Ghosts of Saltmarsh

The Official artwork for the campaign

Ghosts of Saltmarsh was the fifth campaign set within the Velmaverse continuity. It followed the 5th edition adventure of the same name and took place in and around the town of Saltmarsh, a coastal community on the Sword Coast (in our setting of the campaign).

The Dungeon Master for the game was Kelloggs.

#### List of Players and their Characters

* Elyag: Asreal
* Rusty: Caldor Vardack
* RoxyVelma: Rob Robertson / Job Pokerainian
* Shmexi: Schgloop

#### **The Story**

**First Session**

Rain poured down upon the town of Saltmarsh, the workers rushing into the taverns to escape the sudden but usual downpour and finally being able to take a break from their many hours at work on the docks. They boast of a fairly typical catch. It could’ve been better, but they had gotten far worse before and so they were content with what they got. Outside on the streets, a carriage pulled near to the tavern of 'The Snapping Line'. In the wagon sits the hooded figure, Asreal, who is taking passage towards Neverwinter. On the way, the driver had to make a detour towards this town. He spoke to the hooded figure “So, you’re finally awake, here’s our stop, now be careful and remember what I told you, this place certainly isn’t perfect and they don't look kindly upon people like yourself. Make sure you talk to Hanna, the innkeeper, she’ll be understanding, she’s a good lass. I’ll come get u in the morning.” With that, he departed and Asreal approached the doors of the tavern.

**WARNING** – A very strange segment is ahead, you've been warned.

###### **For a more detailed description of this chapter read the Night of the Living Fieries.**

As the hooded tiefling opened the wooden door, his eyes were fixed on a bustling tavern, filled to the brim with what appeared to be the same person. Asreal rubbed his eyes, but to no avail he kept seeing the same thing, everyone in the tavern looked completely like a renowned man known as Guy Fieri, the only ones he could see who weren't was the bar maiden 'Hanna' and a half orc in the corner playing on her lute, surrounded by a horde of Guys (literally). Now sitting at the bar, Hanna introduced herself to the hooded tiefling, comparing him to the large figure he had sat next to, a giant looking man also wearing a hood. Due to Hanna realising they weren't locals, she asked them of assistance and brought them both to the cellar of the tavern. There she revealed a small creature that had been living there, consuming some of the tavern's food. The creature appeared to be of the fish race Kuo-toa, a small thing, whispering into the food, specifically mushrooms, as if he was trying to find something. However just before the party could meet each other, giant rats attacked them by surprise from holes dug by the fish man. After the small skirmish, the Kuo-toa introduced itself as Schgloop. Hanna tasked the rest of the party to find some way he could be respected without being feared by the locals, as after all Kuo-toa are not known for their hospitality. They accepted but were suddenly startled by the shouting of Gordom Ramsea, the head chef of the tavern, calling Hanna to come back up. The rest of the party were ordered to wait whilst Hanna and an old friend of hers called Rob went to investigate what was happening. They both found that the tavern had two new patrons, two ginger haired, rough looking men. The entire inn was silent as they began to question the patrons (all looked the exact same mind you) asking for the whereabouts of some strangers who had just entered the tavern. Gordom started the get mad, swearing at them to just "FUCK OFF!" This didn't go down well with them and so one of them grabbed the head chef by his head and slammed him into the counter. This started a long fight with Gordom eventually using his cleaver to hack off one of the ruffian's dick. At the same time, the half orc bard who was playing in the corner before got out her falchion and began to fight off one of the ruffians as well. The party eventually left their hiding and began to fight alongside them. However the most unusual thing that happened during this fight was with the horde of Guy Fieri's, whom suddenly began to feast upon the various halflings whom were there as well. To add that all the halfings that revealed themselves seemed to look exactly like either Merry or Pippin from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy'. Before long all of the halflings had been eaten, with even Gordom Ramsea returning from the fight and being sighted with dragging two bodies of Merry and Pippin into the kitchen to make the recipe for 'Merry & Pippin Pie'. Back to the fighting however and with one of the brothers slain, the other started to run. Although almost being stopped multiple times he was either just too fast or too lucky and was also aided by the horde of Guy Fierie's whom blocked the rest of the party, bar the bard and Rob from getting outside where the ruffian had fled. However it was no use, he had been able to get away. Before long the guards (who hadn't been turned into Guy Fierie) had arrived to check on the crime scene and questioned the party. After the area had been cleared, Rob overheard some talk between Hanna and the bard and another woman with ashen hair. Hanna thanked the bard, revealing herself to be called Danielle though the white hared one remained anonymous. They then said their farewells to the inn keeper and parted ways from the tavern. The rest of the party were then confronted by the council of Saltmarsh. Whilst suspicious at first, especially of the fish like creature Schgloop, but saw that they were very capable of dealing with tough and dangerous situations. They tasked the party with dealing with an abandoned mansion that had been causing much trouble in the recent weeks, scaring off people and hearing horrific scream and howls from inside. The group accepted the job as they were low on coin. Hanna let them rest in the tavern for a night and gave them two healing potions before they set off in the early morning.

**Second Session**

It took about 4 miles from the small town of Saltmarsh to the abandoned mansion but eventually they got there, seeing it nestled upon the cliff side overlooking the Sword Coast. It was about 10 AM when they got there and they had enough daylight for it not to get too spooky. Thus they all got to work of finding a way in, choosing the main entrance even though some of the party were hesitant if it was a trap. As they walked in, they found an almost completely dilapidated house. Almost all the rooms had looked like they had been abandoned for years and just looked as if nature was slowly taking back control of this residence. The party would search the bottom floor not finding much other than being harassed by spiders whenever they opened a drawer and making as much noise as one could possibly do by Rob pranking Schgloop, though it appeared that the mansion had been all cleared a long time ago. Before going up stairs they could hear creaking in the south east room's ceiling and could see a fairly large hole in the room above as well. The group then went upstairs. Again they didn't find much until they came across the room they had heard noises in. The party prepared for anything and then slowly opened the door. There they found a man tied up at the end of the room, gagged and hardly unable to move. The party moved carefully around the hole in the room and got to the man. They took off his gag with the man thanking the party, telling them his name is Ned. Ned was thankful but asked a great deal to them if they'd help him get his equipment and belongings back, furthermore he was hesitant in telling the party any information about why he was held captive there. Rob and Asreal had become fairly suspicious of Ned as they urged him to leave the mansion but he wouldn't budge and would only leave if he had his stuff back. The goliath companion Caldor however seemed to believe him and so went along with trying to find Ned's stuff alongside him. The others followed them for a while but then went on their way to find why he was held captive there. As they had left Caldor and Ned on their own, Caldor noticed in the corner of his eye that Ned was crouched down, almost in a sneak like position, then suddenly whispering "You never should've come here". With that he stabbed Caldor with a poisoned dagger and tried to attack him. However, Schgloop wasn't very far away and was able to kill Ned very hastily with a fire bolt. The party were all now assured that something was up, with the others scolding Caldor for believing Ned all along. Rob began to start shouting humorous jokes targeted towards whomever was messing with them. Over time they searched the rooms again and finally finding secret passage ways that led underground. One found by Asreal and Rob in the kitchen area and one found by Schgloop and Caldor in a flight of stairs leading down in the east wing of the house. Schgloop began to walk down the stairs but was startled upon hearing a horrifying scream of a woman as he got about half way down. Caldor hearing this was terrified and became worried about it also. The other two decided to go down their passage way they had discovered. As they went down they too heard a loud voice shout “Welcome fools! Welcome to your deaths!” They weren't frightened by this and so continued down. There they were greeted with three rough looking men, as if they were prepared for a fight, with one saying “You really shouldn’t have come here and by the way, those jokes of yours were fucking shit.”

**Third Session**

Asreal and Rob engaged in combat with the three rough looking men. Caldor and Schgloop had gotten down their flight of stairs finally after being frightened by the horrific scream. It took them a while but they were able to find a secret hinge which opened up a wall revealing the room to where the other two were, where they had almost dealt with their foes. The party saw the last member flee towards a corner of the room, where there he pressed a button and walked through yet another secret passage way. The party began to recover themselves and would continue on after they had looted the room. Whilst they were doing that, they came across a room filled with alchemist ingredients and equipment. Another room was blocked by planks of wood and a sign stating "DO NOT ENTER!" written clearly as a warning. The party were completely put off of going through that door and so instead followed the bandit that had fled in the other direction. As they followed through, the party had to traverse a natural cave system with which they began to hear a voice claiming that they knew they were here and the venture further in. As they followed this voice they eventually led themselves to a storage area filled to the brim with barrels and chests of random stuff. The party were then surprised by an ambush of bandits led by a man the party just called "The Pringles Man" as he had a face and mustache similar to the one as the logo for 'Pringles'. The fight would last for a long time and almost TPK'd the party. Hanna would even come to see if they were still alive and brought a pair of healing potions for the party. However in the end, the group were able to fully defeat the band of smugglers, with Schgloop and Asreal dealing with the Pringles man by drowning him in the waters of the Sword Sea after he had tried to flee on a boat. The session ended with the party almost dead and clearly shaken from the fight (also the players).

**Fourth Session**

(Due to the long amount of time past since playing or writing about this campaign, the next few entries will be short summary's only I'm afraid.)

The fourth session began with the party recovering from almost death inside the caverns below the mansion. It was clear to them all that this place had been the site of an illegal business, thus it wasn't actually haunted (or so they thought). The group would get back to Saltmarsh to alert the council of their findings, with Asreal meeting a spilt personality Wizard. It was also during this time that Bob left the group and Job took his place

**Fifth Session & Sixth Session**

At some point in their questing around town, Schgloop would end up fighting the wrestler 'Drain the Cock Johnson', though it's unclear who won the fight, most likely it was Drain, who said he should go join a wrestling organisation due to his prowess. Schgloop would also end up antagonising a pair of guards, killing them and then fleeing into the wilds. With this the rest of the party were a fish down, being sent off by the council to a nearby dwavern mine to find a member of the council's nephew 'Connor Mekeker'. The party's whereabouts became unknown soon after.