Story Description: My attempt to turn the Wizards of the Coast's campaign Ghosts of the Saltmarsh into a story.

Thamila, Illayana, Kenku, and Darvin each have their own reasons for coming to the town of Saltmarsh. Anders Solmor hires the group to explore the haunted mansion outside town and learn its secrets. Will the mission's goals align with their personal goals?

Thamila Brightwillow the warlock was sent by her patron, Neptis, an ancient sea elemental who feels something wrong happening along the shores of the Azur Sea near Saltmarsh.

Darvin, a cleric of Lathander, was sent by the Kingdom of Keoland to assist Eliander Fireborn, the Captain of the guard in Saltmarsh, in any way possible.

Illayana Shieldstar, the fey druid, is on a mission for the Emerald Enclave to assist their contact in Burle, Kiara Shadowbreaker, who suspects the Scarlet Brotherhood poses a dire threat to the region.

Kenku the eladrin-trained fighter followed her adopted sister, Illayana, into the mortal realm, charged as the high-born fey's personal guard and protector.

Author Note: When I started writing Ghosts of the Saltmarsh I hadn't decided if I wanted it to be set in the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk. As I was finishing writing the first part of the module's first chapter, I also did some serious background work for the characters and how to tie them into the world. That's when I decided to go with the module's setting, Greyhawk. However, I have already picked out gods from the Forgotten Realms, and I'm going to just keep it the way it is because I don't want to do more research. I'd rather use that time to write instead.

The Snapping Line

A female halfling dressed in bright-colored clothing stands outside a building that looks like it was built from the planks and hulls of decommissioned fishing ships. She looks up at the sign which reads The Snapping Line, and says to herself, this must be the place.

The halfling walks up to the door and pushes it open. The overpowering smell of fish washes over her as she steps into the room. The halfling wrinkles her nose as she looks around; the place is predictably nautical-themed, a young woman stands behind the bar, and a few of the tables have patrons. She assumed the place is so empty because, like farmers, most fishermen would be working at this hour.

She climbs up onto a bar stool, the human woman comes over, and says, "Hey there little one, what can I do for you?"

The halfling smiles brightly and says, "Hi! I'm Thamila. I saw a notice on the signboard that said to come here and find Anders Solmor. Can you point me in his direction?"

"Sure thing," she points to a table with two human men engaged in conversation.

Thamila smiles again, "Thank you, I don't know your name, but thank you just the same!"

"I'm Hanna Rist the owner of The Snapping Line," the woman says with a grin and a small chuckle.

Always in a hurry to move on to the next thing, Thamila nods, hops down off the stool, and makes her way to the table. The two humans stop speaking and look at her as she pulls out a chair and sits down.

Before speaking, Thamila takes a look at both men; one is richly dressed and slight with sharp features, and the other has dusky brown skin and brown hair, dressed in common clothes.

She looks over at the slight man saying cheerfully, "Hi, I'm Thamila and one of you is Anders Solmor, who's in need of aid. I'm pretty sure that's you. So I'm here to offer you my help."

"Is that so?" he replied.

Before Thamila could answer the tavern door opened again. A tall eladrin woman walks in. She looks like she's covered from head to toe in autumn leaves, her orange-red skin peaks out from between the leaves, except for her arms, which are bare with yellow swirl tattoos. Next to her stands a kenku with a dark purple feathered head and tail feathers. Anders puts his hand up to signal to them and they head toward the table.

"Welcome, I am Anders Solmor. My butler, Skerrin, said to be expecting you two. Says you stopped by my house looking for me."

"Oh yes," says the eladrin, "I thought it was just easier if I went right to your place to you speak with you. Instead of waiting till another time to come and meet you here in this very fishy-smelling place. My name is Illayana Shieldstar and this here," she motions to the kenku, "is Kenku."

Kenku says, "Hi! Nice meeting you," she ends with a whistle.

"Hi, I'm Thamila!" the halfing smiles and sticks out her hand, "It's great to meet you!"

The man with the dusky brown skin speaks up, "Hey there, I'm Darvin. Nice to meet you."

"Well now that we're all acquainted, how about the two of you sit down and I'll tell you about the job."

Illayana and Kenku join the others at the table. Before Anders can begin speaking again Darvin offers the food that is on the table, bread, cheese, and fruits to the three women. Illayana politely refuses, but both Kenku and Thamila grab something to eat.

Once everyone is settled, Anders continues, "I'm seeking adventurers to explore an abandoned mansion. I've learned that the Sea Princes' slavers are using it as a base to kidnap local travelers and sell them into bondage. The mansion is just outside town, and umm haunted. I mean if you believe in that sort of thing," he clears his throat.

"What makes you say it's haunted?" asks Darvin.

"Well, sometimes eerie lights are seen at night. And you can hear unnatural shrieks and sounds. But it could just be the wind coming in off the sea," Anders tries to sound nonchalant, but Darvin could hear the terror he was failing to hide.

"Well, I guess the place can't be that haunted if the slavers are using it as a base. I mean unless they've made friends with the ghosts. I'm in," Thamila speaks up.

The kenku and eladrin briefly look at each other, before Illayana responds, "We will also take the job."

Anders looks at Darvin, "And you?"

"You already know I will say yes," Darvin replies.

"Very good then. I'll leave you to make your plans. You know where to find me," Anders stands up, holds up his hand to say goodbye, and leaves the newly formed group at the table.

"Well, it's too late to head out now unless you want to sleep at this haunted mansion," Darvin says.

Kenku speaks up, "I agree," she makes a clicking sound and continues, "What next?"

"The Temple of Procan is on the way out of town, we could meet there tomorrow morning," Darvin suggests.

"Good plan. whistle We agree," Kenku says and then looks at Thamila and asks, "What about you?"

"I like that plan too," Thamila agrees.

The group gets up to leave, and Darvin puts some bread and cheese into his pockets before leaving the table.

I started working on this story when I was struggling with writer's block while working on Zira's story. I wanted to write a campaign module because I didn't have to create the story, I just had to put my characters into the premade story. Writing without the pressure of coming up with the story has been great for my writer's block. It has become my go-to to get past struggles I have with Zira, but that also means I don't work on it as often. I plan to novelize the entire campaign, so I'll update it when I have chapters finished, so please be patient.

I played Thamila, my halfing warlock, in a nautically set one-shot my husband dmed. I wasn't ready to let her go and she wasn't ready to stop adventuring so, I thought Ghosts of the Saltmarsh was a good place for her to start adventuring again. I'm not sure if she'll be the same halfling I played because the group dynamics are pretty different. Her original party was pretty sneaky; they were pirates, and this new party is more honest.

Kenku was created because I loved the idea of a 3'7" kenku as the party's fighter. Since they can mimic sounds and voices, I wanted her to talk in all the ways she's heard. This includes the language of her family, which I created, that she spoke before she was fey lost. Plus I based many of her behaviors, whistles, and sounds on my conure, Flounder. When I don't know what Kenku is doing, I think to myself, "What would Flounder do?" and it's made Kenku lots of fun to write.

I didn't want Kenku to be alone, lost in the feywild so she was found by an eladrin named Illayana. Illayana brought Kenku home and the eladrin's family adopted the little kenku. The two women are very close, and Illayana is very protective of her little sister. When Illayana needed a druidic focus, I knew as a fey she had to have something different and magical - glowing tattoos! I am excited to delve into writing the different seasons of Illayana.

When I was making Darvin I realized the party didn't have anyone to do thief-type things, but he was supposed to be a cleric and healer, which they also needed. He solved the problem for me saying, "It's ok, I grew up on the streets and had to steal to survive. And then I became a cleric later in life." So I gave him the urchin background and my cleric also became my finder of traps, treasure, and lockpicker with occasional sticky hands.