You head to see Port-Governor Larenza Thort at City Hall. At first Larenza seemed too busy to be bothered, but a few words from Shendra made her more helpful. Larenza notes that some town guards went missing recently in the Churlwood while searching for a pair of dwarves who were supposedly kidnapped by goblins, and with increasing tensions in town, she’s not eager to send more guards out into dangerous woodlands or haunted houses. She asks your group to investigate the missing guards and offers you 200 gold pieces for information about the missing guards. When asked about maps of the region she confirms that Sir Roderic was the best map maker in the area. After his confirmed death the then Port-Governor went to his house and claimed all of his maps for Roderic’s Cove. They can be found in Cove Hall. You will be allowed to examine the maps but cannot remove them from Cove Hall.
You are able to see several well made maps of the area. There is one that shows the area around Roderic’s Cove. On it is a odd seven-pointed star on a ridge in the Churlwood a few miles southeast of Roderic’s Cove. Teodor noticed something and decided to turn over the map. There is a diagram with runes that seem to be associated with another seven-pointed star. Each rune is rotated differently. You are able to easily make a copy of the diagram on the back of the map as well as a rough map of the location of the star on the map.
Roderic’s Cove sits on the northern bank of the Chavali River, and the Churlwood borders the river’s southern bank. The Chavali averages a thousand feet wide in this area, so swimming across is not the best option. You can charter a boat to ferry you across the river to the Churlwood at a cost of 2 gp for a one-way trip, or you could walk about a mile up the Chavali River to a spot where a bridge has been started and a Cove resident ferries people across for just a few coppers. Assuming you are ready to go to the Churlwood, which route do you take?