"Well, it's just like the trip upriver, except in reverse," Ledude said, running his finger down the blue squiggly line that represented the river on his map. "So we shouldn't need the paddlewheel, per se. And even if we did - ah! Just in time, Moonshadow." The monk showed up with a pair of crankshafts, which she attached to either end of the paddlewheel's axle. "There's always the option of manually powering the wheel if we really need the speed. I don't think I need to speak for Grogza, and as for Moonshadow here, well, let's just say that strength and constitution aren't her dump stats, as my crotch can attest to many a night." He leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek, which brought a blush and a smile to her face.<br/><br/>Grogza and Moonshadow took the poles and pushed off from the wharf. The current caught the riverboat and began carrying it downstream. Meanwhile, Ledude was trying out his new title, feeling the way it rolled off his tongue. "Captain Ledude. I like the sound of that, but it's just missing a little something... captain... captain...<em>capitane. Capitane</em>Ledude, that's what you should call me!" the Gaelic fellow decided, with a flourish of his blonde mustache. He took the<em>Crocodile Express</em>'s wheel and gave it a spin to starboard, bring the boat out to the middle of the river where the water flowed fastest.<br/><br/>They proceeded down the waterway between the thick jungle on either bank, the canopy on the riverboat providing some much welcomed shade and relief from the hot sun. Melangwi Outpost soon disappeared behind them.<em>Capitane</em>Ledude steered a bit, but mostly the current carried the boat around the river's bends without much need for manual guidance. It was around one such bend that Rayne saw a huge fallen log blocking the river, from the kind of ancient tree so with a trunk so thick that it would take several people to hold hands around its circumference. Probably rotting and definitely waterlogged, it sat heavy in the water with only a small portion protruding above the surface. It stretched practically the entire width of the river and appeared stuck at the next bend... and their riverboat was being carried right towards it!