DM Paul's Hyperborea Rpg - U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh & the Machinations of the Ixians - OSR Commentary

 "Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the cliff, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of a fabulous forgotten treasure. What is it's sinister secret?" 

Ages ago my buddy DM Paul took over a version of our Saltmarsh series Hyperborea rpg campaign. The campaign focuses heavily on the pirate & sailor aspects of the Hyperborean setting. There are ton of changes to the U series of modules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons starting with the organization that the pirates belong to and working it's way down from there. Here's some of the changes: 

1. The Alchemist isn't dead and rotting in the 'haunted house' instead he's a high level lich running his criminal empire from the house. 
2. The pirates are a part of the Slavers of the 'A0 -A4 Against The Slavers' series of classic novels. The Slavers are a dimensional spanning organization that ranges from Greyhawk to Hyperborea. This council of slavers is simply the latest incarnation of the council.
3. The pirates employ local Viking and other raiders to take on raids for them. 
   
   
4. The 'haunted house' is located in Butcher's Bey with Saltmarsh itself being a smaller subset of the Bey. 
5. The pirates are most active during the Summer months and they have ties to the Ixians of Hyperborea who supply the pirates with most of thier magical muscle. 
6. Hyperborean alchemy plays a big part of DM Paul's campaign. 

Yes, I know there's a Hyperborea rpg Kickstarer on but this ties deeply into the Ixians agenda in Hyperborea. The Ixians trade in magical expertise and forbidden magical devices. The Ixians deal heavily in alchemy & work to expand thier influence among the Hyperborean ruling elite. This is because the Ixians  trade in items, magical favors, advisory positions and expertise. This has enabled these enigma peoples to be secreted in almost every high profile royal courts in Hyperborea. 

The Ixians use the pirates for clandestine missions that they pay and sometimes oversee through thier cat's paws. 

The Ixians are playing a dangerous game and have been using the pirates to seed a war between the humans & the Deep Ones.This war is being orastraded on the Deep Ones behalf.  This war is actually over the strange radioactive green crystals that the Deep Ones mine. The village of Saltmarsh sits on a depoisit of these crystals. And by returning the village lands to the sea the Deep Ones gain access. 
What do the Ixians gain out of it?! Several loads of Green radioactive crystals that are then used to grow Green or Greenite Lotus. A dose of this lotus enables one to endure without harm the sanity blasting radiation of the Boreas winds within Sarnath temporarily. The Greenite lotus must begrown on the decaying hills of the corpses of ancient wizards bathed in the radioactive green crystals weird radiations. A dose of Greenite Lotus enables the user to endure the sanity blasting boreas winds for one day per dose. But the imbuer must make a poison vs save or the poor wretch takes a lethal dose of radiation poisoning. Thier veins and skin begin to bleed out green glowing ichor. There are several ancient artifacts lost in the sands of Sarnath that the Ixians would like to recover