Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Wing Three
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6052157" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 31 - DEATH-BEAST OF THE DEEP</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Akari, elven paladin of Hieroneous</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Feron Dru, half-elf druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Slayer, half-orc barbarian</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Balama Theron, human rogue/wizard</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Hurm Feros, half-orc fighter</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Theodore McGraff, human rogue/wizard</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Lady Dorca, merfolk druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Cerulea Seafoam, merfolk bard</p><p></p><p>I wrote this adventure as something interesting to have happen to the group of PCs that had been "kidnap-summoned" to help Balama Theron in "Balama's Treasure Hunt" on their way back to the outpost of Thunder Bay. Having written the previous session's adventure specifically for Jacob to aid him in his quest to make Chalkan an arcane archer, I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to make this one focus on Feron Dru, for the simple reason that Feron's player, Vicki, collected mermaid statuary, and it would be fairly easy to incorporate mermaids into an adventure taking place at sea.</p><p></p><p>I should mention that we generally don't get to play as often as we'd like. Between Jacob's scouting activities and sporting events through his school, and both Jacob and his little brother Joey's church activities, most of their weekends were pretty full, and the weekends were really the only time that gaming between our two respective families was available. So while I'd be perfectly happy with a weekly or every-other-week gaming schedule, it seldom works that way. Every 4-5 weeks had probably been more like our average, with 7 weeks probably about the biggest stretch we've had between sessions. On the plus side, though, that gives me plenty of time to create adventures specifically built for my own campaign and the PCs involved in it. On the down side, it sometimes happens that an adventure I've planned takes much longer to actually arrive on our gaming docket than I would have hoped.</p><p></p><p>I only mention this because I wrote "Death-Beast of the Deep" when Stuart was still living at home with us after graduating college. As Akari, Cal, Feron, and Slayer (and Fang) had been "spirited away" halfway across the globe, there was no real way I could shoehorn Mercutio Midas (Stuart's only PC to date) into the adventure that would take place during those four PCs' trip back home. So I came up with a compromise: I'd have Stuart make up a new PC as a one-shot and incorporate him into the adventure.</p><p></p><p>Figuring that the PCs' ship would be captured by merfolk, I figured the easiest way to incorporate a new one-shot PC was to have him be on a ship that was similarly captured earlier. So my only constraints were to have Stuart create a PC that could conceivably have been on board a sailing vessel in that part of the world. He came up with <strong>Theodore McGraff</strong>, a human rogue/wizard - actually, when it came down to it, a pirate. (He even asked to reskin a raven familiar into a parrot familiar, which I had no problem with. He wanted the parrot to be a wise-cracker, and so he decided on <strong>Rickles</strong> as a name, after famed smart-aleck comedian Don Rickles.) He decided that Theodore would be a rather good-hearted pirate, certainly not against the looting of ships but not so enthused at the prospects of slaying everybody on board the vessels he plundered. That, I imagined, could get him into a bit of trouble with his own crew (assuming his crew was composed of the more traditional "bloodthirsty" pirates), so I envisioned the PCs picking him up in a drifting rowboat before they even got attacked by the merfolk - thus establishing a link between him and the PCs without the complications of the "we hate those evil pirates except for this one, he can adventure with us" mentality.</p><p></p><p>So, character made, everything was all set...and then we hit one of those long stretches between gaming sessions that crop up occasionally in our campaign, and by the time we were ready to run though "Death-Beast of the Deep" Stuart had moved across country. I ended up running Theodore McGraff as an NPC.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>It had been nearly a hard month of sailing. None of the group had had any prior experience in the handling of a ship at sea, and of the original crew there were only the ship's captain, Balama Theron, and her first mate, a gruff half-orc named Hurm Feros, to teach them. But they did as best they could, and the <em>Starchaser</em> made its slow way back to Thunder Bay. Balama estimated that they were only a day or two away from their destination when a colorful parrot flew from out of nowhere and landed on the railing around the ship's wheel, startling Balama from her thoughts.</p><p></p><p>"Master's in trouble!" it squawked. "Needs rescue!"</p><p></p><p>The parrot, it turned out, was the familiar of a wizard who had been set adrift in a rowboat with no supplies but a single bottle of rum. Remarkably intelligent, the parrot was able to guide Balama to the location of his master, who seemed remarkably surly towards his would-be rescuers. Of course, the fact that the rum bottle was now completely empty and had been discarded on the bottom of the rowboat, and the parrot's master was consequently completely drunk likely had something to do with the matter.</p><p></p><p>"What are you doing in my stateroom?" demanded the drunken pirate, struggling to an upright, indignant posture on wobbly legs that caused the small craft to wobble precariously as well.</p><p></p><p>"Theo?" asked Balama incredulously. "Is that you?"</p><p></p><p>Theodore McGraff squinted blearily at the figure peering down at him from the sides of the vessel that had maneuvered alongside his rowboat. "B'lama?" he asked. "Ah, I see you have brought me my new vessel. Which I won. And is mine."</p><p></p><p>"You did <em>not</em> win my ship from me, you card cheat! You're lucky I let you walk out of that game alive!"</p><p></p><p>"I am in no mood to quibble wiffew," slurred McGraff. "Kindly remove your things from my new ship. And if anyone wants me, I'll be in my cabin." And with that, he turned around, stepped off the side of the little rowboat, and sunk like a stone below the surface of the ocean.</p><p></p><p>"Idiot!" hissed Balama as Akari quickly pulled off his boots and dove over the side of the <em>Starchaser</em>. He wasn't a particularly strong swimmer, but Theodore gave no more resistance than a limp rag, and the young elf was able to drag him back up to the surface, where the others grabbed him up and pulled him aboard. The drunken pirate was passed out, and remained unconscious throughout his rescue, the stripping off of his soaked clothes, and his being tucked into a spare bunk with a warm blanket pulled over him. The rowboat was similarly recovered, but it was empty other than the discarded rum bottle, lacking even a single oar. Hurm pulled it aboard anyway and stowed it against a bulkhead; waste not, want not. In doing so, he discovered that someone had scratched the words "Avatar of Heck" onto the small boat's prow, likely with a dagger.</p><p></p><p>That night, the seas were particularly rough. All hands were on deck - save Fang, who was down below to ensure he wasn't swept off the deck by a rough wave - trying desperately to keep the ship from capsizing. Even standing upright was a chore, with the constant rocking of the vessel as the waves slammed into its sides. This was particularly true of McGraff, who was battling a fierce hangover on top of everything else. It turned out he was the victim of a recent mutiny, his pirate crew having decided they didn't need Captain McGraff's softheartedness when it came to the victims of the ships they plundered. He muttered curses about what he'd do to his crew when he next caught up with them.</p><p></p><p>And then it happened: a whirlpool suddenly opened up in front of the <em>Starchaser</em>. The vessel was canted "uphill" as it crested a wave, and then it shifted "downhill" as the wave passed and the ship continued sliding down, riding a spinning vortex below the surface of the storm-tossed sea. "This isn't natural!" called out Balama from the helm. "Somebody's causing this!"</p><p></p><p>The adventuring group was collectively hanging on for dear life to whatever ropes or netting was within reach as the ship bounced its way to the ocean's bottom, which was approaching at an alarming rate. "Brace for impact!" called out Balama, seconds before the <em>Starchaser</em> flew into a cloud of churning sand particles from the ocean floor and ran aground. The roar of the whirlpool's waves were not enough to drown out the horrible creaking sounds of the ship's wooden beams splintering into so much driftwood. Fang came racing up the companionway to investigate the event, and the massive dire wolf whimpered like a puppy at the strange sight awaiting him.</p><p></p><p>The <em>Starchaser</em> sat, broken and listing to the starboard side, on the bottom of the ocean floor. Miraculously, the ship sat in the middle of a tunnel of air leading up to the sea's surface, but as the horrified crew looked up, the tunnel started closing above them. In mere seconds they'd be submerged underwater and unable to breathe.</p><p></p><p>"Gather up!" screamed Cal, urging everyone to get close together as he began the words to a <em>water breathing</em> spell. Feron did the same, but neither was able to get everyone together before the sea came crashing in, preventing either spell from affecting anyone but the two casters.</p><p></p><p>As they held their collective breaths as best they could, the group noticed forms advancing through the settling sand-clouds that had been generated by the magical whirlpool. Some were mermaids, beautiful and sinuous as they swam gracefully to the <em>Starchaser</em>'s crew and gathered their heads up between their hands, delivering a kiss of breath to each that allowed the surface-dwellers to breathe the ocean waters. At the same time, coming up behind them were more reptilian-looking humanoid forms, with long tails and the toothy grins of piranhas. These sahuagins stabbed at the surface dwellers with long spines taken from some type of sea urchin; the spines pierced deeply into the flesh and caused a sudden paralysis in their victims. Despite the inability to look around, the paralyzed group noticed that even Fang and the parrot were being "processed" in such a manner, being simultaneously granted the ability to breathe underwater by a mermaid while robbed of mobility by a sahuagin.</p><p></p><p>While all of this was unfolding, an older mermaid had singled out Feron and asked quickly, in the secret universal language of the druids, "Do you trust me, Child of the Land?"</p><p></p><p>Feron looked deep into the mermaid's eyes and realized that she did. Voicing this trust, the mermaid quickly replied "Then do not resist my spell," and began intoning a magical spell that warped Feron's body, shrinking it into the form of a starfish, which the mermaid placed upon her chest among the other sea life that formed a living necklace there. “I will explain everything later,” she promised starfish-Feron, “and I will see to it that no harm becomes your friends.”</p><p></p><p>"Is that everyone?" demanded a four-armed sahaugin, apparently in charge of this expedition. He addressed his question to the mermaid druid who had just successfully hidden Feron away, having apparently not noticed the subterfuge.</p><p></p><p>"It is," replied the mermaid.</p><p></p><p>"Bring 'em to the cage!" commanded the sahuagin, and led the way to a cave opening in the ocean floor nearby. They passed the wreckage of another ship, the <em>Avatar of Hell</em>, similar in size to Balama's vessel but partially dismantled, plank by plank, as well as having obviously having taken damage from its sudden plunge to the ocean floor. The stronger sahuagin dragged the paralyzed victims into a bed of sea kelp, in front of which were stationed armed sahuagin and above which swam fierce-looking sharks of various sizes. Then they were taken through a darkened maze of passageways, and eventually dumped unceremoniously into a deep pit that had been carved into the rock of the ocean floor. And there lay Akari, Slayer, Cal, Fang, Balama, Hurm, and Theodore and his parrot, all piled up like a bunch of discarded statues in the darkness of the pit, awaiting whatever grim fate might be in store for them.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t try leaving this cell," called down a sahuagin guard from above in passable Common. "There’s a lattice of sharp coral over the top, and if you cut yourselves on it, my sharks will know about it before you can escape.” Then there were dragging sounds as he apparently put the coral into place above the entrance hole, and then what little light was available dimmed out as a clam shell was dragged over the top of the coral. Two other clam shells nearby hinted at the possibility of other captive pits.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, while the sahuagin and other mermaids went about their duties, the mermaid druid swam away to a hidden grove. Here, inside a hollow sphere of sheltering coral, she removed the starfish from her breast and restored Feron to her original form.</p><p></p><p>"I dreamt about you,” she told Feron. “I wasn’t sure if it was a prophetic dream or not, but when I saw you among that ship’s crew, I knew that Eadro had sent you to help us. I am <strong>the Lady Dorca</strong>, druid to a merfolk village that was recently overtaken by a sahuagin force. I am the one who created the whirlpool that captured your sailing vessel, but I only did so under duress. If we do not provide bodies for the sahuagin's dark rituals, they will use our people in their stead. But I had a dream of your arrival, and believe you may be the key to our situation." The Lady Dorca fondled the dolphin pendant hanging around Feron's neck. "I see you have been in contact with my people before."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, once," admitted Feron.</p><p></p><p>The Lady Dorca outlined her plan. Feron would assume the form of a mermaid and she and the Lady Dorca would return to where the others had been taken captive and held. Nearby, the tribe's leader, <strong>Princess Cerulea Seafoam</strong>, was bound captive as an incentive for the merfolk to obey their sahuagin overlords, having already slain Cerulea's parents, <strong>King Trigon Deepcurrents</strong> and <strong>Queen Almathea Wavecrest</strong>. The Lady Dorca would take the Princess's place in captivity, altering her form to look like that of Cerulea, while Feron and the Princess rescued the others and searched out the <em>conch scepter</em> that had been taken from her. This latter was a powerful artifact, usable only by the true ruler of the merfolk tribe, which could summon a powerful ally, <strong>Dragon Turtle Goruka</strong>. With Princess Cerulea freed and Goruka at their side, they'd be able to lead a revolt against the conquering sahuagin and put a stop to whatever project the sahuagin mystics were working on that required the constant sacrificing of captives. The mystics had been going through sacrifices at an alarming rate; already the majority of the crew of the <em>Avatar of Hell</em> had been sacrificed in the dark rituals, and whatever was to become as a result of the ritual, it didn't look good for the merfolk tribe.</p><p></p><p>The Lady Dorca instructed Feron to channel her wildshaping energy into the dolphin necklace she had been given. Doing so, Feron's form shifted into that of a mermaid with her own facial features. She would have to leave her weapons behind, as the merfolk were forbidden by the sahuagin conquerors to carry weaponry, but she could likely rely solely upon her spellpower to keep her safe. Thus transformed, the two mermaids returned to where the others were held captive.</p><p></p><p>By this time, the other adventurers had regained their mobility, and were trying to come up with a plan of escape. That soon became unnecessary, as sounds of a brief struggle above them were immediately followed by the careful removal of the clam shell and the lattice of coral, and the group was able to swim up out of the pit to see Feron in mermaid form while another mermaid swam quickly up to the top of the underwater cavern. There, chained by the wrists to two points on the ceiling that spread her arms out wide, hung Princess Cerulea. The Lady Dorca released the Princess while Feron swam up to see if she could help. Quick introductions were made, the plan hastily explained to the Princess, and then the Lady Dorca snapped the manacles onto her own outstretched wrists, using her "thousand faces" ability to take on the appearance of Princess Cerulea. "This will prevent your escape from being noticed for awhile, at least," she said to her liege. "You must find the <em>conch scepter</em>; it's likely kept somewhere in this compound. Hurry, Your Highness!"</p><p></p><p>Despite the need to find the <em>conch scepter</em>, of more immediate concern to the heroes was to find where the sahuagin had stashed their weapons and magic items. Dumping the slain sahuagin guard into the pit they had just abandoned, they pulled the coral lattice and clam shell back in place and started searching around. Fortunately, they found the room rather quickly, for it was one of the closest rooms in the maze of tunnels that had been apparently dug into the stone of the ocean floor by some unknown means. It was guarded by a pair of animated merfolk skeletons and an undead chuul, but they were soon overpowered, and the group fell to grabbing up their gear. Besides their own gear and that of the pirates from the <em>Avatar of Hell</em>, there were two large chests filled with coins, apparently loot from the pirate vessel. The group begrudgingly left them behind, but definitely had plans to return for them when the excitement had died down a bit. Conspicuously absent was the <em>bloodstone heart</em>, the powerful ruby that had been taken from the Lizard King's chest back on the island that Balama's map had led her to.</p><p></p><p>An exploration of the maze of passageways led them to an encounter with a pair of guardian sharks, but they slew the fish without incident and then made a point to leave them far behind before their blood attracted any other such guardians.</p><p></p><p>Another room housed several large glass cylinders, inside which were kept wildly-colored sea slug delvers. These aquatic - and much smaller - versions of the terrestrial delvers were used by the sahuagin mystics to dig out the tunnels of their subterranean enclave below the sea floor. Fortunately, the mystics were all busy elsewhere, so the group moved on.</p><p></p><p>The next room they found was large, and contained a flat slab of stone in the middle of the room, barnacles encrusting its sides. Sitting on top of this slab was a large conch shell embedded on a short ivory rod, with narrow, twirling grooves circling its length. This was identified by Princess Cerulea as the <em>conch scepter</em>, a large conch shell that had been magically grafted onto the horn of a narwhal. Unfortunately, surrounding the doorway to this room was a giant pair of shark jaws, and the group universally decided that they could only be bad news. Akari and Cal volunteered to enter the room first, and as they had expected, the jaws animated to bite down on the non-sahuagin. Still, Cal, using his Kord-provided strength, held the jaws pried open long enough for Princess Cerulea to swim in and grab the <em>conch scepter</em>.</p><p></p><p>After that, the group decided to split up. Feron and Cerulea would escape the compound and go to awaken Dragon Turtle Goruka, while the rest of the group would see what they could do to stop whatever nasty project the sahuagin mystics were working on. The two mermaids wished the others luck and swam off in the direction the group had originally been taken from; Cerulea predicted that the sahuagin guards outside the entrance to the enclave couldn't likely tell mermaids apart and would probably not recognize Princess Cerulea for who she was, and if the two of them swam close to each other with the <em>conch scepter</em> it would likely not be spotted. After all, the merfolk had been thoroughly cowed by their sahuagin conquerors, and had given them no trouble after the slaying of their King and Queen. The sahuagin had no reason to suspect treachery from the mermaids, and sure enough, they passed the guards without any comment. Then they were through the kelp beds and off in the direction of Dragon Turtle Goruka's deep trench lair.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the group kept exploring the compound. Another room held an aquatic elf, who floated in a room dominated by a large brain coral in its center, along with several sea fronds and darting fish. The elf had her hands cupped at her stomach, and had had her eyes closed. Sensing the group's approach, she snapped them open and asked, tentatively, "Are you here to rescue me?" She gave her name as <strong>Zozika</strong>, and said she had been captured by the sahuagin. She was an emmissary of a nearby aquatic elf kingdom, but now she had been magically bound to this room, unable to leave. There was another impressive-looking set of shark jaws mounted around the doorway to her room.</p><p></p><p>However, in the midst of her explanation, Zozika suddenly called out a command word and the brain coral in the middle of the room started spitting out swarms of jellyfish. She made a dash for the far side of the room, where there was a smaller doorway hidden behind the brain coral. As the group watched her swim away, they caught a glimpse of what she had been cupping at her stomach - it was the <em>bloodstone heart</em>, which she had just been <em>communing</em> about and was ecstatic over, for the powerful evil of the artifact could jump-start the project that she and the other sahuagin had been working on for weeks. (Unbeknownst to the group at this time, Zozika was actually a malenti, a sahuagin born with the outer appearance of an aquatic elf but a heart as cold as the more reptilian-looking members of her race. Worse yet, she was the leader of the sahuagin mystics.)</p><p></p><p>To chase after Zozika, the group had to enter the trapped shark jaws (again, Akari and Cal took the brunt of this attack to let the others get through), then had to fight their way through the jellyfish swarms. Fortunately, Balama discovered that her <em>wand of magic missiles</em> worked just as well underwater as on land, and she got a shot off before Zozika vanished through the back doorway.</p><p></p><p>Then it was a chase through the maze of passageways, as the group desperately tried to stop Zozika from getting to the rest of the sahuagin mystics. Zozika used her telepathic ability to call forth the guardian sharks from outside the complex, so the group soon found themselves not only swimming after the malenti but trying to keep pace ahead of the bloodthirsty sharks chasing them. It became necessary for those without ranged attacks - namely, Slayer, Fang, Akari, Hurm, and Theodore - to hold the sharks at bay, allowing Cal and Balama to try to overtake Zozika.</p><p></p><p>It was a good plan, but luck - and numerical superiority - were not with them. Killing the sharks only drew forth more - and sometimes larger - sharks, and although the group was finally able to back away from the fight and leave the remaining sharks fighting over the bodies of their own slain, this happened after Theodore had been killed as well. In the meantime, several sahuagin, including the four-armed mutant leader, helped block the way so that Cal and Balama couldn't engage the fleeing Zozika, and she made it out of the maze and to a mysterious dome of magical darkness that encompassed the majority of a cavern just past where the clam shells covered the pits of future sacrifices. From there, she sounded the alarm and sent reinforcements to chase down those who had taken the <em>conch scepter</em>. Balama and Cal were holding their own against the sahuagin but fighting a retreating battle, and it wasn't until the remainder of the group was able to join them that they were able to overcome their sahuagin foes. Rushing past the bodies of the slain, the group entered the chamber, hoping against hope that they weren't too late.</p><p></p><p>But alas, they were.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>While all of this was happening in the underground complex, Feron and Princess Cerulea were racing to the deep trench where Dragon Turtle Goruka slumbered. Knowing that whoever had stolen the <em>conch scepter</em> would likely be heading there to use it, Zozika had sent an interception team to stop them. Looking back over her shoulder as they swam, Feron noticed two large sharks giving chase - and rapidly gaining on the two mermaids. Worse yet, hanging onto their fins were two animated merfolk skeletons, each wearing a coral crown and wielding a wicked-looking crossbow in one hand. Princess Cerulea looked back at their pursuers and gave a startled gasp - the skeletons were those of none other than her own slain parents, King Trigon Deepcurrents and Queen Almathea Wavecrest.</p><p></p><p>"You go ahead; I'll hold them off!" called out Feron as she turned to face the rapidly-approaching menace. Princess Cerulea raced ahead, as Feron called forth one of her most powerful spells, altering it as she spoke the mystic syllables to summon forth an orca. The great beast showed up just in time, slamming into the sides of the sharks and flinging the two animated skeletons from their perches to cascade off in random directions. Leaving the sharks to her summoned orca, Feron concentrated her attacks on the animated skeletons. Much of her normal spellpower was useless underwater - she couldn't <em>call lightning</em>, nor could she call down a <em>flame strike</em> - so she repeated her recent success and summoned forth another orca. Then it was a matter to stay out of reach of the animated merfolk skeletons while her summoned whales took care of the fight for her. After all four foes had been slain, Feron swam after the skeletons as they sunk to the lower depths and relieved them of their crossbows and crowns, no doubt powerful and treasured symbols for the merfolk tribe. Then she followed in the direction Princess Cerulea had been swimming, and caught up to her at the top of the trench.</p><p></p><p>Cerulea took a deep breath and blew a long note from the <em>conch scepter</em>. The result rivaled the deepest tone of whale songs.</p><p></p><p>In answer, an equally deep voice rumbled throughout the area, startling several schools of fish into panicked retreat. “<strong>WHO WAKENS GORUKA FROM HIS SLUMBER?</strong>” the voice demanded.</p><p></p><p>"It is I, Princess Cerulea Seafoam, ruler of the Merfolk Tribe of Trigon," answered the young mermaid in a voice that couldn't help but tremble slightly. Then a shiver of fear coursed through her body as rising up from the trench was a huge dragon turtle, its mouth large enough to gobble the mermaids whole in a single bite.</p><p></p><p>The enormous creature looked down at the <em>conch scepter</em>, then back up at the quavering mermaid.</p><p></p><p>"<strong>I WILL SERVE YOU, PRINCESS CERULEA SEAFOAM, AS I SERVED YOUR FATHER BEFORE YOU AND HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM. WHAT IS YOUR DESIRE?</strong>" Cerulea explained the recent takeover of the tribe by the marauding sahuagin, and her plan to drive the invaders away with the aid of the dragon turtle. After all, the Princess's capture was a major factor in the tribe's unwillingness to fight their attackers; with the Princess free, and with the aid of the tribe's powerful ally, Cerulea had no doubt that she could lead her people in a rebellion. Together, the three swam back towards the merfolk village.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Across from the hemisphere of unbroken darkness was a wide ramp leading up to the surface of the ocean bottom. Crawling out from the black hemisphere shambled an enormous crab, its unliving limbs crackling with necromantic energy and it headed for the ramp. Attached atop its broad shell was a wooden structure, a square pillar upon which was mounted an octagonal projection. Thin slits in the sides of this octagonal structure allowed slim black wands to project out, while the center of each octagonal side and the four sides of the supporting structure below it held a round porthole, through the latter of which could be seen the beautiful features of the evil malenti Zozika. This explained the damage the adventurers had seen to the pirate ship <em>Avatar of Hell</em>; the sahuagin had taken apart many of its planks and beams to build this structure atop the back of the gigantic undead crab animated using the souls of the slain sacrifices and the necromantic power of the <em>bloodstone heart</em>.</p><p></p><p>The Death-Beast of the Deep crawled up the ramp; with a slam of its massive claws it pushed aside the slab of rock that covered the ramp opening, and the undead monstrosity, at the urging of Zozika, scuttled its way towards the mermaid village. Her project completed and shambling along in unholy unlife, Zozika had no further use for the merfolk save as flesh upon which to feed her army of sahuagin.</p><p></p><p>The group raced up the ramp in pursuit. They were followed by the Lady Dorca, who, having heard the commotion in the room beyond her self-imposed prison, decided that the time for subterfuge had passed. Wildshaping into an eel, she escaped her bonds and resumed her true form, leaving the face of Princess Cerulea to morph back into her own features.</p><p></p><p>Akari, leading the strike against the Death-Beast, was the first to discover what the wands did. A sonic blast of energy penetrated his body and shook him to his bones; the slim black wands were <em>wands of sound burst</em>, each wielded by a sahuagin mystic: <strong>Qintaaq</strong>, <strong>Joluri</strong>, and <strong>Borbuka</strong>. Zozika, in the lower pillar, had a similar wand of her own.</p><p></p><p>"We need to get into the wooden structure!" called out Cal. In response, the Lady Dorca grabbed him below his arms and swam him up to the top of the structure, dropping him to fall onto its surface. There was a hatch on the top that appearently opened up, but it was bolted from within and withstood the cleric's best efforts. "Allow me," suggested the Lady Dorca, and cast a <em>warp wood</em> on the hatch that allowed Cal to rip it from its moorings, revealing the three sahuagin mystics within. For his efforts, Cal was hit by three blasts from the wands, and staggered back from the damage.</p><p></p><p>Slayer, Akari and Hurm, meanwhile, had attempted to attack the Death-Beast itself, but this proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Its undead shell had been magically reinforced somehow, making it even tougher and stronger than it had been in life. Furthermore, the Death-Beast moved with preternatural quickness with its claws if not its legs, and Hurm was captured between the serrated edges of one massive claw and crushed to death in the span of a heartbeat. The crab seemed to be absorbing life energy from Hurm's slain form; once it had drained him dry, it discarded him with a flick of its claw.</p><p></p><p>The life energy seemed to grant the Death-Beast additional powers, for suddenly beams shot out from its eyestalks, hitting Akari and Slayer each square in the chest. Akari managed to shrug it off, but Slayer was overcome by an inability to get his muscles to do what he wanted them to; he was helplessly paralyzed as the Death-Beast skittered up to his unmoving form with a set of open pincers. He doubtlessly would have been slain in the Death-Beast's grip, had Fang not grabbed his master by the pant-leg and dragged him backward to safety. After a few seconds, Slayer was able to shake off the effects of the ray and wade back into battle. Balama, in the meantime, stayed back and put her <em>wand of magic missiles</em> to good use, slamming magical energy into the Death-Beast's shell.</p><p></p><p>The Lady Dorca grabbed Akari and deposited him atop the wooden structure to assist Cal in slaying the three sahuagin mystics. Together, they tore through their reptilian foes, tossing them aside as they were slain. While Cal pitched the last of the three over the side, Akari leapt down into the center of the pillar's interior, driving his <em>Hoardmaster</em> sword directly into Zozika's skull, channeling a burst of positive energy through its blade in a smite against evil. Zozika was unable to counter the attack, and slumped over, dead.</p><p></p><p>However, the Death-Beast, now "driverless," merely continued carrying out its last instructions, to defeat these foes as it scuttled across the sea floor towards the merfolk village. Still, the remaining adventurers, aided by the Lady Dorca and her animal companion, a fierce-looking orca whale, were able to finish off the undead monstrosity without further casualties. As it fell unmoving to the ocean floor, a cloud of specks appeared over the distant horizon. As they got closer, the group could see that it was a large group of merfolk, led by Dragon Turtle Goruka. The merfolk were armed with weapons they had taken from the sahuagin they had slain and were en route to aid the group at the sahuagin mystics' underground enclave. None were overly disappointed to see that they were not needed after all.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Several hours later, the Lady Dorca called her animal companion over to her side. The enormous killer whale streaked over to her and smiled like a playful dolphin. “Go, <strong>Swift-Fluke</strong>, and fetch the stick,” she said to it, patting its massive head. The creature darted off in a flash, grinning.</p><p></p><p>The mermaid druid turned to the group, but addressed Feron, still in her mermaid form. “You and your friends have our eternal gratitude, Child of the Land,” she said. “No thanks could ever be enough for the service you have provided us this day, but I think it would please Eadro for you to have this.” As she finished speaking, the killer whale swam up, an ivory staff held daintily in its massive mouth, which his mistress plucked from his lips. “This was crafted from the tooth of an elder narwhal,” explained the Lady Dorca. “Wield it wisely, for it channels Eadro’s life-giving power to those recently slain who find favor in His eyes.</p><p></p><p>“And now, I’m afraid your vessel is no longer seaworthy. However, the tribe has gathered together the many treasures you carried aboard, and Goruka has agreed to take you where you were going. They should have him just about loaded up by now, if you wish to be on your way.”</p><p></p><p>After farewells were said, Goruka the dragon turtle swam all the way to Thunder Bay (close to 100 miles) on the surface of the water with the group – and all of their equipment – on his back, which worked out for the best as the mermaids’ “breath of the sea” wore off partway through the journey. As might be expected, their arrival at Thunder Bay caused quite a spectacle, and their entrance into the harbor city was the talk of the town for many months to follow.</p><p></p><p>Balama thanked the group one final time before they went their separate ways. She was planning on using her portion of the treasure they had obtained to have poor Hurm <em>resurrected</em> - sadly, his body had been too badly savaged by the Death-Beast of the Deep to be <em>raised</em> by the power of Feron's <em>staff of life</em> - and to have a new ship commissioned, which she would name <em>Starchaser II</em>. The rest of the group headed off to the local Adventurers Guild Headquarters, where they would crash for the night before using the <em>teleportation circle</em> to get back to their own Guild Headquarters in Greyhawk City. There, they'd finally be able to catch up with the rest of their companions and find out what had transpired in their absence.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Whew! That was a long one! Although it took me a long time to write up the story for posting here, my records indicate that we managed to get through the adventure in one session. If my memory isn't playing tricks on me, though, I believe this was one of our longer sessions; we generally play on Saturdays, from noon until 6 PM or so, and this one might have extended to 6:30 or 7:00 to avoid having just a tiny bit left over for a future game session.</p><p></p><p>I was frantic, in the days before we played through this adventure, to find a big plastic crab for use as the Death-Beast of the Deep. I had already made the wooden structure atop it out of cardboard, and as a backup I had found a top-view image of a crab that I had enlarged to the proper scale to use as a token if I had to, but I had really hoped I could find a plastic toy to use. I tried the various hobby places and department stores to no avail, and finally had an epiphany one day and decided to try at the gift shop of the local zoo. I was in luck, although not as lucky as I had hoped; rather than being able to buy a plastic crab the size I wanted, I had to spend a lot more for a bag of various sea creatures, some of which I was able to use (the orca whale was put to use in this very adventure, for one), and others that would come in useful in adventures to come (I later wrote one adventure that had a <em>summon monster</em> trap in it, and made the summoned creature a fiendish monstrous lobster just so I could make some use of the lobster that came with this set), but I did get my plastic crab, and cut the bottom of the structure so that it lined up with the contours of its shell. So that worked out pretty well.</p><p></p><p>I was a little concerned about splitting the party, and once Dragon Turtle Goruka had been summoned I really didn't want to waste time on the rebellion against the sahuagin, so I asked Vicki if she wouldn't mind allowing that to happen in the background, and I had her run the Lady Dorca (as well as Balama, who was little more than a <em>magic missile</em> machine at that point and not particularly interesting to run) during the fight against the Death-Beast. She was amenable, and I gave Feron the same XP as if she had been there in the fight in Lady Dorca's place.</p><p></p><p>By the way, I'm aware that "Dorca" is the name of the Sub-Mariner's love interest in the Marvel Comics universe (and thus kind of cheesy for me to use for the name of a mermaid), but I stole it nonetheless because I liked the thought that "Dorca" might actually be "d'Orca," or "Lady of the Orca." After all, as a mermaid druid, she did have an orca whale as an animal companion.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, that was that - the end of my splitting the members of Wing Three into two separate groups for an extended period of time. I enjoyed it; it was a refreshing change being able to anticipate exactly which party members would be going through my adventures for a while, but now it was time to get the whole group together again and give the players control of who they'd be running each session.</p><p></p><p>And I think Vicki enjoyed the mermaid aspect of the adventure, so that was cool.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6052157, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 31 - DEATH-BEAST OF THE DEEP[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Akari, elven paladin of Hieroneous Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord Feron Dru, half-elf druid Slayer, half-orc barbarian[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Balama Theron, human rogue/wizard Hurm Feros, half-orc fighter Theodore McGraff, human rogue/wizard Lady Dorca, merfolk druid Cerulea Seafoam, merfolk bard[/INDENT] I wrote this adventure as something interesting to have happen to the group of PCs that had been "kidnap-summoned" to help Balama Theron in "Balama's Treasure Hunt" on their way back to the outpost of Thunder Bay. Having written the previous session's adventure specifically for Jacob to aid him in his quest to make Chalkan an arcane archer, I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to make this one focus on Feron Dru, for the simple reason that Feron's player, Vicki, collected mermaid statuary, and it would be fairly easy to incorporate mermaids into an adventure taking place at sea. I should mention that we generally don't get to play as often as we'd like. Between Jacob's scouting activities and sporting events through his school, and both Jacob and his little brother Joey's church activities, most of their weekends were pretty full, and the weekends were really the only time that gaming between our two respective families was available. So while I'd be perfectly happy with a weekly or every-other-week gaming schedule, it seldom works that way. Every 4-5 weeks had probably been more like our average, with 7 weeks probably about the biggest stretch we've had between sessions. On the plus side, though, that gives me plenty of time to create adventures specifically built for my own campaign and the PCs involved in it. On the down side, it sometimes happens that an adventure I've planned takes much longer to actually arrive on our gaming docket than I would have hoped. I only mention this because I wrote "Death-Beast of the Deep" when Stuart was still living at home with us after graduating college. As Akari, Cal, Feron, and Slayer (and Fang) had been "spirited away" halfway across the globe, there was no real way I could shoehorn Mercutio Midas (Stuart's only PC to date) into the adventure that would take place during those four PCs' trip back home. So I came up with a compromise: I'd have Stuart make up a new PC as a one-shot and incorporate him into the adventure. Figuring that the PCs' ship would be captured by merfolk, I figured the easiest way to incorporate a new one-shot PC was to have him be on a ship that was similarly captured earlier. So my only constraints were to have Stuart create a PC that could conceivably have been on board a sailing vessel in that part of the world. He came up with [b]Theodore McGraff[/b], a human rogue/wizard - actually, when it came down to it, a pirate. (He even asked to reskin a raven familiar into a parrot familiar, which I had no problem with. He wanted the parrot to be a wise-cracker, and so he decided on [b]Rickles[/b] as a name, after famed smart-aleck comedian Don Rickles.) He decided that Theodore would be a rather good-hearted pirate, certainly not against the looting of ships but not so enthused at the prospects of slaying everybody on board the vessels he plundered. That, I imagined, could get him into a bit of trouble with his own crew (assuming his crew was composed of the more traditional "bloodthirsty" pirates), so I envisioned the PCs picking him up in a drifting rowboat before they even got attacked by the merfolk - thus establishing a link between him and the PCs without the complications of the "we hate those evil pirates except for this one, he can adventure with us" mentality. So, character made, everything was all set...and then we hit one of those long stretches between gaming sessions that crop up occasionally in our campaign, and by the time we were ready to run though "Death-Beast of the Deep" Stuart had moved across country. I ended up running Theodore McGraff as an NPC. - - - It had been nearly a hard month of sailing. None of the group had had any prior experience in the handling of a ship at sea, and of the original crew there were only the ship's captain, Balama Theron, and her first mate, a gruff half-orc named Hurm Feros, to teach them. But they did as best they could, and the [i]Starchaser[/i] made its slow way back to Thunder Bay. Balama estimated that they were only a day or two away from their destination when a colorful parrot flew from out of nowhere and landed on the railing around the ship's wheel, startling Balama from her thoughts. "Master's in trouble!" it squawked. "Needs rescue!" The parrot, it turned out, was the familiar of a wizard who had been set adrift in a rowboat with no supplies but a single bottle of rum. Remarkably intelligent, the parrot was able to guide Balama to the location of his master, who seemed remarkably surly towards his would-be rescuers. Of course, the fact that the rum bottle was now completely empty and had been discarded on the bottom of the rowboat, and the parrot's master was consequently completely drunk likely had something to do with the matter. "What are you doing in my stateroom?" demanded the drunken pirate, struggling to an upright, indignant posture on wobbly legs that caused the small craft to wobble precariously as well. "Theo?" asked Balama incredulously. "Is that you?" Theodore McGraff squinted blearily at the figure peering down at him from the sides of the vessel that had maneuvered alongside his rowboat. "B'lama?" he asked. "Ah, I see you have brought me my new vessel. Which I won. And is mine." "You did [i]not[/i] win my ship from me, you card cheat! You're lucky I let you walk out of that game alive!" "I am in no mood to quibble wiffew," slurred McGraff. "Kindly remove your things from my new ship. And if anyone wants me, I'll be in my cabin." And with that, he turned around, stepped off the side of the little rowboat, and sunk like a stone below the surface of the ocean. "Idiot!" hissed Balama as Akari quickly pulled off his boots and dove over the side of the [i]Starchaser[/i]. He wasn't a particularly strong swimmer, but Theodore gave no more resistance than a limp rag, and the young elf was able to drag him back up to the surface, where the others grabbed him up and pulled him aboard. The drunken pirate was passed out, and remained unconscious throughout his rescue, the stripping off of his soaked clothes, and his being tucked into a spare bunk with a warm blanket pulled over him. The rowboat was similarly recovered, but it was empty other than the discarded rum bottle, lacking even a single oar. Hurm pulled it aboard anyway and stowed it against a bulkhead; waste not, want not. In doing so, he discovered that someone had scratched the words "Avatar of Heck" onto the small boat's prow, likely with a dagger. That night, the seas were particularly rough. All hands were on deck - save Fang, who was down below to ensure he wasn't swept off the deck by a rough wave - trying desperately to keep the ship from capsizing. Even standing upright was a chore, with the constant rocking of the vessel as the waves slammed into its sides. This was particularly true of McGraff, who was battling a fierce hangover on top of everything else. It turned out he was the victim of a recent mutiny, his pirate crew having decided they didn't need Captain McGraff's softheartedness when it came to the victims of the ships they plundered. He muttered curses about what he'd do to his crew when he next caught up with them. And then it happened: a whirlpool suddenly opened up in front of the [i]Starchaser[/i]. The vessel was canted "uphill" as it crested a wave, and then it shifted "downhill" as the wave passed and the ship continued sliding down, riding a spinning vortex below the surface of the storm-tossed sea. "This isn't natural!" called out Balama from the helm. "Somebody's causing this!" The adventuring group was collectively hanging on for dear life to whatever ropes or netting was within reach as the ship bounced its way to the ocean's bottom, which was approaching at an alarming rate. "Brace for impact!" called out Balama, seconds before the [i]Starchaser[/i] flew into a cloud of churning sand particles from the ocean floor and ran aground. The roar of the whirlpool's waves were not enough to drown out the horrible creaking sounds of the ship's wooden beams splintering into so much driftwood. Fang came racing up the companionway to investigate the event, and the massive dire wolf whimpered like a puppy at the strange sight awaiting him. The [i]Starchaser[/i] sat, broken and listing to the starboard side, on the bottom of the ocean floor. Miraculously, the ship sat in the middle of a tunnel of air leading up to the sea's surface, but as the horrified crew looked up, the tunnel started closing above them. In mere seconds they'd be submerged underwater and unable to breathe. "Gather up!" screamed Cal, urging everyone to get close together as he began the words to a [i]water breathing[/i] spell. Feron did the same, but neither was able to get everyone together before the sea came crashing in, preventing either spell from affecting anyone but the two casters. As they held their collective breaths as best they could, the group noticed forms advancing through the settling sand-clouds that had been generated by the magical whirlpool. Some were mermaids, beautiful and sinuous as they swam gracefully to the [i]Starchaser[/i]'s crew and gathered their heads up between their hands, delivering a kiss of breath to each that allowed the surface-dwellers to breathe the ocean waters. At the same time, coming up behind them were more reptilian-looking humanoid forms, with long tails and the toothy grins of piranhas. These sahuagins stabbed at the surface dwellers with long spines taken from some type of sea urchin; the spines pierced deeply into the flesh and caused a sudden paralysis in their victims. Despite the inability to look around, the paralyzed group noticed that even Fang and the parrot were being "processed" in such a manner, being simultaneously granted the ability to breathe underwater by a mermaid while robbed of mobility by a sahuagin. While all of this was unfolding, an older mermaid had singled out Feron and asked quickly, in the secret universal language of the druids, "Do you trust me, Child of the Land?" Feron looked deep into the mermaid's eyes and realized that she did. Voicing this trust, the mermaid quickly replied "Then do not resist my spell," and began intoning a magical spell that warped Feron's body, shrinking it into the form of a starfish, which the mermaid placed upon her chest among the other sea life that formed a living necklace there. “I will explain everything later,” she promised starfish-Feron, “and I will see to it that no harm becomes your friends.” "Is that everyone?" demanded a four-armed sahaugin, apparently in charge of this expedition. He addressed his question to the mermaid druid who had just successfully hidden Feron away, having apparently not noticed the subterfuge. "It is," replied the mermaid. "Bring 'em to the cage!" commanded the sahuagin, and led the way to a cave opening in the ocean floor nearby. They passed the wreckage of another ship, the [i]Avatar of Hell[/i], similar in size to Balama's vessel but partially dismantled, plank by plank, as well as having obviously having taken damage from its sudden plunge to the ocean floor. The stronger sahuagin dragged the paralyzed victims into a bed of sea kelp, in front of which were stationed armed sahuagin and above which swam fierce-looking sharks of various sizes. Then they were taken through a darkened maze of passageways, and eventually dumped unceremoniously into a deep pit that had been carved into the rock of the ocean floor. And there lay Akari, Slayer, Cal, Fang, Balama, Hurm, and Theodore and his parrot, all piled up like a bunch of discarded statues in the darkness of the pit, awaiting whatever grim fate might be in store for them. “Don’t try leaving this cell," called down a sahuagin guard from above in passable Common. "There’s a lattice of sharp coral over the top, and if you cut yourselves on it, my sharks will know about it before you can escape.” Then there were dragging sounds as he apparently put the coral into place above the entrance hole, and then what little light was available dimmed out as a clam shell was dragged over the top of the coral. Two other clam shells nearby hinted at the possibility of other captive pits. In the meantime, while the sahuagin and other mermaids went about their duties, the mermaid druid swam away to a hidden grove. Here, inside a hollow sphere of sheltering coral, she removed the starfish from her breast and restored Feron to her original form. "I dreamt about you,” she told Feron. “I wasn’t sure if it was a prophetic dream or not, but when I saw you among that ship’s crew, I knew that Eadro had sent you to help us. I am [b]the Lady Dorca[/b], druid to a merfolk village that was recently overtaken by a sahuagin force. I am the one who created the whirlpool that captured your sailing vessel, but I only did so under duress. If we do not provide bodies for the sahuagin's dark rituals, they will use our people in their stead. But I had a dream of your arrival, and believe you may be the key to our situation." The Lady Dorca fondled the dolphin pendant hanging around Feron's neck. "I see you have been in contact with my people before." "Yes, once," admitted Feron. The Lady Dorca outlined her plan. Feron would assume the form of a mermaid and she and the Lady Dorca would return to where the others had been taken captive and held. Nearby, the tribe's leader, [b]Princess Cerulea Seafoam[/b], was bound captive as an incentive for the merfolk to obey their sahuagin overlords, having already slain Cerulea's parents, [b]King Trigon Deepcurrents[/b] and [b]Queen Almathea Wavecrest[/b]. The Lady Dorca would take the Princess's place in captivity, altering her form to look like that of Cerulea, while Feron and the Princess rescued the others and searched out the [I]conch scepter[/I] that had been taken from her. This latter was a powerful artifact, usable only by the true ruler of the merfolk tribe, which could summon a powerful ally, [b]Dragon Turtle Goruka[/b]. With Princess Cerulea freed and Goruka at their side, they'd be able to lead a revolt against the conquering sahuagin and put a stop to whatever project the sahuagin mystics were working on that required the constant sacrificing of captives. The mystics had been going through sacrifices at an alarming rate; already the majority of the crew of the [i]Avatar of Hell[/i] had been sacrificed in the dark rituals, and whatever was to become as a result of the ritual, it didn't look good for the merfolk tribe. The Lady Dorca instructed Feron to channel her wildshaping energy into the dolphin necklace she had been given. Doing so, Feron's form shifted into that of a mermaid with her own facial features. She would have to leave her weapons behind, as the merfolk were forbidden by the sahuagin conquerors to carry weaponry, but she could likely rely solely upon her spellpower to keep her safe. Thus transformed, the two mermaids returned to where the others were held captive. By this time, the other adventurers had regained their mobility, and were trying to come up with a plan of escape. That soon became unnecessary, as sounds of a brief struggle above them were immediately followed by the careful removal of the clam shell and the lattice of coral, and the group was able to swim up out of the pit to see Feron in mermaid form while another mermaid swam quickly up to the top of the underwater cavern. There, chained by the wrists to two points on the ceiling that spread her arms out wide, hung Princess Cerulea. The Lady Dorca released the Princess while Feron swam up to see if she could help. Quick introductions were made, the plan hastily explained to the Princess, and then the Lady Dorca snapped the manacles onto her own outstretched wrists, using her "thousand faces" ability to take on the appearance of Princess Cerulea. "This will prevent your escape from being noticed for awhile, at least," she said to her liege. "You must find the [I]conch scepter[/I]; it's likely kept somewhere in this compound. Hurry, Your Highness!" Despite the need to find the [I]conch scepter[/I], of more immediate concern to the heroes was to find where the sahuagin had stashed their weapons and magic items. Dumping the slain sahuagin guard into the pit they had just abandoned, they pulled the coral lattice and clam shell back in place and started searching around. Fortunately, they found the room rather quickly, for it was one of the closest rooms in the maze of tunnels that had been apparently dug into the stone of the ocean floor by some unknown means. It was guarded by a pair of animated merfolk skeletons and an undead chuul, but they were soon overpowered, and the group fell to grabbing up their gear. Besides their own gear and that of the pirates from the [i]Avatar of Hell[/i], there were two large chests filled with coins, apparently loot from the pirate vessel. The group begrudgingly left them behind, but definitely had plans to return for them when the excitement had died down a bit. Conspicuously absent was the [i]bloodstone heart[/i], the powerful ruby that had been taken from the Lizard King's chest back on the island that Balama's map had led her to. An exploration of the maze of passageways led them to an encounter with a pair of guardian sharks, but they slew the fish without incident and then made a point to leave them far behind before their blood attracted any other such guardians. Another room housed several large glass cylinders, inside which were kept wildly-colored sea slug delvers. These aquatic - and much smaller - versions of the terrestrial delvers were used by the sahuagin mystics to dig out the tunnels of their subterranean enclave below the sea floor. Fortunately, the mystics were all busy elsewhere, so the group moved on. The next room they found was large, and contained a flat slab of stone in the middle of the room, barnacles encrusting its sides. Sitting on top of this slab was a large conch shell embedded on a short ivory rod, with narrow, twirling grooves circling its length. This was identified by Princess Cerulea as the [I]conch scepter[/I], a large conch shell that had been magically grafted onto the horn of a narwhal. Unfortunately, surrounding the doorway to this room was a giant pair of shark jaws, and the group universally decided that they could only be bad news. Akari and Cal volunteered to enter the room first, and as they had expected, the jaws animated to bite down on the non-sahuagin. Still, Cal, using his Kord-provided strength, held the jaws pried open long enough for Princess Cerulea to swim in and grab the [I]conch scepter[/I]. After that, the group decided to split up. Feron and Cerulea would escape the compound and go to awaken Dragon Turtle Goruka, while the rest of the group would see what they could do to stop whatever nasty project the sahuagin mystics were working on. The two mermaids wished the others luck and swam off in the direction the group had originally been taken from; Cerulea predicted that the sahuagin guards outside the entrance to the enclave couldn't likely tell mermaids apart and would probably not recognize Princess Cerulea for who she was, and if the two of them swam close to each other with the [I]conch scepter[/I] it would likely not be spotted. After all, the merfolk had been thoroughly cowed by their sahuagin conquerors, and had given them no trouble after the slaying of their King and Queen. The sahuagin had no reason to suspect treachery from the mermaids, and sure enough, they passed the guards without any comment. Then they were through the kelp beds and off in the direction of Dragon Turtle Goruka's deep trench lair. The rest of the group kept exploring the compound. Another room held an aquatic elf, who floated in a room dominated by a large brain coral in its center, along with several sea fronds and darting fish. The elf had her hands cupped at her stomach, and had had her eyes closed. Sensing the group's approach, she snapped them open and asked, tentatively, "Are you here to rescue me?" She gave her name as [b]Zozika[/b], and said she had been captured by the sahuagin. She was an emmissary of a nearby aquatic elf kingdom, but now she had been magically bound to this room, unable to leave. There was another impressive-looking set of shark jaws mounted around the doorway to her room. However, in the midst of her explanation, Zozika suddenly called out a command word and the brain coral in the middle of the room started spitting out swarms of jellyfish. She made a dash for the far side of the room, where there was a smaller doorway hidden behind the brain coral. As the group watched her swim away, they caught a glimpse of what she had been cupping at her stomach - it was the [i]bloodstone heart[/i], which she had just been [i]communing[/i] about and was ecstatic over, for the powerful evil of the artifact could jump-start the project that she and the other sahuagin had been working on for weeks. (Unbeknownst to the group at this time, Zozika was actually a malenti, a sahuagin born with the outer appearance of an aquatic elf but a heart as cold as the more reptilian-looking members of her race. Worse yet, she was the leader of the sahuagin mystics.) To chase after Zozika, the group had to enter the trapped shark jaws (again, Akari and Cal took the brunt of this attack to let the others get through), then had to fight their way through the jellyfish swarms. Fortunately, Balama discovered that her [i]wand of magic missiles[/i] worked just as well underwater as on land, and she got a shot off before Zozika vanished through the back doorway. Then it was a chase through the maze of passageways, as the group desperately tried to stop Zozika from getting to the rest of the sahuagin mystics. Zozika used her telepathic ability to call forth the guardian sharks from outside the complex, so the group soon found themselves not only swimming after the malenti but trying to keep pace ahead of the bloodthirsty sharks chasing them. It became necessary for those without ranged attacks - namely, Slayer, Fang, Akari, Hurm, and Theodore - to hold the sharks at bay, allowing Cal and Balama to try to overtake Zozika. It was a good plan, but luck - and numerical superiority - were not with them. Killing the sharks only drew forth more - and sometimes larger - sharks, and although the group was finally able to back away from the fight and leave the remaining sharks fighting over the bodies of their own slain, this happened after Theodore had been killed as well. In the meantime, several sahuagin, including the four-armed mutant leader, helped block the way so that Cal and Balama couldn't engage the fleeing Zozika, and she made it out of the maze and to a mysterious dome of magical darkness that encompassed the majority of a cavern just past where the clam shells covered the pits of future sacrifices. From there, she sounded the alarm and sent reinforcements to chase down those who had taken the [I]conch scepter[/I]. Balama and Cal were holding their own against the sahuagin but fighting a retreating battle, and it wasn't until the remainder of the group was able to join them that they were able to overcome their sahuagin foes. Rushing past the bodies of the slain, the group entered the chamber, hoping against hope that they weren't too late. But alas, they were. - - - While all of this was happening in the underground complex, Feron and Princess Cerulea were racing to the deep trench where Dragon Turtle Goruka slumbered. Knowing that whoever had stolen the [I]conch scepter[/I] would likely be heading there to use it, Zozika had sent an interception team to stop them. Looking back over her shoulder as they swam, Feron noticed two large sharks giving chase - and rapidly gaining on the two mermaids. Worse yet, hanging onto their fins were two animated merfolk skeletons, each wearing a coral crown and wielding a wicked-looking crossbow in one hand. Princess Cerulea looked back at their pursuers and gave a startled gasp - the skeletons were those of none other than her own slain parents, King Trigon Deepcurrents and Queen Almathea Wavecrest. "You go ahead; I'll hold them off!" called out Feron as she turned to face the rapidly-approaching menace. Princess Cerulea raced ahead, as Feron called forth one of her most powerful spells, altering it as she spoke the mystic syllables to summon forth an orca. The great beast showed up just in time, slamming into the sides of the sharks and flinging the two animated skeletons from their perches to cascade off in random directions. Leaving the sharks to her summoned orca, Feron concentrated her attacks on the animated skeletons. Much of her normal spellpower was useless underwater - she couldn't [i]call lightning[/i], nor could she call down a [i]flame strike[/i] - so she repeated her recent success and summoned forth another orca. Then it was a matter to stay out of reach of the animated merfolk skeletons while her summoned whales took care of the fight for her. After all four foes had been slain, Feron swam after the skeletons as they sunk to the lower depths and relieved them of their crossbows and crowns, no doubt powerful and treasured symbols for the merfolk tribe. Then she followed in the direction Princess Cerulea had been swimming, and caught up to her at the top of the trench. Cerulea took a deep breath and blew a long note from the [I]conch scepter[/I]. The result rivaled the deepest tone of whale songs. In answer, an equally deep voice rumbled throughout the area, startling several schools of fish into panicked retreat. “[b]WHO WAKENS GORUKA FROM HIS SLUMBER?[/b]” the voice demanded. "It is I, Princess Cerulea Seafoam, ruler of the Merfolk Tribe of Trigon," answered the young mermaid in a voice that couldn't help but tremble slightly. Then a shiver of fear coursed through her body as rising up from the trench was a huge dragon turtle, its mouth large enough to gobble the mermaids whole in a single bite. The enormous creature looked down at the [I]conch scepter[/I], then back up at the quavering mermaid. "[b]I WILL SERVE YOU, PRINCESS CERULEA SEAFOAM, AS I SERVED YOUR FATHER BEFORE YOU AND HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM. WHAT IS YOUR DESIRE?[/b]" Cerulea explained the recent takeover of the tribe by the marauding sahuagin, and her plan to drive the invaders away with the aid of the dragon turtle. After all, the Princess's capture was a major factor in the tribe's unwillingness to fight their attackers; with the Princess free, and with the aid of the tribe's powerful ally, Cerulea had no doubt that she could lead her people in a rebellion. Together, the three swam back towards the merfolk village. - - - Across from the hemisphere of unbroken darkness was a wide ramp leading up to the surface of the ocean bottom. Crawling out from the black hemisphere shambled an enormous crab, its unliving limbs crackling with necromantic energy and it headed for the ramp. Attached atop its broad shell was a wooden structure, a square pillar upon which was mounted an octagonal projection. Thin slits in the sides of this octagonal structure allowed slim black wands to project out, while the center of each octagonal side and the four sides of the supporting structure below it held a round porthole, through the latter of which could be seen the beautiful features of the evil malenti Zozika. This explained the damage the adventurers had seen to the pirate ship [i]Avatar of Hell[/i]; the sahuagin had taken apart many of its planks and beams to build this structure atop the back of the gigantic undead crab animated using the souls of the slain sacrifices and the necromantic power of the [i]bloodstone heart[/i]. The Death-Beast of the Deep crawled up the ramp; with a slam of its massive claws it pushed aside the slab of rock that covered the ramp opening, and the undead monstrosity, at the urging of Zozika, scuttled its way towards the mermaid village. Her project completed and shambling along in unholy unlife, Zozika had no further use for the merfolk save as flesh upon which to feed her army of sahuagin. The group raced up the ramp in pursuit. They were followed by the Lady Dorca, who, having heard the commotion in the room beyond her self-imposed prison, decided that the time for subterfuge had passed. Wildshaping into an eel, she escaped her bonds and resumed her true form, leaving the face of Princess Cerulea to morph back into her own features. Akari, leading the strike against the Death-Beast, was the first to discover what the wands did. A sonic blast of energy penetrated his body and shook him to his bones; the slim black wands were [i]wands of sound burst[/i], each wielded by a sahuagin mystic: [b]Qintaaq[/b], [b]Joluri[/b], and [b]Borbuka[/b]. Zozika, in the lower pillar, had a similar wand of her own. "We need to get into the wooden structure!" called out Cal. In response, the Lady Dorca grabbed him below his arms and swam him up to the top of the structure, dropping him to fall onto its surface. There was a hatch on the top that appearently opened up, but it was bolted from within and withstood the cleric's best efforts. "Allow me," suggested the Lady Dorca, and cast a [i]warp wood[/i] on the hatch that allowed Cal to rip it from its moorings, revealing the three sahuagin mystics within. For his efforts, Cal was hit by three blasts from the wands, and staggered back from the damage. Slayer, Akari and Hurm, meanwhile, had attempted to attack the Death-Beast itself, but this proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Its undead shell had been magically reinforced somehow, making it even tougher and stronger than it had been in life. Furthermore, the Death-Beast moved with preternatural quickness with its claws if not its legs, and Hurm was captured between the serrated edges of one massive claw and crushed to death in the span of a heartbeat. The crab seemed to be absorbing life energy from Hurm's slain form; once it had drained him dry, it discarded him with a flick of its claw. The life energy seemed to grant the Death-Beast additional powers, for suddenly beams shot out from its eyestalks, hitting Akari and Slayer each square in the chest. Akari managed to shrug it off, but Slayer was overcome by an inability to get his muscles to do what he wanted them to; he was helplessly paralyzed as the Death-Beast skittered up to his unmoving form with a set of open pincers. He doubtlessly would have been slain in the Death-Beast's grip, had Fang not grabbed his master by the pant-leg and dragged him backward to safety. After a few seconds, Slayer was able to shake off the effects of the ray and wade back into battle. Balama, in the meantime, stayed back and put her [i]wand of magic missiles[/i] to good use, slamming magical energy into the Death-Beast's shell. The Lady Dorca grabbed Akari and deposited him atop the wooden structure to assist Cal in slaying the three sahuagin mystics. Together, they tore through their reptilian foes, tossing them aside as they were slain. While Cal pitched the last of the three over the side, Akari leapt down into the center of the pillar's interior, driving his [i]Hoardmaster[/i] sword directly into Zozika's skull, channeling a burst of positive energy through its blade in a smite against evil. Zozika was unable to counter the attack, and slumped over, dead. However, the Death-Beast, now "driverless," merely continued carrying out its last instructions, to defeat these foes as it scuttled across the sea floor towards the merfolk village. Still, the remaining adventurers, aided by the Lady Dorca and her animal companion, a fierce-looking orca whale, were able to finish off the undead monstrosity without further casualties. As it fell unmoving to the ocean floor, a cloud of specks appeared over the distant horizon. As they got closer, the group could see that it was a large group of merfolk, led by Dragon Turtle Goruka. The merfolk were armed with weapons they had taken from the sahuagin they had slain and were en route to aid the group at the sahuagin mystics' underground enclave. None were overly disappointed to see that they were not needed after all. - - - Several hours later, the Lady Dorca called her animal companion over to her side. The enormous killer whale streaked over to her and smiled like a playful dolphin. “Go, [b]Swift-Fluke[/b], and fetch the stick,” she said to it, patting its massive head. The creature darted off in a flash, grinning. The mermaid druid turned to the group, but addressed Feron, still in her mermaid form. “You and your friends have our eternal gratitude, Child of the Land,” she said. “No thanks could ever be enough for the service you have provided us this day, but I think it would please Eadro for you to have this.” As she finished speaking, the killer whale swam up, an ivory staff held daintily in its massive mouth, which his mistress plucked from his lips. “This was crafted from the tooth of an elder narwhal,” explained the Lady Dorca. “Wield it wisely, for it channels Eadro’s life-giving power to those recently slain who find favor in His eyes. “And now, I’m afraid your vessel is no longer seaworthy. However, the tribe has gathered together the many treasures you carried aboard, and Goruka has agreed to take you where you were going. They should have him just about loaded up by now, if you wish to be on your way.” After farewells were said, Goruka the dragon turtle swam all the way to Thunder Bay (close to 100 miles) on the surface of the water with the group – and all of their equipment – on his back, which worked out for the best as the mermaids’ “breath of the sea” wore off partway through the journey. As might be expected, their arrival at Thunder Bay caused quite a spectacle, and their entrance into the harbor city was the talk of the town for many months to follow. Balama thanked the group one final time before they went their separate ways. She was planning on using her portion of the treasure they had obtained to have poor Hurm [i]resurrected[/i] - sadly, his body had been too badly savaged by the Death-Beast of the Deep to be [i]raised[/i] by the power of Feron's [i]staff of life[/i] - and to have a new ship commissioned, which she would name [i]Starchaser II[/i]. The rest of the group headed off to the local Adventurers Guild Headquarters, where they would crash for the night before using the [i]teleportation circle[/i] to get back to their own Guild Headquarters in Greyhawk City. There, they'd finally be able to catch up with the rest of their companions and find out what had transpired in their absence. - - - Whew! That was a long one! Although it took me a long time to write up the story for posting here, my records indicate that we managed to get through the adventure in one session. If my memory isn't playing tricks on me, though, I believe this was one of our longer sessions; we generally play on Saturdays, from noon until 6 PM or so, and this one might have extended to 6:30 or 7:00 to avoid having just a tiny bit left over for a future game session. I was frantic, in the days before we played through this adventure, to find a big plastic crab for use as the Death-Beast of the Deep. I had already made the wooden structure atop it out of cardboard, and as a backup I had found a top-view image of a crab that I had enlarged to the proper scale to use as a token if I had to, but I had really hoped I could find a plastic toy to use. I tried the various hobby places and department stores to no avail, and finally had an epiphany one day and decided to try at the gift shop of the local zoo. I was in luck, although not as lucky as I had hoped; rather than being able to buy a plastic crab the size I wanted, I had to spend a lot more for a bag of various sea creatures, some of which I was able to use (the orca whale was put to use in this very adventure, for one), and others that would come in useful in adventures to come (I later wrote one adventure that had a [i]summon monster[/i] trap in it, and made the summoned creature a fiendish monstrous lobster just so I could make some use of the lobster that came with this set), but I did get my plastic crab, and cut the bottom of the structure so that it lined up with the contours of its shell. So that worked out pretty well. I was a little concerned about splitting the party, and once Dragon Turtle Goruka had been summoned I really didn't want to waste time on the rebellion against the sahuagin, so I asked Vicki if she wouldn't mind allowing that to happen in the background, and I had her run the Lady Dorca (as well as Balama, who was little more than a [i]magic missile[/i] machine at that point and not particularly interesting to run) during the fight against the Death-Beast. She was amenable, and I gave Feron the same XP as if she had been there in the fight in Lady Dorca's place. By the way, I'm aware that "Dorca" is the name of the Sub-Mariner's love interest in the Marvel Comics universe (and thus kind of cheesy for me to use for the name of a mermaid), but I stole it nonetheless because I liked the thought that "Dorca" might actually be "d'Orca," or "Lady of the Orca." After all, as a mermaid druid, she did have an orca whale as an animal companion. Anyway, that was that - the end of my splitting the members of Wing Three into two separate groups for an extended period of time. I enjoyed it; it was a refreshing change being able to anticipate exactly which party members would be going through my adventures for a while, but now it was time to get the whole group together again and give the players control of who they'd be running each session. And I think Vicki enjoyed the mermaid aspect of the adventure, so that was cool. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Wing Three
Top