Wilderlands

The following morning, the Inn's main common room is surprisingly devoid of patrons. Upon talking with the innkeeper, our group learns that the local military is gearing up for an upcoming battle. There is also talk of an unknown maritime weapon known as a 'sea sweeper'. Despite a life lived mostly at sea, even Jinx has not heard such a term mentioned before.
Afflicted by curiosity and a touch of cabin fever, Zache, Aelie, Jheri, and Jinx, sneak out of the tavern by way of Zache's invisibility spell (except Aelie, who uses her hat of disguise), while Eloreth stays behind at the Inn to guard the dragon eggs. Wandering toward one of the city's docks, they find that ships are indeed being reinforced and outfitted with mounts for weaponry, although what kind of weaponry is still undetermined. Large barrels loaded onto carts are being stored in warehouses along the docks. It is then that our adventurers decide to take the opportunity and make an attempt at sabotaging the military vessels. While Aelie puts on a captivating performance as means of distraction, Zache, Jheri, and Jinx go to work on the two ships. What began as a small-scale operation quickly turned into attempts at total demolition and soon the ships were both partly engulfed in flame and taking on a fair amount of water.
As all of this is happening, Ravel happened to also come into port and is involuntarily dragged along by Arelie as our group retreats back to the safety of the Inn.

As our adventurers neared the city of Modron, Eloreth took on the likeness of the Pearl Merchant, whom our group of adventurers had presumed dead. All seemed to be well and everyone dispersed to see to their various affairs. Eloreth, still in the guise of the Pearl Merchant, took to the streets and caused a scene out in front of the city prison, hoping that bystanders might believe the old man to have gone insane. It wasn't until the following morning that a group of city guards came marching through the streets with none other than the real Pearl Merchant in tow. Soon thereafter, Jheri and Jinx found themselves on the receiving end of accusations ranging from conspiracy to commit fraud, to premeditated murder. The two were arrested and ushered away to the temple of Mitra, where they were to stand trial before the priesthood. Luckily, Aelie and Zache quickly came to the rescue before the two snarky teenagers could talk themselves into even deeper trouble.
Although the charges against the group were dismissed by the high priest, our merry band of misfits was to remain under house arrest at their Inn for the next two days (when Aelie's commissioned potion would be finished). After that, they would be banned from the city of Modron indefinitely. That night at the inn, Zache, Aelie, Eloreth, and Tharivol discussed the hypothetical scenario of slaying the sea serpent that attacked the boat in the estuary. Evidently the Mitrans (are they Mitrans or are they Modronians... 'cause they worship Mitra but live in Modron??? I don't even know anymore...) are planning an attack on the merfolk after the mysterious turn of events that took place in the waters to the North. Eloreth managed to uncover an undergound cult of Modron by chatting with a drunken sailor. Jinx and Jheri have been very studious and deriving a surprising amount entertainment from their assigned reading materials.

After recovering the three dragon eggs (and a fair bit of gold coin) from the unsuspecting merfolk, the sea goddess, Modran, destroyed the small boat with which they had traversed the waters to reach the estuary. Although the pearl merchant became a casualty of the circumstance, the boat's owner survived and joined our travelers as they now had to hike their way back to the city on foot. Along the way, Jinx invites the boatsman (who was now boat-less) to join the crew of the Maverick. After coming across a statue of the god Prodeus, Zache declares that both Jheri and Jinx are in need of some supplemental education in subjects such as persuasion, geography, and....the much dreaded, proper etiquette. While the Dragonborn and the Tabaxi don't seem too keen on this prospect, it appears, at least for now, that they will have little say in the matter. In the meantime, everyone is learning a good deal more about 'The Arena', which according to the boatsman, is a place where convicted criminals pay their debts to society in a trial-by-combat system.