Spelljammer |
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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| Current Turn? | No |  | Subject: | In Saltmarsh |
| Campaign: | Greyhawk | | Turn Start Date: | 9/11/596 |
| Adventure: | Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh | | Turn End Date: | 9/11/596 |
| Adventure Number: | AAB | | Characters: | Darkthorn, Dyson Teague, Kalin, Lorcan Smythe, Morgan Dunst, Rory Rockhound |
| Turn Number: | 1.0 | | Send To: | fivewands@championsoftheempire.com |
| Greyhawk Campaign? | Yes | | Combat Turn? | No |
| Name | Lethal | NL | Current | END | PROT | LOW | DEF | ROF | Flash | Heal | Luck Pts | Fate Pts | |
| Darkthorn | 0 | 0 | 57/57 | /0 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 0 | / | 1/day | 1/1 | /0 | |
| Dyson Teague | 4 | 0 | 51/55 | /2 | 5 | 0 | 31 | 2 | / | 1/day | 2/3 | 1/1 | |
| Kalin | 1 | 0 | 43/44 | /0 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 0 | / | 1/day | 1/2 | 1/1 | |
| Lorcan Smythe | 0 | 0 | 49/49 | /0 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | / | 1/day | 1/2 | 1/1 | |
| Morgan Dunst | 3 | 0 | 49/52 | 2/2 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 4 | / | 1/day | 1/1 | /0 | |
| Rory Rockhound | 0 | 0 | 45/45 | /0 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0 | / | 1/day | 1/1 | /0 | |
| Wiley Finch | 0 | 0 | 50/50 | /0 | 7 | 1 | 33 | 2 | / | 1/day | 1/2 | 1/1 | |
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| Mage/Psioncist Name | Psionic Pts | Spell Pts | Spell Pool | Miscellaneous Information |
| / | / | / | |
| Darkthorn | |
| Dyson Teague | |
| Kalin | |
| Lorcan Smythe | Spell Pool (7/7) |
| Morgan Dunst | |
| Rory Rockhound | |
| Wiley Finch | |
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The groups have been in Saltmarsh for three days now. It is evening of the third day and the group is eating and drinking at the Broken Plough, a tavern in Saltmarsh. They are making their plans for heading to the haunted house the following morning. Kalin plans to visit the Temple of Pelor first thing in the morning. Also, the following day is Market Day so the group also wants to visit the open air market and look for hard to find items, such as a holy water sprinkler.
As they are talking, a tall, thin man with a black mustache and goatee approaches and introduces himself as Andwan Playa, a member of the Saltmarsh City Council and proprietor of Playa Leatherworks, a local leather working business and store. He buys the group a round of drinks and tells them he heard that they plan to investigate the haunted house at the edge of town. He wishes them luck in their endeavor and asks to be kept updated on the group's progress. The group speaks with him for about half an hour or so, relating their adventures thus far and learning a bit more about Andwan.
The group heads back to the Inn of the Salty Crab to sleep for the night, but they have not been back for more than a few minutes when there is a knock at the door. When they open the door, they recognize the man as being the owner of the Shoppe of the Warriors, a local business that trades in armor and weapons. He did not purchase any of the group's weapons that they gained from the Battle of Seaton as the quality was not high enough but did point them to other places where they could sell them.
He introduces himself as Armenio Frugoya and gets right down to business. He has heard that there is a cache of weapons hidden somewhere in the haunted house that were made by a famous weaponsmith from Greyhawk 40 to 50 years ago. He goes into some detail about the weaponsmith and his work but the group politely urges him to get to the point. He asks that if the group finds the cache, that they give him first option to purchase any of the weapons in the cache that they do not keep for themselves. The group agrees and Armenio departs.
The following morning, the group heads first to the Temple of Pelor. Kalin and Rory enter and see some acolytes working. Kalin's current rank in the church is that of acolyte. A couple of the acolytes come over and ask what brings them to the temple. Kalin introduces himself. One of the acolytes departs to notify the priest. Father Diego Maarten arrives soon thereafter and welcomes Kalin. He leads Kalin and Rory to his office. Kalin notes another nearby office and deduces that there is probably a high priest in charge of this temple.
Kalin and Father Maarten spend the next couple of hours talking about this, that and everything else. Father asks Kalin if he would like to become an acolyte at the temple but Kalin declines and makes it clear that he is set on a life of adventure. Father Maarten does not push the issue as temples tend to make good money off adventuring priests.
The rest of the group is waiting outside and noting that dark clouds seem to be pressing in from the south. Darkthorn suggests that rain is likely and Lorcan more accurately predicts that it will start in about 20 minutes. The group gets somewhat impatient with waiting and Lorcan enters the church and asks one of the acolytes to let Kalin know that they will be at the market.
The group heads towards the market and makes a few purchases, including rain cloaks for those who have not already purchased them. The rain begins to fall a few minutes later. Kalin and Rory join them later and, which they have finished their purchases, they head east on the road out of town. It is raining heavily and the road is muddy.
It takes them about and hour and a half to reach the haunted mansion. They enter through the front gates and climb the stairs to the front entrance. Darkthorn, who tends to be somewhat impulsive and overconfident, starts to open the door but Dyson asks for a moment to investigate the door. He finds nothing of entrance so they open the door and enter. They are out of the rain but the house is damp and leaks badly. However, with another floor above them and an attic above that, they are still out of the rain.
Wiley lights a lantern as the dim light coming through the windows is not enough to see by. He hands it to Lorcan as the group forms into a marching order that puts Wiley at the back with Morgan. Dyson and Darkthorn lead the way. They see stairs leading up to a second floor landing with three hallways leading off and they see three more hallways leading off from the grand entry foyer on this level. Darkthorn picks the left hallway and leads the way down. There are three doors there. One is partially open and the other is closed. Dyson examines the closed door while Darkthorn pushes open the other door revealing a study. Dyson opens the other door revealing a library. Both rooms are in a sad state of affairs. The study especially is uninviting as the far windows are broken and the southerly wind is blowing rain directly through. Nevertheless, Dyson decides to examine the desk in the study while Lorcan and Kalin, followed by their henchmen, enter the library to examine a pile of books on the floor in the corner.
Dyson finds that the desk has already been search except for the center drawer which is closed and locked. Lorcan and Kalin find mostly useless and badly decayed books but three of them look like they might still be worth something to the right buyer. Two are written by a famous mage named Tenser and the third by an equally famous mage named Nystul.
As they are searching, Dyson and Darkthorn hear movement on the floor above them. Dyson thinks there might be a couple people up there while Darkthorn is certain there are at least 3 or 4. He hisses for quiet. After a few minutes, they hear the noises more clearly. Darkthorn again identifies the movement of 3 or 4 people walking towards the grand foyer. He whispers his findings to Wiley and the two back up deeper into the hall. Darkthorn sees four goblins walk across the second floor landing and enter the west wing of the house. He returns to the library and tells everyone what he saw. The group agrees with him that they should confront the goblins immediately. Both Darkthorn and Dyson are very knowledgeable about the ways of orcs and goblins from their childhood in Highport.
The group heads quietly up the stairs and into the west wing. The first door is open and Darkthorn sees the goblins in there. He charges forward, followed by the rest of the group. Battle is joined. Another goblin almost surprises Wiley, who is guarding the rear but Wiley hears him in the nick of time and turns to meet him.
By the end of the battle, all five goblins are dead. Darkthorn has taken the most damage (bloodied and almost badly wounded).
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
GM: The goblins each had dirty leather armor and a rough wooden shield that are not worth anything. Each carried an iron sword that Dyson figures could be worth as much as 30 sp each. Each also had 2d6 cp and 2d6 sp for a total of [10d6] cp and [10d6] sp.
After the battle, Darkthorn is bloodied and one point away from badly wounded. He suggests that the group find a campsite in the woods on the other side of the road from the manor and camp for the night. Darkthorn is somewhat adamant about it and, despite the fact that Kalin could heal him, if not fully, at least back to where he would be okay in the next battle, insists that he really wants to spend the night in the woods.
Somewhat reluctantly, the group departs. It is still raining but not as hard as it was when the group entered the mansion. The bodies of the goblins have already been looted and the group takes the time to remove the bodies from the haunted house so they don't attract carrion feeders of the monstrous sort into the mansion.
On the opposite side of the road that runs between Saltmarsh and Seaton is a dense woodlands area. The group finds a suitable campsite at the edge of the woods. Lorcan sets up his tent and then he unfolds the magical Folding Boat so that, inverted, it can be used as a shelter from the downpour.
DARKTHORN: Will use Survival skill to build the best shelter he can. [rolled 15 (Failure)]. (Woodland bonus included).
DARKTHORN: Will spend some time trying to find food. [rolled 70, no edible plants found]. (Woodland bonus included).
Darkthorn, who seems unnaturally restless, says that he wants to take a walk in the woods and that he may not be back until morning. Both Lorcan and Kalin are concerned that Darkthorn is not acting normally but neither can sense any sort of evil influence on him so they make no move to stop him.
The night passes wetly but uneventfully as the group, minus Darkthorn, keeps watch on the road and on the haunted house. Along about three in the morning, Wiley is on watch and thinks he sees an unnatural glow coming from the house. It is barely visible through some of the broken windows and cracked facade. A few minutes later, after he has awakened the others, a moaning sound can be heard that rises and lowers in pitch and volume over the next several minutes. The unnatural glow also changes in color and brightness but is never bright enough to distinguish any features of the dilapidated mansion. Half an hour later, all such manifestations subside and the house goes back to being a quiet though spooky building on the edge of a cliff.
The group goes back to their normal watches, minus Darkthorn, who has not yet returned. A couple hours later, the rain subsides to a sprinkle and heavy mist.
As the first hints of light are visible in the overcast skies, Darkthorn returns. He seems fully refreshed though admits he did not sleep much. He doesn't say much about where he was or what happened but admits that he learned more about what it means to be a Ranger in the service of the Earth and the Forest over the course of the night. He is also fully healed.
GM: I will assume that Kalin used his two CLW spells on himself and Wiley and that he also used the CLW from the Healing Charm. The result is that everyone is fully healed except for Dyson, who is down 4 HP, and Morgan, who is down 3 HP.
GM: Note that this interlude is to allow Darkthorn full access to his level 4 Ranger abilities (Chosen Enemy and a single cleric spell). It had to occur sooner or later so I figured I would do it now and the group benefits as well. Now he needs to buy up his Defense skill (currently rank 1) as he is way too easy to hit. |
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