The apartment is cluttered. Books, maps, trinkets, charms, and other knick-knacks line the shelves.

Yanor launches into a conversation about what he discovered. He lays out the scrolls he translated on a table.

It does not take long for the strange man to be convinced this is something worth pursuing. One gets the sense he shares many interests with Yanor. At some point he remembers to introduce himself to Tencednil and Julen.

She introduces herself when he does, in much the same way she has in the past. She continues to present herself as overly formal, but a good conversationalist who can ask some useful questions and at least understand most things people are saying. Lhín helps there. What does he actually do? Some skill with magic goes without saying, given the apartment's appearance, but what else does he do?

Tomas can cast second circle spells. They're not wizard spells or cleric spells or even bard spells. He prepares them by infusing magic into objects. Spells he knows include healing and transforming creatures and turning invisible.

He's good at spotting and disarming traps and breaking locks and a wide variety of other mundane skills. He fights with a rapier.

Sounds like a useful set of skills! A new and unique casting method is always interesting to hear about, and if this can be cast from objects and released it sounds like it's much more usable while in armor. Definitely helpful for combat purposes. Julen also sounded like he was generally capable all around, and between them, her own lack of training should be less important.

And, of course, he has an eye for the arcane fluctuations which take specialized training to spot reliably. In an archmage's millennia-old prepared hideaway, that capability alone would be incredibly helpful.

Tomas packs for the trip. He's bringing quite a lot of stuff. They should be well prepared, if nothing else. He equips a chain shirt and grabs his bags.

They leave the apartment and walk to the docks. It's not very far. This part of the city is quite busy. The summer trade is booming.

"Right. Is there anything else anyone needs to do before we leave?"

"No."

"I'm ready."

"I am prepared."

Yanor rents a few minutes of time at a dock. A bit of an odd request, but you get those sometimes.

He leans over the edge and starts casting a spell.

Over the course of the next minute, a sturdy wooden raft assembles itself from nothing. It's five feet wide and fifteen feet long by the time it's finished.

He climbs onto the front of the raft. "Everybody in. Put your cargo in the back."

She gets on, Lhín sitting on her shoulder. She doesn't actually have much stuff — just her backpack, and there's no reason to take that off. She seats herself gracefully, and she's ready to go.

Tomas unloads his pack into the back section of the raft. He brought substantially more than Tencednil did.

Yanor waves a hand.

The water surrounding the raft bends unnaturally. They begin to pick up speed until they're traveling at a fairly typical walking pace.

Traveling magic! It's amazing how well it works. Moving at walking pace but not having to deal with any of the fens and costing a spell instead of tiring them all by marching for several hours is definitely an advantage.

She gives the others a bit of time before striking up a conversation. Getting to know them in ways besides their combat capabilities is important if she's going to be out in the wilderness with basically only them for a week or more.

Yanor is himself. Inquisitive, wise, and a good conversationalist. He knows a lot of trivia about beasts they might encounter. He tells tales of other places he's traveled far to reach.

Julen is a fairly serious man. Often gruff. He's not much of a wilderness expert. He is an expert swordsman. He talks about jobs he's been on, monsters he's slain, criminals he's apprehended.

Tomas is quiet and not very social. He has an interest in the old and antiquated. Especially if it's magical. This Thassilonian complex may very well be a great find. Or it might be a ruined husk. Either way, it's bound to be interesting.

She's good at not very social. By a few hours in, she has Tomas talking about his interests, while she carefully presents a middle point to ensure Julen can keep up. He's capable enough, and she doesn't need that much rephrasing to ensure he keeps up with what Tomas is saying.

It definitely takes some work, and even more to make sure nobody involved quite realizes how much she's doing to keep this going. (Maybe. Tomas might have caught on, but he doesn't seem to say anything if he did. It's possible he's just getting more esoteric because he actually needs to, and not to intentionally make her job harder.) It's the sort of effort she enjoys, though, and she can happily pass a day on a raft playing conversation facilitator.

The raft sticks close to the shore, but not too close. The ocean seems to bend around them. They pass around the corner of the coastline and Magnimar vanishes behind them.

Hours pass. The sun dips lower and lower until it vanishes beneath the horizon. All things considered, it's quite boring.