Much to the heroes disappointment, there was no Vanthus to be found, and thus, no killing of Vanthus.
Stashed beneath the escaped Lady Lotus's mattress, however, was a sheaf of (eee-EW!) love letters from Vanthus. One of them mentioned a potential job involving Brissa Santos and robbing Crimson Fleet vessels at a place called Kraken's Cove. Another lead! But the companions must move quickly... the letter was written several days ago.
After reporting their findings to Lavinia and returning her stolen money, the group set to learning more about this Kraken's Cove and also investigating a few of the clues from the guild headquarters. The map of the city and some of the notes were taken to the Dawn Council so the local authorities could be made aware of the attempted takeover of the harbor. From further reading of the love (ew) letters, it was suggested that the leader of the guild is named Rowyn. While following a lead at the Historian's Guild in Sunrise District, the heroes became aware of a disturbing connection. It is possible that the head of the Lotus Dragons was (or is -- or was) a member of one of the most powerful noble families in Sasserine. When Lavinia heard this after her return from seeing the council, she was aghast. The suspected family -- the Kellani -- have a member on the Dawn Council!
Things were becoming very tangled and Lavinia wished to depart immediately to try snipping the wick on this particularly explosive tidbit of information before it reached the wrong ears. The adventurers, meanwhile, had learned where to find Kraken's Cove. All they needed was a ship of fools brave enough to take them there. The Crimson Fleet is without any doubt the most sinister and feared organization on the Azure Sea.
With some maneuvering, the group was able to book passage (very expensive passage) aboard a sailing vessel to the eastern shores of Bloody Bay where Kraken's Cove is rumored to be. The ship could not venture too close, however, due to a deadly labyrinth of sharp reefs in the area. The party took a rowboat to shore some miles north of the cove, and then traveled on foot along the treacherous cliffs approaching the reputed pirate hideout. When they were still some distance away, Cosimo spotted smoke trailing up into the sky. Were the heroes too late? Probably. They rushed ahead to find out.
Beyond a great rent in the cliffside was a harbor nestled between two towering walls of jagged rock. In the water there were several ships aflame which sent great pillars of black smoke into the sky. Only one vessel -- a ship with a prow carved to appear as a winged draconic creature -- was not consumed. Past this was a gravely beach strewn with barrels, crates, and dead bodies. Even casual examination of the corpses revealed that men that died there recently were not killed in an ordinary manner. Some did not even appear to be men.
Most of the dead were literally torn apart, their skins flayed horribly and their bones cracked open to expose the marrow inside. Some of the bodies showed such grotesque and disturbing mutations, they were truly difficult to look upon. Suddenly, two creatures leaped from out of hiding from behind a collection of barrels further down the beach. If they were ever human once, some foul and depraved evil of the blackest kind reshaped them in hideous ways. They raced forward with murderous fire burning in their misshapen eyes.
When the battle was done, the heroes were victorious, but now they had yet another dark mystery ready to unfold before them. Beyond the terrible beach where the orgy of death had occurred, there were at least two passages leading away from the harbor.
DM Notes: The party acquired quite a lot of treasure (and way too many potions) in addition to a handsome reward from Lavinia. Erdos disintegrated the bugbear zombie with his Greater Turning ability (oh, what a smell that was), and the group also made several troublesome discoveries, some of them courtesy of the fellow at the Historian's Guild, Errix Vorn. Drogg has a strange glassy globe to examine, and the heroes were able to purchase two magical weapons to add to their growing arsenal.
Quote-a-thon:
"Mess with her molecules!"
"Bad taxidermist." -- referring to the zombified bugbear.
"Two points of aesthetic damage."
"Player Matthew knows what it means." -- regarding the ixixitzxs... whatever the f**k!
"We have access to many, many, many puffy shirts."
"Ooooooh..." -- a collective disappointed groan when it is realized the moneybags had the Vanerboren crest.
"I'll besmirch mine if you besmirch yours."
