30 to 40 minutes

Objectives

The party accompanies Elias to their home and meets his daughter Elara, and their dog Barnacles. The main objective for this chapter is to give the characters something to fight for. They should become endeared to Elias, Elara and Barnacles. The goal is to have them willingly wish to aid Elias in rescuing his ship, and to have the party take it personally when things take a turn for the worse.

The De'Costa Residence

Read or paraphrase the following:

Elias leads you to a house that is quite nice; large, two story, well maintained, and even a small, enclosed garden at the back.

As he walks in the door he is greeted enthusiastically by an over-excited dog, medium sized, with black, white and grey fur, and light blue eyes. Its spine curves slightly to the left, causing its back legs to be noticeably (but not awkwardly) misaligned to the rest of its body, something that is accentuated by the shaking of its rear end, seemingly being moved involuntarily by the enthusiastic waggling of its bushy tail.

The dog leaps up, placing its paws onto Elias’ chest, “Barney, get down you stupid cur,” says Elias as he shuffles into the entry hall fending off paws and licks.

From deeper in the house, you hear another voice, one clearly belonging to a young woman, “Barnacle, give him a moment, will you?” A young woman steps into the entryway from what appears to be the kitchen; she has wavy blonde hair that hangs around her shoulders, though with an obvious ‘kink’ that reveals it had been tied up for most of the day. She has bright green eyes that radiate an air of kindness, and flushed cheeks, “oh, we have guests”, she says, “what a welcome surprise. I’ve started preparing dinner, but it won’t be any trouble at all to make some more.”

At that point, she notices the injuries on Elias’s arm and face, and she casts a more suspicious look at you. Picking up on her change in demeanor, Elias says “Oh Elara, don’t be like that my sweetheart. Darius did this, these kind people helped scare him off, and I’ve offered them a good meal and a comfy bed in gratitude.”

The young girl visibly relaxes and moves over to Elias, “oh Da, why are you always making yourself a target for that one?” she asks as she takes him by the arm and leads him through a door to the right into their dining room, guiding him into a chair and beckoning for you to follow. She disappears into the kitchen and returns a moment later with a medical kit, kneeling in front of him to get a better look at his wounds.

“It’s nothing,” Elias says, “it looks worse than it is.” Then, turning to you, he says “she can’t help herself, she’s a carer by nature. You know she’s a nurse at the local hospital.”

“Trainee nurse”, corrects Elara.

“Bah,” Elias replies, “you do a better job than most of those withered old hags who call themselves experienced nurses.”

“Be nice,” Elara says, “those ‘withered old hags’ are my teachers.”

“You should be teaching them.”

“Da,” Elara says pleadingly. She turns to you, “are you all okay? Is anyone hurt?”

Allow the players to respond.

If any characters have a passive perception that is higher than 15, read the following to them:

Although incredibly subtle at first, you notice a faint glow which seems to be emanating from within Elara. It is almost imperceptible, but once you have become aware of it, it becomes almost impossible not to notice.

From there, the general sequence of the night will proceed as follows:

• Elara will finish tending to Elias, then return to the kitchen to finish making dinner while Elias chats to the party in the dining room (see conversation topics below).
• Some time later, Elara will serve dinner, which is a simple fish stew, but VERY tasty and if the players didn’t know better, they’d think it was magical based on how invigorating and revitalizing it is.
• Conversation continues (see conversation topics)

The dinner comes to abrupt end with the “concluding dinner” sub-section below.

Conversation topics

The following topics of conversation may be addressed as the players interact with Elias:

Elias is proud of Elara

Elias takes the opportunity to further boast about his daughter, it’s clear he’s very proud of her and thinks she can do no wrong. Have the players each roll an animal handling check. The player with the highest result is the subject of the following section which can be read aloud:

As you sit at the table, Barnacles bounds over and leaps up, putting his paws on your lap and dropping a wet, slobber-drenched ball into it.

“Get down,” barks Elias, “you stupid cur," though is tone is one of mild annoyance mixed with amusement - not anger.

"You know", he says to you, "Elara got him when she was fourteen, back when Tiffania – my late wife – was still with us. On her birthday the year before we told Elara that if she was good, and did all of her chores without fail for the whole year, then on her fourteenth birthday we would get her a pet.

We never thought she would succeed at our challenge, and after that we just thought we’d get her a fish or something, but she had done so well, and had talked at length about how she wanted a dog, we didn’t have the heart to tell her no. About a month before her birthday, we learned that some friends who run a small farm outside of town had just been blessed with a litter of puppies. They didn’t know who had sired them, but by the looks of it their sheep dog had made friends with a wild wolf. They asked us if we wanted one of the pups, and Elara heard and begged for us to go see the puppies. I wanted to say ‘no’ but she had done so well with her chores that I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her like that.

There were seven puppies in total, but Elara had eyes for only one. It was the runt of the litter, this small, pitiful thing that wasn’t getting enough of its mother’s milk to sustain it. Our friends said it wouldn’t likely see it through the week, which only made Elara more convinced that she needed to save it.

We took the pup then and there, much earlier than we should have – to leave it would have been to let it die. At the time I thought this a rather good outcome, actually, since the puppy would no doubt die, Elara would learn a hard lesson about death, and we wouldn’t have to worry about looking after a dog.

But, my sweetheart is a stubborn one. She took such great care of that little dog. She would soak a rag in goats milk for it to suckle, and it would sleep wrapped in a blanket against her chest by the fire each night. Sure enough, after a time it started to grow. It moved from milk to sops – bread soaked in milk – and then, eventually, on to meat, and we needed to come to terms with the idea that little Barnacles, here, was now a part of the family.”

Elias looks down at the dog, “you’re one of us now, aren’t you, you stupid cur.”

Turning back to you, he says, “anyway, Elara was just as dutiful to her late mother, when she became ill the following winter. It seems she got the lesson about ‘death’ that I had imagined, but not the one I had hoped for.

She’s a carer, that one.”

Elias's career

If asked what he does (or did) for a job, Elias responds:

Oh, I was a privateer. I transported shipments of specialty goods up and down the Sword Coast for a range of different customers in my cog, Needle. These days, however, I’m semi-retired… I don’t tend to take many jobs, but occasionally the call of the open ocean and a clear horizon gets too loud, and so I’ll take a job again, here and there. Actually Needle is currently loaded up with a shipment of mining supplies that I am to transport to the Moonshae Isles the day after tomorrow.

Darius Thorne

If asked who Darius Thorne is:

That young upstart is not worth the energy it takes to think about him. His father however, Silas Thorne, is a different story. Silas built an empire out of nothing, by establishing a protection racket for vessels docking in Port Llast. Not particularly honest work, but to be fair, captains who pay can expect their ships to be safe and secure, and so long as you pay your fair share, you have nothing to worry about. Given the position he is in, Silas himself is actually quite a reasonable man, so much so that I think I’d much rather have him in that position, than whichever unknown quantity would undoubtedly come along to fill his shoes if he were gone.

But Darius, that boy was born with a chip on his shoulder. Whereas Silas built an empire, Darius is grew up knowing he would inherit one. It’s made him arrogant, self-important and – well – brattish. He seems constantly determined to prove that he can live up to his father, but is always trying to prove it by showing everyone else how much power he has over them. I don’t look forward to the day Darius inherits Silas’s business, if it should ever happen, because I think it will be a dark day for Port Llast.

What Darius wants

If asked what Darius wants, or why he was accosting Elias in the street, Elias reponds:

Some years ago I used to own a magical artifact known as the Leviathan’s Tear. It was a gem that allowed its user to navigate safely through an otherwise impassable region of reefs and shoals to the south-west of Port Llast. It meant that a privateer’s vessel could travel between Port Llast and Neverwinter without receiving any unwanted attention during a large part of the journey, which made me quite a popular service for clients who preferred discretion when moving goods to and from Neverwinter.

I lost the gem a long time ago, but chose not to inform any of my clientele – since I was generally a good smuggler anyway, and I liked the money it brought me.

Still, Darius has learned that I used to own the gem, and he’s decided that he wants it for himself, no doubt he wants to prove himself to his father, or anyone else who might doubt him, by re-establishing a secure smuggling route.

I’ve told him many times that I no longer have the Leviathan’s Tear, but he simply doesn’t believe me, and he thinks that if he scares me enough, I’ll give it to him.

Today when he was threatening me I did see some doubt in his eyes, like maybe he did believe me, but just couldn’t bring himself to back down because he was afraid it might make him look weak. I’m a good judge of character, and I would wager that he actually now believes I don’t have it any more, and he won’t bother me again.

Elara's "glow"

If the characters ask why Elara has a faint glow to her, read the following:

I'm surprised you noticed - most people don't. It's nothing really; just that Elara was sickly when she was younger, and the magical remedy that cured her, left her with this very faint glow.

Elias is not prepared to elaborate further at this point, though the characters will discover the truth of the glow in Chapter 4.

Elias's questions for the party

If the characters' questions for Elias stop, then he will ask them about themselves, his questions may include:

• What brings you to Port Llast?
• How long are you in town for?
• What do you do for a living?
• Have you ever been to Port Llast before?
• IF NO: What do you think of it so far?
• IF YES: When was the last time you came?
• Are you usually in the business of helping random strangers in the streets?
• What are you passionate about? What are you personal goals and aspirations?

Commotion

After the characters are well acquainted with Elias and Elara, have them all make a DC22 perception check.

• Pass: The players hear the faint sound of voices outside which seem a bit more urgent than normal. If they go outside to investigate they can see a flickering orange glow from down at the docks. If they ask one of the people running that way what is happening, they explain there’s a fire at the docks and it’s out of hand.
• Fail: [tell the players they notice something different] – after five minutes, a neighbour knocks rapidly at Elias’s front door. When he answers the door the neighbour tells him that there’s an out of control fire at the docks.

However the players learn about the fire, read the following once they have learned of it.

Elias looks at you with panic in his eyes. “Needle is down there,” he says, “and those mining supplies; they’re explosives. If the fire reaches my cargo hold, it could be devastating for Port Llast. I don’t have time to fetch my crew. Please, come with me to the docks and help me move Needle away from the fire before it’s too late.”

He looks over to Elara, “lock the door and stay inside until we’re back.”

If the characters insist that Elara comes with them, Elias doesn’t want her to, believing it may be dangerous. However, if the players insist he will agree, and when they get to the docks he will tell her to wait somewhere safe while he and the party go to deal with Needle.