Chapter 6: Thousand-Teeth the Devourer

Written by Skarth Diem to Dronaet Klingstone

In the morning, we gathered at the docks and the Town Council talked to us about their concerns before we left. They were worried that the lizard people might pose a danger to the town and that we were intending to walk in and hand over weapons to them. We assured them that we intended to talk to their Queen first and establish why they needed the weapons before we unloaded anything from the ship.

At one point I made an off-hand comment about making sure they continued to develop the defences of the town and suddenly I was being shouted at. It was scary. I don’t know what I did wrong and all I wanted to do was get away. It was quite a relief when we finally boarded the ship to be greeted by Captain Duthrem and his new crew.

I scuttled down and into the cabin so that I could get away from the council members with their glowering faces.

Having learnt from the previous journey aboard the ship, I brought with me a small clay cooking pot that I had put soil into and transplanted a small version of the local shrubs that grow around here. I thought that since this type of plant is regularly exposed to the sea winds and the salty air then it would be able to cope with being in that sort of environment on the ship.

After a discussion the previous evening, Mrs Fisher turned up at the docks with a closed basket full of freshly caught crabs and other fresh seafood. This was to be a gift for the Queen that seemed appropriate but in no way could be used as a weapon against us.

We pulled out from the dock at first light and I was able to do my dawn ceremony on the deck of the ship using the pot plant as the focus of my “song of the morning” and “song of wellbeing”.

Captain Duthrem paced back and forth on the poop deck at the back of the ship, watching his new crew as they pulled on ropes and wound them around things and did all those other things that sailors do. There was a bit of shouting back and forth, which I eventually learned was a normal part of sailing one of these ships since they all had to make sure they did their roles in a synchronised way.

Mirik and the other two lizard men seemed delighted to wander the decks and gaze at the passing coast. The pseudo-dragon that was with them seemed very playful and I had a great deal of fun trying to make friends with it by offering it food. Oceanis also came with us and seemed eager to find out about the lizard people and what they were doing.

During the voyage, I became very excited to see a large group of dolphins that played for a while in the wave formed at the bow of the ship. I had heard of these creatures and it was very exciting to see them. They looked so powerful swimming through the water and it was wonderful to see them leap out of the water and splash back down. I don’t know what purpose they had in doing that – I can only assume they did it for fun.

Later on, I saw a pair of sharks slinking through the water as they hunted for food beneath the waves.

It took us about three hours to sail down the coast to the spot where we were to meet the lizard people. Mirik pointed out a sea cave at the entrance to the Dunwater River. Captain Duthrem yelled orders and the crew lowered the small boat over the side of the ship. This was the small boat that we had taken from the smugglers and was now stored on the deck of the Sea Ghost. We all crowded onto the boat and Captain Duthrem took the ship further away from the coast as protection until we could signal that it was safe for them to return and unload the weapons.

We pulled the boat up onto the beach in the sea cave. There were guards there and Mirik had a quick conversation with them in his own language – I assume he was explaining what was going on. Some of the guards then formed up an escort to take us through to the throne room where we would meet with the queen of the tribe.

We were led through a series of sea caves that included pools that appeared to link through underground tunnels to the sea. In one of the caves, we saw a small group of Koalinth – a tribe who live in the sea. In another cave, there were Locartha – who very much looked like a cross between fish and humans. Then in a third cave, there were Merpeople. I had seen captive Koalinth, but I hadn’t even heard of the others, let alone seen them, so I was pleased to learn new things.

Oceanis became very excited at seeing all these various sea-people tribes represented. He said that he could tell they were there as delegates from their tribes. Then he said that there must be something very big going on to gather such a diverse group together.

We were led away from the sea-caves through a series of tunnels and caves that were occupied by a small community of lizard-people – we estimate that there were maybe 200 of them in total.

Eventually, Mirik and our escort led us to what was obviously the throne room. The throne itself was decorated with carvings of reptiles and there were heads of various animals hung from the wall which Mr Seaforth called hunting trophies.

After a short wait, Queen Othokent and her two advisors (one was called Sauriv) entered the room and the Queen took up her position on the throne. We introduced ourselves and presented the basket of freshly caught seafood. She seemed pleased with the gift.

I got the impression that Queen Othokent was much more familiar with the common trade language and with dealing with humans than Mirik was. Jenny Fisher spoke for us and explained that we had come to learn of the reasons why they were buying weapons and to learn if the threat was also a threat to Saltmarsh.

She informed us that the lizard people had only recently reoccupied this set of caverns. This had once been a border post of theirs but it had been unused for some time. They’d been driven from their ancestral home and taken refuge here. Their home was deeper in the marsh and quite some distance from this place.

Their foe was the Sahuagin, which is some form of sea creature. She described them as ferals who smash eggs and eat children and ravage the settlements of the lizard people. This was why they needed weapons, so they could go back and expel the ferals from their homes. She made it clear that these Sahuagin were a threat to everyone. She said that she didn’t know why, but for some reason, they have recently become more aggressive. The other folk of the sea had sent their delegates and they were all willing to fight but she was concerned that even working together, they may not be enough to overcome the Sahuagin.

We agreed to hand over the weapons that they had paid for. And we let them keep the remainder of the payment that was owed to the smugglers since the smugglers were not in a position to collect it. We also offered our aid in their fight against the Sahuagin.

The queen seemed pleased by our offer but she was uncertain about our nature and she asked us to perform a task to prove our worth.

Apparently, a great crocodile, which they called, “Thousand teeth, the Devourer”, had taken up residence upriver from the caverns. This crocodile had taken the lives of several of the lizard people and made it difficult for them to go out hunting for food. The queen explained that the crocodile was sacred to their people so for them to go out and deliberately slay the crocodile would be very troubling for the lizard people. But if we were to do it, then we would free her people from the danger and she would get a measure of our worth.

We had a very brief discussion together and agreed to take on “Thousand Teeth, the Devourer” for the lizard people. When we told the queen that we agreed, she was very pleased. She asked us to bring back its head – I assume that was so it could be mounted on the wall along with the heads of other creatures that were on display.

The main den of the crocodile was some distance up the river and she would send Mirik with us as a guide.

We talked to Mirik about our options, we could either head straight through the marshes to the lair or we could follow the river. Following the river would take longer but it would be safer because other creatures lived in the swamp that might attack us if we trampled through their territory. We decided to take the boat and make our way up the river. Taking the boat would be even slower, as we would be going upstream, but we would arrive fresher than if we walked all that way.

Mirik provided us with a salve that would keep the biting insects away from us and we set off. The river was slow and meandered back and forth through the swamp. I’d looked out over the edge of the swamp from Saltmarsh, but here we were right in the middle of it. The marsh was wild and green and full of life. It was exciting to see such a new part of nature that I had never seen before. I saw several different types of lizards and snakes and frogs and countless birds. I was hoping to see some smaller crocodiles basking by the river the way I’d been told they do but I didn’t see any of those.