Stavanger Again, Now in July

Continued from Loaded Down, Wealthy, July 20-21st

July 23rd & 24th, 1650

The DM: It is a clear, pleasant day, no clouds in the sky, no rain, with a light air barely blowing at two knots towards the southeast as you head off to Stavanger. At this rate, it will take you 11 hours to cross the bay, running with the wind ... but as noon approaches, windward shifts to the left, allowing the boat to reach and improve it's speed; the wind also increase to 3 knots, shortening your whole journey to 8½ hours. It's a beautiful day, with clear blue water, a warm sun and the gentle creak of the boat as you make your way. With nothing to bale, you kick off your shoes into the bottom of the boat, stretch out, enjoying the sun and appreciating this sea travel business, perhaps for the first time. Your feet don't hurt from walking, you're not sweating in your clothes and armour, nothing is moving on the water that can possibly threaten you. It's beautiful.

Sadly, by three in the afternoon, the wind dies again, this time nearly completely, so you have to row for some hours. That spoils it a little, until you find yourselves laughing, pausing in the middle of the journey to take a quick swim (the water is invigorating for Norwegians, gnomes and elves, bloody cold for a continental), and you're about four miles from Stavanger by six o'clock. There's nothing to do but to keep rowing, as the wind doesn't come back, though Nadia squeezes every inch out of the 1-knot wind blowing from the southwest. At last you see the headland of Ieten (the region about Stavanger), then the city itself. At nine o'clock, 12 hours from departure, you set foot on dry land again. It is still day; the sun won't set for another two hours.

As ever, you can find Embla and her parents, and spend the night with her. Begin with telling me what you want to do on the 24th. It is a Wednesday.

I draw your attention to these recent notes on Sea Travel.

Pandred: What are we offloading on this trip?

Lexent: I believe that our first order of business should be beginning the process of securing passage at least as far as Bergen. From there we can continue on northward, or make inquiries regarding Ross.