GoS - Session 1 : A Saltmarsh Welcome & The Haunted House

The characters were introduced and met each other in the town market while bartering for and buying various items. Their shoppin was interrupted by the signal for the weeking town council meeting which they observed, and were bored by.
As the characters were preparing to leave, as shout came up from the docks, and a group of sailors pushed through the crowd carrying the body of a young woman. She had be pulled from the bay, and the sailors called into the crowd for a healer. Bowbow stepped forward to examine the woman. He found she already dead, having drown some hours ago. She  also had bruises on her wrists and ankles as if she had been bound. 
As the local priest came forward to take the body to the church, the sailors and citizens began to shout demands at the town council. They claimed that this was the third body pulled from the bay in the last months, and that it must be the work of whatever devils inhabit the decrepit old mansion away east of the town.
Gellan Primewater was the first to speak up, claiming that it was nothing more than a run down old house. That the citizen were letting their superstitious nature get the better of them. Besides, with the sighting of Lizard folk near the edge of town they couldn't spare any guardsmen to investigate. Anders Solmor interrupted Gellan's dismissal by pulling out his own purse of coin and laying it on the table. He was sick of seeing the citizen live in fear of the decrepit house, he had heard the rumors of that place all his life and was himself interested in what dwelt there. So he was offering 200 gold to anyone willing to ensure that the old mansion was investigated and cleared of any dangers.

  Stepped forward immediately to offer her services, followed quickly by
 
The party formed they made it their first tasks to ask around town for information about the bodies amd haunted house. They first visited the local priest of Procan. Wellgar Brinehanded let them further examine the body and answered their questions about the other victims.
They found the woman was missing her tongue and had a partially ruined tattoo upon the sole of her foot that said S----Let. These appeared to signs that the victim was a slave owned by the Sea Princes.
They next went to visit Anders Solmor at his home. Within the large, well kept, home they met Anders butler Skerrin Wavechaser and learned of Ander's hatred of smugglers and slavers acting in Saltmarsh. Ander's also offered them a fine dinner and room for the night so that they would be well rested for their venture tomorrow.
Before dinner, they headed to the Empty Net, an infamous tavern in saltmarsh that Molly knew would be a good place to hear rumors about the old house. There they met an old drunken poacher who told them he had once been inside the house, where he was chased off by a vampire.
The party had a fine dinner and rest at Anders Solmor's home that night and the next morning they left town feeling refreshed. Trekking along the muddy coastal road eastward they reached their destination in less than two hours. Brooding on a cliff overlooking the sea stood the dilapidated old house. Wanting to avoid the front entrance the party ventured around the right side of the house through the garden, which happened to be home to several vicious animals. Gray switfly decapitated a giant snake that tried to ambush them from within an old well, and a pack of giant weasels tried to drag Molly into their den.
Having dispatched the aggressive wildlife, the party cautiously entered through a back patio door into the dim and empty structure. Upon taking a few steps into the building they were met with a loud, haunting voice. "WELCOME FOOLS! TO YOUR DEATH!". Shaking off the fear the cackling voice inspired they began their investigation.
With a clever eye, Molly spotted a trail on the dusty floor, that led to a hidden trap-door leading down into a torchlit space. Not wanting to descend before investigating the rest of the upper house they made note of the entrance and headed through the ground floor. They found some small treasures, a few interesting old books, one containing a partially destroyed note ending in "...beyond skeletons.", and quite a few swarms of vicious insects dwelling in the rotted walls.
On the second floor, they found a captured man locked in a crumbling bedroom. He was bound and gagged, missing most of his possessions, and with a large bump on his head. When the party released him, he said his name was Ned Shakeshaft, and that he was a traveling messenger who had stopped at the old house last night to find shelter. He asked the party to help him find his belongings somewhere on the same floor and then to escort him back to Saltmarsh. When they agreed Ned seems much relieved and after a bit of trouble crossing a collapsing balcony, they found Ned's clothes and escorted him back to town.
Upon reaching the gates of Saltmarsh, and noting it was still fairly early in the day the party attempted to bid Ned farewell and return to the mansion to resume their investigation. At this news, Ned seemed to grow nervous again and insisted that the party go with him to visit his employer in town so that she might reward them. When the party politely declined and turned to leave, Ned dropped his anxious hand-wringing act and said, "I'll give you 250 gold if you come with me to meet my boss right now." Startled by his sudden change in demeanor and suspicious offer the party tried to get Ned to explain what he knew, but he refused; telling them if they wanted to know more then his employer would tell them. The party grudgingly agreed to follow Ned to the meeting.
They crossed town to the high streets where many of Saltmarshs wealthiest families resided. Leading them onto the grounds of the Whiteford estate, Ned took them around the back to a door leading down into a lamp-lit wine cellar and locked the door behind them. There the party waited a few minutes until a well dressed older woman descended the stairs and looked them up and down. She introduced herself as Ellinor Whiteford, and claimed to be the rightful owner of the old house. She made them a clear offer, 250 gold and the prospect of further employment if they stopped investigating the old house immediately. The party asked here for more details about the house and why she wanted it left undisturbed, but Ellinor simple insisted that the building was structurally unsound and that she wanted it left well alone.
The party deliberated on her offer for a time but ultimately refused. Ellinor's face turned harsh, and she turned to leave, telling them she would be re-deliberating what other deal to offer them. As she left the room a trio of mean-looking thugs descended into the cellar and attacked the party. Gray and Molly held them at bay as Bowbow used acid to break the lock to the outside. Unfortunately, two more men were waiting there in case of an attempted escape, but they weren't fast enough to stop Bowbow slipping past them and making a run for it. Gray was struck viciously by a crossbow bolt from one of the criminals and fell. As Molly realized she was fighting alone and surrounded, she made a break fro the back garden. Using her rouge training and halfling size she managed to hide from the thugs.
having lost sight of Molly, most of the bandits attempted to chase Bowbow and stop him from alerting the guards. Molly managed to sneak up and incapacitate the last one that had stayed behind, and then stabilize Gray as Bow bow found a guardsman a ways away and alert him to the danger.
The guards returned to the Whiteford manor in force, capturing several of the thugs and placing Lady Whiteford under house arrest until the next day when the town council could hold a trial. Captain Eliander Fireborn asked the party too attend the trail as witnesses.

Parent Plot

Ghosts of Saltmarsh