Gary has spent some time interviewing travelers and asking questions of the citizens of Westview and has heard a rumor of a Lizard King leading a corrupted tribe of lizardfolk and suspects that this tribe may be involved in the massacre of his tribe. It’s probably best not to speculate on exactly what form these interviews may have taken. With this new information Gary suggests they head south to the coast and try to find the pirates that Bob at Dwarfo’s Cove mentioned, thinking that perhaps they’ve seen some sign of the Lizard King or his followers as they sail along the coastline.

The party travels down to the bridge and camps there, establishing a basic defensible campsite with a simple set of wooden palisades, then continues on in the morning heading toward the coast to try to find the pirates they’ve heard about. AS they skirt a marshy area Donweeeeeigh appears nervous and the party notices a manticore circling overhead, sizing them up for a meal. They pull the cart and Donweeeeeeigh off to the side of the path under some trees where the manticore can’t get to it directly and then move to engage as the manticore lands and advances on them. Reg sprints to the front and lays some kung fu on the manticore but gets himself badly hurt before the party can move up to support him. Gary dispatches the manticore shortly thereafter and skins it to make himself a cape out of its wings. They also remove the head to use as a sort of figurehead on the cart and Reed somehow manages to extract several doses of poison from the beast, despite it not being venomous.

A few miles further down the path they come to the coast and shortly after that stumble across a town dominated by a large stone keep with a stone jetty extending into a small sheltered bay. The jetty has a small frigate and a sloop riding at anchor both flying unfamiliar flags, so the party suspects they’ve found the pirates. They enter the village which is small but relatively neat and clean and make inquires at the tavern about the situation. The bar keep doesn’t know anything about lizard people but suggest they talk to a Captain Ardent, the leader of the pirate band for more information.