Skullport Swindle

Player Character Class Level XP Sessions

Alessandro Umlange Wizard 2 300 0
Beth Chella Cleric 2 300 0
Bradley Tindin Rogue 2 300 0
Jim Toshiro Barbarian 2 300 0

- Current reward cap: 60 gp

YOU CAN USE 2A AND 2C OF THIS MODULE FOR THE NEXT PARTS

Chaos in the City of Splendors (Obj. 3)

- Tasselgryn Velldarn runs a game of Thabort (dice) with important Skullport residents.
Donquixote finds the PCs, and says the “owe” the Guild, and that they need to put a stop to the
game (Xanathar is insulted he is never invited). He gives 20 gp up front and offers another 40 for
when they bust the game.
- The locations:
o Twinbeard’s Traps (Meeting Hall of the Waterdeep Maritime Academy)
 Thorvin Twinbeard is normally not here, but tonight he is. He actually doesn’t
care much that the PCs are breaking in, but he will demand a 5 gp bribe or
threaten to tell Xanathar about them
 What Torvin knows:
 Velldarn used to hold her game at Torvin’s home every few tendays.
This was a lucrative side business for Torvin
 Xanathar learned about the game and ordered Torvin to stop hosting.
 The passphrase for this week’s game is “luck be a lady”.
o The Bat’s Roost (Mckrawler’s Bar)
 McKrawley runs this once-tavern now-fighting den. If threatened, he will whistle
for 4 thugs to remove the PCs, by force if necessary.
 What McKrawley knows:
 In the past, he has allowed Velldarn to use of the stock rooms in the
back for her game.
 Part of his deal with Velldarn was that he provides a lookout charged
with alerting her if the Xanathar Guild appears
 The last time the game was held at McKrawley’s, the lookout was asleep
when the Guild arrived. Velldarn escaped, but many of her clients her
beaten and mugged by the Guild
 The passphrase for this week’s game is “luck be a lady”.
o Tanor’thal Refuge (Bullmore Grange)
 If the PCs succeed in breaking in, it becomes clear the dice game is not here; the
building is completely dark.
 The refuge is filled with 14 giant wolf spiders
o The Sea Chest (Pump Station 64)
  The begger Kluneman (spy) is the doorman for the game, while Tad (thug) keeps
out the riffraff.
 If the PCs fight to get in, after 3 rounds 4 bandits of the Xanathar Guild arrive
 If the PCs try to shut down the dice game inside, Velldarn orders her 4 thugs to
take them down.
- When this is complete, the party levels up

Chapter 3: Fireball (level 3)

- The Gralhunds are a disgraced noble family, who managed to bribe their way out of prison,
leaving them near penniless. In a desperate attempt to reclaim some power, they have become
reluctant members of the Skum Lord’s cult.
- Lady Gralhund has sent out a Drowned Assassin to steal the stone from Auden Trillauch. When
the Assassin caught up to him, there were a group of the Fray also ready to seize the stone. The
Assassin killed Auden, and two Fray cultists, and three innocents. It ran off instead of killing all of
the witnesses. The third Fray cultist (Nash Floxin) is only wounded, and correctly guesses that
the Assassin is heading for the docks, and limps off.
- The witnesses describe similar things;
o A group of people (maybe beggars?), dressed in rags, were confronting Auden Trillauch
o Right when it looked like a fight may break out, a fifth person appeared from nowhere,
attacking so fast and brutally, it seemed inhuman.
o The person who attacked my not have been alive… his face was horrifying, and its joints
moved unnaturally. It also looked slimy, like a dead fish.
o One of the beggars limped off into an alleyway.
o One of the witnesses (a child) presents a half-drunk potion of invisibility (still usable)
that the killer dropped.
- Ott Steeltoes, and three veterans, show up to investigate. Once they realize that whoever did
this escapes, Ott announces that if anyone sees this “Zombie Killer,” to tell him or Donquixote.
- Chella/Tindin would know the best person to ask about undead would-be Olive Stillwater, at
Dead Man’s Corner, who sells zombies-for-hire.
- Olive knows all of the below and is willing to share everything in exchange for a vial of blood and
three hairs.
o Drowned Assassin are an advanced sort of zombie and can only be made from corpses
that drowned. They move quite fast and are dangerous in combat but cannot think
independently and always have a master.
o Back when the Kraken Society controlled Skullport, they were sometimes used as the
Society’s enforcers… but the Society has since lost most its influence, and they have few
casters capable of such necromancy.
o These zombies do need to resubmerge in water eventually, or gradually slow and rot to
nothing. It likely has its lair near the docks, but the only ones living there permanently
now are the Gralhunds on their docked ship.
- Olive also has a magic item called an Undead Compass, that will point to the most powerful
undead creature within 500 feet (it spins continuously when no undead are near).
 - Olive is interested in the Drowned Assassin, and will offer a reward of 500 gp if the PCs can kill it
and give her the corpse. She will hand over the Undead Compass to help, but wants it returned
in exchange for the reward.
- If the PCs ask the Chosen of Ellistraee for assistance, they will find witness accounts of the
Assassin slipping onto the Gralhund’s ship. The Gralhund’s have bribed the Xanathar Guild so
they don’t investigate.

Gralhund’s Ship
J3: Yalah’s riding horse is here. It carries two saddlebags, carrying four bars of gold, worth a total
of 2,000 gp. The horse is also wearing horseshoes of speed.

J7: There is a locked tome that looks like a spellbook in here. It can be unlocked with a key
around Yalah’s neck. It can be unlocked with a DC 15 Dex check with thieves tools or a knock
spell, but doing this unleashes 3 specters. The book does tell the tale of when they worked with
the Cassalanters, and the Gralhunds new alliance with the Skum Lord.

J9/J8: Three shadows, left by the Fray cultists, are keeping lookout while the cultists storm the
ship

J10: 5 commoners (maids, cooks, and a valet) hide here behind a locked door.

J13: Orond’s pet falcon is in a cage here.

J17: 3 thugs fight four veterans.

J24: Nash Floxin is trying to kick down the door to capture Orond.

J25: Orond Gralhund hids behind a locked door.

J27: Hrabbaz, Yalah Gralhund are here. Yalah has a ring of keys that unlock all doors on the ship
and the trunk. The trunk here can also be opened with DC 15 Dex, but seems filled with clothes.
A DC 15 Perception check finds a secret compartment that contains cult robes, and symbols of
the Kraken Society.

Chapter 4: Swindle Season (level 4)

- The drowned assassin escapes, but before he gets far, members of the Ragged find and tie up
the zombie in the lair at the Wreck.
- The PCs can use their Undead Compass to find the zombie; it hasn’t gone far, as the wreck is in
the docks.
- The Stone of Golorr had been swiped again by the Reforged Ring, who plan to negotiate with
the party at the Tarven. However, the Reforged Ring is attacked by the Ragged. There are so
many it seems lost, but the Skulls of Skullport disperse the attackers.
- One PC attunes to the stone and learns the entrance to the vault is located in the sewers.

The Tavern (Black Tankard)

- The owner and bartender is a fat duergar, and he has two minotaurs in the corners, and a
spectator floating around as security.
 - The Reforged Ring’s representative is Renault Dulsi, a yuan-ti pureblood. They are willing to
trade the stone for guarantees for two of the following;
o The Reforged Ring will be given ten percent (50,000 gp) of the treasure hoard if the
characters find it.
o None of the hoard will be given to the Chosen of Eilistraee or the Kraken Society.
o The Xanathar Guild receives no more than a quarter (or 100,000 gp) of the total hoard.
How the characters ensure that happens is up to them.
- It doesn’t matter if the PCs agree or not, as the conflict makes it irrelevant. Trash burst through
the door, and a dozen tatterdanaminals break through the door, attacking everyone inside.
o Medium Encounter: 1 animated stove, 3 tatterdaminals

The Alley
- A Fray Mage is running off with the stone, that he’s taken from a (now dead) hobgoblin of the
Reforged Ring. If anyone gets too close, a tatterdaminal attacks to slow them down.
- The Fray Mage is eventually cornered in an alleyway. But the Fray Mage purposefully led the
party here, and the alleyway is blocked on both sides by enemies. The Skulls of Skullport
intervene, one yelling “Pest Control!” as it throws a fireball.
o Medium: 1 Fray Mage, 2 raggamoffyns, 3 swarms of rats

The Cellar
- The Vault is in an abandoned cellar, in the Skull Square.
- The keys are;
o A performance of “Beardy Face,” which will require 10 gp to hire two folks to perform (it
requires someone playing bagpipes
o Severed drow hand
o A unicorn. It doesn’t have to be a real one, and Thimblewine’s Pawnshop will sell a
stuffed one for 15 gp
- One the 3 keys are used, it will reveal a green slaad. He asks for the stone, and then the answer
to this riddle;
o Many kill for me, to give to others. I make beggars into noblemen and kings into
madmen. What am I?
o The answer is gold or coin
o If killed, the door can be opened with a succcessful DC 18 Arcana check

2,760 (1460, 1300) XP

Skulker Fever
- Characters that take bludgeoning or piercing damage from a melee weapon attack from a beast
or humanoid in Skullport must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw at the end of
combat or contract Skulker Fever. Creatures with this disease start exhibiting symptoms within
1d4 hours of contracting the disease, gaining 1 level of Exhaustion.
 - A creature with Skulker Fever can repeat the saving throw when it finishes a long rest, removing
one level of Exhaustion on a success or adding one level of Exhaustion if it fails (to a maximum of
two levels of Exhaustion).
- A creature that reduces its level of Exhaustion below 1 or that cures its disease by other means
is unable to contract a strain of Skull Fever for 2d6 days or until the next encounter in the
encounter chain, whichever comes first

Factions
- The Zhentarim (Manshoon)
o The primary contact here is now Amelia Cassalanter, who works for Manshoon with the
promise of freeing her husband, who is under house arrest.
- Bregan D’Aerthe
o This faction is now only a minor player in Waterdeep, but they do conspire to free their
master Jarlaxle who is imprisoned.
- Harpers
o Led by Remalia Haventree (warlord) in Waterdeep/Skullport
- Chosen of Elistraee
o Iljrene Ahbruyn is the leader