The Easiest Gratitude Journal
Plus a free 3-part Locathah Scout adventure!
Hello, friends! I am so incredibly brain dead after another week of running around. It’s funny: I genuinely don’t even realize how much I do till I look back on the photographs I’ve taken over the course of the week. All I can recall is that I’ve been busier than usual as my kids’ school years wrap up. I was actually surprised to realize that in addition to my twins’ promotion ceremony today, I also had a National Donut Day excursion with the kids on Friday, a performance on Saturday, running D&D on Sunday, playing D&D on Monday, a full day of errands on Tuesday, and art class on Wednesday (which was my “relaxation” day.) And that’s in addition to 30+ hours of work at my “part-time” job!
I can’t decide whether forgetting the recent past so easily is how I cope with my over-packed schedule. I don’t think it’s a very good coping mechanism, tbh. So it’s pretty great that a Maryland friend that I made in California has this really cool thing that she does on her Instagram, which I’ve been trying to incorporate more of, too: showing little snapshots of her daily life on her Insta stories, not as a brag, but as a reminder of all the beautiful and inspiring moments of our days. It can be really easy to fixate on all the bad and boring and negative feelings as we trudge through everyday existence — I sent a good friend a hysterical text from a place of anxiety and loneliness not two hours ago (and thanks for talking me down, Felipe!) — so it’s nice to have something like Insta or Google Photos that you can quickly look back on as a tangible reminder that life has actually been pretty good. It’s like a gratitude journal but so much easier to create and maintain. And it doesn’t have to be on social media either: you can just take photos on your phone or with your digital camera to look at later (tho I do like to store things on the cloud for accessibility.) That said, I do like to post to Insta and BlueSky given that I’m a compulsive over-sharer, as probably anyone is who writes a newsletter like this one, lol.
Which, speaking of, is ostensibly about books and games, so let’s talk about some of those! First, I want to shout out my Wild Beyond The Witchlight group, who just had our second spontaneous game-related interpretive dance session in a row. I continue to be impressed by how many avenues there are to solving problems in this campaign that don’t begin with “roll initiative.” It’s very refreshing.
I wish the same could be said of my Ghosts Of Saltmarsh campaign, tho my players are currently managing to diplomacy their way beautifully through a Lizardfolk fortress. Unfortunately for me, my Legends Of The Five Rings-rotted brain immediately assigned a bunch of tasks for my PCs to complete in order to curry favor with all of the participating factions at the summit. This was fine for the royals and shamans and even the merfolk, as I could easily adapt some of the suggested sidequests in the chapter or prior backstory missions to fit. But my dumb ass recklessly said something about finding Locathah scouts who’d gone missing upriver, and up until this past weekend, I had literally no idea where I was going with that.
Inspiration struck after my first public performance with my string ensemble (random, I know. It was quite a successful performance tho!) I was actually so pleased by the ensuing three-part adventure I created that I figured I’d write it out for y’all here. Some inspiration was taken from a vague adventure hook in the Dunwater section of the book, with several of the details below figured out on the fly during game. I don’t have a title for the adventure yet, and given my track record, probably won’t come up with one for another few months, so feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.
This single-session adventure is suitable for a party of 4-6 level 4 PCs:
Act 1: The Quest
As the PCs prepare to travel up the Dunwater from the diplomatic summit, a Locathah comes knocking on their door. Riviera* has a map to the location her scientist husband Finneas* had planned to travel to with two scouts. Back in their underwater home, Finneas had been in semi-regular contact with a group of alchemists whose laboratory was in a tower on the Dunwater. Their correspondence had ended abruptly several months prior.
Given how communication isn’t the most immediate or consistent between land and ocean, he’d put the issue on the backburner till the summit was announced. He’d then attached himself to the diplomatic delegation so that he might check in on his colleagues while the other Locathah were politicking. The hike to the tower should only take a morning, but he set off a few days ago with two scouts for company and still hasn’t returned. Riviera is worried.
*For whatever reason, I was not prepared with names beforehand, so sat there and vamped with an “in your language, I am called” before making up both names.
Riviera is a medium-sized Locathah. She is intelligent and concerned about her genius husband, whom she’ll freely admit is a doofus in the streets.
Act 2: Travel Up River
The map shows the location of the tower off a tributary of the river, about 4.5 hours walk away. The map itself isn’t well sketched-out, showing only the tower lab and other major area landmarks, as in the GoS main map.
As the PCs get about thirty minutes out from the tower, have them make appropriate checks to note that the plant life on the riverbanks looks browner than it should. If the PCs go into the water, they should feel a slightly astringent effect, tho not enough to take damage unless they insist on staying in the water for the rest of the trip (assign low-end acid damage to PC and/or PC’s gear at DM’s discretion.)
As the PCs get even closer, have them make a Perception check against a group of Bandits’ Stealth. These (a number equaling the number of PCs + 1) Bandits will have set an ambush to waylay the PCs but will not harm them unless attacked first. The Bandits are impoverished and hungry, but will not attempt to rob the PCs. Depending on how the PCs react, they will either take or lead the PCs to a nearby village. There, they will be met by a Veteran, a decent number of other bandits, and non-combatant villagers.
The buildings have clearly seen better times. One building, set a ways apart from the others, is notable for looking a little sturdier than the rest, and for having two Bandit guards standing outside. Finneas and the two Locathah scouts are located inside, tho their weapons are out on the veranda.
If the PCs have not fought and defeated the Bandits, the Veteran will attempt to ransom the Locathah, not for money but for a task. A cabal of alchemists had been operating a laboratory in a nearby tower for several years, and coexisted peacefully with the villagers. One day about a year and a half ago, there’d been a terrible explosion that blew the top floors right off the tower. Everyone in the tower had died.
Since then, the water in the river has gradually soured. Crops have died and, worse, the villagers sent to investigate the tower have not come back. The Veteran will give the Locathah — who he claims he’s detained for their own good — back to the PCs if they can lift the curse on the tower. If the PCs ask, he will let them see and speak with the Locathah. Finneas will want to go with them to the tower, which the Veteran will allow as long as the other two stay back as hostages. The scouts seem only too happy to be rid of Finneas for a few hours.
If the PCs defeat the Bandits, they can free the Locathah, who will insist on continuing on their mission to the tower.
Finneas is a medium-sized Locathah. He loves science and is far more Intelligent than Wise. He will not shut up about science, and especially his latest invention, pieces of parchment that he keeps wrapped in oilskin, which you can use to test the acidity of any liquid you encounter (he calls them Finneas Strips.) He will tell the PCs that the alchemists performed all sorts of experiments with chemicals and fertilizers and other useful (flammable) items.
The Locathah Scouts are medium-sized Locathah. You can have them be as involved in the quest as you’d like: I had them stay back so I’d have two fewer characters to keep tabs on.
Act 3: The Tower
Finneas will be very excited about showing off his namesake strips as he and the PCs make the twenty minute walk to the tower. He will, as a matter of fact, plunge into the river to show how they work (very well, actually!)
In the river lurk two (or three, depending on how many PCs you have) mutated Ochre Jellies. They will absolutely attack Finneas and any other PCs who enter their vicinity. They will move on land in pursuit of prey. Part of the reason for the acidity of the water is their continuing presence in it.
As the PCs continue approaching the tower, they will see evidence of the explosion in the form of charred rock debris scattered over the landscape. Once they make it to the tower, they will find everything above the ground floor obliterated, with only charred/melted stone left. The stone pilings of a dock lead to the water, and a hole has been blown into the side of the tower on the riverbank, through which water swirls into the darkness of the tower’s basement.
If the PCs enter the tower, they will find that a hole has also been blown through the flagstones of the ground floor, leading to a dark, watery basement. There is a short, circular staircase in the basement leading down to the water: accessing the staircase requires a simple Athletics check of DC10 to jump down from the ground floor without falling into the water.
A mutated Gray Ooze lurks on the basement ceiling, attacking prey. It will also range topside at dusk/night. A mutated Black Pudding lies in the water and will attack anything that comes into the water or even close to the surface. Finneas will absolutely try to help PCs by “performing a flanking action” that involves coming in from the hole in the riverbank.
There’s no loot in the tower — everything of value has been destroyed by either the explosion or the mutated oozes — but you can find evidence of the missing villagers at the bottom of the tower’s watery basement once you’ve cleared the mutated oozes.
Conclusion:
PCs gain the favor of the Locathah faction if they return Finneas and the scouts alive. They will also gain Finneas and Riviera as Allies (I know that’s not a thing in D&D, but I think it’s a neat feature from L5R that’s easy to incorporate into any system.) Even if the scouting party dies, obtaining information/proof as to their fate and being suitably sympathetic to Riviera will be enough to gain the favor of the Locathah faction. The villagers will also be grateful to learn the fate of the missing, and will be very happy to have the tower cleared so they can go back to making a living again.
My cleric actually got the villagers to listen to his preaching after he generously gave them charity (GoS hands out A Lot of gold!) They even changed the name of their town to Mystraville for a hefty donation. Meanwhile, my corporate raider barbarian is negotiating intellectual property rights with Finneas for his strips and future inventions. I love these creative weirdos, and am so glad I can ensure that they have a good time.
Wow, that took a lot longer to write than expected, so let’s talk briefly about books before closing out this issue! First off, I got to publish a neat interview with debut crime novelist Wendy Gee, discussing her first book, Fleet Landing. Drawing from her experiences as a volunteer at the Charleston Fire Department, this thriller follows an ATF Special Agent and a tenacious reporter as they seek out the truth behind a series of arsons in their city. Check out the interview at The Frumious Consortium!
Reading-wise, I really enjoyed Marina Ruiz’ Friends In Nature. Not only is it a gorgeous picture book about ecology, it’s also a brilliant reminder of how interconnected all living things are on this planet. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a necessary reminder — especially given our current dismal sociopolitical climate — of how people need community and cooperation, not whatever latest individualist/separatist outrage is in the news these days.
Oh, wow, it’s after midnight already, I’d better hit send on this thing. Lmk if you’d like to see me write up the adventure as a separate document. See you in six, friends!
Currently Playing (Music): Beethoven’s Symphony #2 in D Major; Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite; my Declan Rice and 2025 Energy playlists; Chappel Roan’s Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess; Stela Cole’s I Die Where You Begin.
Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, Your Friend In Witchcraft by Kay Marlow Allen; The Wolves Of Langston by Obvious Mimic.
Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Ghosts Of Saltmarsh.
Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): A Cyclist’s Guide To Villains And Vines by Ann Claire; Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington; Redcoat Vol 1 by Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch; Friends In Nature by Marina Ruiz; Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business by Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis & Cris Peter.