Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Smithers and Cork (March 1, 2019)

In the Bay of Marauders, Javik Smithers and Ogden Cork are brought into the Kraken Pub for questioning by the Manticore’s leader, Brother Jeremiah. They are released when they don’t have any useful information about the murders at the Anchor Hotel and the late-night departure of the Ebon Hawk. As they leave the Kraken, a series of mortar strikes hit the market and damage the pub. The townspeople go into a panic, and the Manticore soldiers confront a pirate force invading the island. The sugar cane fields are set ablaze along with many of the houses in the slums. Smithers and Cork manage to free Alvin from the prison cages and escape through the Anchor Hotel with the innkeeper and two women from the Sweaty Palm Brothel. The last thing Smithers sees before they escape is a tall tiefling with a black sword choking the apothecary, Merryweather.

The party makes their way through the woods in search of a rumored teleportation circle beneath a griffon’s nest; but one of the women, Braith, grows ill, which slows their pace. Travelling all day and night, the exhausted party defeats a wolf pack and takes shelter in their den. Smithers discovers that during their two days of travel Braith has grown to midterm with a pregnancy. By the time the party reaches the teleportation circle atop a mountain, Braith is entering labour. Smithers and Cork defeat swarms of maggots feasting on a griffon carcass, and deliver Braith’s baby. Cork names the part-orc, part-dragonborn child, Frosk. Smithers uses the teleportation circle to transport the party to the Nordic Cross, and they settle with Braith and the baby in Cork’s old family home. Alvin, visibly limping, leaves the party for his newfound freedom.