table of contents
prelude
You've booked passage on the Medjoop, a caravel sailing west across the seas for the fabled port city of Agia on the continent of Mareth-kor, a journey of some thousand or more leagues.
While crossing the the Sea of Aspasius in the equatorial, the Medjoop encounters a terrific storm or more precisely a series of violent storms in rapid succession. The battered ship is blown off course and ultimately succumbs to the sea. You are forced to abandon ship.
In the chaos that ensues, a fellow passenger pulls you up onto some floating debris. Together, you cling there for three days and nights againt the unending maelstrom, until finally the storm fury abates, the sea calms and exhaustion precipitates unconsciousness.
The following morning, the PCs awake seriatum and dispersed on their flotsam rafts, though within visible and/or audible range of each other (because of the gyre tides) and perhaps in pairs. A storm like the one they survived has not blown through in over a hundred years. It has altered the landscape of the intertidal zone within the Gyre, and it is extremely low tide, drawing various creatures out of their haunts.
The PCs find theselves floating in a shallow sea, littered with sandy-muddy islands, most not more than ten feet wide, with the larger islands supporting some vegetation. This is the Littoral Zone (LZ), of mud and shallows, a kind of intertidal zone, although there are no significant land masses anywhere near here, no beach nor dry land.
Beneath the LZ are the remains of an ancient drow city. This is a major secret and ties into the main mystery of this module.
The first to awake is a PC with the lacedon beginning to lick his ankle and toes. See DM notes section at right. There may be someone else on the raft with
the lacedon breakfast. The ghoul is an ancient, noble warrior who was made into an undead, thousands of years ago. He lay buried in the mud for most of that time, in a sort of comatose fashion until the storm disturbed him.
The pair of ghouls were entombed in the broken vessel of an apparatus of the crab. The parts, if recovered, would be of great value. The mechanism itself, if repairable, would be of even greater value, 90,000gp. Clearly, this undead was once of some signifgance, perhaps before he became a ghoul.
Several ioun stones are buried in the mud in the wreckage, hidden behind one of the metal panels, but the tide is coming in. Some stones are dull gray and spent, others are still vital. They 'fell' off the warrior when he became an undead creature. If the party is to recover them, they do not have much time....
After the lacedon encounter, the group may:
(1) try to find the lacedon lair
(2) recover slightly and notice some larger sections of the Medjoop and its cargo floating nearby. If they make for the Medjoop, they can gain some supplies---food, clothing, perhaps weapons, but they will be pursued by the lacedons if they do not defeat him. Also, by the time they get to the Medjoop, it will have become home for a pari of chokers. Perhaps the PCs can make a real raft out of the remains of the Medjoop. . .
Some time after the encounter with the lacedon, the group will see a triton coming toward them from across the water riding on a dophin. See encounter 2 below.
What floats in the sea is moving through this intertidal zone and further toward the gyre. Many low-level monsters populate the muddyy islands here, including: azers, chokers, crabs, sahuagin, sharks, thoqquas, tritons and vargouilles. The azers protect some deposited treasure. The chokers lurk in the littoral zone. The sahuagin are in battle with the tritons and use sharks as their henchmen. Toqquas also guard treasure deposits.
The storm has destroyed their vessel and marooned them in the middle of the sea, but in eucatstrophic fashion, it will also bring them a gift, a drow sword of Tempress, a first generation 'sun'-charged sword. The sword comes in a special case that can only be opened with the corresponding gem (typically on a bracer), and the case is very valuable because the case may be used to charge any sun weapons that fits inside it. The case charges the weapon with solar energy. The charge lasts three hours. The weapon is of Drow manufacture, based on Gnomish technology.
global setting
The series storms that struck comes one in a hundred years. It has changed the landscape of the Littoral Zone, (LZ), temporarily. The tides and water will restore it.
The LZ is home to the strange, avoided by the outcast societies that live in the Gyre. The L-Zone sits atop the remains of an ancient civilization, unknown to the current inhabitants.
The sahuagin and tritons are in conflict througout the Gyre. They each have floating home bases.
An underwater conflict ensues. Not sure who is involved.
The group is 1,500 miles from Mareth Kor.
the gyre
The Gyre follows a one lunar month cycle. The Gyre is part of the Sea of Aspasius. The Gyre draws ships, or the remains of ships into it. This has happened to the Medjoop. Those who live in the Gyre plunder materials from the ships. There are large rafts of outcast communities.
the littoral zone, LZ
The LZ is home of the strange, powerful and deadly, a place to be avoided at all costs. The Graffiti Temple from Chapter X of "Beam" is here. A large muddy crater lay in the heart of it. The LZ is home to wights and burial treasure mounds, buried on top of the ancient Drow city. The mounds are protected by flame monsters, azers. Also, there are crab holes here, holes that go down into the mud and sand, at the bottom of which is a nest of crabs and their treasure. Or, perhaps the hole is currently empty.
settings
encounter: exposition of the triton, horus
Some time at night after the group survives the choker(s). In the distance, they will see the light from a torch. The torch is carried by a triton named Horus. Horus is being pursued by Sahuagin who will veer off and attack those on the remains of the Medjoop.
Horus will explain the animosity between the Tritons and the Sahuagin. He will invite the party to visit him in his Triton community. If the party asks him about the sword they have found, he will explain that those in his village may be able to identify it. That he would be willing to meet them in three days on the Tintaros, the barge, and take them to his community.
setting: tintaros, a floating barge of humans, mostly
The Tintaros, a large wooden barge, is home to a community of humans, mostly. The Tintaros has been pieced together over time with pieces of many other ships lost at sea. Here, the party may find many of the accoutrements of a normal village: a weaponeer, blacksmith, armorer, general store, church, bars, a pair of eateries and lodgings.
Many of the shops have underwater chambers, with staircases leading down into the water.
The barge is subject to attack from stirges, at which time, everyone goes below into the water. This allows for escape from the stirges, but leaves the community susceptible to attack from sharks or other sea creatures.
The specifics on the shops and other areas are as follows:
| place or name | description | notes |
| Harp's Arms | place: weaponeer, formerly the location of the church of Onolos, is laid out like a church, Harp is brother to Bella, beneath the Harp's Arms is a secret alcove of the church that was once here. Inside the alcove is a mosaic of Onolos, very valuable. It pictures the a Drow Warrior leading the Drow into combat with the Elves He holds a large, rectangular shield. Around the edge of the shield is a purple glow. It is a Drow Sun Shield. A constellation in the heavens above depicts Onolos and his shield. The shield has all of the names of the Drow Pantheon, 1-12. Onolos is the god who situates the worlds and holds them in their proper place: below earth (Tempress), surface earth (Thorn), sky realm (Fell), stars (Gnomolos) and void (_unkSheol). The combat against the Elves was an attempt to resist the Elves' agenda of destroying the balance between worlds. The Elves destroyed Aquilonia, the ancient Drow city beneath the Gyre. | no exotic weapons, shell scimitars, shell knives, necklaces of shark teeth, bracers of shark skin, nothing magical |
| Bella's Armor | place: armorer, Bella is sister to Harp | nothing fancy, shell and kelp-based armors, a few exotics |
| Church of Onlolos | place: church, formerly the weaponeer's shop, small in size now | has an underwater mosaic of Onolos the Drow warrior with a rectangular sun-shield |
| the Cull | place: general store and eatery, charcuterie, raises pigs, | nothing fancy, fish-based products, bread is a prize |
| the Drake | place: eatery, has cheeses made of seal milk, his shop smells stinky, like the cheese shop | |
| Amberly | weaponeer who works at the Harp's Arms, | dealer in exotics, hangs out at the Cull, plays a flute, can arrange for a +1 augmentation on a weapon for 1000gp and a slight favor, |
| Kelly | leader of the tintaros community | long dark hair, horse face |
| Crensh | has local information and more | owner of the cull, temperament: neat-nick |
| Moose | fisherman, has a fish farm beneath the barge | out of place here in the water, |
| Danberly | maker of simple magical devices, traps | temperment: sychophant, pestering |
| Riley or Riles | temparement: reluctant | |
| Ol' Cuss | shipwright, builder, carpenter | |
| Seuss | the walker, an old man, a human, with an arm of liquid mercury (the result of a curse of blessing?) others in town will bait him to show his arm to the newcomers | |
| Ambriz | drunk, leader of the church, but Kelly used to be the leader of the church, |
Many of the shops have underwater chambers with stairways leading down. There are diving bells beneath the barge that the air breathers use.
DM notes
The PCs begin their adventure shipwrecked and floating on the broken remains of the Medjoop. The tides are pulling them into an equatorial gyre in the Sea of Aspasius, home to both isolated monstrous creatures and outcast communities from societies far and wide.
Assign numbers to PCs based on seats at the table. Roll 1d(#PCs) or fake the roll.
The lucky PC whose number comes up will regain conscious to find her arms and legs bound by rope and a lacedon crouched over her, sucking on one of her big toes, its tongue curling cold around her ankle.
Then suddenly, the lacedon will slither overboard, back into the water. He has prepared his victim and now will go fetch the other in his gang. They will return and feast. As the lacedon slips over the side of the raft, something on his wrist sparkles bright. It is gem that can activate the sun sword he has in his lair. See below.
Each rope has a Break DC of 18. The PC may make one chance, one dice roll for each bound arm and leg. If he is successful, he may breaks his bonds.
Prior to the ankle action, roll 2d(#PC) to determine which two or more of the other PCs is floating into view of this spectacle. (A lacedon is too difficult for one of the PCs to fight singlehandedly.)
The lacedon has a lair nearby with one other ghoul. The lair is a a sort of hole in the mud and has standard treasure. In addition to the standard treasure is something extraordinary—a long, silver metal box, that may only be opened with the bracer/gemkey worn by the lacedon. Inside the box is an ancient, gnomish sword, a sun sword, that burns bright when activated. To activate the sword, one must wear both the bracer and hold the sword and not be undead, chaotic evil!
Many low-level monsters populate the muddyy islands here, including: azers, chokers, sahuagin, thoqquas, tritons, vargouilles, crabs and sharks.
treasure
- drow case and sun-sword
- an ancient weapon system from the first pentacle of history, created by drow with gnomish technology; the system, as found in this module, includes a sun-sword and charging case; the case can function with any sun weapon that can fit in the case, the case changes its interior shape to accomodate the weapon, so the real prize is the case; the case powers/charges the weapon inside when the bracer gem has been exposed to the sun, granting it a +1 to hit, +2 damage for characters level 1-5, +2 to hit, +3 to damage for characters level 6-0, +3 to hit +3 damage for characters level 10 and higher; the gem-bracer is included in the system, the gem-bracer absorbs radiant energy and transmits it to the weapon through the case; the weapon system may be enhanced by recovering other sun-sytem artifacts such as armor, gauntlets, helmets, etc. With each additional weapon system, all systems are enhanced by +1 or more
DM notes
monsters
azer, cr2
Azer protect treasures atop burial mounds. Sometime they are solitary as such. Other times they appear in numbers. They were aligned with the drow whose ancient city lay beneath them.
Currently they are aligned with the tritons against the sahuagin. Their numbers are few.
choker, cr2
Chokers may be found in ruins that lay scattered throughout the LZ.
crab, cr4
Crab.
ghoul/lacydon, cr2
Found in the LZ. Unliving like wights in mud barrows. Most of the lacydons were once noble living men and women from the civilization beneath the mud---a drow community that put aside their evil ways and came to the surface. Ultimately, the elves defeated them in the First Pentacle Genocide.
sahuagin, cr2
Battling the Tritons.
shark, cr1, 2
Henchcreatures of the Sahuagin .
stirge, cr2
Wandering in the LZ.
triton, cr2
Wander
vargouille, cr2
Wandering in the LZ and allied with the Sahuagin.
