Notes: The Haunting of Lobsterclaw Island

So, the story that I sort of have in my mind for Lobsterclaw Island is really getting to me, and so I'm trying to work out how I might create an adventure for it. But it's been a super long time since I've had a chance to run something other than a published adventure and I'm still catching up on all the changes to 5e since my child was born, so these are super rough notes.

One thing I want to tap into is the idea that some people lived on this island and that they were stolen from the land (enslaved). I think I want to make those who were enslaved humans and those who captured them orcs (but with slight twist). And I think I want this to have a huge impact on the land itself, culminating in a part of the story that I'm calling The Long Walk. My thought is to rely on undead and particularly haunting to make it work.

Random Encounters

1. shadow + 1d4 skeletons
2. specter + 2d4 skeletons
3. poltergeist + 1d4 shadows
4. Will-o'-wisp + 1d4 skeletons
5. Specter + 1d4 shadows
6. Legendary ghost - I'm thinking here a leader of the group that was captured and force marched, killed while protecting a grandchild. Her goal is to seek the proper burial of the grandchild and the return of an amulet that fell with the child to its rightful home in their town.

   For lair actions: I was thinking of producing shadows (1), skeletons (1), or specters (1) but I'm not sure because I'm not sure. I could also use the flavor text from the ghost and have the lair produce effects like cold or moving objects.

   For legendary actions (2 actions):

   • Recharge possession and immediate use (Costs 2 actions) - Her goal here isn't to fight the PCs. She wants to possess them to tell a bit of her story and to find the closest she can to peace.
   • Etherealness - Thinking this gives her an out if somehow the party traps her

Eventually I'd like to move random encounters away from groups of "monsters" and more like scenes that would be available.

Sleeping in the Woods

Another idea I have is that any night they spend in the woods, they have a chance of a dream or vision. Some things that they might experience or see include:

• Walking through intense dark, seeing pig faces by torch [My thought is to make the orcs pig-like and have pink skin]
• Attempting to descend a dense forest during a downpour, wake up soaked to the bone
• Vision of a young child beneath a large old ash tree with white delicate white flowers
• Vision of the amulet

Things to find

Another idea I have is of "trinkets" to find while walking through the woods

• Simple grave marked by a pile of rocks, someone who died on The Long Walk
• Crude and decayed weapon of the orcs that attacked the folks of Lobster Claw Island
• Intense chill that causes shivers for 1d4 minutes

Other Ideas

I think it would be interesting to have a background or two or some other way to signify characters who descend from those who once lived on Lobsterclaw Island and then have some of these parts of the adventure interact with that.