Ghosts of Saltmarsh Session 0

In the brisk morning in the sea shanty city of Saltmarsh the salty, stiff breeze that blows from the sea sweeps across town. The morning before a small caravan of performers rode into town with the permission of the city's council to offer some entertainment to the citizens. A small group of performers set up a small section in the town market to promote their upcoming main performances. Leading the group is a woman by the name of Lotte, a performer who strums an erhu as her friends promote their various skills. Tyrus a tiefling bard seeing this as a way to join in on the crowd in hopes to get some coin as well strums his lyre with a purse open to collect coin. Passing by a resident of the city, Andeo, a half-sea elf joins the crowd to enjoy the music and performance. Packing up her home, the elegant Ulirili peers out the window to see an old friend standing in the crowd, Ander Solmor watching the show. Practicing nearby a lone black kobold by the name of Garu trains as he does every morning. Walking up to her childhood friend, Uli asks how Anders is doing only to find out his mother recently passed thus pushing him up into the council. Bowing out as he heads back to his carriage to head to a meeting two figures dart through the crowd setting off many smoke bombs and attempting to abduct Anders. Chaos ensues as our brave adventurers fight to help try and get Anders back from the kidnappers. However, one thug manages to get away with the help of a hidden trap door of some kind. Lotte looks around but to no avail of the trap door.

The guards eventually come to take the unconscious thug to jail for questioning. Alerting the guards of the abducted Anders and the hidden door, Lotte turns to the other to see if they knew anything but they had as much a clue as the others. Andeo, however, found an item within the thug's clothing. A symbol related to an organization known as the *Scarlet Brotherhood.* Not knowing exactly how he knew of them he figured it would be useful information later on. Eventually Uli, Garu and Andeo find themselves at the *Hoolwatch Tower* looking for any information on what they could about the secret society. Meeting local hero Eliander Fireborn, knowing of them but not their true motive other than to mess with people. Thanking them and offering them a bit of mercenary work to check out some cultists that seem to have emerged from the *Dreadwoods* near the outposts.

While the others sought information from Fireborn, Tyrus and Lotte decided to go into town looking for some supplies and talk about the possibility of a partnership to bolster their performances. After a bit of shopping around they meet with the others back at Uli's place. Discussing the task at hand the group decides to head out the next day to the outpost to investigate this cult in the woods. Andeo prepared a delicious meal while the others talked a bit.

Excusing themselves to get ready for their performance that night at the local tavern Lotte and Tyrus head towards the tavern. Lotte splits off for a moment to check the spot in which Anders disappeared. Going under water nearby she tries to find a possible entrance there, however, she finds nothing of note. Heading to the tavern she and Tyrus then play together. Most of the tavern seemed to enjoy the music they played, offering up a fair bit of coin. After their performance they met up with a dwarven woman by the name of *Mannistrad Copperlock.* Learning she was head honcho of the mines nearby the city. After some small talk they decided to head to Uli's home to rest.

The next morning came as they eventually left to go to the *Hoolwatch Tower* as Captain Fireborn had arranged a ride for them to the outpost if they chose. They chose to accept the ride and headed out after they got everything ready. Uli sat up front with the driver to chat with him while the other sat in the back with the guards heading in for duty. Exchanging some stories and rumors The guards had stories of many spooky things they had "seen" in the woods. Between dragons, zombies, witches, goblins and more their stories grew more and more unbelievable. Hours later the cart full of guards and our mercenaries rolled into the encampment.