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[Let's Read] The Sunken Isles
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9031021" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/xOPeHez.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>I should’ve done this in an earlier post, but I’ll put up a two-page map spread of the Isles of Manaki. There is no distance measurement provided, with the rationale given that the DM should have PCs sail at the speed of plot between areas.</p><p></p><p>For Week 8, we have not one, but three potential areas to explore: the Living Wall coral reef where the PCs sabotage Captain Keelhaul’s sunken ship (or rather, its magical figureheads) before he can raise it from the depths, a set of Ruins on the western edge of Kadaur where the PCs meet up with dwarven archeologists to learn more about Skati’s plans for his undead army, and the island of Redfield which is home to warring clans of demons and devils.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/UY0jnyt.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The <strong>Living Wall</strong> is the largest coral reef in the Isles, located off the northwestern side of Kadaur and serves as a protective barrier against storms, tsunamis, and tropical waves. In addition to the startling diversity of marine life, groups of kia’i and merfolk live among the Wall, tending to it. There’s also a nearby Lifebearer Lagoon which is where Captain Keelhaul’s dead body rested, and if the PCs helped free him they’ve been to this area before. The wooden figureheads are actually living creatures trapped in a wooden state, and if they’re removed the party can rob Keelhaul of a useful magical boon when he magically raises the ship. The figureheads will be more positively inclined towards the party if they’re removed without taking damage (most likely a Dispel Magic) and in this case give them a warning of Keelhaul’s approach before swimming off at high speeds (the text mentions that any attempts at catching them fail). NPC crew members will do their best to warn the party of his approach, and this is an encounter the PCs are supposed to run away from, for Keelhaul is a pretty tough CR 11 undead accompanied by 21 undead pirates. While fleeing, the quasit/imp from Redfield will appear and try to lead them to the island.</p><p></p><p>But what of the actual Reef? Well the party can meet with the kia’i and merfolk there, who are happy to have visitors and give the PCs a tour. They don’t have anything in the way of useful quests at the moment, but they’ll drop hints that the Glowing Caves (Week 9 location) have valuable resources to harvest, particularly for growing new coral beds. Finding the proper resources and bringing it back to the Living Wall gives more hit points to the reef during the 18th week during the ecliptic invasion.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/nG1mJI6.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Located on the western edge of Kadaur (not far from Fylkir’s Fall, actually) lies a now-nameless former Ikolf settlement. Great works of stone amid the jungle hold secrets of forbidden magic, and during Skati’s reign the settlement was the site of many horrors. After he was pinned in place by Marrow, the Ikolf resettled elsewhere on the island and let the place fall into Ruins. A small group of Ikolf archeologists plus one gnome are exploring the place during the 8th week; after this week Skati’s forces will commit to strengthening the ruins, and by the 14th week it will be a veritable fortress of operations. Besides the archeologists are various ghosts created by Skati’s rituals occupying the ruins. The most likely hook for getting the PCs involved is hearing that the ruins can be a great means of unearthing information on Skati Fylkir.</p><p></p><p>Of the archeologist team, one of them is secretly a Skati cultist, something she keeps secret even from her own husband. There are five sidequests the PCs can undertake at this time at the behest of the archeologists, from clearing the ruins of undead so they can perform research in peace, helping the ghost of a child reunite with his sister so the two can pass on, clearing a boulder out from a passage leading to a Sacrifice Chamber holding some magical treasures, and the last side quest involves finding out who has been sneaking into one of the archeologist’s tents at night. It is in fact the secret cultist, and the PCs may be able to track down the guilty party who will try and trick them into drinking some poisoned soup that will make them fall asleep (no save) if they fail a Perception check to detect the poison. If such a thing happens, the cultist will leave the Ruins. The cultist has a locked box detailing blueprints for future undersea tunnels for Kumuhea’s project: they show that one such route will sink the island of SpringBog, as well as plans to attack Chitoni in four weeks when their molting season begins. If the PCs are unable to locate the culprit, the cultist will have fled and her husband managed to unlock the box, letting the PCs know what he found in it. Either way, he’ll tell the PCs about the Week 9 locations as being “areas of interest” to Skati’s forces.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gmgeKDR.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Redfield</strong> is our final Week 8 location, containing one of the only known extraplanar portals in the Sunken Isles. The portals were built during Skati Fylkir’s reign as part of his experiments, and the island was isolated enough to be far from any prying eyes. He made the foolish decision to make two portals, one summoning demons, and the other summoning devils in hopes of using them to fight the Islands’ draconic protectors. But the fiends were more interested in continuing their Lower Planes vendettas, and Skati abandoned the island and kept Redfield contained with warding magic. Due to this, the island is awash in ruins holding otherworldly weapons and spirits.</p><p></p><p>The most likely way the PCs have been pointed to Redfield is via either Frizzle the quasit or Batibat the imp, who are low-ranking fiends for their respective sides. The island is locked in an eternal state of war, where slain demons and devils are replaced by more soldiers from their home plane. The demons’ home base is the petrified remains of a giant monstrous heart of a mighty unnamed warbeast created by Skati, while the devils have a more typical multi-story fortress. The leaders of both fiendish armies are a pit fiend (Thrugnon) and a balor (Zorgomuth), so the PCs can’t realistically cleanse Redfield of fiends or simply kill their leader on their own. Instead they can gain favor with one of the factions by sabotaging one of the portals or arranging for the enemy leader to get assassinated. The PCs can even find a nonviolent end to the conflict via diplomacy!</p><p></p><p>In order to achieve Diplomacy, the PCs have to perform tasks for both leaders, such as clearing out infestations of minor demons/devils, engage in nonlethal combat training against their second-in-commands, or teaching new skills to the troops. Sabotaging a portal involves damaging the runic stones powering it, and the respective rings will send more devils/demons through the portal who will try to stop the PCs. In the case of assassinating an enemy leader, this can be done via a tripwire trap and some allied fiends to lure them out, tripping the fiendish lord into a nearby portal to teleport into the heart of the other fiendish army’s camp, dooming them to death.</p><p></p><p>Redfield’s future changes based on what route the parties take. Diplomacy results in the fiends coexisting and building an actual town with meager yet functional services. Sabotaging the portal causes the losing side to be nearly decimated in numbers the next time the PCs visit. In the event of treacherous assassination, the winning side disperses the leaderless forces, allowing the victorious fiends to start exploring nearby islands. Either way, PCs can be given an Event Compass as a reward (if they allied with neither, may find it in the respective fiends’ HQ). This magic item works as both a normal compass, and points to a location where something horrible is at risk of happening and thus serves as a hook for a variety of future locations.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/m9V3Ryl.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Once again we get 3 locations to explore for the 9th week, two of which are new and one of which is a return to SpringBog. The new locations include the Glowing Caves, an island to the southeast of Kadaur filled with unique and strange life forms as well as Units of valuable resources, and the Entropy Abyss which is a deep sea trench running from Kadaur to the Black Atoll.</p><p></p><p>Let’s cover the <strong>Glowing Caves</strong> first. In addition to their unique beauty and resources, the place is of cultural significance to the various people of Manaki, and it’s not uncommon to find pilgrims here celebrating some holiday. It’s believed that the Caves have a link of some kind to the fey. One closely guarded resource is the very soil of the Caves, which can only be extracted by a single hand-held metal scoop (a shambling mound attacks anyone who digs with other things). The soil is so potent that if placed in any container with organic components the roots begin growing quickly regardless of climate, so only completely nonorganic containers (glass and metal that has been scrubbed and heated) can be used. There are also supterramobi fungi, mobile mushrooms that can hold water in a cup or bowl shape which many merfolk use to travel about on land. Unfortunately the fungi die when transported out of the Glowing Caves, so they’re mostly used by merfolk to harvest things out of water. The Garden contains a lot of plant-based treasures and ingredients, such as nightflower pollen which can blind a target for 1d4 if thrown at their face.</p><p></p><p>Kumuhea used a secret tunnel in the past to set up a hidden library, which is guarded by a poison gas trap. The writings are magically guarded to deal damage to those who are unable to disable them (Kumuhea knows how to decode the traps), but also of interest in the library is a hidden passage to a long tunnel that serves as a gateway to other worlds. There’s even a d6 table of noncombat encounters of what the PCs can witness:</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/loBYXWJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>I recognize the 1 and 4 results as shoutouts to Dark Souls and Ratchet & Clank, but I don’t recognize the other four.</p><p></p><p>Sidequests that can be taken in the Glowing Caves mostly involve resource collection: gathering lichen for mirescales in exchange for some of their famous alcohol, bringing soil from the garden to the Hags of Turntail Swamp in exchange for an orb that can be attached to Allay and give the wielder +2 AC, gathering ink ingredients for tattooists in Makolf, and mirescales brewing new drinks who need taste testers to subject themselves to a 1d6 table of random effects.</p><p></p><p>Upon leaving the Glowing Caves, some NPCs may suggest the PCs to visit Turntail Swamp, the Living Wall, or Kauhale if they’re taking some of the magic soil with them as the people there could make use of it. Kada will also appear as the party’s sailing away, asking for them to give him Marrow for the week if a PC has it. In exchange, Kada will tell the party that one of Skait’s undead allies (Captain Keelhaul) is stationed at Keyport and it can be a good opportunity to sabotage his plans.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/cufi69j.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The <strong>Entropy Abyss</strong> also has that otherworldly touch, but of a more scary and lonesome feel in contrast to the Glowing Caves. The Abyss has existed since the Isles’ creation, a fissure between realities whose makeup defies comprehension. Likely reasons the PCs may visit during the 9th week may be to scavenge the wreckage of ships, learn about the origin of the Mirescale or some other secret. Due to its location unprotected PCs will take 4 bludgeoning damage every round from extreme pressure, but a Dive Deep Tattoo, resistance to bludgeoning damage, or drinking moondew can grant immunity to the effect (8 hours in the third case, and this quality is unknown even to the mirescales). The trench is impossibly wide by the PC’s perception, with geothermal vents lining up at the trench’s edge. One side of the trench is covered in shipwrecks as far as the eye can see; in fact, there are ships that haven’t been invented down here, such as submarines, for they are “ghost ships” in being spectral doubles of ships that have been created and yet to be created. We also have a sidebar for a new Ancient Ritual, Levo Navis, which if cast can magical raise a sunken ship to the surface of the water with a drawback that the ship’s hit points and hit point maximums are halved per casting…and if the ritual isn’t recast within 5 minutes, the ship rises 600 feet into the air before crashing down likely to a lot of fall damage! Strangely nowhere else in the book mentions this ritual or where it can be learned.</p><p></p><p>The monsters that are fought in the trench are appropriately creepy reflavored aquatic monsters, such as leechlike creatures blinking with faint blue lights that use the poisonous snake swarm stat block. We also get three new monsters: a Grandis Luminosus Os which is a giant glowing eel that can suck in and swallow targets with an AoE cone, an Imperatrix Leviathan which is a big-ass glowing fish,and viper piscis who are long fish whose mouths are filled with needle-like teeth.</p><p></p><p>The major location in the Abyss is the Mired Sail, the galleon that was ground zero for the creation of the mirescale race. The trench’s strange magic created a magical double, for the original ship has long since been destroyed, and casting Speak with Dead on the corpses inside can tip the party off to other locations they didn’t visit in previous weeks (DM’s discretion). The ship has magical watertight rooms that prevent its interior from being flooded, and its primary inhabitants are entropic mirescales (basically big tough kobolds who can breathe underwater) who are also strange doubles of the transformed inhabitants. These mirescales have gone mad, worshiping the ship’s cargo and being hostile to the PC’s presence, although their leader Rednose initially appears more reasonable and will try to win the party over before attempting to get them killed by attracting the attention of an imperatrix leviathan. This is a potentially fun hit-and-run combat where the PCs can escape through wreckage out of its reach to catch their breath. The mirescales are keeping Jackdaw, the captain of the ship, imprisoned (who isn’t the real deal but also a double) and he alone among the crew hasn’t been subjected to the strange warping magics and thus appears like a regular human. There’s also a young t-rex imprisoned in the ship’s hold that can also be freed, and during the leviathan fight Jackdaw can obtain a second bit of Flux which can be useful for various purposes such as crafting Allay or replacing the lost one in the case of SpringBog sinking.</p><p></p><p>The t-rex is actually a young version of the species Tyrannavis Deus, a half-immortal lord of beasts located on the Primal Archipelago. If rescued and brought to its kin, the young half-immortal can become an ally during the war at the end of the campaign. As for JackDaw, if he’s brought to SpringBog he and RoundBelly will become great friends over a shared love for alcohol.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 9031021, member: 6750502"] [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/xOPeHez.png[/IMG][/CENTER] I should’ve done this in an earlier post, but I’ll put up a two-page map spread of the Isles of Manaki. There is no distance measurement provided, with the rationale given that the DM should have PCs sail at the speed of plot between areas. For Week 8, we have not one, but three potential areas to explore: the Living Wall coral reef where the PCs sabotage Captain Keelhaul’s sunken ship (or rather, its magical figureheads) before he can raise it from the depths, a set of Ruins on the western edge of Kadaur where the PCs meet up with dwarven archeologists to learn more about Skati’s plans for his undead army, and the island of Redfield which is home to warring clans of demons and devils. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/UY0jnyt.png[/IMG][/CENTER] The [B]Living Wall[/B] is the largest coral reef in the Isles, located off the northwestern side of Kadaur and serves as a protective barrier against storms, tsunamis, and tropical waves. In addition to the startling diversity of marine life, groups of kia’i and merfolk live among the Wall, tending to it. There’s also a nearby Lifebearer Lagoon which is where Captain Keelhaul’s dead body rested, and if the PCs helped free him they’ve been to this area before. The wooden figureheads are actually living creatures trapped in a wooden state, and if they’re removed the party can rob Keelhaul of a useful magical boon when he magically raises the ship. The figureheads will be more positively inclined towards the party if they’re removed without taking damage (most likely a Dispel Magic) and in this case give them a warning of Keelhaul’s approach before swimming off at high speeds (the text mentions that any attempts at catching them fail). NPC crew members will do their best to warn the party of his approach, and this is an encounter the PCs are supposed to run away from, for Keelhaul is a pretty tough CR 11 undead accompanied by 21 undead pirates. While fleeing, the quasit/imp from Redfield will appear and try to lead them to the island. But what of the actual Reef? Well the party can meet with the kia’i and merfolk there, who are happy to have visitors and give the PCs a tour. They don’t have anything in the way of useful quests at the moment, but they’ll drop hints that the Glowing Caves (Week 9 location) have valuable resources to harvest, particularly for growing new coral beds. Finding the proper resources and bringing it back to the Living Wall gives more hit points to the reef during the 18th week during the ecliptic invasion. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/nG1mJI6.png[/IMG][/CENTER] Located on the western edge of Kadaur (not far from Fylkir’s Fall, actually) lies a now-nameless former Ikolf settlement. Great works of stone amid the jungle hold secrets of forbidden magic, and during Skati’s reign the settlement was the site of many horrors. After he was pinned in place by Marrow, the Ikolf resettled elsewhere on the island and let the place fall into Ruins. A small group of Ikolf archeologists plus one gnome are exploring the place during the 8th week; after this week Skati’s forces will commit to strengthening the ruins, and by the 14th week it will be a veritable fortress of operations. Besides the archeologists are various ghosts created by Skati’s rituals occupying the ruins. The most likely hook for getting the PCs involved is hearing that the ruins can be a great means of unearthing information on Skati Fylkir. Of the archeologist team, one of them is secretly a Skati cultist, something she keeps secret even from her own husband. There are five sidequests the PCs can undertake at this time at the behest of the archeologists, from clearing the ruins of undead so they can perform research in peace, helping the ghost of a child reunite with his sister so the two can pass on, clearing a boulder out from a passage leading to a Sacrifice Chamber holding some magical treasures, and the last side quest involves finding out who has been sneaking into one of the archeologist’s tents at night. It is in fact the secret cultist, and the PCs may be able to track down the guilty party who will try and trick them into drinking some poisoned soup that will make them fall asleep (no save) if they fail a Perception check to detect the poison. If such a thing happens, the cultist will leave the Ruins. The cultist has a locked box detailing blueprints for future undersea tunnels for Kumuhea’s project: they show that one such route will sink the island of SpringBog, as well as plans to attack Chitoni in four weeks when their molting season begins. If the PCs are unable to locate the culprit, the cultist will have fled and her husband managed to unlock the box, letting the PCs know what he found in it. Either way, he’ll tell the PCs about the Week 9 locations as being “areas of interest” to Skati’s forces. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/gmgeKDR.png[/IMG][/CENTER] [B]Redfield[/B] is our final Week 8 location, containing one of the only known extraplanar portals in the Sunken Isles. The portals were built during Skati Fylkir’s reign as part of his experiments, and the island was isolated enough to be far from any prying eyes. He made the foolish decision to make two portals, one summoning demons, and the other summoning devils in hopes of using them to fight the Islands’ draconic protectors. But the fiends were more interested in continuing their Lower Planes vendettas, and Skati abandoned the island and kept Redfield contained with warding magic. Due to this, the island is awash in ruins holding otherworldly weapons and spirits. The most likely way the PCs have been pointed to Redfield is via either Frizzle the quasit or Batibat the imp, who are low-ranking fiends for their respective sides. The island is locked in an eternal state of war, where slain demons and devils are replaced by more soldiers from their home plane. The demons’ home base is the petrified remains of a giant monstrous heart of a mighty unnamed warbeast created by Skati, while the devils have a more typical multi-story fortress. The leaders of both fiendish armies are a pit fiend (Thrugnon) and a balor (Zorgomuth), so the PCs can’t realistically cleanse Redfield of fiends or simply kill their leader on their own. Instead they can gain favor with one of the factions by sabotaging one of the portals or arranging for the enemy leader to get assassinated. The PCs can even find a nonviolent end to the conflict via diplomacy! In order to achieve Diplomacy, the PCs have to perform tasks for both leaders, such as clearing out infestations of minor demons/devils, engage in nonlethal combat training against their second-in-commands, or teaching new skills to the troops. Sabotaging a portal involves damaging the runic stones powering it, and the respective rings will send more devils/demons through the portal who will try to stop the PCs. In the case of assassinating an enemy leader, this can be done via a tripwire trap and some allied fiends to lure them out, tripping the fiendish lord into a nearby portal to teleport into the heart of the other fiendish army’s camp, dooming them to death. Redfield’s future changes based on what route the parties take. Diplomacy results in the fiends coexisting and building an actual town with meager yet functional services. Sabotaging the portal causes the losing side to be nearly decimated in numbers the next time the PCs visit. In the event of treacherous assassination, the winning side disperses the leaderless forces, allowing the victorious fiends to start exploring nearby islands. Either way, PCs can be given an Event Compass as a reward (if they allied with neither, may find it in the respective fiends’ HQ). This magic item works as both a normal compass, and points to a location where something horrible is at risk of happening and thus serves as a hook for a variety of future locations. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/m9V3Ryl.png[/IMG][/CENTER] Once again we get 3 locations to explore for the 9th week, two of which are new and one of which is a return to SpringBog. The new locations include the Glowing Caves, an island to the southeast of Kadaur filled with unique and strange life forms as well as Units of valuable resources, and the Entropy Abyss which is a deep sea trench running from Kadaur to the Black Atoll. Let’s cover the [B]Glowing Caves[/B] first. In addition to their unique beauty and resources, the place is of cultural significance to the various people of Manaki, and it’s not uncommon to find pilgrims here celebrating some holiday. It’s believed that the Caves have a link of some kind to the fey. One closely guarded resource is the very soil of the Caves, which can only be extracted by a single hand-held metal scoop (a shambling mound attacks anyone who digs with other things). The soil is so potent that if placed in any container with organic components the roots begin growing quickly regardless of climate, so only completely nonorganic containers (glass and metal that has been scrubbed and heated) can be used. There are also supterramobi fungi, mobile mushrooms that can hold water in a cup or bowl shape which many merfolk use to travel about on land. Unfortunately the fungi die when transported out of the Glowing Caves, so they’re mostly used by merfolk to harvest things out of water. The Garden contains a lot of plant-based treasures and ingredients, such as nightflower pollen which can blind a target for 1d4 if thrown at their face. Kumuhea used a secret tunnel in the past to set up a hidden library, which is guarded by a poison gas trap. The writings are magically guarded to deal damage to those who are unable to disable them (Kumuhea knows how to decode the traps), but also of interest in the library is a hidden passage to a long tunnel that serves as a gateway to other worlds. There’s even a d6 table of noncombat encounters of what the PCs can witness: [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/loBYXWJ.png[/IMG] I recognize the 1 and 4 results as shoutouts to Dark Souls and Ratchet & Clank, but I don’t recognize the other four. Sidequests that can be taken in the Glowing Caves mostly involve resource collection: gathering lichen for mirescales in exchange for some of their famous alcohol, bringing soil from the garden to the Hags of Turntail Swamp in exchange for an orb that can be attached to Allay and give the wielder +2 AC, gathering ink ingredients for tattooists in Makolf, and mirescales brewing new drinks who need taste testers to subject themselves to a 1d6 table of random effects. Upon leaving the Glowing Caves, some NPCs may suggest the PCs to visit Turntail Swamp, the Living Wall, or Kauhale if they’re taking some of the magic soil with them as the people there could make use of it. Kada will also appear as the party’s sailing away, asking for them to give him Marrow for the week if a PC has it. In exchange, Kada will tell the party that one of Skait’s undead allies (Captain Keelhaul) is stationed at Keyport and it can be a good opportunity to sabotage his plans. [CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/cufi69j.png[/IMG][/CENTER] The [B]Entropy Abyss[/B] also has that otherworldly touch, but of a more scary and lonesome feel in contrast to the Glowing Caves. The Abyss has existed since the Isles’ creation, a fissure between realities whose makeup defies comprehension. Likely reasons the PCs may visit during the 9th week may be to scavenge the wreckage of ships, learn about the origin of the Mirescale or some other secret. Due to its location unprotected PCs will take 4 bludgeoning damage every round from extreme pressure, but a Dive Deep Tattoo, resistance to bludgeoning damage, or drinking moondew can grant immunity to the effect (8 hours in the third case, and this quality is unknown even to the mirescales). The trench is impossibly wide by the PC’s perception, with geothermal vents lining up at the trench’s edge. One side of the trench is covered in shipwrecks as far as the eye can see; in fact, there are ships that haven’t been invented down here, such as submarines, for they are “ghost ships” in being spectral doubles of ships that have been created and yet to be created. We also have a sidebar for a new Ancient Ritual, Levo Navis, which if cast can magical raise a sunken ship to the surface of the water with a drawback that the ship’s hit points and hit point maximums are halved per casting…and if the ritual isn’t recast within 5 minutes, the ship rises 600 feet into the air before crashing down likely to a lot of fall damage! Strangely nowhere else in the book mentions this ritual or where it can be learned. The monsters that are fought in the trench are appropriately creepy reflavored aquatic monsters, such as leechlike creatures blinking with faint blue lights that use the poisonous snake swarm stat block. We also get three new monsters: a Grandis Luminosus Os which is a giant glowing eel that can suck in and swallow targets with an AoE cone, an Imperatrix Leviathan which is a big-ass glowing fish,and viper piscis who are long fish whose mouths are filled with needle-like teeth. The major location in the Abyss is the Mired Sail, the galleon that was ground zero for the creation of the mirescale race. The trench’s strange magic created a magical double, for the original ship has long since been destroyed, and casting Speak with Dead on the corpses inside can tip the party off to other locations they didn’t visit in previous weeks (DM’s discretion). The ship has magical watertight rooms that prevent its interior from being flooded, and its primary inhabitants are entropic mirescales (basically big tough kobolds who can breathe underwater) who are also strange doubles of the transformed inhabitants. These mirescales have gone mad, worshiping the ship’s cargo and being hostile to the PC’s presence, although their leader Rednose initially appears more reasonable and will try to win the party over before attempting to get them killed by attracting the attention of an imperatrix leviathan. This is a potentially fun hit-and-run combat where the PCs can escape through wreckage out of its reach to catch their breath. The mirescales are keeping Jackdaw, the captain of the ship, imprisoned (who isn’t the real deal but also a double) and he alone among the crew hasn’t been subjected to the strange warping magics and thus appears like a regular human. There’s also a young t-rex imprisoned in the ship’s hold that can also be freed, and during the leviathan fight Jackdaw can obtain a second bit of Flux which can be useful for various purposes such as crafting Allay or replacing the lost one in the case of SpringBog sinking. The t-rex is actually a young version of the species Tyrannavis Deus, a half-immortal lord of beasts located on the Primal Archipelago. If rescued and brought to its kin, the young half-immortal can become an ally during the war at the end of the campaign. As for JackDaw, if he’s brought to SpringBog he and RoundBelly will become great friends over a shared love for alcohol. [/QUOTE]
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