Session 09: Negotiations Report
General Summary
Uk-Thin grabs the homunculus's gem and cries, the party figures out where to set up camp, retreating to a drier spot and taking the salamander head with them. Fishcod cuts the salamander into jerky strips, and cooks them over the night fire. Uk-Thin is skeptical as to how Fishcod can get by with only 4 hours of sleep, but they play it off as being used to it. Virion takes first watch up in a tree, and Fishcod takes second watch - by then, Oceanus is done meditating in a swampy puddle. Oceanus does the real watching while Fishcod cooks the salamander into 22 days worth solid rations. It starts to drizzle.
They pass a Treant beset by 6 swarms of rats, and give it a wide berth. They then pass that same troll eating crabs. They then meet the druid again, now ratless, and she demands her hat back. The woman - Zyg - says she will let the party pass this time if they return her hat with the mushrooms. She gives cryptic words - aloud and psychicly - to the party, referencing "Her" and calling them "servants of darkness". They give her the hat and she disperses into rats.
The party then returns to the Lizardfolk Lair, presents Ophuquait's head, and she gives them a Helmet of Underwater Action as a token of good fatih. She then sends Vyth and Garurt to meet with the council. Vyth doesn't understand money.
Upon their return, the town is in fucking uproar. Traditionalist riots and Loyalist counterprotests (partially fueled by Maria Primewater and Lankus Kurrid) have been ravaging the town. Eliander has been arresting people for sedition, Anders failing to be peacemaker, while Eda has been unsuccessful in appealing to unity (Manistrad kinda doesn't care).
After making a sad attempt to quell the riots, the party talks to Captain Fireborn, who is clearly on his last leg(s). He explains the nonsensical situation, and is outraged that the protesters think he's trying to pull a coup. Worse yet - as Virion is happy to point out - his optics here are terrible, as Fireborn is an awful political operator.
After hearing that they have lizardfolk delegates, and making his one clever decision, Captain Fireborn calls a council meeting at the Oweland House, as Hoolwatch Tower would look terrible and the Saltmarsh Council Hall is currently surrounded by protesters. Sneaking the Lizardfolk in via the coast, the party and councilors are brought through a labyrinthine network of hallways until they find themselves in a large banquet hall with Eda. A spot is left conspicuously open given Gellan's absence, but Garurt slides right into it.
After hearing of the Sea Devil's invasion, the council unanimously agress to help - though Eliander Fireborn is hesitant, as his soldiers are presently occupied. He points out that, in order to properly help the Aquatic Alliance, they will need soldiers from Burle as well as the aid of the Stoutly's marines. Happy, the lizardfolk delegates returned home to the Lizardfolk Lair via a council keelboat, promising to stay in contact and notify Saltmarsh when the coalition would make their move. The party, meanwhile, was paid 700 gp as promised.
Finished, and unsure how to help with the ongoing riots, the party turned to downtime for a week's worth of labor. Uk-thin went to Tom Stoutly and Will Stoutly seeking the aid of their marine corps. Being traditionalist aligned - due to wartime PTSD and connections to the fishing and mercantile industries - they were only willing to do so if Uk-thin convinced Eliander Fireborn to stop arresting people for slander and libel related sedition charges. After a large argument - including Uk-thin's anti-piracy tendencies against Will comin up - Eliander conceeded the point, ordering Lt. Johnny to free all who were arrested for saying or writing baseless claims that he was planning a coup.
Virion, meanwhile, spent his money carousing around bars and making friends, gaining a contact. Fishcod in turn went to help the Alchemist repair his home, earning some cash along the way. In the later days of the week, Uk-thin went to Keledek the Unspoken to understand what their sealed glass orb is. Keledek agreed to study it, but requests Uk-thin use his Slippers of Spider-Climbing to explore the cave underneath the Tower of Zenopus. In doing so, Uk-thin found a nearly 2 mile long cave of karst geography running underneath the river towards Saltmarsh. It ends in a section of shear wall, eerily similar to the Saltmarsh City Gate built for Old Harbor. Keledek revealed that the orb is of dwarven make, and was blown, then filled, then sealed - and may have something to do with why the settlement was abandoned.
During all of this, Mystan Co'oquilan sought a 300 gp diamon so he could cast Revivify should it be needed. After speaking with Welgar Brinehanded at the Saltmarsh Temple of Procan, he learned of the sunken Soul of Winter, and that it had such a diamond hidden in it's lost depths. According to Brinehanded, if Mystan leaves 300 gp and takes the gem, then all will be in order with Procan's treasures.
Unforuntuately, there was a complication - the Soul of Winter is now home to a bronze dragon, Nururyte'jharragoth or "Jhar", who considered the gem part of her hoard. In exchange for the 300 gp, she agreed to sell Mystan the gem - if and only if he promised, as a Cleric of Raan, to find the Medusa within the Hool Marshes and get her to write Jhar back in their shared teleporting book; it's been a moon, at Mystan's earliest possible convince. Mystan agreed, and parted ways with the dragon, one gem richer and 300 gp poorer.
After this week of downtime was the Blueson funeral, where Eli Blueson's twin children, Isabela Blueson and Andri Blueson - who was a trans man - were buried. Melody Rose Hazel Turen returned to Saltmarsh to attend the funeral, and in the following day was roped into a clandestine meeting.
Anders Solmor sent his butler, Skerrin Wavechaser, to retrieve The Party. Apparently, a merchant from Seaton, Aubreck Drallion, lost much of his fortune in promisary notes aboard the Emperor of the Waves, a lost ship thought to have sunk but recently sighted. Anders has made contact with Aubreck's butler, a distinct-looking half orc named Vertheg. Drallion is very interested in the recovery of the lockbox, and offers the party 200 gp up front and 10% of the 100,000 gp worth of notes, i.e. 10,000 gp once Drallion can convert the notes to gold! The party, after little delibration - mostly Melody being anti-imperalist, as Drallion would use these funds to expand his trade empire into the spice (and sugar) trade with the southern isles - accepts. Solmor and Drallion will provide the Sea Ghost a crew, and the party can ship out in the morning. They are told not to mention the ghost ship to anyone, lest rival treasure hunters find them.
The mission isn't that straightforward, however; Anders privately askes Virion to retrive the Captain's Log from the ship, as he is curious as to how the ship went missing. And Melody seems to be up to something with this mission...
They pass a Treant beset by 6 swarms of rats, and give it a wide berth. They then pass that same troll eating crabs. They then meet the druid again, now ratless, and she demands her hat back. The woman - Zyg - says she will let the party pass this time if they return her hat with the mushrooms. She gives cryptic words - aloud and psychicly - to the party, referencing "Her" and calling them "servants of darkness". They give her the hat and she disperses into rats.
The party then returns to the Lizardfolk Lair, presents Ophuquait's head, and she gives them a Helmet of Underwater Action as a token of good fatih. She then sends Vyth and Garurt to meet with the council. Vyth doesn't understand money.
Upon their return, the town is in fucking uproar. Traditionalist riots and Loyalist counterprotests (partially fueled by Maria Primewater and Lankus Kurrid) have been ravaging the town. Eliander has been arresting people for sedition, Anders failing to be peacemaker, while Eda has been unsuccessful in appealing to unity (Manistrad kinda doesn't care).
After making a sad attempt to quell the riots, the party talks to Captain Fireborn, who is clearly on his last leg(s). He explains the nonsensical situation, and is outraged that the protesters think he's trying to pull a coup. Worse yet - as Virion is happy to point out - his optics here are terrible, as Fireborn is an awful political operator.
After hearing that they have lizardfolk delegates, and making his one clever decision, Captain Fireborn calls a council meeting at the Oweland House, as Hoolwatch Tower would look terrible and the Saltmarsh Council Hall is currently surrounded by protesters. Sneaking the Lizardfolk in via the coast, the party and councilors are brought through a labyrinthine network of hallways until they find themselves in a large banquet hall with Eda. A spot is left conspicuously open given Gellan's absence, but Garurt slides right into it.
After hearing of the Sea Devil's invasion, the council unanimously agress to help - though Eliander Fireborn is hesitant, as his soldiers are presently occupied. He points out that, in order to properly help the Aquatic Alliance, they will need soldiers from Burle as well as the aid of the Stoutly's marines. Happy, the lizardfolk delegates returned home to the Lizardfolk Lair via a council keelboat, promising to stay in contact and notify Saltmarsh when the coalition would make their move. The party, meanwhile, was paid 700 gp as promised.
Finished, and unsure how to help with the ongoing riots, the party turned to downtime for a week's worth of labor. Uk-thin went to Tom Stoutly and Will Stoutly seeking the aid of their marine corps. Being traditionalist aligned - due to wartime PTSD and connections to the fishing and mercantile industries - they were only willing to do so if Uk-thin convinced Eliander Fireborn to stop arresting people for slander and libel related sedition charges. After a large argument - including Uk-thin's anti-piracy tendencies against Will comin up - Eliander conceeded the point, ordering Lt. Johnny to free all who were arrested for saying or writing baseless claims that he was planning a coup.
Virion, meanwhile, spent his money carousing around bars and making friends, gaining a contact. Fishcod in turn went to help the Alchemist repair his home, earning some cash along the way. In the later days of the week, Uk-thin went to Keledek the Unspoken to understand what their sealed glass orb is. Keledek agreed to study it, but requests Uk-thin use his Slippers of Spider-Climbing to explore the cave underneath the Tower of Zenopus. In doing so, Uk-thin found a nearly 2 mile long cave of karst geography running underneath the river towards Saltmarsh. It ends in a section of shear wall, eerily similar to the Saltmarsh City Gate built for Old Harbor. Keledek revealed that the orb is of dwarven make, and was blown, then filled, then sealed - and may have something to do with why the settlement was abandoned.
During all of this, Mystan Co'oquilan sought a 300 gp diamon so he could cast Revivify should it be needed. After speaking with Welgar Brinehanded at the Saltmarsh Temple of Procan, he learned of the sunken Soul of Winter, and that it had such a diamond hidden in it's lost depths. According to Brinehanded, if Mystan leaves 300 gp and takes the gem, then all will be in order with Procan's treasures.
Unforuntuately, there was a complication - the Soul of Winter is now home to a bronze dragon, Nururyte'jharragoth or "Jhar", who considered the gem part of her hoard. In exchange for the 300 gp, she agreed to sell Mystan the gem - if and only if he promised, as a Cleric of Raan, to find the Medusa within the Hool Marshes and get her to write Jhar back in their shared teleporting book; it's been a moon, at Mystan's earliest possible convince. Mystan agreed, and parted ways with the dragon, one gem richer and 300 gp poorer.
After this week of downtime was the Blueson funeral, where Eli Blueson's twin children, Isabela Blueson and Andri Blueson - who was a trans man - were buried. Melody Rose Hazel Turen returned to Saltmarsh to attend the funeral, and in the following day was roped into a clandestine meeting.
Anders Solmor sent his butler, Skerrin Wavechaser, to retrieve The Party. Apparently, a merchant from Seaton, Aubreck Drallion, lost much of his fortune in promisary notes aboard the Emperor of the Waves, a lost ship thought to have sunk but recently sighted. Anders has made contact with Aubreck's butler, a distinct-looking half orc named Vertheg. Drallion is very interested in the recovery of the lockbox, and offers the party 200 gp up front and 10% of the 100,000 gp worth of notes, i.e. 10,000 gp once Drallion can convert the notes to gold! The party, after little delibration - mostly Melody being anti-imperalist, as Drallion would use these funds to expand his trade empire into the spice (and sugar) trade with the southern isles - accepts. Solmor and Drallion will provide the Sea Ghost a crew, and the party can ship out in the morning. They are told not to mention the ghost ship to anyone, lest rival treasure hunters find them.
The mission isn't that straightforward, however; Anders privately askes Virion to retrive the Captain's Log from the ship, as he is curious as to how the ship went missing. And Melody seems to be up to something with this mission...
Rewards Granted
A Helm of Underwater Action for bringing Othokent Ophuquait's head, 700 gp for the completion of the Dunwater Investigation, 200 gp down payment for investigating the Emperor of the Waves. Mystan recieved 1 piety point for negotating a peace treaty, while Uk-thin, Fishcod, and Virion were awarded 1 inspiration each for clever role play and tactics.
Missions/Quests Completed
Hunting Ophuquait was compeleted, as was the Dunwater investigation. The Emperor of the Waves Salvage Operation was accepted.
Character(s) interacted with
- Othokent
- Vyth
- Garurt
- Eliander Fireborn
- Will Stoutly
- Tom Stoutly
- Keledek the Unspoken
- Welgar Brinehanded
- Nururyte'jharragoth
- Skerrin Wavechaser
- Anders Solmor
- Vertheg
Related Reports
Uk-thin Rolsar
Lawful Good Gensai (Guild Artisan)
artificer 4
artificer 4
31 / 31 HP
STR
16
16
DEX
13
13
CON
14
14
INT
17
17
WIS
12
12
CHA
11
11
Virion Sylvenne
C/N Wood Elf (Noble)
Wizard 2
Wizard 2
7 / 12 HP
STR
12
12
DEX
16
16
CON
13
13
INT
16
16
WIS
14
14
CHA
14
14
Co'oquilan Mystan
Bronze Dragonborn (Acolyte)
Cleric 3
Cleric 3
10 / 24 HP
STR
14
14
DEX
11
11
CON
14
14
INT
13
13
WIS
16
16
CHA
13
13
Fishcod
Report Date
20 Mar 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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