Chapter 5: To Coverton!

Father Osiris informed the Pushermen that there was a man in the town of Coverton who preferred to be known by his initials, CW, and that he was not a fan of late payments. With the road through Summerwood blocked by a wall of ice proving especially difficult for the local mages to melt, the Pushermen decided to find another way around. Their remaining options were to find a path down through the mountains to the north, try to find a boat that will get them and their cargo across the lake to the south, or go the looooong way around through through the southern woods that run a little close to demonic territory.

They loaded the safes full of gold pieces onto their cart and rode down to the port by the lake where they found only two small piers, with one cargo ship some tough-looking men were loading random crates onto. Not believing they had the funding, or otherwise being unwilling to pay for shipment and passage, the Pushermen sought a bargain with the captain and found one. For protection against the monsters of the lake, the captain would allow them free passage. But not their horses. He just had no room for them. With time costing lives, the heroes released their horses into the wild on the chance that maybe at least one of them will still be around when they return.

The wind was in their favor for half the journey but turned against them, allowing two iron cobras to catch up with them and ram the side of the boat. The captain and all his wimpy strong men vanished below deck with a shout from the captain to raise the sails in case they get on deck, because a torn sail would not be good. Besides the fact that they were made of iron, the cobras were made harder to hit by being in the water. (I'm not sure they should even be able to swim, but I don't care.) They managed to get one on deck while the other made busy trying to put a hole in the boat, but luckily the hull held. The first wrapped itself around the mast, making it difficult to hit without damaging the boat, but Nalied hit it with a psychic chaos bolt, perfectly boat safe, and defeated it. The other soon jumped on board and was also defeated. The grateful captain completed the journey and offered the men free passage again whenever they needed.

With no horses, the heroes were stuck pulling the very heavy cart themselves. It took them much time and energy, but a day later they reached Tear Shed Road, a road paved with gravestones and lined with sad-looking flowers. (In retrospect, there should have been a Will save against shedding a tear, but whatever.) A few hours later, they found themselves in the almost empty ex-mining town of Coverton, for a total of three days travel and six days late.

The local bartender said he worked for CW but they would have to wait until he came back from a job, so he offered them a free stay in one of the rooms upstairs until he came back. It was two hours past sunset when they were called out to speak with Mr. CW.

They stepped into his office, where Christopher Walken (!!) turned around in a comfy-looking black chair holding a cigar. And then I found out I am terrible at doing a Walken impersonation. Therefore, Matt filled in the gaps where funny Walken-ized words just had to be said. Depending on how you pronounce "drow".

Mr. Walken went on a brief lecture about Tear Shed Road and the cost of tardiness. They were his men, and if the message had arrived one day sooner, telling them not to attack, they would all still be alive. One day, he said, can cost 700 lives. So for him to threaten the lives of 30 innocent people for 6 days was merciful to him. He reasoned (wrongly) that he saved 75 lives with those healing salves. Taking a 30-life refund would still be a net positive for them.

However, Mr. Walken was willing to pardon the debt if the Pushermen would handle a few tasks for him. He recently reacquired a piece of property that belonged to him over 17 years ago. But its previous owners were a very deadly cult of drow (dark elves) called the Daughters of Darkness, and they were fond of tricks and traps. He needed them to do two things. Number one, make his old home safe. Trigger or disarm the traps, smoosh any remaining spiders, and such. Number two, bring back his Sun Candle that the drow stole from him. Not just any candle will do. It needs to be lit with a special green fire, that no doubt the dark elves figured out how to make.

The Pushermen agreed to the offer and made their way up to the estate...