Isle of the Abbey

General Summary

Over the past three months, the evil clerics of Abbey Isle have quarreled violently with a large band of local pirates. Their struggle seems to have left the island uninhabited. The pirates burned the abbey to the ground, but they suffered so many casualties that they were destroyed in turn by the local mariners’ guild. Unknown to the mariners’ guild, a small number of evil clerics and their minions survived the pirate assaults by taking refuge in the cellars of the ruined abbey. Hidden halls, dangerous guardians, and shining treasures await those who dare to explore the depths of the abbey.

With hostility toward the Sea Princes of Luskan running high, Eliander sponsors an expedition to clear Abbey Isle and establish a base there. Its location makes it an ideal lookout point for any sea-based threats.  The isle has long been a source of trouble for the region’s mariners’ guild. The clerics who inhabited the island’s abbey proved to be capable defenders of their territory — until the pirates’ recent success, all of the guild’s attempts to evict the clerics from the island had failed. Use either of the following additional hooks to strengthen the characters’ motivation to succeed.
Eliander Relays what he knows to the characters:

• Pirates recently ransacked Abbey Isle, an island just off the coast populated by evil clerics and their followers. Much to the guild’s delight, the battle between the two factions weakened them both.
• The mariners’ guild then sent a force ashore, and the remaining pirates were killed or driven off by the guild’ soldiers.
• The island, though now apparently abandoned, remains a danger due to undead guarding the only safe approach: a beach called the Skull Dunes.
• The mariners’ guild is willing to pay 2,000 gp to the characters if they can land, explore the island, and clear it entirely of threats so that the guild can construct a lighthouse on the site. Payment is made upon completion of the job, which will be verified by guild members.
• Anyone who accepts the contract will be provided with a large, sturdy rowboat for transportation.

9 am Depart
10 am they arrive on the southern tip of the island.  Carcharius is able to find the pirate trail, and guides them quickly through the dunes in 5 minutes.  Carcharius uses the skills he knows about his favored terrain to get them through.  As they make it they see 5 teasure hunters make landfall.  The skeletons attack and the party attacks the pirates from a distance.  Since the party is off the dunes the Skeletons leave them alone.  The pirates get attacked by a swarm of bones, and they witness several skeletons form into a Skeletal Juggernaut.   10:30 am reach the Abbey

All that remains of the abbey is a great square of stones filled with burned and blackened rubble. As you approach the sooty stones, it is obvious someone has been sorting through the debris. Assorted oddments are piled inside the scorched square of the foundation stones. Ruined cooking utensils, crushed pots and pans, mangled kettles, and less identifiable metal objects lie in one pile. Broken crockery, platters, plates, porcelain, and pottery are heaped in another. A great deal of wood has been sorted into one large mound of badly burned scraps. In the center of the ruins is an opening, and as you move nearer, you see a stone staircase leading down into darkness.

2. 

This combination dining hall and gambling den reeks of greasy, soured food. The main feature of the room is a makeshift table made of burned planks supported at either end by upended barrels. Beneath the table are several small kegs that serve as chairs. Scraps of food are strewn across the table and on the floor nearby. Three weary-looking humans look up, startled, as you appear.

Ormund and 2 Cultists are waiting.

They defeat the cult, adn Worvin during battle put the Priestess of Umberlee under Suggestion.  He asks to interogate her alone.  he closes the door, shags her while under suggestion, and interogates her.
The rest of the party searches the pirates and cultists, and do short rest.  
They then check the tunnels that Ozymandy told them about.  
11.

A short tunnel widens into an unfurnished and undecorated thirty-foot-square chamber. Standing next to one another in the center of the room are two enormous skeletal guardians; their heads feature prominent horns, and each wields a massive, rusted axe. A knot of corpse-like figures clusters around a door in the eastern wall. Pain and terror twists each creature's hollow visage.

Fight 2 Minotaur Skeletons, a Spectre, and a Bodak
Carcharius and Jaegus go down but Veenaira's Prayer of healing brings them up.  It takes her 10 minutes to cast.  They continue on to a trapped hallway.  Narciara can spot the hidden traps quite easily.
The next room they find contains a Jade Statue that they must fight.  It falls quickly in about 6 seconds.  The room is a treasure room but it is all false treasure.  Narciara disarms the trap on the door and they find a secret door.  They take tjat Secret Door down a 30 foot Hallway and find the real Treasure Room.  At least they figure it out after fighting 2 Iron Statues and Dispelling the Major Image.  
They loot the room, and take a long Rest.   Third of Tarsakh, 1500 DR They Report back to Eliander.  Worvin Shows him the Medallion and explains that this can be used to stop those particular Undead from attacking, and it will help them clear the Skeletons. Eliander Pays them an additional 500 GP to lead an expedition to clear out the Dunes.  They agree. 4th-6th of Tarsakh, 1500 DR Expedition Successful.

Rewards Granted

XP: 1000+750+1800+1900+2100+450+450+500+3650+3900+3600+3650

• cp:
• sp:1200
• ep:
• gp: 2080
• pp:
• Gems: 1000 gp

Art Objects:

• 50 gp whalebone dagger
• 2 damaged gold Candlesticks (10 gp each)
• Melted Statue (20 gp)
• Ruby Earings (150 gp)
• Silver Symbol of Umberlee (50 gp)

Missions/Quests Completed

Eliander Tells the Saltmarsh Six what he knows:

• “The only safe place to get ashore on the reef-ringed, rocky little island is a large sandy beach known as the Skull Dunes. The dunes are full of undead, because the clerics of the abbey created an army of skeletons to guard the beach. The skeletons lie under the sand and attack anyone who comes near.”
• “The pirates got ashore somehow. There’s probably a path through the undead, but finding it’s the problem. We didn’t catch up with the pirates till after they’d left the island. They’d taken as good as they gave. They were a miserable, sorry lot when we attacked and routed what was left of them. One shipload escaped, but we sank the others. The sea and the sharks got the survivors, so we never got a firsthand account of what happened on the island or of how the pirates got through the dunes.”
• “As for the abbey, who knows for sure? We never got anywhere near the place. Smoke rose from the island for days after the pirates attacked. Maybe that means the island’s been abandoned, or maybe the abbey burned and the clerics are waiting to rebuild. I don’t know. That’s what you’ve been hired to find out.”

Report Date

10 Aug 2024