Freeport Campaign

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 800
• Treasure: From Mantatlus’s manor: Bronze scroll case (150 gp); gilded plate (750 gp); matching gilded chalice (750 gp); Mantatlus’s spellbooks; 2200 gp

Reward from Kathkallan: 2000 gp each (including Balama, Camina, and Isaac) from the proceeds of the executed contracts, plus 5000 gp worth of diamonds to aid in raising Balama

Reward from the Provincial Governor of Mavinar: 250 gp each; small enameled badge depicting the sword-and-axe symbol of Anjeeti, the Matyanist god of justice.

While the respective crews prepared the ships for departure, the party accompanied Kathkallan through the Waft to execute his freshly recovered contracts. The merchant followed through on his plan to use the proceeds from the royal jelly to purchase a large quantity of vanilla beans from Greater Galleon at a steep discount, and then turned a healthy profit when he immediately sold the beans elsewhere in the trade district. Once he and his loot were safely ensconced on one of the ships, Kathkallan awarded each party member a portion of the profits as a reward for cooperation and support in the recent unpleasantness. He added a sack of diamonds to Balama’s share, to be used in raising her from the dead as soon as possible.

During Kathkallan’s business trip, the party had received invitations to meet the provincial governor for tea the next day. The captains admonished the crews to behave themselves in port for one more night, and set about securing appropriate garb for tea with the governor.

The next morning, Ivan Blackfathom used Kathkallan’s diamonds to restore Balama to life and soon returned to his berth on one of the ships. Balama compared notes with Spike and Chow, both of whom had met the Silent Boatman on the Dark River as a result of prior bad fortune. They all agreed to try to help each other avoid further contact with Mormekar for as long as possible.

As tea time approached, the party made their way toward the Provincial Palace in the center of town. Attendants checked their weapons at the door, and then escorted the group to the governor’s tea room. After a ceremonial welcome, Provincial Governor Anavati Johar thanked the party for their assistance in the investigation into Galliad’s disappearance, and for participating in the raid on Mantatlus’s manor. He then presented each member of the group with a sack of gold and a small badge bearing the symbol of Anjeeti, the Matyanist god of justice. He also returned several of the items seized in the previous day’s raid, including the wizard’s spellbooks. In addition, Kathkallan and Nashafeen received tokens of the governor’s regret for their lost friends and associates.

With the ceremonial presentations concluded, the governor requested stories from the group’s homeland, and seemed genuinely interested in an offer to visit Freeport at some point in the future. As the stories wrapped up, he informed the party of the possible fates for Anteashara, Mantatlus’s captured associate. If possible, depending on the nature and true extent of her crimes and her skills, she might be pressed into service for the Empire in some capacity. Otherwise, she would probably be exiled, executed, or punished in some other manner decreed by the Matyans.

Before the party left, the governor requested a couple of favors from them regarding their impending trip to Ashinda. First, he hoped that they would be amenable to transporting an undercover Imperial investigator and his two assistants to the independent city-state, so that they could continue investigating Mantatlus and his cronies. He assured the party that the fellows would be unobtrusive during the trip, and would not be tied to Four Gulls except as paying passengers after being put ashore.

The governor also made the party aware of reports of some sort of sea monster attacking trading vessels between Mavinar and Ashinda, and informed them that he, and by extension the Emperor, would appreciate any concrete information regarding the monster, or preferably its demise.

The party agreed to both requests after some polite discussion and clarifications. With that, the governor thanked them again for their service to the city and to the Empire. The group in turn thanked the governor for his hospitality, collected their weapons, and departed the palace.

As the party approached the ships, one of the Primrose’s officers hailed Spike and called him over to talk to a trio of halflings who were seeking passage on the ship. The halflings introduced themselves as Rangsten ascetics on a pilgrimage from one of the monasteries in the spiritual kingdom of Laodeng. They sought passage to a small island hermitage a few miles from the coast near Ashinda, where others of their order occasionally traveled to commune with the sea. When asked about payment, the halflings scraped together a few coins, but not nearly enough to cover the standard rate. Spike was unsure about taking the fellows aboard for a trip that would be somewhat out of the way, and so asked them to return in an hour or so to give him a chance to discuss the matter with Richard. The monks agreed and set off to seek other accomodations.

While the party discussed the karmic implications of transporting the monks versus leaving them in Mavinar, they also asked around regarding the recent sea monster sightings. As it happened, the harbormaster knew a good deal about the reports. Apparently, this particular sea monster was a relatively young lantern serpent, a variety rarely seen near the surface. Lantern serpents generally preferred to hunt in the deeps, using their distinctive red-glowing tentacles to lure prey into their gaping maws. The harbormaster wished the party luck and expressed an interest in hearing about the encounter, if they survived and returned to Mavinar.

The halflings returned at the appointed time, calmly reporting that most of the other captains they had approached had merely laughed at them. When Spike and Richard agreed to take them aboard in exchange for whatever work they could perform on deck, the halflings agreed and thanked the captains for their generosity. That settled, the crew made their final preparation, and the Sea Wind and Primrose set sail for Ashinda.

The next morning, Richard was surprised to hear a voice in his head state, “Sorry for your associate’s death. Improvised plan went pear-shaped. Let’s avoid further conflict. Talk with friends, I’ll send tomorrow for details. Would like spellbooks. Mantatlus.” Familiar with this type of magical communication, Richard responded briefly that he would indeed talk with his friends before tomorrow’s contact. After stopping the ships, the party discussed the message and used some divinatory magic to try to clarify their potential plans. The results were ambiguous regarding Mantatlus’s motives and possible intentions, so Richard sent a similar communique seeking guidance from Governor Johar in Mavinar. The governor responded that he’d prefer to avoid staging further confrontations in the city if possible, that the party was authorized to offer up Anteashara if necessary in any negotiations, and that he’d see what strings he could pull in the University to procure some reinforcements. He also offered the services of the investigator and his assistants, if they could help in any way. With that, the party continued discussing how they should respond to Mantatlus’s next message.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 8000
• Treasure: Recovered from Mantatlus’s manor (and subject to the Imperial “ownerless property” laws): Statue of an efreet (3300 gp); statue of an ancient general (1500 gp); bronze dagger used to assassinate ancient general (1000 gp); illuminated Matyanist religious text (700 gp); bronze scroll case (150 gp); ancient clay water jug (50 gp); painting of a Mavinar street scene (1500 gp); gilded plate (750 gp); matching gilded chalice (750 gp); Mantatlus’s spellbook; 2200 gp; 3 rubies (700 gp each)

Still convinced they were missing something important to tie all their clues together, the group followed up on their remaining leads. First, they questioned Mossan Zahad, head merchant of the Greater Galleon trading company, after he finished auctioning a single vanilla bean for an exorbitant sum of money. (The party had learned in previous conversations on the street that a large shipment of Maztican vanilla beans had been sunk by pirates a few weeks ago.) Zahad stated with a smarmy smirk that Galliad had indeed arranged a meeting with Greater Galleon, but had not shown up at the agreed time. He then smiled and excused himself to begin another auction.

Irritated with the merchant, Chow and Spike headed off to surveil the house that Richard had seen the messengers enter. On the way, the two sailors strolled down the Path of Silk Flowers, the red-lamp district whose courtesans tended colorful gardens of silk vegetation during off-hours. The manor house sat at the end of the Path, at the intersection with the Avenue of Chimes. Chow and Spike learned from their conversations that the fellow who lived in the house, apparently an art collector and dealer, tended to keep to himself, and rarely enlisted the ladies’ services. After an embarrassing unintentional double entendre, Chow also arranged a meeting for later in the evening with Nashafeen, whose talents reputedly matched Chow’s perceived tastes.

Still chuckling, Spike and Chow approached the artfully carved front doors of the manor house. A couple of unanswered knocks informed them that the manor’s owner was either away or not amenable to guests. Disappointed, the two headed back to the inn to meet up with the rest of the group.

From there, the party went to the Silent Siren, the bar just outside the Atrium, to look for any further clues before calling it a night. The proprietor, Able Yaleen, confirmed that Galliad had been in the bar the night he had disappeared. The young fellow had enjoyed many drinks with a black-haired woman who wore an orchid brooch. Chow remembered that the ladies from the Path of Silk Flowers had been wearing similar brooches, so he was unsurprised when Yaleen mentioned that Galliad had left with the young lady.

The barkeep said that the group’s description of a fat, sweaty man did match that of a fellow who had been to the tavern several times. He remembered the man both because of his size and the fact that during each visit, the man left the bar numerous times, only to return an hour later.

During the group’s conversation with Yaleen, Carmina noticed a heavy drinker scowling at Kathkallan from a corner table, and surreptitiously brought the burly fellow to the group’s attention. Spike sent the guy a drink, and then went over to introduce himself. The party recognized the man’s name, Bernal, as that of the fellow who had hired the thugs to attack Kathkallan. Bernal chatted for a bit about his work as a porter, but got more belligerent as the conversation turned to Kathkallan and the fat man. He finally had enough, stood up, and weaved his way through the bar and out the door. Chow followed Bernal and watched him fall to the ground a dozen yards from the bar. Recognizing an opportunity for further questioning, the party paid their tab, thanked Able Yaleen, and left. Richard and Spike dragged their stumbling “comrade” back to the Sea Wind, while Chow went back to the Path of Silk Flowers for his “date,” and the rest of the group reconvened at the inn where they were staying.

A few splashes of water to the face awoke Bernal, but it was the realization that he was tied up in the hold of a ship that seemed to sober him up. Spike and Richard asked him again what he knew about the business between Kathkallan and the fat man. He told them that the fat, sweaty guy had paid him to recruit some sailors and send them to the Silent Siren. Spike looked carefully into the porter’s eyes, didn’t like what he saw, and mentioned to Richard that they should try throwing Bernal overboard to try loosening his tongue. The porter howled that he couldn’t swim, but Richard just slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Sorry.”

They dragged the fellow to the deck, tied him securely, and dumped him unceremoniously over the gunwales. Richard estimated the time remaining on the waterbreathing spell he had cast on Bernal, and helped haul him back up after what they deemed a suitably frightening interval. After Spike told him that next time he wouldn’t have the benefit of magical protection, Bernal repeated his story, along with some additional information about Anteashara, the female porter who lived with Catellion at the Platinum Quill. Apparently, she worked for a secretive client near the Path of Silk Flowers, and frequently used her knowledge of the city to dig up information on sculptures and other artworks for him. Bernal also mentioned that he hadn’t actually met Kathkallan before tonight, and only knew the mechant by sight after the thug who escaped the ambush in the Waft had hunted Bernal down, kicked him in a rather sensitive area for signing him up for that “clusterfuck of a job,” and then sat drinking with Bernal and regaling him with the details of the fight.

Satisfied with Bernal’s story, Spike suggested that the porter stay on the ship for the evening, so as to avoid any further repercussions from his involvement in the current mess. With that, Richard and Spike went back to the inn to meet up with the rest of the party to discuss how to proceed.

Meanwhile, Chow’s “date” with Nashafeen went well until he started talking afterwards. After a few statements that, depending on context, could be construed as bashful compliments or cold insults, the courtesan snapped at him and asked him to leave. She then apologized and said that she should have been more professional, even given the conversational pit he’d dug for himself. She admitted to being somewhat out of sorts since Zinni, her best friend, had gone missing recently. Zinni had been visited frequently by a fellow from Meghani lately, who had hired her a couple of days ago to meet a friend of his at the Silent Siren and take him to a nearby garden for a “surprise.” She wasn’t sure which garden the man had meant, but she knew that there were only a couple of nearby houses that had gardens, including the manor house about which Chow and Spike had expressed an interest. She agreed to let Chow drop by the next day to look through Zinni’s apartment for any clues as to her disappearance. With that, Chow said goodbye and headed back to meet up with the rest of the group.

The group talked and planned with Kathkallan well into the night. The next day, Richard used divine magic to ascertain that Catellion, Anteashara, and the mysterious art collector, whose name they discovered was Mantatlus, were in fact involved with the deaths of Galliad and Zinni; that the two bodies were still on the manor premises; that the contracts were also still on the premises; and various other facts regarding the case. Rather than risking their lives in what would probably amount to an illegal assault on private property, the party decided to give their information to the proper authorities and see what happened.

Before doing so, though, Spike, Chow, and Carmina went to investigate Zinni’s apartment on the Path of Silk Flowers. They didn’t find anything, but had a strange encounter on their way out of the building. On the front steps, a man and his escort bumped into Spike and dropped some money on the ground. When Carmina pointed out the coins, the fellow grabbed them, thanked her, and tossed the coins to her. Suspicious, Spike advised her to be careful handling the coins and give them to Chow or Richard later for further investigation.

Finding nothing of note in Zinni’s apartment, the group asked Nashafeen if she’d be willing to gather a couple of trusted friends to act as lookouts in case somebody tried to sneak up the Path while the party raided the manor house. She agreed and wished them luck.

The party then took their information to the city judges, who confirmed via a zone of truth spell that the party had cast the divinations and received the results they reported. The judges then deputized the party to assist in bringing the suspects, including Mossan Zahad, to the Pillar of Truth near the dockside entrance to the city for questioning.

They apprehended Zahad without incident and captured Anteashara after a brief struggle, but did not find Catellion. The lead investigator then took the party and a squad of guards to Mantatlus’s manor house and demanded entry. The combined forces took out several low-level thugs, but a couple of stouter individuals and a quartet of summoned gorillas killed Balama and several guards, including the head investigator, while fighting their way from the garden out the front door. Kathkallan and Bezzem dispatched the pair of gorillas that attacked them, but took some wounds in the process.

Meanwhile, Chow kept watch on the manor garden from an adjacent rooftop, and Richard staked out a position in the alley beside the manor house. Shortly after the fight in the house started, Chow suddenly jumped into the alley and began attacking Richard. The priest managed to dispel the magical domination, dodged a sickly green ray from above, and then created a hole in the garden wall. Chow entered and fought off a couple of thugs, but winced as another thug ran between the two lemon trees and quickly fell to a pair of ghasts that had emerged from the ground beneath the trees. Trusting Richard to be able to handle the undead, Chow retreated back out of the hole in the wall.

Out front, Carmina had seen the green ray in her peripheral vision and spotted what she assumed to be Mantatlus flying a hundred feet above the manor house. She shouted a warning at about the same time that a nearby group of guards fell to the effects of a confusion spell, fleeing or babbling or just standing around. Richard emerged from the alley next to the manor house and summoned some mist to obscure himself and Carmina from the flying mage. While they made their slow way to the front door, Carmina heard a voice in front of her say, “Gil, Holm, to me.” Richard dismissed the mist to discover the crumpled forms of Balama and a couple of guards, but saw no signs of their attackers.

Spike and Isaac, having taken out several thugs in the house, helped the city guards mop up the stragglers and dispatch the ghasts in the garden. While clearing out the rest of the ghasts and zombies that emerged from the garden soil, the party and guards managed to avoid succumbing to the alluring scents of the vines growing on the lemon trees. Further research in Mantatlus’s library revealed the vines to be Pillars of Umisavi, the berries of which, when consumed, could both poison the eater and compel him to ingest more berries. The speculation was that the vines were the “surprise” to which Zinni had been paid to bring Galliad. Indeed, to their horror, Kathkallan and Nashafeen identified the first two ghasts as the reanimated corpses of the courtesan and the merchant’s assistant. The rest of the undead were too decayed to identify.

With the opposition dead or fled, the remaining guards and party members methodically searched the house. They discovered Kathkallan’s contracts hidden behind the descriptive plaques for a couple of Mantatlus’s collected art pieces, and found the wizard’s spellbook and some gold in a chest in his bedroom. The guards cautioned the party not to take anything yet, but let them know that, as the owner of the manor seemed to have left the property, the judges and the governor would probably consider the loot “ownerless” and return at least a portion of it to the party with the city’s compliments, and more importantly with the Emperor’s thanks.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 800
• Treasure: 225 gp, several cutlasses, and several daggers

Having made several potential trading contacts in Mavinar, the group was ready to set sail for the next city on the Spice Coast. Before departing, though, they decided to make a final sweep through the merchant quarter to look for various odds and ends.

While strolling through the pleasantly aromatic neighborhood known as the Waft, the party heard the ring of steel a block away. They were alarmed to see their new trading partner, Kathkallan, beset by a trio of what looked like cutlass-wielding sailors. Most of the party rushed up the street, while Chow took to the rooftops and Balama zapped one of the thugs with magic missiles. Within a minute, several thugs lay dead on the street, three had surrendered, and one had fled.

The surviving thugs said that they had been approached by a porter named Bernal when they had gotten off the ship that morning. Bernal had informed them of a money-making opportunity offered by a fat man at a tavern called the Silent Siren. The sweaty, portly man had offered them 50 gold pieces each to accost Kathkallan and retrieve five or more jars from his body, alive or otherwise.

Upon hearing the thugs’ story, Kathkallan confessed that he had slightly misled the party the previous night. His wagon-load of wool had been a cover for his true mission in Mavinar – collecting on two lucrative contracts he had arranged with merchants in the city some time ago. The first contract involved the sale of several jars of royal jelly from Kathkallan’s giant bee farms outside Usharad. The other contract was for a large quantity of vanilla beans. While he was enacting the sale of the wool, he had sent his assistant Galliad to arrange meetings with the merchants detailed in the contracts – Jazasari Arrasti was to buy the royal jelly, while the Greater Galleon trading company was to sell the vanilla beans for a previously agreed-upon prince.

Things had gone wrong for Kathkallan, however, when Galliad had turned up missing three days previous, along with Kathkallan’s copies of the contracts, without which the agreements were void. Because of the Imperial court system’s tradition of requiring the plaintiff to procure witnesses and evidence, the merchant had been attempting to retrace Galliad’s steps when the thugs had attacked.

His story told, Kathkallan asked the party if they’d be willing to assist him, or at least protect him while he investigated his assistant’s disappearance. They agreed and set off immediately to find the young man.

They made several discoveries over the course of the afternoon:

• Remembering the beggar who had mentioned the location of a messenger’s body three days ago, the party searched the river until they found the remains. There was an empty satchel nearby, the body did not appear to be Galliad.
• Kathkallan had worked with Galliad’s father, and did not think Galliad would run off and try to cash in the contracts himself.
• Galliad had indeed visited Jazasari Arrasti’s pavilion to arrange a meeting between Kathkallan and Arrasti. Arrasti’s scribe, Omannar, remembered talking to Galliad, and mentioned that the young man had talked to a female porter about finding a caravan broker. The woman recommended a place called “the Platinum something-or-other.”
• Galliad may or may not have visited Greater Galleon to arrange a meeting between Kathkallan and the trading company.
• The party found a caravan broker in the Atrium, a few blocks away, called the Platinum Quill. The proprietor, a man named Catellion, said that business had been slow lately, and that he didn’t remember anyone by Galliad’s name or description in the last few days.
• Another merchant in the Atrium, a moneychanger named Gheldieg, called the party over and told them that he did remember a fellow of Galliad’s description talking to Catellion a few days ago. In fact, Gheldieg said, Galliad and Catellion filled out a fair bit of paperwork and seemed to strike some kind of deal. After their business was concluded, Galliad asked Catellion something, to which the other man responded by pointing toward the Atrium’s west exit. Galliad had walked out that exit and into the Silent Siren tavern.
• Balama attempted to cast a charm on Catellion and talk to him again, but she got the same story as the earlier group.
• After talking to the party, Catellion handed a couple of pieces of paper to one of his guards and said, “Give these to Anteashara.” The guard delivered the notes to a woman standing near Gheldieg’s tent. The woman then left the Atrium and gave the notes to a pair of runners, who took off in different directions. Chow and Richard pursued the runners, and Richard tracked one of the fellows to a manor house on the north side of the merchant district. The other runner showed up a few minutes later, and both of them went to a local tavern after delivering their messages.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 600
• Treasure: None to speak of

Soon after his mystical mental link to Lumineaux notified him of her sudden demise, Richard gathered a dozen of his more trusted crew members and headed off into the grasslands southwest of Mavinar to recover her mortal remains. After a night in a makeshift camp, they searched for a few hours before finding one of the ranger’s recently purchased polearms. From there, it was a relatively simple matter to follow the tiger tracks to a common watering hole. The crew formed up in a circle, banging swords on shields to scare the cats, while Richard used a sanctuary spell to keep the tigers away from him. He soon found Lumineaux’s remains among the scraps of her leather armor in a nearby clearing. Turning on the tigers, he incinerated two of the cats in a column of flame and scared off the third, but a couple of arrows took the final cat down. That threat removed, the group recovered Lumineaux’s remains and headed back to town.

Meanwhile, Spike and Carmina slept in and spent the afternoon wandering the Merchants’ Quarter and making more potential trading contacts. At dinner that evening, Spike and Carmina met with Balama and Chow for dinner, where they chatted with a Naranjani trader named Kathkallan, from the inland city of Usharad. He mentioned that he was in town trading wool, and after swapping stories with the group seemed receptive to the idea of trading with the Four Gulls concern.

Richard eventually showed up and told the group what had happened with Lumineaux.

More flavor text to come…

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 600
• Treasure: None to speak of

The group landed in Mavinar, made several trade contacts, and avoided being arrested. Also, Lumineaux died fighting a tiger.

More flavor text to come…