noticed movement among the rocks to the north. About three miles further downstream, suddenly the boat came under fire from a hail of boulders!

A hunting party of hill giants attacked the boat, later joined by ogres, orcs and huge dire wolves. The party defended themselves with great valor, killing a number of giants and ogres, including the hunting party's leader, a mighty barbarian, and putting the rest to flight. Although the keel boat sustained significant damage, the captain was able to navigate through the rocks and boulders in the river, including those hurled by the giants, and continued downriver. The party looted the dead, and took heads and scalps to prove their success in the event a reward was offered for defeating the giants.

After two more days on the river, the party docks at the city of Mitrick, capital of Veluna. A city port official greeted the ship and collected the (rather substantial) city docking fee. Manius advised that the party would be staying in Mitrick for about three days to conduct business. The ship's crew and the guards would be staying at the nearby sailor's inn, "The Drunken Lizardman", but the other party members were free to stay wherever they liked and do what they pleased for the duration.

Arnold, Lou, Firiona and the rest of the adventurers found a good-quality inn nearby ("The Brave Axe"), headed for the tavern and ordered beers all around. Bedevere inquired about recent events of interest, and learned that pirate activity had been reported recently in the vicinity of the Dapple Wood, several hundred miles down the Velverdyva River. He was also told of attacks by hill giants upriver from Mitrick.

Bedevere told the bartender that the party had encountered and defeated a hunting party of hill giants on their way to Mitrick. The bartender in turn told the adventurers that a bounty had been offered for dispatching the monsters, while other tavern patrons, overhearing the conversation, looked on the party in amazement. The bartender directed the adventurers to the nearest sheriff's post to claim the bounty. They headed to the post, brought a sheriff with them back to the ship, and showed him the fifteen heads and scalps, of hill giants, ogres and orcs, that they had taken in the battle. The sheriff was duly impressed and happily handed over a bounty of 100 gp per kill, for a total of 1500 gp. The adventurers then returned to the Brave Axe, where they were greeted by applause from the other tavern patrons. They took rooms at the inn, dined and then retired.

Over the next several days, Manius and the other organizers conducted their business. Miae arranged for the purchase of grain and hops, to be picked up on the party's return. Arnold and Mediel went into town, while Lou sought a magic shop to purchase scrolls as well as items of interest to bards. In the latter effort, he was directed to a shop ("The Golden Horn") that catered to bards. Firiona identified various magic items that the party had looted from the dead hill giants and their minions; the party then sold the items for a substantial profit.

On the morning of the third day in Mitrick, the party paid the city sales tax due on the goods sold, and cast off, headed for the Velverdyva River junction. A fine breeze behind them enabled the ship to make good speed through gentle hills that turned onto rolling countryside, and late the next day the ship docked at the city of Caronis, at the junction of the Fals and Velverdyva Rivers. The party stayed at a nice inn near the docks, Manius did some more business, and next morning the ship cast off again, now heading down the Velverdyva River.

The party passed numerous small villages along the west bank of the Velverdyva River. Along the way, some children waded out into the river offering to trade small trinkets; Mediel threw some coins to the children. Late that night the party stopped at the village of Bushwood for the night. The next morning, Manius acquired four wagon loads of fine timber, and the party proceeded on its way.

After a full day's travel downstream from Caronis, late in the afternoon the weather began to turn cloudy and foggy as the party approached the edges of the Iron Wood. Mediel, watching the skies, noticed something odd: an owl flying above the party while the sun was still in the sky. As Mediel warned the ship's captain to beware, suddenly the ship was blasted by a fierce wind! Mediel and the ship's captain managed to stay on their feet, but the rest of the party were knocked to the deck by the wild rocking of the ship. As the wind dissipated the fog into which the ship had sailed, Mediel and the captain saw, approaching rapidly from astern, a longship. Pirates!

A fierce battle ensued. From the pirates' longship a song of power could be heard, which inspired the pirate crew into frenzied action. But the party's bravery, and Firiona's spells, were the undoing of the pirates. Several of the pirate crew, including the skald herself, were turned to stone, while many others suffered various painful fates at the hands of Fiona. Magic was not confined to the party, however, and most of the keelboat crew and the soldiers perished from the magic attacks of the pirate's second mate, a half-elf caster, before he in turn fell to the blows of the party's fighting men. At the end, the pirate captain and two of his crew fled from the fight, abandoning their ship and their remaining crew. The party was victorious, but at great cost.

The party went through the possessions of the dead pirates, finding numerous magic items and useful weapons. The keelboat captain and his remaining few crewmen were insufficient to navigate both the keelboat and the captured longship, and so he instructed the paryt members in the sailor's profession. With the party members taking the place of the lost sailors, the mission was able to proceed toward their ultimate destination, the city of Verbobonc. Along the way, they stopped at the village of Audags, in the Iron Wood.  Setting off again after a night's rest, the party continued on their way down the Velverdyva River. Miae took the opportunity to cast speak with dead on one of the dead pirates in order to obtain information about their activities and hideout. Some of the extracted information seemed to be authentic, while other information appeared to be unconvincing.

After finally arriving at Verbobonc, the party claimed a large bounty for defeating the pirates. Manius and the remaining trade mission organizers conducted business over the next few days, while the surviving crew and the party members rested, shopped, and generally made merry (especially Miae, whose motto, fittingly for a cleric of Olidammara, was "Wine, men and song!"--which scandalized several of the party members). Firiona obtained a stone to flesh scroll for use in restoring one of the petrified pirates, in hopes of obtaining more information. A week after arriving in Verbobonc, the party prepared to leave on the return voyage. Manius hired enough additional crew to fully man both the keelboat and the longship, and the party set off (after paying the appropriate taxes, of course).

A week later, the party reached the site at which they had been ambushed by the pirates, and which, according to the dead pirate, was near the location of the pirates' hideout. Here, the party attempted to restore the pirates' skald using the stone to flesh scroll, but Firiona was unable to cast it effectively, and the skald returned to flesh but died of shock.

Fortunately, the next morning Miae decided to cast raise dead on the skald, and successfully recalled her to life. She was kept in confinement while the party commenced its search for the pirates' hideout. About a mile upstream, well within a thick forested area, the party located the hideout, well hidden in the side of a large hill. A secret door opened onto a corridor that descended downward and into the hill. The corridor proved to be heavily trapped, but eventually the party made its way to the inner secret door and finally to the pirates' treasury. The treasure was trapped, and the party activated the trap, summoning a hamatula devil which proceeded to battle the party. Although the struggle was a difficult one, eventually the party prevailed, and the summoned devil was slain. A rich booty was the party's reward.

The party loaded the pirates' booty onto their ships and returned to the Velverdyva River to continue on their journey home. During this time, Miae informed the party of what she had learned from the restored pirate skald. Her name was Siren, Miae reported, and she was both a talented bard and a skilled sailor. She told a sad tale of capture by evil humanoids, rescue by the dashing Captain Jonas Grumley, the leader of the pirates, and her subsequent life with the pirate crew. She was grateful to Jonas for rescuing her, although she didn't approve of some of his more bloodthirsty ways. Siren noted, however, that Jonas usually offered quarter to ships he captured if their crews surrendered their cargoes; he had been in a bad mood for some reason when the pirates attacked the party's ship. The pirate first mate, a half-orc named Pronk, was also freed by Jonas from another pirate crew, and happily joined Jonas' crew. Second mate Roy Inkley, a male half-elf sorcerer, and helmsman Willis, a male human, had never been friendly with Siren, and she wasn't at all unhappy to learn of their fates. Miae suggested that Siren be freed, but the rest of the party objected; she then proposed that Siren be kept in service to their group for a length of time to demonstrate that she had reformed her life to a sufficient extent. The party grumbled but didn't further object to this plan.

After another fifteen days, the party finally returned to Darksea, successfully completing the mission. Manius, having reestablished a trade route between Darksea and Verbobonc, and having made arrangements to base both ships at Thornward, provided a substantial share of the mission's profits to the party.