Kord's Bride alongside the Saltmarsh docks.

The Battle of Saltmarsh

12th Ready'reat, 589 CY

The Battle of Saltmarsh was the culmination of the "Secrets of Saltmarsh" campaign.  The party had crushed the smugglers, taken their ship, defeated the smugglers' contacts, the brothers Marcel and Jean Tarascon, and their zombie horde, formed an alliance with the lizardmen and aquatic elves against the sahuagin threat, then scouted the sahuagin lair. Then, in a vicious battle in the sea devils' temple they slew their priests and warlords, and cleansed their shrine. The fortress was destroyed.

Unfortunately, many of the sahuagin survived the loss of their lair. They had been spurred to their coastal raids by a monk of the Scarlet Brotherhood, she and her pirate henchmen now came forward to join the sahuagin in a direct assault on Saltmarsh.  That monk, Mistress Ingrid, hoped that her pirates and the sea devils could reverse defeat before she had to report to her failures to her superiors in the Hold of the Sea Princes. 

They timed their attack for the night, hoping to catch the people of Saltmarsh defenseless.  The party's mages and priests had given great thought to the Scroll of Hyskos and the signs it listed, however. they especially noted that this sign had yet to occur:

From wine dark sea devils crawl

Tentacled kraken holds all in thrall

They were expecting the sea devils to attack from the sea, and had prepared Saltmarsh's defenses. The town council appointed the party as the commanders of their defenses, under the over all command of Squire Watcher Guilliam, the group's cavalier (human male Fighter 5, Cavalier kit). The rest of the party included McJaggerus (human male Bard 5 Blade kit), Rickus (human male Wizard 4), Nathan (human male Ranger 3), Benedict (human male Priest of St Cuthbert 5), Fandal (halfling male thief 5),

Höss (human male Fighter 5 Solider kit), and Jörg (human male Fighter 3 Myrmidon kit).

Saltmarsh was defended by several forces. First came the town's small group of excise men. Armed with swords and crossbows, and wearing mail, they manned they guard tower on the island in the harbor.  Next came a troop of Royal Men-at-arms sent by the Count of Salinmoor, They carried pikes and shields and were in platemail. The town militia was the largest force of troops available, conisting of poorly trained townsfolk with spears and shields, but no armor. Two of the party, Höss and his henchman Jörg, were determined to form a mercenary band, they had managed to hire a group of Perrenlander pikemen as the first troops for their company, armed with pikes and wearing mail.

The port before the storm. The large docked ship is the
Sea Ghost, the smaller vessels the Saltmarsh fishing fleet. The 
large building top and center is a tavern/town hall.  The smaller
buildings are halfling homes. 

Finally, townsfolk were of course scattered around the town, The sahuagin would attack them as surely as they would attack warriors, and the could be expected to fight back as best they could.  The old men, women, and children were armed with clubs, knives, brooms, or frying pans, whatever came to hand.

The forces attacking the town came in two waves, the first wave was the aquatic creatures who crawled ashore from the sea.  The sahuagin were led by a chieftain and four lieutenants, but none of the priestesses had survived the destruction of their fortification.  They were joined by a tribe of merrow they had previously subjugated. The merrow and sahuagin warriors shared a weakness, they often paused during battle to devour the slain. Perhaps the most dangerous creature in the raid was the giant squid which served the sahuagin.

The second wave came in two small cogs, The Osprey and Xerbo's Bitch, and a great galley, Kord's Bride. These were pirates from the Hold of the Sea Princes, commanded by Mistress Ingrid (human Suel female Monk 7).  Her flagship was Kord's Bride, command by Captain Blight (giff male Fighter 4 Pirate kit), a powerful giff warrior who carried a powerful blunderbuss pistol. The galley was crewed by pirates armed with cutlasses and arquebusses and 200 slave rowers chained to their benches. The two cogs were crewed by pirates armed with cutlasses and starwheel pistols and carried orcish marines with shortbows.  

The attack came in the dark of night, just before midnight... most townsfolk were scattered in their homes while others, including the adventurers, socialized in the tavern/townhall.

The aquatic creatures storm ashore, the merrow in the foreground, 
while the sahuagin advance on the giant squid's right.
In the enter of town the defenders organize and try to get townsfolk
to the town hall.

Players ponder as Ken, in the back, playing the raiders, continues his
daterdly attack. The large vessel on the dock is the Sea Ghost, barely crewed.
The cogs and Kord's Bride can be seen coming in fast. 

How to survive, as the blood tide comes in relentlessly...

Royal men-at-arms and militia at the top move to fight 
sahuagin while the mercenary pikemen head to fight 
the merrow.

While the giant squid slowly pulls itself ashore, the 
sahuagin begin attacking the buildings as residents flee. Captain Blight 
leads his crew down the dock after Kord's Bride ties up.

Rickus filled the central road with a multiple web spells,
stopping the pirate advance while the sahuagin
continued to attack the houses and fed on their victims.
Merrow and pirates battled militia and mercenary pikemen.

Sahuagin leaders, pirates, and merrow fight militia along a barricade.
On the right, Prussian Höss, a man from a different world, stands
before his formed mercenary pike and prepares to advance.

In the upper center, Squire Watcher Guilliam cnters is great 
warhorse about as he, Rickus, and Brother Benedict lead the Royal 
men-at-arms and militia in a fierce fight against the sahuagin.

The fighting grows desperate.  The webs in the center burn
away and the pirates come to aid the sahuagin. In the foreground,
the merrow continue to clash with militia led by McJaggerus,
the Blade Bard, whose dazzling sword play keeps them inspired, and 
casts several web spells himself. The squid continues up the road
 from the docks.

The tide turns! Rickus uses his Wand of Wonder on the giant squid, 
rolls a 98, and turns it to stone! (failed its save). Meanwhile,
on both flanks the pirates, sahuagin, and merrow
surviving begin to flee back to the sea.

As the players pursue the fleeing foe, one building burns
 but most townsfolk made it safely to the town hall or elsewhere.

Throughout the battle ashore, the small crew on the Sea Ghost
fought off pirates from the cogs, aided by crossbow fire from
the excise men in the tower. They managed to capture Xerbo's Bitch.
Captain Blight and Mistress Ingrid got Kord's Bride back to sea,
along with The Osprey. Undoubtedly her masters in the Brotherhood
were most displeased with this failure.

So ends a great, fund battle.  I often had large scale battles like this in my campaigns back in the 1990s, it was great to revisist that. And now  have decent cameras to preserve the memories of the game.

This ended the "Secrets of Saltmarsh" campaign.  Next came Castle Amber!

Disclaimer: This blog recounts the fictional events of a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Views expressed by characters within the blog are those of the characters, not the players, dungeon master, nor the blog's author. All other views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.