The Saltmarsh Register is the in-game newspaper I invented for the Ghosts of Saltmarsh game I run online every other Saturday. It is reprinted here to give others a taste of how that game has developed. WARNING, it may have spoilers for the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure, though I have deviated a bit from the published module.
The Saltmarsh Register
VOL 1.4 – Starday, 1st of Richfest, 570 CY
Salinmoor’s Finest Catch of Tidbits and Tattle printed weekly each Starday, publisher Tyna Hilltopple
SECRETS OF SEATON REVEALED!
As this publication’s intrepid reporter suspected, the Mariner’s Guild of Seaton harbored dark and sinister secrets! One of the members of the council of the guild, Luka Rejec, turned out to be A VAMPIRE! In uncovering this secret, the Saltmarsh Register also discovered that another high up in the guild, one Ionna Bors, was an agent in the employ of the malign and secretive Scarlet Brotherhood. While Ionna disappeared after her true affiliation was revealed, the Saltmarsh Register was able to recover a cache of notes she left behind and will be publishing any news and secrets that emerge from these cryptic papers. When confronted with the evidence of the wrongdoing of her underlings, Thordis Steelfist, the head of the Mariner’s Guild, claimed that the guild itself had nearly completed an investigation into embezzlement that would have uncovered the secret agents in the guild’s very highest ranks and pointed to the fact that the Guild had turned the vampiric Rejec over to the Order of Saint Cuthbert immediately and had worked with the army of Keoland to attempt to capture Bors before she fled. The editor of the Saltmarsh Register leaves it up to you, dear reader, to decide whether to believe Guild Head Steelfist, but rest assured that this reporter does not and intends to
CONFIDENTIAL TO THE HIGHLY PLACED MEMBER OF THE SCARLET BROTHERHOOD IN SALTMARSH, BEWARE! THE TIME OF YOUR UNMASKING IS COMING!
Your name was in the notes recovered from Ionna Bors and I know it was you who attempted to ransack the Saltmarsh Register Office while our dedicated reporter was discovering your darkest secrets in Seaton. You have until the First Day of Reaping to confess your crimes and turn yourself over to the law of the crown! If you do not, this publication shall name you in the next issue of the Register. And don’t think about threatening the personnel of the Register, as we have made arrangements for our safety and if those fail, we have made arrangements for the information we have about you to be made known should any harm befall us!
VAMPIRES STALK THE NIGHTS OF SALINMOOR!
With at least one Vampire (the aforementioned Luka Rejec) operating in Seaton and rumors of travelers around Saltmarsh being found drained of blood with no memory of who or what assaulted them in the night, it has become clear to the Saltmarsh Register that VAMPIRES have become a problem for the good folk of Salinmoor. While traveling from Seaton to Saltmarsh, the Register’s reporter met up with the Company of the Broken Maul who have agreed to look into the problem. Horatio Threesilver, learned bard for the adventuring band, suspects that Granny Nightshade, the evil hag who rules the depths of the Dreadwood, is behind the vampires, as she is known to have vampiric consorts. Leta Flamefingers, sorcerer extraordinaire for the band speculates that the hag is worried about the Company of the Broken Maul’s successful expeditions into the Dreadwood and these vampiric spies have been sent out in response.
DARKNESS DEFEATED IN THE DREADWOOD
The Company of the Broken Maul continues to triumph over evil in the Dreadwood. After defeating a pack of werewolves and a green dragon, they drove deeper into the Dreadwood, following rumors of a lost dwarven artifact that was stolen years ago and may have made its way deep into the dangerous Dreadwood. While they did not yet find the artifact they search for, they dispatched a gorgon and a banshee and cleared out a tribe of hobgoblins who served the sinister Granny Nightshade.
GLAD TIDINGS AND GOOD CHEER FOR RICHFEST COURTESY OF THE COMPANY OF THE BROKEN MAUL!
Returning from Dreadwood with GOLD & GLORY, the Company of the Broken Maul intends to make good on their promise to the fine people of Saltmarsh. They wish to proclaim through this publication that they will throw a fantastic celebration on Midsummer Night (Richfest 4). They have paid for the finest cooks from Seaton to come to Saltmarsh to prepare a gourmet feast that will be FREE TO ALL. They have commissioned a small ship to bring a hold full of wine and ale up from Seaton to accompany the dinner. Furthermore, Horatio Threesilver shall sing and play his lute to tell the tales of the triumphs of the Company of the Broken Maul and the other members of the company will show the many treasures and trophies they have claimed, including the preserved tongue of a green dragon and the severed foot of a troll that Dagnal Durthane will prove to be authentic by showing how it regenerates any and all damage done to it that is not fire or acid. The grand celebration will take place in the clearing east of Hoolwatch Tower and again, ALL ARE WELCOME TO PARTAKE IN THE GOOD CHEER AND GENEROSITY OF THE COMPANY OF THE BROKEN MAUL!
SECRET ASSAULTS AGAINST SAHUAGIN, SALTMARSH COIN WASTED AND SALTMARSH LIVES SPENT TO SATISFY THE BLOOD LUST OF STRANGE LIZARDS
The secretive maneuverings and whispered plans of the Town Council have finally become clear! Apparently they have been making arrangements to smuggle weapons to a tribe of Lizardfolk who had a rivalry with Sahuagin. With the assistance of the sometimes suspicious Answering Call, the town council armed this primitive tribe of lizard folk and other aquatic creatures and then coordinated an assault with them against a tribe of Sahuagin at a fortress some thirty-plus miles from Saltmarsh. With the secrecy and expense, this publication must ask why the town council thought that arming potential enemies of Keoland was prudent. Yes, Sahuagin are dangerous creatures, but from what the Register has been able to apprehend, these particular Sahuagin had not been attacking any of the boats of Saltmarsh or of Keoland. Futhermore, the fortress assualted was apparently the former home of the Lizard Folk tribe, meaning that good Saltmarsh blood was spilt and Keoland coin was spent on helping one hostile tribe take back a location they had lost to another hostile tribe. Was it worth the death of three good members of the town guard were slain? Can the Town Council and the Answering Call tell the families of Jorie Boland, Frederick Schwalb and Johann Magary that the death of their loved ones and the gold of Saltmarsh was not wasted in the squabbles of non-Keoland citizens? The editor of the Saltmarsh Register sincerely doubts they would have any good answer to that question.
FISHING TIDBITS
Many eels have made their way back to Saltmarsh and can be easily caught as they swim back up the Kingfisher River.
Ol’ Norbert claims to have seen a school of nearly three dozen octopi while he was fishing east of the Dwarven Mine, but his fellow fisherman say he is mad and prone to flights of fancy.
