Return of the Return of Salem

DM's Notes

This ranks as my favorite adventure ever in the Companions of the Rising Sun campaign.

It was supposed to be a simple adventure - dropped off in time a few days before the events of the Return of Salem, the party was supposed to find Salem, raid his lair, and bump him off before he could kidnap Lilly. Easy!

Hours of prep went into his lair. Well, let's be honest. Hour of prep went into his lair. Still. They were going to take it in the teeth before they could get to the bad guy, and it was going to be a good fair fight to the death.

It seems, though, that they still harbored some resentment towards the villain for leading them on a scavenger hunt/wild goose chase in the Return of Salem (and possibly towards the DM for making them dance in Save the Last Dance).

So, they decided to run the adventure their way, and set up an ambush for Salem and his crew. Knowing exactly the events of the night of the kidnapping, they staked out the Rusty Wing, adding extra reinforcements for the bar fight and defending the girl's room thoroughly. They, of course, wound up completely obliterating the poor lich-spawn before he could ever get to the girl.

Watching my players take control of their destiny, instead of blindly stumbling along with whatever I felt like railroading them into, was a beautiful moment, and inspires me to this day.