Saltglass Stars

Original

Campaign · Swashbuckling sea and sky adventure with cosmic horror

Ships of bone and silver are falling out of the night sky to raid the coast. To stop them, the party must chase the void corsairs across the sea, down to a drowned choir that sings to something below, and finally up into the black between the stars.

Character Level 5–12

Length 14–18 sessions

Players 3–5

Map of the Gullmere Coast: the port of Gullmere, Kettle Cove, the Chorus Deep out at sea, and the route the corsair ships take down from the stars. — Click the map to open it full size; ⟲ ⟳ turn it. Numbered markers are explained in the map's key.

Read Aloud

The harbour of Gullmere is loud with gulls and shouting and the creak of rope. Then, all at once, it goes quiet. Every face on the quay turns upward. Out of a clear blue sky, a ship is falling: long and pale as a whale's skeleton, its sails shimmering like spilled silver. It doesn't crash. It stops, thirty feet above the water, and hangs there. Ladders of light unroll from its rails, and tall, pale figures in silver armour step down them as calmly as if they were walking downstairs.

The rest of this adventure is for your Dungeon Master's eyes only: its secrets, maps, encounters and rewards. No spoilers here. Switch to DM in the header if you're the one running it.

For the DM

The void corsairs are servants of an occulith they call the Eye That Judges, drifting in the dark beyond the moon. The Eye has decided the world below is guilty and must be weighed, and the corsairs are gathering 'evidence': people, relics and songs. The Drowned Choir beneath the bay sings a song the Eye wants to hear, because the song is the world's oldest memory of its own innocence. If the corsairs capture the Choir's song, the Eye will pass judgement, and its judgement is always the same.

Act 1: Raiders from the SkyLevels 5–6

The corsairs raid Gullmere and take a dozen people, including the harbourmaster's daughter. Survivors whisper that the sailors who disappeared at sea last year have been seen on the rocks at night, singing. The party investigate the drowned sailors, defend the town from a second raid, and capture a wounded corsair who can be made to talk. She tells them the ships come for 'the song beneath the water' and that her captain will return at the next new moon.

Map of Gullmere harbour: the quay and piers, the rocks of the breakwater, and the corsair ship hanging above the water. — Click the map to open it full size; ⟲ ⟳ turn it. Numbered markers are explained in the map's key.

Singers on the Rocks

3× Drowned Chorister (CR 1)

The choristers try to drag sailors into the sea. A creature that listens to their song for a full round hears a line of an ancient hymn, the first clue to the Choir.

The Second Raid

2× Void Corsair (CR 5)

Fought across the rooftops and ladders of the harbour. If the party take a corsair alive, it becomes the guide for Act 2.

Act 2: The Chorus DeepLevels 7–9

A Black-Market Fence named Sallow Pike sells star charts stolen from a corsair ship, which show that the corsairs dive into the sea at a place called the Chorus Deep. With water breathing from a sea witch or the Hedge Apothecary's potions, the party descend to a drowned cathedral where the Choir sings. Its leader, the Mother of the Choir, is a sea hag who wants the song for herself. The party must decide whether to protect the Choir, bargain with the hag, or take the song before the corsairs do.

Battle map of the drowned cathedral in the Chorus Deep: the nave, the choir, the altar of the song and the broken rose window. — Click the map to open it full size; ⟲ ⟳ turn it. Numbered markers are explained in the map's key.

Guardians of the Deep

2× Giant Octopus (CR 1)
2× Merrow (CR 2)

Fought underwater. Remind players of the underwater combat rules: melee weapons other than piercing ones have Disadvantage.

The Mother of the Choir

1× Sea Hag (CR 2)
4× Drowned Chorister (CR 1)

The hag can be bargained with. If the party agree to bring her the corsair captain's silver compass, she lets them hear the full song.

Corsairs Below

2× Void Corsair (CR 5)
2× Hunter Shark (CR 2)

The corsairs arrive in the cathedral during or after the Choir scene, with sharks drawn by the blood in the water.

Act 3: The Black Between the StarsLevels 10–12

With the song in hand, the party board a corsair ship, by stealth, capture or bargain, and sail it up into the void. They free the prisoners from Gullmere, face the corsair captain on her own deck, and finally stand before the Eye That Judges. The Eye can be destroyed, or it can be made to hear the Choir's song in full, which proves the world's innocence and ends its judgement forever.

Battle map of the Silver Wake, Captain Ysolde's ship: the helm, the masts, the hatch to the hold and the starwright's orrery. — Click the map to open it full size; ⟲ ⟳ turn it. Numbered markers are explained in the map's key.

Captain Ysolde's Deck

3× Void Corsair (CR 5)
1× Mage (CR 6)

The mage is the ship's starwright. Killing it makes the ship start to fall back to the world, adding a time limit to the fight.

The Eye That Judges

1× Occulith (CR 13)
1× Void Corsair (CR 5)

The finale. A PC who sings or plays the Choir's song as an action forces the occulith to make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw; on a failure it can't use its eye rays until the end of its next turn. Three failures end its judgement without a killing blow.

Characters

Captain Ysolde Vane · Void corsair captain

Cold, precise, and utterly certain the Eye is right. She respects courage and keeps her word, which makes her a dangerous enemy and a possible ally. Use the Void Corsair stat block.

Sallow Pike · Black-Market Fence

Sells anything that fell off a ship, including ships. Knows exactly how much the party need his star charts, and charges accordingly. Use the Black-Market Fence stat block.

Mother Brine · The Mother of the Choir

A sea hag who has lived in the drowned cathedral for a century, listening to the song. She wants to own it, not destroy it. Use the Sea Hag stat block.

Harbourmaster Dov Arren · Quest giver

A blunt old sailor whose daughter Lira was taken in the first raid. He offers his own ship and every coin he has. Use the Veteran stat block.

Rewards

Act 1: a corsair's silver blade (+1 longsword that deals cold damage), Potion of Water Breathing ×4.
Act 2: Cap of Water Breathing, Trident of Fish Command, the Choir's song (a story reward the party carry).
Act 3: a void corsair ship of their own, if they can keep it flying; Ring of Free Action; Ysolde's star charts.

Running It

The corsairs aren't evil, they're certain. Let players argue with them, and let some corsairs change their minds.
Underwater and void scenes are a change of pace: describe sound, pressure and cold.
The Choir's song can become a recurring motif. Give the players a few lines of it in Act 1 and let them fill in the rest.