GoSR-Session 6: Returning to Saltmarsh

With the formation of the Lamcaster Alliance a success, the party joined the night of celebration withing the Blackfin war camp. Feasting, drinking, dancing, and bonfires.
As some celebrated, Molly took a moment to study the gleaming longsword they had pulled from the mud of the lizard pens the previous day. Upon examining the crest a chill came over her as she recognized it as a match to her own debt mark. A diving bloodhawk over a storm filled sky. The mark of the House of Vassard, one of the most powerful trade houses in Odecca. Shaken by painful memories, she gave the weapon back to Grey, warning him that it might attract unwanted attention.
As Bowbow ate and Grey drank late into the night, Oceanus was markedly reserved. It seemed like something was on his mind, and as the night grew late, Molly tried to sneak away to ask some last questions of minister Sauriv, unaware that Oceanus was following her.
Upon entering the old minister's quarters and closing the door, Molly first asked him about the previous adventuring party that had died attacking the war camp some weeks ago. The minister knew little about the them, but showed molly a recovered journal that had been found int he lizard pits. Mostly destroyed, It had belonged to a lower family member of the House of Vassard. Near the end a passage of note mentioned the writer's arrival in the port of Seaton and a meeting with one of the Crimson ---------.
Next Molly told Sauriv of her lost ship, and asked if he knew anything of a place called the Silent Isle, of the a smooth black slab of stone found there, or the strange eel like art in it's chambers. Sauriv was intrigued by this mystery, but could only promise to ask his colleagues in the Anthenaeum for more information.
Disappointed, Molly wished the old lizard goodnight and quietly exited into the dark hall of the fortress, only to find Oceanus standing int he shadows, blocking her path. The usually jovial sea-elf was staring at her with a cold and unblinking expression. When Molly asked how he was feeling a whispering voice emanated from his mouth. "What was the name of your ship?" Shocked, and trying to keep her secret, Molly tried to evade those coldly piercing eyes and push past Oceanus, but the elf blocked her path. "I will help you find what your seek. Tell me the name of your ship...."
Finally Molly whispered the name of her lost ship, (Can't remember it at the moment, need to ask Mike) and upon hearing it Oceanus' eyes rolled back in his head disturbingly. After 6 heartbeats the whispering voice returned. "It drifts beyond the Isle of the Wolf. You must find it before the Cult of the Black Lantern does." With a sudden hiss, Oceanus went slack, then suddenly came to. Looking around the elf seemed momentarily confused, but upon spotting Molly his usual grin returned. He claimed to not remember what he was just doing, waived it off as too much drink and departed to find a place to sleep. Disturbed by this strange encounter, Molly retired to bed.
The next day, the party prepared to board their ship and sail back to Saltmarsh with new of the lizardfolk and the alliance. Bowbow asked Sauriv for more details about his mother and Miss Holly. Sauriv had little share, other than that Miss Holly was know to dwell somewhere near the hamlet of Tartree, deep in the swamp.
Sailing back to town was a smooth and quick journey until, just a few miles south of Saltmarsh, they spotted a marooned dwarven sailor, stuck on a sandbar with a ruined raft. Pulling the starving man aboard, Molly instantly spotted an Oddecan debt tattoo on his arm. The mark tallied a massive sum of debt, and the ink had just recently shifted, causing substantial bruising down the dwarf's arm. Only major crimes against the OTC would warrant such a sudden increase in debt, so the party decided to interrogate the starving man.
The desperate sailor spilled his gusts without much prodding, and told a tale of his indenture to an Oddecan merchant vessel. Some weeks back the dwarf had helped stage a mutiny, freeing the indebted sailors and slaughtering the merchants and their families on board. All but one, a young nobleman who they captured. In a desperate attempt to escape the long reach of the OTC, the mutineers attempted to pass their magically recorded debt over to this young noble before killing him. They thought it worked at first, but as the days passed the numbers on their arms steadily started to increase again. Tally after tally etching into their skin, bruising and cracking under the burning sun. With each mark added it felt like their pursuers were that much closer to capturing them. Starving, desperate, and paranoid, eventually the mutineers turned on each other. The ship became a blood bath, and this dwarven sailor was the only survivor. In the tumult he tossed his makeshift raft overboard and then set the ship alight. he drifted into the night, listening to the terrible wails of his betrayed comrades.
For his terrible crimes, the party considers throwing the dwarf back into the sea, but he desperately offers a deal. he says that the merchant ship had been on route to make a deal with some powerful players. If they will take him to shore, he'll tell them where and when this meeting was supposed to take place. The party begrudgingly agrees, and drops the sailor off on a secluded beach. The dwarf tells them that his ship was heading to a ship graveyard called the Wash to meet some powerful pirates in two weeks time.
With that strange encounter over with, the party turned the Sea Ghost and finally made it into port. As they disembarked a fishing vessel also pulled in nearby, and they overheard an angry discussion between the fishermen and the dockworkers. Apparently the nets had been coming up dry for the past three days, putting everyone on town on edge.
As the party trekked up to the council hall, they saw that the situation in town was worse than they had thought. A milling mob surrounded the gate to the council hall, and a drunken man standing upon a barrel was apparently riling them up. The drunk shouted claims that the dwarven mines were already running out of ore, and that the crown was going to give Saltmarsh over to the dwarves as recompense. This plus the lack of fishing work and the townsfolk significantly riled. It didn't help when the hall doors slammed open and Mannistrad Copperlocks marched out to confront the mob. She roared and railed against these accusations.
Trying to diffuse the situation, the party spotted the grizzled old barkeep Kreb Shenkar watching crowd nearby. They approached him and offered him a bag of jewels to help break up the crowd. Kreb pocketed one, then pushed into the mob. With one meaty fist he knocked the drunk off his podium, then addressed the crowd. He drew their attention to the party, announcing that the "hero's had returned" and that they would quickly put everything right. He then scattered some of the jewels into the crowd and invited them to come to the Empty Net for drinks. The bored and frustrated dockworkers were easily distracted by this offer, and the crowd quickly dispersed.
Entering the council hall, the party first tried to figure out how thing had gotten so bad in town over the few days they'd been away. The councilors had few answers, but suspected that someone had been spreading rumors about the mine failing to cause tension in the town. Eliander Fireborn promised to set some guards to investigate the source of this rumor. The party then explained the situation at the lizardfolk camp, and their adventures there. The councilors were impressed, although some seemed wary of being committed to the growing conflict. They paid the party their 700 gold with thanks.
With that done the party split up and went about investigating various leads and gathering information around town. Molly decided to scope out the OTC quartermasters office in town. A secure stone building and stockyard surrounded by a high fence. Molly assumed a new name and went inside to inquire about upgrading the Sea Ghost's sails. The snobby clerk behind the counter was unimpressed with Miolly's lack of capital, but when Molly showed interest in some of the magical items to be seen in nearby strongboxes, she went to fetch her boss. Captain Xandrosm the official OTC quartermaster in Saltmarsh, was cold and stiff backed teifling woman in immaculate OTC uniform. She eyed Molly up and down and then offered her a job. To recover an object from the wreck of the ship Curiosity out in Embershard Bay. The prize was described as a large metal barrel weighing over 500 lb. If it could be delivered to her, she would provide the enchanted sails as trade. Molly agreed to see what she could do, and taking note of the building layout and possible security systems, returned to her companions.
Meanwhile, Grey decided to seek out the town historian. A  half-orc named Krag, who rented a basement room from Eliander Fireborn. Knocking on the door to the abode, Grey was met with the bespectacled face of the scholar, who greeted him curiously. Entering the man's small quarters, Grey sat on a comfortable chair and asked for information about the mysterious wizard Keledeck and the ruined tower of Zenopus that the party had heard so much about. Krag knew little about Keledek, but shared some interesting pieces of information about the tower. 

• It was named after it's maker, a powerful mage named Zenopus.
• It stands upon the ruins of an ancient Dragonborn Temple, the barrow graves nearby as clear evidence.
• 40 years ago the tower was shrouded in a sudden storm, strange green lightning streaking across the sky.
• Once the storm cleared, Zenopus was never seen again. The tower was declared a cursed place.
• To appease the locals, the Gotland navy sent a warship with a royal battle mage to destroy the tower.
• Locals still avoid the site to this day.

After these clues were shared, Krag asked for some stories from Grey's homeland in exchange. It was revealed that grey had spent most of his life in the vast forests of Agridor to the north east.