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 8 – Orc Attack & Recovery

The sun had gone down by the time the battered and beaten party made their way west along the coast road to Saltmarsh. As they started down a hill, they noticed fires burning at several farm houses in the distance. Running down to the conflagration, several orcs were burning and pillaging. The party took out a number of Orcs and an Orog, who Felix finished off with a masterful one/two backstabbing attack, slicing the big Orc’s tendons in the back of his legs and immobilizing him. During the battle, everyone was surprised as Felix displayed a new penchant for spell use and Fa’aoa summoned his ancient ancestor spirits for protection – abilities they had never used before.

Ser Kariston headed to the beach, spotted two more Orcs attempting to push their longship out to sea, and knocked them unconscious. As Kariston returned to bury the dead farmers, Korth cast a Gentle Repose ritual to protect the remains from becoming undead for 10 days. As he did, he felt a chill up his spine and, glancing to the edge of the forest to the north, noticed a pair of glowing red eyes watching him.

Felix found a new shiny, magical dagger in the burnt shell of one of the houses, tossing his old knife. Alyona discovered a sheet of paper with a stick figure on it that moved by itself whenever you didn’t look at it, and a creepy glass eye that appeared to watch her movements. Fa’aoa learned from the Orog that the Orcs were members of the Stone Tooth Raiders, from an island a few days travel by sea away, then decided to kill him when the Orog refused to reveal any more secrets. Ser Karistan wasn’t happy with this and warned everyone away from the remaining prisoners. Alyona recovered the Orog’s map, showing the location of the island.

The party commandeered the longship and Alyona navigated them back to Saltmarsh. They arrived in port as the sun was coming up and fishing boats were heading out for the day’s catch. Tying up at a wharf and paying a docking fee to the feisty wharf manager, the party headed to the council (which was closed), then up to the barracks to deposit their prisoners. Felix decided to try out some new magic he remembered from his time with a wizard friend when he lived in the city of Gyrax, and used Disguise Self to change himself into an unkempt elf so as not to draw suspicion from the authorities.

Once the party had a receipt for the prisoners, they stopped off at the The Wicker Goat, the oldest inn in town, where they met Lankus Kurrida, a retired officer of the Keoish army. Korth got in trouble for trying to eat his own food in the inn, so ate outside. Everyone decided to rent a room to sleep until the afternoon, except for Felix, who headed back to the Empty Net. Kreb Shenkar, seeing how rough and ready Felix was, sent him to bed, reminding him to do his chores before he headed out again.    

Most woke up by the mid-afternoon (Ser Karistan slept in) and Alyona and Fa’aoa discussed what to do about the piles of loot in their bag of holding. The dead rat was pretty smelly by now, so she disposed of it in a bush some way away. Ser Karistan came down and ate his lunch, and Korth had a long discussion with Alyona about why everyone in the party (and quite possibly the world) seemed to have magic now. Soon, everyone was ready to depart for the council.

Felix did his chores before leaving, and Kreb Shenkar gave him a skin of wine, telling him to be careful. Felix was surprised at this fatherly affection from the usually gruff innkeeper. Felix ducked up to Winston the Halfling’s general store, where he unsuccessfully negotiated for a material components pouch. Felix quietly vowed to return later, meeting up with the party as they passed over the Sharkfin Bridge (feeling that usual air of unease as they did). Felix recalled the bridge may have been cursed in ancient Elvish times, long before Saltmarsh existed, and Ser Karistan confirmed the magic of the curse was very weak now.

At the council, the party met with council members Eliander Fireborn (one-legged head of the watch, whom they had met before), Gellan Primewater (dapper elderly gent and head of Primewater Merchants), Eda Oweland (gruff and pragmatic older woman) and Manistrad Copperlocks (head of the Dwarven mining operation sent by the King of Keoland to mine for silver in the cliffs). The party were paid 100 GP for clearing the house, but didn’t reveal anything about the smugglers to the council, preferring to keep that secret. The party wouldn’t receive a deed to the house until the city guard could inspect the place, however. They received 20 GP for the captured Orcs, and after showing Eliander the map to the Orc island, were offered a job to eliminate the threat of the raiders and to recover historical artifacts from the place. The party negotiated 500 GP, to which the council agreed.

As the day was drawing to a close, Alyona and Ser Karistan managed to sell some armor and a longsword at the Dwarven Anvil.

Session 9 – Entertainment, A Night on the Town & Shopping

While Ser Keristan was negotiating the sale of plate armor, the party headed to Kester’s Leather Goods to find out a bit about the store. There, they met Kiorna Kester, who mentioned she was willing to pay for any hides from unusual beasts they might encounter on their travels. Korth mentioned he’d like to watch her make leathergoods, and she invited him to come around the next day if he had time.

After finishing their shopping for the day, the crew headed back to the Wicker Goat, which very busy. Aylona spoke to Lankus the bartender and offered to assist Jolie the cook in the kitchen for the price of a few recipes and a cheap room. Her work was cut out for her as she madly sliced vegetables and assisted in the busy kitchen. Ser Keristan reminded Lankus of their deal from the morning – the bartender agreed to let him play guitar and sing for the crowd for his room for the night. Ser Keristan used his Aasimar flair and a light spell spotlight, mesmerizing the crowd with numerous tunes from the old times. The crowd were very impressed. Fa’a’oa ordered three dinners with ale and sat down to a HUGE meal. Felix decided to disguise self into his half-elf urchin form and look for pickpocketing opportunities. He managed to swipe a coin pouch from a soldier, but then was caught by the very drunk constable Vegas when attempting to take a noble’s purse. Felix disappeared into the crowd, slinking between patrons until he reached the audience at the front of the room. Korth headed up to the Sea Grove of Obad Dai to set some snares, which the Druid there agreed he could set at the northernmost edge of the grove, so as not to affect worshipers.

As the crowd departed for the night, Lankus thanked everyone for their work. Felix decided he wanted a night stroll, and asked Fa’aoa and Korth to help him out. Fa’aoa knew what Felix had in mind, declined, but decided to follow the pair in secret just in case. Felix and Korth made their way to Winston’s Store, casing the joint before Felix broke into a rear shuttered window. Unfortunately, he didn’t check for traps and triggered a tripwire, which sent Korth and Felix scurrying for the bushes. They decided discretion was the better part of valor and headed home for the night. Fa’aoa walked home after them, but encountered the Halfling proprietor as he opened the door, looking for potential thieves.

Felix and Korth encountered Seamus, the upright constable partner of the rather shady Vegas, who commented he was looking for a half-elf urchin for questioning regarding a missing purse incident at the Wicker Goat earlier that evening. Felix headed back to the Empty Net and did his chores early into the morning, getting to bed at 1:00am. Korth and Fa’aoa got back earlier, just as the Wicker Goat was closing up.

The next day, shopping and trading was on the agenda. The party headed to Winston’s Store, where they offloaded many of the small goods they had acquired through their adventures, and bought some sailing gear and navigation tools (for which Winston tried to overcharge them). Fa’aoa warned Felix not to enter Winston’s store because the shopkeeper had been suspicious last night, so Ser Keristan was able to negotiate for a component pouch for him.

Felix stocked up on some rations from the Green Market and quarrels from the Dwarven Anvil. Korth investigated the Mariners’ Guild and found out it was a handy place to hire a crew for their ship, and that a dragon turtle was active in the sea lanes, asking for tithes from local ships.

Alyona wanted to visit her ancestral home in Crabbers Cove to find her special cookbook, which she had come to Saltmarsh to find. The party agreed to help out, so off they went. The house was a partially ruined stone edifice, very dark inside and cluttered with rubbish. Breaking through a door and locating little worthwhile, the next door burst open to reveal ghouls! Gasp! And you thought this session was just going to be all role playing (which it was)…

Next Week: The Ghouls and the House in Crabbers Cove…       

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