Saga Genesis

The party departed Barovia and phased back into Faerun overnight on the road, arriving back on the high road between Neverwinter and Waterdeep in Ches of 1493.

They encountered a mysterious woman on the road who revealed herself to be Harlan's sister, following in his footsteps and hoping to run into him. She gave her name as Saga and joined the party.

When making camp for the night, the party was guided by moonlight to a cave in the swamp near the side of the road, surrounded by primitive traps. Inside, they found evidence of a recent battle, with dead Bullywugs, and Sahuagin and a single Drow who had fallen to their traps and poisons, if not their outright martial ability. Lanzu discovered cages containing human corpses, which he determined to be human captives who had died of malnourishment when their captors were killed.

Zeela determined that the Sahuagin were followers of Sekolah, the shark God, and deeper in the cavern Kassodar found the entrance to a larger, ancient temple to Sekolah. There were more dead Bullywugs in the temple, leading the party to conclude that the temple had been abandoned at some point, became infested by Bullywugs, and the Sahuagin were attempting to reclaim it.

Exploring the main chamber of the temple, the party discovered a Wereshark statue on the central altar with its hands broken off. Lanzu went back to check the Drow corpse when he was grabbed by a tentacle from the pools to the side, and was promptly swallowed whole by a Froghemoth. The party overcame the two Froghemoths, but not in time to stop Lanzu from being digested.

Efforts to revive Lanzu failed, and as his soul departed his body, it activated a prophetic display in the temple. The various specks of light floating in the chamber were snuffed out by shadowy tentacles rising up from the abyss.