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Captain O'Bryan leaned on the gunwale of the Wind's Pawn peering through the darkness at the rowboat slowly approaching the ship. The Pawn was anchored in the harbor of Port Haven after a somewhat successful day of restocking supplies and hiring crewmen. There had just been one more objective to be completed before they continued to the next port. His anxiety mounted with every pull of the rowboat's oars. Four had gone out but only one was returning. "Something went wrong," he muttered to himself.

"Ahoy in the boat! Identify yourself!" The call came from the elven marine manning the aft-starboard ballista.

"It's Decor," came the answering call from the boat. The captain nodded absently. The young elf was returning alone and rowing hard. When the rowboat finally bumped softly against the hull of the Pawn the young elf stood and looked up at the moon-lit faces above him. Decor looked scared and exhausted.

"They're all dead! Kelson, Lenard, Landriss...they're all dead!"

Let us take a step back so we may come to understand the events that lead up to Decor's dire announcement. Our destination is two nights ago as the Wind's Pawn was desperately setting sail to escape the pirate, Captain Morgan, in Trazarra's harbor.

John was cutting loose the two boats that he, Decor, Def Lenard, Fen, Hollicar, Kelson, and Landriss had used to board the Pawn when he saw the lone surviving pirate climb into one of the boats, Lenard's arrow still sticking out of his back. The pirate quickly quaffed two potions, then proceeded to leap aboard the Pawn unarmed. Moving more quickly than any human possibly could without the aid of magic he ran into the captain's cabin and retrieved two swords from their resting place displayed on the wall.

John and Landriss gave chase and attacked the pirate just after he grabbed the swords. As the battle raged in the cabin Hollicar arrived. With a grin he took a moment to lock the door before joining the battle. The lone, near-berserk pirate now faced two capable fighters in plate mail and one novice ranger in a small, confined area. Slashing with his blades faster than a cougar fighting a pack of dogs the pirate was able to dart between his opponent's defenses and reach the door, only to find out it was locked.

In trying to down the pirate once and for all, John swung his heavy mace but accidently hit Hollicar in the close quarters within the captain's cabin. Hollicar then promptly slashed his long sword across John's throat before once again engaging the pirate with Landriss' aid.

As John slumped against the wall, trying desperately to unlock the cabin door and hang onto his fading life, the pirate knocked Hollicar out with a blow to the head. Suddenly, the lightly armored, novice Landriss was left alone in the locked cabin with the skilled, bloodthirsty pirate. Fortune smiled upon the young ranger, however, when the pirate severed his own arm in his frenzied, hasted state.

John finally managed to unlock the door just as unconsciousness claimed him. This allowed Lenard, who had been in the process of hacking his way through the door with an axe, and Kelson to rush into the cabin and save John's life in the nick of time. Not knowing what had occurred between Hollicar and John during the battle Kelson left them alone to recover after magically healing both of them. Hollicar was able to stand on his own before John. The half-elf stumbled toward the door but stopped to close the door again. John then found Hollicar's long sword to his neck while he lay there practically helpless after being brought back from death's door so recently. Hollicar silently stood, staring at John, for a few moments with John's life in his hands. Without a word Hollicar simply left the cabin. Neither of them has mentioned the incident again since.

The Pawn easily outran the larger ship of Captain Morgan and was well away from Trazarra when the sun came up. The next day and a half was a quiet respite for the crew and adventurers. It was a time of healing and recuperation. Ahriallen gave orders for the ship to put into port at Port Haven, a small coastal town south of Trazarra. The ship was desperately low on food, water, and able seamen. They would not survive on the open seas for long.

A few hours before reaching Port Haven Ahriallen asked the adventurers to do him, and themselves, a favor. He had never sailed to the island of the Rift, but he had been in the eastern seas before. Unfortunately, his old journals that described his voyages in those waters had been stolen from him years ago by a rival ship captain, who was now a retired pirate. Ahriallen needed both his own journal back and also the logs of his rival, who had sailed in the eastern seas frequently.

The party agreed, somewhat reluctantly, but only Kelson, Lenard, Landriss, and Decor were to attempt the deed. John had a moral objection to stealing from the retired captain. The others were simply not adept with sneaking into a house and getting out again without anyone knowing they had been there. This was a key point since Ahriallen did not want his retired rival to know the journal and logs were missing until the Wind's Pawn was well away.

The Pawn anchored in the harbor of Port Haven around noon. Ahriallen was able to arrange for some supplies and new crewmen to be brought aboard. John and Lenard spent the afternoon purchasing equipment that Decor and Landriss would need in the coming adventures.

After the sun fell, while Ahriallen was keeping his rival busy with a long dinner at the Blue Dolphin Inn in town, the four would-be thieves snuck into the pirate's estate outside of town to steal the ledgers. After taking note of where the guards and dogs were they made their move. The small party climbed over the wall at the rear of the estate and took refuge in some shrubs and pine trees. When the two-man patrol passed out of sight of the back of the house Kelson cast spider climb on Lenard who then climbed the house up to the second floor window of the pirate's bedroom.

Not having any lock pick tools, or skill with lock picking, Lenard was forced to break the glass after several unsuccessful attempts to pick the latch on the window. He made a little noise, which was briefly investigated by a guard in the house, but Lenard remained undetected. Luckily the guards were very lax when the master of the house was out.

Next Lenard began to break into the roll-top desk in the retired captain's room with similar finesse utilized at the window. One drawer was successfully forced open with minimal noise but it yielded nothing of import. The next drawer proved to be more difficult when the handle came off of in Lenard's hand when he tried to force that drawer. Again, Lenard was forced to hide behind the bed when he heard the guard's footsteps outside the bedroom's closed door. Apparently the noise had not attracted the guard this time since he did not enter the room.

Finally Lenard began working on the roll-top itself after finding it locked shut. He successfully managed to open a crack in the slats of the roll-top with his dagger but he could feel nothing of importance since his reach was restricted when he slid his forearm through the still too small split he had created. Lenard lost his patience and nerve for this slow, stealthy process when two of the war dogs were brought into the house from their kennel in the stable. One of the dogs threatened to throw the bard into a panic when it came upstairs to the bedroom door and sniffed around until he was called back downstairs.

Fearing that the dogs would reveal his presence Lenard used his long sword to pry open the roll-top. The roll-top of the desk did indeed come open but doing so triggered some sort of magical trap that shocked Lenard with a blast of electricity that was heard by everyone on the estate grounds. Working as quickly as he could, Lenard gathered all ten of the books he found stored in the desk then turned to leave through the window. The two dogs in the house had run up the stairs to the bedroom door but could not get inside until a guard reached the door and opened it. Lenard prudently decided to chance the 15' fall out the window rather than fight off two war dogs and the guard.

At this time all of the guards were alerted to the intrusion and were rushing to the scene. Landriss and Decor started shooting arrows at the guards to cover Lenard's escape while Kelson cast a sleep spell on the dogs who were still inside the stable with the kennel master. Unfortunately, when the two patrol guards moved to chase Lenard as he painfully got to his feet after diving out the window, one caught site of Kelson where he crouched in the shadow of the stable after completing his spell. The guard lowered his spear, and quickly charged across the ten feet to the previously hidden elf. The attack caught Kelson somewhat unprepared but he was able to unsheathe a scimitar in an attempt to parry the incoming spear. His parry was ineffectual and resulted in the spear gouging out both of his eyes and rendering Kelson helplessly blind and in unbearable agony. His pain was quickly ended by the fist of the spearman.

A pitched battle then ensued as more guards arrived at the back of the house where the would-be thieves were trying to make their escape. The dogs in the barn were being woken up by the kennel master. Several bowmen and spearmen confronted the adventurers in the lawn. Things were falling apart rapidly. Landriss valiantly charged in to save Kelson but was put down himself when he suddenly found himself fighting two guards. One of the guards slashed deeply into Landriss' buttocks, nearly severing it from his body. The pain-induced shock and brute force of the blow knocked the burly ranger unconscious.

Lenard was the next to fall. After hurling the bundled books over the estate wall the bard had also turned back to aid his companions. He was faced with one spearman and an off balance bowman who had just twisted his ankle. Lenard was in a good position to finish the spearman quickly but by then the two war dogs entered the fray, one of them bringing down the bard.

Decor was able to scramble over the wall, retrieve the bundled books and retreat into the night after exchanging a few volleys of bow fire with the guards. Decor then made his way back to the ship alone.

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