Introduction

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 37 – Dragonknight Z

The party surrounded and quickly dispatched the Young Black Dragon, which only managed to use its acid breath once.

Entering the lower floor of the Cathedral, a Young Red Dragon and a Young White Dragon burst through the tapestry dividing the room. Ser Kariston and Granak bore the brunt of the red’s fiery breath. Kariston and Fr’an’kk the nightmare flanked the red while the white blasted Fa’aoa, who pursued it into another chamber. As the red fled from the combined onslaught of the nightmare and Aasimar, Fa’aoa leaped upon the white and struggled with it as it flew, attempting to knock him to the floor below.

Felix and Granak followed and sniped at the dragons whenever they could. Eventually the red was killed by Kariston, with its carcass collapsing onto Fr’an’kk. Felix finished off the white with help from Fa’aoa and Granak.

Granak proved to be handy with a knife as he skinned the red for Kariston. The heads of each dragon were also removed as trophies.

The party went upstairs, discovering a huge, ornate organ on the balcony above. Felix played a wonderful tune, which inspired his fellow party members. Kariston played a hellish screech, which made them all feel worse.

Suddenly, an armored fiend hovered in the air at the edge of the balcony. “I have been tracking you for a while now,” said the Infernal Knight. “I will reap your souls as I did your friend.” It held aloft a 4-inch red pearl, dripping with blood. The party gasped collectively, realizing that the pearl was from Thessalia, whom they had left with Harkina in the tavern cellar. Harkina and her sons must also be dead.

The Infernal Knight proved very resourceful, using combinations of Hellfire bolts and greatsword attacks to drain life from various party members. Realizing the nightmare provided Kariston with a big advantage, it quickly dispatched Fr’an’kk. The Infernal Knight played cat and mouse, flying around the balcony level and forcing the frustrated PCs to dash to catch up. Eventually Fa’aoa used his ring of jumping to leap onto the flying Infernal Knight and grapple it, which enabled him to direct it back to the balcony where Kariston could finish it off with two mighty smites.

As the knight exploded in white light, the bloody pearl rolled across the floor. Felix ran over and grabbed it – as he did, he saw a vision: a young aquatic elf woman holding twin babies before her, comforting them. Felix could see through one of the baby’s eyes (he assumed the baby was Thessalia). The woman raised a glowing red pearl and moved it closer to one of the babies, then it disappeared as if outside the baby’s field of vision. Suddenly the door burst open and a male human wearing antiquated waistcoat and britches, a red leather book hanging by his side, burst in. An argument ensued and the two struggled. One of the babies was torn from the mother’s grip and the human ran from the room with it…

Felix was slouched despondently, clutching the pearl close to his chest. Thessalia was lost. How many more of them might die before this quest was over?

Level up to 8th!

Session 38 – Brothers at Arms

The party rested for the night in a chamber at the front of the Cathedral tower. The sounds of screams, meteor strikes and lightning from the hellish city filled their dreams. The next day (although it was difficult to tell day from night here), they were refreshed, and decided to head down to the crypts to see if they could find Alyona there.

Ser Karistan summoned Fr’an’kk again, but when the party got to the altar room and found a secret passage in the unfolding hand, the nightmare was not happy about the narrowness of the stairs. Much squeezing and many expletives later and the fiery horse got down the stairwell, only to be confronted with more narrow corridors. Keraston shrugged sheepishly.

Granak found a woman lying upon a plinth, a greatsword at her side. Felix searched the area for traps, checked the body and found she appeared to have died only recently. On touching her hand, he had a vision of a dishevelled female defeating a red dragon with a greatsword. Before the saved villagers could congratulate her, she fell dead, then was interred here. Her body never decayed. Karastan checked the sword, received the same vision and placed the weapon in her hands.

As Fa’aoa stood at the corner, he picked up a familiar scent – those of flowers from his island home. As the party moved forward into the crypt they found a room with a huge round table surrounded by chairs, and Granak promptly suggested they all play D&D. The scent remained, and Fa’aoa made his way out of the room. Felix scouted ahead, sneaking through a vast crypt. As he moved stealthily from column to column, he heard voices. Spying two figures to the south, he listened in on their conversation: “Hopefully they will arrive soon,” said a somewhat familiar voice. “Good,” said the other. “Soon I will get what I need from my brother.” Felix recognized the first speaker as Aulani Etana (Strong King’s Messenger), Fa’aoa’s childhood friend and High Chief Nohea’s envoy to Saltmarsh, whom he had first seen at Gellan Primewater’s party over a week ago.

Suddenly, a chain devil erupted from an alcove nearby, lashing its chains at Felix. Luckily, it missed, and spotting Ser Keraston up the corridor, rushed to confront the aasimar. Fa’aoa burst into the crypt as High Chief Nohea, his upstart brother who had wrested the crown from him and sent him into exile, rushed forward. “I would have your blood, my brother,” cried Nohea. Another chain devil lashed its chains at the barbarian, restraining him so that the high chieftain could attack him with ease. Keraston took on Aulani Etana, who turned out to be quite the assassin, sniping the aasimar with a poisoned crossbow bolt to the chest. Fr’an’kk and Keraston worked in unison to take out Aulani, while Granak and Felix assisted Fa’aoa to render Nohea unconscious, but it was a hard-won battle. Nohea’s last words summoned his patron, arch devil Parzelon, who started to appear in a flash of lightning. The party fled, Fa’aoa carrying his brother.

Out of the cathedral and back to the tavern cellar they ran, only to find the grisly remains of Harkina, her two sons and Thessalia, disemboweled by the Infernal Knight to recover the red pearl Felix now possessed. As the party cleaned up, Felix scouted for another location for them to stay. He found a constable’s office with four cells, went back to the party and they all headed there.

In the rear cell, Fa’aoa interrogated his brother, who was very forthcoming with information. Nohea had formed a pact with Parzelon, an archdevil who promised him a hellish realm to rule. Several archdevils were competing with each other for the favor of Asmodeus. Their task: to create a portal to Greyhawk large enough to allow a devil army through to invade and conquer that world. The portal would open in Saltmarsh, a ‘nexus point’ (a weakening in the planar membranes), but to do so some components were required: two red pearls, the blood of a king, the blood of an aasimar, and the sacrifice of Elturel. Having learned this, the party realized they must not only stop the devils from achieving their goal, they must also save this city and somehow return it to its original plane of existence. When asked if Nohea knew where Alyona was held, he admitted she was in the cemetery. Fa’aoa decided to have mercy and released his brother. “If you choose to ally yourself with devils, then you are where you belong,” he said. Nohea sneered as he left. “I’ll see you in hell, brother.”

Not long after, a column of barbed devils assembled outside the building, calling on the party to exit. One hasty plan later, Fr’an’kk, Keraston and Granak led the devils away, while Fa’aoa (wreathed in invisibility cast by Felix) and Felix (with the aid of enhanced ability cast by Granak) furtively made their way through Elturel’s streets to a rendezvous near the cemetery. After a quick reconnoitre, the party entered the cemetery and headed to a chapel at its center. The paths were strangely quiet. As they arrived, a new Infernal Knight flew down from above: “The bounty is mine.”

Keraston drew his sword and smiled…

Next week: Get me to the Chapel on time…

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