Across Boknafjord

Travel

By three o'clock, the wind has strengthened even more, verging on a strong wind. The sky is nearly overcast, but there's no rainfall yet. The two masted sloop has slung your mule and donkey into its hold and the cart as well, stowed your gear and assigned you to bunks, about 22 in. per man. As you get underway, the swaying of the ship causes you to swing and bump into each other, as you lay in near dark, one lantern swaying in your room. The captain has ordered that food will be served after 5 o'clock, when the weather permits.

By six, you've eaten, the temperature has grown brisk (in the high 40s F) ... but though you might expect a storm, the intensifying weather passes. By midnight, the sky is clear again, the wind has slackened to a moderate breeze. By morning, the weather has improved so that it is cool, though unfortunately the wind is still against you. By nine in the morning of the 24th, you can see the southern peninsula of Karmoy. By 11, you're there. It takes an hour to unload your gear and set you ashore. The sky is clear as a bell.

Vafrandir: I say load up the cart, hitch the donkey, and head northward along the road. No real reason to hang around the dock while daylight is burning. Are there any other passengers disembarking here?

The DM: Today, no. The sloop is picking up two passengers, a young man and a woman, and a load of winter potatoes, three bales of wool and two tons of timber. With this wind, it will be back in Stavanger in about 5 hours.

Karmø

The little hamlet of Karmø is nothing but three rickety docks supported by stone braces, half a dozen buildings and a 20 ft. stone lighthouse. The road from here to Treborg is cobbled, smooth but rackety, with a dirt shoulder and wide enough for wagons to pass. There's minimal drainage if it rains.

Vafrandir: Then let us be off! If there is rain I would like to make some headway. I will have spotty availability over the next few hours, but I'll work out the AP penalty for the donkey and post as soon as I can.

[OOC-DM: to be completely honest, I'm somewhat distracted. Full disclosure, my daughter has been in labour since 2 a.m. this morning and still hasn't -- as far as I know -- given birth. Should be sometime today, however, because its the real thing]

[OOC-PAN: I have a new medication that pretty consistently drops me around mid-day, so I'm no stranger to needing to bow out for a bit. No worries, and take care of what matters.]

Travel

The DM: Pandred's agreement assumed, the party starts off for Treborg at once. The journey is very beautiful, with the road located high above a rocky coast, looking out over the fjord.

Can you please tell me the AP of the cart? Additionally, looking at this page, can you tell me if you wish to amble, move normally, hurry or rush?

Vafrandir: We will need to carry some things by hand, but I think we can get the cart down to about 900 lb, which would put us at 2 AP (slow, unfortunately) with the mule. Normal movement if possible.

The DM: That's not bad. It takes you 7 hours to reach Treborg (passing through some farmland on your way, but you see no other travellers). That's a pay of 2 lbs. of food each. By the time you reach Treborg, on a clear and sunny day, is it still cool and the wind has slackened to a light breeze.

Treborg

The village is a transshipment point for goods throughout Ryfolke, this part of Rogaland. It is a shelter from storms from ships heading to and from Bergen, and for fishing boats in the Boknafjord and beyond it.

Vafrandir: I assume there is not much here in the way of lodgings?

The DM: There is a hostel for sailors that have been rescued from ships. It holds about 30 people, but it is little more than a wooden shed with hay for beds. As you're not victims, there is a nominal fee of 3 c.p. apiece; there is stone bench to which you can tie your animals for the night. There is no shelter for the cart. Do you have a canvas to cover it?

Vafrandir: No canvas as such, but several linen tents we could perhaps use. I'll go ahead and pay the fee since I'm thinking about it.

The DM: What do you do on the morning of the 25th, when you wake? It is 8 a.m., the weather is cool-to-pleasant, the sky is still clear from horizon to horizon.

Vafrandir: Our intent is to explore the wilderness hex to the east of Treborg. I see on the map that there is a track that branches off from the main "road." If there are any folk about, I'll chat to see if anyone has been up that way.

The DM: That branch leads into the agricultural district there and then stops.

Pandred: I'll ask around, and send Odds for that same purpose, about the countryside of Ryfolke, particularly up the road. Even knowing someone's cousin who lives up there might be useful.

The DM: Though Embla would not know it, not being from around here, several members of the party would know that the farmers up there, just four miles from Treborg, would be gently friendly people. Beyond the road there is the small forest indicated, and then stony fields between mountains somewhat taller than those of the Appalachians, about 7,000 ft. Not many, of course, as the group is only 18 miles across; but the ground is barren and alpine once you climb above the forest and treeline.

Once you reach the end of the cart-track, the ground will be too rocky and uneven for your cart; you learn that at the top of the road, particularly in the mid-summer, trees are picked and logged out of the small forest and dragged down to Treborg, for shipment to Stavanger.

Pandred: Alright. So the cart is no-go for now. The mountains seem difficult, but at least promising. I'll disarm and de-armor myself to ask a nearby farmers about the surrounding area, particularly the nearest mountains. What lives there? Has anything unusual happened lately?