The Plot of Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Chapter One

Plot points/Scenes

Chapter One The churning of the sea against the bow of the ship creates a noise that Pierre is accustomed to. He stands next to Captain Cumberdale, his mentor and friend at the wheel of The Pearl of the Urchin. "Saltmarsh lies about an hour that way Pierre." Pierre strains his eyes but his gaze can't cut through the thick fog. "Is that where we're headed, Captain?" Pierre asks. "Aye." Joji wakes to the feeling of cold seawater on his feet. The water was coming from the hole in the bottom of his jolly-boat. He feels his hip to make sure that his family sword is in its scabbard. Then he sits up to look around. The gods seem to be looking down on him as he can see a dock bustling with people. Angus and Lars both grew up in the same farming community. They've known each other ever since they were children. They say they went to the same school but neither of them went to school much. Growing up doing hard work they were suited to the life of a soldier and when they were old enough to leave home the left for the city and joined the king's army. They had visions of grandeur fighting together to defend their homes from monsters and attacking armies. Instead, they were stationed together as guards in a small fishing town barely bigger than their hometown. Nothing interesting has ever happened to them. Today was slightly strange as they have orders to bring in the captains of any ships that land at their port. It probably has something to do with the smuggler that was captured in Saltmarsh last week. Neither of them had seen this smuggler though. Approaching the dock they got waves from some of the locals and snarls from others. A new ship had just landed and they were going to be the ones to take the Captain up to the jail. As they made their way to the new ship Lars spots something in the fog. A jolly boat that is riding quite low in the water. As the boat gets closer it continues to get lower and he sees a lone occupant frantically trying to bail water. Chernebog awakes in a familiar place. The cold floor of the jail cell feels good against his scales. He's been in and out of prison his entire life and knew every face that passed through Saltmarsh. Except the ones passing through the door to the jailhouse right now. First is a heavily tattooed bald man being pushed roughly by the guards. The next to walk through the doors is a slender man, his face covered by a mask and his cloak concealing what looked to be golden plate mail. He is accompanied by a man who was clearly the captain of a successful ship. The last was a foreign-looking man who was arguing with the guards that he should be able to keep his sword. The guards locked all of them in separate cells and told them that the Lawmaster will be down shortly to question them. Chernebog did not like the Lawmaster. He was an incredibly serious man who Chernebog suspected was more worried about upholding his honor than the law. The tension was heavy in the jailhouse until the man with the mask asked “A Dragonborn huh? Don’t see many of your kind?” Chernebog just huffed. His draconic ancestry was the only reason he was in the jailhouse. Any human would have been let off with a warning for what he did. The silence following that exchange was finally broken when a loud bell could be heard ringing. Shortly the sound of distant cannon fire followed. The heavily tattooed man grinned when he heard the sound. “I knew they’d be coming for me.” A guard burst through the door to the jailhouse and pointed at the Captain and said “Help us fight off these pirates and you will have won our-” he coughs up blood as he falls forward the ax that has been buried into his back now visible. Two men step over the guard's body one dipping down to retrieve his keys. They move over to the cell that contains the tattooed man and let him out. “Tell your Lord that that's the last time he’ll ever capture Slash,” he says as he leaves the room with his men not before ripping the ax out of the guard's body with a sickening squelch. Captain Cumberdale knew Slashes rescuers. He made sure that they did not know him. He pulled up his jacket to cover his face and sunk into the shadow of the cell. After they were gone he knew that he had to get out of that jail cell. “Pierre, you think you could use put some of that thieving stuff to good use and get us out of here.” Pierre obliged pulling a lockpick out that he had hidden somewhere on his person. The lock opened with a satisfying click. “Let’s get to the ship Captain.” Cumberdale started to leave, then stopped just before the door. “We could use some help.” Pierre quickly had all of the cells open and Captain Cumberdale promised, “You two will have a place among my crew if you fight alongside us.” As the small group moved into the office of the jailhouse they realized that the chest they had put all of their equipment into was missing. As they ran outside they saw the two men who had freed Slash carrying the chest that contained their weapons. “We’ll be needing those,” Captain Cumberdale said, “Meet me down at my ship after you’ve recovered our weapons.” Pierre, Joji, and Chernebog take off after the two pirates. Captain Cumberdale runs down to the docks taking care to stay out of view of any of the raiding pirates. When he makes it to the docks the other three had already beaten him down there. He was getting too old for this. He has to free his crew from below deck. The guards had locked them down there as a precaution until he had finished being questioned. He looks back to Pierre and sees him wielding his two swords easily cutting down pirates and dodging and weaving between their blows. It reminded Cumberdale of when he was a young buccaneer. He just wishes that Pierre will not make the same mistakes that he has. The foreign man and the Dragonborn are very capable fighters themselves forcing some of the pirates to drop their loot and swim for their lives. Cumberdale was still far from his ship when he saw one of the pirates come out from underneath the dock he was standing on and start swimming towards his ship. Cumberdale knew something wasn’t right but he saw movement aboard his ship. The pirates were looting his cabin. Pierre saw this as well and was already on board while Cumberdale was still fifty yards away. The pirates came running out of the cabin but they had no loot. They saw Pierre but ran right past him and dove into the water. Pierre followed their lead and went to dive off the aft of the ship. Right before he dove he saw Captain Cumberdale boarding the ship. Pierre tried to warn him but this was the last time Captain Cumberdale would be setting foot aboard his ship. The explosion started in the captain's cabin and ran the length of the ship toward the bow. Pierre lost his footing on the railing and looked at The Pearl of the Urchin and her captain for the last time before it was engulfed in a ball of fire. Lars and Angus were trying their very best to “keep the peace.” They had not been briefed on what to do in case of a pirate attack. They had military training but these pirates were ruthless. Luckily the crew of the pirate ship was more interested in stealing expensive things than killing two random soldiers. The attack was over as quickly as it started. Saltmarsh was not prepared to defend against an attack. Angus thought that the attack must have been because someone had angered the gods. “Maybe one of the townsfolk killed a gull,” he said, “I heard that that can cause real bad luck.” Lars replied, “That wasn’t cause of no bad luck those visitors must have been the ones to cause this.” His suspicion was confirmed when he heard the explosion and saw smoke coming from the docks. “Just test fire, I assure you, Master Anders.” Then there was a boom much louder than the rest. “I must go see what is going on, Skerrin.” “That won’t be necessary, you must get back to your lordly duties. Captain Eliander oversees all training exercises and I assure you that he knows what he is doing.” “Still, it would be nice to go down to the docks to watch a training exercise.” Angus and Lars saw their prisoners standing in a circle around a silver box on the ground. “Lars, I don’t think they are the ones who caused this. Why would they still be here if they was?” “Look some of ‘em are missing,” Lars replied. “Drop your weapons!” He shouted. All three of them had their weapons sheathed. “Where's the rest of ya’s.” Pierre lifted his arm solemnly and pointed out to the harbor. Captain Cumberdale's body was resting on driftwood, a piece from his ship, and slowly drifting out to sea. “What about the one with the tattoos?” Chernebog replied “Can’t you two idiots see? He is clearly the cause of all of this. Where did he come from?” Angus began “ Well you see we don’t exactly deal with arresting high profile…” “We’re the ones asking the questions here,” Lars interjects. “We are still going to need to arrest you in order for you to be questioned.” They lead their prisoners back to the jailhouse. “Normally Captain Eliander does the questioning but it seems he is indisposed at the moment,” The tall man with dark hair wearing even darker fine robes. “You will be questioned by Lord Solmer directly.” He gestures to the boy with sharp features also wearing fine clothes. “So, his first question is: what is your business in Saltmarsh?” Joji begins to answer but instead says “Wait, I thought we were going to be questioned directly by Lord Slomer.” Anders speaks up “Yes, thank you Skerrin that will be enough.” He puffs his chest and points at Joji and Pierre, “You two, what is your business in Saltmarsh?” Joji begins “Is that where I am? I am from Ionia and my ship must have crashed. Somehow I survived and the current brought me here.” “Oh, Ionia you say I would love to hear more about your home.” Skerrin interrupts “Yes, yes once we determine that he is not a criminal.” Pierre answers when he finishes “I came here with Captain Cumberdale on the Pearl of the Urchin. We were going to make new lives for ourselves as traders here in Saltmarsh. That’s what we did before in Esbin but the seas are getting crowded over there.” “Where is this Captain Cumberdale?” “He was killed defending our ship from the pirate attack.” “Pirates, you say, here in Saltmarsh?” Pierre was stunned, “You haven’t heard about the attack?” Skerrin interrupts once again “I only just learned of the attack we will deal with it after we finish the questioning.” Joji says, “Very interesting, the Lord of the land not knowing about an attack on his own land.” Anders calmly replies, “Skerrin knows best, if he withheld information from me he has a good reason, he always does.” “I do have a good reason and I do not need to explain myself to these potential miscreants. Now on with the questioning.” The only person actually guilty of a crime was Chernebog but Anders decided that he has paid his dues by helping to defend the town from the pirate attack. “Now that the questioning is over, Joji join me for dinner and tell me more about your homeland of Ionia.” “Master Anders I do not think…” Skerrin tries to interject. “You two come along as well. This will be your payment for valiantly defending Saltmarsh.” Chernebog broke off from the group as soon as he left the jailhouse. Dinner was not going to be payment enough for all the times he's been wronged by Lord Anders. He never did understand how his father had put up with the behavior of the Solmer family. They only held power because they had so many fishing boats that if they wanted they could put every other fisherman in Saltmarsh out of business. His father had been one of those fishermen. Chernebog was supposed to inherit his father's fishing business and his boat The Hooker. Until one night he sailed into a storm and never returned. Ever since his father died Chernebog has been looking for a purpose. There are not many opportunities for a Dragonborn in a backwater town such as Saltmarsh. He tried the military maybe he could die an honorable death. Even the marines would not accept him despite Chernebog being a fine sailor. He has no money to travel and he barely scrounges up enough coin to survive. The only person who has always shown him kindness is Eliot Swanson the owner of a local tavern. Eliot is the only reason Chernebog hasn’t left Saltmarsh for good. They grew up together and they both helped their fathers fish when they were younger. The only difference is Eliot's father is still fishing. Chernebog would much rather eat a lukewarm fish and wash it down with an ale or similar temperature with Eliot than eat the finest meats with that entitled brat Anders. “This is very fine meat. What is this again?” Joji says with his mouth half full, “I’ve eaten nothing but fermented fish for the past month.” Pierre just takes another bite in agreement. A butler standing behind Joji says “That would be coq au vin sir.” From the other side of a very long table, “Anders says. “I’m glad you're enjoying it, my foreign friend. Now tell me more about your homeland. How does it differ from Saltmarsh?” “Well to begin you people do a lot of throwing people in jail for no reason,” Pierre says. “I was asking Joji.” “Oh, well normally the Lords in Ionia are adults.” Skerrin cuts in “Master Anders father was killed in an accident at sea.” Anders tone changes “Leave it be, Skerrin I’m sure he meant no offense.” “How did this tragic accident occur? In Ionia, men do not die due to accidents.” Joji pushes. Pierre whispers “Joji you really ought not to…” Skerrin scoffs “What exactly are you implying?” Anders answers “He was killed in a storm on a trip to Esbin,” Anders' eyes start to tear up, “It came out of nowhere. My mother and father were knocked overboard and I had to watch them drown in the rough sea. Luckily Skerrin was there to pull me below deck so that I did not suffer the same fate.”Anders was sobbing by the time he finished. “Leave us,” he said through tears.

Themes

No one is to be trusted. The world contains liars, thieves, and criminals and those are the good guys.

Plot type

Chapter One: Introductions