The Cozinar Islands

Chapter One — The Smokepowder Conspiracy

The adventure begins in Murann, a bustling port city on the Sword Coast, where six strangers arrive at the Dangreena River Inn seeking employment. Their prospective employer, Captain Degee, is investigating a smuggling operation involving strange weapons being transported along the coast.

Before the adventurers can properly introduce themselves, assassins attack the captain inside the inn. The party drives them off, but their leader, a mysterious sailor named Havilat, escapes into the rainy streets of Murann. Their investigation reveals that the smugglers are transporting weapons disguised as magical wands, devices that rely upon an unstable substance known as smokepowder.

Degee hires the group to intercept an incoming shipment at a secluded coastal cove. The operation becomes a chaotic battle involving kobolds, mysterious winged smugglers, and a burning ship. Although the smugglers escape, the party recovers a chest containing three flintlock pistols, ammunition, and spoiled smokepowder.

Their return to Murann is no less eventful. A mysterious assassin uses enchanted fey creatures to ambush them along the road, and when they finally reach the Dangreena Inn, they discover that it has been seized by armed men demanding the stolen weapons. The party defeats the attackers, rescues the innkeeper, and learns that the smugglers are becoming increasingly desperate to recover their cargo.

Their next destination is the island of Lantan, renowned for its gnomish engineers and inventors. Traveling aboard Captain Degee’s ship, the Marlin, the adventurers encounter a derelict vessel infested with undead sailors and sahuagin priestesses. After a dangerous confrontation at sea, they reach Lantan and begin investigating the origins of the mysterious firearms.

Their inquiries lead to the Engineers’ Guild, where the weapons are identified as the work of two apprentices, Orgott and Warren Harrold. Both had studied under Master Namin, an inventor obsessed with combining magic and technology.

Following a lead to an abandoned warehouse, the party discovers Orgott imprisoned among murderous mechanical dolls and a horrific creature assembled from his dead master’s remains and a suit of armor. After defeating the monstrosity, they learn that Warren has fled to the distant Cozinar Islands.

A note left behind suggests that the surviving apprentice knows something important about the smuggling operation. The investigation has led the adventurers far from Murann, but their journey is only beginning.

Chapter Two — The Isle of Black Powder

After an undocumented stretch of their travels, the adventurers arrive in Avarua, the capital of Rarotonga in the Cozinar Islands. There, they are welcomed by the local authorities and hired to investigate a wizard who has established a tower outside the city and begun demanding tolls from travelers.

The expedition leads to a confrontation with a bizarre half-monkey, half-demon creature, which the party defeats before returning to Avarua. Armed with new charts, Captain Degee sets sail for the Isle of Black Powder, where the party hopes to uncover the source of the mysterious weapons.

The island proves considerably stranger than expected. The adventurers encounter ghostly figures emerging from the sea, enormous dinosaurs, giant spiders, and a talking tortle that identifies their destination as the Isle of Dread. They eventually make contact with a village of raccoon-like humanoids, who explain that pirates have established a smokepowder manufacturing operation inside the island’s volcano. Worse, the runoff from the operation is poisoning the island’s rivers, threatening the inhabitants and surrounding wilderness.

The party agrees to put an end to the pirates’ operation and sets out through the jungle toward the volcanic plateau. Their journey takes a disastrous turn when they encounter several young green dragons. During the battle, Fraeiyn decides to deploy an entire barrel of smokepowder against one of the creatures. The resulting explosion is catastrophic.

The blast kills two of his companions, Robin Brightwave and Lord Tamikos, and sets the river ablaze. Although the surviving adventurers defeat the dragons, their victory comes at a terrible price.

The following morning, a wandering lizardfolk warrior discovers the aftermath, casually begins eating one of the dead dragons, and agrees to guide the survivors toward the volcano. Armed with an enormous greatsword, he becomes the party’s newest companion.

Pressing onward, the adventurers destroy a pirate shipment of smokepowder and fight their way into a fortified outpost guarding an elevator to the volcanic plateau. At the summit, they discover a sprawling operation involving dozens of armed pirates, enslaved workers, and flying dinosaurs used as mounts. The party defeats the defenders and makes its way into the volcano’s caldera, where a lake surrounds a central island. There, they encounter Trevor, a moon elf connected to the mysterious Havilat, alongside a magician and an enormous mechanical bear.

After another battle, the adventurers reach the center of the island and finally confront Havilat himself. He is preparing to detonate explosives inside the dormant volcano, triggering a catastrophic eruption. The party attacks, but the mountain begins to awaken. With little time remaining, the survivors flee the volcano and narrowly escape aboard the Marlin as the island erupts behind them.

They have survived the Isle of Black Powder, but the conspiracy surrounding it is far from over.

Chapter Three — The Tower of the Tides

With the Isle of Black Powder behind them, the Marlin sails south through the Cozinar archipelago.

A violent storm forces Captain Degee to ground the ship on a sandbar near a mysterious, fog-covered island. While the crew makes repairs, Harold, a halfling cleric of Lathander who has joined the adventurers, recognizes a tower rising above the trees. He has seen it before—in a prophetic vision. Convinced that a map waiting at the top of the tower will reveal their next destination, Harold persuades the party to investigate.

Inside, the adventurers encounter a series of strange magical trials. Elementals battle one another before turning upon the party, a restless specter guards an upper chamber, and a deadly puzzle threatens to bury the heroes beneath a rising mixture of sand and water.

They eventually reach the top of the tower, but find no map. Instead, a mysterious woman awaits them. As she begins to speak, an explosion interrupts their conversation. Another ship has arrived and is attacking the Marlin in the bay below. The woman gestures. Time stops.

Revealing herself as an avatar of Selûne, the goddess of the Moon, she explains that ancient Primordial Lords are attempting to return to Faerûn. Their plans involve unleashing creatures of unimaginable destructive power, including the legendary tarrasque, to wage war against the forces currently ruling the world.

The adventurers have become entangled in this conflict, and Selûne offers them both healing and a chance to intervene. With a final gesture, she transports the party directly onto the deck of the attacking ship. The vessel belongs to the Order of the Flame, the same mysterious organization involved in the events on the Isle of Black Powder.

The adventurers defeat the monks and warriors aboard, but discover that the attack was merely a distraction. Someone has stolen George, an infant tarrasque traveling aboard the Marlin. Questioning their prisoners, the party learns that George has been taken to Talamore Island, a pirate stronghold controlled by an ancient and sinister force.

The adventurers seize charts from the captured ship, abandon its surviving crew on the island, and destroy the vessel before returning to the Marlin. Their next destination is Talamore. The fate of an infant creature capable of someday destroying the entire world now rests in their hands.

Chapter Four — The Darkness of Talamore

After a week’s voyage, the Marlin approaches Talamore Island. Rather than sail directly into the pirates’ harbor, the adventurers land on a remote stretch of coastline and begin making their way overland toward the island’s fortress. The journey takes them through dangerous wilderness, where they encounter bizarre marine creatures and a wounded chimera that has apparently escaped an earlier battle with the pirates.

Eventually, the party reaches a cliff overlooking the stronghold. Their assault begins with the lizardfolk warrior climbing down the rock face with Harold strapped to his back, while the others follow or provide support from above. The improvised attack succeeds, and the adventurers defeat the pirates guarding the courtyard.

Inside the fortress, however, they discover that their enemies are not ordinary smugglers. The halls are filled with unnatural creatures, including gibbering horrors covered in eyes and mouths, monstrous insects, black puddings, and minotaurs. Strange magical devices and arcane chambers suggest that the pirates have been experimenting with forces far beyond their understanding.

Deep within the complex, the adventurers encounter a mysterious tentacled creature seated upon a throne, guarded by bizarre one-eyed monsters. Speaking telepathically, it informs them that George will not be returned. The creature escapes through a magical mirror, leaving its guardians behind.

Elsewhere in the fortress, the party fights its way through armed pirates, bugbears, and a dragonborn warrior wielding a flaming sword. During their exploration, they encounter Felock, a tiefling warlock from Luskan who claims to understand the terrible events unfolding on the island. Felock warns them about Ytholic, an outsider summoned into the world through forbidden magic. According to the warlock, Ytholic has taken George and is exerting control over the pirates. The adventurers eventually discover the summoning chamber, its floor and walls covered in strange arcane symbols. The evidence confirms that something extraordinarily dangerous has been brought into their world. Continuing deeper into the complex, the party encounters bizarre magical traps and puzzles, including a mysterious set of cards that bestows gifts upon Booth before summoning a supernatural opponent to challenge him.

Their search eventually brings them back to Felock. This time, the warlock is considerably less cooperative. When the party refuses to leave his sanctum, Felock attacks, assisted by armed pirates and the same tentacled creature encountered earlier. A fierce battle follows, ending with the defeat of both spellcasters. But the deepest horrors of Talamore are still waiting.

In a cavern beneath the fortress, the adventurers discover a pool covered in black slime. As they approach, the air warps and darkens. A vortex opens, and enormous tentacles emerge from the shadows. An aboleth rises from the water. The creature assaults the adventurers with terrifying illusions of alien dimensions, attempting to overwhelm their minds with visions beyond mortal comprehension. After a desperate battle, the party finally defeats the monster.

Chapter Five — Trouble in Avarua

After their ordeal on Talamore, the adventurers return to sea aboard the Marlin, eventually docking once again in Avarua. For the first time in weeks, they have an opportunity to relax. The party spends several days selling treasure, purchasing equipment, drinking, and enjoying the comforts of civilization. Booth finds companionship and gets into a fight, Fraeiyn returns to his tinkering at a local forge, Harold takes up shoemaking, and the lizardfolk warrior discovers the pleasures of beer and a comfortable bed.

Their respite is short-lived. A young genasi child approaches the adventurers with a desperate request for help. Armed men accompanied by figures in red robes have attacked a local church, burned the building, and abducted its priestess. The party agrees to investigate.

Examining the ruins, they discover bootprints resembling those worn by the local guards. Following the child’s advice, they question an elderly drunkard who may have witnessed the attack. His account points toward the governor’s keep. The attackers, he claims, came from the seat of the island’s own government. With a new mystery before them, the adventurers gather to discuss their next move.

The surviving campaign journal ended there. If I recall correctly, we literally stormed the castle, and ended up fighting some sort of avatar. We discovered then how overpowered a lizardman barbarian with a greatsword could be when buffed up approproately.