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They get the ship sailed back to Saltmarsh about 10 miles away, and the spy leaves to go back and report.
Alzar has gained the Sea Ghost.
The man they captured was the captain, and he tells a lot about the shipping, but he does not know everything. They were taking a contingent of Sis’sharr to a secret location as part of another deal, and then the Sis’sharr became unruly when they discovered that they were instead being abducted as slave labor, and revolted and had to be killed by the mage. The spy and the Sis’sharr would have brought a nice price at the destination, in the south isles. The captain knows the seas and operation, but he does not know the players, although he does know that his mage, Ketah, and the one from the house, Lastia, are two of the major players. Another reason why they were smuggling, instead of just trading, was slavery is illegal in this part of the world, and a third reason was they wanted their destination to be kept secret from the mainland.
For the next three weeks, Alzar gets the Sea Ghost remodeled back at Chonae. He takes the old mage room, but it is quite spacey, and converts it into his traveling library and lab. He adds a small cask of purple moss, and spreads the rest in the sea cave at the house. Aleigha and Estaish are given the Bosun and Mate’s quarters on the third level, and the secret room with the prisoner is used for the storage of their most valuable possessions from their wagons. Their personal effects are put in their room. Alzar has locks added to the doors.
Alzar memorizes some ESP spells (and of course Dispel Magic, one a day to hit a spellbook) and uses them to hire a new crew. Captain Regash Whitemound was a respected captain who lost his ship to a storm recently, and Alzar hires him. They also hire a Bosun, Mate and some sailors, all recommended by Regash, and turn out to be fine men and women after a quick ESP. They convert the quarters used by the sis’sharr to the new Mate and Bosun quarters (they will share it). The captain will get the old captain’s quarters. They buy some new foods to make the long journey, stock with more supplies. Alzar spends 1000 gold to get everything in working order and hired. He sold their wagons and horses to make the money. They can always go back.
They grab the boat from the sea cave, giving them two row boats. Originally the ship had two, but one was left there for the use of those in the house.
Alzar sneaks his skeletons and animal skeletons into the back of his room, and covers them with a curtain.
21 animal skeletons, 5 skeletons are there.
He successfully memorizes Animate Dead from the spellbook found.
They still have some space in the cargo hold, so Alzar purchases some basic trade goods. 10 crates of tools, and 5 crates of local foods not normally found elsewhere, plus a crate of seeds to grow them.
Total cost – 1000 gold
Since they have a trade ship anyway, they might as well swing by the places in the south and see what will sell. Plus, there are tariffs of 25% in the local towns and cities on the River Storm, and Alzar doesn’t want to lose that much gold if he doesn’t have too.
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