Entering the Haunted Mansion | Episode 5 | U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

Exploring the Haunted Mansion at Saltmarsh

After a short hiatus of a few weeks, which included a few side quests, the party finally reconviened to approach the haunted mansion looming over the city of Saltmarsh.

A Small Party Explores the Fence & Gardens

We began with a skeleton crew. Nirick, the gnome illusionist/thief made a new friend in Ada, an elven ranger who had recently come to town (yes, we introduced a new player). Nirick convinced Ada to explore the mansion with him, hoping to find some evidence of the long-dead and potentially cursed wizard who apparently now haunts the building.

They started in the daytime, hoping to get a read on the place before night fell. They approached the gate, and walked the perimeter of the garden wall, noting the abundance of overgrowth now making up the majority of garden grounds. They also noted the several holes in the roof, marked by missing slate tiles, and our new ranger noted the birds and bats that likely call the attic home now. Eventually they spotted a fairly recent set of humanoid tracks, which went over the wall at one point, and were lost in the brush on the other side. In an effort to locate them again, the pair climbed the wall, and headed to a nearby well on the west side of the building, to the left of the main gates. Prying up the boards covering the old well was simple, but they were promptly attacked by the creature living within.

The Old Well

The giant weasel had yet to grow to truly monstrous proportions, but it was certainly a challenge for our fairly inexperienced warriors. It hissed, barked and lunged at the pair, and though Ada did try to ply it with her animal kinship, it wouldn't calm down. After a grueling set of rounds trading attacks with Ada's sword & axe and Nirick's rodent-killing poison darts, eventually the pair brought the beast to heel. Ada skinned it, and kept some of its remaining meat, and Nirick appraised the large pelt at the price of a small fortune. They took special care to keep it safe, since it was worth more money than either of them had ever seen in one place.

Starting in the Second Story

Rather than use the front door and be spotted by any inhabitants that might use the location, the pair thought it might be best to use Ada's grappling hook and rope to scale into a window on the second floor. Upon entering, they found themselves in a long hallway, with two closed doors near them. The hallway extended out some ways, including overlooking the foyer from above, but they made the decision to not explore too far, and instead open the doors nearest them.

When they entered the first room, a guest bedroom, it appeared, they immediately heard evidence of the hauntings this place was famous for. Quiet, agitated whispers, almost inaudible, and seemingly emanating from everywhere followed them into the room.

Not much was left in this room, other than some broken shards of furniture, some broken floorboards, and collapsed plaster from the cracking, peeling ceiling. The only remaining piece of furniture was a small chest of drawers along the eastern, interior wall. They opened the cabinet, finding a pair of boots and a cloak. Nirick dug into the cloak, hoping to find the enchanted clothes of the mystical former homeowner. Instead, he was met with a cloud of yellow spores, which immediately knocked him back, coughing a fit of blood and swelling his throat to almost closed. The gnome fell over, leaving Ada to deal with his quickly failing condition.

Ada scrambled into Nirick's bag, knowing that inside were herbal potions and remedies that should be able to help. She pulled three animal kidneys from the backpack, each with liquid inside. She thought back to the fight with the weasel, and knew that Nirick carried some formidable poisons with him. Which was it, though?

The ranger applied some critical tests, comparing the different liquids, and even tested them on the bits of weasel meat she had kept. Eventually she thought she had figured out which of the three was different from the other two, and surmised that it must be the poison. She closed her eyes, and asked whichever gods she prays to for their blessing, and poured one of the other two into the mouth of the gnome, pinching his nose shut and tilting his head to make him swallow whatever the concoction was.

After a few troubling moments, the gnome's breathing leveled as his the swelling in his throat began to recede. Now, it was a waiting game until the gnome would have enough energy to open his eyes.

Help Arrives, but the Going is Slow

Several hours passed, and Ada became increasingly concerned as the sun set in the west. The whispers seemed to grow louder, and she kept seeing small pods of light whisk by her head, always just out of eyesight, but always there, buzzing about. Different strange noises kept up in the building, as the wind whisked through and the floorboards creaked, but it appeared to be more than just the moaning of an old, unkempt home, but rather the things that went bump in the night.

Imagine her relief when the gate in the front of the garden creaked loudly, and she peeked outside to see the half-elven ally of Talia approaching. She lowered the rope down from the bedroom, and Nirick's fellow herbalist aided in his quicker recovery. As they sat in this room, waiting for Nirick's head to clear, they spotted what appeared to be a loose stone in the chimney, and behind it, some dust-covered object. The trio pained over how to get to the object without triggering some non-existent trap, and pained over it for what seemed like days until they just reached in and grabbed the thing. It was a fairly worthless chunk of crystal. The next several rooms the party explored went just the same. Painful care was taken when looking at every element, every dot of mold, and every simple piece of furniture.

Even if their caution was well founded after Nirick's brush with death, even Ada became frustrated with it. It only got worse, then, when River, the Bard arrived and joined the party as well, further compounding the different methods they took to look into every crack, crevice & corner. He did make a comical episode, though, when he found a pile of fresh clothing in one room, and decided to go all in on disguising himself as a sailor by wearing them. It even influenced his speech for the remainder of the game today.

First Spotting the Ghosts

Ada, getting tired of what appeared to be needless caution, decided to leave the party as they pained over a leather sack they found hidden in the floorboards, and ventured to the back of the house by herself. There, near a broken, crumbled set of stairs which apparently led to the attic, she spotted what looked like the faint image of an old man, floating just above the floor as he went about some menial task. When he spotted Ada, though, he turned in a wordless shriek, his face turning spectral and skeletal. The fear charm usually caused by apparitions was completely ineffective on Ada (who critically succeeded her check against it), and the thing floated quickly up the attic stairs.

This is what gets me as a DM. Really, they just found their first truly interesting thing. But, even after Ada came back and told everyone "guys, there's a friggin ghost over there...." they all decided screw it, nope, we're gonna go check out the rest of the bedrooms first. Where is the logic here? Are ghosts just not interesting anymore?

The Crumbling Floor & Ned's Room

That party crossed back from the back of the house where the ghost was spotted to return to the long hallway where everything began. They crossed in front of the foyer, and when looking down both Talia and Ada spotted that there were a pair of fairly worn tracks in the floor of the first story. One led to the staircase right ahead of them, and the other disappeared back into the back of the house on the first floor. There were two doors on the side of the house they approached, Nirick entered the first, noting how much worse off the floor was in this wing of the house than they had seen elsewhere. Nirick also noted that the window in this room was used more than in others. The glass was still intact, perhaps even salvaged from elsewhere in the house and replaced here. The hinges, even, were recently oiled. Nirick flung open the window to look outside, and did not see that anyone had been using this as a mode of entry, however, he did notice some chips in the lacquer and paint on the windowsill. He called Ada over to inspect the marks, and Talia followed.

Where our tiny gnome danced across the floor easily, the elf and half elf entering the room caused the floor to collapse, and they fell into the first floor below. As they discussed how to get the party back together, Talia found yet another one of those loose stones in the fireplace of this bedroom, and discovered a small amethyst within.

River, while everyone was trying to deal with the hole in the floor, moved to the final door in this hallway, and found it locked. Luckily he spotted the key on a neighboring windowsill, and popped the door open. Inside, they spotted the source of some of the creaking floorboards they'd been hearing, a man, tied, bound and gagged on the floor. They let out his gag, and the man introduced himself as Ned Shakeshaft, a member of a thieve's guild from a neighboring city, who was driven out of Saltmarsh by the thieves there. He professed that he was attacked when he first entered this house. He came in through the patio door on the first floor (near where Nirick and Ada had spotted those tracks), and attempted to find a place to sleep, but immediately was met with scary noises and evidence of the haunting. He fled, deeper into the house, as something chased him, and then a few hours ago, woke up in this room. River attempted to weed out if the man was lying, and did think that some of his claims were suspicious, but they've no reason to believe that he was dangerous. Still, in the interests of caution, they decided to keep him tied up, apply some kind of leash around his neck, and deny his offers to help them. Something about a thief saying he is "handy with a knife" turned them off. Nirick, still on the second floor of the house, looked around in Ned's room, and found a dagger in a fine scabbard tucked away in the room. He detected no magic on the weapon, and found it to not be altogether that valuable, but decided to keep it for himself.

What Was this Wizard Up To?

The party ended this session here. They asked a few more questions, like why are crystals hidden in the corners of the house? They surmised that it might have been an effort to build a protection circle into the construction of the home, but likely the party broke it already if it existed, so they worried about potential dangers that might cause. They also noted that the ghost was only spotted after they removed the crystal from the first room, and they wondered if that was the ghost of the former owner, the wizard who owned this place. And if so, what what he doing in that corner of the house, and why did he flee to the attic?

We'll reconvene in two weeks, as we have some players travelling. Yes, we ended the day with the party still split, and their new NPC friend still bound and gagged on the floor.

Until Next Time, Be Excellent to One Another, and Party On Dudes!

Spoilers Ahead, Only for Future DM's to Use!

Hello! If you're reading this because you are interested in running U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmaarsh at your gaming table, there is some information from this session that might be useful to you. If you are a player of this campaign, and you have yet to complete it, please do not read any farther, spoilers await. If you're a player in my campaign, c'mon, guys, don't ruin it. I just dont want to have to not write this part later. Just don't look until after the campaign ends.

Click this Button for Spoilers

1) The Crystals are, of course, meaningless. They are the belongings of the resident of the home, or perhaps thieves that have stashed goods throughout the home over the years.
2) It is important for DM's in this campaign to handle Ned Shakeshaft with care. He is, as you'll read in the module, a plant set here to try to keep the players from certain parts of the home, and kill them if need be. But if your players are as overly cautious as mine, they may not trust him enough to let him in their company. In this case, we have to figure out how to get him to work with, or against, the party again. I suppose I will encourage the party to just kick him out of the house, and then have him sneak around them with his attempts to assassinate them. It doesn't help, though, that they've taken his clothes and dagger. I'm unsure how, exactly, I will do this. Stay tuned for future sessions to see how Ned will attempt to disrupt the party.
3) The Ghost, is, of course, the illusionist working with the smugglers. He is aware that the party is here, and is hoping to scare them off. He'll make reappearances elsewhere, but usually will be working under the guise of an invisibility spell. Eventually he will give up and go back to the basement, as he has work to do. He's cocky, and will ignore the party, sure that they've been scared away after a while. It's up to you whether you work him in or not. I just thought it would be wise to make the place seem more haunted, and having a higher level illusionist walking around is a good way to make that happen. Once the party leaves the master bedroom on the first floor, he will consider his work complete, and he will retire back to his smuggling business.