d20 Sinister Adventures Blood Waters.pdf

Blood Waters

Written by Greg A. Vaughan

Illustrated by Richard Clark, Andrew Hou and Kevin Yan

Cartography by Rob Lazzaretti

Edited by Nicolas Logue

“Blood Waters” is a deep sea adventure of murky intrigue and death designed for

four to six 7 th -level characters. It ties directly into the Dark Vistas #1: Razor Coast

and serves as an offshoot side trek to that adventure, or it can be used as a stand-

alone delve into the depths. This adventure takes place beneath the waves of the

Razor Sea, and as such requires that the PCs have access to water breathing magic

or have the aquatic subtype themselves. If the PCs do not possess these resources,

they can be provided at the beginning of the adventure. For useful info on running

underwater adventures and facing aquatic dangers see Death Beneath the Waves by

Wolfgang Baur (also available for download on www.sinisteradventures.com ).

This module is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use

with the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game. The OGL can be found at

the end of this product.

Product Identity: The following

items are hereby identiied as Product

Identity, as deined in the Open Game

License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and

are not Open Content: All trademarks,

registered trademarks, proper names

(characters, deities, artifacts, places,

etc.), artwork, and trade dress.

Open Content: Except for material

designated as Product Identity (see

above), the contents of this Sinister

Adventures game product are Open

Game Content, as deined in the Open

Gaming License version 1.0a Section

1(d). No portion of this work other than

the material designated as Open Game

Content may be reproduced in any form

without written permission. To learn

more about the Open Game License

and the d20 System License, please visit

wizards.com/d20.

Adventure Background

The seaside city of Port Shaw, its Kai Bay brimming with mast, sail and cannon,

is not the only power that holds sway along the Razor Coast. Not far away

rests a sprawling kingdom largely beyond the knowledge of the landbound folk.

In the kelp forested depths of the Great Rift reigns the Court of the Sea King.

The Coral Kingdom was once a powerful force on the loor of the Razor, a

nation of locathah that kept the peace beneath the waves and held at bay the

more fearsome predators of the Far Deeps. Through the Sea King’s benevolent

guidance, his people spread far and wide, annexing other peaceful undersea

communities such as the Merfolk Triperium, the triton clans of Murdrak Hold,

and even the frivolous Nereid Sisterhood. So powerful was the Coral Kingdom’s

Indulgences are published by Sinister

Adventures, LLC under the Open Game

of the Coast, Inc. All other trademarks

are property of Sinister Adventures®,

royal inluence they were even able to conduct trade and

make treaties of alliance with several tribes of the indigenous

Tulita natives dwelling along the Razor Coast.

Then came Harthagoa, the Demon Below. This kraken-

iend from the Far Deep cowed the savage sahuagin shark-

riders, and even intimidated the inscrutable aboleths into

his service. The Demon Below rallied all manner of barbaric

and villainous creatures from the deepest reaches of inky

darkness. With this army under his tentacle, Harthagoa

began his own conquest of the waves. The Malenti Enclave

fell to his crushing grasp, and he spewed misery upon the

Empire of the Sea Elves. Underwater kingdoms fell before

the kraken one after the next. Only the locathah continued to

resist, striking out from their labyrinthine Coral Kingdom and

hiding under the shroud of their dense kelp forests.

Unable to take the Court of the Sea King by force, the

kraken’s servitors nevertheless pressed at their borders in a

constant low-grade war of attrition. The locathah held irm

but were spread too thin to defend all of their holdings and

allies. One by one the communities and territories of the

Sea King’s allied peoples fell away into the dark embrace of

the Demon Below never to be seen again, until even the Sea

Kingdom itself was whittled away to a splinter of its former

glory. Now the kingdom encompasses little more than the

locathah stronghold of the Court of the Sea King nestled deep

in the well protected Great Rift.

Though the locathah held irm and seem to have carved

some breathing room for themselves from the constant

onslaught of the Demon Below’s dark servants, their position

is far from stable. In fact, the relative peace they enjoy in

recent tides is not born from their valiant resistance, but is

rather the rotting fruit of the Demon Below’s latest stratagem.

Two great-tides ago, the Sea King’s beloved mate suddenly

died after an unfortunate encounter with a rare sea urchin.

After a suitable period of mourning, Gla’gool, the current

reigning Sea King announced he would take a new wife in

the tradition of his ancestors in order to renew and cement

old alliances. He named as his bride the mermaid lass

Avareth, a breathtaking beauty and one of the only survivors

of Hartagoa’s brutal assault on the Merfolk Triperium.

Unfortunately for the Sea Kingdom, Avareth is more than

she seems.The mermaid is no mermaid at all, but rather a

deadly sea hag who serves the Demon Below as a deep-cover

agent. Her dowry is the destruction of the locathah people.

She plans to bring the realm of the Sea King to its knees from

within.

ancient lava tubes by

Gla’gool’s ancestors

when the sea was

young. There

they unravel the

truth of the Sea

King’s new bride and

confront her in the

secret throne room

she had established

as part of her

soon to

ensue coup.

It is up to

the party

to end the

menace she

represents

or abandon

the locathah

peoples to the

cold mercy

of the Demon

Below.

Adventure Hooks

There are several ways that the PCs

can become involved in this side trek.

Some of these hooks incorporate material from the ongoing

plots to be found in Razor Coast , and can be used to link

this side trek directly to that Dark Vista . Choose one of the

following or create your own hook to draw the PCs into

the machinations of the Sea King’s court. If the PCs do not

possess the means to adventure beneath the waves on their

own power, Old Edigar provides them with this ability as

described below.

• The party has chartered a vessel

and set out to plumb the depths of the Seafarer’s Graveyard

and the king’s ransom worth of treasures that has been

lost there over the years. In this hook, the PCs have taken

on Old Edigar as a member of their crew, relying on his

expertise to aid them in dives down to the wrecks of the

lost ships below.

Sunken Treasures:

• The Elders Council of Port

Shaw has taken an interest in reclaiming the lighthouse of

Beacon Island for use in better protecting its shipping lanes.

They provide the PCs with transport out to Beacon Island

warning the party to beware of the restless spirits of the

former light keeper’s family that may haunt it, as well as

the hungry wyverns that are known to nest in its beacon

tower. However, as the PCs journey out to the island, their

ship is beset by tumultuous storms and run aground on a

reef near its shores. They are rescued and brought ashore

by Old Edigar who has lived on the island as a hermit for

the last several years, though he avoids the lighthouse

(“Nothing but shadows and whispers live there, ain’t it

Reclaiming the Beacon:

Adventure Summary

The PCs travel to, or are lured into the depths where they

encounter Jab’roth, the wave-cursed retainer of one of the

Sea King’s sons who has recently disappeared. At his urging,

the PCs must ind a way into the palace in the Court of the

Sea King where Jab’roth believes his prince’s betrayal took

place, and where he fears his master is being held under

guard. By utilizing resources within the Sea King’s court, the

PCs are able to iniltrate the inner recesses of the undersea

palace – a wonder of coral and cooled magma, sculpted from

for the living no more”). The PCs are free to explore the

haunted lighthouse if you wish (see Razor Coast for details),

but when the PCs elect to return to Port Shaw they will

need to brave the waves to do so, possibly with Old Edigar’s

assistance.

waves. If the PCs need assistance in traversing the depths, he

can cast mass countenance of the deeps for them and provide

them with general information about adventuring underwater

(see side bar below).

Old Edigar is actually the great uncle of the sea captain

Bethany Razor and has his own reasons for helping the PCs in

whatever endeavors they are undertaking in this side trek. He

does not reveal this relationship to his infamous grand-niece

both for her protection and his, though if you choose, he can

become a recurring NPC in the Razor Coast mini-campaign to

serve as a constant source of aid and information to the PCs

and possibly to eventually reveal the truth of familial ties.

• The PCs are hired as part of the

Sea Spider Trading Company to serve aboard a rich cargo

vessel bound for Port Shaw. While still a few days out from

port, their vessel is stopped by a ship lying the colors of

Port Shaw. The ship claims to be a customs vessel of the

Port Shaw municipal dragoons and boards the PCs’ ship to

search it for contraband. During the search, a scufle breaks

out between a customs inspector and member of the PCs’

crew who had some ivory totems hidden in the covers of

his rack. In the course of the scufle, the inspector’s shirt is

torn revealing a large circular scar, like the mark from the

tentacle of a giant octopus, on his chest. The inspector

immediately orders his soldiers to execute the man and all

witnesses. The PCs and other members of the ships crew

battle desperately against the customs oficers only to

ind that the customs ship has pulled away from their ship

and opens ire just as they ight their way to the top deck.

The PCs watch helplessly as the other ship sails away and

their own ship, its hull splintered by shot and ball, sinks

beneath them, its lifeboats damaged beyond repair. As it

slips beneath the waves, the PCs ind that they are the only

survivors of the ship’s sinking along with a grizzled crewman

named Old Edigar.

Trading Troubles:

AdvEnTuRIng undERwATER

Chapter 3 of the DMG provides rules for combat while underwater.

This side bar provides only a brief summation of these rules. For

more detailed information on adventuring in the deeps see Death

Beneath the Waves by the legendary Wolfgang Baur available for

download at www.sinisteradventures.com . Thrown weapons

are ineffective underwater, and all other ranged weapons have

a –2 penalty to attack rolls for each 5 feet of water they pass

through. Slashing and bludgeoning weapons also have a –2

penalty to attack rolls and deal half damage. Creatures with a

swim speed do not suffer these penalties when attacking with

natural weapons.

Fire spells do not function unless the caster makes a DC 20 +

spell level Spellcraft check. Even then the spell creates a burst

of damaging steam rather than ire but otherwise works as

described.

• The PCs are approached one dark

night by a masked man who claims that Captain Jacob

Razor, A hero of the Pirate War against Garr Bloodbane

that almost destroyed Port Shaw a decade past, was foully

betrayed and murdered. The masked man wishes to hire

the PCs services in order to prove this to the government

of Port Shaw and root out the corrupt dragoons responsible

for Captain Razor’s death. His plan it to sail to the site

where the Razor’s Edge went down and use magic to

contact the deceased captain’s spirit and learn the truth

of his death. One of the members of this clandestine

expedition is Old Edigar who will help them reach the

sunken wreck of Jacob’s ship, The Razor’s Edge.

Razor’s Revenge:

PART OnE: A CRy fOR HElP

Whatever the PCs’ reason for entering the waves, whether

one of the hooks above or one of your own invention, not

long afterward they are approached by a small, swimming

form - a wave-cursed halling named Jab’roth (LN male wave-

cursed halling rogue 3). He approaches the PCs in peace,

obviously unarmed. If allowed to speak, he does so in Aquan

if the PCs speak it or stumbling Common if they don’t.

The strange halling approaches, the incandescent light

relected off the coral reef nearby revealing his mottled

complexion, a slight touch of blue to his skin, subtle

webbing between his inger and toes, and gaping red gills

like slash wounds on the sides of his neck. He bows as

he bobs with the current and speaks with a torrent of

bubbles.

“Greetings, landlings. I see you have adapted well to

our ways beneath the waves. Please allow me to vent

my gills for an eddy if you have the time. I am Jab’roth,

Firstsworn Finman to Cal’la’joola, Seventh Prince of the

Court of the Coral Kingdom. I come to you on behalf

of my master, Prince Cal’la’joola, who has gone missing

these past seven tides. It is believed, and the Sea King

has publicly declared to his subjects, that the Honorable

Prince Cal’la’joola was surely lost in the border wars

with the Demon Below and such is a great tragedy to the

allied peoples of the Undersea. However, I know that my

master left the ighting at the front to return and report

Old Edigar

Old Edigar is a plot device that can be used to allow the

PCs to adventure beneath the waves if they do not have

the capabilities to do so on their own. He is not intended

to join them on the side trek, though you can stat him out

completely to have him do so if the challenges presented

seem to be beyond what the party can handle on its own. Old

Edigar is a Neutral Good male aquatic half-elf druid 15. He is

a wizened individual with grizzled gray hair and a long beard

despite his elven heritage. He wears simple brown, home-

spun robes belted with a piece of lanyard and eschews the

wearing of shoes (“a bizarre custom of you land dwellers I’ll

never understand”). Long a devotee of the open ocean, this

sea druid spends most of his time in solitude on or beneath its

to the Sea King at his palace before he went missing, so

it would be impossible for him to have been lost in battle.

I fear some treachery within the palace itself has waylaid

my master and deceived his father, the King of the Seas.

“Unless you would have the waves froth with blood

foam to taint even to your dry shores, I beseech you to

help me ind my prince before news of the treachery gets

out and rends the Sea Kingdom from within. I would not

see my realm reduced to blood waters, and I fear that

outsiders such as yourselves may be the only hope to

stem this red tide.”

dragon turtle shell dome to the kraken’s legions. Yarrowdalg

proved an apt lickspittle and formidable commander in the

Demon Below’s hordes, but was slain in furious battle with a

cantankerous benthic serpent (see Death Beneath the Waves )

who refused to acquiesce his territory to the Demon Below

without a ight. Harthagoa begged his demonic sire to restore

his servant, offering the blood of an entire merfolk village in

sacriice. Yarrowdalg rose from the depths again as a hideous

undead servitor of the Demon Below who now terrorizes

the locathah manning the border of the Great Rift, succoring

himself on their souls day and night.

yarrowdalg the devourer: hp 78, MM page 58 (add

the Wave Cursed Template below)

While Jab’roth is an excellent manservant and information

gatherer, he is not much of an adventurer. Therefore, he

cannot gain the PCs access to the palace itself. However, he

can help them make contacts with certain individuals who

can as described below. If the party agrees to help Jab’roth, he

offers them an armband of rare golden coral inset with rough

diamonds worth 2,500 gp if they can locate Prince Cal’la’joola

and rescue him if still alive. He explains that the armband

belonged to the prince and was gifted to Jab’roth as a reward

for years of faithful service. He will part with it, his most

prized possession, if it will bring his master to safety.

3. locathah Patrol (El 8) Brave warriors, whose loyalty

is unquestionable, this band of locathah reconnoiter the

dangerous eddies on the edge of the Great Rift along with

Mab’lil’kar, their trusty orca whale companion. When they

see the party, the leader, a female locathah named Blool’dra,

hails them and asks Jab’roth to explain why he’s bringing

outsiders into the kingdom. Blool’dra is on the lookout for

spies of the Demon Below, and carefully inspects Jab’roth

trying to discern if perhaps he is an illusion, an enemy in

disguise, or under the inluence of some foul enchantment

magic. Jab’roth attempts a DC 20 Bluff check to pass (but

his Bluff is only +3). The PCs can attempt their own check

or aid Jab’roth’s as they wish. If the check fails, the locathah

attack in a paranoid frenzy. If the party succeeds, the locathah

let them pass and may also engage them in idle conversation,

during which Blool’dra conides in Jab’roth that the king

is sadly absent from daily affairs now and spends his days

sequestered in some secret reach of the palace out of sight,

entreating with no one except his new bride.

locathah warriors (4): hp 35 each, See Area 3 below.

Mab’lil’kar, Orca whale: hp 88, MM 283

Entering the Coral Kingdom

The rim of the Great Rift, a tall ridge of coral encrusted

basalt, is now the heavily defended border of the tattered

remnants of the Coral Kingdom. Though the kingdom is

not currently under siege, agents of Harthagoa and other

dangerous predators lurk just beyond the border. Locathah

patrols roam on sea cat back, skirmishing with sahuagin

shark raiders. The water here is misted with blood and the

torn carcasses from casualties on both sides draw dangerous

scavengers. As Jab’roth leads the PCs past the border into

the kelp forests and coral canyons of the Great Rift roll on

the random encounter chart below or simply choose the

encounters you like and toss them the PCs way.

4. Stinging Manta-core (El 5) These dangerous predators

with a stingray’s body and ins, sporting a sea cat’s head

and claws, and a cluster of spine linging sinewy tails are a

constant menace in and around the Great Rift. When the

Manta-core spots the party it hides behind a giant clam shell

(giving it cover) and then barrages them with its tail spines.

wave Cursed Manticore: hp 57, apply the Wave

Cursed Template below to a Manticore ( MM 179)

1. Sahuagin Shark Raiders (El 8) A band of ten sahuagin

and their three black-inned bale-sharks roam the border

seeking locathah patrols to devour. The PCs make a ine

substitute, especially when the leader of the sahuagin, a fat

bloated specimen of his vile race named Kartanga, spots

Jab’roth and recognizes the wave cursed halling as the

right hand man of one of the Coral Kingdom’s Sea Princes.

If the sahuagin detect the party before they themselves are

detected they hide in a thick swash of kelp under a coral

outcropping and suddenly surge out to attack.

Katanga and his fellow sahuagin raiders (10): hp 11

(18 for Katanga), MM 217

Bale Sharks: hp 38, use Large iendish sharks, MM 279

and 107

The usual Suspects

Once the Jab’roth and the PCs draw near the Sea King’s

Palace, they’ll need to devise a means of entry. Queen

Avareth has manipulated her beloved king into sealing the

palace up tight “to prevent dangerous agents of the Demon

Below from gaining entry of course!” Additionally, Jab’roth

has already searched the palace up and down for his master,

but cannot locate him. He knows the Queen ordered a sub

level built recently as a redoubt for the royal family in case

of a siege, but Jab’roth cannot locate the entrance to this

level. Jab’roth’s recent snooping has not escaped notice, and

2. yarrowdalg the Soul Render (El 11) Formerly a sea

giant warlord and despicable demonist, Yarrowdalg betrayed

his people to Harthagoa by opening up their enclave’s

many suspect he is a spy, or worse, that he had something to

do with his master’s death on the frontlines. The poor wave

cursed halling is now persona non grata in the palace grounds.

Since he cannot gain the PCs access to the palace or

the prince’s whereabouts, he instead points them towards

some people who may be able to. Following is a list of three

individuals that he may suggest that the PCs speak to if they

meet the prerequisites as described below. All dwell in the

Great Rift near the palace, and he can set up introductions on

short notice. The PCs can speak to one or all of them as they

see it.

be disloyalty in the palace and will tell all he knows but not

here. He asks the PCs to meet him at dark tide (midnight) at

an inconspicuous location where he can ill them in on what

he knows. A Sense Motive opposed to his Bluff (+12) detects

duplicity in his words. He is actually a servitor of the queen,

and his directions lead the PCs into an ambush with a force

identical to that found at Area 1 (see below). If his subterfuge

is detected he retreats behind the protection of his twelve

gate guards (male locathah warrior 5) who can summon equal

reinforcements in 2 rounds. The PCs will be unable to gain

further contact with Draveross.

Draveross Untillion, King’s Door Warden

If the PCs ask about an oficial who controls access to the

palace or keeps records of visitors, Jab’roth nods and says:

“Draveross, the King’s Door Warden. He monitors the

comings and goings of the palace!” If a PC makes a DC 10

Knowledge (nobility and royalty) or DC 15 Intelligence check

they remember tales of the Sea King’s Door Warden as well,

remembering stories of his unwavering allegiance to the King.

It is easy to gain an audience with Draveross (LE male aquatic

elf aristocrat 7), and he listens gravely to any concerns they

express over the prince. If they reveal their mission, he leans

in conspiratorially and whispers that he too believes there may

Fluesh’pa Makko, Master Cellarer

Jab’roth brings up Makko if the PCs ask about anyone who

might have free access throughout the palace grounds or

knowledge of the palace’s staff. Likewise a DC 15 Profession

check related to some related service industry such as

innkeeper, cook, vinter, or brewer or a DC 18 Wisdom check

made by any PC reveals that a palace must have a cellarer

who knows the lesser monitored servants’ means of entering

the stronghold. Getting to see Makko requires a DC 12

Diplomacy check or a DC 16 Bluff check. Makko (N male

locathah expert 3) is an old friend of Jab’roth and helpful

but knows nothing in particular about the prince. He does

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