Page 21 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

WAGES AND R ESEARCH ROA DS AND PATHWAYS
You can spend a week working with Krag, helping tend
the graveyard during the day and organizing Eliander's The roads around Saltmarsh are heavily patrolled,
library in the evenings. You earn enough money to af- part of the crown's effort to make its influence felt in
the region. Travel along these thoroughfares is usually
ford a modest lifestyle. You also learn one piece of lore
regarding the region around Saltmarsh. That lore is the safe, with most encounters involving merchant cara-
equivalent of one true statement about a person, place, vans, guard patrols, and fellow travelers. Small farms
or thing found within 25 miles of town. The DM is the and manors cluster near the roads, relying on passing
final arbiter on the exact information learned, but it is guard patrols for their safety. Where these settlements
likely something that helps you solve a problem or make grow more widely spaced, bandit raids become more
progress with a task. likely. Travelers on the road meet ld4 caravans per
day and have a 5 percent chance of being the target of
EMPLOYMENT an ambush by 2d4 bandits led by a bandit captain. In
addition, each day on the road a party passes ld3 small
Characters who are interested in making a fair wage for villages or manors. There is a 25 percent chance that
little risk can find jobs around town. Having a job can any such location is inhabited by halflings. Otherwise,
also enable a character to come to the attention of one of the location is a human enclave.
Saltmarsh's leaders. The employment opportunities be-
low are tailored to each of those individuals, including: POINTS OF INTEREST
• Hiring on with the Oweland family to work on a Beyond Saltmarsh are a number of locations that char-
fishing boat acters can visit. Providing in-depth detail in for all of
• Joining the guard and report to Eliander Fireborn them is beyond the scope of this book, but enough in-
• Taking short-term work in Gellan Primewater's smug- formation is provided to create a foundation for further
gling operation development.
Mining or other forms of manual labor with the
dwarves led by Manistrad Copperlocks ABBEY ISLE
Laboring on the docks, loading and unloading ships This island south of Saltmarsh is the featured location
for Anders Solmor's trading company in the adventure /s/e of the Abbey.
The island is the site of a small abbey that was long
For each week of employment, you earn the coin ago abandoned by the order of monks that buiJt it. Since
needed to sustain a modest lifestyle. There is also a then, various outlaw gangs and monsters have claimed it
chance that you attract the notice of the prominent per- as a lair.
son associated with your job. At the end of each week,
make a DC 15 Charisma check. On a success, you earn BURLE
the opportunity to request an audience with that person.
Burle is a fortified outpost that is always on guard for
monsters emerging from the Dreadwood. It serves as a
MERCENARY WORK
key stopover point for travelers venturing inland from
Ingo the Drover is always on the lookout for skilled mer- the southern coastal region. The community is domi-
cenaries to fulfill the contracts offered to him. He has nated by a small keep set atop a hill that overlooks the
a particular need for those who can serve as caravan forest it borders. A few farms cluster around it, the lo-
guards, personal protection for merchants, and sentries cals relying on the royal garrison to keep them safe from
aboard docked ships. marauders.
For each week of mercenary work, you earn the coin Burle's most distinctive feature is the small copse of
needed to sustain a modest lifestyle and an extra 2d10 trees that grows in the middle of the keep. An ancient
gp. Additionally, roll a d20 at the end of each week. On treant named Wander Root dwells in the keep and acts
a 19 or higher, you earn a bonus of 3d20 gp due to the as an informal ambassador between the humans of
unexpectedly dangerous nature of your most recent Keoland and the wood elves and good-aligned fey of the
assignment. Dreadwood. Years ago, the knights of Keoland helped
the denizens of the forest defeat an incursion by cultists
SALTMARSH REGION worshiping elemental evil fire. Since then, the elves, the
treants, and the crown of Keoland have observed the
The land near Saltmarsh is safe for travelers, as are Wild Flame Pact- a treaty that calls for mutual defense
the roads that cut through the region. Small farms and against the Dreadwood's horrors.
manor houses dot the area, many maintained by army The outpost is commanded by its castellan, Kiara
veterans who were granted land by royal decree. A Shadowbreaker (LG female half-elf knight), who has led
number of small halfling villages are scattered around many successful raids into the Dreadwood. Kiara is a
the area, located just off the main roads. Such locations grim figure, always cognizant of the threat posed by the
consist of several farmhouses clustered around a pub forest's denizens. She sees trouble behind every piece
that provides a warm welcome to visitors who come in of news, and she keeps the warriors and rangers head-
peace. Once one journeys off the beaten path, however, a
quartered here ready to fight at a moment's notice. She
variety of threats emerge from the swampy wilderness.
is especially keen to hear news about the Scarlet Broth-
Map l.2 shows Saltmarsh and the surrounding area,
erhood. Kiara is convinced that the organization poses
where all of the following sites and features are located.
l.H.\PT~K I I !s\lTM \KS!i
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