Post by hubertbartels on Nov 25, 2023 14:45:02 GMT -5
The Capture of the Sea Ghost
With another week before the smuggler’s ship was due in Saltmarsh, each of us was busy with our own tasks. Rissa was most interested in the treasure map carved into two halves of an oyster shell. It seems to point to a place that the locals call Frog Island. There’s supposed to be a cave on the side of the mountain that resembles a squatting frog.
One afternoon, we received word that Captain Fireborne would all of us to come to dinner at his house; he would to discuss the upcoming operation. Rissa put on a new shirt and cleaned her leathers and went. At the dinner, we introduced Lindsey Sterling, the newest member of our crew, a brown-haired, brown eyed bard that we met at the crab fest. Plans were made for the meeting of the smuggler’s ship and a squad of Fireborne’s marines would stand by if things started to go wrong. Captain Fireborne also happened to mention other things happening in Saltmarsh – the local fisher folk are having a hard time in filling their nets as well as two Crown Ships – the Cuddle Fish and the Kraken’s Kiss are overdue. The Crown Ships were last seen sailing south to the Sea Princes.
The night of the stakeout, we gathered in the old alchemist’s house. At the right time, we placed a colored lantern in the window – and when it was answered with a glimmer of light out on the sea – we placed a second light as the counter sign. The light out at sea vanished as we rushed down the cove to launch a rowboat.
Revandrous had cast Alter Self upon himself to take on the appearance of Sandballot the wizard. He sat at the stern of the rowboat as we pulled out to sea. Through the mists, the smuggler’s ship started to take form. 90 feet long, 20 feet across the beam, she bore the name Sea Ghost on her bows and across her transom.
Rissa was the first one up on deck and greeted the two sailors cheerily. When Revandrous boarded the ship, the sailors asked if they should summon the captain. Revandrous in his guise of Sandballot, answered that he had matters to discuss with the captain in his quarters.
We were escorted to the captain’s quarters. The sailors closed the door and left us with Captain Sigurd Snake-eyes. Snake-eyes greeted us but was surprised when Revandrous dropped his spell. Einar grappled him quickly and we took him down. In searching his quarters, we found a trap door to a cabin below.
There was a lone man sitting at a table. We dropped down though the trap door and took him out. This was the first mate of the ship. Searching his cabin, we found a smuggler’s compartment with a large assortment of weapons wrapped in cloth. One of the shields was emblazoned with a device of a lizardman with his forked tongue sticking out.
From the door aft of the cabin came the sounds of slapping. When we burst through that door, we found a brutish man raping a sea elf manacled to a bed. Revandrous cast Sleep on the man and we were able to tie him up. The sea elf named himself as Oceanus. He had been tasked with watching the ship while it was at anchor in a bay south of here. When Oceanus climbed aboard, he was captured. Oceanus tells us that we had taken out the first mate and Bojurn the Bloody, the bosun.
The other door in the first mate’s cabin led to the hold. We surprised several sailors here while they were loading cargo. They were quickly put down. Going forward from the hold, we found a compartment with hammocks – the hammocks were filled with lizard folk. In talking to them, they were waiting for the weapons promised to them by Captain Snake-eyes. They had traded silver bars – the same silver bars we found while searching the captain’s quarters – for the weapons. We demanded to know where the silver had come from. They answered that their chief had given them the silver bars on the advice of the chief’s new advisor. The new advisor, Ertoss, was a sea elf like Oceanus. The lizard folk needed the weapons for their struggles against the sahugin.
We decided to give them the weapons we had found and asked if we could come to the lizard folk village and talk to their chief and advisor in the future – they might have information about the missing ships and the loss of fishing in Saltmarsh.
Continuing our search of the ship through the gallery, the gallery store room and the ship’s storeroom, we came on a well appointed room with expensive furnishings. There were two men in the room, sitting at a table, talking. We attacked before they could get up. Einar pinned the larger sailor in his chair while the rest of us attacked the man in red robes. The wizard tried to use Misty Step to leave the room but Connor’s quick response was able to catch him and drop him before he could escape.
By now, the marines had pulled along side the ship, warned by the fire spell that Revandrous had used to take out the lookout in the crow’s nest. They took charge of our prisoners and helped bring the Sea Ghost into Saltmarsh’s harbor.
With another week before the smuggler’s ship was due in Saltmarsh, each of us was busy with our own tasks. Rissa was most interested in the treasure map carved into two halves of an oyster shell. It seems to point to a place that the locals call Frog Island. There’s supposed to be a cave on the side of the mountain that resembles a squatting frog.
One afternoon, we received word that Captain Fireborne would all of us to come to dinner at his house; he would to discuss the upcoming operation. Rissa put on a new shirt and cleaned her leathers and went. At the dinner, we introduced Lindsey Sterling, the newest member of our crew, a brown-haired, brown eyed bard that we met at the crab fest. Plans were made for the meeting of the smuggler’s ship and a squad of Fireborne’s marines would stand by if things started to go wrong. Captain Fireborne also happened to mention other things happening in Saltmarsh – the local fisher folk are having a hard time in filling their nets as well as two Crown Ships – the Cuddle Fish and the Kraken’s Kiss are overdue. The Crown Ships were last seen sailing south to the Sea Princes.
The night of the stakeout, we gathered in the old alchemist’s house. At the right time, we placed a colored lantern in the window – and when it was answered with a glimmer of light out on the sea – we placed a second light as the counter sign. The light out at sea vanished as we rushed down the cove to launch a rowboat.
Revandrous had cast Alter Self upon himself to take on the appearance of Sandballot the wizard. He sat at the stern of the rowboat as we pulled out to sea. Through the mists, the smuggler’s ship started to take form. 90 feet long, 20 feet across the beam, she bore the name Sea Ghost on her bows and across her transom.
Rissa was the first one up on deck and greeted the two sailors cheerily. When Revandrous boarded the ship, the sailors asked if they should summon the captain. Revandrous in his guise of Sandballot, answered that he had matters to discuss with the captain in his quarters.
We were escorted to the captain’s quarters. The sailors closed the door and left us with Captain Sigurd Snake-eyes. Snake-eyes greeted us but was surprised when Revandrous dropped his spell. Einar grappled him quickly and we took him down. In searching his quarters, we found a trap door to a cabin below.
There was a lone man sitting at a table. We dropped down though the trap door and took him out. This was the first mate of the ship. Searching his cabin, we found a smuggler’s compartment with a large assortment of weapons wrapped in cloth. One of the shields was emblazoned with a device of a lizardman with his forked tongue sticking out.
From the door aft of the cabin came the sounds of slapping. When we burst through that door, we found a brutish man raping a sea elf manacled to a bed. Revandrous cast Sleep on the man and we were able to tie him up. The sea elf named himself as Oceanus. He had been tasked with watching the ship while it was at anchor in a bay south of here. When Oceanus climbed aboard, he was captured. Oceanus tells us that we had taken out the first mate and Bojurn the Bloody, the bosun.
The other door in the first mate’s cabin led to the hold. We surprised several sailors here while they were loading cargo. They were quickly put down. Going forward from the hold, we found a compartment with hammocks – the hammocks were filled with lizard folk. In talking to them, they were waiting for the weapons promised to them by Captain Snake-eyes. They had traded silver bars – the same silver bars we found while searching the captain’s quarters – for the weapons. We demanded to know where the silver had come from. They answered that their chief had given them the silver bars on the advice of the chief’s new advisor. The new advisor, Ertoss, was a sea elf like Oceanus. The lizard folk needed the weapons for their struggles against the sahugin.
We decided to give them the weapons we had found and asked if we could come to the lizard folk village and talk to their chief and advisor in the future – they might have information about the missing ships and the loss of fishing in Saltmarsh.
Continuing our search of the ship through the gallery, the gallery store room and the ship’s storeroom, we came on a well appointed room with expensive furnishings. There were two men in the room, sitting at a table, talking. We attacked before they could get up. Einar pinned the larger sailor in his chair while the rest of us attacked the man in red robes. The wizard tried to use Misty Step to leave the room but Connor’s quick response was able to catch him and drop him before he could escape.
By now, the marines had pulled along side the ship, warned by the fire spell that Revandrous had used to take out the lookout in the crow’s nest. They took charge of our prisoners and helped bring the Sea Ghost into Saltmarsh’s harbor.