Session 01: The Sinster Secret of Saltmarsh Report
General Summary
In the sleepy town of Saltmarsh, trouble is brewing. Isabella Blueson was last seen with her brother Andri Blueson, planning to go to the Haunted House east of town and recover the rumored gold the house's former owner, and alchemist, left behind. Instead, Andri never returned and Isabella washed up on shore drowned and wearing prisoner's garb with binding marks on her wrists and ankles.
This has shocked the town, leading to Eliander Fireborn, Captain of the Saltmarsh Guard, to request an old colleague, Virion Sylvenne to come to Saltmarsh from nearby Seaton and join the Cleric of Raan, Mystan Co'oquilan, in an investigative team.
Mystan was stationed in Saltmarsh as part of a larger effort by the Empire of Keoland to secure her Southern Coast Colonies via deploying several Followers of Raan as imperial agents throughout the Salmon Coast region. The dragonborn cleric has been in Saltmarsh for maybe a month by now, and is still getting acquainted with the town.
Elven knight Virion awakes in the morning on the 10th of Creation, finding himself in a room of the local taver, The Snapping Line, which reeks of fish. The room is fashioned like that of a ship's cabin, the very walls and floors made from decomissioned ships hulls. He stretches, dressing himself in fine but practical clothes including a black coat of imperial design. Dressed, he descends to the main floor and orders a simple breakfast from the bartender - Hannah Rist - and is served by a barmaid named Leta. The food is bland to him, but wakes him up notheless. Passing the stable where his horse, Rita, dwells he makes his way north towards Hoolwatch Tower, the seat of the guard's power in Saltmarsh, to meet with Captain Fireborn.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Sir Sylvenne finds himself in Captain Fireborn's third-floor office. The Captain wears a uniform of full plate armor, complete with puffy sleeves and large breeches. Eliander's matching deep brown eyes and close-cropped hair match his olive skin. His left leg is of a similar wooden hue, as it has been replaced with an ornate peg leg. More interesting, however, is the man on the other side of the desk with Virion. That man is Talon Co'oqulian Mystan, a Knight of Raan. The bronze-scaled dragonborn is muscular and imposing, his own armor gleaming with draconic sigils. The Captain then informs the elf of the Bluesons' fates, and the pair of knights learn that Eliander is deeply troubled by the Bluesons' respective death and disappearance. He has proposed an independent investigation to the council as his guard is currently stretched too thin dealing with the Dreadwood and criminals on the docks. The Captain's plan is to present Virion and Mystan as competent and trustworthy agents of the Emperor, who would bring this matter to rest.
After the debrief - which took over an hour due to Captain Fireborn's penchant for telling long, drawn out stories, such as how he lost his leg to an owlbear - the Saltmarsh Town Council calls a public meeting at the town council hall to discuss the events and how to react. Present is not only Captain Fireborn, but fellow Loyalist Manistrad Copperlocks, rich Traditionalist Gellan Primewater, senior councilwoman Eda Oweland, and young Anders Solmor - who preferred to be independent from the feud between the Traditionalists and Loyalists.
Eda Oweland is an older human woman, somewhere in her mid fifties, a longtime resident of Saltmarsh. Her extensive family is one of the most prominent in the town, owning three large fishing vessles. That influence has allowed the woman and her signature ash-blonde-turned-grey bun to stay on the council for three terms, longer than anyone in Saltmarsh's recent history. Her lightly tanned weatherworn face contrasts sharply with her deep red dress, a staple of the higher fashions in the region. Her ally Gellan Primewater, meanwhile, is even older than she is and strikes a much more pompous figure. Lounging in his chair, the ostentatious merchant-baron sports a white goatee and bright blue eyes, matching the peacock feather topping his large hat. Similarly vibrant jewels dot jewlerly that is far from subtle, as is his utter disintrest in the council's proceedings.
More vibrant is Anders Solmor, the young and independent councilor a recent addition to the town's leadership. Short black hair frames a handsome face of similar complection to Primewater's, a resemblance subverted by his dark eyes. While the popular businessman is clearly wealthy, his clothes are more relaxed and muted, a simple dark vest over a collared cotton shirt. Behind the young Solmor is his ever-present butler, the impecably dressed and towering Skerrin Wavechaser, whose world weary eyes, spotted skin, and silver hair communicate clear age and worry about his young master.
Between Anders and Captain Fireborn is the short and stocky Mannistrad Copperlocks, the only nonhuman member of the council. Although a woman, Councilwoman Copperlock's dwarven beard is immaculately braided and woven with green gems and other finery that compliment her auburn hair and emerald eyes. Her dress is simpler, forgoing fanciful fashion and more practical for her work as director of the local mine. Virion and Mystan are also seated nearby, a gathering of townsfolk pouring into the building.
Sirs Sylvenne and Co'oqulion are not the only active adventurers in the area, though. A littlefolk of the Jan Pana, refugee and bard Melody Rose Hazel Turen is friend of town druid Ferrin Kastilar. She awoke that morning within the druid's Sea-Grove, and bid both him and his pet frog Lorris goodbye before heaiding into town. The green-skinned woman has reddish-brown hair that matches the decorated, woven clothes she wears. A blunted conical hat of reed is perched upon her head, more to keep to the sun out of her eyes this time of year than deflect any precipition.
Additionally in town, keeping a close ear to local gossip, is the heavily wrapped and mysterious "Fishcod". A traveling vagrant, the "human"'s robes and coats keep their entire being wholly obscured, even in the warm weather. They learn from a rambling shopkeep of the Blueson murder long before the meeting, and attend out of curisoity - as does Melody.
With Eda calling the meeting to order, the council gives the town an overview of the situation. Captain Fireborn immeidately blames the Hold of the Sea Princes due to the binding marks, suspecting the slave trade. Councilwoman Oweland counters that if it is the Sea Princes, then the military is doing a poor job of guarding the town. The argument continues, with Copperlocks offering comments in dwarvish and Gellan fiddling with buttons on his coat. Finally, Mr. Solmor steps in to mediate, reminding everyone that they do not know what happened and more information is needed. This prompts Elander to present his agents, Virion Sylvenne and Mystan Co'oqulian. Perhaps wary of an all-imperial investigation - or maybe simply desiring a larger team - the Traditionalists call upon the crowd for two more volunteers to investiage (after shooting down Mannistrad's suggestion of some of her dwarves. Everyboyd in the crowd steps back, unwilling to meet the same fate as Andri and Isabella Blueson.
The first to volunteer is Melody. While not very invested in the community - in fact, the refugee bard would rather the whole Empire up and left - she volunteered to protect children, as the Bluesons were barely legal adults. No child, littlefolk or human, should suffer such a fate. As such, she agrees to go. Besides, in her mind Virion is a possible cultural connection for her to make in this strange colonial town.
Following Melody's lead, Fishcod joins the investigation as well. The others regard the oddly dressed and even more strangely named visitor with some suspicion, only a pair of red eyes barely visible through the drapery, but they accept their help. Still, VIrion cannot help but notice that every time Fishcod speaks they relay an utter lack of knowledge about humanoid culture, including naming conventions.
The group now assembled, the meeting is ajourned and Captain Fireborn takes them to the Saltmarsh Barracks and Jail to investigate Isabella Blueson's body. To get there, the group must cross Sharkfin Bridge. Curiously, Melody and Virion both feel a cold nausea as they pass the wide stone arch, despite the others and all the surrounding shopkeepers being seemingly unaffected.
Upon entering the barracks, they cross the courtyard and head into the mess hall, moving towards a staircase that takes them past a main cell with a few drunkards in it. One cell hosts a coffin full of ice with a sheet atop it, within the corpse of Isabella Blueson.
He body is covered in several lacerations in additon to marks from ropes on her wrists and ankles as well as a gunshot wound. In addition, she sports a burn that Mystan attributes to magic. The bullet wound appears to have been hastily patched up, and her chest is opened from an autopsy. Said autopsy revealed that despite her hardships, her ultimate cause of death was drowning. Additionally, one of her fingers had blackened as if from frostbite.
Disturbed by these findings, The Party leaves with increased determination to bring her murderers to justice. On their way out, Fishcod does something to the body or leaves something there, though despite Virion catching the hand motion he cannot tell wha; they didn't appear to take or leave anything. Still, odd that the strangely dressed figure seemingly rubbed their fingers over the corpse.
The Bluesons were last known to have headed for the Haunted house on the outskirts of town, and as such that is where the party heads to first. The path there takes them east, out of town and through winding rocky terrain a hundred or two hundred feet above the salty waters of the Cobalt Sea below. As they approach the house, a rusted iron gate creaks open, giving them access to the house grounds.
There on the lawn the group encounters a nest of weasles living under overgrown rosebushes in the manor's front garden. While the weasles gave the party quite a scare, they ultimately leave the animals and their burrow alone and head into the house's foyer.
The building was probably once made of fine woods, but now it is rotted. Cobwebs plaster the entire building, windows and furniture shattered throughout the room. Hearing a strange creeking noise, the group ascends a staircase and begins to investigate the upstairs portion of the east wing. Three doors linea hallway, and they checked the middle room first. The room is empty, save for rotting floorboards and a window at the far end. Following this, Virion tries the door nearest the staircase. This turns out to be nearly fatal, as from the walls and fireplace come a horrifying chitenous mass of spiders, spilling out over the elven wizard in a tidal wave of a million legs and eyes.
Falling uncounsious from the spider's venom - or maybe just the shock - Virion was out for the count before anybody could even do anything to help him. Luckily, Melody was able to use Cure Wounds to return Sir Sylvenne to conciousness. In turn, he casted Sleep, knocking a swarm unconsious. Then, Mystan (after noticing a key, clearly to the third room, on the floor outside the door where the increasingly disturbing and loud, desparate noises were coming from) casted Bane on the swarms. The spiders then crawled onto Mystan, but struggled to penetrate his armor or fit between the chinks in it. Fishcod responded by poking the spiders with a spear, to little avail. Rose, in a flash of insight, offered the arachnids food. All the spiders turned and looked upon her ravenously devouring the two days' worth of rations, terrifying the party.
Shutting the door and stuffing a curtain beneath it, as well as sealing the doorway with wax, they moved on to the far door of the hall. Behind the door can be heard muffled voices, creaking, and some banging. Using the key Mystan found to unlock the door, the party finds a man in the room, bound and gagged in a chair. He looks overjoyed to see the party there, and is overjoyed when Virion slices him free with his cavalry sword. Wearing only underpants, the man introduces himself as Ned Shakeshaft and happily accepts some of the party's spare clothes. He then explains his story, how he had been traveling from Seaton to Saltmarsh and went into the house through the kitchen looking for food - only to be suddenly assaulted by an unknown attacker - landing him here in this room. After a little convincing, the party (begrudingly) agrees to take him along
They go to get his things from the north wing of the house. There is a hallway with two doors, at the back of which is a collapsed staircase into the attic. Melody opens the further of the two doors, revealing a room that appears to have been used for storage. Below the window is a large oaken chest, and there are also three broken chairs and some buckets Additionally, there is a heap of newer clothes just by the door, which Ned identifies as his own. He goes to change by the staircase, and further investigatio nof Ned's things reveals he is a courier running company documents from Seaton to Saltmarsh to an unspecified employer. Furthermore, apparently he has two mothers - which is odd, given he mentioned his dad earlier. Finding no trace of hostiles in the east and north wings, the party decides to investigate the west wing and then the first floor. Despite the relative lack of resistance, they want to be careful: while this looks too ametuer to be a Sea Prince job, anybody who is in the house has almost certainly already heard them...
Character(s) interacted with
- Ferrin Kastilar
- Eliander Fireborn
- Eda Oweland
- Manistrad Copperlocks
- Gellan Primewater
- Anders Solmor
- Ned Shakeshaft
