With spring in full bloom in Ptolus and the party facing several choices, Ebrahim pressed to pursue the lead on the Vladaam Shivvel Distribution Center, and the rest of the party agreed.

First, some scouting was in order.  Heading to the address in the South Market, you found a tavern called the Savage Shark attached to a small warehouse.   The tavern was only open in the evenings and served lackluster food and drink.  

The warehouse was the home to several vendor cars, which sold flowers, tobacco, and other small items as they made their way around the district.  Certain there was more going on, you waited until evening to explore further.

After the dinner hour, an appearance by Godfred Vladaam at the tavern brought out the rumors from the locals that the Vladaams were the new owners - Godfred seemed to come and go as he pleased.   As Carric and Raelen continued to stakeout the tavern, Ebrahim, very interested in Godfred, trailed him back to the Noble’s Quarter.

Meanwhile, Phen decided to check out the now-closed warehouse.  Deftly unlocking the back door, he made his way in, examined the crates inside, and found traces of shivvel.  Clearly the small vendor carts were being used as cover.  But most crates were empty, which made sense since a new shivvel supply was expected in a few days.  As Phen hid in the crates, first one and then a second Hellhound “guard dog” appeared.  

The Hellhounds sniffed the air, but couldn’t locate Phen until he tried to report what he had found via the magic earpiece - his voice gave him away.  The beasts poised to attack, and when Phen’s chaositech binding bomb failed to hold them, he quickly retreated out the way he came.

The party regrouped, and planned.  You would return on Friday, when the Shivvel was to arrive, and trace the supply back to its source.  Friday came and all took their places around the building.  In late morning, you saw Godfred enter, and then more Vladaam thugs than usual.  By mid-day, you could hear activity inside, but no-one as yet came out.   The supply must have arrived via means you didn’t understand.  But the time was still ripe to strike - you burst in through the back door to the warehouse.

Chaos erupted almost immediately.  Several thugs, a higher-up boss, and Godfred himself were spread throughout the building.  As the thugs advanced, Carric threw a Hunger of Hadar spell into the north end of the warehouse, catching Godfred and the boss, and cutting the Vladdam forces in two.

Raelen raced into the warehouse and cut down a thug, with Phen following.   Ebrahim held back, preparing  . . .  something.  An injured thug transformed into an enormous werewolf and nearly gutted Phen, as another threw magical discs, clearly taken from the Banewarrens, in an attempt to cut down Carric, literally.  Ebrahim then entered the warehouse and found his attempts to reach Godfred thwarted by Carric’s spell.

As the Vladaam minions in the warehouse were defeated one by one, the party split up and made their way around to the tavern.   Phen headed to unlock a back door, while Ebrahim, in the front of the building, saw Godfred exit the tavern.  Godfred saw Ebrahim too, and it seemed he knew him: he charged Ebrahim wielding a menacing two-handed, clearly magical sword.  Ebrahim drew first blood, however, as his Elven Dagger, coated with some vile concoction, bit into Godfred for a massive wound.  Godfred screamed and reeled but countered with four huge swings at Ebrahim.

Meanwhile, at the back door, Phen unlocked and opened the door, only to find it magically trapped: a large wave of thunder washed over him.  Inside, the Vladaam boss and a hellhound waited, the hellhound standing on something akin to a dumb waiter.  Phen rushed in and set off his Exploding Leather Armor, engulfing the room in a fireball.  The rope on the dumb waiter gave way, and the Hellhound crashed to the floor below!  The boss then laid into Phen with his sword.

Godfred was now under attack from Carric, and Raelen appeared from around the corner and took out the last thug.  Realizing he was outnumbered, Godfred retreated toward the tavern entrance.  Ebrahim found him again, and kept the pressure on with flaming arrow strikes.

In the rear of the building, the boss ignited his sword in some evil mystical flame and ran at Phen.  The flame ignited the boss himself, and he continued to burn as Phen counter-attacked and dodged his way into the tavern.

The two battles converged in the tavern, where Godfred made his way toward the back exit.  Phen fired what should have been the killing blow, but somehow Godfred continued to stand.  Godfred then activated some soft of magic, and fled out the back at high speed.   Ebrahim raced after him and had one last chance to bring him down before he reached the street.  He fired three shots from his Circlet of Blasting, hitting Godfred squarely.  The burly Vladaam fell to the pavement with a lifeless thud.  Not satisfied with the kill as-is, Ebrahim moved to the body and used the Chaositech Ooze Dagger to dissolve Godfred’s head into a gruesome puddle.

Back at the tavern, the boss was finally able to extinguish the flames that plagued him, but as he fled out the front an Eldritch Blast from Carric ended him.

The battle, for the moment, was over.  But several things were still to be done: the Hellhounds lurked in the basement, a search for evidence of the Shivvel trade had to be done, and there were now two bodies outside (one directly in front of the tavern doors) at mid-day . . .