Session 8

After a long and hard-fought battle, you collectively catch your breath, a close-run thing, but importantly, you are alive and well. Several of you do question the sword swinging abilities of Johama, but he promises that he will do better next time as he continuously blames the slippery deck for his many misfortunes during the battle. A win is a win though, so you count your blessings and decide that you will continue to press on and explore the remainder of the ship.

You decide the best place to start is to interrogate the bound sailor that you captured during the course of the battle, and he shows no appetite for bravery and he eagerly answers your questions, especially since he saw the ruthless way you threw his crew mate overboard to drown in the murky depths. He quickly admits that they have a prisoner locked in a room below decks and that their cargo consisted of a cache of weapons for the Lizardmen that were on board. To your surprise, it appears that the Lizardfolk were simply customers in the wrong place at the wrong time. He mentions that a cache of weapons is also stored below deck in the room near where the prisoner is being held.

You question the sailor further about the prisoner, but it is clear that he has no knowledge of why the prisoner is on board, or for what purpose.

Before proceeding to the decks below, you decide to search the corpses of the now dead sailors littering the deck of the ship. The First Mate was wearing chainmail and was wielding a longsword, The Captain was wearing studded leather, and was wielding a longsword and a hand crossbow. Additionally, the Boatswain was also wearing studded leather and was wielding a hammer. curiously, you note that he also has a hook where one of his hands was obviously severed in some previous conflict. This sailor has obviously not led anything close to a "lucky" life. The Deck Wizard was wearing robes, a poach containing spell components and was wielding a quarterstaff. Each member of the crew was wearing some type of leather armour of dubious quality and all were wielding scimitars and light crossbows.

You gather the loot into one pace and take good care to ensure the bodies of the two city guards that gave their lives for your cause are treated with respect as you will be transporting them back to Saltmarsh so that they can received a proper burial from family and friends.

Now that you have composed yourselves and attended to your own wounds and wellbeing, you start your exploration of the ship. You commence with the room that wizard emerged from and Beza quickly finds a secret compartment in the heel of a pair of boots. Luckily, she manages to detect and disarm the trap prior to opening the heel of the boot and find a key inside. You continue your search of the room and find that the key opens a locked iron chest located within. A search of this chest nets you a leather purse containing 50gp, a scroll of Gust of Wind and the Wizard’s spell book. You pocket this loot and continue to move on.

You move next to the room from which the captain emerged and find several items, including letters from three different wives, 2 potions of healing, a potion that you are unable to identify, most likely poison, an anti-toxin against poison and seven maps of the surrounding sea and coastlines. You also find one map that stands out, being that of Saltmarsh and surrounds with a rendezvous point marked on it approximately 10 miles south of the town. You continue your search of the cabin and find a metal box. Beeza carefully examines the box and is able identify the trap and so she removes the trigger mechanism very carefully rendering it harmless. You open the box and find 10 electrum ingots worth 100gp each, an excellent haul indeed! Additional searching locates a trapdoor crudely hidden under a bearskin rug on the floor.

You next move the room from which the Lizardfolk emerged and find several hammocks strung for the ceiling along with several crude clubs. Whilst known for their bravery, Lizardmen are not known for their technical prowess as far as forging weapons is concerned. You continue to ponder as to why they would be purchasing these weapons and you begin to fear for the safety of Saltmarsh if they have sinister intentions. You also find a chest and whilst Beeza was able to pick the lock, she did not see the dart trap that it contained and was wounded as the dart embedded itself into her arm as she opened it. Luckily it was only her pride that was injured as the dart was not poisoned. Regardless, she continues her search of the chest and finds an additional 10 electrum ingots, obviously the currency that the Lizardfolk were using to pay for their cargo.

You then continue below deck into the cargo hold of the ship and find 50 bolts of silk, many casks of wine and other ironworks, all most likely stolen or smuggled past the local authorities. You press onwards and identify a secret door near the stern of the ship in a rear cabin, which also contains books relating to navigation and other legal documents that were obviously being used by the smugglers to circumvent the authorities should they ever be stopped and questioned. The cabin also contains a small box in which you find 500gp. This hard-fought battle is proving worthwhile after all.

You then move to the cabin across the hallway where you find a talking parrot and hear the murmurings of a person or creature from behind the cabin wall. You search the wall and identify another secret door along with a box containing 200sp along with a damaged dagger and a crossbow.

You first open the secret door in the "north" wall and find eight bundles of various weapons and shields, some marked with a lizard Sigel. This was obviously the cargo that the Lizardmen had come to purchase, and you continue to ponder the use of these weapons, enough to equip several dozen soldiers. The town council must be advised as a matter of priority!

You then move to the secret door in the "south" wall and carefully open it. Inside, you are shocked to see a Dragonborn restrained and chained to the hull of the ship. This was obviously the prisoner that the captured sailor mentioned whilst being questioned. The captured creature introduces himself to you as Vexx, a Tempest Cleric captured by the pirates in the hope that they could force him to assist with favourable winds and weather. His pride and devotion to his God, Kord, prevented him from complying so the pirates chained him here whilst they decided what to do with him. You cannot help but feel that had you not chanced upon this poor creature, torture would have featured prominently in his future. He would clearly rather have died than debase himself by aiding these honourless scoundrels. You examine him closely and clearly see the marks of torture when he continued to refuse, only the beginnings of a miserable future.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so you decide to set him free, and he introduces himself to you as Vexx Yarjeit, and professes that he now owes you a debt of honour for rescuing him and asks that you allow him to join your party in the hope of repaying that debt. He shows his genuine nature by using his healing abilities to fully restore Johama and Beeza to full health. He is clearly disappointed that none of you are followers of Kord, but his eagerness to discuss his God makes you realise that this would not be the last time that you will hear Vexx discuss his religious beliefs with you, or anyone else who will listen. You decide to allow Vexx into your party as you can see that he would eventually become a powerful ally as he develops his skills further.

You then all decide to take along rest to recover and then attempt to detect magic on the equipment that you have gathered on the upper deck, but unfortunately, none of it radiates with the tell-tale glow of magic. Once completed, you then decide to sail the captured ship back to Saltmarsh and present it as bounty to the Town Council along with the recovered goods, not to mention the cache of weapons destined for the Lizardfolk along with your captured prisoner.

Upon your return you are eagerly greeted by the council, and Vexx takes this opportunity to introduce himself to them along with his pledge to assist the town as a new member of the party. The relief on their face at the mention of additional help is palpable.

You handover ship to the town, along with the spoils contained onboard, minus the gold, silver, electrum, and other magical items of course, which you decide to keep yourself as honestly accumulated plunder. The council sets up a meeting but allows you the time to head to your regular room at the Inn and settle back into your room and freshen up. You also take the opportunity to exchange five of the electrum ingots into 340gp at the local money lenders, run by a man named Benedict.

After approximately one hour, you walk back to the council chambers and commence your debrief, with only Gellen Primewater being absent. The remaining council members inform you that Gellan has been suspended from his position due to the events on the Primewater Pleasure and his implication in the local smuggling activities, allegations that he strongly denies. You describe the events of the previous day to the council, along with the heroism shown by the two dead city guards who jumped to your aid, even though expressly forbidden to do so by Eliander. You can see the regret in his face, two more good men lost, but he pledges to take care of the families and loved ones left behind as best he can. You leave nothing out of your report, including advising the council of the Lizardfolk being the ultimate purchasers of the weapons cache that you recovered.

The council are obviously concerned at this news and request that they be given time to consider their options and request that you remain in Saltmarsh for an additional day in case there is anything that you are able assist with and you eagerly agree to do so, and agree to meet the following morning at 10am back in the chamber.

Upon exiting the chamber, you discover a wanted poster offering a reward for the apprehension of the Tiefling known as Yulista, wanted for crimes of theft, potential murder and other criminal acts. You take the wanted poster with you in the hope that you might be able to make some additional coin on the side. Only time prevents you from chasing down this lead now.

You head back to the Inn and whilst drinking an ale in the common room, Johama overhears some of the dockworkers saying that Yulista is heading for the Hool Marshes to hideout from the authorities. Where exactly, you do not know, but at least you have a rough direction on which to go on should you decide to pursue this quest.

Aemi is still very suspicious of Skerrin and turns herself into a cat and slinks over to the estate of Andors Olmor, where Skerrin resides. At the same time, Beeza activates her familiar and heads over the Gellan's house to see if there is anything that she can glean in that direction. Whilst landing on various windowsills, she overhears general talk of shipping contracts and other business issues, but importantly, she overhears Gellan vent his frustration about the setbacks his local smuggling operation has experienced at the hands of the party. He does not seem happy at all, despite his outward demeanour whenever you speak with him in person. Damning evidence indeed, but not something that you can simply present to the council without jeopardising your own standings with them. You need concrete evidence, and this does not meet that standard as he will just deny ever making the comment,

Unfortunately, Aemi is not able to discover anything new as far as Skerrin is concerned.

You all get a good night's sleep and head to the council chamber at 10am sharp and meet with the council members.

The council is obviously very concerned about the weapons destined for the Lizardfolk and fear an attack may be imminent from the nearest enclave, about 1-2 days marsh south of Saltmarsh in the Hool Marshes. They have therefore decided to send ambassadorial emissaries to the enclave to see if their true intentions can be determined. You agree to play the part of those ambassadors, and a Writ of Authority is drawn up for you so that the leaders of the enclave can be confident that they are dealing with the leaders of Saltmarsh through you.

You decide to leave mid-morning after organising provisions on horseback. You camp off the beaten path as night approaches and Beeza keeps careful watch with her familiar. Using the keen eyesight of the bird she can make out the entrance to the enclave along with the path that leads to it. It will mean making a river crossing, but nothing too dangerous.

You pack up early morning and start your trek to the enclave when you are set upon by a tribe of Bullywugs. You find the "average" Bullywug warrior to be no match for you, but the large Bullywug 1creature riding the huge toad proves to be much more difficult. So much so, that during one attack, poor Aemi is fully swallowed and rendered unconscious by the toad and only through sheer luck you are able to kill the rider and toad quickly so that you can cut her out of the toad's stomach and administer healing, thus preventing her from meeting an untimely death at the hands of such a disgusting creature.

Once to giant toad and its rider were slain, the remaining Bullywugs melted back into the swamp, hopefully never to be seen again. Given the hard-fought nature of the battle, you decide to take another long rest to fully recover before approaching the Lizardfolk enclave. Vexx also takes this opportunity to arm himself with the royal spear taken from the rider of the toad, as the weapon, although not magical, is of high-quality and he feels that he can put it to much better use fighting the forces of evil.

You again move off the beaten path, set up a small campfire and hunker down for the night, keeping careful watch so that you are ready to set off at first light, hopefully this time with no incident to bar your way. You must reach the enclave and find the truth behind these weapon shipments.