On the 9th Day of the 1st Month after the Autumn Equinox

On the 9th day of the 1st month after the autumn equinox:
The adventurers gathered around a table in the common room of the Green Tankard, surrounded by the usual morning hustle and bustle. The aromas of fried venison sausage and spiced potatoes wafted enticingly across the room. However, the group was uncharacteristically subdued, the usual idle small talk and jests almost non-existent. Perhaps they were still unsettled by the events of the previous night.

Beorn and Kieri soon joined the group, a bit tired and exasperated from their fruitless efforts to uncover leads related to the Lady of Shadow's slave trade. The two settled in at the table and ordered cold beverages to slake their thirst. In a rather dry tone, Arymere related to them the events of the previous night. Kieri seemed unconcerned, mumbling a distracted "Oh" now and again, his mind obviously occupied by other thoughts. Beorn was a bit more concerned, and wanted to follow up on the situation by visiting the wizard's tower.

The party decided to split up. Beorn, Zibreski, Eris, Cyrienne, and Enoch headed to Curavar's tower. Gabriel, Kieri, and Arymere visited the docks looking to turn up any leads related to the slave trade.

When the group arrived at Curavar's tower, they were met with great belligerence by the mage. He was apparently annoyed that the adventurers "brought devils with them" into his tower. He soon ran them out, but not before promising some answers if they were successful in dealing with the slavers. As the others departed, Beorn and Cyrienne remained, convincing Curavar to allow them access to his rituals (not very difficult with a pouch full of gold).

The other group went to the docks, where they found evidence that slaves were being smuggled into town on a ship owned by Zark, Garwan's nephew (of Garwan's Curios). The adventurers, with the aid of the town guard, freed the slaves. Zark was arrested and sentenced to death. They searched Zark's home for clues to the slavers whereabouts, but found none (although they did find 400gp). Arymere convinced Lady Moonfire to reduce Zark's sentence to banishment in exchange for his leading the adventurers to the slavers' base of operations. She also bestowed upon them ownership of Zark's river barge.

Soon thereafter, Kieri, Gabriel, Zibreski, and Arymere set off in search of the slavers, Zark their securely bound and reluctant guide. After several hours travel, just before the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the group came upon old, abandoned stone ruins. Zark attempted to mislead the group, but his intentions were easily read. As he yelled out to alert the bandits, he was quickly silenced with a blow to the back of the head, rendering him unconscious.

The adventurers soon ferreted out the bandits and engaged them in a fierce battle. The bandits fought ruthlessly, including Zark who was released and revived by one of the bandits. They were led by a strange creature that seemed to be a hybrid between a serpent and a fish. The adventurers eventually prevailed, taking the human bandit leader and the strange creature captive. They quickly searched the bandit's camp, finding gold and other treasures, and releasing several captive children.

Among the bandits' possessions, they also found a box full of manifests for the shipment of the slaves. Each manifest had the name of a ship and the description of each slave.

They also found a document written in a strange, undecipherable language on the serpent creature.

They also found a suit of finely worked chain mail and a long sword, both engraved with impressive but unidentifiable markings.

The adventurers decided to escort the children back to Loudwater, bringing along their captives and the corpse of Zark.

Rewards: 400 xp each, 150 gp each, 50 sp each, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, river barge (worth 200gp)

Were the Gauntlets of Ogre Power on anyone's wish list? If so, speak up :)