NWN 13 (Aaron, Louis) – Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

As Sir William and Cloaked One retired from adventuring in Stone Leigh, the story now turned to two intrepid newbies: Thade the elven barbarian and Spathi, The Eluder, a human fighter specializing in running away. These two characters of questionable repute found themselves in Saltmarsh, a seaside community of little interest were it not for rumors of a haunted house nearby. The local town proved relatively uninteresting aside from a find of full plate mail in someone’s apartment, which Spathi purloined for his own use. The duo set off to the east down Old Coast road, coming upon a decrepit structure which was allegedly haunted. Inside were all manner of goblins, rats, spiders, and such. Eventually some dude named Ned was found naked and bound in a corner, and offered to follow the party. Naturally we were suspicious and these suspicions proved well founded as he attempted to assassinate us when we approached the cellar. Upon entering the cellar we encountered rot grubs, which burrowed into Spathi’s heart and killed him. Fortunately after some divine intervention he recovered slightly less experienced. The remainder of the night consisted of pillaging the house which turned out to be a smuggler’s base (this was a very sinister secret apparently) and returning to Saltmarsh to pawn all of the loot for a good load of gold. The mayor also asked us to wipe out the smuggler’s vessel the Sea Ghost which was done with ruthless efficiency. Hints of a lizardman stronghold were found on the vessel. Returning to town for our reward, we were also asked to retrieve a sextant from the vaults below the town bank. Thade and Spathi took the liberty of cleaning out the entire town vault before departing. All in all a profitable venture in preparation for some sort of danger at Dunwater.