While the party was resting from their first day of the contest in Naviga, Akalar was awoken shortly before sunrise by a group of sneaking individuals in the street below. Akalar recognized the leader as the tattooed man from the start of the contest that was whispering about stealing tokens. Akalar attempted to dissuade the group from their thievery, but they merely threatened him back. Knowing he could not allow ne’er-do-wells to steal from an innocent person, Akalar woke his group, and they set off to stop the cheaters.
They arrived at the cheaters’ target: a mansion adorned with a gate guarded by two stone swans. Inside, the party fought and defeated the tattooed man and his cronies, saving a blonde human widow. The tattooed man was arrested by the Knight Order, and the woman offered the request to the party instead. She explained her husband had been killed by a small-time dragonborn pirate known as Darkscale several weeks back. The woman, known as Swann, mentioned that Darkscale likely didn’t mean to kill her husband, but she didn’t care. In return for proof of Darkscale’s death, Swann was offering 8 tokens for the contest.
The party agreed, received a stipend of coins for hiring a ship, and set off to the docks to find passage to Darkscale’s cove. There, the party spoke with Dieter’s ship captain to see if they could save some of their coin, but the captain was adamant that he could not use Dieter’s vessel for anything other than the delivery of the archaeology equipment. The group instead opted for a smaller ship being helmed by a well-worn, dark-haired sailor named William. He and his crew agreed to ferry the party for 200 coins.
During the short voyage to the cove just a few miles off the coast, the party determined that William and his crew were likely once pirates, turned a new leaf. One crewmember took a keen interest in their story, and he seemed to know quite a bit about current events, sharing the tidbit that Luxen was being rebuilt. He also mentioned that the rebuilding was largely being funded by one individual who was likely to become its new councilor upon completion. The group noticed a strange red mark under the single vambrace on his right arm.
Once the ship reached Darkscale’s cove, the party decided to ascend the rocky face of the cove with the help of William’s grappling hooks. Though a couple hooks were lost, the group made their way to the summit of the cove, where they found a large opening to rappel down. To cut off any potential escape, they rappelled down with the remaining rope straight onto Darkscale’s ship. Once their feet were on the deck of the ship, a grand combat broke out with Darkscale and his crew. Darkscale himself wielded a pistol and blade, and all his crew wielded wind and lightning magic. Though Aurora suffered a wound from Darkscale, Lette managed to dispatch Darkscale with one, clean shot to the head. Darkscale’s plea to spare his life in return for most of his treasure fell on deaf ears. Now, the party gathers what equipment is still usable from Darkscale’s crew’s encampment inside the cove before they journey back to Naviga…