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 15 – Smoke on the…Orker

After resting briefly in the kitchen cave, the party asked the surviving ex-prisoners what they’d like to do. Both agreed they would go up the rope and hide in the forest above, but one of them had a club foot and was unable to climb. Ser Keraston (aasimar paladin) agreed to pull them up via the rope, so he headed up the chimney. As he was pulling up the first, the rope slipped in his hands and the ex-prisoner plummeted 30 ft. to the ground below, dying horribly and causing the other survivor to freak out. Alyona (half-elf cleric) knocked him unconscious and Ser Keraston, somewhat shocked by the turn of events, but keen to put the past behind him, bounded out into the cave beyond and ran into an Orc of Luthic. Keraston went into defensive mode as Orcs appeared from several corridors, hemming him in – he cast sanctuary and dodged to avoid their blows. Fa’aoa (human barbarian) leaped over Keraston, but hit the paladin’s shoulder pauldron and toppled to the floor, to be immediately targeted by another big Orc of Luthic. Meanwhile, the other Orcs couldn’t hit Keraston because of the sanctuary and thus started cutting up the barbarian, who inevitably was knocked unconscious.

Felix (human rogue/wizard) and Korth (lizardfolk druid) opted for hit and run tactics for a while, as Alyona used healing word to bring Fa’aoa back. Eventually the barbarian retreated to the safety of the kitchen cave. There was some confusion about the plan, however. While they were all meant to withdraw to the kitchen so the Orcs could come to them, Korth moved out into the cave, finding it far too tempting to make a quick kill or two, and ran into arriving reinforcements.

Fighting their way back to the kitchen cave, the party heard a large Ogre call on them to surrender. The Orcs piled crates against the entrance, which Felix set alight with a fire bolt. The smoke curled up the chimney, which caused a minor dilemma as the party had decided to escape up the ropes to seek refuge in the forest above. Eventually they all got up the 80 ft. chimney to the clearing above.

After some disagreements about which way to go, the party elected to head off to the southeast, into the forest and under cover of the smoke…       

Next week: Island rambling…

Session 16 – Flight…

The party moved south through the forest, eventually finding a rock overhang where they decided to camp for the night. No torches or fire were lit to avoid Orcish attention. Several wolves attacked during Fa’aoa’s watch, but he made short work of them. During his watch, Felix noticed some movement in the bushes and awakened Alyona, who had the benefit of darkvision. A giant snake passed by, and the two adventurers decided it might be better to move the wolf carcasses further into the forest. The snake followed, but luckily it was only after the dead wolves.

The next day, while the party discussed their plans, a dark shape swooped over the overhang – it appeared to be a large dragon. The adventurers decided to scout the lake to see if any caves there might lead into the mountain. On the beach, Korth and Fa’aoa were spotted by the Black Dragon, which flew down as Korth kneeled and made a food offering to it. The dragon demanded treasure, and Alyona, Korth and Fa’aoa surrendered their valuables, while Felix hid at the forest edge. The dragon then plunged into the lake, which put the party off investigating further. Korth, however, was impressed he’d met one of his idols.     

Instead, the party scouted the east side of the mountain, keeping under the forest canopy so they wouldn’t be spotted by the Orc guards on the mountain above. Korth spied a tunnel entrance, and the party made their way inside. Fa’aoa identified some reptilian footprints inside the tunnel, as well as those of a large bear.

500 ft. down the tunnel, the party emerged into a large cavern, where Fa’aoa was attacked by several Troglodytes. Alyona succumbed to their shocking stench, but the others were used to the smell of foul excrement and unaffected. Korth spotted a large bear behind a wooden gate to the east, but let it be.

Alyona and Korth explored a mushroom-filled cave, where poisonous spores affected the cleric. Alyona recovered a silver helmet, Korth a magic longsword. Felix identified the sword as a Durgeddin-forged weapon, one of those sought by Anders Solmor from the Saltmarsh council.

Deeper into the cave system, the party found a huge cavern filled with giant, phosphorescent fungi. Korth encountered two hungry Gricks, but the party dispatched them quickly. Unfortunately, this appeared to upset the Gricks’ much larger mother, which chased the party out of the cavern and back to where they started.

Making their way west, the adventurers discovered another cavern with a fast-flowing stream bisecting it and a set of natural stairs rising to the northwest. Felix scouted up the stairs, and was suddenly swarmed by blood-sucking Stirges…

Next Week: Underworld…            

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