As they treaded along the crumbling towpath in the gloom, Jötz took the lead still. The only sounds other than their own footfalls were the dripping of water and the occasional splash as some aquatic creature jumped out of the flowing currents to fall back into them again. Every now and then, a cobblestone from the path was shaken loose by the pair’s passing to tumble with a plonking sound into the canal. 

“Eet is like I vas telling you, Miss Ivy,” Jötz whispered as they crept downstream, “I tink dis ist one oft da Great Canals!” And as they went on, the Jaeger continued his tale from before. He told her of the Bargefolk and the canals that connected the world together, how every material good and coin must have passed along their waters at some point as everything was moved by their methods and traditions. Even the Storm King used their services to move his armies and their supplies! The Bargefolk, or Canallers, however, recognized no king or emperor, and instead danced on the edge of the world in their freedom. Their barges were brightly colored affairs that spoke of their love of life and all it had to offer. 

But the powers that were didn’t like being ignored and were furious that the Canallers refused to recognize their authority. Wicked rumors spread like wide fire. Bargefolk were denied entry into some larger cities and towns. Goods were confiscated. And then, one day in a place called Bad Schuschen, a Canaller girl was assaulted…
After that, the Canallers disappeared. Their barges vanished, and the canals they had sailed upon were left untended to fill up with silt and become impassible until they reached the point where they vanished altogether over the generations. Most folks forgot about them completely. And in the absence of these free spirited travelers there arose a group of monks to take their place: the Corbettite Order.

Jötz looked about in wonder as they continued on, the dock left far behind them as he told his tale. “But dey say dat sometimes a body falls into a place like dis, some underground hole mit cater running try it. Und dat if chou listens, chou can still hear da bells und whistles und singing oft da Canallers living under da ground. Und if’n chou is not careful, da Canallers vill snatch chou avay to live mit dem under da hills!”

Peering ahead, Jötz thought he could see a wide opening in the tow path. Not quite like the doc they had left, but certainly some sort of larger area. “Vait, vait,” he whispered. “Ist dat… ist dat a boat??”

Certainly something lay in the chamber up ahead! Something large that was made of rusted metal and ancient wood, with tall twin cylinders that arose from its middle into the air. How long it had remained there tied at its berth was unknowable, but there remained one important fact.

It still floated.