The party return to
Port Peril and report to
Tessa Fairwind who is most pleased with their efforts.
She sends the party into the Port to pick up information on the Jasperleaf Apothecary. They find that the
business has not been offically 'open' for a year but that those who know the right password can still
obtain dubious substances from the shop. Aya poses as a customer as the party case the joint. The guards appear
to be living on the premises overnight but are confined to the ground floor. Some kind of large animal
appears to be loose on the first floor.
The party therefore break in through a second floor window and find themselves on a small landing. Gurr
carefully opens the doors one by one but as luck would have it the second door he tries turns out to be
Zarskia's bedroom. Zarskia is waiting for him and stabs him with a poisioned blade and as the party rush to his
aid she escapes under cover of a smoke bomb. Immediately a number of explosions can be heard around the house.
The party (and the guards below) fear that the house might be about to collapse but when the dust settles it
appears that the explosions were just meant to destroy various objects and papers. A single document
survives the fire which instructs Zarskia to leave
The Shackles three weeks after she has 'tidied up'.
Tessa decides the party could do with some shore leave in the port of
Lilywhite where the three day Rum Punch Festival is about to take place. On the first day the main activity is a drinking game where a strong constitution is advisable. The party (except Hapu) all pay their 1 gp entrance fee (Arreng mainly because he has worked out even if he doesn't win he can drink more than 1 gp's worth of alcohol in the game). Unlike during the next two days there don't appear to be any rules against the discrete use of magic
and the party scores three wins for the 50gp prizes. An active betting scene, however, helps other members of the party to still make money.
The main feature of the second day is a swimming race round the harbour and Hapu takes on the local favourite and five times winner, Tallus, whose bluish skin suggests an aquatic heritage. These two lead the race until Hapu just pulls away in a furious sprint for the line. The third day sees the party (minus Aya and Hapu) enter the team
obstacle race. The party don't fancy their chances too much and in the first part of the race they lie third or fourth. The second part of the race sees a big turnaround, however, with the party building up an unassailable lead.
The prizes for both these events involve an upgrade of a weapon from masterwork to magical. Tallus who has made
friends with Hapu joins the crew.
Returning to Port Peril the party find that the Pirate Council are pretty sure they have a traitor amongst them.
Two chief suspects are Admiral Arronax Edymion of
Hell Harbour and Captain Harrigan of the Black Dog whose capture of the
Ocean Breeze led to the party's traumatic journey south.
Arronax Endymion is under house arrest pending further investigations but to find out what Harrigan has been up to Tessa thinks the person to talk to is the former first mate of the Black Dog, Scags Rotgram. She has, however, not been
able to find him and reports are that his ship may have sunk while running the gauntlet of
Dagon's Gullet.
As a long shot Tessa sends the party to the tiny isles of Dagon's Jaws to see whether Scags or any of his crew
survived. They take a long boat to land on the beach on the larger of the two islands, Big Jaw. They see the
wreck of another long boat on the beach and also some bodies floating in the water. The bodies are, however,
undead and the party briskly despatch them and a larger undead who was lurking further offshore before taking the only path from the beach which slopes upward to the interior. The party are 'ambushed' but it swiftly turns out that their potential enemies are in fact Scag's crew.
They are taken to a camp where Scag's first mate, Alise Grogblud, explains that 18 crew members survived the intial wreck of the Devilish Duchess but 9 were killed by the undead trying to escape the island on rafts.
Although Scags died in the wreck he kept a diary which he wrapped in an oilskin for safekeeping. Alise
believes it may still be on the wreck. The undead, however, removed its mast and dragged it away to their
base which Alise believes may be a cave somewhere on the two islands' coasts. The party take the survivors back to
the Swallow before seaching for the cave which turns out to be on the far side of the smaller island, Little
Jaw.
The party carefully navigate a long boat into the mouth of the cave but just when they can see three of the
larger undead sitting on an underground beach they are attacked from the water. Although the undead managed to temporarily
paralyse three members of the party, the party discover that having two clerics around is sometimes useful. The larger undead make no move to attack until it is too late and the party have slaughtered their minions.They also underestimate the power
of the party's ranged attacks and are quickly dealt with. The party notice three or four wrecks in the cave,
including the Devilish Duchess and search them thoroughly for treasure. They then, on Alise's suggestion,
spend some time salvaging Scag's ship.
Alise reckons the salvage operation will result in a 4000gp profit in a few weeks time. She agrees to join the crew
of the Swallow along with the second mate a pale Elf she calls 'Ser' (short for Seril).