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 about the OGL (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 26 – Dragon 2!

The party planned (at length) about how to deal with the dragon. They asked the Duergar for assistance, but they were somewhat reticent – scouting services were offered, but they wouldn’t be much help during the day.

The party headed out to the lake in the hope of finding the hidden entry to the dragon’s lair. As luck would have it, the Young Black Dragon emerged from the lake and flew in their direction. The party piled their treasure in a clearing to tempt it, then hid amongst the trees. Unfortunately, some of their attempts at being stealthy were woeful, and the black dragon hovered above the clearing, just out of reach.

Felix the rogue/wizard struck first from cover, sniping the beast. Ser Keraston, aasimar paladin, took the brunt of the dragon’s acid breath. Fa’aoa the barbarian ran and used his ring of jumping to leap upon the creature’s back, grappling its wing and eventually forcing it to the ground. Korth the lizardfolk druid used call lightning to blast the dragon. Alyona, half elf cleric, blessed and healed people. Ser Keraston revealed his winged angelic form for the first time and attacked the dragon with mighty smites. Together, the party defeated the dragon.

Korth started claiming the remains, recovering enough over the space of two days to make an acid-resistant shield, a claw trophy and skin the beast and curing its leather so that Keraston might get a black dragon coat made back in Saltmarsh, along with a belt for Fa’aoa.

The party headed down into the dragon’s lair and found its treasure, which they collected and took back to their ship. Felix and Keraston discussed Keraston’s angelic change. Keraston discussed making long term allies out of the Duergar and Troglodytes as part of the formation of a new society of knights, however how they would respond to his offer was yet to be seen…

Everyone advanced to 6^th level! 

Session 27 – The Storm, the Mist & the Emperor of the Waves

The party recruited Ga’Thog, the captive Orc, and made him part of their ship crew. The Orc reluctantly took on his responsibilities, working with Oceanus to clean up the spare Orc Raiding Longship to replace the party’s damaged longship. Treasure was secured on deck and Ga’thog cleaned the Orcish warband markings off the hull. They sailed away from Stone Tooth Island that evening with the outgoing tide.

That night the winds picked up and a great storm battered the longship. Alyona and Felix were washed overboard, then saved by the heroic efforts of Fa’aoa and Kariston.

The next morning the ship was surrounded by a deep fog. As the longship moved through, Alyona picked up the sound of creaking timbers in the distance. Breaking through the fog, the party’s ship was just 20 feet from a large, barnacle encrusted and damaged sailing ship, the Emperor of the Waves, a ship that had gone missing in a storm several years before.

Fa’aoa jumped aboard and tied off a rope, and the others followed, shimmying on board. The quarterdeck cabin was full of thick webs. Hacking their way inside, the party were confronted with a Giant Spider, an Ettercap and numerous swarms of scurrying spiders. Fighting their way through, Keraston located some maps and charts on a desk. While Felix checked the desk for hidden secrets, Fa’aoa and Alyona headed downstairs to the lower deck, where they fought another two Ettercaps and Giant Wolf Spiders, which Alyona’s Spirit Guardians eliminated.

Searching the cabins revealed nothing but more webs and tiny spiders. Fa’aoa, however, found a cabin with a bed of palm leaves and a spear and shield belonging to a spider-worshipping tribe from an island to the north of his homeland. Karaston broke into the fore cabin, where the party faced off and defeated four Maw Demons.

Keraston broke down the door into the south cabin, where a Half Orc Druid called Krell cast entangle, trapping most of the party. Fa’aoa remained free and used this to his advantage, fighting and killing two giant spiders and a phase spider. Felix used his wand of magic missiles to make Krell lose concentration, and Keraston knocked the druid unconscious so they could interrogate him.

Session 28 – Hulk…Smash!

The party interrogated Krell, who told them the Emperor of the Waves had ended up at his island after going astray in a storm. The orcs, goblins and humans there worshipped Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, and they overcame the crew and took the ship. Two factions were fighting for power on the island, and Krell’s faction took the ship and sailed north. Unfortunately, they encountered a giant octopus which attacked, damaging the hull before leaving. Krell sheltered in one of the forward cabins where the party encountered him. The half orc druid explained the crew summoned the Maw Demons but they had proved too difficult to control, so they locked them up. The spiders and ettercaps were par for the course for Krell’s cult.

The heroes knocked Krell unconscious after much bargaining for a job vacancy. They found a trapdoor in the next room and dropped down to the cargo hold below, half-filled with water and crates. As Keraston moved through the murky waters, ghasts rose and attacked! Alyona slowed a few of them and Keraston was able to turn some more. Fa’aoa managed to kill the most, snatching many of Sir Keraston’s kills from him. Felix sniped from the safety of the trapdoor above, until a turned ghast climbed up the rope to where he hid. Eventually the ghasts were dispatched.

A large, heavy blue iron chest was found – Felix suspected it was magical, checked it for traps and recognized the lock was extremely complex and probably beyond his abilities. In small text on the side: “Property of Gellan Primewater” (shipping magnate on the Saltmarsh council).

The ship rocked as something large pounded the hull! The party were thrown to the port side as the ship heaved and started to list. Giant tentacles burst through the sides, and water rapidly filled the hold. As the party tried to escape, Keraston and Fa’aoa elected to carry the chest.

The party separated – Alyona and a reluctant Felix rushed to grab Krell’s unconscious form, and the others hauled the chest up to the next deck with rope – as tentacles continued crashing through the hull, striking the heroes and tipping the ship on a 30-degree angle. Water filled the hold and started swamping the upper decks. The party raced for their lives, finally making it outside and leaping to the damaged Longship, where Oceanus and Ga’thog were doing their best to avoid the raging tentacles.

As the hulk finally broke up and sank, the party limped back to Saltmarsh – luckily the rest of the journey home was uneventful. The longship finally gave up as it pulled up to the dock, sinking below the waters. The weary party made their way with the chest onto their docked ship The Sea Ghost (desperately in need of a new name) where they rested, paid their small crew and made plans to visit the council and market…

Next: Saltmarsh interlude & shopping!

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