Xalver and Ferin Blackleaf catch Charlie Company on the hang at Quietreach. Xalver reports that some progress has been made translating the APPOTHROMAX book liberated from the late unlate Phlouwurz the Skeletal Necromancer. It turns out the dragon compass and a yet to be located diamond shaped sapphire might both fit into an astral throne that would be ever so helpful in finding APPOTHROMAX, thought to be an essential step in the defeat of Tophe, Tharizdun, et al. A very old, possibly useless, lead is some association with what may or may not have been a sailing vessel, the Dusty Reaver. And the contact to find that Dusty Reaver is an enigmatic rogue named Mouse Biggerstaff whose mystery is wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a shadow. And Mouse, the Pirate Isle contact, is at the end of a special travel conduit commonly known as a sewer.
The party emerges from the sewer into the busy dockside shipping town of Pirate Point. They head toward the centrally prominent inn tavern where they will be easily found by Mouse. Not one to disappoint, Mouse meets Ash at the door and they converse in their thieves’ dialect setting up the riddle that ensures mutual validation. Clever Ander quickly solves the riddle and Ash gives both the answer and the secret passphrase, Eyes Everywhere. His diabolical puzzle unraveled, Mouse points the party to their next challenge a few feet away: the harbormaster’s office.
Ash takes Barika into the office of fancy pants harbormaster Corim “Boat Man” Loomfield. Expecting all kinds of pirate shenanigans, Ash improvises noms de guerre Alfred and Chazowicz and hints broadly at their possibly clandestine need for discrete transport of certain goods. Perfectly legit Boat Man offers a menu of ships for any shipping need. Not on the menu, yet worth mentioning, is a ship anchored some distance off to the south; it is not for hire. Leery Alfred Ash avoids direct inquiry about the Dusty Reaver.
The party wanders casually through town reading transom names off moored ships. None match Dusty Reaver, although the Rusty Beaver gets pretty close. Ash chances mentioning the Dusty Reaver to a buxom elven dockhand with a deep voice. She refers Ash back to Boat Man regarding that legendary ship from before her time. Boat Man knows a little about the legendarily fast sailing Dusty Reaver, but for the details they should seek out Blithe “Archie” Tanner, a local information broker whose information shop will close in 20 minutes.
Archie is not thrilled when several adventurers pile into his shop only 19 minutes before closing. Sqyylarr guards the door. For 10 silver pieces Archie produces a shipping log that locates the final voyage of the Dusty Reaver, Captain Billy Badger commanding, along the east coast of Sembia near Yhaunn. Corroborating town records indicate one surviving crewman, Ruford Tempest, washed ashore in pirate’s Point. Fortuitously, Ruford still resides in Pirate Point at the Salty Ladies Inn.
At the Inn, Tenebrous “Ten” “Bambi” Shae approaches the bar tended by salty ladies Sallie “Pirate” Kirby and Jonesy “Soother” Atherton. Sure, they know Ruford “Two Toes” Tempest, but has at least two toes and no urgent interest in meeting some tourist adventurers. The party orders a couple of rounds while they wait, including for local barfly Lucy. Sqyylarr guards the door. Ten studies the crowd for anyone out of place. Ander magically wafts bacon smells into the tavern. Ash offers some coin to Soother if she can expedite the meeting with Two Toes. She can.
Through the kitchen and up a ladder, the party finds Dusty Reaver shipwreck survivor Ruford “Two Toes” Tempest. Sqyylarr guards the door. Long before establishing this here inn as The Drowned Rat and subsequently turning its day-to-day over to the Salty Ladies, Two Toes fondly served as Captain Badger’s cabin boy from age 6. On any given voyage, Badger would manipulate the ship’s exquisitely crafted helm using a diamond shaped sapphire, tucked around his neck when not in use, sending the Dusty Reaver through an extraplanar shortcut of blue glows and purple skies that shaved parsecs off the conventional routes relegating his competition. This competitive advantage was suddenly lost, perhaps coincidentally around the same time Badger no longer seemed to possess the diamond sapphire. Oh, and, possibly there was a dragon-shaped depression about the size of a compass on that helm as well. Watc’s iron filings stand on end as she recognizes the astral throne from Xalver’s mission briefing and its capacity to stitch through the astral plane. Ander, hoping to collect on an open-ended wager, attempts to prompt Two Toes into recalling whether a kraken was involved in the destruction of the Dusty Reaver. Two Toes wraps up by suggesting the party seek out Gill Clayton, a salvager who might have recovered some of the Dusty Reaver, or at least know where it lies. Now, Gill Clayton passed some time back so if that’s any kind of barrier to the inquisitive adventurers then maybe Gill’s surviving daughter Estella “Crazy Eyes” Clayton would be the next best thing.
As the town shops seemed to be closing by this time, the party elects to partake of the Salty Ladies’ hospitality. Ten haggles the room rate from what everyone agrees is a ludicrously exorbitant 20 gp per night down to a merely piratic 8 gp. They retire to a luxurious twin suite with extra baths. Sqyylarr guards the door.
The next morning, the party shares a breakfast and a chat with the townies. Everything still smells like bacon except the bacon. Ten is surprised when Ash effortlessly discovers the location of Crazy Eyes’ shop in two seconds simply by asking local patron Scurvy. Ander ritually casts water breathing across the party since it seems like it might be that kind of day. Sqyylarr guards the door.
The party locates the brightly covered tent that is Odds & Ends, Crazy Eyes proprietor. Sqyylarr guards the door. Crazy Eyes does not specifically remember where the Dusty Reaver wrecked, but 18 gp jogs her memory enough to locate her pop’s logbook entry on the subject:
Saw young Ruford Tempest wash up on shore today, almost a full week after Billy’s ship headed toward Yhaunn. Ol’ Billy always did have a lot of gold. Maybe I can figure out the location based on the boy’s recollection.
…
I think I’ve narrowed it down to a reasonable search area. Stella and I will head out tomorrow, and I’ll take a dive or two.
…
Eureka, I think we’ve found the place! Still enough bits and pieces of wreckage that I was able to pinpoint the location of the ship quicker than I expected. I went down far enough to verify I could see the wreckage. I’ll make another run to see what all I can find. [Specific Coordinates pinpointing the location are listed here]
…
What the heck was THAT?! I had only just gotten to the wreck and made my way into the captain’s quarters when the ship felt like it was rammed, gave an almighty lurch, and felt like it was about to break in two! I managed to grab Billy’s journal, blessedly wrapped tight in an oilskin. I won’t be going back down there, and risk leaving Stella fatherless. Maybe he’ll have information about some gold he buried somewhere…
Since that 18 gp goes a long way to affording the night at the Salty Ladies that Crazy Eyes has long been saving for, she fetches in Billy’s journal for no additional consideration:
What a great day! Finally inherited Great Grandad’s ship from Dad, who is retiring to a very large Estate up North. He took me aside and showed the “power” of the Dusty Reaver. I never realized it was as simple as pressing grandad’s sapphire into the slot on this helm he called the Astral Throne…
… After studying three generations of maps, and a few trial runs, I’m ready to start building my reputation as the fastest shipper in all the lands!
[Forty or so years of entries later…]
Passenger transfer – Luskan on the sword coast to Mosstone in Firedrake Bay – Ulrozax (no last name given) – 1000gp for two day delivery. Passenger is an odd one, covered head to foot in robes. Seemed very interested in how the ship works, and skulked around near the bridge deck day and night. I ordered the passengers belowdeck before I initiated the transport, but I swear I saw that old man duck around the corner right as I finished transporting us back out of the Astral plane…
This can’t be happening! I woke up from a dead sleep this evening to find Ulrozax standing over me, Great Grandad’s sapphire in hand! He cackled madly and disappeared, right out of my cabin! I sounded the alarm, and we ransacked the ship, but the apparent wizard was nowhere to be found!
[Two or so years of much sadder and more mundane entries later…]
Crazy Eyes mentions she has some scrolls for sale that might – Ander offers to buy the lot, sight unseen. Crazy Eyes is particularly proud of a proprietary water breathing PLUS spell that grafts underwater movement onto the mundane water breathing spell. Ander demonstrates his own mastery on the topic by mainlining his endless watering decanter into his ritualistic breathing of water mouth. What a mess. Crazy Eyes prospects the scrolls for no charge in return for anything from the wreckage that might interest her.
Alfred Ash and Bambi Ten return to harbormaster Boat Man to charter the square rigger Hail And Well Met out to a certain location for, oh, say, seven days round trip. Knowingly amused Boat Man wonders if perhaps maybe they have the Dusty Reaver in mind. Maybe…ok, yes. In that case, the use of the private vessel discretely anchored to the south, the Jah’poneezy Slipper, has already been arranged for their purpose by the owner, none other than Ruford “Two Toes” Tempest. Boat Man’s conspicuous and unsettling amusement suggests the mission has fallen right into this comically pirate-handled town denizens’ collective practical joke.