Having put Lisbon behind them, the magi and their grogs sailed on to Aquitaine, where they put in to resupply and buy and sell cargo. Gergo sent Tibor and Conrad into the city to secure much-needed camping supplies, food, tools, and other equipment. A doctor was sent for to inspect Orban, who was suffering from multiple ax-blows delivered by Tordus’s shield grog, and could barely be moved. The doctor pronounced that Orban needed a surgeon and long-term care, that he would linger for months but might recover if the wound did not get infected. Gergo was the most vocal about saving Orban’s life, but Ilius and Kykna were more casual about the loss of a grog, considering the vis required to heal him too much of a price to pay. Ilius offered to perform a healing ritual from his casting tablet if Gergo provided the vis, but ultimately Gergo decided to proceed to the Isle of Man and seek a doctor there, to provide long term care for his gravely injured shield grog.
The last leg of the journey took a week, sailing around Brittany and into the Irish Sea, before Man came into view. The island is thirty miles long north to south, with mountains in the north and and south and a deep bog or marshland between. Everything is heavily forested, and the island is clearly a wilderness, largely untamed. The magi spotted a small town surrounding a strong castle on the southern coast—Castletown is the home of King Reginald of Man and his family. Nearby is a small island with a ruined church atop it. A particularly picturesque hill on Man also overlooked the sea. The magi sailed around to the east, till they came within sight of Ronaldsway, the coast where ships bound for the town drive themselves ashore to be unloaded. Kykna conjured a (modest) wind to fill the sails, and the ship came ashore.
As the magi debated their next course of action, the grogs and covenfolk began unloading the boat onto the shore. Locals with wagons approached the beach and offered to take the cargo unloaded from the beach to Castletown, but Conrad rebuffed them. Instead, everyone decided to make temporary camp here on the beach, and Conrad would lead an expedition to Castletown in search of a doctor.
But as they talked, the magi saw a procession of local farmers, herders, and fisherfolk walking towards the beach, led by an old farmer leading a brown 4-horned sheep. These sheep are the local breed on Man, and called Loaghtan sheep. Conrad and Gergo approached to witness, but kept a respectful distance as the procession paused at the water and the elder man tried to bring the sheep into the water, where it did not want to go. Suddenly another sheep appeared out of the forest, away from the beach; this one was larger, as big as a man, with 6 horns—two pointing up like a V and the other four curling around its face. It ran quickly towards the crowd of local folk, some of whom recoiled in surprise while others readied staves and knives. But after the ram stared at the crowd for a moment, everyone fell back and away and the strange sheep was able to approach the beach.
By this time, Conrad and Gergo, pooling their knowledge, had been able to determine this new creature was a Beast of Virtue, a magical Loaghtan Ram that was a perfect epitome of its kind. The first, smaller sheep was struggling with the old farmer, who by now had produced a knife and was trying to sacrifice it to the ocean. But Conrad called to the farmer to let the animal go, and after a few more moments of struggle the farmer relented, and the sheep fled to the side of the Loaghtan Ram, which looked at Conrad and acknowledged his assistance with a look that simply had to be intelligent. The ram led its new charge into the forest, where Kykna later determined—observing from the sky—that it joined a herd of wild sheep watched over by the ram itself.
Some conversation with the local folk followed, and Conrad was able to determine that this was a yearly ritual of the island, for the magi had arrived on New Year’s Day and it was customary to sacrifice a sheep to the sea to ensure good fishing in the year to come. The fisherfolk were worried and upset that the custom had not been observed, but they took cups of seawater and pulled seaweed from the ocean to decorate their homes, nevertheless.
The time had come to set out for Castletown, so Conrad set out with Tibor the teamster and Cleis the huntress. They went south along the beach until they spotted a monastery of whitewashed stone surrounded by farms tended by monks in white robes. Approaching these folk, they learned this was Rushen Abbey and the monks were Cistercians. They mentioned they were going to town for a doctor, and a monk told them there were no better physicians on the island than Abbot Lawrence. Conrad asked to meet, and the monk led the three strangers into a waiting room inside the monastery.
Soon, Abbot Lawrence descended from an upper floor with a friend. Lawrence is a corpulent monk in his mid-40s wearing white robes with a crucifix around his neck and an amulet made of jasper. The man who accompanied him was slightly younger and dressed in the garb of a scholar. Lawrence introduced him as Thomlyn, a fellow student from his years as a student in Oxford. Conrad explained the situation with Pedro and Orban, and Lawrence noted that while he himself could not leave the abbey, Thomlyn was also a physician, and there was a barber-surgeon in town who might be able to assist Orban. Lawrence also had a brief chat with Cleis in her native Greek, a language the abbot had learned long ago as a student.
Conrad and Tibor continued on to Castletown, where they found the house of Hugen, a barber-surgeon. Countless men in the town seemed to be out with bows, hunting wrens, and Conrad learned the local legend of Tehi-Tegi, a powerful faerie witch cursed to adopt the shape of a wren every New Year’s Day. Therefore, on this day, everyone hunted wrens in an attempt to slay the old witch. So far, no one had succeeded. Hugen was reluctant to help the strangers until they mentioned they had been sent by Abbot Lawrence, who seems to enjoy a good reputation on the island. After packing his surgeon tools and a sandwich for later, Hugen agreed to accompany the two men back to their camp on the beach.
Meanwhile, Cleis and Thomlyn had already reached camp and Thomlyn looked Pablo over. Pablo’s condition had worsened by this time—he was now Heavily Wounded. Thomlyn is an alchemist, and if he had access to a laboratory he could brew up a powder or potion which would ensure Pablo’s recovery. But without it, all he could offer was palliative care. It would take months for Pablo to recover, if he recovered at all, and he would likely die.
Hugen arrived with Conrad and Tibor, but began to think this whole business was some kind of trick designed to lure him out to be robbed when Orban, his supposed charge, was in perfectly good health and uninjured; Kykna had used Bind Wounds on the grog earlier in the day. But Conrad, prompted by Cleis, managed to convince Hugen that this was the identical twin of the actual, injured, man, and once the sun had set Hugen was led into the tent where Orban’s “twin,” also named Orban, was lying with his wounds re-opened. After an investigation, Hugen announced that Orban was likely to die, as he had not received proper first aid when the injuries were taken. Without that, he could still be tended, and he might recover, but it would take months and camping out on the beach would make recovery all the less likely. He offered to take Orban into his home and tend him there, in town, for three months, at the cost of a pound of silver. To this, Gergo agreed. One of the locals was commissioned to take Orban in his wagon, and Hugen departed for town.
Meanwhile, the magi were speaking with Thomlyn, a man now known to be educated, fluent in Latin, a local to the Isle of Man, and a competent physician. They revealed themselves to be magi and offered to take Thomlyn on as a doctor, if he would take care of Pablo and whoever else might be hurt, and advise the magi on the island and its many features, legends, and hazards. To this, Thomlyn agreed, and they shared some ideas about potential camping sites.
The decision was made to explore the Round Meadow as a potential camp. This pasture was marked by a circle of white stones about ten feet across, and was located to the west, past the King’s Road, only a few miles from the beach.
But by now, it was dark. The scouting mission would have to take place on the morrow.