It's the Silver River until the fork, then the Silver goes to the west and the Dragon continues north to Dragon Lake. OOC: At this point, you don't need a completed character. Right now, you just need a name. You can add heritage and concept and other stuff as you develop them.
The water flowing past the boat hull occasionally kicks up a bit of spray keeping you slightly damp as you stare out from the gunwales. This time of year early morning on the Silver River is pleasantly cool, but with the clear skies above it will surely be a scorcher as the day wears on. Looking around you see that Captain Jack and the boat's five crew are all wearing broad brimmed hats to protect their heads and light trousers and jackets they can discard as the day warms.
You muse to yourself, the trip up the river to Berm should take about 8 hours, according to Captain Jack so pretty much all day. Going upstream on the back of water elementals like this isn't fast travel, maybe a league an hour...about 25 miles from Fallcrest to Berm...that sounds about right based on the map Master Leon showed you yesterday.
Looking back out over the side of the boat you see a wavy figure under the water, another of the water spirits that are flowing around the boat. You don't know how you feel with all those spirits flowing around you.
Captain Jack showed you the "Yellow Cake" before he put it into the cage at the front of the boat. It looked a lot like a spongey flat cake on a wooden board. No mater what it really is the water spirits...he called them elementals...seem to love it and they line up behind the cage and push forward to get at it, and that pushes the boat forward. When he wants more speed he exposes more of the cake. When he wants to stop he pulls it right out of the water. It sounded daft when he was explaining it, but seems to be working...so far.
Looking out to the banks of the river you see sparse trees and brush covered rolling hills to your left, the west, and a lush forest coming right down to the river bank on your right, the east. Well, east and west are approximately correct as the boat is going up the Silver River toward Dragon Lake and that's nearly straight north. Anyway, you know there are untamed tribes of Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, and worse...other humans...out there and that's why you are here now.
You are drawn back from your musings when the riverman perched on a short tower at the front of the boat, they called it the bow, calls back something in a language that doesn't make sense to you. In response Captain Jack standing at the back of the boat holding a wooden lever shouts out "Yo Lee!" and moves the lever causing the ship to veer sharply to the left. The rivermen all shift and take it in stride, you're a bit off balance for a second as the boat veers, but soon regain your footing. You feel a faint shudder through the hull and hear a scraping sound. Looking you see a mostly submerged tangle of roots and branches sliding past the right side of the boat's hull. That's what they call a snag and it can sink a boat if it hits one too hard, and it's why boats don't travel much after dark.
So, the dangers extend into the river itself, huh? You look around at your companions in this venture. Soon enough you'll be confronting some of the other dangers. Today to Berm by boat, then because no boat will take you, a day's walk up the right bank to Old Bridge where the trouble is.
Goblins came down from the hills to the west and occupied the ruins on the west side of the river at Old Bridge and then, worse, took over the ruins of an old fort in the center of the river. Old Bridge, on the east side of the river, can't budge them and the Goblins are in a perfect position to raid traffic on the river. That's why the Merchants in Fallcrest hired you. They expect you to persuade the Goblins to "move on" now, they'll send a troop to occupy the place later, but they'll be guards not Adventurers like you.
One of the rivermen, an old halfling by his looks, walks over and sits on one of the crates that are occupying the bottom of the boat and near where your party is standing.
He fills a pipe and takes a puff before saying, "Ye can call me Took. And so's I don't have to jest call ye Hey You and Yo there, what's the handles ye go by?"
