Roster

Present

Absent

The Town That Forgot

Date: Apr 1st, 2026

Summary

The party emerged from their recent battle victorious, stripping the fallen Blackbriar thugs of their black and green leather armor — each piece bearing the organization’s emblem on the chest — and pocketing what little coin and junk the bodies had to offer. With the warlock’s mansion behind them and the salt breeze of the harbor ahead, they set off on the roughly forty-minute walk back to Eastguard as the sky deepened into a warm twilight of gold and purple. As they crested the final stretch of road, they could see the town gates alive with unusual activity, silhouettes moving with purpose in the fading light.

Their arrival at the gates was met with a warmth that caught the party entirely off guard. The guard on duty greeted them like old friends, cheerfully announcing that the Spring Dawning Festival would begin at dawn the next morning, complete with a fishing contest, games, and mountains of food. The party exchanged uneasy glances — when they had left that very morning, the town had been in the grip of Blackbriar thugs shaking down the locals, and they had not exactly departed on good terms. Yet the guard seemed to have no memory of any such trouble.

The mystery was quickly solved when Bimmi Brewfett made his way to Brittany Marginsong’s bookshop, announced by the cheerful chiming of bells above the door. Brittany explained that she had delivered a rousing speech to the townspeople shortly after the party left, framing the whole affair as a misunderstanding and vouching for the adventurers as people doing her a great favor. With the air cleared, Bimmi waved the rest of the party into town, and they gathered at the shop to deliver the warlock’s journal — the whole reason they had ventured out in the first place. Titus examined the dense, arcane text and determined it was warlock magic of a complexity well beyond his current understanding, though he could tell it had something to do with drawing power from elsewhere to protect a region. Brittany, clearly pleased, compensated each member of the party handsomely with three hundred gold pieces.

With coin in their pockets and a festival on the horizon, the party split up to help with preparations around town. Bimmi found the baker Bree elbow-deep in festival work, rolling kegs and tending to her hearth, and he pitched in without hesitation, loading supplies onto her cart while she spoke proudly of the same yeast culture she had been cultivating for years — the very same used in both her bread and her beer. Nearby, the Smithy named Boren was tending to a whole pig he had wrapped in cloth and slow-roasted overnight in the cooling coals of his forge, basting it in a rich sauce of tomatoes, brown sugar, honey, and chopped peppers. Meanwhile, Vonmese Tunmiar hauled a cartload of numbered metal rods and corner joints to City Hall, where he set about assembling the grandstand stage for the festival — a task made considerably easier once Boren arrived and pointed out that every single piece was clearly labeled.

As evening settled over Eastguard, the party reconvened at the Broken Blade inn, a grand three-story establishment with polished wood interiors, mounted trophies, and chandeliers casting warm light over the common room. Teti, the innkeeper, took their orders — Bimmi called for a thick steak and a tall mug of ale, Vonmese requested skewered chicken legs, and Titus sparked an unexpected culinary conversation by ordering a sausage on a stick with brown mustard, planting the seed of a new festival food idea in Teti’s mind. Each member paid a gold coin for their room, and the night settled in around them.

Rather than retiring early, Brynnan sat at a corner table with parchment and quill, writing down everything interesting he could overhear from the crowd. Two stories caught his attention above the noise of the room. The first was a hushed account of Room 10 — a magically sealed door somewhere in the inn that had been locked for decades, a place where people had entered and never returned, and where a group of adventurers had once used a mysteriously found key to open it, only to find what they described as a portal to a hellish dimension before the door resealed itself behind them. The second rumor concerned an unmarked grave in the cemetery across the river, near the large church being rebuilt by a priest named Father Ignatius Papadopoulos, where fresh flowers appeared every few days with no explanation — most recently that very morning.

Bimmi approached the group of church workers discussing the grave and pressed them for details, learning that the tombstone was ancient and unreadable, and that no one knew whose grave it was or who kept leaving the flowers. Unable to resist the mystery, Bimmi and Brynnan slipped out into the night and crossed the river to the cemetery. Brynnan carefully rubbed the surface of the old stone, and what emerged beneath his efforts was deeply unsettling — what appeared to be a date carved into the rock, a date that seemed to belong to the future. More striking still, Bimmi traced the faint outline of a holy symbol on the stone: the mark of Paladine, a god who had turned his back on the world over three hundred and fifty years ago at the time of the Cataclysm. The two stood in the dark, staring at a future date on an ancient stone bearing the mark of an absent god, before eventually stumbling back to the inn with more questions than answers.

Dawn broke over Eastguard with the sound of roosters and the smell of the sea, and Bimmi was already at the docks before the light had fully settled. He paid a local fisherman named Ralden one gold coin to share space on his boat, then purchased a fishing pole and assembled what he considered a perfectly reasonable bait — a combination of sausage, crunchy peanut butter, and mackerel. The fish, apparently, agreed with his culinary instincts. On his first cast, something enormous seized the bait and snapped the line clean. Undeterred, Bimmi cast again, and again the line broke. On the third attempt, he doubled the line back on itself, wrapped it tight, and held on for his life as the creature fought back with tremendous force. When it finally broke the surface, the crowd at the docks fell silent — a 240-pound Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass, so massive it nearly dwarfed the boat itself, had been hauled in by a grinning dwarf with peanut butter on his hands.

While Bimmi was making history on the water, the rest of the party wandered through the festival grounds, which had transformed the town square and harbor into a sprawling celebration. Deep-fried delicacies inspired by recipes from distant Palanthas sizzled in oil alongside slices of Boren’s forge-roasted Iron Pig, slathered in his special sauce. Brynnan was drawn to a curious tradition near the center of the square, where children spun around a tall star pole trailing colorful ribbons. Adults would stop the children, take a ribbon, and write something private upon it before handing it back — wishes, regrets, and promises, all anonymous. The words Brynnan read were heavy with feeling: “I had one more chance to say it right, and I chose silence instead.” “I won’t run from it again, even if it costs me everything.” “I wish the next time I reach for someone, they don’t pull away.” He wrote down every word.

As the afternoon wore on, the Mayor of Eastguard took the stage that Vonmese had assembled and delivered a speech celebrating the town’s growth, praising the Guardians of Greenspire for their contributions, and offering a solemn memorial for Rowan. When night fell, the festival entered its strangest hour — the Mask Hour — when citizens donned masquerade masks and moved through the crowd as though anonymity made them invisible. Secrets spilled freely into the air: confessions of affairs, whispered deals, and things people would never say in daylight.

It was during the Mask Hour that Bimmi noticed a masked woman weeping quietly near the edge of the crowd. He followed her gently back to the bookshop, where she removed her mask to reveal herself as Brittany Marginsong. Through her tears, she explained what she had just learned from festival visitors who had passed through from the south: the Blackbriar raiders who had been driven out of Eastguard that morning had descended on the small fishing village of Saltmere, killing many of its people and enslaving the rest. Brittany was consumed by guilt, convinced that by protecting Eastguard, she had simply redirected the violence onto someone else. Bimmi took her face gently in his hands, kissed her on the forehead, and told her plainly that Bimmi and the boys would take care of it.

Back at the inn, the party gathered around the sealed door of Room 10, drawn by the rumors they had heard the night before. The door was cold and utterly still, its keyhole pitch-black inside, and when someone pushed a stick into the opening, it snapped clean in two as though something on the other side had broken it deliberately. The innkeeper, who had been running the Broken Blade for forty years, confirmed that the room had been sealed for nearly that entire time — strange noises had come from within shortly after the inn was built, and those who entered never came out. The door, she suggested, had predated the inn itself, as though the building had been constructed around it. The party filed the mystery away for another day, agreeing that the door wasn’t going anywhere.

The next morning, with the festival behind them and Brittany’s grief fresh in their minds, the party made their preparations to sail south to Saltmere. Titus borrowed the warlock’s journal one last time to copy down as many notes as he could before returning it. Brynnan visited the library to research maps and landmarks, learning that Saltmere was a modest fishing port a day’s journey down the coast. Bimmi, flush with goodwill after gifting most of his enormous fish to the inn to feed the town, was granted permanent residence at the Broken Blade by a grateful Teti. He also experimented with the magical folding boat he had won in the fishing tournament — a small box that, when he spoke the words “Lost Shaker of Salt,” unfolded into a ten-foot vessel, and when he said “Fins to the Left,” expanded further into a twenty-four-foot ship complete with a deck, cabin, mast, square sail, and five sets of oars. The command “Come Monday” collapsed it neatly back into a box small enough to fit in his pocket.

The party set sail with Bimmi at the steering oar, the wind filling the square sail as Eastguard shrank behind them. As they rounded the southern coast, smoke rose in the distance — not the cheerful smoke of a festival hearth, but the dark, smoldering remnants of something that had burned and not been tended to. A tower came into view, manned by armed guards, and below it the small town of Saltmere lay quiet and heavy, its roughly eighty residents moving through their days with the shuffling, hollow gait of people who had given up hope. The party counted perhaps forty armed occupiers keeping them that way. As the boat pulled into the dock, frightened townspeople rushed out to wave them off, desperate to spare the newcomers from whatever fate awaited those who drew attention. Bimmi tied off the line, looked up at the pale, frightened faces on the dock, and told them simply that they had come to help.

Short

After defeating a group of Blackbriar thugs, the party returned to Eastguard to find the town surprisingly welcoming, thanks to a speech delivered by Brittany Marginsong that smoothed over their earlier troubled departure. They delivered the warlock’s journal to Brittany, received 300 gold pieces each, and helped prepare for the Spring Dawning Festival. That evening at the Broken Blade inn, they heard two unsettling rumors: a magically sealed Room 10 that had swallowed adventurers whole, and an unmarked cemetery grave bearing fresh flowers. Investigating the grave, Bimmi and Brynnan discovered a future date carved into the ancient stone alongside the holy symbol of Paladine — a god absent from the world for over 350 years — leaving them with far more questions than answers.

The Spring Dawning Festival proved eventful, highlighted by Bimmi hauling in a legendary 240-pound Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass using a bait of sausage, peanut butter, and mackerel. During the festival’s mysterious Mask Hour, Bimmi found a weeping Brittany, who revealed that the Blackbriar raiders driven from Eastguard had attacked the nearby fishing village of Saltmere, slaughtering and enslaving its people. Consumed by guilt, she feared she had simply redirected the violence. Bimmi comforted her and vowed the party would handle it. After the festival, Bimmi claimed a magical folding boat as his tournament prize, and the party set sail south. As Saltmere came into view — scarred by smoke, patrolled by roughly forty armed occupiers, and populated by hollow-eyed residents — the party docked and announced they had come to help.

Classic

Last we left off, our party emerged victorious from their clash with the Blackbriar thugs, stripping the fallen of their black and green leathers before making the long walk back to Eastguard beneath a twilight sky of gold and purple. What awaited them was not the hostility they expected, but warmth — the town buzzing with preparations for the Spring Dawning Festival, its people seemingly unbothered by the morning’s troubles, thanks to a well-placed speech by the bookseller Brittany Marginsong. The party delivered the warlock’s journal, collected their reward of three hundred gold each, and threw themselves into the life of the town — helping bake, build, and roast their way into the good graces of Eastguard’s people. And yet, beneath the celebration, shadows lingered: a sealed door in the inn that had swallowed adventurers whole, and an ancient grave bearing a future date and the holy symbol of Paladine — a god who abandoned the world over three centuries ago.

The Spring Dawning Festival arrived in full color, and with it, Bimmi Brewfett’s finest hour — hauling a 240-pound Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass from the harbor on a line baited with peanut butter and mackerel, to the stunned silence of the entire docks. The town celebrated, the Mayor praised the party by name, and as night fell, the Mask Hour brought with it the kind of confessions that only anonymity can unlock. But the evening’s joy curdled when Brittany, tears streaming behind her mask, revealed the cost of Eastguard’s safety: the Blackbriar raiders, driven from town, had descended on the small fishing village of Saltmere — killing many and enslaving the rest. Bimmi, without hesitation, made her a promise.

Now, with the festival behind them and that promise weighing heavy, the party has set sail aboard a magical folding boat, the wind at their backs and smoke on the southern horizon. Saltmere lies ahead — quiet, hollow, and occupied by some forty armed Blackbriar soldiers keeping eighty broken souls in line. The frightened townspeople rushed to the docks to wave them away, desperate to protect these strangers from the fate that had befallen their own. But the party has not come to be waved off. They have come to collect on a debt that Blackbriar doesn’t yet know it owes.

Middle English

Harke well, ye souls of curious mind, Of adventurers bold, both brave and kind, Who slew the thugs of Blackbriar’s band, And walked to Eastguard, coin in hand!

The towne did greet them, merry and bright, With festival fires and golden light, For Brittany’s tongue had smoothed the way, And three hundred gold crowned the day!

Then Bimmi, that dwarf of stout renown, Did cast his line and ne’er did drown, With peanut butter and mackerel bait, He hauled a bass of monstrous weight!

But joy did sour as Brittany wept, For Saltmere’s folk no longer slept, The Blackbriar wolves had turned their blade, On innocents who could not be saved!

So forth they sailed on folding ship, With smoke ahead and sword at hip, To Saltmere’s dock, where pale folk cried — Yet Bimmi swore they’d turn the tide!

Snarky

So the party beat up some thugs, looted their corpses like the morally flexible adventurers they are, and strolled back into Eastguard expecting consequences — only to find out that Brittany Marginsong had already done their PR for them and the whole town was throwing a festival. Three hundred gold each, a fishing tournament win courtesy of peanut butter and sheer audacity, a mysterious grave marked with a god’s symbol and a date from the future, and a sealed inn door that eats people — just a totally normal couple of days. Bimmi kissed a crying bookseller on the forehead and promised to fix a war crime, which is honestly the most competent crisis management this party has ever demonstrated.

Now they’ve sailed their magic pocket-boat straight into Saltmere, a town so thoroughly crushed by forty Blackbriar occupiers that the locals ran to the docks specifically to beg them to leave. Bold of the party to interpret “please go away, we’re suffering” as a welcome mat, but here we are.

Limerick

The thugs of Blackbriar lay slain on the ground, The party looted each body they found. They walked back to town, Expecting a frown — But a festival welcome was all that they found!

Old Brittany’s speech had smoothed over the mess, Three hundred gold coins eased the party’s distress. A journal delivered, A warlock’s text shivered — Too complex for Titus, he’d readily confess!

Then Bimmi hit the docks at the break of the dawn, With peanut butter bait and a fisherman’s yawn. A 240-pound bass! It shattered all class — The crowd stood in silence, completely withdrawn!

But Brittany wept through her masquerade mask, For Saltmere had suffered — a terrible task. The Blackbriar crew Had run the town through, And Bimmi said, “Boys, that’s a job we must ask!”

They sailed the fold-boat as smoke filled the sky, The hollow-eyed townsfolk begged them goodbye. But Bimmi tied fast, Secured sail and mast, And said, “We have come here to help” — and that’s why!

Memorable Moments

Bimmi hooks a massive fish that snaps his line twice, but on the third cast he doubles up the line, hooks it again, and hauls in a 240-pound Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass that nearly dwarfs the boat.

Bimmi used a bizarre bait of sausage, crunchy peanut butter, and mackerel, leading to an epic multi-cast battle with the legendary fish

“I only dangle the worm when I’m out looking for a girl.” — Bimmi Brewfett

Responding to a dock worker’s suggestion to use worms as bait for catching smaller fish in the tournament

Brynnan rubs an ancient tombstone and discovers what appears to be a future date carved into it, alongside the holy symbol of Paladine — a god absent from the world for over 350 years.

Late-night graveyard investigation after hearing rumors of mysterious flowers appearing on an unmarked grave every few days

“Paladine is with us. He has come back and he has given me the sign that he is going to protect us.” — Bimmi Brewfett

Attempting to convince a deeply skeptical Titus to join the mission to liberate Saltmere, citing the Paladine symbol on the tombstone as divine proof

During the festival’s Mask Hour, Bimmi follows a crying masked woman to the bookstore and discovers it is Brittany Marginsong, who reveals that the raiders driven from Eastguard have enslaved the town of Saltmere.

A moment of guilt and grief as Brittany feels responsible for the suffering of Saltmere’s people, prompting the party’s next quest

Scenes

Return to Eastguard

The party loots the bodies of their fallen foes and makes the trek back to town as dusk falls.

The party loots money and junk from the bodies of the Blackbriar thugs.
Bimmi decides to strip the black and green leather armor from the fallen enemies.
The group begins a roughly forty-minute walk back to town as the sun sets.
Upon reaching the outskirts of town, the party notices an unusual amount of activity and preparation.

A Warm Welcome

The party is surprised by the friendly reception they receive at the town gates despite their previous reputation.

The party approaches the town gates and is greeted warmly by the guards.
A guard informs the party that the Spring Festival begins at dawn the next day.
Bimmi is confused by the guard’s friendliness, as the town was being shaken down by thugs when they left that morning.
The guard claims to have no knowledge of any thugs or trouble in town earlier that day.

The Bookshop Meeting

Bimmi visits Brittany Marginsong to deliver the journal and learns how their reputation was mended.

Bimmi enters Brittany Marginsong’s shop, which is filled with the sound of chiming bells.
Brittany explains that she gave a speech to the townspeople to smooth over the misunderstanding regarding the party’s previous actions.
Bimmi signals the rest of the party to enter the town and join him at the shop.
The party delivers the journal they recovered from the warlock’s mansion to Brittany.
Titus examines the journal and identifies it as warlock magic, noting its complexity and connection to drawing power from other regions.
The party recounts the bizarre and surgical nature of the warlock’s mansion, including a puzzle involving a tower, a ship, and a stone.
Brittany compensates each party member with 300 gold for their successful retrieval of the journal.
The party discusses the upcoming Spring Dawning festival and the possibility of finding work helping with preparations.

Festival Preparations in Eastguard

The party splits up to help the locals prepare for the upcoming Spring Dawning festival.

Bimmi Brewfett assists the local baker, Bree, by loading kegs onto a cart while discussing her unique yeast cultures used for both bread and beer.
The party encounters a Smithy named Boren roasting a whole pig in a forge, using a special tomato and honey-based barbecue sauce.
Vonmese Tunmiar takes on the task of hauling a cart full of numbered metal rods and joints to City Hall to assemble the grandstand stage.
Vonmese Tunmiar initially struggles to assemble the stage without instructions, but eventually uses his tinkering skills to figure out the complex numbered metal framework.
Boren arrives and points out the numbered components, helping Vonmese complete the stage.
Sir Jangle Merrigold abandons the group and heads straight to the Sword and Warrior tavern.
Bimmi visits the docks to gather information about the upcoming fishing tournament, helping dock workers unload supplies in exchange for fishing tips.
The party learns about the three prizes for the fishing contest: first catch, biggest catch, and most fish caught.
The party gathers at the Broken Blade inn to eat and discuss their plans for the festival.

Evening at the Broken Blade

Bimmi Brewfett orders a large steak and ale from Teti, the innkeeper.
Vonmese Tunmiar orders skewered chicken legs.
Titus orders a sausage on a stick with brown mustard, inspiring a new culinary idea for the innkeeper.
The party pays one gold each for their lodgings and prepares to rest before the early morning fishing tournament.

Rumors at the Broken Blade

The party listens carefully to the conversations of other patrons, uncovering local mysteries about a sealed room and a haunted grave.

Brynnan sits at a table with parchment and quill, carefully writing down interesting things he overhears.
The party overhears a story about Room 10, a magically sealed room where a group of adventurers once entered and never returned, with the door relocking itself behind them.
Patrons discuss an unmarked grave in the cemetery across the river that mysteriously receives fresh flowers every few days, most recently that morning.
Bimmi approaches a group of church workers to inquire about the grave, learning it is near a large church being rebuilt by a priest named Father Ignatius Papadopoulos.
The party spots a woman from the Hearthbole mansion entering the inn, causing a moment of panic for those involved in the recent theft.
The party notices two men conducting a secretive deal in a private area of the inn, one of them nervously clutching a pouch.
Bimmi approaches the men with drinks to break the ice, and Arthur Simon Napier, a local jeweler and owner of Treasures of Art, introduces himself.
Bimmi begins spreading a rumor that Arthur Simon Napier is one of the few people to ever emerge from Room 10.

The Mystery of the Unmarked Grave

Bimmi and Brynnan investigate a strange tombstone in the local graveyard under the cover of night.

Bimmi and Brynnan travel across the river to the cemetery to find the grave mentioned in the rumors.
Brynnan performs a rubbing of the tombstone to reveal obscured text, uncovering what appears to be a date from the future.
Bimmi identifies the symbol of the god Paladine on the tombstone, a deity who has been absent from the world for over 350 years.
Titus attempts to detect magical auras around the grave but finds only mundane plants and stone.
Bimmi attempts to listen to the tombstone for supernatural signs but hears nothing.
The group eventually stumbles back to the inn after their late-night investigation.

The Spring Dawning Fishing Tournament

Bimmi participates in the local fishing contest, engaging in an epic struggle with a massive sea creature.

Bimmi wakes up early and heads to the docks to join the fishing tournament.
Bimmi pays a local fisherman named Ralden one gold coin to join him on his boat.
Using a bizarre bait combination of sausage, crunchy peanut butter, and mackerel, Bimmi casts his line.
Bimmi hooks a massive creature that initially snaps his line twice, but he manages to hook it again on a subsequent cast by doubling up and wrapping the line.
After an epic struggle, Bimmi pulls in a 240-pound Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass that is nearly larger than the boat itself.
The massive catch draws the amazement of the townspeople as Bimmi returns to the docks.

The Spring Dawn Festival

The party participates in the local festival, enjoying exotic foods and witnessing unique traditions.

The town celebrates with deep-fried delicacies inspired by recipes from Palanthas and a pig roasted in the Smithy’s forge.
Brynnan investigates a festival tradition where children spin around a star pole with ribbons containing anonymous wishes, regrets, and promises written by adults.
The ribbons contain deeply personal sentiments such as ‘I had one more chance to say it right, and I chose silence instead’ and ‘I won’t run from it again, even if it costs me everything.’
The Mayor of Eastguard delivers a speech on the festival stage, praising the Guardians of Greenspire and giving a memorial for Rowan.
As night falls, the Mask Hour begins, where citizens don masquerade masks and speak freely, leading to the overhearing of secrets and confessions.

A Tearful Revelation at the Bookstore

Bimmi comforts Brittany Marginsong at her bookstore as she reveals the tragic fate of a neighboring town.

During the Mask Hour, Bimmi finds a crying masked woman and follows her back to the bookstore, discovering it is Brittany Marginsong.
Brittany explains that the raiders who recently left Eastguard attacked the town of Saltmere, killing many and enslaving the survivors.
Brittany expresses deep guilt, feeling that the raiders only attacked Saltmere because they were driven away from Eastguard.
Bimmi comforts Brittany, promising that he and the party will liberate Saltmere.
Brittany provides the location of Saltmere, describing it as a day’s journey to the south along the coast.

The Mystery of Room 10

The party investigates the legend of a magically sealed room within the inn and its connection to past adventurers.

The party examines the door to Room 10, finding it magically sealed with a pitch-black interior visible through the keyhole.
A stick pushed into the keyhole is snapped by an unseen force, warning the party of the room’s dangers.
The innkeeper shares the history of the room, noting it has been sealed for nearly forty years following strange noises and disappearances.
The innkeeper recounts a tale of previous adventurers who used a found key to enter the room, discovering a portal to a hellish dimension, after which the key disappeared and the door resealed.
The innkeeper mentions those same adventurers later went through a tunnel under the sea to Westguard and rooted out a colony of illithids.

A Call to Action and Preparations for Saltmere

Bimmi convinces the party to embark on a liberation mission to Saltmere, and the group prepares for the journey.

Bimmi pledges to Brittany that he and the party will liberate the town of Saltmere.
Bimmi uses his persuasive nature to convince a skeptical Titus and the rest of the party to join the mission, citing a divine sign from Paladine on the gravestone.
The party prepares for the journey by shopping for supplies.
Titus briefly borrows the warlock’s journal from Brittany to copy down research notes before they depart.
The party visits the library to research maps and landmarks for Saltmere, learning it is a fishing port to the south.
Bimmi experiments with the command words for his magical folding boat, testing its different sizes at the docks.
The first command word, ‘Lost Shaker of Salt’, transforms the small box into a ten-foot boat.
The second command word, ‘Pins to the Left’, expands the vessel into a twenty-four-foot ship equipped with a deck, cabin, mast, and oars.
The third command word, ‘Come Monday’, collapses the ship back into a small box that fits in Bimmi’s pocket.
Bimmi gifts most of his massive fish to the inn to feed the town, and Teti grants him permanent residence in exchange.

Arrival at Saltmere

The party sails south to the town of Saltmere, discovering a community under duress and preparing to intervene.

The party sets sail using the larger ship configuration of the folding boat, with Bimmi steering at the rudder.
As they approach Saltmere, they observe smoke, smoldering ruins, and a guarded tower.
The party notices the townspeople appear downtrodden, roughly 80 sad residents under the control of roughly 40 occupiers.
The party pulls into the docks, where fearful locals attempt to shoo them away to protect them from the occupiers.
The adventurers declare their intent to liberate the town as they tie off their vessel.

NPCs

Brittany Marginsong

The owner of the local bookshop who smoothed over the party’s reputation with a speech to the townspeople. She researches the recovered warlock’s journal and compensates the party 300 gold each. During the festival’s Mask Hour, she is found crying, overcome with guilt that the raiders she helped divert from Eastguard went on to enslave the town of Saltmere.

Town Guard

A friendly sentry at the gates of Eastguard who is excited about the Spring Festival and seemingly unaware of the morning’s conflict with the Blackbriar thugs.

Bree

The local baker who uses a proprietary yeast culture for both her bread and beer. She is busy preparing for the festival and accepts help from Bimmi loading kegs onto a cart.

Boren

The local Smith who roasts a whole pig in his forge for the festival and provides the numbered stage components, helping Vonmese understand how to assemble them.

Marteph

A tavern worker at the Sword and Warrior who recognizes the party and serves them drinks while discussing the local Ale of Eastguard branding.

Jon Hammerson

A traveling man from Palanthas mentioned in stories for his loud and eccentric marketing tactics, credited with inspiring the Ale of Eastguard branding.

Teti

The innkeeper at the Broken Blade who serves hearty meals and manages the establishment. She grants Bimmi permanent residence after he gifts her the massive fish from the tournament.

Father Ignatius Papadopoulos

A priest currently rebuilding a large church near the town’s cemetery, mentioned by church workers at the inn.

Lady Hearthwell

Mother of Rowan Hearthwell, the dead war hero. Her unexpected appearance at the Broken Blade startles the party members who recently stole her son’s journal, as they thought she would still be mad.

Arthur Simon Napier

A jeweler and merchant who goes by ‘Art’, owner of Treasures of Art shop. He is secretive about his dealings at the inn but invites the party to visit his shop. He has been in Eastguard for about ten years.

Robin

A local fisherman who allows Bimmi to charter space on his boat for the fishing tournament in exchange for one gold coin.

The Mayor of Eastguard

The town’s leader who delivered a patriotic speech on the festival stage, praising the Guardians of Greenspire and giving a memorial for Rowan.

Locations

Eastguard

A harbor town currently bustling with activity as residents prepare for the upcoming Spring Dawning festival. The smell of salt breeze and roasting food fills the air.

Bindings and Whispers

A small shop located behind the library, announced by chiming bells when entered. Brittany uses it as her base of operations and research.

The Library

A large building with three domes and a blue light emanating from within, situated near the bookshop. The party visited it to research maps and landmarks for Saltmere.

The Warlock’s Mansion

A recently visited location described as having a living room and bedrooms upstairs, with a clean, surgical-feeling laboratory downstairs. It contained a puzzle room with sarcophagi.

Bree’s Breads and Brews

Owned by Bree, this shop is filled with the aroma of fresh bread and serves as a hub for festival supplies like kegs and pastries.

The Smithy

A metalworking shop where a whole pig was slow-roasted overnight in the cooling coals of the forge for the festival feast.

City Hall

The location where the grandstand stage was erected for the festival’s main events, including the mayor’s speech.

Sword and Warrior

A tavern located just outside the southern gate of Eastguard, known for serving the local Ale of Eastguard. Sir Jangle Merrigold headed here immediately upon returning to town.

Eastguard Town Square

A bustling hub filled with market tents, portable buildings, a newly assembled stage, and a small park with a statue and fountain. The star pole tradition took place here during the festival.

Eastguard Docks

The harbor area where fish vendors set up and workers unload cargo ships. It served as the starting point for the Spring Dawning fishing tournament.

The Broken Blade

A grand, comfortable three-story inn with polished wood interiors, a rustic rust-colored roof, trophies on the walls, and chandeliers. Managed by Teti, it features meeting rooms and a large central tavern area open to the ceiling. It contains the mysterious sealed Room 10.

Eastguard Cemetery

Located across the river near a large church under reconstruction by a priest named Father Ignatius Papadopoulos. It contains an ancient grave marked with the symbol of Paladine that mysteriously receives fresh flowers every few days.

Treasures of Art

A local shop situated between the smithy and the leatherworker, specializing in jewelry and paintings, owned by Arthur Simon Napier.

Room 10

A notorious, magically sealed room within the Broken Blade inn. It has been sealed for nearly forty years, is pitch-black inside, and snaps objects inserted into its keyhole. It is rumored to contain a portal to a hellish dimension and has been the site of numerous disappearances.

Saltmere

A small fishing village located a day’s journey south of Eastguard along the coast. It has recently been taken over by raiders who have killed many residents and enslaved the survivors, leaving parts of the settlement smoldering.

Items

Blackbriar Armor

Black and green leather armor bearing the Blackbriar logo on the front, stripped from the bodies of the thugs encountered by the party. Various styles depending on the rank of the wearer.

The Warlock’s Journal

A mysterious book recovered from the warlock’s mansion and delivered to Brittany Marginsong. Filled with warlock magic that is largely incomprehensible to most spellcasters, it appears to reference protecting a town or region by drawing power from elsewhere. Titus copied notes from it before the party departed for Saltmere.

Grandstand Stage Kit

A collection of thick metal rods and corner joints transported by cart to City Hall. It is a complex, numbered assembly kit used for the festival stage and mayor’s speech.

Iron Pig

A whole pig wrapped in cloth and slow-cooked overnight within the cooling coals of the Smithy’s forge, served at the Spring Dawning festival.

Special Barbecue Sauce

A proprietary sauce created by Boray the Smith, featuring a tomato base, brown sugar, honey, and chopped peppers, served with the Iron Pig at the festival.

Sausage on a Stick

A simple meal served with brown mustard at the Broken Blade, which sparked a discussion about wrapping the meat in bread-batter to create a new type of festival food.

Green Gem

A valuable stone stolen by the party during their recent excursion, known to the entire group.

Secretive Pouch

A small pouch held by a nervous man at the inn, containing an unknown item that was being haggled over in a private deal with Arthur Simon Napier.

Unmarked Tombstone

An ancient grave marker in the Eastguard cemetery featuring the symbol of Paladine and what appears to be a date from the future carved into it. It is the site of mysterious floral offerings that appear every few days.

Kinder Gobbler Largemouth Bass

A monstrous 240-pound fish caught by Bimmi during the Spring Dawning fishing tournament using a bait mixture of sausage, crunchy peanut butter, and mackerel. It was so large it nearly dwarfed the fishing boat. Bimmi gifted most of it to the Broken Blade to feed the town.

Star Pole Ribbons

Colorful ribbons carried by children spinning around a maypole-style star pole during the festival. Adults write their deepest regrets, wishes, and promises on them, with sentiments such as ‘I had one more chance to say it right, and I chose silence instead’ and ‘I won’t run from it again, even if it costs me everything.‘

Festival Masks

Masquerade-style masks worn during the Mask Hour at the Spring Dawning festival to provide anonymity, encouraging citizens to share secrets and confessions without fear of social repercussion.

Folding Boat

A magical item obtained by Bimmi Brewfett that can be carried in a pocket as a small box roughly twelve inches long. When the command word ‘Lost Shaker of Salt’ is spoken, it unfolds into a ten-foot boat. When ‘Pins to the Left’ is spoken, it becomes a twenty-four-foot ship with a deck, cabin, mast, square sail, and five sets of oars. The command word ‘Come Monday’ collapses it back into the small box.

Spells

Detect Magic

Cast upon entering Brittany Marginsong’s bookshop to sense the overwhelming magical presence within, and later cast at the cemetery to investigate the mysterious tombstone, though it revealed no magical properties on the stone or the flowers.