Arriving in Saltmarsh | Episode 1 | U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

The Adventure Begins in Saltmarsh

We begin this adventure with three heroes arriving at the town of Saltmarsh. River, a half-elf bard, Parker, an impulsive dwarven warrior, and Nirick, a gnomish illusionist were lured to this area under contract of one Guido, the Champion of Darkshelf. With the objective of creating an adventuring company, and making some small amount of fame for themselves, the trio under Guido's employ headed to this relatively small fishing town to set up shop. Guido and his official crew took some pity on these hapless adventurers, and set them up with a pre-paid month's lodging on one of the larger rooms at Mick's tavern, an old establishment known by the sailors in this southernmost part of the continent as a great place for cheap, watery gin, palatable stew & once and a while a place to find women of loose morals.

Of course it didn't take long for the crew to make a name for themselves. Parker barged in, his great axe in hand, and announced himself as "the most famous dwarf in the world," who would "take on any task." These bold claims were met with laughter by the crowd, including the gnomish illusionist Nirick, but it was a tall, ugly half-orc in the corner who drew Parker's attention. After goading the half-orc sailor into a fight, and a few sloppy, lazy swings of his axe, the surrounding sailors convinced Parker to not spend the night in jail by murdering an unarmed man, so Parker left his axe at one of the tables nearby, and charged the orc to head-butt him into submission. It worked, and the orc collapsed into a heap, with his sailor friends laughing and dragging him out into the alley

River, ever the entertainer, instantly wrote a song (to the tune of rudolf the red-nosed reindeer), about Parker: "but do you recall? The Most Famous Dwarf of Them All..."

The remaining sailors in the bar were entertained, and threw the half-elf some spare change for his performance. Nirick noted that one of the men throwing copper pieces appeared to not be a sailor, and was perhaps more of the adventuring type, so he met the man in the corner, and asked him where one might find work around this town. The response was luke-warm, but the enterprising River rationed out that the man was about to book passage on one of the ships in the harbor. So off to the docks they went.

Meeting the Sailors

In possibly one of the more comical displays of dwarven bravery ... well, we'll get there.

After recognizing by the flags in the harbor which ships belonged to the southward town of Seaton, River found one of their quartermasters, tolling up his shipments on the docks. He propositioned the man to buy up all of the remaining passage seats on his boat, but the man immediately rationed out what the half-elf was proposing. "You want to buy up all my passage, so you can sell the tickets back to possible passengers at a profit, right? okay, well here's an unreasonable price..." Which Parker did not appreciate.

The dwarf, having learned that axe-murdering someone is a bad thing, decided to head-butt again, this time the officer of one of the large ships in the harbor. It was a success, and the quartermaster fell with a bloody nose, but dozens of sailors then mobbed on the dwarf, wailing on him with belaying pins until not much was left of him but a bloody, unconscious mess.

Back to Mick's!

As slowly as it took for the two relatively small and weak surviving party members to drag Parker back to Mick's tavern, they were greeted with much laughter as they dropped the unconscious "most famous dwarf in the world" in the tavern floor. They got help from some of the sailors in dragging him upstairs to put him in one of the beds, after which River sang another song about how "the most famous dwarf" battled against unbeatable odds, because there is no task too large for them. With his proficiency check for singing, River rolled a critical failure, and his off-key, rambling song was laughed at by the entire audience. As much as it was an honest effort, it was such a miserable failure that his audience thought it must have been a comedy act. River played into it a bit, and stirred up more laughter. Mack, Mick's grandson who runs the tavern, offered them some small employment, since even with the comedic performance, it was apparent that at least, this group was willing to try.

An Abundance of Rats

Mack told River and Nirick about a vermin problem in his basement, and claimed that everyone on their block, including the dry goods merchant next door, is suffering from too many rats. The issue probably goes as far as the entire warf-quarter district of town, but Mack could only speak for his fellow shop-owners on this block.

The pair walked next door, where they met the merchant Greibus the Low, who happens to be the lowest of the five merchants who make up the town council, and spoke to him about getting their rat problem solved. Greibus swindled River into believing that they would need licencing to act as exterminators, and in the swindling, stated that his role in the government was to handle contracts and licences. By the end of the conversation, at least, River was able to talk his way out of having to pay for doing this work, and as a reward for solving the rat problem for their block, Greibus would reward the trio with an exclusive licence, to become the only city-approved exterminators in Saltmarsh. When asked about other work the trio might take on, he mentioned that sure, the county ditch, an irrigation channel built to take water from a nearby stream, needed dredged out; but judging by the scrawny Nirick and slender River, they wouldn't be the ones to take on a task like that.

A House on a Hill

As River and Nirick continued to explore the blocks around Mick's and the docks, the sun began to set, and a eerie, stormy fog began to creep in north and west of the city. As the setting sun back-lit the area, both of them noted a large structure up on the cliffs. Someone had built a home up there. As the fog crept in, and twilight settled, strange lights lit up in the fog, dimly illuminating the area between the claps of lightning out in the bay. When they got back to Mick's, they asked Mack about the apparently unoccupied home. He refused any answer, and River (finally passing a good check) intuited that perhaps, questioning about the house on the hill made the man nervous. When pressed, Mack found something else to do and left the two of them with their questions.

When they finally retired for the evening, they opened the shutters of their room and watched as the sky, illuminating in flashes of far-off, fog-obscured lightning, continued to show the silhouette of the place. Nirick, using his spellcraft proficiency, reasoned that the unnatural-seeming lights they spotted in the fog between lightning claps could have been one of a few options. Either something actually natural, like St. Elmo's fire, a Wil 'o Whisp (a very dangerous monster often found in and around swamps, much like those that give Saltmarsh its name), some phantasm of magical means like a flickering light spell, or finally some phantasm of more ghostly, undead presence. But, before they can get too much more information about the house on the hill, they need to rid the warf-quarter district of rats.

Until next time, when Nirick will continue to shake his head at his bumbling accomplices...be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.