The Lost Treasure of Captain Grigorivic

 Captain Grigorivic was one of the great pirates of the Sea of Dread a hundred years ago. From AC 891 to AC 920 he was the scourge of the seas, raiding Karameikos, Thyatis, Minrothrad and the Five Shires in his ship the Bloodied Rose. He and his crew accumulated a king's ransom in treasure - some say worth half a million gold pieces. 

In 919 he buried a large amount on an island off the Serpent Peninsula - not just some simple pit, but a carefully constructed vault built into a repurposed native temple. There were certain puzzles and traps set with specific solutions by his most trusted crewmen. Once they had set all the traps, Grigorivic killed them to keep them silent. He was the only one who knew how to circumvent the traps. 

Flint's Treasure, Jul 13, 2018 by OliverInk

He and the rest of his crew sailed away, with Grigorivic creating his own map to find the same island and native temple. Grigorivic continued his reign of piracy on the high seas in the Bloodied Rose for another year until AC 930 when his luck ran out. While trying to reach the port of Vlaad the Bloodied Rose ran into the reefs northeast of Fletcher Island and was wrecked. Captain Grigorivic went down with the ship along with with his map to the island and the native temple. 

The wreck of the Bloodied Rose is dangerous to anyone venturing inside. First of all it is under 50 feet of seawater, with only the top of the mast sticking above the waves at low tide. Anyone going down to the wreck had either be able to breathe underwater or be really good at holding their breath. Captain Grigorivic is still in charge, this time as a wight, commanding a quite literal skeleton crew with the bo'sun' and first mate as ghouls. The local wildlife is not too friendly either, with bull and mako sharks patrolling the area. However, should adventurers find their way into the captain's cabin they will find his chest which contains a decent amount of treasure in itself (acquired in the year after burying his main hoard). More importantly they will find the map that leads to the island. 

The wreck of the Bloodied Rose has been discovered by local fishermen who in turn alerted Darionus Astor, a merchant of Darokin based in Athenos who specialises in salvaging from wrecks. His team, based on the ship The Valiant Porpoise, used their Helmets of Water Breathing to dive down. They managed to confirm the identity of the ship but were then attacked by the undead crew. One diver was killed, another was injured and had to be pulled back to the Valiant Porpoise by the other two surviving divers while being chased by sharks who sensed blood in the water. 

After retreating back to Athenos for resupply and academic research, Darionus has decided the Bloodied Rose is worth another attempt, this time with adventurers who can fend off any monstrous threats. Darionus is willing to split the treasure but as a classic Darokinian he will try to negotiate the best deal, although he will refuse to help the adventurers if his cut is less than 30%. Given the treasure map could lead to much greater riches, the PCs could accept this split.