mythago v. Cool Hand Luke
Sea Hag's Woe
a d20 adventure for PCs around level 10
The Invasion
The communities of elves, like those of bees, grow and become crowded, then split off into smaller communities as a new leader brings a satellite group away from the greater fold. Three hundred years ago, one such group of sea elves left their prince's court under the leadership of his youngest brother. When they settled in the Pale Atoll, they thought they had found paradise; a clear lagoon, wrapped in a ring of coral to keep out large predators, quiet and far from the land dwellers.
Then a troop of human mutineers, cast from their ship to die at sea, ran aground.
The Quarrel
The half-elf descendants of the sea elf women who survived the invasion are very different from their grandmothers. They can swim and remain underwater for long periods of time, but must breathe air; they are stronger and hardier, but shorter-lived. They all speak a guttural Common--Aquatic is a forgotten tongue to them, save for a few clerics who use it for prayers. There are no longer any true sea elves left in the Pale Atoll. The mutineers killed all but a handful of their women, and by now they have long since died, often by their own hand.
As with their forebears, the half-elves quarreled and a minority faction left (or was driven from) the Pale Atoll. They lashed together boat hulls, driftwood, salvaged beams from shipwrecks, and anything else that would float into a giant unstable platform, using the sailor wisdom of their grandfathers and a few, barely remembered cantrips of sea-safety from their grandmothers. They built a floating village that would be their home on the waves, climbed aboard, and went where the ocean's currents took them. They brought fishing nets, weapons, one of the Pale Atoll's two living clerics, and a decanter of endless water. For the most part they were content to be carried along, taking from the sea, or from the occasional unlucky vessel; another gift from their grandfathers had been the knowledge of how to take and loot an enemy ship.
One day they crossed paths with a ship that was unluckier than most.
The Sea Hag's Woe
The Elect is a council of seven venerable servants of good--paladins, wizards, and nobility have all served in its ranks--dedicated to eliminating evil's physical manifestations and lessening its power. To this end, they commissioned a group of adventurers to recover an artifact known as the Sea Hag's Woe. After a long and difficult journey the adventurers succeeded. Unfortunately, the group's Bard couldn't resist trying it out when the Paladin's back was turned, and it brought the curse down on the group--in the form of a late-night sneak attack by the half-elves.
They tortured the Bard, who survived the attack, into explaining the Woe's use, but he died before he told them about its curse. After a lot of bickering, they decided to use for the Woe to summon a creature and use it to pull the platform, rather than have to rely on the winds or the ocean current (which had an annoying tendency to ground the platform from time to time). Elizabai, their cleric, dipped the end of the Woe into the ocean, and in Aquatic, commanded a creature to come and serve as a dray-horse for their village. But when the Woe's magic mouth shrieked its curse in the forgotten tongue none of her shipmates could understand, she lost her mind. A dragon turtle nonetheless appeared, bound by the Woe's power. The other half-elves hooked its shell to the platform with great anchor chains, the winches were turned to steer it, and they were at last fully in control of their destiny. For a little while, anyway.
An Unwanted Guest
Not long after, the platform passed close enough to an island to attract the attention of an aboleth. It tried to lure the half-elves out of their unusual vessel, but they fought it fiercely and drove it back. The now-crippled aboleth turned to another avenue of attack; it used its Enslave power on the dragon turtle. Since the aboleth could no longer swim properly, the turtle offered to carry it, an offer the aboleth graciously accepted.
The crippled aboleth intends to wear out the dragon turtle with its poison and its bulk until its carrier dies and sinks to the bottom of the sea, dragging the platform with it; then it can eat the drowning half-elves as it likes. The half-elves can no longer use the Woe, are afraid the aboleth will turn the dragon turtle against them if they fight, and can't get close enough to remove the anchor chains.
The Elect
Meanwhile, the Elect has discovered that their adventurers are unreachable, probably dead, and that the Sea Hag's Woe is still out in the world. The PCs will be sent to locate and recover it. The Elect could hire them; a temple of Good might lay the task on them as a geas; they may even hear rumors of the mighty artifact and slip off to get it on their own.
If they go through official channels, they will be outfitted with a small, fast ship and an experienced crew. They will be given an approximate location where it is believed the first ship went down, possibly with the Sea Hag's Woe aboard. If they do not already have rings of water breathing, the Elect may offer these (the adventure will be considerably more dangerous otherwise).
The Ship is Sighted
When the PCs arrive in the general area where they think the first ship sunk, they may cross paths with the Pale Atoll exiles. They will see the dragon turtle's scales glitter in the sun briefly, as it lifts the aboleth up for air. If they are able to see great distances, they may even be treated to the odd sight of the dragon turtle giving an aboleth a piggyback ride.
If they draw near, the half-elves will hold their attack; they have enough problems at the moment, and they are desperately hauling on the chains to steer the dragon turtle somewhere useful. There are enough fighters on the platform to wage a pitched battle with the crew; only a handful are powerful enough to be any sort of threat to the PCs.
To resolve the problem and get the Sea Hag's Woe, the PCs have many options, such as:
--Parley with the half-elves. They will make getting rid of the aboleth a condition of their bargain. They will probably demand ridiculous payment as well, but the truth is that they really would rather get rid of the Woe; they fear it and frankly do not need it to steer the dragon turtle. They can explain how the Woe is used, but they know nothing of the curse since it was uttered in Aquatic. Only their cleric speaks Aquatic, and she is stark raving mad.
--Fight the half-elves and take the Woe by force. This will be the most challenging and deadly option, but the most cinematic. Ship-to-platform combat! Trident-wielding half-sea-elves leaping from the mast! Of course, the half-elves don't have any sort of cannon or fire weapons; if the PCs present these the elves will likely surrender rather than risk sinking. There should be enough low-level fighters to keep the ship's crew occupied without overwhelming the PCs. A few high-level leaders of the village may cause some trouble.
--Use the Sea Hag's Woe to command the dragon turtle, the aboleth, or both. If the PCs didn't ask the half-elves about the use of the Woe before killing them, they will have to figure it out by trial and error or divination spells. Naturally, this will bring the curse down on the PC(s) who used the woe and indirectly on the rest of the party.
--Break the aboleth's hold over the dragon turtle. This will likely lead to a pitched fight between the two behemoths as the frantic half-elves try to unhook them from the platform, and the force of their battle threatens to swamp the PCs' ship.
--Find a way to cure Elizabai's madness. She will insist that the Woe be handed over to the PCs and good riddance to it. Whether or not she is cured, she will fulfill her cursed destiny as soon as the Woe leaves the platform by leaping into the water to drown.
If and when the PCs do recover the Sea Hag's Woe, they will have to survive the curse (if they have been unfortunate enough to invoke it), the tribulations of a sea voyage across dangerous, monster-infested waters, and the depredations of pirates, enemy nations, and other adventurers who may have heard of their mission...
Footnotes
The Sea Hag's Woe is a minor evil artifact, shaped like a large whelk's shell, plain off-white in color, with a greenish cast and always slimy and damp to the touch. Ancient lore says that it was a powerful sea hag's bridal gift to her lover, but when he betrayed her with Sekolah (the shark-goddess of the sahuagin), she cursed it and used its evil power to drive her lover to his death. To use the Woe, it must be at least partly immersed in the water. The user shouts an order, which must be in Aquatic, into the Woe, and a behemoth of the sea is summoned to do the user's bidding. It may be used only once on any particular creature. Using the Woe causes a powerful curse; the user's destiny is rewritten so that he is fated to die and be buried at sea; as soon as the last word of command is spoken, a magic mouth forms and shrieks "May your flesh fatten the children of she-crabs and your bones crack on the bed of the ocean!" in Aquatic.
The Half-Elves of the Pale Atoll: they have lost most of the abilities of their aquatic forebears, having only vestigial gills. They are good swimmers, can hold their breath for ten minutes easily, and use weapons such as tridents, nets, and spears. They speak guttural Common and neither Elven nor Aquatic. They resemble humans strongly--they are more "part-elf" than truly half-elven--but they still have deep green or blue hair, slightly webbed digits, and the ability to see twice as far as a human in dim light. They are generally neutral, with a slight tendency toward evil.
Quick NPC Stats:
Twa'haimish, captain of the Pale Atoll exiles: Half-elf male fighter (10), alignment N
Sailimadden, first mate: Half-elf female sorcerer (11), alignment N
Tall Carranack, captain's bodyguard: Half-elf male fighter (5)/monk (6), alignment LE
Elizabai, insane and incapacitated cleric: Half-elf female cleric (12), alignment LN
Crippled Aboleth: as per the Monster Manual, but with only one tentacle attack (due to its injury); 9-11 HD, depending on the strength of your group
Dragon Turtle: as per the Monster Manual, but only 12HD+60; it is exhausted and dazed from the aboleth's demands.
