- Sahuagin are being driven out of the sea to attack coastal villages
- A lonely mountain pass is guarded by a powerful sphinx denying all passage
- The funeral of a good fighter is disrupted by enemies he made while alive
- A jealous rival threatens to stop a well-attended wedding
After many years of struggle, the sea elves have finally defeated the sahuagin. To commemorate their victory, the sea elf king is set to marry in a massive celebration that will touch off the sea elves' program to rebuild their ravaged kingdom.
Unfortunately, the king's younger brother plots to seize the throne. A powerful wizard, he fashioned a magical crossbow bolt that bears his brother's true name. If it strikes the king, it will utterly destroy him, foiling all attempts at resurrection. The wizard passed this item to the sahuagin using magic. However, the sea devils were defeated before they had the chance to use the item. The wizard must seize the item and destroy the king before the wedding, at which point he will be removed from the line of succession by sea elf tradition. The wizard lacks popular support and has few allies amongst the elves, making anything short of his brother's destruction unlikely to carry him to the crown.
Thus, the wizard has dispatched his koalinth (aquatic hobgoblin for you new schoolers) servants to kill the sahuagin and reclaim the bolt. With the cover story of his brother's murder in battle now gone, he plans to assssinate him with the item and use his koalinth thugs to maintain control.
The attack drives the sahuagin from the sea. Forced to forage on land, they happen to attack a village where an old naval officer is being put to rest. The town assumes the sahuagin seek to disrupt the funeral of the officer, as he conducted many successful campaigns against them. There, the PCs must help fight off the attack. Fearful of more strikes, the town elders ask the characters to investigate, possibly providing them with magical items that allow them to survive underwater.
The PCs encounter more sahuagin, koalinth seeking the bolt, and a few evil sea elves who work with the wizard. They must piece together the back story, visit the sea elf city, and discover that without direct evidence against the wizard there is little that can be done. The bolt is in the hands of a sea sphinx who dwells in an ocean cave in what passes for undersea mountains. The sahuagin paid for passage into the mountains, where they hid in caves from the wizard and his followers during their attack, with the bolt. The characters must travel to the mountains, answer the sphinx's riddle, and return the bolt to the sea elf king.
Of course, the wizard tries to seize his item, and since the king must see the item that puts him in a perfect position for the wizard to teleport into the throne room and attempt to seize the bolt and kill the king.