Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

Anders Solmor hires the Monster Squad to investigate a Haunted Mansion outside of town, for reasons of his own that he does not immediately disclose. The Monster Squad walks over on foot and turns the place over. They discover that the mansion used to be owned by an alchemist (whom they relieved of his undeath), but is intentionally being kept in disrepair by a group of smugglers who were using it as a hideout, led by a wizard named Sanbolet. The cellars of the mansion connect to a cave system with sea access. They also find a man tied up in the mansion named Ned Shakeshack. Ned claims that they were going to sell him as a slave, but none of the evidence corroborates Ned's story. They invite him to join their crew so they can keep an eye on him.
The council reasons there was a shipping side of this operation as well, and hires the Monster Squad to shut it down as well. They lay a trap for the ship, using a bullseye lantern signaling system they found in the caves, and manage to board a vessel called the Sea Ghost, about a mile off shore from the mansion. They then proceed to systematically kill everyone on board except a lone crewman and a prisoner named Oceanus - a sea elf who claims he is a spy for his tribe, who have an underwater settlement about 20 miles from Saltmarsh. They also discover a trio of lizardmen aboard, and evidence that the smugglers were, in addition to whatever operation they had going on with the group in the mansion, have been shipping large amounts of stolen weapons to a group of lizardmen about 10 miles outside of Saltmarsh on a supposedly deserted part of the coast.

Parent Plot

Act 1: Those Who Have Lost Their Way