Session 5

The party takes a well earned rest, licking their wounds from the combat that just ensued. You ask yourselves where Ned could have gotten to, but you can come up with no plausible explanation. Did he continue to chase other bandits, was he killed in the long grass nearby, his body obscured by the terrain, or did he just take his chance to rid himself of this place, a question for which you do not yet have the answer.

You gather the contraband together and debate what to do with it, do you keep it and sell it on the black-market, or do you return to the merchants of Saltmarsh as a gesture of goodwill. You decide on the latter, and load up the small skiff with everything that you can lay your hands on.

As a result of your exploits, you also have two captives, one initially taken upstairs, and one recently captured as part of your last battle. They are securely bound and you decide to take these two smugglers back to Saltmarsh with you and have them dealt with by the local authorities, a task you think that they will only be too glad to assist with. You do question the captives though, and learn that a new ship is due in three days to collect the contraband that you found in the cave. Further questioning reveals that the crew of the ship consists of the Captain, First Mate, and a few guards, perhaps around 8 people in total, not all of them fighters. Your surmise that the ship will be arriving and will be expecting to be loading up the contraband from here.

As far as Ned is concerned, both captives say that Ned was a bumbling fool, but they have no additional information about him. You think on this, and suggest that his sword fighting abilities suggest otherwise, a bumbling fool with a blade he was not!

The captives reveal that the headquarters of the smuggling operation is based in Saltmarsh, although they do not know the ultimate identity of the man in charge. Goods were being brought in from ships to avoid paying taxes and then were being smuggled into an abandoned warehouse in the town. Sometimes goods were transported from the dock to this cave and the captives have agreed to point out the warehouse to you and to the guards.

You decide the best way to return to the town is to use the skiff, and it takes about 2 hours to return to Saltmarsh. You return to town and also gather some additional information about the Town Council. There appears to be two main factions, the Traditionalists, consisting of an alliance of fishing families and merchants, who do not want to be dragged into any conflicts. This faction consists of your friend Eda Oweland, Gellan Primewater (older, well-liked, throws many parties and is liked by the Town as a result). Then there is the Loyalists, consisting of Eliander Fireborn (leader of the town guard), and Manistrad Copperlocks (the dwarf in charge of the local mining expedition). In addition, there is also Anders Solmor, who appears to be neutral and belongs to neither faction.

On returning, you are received by Eda and Eliander at the docks, who are both relieved and happy to see you sail into the harbour, and they arrange for a council meeting scheduled for 30 minutes after your arrival. The captives are taken away by the town guard, and the dockmaster comes over to your boat and starts to take an inventory of the contraband, he is clearly relieved and happy to see it returned and taxed accordingly.

Aemi then shapeshifts into a mouse and decides to investigate the abandoned warehouse that had been described to you by your two captives. There is no activity outside, but there is evidence of foot activity and wagons coming and going in the soft ground. She moves further into the warehouse and finds nothing of interest inside, this was clearly a staging point for the goods that you have already recovered. Aemi does discover a small 10 foot by 10 foot pit in the floor, most likely used by the smugglers to hide specific goods and avoid paying the appropriate taxes.

In the meantime, Beza decides to disguise herself as Ned to see if any one in the town recognises her for the mysterious book seller. Unfortunately, this plan meets with no success, as she realises that when asked questions, she would be responding in a female rather than a male voice, a shortcoming she will not forget again!

You return to the Snapping Line Inn, where you find Gellan in attendance, and he is buying everyone drinks to celebrate the return of the party. You notice that Gellan does indeed speak with that strange "tick" of clearing his voice before he speaks, and this, coupled with the note, certainly points to him as being the mastermind, but you all ponder how to approach accusing a member of the Town Council and a powerful man such as Gellan Primewater.

You decide to head to the Town Council and attend the meeting as planned and describe everything that happened at the mansion, carefully omitting the note and the abandoned warehouse. The council members ask you to leave as they debate the next course of action, however Aemi shapeshifts into a spider and evesdrops on them during their conversations. Aemi hears that both Eda and Eliander want you to track down the remaining smugglers that will be arriving on the ship, however Gellan was against this course of action due to the dangers involved and the wasting of resources. The others were ambivalent, and they finally decided to offer the party 400gp to continue your mission and investigate the boat due to arrive in three days.

Straight after the meeting, you talk privately to Eliander and reveal the contents of the note to him and your suspicions that the "G" in the note may refer to Gellan, however Eliander is sceptical, but he says that he will assign additional guards to the docks and the Gellan Primewater mansion to watch for suspicious activity.

You head to the nearby "Winston's Store" to sell the loot you took from the smugglers and return to your room at the Inn to sleep.

Upon waking, you head downstairs for breakfast and receive a messenger carrying an invitation from Gellan to be guests on honour on his private cruise ship, the Primewater Pleasure. Gellan also invited several members of the council, however most are busy and only Anders Solmor will be attending in person. In addition to Anders, Carmilla Fireborn, daughter of Eliander, will also be attending. You later learn that Andors and Camilla are in a long-term relationship.

You head to the docks and board the cruise ship and meet several other guests, Commodore Wardell (who sports a wooden leg), Mormack Seymour (who has a large red birthmark on his neck), a priest by the name of Father Wyndham, the Captain of the ship (which has no crew you note) by the name of Misty and the First Mate, Wexley "the wizard" Lancaster, who keeps the ship running. It is obvious that the ship is powered by magical means well beyond your abilities to understand.

After everyone has boarded, the captain makes several motions with her hands and the ship glides easily away from the docks and out into the harbour, and eventually into open waters. You are shown your room for the night, being as this is an overnight cruise.

You make some queries about the original enchantments that keep the ship running and learn the name of the original wizard was "Benedict", however the nature of the enchantments remain a closely guarded secret. In addition to the members of the crew outlined above, you also meet the chef onboard, a half-orc by the name of Ugran, a long-term employee of Gellan.

Aemi discretely casts detect magic and determines the following: Andor's clothes radiate magic and stay remarkably clean as do those worn by Carmilla, Commodore Wardell has something magic inside is jacket pocket, and Gellan has something magic also inside his jacket as well as his flowing cape. You detect no magic on Father Wyndham, Mormack Seymour has some type of square item inside his jacket, Skerrin Wavechaser, who is also on board, is wearing magic clothes of some sort and the Captain is carrying a magic cutlass.

You make the rounds and introduce yourselves to the guests meeting Father Wyndham, who seems very likeable. You determine that Mormack is also an employee of Gellan and seems to be more Traditionalist than Loyalist as far as political affiliation are concerned. You also determine that Mormack is currently in disagreement with Gellan over his prospective hiring of Camilla as a financial advisor and that Carmilla is in an "arranged relationship" with Andors.

You prepare yourselves for what may come.