The Company of the Blue Sun

[Iain_IF]

Hi all,

This is the Chronicle of the Blue Sun, the campaign journal of our first edition campaign being played in Washington DC. We’ve been playing this campaign for almost a year, with a group size that has fluctuated from three to seven players. We’re always happy to add more players, even if it is only to try a different game on a trial basis. If you are interested in joining us, drop me a personal message or post.

Feel free to post into the journal if you have comments on either the DM or PC actions. Its good to hear how things could or would have gone differently with other PCs or DMs.

The Chronicle is in third person and covers the plot as completely as possible, both so the DM and the players have a record of what happened and so that the many plot threads can be kept straight. I apologize ahead of time for any verbiage.

Regards

[Iain_IF]

The country of Keoland has always had a strong citizen ethic. Communities are built and maintained through the joint efforts of their inhabitants. While lands are ruled by lords and overseen by their representatives, by and large the Keoish support each other and fend for themselves. All those who are fit and willing serve in the militia, learning how to fight, march, and take orders in the case of a levy. For some, this training ignites an urge to wander, see new places, experience new things, which is greater than can be met in the limits of town and country. This story is about a group of people filled with such a drive. Over their two years training in the militia, they have planned their future: A life of adventure, money, and intrigue. Agreeing that their combined skills would lead to greater success and security, they banded together to travel and expand their horizons. Their group consisted of four hearty souls: Winthrop, a mage, Serrin, a monk, Raven, a warrior, and Ross, a half-elven warrior priest of Pelor.

At the completion of their stint in the militia, they left home and signed on as guards to a local merchant, Kithazdian, in the port town of Seaton. They were tasked to guard his factor, Johannes Loschen, as he wended his way along the coast through a number of towns, culminating in crossing the Javan river to the border city of Longspear. Their fee was ten gold eagles a day each for protection from bandits and other creatures.

The trip from Seaton towards Saltmarsh, the first town on the way to Longspear, is largely uneventful, with the group staying at a farmhouse on the first evening. During their travels on the second day, it becomes apparent that a branch of the Dreadwood, a forest rapidly becoming untamed, had grown close to the road. After rounding a bend in the road, the travelers are surprised by a group of humanoids who spring from hiding on both sides of the road and attack the cart. The humanoids consist of eight man-sized, armored creatures and a shorter, more naturally armored, creature with sharp, long fangs.

The party defends the cart well, suffering little damage, except to the beasts of burden hauling the cart. By the grace of Pelor, Ross aids the stricken oxen, and the group escapes the area of the ambush. Some of the humanoids flee, and one ensorcelled by Winthrop is allowed to depart unharmed. To identify the creatures at a later date, heads are taken, but they are eventually discarded as potentially too gruesome. The party camps in another farmhouse courtyard that night, and speaks the next day with the Constable of Saltmarsh and one of his men, who come out from Saltmarsh to take a statement regarding the attack.

The party arrives on the border of Saltmarsh the next day. During this, their last day of travel, they pass a large, abandoned manor house on the cliff edge, several hours outside of town. The town of Saltmarsh is protected on the landward side by a shallow ditch, and is another, smaller, port town. A guard station, where taxes are collected, is located on the pathway into town. Johannes pays the tax on his goods, a load of iron, and drives down towards the docks, where he says he warehouses his goods.

Johannes was to sell his iron here and then purchase a load of cloth with the proceeds. Unfortunately, neither the iron purchaser, nor the cloth seller, hold up their end of the deal. Johannes tells the party that he will wait five days for the others to get their financing in order before he heads up to the next town of Burle. Rather than pay the full rate for their services as guards, he offers each of the party a two eagle daily retainer for the next five days.

The party accepts the offer and chooses to visit the town. Saltmarsh possesses a large market square, which has a weekly market and contains a sizeable freshwater well. There is a church dedicated to Cuthbert within the town, and reportedly a grove dedicated to Ehlonna outside of it. There is one inn, The Welcoming Home, run by Sarah Little, and two taverns, Axe and Shield and Drunken Parrot. The Axe and Shield, run by Elliot Longshanks, is the more upscale of the two. The Drunken Parrot, run by a surly gentleman named Grover, is a fisherman's bar and is more rowdy. Both taverns allow patrons to sleep in the common room after hours, for a small fee, while the inn rents rooms by the day and provides cooked meals. A blacksmith, Sean, also doubles as a weaponsmith and is available near the docks to do custom work. Serrin engages him to make a hooked net. Raven speaks with David, an apprentice to the local armorer, a Dwarf named Morin, about the resale of armor.

The party dines at the inn, and while there, hears of some event occurring at the Drunken Parrot that evening. Without knowing exactly what might be occurring, they travel there. Upon arrival, they hear that two itinerant adventurers had come to town and, in the Parrot itself, belittled the local men about their fears of a reputed haunted manor house located up the sea road. The adventurers had claimed to be unafraid of spooks, ghosts, and goblins, and bet one hundred eagles that they could go to the haunted manor house and return with proof of their time there. They were to have returned this night to collect their money, and to tell the tale of their adventure, but they have not yet been seen. Questioning by the party unearths that the manor house was occupied by an eccentric fellow, an alchemist or a necromancer, about fifty years ago, but that the house is now clearly haunted, and no one goes there. Strange sounds and lights come from the house, so the locals avoid it.

Also in the Drunken Parrot to hear the story of the missing adventurers is Ross's old colleague from the militia, a man named Rook. Rook, being a priest of Cuthbert, regularly debated the merits of their different religions with Ross, much to their pleasure and annoyance. Ross introduces Rook to the group, and he is welcomed to join them. The party discusses the current situation and decides to go to the reportedly haunted manor house to determine what has happened to the pair of adventurers.

After leaving a note for Johannes saying they'd be back and setting a meeting place and time, Ross collects a new shield and the party heads out to the haunted manor. Though they had been told that the manor house was five or more hours away, they arrive in slightly more than three hours. They investigate the exterior of the building, looking for entrances and windows and assessing the generally poor state of the house. After pacing around the house, the party determines that the house is T-shaped, has a small patio, many chimneys, and two entrances: a front door and a side door in the back. They attempt to locate any tracks through the grass and brush outside, but do not find any. They investigate the depth of the well also. Being unable to easily peer through the windows themselves, they enter through the front door.

The party roams the house, checking room after room for any signs of inhabitants. They discover a library with a small stack of still-intact books. Under these books, a scrap of paper is found, with the words "beyond skeletons" still legible on it. Stepping into the living room, they are startled by an unearthly cackling announcing their doom, but do not locate the source. In a different room, they find a desk which has a locked central drawer. With the monk unwilling to try to open the desk drawer lock, Rook bashes open the desk with many blows from his trusty mace. In the desk drawer is a bundle of papers detailing the purchase of alchemical equipment and reagents. Behind the back of the drawer is a hidden space. Feeling inside this space uncovers a rag bundled around a now-broken small flask. The flask is half full of rose-colored water, and the party debates how best to store the liquid. Eventually a beer bottle is emptied and the water is poured into it. Poking through one of the piles of plaster found on the floor, Serrin finds a large, gold hoop earring. In a different room, loose bricks are located in the fireplace, and a box with an iron ring is found behind the loose bricks. Also, Rook collects some red-capped mushrooms from where they are growing on the floor in a room.

When the party enters the kitchen, they are startled by a large, basketball-sized spider on the ceiling of the room. A fierce combat ensues, with the wounded spider eventually escaping up the oven flue. More giant bugs, centipedes this time, are dislodged from the cupboard under the sink. All five are mashed successfully, but not before Raven is bitten by them. Raven stoically neglects to mention this fact to his colleagues.

[Andolin]

Hi Iain,

The adventure sounds fun and looks to be going well . I just wanted to ask what levels the characters are and how difficult you, or even they, judge the adventure is as I'm not familiar with this particular one.

Yours from England,
Andrew

[Iain_IF]

Everyone started with a new character at level 1. I, the DM, have some house rules regarding starting HP and wizard INT bonus for spells, but, by and large, we're playing an AD&D game.

As for the adventure, it's U1.

[Iain_IF]

Ross tells the party that he is unable to continue with them at the moment. He has been struck with the understanding that he must perform certain priestly duties for Pelor. He cannot be dissuaded and, after agreeing to meet them back in Saltmarsh, departs through the side door of the house.

The party returns to the front entryway and ascends the stairs that are present. Serrin takes a painful fall back down to the first floor after passing over some rotten floorboards. His fall opens a large hole which blocks passage between the left and right wings on the second story. Rejoining the party, Serrin again probes ahead and discovers a key on a windowsill at the far end of the corridor. The first room that the party enters on the second story contains two large spiders scurrying in webbing on the ceiling; both spiders are dispatched quickly. Unfortunately, Raven is bitten by one of the spiders as well. The warrior feels increasingly weak and woozy.

The adjacent room has clearly damaged floorboards. Some careful exploration allows Winthrop to note that the windowsill in this room, unlike all the others, is clean and has some gouges in its surface. Raven tells the party of his increasing illness, but refuses to try the rose-colored water found in the desk on the lower floor. After collapsing on the floor, Raven is force-fed the contents of the beer bottle, which greatly revives him.

The last room in this wing of the house also has clearly damaged floorboards, but contains a prisoner! A man of middling size is bound and gagged in this room. After being freed, he explains that his name is Ned Shakeshaft, and that he's a locksmith and an acquisitions specialist. He had heard that some adventurers had taken a bet to come up to the manor house and he had come to join them and help them out with any locks they encountered. He had only just entered the house when he was hit on the head and knocked unconscious. Since then, he's been tied in the corner of this room, nervously hearing the voices of goblins outside the door. Ned is allowed to join the group, though he is not given arms, but only loaned a cloak to cover his small clothes.

Circling back to the kitchen, the party ascends to the second story, where they find the stairs to the attic partially collapsed. Rook tries to test the remains of the stairs, and succeeds in further breaking them, ripping part of the stairs down. The party decides upon a new method for opening doors, and implements it on the next door, since Serrin espies through the keyhole movement inside the room. The party is unpleasantly surprised by the veritable hail of stones that fly out of the room when the door is opened, as four short, greyish humanoids, probably goblins, are barricaded behind boxes and furniture in the room. After a brief battle, the party emerges victorious. The goblins are dispatched by Ned, and a ruby is found in one goblin’s sword handle. One of the boxes contains Ned's clothing and dagger, and he additionally equips himself with a goblin short sword.

The adjacent room contains more moldy furnishings and, in a chest, a bundle of papers pertaining to the purchase of the manor house. Buried deep within the bundle is a religious tract to the god Zilchus, likely containing a priestly spell. The final wing of the house is explored. Most rooms are empty, but in one, an old wardrobe is searched. Hanging in it is an old, cracked set of leather cloak and boots. The cloak emits a large explosion of yellow powder, coating Winthrop, when it is opened up. The leather cloak and boots are taken by the party - "just in case."

Not wanting to leave a single stone unturned, the monk is levered up the broken stairs into the attic, where he determines the coast is mostly clear. After securing a rope, the party ascends into the attic. Assorted sacks strewn around the attic occupy their attention, until Winthrop, who has been hanging back from the group, is assaulted by a small bird-like creature. While his spell lights the creature aflame, he is overcome by its attacks and collapses. Several more creatures come and attack the party, but are eventually defeated by the combined efforts of all, including Ned. The large, thatch nest of the creatures, located at the far end of the hall, contains wound into it, the remains of some leather goods, including a small, cracked pouch with an iron ring in it. Efforts to revive Winthrop fail, and a decision must be made: Should the party stay in the attic overnight or retreat outside the manor house to recover spells and health?

After a spirited debate within the party, Ned decides it's time for him to leave, as it appears that the party may be camping in the attic overnight. Once Ned goes, the party, after some more debate, follows suit. The decision is made to carry the prostrate Winthrop to the nearest farmhouse and treat him there. With Winthrop in tow, traveling to the nearest farmhouse takes significantly longer than expected, more than two hours.

When they arrive, after dark, at the farmhouse, the party is greeted by the barking of dogs and a wary farmer. He agrees to let the party use one of his wood shelters at the back of the farmyard for the night, since the party seems much the worse for wear. He also tells the party that there have been recent rumors of goblins about. The farmer, known as Pa, even goes so far as to send out some food, a very nice cold meat pie, for the weary travelers.

[Iain_IF]

The night passes uneventfully, and Winthrop is eventually brought back to consciousness. After several hours of further rest and recuperation, the party feels ready to travel back to the manor house. The farmer's son is convinced by the earnestness of the group, and a twenty silver legion bribe, that it would be fine for the group to leave some belongings in storage at the farmhouse at least for a few days. They leave a sack filled with many of the bulkier items from the previous day’s adventure. The party also finds out from talking with Pa that the previous owner of the manor house was named Millbrook.

The trip back to the manor house goes uneventfully, and the party strides confidently to the back of the house planning to investigate the basement. Screams and spooky sounds come from the basement as the party heads downstairs. In the dimly lit basement, a plate-mail clad body, with shield and sword beneath it, is seen to be face down on the floor. The room itself appears to be a former wine cellar. As the group investigates the body, hideous screams come from the body and burrowing worms climb out of the body. Although the corpse is released quickly, one worm is able to burrow into Rook’s arm. With much difficulty, torches are made from scrap wood and oil-soaked rags, and the worm is eventually burnt out of his arm.

The question of how to recover the plate-mail without encountering more worms is debated. The decision is made that the body will be pushed with a spear butt into the fireplace, and then burnt. Winthrop busily examines the room for other exits, and believes a door may be hidden by the fireplace. After pushing and prodding the clanging body over the stone floor into the fireplace, no one is surprised when the door discovered by Winthrop opens and the room fills with fog. Raven retreats to the base of the stairs with his bow, while the mage and monk run up the stairs, only to be faced by four armed gentlemen above.

Several armed men rush Raven, and a large dog-headed creature in chainmail assaults Rook with an axe. Up in the kitchen, Serrin is beset by two of the four men blocking the staircase. Raven is able to slay several men with his bow work. The sound of more spell casting in the fog filled room is heard, and Raven is faced by a large dog-headed creature himself. Winthrop attempts to ensorcel several of the men in the upstairs combat, but is only singularly successful, and eventually Serrin is knocked unconscious. Raven severely wounds the dog-headed creature he is in combat with. As the fog clears, and the amount of damage done by the party becomes apparent, several of the men upstairs run away, and the spell caster and his remaining minions retreat back through the secret door, closing it behind them.

Rook rushes to the secret door and opens it, only to be met by a wounded, dog-headed creature. The dog-headed creature strikes Rook with his axe, knocking him unconscious. Raven attempts to shoot the creature with his bow, but misses. The dog-headed creature knocks Raven unconscious as well. Finally, only Winthrop, lacking any spells, is left to face the axe-wielding, armored creature. At the last minute, the ensorcelled warrior from above comes to Winthrop’s aid, slaying the creature.

Winthrop attempts to drag the unconscious group into the attic, but can’t, even with the ensorcelled warrior’s assistance, determine how to get everyone into the attic. Finally, he drags everyone into the room where Ned was found and uses the key to lock the door. Winthrop and the ensorcelled warrior spend the rest of the day, and part of the night, anxiously concerned about being discovered and attacked. Since the floor is unsafe in some areas, it is a cramped stay. At least once during that time, noises are heard in the corridor outside the door.

Late that night the group awakens, weak and sore. Rook is able to use what little magic is available to him to heal the party, and then falls asleep, as does Winthrop. Raven and Serrin question the ensorcelled warrior and discover his name is Robert, also known as Big Bob, and that he came from Burle with some others to work for a guy named San in evading trade restrictions. There were ten of them, plus two "dogs," working for San and they had been there a while, chasing off people who came and snooped around. The last time a supply ship came, it was late, since they are supposed to come at the new moon, which was two weeks ago, and the ship only came about a week ago. Big Bob also describes how there is a sea cave under the manor house, and that they use their boat to contact a ship called "the Ghost." He provides a description of the sea cave, and of another trapdoor exit in the house.

After four hours of rest, Rook is awoken and prays to St. Cuthbert for guidance and healing. He heals the party as well as he can, then goes back to sleep. This sleep is broken when noises are heard in the hallway. As the whole party anxiously awaits an attack, the noises fade away, and the casters go back to sleep. Serrin spots something scouting around the outside of the manor house in the dark, and avoids attracting its attention. Following another four hours of sleep Rook awakens and prays to St. Cuthbert for guidance and healing. He heals the party as well as he can. The party is still wounded, and Rook meditates and prays to St. Cuthbert for more hours to regain healing magics. After curing the party, he continues his meditation, but feels his devotion to St. Cuthbert will likely not provide further magical aid, as several visions showing selflessness and wise acts are shown to him during his meditation.

Big Bob leads the group down to the trapdoor exit, which appears open still. It is located in the living room, where the unearthly cackling was heard before. They go down the trapdoor and find a much more modern and well-kept room spanning the basement of the decaying manor house. Searching this room, they find bolts of fine cloth, casks of brandy, dry goods, and personal items. Cots line the room, each with a footlocker. Of the lockers, only one is emptied, though the others lack coin. The leader’s room, found at the end of this room, appears to have been stripped clean, with a secret cubby under the bed open and emptied. Next to the leader’s room, a barred door marked DANGER remains undisturbed.

Big Bob shows the party the way down to the sea cave; a secret door opening into a rough natural passage in the rock. Big Bob points out passages that are not used, though he doesn’t know why they aren’t used. A storage cave with more bolts of fine cloth and casks of brandy is found, as is a haphazard pile of cloth bolts and casks in the tunnel to the sea cave. No boat is in the sea cave.

Big Bob is dismissed and told to go visit his mother in Burle. He takes his personal belongings from one of the footlockers and goes. The door marked DANGER is unbarred and opened. Animate skeletons are in the room beyond. They are pinned against the wall by the power of St. Cuthbert shown by Rook. One at a time the creatures are dispatched. A secret door is located by the remains of the skeletons.

Beyond the skeletons, through the secret door, is an alchemical laboratory with old glassware, dried compounds, and several gold items. A skeletal body is at a table reading an open book describing the Philosopher’s Stone. In the hand of the skeleton is a smooth, golden stone. Winthrop takes both the stone and book. Raven notices the odd shape of the table and deduces there are some inner compartments. While most of the compartments contain dried animal remains, a partially destroyed mage book is found in a middle compartment. Winthrop takes this book as well. A fist-sized hole surrounded by a large pile of yellowish powder is in the wall behind the table, but nothing can be seen in it.

The party decides to investigate the passages that Big Bob said were not used. The first passage leads to a cave that seems uninteresting. In passing into the second passage, Raven is covered by a green slime that drops directly on him from above. Winthrop makes torches again, Serrin tries to scrape slime off of Raven, and Raven shucks his equipment and armor. Winthrop and Rook burn the slime still on Raven while Serrin scrapes more slime off, but only due to Rook’s healing arts does Raven avoid unconsciousness. Most of Raven’s equipment is lost.

The party goes back to the scene of the battle in the wine cellar. In the hours since the battle, the bodies have begun to stink, and the worms in the plate-mail clad corpse have begun to migrate to the other corpses. After much effort, the plate-mail clad body is hauled up the stairs, through the trapdoor, and onto the patio of the manor, strewing corruption the whole way. A long discussion is had about whether to burn, reduce or simply heat the armor. In the end, Winthrop empties the remainder of his oil on the body and sets it ablaze.

Serrin runs back to the farmhouse and negotiates with Pa for the use of a cart and oxen to carry goods from the manor house to the farmhouse. Since Pa has the sack of their previous goods, and Serrin is relatively charismatic, he sends Tim, his most adventurous son, out with the cart and oxen team. The group loads up the cart with the bolts of cloth, casks of brandy, and other valuables, provides Tim with an open keg of beer, and heads back to the farm, heavily laden. Exhausted, the party camps to figure out what to do in the morning.

[Iain_IF]

The night in Pa's yard passes uneventfully, without disturbances. In the morning, before dawn, Raven and Serrin start off on foot to Saltmarsh, hoping to catch Johannes before he leaves town. Several hours later, Rook and Winthrop awake and discuss the plan for the day. Winthrop has fallen ill, with a severe chest cold, and begins coughing. Rook and Winthrop decide to drive the cart into town, thinking possibly to try to avoid the excise tax. About an hour outside of Saltmarsh, the Constable, accompanied by two of his men, meets Rook and Winthrop on the road. The Constable relates that Pa had summoned him regarding weird comings and goings at the abandoned manor house. The Constable interrogates Rook and Winthrop regarding the events at the manor house. After hearing descriptions of vile creatures, giant spiders, and a gang of smugglers, the Constable sends one of his two men, Tom, back to town to gather two more men and further investigate. Rook strongly recommends a larger group. As a result, the Constable rides into town with them, catching Tom and his troop and assigning several more men to accompany them. Winthrop coughs wetly.

It is marketday in Saltmarsh, and the town is full of local merchants and farmers selling their wares. Both tax stations, one on each road into town, are occupied. The saleable goods in the cart are assessed for their tax value, and a sum of close to five hundred gold eagles is required for their entry into Saltmarsh. Rook and Winthrop are asset rich, but cash poor, and are unable to pay the tax. They drive the cart through town to the excise office, where it will be stabled until they can pay the tax on their goods. The commotion of the laden cart, complete with escort, slowly working its way across the crowded marketplace attracts the attention of most of the shoppers in town. The Constable, sizing up Rook, suggests that perhaps his church can provide the necessary funds to meet the excise tax. Winthrop coughs wetly and wheezes.

Rook and Winthrop encounter Johannes on the way through town. Johannes shows great surprise at the recent events. While Johannes had received Ross' note, he hadn't realized the extent of the party’s activities. Rook asks if Johannes is looking to buy silk, but Johannes states he is in fact looking for sailcloth. Rook would like Johannes to come assess the value of the goods in the cart, and Johannes agrees to come down to the excise house in the mid-afternoon.

Getting directions to the church of Cuthbert is straightforward, and Rook and Winthrop make their way to it. The church is a two-story building with extensive gardens surrounding it. An under-priest meets them as they enter the church grounds, and directs them to a small chamber within the church. After a moment, the under-priest goes and gets his superior, who identifies himself as Tryzen. Tryzen examines Winthrop and inquires whether he came into contact with large amounts of mold recently. Neither Winthrop nor Rook recalls any, but both think it possible. Tryzen gives Winthrop a draught to make him sleep, and explains to Rook that Winthrop is very ill, near death, and will need to stay in the temple at least overnight. Rook tithes a small gold disk to Tryzen and leaves, never raising the question of borrowing funds.

The Constable finds Rook leaving the church. He explains to Rook that there will be a meeting of the town council that night, and that Rook should expect to attend and bring Winthrop with him. After being informed that Winthrop is ill, the Constable assures Rook that Winthrop will arrive, since Tryzen is also a member of the council.

Rook leaves and locates the only moneychanger in town, Chumley Roundbottom, a halfling. Chumley is currently talking the proverbial ear off of an elven woman in the shop. Chumley is able to convert the gold items Rook is carrying into Keoish coin. Serrin, who has been unsuccessful in locating Johannes all morning, tracks Rook down inside Chumley's shop, where a brief, somewhat enlightening conversation is held in front of Chumley and the elf maiden. Rook and Serrin agree to meet at the town council later that night. Serrin is able to recover his new net from Sean, who also happens to have sizeable number of caltrops available. Serrin passes on the caltrops. Rook travels back to the excise house to meet Johannes, but Johannes does not arrive. After waiting until dark, Rook meets Winthrop and Tryzen, and heads off to the Town Council meeting.

The town council meeting, held at the Welcoming Home Inn, is a crowded affair, filled with locals, people from outlying areas who are in town for marketday, and the assorted malcontent. Sudden meetings like this are rare events, and the unfolding story of an organized band of thieves, undead haunts, the activation of off-duty excise men, and the amount of seized goods captured many people's attention. After it was clear that no portentous announcements would be made, the crowd significantly thinned.

During the meeting, Serrin becomes convinced that Johannes' odd behavior implicates him as a member of the smugglers' conspiracy. Serrin asks the excise men to try to recall if anyone with Johannes' description had left town by sea or by either road. Eventually, one excise man recalls a merchant heading out of town with an empty wagon, north toward Burle.

The town council, concerned with the presence of smugglers on the coast, offers the party, and whomever they hire, up to a maximum of eight, five hundred gold eagles each to rid the community of the smuggling ring's sea-based component. Towards this end, the town will provide a seaworthy boat and two volunteers from the excise men to man it. Booty from the smugglers is to be divided amongst those that obtain it.

Serrin spots Ned Shakeshaft amongst the crowd and, over Winthrop's objections, offers him a spot. A wanderer named Remo offers his services to the Constable, who directs him to Rook. Also, the elf maid from earlier, who is called Melar, states she would like to join.

The Constable introduces Tom and Will Stoutly, excise men the party has already met in their meetings with the Constable and his men, as two volunteers for the mission, and leaves them and the party to develop a plan of action. A heated discussion over whether a better plan is to chase down Johannes, or to head back to the manor house brakes out. Tom and Will suspect that the smugglers' ship will arrive on or near the new moon, which begins in three days. The logistics of capturing and returning with Johannes make it unlikely that the ship would be met if the party chased down Johannes on the way to Burle. Consequently, Johannes is allowed to escape, though the excise men promise to take a description of him to the Sheriff's men and state he is wanted for questioning.

At the close of the meeting, Winthrop and Neal, a member of the town council, ink a contract stating Neal will attempt to sell the party’s trade goods for a five percent commission. Neal is confident he can sell them, though it may take some time.

[Iain_IF]

The following day, after a late night of discussion, followed by rest at the Axe and Shield, Melar wanders through town. She asks questions of merchants in the town, trying to identify who might have been involved with the smugglers. She notes a very nervous cloth merchant, Marvin, and, after collecting Winthrop, iss able to browbeat a confession from him. Apparently, Marvin would receive shipments of silk and cloth monthly from a gentleman named San, who was normally clad in a skullcap. San was usually in the company of several ruffians. Occasionally, Marvin's cousin Myrick would handle the transaction. Marvin throws himself on Winthrop’s and Melar's mercy, saying he didn't think he was hurting anyone by avoiding the taxes.

At the same time Remo, Rook, and Serrin determine what items might be needed to waylay the smugglers' craft. Not knowing the size of the ship, they think they may need to burn it, its sails, or its rigging down, so quantities of oil and materials for flaming arrows are purchased. Serrin locates an ex-smuggler, one who was caught one too many times, and is given a brief overview of how smugglers work and the rough scale of a smuggling ship.

Late in the day, Serrin and Remo head out by foot to the manor house, while the rest row out to the house in the jolly boat with the supplies. Serrin and Remo stop at the farmhouse, where Pa wants to know, "Where's my cart?" After paying for the cart's use, Serrin asks if Tim or anyone else would be willing to aid the party out at the manor house. After Pa is reassured that there will be little danger, Tim agrees to help in exchange for archery lessons.

The party regroups at the manor house and settles in for the night. The following day, Remo investigates the house, identifying where lanterns might have signaled to the sea. He also provides to Tim the requisite archery lessons. As night falls, the party tests to see what can be seen and heard while out at sea, and judge that while light shown from the sea cave will not be seen, light shown from the house will.

After much discussion, including a mathematical discourse on trigonometry, sailing speed, and the rate of sunset by Winthrop, a plan is hatched. The party will leave Tim to watch for a signal while they ride in the ocean in the jolly boat, looking for the smugglers' ship to arrive. If Tim sees a signal, he is to respond with a similar signal back to the ship and then go home. The party will hopefully either see the ship, the ship's signal, or Tim's signal. The party will then attempt to approach the ship from the seaward side in the jolly boat. Ned and Serrin will scale the side of the ship and attach a rope ladder and a grapnel to the ship’s railing. A boarding order is established.

The first night in the boat goes uneventfully, and everyone then sleeps during the next day. Winthrop tries to determine the best way to salvage spells from the damaged spellbook found in the alchemist’s laboratory.

The second night in the boat, Rook sees Tim signaling from the house. Fifteen minutes of searching later, a large, single-masted ship is sighted. Approaching and scaling the ship goes flawlessly, with Ned and Serrin attaching the rope ladder and Ned affixing the grappling hook. Rook and Remo join Serrin and Ned on board before Will Stoutly's slight jingling alerts a perceptive smuggler.

Combat immediately erupts with Serrin casting a spear and receiving a magical bolt in return. A complicated melee follows, with much mind-altering magic being brought to bear. Some of the smugglers are ensorcelled to attack their compatriots. The mage who bolted Serrin is knocked unconscious. Remo is felled by arrows from above shortly before Tom Stoutly is able to target the offending archer, but is brought back to consciousness by Rook. The smugglers’ Captain drags his unconscious mage into a cabin while, almost simultaneously, three large lizardmen burst onto deck. The lizardmen rapidly retreat to the side of the ship and escape into the sea. First Serrin and Rook charge into the cabin where the Captain has retreated and both try to engage the Captain. Serrin and then Rook are knocked unconscious. A creature flies from the cabin of the lizardmen off into the night. Remo enters the Captain's cabin, only to be confronted by a mass of webbing obscuring the room. Winthrop dashes up to the poop deck, as Remo entangles an ensorcelled smuggler in the webbing. Winthrop peers over the back of the boat and spies the Captain and the mage clinging to the back of the boat. Winthrop successfully ensorcells the mage, causing the Captain to climb up on deck. Faced with very bad odds, the Captain retreats, stepping off the boat and sinking into the ocean in his metal chainmail armor. A quick search of the ship shows no more smugglers to be found.

After some time, the webbing in the Captain's room dissolves, allowing access to the unconscious Rook and Serrin. Will Stoutly attempts to aid Serrin and fails, but brings Rook conscious again. Rook calls on Cuthbert to awaken Serrin. After a long discussion about whether to seal up the ship, check on Tim, or search the ship, a group goes back to the manor in the jolly boat to both collect the goods the party left there and to check on Tim. Tim is not in the manor house.

While the group is at the house, Will Stoutly informs Melar that he has heard voices on the next deck below, and the voices are not speaking in the common tongue. Melar awaits the return of the rest of the party. Once they arrive, a secret door is located in the back of one of the cabins. In the small, cramped hidden compartment, locked to one of a series of staples in the floor, is an aquatic elf.

The elf explains that he was captured while sneaking aboard the boat. The boat had regularly visited an abandoned section of coastline in the Hool Marshes near the roaming area of his tribe. Curious, they sent the elf to explore, but he was not stealthy enough in boarding the ship. After being released from his shackles, he is asked by Serrin to search underwater for the body of the Captain. The elf does so, but fails to find the Captain’s body.

The party decides to sail nearer to Saltmarsh before waiting out the night. With the help of Winthrop and the Stoutlys, they successfully sail the ship, trailing the jolly boat, to about a mile outside of Saltmarsh harbor. There they await more excise men to help bring the ship in to dock.

[Iain_IF]

The party continues to search the ship. Winthrop quizzes the mage about the contents of his room. The mage divulges the location of the key to his chest: a hollow heel in one of his spare boots. Winthrop finds the boot and gets the key. Winthrop, Ned, Melar, and Serrin investigate the chest. Ned assures everyone that it is safe to open, but, when the chest is opened, a gas boils out, incapacitating all but Serrin. Serrin and Remo, who has been exploring the other cabins, wait for the gas to dissipate, and then pull the bodies to safety. No one is able to resuscitate them, and questioning of the mage yields nothing. Remo and Serrin appear ready to lynch the mage, but are warned off by the armed and prepared Stoutly brothers. Tom and Will Stoutly watch over the bound prisoners more closely following that event.

While Remo explores the ship, collecting valuable items and sea chests from various rooms and assembling them on deck, Serrin naps. Included in Remo’s collection are several locked metal boxes. Wandering the hold of the ship, he counts many casks and tuns, as well as several stacks of cloth bolts. Remo locates, in the room where the lizardmen came from, a chest with electrum coins, apparently minted in a foreign country, which have the head of a lizardman on them. Remo pours these coins out on the floor of the room. Also in this room, under one of the hammocks, is a crate with marsh reeds forming a nest. Remo continues collecting items until dawn, when a small boat is seen rowing out from shore.

The boat contains Ross, Raven, and four excise men. The excise men relate that a ship sailed into town early this morning and reported a ship, the Sea Ghost, moored out at sea. The boat was sent out to investigate, though the Constable expected that it would be the party. Raven explains a series of events that happened to him over the last few days, including trailing Johannes for eight hours out of town to the north, and that he has been trying to catch the party, but has lagged always a few hours behind.

Ross, on the other hand, relates a Pelor-granted vision shown to him in the manor house. It instructed him to go east of the manor house, to a location where Pelor had showed him a vision of worshippers in danger. Ross was able to locate the house in his vision, about a day's travel east of the manor house, but was too late to help the occupants. The house was empty and day-old blood was on the floor of one of the rooms. The neighbors knew nothing of what had happened, and told Ross that the people who lived there, a farmer and his family, were well liked and not in need. Ross then traveled back to Saltmarsh to find the party again, but searched in vain. He had even gone back out to the manor house one night to see if the party was there, but saw no lights on in the house. Ross tried one last time to meet with the rest of the party where they were to join with Johannes, but no one appeared there as well.

The Constable, assuming Ross was connected to the other itinerant adventurers in town, informed him of the party's mission, and when an anchored ship was reported, offered both Ross and Raven a lift out to it. With the assistance of the additional excise men, the Stoutlys are certain that the Sea Ghost can be brought into dock.

Soon after the ship, now trailing two small boats, has gotten underway, Ned, Winthrop, and Melar recover from their slumber. While the six excise men sail the ship into harbor, the party prowls over the ship, examining the different cabins. A set of charts and some notes written in an odd hand are located in the Captain's desk. A leather tube containing a wand wrapped with a scroll of paper is found under the mage's mattress. Eventually, following further questioning of the mage by Winthrop, the mage's spellbook is located; it was hidden in the top of the trapped chest. Flipping through the spellbook, he reads that the last page has a single word written across it.

Melar investigates the cabins near where Oceanus was found and spies a similar hidden hatch in the rear of the adjacent cabin. Opening this hatch exposes another crawl space, also lined with staples along the floor, but containing several large bundles and sacks. She enlists the aid of others to recover the bundles and sacks and bring them on deck.

All of the items found on the ship, along with the various and sundry items worn by the sailors, are placed in a pile on the deck. Added to this pile are Ross's and Raven's iron rings. Rook determines if any of the items are magical, discovering that the wand, the writing on the paper, the magic-user's spellbook, a carved ivory ring, both iron rings, and a broadsword all radiate magic. Rook then determines if any of the items radiate evil. He finds that the stone that Winthrop took from the manor house radiates evil, and that both Serrin and Ned Shakeshaft are evil people. Some debate ensues about the abilities and use of the magical items, and Winthrop explains that with time and significant money, he'll likely be able to determine what the powers of the magical items are. Rook raises the question of whether or not a different magician could perform this job more inexpensively. Winthrop glares at him frostily. Rook tells him his stone is accursed.

Ned is successful in opening the locked metal chests, finding inside an assortment of silver coins and more lizard-headed electrum coinage. In doing so, he triggers another trap on one of the boxes, injuring himself on a scything blade. The bundles found by Melar contain weapons (javelins and morning stars) and shields, including one large shield with the head of a lizardman emblazoned on it.

When the Sea Ghost arrives at the dock in Saltmarsh, the Constable and a group of excise men meet the ship. The Constable talks with Will and Tom Stoutly in the company of Serrin and Winthrop. The Constable is very interested in what has happened, and tells the party that the town council will meet in closed session that night to hear the party’s report. The Constable takes charge of the captives, saying that the Sheriff or one of his men will likely want to interrogate them.

The party rests and recuperates for much of the day, while Ross cooks up some food: pan-fried chicken. An excise man arrives at the ship and tells Ross that the party should pick a spokesperson to describe the events leading to the taking of the ship. After dark, Ross wakes the party. Excise men have been assigned to guard the dock and the ship; two at the base of the gangplank, two at the end of the pier, and one on the poop deck.

The party, including the sea elf, who tells Ross his name is Oceanus, is escorted by excise men to the Welcoming Home Inn. They bring with them examples of the weapons they discovered, the large, emblazoned shield, and samples of the coinage marked with the lizard head. There, Winthrop provides a synopsis, with only a few interruptions, of the events on the ship. The town council is appropriately impressed with the successful capture of the ship and the crushing of the smuggling ring. They are concerned that the lizardmen, who appear to be purchasing weapons from the smugglers, have ill intent towards Saltmarsh. The maps and documents found in the Captain's quarters are closely examined, and a match is found between a crude, hand-drawn map and part of the coastline in the Hool Marshes, southwest of Saltmarsh by only about ten miles. Other marks on the nautical charts appear to be clustered in an area east of Seaton. The town council needs to discuss their response to all of this new information, and requests the party return the next day. Before leaving, Rook and Serrin speak with Neal to arrange the sale of the trade goods on the ship. Neal agrees that if there are large quantities to be sold, it might be possible to arrange one large purchase, rather than a series of individual buyers. He is willing to discuss this possibility further on the next day.

After rising the next morning, Rook and Serrin meet with Neal. Neal states that he can likely purchase the entire cargo of trade goods and then resell them, but he needs to have his employees inspect the cargo to first assess its worth. Neal, Rook, and Serrin agree that Neal's people can come on board to inventory and price the trade goods. Rook then arranges with Tryzen further instruction in the clerical arts. Tryzen explains that the rites and rituals of this act require rare materials, and asks Rook to tithe twelve hundred gold eagles to cover the costs in materials, time, and effort.

Rook brings the electrum coinage bearing the lizardman head to Chumley Roundbottom. Chumley has never seen such a coin before, but is happy to convert it to good Keoish coin. Since he’ll have to melt the coins down into ingots or weights, he can only pay Rook their worth in metal, which is less than their worth as coinage. Rather than keep coinage that isn’t the coin of the realm, Rook converts the lizardman headed coins to Keoish eagles.

[Iain_IF]

That evening, at the Welcoming Home Inn, the town council pays the party five hundred gold eagles each, honoring their contract. They also relate how the potential threat of the lizardmen has created a further need for the party's services. The town is willing to pay twice the previous amount, or one thousand gold eagles each, if the party will discover the strength of the lizard encampment, their intentions, and the details of their lair. Again, Tom and Will Stoutly will man a boat, a larger cutter with a mast and sail, and accompany the party. The party agrees to take the contract, through Ned declines to join them, saying he's not interested in going into the Hool Marshes. The party explains that they cannot investigate the location of the lizardmen's lair without Rook first completing his religious training. At the close of the meeting, Neal agrees to purchase the trade goods and does so, paying close to eleven thousand gold eagles for the complete shipment. The money is split among the party, Ned, and the Stoutlys.

Rook borrows money from Serrin and others so that he can tithe the appropriate amount, and enters training at the church. Winthrop and Melar take this opportunity to hunt for reagents and components for magical inks. While supplies of these items are limited, enough exist in Saltmarsh for Melar and Winthrop to transcribe some spells. Also, Melar and Winthrop spend their time attempting to discern the purpose of several of the magical items collected so far. After days of exhaustive magical testing, the carved ivory ring and both iron rings are determined to be beneficial protective rings of the least order, the wand likely detects magical emanations, and the plate mail is enchanted at the least level. Remo consults with Morin the armorer about plate mail, and contracts with him for a set, paying the price up front. Morin gives him a three week timeframe for the completion of the armor. Serrin inquires about the ownership of the manor house and is told that his Lordship, Lord Morgan, or perhaps the Lord Mayor of Seaton would know. Serrin writes to his former master about the possibility of purchasing the manor house and establishing a monastery there.

After several days, Rook returns from training with Tryzen, steeped with greater clerical lore, but chafing a bit under the restrictions that come with higher status in the church. Assembling the party, including Oceanus, who has been learning the common tongue, and their excise men guides, they sail down the coast towards the location marked on the hand-drawn map. Great care is taken to avoid being observed, including a loop made out to sea so that an approach can be made from the south, away from the town.

Following landfall, the boat is secured and the party begins to walk the mile or so through the marsh to reach the place marked on the map. Using Remo's tracking skills, a path is found through the swamp, paralleling the coastline. After roughly an hour's walk, the party is beset by frog men, some armed with swords and one also with a shield, who hop to the attack. More than a score of frog men, hopping and croaking, surround and swarm over the party, knocking Winthrop, Melar, and Tom Stoutly unconscious, but they are eventually repulsed following superior bow work. The ambush occurred in a drier hillier section of the swamp, and an investigation of the surrounding area uncovers what appears to be a temporary campsite. At the edge of the campsite, a partially submerged chest is hidden among the reeds. Inside this chest is an assortment of old bags and clothes. The bags contain three oddly colored and shaped stones, five rubies, more gold coins with the lizard minting, and an oddly shaped helm. Raven tries on the helm to no apparent effect. Raven collects the items and carries them in his backpack.

Remo and the others clean up the battle scene, tossing the corpses further into the marsh and collecting the few weapons and one shield in the now empty chest. The chest is placed back into the marsh. After reviving the unconscious, the party closes to within sight of the location marked on the map.

A hundred yards away, across some wet marshland, a promontory butts into the sea, sloping out of the marshland. No life is seen on the promontory, except for some marsh birds. Serrin, Oceanus, and Melar creep through the wet marsh into the grass and reeds growing on the promontory, attempting to scout the promontory. Oceanus and Melar locate a path which winds from a river on the far side of the promontory up to about forty feet from the promontory top. Crawling over to the edge of the promontory, they see another intersecting path running along the river edge. This path by the river appears to end in a cave entrance in the side of the promontory. While this is occurring, Serrin crawls through the reeds to discover what appears to be a cave mouth covered by a camouflaged reed screen. Crawling beside it and peering inside, he sees a wooden, iron-bound door about five feet inside the cave itself.

A hushed discussion is held, and the party is summoned through the wet marsh to the promontory, with directions given to enter through the camouflaged cave entrance. Rook and Raven take the lead in entering through the door. Raven is able to successfully force the door with only a little noise. Raven and Rook lead the party into a roughly ten foot wide corridor of packed earth with wooden supports, poorly lit with torches. The corridor appears to have a room off of it about thirty feet away on the right-hand side and ends in a perpendicular corridor.

After traveling about five feet into the corridor, hissing sounds and movement are heard from the area of the room. Raven quickly nocks an arrow while Rook readies his mace. A large, seven-foot tall lizardman holding a morning star looks from the doorway of the room down the corridor towards the exit door and the party. Much agitation is seen in the demeanor of the lizardman, and he hisses back into the room while stepping into the hallway. He then motions that the party should back up.

Rook mutters to Raven that he should shoot the lizardman, but Raven doesn't fire. More hissing is heard from the room, along with the sound of running feet, and another lizardman, this one with a shortsword, becomes visible in the doorway to the room. Raven still holds his fire, though Rook is more adamant that Raven should be firing. The lizardman in the hallway continues to motion that the party should back up.

After a few more moments of this stand off, two more lizardmen are seen at the end of the hallway, these holding javelins. A lizardman wearing a silverish armband strides out of the side room and tells the party, in poor common tongue, that they must leave the lizardmen's home. Rook states that they are looking to sell weapons to the lizardmen, but the lizardman is adamant that the party must go outside before further talking occurs.

[Iain_IF]

At this point, the rest of the party is wondering what is going on inside, and Will Stoutly, who can see in through the door, says that they're all going to die. Rook and the lizardman agree that only a few of the lizardmen will exit the lair to talk outside. Rook and Raven tell people to back up, and begin exiting the corridor. Remo runs further up the promontory to gain a height advantage with his bow, should combat with the lizardmen occur. He also looks for lizardmen coming up the trail by the river, but sees none.

Once the party is outside, the lizardman wearing the armband and five more exit the lair. Rook tries to talk to these lizardmen, again saying that he is an arms trader who wishes to sell weapons to the lizardmen, but he is cut off by the lizardman with the armband, who says that someone is coming to talk. After several more minutes, a delegation of lizardmen come outside, including a large lizardman wearing a torque and an armband and what appears to be an aged lizardman. A smallish lizardman brings a chair for the aged lizardman to sit in.

The aged lizardman speaks rather good common tongue and inquires what the party is doing in his home. Rook now has the opportunity to tell his story. He explains that the party is a group of rival arms dealers who attacked and defeated the arms dealers that the lizardmen bought weapons from before. He says that they possess the weapons that the lizardmen had bought before, and are happy to sell them to the lizardmen. The aged lizardmen hisses a bit with the other lizardmen and agrees that they knew of the attack on the smugglers' ship. He does think it a bit odd though that the lizardmen would pay twice for the weapons, since the party must now be in possession of the lizardmen's payment as well as the lizardmen's weapons. The aged lizardman asks if they do lots of business in the area. Rook says that they are new to the area and Raven chimes in that they'll do business with anyone in the area. Various pained sounds are made by other members of the party during this conversation.

The aged lizardman comments on how his understanding of the human gods must be flawed, as he thought that humans considered arms trading as a somewhat dishonorable profession, but now sees that a cleric of Cuthbert could be a member of this profession. Some consternation occurs among the party, with Rook eventually agreeing that the aged lizardman must have a flawed understanding. The aged lizardman says that his king would certainly be interested in negotiating for more weapons, and invites the party inside to talk directly with the king, since it would be rude for the king to come outside. Rook wants to know what the weapons will be used for, and the aged lizardman assures him they are for defense of their home against mutual, aggressive enemies. Rook asks if the lizardmen know of the frog men. The aged lizardman says that the frog men live further into the swamp, but they, like many humans, do not keep their promises. The lizardmen do not trade or trust the frog men. The aged lizardman is curious if the party had encountered the frog men, and Rook confidently states that the frog men were no difficulty. The aged lizardman squints at a large frog man bite on the side of Oceanus's face and nods in agreement.

Several rounds of discussion occur with the party trying to get more information out of the aged lizardman and the aged lizardman inviting the party inside. The party consistently refuses to enter the lair until finally Ross suddenly says he'll go in. The party is ready to let him go in and be the sacrificial cleric, but then Winthrop also says that he'll go. They are escorted inside by a lizardman with an armband and then, once inside, by a group of a dozen lizardmen. The aged lizardman outside enters into an esoteric discussion on marshland vegetation with the party.

Ross and Winthrop are lead through a winding passage containing several cross-passages, all of which end in doors, until they arrive at what looks to be an impromptu throne room. They notice during their travel through the tunnels that there is not a great deal of soot markings from the torches on the walls, and that the tunnels are reasonably well maintained, but fairly dusty and dirty. The throne is occupied by a large lizardman who has a metal cover across one side of his head and a three-pronged rake replacing one hand. The room is filled with lizardmen warriors and there is a lizardman in robes, possibly a shaman or cleric, advising the lizardman on the throne, presumably the king. On two of the walls are crossed tridents and barbed nets.

The king addresses Ross and Winthrop and wants to know their purpose here. Winthrop and Ross relate a more truthful version of events, starting with the attack on the smugglers and the concerns of the town that these weapons might be going to lizardmen ready to attack Saltmarsh. The king assures them that the weapons are not for that purpose, but instead to protect the lizardmen from invading shark people, who have pushed the lizardmen from their home, further south along the coast. The current lair is described as an old fortress that was abandoned long ago when humans moved too close for the comfort of the lizardmen. The king questions whether they came by boat or by foot, and when told that they came by boat, instructs them to bring their boat around into a sea cave on the side of the promontory, where further discussion can be held, likely to the mutual benefit of all. He then dismisses Ross and Winthrop, and they are escorted to the surface.

After being reunited with the party, Ross and Winthrop relate their conversation to the party as the lizardmen file back into their home. Tom and Will Stoutly are told to go collect the boat and to pick the party up at the base of the promontory. Tom and Will Stoutly head off and the party follows the trail down to the mouth of the river, where a broad, muddy delta inhibits access to the river itself. About forty-five minutes later, the cutter arrives, picks up the party, and sails into the sea cave on the other side of the promontory.

The sea cave is quite tall, almost twenty feet high at some points, and becomes a tunnel into the promontory, where it opens up into a series of caverns linked by water. A ledge runs along the side of the caverns, and a set of carved stairs descends into the water. A group of lizardmen, one wearing a silvery armband, awaits the party. As the boat approaches, one of the lizardmen enters the lair from the ledge.

The party remains in the boat as the aged lizardman, along with his assistant, the large lizardman with torque and armband, come to the ledge. There, he relates the story that the lizardmen were, several months ago, forced from their home by invading shark people. They relocated to this abandoned fortress, and are planning to retake their home. To meet this end, the lizardmen have forged an alliance, including the mer-people and the eel people. He also says that the sea goblins were invited to join, but that they have declined. The aged lizardman claims that the threat of the shark people is a threat to all who live in or near the sea, and that, while he had not thought that a race unable to breathe water could be of assistance, the lizardmen wish to invite the town of Saltmarsh to join them. He also extends an invitation to the sea elves, now that their historic enemies, the sea goblins, have declined to join. He wishes the party to return to their town with his message and bring back someone able to speak for the town. To prove the truth of his words, he motions to the water, where several mer-people and eel people break the surface.

The party agrees to bear his message back to the town, though they do not guarantee any success. Tom and Will Stoutly guide the cutter back out of the sea cave, and they sail the journey back up to Saltmarsh unmolested. Upon arrival at Saltmarsh, they are met by the Constable, who, as usual, asks them to present their story to the town council later that night.

[Iain_IF]

The mood at the town council meeting is tense. There is great interest in what the party has to say. The Constable asserts that he has spoken with his two men, but that it is best to hear directly from the party about the events that occurred. Winthrop again acts as spokesman for the party. He explains that they sailed down the coast into the Hool Marshes and landed. During their hike up to the area marked on the map, the party was beset by frog men, who were repulsed. Arriving at the spot on the map, no town or village was found, so the party scouted the area. They found in a promontory on the sea coast two entrances: one a cave with a trail leading to it, the other a cave covered by a reed blind. After discarding the reed blind, the cave was entered, and the lizardmen discovered. Negotiations were opened with the lizardmen. Some discussion was made about trading of arms and their intentions, but eventually he and Ross spoke with their King. The King assured them that the weapons were not for an attack on Saltmarsh, but instead to defend against a mutual foe; the shark people, who invaded the lizardmen’s former home. The lizardmen are forming an alliance of sea-using peoples, and have invited the town of Saltmarsh to join. Participating in this alliance are the eel and mer-people, but not the sea goblins.

This is clearly not the chain of events some members of the town council foresaw. Much conversation breaks out among the town council, with some members expressing rank disbelief at the party’s story, some being concerned about yet another menace, and a few generally disgruntled. One member goes so far as to tell the party that they were supposed to have killed the lizardmen off, a statement that brings a sharp denial from Raven as well as disagreement from the priestess of Ehlonna, Elowyna. Elowyna questions the party about whether they saw any of these sharkmen, and asks if the lizardmen called them sahuagin. The party had not.

It becomes apparent that the town council needs to privately discuss some things, and so dismisses the party. Rook is especially unhappy with such treatment and wants to know about when they will be paid. One of the town council members jibes they’ll be paid when they’ve completed their job. Raven ushers the party out grumbling about the treatment they’ve received.

Following a night’s rest, Winthrop tells the others that he would like to take some time to further his training in the magical arts. While this is fine with most, Rook points out that they haven’t been paid yet, and that Winthrop was one of the two who went inside the lizardman lair. If Winthrop leaves, it seems less likely that they will be paid. Serrin, on the other hand, declares that he needs to commune with his inner spirit, and heads out to the temple of Ehlonna to learn how to speak with animals.

While most of the party relaxes and settles in, Rook visits Morin to ask about armor. He’s told the same thing as Remo; it will take three weeks or so to produce a set. Rook is told that his splint mail is looking quite dinged up, and should be repaired. While Rook is willing to live with his old armor, he’s interested in whether some chainmail can be repaired and fit within a quick turnaround time. Morin can’t do the work, but instead trades a set of new chainmail for the damaged set, plus the repair cost.

Raven takes this opportunity to investigate the items taken from the frog men. The odd looking helm turns out to have what appears to be recessed goggles which are bound up in the helm. The goggles slide up and down within the front of the helm and so are retractable. Raven also discovers a word engraved on the back of the helm, scratched faintly on the helm itself. He also looks at the odd colored and shaped stones, but they are more inscrutable.

Winthrop and Melar spend time attempting to identify the properties of some of the items. After magical study, Winthrop is fairly sure that the helm allows one to breathe and act under water. Melar investigates one of the stones, a red, round one, and believes that it grants greater agility to the wearer. The exact use of the helm and the stone remain somewhat a mystery.

Rook, after returning from Morin’s shop and hearing about the stones, attempts a number of different methods to get them to work. After several hours of testing, he finds that by pushing them in a circle around one’s head, the stones will orbit like a moon. He places the iridescent stone around his head, and after testing different possibilities, believes he doesn’t need to breathe. When the pale green stone orbits his head, Rook feels more robust and competent. He shows the party his discovery, much to his ridicule based on his appearance.

Remo and Oceanus enter into a debate about swimming in the ocean, with Remo stating that Oceanus could not possibly swim in the ocean wearing metal armor, and Oceanus claiming he could. After much to-ing and fro-ing about fine chain armor versus land-made armors, Oceanus dons a set of chainmail and swims a lap around the Sea Ghost, settling that argument.

The town council meeting last night is much less contentious than the previous night’s. Apparently the town council has met earlier and discussed some of the more difficult issues. The Constable relates that the town council does not believe the contract was fulfilled. Namely the town council has no verification, beyond the word of the lizardmen themselves, that this alliance is real, that it is not actually directed against Saltmarsh. Also, the party has provided no measure of the numbers of the lizardmen, nor developed any sort of plan of the interior of their lair. These were the terms of the town council’s agreement with the party, and they have not yet been met.

The town council has decided to send an envoy to the lizardmen, to hear their plan for alliance. The town council allows that the party may have made the best of a difficult situation, and says that if the party will travel back to the lizardman lair with the envoy, there would be a way for the party to fulfill their contract. While the envoy negotiated with the lizardmen, the party could determine the truth of the lizardmen’s claims. For example, if the party were to verify the existence of sahuagin in the area, then the claims of the lizardmen would take on new weight and import.

The party is very unhappy about what they describe as the town council taking advantage of them. They agree to take the town’s representative back to the lizardmen, expecting the representative to be one of the two Stoutlys. They are quite surprised to hear that it will be one of the council members, named Patrick, who they will accompany. Patrick will be responsible for negotiating the town’s position with the lizardmen while the party deduces the veracity of their claims.

The party wishes to set off as soon as possible, and neither Patrick nor the Stoutlys, who will be sailing the cutter, have anything that would delay them. Winthrop decides to forgo further magical training, and a plan is made to meet at the docks the following morning.

While leaving the meeting, the Constable pulls Melar and Winthrop aside. He wants to inform them that his men told him that Melar and Winthrop had questioned a cloth merchant recently. The merchant and his cousin were found dead in their shop last night. The Constable doesn’t believe that Winthrop or Melar had anything to do with the deaths, but wished to warn them that something foul might be a foot. Melar asks what was the manner of the killings, and the Constable says that the bodies were gnawed.

[Iain_IF]

The party, including Oceanus, Patrick, and the Stoutlys, meet at the docks in the morning. They board the cutter and sail out to sea in the morning fog. Winthrop takes advantage of this time to sketch a crude map of the lair as he remembers it. The cutter sails southwest to the lizardmen’s lair, arriving near midday, just after the mists have lifted. Several lizardmen swim out to meet the cutter and escort the humans into the lair. The aged lizardman is again summoned to speak with the humans. Patrick and the aged lizardman exchange greetings and salutations at great length. Diplomatic overtures lead to an invitation to speak directly with the King. Eventually everyone but the Stoutlys leaves the boat and enters the lair.

Winthrop attempts to take better mental notes of the lair’s inner construction. The party is led to the throne room, where the King speaks with Patrick. The King is accompanied by a shaman and an entourage of warriors. After settling the aged lizardman by the King, the large lizardman with the torque and armband is given the task of providing a tour of the lair to the party. Oceanus remains with Patrick in the throne room.

The betorqued lizardman shows the party the lizardmen’s pets, large lizards that reside in a mud-filled cave. Melar thinks that this cave is likely the cave she saw from the top of the promontory when she and Oceanus were scouting. The lizards are impressively large, and Raven spies along one edge of the cave what appears to be a bent, detatched breastplate. When he asks about it, the betorqued lizardman explains that several weeks ago a group of humans and others tried to raid their home. The pets ate some of them and the strong warriors of the lizard folk killed the rest.

Raven asks if there are many warriors, and the betorqued lizardman offers to show the party the lizardman training area. The party thinks this is a great idea, and is shown to a large room where bands of lizardmen are being trained in the use of shortswords and javelins. The javelin throwers are using a man-sized target covered with a much punctured gray man-shaped skin. The betorqued lizardman claims that it is the skin of a sharkman. Remo is of the opinion that the lizardmen are not very well trained in the use of weapons.

Winthrop asks if they have captured a sharkman. The betorqued lizardman says they do have one, and leads the party back towards the sea cave. A jail is located in a room near the sea cave. Many lizardmen accompany the party into the room, and from behind a solid wooden door, bring a sharkman out of a water-filled cell. The sharkman fights with the lizardmen, but is subdued. Once the sharkman sees that humans are present, he tells them, in decent common, that he’s been captured by lizardmen, He claims that he is a peaceful hunter who was just out fishing when he was attacked and beaten. The sharkman claims the lizardmen are out to kill him and the humans as well. The lizardmen cuff him back into silence and force him back into his cell.

Since they are down by the docks, the party stops in to check with Will and Tom Stoutly at the cutter. Everything appears fine with them, though Tom is balanced in an odd way on the side of the boat. The Stoutly’s ask about Patrick and are told that things are fine with him and that Oceanus is with him.

On their way back to the throne room, the party stops into the kitchen, where a large, four-legged animal is being roasted. The kitchen doesn’t appear to hold anything untoward, and the meat smells fine, some sort of herd animal.

Patrick appears relieved to see the party again when they return to the throne room. He says that negotiations are going well, but that he thinks the lizardmen have another problem in addition to the sharkmen. He’s trying to get the lizardmen to tell him what that is. He tells the party that they’ve all been invited for dinner, and asks whether that’s safe. The party reassures him that they’ve seen the kitchen and what the lizardmen are serving is likely edible.

The dinner, held in another cavern, is quite palatable, with sliced roast and some sort of stewed marsh plant served. The King and his advisor sit at a head table while the party and Patrick all sit together. Rook says that he, being a holy man, must bless his food. After some discussion between the aged lizardmand, the high shaman, and the King, Rook is allowed to bless his food, out of the respect the lizardmen have for others. Rook takes this opportunity to magically determine what magical items are in the room. Besides the magical items held or worn by the party, the only magical item in sight is a staff that is in the possession of the high shaman. He also attempts to magically discern whether the lizardmen are inherently evil, and finds that they are not.

Following dinner, the party retires to two rooms, while the Stoutlys eat leftovers and remain with the boat. Upon bringing the leftover food to the Stoutlys, Raven notices that Tom has a number of loaded, thingyed crossbows set in the boat. Patrick continues to negotiate late into the night, informing Remo, when Patrick returns to the party to rest, that it seems that the lizardmen may have an opportunity for the party.

In the morning, Patrick and the party meet with the lizardman King, who relates that lizardmen and crocodiles have always been amiable with one another. Crocodiles leave lizardmen alone and are the mascot of Semanauya, the lizardman god. When the lizardmen came to this fortress, patrols up the river noted a giant crocodile lair near the river. The patrol didn’t concern themselves with it until the giant crocodile came up out of its lair, attacked them, and ate several of them. Since then, the presence of the giant crocodile has impeded patrolling of the river, which greatly concerns the lizardmen, as this might become a route for sahuagin to access the fortress. The lizardmen have come into possession of a magical longsword which they will not use. In exchange for ridding the lizardmen of the giant crocodile threat, which they can not do for religious reasons, the lizardmen will provide the magical longsword to the party.

The King shows the party a longsword wrapped in a plain scabbard. When asked how the lizardmen know that the sword is magical, the king replies that the sword bites them when they try to use it. Raven eyes the longsword and commits the party to the job. Remo grumbles in the background about how first they’re working for free for the town, and now they’re working for free for the lizardmen. Remo asks that the lizardmen locate some nets for them to help trap the beast. The lizardmen locate two large fishing nets that they provide to Remo. Remo requests one of the nets from the throne room, and is told by the offended lizardman that they are battle trophies and will not be provided.

[dzubak]

Iain_IF,
Great write up of your campaign. I really enjoyed reading the last couple of entries. It reminds me of what a great set of module the U-series is. I really wish I had time available to join your gaming sessions. Sounds like a lot of low-level fun.

Looking forward to the next posting.

-b

[Andolin]

I agree with dzubak - this journal is really something.

Long may it continue

[Iain_IF]

Thanks for the support! I'll keep them coming.

[Iain_IF]

The giant crocodile’s lair is located several hours up the River Dunwater, in what sounds like a large pool of water off the side of the river. The party recruits the Stoutlys and Oceanus to come along, agreeing to equally split any treasure found. Will Stoutly agrees to carry one of the two large nets. After Rook sets two of the odd colored rocks floating around his head, Remo leads the party up the Dunwater, spotting numerous animal and lizardmen tracks along the riverside. Roughly an hour from the lizardman lair, the Dunwater is clearly fordable. Traveling another hour and a half, the river becomes lined with cypresses and other trees, and then a large pool, formed by a submerged sandbank, is seen. This tree-surrounded pool matches the description given by the lizardmen of where the giant crocodile lair was found.

The party gets ready some distance from the pool, preparing spells and missile weapons to kill the beast from afar. While Rook presents the pale green stone to Raven, explaining to Raven how to get it to float around his head, Melar tells Oceanus in Elven that he should go look in the pool for an aquatic animal, and Oceanus, not having followed most of the discussions in Common, walks down to the pond and dives in. The party is aghast. The surface of the pool roils and becomes even muddier, and a large pool of blood rises to the surface. Rook and Raven hurry down to the pool and out from the water comes a twenty-five foot crocodile, which lunges at Rook and bites him cruelly. Melar and Winthrop pour magical bolts into the giant crocodile while Raven, Remo, and Tom Stoutly shoot it with arrows and quarrels. Rook calls upon Cuthbert to provide him sanctuary. Will Stoutly runs down to the pool. Rook dives in and searches through the waters for Oceanus, to find him or his corpse, while the battle rages with the crocodile. While the mages continue to pour magical bolts into the crocodile, Remo unsuccessfully attempts to entangle the crocodile in the fishing net he’s brought. Raven is severely mauled by the crocodile. After mauling Will Stoutly as well, the crocodile, now scorched and injured, submerges in the water, attempting to retreat. Remo gets the other net from Will Stoutly’s backpack, and tosses it after the retreating crocodile, narrowly missing Oceanus and Rook. Oceanus is bleeding profusely and likely near death, so Rook calls on Cuthbert to heal him. Oceanus remains unconscious. The crocodile retreats below the water, and the party appears to have won the day.

From the trees on the far side of the pool, a large, thirty-foot long, four-legged saurian creature with a long, sinuous body runs across the top of the water, as all of the water and marsh surrounding the party erupts into blue flame. The saurian creature, while lacking wings, is standing on the surface of the water, not dropping into it. The saurian creature bites and claws at Will Stoutly, knocking him unconscious. Arrows, quarrels, and more magical bolts fly into this new opponent as the marshlands burn. Rook eventually chooses to surface and fight the creature as Raven is sorely bitten and finally brought unconscious from the clawing of the creature. The pale green stone thuds to the ground next to Raven. Tom Stoutly and Melar eventually succumb to the blue flames, which surround the area to at least one hundred yards. The saurian creature, clearly badly wounded, incapacitates Rook and turns to face Remo. Winthrop shouts he’s out of magics, and Remo is able to slay the saurian creature with a timely blow. With its death, the blue flames extinguish.

Much binding of wounds occurs, as there are many unconscious party members. Remo makes certain that the saurian creature is very dead, and the unconscious party is pulled from the shore of the pool. Since the giant crocodile remains a threat, Remo dons Raven’s magical helmet and speaks its command word while Winthrop uses the iridescent and pale green stones from Rook to attack the crocodile underwater. Once in the water, vision for Winthrop is greatly shortened, to only 20 feet, but Remo finds that he can see much further into the water than Winthrop. Also, a bubble of air surrounds Remo’s head.

The crocodile is spotted on the bottom of the pool, partially entwined in the fishing net, but working itself rapidly free. Remo closes with the crocodile and attempts to slay it, while the crocodile bites at him. Winthrop follows Remo down, not being able to see the crocodile until they are almost upon it. With the magical energies summoned from the magical stone, Winthrop casts a last magical bolt into the crocodile. The crocodile collapses to the bottom of the pool.

Winthrop and Remo go back up to the surface, and Winthrop goes back to the lizardman lair to get some help. Remo spends this time unsuccessfully attempting to haul the crocodile corpse up out of the water, swimming down under the water and cutting one of the large teeth from the crocodile’s corpse, inspecting the giant saurian corpse, and eventually guarding the pile of unconscious party members.

Winthrop returns with two patrols of lizardmen to help carry the wounded back to the lair. When the party arrives at the lair, there is a great hubbub. The party is treated by one of the lizardmen officers and made comfortable. Remo asks if the lizardmen shamen can do anything for the wounded, and is told by the betorqued lizardman that they may be able to help tomorrow. The party settles down to food and a night of recovery. In the morning, most of the party regains consciousness naturally, and two lizardmen shamen help the most seriously wounded by calling on their god Semanauya.

The hale members of the party travel back to the crocodile pool, leaving Oceanus, the Stoutlys, and Patrick at the lizardman lair. Tom Stoutly, who is caring for his gravely injured brother, makes certain that Raven will represent the Stoutlys’ interests when it comes to any booty that is found. Remo and Winthrop spend time decapitating the giant crocodile and the swamp dragon and, in the case of Winthrop, collecting various ichors and organs and body parts that may come in handy for future magical research. Rook wanders the bottom of the river pool, looking for any items that might be there. He finds a number of rusted, broken or bent weapons, but little else. After an hour of searching the area from which the swamp dragon came, Raven uncovers an area of sod that appears to have been dug up and replaced. The party spends time digging up the large chunks of sod and discovers in the area underneath, a large pile of coins, mostly copper in appearance. By collecting all of the coins, which are actually a mixture of copper, platinum, and gold coins, other items are found, including a jewel encrusted necklace, a stoppered bone tube, a quartz bottle containing a light green, viscous liquid, a scimitar in a leather sheath, and an iron box. The iron box is unlocked and contains an agate on which symbols have been engraved. After much packing and repacking of goods, the party hauls all of these items off to the lizardman lair.

The lizardmen congratulate the party on the slaying of the swamp dragon, saying they have not seen one of those creatures in many years, and provide the party with the magical longsword. The lizardmen offer to feast and host the party further, but the Stoutlys impress on the party that they feel unsafe in the lair, surrounded by lizardmen in such a weakened state. The party bids goodbye to the lizardmen and the Stoutly’s and Winthrop sail the cutter back up to Saltmarsh, bearing Patrick and the prostrate Oceanus with them. When they arrive in the dock, Will Stoutly collapses unconscious in the cutter.

The Constable is summoned to the dock, and brings with him several of his men. Patrick confers with him, and tells the party that he will meet with the town council. He thinks it likely that the town council will meet the next day to discuss his findings, and will want to speak with the party. The weak and unconscious Oceanus and Will Stoutly are brought to the Excise Building, where they are placed in the infirmary on the second story. Tryzen is summoned, and after he assesses the situation, he declares that they need extended bed rest. Raven thinks that this is a grand idea, as he is suffering greatly from the fight with the swamp dragon, and retires to the ship.

[Iain_IF]

The party recovers from their ordeals and the next day prepare to go visit the town council. Remo gets both of the trophy heads brought onto the Sea Ghost. The Sea Ghost has fewer guards on it now, with only one excise man guarding the boat from the poop deck. Melar tells the rest of the party that she must go back to the Dreadwood to finish business she has long put off, and leaves.

When the party meets with the town council, later that day, the council is very interested in their impressions of the lizardmen lair. They question the party about their experience with the sharkman prisoner. They question them about the lizardmen’s attitude. They are very interested in hearing about the fight with the crocodile and the swamp dragon, and most especially whether the lizardmen kept their deal with the party regarding the sword. Elowyna asks many questions about the swamp dragon and arranges with Remo to come out to the Sea Ghost to see the swamp dragon head. She mentions to Winthrop that she appreciates him delaying his magical education for the needs of Saltmarsh and offers to write a letter of introduction to a former companion of hers, an elven mage named Baralis, who lives in Burle. The town council, after this exhaustive questioning, agrees that the party has fulfilled their contract with the town of Saltmarsh, and brings a chest filled with thousands of gold eagles to the party. The Constable and several of his men escort the chest and the party back to the Sea Ghost.

The next day the coins from the swamp dragon are counted and found to be a mixture of Keoish, lizardman, and Sea Princes coinage. A dividing of the coins is made, with Oceanus and the Stoutlys receiving shares. Rook converts the Stoutlys’ and Oceanus’ share of the coins into coppers and brings to the infirmary a large sack of mainly copper coins. The Stoutlys look quite put out at receiving thousands of copper coins of different mints, and Oceanus begins grumbling, or possibly swearing, in a foreign tongue at Rook. Rook beats a hasty retreat from the infirmary. He also meets with Tryzen to discuss being invested in the higher rites of Cuthbert, involving contact with extraplanar intermediaries. Tryzen explains that these rites are quite involved and costly, and that it would be more than three thousand eagles in items and other costs to prepare Rook for these ceremonies.

Rook meets with Winthrop to discuss both the situation with the Stoutlys and to see if Winthrop has any spare coins. Winthrop explains that he needs to get further training in the magical arts himself, and must keep his coins himself. Winthrop does think that perhaps the shares that went to the Stoutlys have been undervalued, since the worth of the objects were not calculated into them. Winthrop goes into his share of the town’s payment and brings to the Stoutlys’ and to Oceanus an additional three hundred fifty gold eagles.

Rook also goes out to the Grove of Ehlonna, found outside of the city to speak with Serrin. Serrin appears healthy and is living out in the forest under a lean-to. Serrin is chatting with a goat when Rook arrives. Curious to find out what he is saying, Rook implores Cuthbert to allow him to speak to animals and finds that Serrin is talking about Winthrop and sheep. Serrin agrees to allow Rook to borrow some of him money so that he might learn more clerical arts, and thinks that the party should have provided greater recompense to the Stoutlys and Oceanus. Serrin offers some of his share of the town payment as well.

Elowyna comes out to the Sea Ghost and looks at the swamp dragon head with Remo. She asks whether it wrapped itself around anyone and squeezed them. She asks if the fire was intense and surrounded the swamp dragon. She asks if it appeared from nowhere or disappeared during the fight. Remo says it did none of those things. Elowyna agrees that it is a swamp dragon, but from its teeth and size, thinks it is probably a juvenile and that its parents are also in the Hool Marshes somewhere.

Remo inquires about herbal healing, saying that he has seen Tom Stoutly apply salves and unguents while binding wounds. Elowyna says that both she and Tryzen, for a price, teach members of the town how to treat wounds with herbal mixtures. She says that Tryzen generally teaches from herbs that are grown and compounded at the church of Cuthbert, but that she provides information about wild herbs that might be found. She says that Remo is welcome to come out to the Grove and learn with one of her acolytes.

That night, a building catches fire in Saltmarsh, on the far side of town near the road to Burle. Rook is awoken by the noise, but sees that the town guard and other members of the town have the situation under control.

The next day it is discovered that the fire was a diversion to draw away the town guard. The Excise House has been broken into and through a variety of magic and force, the smugglers which were held there, including the mage from the Sea Ghost, were broken free. Two of the excise men, both guarding the building and the jail, were killed, and Tom Stoutly, who investigated from the infirmary, was magically stunned and knocked unconscious. The mood in Saltmarsh is very jumpy, and a number of wealthier citizens are seen moving their belongings into carts and traveling further inland. The fear that an imminent invasion of sahuagin is nigh seems to be driving the exodus. Rook and Winthrop visit the infirmary to check on Tom Stoutly and the others. Rook asks Tom Stoutly whether he and his brother want to go up to Burle and get out of town. Both of the Stoutlys are very indignant at the notion that they would up and leave Saltmarsh during such an important time, and Will Stoutly instead describes the new boat that he is having built and how it will help defend Saltmarsh from any invasion. The Constable joins them at the infirmary and tells them that the smugglers were to have been picked up by one of the Sheriff’s men that day, and that the Sheriff’s man had not arrived. He does not know what the cause of the delay might have been. Having put his foot in it a number of times, Rook enters training with Tryzen to become more wise.

Winthrop spends several days converting his money into platinum pieces at Chumley Roundbottom’s place, arranging his belongings and letter of introduction, and securing boat passage of the Salty River to Burle. He is able to locate a fisherman, named Wilbert who will, for a price, ferry him up and back from Burle, an overnight journey of fifteen hours. Winthrop travels to Burle with his letter and is given directions to a tall stone building with few windows. There he meets Baralis, a tall, pale elf. Baralis reads Elowyna’s letter, and asks Winthrop if he is helping Elowyna with her problem. After Winthrop agrees, Baralis accepts the job of Winthrop’s training, but insists that Winthrop pay for the materials and time that his training will take, almost one and a half thousand eagles. Winthrop pays almost all of his money to Baralis, and, after arranging a pick-up time with Wilbert, enters into training.

Raven decides to try to find out information on the magical sword received from the lizardmen. When he attempts to draw the sword from its scabbard, Raven is injured by the sword. Taking this as a sign of great magic, Raven travels up towards Burle to the hermit that is rumored to live at the edge of the Dreadwood. A trail leading off the road to Burle brings Raven to what appears to be the hermit’s house. The house is boarded up tightly, but there are signs that someone has tried to break through one of the doors to get into the house. Raven also attempts to break into the house and fails. Since he is halfway to Burle, he continues on to the town.

In Burle, Raven is directed to the mage Baralis, who maintains a tower in the city. Raven is told that Baralis is not available, as he has a student. Another elf, Mearis, is willing to, for three hundred gold eagles, magically examine the sword. Raven agrees and promises to return the next day. When Raven returns, Mearis tells him that the sword is not heavily enchanted for combat, but that it is semi-intelligent, and aligned in a more orderly manner, which may be the cause of the difficulty. Mearis will magically examine the sword again, for three hundred more eagles, to determine more details of the weapon’s powers. Raven agrees and learns on the next day that the magical power of the sword relates to vision. Mearis is unable to state exactly what aspect of vision, but suggests seeing clearly or seeing far. Raven decides not to pay for more examination and heads back to Saltmarsh.

Remo takes this time to visit the Grove, seeing and chatting briefly with Serrin, and to learn how to use herbal remedies when binding wounds. The lessons, while lengthy, are not difficult, and Remo happily pays four hundred eagles to the temple for them.

Serrin finally is able to speak with general animals and returns to the house. He finds much of his gold has been gone through and shuffled, converted and otherwise up-ended in his absence. He inquires about town and finds that the Sheriff’s man still has not arrived, but on the next day, he is summoned to the Welcoming Home Inn by a member of the excise service. He notes that many more people are wearing the symbol of the militia, perhaps indicative of a general call-up that is occurring in the area.

[Iain_IF]

At the Welcoming Home Inn, a road-stained individual in chainmail covered by a tabard is holding court in the corner of the room. Seated with him is the Constable and Patrick. Serrin is summoned to the table and introduced to Kevin Markham, Sheriff’s Man. Kevin has a number of questions to ask of Serrin, relating to who owns the Sea Ghost, whether the party had any legal standing, such as a letter of marque or knighthood, to board ships chartered by different countries, and whether the town council had made explicit promises or guarantees to the party at any point. Serrin is unable to answer many of the questions, and expresses the understanding that the town council said it was acceptable to attack the ship, and so the party thought it was equally acceptable.

Kevin issues a letter granting his Lord’s permission to take the ship Sea Ghost under suspicion of smuggling, back dating it to before the actual attack. Kevin states that the party always had this letter, and that the town council merely confirmed his Lord’s wishes. He grumpily tells Serrin that he can imagine how this will be a stink at court, and that envoys from the Sea Princes will likely arrive eventually. Kevin bluntly tells Serrin that he will authorize mercenaries and soldiers to be sent from Seaton and the surrounding area, assuming that the Lord Mayor of Seaton gives him little difficulty, and that Kevin will be meeting with a lizardman delegation to derive a detailed plan. Kevin states that he will suggest that reconnaissance be made of the lizardman’s home, now occupied by sharkmen, by a group of lizardmen and humans and that in the final attack on the sharkmen humans play two roles, one as a decoy to draw out sharkmen from the lizardman’s home and the other to invade the lizardman’s home from the shore. Kevin pointedly tells Serrin that any help the party gives in this effort would be appreciated by his Lord greatly, and that things like property deeds, shipping rights, and ownership issues would be much more easily determined with his Lord’s help. Serrin says he’s happy to help, but that he can’t speak for the rest of his group. Kevin’s opinion is that Serrin should talk to them persuasively, and then he dismisses Serrin.

Remo arrives back at the Sea Ghost and hunts through Saltmarsh looking for a taxidermist to stuff and preserve the two trophy heads. He is unable to find one, but does locate a tanner, who is willing to try to preserve the heads. Byron the tanner comes out to the ship and views the trophies. He emphasizes to Remo that the heads will appear different in color, but hopes to make their appearance very similar. Remo accepts these conditions and provides him the fifty eagles Byron requires. Remo also spends time scraping the name Sea Ghost off the boat, and repaints her as The Destroyer.

Winthrop finishes studying with Baralis and shops in Burle, a town about the same size as Seaton. He is able to locate more inks for transcribing of spells, and purchases what he can with the last of his funds. He then meets with Wilbert and sails back to Saltmarsh.

The day that Winthrop arrives back in Saltmarsh, a delegation of lizardmen also come to town. They are greeted, eventually, by the Constable and then escorted to the Welcoming Home Inn, where they are closeted with Kevin Markham. Following a day’s worth of discussion, the lizardmen leave town, and the Constable requests the party meet again with Kevin.

Kevin informs the party that the lizardmen have agreed to his proposals about the role of humans, and that he will be riding post-haste to Seaton. Kevin also relates that scouting of the former home of the lizardmen must be done, to determine how many and to what strength the sahuagin forces are. If the forces are few, or they lack great support, then it will not be necessary to call a levy. If there are many, or they are powerfully led, then Keoish troops beyond the strength of Lord Morgan may be needed. He assumes that Serrin has convinced the party to assist the town, and tells them that a group of excise men will be detailed to aid them, and that the lizardmen are sending a patrol as well. Thus, the party can lead a powerful scouting expedition. Kevin is surprised, and more than a bit put out, when Remo asks what payment or benefit the party is going to receive if they do this. Kevin angrily launches into a diatribe about lacking responsibility to society and the efforts that all men take to support each other. He haughtily states that if the party’s help needs to be bought, he can probably find funds to make it worth their while. Serrin and Winthrop both say that they, and likely the rest, will help Kevin and Saltmarsh, and faced with the peer pressure, Remo agrees to help as well. Kevin tells them that a ship, the Grey Lady, is in dock, and that they will sail the party to the lizardmen’s home

Rook returns from training with Tryzen a more holy man, and learns of the plan to scout the lizardmen’s home. With little time to prepare, he agrees to go. The next day, sixteen lizardmen arrive in Saltmarsh, and the party meets with them and six excise men, led by Will Stoutly. The lizardmen provide a crude map, showing the inside of the lizardman home, and describing a stony island honeycombed with caves. The island is reached through a causeway to the land entrance, or from the sea by a sea cave. The lizardmen suggest that the sharkmen are most likely to protect the sea cave, not the land entrance. The sharkmen are sea dwellers, and will likely focus on sea threats. The lizardmen point out that the sharkmen dwell in the dark depths of the ocean, so a day assault will probably be more successful.

The party plans then to sail down to the former lizardman home, land out of sight, and work their way to the causeway. There, they will cross the causeway and invade the sharkmen from the land, scouting out the lay of the land. Will Stoutly starts to say what the Constable needs to know from this expedition, but Remo cuts him off saying they aren’t getting paid so it doesn’t matter what the Constable needs to know. Will Stoutly gets quite bent out of shape and hollers at Remo about how this information may be the difference between his family living or dying. Following this outburst, no further plans are made.

The Captain of the Grey Lady is a man named Red Lambert, likely due to his bright red hair. He introduces himself to the party and states the Lord Mayor of Seaton has sent him to ferry forces from Saltmarsh around. He’s happy to bring the party in and drop them off. The party arranges with Red that he will come pick them up at exactly the same time after they are dropped off. He will try to pick them up three days in a row, and then leave the area. Red tells the party that it will take about a full day and night to reach the area on the chart, so they should leave on the morning tide.

The party asks the Constable to keep an eye on the Destroyer, and packs most of their magical belongings that they are not taking onto the boat. After a good rest, they rise in the morning and meet the lizardmen and the excise men at the Grey Lady.

The trip down the coast is fairly uneventful until early in the morning, when the ship comes lurchingly to a stop. Twelve tentacles rise up out of the water, six on each side, and flail around on the ship, searching for prey. Several unlucky sailors are grasped by tentacles as is Remo, who is grasped by two. A confused melee breaks out, with lizardmen throwing javelins into tentacle, Remo struggling to break free from the crushing embrace of the tentacles, and sailors being pulped by constricting tentacles. Serrin attempts to help Remo while Rook tries to free an unfortunate sailor. Large, octopus-like heads are seen off the sides of the ship once lighting is established, and Winthrop casts sleep inducing magic upon them. One at a time, following Winthrop’s spell casting, the tentacled creature slides below the waves, taking with it a trapped sailor. Rook is able to aid the wounded Remo with Cuthbert’s grace, but three of the sailors are lost, two overboard and one crushed to death. Once the creature submerges, the ship continues its course.

Because of the nighttime combat, the party makes sure to sleep a full eight hours after the attack, and rows into shore slightly late, around one in the afternoon. Sailing in, they see an odd sight; the lizardmen’s former home is now mainly submerged. The island is now more than twenty feet shorter than it was, though it doesn’t appear that the top of the island is missing. The lizardmen have no explanation for this. Rook questions whether they should call off the raid, but in the end they decide that they have no more new information than before.

The jolly boat makes several trips into shore, dropping off the party, the lizardmen, and the excise men. Rather than immediately row back out to the Grey Lady, the sailors are told to wait two hours, just in case something goes really wrong. After the two hours, the sailors are to go back to the ship, and the ship is to return for them at one the next day.

The party, the lizardmen, and the excise men walk the five miles through the swamp, following game trails and the lizardmen’s natural sense of marshland. They approach the now partially submerged island and see that the causeway is still intact, and that there is at least a cave of some sort that the causeway leads to.

A plan is made. Four groups will be made. Each group will cross the causeway as a unit. The first group will contain of the strongest excise man, a brute named Jeremiah Brown, and the biggest of the lizardmen. The two of them will force the door at the end of the causeway, and then the other groups will stream into the lair. The first group will carry an arrow which will have a magical zone of silence surrounding it, and this will hopefully cover the noise of the entry.

[Iain_IF]

Rook and Remo accompany the first group, and once they cross the causeway, they see the door is actually a set of stone double doors, has what looks to be a small sliding panel at head level in the left door, and lacks handles. The doors doe open inwards though, and Jeremiah and the lizardman put their shoulders against the doors and silently push. The doors flex, but doesn’t open. The rest of the lizardmen in the first group add their weight, and while the doors flex more, it doesn’t open. At this point the sliding panel opens and a sharkman peers out. The lizardmen and Jeremiah push again as the second group, containing more lizardmen, arrive at the doors. The doors open slightly, and a splintered bar can be seen holding them together. The sliding panel closes. All of the second group of lizardmen push on the doors as well, and the doors open about a hand’s breadth. With a large heave the lizardmen push on the doors and spill into the room as they fly open.

In the room are several groups of waiting sharkmen, who discharge crossbows, throw spears and daggers, and close to attack. One of the lizardmen is struck down and Jeremiah is grievously wounded. The lizardmen swarm into the room, followed by Rook. Remo and Tom look for shots down the causeway as Winthrop and the rest of the excise men mill around behind the two archers. The lizardmen outnumber the sharkmen badly, and a portcullis dividing this room from the next is raised so that the sharkmen can retreat through it. Rook blesses the lizardmen with Cuthbert’s might while they close to fight the sharkmen. The lizardmen do fairly well against the sharkmen, and Rook immobilizes three of the sharkmen as they pass under the portcullis, blocking it from closing, but also impeding access to the next room where more sharkmen are. Rook prays for help and power from Cuthbert as the immobilized sharkmen are eventually cut down, but not without some lizardmen disabled. Remo enters the room and notes that there is a brass gong and striker in one corner of the room. Rook heals some of the disabled lizardmen to get them back into the battle. Remo and some lizardmen dash into the next room when the immobilized sharkmen are slain, only to become entrapped under a net dropped from the ceiling in the second room. Remo, being on the edge of the net, is only partly trapped and begins to work his way out from underneath it. The sound of many running feet can be heard.

Winthrop and Rook with the excise men peer into the next room and see a patrol of sharkmen enter the room from the right. The sharkmen discharge missiles into the lizardmen in the room and begin fighting with them. Winthrop is able to cause two of the sharkmen to go unconscious, while Rook enters into melee with one of them. Remo, once he is out from under the net, begins cutting free the other lizardmen using his hand axe. Winthrop causes two more sharkmen to fall unconscious, and the battle is mainly over, when one of the sharkmen sprints from the room. A lizardman gives chase, and Tom Stoutly strides to the passage readying his crossbow. The sharkman, even with a quarrel in him, is outrunning the lizardman. A second quarrel combined with another immobilization spell stops the running sharkman.

With the battle over, Will Stoutly binds the wounds of those who were injured, and the excise officers truss the unconscious sharkmen. Nine sharkmen, five unconscious from their wounds and four magically made so, are placed in the first room. One of the lizardman officers, called Tizzy by the humans, is badly injured, as are two of the lizardmen and Jeremiah. One lizardmen is so injured as to be unconscious.

Rook says that they have completed their mission, that they have prisoners from the sharkmen and they can just get whatever information they need from the prisoners. He also thinks that because there was that gong in the first room an alarm was raised and that they should all leave immediately. Tom Stoutly is indignant and says that they have killed the reinforcements and that they haven’t learned anything. The strong implication is that he thinks Rook is a coward, especially after the conversation they had while Tom was in the infirmary. Rook, Remo, and Winthrop instead state that the wounded lizardmen and the other corporal, Ebenezer Smithson, will take the prisoners back to the waiting boat. Ben will tell the sailors to take the sharkmen and the gravely wounded to the ship and come back for the party the next day. The lizardmen who carry the sharkmen and Ben will return to the party as quickly as possible.

[Iain_IF]

Once the prisoners and the lizardmen carrying them leave, the party fortifies the two entrances to the room and wait for their return. Ross, Serrin, and Raven return to the party with Ben and the healthy lizardmen after sending the wounded and the prisoners to the Grey Lady. It is decided that Remo should hide himself on the island and keep a watch for any creatures that come over the causeway, using his bow to dissuade them if necessary. This will keep the exit secure should the party need to escape the sharkmen. Serrin acquires a sample of the heavily hooked sharkman net.

The party details two groups of lizardmen to guard the passages that they do not travel down and investigates further into the sharkmen’s fortress. They note that there are clear additions to the fortress. The walls have been converted from their rough natural appearance to a smooth, dressed stone. Additionally, there are new rooms and passages carved into the rock, and there are new tiled sections in many rooms and doorways. Following the map that the lizardmen had provided, the party enters a smaller room and finds it empty except for an open stone coffer.

Wandering stealthily around the corridors, the party uses the excise men as a blocking force to secure their rear as they investigate new rooms. Will Stoutly, unable to see in the dark, gets from Raven the glowing stone that Tryzen had provided. Rook uses the glowing stone he has as the light source for the party. The party sneaks into a room that the lizardmen had described as a communal eating room, and finds that it has been greatly enlarged and contains many stone coffers around the room, as well as three smaller rooms inside of the larger room. Found in one of these smaller rooms is a hammer and chisel.

Trying to make a loop back up to where the lizardmen are guarding the entrance, the party comes into a room that has two long equipment racks spanning the room. The racks contain many javelins, spears, oddly tined tridents, and nastily barbed nets. Two smaller rooms that lead off of this armory have piles of rope, leather strapping, and buckles. Lizzy, the lizardman officer accompanying the party, reequips himself with more javelins while Serrin adds several spears and a wickedly barbed net to his collection.

Once the party returns to the entrance, a debate is had whether to deploy the lizardmen and the excise men as blocking forces to maintain a sharkman-clear area of the dungeon, or if they should travel with the party to act as a reserve and guard more local intersections. Eventually the decision is made to bring everyone along, though to divide them in two groups.

The party heads further into the former lizardmen home, finding that their map is no longer accurate. In exploring one section, they notice that the temperature is significantly lower here than in other sections of this level. Investigating the nearest room, they find it to be cool, and have many corpses hung from the walls. The corpses include lizardmen, some sea animals, a male human, and a male dwarf. Human-looking bones are piled in the corner of the room.

More empty rooms, devoid of belongings but containing empty stone coffers, are located, and the party, attempting to follow the lizardmen map, decide to head to the stairs down to the next level. They pass by a room filled with stone working equipment and tiles and, after posting lizardmen to guard the other passageways, enter into the room that contains the stairway down to the next level.

The room containing the stairway is in the process of being expanded. The far side of the room is partially finished, with stone working tools, mainly hammers and chisels, strewn randomly on the floor. In the center of the room is a raised dais surrounded by a stone railing. The party investigates the room, discovering that the stone railing is partially engraved, and that the stairway is filled up to the edge of the dais with water!

After discussing whether they should attempt to go down the stairs directly, they instead leave several of the lizardmen to guard this watery entry, and continue investigating the current level. Finding more empty rooms, they eventually locate a room with a portcullis, behind which a number of humanoids are chained. In this room are some lizardmen, a pair of orcs, and a creature very similar to those the party fought when they were protecting Johannes. Lizzy identifies it as an urgoblin, or a hobgoblin. Lizzy hisses back and forth with the captured lizardmen, discovering that they are both members of his tribe and of other tribes that were caught in the lizardman lair when it was invaded, and that in addition to the orcs and hobgoblin, there is a weak human in the back of the chamber. The portcullis is opened up and the keys for the prisoners’ chains located on a key ring near the doorway. While there is some dissent about whether to release the humanoids, Ross prevails and the orcs and the hobgoblin are released.

The human is an older, very emaciated man, who appears very weak. He calmly explains that his name is Elmo, and that he led a mission from the Hold of the Sea Princes to investigate this stronghold. His compatriots were overcome when they entered through a sea cave. When asked about his compatriots, he recalls a stout human warrior, a dwarf, and a thief accompanied him. Further questioning shows that he does not know how the island was lowered, nor does he know it has been lowered, though he does recall some earthquakes. He relates that the prisoners have been used to do the stonework in the expansion of the lair, and that they were nearing completion. He explains that he helped build a secret door as well, in the storeroom near the room with the stairway.

This revelation prompts a veritable dash for that room by Winthrop and Rook, who abandon the party to go look for the secret room. Raven, Ross, Serrin, and several of the excise men complete the exploration of the level, locating more finished, but empty rooms. Upon returning to the prisoners’ room, Lizzy explains that he’d like to lead the lizardmen, and the other prisoners, out into the swamp if they have a moment of safety. Serrin agrees that Lizzy can do so after this secret door is investigated.

Winthrop and Rook investigate the store room they passed earlier. After much poking, prodding, measuring, and tapping, Winthrop finds that there is a hidden door in the east wall. Rook spends some time pushing and pulling on various nooks and crannies of the wall until he finds a small lever. Pushing on the lever shifts the door ajar and sends a burst of energy painfully through his body, causing his hair to stand on end and his muscles to convulse. After picking himself up off the floor, Rook pulls the door aside to expose a small, eight by ten room. The room has numerous weapons and shields hung on hooks, as well as a full set of deep blue plate-mail armor and a large chest, inside it. Rook immediately starts stripping off his chainmail armor and donning the platemail.

When the rest of the group arrives, Winthrop pulls out the wand he found on the Sea Ghost and intones "abracamagic." Nothing happens. He frowns, taps the wand a couple of times against his hand, and then says "abracafragic." The wand begins to act as a dousing rod and points towards the blue plate-mail worn now by Rook, to a hanging shield, to a spear propped against the wall, to a grey-green cloak, to a pile of chainmail armor on the floor, to the armor worn by Raven, to a scabbarded longsword, to a second and then a third hanging shield, and then to the ring worn by Serrin.

Winthrop asks Elmo, who has been brought down to this room, whether any of these items belonged to his compatriots. Elmo can identify the spear, the blue platemail and a shield emblazoned with the silhouette of a ship as worn by the warrior, the chainmail as worn by the dwarf, the scabbarded longsword and a plain wooden shield as owned by the thief, and the remaining shield, emblazoned with a lily, as familiar. The grey-green cloak is his and turns the wearer into a manta ray underwater. Serrin equips himself with the spear, while Ross carries the cloak, the dwarf-sized chainmail and the wooden shield. Raven takes the scabbarded longsword and the shield emblazoned with the ship silhouette and Rook grabs the lily-marked shield.

Rook asks Serrin to check the chest for traps and to open the chest. Serrin refuses, and says that he’s not that sort of monk. Rook leans on Serrin, and finally Serrin does so. Upon opening the chest, Serrin reaches in and pulls out a wand from within the chest and declares it to be his as payment for opening the chest! The chest also contains four scrolls, a large jar, partially full, three small books, and a small bag.

Winthrop again asks Elmo whether any of these items belonged to his compatriots. Elmo identifies two scrolls and the books as spells he brought with him and the jar as containing water breathing elixir. He then remembers that a woman cleric traveled with them as well, and that the other scrolls and the lily shield must have belonged to her. He also says that the wand is his, and that it changes the shape of those it is used upon. Winthrop opens the small bag and discovers that there are four rings within it. Elmo identifies two of the rings as his, a ring that allows one to move unimpeded and one that gives him limited influence on people. The other rings he is unclear on, recalling that the thief wore them.

When asked about using these items, Elmo gives the party his permission to use them, so long as they return them once they are finished fighting the sahuagin. The party looks at one another and Raven says that they’ll return them. Elmo tells them that the command word for the wand is "metamorph." Lizzy and the other lizardmen take Elmo and the other ex-prisoners out into the swamp to be hidden until the party leaves the fortress.

[Iain_IF]

Winthrop takes Elmo’s books and scrolls, which apparently contain the spells knock and ice storm, the jar, and one unidentified ring. Serrin retains possession of the wand. Rook dons the free action and influence rings. Raven collects the remaining ring. Having apportioned the items, the party rests, waiting for the return of the lizardmen from the swamp.

The lizardmen return without incident, and the decision is made that they should accompany the party into the water, down on to the second level. There is much argument about who would most effectively use the various items which allow airbreathers to breathe underwater. Serrin suggests polymorphing people into creatures, and there is contention between Ross and Raven over who should wear the manta ray cloak. Eventually it is decided who will wear items and who will partake of the waterbreathing potion. Winthrop dons the helm, Rook takes the floating stone, and Ross wears the cloak. Since both the humans guarding the first floor exit and the party require light, Rook causes a sling bullet to brightly glow. Before going into the water, Winthrop and Rook give to Will Stoutly their magical books and scrolls so that they do not become damaged by the water.

The party and the lizardmen descend into the water, and scouts quietly around. There travel through many dark corridors seeing seaweed filled rooms. They espy a large room with many bodies swimming in it, but decide that there may be too many sharkmen for the party to handle, even with their lizardmen backup. Exploring other passages, the party narrowly avoids running into a sharkman patrol. Ross, scouting ahead as a manta ray, discovers a large set of double doors set between two long corridors. Carved into the face of the doors is a large shark. The party travels up the left corridor, entering the first room, which is closed. This room, like others, has a large seaweed bed in it, as well as a chest and some other sundry items. After some of the party enters, a sharkman is seen in the seaweed bed. The party moves to attack, and the sharkman makes a deep sound, which can be clearly heard through the open doorway by the rest of the party and the lizardmen. The sharkman is quickly slain.

There is pandemonium as the party attempts to determine what to do. Serrin first orders the lizardmen into the room, then orders them out of the room. Raven swims off into the darkness heading for the entry staircase, now long out of sight. He stops at the furthest reaches of light. Rook stands in the corridor and observes a sharkman come into the far end of the corridor, past several doors on the left side, spot the party, and then swim back where he came from. Winthrop and Ross both start swimming away, while Rook yells, "Get him!" and swims after the sharkman.

The lizardmen, having difficulty translating what the party’s orders are, are spread both in the room and the corridor. Lizzy is trying to get the rest of the lizardmen out of the room when Rook charges up the corridor. Three of his lizardmen follow Rook after the sharkman. Since Rook is carrying the only light source, Winthrop and Serrin are forced to follow him. When Rook takes the light up the corridor, Raven is left in the pitch dark, around the corner and down the corridor from the light.

A sharkman appears in the corridor and engages Rook and the lizardmen. The three lizardmen are frozen by the fell magic of the sharkman, but Rook is able to immobilize him as well. A fell battle takes place between Rook, Winthrop, and Serrin and the remaining sharkman.

Ross, who has swum down to the corridor on the other side of the large, shark-marked doors, sees those doors open and a huge, thirty-five foot shark swim out into the corridor. He tries to make himself look as unappetizing as possible. The shark speeds down the corridor towards the lizardmen and bites Lizzy’s tail mostly off. The rest of the lizardmen engage the giant shark in combat.

Rook, Serrin, and Winthrop round the bend in the corridor and enter into a large room that appears to be a temple to the sharkmen gods. Several sahuagin infants, likely sacrifices, are swimming up away from the altar as two sharkmen engage them. A third sahuagin, likely a more powerful sahuagin, is still at the altar. All the sahuagin are wielding odd-looking rods with bell-shaped guards. Rook engages one in combat while Serrin and Winthrop try to handle the second. Ross swims up the second corridor and finds that it connects to the other side of this large room.

Raven becomes extremely distressed by the sounds of combat, the taste of blood, and the cries of hissing pain erupting near him. He tries to tell the lizardmen around him that he can’t see anything and can’t help out in the fight. Eventually, scaly hands drag him through the water and deposit him at a point where he can see a ball of light in the distance. He swims towards it.

The battle in the temple is mixed. Serrin, Rook, and Ross have succeeded through there combined efforts in striking down one of the sahuagin, but Serrin has been badly wounded and forced to retreat. The odd-looking staves provide a sharp electrical shock when thrust into the body. Rook is in close combat with the more powerful sahuagin, with little success. The sahuagin tries to immobilize Rook, but his ring cancels the spell. The remaining sahuagin attempts to swim away, down the corridor discovered by Ross.

The sahuagin, chased by Ross and Serrin, is blocked by Raven, who is swimming up to the combat in the temple. The lizardman had dragged him through the combat with the giant shark and deposited him on the far side of the doorway. Raven stabs the sahuagin with his sword, and the sahuagin causes Raven’s eyes to darken. This delay allows Serrin and Ross to catch up to the sahuagin, and they reengage it in combat. After a close combat, the sahuagin is slain.

Back in the temple, Winthrop magically bolts the remaining sahuagin, only to be magically blinded for his efforts. Rook continues to try to slay the sahuagin, but is definitely getting the worst of the battle. Winthrop tries to blindly cast a spell of magical webbing, but is disoriented by the water, and it is ineffective.

As things look bleakest for Rook, three lizardmen swim into the temple and fall upon the sahuagin, stabbing with their shortswords. They have thrown off the magical binding of the sahuagin and slain the sahuagin immobilized earlier by Rook. The sahuagin quickly succumbs to the ferocity of their combined attacks and is slain.

The party regroups and those that can see swim, with great trepidation, out to help the lizardmen against the giant shark. They are faced with a floating chunks of lizardmen parts, shark blood, and random gobbets of flesh. The lizardmen have slain the giant shark, but at great cost. Of the ten lizardmen who fought the shark, only four are conscious, one of them being Lizzy, missing most of his tail. The shark floats, fin down, covered in puncture wounds from the lizardmen’s shortswords.

Serrin instructs the lizardmen to bring all their wounded up to the first floor, and to come back down to escort the party out of the temple as well. While Ross quickly removes valuables from the sahuagin dead, Rook explores the temple area and finds an oversized chest in an open room adjacent to the main temple. Serrin cautions him that the party is very beaten up and that they need to leave.

Rook throws caution to the wind and opens the chest. Rook feels an intensely painful jolt through his whole body, and visibly stiffens. Inside the chest is a collection of gold and platinum jewelry, ceremonial gongs, and shark masks. Rook scoops up the precious items and stuffs them into his backpack and a sack. He then, with Serrin, starts swimming over to where the blind party members are when he gasps and collapses. Serrin, swearing profusely, pulls off the free action ring and drags Rook out to the party.

The intact lizardmen, Serrin, and Ross are dragging Raven, Rook, and Winthrop back up towards the stairway to the first level when a shark swims into the corridor and starts swimming straight at them. The shark roars, "Dinner!" Serrin begins to try to convince the shark that there’s a lot of really good food just down the corridor, freshly killed, still kicking, no fight there... really! The shark looks at him puzzledly, thinks about it a moment, and then swims down the corridor to check out the freshly killed, still kicking, no fighting, really good food! The lizardmen and the party quickly swim away and climb up out of the water.

Once they are out of the water, Ross looks at Raven’s eyes and determines that they have been magically darkened. Ross summons the grace of Pelor and strips away the darkness from his eyes. Raven is greatly relieved. On the other hand, there is no obvious damage to Winthrop’s eyes, and he remains blind.

Rook is laid out on the floor where it becomes obvious that he’s in a very bad way. His skin color is turning a greenish purple color, and his breathing is exceptionally labored. Everyone looks at Will Stoutly and asks if he can do anything for him. Will can only suggest bleeding him, and wants to know if it should be done here or after they leave the lair. Raven orders him to bleed Rook now, as he might not survive getting out of the lair. Will proceeds to open up may of Rook’s veins and bleeds him heavily.

The remaining lizardmen hoist their comrades up and the party carries and guides its injured members out of the lair, collecting Remo on the way out. They head into the swamp to join Elmo and the other ex-prisoners in hiding. When they arrive at the camp, they are told that the other humanoids have chosen to head off on their own, not trusting the lizardmen or the humans, and only the lizardmen remain.

[Iain_IF]

The lizardmen and the party rest exhaustedly overnight, allowing the militiamen to set up watches. The night passes mostly uneventfully, though it is a tense dawn. In the morning, after praying to Pelor, Ross looks at Winthrop’s eyes and is still unable to determine what is wrong with them. He spreads Pelor’s healing light through the most badly wounded lizardmen as well.

During the morning, the party gathers itself together. Remo volunteers to keep an eye on the sharkmen lair while the rest of the party, the militiamen and the lizardmen sneak through the swamp back to the landing point, where they hope to meet a boat from the Grey Lady at noon. They arrive at the landing point early, but no boat is seen, and the Grey Lady is not seen at sea. After several hours of waiting, sails are seen and the Grey Lady comes into view.

During the time spent waiting, a plan was constructed for sending people onto the ship. First the wounded would go on the ship, then the militiamen would go on the ship, and finally the party and the remaining healthy lizardmen would go to the ship. The jolly boat drops from the ship and sails into the landing point. The wounded and such militiamen that will fit climb on board. Raven accompanies Winthrop and Rook on this boat while Serrin and Ross remain on shore. The boat discharges the first load of passengers and heads back to shore for a second trip. The wounded are brought beneath deck and the militiamen aid the remaining sailors in readying the ship for a quick turnabout. Raven and the lookout in the crow’s nest both espy dark shapes and shark fins coming quickly through the water towards the boat from the sharkmen’s lair.

Back on shore, Serrin, Ross, and the healthy lizardmen all pile into the jolly boat. As they row back to the Grey Lady, they can see Raven gesticulating from the side of the ship, pointing off towards the sharkmen lair. Ross’s keen sight picks out the telltale signs of sharkfins, and they quickly decide to row back to shore, choosing to take their risks on land rather than at sea. From the ship, Raven can see that about a quarter of the sharkmen and several sharks have split off from the main group, and are arrowing towards the jolly boat.

Raven gets Tizzy to organize the wounded lizardmen to help prepare the ship for flight. They hoist the anchor from the sea bed as the militiamen climb into the rigging and let out the sails. The ship is turned out to sea and begins to pick up speed as the sharkmen close with the ship. Raven positions Winthrop at the railing of the ship, where, amidst the quarrels being fired at the ship by the sharkmen, Winthrop coats the side of the ship in magical webbing. This blocks the sahuagin from easily climbing into the ship.

Unfortunately, the back of the ship is not so well protected, and six sharkmen clamber up the stern of the ship and onto the deck. The helmsman is killed and the ship’s officers are engaged by the sharkmen. The militiamen are soon engaged in repelling a second boarding party coming up the other side of the ship. Raven, the crewman in the crow’s nest, and Tom Stoutly shoot the sharkmen as they board the ship, but the fight is very deadly. Most of the militiamen are badly wounded, and Red Lambert, the Captain, is unluckily dragged overboard. By this point, the ship has picked up enough speed so that it is outrunning the sharkmen, and escape seems likely. The first mate, Davy, takes over sailing and navigating the ship.

After treating the wounded militiamen, Will Stoutly checks on Rook and finds him much worse off than before. He has no recommendations for what to do to treat this magical illness, but bleeding seems the best option. Rook is again bled and then placed in a hammock to rest. Davy informs Raven that, even with the help of the militiamen, the ship will not make its best speed, since they have lost five trained sailors, three to the sea monsters and two with the jolly boat. Raven tells Davy to sail for Saltmarsh.

After making it back to shore, Ross, Serrin, the sailors, and the lizardmen abandon the jolly boat and trek inland into the swamp. They go as quickly as possible and try to put the maximum amount of distance between the shore and them. The lizardmen agree to lead them out of the swamp up towards Saltmarsh, though the possibility of going to the lizardmen’s fortress is also considered. With the guidance of the lizardmen, the natural dangers of unclean water and food, quicksand, and disorientation are avoided. The lizardmen expect a week-long journey to make it back to Saltmarsh.

Most days in the marsh go uneventfully. Early in the trip, Lizzy smells some very strange, evil lizardman-like creatures nearby, and warns Serrin that they should try to avoid them. Several days of traveling occur, with the occasional giant lizard seen and warned off and a pair of hippopotami avoided, but one afternoon, the travelers stumble through a giant snake den where two giant snakes attack the two sailors. The sailors get wrapped in the coils of the giant snakes and are slain before the party can defeat the giant constrictors. Ross unsuccessfully attempts to revive the sailors, but only can guide them into Pelor’s light. Finally, the lizardmen lead Serrin and Ross to the edge of the Hool Marsh north of Saltmarsh, and they hike into town.

The Grey Lady sails overnight but takes most of the next day to finally arrive in Saltmarsh. Rook is rushed to the temple of Cuthbert where Tryzen can treat him. Tryzen looks very grave and sends the others immediately away. Raven guides Winthrop to the temple of Cuthbert as well, where he is examined for the causes of his blindness. The lesser priests are unable to aid him, but, after resting in the temple overnight, Winthrop is cured of his blindness by Tryzen.

Raven and Winthrop await the return of the others, and for news on Rook’s condition. To pass the time, Winthrop spends some time and effort in identifying the magical items that he and Raven have with them, as well as some items that were left on the Destroyer. Winthrop finds that the magical ring that he has been carrying since he left the sharkmen’s lair allows the wearer to become invisible, though it takes him several efforts to determine the exact mechanism causing the wearer to become invisible. Winthrop also looks at the magical longsword that Raven wields. Winthrop is unable to understand the exact powers of the weapon, except to discern that it is very powerful, able to cause amazing and wondrous events in addition to being an enchanted weapon. Raven, having now had multiple magicians tell him that they can’t figure out the powers of his magical weaponry, declines Winthrop’s offer to continue investigating. Winthrop also analyzes the light green liquid that was found in the swamp dragon’s cache. Winthrop believes that imbibing the liquid will cause warriors to become much more puissant. Winthrop ascertains that the gold chain with the single pearl gathered from the raid on the sahuagin lair is likely to impart wisdom to the wearer. Finally, the rune engraved agate that was also found by the swamp dragon’s lair is determined to possess properties related to protecting against poison.

[Iain_IF]

When Ross and Serrin finally arrive back in town, the four of them gather in the Inn of the Welcoming Home to exchange their stories and to recover some stamina. The Sheriff’s Man sends word that he’d like to know the outcome of their expedition when they have recovered.

After several more days of recovery, a weakened Rook is released for the temple of Cuthbert. He seems very worn and slightly palsied after his near-death experience. The party gathers together and looks at the items that they recovered from the sharkmen lair. The shocksticks that the sharkmen wielded in the temple are clearly of two types, four small and one large. Rook attempts to discern what of the sharkmen items possess a dweomer and finds that the shocksticks and a platinum necklace with a pearl setting do. Ross suggests that they be checked to see if they are evil items. After praying to Pelor for the ability to detect evil emanations, Ross finds that all of the items recovered by Rook from the large chest by the temple are distinctly evil in nature.

This poses quite a dilemma to the party. Should the evil items be destroyed? Should the evil items be reconsecrated and sold? These items are mostly jewelry made of rare and precious metals and so there would be a great loss of value if they were reduced to ingots of base metal. The party debates this point extensively, but is forced to table the discussion to speak with Keith Markham.

Keith thanks the party for their efforts. He has spoken with the militiamen about their experiences, and wants to know what the party thought. They tell him of the fight in the temple, but are unable to give an estimate of the sahuagin forces. They also do not know who or what leads the sahuagin, or anything of their plans or goals. Keith tells the party that the sahuagin prisoners brought back from the lair have been remarkably uncooperative, giving wildly varying accounts and numbers. He thinks that the fight in the temple has likely impaired the sharkmen ability to invoke the powers of their god, and that this will help the attack succeed. He asks whether the party will aid the town in the actual attack.

The party wants to hear the plan of the attack, and Keith explains that the sea peoples, the sea elves, the eel people, the lizardmen, and the mermen, will attack through the underwater caves while the humans attack over the causeway and attempt to distract some of the sharkmen by luring them from their lair using the Grey Lady as bait. Keith invites the party to join whatever they think they would be most useful doing. He says that the attack will take place on the first day of the next month, and that the Grey Lady would be putting to sea in twelve days.

Raven takes this time to meet with Tryzen to learn how non-magical healing can be performed. Tryzen is happy to take him under his tutelage, and provides him with much information about herbs and plants that can be cultivated to provide a healing balm or unguent. While the classes are somewhat tedious, Raven feels that they will be well worth the time in the future, when no priest may be about. Raven tithes several hundred eagles to Cuthbert as well.

Serrin spends much of his time practicing his new ability to speak with animals by loitering at the grove of Ehlonna. While he is there, he impresses on Elowyna the importance of being able to breathe underwater if the party is to provide assistance to the town in penetrating the lower levels of the lair. Elowyna promises to prepare some herbal extracts for the party which will allow them to breathe underwater for a limited amount of time.

Ross, Winthrop, and Rook decide that they will deal with the evil religious artifacts of the sharkmen. Before heading out to Seaton, Ross visits Morin to see if the dwarf-sized chainmail can be refit to his half-elven frame. Morin tells him that the chainmail can’t be stretched out, only taken in, and so it won’t fit Ross. Morin does say that he would be happy to buy it from him for a good price, as it is fine metalwork. Ross asks if Morin will be defending the town from the sharkmen, and upon hearing that Morin will be staying, sells the chainmail to him for two hundred eagles.

Ross, Rook, and Winthrop travel to the temple of Pelor in Seaton to try to remove the evil taint from the items. Also, they hope that in a larger town there may be more interest in purchasing such rare items. The trip to Seaton goes fairly uneventfully, though they do hear rumors that more humanoids are raiding in the area, and that they should keep an eye out for goblins.

Upon arriving in Seaton, Ross brings the bag full of the sharkmen artifacts to the temple, where the priests keep it for several days, basking in Pelor’s light. While this process is taking place, Winthrop searches for pearls for his identification rituals and Rook asks many merchants and in many inns if any people in Saltmarsh would wish to purchase sahuagin relics or artifacts. He gets many odd looks.

After the evil taint has been removed from the artifacts, Winthrop attempts to sell the some of them to the Lord Mayor of Seaton. He approaches the mayor’s office and explains what he has to offer. The Mayor’s magician, Alex, listens closely and suggests that Wintrhop return the next day. When Winthrop returns, Alex purchases a single mask from him for three hundred fifty eagles. When Winthrop presses Alex to purchase more, Alex refuses, saying that only a single trophy is needed.

Ross, Rook, and Winthrop bicker over whether the religious items should be converted to ingots or not. Ross points out that he has requested services from his temple in removing the taint from the artifacts, and that he should tithe ten percent of the value of the items to the temple. Rook and Winthrop are not particularly sympathetic to his plea, and Ross is left to tithe what little he owns.

The trip back to Saltmarsh is grim, with the three compatriots barely speaking to one another. When the party finally sits down together, they hash out a plan for how they will handle such items. Winthrop and Serrin contact Neal and contract with him to convert non-magical precious goods to coin through his services. Neal explains that it will generally take him some time to convert items to coin, so they agree to have Chumley, the moneychanger, hold the coins from such sales. Neal will take his standard fee from each sale.

The party also decides that no items will be sold if anyone in the party wishes it to be kept. Therefore, before any item is given to Neal to be sold, or any item is sold by a member of the party, everyone in the party will have to opportunity to say such an item should not be sold. All magical items will be jointly held, and doled out to each member when they are leaving town, so that everyone can use the benefits of the magics. Satisfied with their decision, the party retires for the evening.

[Iain_IF]

In the morning, the party prepares for the assault on the sharkmen. Many days have passed in the traveling to and from Seaton and studying of herbal lore. Serrin discusses with Davy, now Captain of the Grey Lady, whether it would be possible to pick up someone at the lizardmen’s fortress. No provision has been made for escape, should the attack go poorly, and there is no one to lead the party out of the sharkmen lair through the swamp. Plans are laid to try to pick up a guide from the lizardmen when Remo enters town.

Remo relates that he stayed behind in the swamp watching the sharkmen lair. He reports that he didn’t fully trust the lizardmen, and wanted to make sure that there was no collusion behind their backs. He says that he saw no lizardmen meeting at the sharkmen lair, and that the sharkmen did make quite a search of the area after the party escaped. Remo has been slowly making his way out of the swamp for the past week, and wanted to tell everyone that he saw a very, very large flying creature patrolling deep in the swamp.

Serrin tells him that the party is to sail down to the sharkmen lair on the morning tide. Remo is overjoyed by the prospect of new battle. After taking a quick bath, he collects his new plate-mail, which he had contracted for before the trip to the sharkmen lair, and gets a good rest. Rook takes some time to enchant a number of rocks to glow with magical light.

The morning is a somber one with much of the town coming to the docks to wish their militiamen goodbye. Two squads of excise men are led by Will Stoutly and a third militia group has been equipped with crossbows and spears. The militia group is to be part of the defense for the Grey Lady while the excise squads go with party into the sharkmen lair. Many tears and well wishes are given out as the Grey Lady leaves dock.

During the trip down the coast, the party meets with Will Stoutly and the Captain to develop a plan. The party and the excise men will be rowed ashore north of the lair several hours before the Grey Lady is to come into view. The party and the excise men will march down the shoreline to within sight of the lair, and then wait for the Grey Lady to arrive. The Captain agrees to wait for the sharkmen to attempt to engage his ship before sailing away, thus guaranteeing that some sharkmen will have been drawn out of position from the lair. The ship sailing out to sea again has been the agreed upon signal for the aquatic members of the alliance to invade, and so the party decides that this will also be the signal for them to attack over the causeway. That night, before going to sleep, Rook enchants more glowing rocks.

In the morning, they put their plan into action. The party and the excise men land ashore and begin their march to the sharkmen’s lair. They are unmolested in their trip down, and are in position slightly before noon. Nothing has appeared to change since the last time the party was there.

At midday, the Grey Lady is spotted sailing in towards shore. The ship comes to a stop and sits in plain sight of the lair, with several sailors tending to the jolly boat. After almost half an hour, there are signs that the sailors see something swimming towards them, and they begin to get the ship under weigh. Winthrop can clearly see that the Grey Lady is not spreading the maximum amount of sail, allowing whatever is pursuing them to keep apace.

The party and the excise men rush to the causeway and prepare to go across. Rook leads the way and is painfully struck by a bolt of energy while he is striding down the causeway. Everyone looks at him in surprise. Ross volunteers to go ahead and see what happens. He does so, and, now that all are watching, it becomes clear that a glyph of some sort has been magically engraved on the causeway. Based on the distance between where Ross and Rook were affected, it seems likely that they are spread every forty or so feet along the two hundred foot causeway.

Ross attempts to sidle along the side of the causeway, hoping that the englyphed area is narrower than the width of the causeway, but is struck by more magical energy after he transits another forty feet. Ross asks to be healed, and Rook and he get into a large discussion about whether it is better to heal Ross or have him be knocked unconscious by the discharges. Rook thinks that it is better that Ross be knocked unconscious and reawoken by Cuthbert’s grace, while Ross wishes instead that he be healed before setting out down to the next glyph.

While this obstinate conversation takes place, the excise men, who have now been standing, exposed to observation and potential hostile fire, become increasingly uneasy. They shuffle from side to side. They peer into the water beneath them, looking for the enemy. They begin to grumble. Finally, Will Stoutly tells the party that they are insane and looking to get them all killed. Will turns to his brother Tom, who is heading the second squad, and tells him he’s in charge, and then charges down the causeway towards the sealed stone doors at the end. Magical discharges fill the air, as does an odd smell, and Will collapses against the doors.

The party and the excise men hustle down the causeway to the wounded Will. Ross quickly heals him as Winthrop reads a magical scroll. The bar on the inside of the door falls to the ground with an audible clank, and Will and Ben Smithson, who is heading the first squad, charge with their shoulders through the door.

Two huge spears fly into the massed excise men, impaling Ben and glancing off of Will Stoutly, as the sharkmen fire ballistae through the doorway. The portcullis previously encountered has been lowered and two ballistae mounted behind it. Several sharkmen are visible reloading the ballistae. Rook freezes them in their place with the power of Cuthbert while Ben and Will stab their broadswords into the stocks of the ballistae and push them out of alignment with the passageway. Will and Ben heave on the portcullis and lift it up to their shoulders to allow people passage into the next room.

Rook, Ross, and several of the excise men charge through the doorway while Serrin collects the bar which had been used to seal the doors shut. He scurries along the floor with the bar and wedges it up into the portcullis just as Ben and Will are struck by a series of thrown nets. The sahuagin who have netted Ben and Will jerk them to the floor, leaving only Serrin and his braced bar to hold the portcullis up.

Winthrop, eyeing the combat in the next room, attempts to cause the sharkmen to fall asleep, with mixed success. The opening caused by the sleeping sahuagin allows Raven to enter the room, and allows Remo and Tom Stoutly to ply their bows to greater effect. The battle seems well in hand when one of the sahuagin runs, shouting, down a connecting corridor.

Raven and Ross begin to chase the sahuagin. The sahuagin, moving through the unlit tunnels, has a distinct advantage, and Raven is delayed by the need to dig out his glowing rock, given to him by Rook. Ross continues to chase after the sharkman and Raven chases after Ross, but finally, the sharkman achieves his goal, the water-filled steps to the lower level. As Raven and Ross pant dejectedly at the ripples of the escaped sharkman, they hear the sounds of others closing in on their position, and so race back up to the entryway.

Will has been taking the time to bind the wounds of the excise men, while Rook tends to the badly wounded Ben. When Raven and Ross return with news of the sharkman’s escape, the excise men and the party jog down towards the water-filled stairway, arriving at the same time as a group of sahuagin. A second pitched battle takes place, with the sahuagin gaining reinforcements from the lower level partway through the battle. Many of the excise men suffer wounds and some of the sahuagin escape back into the water, but control of the stairway is the party’s.

[Iain_IF]

The party then contemplates what to do. The Sheriff’s Man had asked them to attempt to infiltrate the second level and potentially kill powerful sahuagin during the main assault. While they had agreed at the time, charging into a dimly lit watery pool to attack aquatic creatures seems less wise now. While the party surrounds the pool and prepares to slay all who come up from the level below, the excise men collect the ballistae from the entryway. Closer inspection shows that one of the ballistae is broken from the damage it received in the melee, but the other seems to be intact. They line the ballista up on the stairway and prepare to shoot any sharkman leaving the stairway.

The party prepares to head underwater. Since the magical cloak that Ross wears allows him to become a manta ray when underwater, Winthrop gives him the ring of invisibility and instructs him how to use it. Ross becomes invisible and then sinks into the water, scouting as a manta ray. While Ross is off scouting, the other items which allow for underwater breathing are distributed among the party and Will Stoutly, with Will, Raven, Serrin, and Remo imbibing the remaining water breathing potions and herbal extracts. Raven and Will also split the light green potion, with the hopes that they will both increase in might. Raven feels much more lithe and confidant after drinking the potion, but Will does not. As they wait for Ross to return, Will looks increasingly ill, eventually vomiting extensively. Will assures the party that he’ll be fit to fight when needed.

Ross returns to the party, as evidenced by the disruption of the water pool and the appearance of a small puddle. He explains that several sahuagin were waiting in the large room below, but they have swum out of the room. Ross has explored up to the temple area, and there are sahuagin performing a rite in the temple. He thinks that he was unnoticed, but also thought that the sahuagin may have felt his presence in the water, even if they couldn’t see him.

The party heads into the water to interrupt the rite in the temple. They bring with them several of the glowing rocks so as to be able to clearly see. When they exit the stairway, they are confronted by a large net extending from floor to ceiling that is being pulled onto the end of the stairway. The party swims to both sides of the stairway, attempting to get out of the stairway before the netting blocks it, and closes upon the sahuagin that are using ropes and pulleys to evenly pull the netting. Three of the sahuagin are slain while one escapes down a side passage.

Remo and Serrin pull part of the netting down from the ceiling, causing a gap to appear there, so that there will be access to the stairway if they must retreat. Winthrop and Raven note that while Ross is invisible, he appears as a large, manta-ray-shaped air bubble, which may account for the sahuagin noticing some oddities when Ross was scouting.

The party swims directly towards the temple. Turning the corner from which the double door entryway can be seen, the party and the light they are carrying are clearly observed by a rather large sharkman who is loitering outside of the doors. The sharkman utters some harsh syllables and two fifteen foot long sharks swim out of the temple and into the corridor. The sharkman enters the temple, closing the door behind him.

As the sharks speed towards the party, Winthrop intones magical syllables and much of the corridor fills with webbing, entangling both of the sharks. The party swims up the side corridor that they used to access the temple previously and are met at the entrance to the temple by two sharkmen, who squeeze bladders of ink into the water, obscuring vision into the temple. Raven engages the sharkmen in combat while Remo, Will, Rook, and Ross swim through the ink cloud. Winthrop and Serrin remain in the corridor.

Inside the temple, a large sahuagin is performing a rite at the altar. As the party closes with the sahuagin, two other sahuagin swim out of the gloom and engage them. These sahuagin are distinctly larger than the previous sharkmen and are armed with cruelly barbed tridents. Even though they are outnumbered, these sahuagin are fell opponents, and quickly strike down Will and Ross. Serrin comes to aid Remo in his fight, while Rook defensively occupies two of the sahuagin.

The rite is disrupted and the large sahuagin closes with Raven, who has slain one of the sharkmen, brushing off the wounds given to him. The sahuagin makes a mystical incantation and Raven is struck with paralytic fear, curling into a small ball in the water. Winthrop moves through the ink to get out of the spell-casting sahuagin’s line of sight. Unfortunately, this places him near the two sahuagin that Rook is occupying. One of the sahuagin turns and impales Winthrop on his trident.

Serrin is heavily wounded as well, and the spell-casting sahuagin attempts some fell magic upon Serrin, but to no effect. Remo, Ross, and Will are able to slay the sahuagin they have been in combat with, but all have been significantly wounded. Remo moves to aid Rook, who by now has had large parts of his armor torn from him by the ferocious attacks of the sahuagin. Winthrop, in great pain, attempts to slay the sahuagin who has impaled him by shooting magical bolts into the sahuagin. This enrages the sahuagin who thrusts Winthrop, still impaled, bodily against a wall, further injuring him. Serrin, seeing no other alternative, points Elmo’s wand at the sahuagin and yells, "Metamorph into a snail!" Nothing occurs.

Raven returns to the combat just in time to engage the spell-casting sahuagin, who is preparing more fell magics. Raven hews mightily on the spell caster, causing great wounds, but is struck by the magics being prepared. Raven feels pain throughout his body and a bad feeling in his stomach. Winthrop is able to pull himself off the tines of the trident as the sahuagin becomes occupied by Ross and Will. Winthrop drifts off into the ink cloud, trying to not attract attention. Ross and Will are able to land some good blows on the wounded sharkman, slaying him.

Raven swims away from the spell caster over to Serrin shouting for the rune covered agate, which Serrin gives to him. Raven gratefully receives it from him and turns to rejoin the fray. The party all attacks the remaining warrior sahuagin, who has been consistently fighting and by now badly injured Rook. As Raven joins the melee, he turns quite pale and goes unconscious. Fortunately the warrior sahuagin is slain without him.

The badly wounded party turns to confront the sole remaining sahuagin, the spell caster, but finds no one to fight. The spell caster seems to have fled from the temple down the side passage.

Taking an accounting of the party, it is decided that retreat is the best course for them as well. Raven is grabbed hold of and a retreat down the side passage is made. In the front corridor, the two sharks that were encased in the webbing are found hanging limply, apparently suffocated. The party continues on back to the staircase, not encountering other sharkmen, though the lair is much noisier than before, and the sound of metal on metal can be discerned.

When the party exits the water, they are nearly shot by the very nervous group of excise men that were left up above. Tom Stoutly and Ben Smithson aid in pulling the wounded party members out of the water, and Rook heals the most grievously injured. After doing so, he realizes that he could have slowed the effects of the poisoning affecting Raven. Lacking any better alternative, Will is instructed to bleed Raven, with the hope of prolonging his life in a manner similar to when Rook was poisoned.

The party and the excise men guard the stairwell for several hours. They are uncertain what the best course of action is. Should they remain in the lair or venture outside? Should they watch for the Grey Lady to return? Should they venture back below? Tom Stoutly and his squad are sent back out to the causeway to make sure that no sahuagin reenter the top level, and also to spy for the Grey Lady. After a total of almost five hours, a scaly hand breaks the surface of the stairwell and waves. Quick reflexes stop Lizzy from being shot by the tense humans watching the stairwell.

Lizzy explains that the invasion has been mostly a success, and that he’s come up to tell the humans so. Seeing the wounded nature of the humans, he says he’ll go get an eel-person shaman to come help heal. After fifteen minutes or so, an eel-person comes to the edge of the pool, praises his god and casts some curative spells on the most grievously wounded party members and a palliative spell on Raven.

Lizzy tells the party that the humans successfully led out at least one raiding party of sahuagin, and that the initial attack underwater went well. The lizardmen and the eel-people were thrown back by a sudden onslaught of more powerful sahuagin, including dreaded four-armed sahuagin, who seemed to move faster than the rest. Only the eel-people’s steeds and the use of the sea elven reinforcements kept the battle even. Suddenly the enhancements these powerful sharkmen had were lost; the sharkmen moved at a normal speed. Even then, the cunning and power of the sharkmen was not lost, and a tactical retreat into the corridors of the lair took place. A long hard battle with the vicious sharkmen attacking from surprise in small groups ensued. Eventually, when it seemed the end was likely near, a group of four-armed sahuagin and other powerful sahuagin met with the returning raiding party and broke through the allied lines and escaped into the depths. For many hours, the allies have been tracking down lone sahuagin in the tunnels.

Lizzy says that the human ship will be returning soon, he expects, and that he will have the scouts look out for it. The party thanks him and sets out to the landing point to be picked up.

[SirLuc]

Very well documented. I like it.

[Iain_IF]

Thanks! I've enjoyed the campaign as well. At this point, I believe that Rook the cleric has achieved fourth level, while the others are second and third level respectively. We've finished up the U1-U3 series and the next question is what they'll do next. Plot hooks abound: Will they track down the sahuagin? Will they look for the smugglers who escaped? How about the divine visions that Ross received? More adventures in the swamp? Read on and find out!

[Iain_IF]

The Grey Lady returns to pick up the excise men and the party late in the day. The ship appears slightly tattered, and, after the party is ferried out to the ship in the jolly boat, it becomes apparent that there has been fighting on board. The militiamen aboard the ship tell of how the ship lost wind after leading the sharkmen away from the lair. Even though the militiamen rained arrows and quarrels upon the sharkmen boarding the ship, they were eventually forced into hand to hand combat. Many of the militiamen are wounded and are being brought back to Saltmarsh to be treated. The prone body of Raven is added to the collected injured, and Rook and Ross watch over him as the ship returns to Saltmarsh.

When the Grey Lady arrives back in harbor, she is met at the pier by the remaining members of the guard and the anxious townsfolk. The wounded are aided to the temple of Cuthbert, where both the priests of Ehlonna and of Cuthbert tend them. Raven is brought to the attention of Tryzen, since he has many of the symptoms that Rook had after the last fight with the sahuagin. After examining him and performing magical rituals to Cuthbert, Tryzen tells the party that Raven is in better health than Rook was, but that he still will need extensive rest. Tryzen is told that perhaps the blessings that the eel-man shaman did aided Raven.

The party retires back to their normal haunts: the house for some and the boat for others. Following the strenuous activities of the past few weeks, they all rest and relax for a few days, attempting to catch up on things in town and the general maintenance of their equipment. Serrin discovers that a letter has been sent to him by his master, Master Lynne, saying that he and his compatriots have been slightly delayed and Serrin should not feel constrained to wait for him. Rook, Winthrop, and Serrin decide that they should formalize their group as a mercenary band or adventuring company. After some discussion of alternative names, they decide that "The Company of the Blue Sun" is a good name for the group as a whole. Ross and Remo agree with them and join the company.

Ross informs the Company that he needs to go to Seaton to pray to Pelor for further guidance. Since he has become more worldly, he needs to meditate in the light of Pelor and receive spiritual instruction from a more learned priest. He expects that he will only be gone a week or so, and agrees to meet the Company back in Saltmarsh then.

Winthrop explains that if he received more magical instruction, possibly from Baralis up in Burle, he would be able to cast some of the more powerful spells found in Elmo’s spellbook. Everyone wants to know what sort of spells those might be. Winthrop says, "Oh, like ones that make huge balls of flame." Serrin decides that getting Winthrop more magical instruction should be the number one priority for the new Company. Serrin agrees to provide a loan to Winthrop from the Company’s coinage to pay for further training in Burle. While Serrin is at Chumley’s, Chumley mentions that for a small fee, only one percent per month of the total balance, he’d be happy to hold onto all of the new Company’s coinage for them. Serrin agrees for the Company as a whole, and most of the Company does as well.

Rook suggests that they all go up to Burle while Raven is recuperating. Rook has been increasingly troubled by the difficulties the Company has had in encountering traps and not being able to stealthily reconnoiter. He suggests that they hire a scout or professional locksmith to perform these duties for them. Remo thinks this is a fine idea and agrees to help interview them along with Rook.

The Company wakes up in the morning and begins to leisurely hike up to Burle. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, with a cold snap and some rain. After spending a chilly night out on the trail, they break camp in the morning and are startled when the ground begins to quake. After a minute the ground steadies again, with no damage done. The Company heads for Burle, and, upon arrival, checks into their favored inn, the Red Herring. They spend some time developing a posting requesting those interested in working for them to come interview at the Red Herring, and distribute the flier around town.

Winthrop goes to the tower of Baralis to ask about training. There he is told by an elven mage that there is an appreciable cost, more than three thousand coins, for the knowledge and training that he wishes. While Winthrop is willing to pay such a sum, the Company did not carry that much with them to Burle. Winthrop takes his pardon and leaves to return in several days.

Serrin is aiding in the distribution of fliers when he is accosted by the town guard, who inform him that he is under arrest. Serrin claims there must be some misunderstanding, but the guard has a warrant that clearly describes and names Serrin. Serrin is incarcerated overnight. When he does not return to the Inn, Rook attempts to locate him. After several hours of searching through Burle and asking after Serrin, Rook locates him in the guardhouse.

The sergeant on duty explains to Rook that a merchant named Johannes has sworn out a warrant against Serrin claiming that there was a breach of contract between them. The warrant says that Johannes suffered losses due to Serrin’s actions and is suing for Serrin’s arrest. Rook tries to explain that this is ridiculous, and that there is a missive from Lord Morgan’s men requesting that Johannes be held for questioning. The sergeant tells Rook that this is all a matter for Magistrate Alyx on the next morning. Rook is allowed to visit Serrin, who is very unhappy about the whole matter.

Serrin meets the magistrate in the morning, in the seat of government. The magistrate listens intently to Serrin’s version of the events and is seen to consult a clear stone on his desk often. After consulting with the Captain of the Guard about any messages from Lord Morgan, the magistrate dismisses the charges against Serrin. Serrin speaks with a clerk about swearing a complaint against Johannes, and does so, claiming a large loss of wages by Johannes leaving him in Saltmarsh.

After being reunited with the Company, Serrin explains that Winthrop should go to the magistrate’s office and have this suit cleared against him, so that it will not be a nuisance in the future. Winthrop does so, though it takes the better part of a day. During this time he explains to Serrin the cost of receiving further magical training. While Serrin is dismayed at the cost, he is certain that the Company has the funds. Serrin decides that if Winthrop will be here in Burle for at least a week undergoing this training, that he will also attempt to learn how to use the halberd while he is here.

[Iain_IF]

The Company leaves town and returns to Saltmarsh in a two day journey. They collect several thousand gold eagles and distribute it among the four of them to be brought back to Burle. Several times they wish that there was an easier way to carry moneys from place to place. While Chumley is a well-known moneychanger in Saltmarsh, his notes are of little use outside of the town.

The Company heads back up to Burle and are approaching their customary campsite, a clearing just past where the trail heading up into the Dreadwood and the hermit’s hut branches from the road, when they are suddenly confronted by a group of men armed with shortbows. They aim their weapons at the Company and demand that they lay down their arms and surrender.

The Company, by now fairly well-practiced at the art of killing things, swings into action, with Remo shooting one of the archers and Rook grasping several of them with the power of Cuthbert. This quickly turns out not to be an optimal choice, as the sounds of spell casting and the twanging of bowstrings is heard from behind the party as well.

A spray of oscillating color sweeps over Winthrop, Remo, and Rook, blinding them. Winthrop is also shot through by several arrows, knocking him unconscious. Serrin quickly observes that several archers, a swordsman, a group of gnolls, and the spellcaster known as San have appeared behind the party. Thoughts of flight quickly run through his mind, but he instead turns and slays one of the bandits held by Cuthbert.

Sight returns to Remo more quickly than to Rook, and he takes his opportunity to put an arrow through San, gravely wounding him. The archers are focusing on Rook, who is a clear target in his enameled blue platemail, but to little avail; the enchanted platemail is doing a good job of protecting him. The gnoll and the swordsmen close with the Company just in time for several of them to be held by the power of Cuthbert.

The battle is nip and tuck, and if San aided his men, they might have won the day. Instead, San suddenly disappears. Rook is able to revive Winthrop long enough for him to enchant several of the gnolls and archers into a magical slumber. Seeing that Winthrop is a spellcaster, the remaining conscious gnoll strikes down Winthrop, but is unable to perform the finishing blow before being struck down himself. Between the power of Cuthbert’s grasp and Winthrop’s enscorcelling, what was a very lopsided battle is decided on the side of the Company of the Blue Sun.

The Company takes one of the archers prisoner, slays the gnolls, and strips the bodies of valuables. Everyone is wounded and depleted of magical powers, so camp is made far off the road. No fire is lit so that they will draw little notice. In the midst of the night, Remo awakens the Company, telling them that there are many horses coming towards them. The Company is quickly surrounded by two half elves and twenty men in armor on horseback - members of the Keoish army. They question the Company about the slaughter on the road and learn of the events of the night. The leader of the army unit states that a late traveler came across the bodies on the road and fled to Burle at high speed. Luckily, they were in the town at the time and deployed to investigate. After determining that the Company is not in need of further assistance, they take the Company’s prisoner from them, and ride off into the night. Serrin wishes to know where the prisoner will be taken and is told that he’ll be brought to Burle.

In the morning, Remo searches for tracks around the ambush site, hoping to determine where San snuck off to after being shot. Unfortunately, the combination of the Company, the ambush, and the army unit traveling the area has blurred the tracks beyond Remo’s ability to discern them. The Company travels on to Burle, happily arriving unmolested. Once in town, Rook expends the prayers of Cuthbert to heal the wounds of those wounded.

Winthrop and Serrin go to the tower of Baralis and enroll Winthrop, paying the large fee required by Baralis. Winthrop’s first duty is to aid in the mending of the damage the tower received in the earthquake, but eventually, his higher learning begins.

Serrin contacts the Captain of the Guard, who he met at the magistrate’s trial. He explains that he would like to learn how to use a halberd. Since many of the guard use a halberd, he hoped that he would be able to learn how to use one by training with the guard. The Captain of the Guard agrees to let one of his senior men spend some spare time training Serrin, for a small fee of course. Serrin pays the Captain and joins the initiate guardsmen in learning drills to use a halberd properly.

Rook and Remo sit down with the men and women who have come to hire on with the Company of the Blue Sun as professional lock-openers and scouts. While several of them have interesting abilities and seem competent, discrete detection of evil in their character mark them as potentially untrustworthy. After interviewing ten people over the course of the day, it seems likely that no one with the right skills and personality will step forth and be hired. At the end of the day, an elf clad in forest leathers asks to be interviewed. While seeming less experienced in the practical skills, he speaks highly of his wish to join the Company of the Blue Sun, as their exploits are well known in his town in the Dreadwood. Apparently Melar has been telling of some of her adventures against the sahuagin, and this elf, Eledwhen, has come to join the Company.

Rook is quite dissatisfied with the whole group. He decides that the best course is likely for him to go and learn the requisite skills himself, assuming that Cuthbert still will be accepting of this change of vocation. In querying Eledwhen, it comes out that Eledwhen is an adherent of one of the elven gods, Solonor Thelandira, and so will be able to aid the Company with some elven magics as well. Rook suggests to Remo that he hire Eledwhen for a nominal fee while Rook is gone. Rook agrees to leave behind the enameled blue armor and lily shield and other magical equipment for the Company to use while he is off searching for knowledge.

Remo questions Eledwhen further, and is told that he can call Eledwhen "Ed". The novelty of an elf named Ed is too much for Remo to bear, and he hires Ed on the spot for six silver legions a day, plus room and board.