Shipwrecked in Saltmarsh

• Molo is missing.
• Katernin chats with halfling druid Ferrin Kastilar at the Sea Grove of Obad-Hai, just outside of town.
• Dain is at The Dwarven Anvil, waiting his turn at the forge.
• Fianna and Kelnan search for Molo in the aftermath of a thunderous blast and minor fire at the Empty Net.

The blast was heard across the town, but the dust cloud and smoke would likely have gone nearly unnoticed if it wasn't for the sound of the explosion drawing attention. The wreckage is minor - broken glass, some shattered furniture; no obvious structural damage to the building. No obvious places inside for a kobold to be hiding or laying. There is a back room, and a rickety stairway down, but the tavern-keeper is openly hostile to Fianna, and is not about to let her explore his establishment.

She learns from the toothless old woman that there is no doctor in town, let alone a hospital, other than midwives and concoction-peddlers. The closest thing to a place of healing, at least in the old woman's opinion, is the Temple of Procan, near Katernin's shrine.

Kelnan points his finger and fires off a message blindly into the tavern, then repeats it in various directions.

Meanwhile, Dain did not hear any explosion amidst the din of the forge. He wanders outside, waiting for the human blacksmith owners to close up. He introduces himself to the pious dwarf paying her respects outside at the newly renovated shrine. She works for the mining company, as a sailor and shipping agent between the mines and the town, as identified by the distinctive company cap that adorns her head. Mardred is her name. She catches Dain up on some company gossip. One of their supply ships was boarded by pirates just two weeks ago, and an important piece of mining equipment looted, he learns.

Kastilar continues to converse with Katernin, munching on her rations with his pet bullfrog. She has realized that this is a shrine to a traditional rival of her sect, even as their religious views are not so different, at least to outsiders. Whether Kastilar is aware, or whether he would even care, is not clear. He seems depressed and forlorn, possibly mentally unwell. He seems gloomily fixated on the threat of aberrations to the town. It seems that trading information on monster threats is more important to him than whatever his religious duties might be. "If you hear rumors of aberrations," he says, "tell me at once."

It is less than an hour before sunset, when Molo, Katernin, and Kelnan had accepted an invitation to join Gellan Primewater at his mansion in town for ...candy? Sunset is also when Fianna was due to start work with the Guard, and when Dain would have his shift at the forge.

And, of course, you have been offered a job to apprehend the smugglers' supply ship, "perhaps during the next new moon, which begins in about a weeks’ time." You await word from the Guard, who is watching for any activity near the haunted house.

     "It's probably pointless," Fianna tells Kelnan, "But I am going to try with the tavern keeper again.  Molo must be around somewhere, in some condition.  Kobolds don't just disappear... Perhaps if I cannot persuade them you could distract them while I look anyway?"

     Fianna follows through with the plan whether Kelnan aids it or not.  She goes and talks to be man, trying her best to be polite and understanding and convincing.  She explains that the description matches a friend of hers and that she is worried about his well being.  She explains that she is sorry if he caused trouble, that is much unlike him, but if he indeed was the cause of such chaos then perhaps she could help with the repairs...  But first she would need to find him and find out the whole story. She uses her Persuasion for all it's worth: 13

     If it doesn't work, and she is getting nowhere... Well if Kelnan did come to assist, Fianna will try to disengage form the conversation and sneak first into the back room, then down the stairs...

     If Kelnan doesn't assist, or if it doesn't work, Fianna will try to bully her way to those places anyway.

Dain will try and build up a relationship with Mardred.  He's going to ask what piece of mining equipment was stolen and if they have any leads?  Does she think it was Sea Princes "pirates" or free booters?

Quote from Blakey >>

Dain will try and build up a relationship with Mardred.  He's going to ask what piece of mining equipment was stolen and if they have any leads?  Does she think it was Sea Princes "pirates" or free booters?

Mardred is on the crew of one of the mining company's two principal hauling schooners, as well as a shipboard official who deals with customs and tariff paperwork. But the missing equipment was on another ship, a contract supplier from The Styes. It was raided and boarded three days' sail to the east by a one-masted, 90-footer known as the "Sea Ghost" – it's a notorious pirate ship in the general region, and has struck their supply line in the past. The captain is known as "Snake Eyes" and has likely connections to the Sea Princes. They have some sort of a "deck wizard" aboard who can appear and disappear magically, even between ships. The supply ship was released with their crew intact, but their cargo was completely cleaned out. One of the contract sailors claimed she saw a lizardman aboard of some sort - some sort of lizard-headed warrior.

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     "It's probably pointless," Fianna tells Kelnan, "But I am going to try with the tavern keeper again.  Molo must be around somewhere, in some condition.  Kobolds don't just disappear... Perhaps if I cannot persuade them you could distract them while I look anyway?"

     Fianna follows through with the plan whether Kelnan aids it or not.  She goes and talks to be man, trying her best to be polite and understanding and convincing.  She explains that the description matches a friend of hers and that she is worried about his well being.  She explains that she is sorry if he caused trouble, that is much unlike him, but if he indeed was the cause of such chaos then perhaps she could help with the repairs...  But first she would need to find him and find out the whole story. She uses her Persuasion for all it's worth: 13

     If it doesn't work, and she is getting nowhere... Well if Kelnan did come to assist, Fianna will try to disengage form the conversation and sneak first into the back room, then down the stairs...

     If Kelnan doesn't assist, or if it doesn't work, Fianna will try to bully her way to those places anyway.

The tavern-keeper, whose name is Kreb Shenker according to the old woman, is openly hostile to Fianna. He swears and mutters - "Foul demons!" - and retreats from her approach. Her attempt at persuasion is a non-starter with him.

Unless Kelnan has other ideas, Fianna may make a Stealth check with advantage (Kelnan's distraction) to get into the back room.

A pair of Saltmarsh town guards arrive, stop for a moment to take in the scene, then keep walking. 

     ((I'll not roll Stealth until Kelnan chimes in on if they wish to assist Fianna or if they have plans of their own... Don't want to influence them by them knowing the outcome of Fianna's roll...))

Kelnan sees Fianna's difficulty and swoops in. "I apologize for my colleague, Kelnan Ariessus, Arneson University, at your service. We've been after this creature for some time now. Would you mind if I showed you my books, to see if anything resembles the sorcery he might have performed? It may help in our investigation."

He takes out his spellbooks and attempts to make a show of going through them discussing the spells within. It's hopeless of course, they're impossibly technical and he only barely understands the captured book anyway, but might keep him busy.

Stealth then :)  21

Shenker, in the road sorting through some of the debris, stops to look incredulously at Kelnan's performance for a few long moments; long enough for Fianna to slip in the tavern doors and into the back room. It's a cramped and dirty storeroom and office, unoccupied, with a desk, chair, rack of bottles, and a wall of barrels and crates. A stack of silver coins is on his desk, together with accounting books, slips of paper, dirty mugs, the remains of a meal. No kobolds. Out in the street, Shenker throws up his hands at Kelnan's jabberings and reenters the tavern, but not into his office, nevertheless trapping Fianna in the back room for the moment.

     How far from the office to the stairway to basement?  Or how far from office to door outside?

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     How far from the office to the stairway to basement?  Or how far from office to door outside?

Answers: about 8-10 feet for both. But in opposite directions.

     Fianna will try to wait for an opportune moment to try to stealthily dash from back office to the steps down to basement...

Stealth: 20

     Seen or not, she continues running into the basement to get a look around at least.

After a few tense minutes waiting quietly in his office, Shenker eventually exits the front door again to dump more glass shards into the open sewer. Fianna successfully ducks into the tavern and quietly down the stairs.

It's not a full basement, but rather a walkout-style basement, as the building is built into the bank of the harbor. There's a rotting door and a window facing the harbor, and from the marks on the floor (and the mildew on the walls) it's clear that the harbor occasionally overflows the ancient, failing retaining wall and into this dingy cellar space. It's a bunkroom of some kind, with four filthy cots, and a lot of dirty clothing and personal items. One cot is occupied by a hairy, overweight man in his underwear. The room reeks of alcohol and worse. 

"What?" he says, confused (and probably awakened) by your entrance. "Is Tal here yet?"

     "Tal is running late, I'm supposed to check on the little thing," Fianna says in a slightly quiet voice, as if trying to not awaken him further.  She'll keep an on the man while she tries the door...  ((This is a door to elsewhere than back to the bar, yes?))

Quote from Kaemgen >>

     "Tal is running late, I'm supposed to check on the little thing," Fianna says in a slightly quiet voice, as if trying to not awaken him further.  She'll keep an on the man while she tries the door...  ((This is a door to elsewhere than back to the bar, yes?))

 
The door leads to a filthy outdoor space underneath the large wooden porch above, the end of which is supported by thin pilings in the harbor. The water reeks of sewage and fish and dead things. A chaotic row of boulders and ancient masonry separates you from the cold waters.

A purple bundle catches your eye, wedged in the rocks below. It's Molo. It takes you a moment to see that he is breathing, however shallowly. He's half-submerged in the cold, filthy water, covered in blood and flotsam.

     Obviously Fianna makes her way to Molo immediately, recklessly making her way down and pulling him from the water.  She will do what she can for him, which isn't much.  Medicine? 10  Fianna will send FinFin to find Kelnan and through her familiar Fianna will explain where they are and what the situation is.  She will then lift the small kobold and begin to carry him back to town where she can hopefully find him somewhere safe and at least dry to recover.

Molo is alive, but only barely. He is unconscious and hypothermic, his face is swollen and battered and missing a couple of teeth, and he's missing part of his left foot, including his big toe, from which he is bleeding profusely. As Fianna approaches to lift him out of the water, there's a flash of motion as something near Molo retreats into deeper water.

The pseudodragon flies to Kelnan, who remains standing in the street outside the tavern with his book, and relays what Fianna has found.

There's a strip of rocky shore allowing Fianna to carry the dying kobold back to the road without having to traverse the tavern again.

"I'm not sure about rumors," Katernin murmers, "but I did have a... nightmare," and she explains it, minus the part after Seraphina.

Quote from BaconExpert982 >>

"I'm not sure about rumors," Katernin murmers, "but I did have a... nightmare," and she explains it, minus the part after Seraphina.

 Katernin recalls her dream of the massive crab, and of the man in black.

"Unnatural things under the sea. Old things, dead things," responds the halfling. "Maybe..." he lowers his voice "... the Whisperer."

"The ocean's primordial inhabitants are just beasts, the dead - even the most foul-souled vampires and ghosts - may be laid to rest. But the other, that we cannot resist. Dreams like these make me want to leave Saltmarsh and get lost in the Hool Marshes."

Kelnan listens to what the dragon has to say, and dashes around the building. "Katon!" he shouts upon seeing the scene below, and appears at Molo's side using Misty Step.