The search for José
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In the last blog, our four friends diligently collected Emanuel’s head and fought their way through a bandit camp. With all sorts of items collected from the bandits in their luggage, they returned to Fichtenstein during the night, where they fell straight into bed at Udo’s place.
Today begins with a small breakfast before they plan their day. Theo wants to hand in the ingredient quest to Rosvita first and sets off straight after breakfast to the herb woman of Fichtenstein. He is greeted with warm words and Rosvita is delighted with the new ingredients. Together they brew for a few hours until a pink-coloured magic potion is ready. As a thank you for his help, Theo receives a bottle of the potion and, of course, two skill points for brewing potions.
Satisfied with this result, Theo makes his way back to Udo, but finds that his friends have made their way to Fichtenstein harbour. He doesn’t have to look for them for long, however, as they are of course in the pub “The Drunken Mermaid”. Having had a few half pints, they are particularly pleased to see Theo and listen eagerly to his stories about brewing potions. After a few more hoppy drinks have flowed down their throats, they remember the side quest about the missing sailor José. Aldric turns to the barkeeper Odu and asks him if he knows anything about him. But Odu can only repeat what they already know about José’s friend Emanuel. At the very end, however, he mentions a small new clue, namely that José often stayed at the lighthouse. It is inconceivable to our four that anyone would voluntarily stay with the crazy and very strenuous lighthouse keeper Hein Mück, but they gratefully accept the tip anyway. Satisfied with their day’s work, our friends have a good drink. Kel gets into an argument with a sailor from the “Arsenas Schweif” who, according to Kel, has pushed his way in at the bar. A lengthy argument later, Kel stomps out of the pub in a rage and up towards the Fichtenstein, while Aldric, Theo and Löwenzahn stagger along behind, laughing and cosy.
The next morning actually starts relaxed with a good breakfast at Udo’s, but quickly becomes stressful when they arrive back at the harbour. A projectile has probably hit the bow of the “Arsenas Schweif” during the night and when this projectile is described in more detail as a “magic blue bullet”, three sceptical pairs of eyes turn to Kel Tuh Las. In a quiet moment, he is pulled aside and asked about his night. More proud than ashamed, he tells them that he got up at night and sneaked into the harbour. There he searched for the “Arsenas Schweif” and shot a magic bullet into the bow in revenge. Of course, he made sure that the ship only tilted slightly and did not sink completely. After a barrage of insults and lectures about how irresponsible the action was, Kel still has no remorse. The other three refrain from teaching Kel morals and responsibility and resolve to take better care of Kel Tuh Las in future. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the harbour is more tense than usual today, which is actually unfavourable for them, as they wanted to look for clues about José.
They set off on this mission anyway and make their way to the sailors’ quarters. There they quickly find José’s bed. Neat and tidy, it stands out among the other beds, which look more like small rubbish dumps. They don’t immediately notice that José’s bed is a little higher, but a successful throw on “perception” helps them to get started. They take a close look at the bed, discover small grooves in the bed posts and realise that a small hollow intermediate piece has been placed in each bed post. They find an old key in one of these cavities, but they can’t really do anything with it.
Fortunately, Löwenzahn remembers the tip-off that Odu gave them in the bar the night before. It says that José spent a lot of time with the lighthouse keeper Hein Mück, and as much as they dislike it, there is probably no way round another visit. So they set off immediately and walk along the small rocky path until they reach the lighthouse. Hein Mück immediately opens the door and starts chattering, but at some point Aldric manages to slip her question into Hein Mück’s monologue. He gives her a confused look and denies that he has much to do with a José and that he rarely gets visitors. Our heroes don’t find this very surprising and now that they have the information they need, they say goodbye as quickly as possible. They walk a little way around the lighthouse and search the area a little before making their way back to the harbour. Less than three metres later, they swear to prevent Hein Mück’s visits in future by any means necessary and fall into a joint storm of blasphemy.
However, this is abruptly interrupted by Theo, who has been diligently rolling the dice on “perception” all the way and is now finally rewarded. Theo discovers some broken branches near the rock which, with a lot of imagination, can be interpreted as a footpath. So the four of them make their way into the thicket, where they are rewarded after just a few metres. In front of them is a small wooden box locked with a padlock. Löwenzahn takes the key from José’s bed and the key bit disappears into the lock without any problems. Löwenzahn carefully turns the key and opens the box. Of course, you won’t find out what he finds inside until the next Arkanthia Pen and Paper blog.
