Adventure Help NEEDED,FAST!

Hi folks poor man with writers block ticking away his hours...
Got this problem at hand:
May group split up, one left, two stayed, two new entered...
We had a short adventure on a SJ-ship so the characters could get to know
one another.
the 'older' characters: A wizard, companion to a cleric who are on a
mission for the clerics temple to retrieve a stolen artefact, they'll
have to continue to hunt for a specific person after arriving on their
next port. BTW they're not the Ships owners, just passengers.

the 'newcomers'(No, it's not Alien Nation):A fighter who's chief of security
on board of the ship, workers passage, his last trip on board and at last
a thief (okok, he's an Adventurer) who's on the run, and just got the
passage as cook (due to internal crew struggle the last cook has been
thrown over board just before depature and the Adventurers arrivel) Yeah,
talking about timing...

I just have to keep them together after they arrived in their next port
to go searching for the stolen artefact
For those who'd like to know: the Artefact is a wooden case on it is an
inlayed Compasses rose (sorry if I got it wrong, I'm just german;))
If you open it up you will find two interconnected brassrings and an
obsidian needle.
To all those who know the movie Warlock yes, it looks like the
Witchcompass but it can be used to call and find the Spelljammer.....
Did I say this will turn out to be High Fantasy....:)
Thanx for your time...
Carsten.