Freeport Campaign

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 500
• Treasure: None to speak of

(The Primrose sailed back to Freeport. Will disappeared for a few days to investigate a skin condition. The Last Resort exploded. Will found traces of the same weird substance that blew up in the Scurvytown sewers. Chow and Edo followed up the X-marked ceramic jar base at Xangy’s Pottery, and found out that Xangy had probably sold 8 jewel-stoppered jars to an evoker named Parnass. More flavor text as I have time to write it.)

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 2700
• Treasure: Unnamed leaky merchant ship, 4 potions of cure moderate wounds, various mundane weapons

The group emerged from the Opera House to raucous cheers from the crowd gathered outside, and were quickly hoisted onto the shoulders of some of their more massive supporters. From this vantage they spotted Boss Tillinghast a block or so away, just in time to see a cloaked figure make contact with the Commissioner, wrap a cape around him, and disappear in a cloud of smoke. Frustrated but unsurprised, the party turned their attention back to their crowd until the wave of accolades and backslaps crested and left the Freeport Four standing outside the Last Resort. The group enjoyed a nice dinner, spent some time schmoozing with the other Last Resort patrons, and turned in.

The next day, they split up to take care of some individual business in town, with plans to meet up for dinner, drinks, and discussion about how to recover the employees of Enzo’s Tailoring.

While checking on the White Rook, Spike ran into Simon Carr, owner and captain of the Sea Foam, the vessel that had brought the party to Freeport three months ago. The two swapped stories for a few minutes and agreed to meet at the Last Resort for dinner and possible negotiations regarding Carr’s upcoming retirement plans. Carr mentioned that he would also bring along Tariq al’Fazim, the Sea Foam’s navigator and first mate, who happened to be looking for Gor-bob for some reason.

Meanwhile, Will caught up with Stannis Alensin and discussed the events of the last few weeks. The diviner intimated that his odd performance on the witness stand was precipitated by Tillinghast’s threat to expose Stannis’s identity to certain of the higher echelon thugs he had helped put away when the Sea Lord’s Guard had bothered to make examples of them. As to the Enzo’s employees, Stannis knew that they had not been seen in the Tombs (Freeport’s jail) for a few weeks. He didn’t think Tillinghast would dirty his hands in such an overt manner, so he promised to poke around and try to find out more information regarding the Boss’s underlings.

After his conversation with Stannis, Will retired to his room to try to check on the missing employees. After a couple of attempts, he successfully scryed Peter Mackinlay still working ropes aboard what looked to be a large ship. Will used the crystal ball as a conduit to send the youth a message stating that the party was working on finding him and the other two employees. Peter couldn’t provide any details about where the ship was, but managed to join Agnes in a cabin where she was doing some manner of paperwork in the bored custody of a kuo-toa guard. Peter quietly informed her of the continued contact with Will, and she surreptitiously scrawled some notes indicating that the ship was anchored about three days southwest of Freeport near a small island with some tall cliffs. With that, Will informed Peter that the group would move as quickly as they could and broke contact.

In another part of town, Gor-bob searched in vain for a vendor who had a particular magic item in stock, and spent part of the afternoon with Sesamin Anders, requesting a title search for the abandoned inn that had until a couple of days ago been used as a Cutthroat safe house in Scurvytown. She agreed to have her assistant look into the matter and get back to Gor-bob as soon as possible.

Edo and Chow spent the day investigating the remaining suspected Cutthroat safe houses in Scurvytown and looking around for any suspicious hobgoblins, but came up empty handed. If the gang was still active, they were keeping a very low profile.

That evening, the group met with Captain Carr and First Mate al’Fazim at the Last Resort. After swapping tales of the group’s exploits since departing the Sea Foam, Captain Carr mentioned again that he was thinking of retiring. He hadn’t quite decided yet, but told Spike he’d keep the former apprentice cook in mind if he decided to sell his ship. In the meantime, Tariq informed Gor-bob of why he was seeking the cleric. It turned out that Gor-bob’s ministrations on the power of Pawgma during the 10-day voyage from Redshore had affected the navigator’s outlook so powerfully that awoke one morning to find himself able to call on Pawgma’s will to remove the salt from a barrel of ocean water when the ship’s stores ran low. Now that the ship was potentially changing hands, or at least not venturing out for a while, he sought to learn more about Pawgma from the god’s earthly half-orc emissary.

(Long story short – crewed the White Rook, sailed to the island with the huge cliffs, kicked butt on the kuo-toa ship, and drove the captain (an “old man” who let loose with some suspicious mental powers) to flee the ship via some kind of plane shifting magic. More flavor text as I have a chance to write it…)

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 1000
• Treasure: None to speak of

As the Colonel watched, a couple guards left the Fortress of Justice. A quarter hour later one of the guards returned, accompanied by Thorgrim, Lord Defender of the Wizards’ Guild, and a couple of other mages. The Colonel sent a well-paid urchin off with a note to his waiting compatriots at the Last Resort, notifying them of the likely impending guard visit. As suspected, two dozen guards emerged a few minutes later with Boss Tillinghast and marched toward the Merchant District.

In the meantime, Chow recognized Angelo Stampfel, the Shipping News reporter who had covered the party’s activities at Swagfest, lurking about the hotel’s dining room and tried to engage the journalist in conversation. Angelo hinted none too cryptically that his story was on its way and positioned himself to watch the imminent confrontation. As if summoned, the guards and Boss Tillinghast arrived at just that moment. The Commissioner announced that Will, Spike, Chow, and Gor-bob were under arrest. Lady Elise retorted that the named parties were under the protection of the Captain’s Council, and that the Council no longer recognized Tillinghast’s authority. Tillinghast opined that the party must stand trial for their crimes, to which the Councilor responded, “Yes, the events that occurred that night at the Lighthouse should be a matter of public record.” She announced that the trial would be held in two days at a venue specified by the Judges of Freeport, and that the party would confined to the Last Resort until then. With that, she dismissed Boss Tillinghast in as cold a manner as she could manage. As the commissioner and most of his cronies returned to the Fortress, a suspiciously accurate seagull dive-bombed Tillinghast’s bald spot with a well-placed wad of excrement.

The party spent that evening and the next day spreading the story of the “Freeport Four.”

Will followed Stannis’s admonition to “look in on your employees,” and attempted to scry on Agnes, Maggie, and Peter with his crystal ball. He was eventually able to look in on Peter, and was unsettled to discover that the youth was pulling lines on a ship, surrounded by some sort of bizarre fish-men. The group immediately suspected that the reason Sesamin had not been able to meet with Enzo’s employees was that they had been sold into slavery by someone within the Fortress of Justice.

The trial was held at the Freeport Opera House, with all four judges presiding. As soon as the party left the Last Resort, a mob of supporters and other onlookers gathered and followed them to the venue.

After the opening statements, Sesamin Anders delivered a measured, professional performance, to with a dozen character and expert witnesses, and a steady procession of corroborating evidence. The party presented their story convincingly and stood up well to cross-examination by the prosecution’s attorney, Yusef Chigaru. The prosecution, on the other hand, managed only to produce two hostile witnesses, Sigur Hilmarsson and Stannis Alensin, and two bereaved relatives of the slain Council members: Melkior Maeorgan’s sister Marilise, and Brock Wallace’s son Buster. The party expressed sympathy for the family members, but reminded them that their relatives were mixed up in some nasty business, and that “cultists tend to bring the most pain to loved ones,” or something to that effect.

The judges retired to their “chambers” backstage and deliberated for a few hours, calling in both attorneys and eventually five Council members for further discussion. After the lengthy negotiations, Sesamin emerged with a carefully neutral expression on her face. The judges finally took the stage again and pronounced their verdict: the party was found not guilty of the murders of Sea Lord Milton Drac, Captain’s Council member Melkior Maeorgan, or Captain’s Council member Brock Wallace. They were, however, found partially liable for the ensuing chaos and turmoil in the city precipitated by the power vacuum left after the events at the Lighthouse. The judges also warned Boss Tillinghast that they were troubled by the revelation that the Commissioner had used public funds to pay off Captain Lydon’s gambling debts to Finn, and that they were going to launch an investigation into the matter. They then adjourned the court and left the two sides to greet the throngs massed outside the Opera House.

Sesamin explained to the group that their “sentence” would consist of certain hours of public service, retroactive to the party’s arrival in Freeport, and that Tillinghast’s remaining political pull meant he was being allowed to leave the city. The group grumbled somewhat about being found even partly responsible the fallout from Tillinghast’s gross malfeasance and misconduct, but satisfied themselves that they would probably meet the Commissioner again in more favorable circumstances.

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 450
• Treasure: None to speak of

The group docked safely at Scurvytown pier, handed their prisoners over to the assembled Sea Lord’s Guard, and met up with Chow. As they talked, the party noticed a cadre of Temple Quarter denizens approaching with several more Guardsmen. High Priest Egil and Peg Leg Peligro took charge of the recovery efforts, ordering acolytes to see to the wounded and sending Lucius to summon the nearby followers of Mormekar to collect the dead. After speaking briefly with the clerics, the group boarded the former hobgoblin ship, the White Rook, and sailed to the docks on the opposite side of town.

They were greeted in front of the Last Resort by Wilmario, the half-sea elf dockmaster for the Merchant District. While the group tied off the ship and paid the docking fee, Edo chatted with the exotic looking dockmaster about the sea elves. Wilmario agreed to inform Edo if any other sea elves came to town who were amenable to visitors, and suggested a couple of places in Freeport that might carry jewelry of sea elf design. With that, the party bid the dockmaster good day and headed to the Last Resort for much-needed baths and dinner.

The group spent the rest of the evening catching up with some of their contacts and friends. Spike, Will, and Gor-bob sent messages to their respective lady friends. Carmina joined Spike for dinner, informing him that the Daughters of the Guild had capitalized on the Guards’ diminished presence lately, but that she had confined herself to the Dell’orto compound for the last few days because of the mobs. Torya also met Gor-bob at the Last Resort, but her welcome was a bit less cordial. Gor-bob weathered the slaps and acrimony to explain that he would certainly have attended her premiere at the Opera House had he not been forced to flee town at dawn and consequently been turned into a pile of acidic goo. She graciously accepted his apology and listened with great interest to his version of the events at the Lighthouse, especially the gory bits.

Later in the evening, Lady Elise and Dirwin Arnig dropped by and briefed the party further on the current political situation in Freeport. The Captain’s Council was still fractious on the issue of succession, so there was still no Sea Lord. For the moment, Captain Roberts and his retinue were investigating the documentation and stories of the half-dozen or so claimants to Drac’s bloodline, but no strong contender had emerged. Will offered to speed up the process using his Know Bloodline spell, and Lady Elise seemed receptive to the idea. The party asked about Stannis Alensin and were a little concerned to hear that the diviner had been working frequently with Boss Tillinghast for the last couple of weeks. Regarding the guard commissioner, Lady Elise stated that her supporters on the Council were still looking for a way to get him out of office, and hinted that they would prefer to avoid bloodshed if possible. She suggested that a lawyer named Sesamin Anders may be able to help return the party’s impounded property and free their employees, who had been imprisoned almost a month ago for being “accessories in the kidnapping and possible murder of Sea Lord Drac.” Elise also said that she and her supporters would try their best to keep the Guards from arresting the party while they stayed at the Last Resort. With that, she and Dirwin bid the group good night.

Balama came by after dinner to discuss a possible business partnership with the party. Spike suggested selling the cargo they had secured in Coral Bay and using the proceeds to purchase food elsewhere to sell in Freeport, in order to capitalize on the current situation in the city. Balama and the group spent some time hashing out the details of the arrangement, and she left to see to the ships. Their business concluded, the group bedded down for the evening.

The next morning, they ventured to the offices of Sesamin Anders in Old City. She took down their statements and concerns, and promised to start working immediately on getting the Enzo’s staff released from the Tombs. She assigned one of her assistants to perform a title search on the two ships currently in the group’s possession, and sent another off to research the current laws on impounded property. Satisfied that their 500 gp retainer was already well spent, the group split up to take care of some other business in the city.

Chow, Edo, and the Colonel skulked up to the group’s house and were not surprised to find a couple of Sea Lord’s Guardsmen staking the place out. Meanwhile, Gor-bob, Will, and Spike visited Alcindair, principal tailor for the well-to-do in Freeport, at the Sharp Needle, also in the Old City.

After buying and commissioning some fine clothing, they headed back to the Last Resort. There they received a message from Husani: he was too busy to see them at the moment, but he sent a letter of credit in the amount of 500 gp, drawn on the Freeport Institute. While it was not the full balance the scholar still owed for the cache of Valossan artifacts, it was still respectable pocket money.

After the party regrouped for lunch, Chow helped disguise them, and they headed back out to deliver the Rain Tiger to Captain Lydon on his ship, the Gambit. The captain played along with the subterfuge, thanking the group for acting as “intermediaries” for the actual party who had recovered the gem. He agreed to meet the real group at the Last Resort later in the day.

True to his word, Lydon showed up at the hotel a couple of hours later and met with the party in a private room. The captain seemed reticent to talk and left without having said at all. Suspicious, the group sent the Colonel, sharing a telepathic bond with Will, to trail the captain. Lydon did not seem to notice his shadow as he returned briefly to the Gambit and continued on to the Fortress of Justice. Colonel reported back that he would stay around the Fortress and warn the party of any “mass egress.”

Rewards Earned

• Experience Points: 1200
• Treasure: 6 potions of cure moderate wounds, 10 flasks of alchemist’s fire, 7 acid flasks, 9 tanglefoot bags, masterwork large steel shield, numerous mundane weapons (longswords, short swords, daggers, light crossbows)
• Unidentified magic items: longsword, chainmail, ring, 4 small feathers

The party interrogated the captured hobgoblin to find out that Draegar Redblade was probably holed up in one of four Cutthroat safehouses in Scurvytown, along with several bodyguards and other Cutthroats. Chow assisted the group in disguising themselves before heading into that rough district to track down the gang leader. After a few judiciously placed silver pieces, the party learned that several hobgoblins had been seen moving purposefully through the streets a few hours earlier. The search narrowed to an abandoned inn near the border between Scurvytown and the Eastern District.

Chow approached the walled compound quietly and got the drop on the single hobgoblin lookout he noticed peering through a hole in the wall. The sentry took a sleep-poisoned crossbow bolt to the eye but fell silently, thanks to a spell from Gor-bob. Chow watched as a few of the Cutthroats and new recruits training in the courtyard noticed the fallen sentry and raised an alarm. The rest of the party moved through the hole and engaged the gang members, with Edo causing a minor panic in the streets when he transformed himself into a hag. The fight was over quickly, with around a dozen Cutthroats, recruits, and hobgoblin soldiers lying dead or unconscious in the compound, and several more escaping from the stable and carriage house while the party investigated the inn itself. Aside from a pit trap that Edo triggering in the basement, the party encountered no trouble in searching the inn, but they discovered no sign of Draegar.

After a few minutes of searching, Chow found a trapped secret door leading from the basement into the sewers. He disabled the dart fusillade easily, and the party proceeded into the smelly tunnels. The Colonel soon picked up a trail of fresh splatters on the narrow walkway leading off to the southeast, and the group followed. Will enabled a spell that allowed him to detect any thinking creature nearby, but he picked up nothing except his friends. The group continued past several major intersections until Will detected a lookout a few dozen feet ahead. He and Edo caught and dispatched the hobgoblin quickly, but not before the sentry could whistle a signal. The group caught a flash of light in the tunnel ahead, and heard the familiar whoosh of alchemist’s fire cooking off, followed by a strange hissing sound. They approached carefully and caught a brief glimpse, at the extent of their vision, of a pair of sparks making contact with a couple of barrels placed at an intersection with a minor sewer branch. Before the party could react, the barrels exploded, collapsing the sewer tunnel.

The group backtracked to the nearest manhole and forced their way up onto the street. Will paid a street urchin to deliver a quick message to the Scriptorium, and the party worked their way around a couple of collapsed buildings to what they figured to be the next manhole cover on the main line beneath the street. While they did so, Edo changed shape and flew up for a better vantage point. He spotted a small sloop making haste away from the city, with what looked like hobgoblin soldiers manning the deck. He informed the group, and they concocted a quick plan: Will would use his dimension door spell to place himself, Spike, the Colonel, and Gor-bob on the deck of the ship, while Edo pursued on the wing and Chow tended to the injured on the street as best he could.

The group appeared on the ship and got the drop on Draegar and his cronies, taking out all but two soldiers and a bodyguard in less than 20 seconds. They secured their prisoners and turned the ship back towards Freeport.