The Wilderness

With only Stella's owl familiar as company, Dieter speeds off into early-morning light, dressed only in mud, his unmentionables and the stylish elven boots. To his credit, the young warrior truly does disappear into the shadows and underbrush.

They can only hope that the party didn't bring Ug's bad luck with loincloths with them from Icewind Dale (except for Sheemish, who in fact does carry with him that unfortunate, too-large garment).

With the elven boots magically silencing his steps, and with the familiar to point the way and spy out patrols, he makes good time. The gnolls out patrolling the woods this morning find no sign of him, not even when passing within mere feet of clever Dieter. At one point he rounds a large boulder and nearly walks into a lone, silent gnoll hunter, but fortunately a distracting hoot from the owl familiar is all it takes for Dieter to slip past unnoticed.

Light morning rainfall is cold on Dieter's muddy skin, but he firmly continues on, until he finally comes to the place where the Sea of Swords seems to bend inward, allowing the castle's peninsula to stretch outward across the water. There, a few hundred feet away, is his goal: the alarm pyre. The bundles of wood and kindling must be slightly damp from the short bouts of rain, but Dieter remembers well the magic of the fire arrows he carries.

Dawn's light glints off the weapons of the two gnoll guards. Dieter waits patiently until one of the gnolls steps away to relieve itself in the bushes nearby, then draws and looses a fire arrow in one smooth motion. Sparks erupt from the arrow as soon as it leaves the bow, causing a stream of flickering light in the sky as it arcs up and away, then comes down to strike the middle of the pyre. Sure enough, the arrow's magical flames race across the surrounding wood, and in moments the entire pyre is lit!

The one gnoll guard stares in astonishment at the burning pyre. A few moments the sound of a horn comes from further out in the peninsula; the alarm has been seen. The second hyena-man comes running back and, seeing no trouble, accuses the first of lighting the pyre needlessly. The two try to put out the flames, and Dieter easily vanishes into the woods once more.

It's a simple matter for Dieter to bury himself in a muddy pool long enough for the gnoll patrols to pass him by as they rush towards the peninsula, and once they've gone, he quickly makes his way back to the party's cave camp.

Meanwhile, the party has finished their preparations of a makeshift raft. With Dieter safely returned, they wait only long enough for him to dress himself once more, and then they board the raft and make their way out of the cave and into the ocean.

Well, nearly to the ocean. First they must deal with the breaking waves that bar them from the relative calm beyond.

Sheemish struggles to keep rhythm with paddling the raft. Stitch even tries to help by thrumming a steady beat but the sound is lost over the splashing waves and just confuses the blacksmith more.

It's the very first waves that nearly do the party in. This close to the large rocks, any mistake will mean the end of their raft, and possibly their lives.

Fortunately, Aiwe and Runeson are on their game. With long poles they push against anything they can find purchase on, and together they keep the raft from smashing against the rocks. Meanwhile the others help keep the thing from tipping by shifting their weight across the wooden planks.

An especially large wave comes crashing down, but Stella parts the crest just before it impacts the party, cleverly diverting the worst effects. Still, it's enough to force Dieter and Sheemish off the raft. They're able to cling to the raft's sides, but are dragged across the sharp corals of a small reef before Aiwe can haul them back onto the raft (Dieter and Sheemish each take 2 piercing dmg). The wounds aren't grievous by any means, and they're able to shrug off the sting of saltwater rinsing the blood away.

Fortunately, that seems to be the end of the worst. Having found a rhythm to their strokes and positioning, the party easily crests the next few waves and they find themselves suddenly on much calmer waters. The castle looks considerably nearer from this position, perhaps a half-hour's trip on the raft.

The group keeps their eyes peeled for any signs of movement on the battlements or shore, but they see nothing. Except the dorsal fin of an enormous shark circling the raft. The monstrous thing must be at least 25 feet long, easily more than twice the length of the raft itself.

At Aiwe's encouragement Stella's able to thoroughly soak the cloth, and then the owl familiar drops it into the sea a fair distance away. It doesn't take long for the enormous shark to turn in that direction, the wake of its powerful tail churning the water. As the monstrous fish is distracted, the party presses forward with all speed.

Ahead of them is a wide expanse of beach outside the castle walls. There's also a fairly large dock that seems to be connected to the castle itself. There are no gnolls in sight, but distant horns from the direction of the peninsula confirm that they're still confused by Dieter's distraction with the alarm pyre.

The companions make for the dock. Stella's familiar keeps an eye on the giant shark, which seems interested only in investigating the bloody cloth. After a few minutes of exertion, the party pulls up alongside a wooden pier in the shadow of one of the castle's walls. There are no gnolls or other creatures in sight, but there are a couple of strung fishing poles leaning against the wall.

Just beyond the poles is a stout wooden door set into the castle wall.

As they quietly push their raft under the pier, they find two dead gnolls floating under there, their necks broken. More of Minsc's work?

The party carefully examines the door into the castle and finds it unlocked.