Danger at Dunwater

Venemar pauses wondering where to start. He sips his beer and begins his tale, in a low quiet voice,"It’s rather a convoluted tale. When I arrived in Saltmarsh the Council were engaging adventurers to investigate rumours of about a haunted Manor House. This was the Selgore place outside the town near the cliffs overlooking the sea. One local man said he had been chased out by demons when he went to investigate. A few of us went up there. There were no demons or ghosts - a few poisonous spiders and I fell through some rotten floorboards on the landing.

We ended up triggering a magic mouth type spell, which would cause fear. That was clearly the source of the rumours about demons and ghosts and so on. There never were any. The spells had been put there by an illusionist who was part of a gang of smugglers.

We found a secret door into the vaults below . We ended up fighting the illusionist, some smugglers and some beast men they were using. We found some papers among their loot. From these we were able to find more information about people they were in league with. A ship was going to be arriving in a few days. We found information as to what the signal to the ship was and we had captured one of the smugglers who confirmed the code.

We told the council about all this. They asked us to follow this up. We did so. We went back to the Selgore house. Signalled to their ship and then rowed out to their ship from the vaults and sea cave beneath the Selgore place.

We bluffed our way on to the smugglers’ ship. They realised we weren’t part of their gang and there was a fierce fight. Then some lizard men in league with the smugglers or pirates joined in the fight. We were nearly overwhelmed, had it not been for the Stoutly brothers - part of the Saltmarsh town guard turned up in their boat in response to a signal from us. The Stoutlys had made it look like their boat was full of guards. The lizard men jumped overboard and we had captured their ship. On the ship we found a map marking where a lair of Lizardfolk were. We also found documents which suggested that the smugglers were supplying the lizard men with weapons. On the ship we also found our friend Oceanus, who had been a prisoner of the pirates.

We handed the ship over to the council and received a handsome bounty. The council asked us to investigate the Lizardfolk lair and find out if they were planning to attack Saltmarsh.

We sailed there and entered the lair. We were attacked by some lizard men guards and their lizards, which we were able to overcome. We explored inside for a while and took some treasure while we were at it. We then encountered a party of lizard men who had a spellcaster with them. A fight started, but they wanted to parley. We negotiated with them. Had we not have done, the whole colony would have been roused and I wouldn’t be talking to you now. We were introduced to their chief. We asked him about whether his people were in league with the smugglers. He said that they had acquired weapons from the smugglers to defend themselves from another enemy and they were not planning to attack Saltmarsh. Their enemies are the Sahuagin. Once they realised we were not in league with the Sahuagin they were open to an alliance, if we returned the treasure we had picked up and paid 50 gp in compensation. We agreed and an emissary from the Lizardfolk came back with us to Saltmarsh.

As for what we have to do next I’d prefer to tell you tomorrow, or if you can’t wait that long, then in the privacy of a room, away from this bar."

Once in the room Venemar explains further.
"It seems the lizardmen were acquiring weapons from the smugglers or pirates as they have been attacked by the Sahuagin - also known as sea devils. The Sahuagin are also enemies of Oceanus’ people. The Sahuagin have also attacked and occupied a lair of the Lizardfolk. The Council have agreed to enter an alliance with the Lizardfolk against the Sahuagin.

The Council are providing a ship to take us to this lair. They are also providing five soldiers led by Corporal Stoutly - one of the Stoutlys I mentioned earlier. In addition, the Lizardfolk will be providing twelve warriors and two leaders.

The Council will provide each of us with two potions to allow us to breathe underwater, plus salves to prevent items being damaged by water.

We have been tasked with raiding this lair of Sahuagin. They don’t expect us to engage the whole lair, but they want us to gather as much information as possible, such as numbers, strong points, where ‘barracks’ and leaders’ quarters are and so on. They also want us to gather information as to their state of war preparedness and when they might launch their first attack.

They will pay each party member 1,000 gp and a further 1,000 if we accomplish all of the objectives.

They have said that the information we hope to gain could make the difference between life and death in the coming conflict."

Venemar then shows them the scrolls that the Lizardfolk emissary provided of the lair.
OOC:
He will tell them everything he knows about the meeting with the Council and the Lizardman emissary, so that they are aware of everything in in the thread regarding these. This will save me having to write a huge post :)