Follow the beach

"We can't stay here," you decide. "A fire might attract more daemons."

You and Glenda, along with the flying pest that has decided to join you, follow the narrow strip of beach as the evening darkens into night. The sky is overcast and the moon barely even reflects in the black expanse of the ocean. You have only rarely climbed down to this sandy area and certainly never at night. The crash of waves sprays you with the ocean brine and keeps your gown saturated and clinging to your body.

You are surprised when you see a small lagoon formed by a jetty. You have never noticed it from above, so it must be hidden by the outcropping of rocks from the cliffs above. Within this placid pool is a row boat that gently bobs in the waves that flow through the inlet. It must be one of the boats used by the wine deliveries to the kitchen at the abbey. If the oars were left in the boat, you and Glenda could row it up the coast to the mining town of Slurry and follow the Splinter Road to Gerlangen.

You are about to start out onto the jetty to investigate the boat, when the imp wheels through the night and disappears head of you. A few seconds later, the imp returns.

"Something near boat," he says. "Not daemon. Something different. Like bad ocean."

"You are not our scout," you object. "You are a fiend. Why should we believe you?"

The imp chuckles and whirls around you.

"Because..." He swoops behind you and gives you a stinging smack on your bottom. He gooses Glenda as well. "I have both to myself. So much fun. I not want to share with creepy ocean monster."

"Perhaps he's telling the truth," says Glenda, only encouraging the imp. "There is a lighthouse a few miles farther up the coast. I remember the War Mother... I remember her telling me the king's guard use it to send important messages to passing ships. Surely the man who tends the light will help us."

The lighthouse is in the opposite direction of Slurry and Gerlangen. If you go looking for it, possibly for most of the night, it might badly delay your mission. On the other hand, the imps warning seems true. Looking at the gently bobbing boat you do feel a growing sense of unease, as if something is watching and waiting for you to approach.