As told by Ghaisek.

Mistress,

At long last this crew of endearing miscreants and I have returned to Raven’s Bluff to claim our vessel, the Vicious Seaward, and set out for proper seafaring adventure. While waiting on a meeting with the pirate Zhent Barkus to get the next job we made a trip to Verbig’s shop to upgrade some gear.

Apparently Verbig has a new shop assistant, a cute little elf boy, named Cybil. I think perhaps he is a touch innocent and sweet for my palate, but I watched with delight as the good captain Rolf turned on the charm and flustered the dear boy to the point of stuttering. Once he regained his composure he helped us reequip with some scrolls and a better shield for Kuda, a protective ring for the captain, and a delicious cloak made from the pelt of displacer beasts for the Lutrinian. Of course it would be a terrible tragedy if any lasting harm were to befall timothy, but should the unthinkable happen I’m sure such a cloak would suit your service well. As it happens, Barkus himself was present at Verbig’s and told us to meet him at the Dragon’s Claw for lunch after we finished our errands.

After finishing up at Verbig’s we made our way to our newly finished ship and set about the delightful business of claiming quarters. Fortunately the ship is well fit to accommodate the needs of her officers and we are spared the indignity of sharing quarters with the common seamen…unless of course we wish to indulge in that very indignity; after all, some of the men do seem …delicious. We also established some roles for at least a portion of the officers. Rolf as the captain, obviously. Kuda is well suited to the task of celestial navigation and I trust he will prove most adept at charting our course. Timothy will likely spend a good deal of time on lookout duty either from the crow’s nest or the water itself. I myself will stand as Bo’sun and ensure the crew maintains vigilant diligence

Eventually we made way to the tavern to meet with Barkus and his friends- the minotaur Bronzefist we had met previously and an Air Genasi named Nadiv with a serious attitude problem. All that to say, we have learned there is some fuckery afoot. A number of commercial ships bound for Tantras & [insert city name] departing from Nyth and Telflamm have gone missing underway somewhere between the port towns of Dilpur and Lyrabar. Rumors have it that a “ghost ship” is responsible for the disappearances.

According to Nadiv the ships that have gone missing were all carrying agents of the Harper’s returning from Thay with information about the goings on in Szass Tam’s playground. I suspect that these haughty meddling fucks have brought this on themselves with their interference. All the same an opportunity to peek into Thay could be profitable and Barkus has been kind in his patronage. Despite my personal feelings towards the Harpers this job is likely to pay handsomely.

Although your previous message indicated no evidence of a ghost ship within your sight, there appears to be some vessel that could be described as such on the horizon. I suppose it’s time to put the Vicious Seaward to the test.

Your Servant,

Ghaisek

As told by Timothy.

(Letter burned on an alter to Asmodeus)

I’m not sure I can do this. Every time I think something good is happening, I get dragged into the shit again.

The ghost ship had broken in two. The wheel they wanted me to get was with two large sahuagin. I was able to get a fireball off under the water, but they beefy sahaguan started summoning sharks and just too many little sahaguin jumped into the water after the rest of the VS crew. They didn’t see me because I was hiding under part of the ship.

The smaller sahugain swarmed around the crew taking some chunks out of Gaemon and Ghaisek. Kuda had little choice than to break out of his octopus form and polymorph Gaemon into a giant shark, basically to take all the damage the sahaguin were throwing.

I was using my new ring to summon lightening balls which began to do damage to the bigger sahaugin when one of them took off with the wheel. Kuda returned to octoopus form and joined me in the chase, but he got there first.

The other larger sahaguin summoned something else, a priest of some kind who cast a spell which trapped Rolf! He said it, he said this was in the name of the Kraken! This is the Kraken society!

What should I have done! Go get the wheel, but Rolf was trapped and Kuda was getting hit!

Sharky Gameon did his best to feed off the little Sahaguin, but well-placed attack on Octo-kuda broke his concentration and turned Gaemon him back into Gaemon surrounded by enemies. The water was full of ally blood.

Ghaisek went down as a shark bit into his flesh and then swam off to feast on Gaemon as Ghaisek unconsciously sunk. The baron with the wheel went after Kuda. With his shark friend, he took Kuda down.

It was looking like we couldn’t win this fight so we prepared a strategic retreat when the spellcaster disappeared through a portal with one of his baron, the one who got away because Kuda was dying. Would have taken both of his barons, but I had one restrained.

Rolf was able to heal Kuda before I got to him, but that shark just kept biting and Kuda went down again.

With enemies around me and Kuda sinking, Gaemon popped beside me to get me free to give Kuda a potion. He touched my cheek and said he’d get them for me. I wasn’t even sure we were friends before this.

Ghaisek just barely awake from healing Rolf gave them summons a devil to help take out the remaining enemies.

On the ship was some gold and jewels and two wax sealed parchments.

We get back to see the sahaguin who tried to take our ship were no match for our crew. Barkus and Iron Fist greeted us. Nadav was healing the crew.

The parchments were two maps, which revealed shipping lanes and then with a key. Indicating other locations which are not associated trading routes, this could be where the Kraken society is hidden. They were in thieves cant so no one else could see them. I told them.

Barkus, saying yes we made mistakes, didn’t seem to appreciate that we came away with good information. Arrogant fucker, my friends nearly died for these fucking maps! Kuda went down twice.

This isn’t what I signed up for, to watch my friends die. To watch Rolf get hurt! To see Kuda fighting and getting knocked down!

I just wanted a quiet time with some fun people and the occasional adventure. This is not what I signed up for.

As told by Gaemon Swallows

The king decreed the capture, of a corrupt conspiring crew
Who would plot to kill the pirate king in a devastating coup

We found the scoundrels hiding, in the bar behind closed door
So Timothy broke in the cad, and thus enemies Outpoured

Rolf howled and halted sailors, swooned in songs upon the stairs
Locking the mob in trance and dance, to be tied and taken unawares

The Captain and his boys remained, though cornered in their lair
I summoned deadly tentacles and had them all ensnared

Kuda called the stars above and burned the blokes and octopi
While our teammates laid on their attacks until the captain died

The king wanted him alive you see, an example for the lands
So Kuda bound with magic Ice and shackled up his hands

We won of course, and tied the rest we had not slew
Now to drag them to the Pirate King to see what he will do

You would be proud, me’ lady, my power ever grows
I await to hear from you again, and see where my path goes

As reported by Rolf the Red, Captain of the Vicious Seaward.

We shuffled our magic items before diving into the calm water, small creatures swimming around us. Kuda looked through Buoy’s eyes and saw shipwrecks below, with some iconography of the Umberlee temple. Gaemon saw this through the mental link and put together that the Iron Throne was fighting Umberlee, and Umberlee lost.

We completed our swim to the island and saw jungle, along with a path to a building up above. We decided to sneak through the jungle up to the building instead of taking the path. Kuda and I guided the party through the forest, following animal trails and the smoke in the distance.

We sneaked very well up to the building while I inspired the party. An empty animal pen awaited us. Tim sneaked into the pen and investigated– animal shit, but no animals. Among the muck he found a signet ring made of iron, with a throne embellishment. He gave it to Gaemon, as a sign of goodwill. He then unlocked a door leading into the building and stealthily opened it, seeing two guards. We considered killing them, but Ghaisek Suggested them to go to the beach instead. It worked, and they went off to fool around by the water! Timothy and I gave each other scritches while we hid. Then we all went into the bunk house.

Timothy stole someone’s journal. There were many doors out of the bunk room, so I chose south as our first attempt. Timothy unlocked the south door– it went back outside, so he re-locked it. We found a trapdoor to the basement: a weapons hold– siege equipment. We took grappling hooks, empty wineskins, and some weapons, all made of iron and embellished with tentacles. Tim found a Kraken society receipt and fucked with it to mess with the guards. Gaemon considered a cannon for the horse.

We made our way through a storage room, a kitchen, and a long hallway with many doors… one of which led to ANOTHER hallway!? AUGH. Tim peered around an archway and saw someone kneeling to an Altar– one of the spooky wizard priests! Timothy ding-dong-ditched him with psychic blades. The priest then shouted out – Tim and Preston were frightened. Gaemon summoned octopodes and I ran in to whirling dervish… we killed him! But then we were SWARMED by guards! OUCH.

After we laid waste to the people in the Iron thrown keep, we questioned the remaining survivor.
He told us he worked for the Iron Throne and that the Kraken Society was a client. And he told us they were here to pick up a shipment of goods. He led us to the goods the Kraken which were the weapons. We got the device to get back through the mists and got the name of the guy in charge of the Iron Throne on this keep.

He led us to the audience room where Gaemon looked for some verification that his visions were true, finding only an emblem on a throne that was not iron. We checked the room thoroughly. Rolf noticed the very intricate mosaic pattern on the floor, with the tiles alternating between crossed gauntlets, a pair of iron boots or a stylized eye, each representing the Arm, Foot, and Eye of the Iron Throne.

Seymour said the Foot of the Iron Throne was in the desert, Kuda realized was along the Black Road in the Anuloch dessert between Mulmaster and Waterdeep. Seymour told us that the Eye of the Iron Throne is in a cloud castle.

Ghaisek, however, noticed that over by the throne, there were scratches on the floor. Pulling on the throne, opened the wall revealing a passage. The imp went down the hall seeing creatures down that way, a panic room with a couple of guys in it. Seymour called out to the guys in there and they emerged.

The captain, Othelstan, and his pathetic guard Wilfrid would not come out unless we offered assurances. Ghaisik asking him where the Kraken’s Bane was, which he feigned ignorance about its location. But he did reveal that they were acquiring special metals and materials. Ghaisek probing his mind trying to get information and saw something which left him kind of frightened to see him so shaken by whatever was going on.

We followed him the rooms we they had bolts of purple leather, the skin of purple worm, large purple worm teeth. In the forge we so a lot of ore and shards of obsidian which was obtained from Starmantle and that it was a result of the spell plague. Combining it with certain ores, can be used to make special weapons. Apparently when wielded when using poison, the poison adheres to the metal. Captain also explained that they harvested some purple work venom.

They apparently contact each other using from a sending stone, which he would not give us. The asshole. Though their orders from the Kraken society were slowing down. They did not know where they were building this, but that they only are a few days away and always coming from the east. We decided to skuttle the Kraken Society ship and lure another ship from the Kraken Society. The captain said it was probably a bad idea since they have priest which already communicated that they arrived.

We cleaned up the keep for them and he gave us some stuff to take. Before we left, he told us their latest ask was for an orb that would create a bubble that would allow people to fly, they referred to it in as the Eye of Xxiphu in a sunken city somewhere in the sea of the falling stars. Kuda offered him a him a book of orcish poetry, which he turned down.
We then made our way out of the keep, noticing in the chapel a small little alter with an image of the Kraken, everything else in the temple was done up very Tiamat-ish…though those things had been used to cover Umberly iconography.

We get to the Kraken Society’s ship, where at the front is a crystal on the pedestal which contains a swirling storm, which we take. Meanwhile, Kuda and Preston found a navigation map from which we were able assume where they were going to and from which we assumed would be where the Kraken Society was. Kuda also found a book about the Cult of the Kraken. It talked about Slarkrethel, a Kraken deity that is at war with King Hekaton, the god of all giants. They are supposedly always in a battle for supremacy over the maelstrom, a castle where King Hekaton lives at the bottom of the ocean.