Party: Declan the human barbarian (6), Gileas the human bard (6), Ilidan Hunzrin the drow rogue (6), Rolann the human pallidan (5), Kelderrin the gnome rogue (5)
Sensing something amiss, Rolann confronts one the the halflings working in the Laughing Demon kitchen. The halfling turns out to be a Wererat and admits to being hired to sabotage the Laughing Demon by nearby tavern owner Emmrek Frewn. Declan takes the halfling down to Frewn’s Tavern and confronts him. The halfling points says he is a member of the Shard Shunners, a were rat gang. Rotina Reedfellow, the leader of the shard shunner, can often be found at the Pickled Fisherman.
While Rolann pushes to follow up on the Shard Shunners, Ilidan announces that he made a deal with Lady Gralhund. Lady Gralhund is now staying at the Laughing Demon Inn along with Istrid Horn. Ilidan proposes that the group take down Skeemo Wierdbottle, the Zhentarim alchemist who has set them up weeks before. Skeemo sent the party on a delivery mission that ended up with the client getting poisoned. Unfortunately the client was the Black Viper and told the group that if they didn’t take care of Skeemo, she would take care of them. In addition, Ilidan points out that if they take out Skeemo, Ziraj the Hunter, and Tashlyn, they could reinstall Istrid Horn as the head of the Zhents as an ally. Istrid warns that the Zhents are powerful and cautions the companions from trying to attack them while they are all together.
The party stakes out Wierdbottle’s shop. They wait until after closing and then sneak in through the 2nd level deck. Skeemo surprises them and attacks them fiercely with cold magic, nearly taking down several members of the party. As Skeemo is fleeing, Ilidan hits him with a bolt covered in drowse poison and Skeemo falls asleep immediately. They take him back to the Laughing Demon basement and hire some Bugbear thugs from JB Nevercott to watch over him.
After taking down Skeemo, the party targets Ziraj the Hunter. They scout the dockyard and find their old ship. Paying off the few deckhands on board to leave, the party sets up an ambush on the ship. Later, Ziraj and a handful of crewmen approach the ship with one of the deckhands that had been paid off. Declan emerges to knock the gang plank down and the two groups face off. The Zhent crewmen board the ship while Ziraj takes to the rooftops. The crewmen are defeated and ziraj retreats.
The companions take control of the ship and argue about what to do with it. Declan pushes to sail to Icewind Dale to crew it with his barbarian tribesmen.
XP:
2370
Loot:
Skeemo’s Gold
Pipe of Smoke Monsters
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/pipe-of-smoke-monsters
