Hi all,

I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017-18, the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign I ran in 2018-19, the ‘Out of the Abyss’, a campaign I ran in 2020 and the ‘Phandelver’s Pact’ campaign I ran from 2020-2021. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that), which is why I could use them for this column.

Here’s another campaign (some might say my last 5e campaign, if you don’t count all the playtest campaigns I ran and continue to run lol) that started out with a slightly skewed version of ‘Ghosts of Saltmarsh’, then merged with a doctored ‘Descent into Avernus’ and was prematurely cut short when WoTC stunned the community by deciding to be dicks (remember that?), prompting me to run Pathfinder 2e campaigns instead.

‘Shadows Over Saltmarsh’ was set in Greyhawk, my childhood campaign world (created by the eminent Mr. Gygax, himself). Each session was approximately 4-5 hours (sometimes more) long. Most of the summaries appear here as they first appeared. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.

Steve 🙂

Session 4 – Selling Stuff & a Return to the Haunted House

The party fought and dispatched the zombies attacking them, collecting the heads to trade at the Council for the reward (Fa’aoa made brutally short work of most of the zombies with his maul). Ser Karistan returned to the party after a few days away.

Heading back into town, the party spent some time negotiating in the Weekly Market and the Dwarven Anvil over prices for the armor and weapons they salvaged from the dead bandits. Korth tried to unsuccessfully part with his handmade javelins, being turned down by three different people.

The party received the bounty on Josiah Welch from Kraddok Stonehorn at the jail, then turned in the zombie heads at the Council, where they met Eliander Fireborn, council member and head of the town watch. Eliander asked them to gather any information they could about the strangely behaving zombies on the east road out of town. Alyona indicated she wanted to find out about a property belonging to Marcus Lynden, an ancestor of hers. Eliander informed the party he had the most extensive library in town in his mansion and invited them to visit if they needed to undertake research. 

Felix tried to unsuccessfully filch some money from a market vendor. Alyona bought a potion of healing from Fleur, a wizened, blind woman selling trinkets and potions at her stand. Ser Karistan rented the forge from Mafera at the Dwarven Anvil to silver some weapons. While he was working, the party headed to Eliander’s mansion to do some research. Korth headed back to the Sea Grove of Obadai to eat and sleep.

At the mansion, Krag (local town gravedigger and local loremaster) invited the party into Eliander’s extensive library, where he chased up some information on the haunted house and identified Aylona’s ancestor’s house, a building down in Crabber’s Cove. Marcus Lynden may have left a sentimentally valuable family cookbook there. Krag charged 1 GP for his services, which Felix objected to, because they had provided information to Eliander earlier. In return, the young rogue attempted to steal a book about Lizardfolk culture, but he was spotted by Krag.

The party grabbed some fish and chips at The Snapping Line (which was just closing up), then went and shared dinner with Ser Kariston, who was making good progress silvering the weapons. Alyona and Fa’aoa made their way to the Sea Grove, where they joined Korth for the night. Felix walked back to the Empty Net, where he ran into a drunk Constable Vegas. Vegas asked for a cut of Felix’s pickpocketing take, which Felix tried to ignore, but Kreb Shenker intervened and sent Vega on his way.

The next day, Korth managed to sell ten of his homemade javelins at the docks. He excitedly (for a lizardfolk) showed Felix his haul of silver pieces, but still didn’t understand how he should use them (having never needed money in the past). The party made their way to the Haunted House, entering the building and finding a kitchen and scullery. Felix was frightened by soul-wrenching screams from below while checking the stairs to the basement.

Attracted to the sound of the screams, a giant spider crawled down the kitchen staircase to face the party…

Session 5 – Rot those Grubs!

While the party fought the giant spider, Felix dashed up onto the corner stove and was attacked by 4 giant centipedes hiding within. He was knocked unconscious by the poison, but Alyona brought him back with a Healing Word. The spider was killed and the crew headed down to the basement.

Ser Kariston found a dead body in plate mail in the cellar. Korth investigated, determining it was several weeks dead. Suddenly, swarms of Rot Grubs crawled out of the body and up Korth’s arm, burrowing into his body. He was saved by Alyona who blasted the swarm necrotically with Inflict Wounds. Another swarm was killed as Felix burned it and Fa’aoa dropped a nearby steel crate on it.

Felix discovered a secret door in the fireplace and Ser Kariston crawled through, only to be ambushed by several smugglers. The fight was on, with Fa’aoa and Felix successfully ripping off Kariston’s boots in an effort to extract him from his predicament (but unfortunately, not the rest of the knight). Alyona finally dragged him to safety. Kariston used his shield to block the entryway, pulling it back each time to allow the others to fire through the gap. Eventually, the party captured two of the smugglers, killing the rest. The remaining smugglers proved they were made of sterner stuff by resisting all of the party’s attempts to ply them for information.

A search of a nearby room (likely the leader’s) uncovered a bullseye lantern and parchment, which Felix identified as a system of signals used by smugglers. Felix also located a hidden spellbook, which he was unable to secret away in the folds of his clothes before everyone noticed.

Another room was barred from the outside with the words “Danger” chalked on it. As Fa’aoa pulled the bar away, Ser Kariston’s senses detected the essence of undead – six skeletons rose from the floor and rattled their way to the door…

Session 6 – In Deep…

The party defeated a bunch of skeletons and a Skeleton Necromancer, after Alyona turned half of them. Finishing off the turned skeletons in the necromancer’s hidden room, the party discovered a bag of holding and a luckstone (which Alyona attuned to before realizing it was cursed). Several gold items and a book on the desk about a philosopher’s stone seemed to infer the rumors about the necromancer’s research into turning objects into gold might be true.

Ser Karistan persuaded the captured smugglers to reveal some more about the caves to the south and the makeup of the smugglers’ ring, and let them go as a gesture of good faith. Felix jammed the secret door leading to the caves and Fa’aoa made a barricade of furniture in front of it. The party intended to enter the caves via the southern sea entrance, in an attempt to trap the smugglers there. Ser Keristan climbed down via rope from the cliff behind the house to the cave entrance, but gave himself away and was sniped from within.

The party headed back inside the house to the basement, cleared the pile of furniture, then went through the secret door. Inside the caves, Felix ended up stumbling through the dark and being dripped on by green slime. The rest of the party engaged a number of archers and then more smugglers. The fight was on in a narrow corridor, as the party’s resources were slowly whittled away. It wasn’t looking good until Alyona used one of her class abilities to intimidate and charm most of the smugglers, forcing them to drop their weapons. Even Korth was worried as he fled from a smuggler and was burned from green slime from the cave ceiling. The fight continued as several Hobgoblins entered the fray…

Session 7 – Spoiders!

The party fought the rest of the hobgoblins and Sanbalet, the smuggler’s leader, in the caves below the the house. Luckily, the hobgoblins martial training was somewhat lackluster, having previously served as stormtroopers on the Death Star prior to their employment here. Sanbalet proved to be a little more annoying as he peppered Ser Karistan with magic missiles, eventually taking the paladin down. It was up to Fa’aoa, Korth and Alyona to team up and lay the wizard low.

In another cave, bolts of silk and barrels of wine; a tidy haul that would reap rewards back in Saltmarsh. The bruised and bloody party interrogated Sanbalet, who, with a crushed cheek and jaw, found it difficult to speak. A smuggling ship headed by someone called ‘Snake Eyes’ would be coming to the house in 2 weeks’ time; Korth doubted Sanbalet’s words, however. Locking up the wizard in the necromancer’s secret chamber, the exhausted party collapsed into their basement beds.

The next day, everyone was miraculously better – even Sanbalet’s broken jaw was healed (5e is such a wonderful thing lol). Off to explore the house, Alyona discovered some old and potentially valuable books in a library upstairs. Felix found an unusual vial in a desk in the study. A scary voice from a trapdoor leading to the basement put the chills up some of the boys. Fighting giant rats and insects proved a bit ho-hum for Karistan (although Felix didn’t like the rats at all, being bitten several times and almost knocked out). The paladin asked for a challenge and got one as he opened the door to a bedroom, was webbed and then bitten by several Giant Spiders. Felix and Korth were downed and paralyzed in quick succession by the spiders. Eventually Karistan shut the door and healed the poison in his comrade’s veins. The party decided to head back to town, having had enough of the house for the moment…

(Everyone advanced to 3rd-level)

Next week: Saltmarsh escapades…   

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