The party rested up for the night and left the next morning with Stormlord Arden to sail for Mintern and then Waterdeep. The voyage was uneventful as Stormlord Arden was an experienced captain and able to easily avoid the pirates.

They arrived late the next day to Mintern and headed to the main tavern. They met the owner Bloeth Embuirhan who shared that most of the town was out on the ocean catching their fill.

Stormlord Arden informed Bloeth Embuirhan that they were here to investigate the lack of mercenaries for Waterdeep. Bloeth Embuirhan shared that there could be a couple of reasons. Bloeth Embuirhan shared that there is a Red Dragon, Hoondarrh, that lives on the north shore of the island in a cave. Hoondarrh is an Ancient Red Dragon that has gotten lazy in his old age and doesn’t not attack the village if he is provided his tribute of a wagon or fish and a cow once a month. Bloeth Embuirhan shared that some mercenaries do test their luck now and then to steal from Hoondarrh’s massive hoard. Sadly, those that try Hoondarrh never return.

Bloeth Embuirhan then shared that he has also heard of mercenaries that have swum out to explore the underwater ruins of Narino just south of the island. Although he has never seen it, he has heard stories of mercenaries in a trance swimming out towards the ruins never to return.

The party discussed whether to seek Hoondarrh’s treasure but first decided to investigate the ruins of Narino.

The party rested for the night and headed out for the ruins the next morning. They could easily see the ruins under the clear water and reached the entrance quickly. They could see that the ruins involved three or four buildings and found their way to the entrance.

The party followed the long curving hallway with Kaelen bringing up the rear due to his slower swimming speed.

Following a smooth, spiraling corridor led them to a domed chamber with a gallery above. The chamber was lit by some magical light which caused the pearls set into the architraves to glisten. Dozens of tiny fish flittered in shoals around the chamber and crustaceans scuttled across the floor.

They observed that the large chamber had three alcoves. The party observed that one alcove held the statue of a gargoyle while the other two alcoves were occupied by the bodies of mercenaries.

Suddenly, a lithe female swum down from above and asked them in their minds:

“Why are you here? What is your purpose”

The party explained they were here to search for missing mercenaries and Mei Ling responded:

“I was so hungry. I am so hungry!”

Mei Ling attacked! First she attempted to bite the party members and then unsheathed her sword and swung at the party. The party could see that Mei Ling was a vampire. The party all descended on Mei Ling and attacked in unison. They were achieving the upper hand when Mei Ling was able to charm Evan David and turn him on his compatriots. Evan David struck his allies with the same rage he had struck Mei Ling with.

The party was able to eventually end the charm on Evan David. Mei Ling was enraged and animated and ordered her Gaygoyle to then attack. The party was able to wear down both Mei Ling and the Gargoyle and were eventually victorious.

Mei Ling’s body dissolved into a swarm of quippers that quickly swam away. The party became alarmed and realized they need to find Mei Ling’s crypt to permanently kill her body before she reformed.

After the battle, multiple party members spotted that bubbles on the wall seemed to match the outline of a door. The party members pushed and opened a secret door that led to Mei Ling’s crypt.

The crypt contained a large black mahogany coffin that Evan David lifted the top off of. This revealed a skeleton that was in the processes of reforming. While the party started to sharpen a wooden torch into a stake, Tarin attacked the corpse for good measure. Finally, the wooden stake was driven through where her heart should have been and the corpse stopped reforming. Evan David lifted the lid off of the coffin and replaced it, sealing Mei Ling inside to hopefully never to be disturbed.

After Mei Ling was dealt with, the party returned to the main chamber to examine the bodies of the mercenaries. The party saw that both mercenaries had puncture marks and were drained of blood. Evan David also re-examined the walls of the chambers and the pearls. Evan David smashed the wall and 23 pearls fell out to be collected by the party.

The party moved on to explore the three other crypts. The next crypt opened into a small chamber containing dozens of weapons and shields, and a large stone sarcophagus sculpted with scenes of battle. The weapons in the chamber were made of sharp coral, shell and the like and were still functional. Evan David once again lifted the lid revealing that inside was the skeleton of a merfolk holding a shield made of an enormous scallop shell and a +1 spear. The party gathered these up and continued on.

The second crypt revealed that growing from the walls of this chamber were dozens of oysters in a thick matt of mossy seaweed. The stone sarcophagus was decorated with streams of mother of pearl in a swirling pattern reminiscent of a whirlpool. The sarcophagus was covered with barnacles. Evan David once again lifted the lid off and revealed that inside was the skeleton of a merfolk holding an enormous pearl which revealed itself to be a crystal ball of mind reading. Kaelen retrieved the crystal ball.

The final crypt revealed hundreds of glyphs and symbols covering the walls of this chamber in interlocking circles and spirals. The stone sarcophagus had different metals inlaid into it in a coiling motif. Evan David once again opened the sarcophagus revealing a skeleton of a merfolk interred with a staff of withering and a circlet of blasting. The party gathered the items and this caused a Sea Wraith to form and attack! The party efficiently dealt with the Sea Wraith and moved to explore the second floor on the ruins.

Following a spiral ramp up the side of the boulder led the party to an empty chamber. The walls of this room had hundreds, if not thousands of nooks cut into them, each of which held a thin sheet of dark grey stone.

The party explored the sheets of dark grey stone and estimated that each of the 1,450 sheets were worth 25 gold pieces each. The party stopped to evaluate their next steps.