The ship continued on its way to Mitrik. By mid-day, the party reached the small village of Falsford. Here, the captain and the shipowner went ashore to arrange for the pick-up of some additional cargo, giving the crew some time for a quick meal on shore. A nearby inn served up some good quality fare, nothing fancy. About an hour later, Thurl and Elwood came back, accompanied by laborers carrying a ton of fresh cabbages for delivery to Mitrick. The adventurers helped load the cargo into the ship. Once loaded, the ship set off again.
A few hours later, the ship was sailing on another empty stretch of the Fals River. The adventurers, bearing Elwood’s warning in mind, were on alert, but saw nothing threatening.
Then Enox heard something. “Movement to port,” he whispered to the crew. He looked again with his elf eyes.
“Orc raiding party!” he cried. Without hesitation, he sent a magic missile at the orcs, slaying one with the power of his spell. The orcs in turn shot at the ship with longbows. Two crewmen were hit and badly wounded.
“Cassius, Groose, take over!” Thurl directed the two adventurers. As they took the places of the wounded crewmen, Captain Elwood issued orders to the other sailors to trim the sails. The speed of the ship increased due to his expert seamanship.
Having expended his spell, Enox drew his shortbow and loosed an arrow at the orcs. The arrow drew blood. An orc’s arrow returned the favor, wounding the elven wizard. Another deck hand was wounded and incapacitated. The resulting crew reduction began to affect Elwood’s ability to captain the ship, and the ship’s speed fell to its previous level.
Arya joined in the battle, but the arrow she shot missed its mark. Not so Enox, whose next shot slew an orc.
The remaining orcs killed a crewman. Cassius took a minor wound from another orc arrow. But the captain managed to get the ship’s speed up again.
As the ship sped away from the orcs, Enox continued to shoot. The ship’s movement apparently spoiled his aim–he almost dropped his weapon! As he reached for the fallen bow, he suddenly cried out in pain. An orc arrow had pierced his arm. “Arya!” he called. “I need your help!” The cleric rushed to his side. Her cure minor wounds spell healed some of the wizard’s injuries. At least, enough to improve his aim, as Enox’s next shot hit an orc. The orc shrieked in anger.
The orcs were rapidly receding as the ship continued to pull away. One orc lit a fire. Another shot at the ship, missing Arya by a considerable distance as it soared over her head. Arya wasn’t any more accurate with her return shot.
Enox’s next shot hit the same orc. It screamed hideously and fell to the ground. “Got him!” exclaimed the elven wizard. “Nice one,” Arya complemented. Now only one orc remained standing. The evil creature thrust an arrow into the fire. Quickly it kindled. The orc fired the flaming arrow at the ship. It struck the main sail, which caught fire and began to burn.
That was the last thing the orc ever did. Arya shot again, and finally hit her mark. The orc dropped with her arrow through his throat. “I saved the best for last,” she remarked casually. Enox cheered at her success.
“Time enough for cheering later!” barked Captain Elwood. “Enox, Arya, Cassius, you crewmen, form up a bucket brigade and douse that fire! Tobi, climb the rigging!” The halfling quickly ascended the ratline, bucket in hand. Soon the fire was extinguished. Sail damage was minimal.
The captain communicated his approval of the crew’s performance. “OK, back to your stations,” he ordered. It was getting late in the day, so the captain ordered the ship to anchor along the south bank of the river, where the crew could make needed repairs to the sail.
Arya came up to Enox’s side. “I wondered why the orcs attacked?” she said to the wizard.
“Since when do orcs need a reason to attack?” he replied. But he recalled the captain’s words about the tense situation with Ket over the Thornward situation. “Could be connected with what’s going on with the neighbors to the north,” he observed. Arya nodded, then attended to the two wounded crewmen. Afterwards, she took the first watch. Enox rested that night, relieved of watch duty.
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