While the Tropic Thunder payed their respects to Vicros' body, they detected light coming their way fast from the northwestern exit of the cave. Cyq and Graim hid while Quarion greeted a young woman who was running away from another deformed deinonychus. After the monster was defeated, she introduced herself as Halja, a soldier in the employ of the Sasserine military. The sister of one of her friends had been pressed into service with the Crimson Fleet. Research revealed that the press gang had relocated to Kraken's Cove. She and her friends charged the cove a few days ago, but were killed or subdued by the pirates, who were normal human beings at the time. While Halja was wasting away alone in a cell in a cavern to the north, she felt strange, like someone was trying to take control of her mind, someone angry and hungry. Halja resisted the foreign influence, but all around her, pirates and prisoners alike transformed into savage creatures. Anyone who resisted the change was promptly eaten by the ones who did not. Halja was lucky enough to be alone in her cage, and eventually one of the savage creatures that tried unsuccessfully to grab her through the bars kicked the keys within her reach. As soon as she exited her cage and lighted a torch to guide her way, she was spotted by a savage deinonychus, and this is when she stumbled into the rest of the heroes. Halja decided to fight along the heroes to find her friend's sister.
A low table in the northeast corner held a number of rare books laid out to dry on it. This collection of tomes on topics ranging from lizardfolk cuisine to naturalist studies of the Amedio was water damaged.
Unfortunately, Halja and Quarion's wolf were infected by the creature during their battle. Furthermore, Quarion's wolf collapsed into a coma-like state and transformed into a savage creature, so Quarion had to put it down. The Tropic Thunder spent a couple of days hiding in the Sea Wyvern, nursing their wounds, while Quarion found a new wolf companion in the wilds surrounding the cove.
A search of the rubble on the beach (taking three hours, 20 minutes) uncovered three surviving items of value - a leather sack of stolen saffron, a case of fine dishware, and a case of potions of cure moderate wounds stolen from a naval frigate (of which only three survived intact).
When Graim explored the harbor underwater he noted a section of seabed about forty feet from shore that appeared strangely barren of life - the rocks and sand gleamed, with not a trace of seaweed to be found. When Quarion searched this region, he discovered what looked like a fist-sized black pearl that had shattered into five jagged chunks. The shattered remains bore a dim magical aura.
The next cavern must have served as a mess hall, yet now the large tables lay in ruins. To the north, dozens of barrels that once contained fresh water and food stores had been smashed to splinters. Bodies lay throughout the caves in various stages of dismemberment and consumption - it was hard to count the total dead due to the stage of the corpses, but at least twelve people recently met a gory end in this cave.
One of the savage pirates had spent the last hour in a gruesome repast of his friends - a former bosun lay strewn on the table. He was in the kitchen area in the southwest corner of the room, hacking away with relish at the dead crewman with his cleaver, while two of his fellow cannibals waited impatiently at a table. As soon as they detected the Tropic Thunder, they attacked.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Deinonychus
This fast carnivore is sometimes called a velociraptor, though that name properly belongs to a much smaller creature. A deinonychus is bright green along its back and flanks, with a much lighter shade of the same color on its underside. The body has darker spots or stripes. Its tail extends straight out behind itself, held aloft by an intricate structure of bony supports, thus allowing its weight to be carried entirely by its back legs. It weighs about 600 pounds.
Sea Cat
The sea cat is a fearsome aquatic predator. Sea cats inhabit shallow coastal waters, making their lairs in undersea caves or in the wreckage of ships. They hunt for fish, aquatic mammals, sea birds, and anything else they can catch and kill. They have the scent special ability.
Sea cats are aggressively territorial, attacking any creature, regardless of size, that enters their domain. Their chief enemies and competitors are sharks, and sea cats go out of their way to attack them. Sometimes they form temporary prides to deal with particularly dangerous or persistent intruders. Their normal pride structure is much like that of terrestrial lions.
Sea cats are aggressively territorial, attacking any creature, regardless of size, that enters their domain. Their chief enemies and competitors are sharks, and sea cats go out of their way to attack them. Sometimes they form temporary prides to deal with particularly dangerous or persistent intruders. Their normal pride structure is much like that of terrestrial lions.
Wyvern
A distant cousin to the true dragons, the wyvern is a huge flying lizard with a poisonous stinger in its tail. A wyvern does not have a strong odor, although its lair might smell of a recent kill. A wyvern's body is 15 feet long, and dark brown to gray; half that length is tail. Its wingspan is about 20 feet. A wyvern weighs about one ton. Wyverns speak Draconic, but usually don't bother with anything more elaborate than a loud hiss or a deep-throated growl much like that of a bull alligator.
Wyverns are rather stupid but always aggressive. They attack nearly anything that isn't obviously more powerful than themselves. A wyvern dives from the air, snatching the opponent with its talons and stinging it to death. A wyvern can slash with its talons only when making a flyby attack. Wyverns have the scent special ability.
Wyverns are rather stupid but always aggressive. They attack nearly anything that isn't obviously more powerful than themselves. A wyvern dives from the air, snatching the opponent with its talons and stinging it to death. A wyvern can slash with its talons only when making a flyby attack. Wyverns have the scent special ability.
Hall of Hanging Silks (month 1, day 8)
Once the Tropic Thunder reached the cliffs overlooking Kraken's Cove, they were greeted with a tragic sight.
In the sheltered cove below, signs of a past inferno were visible. Several ships, including a two-masted caravel, a sizeable frigate, a long barge, and what might have once been a schooner were all burnt to the waterline. Further out, a three-masted caravel seems to have escaped the fire - for now. A shiny slick on the surface of the water itself reflected the sunlight, evidence of an oil fire. The crashing sounds of the waves masked any other sounds that may be issuing up from below. Through periodic gaps in the smoke, however, movement on the beach was visible - something still lived in the inferno below.
Descent to the beach below was accomplished by climbing down ropes. The cliffs that surrounded the cove were sheer but featured numerous handholds. They were forty feet high, and the Tropic Thunder scaled them down.
Another route was a rickety wooden walkway that descended from the eastern cliff down to the beach below. Although the fire had not reached it, the rickety wooden walkway had not been used by the pirates in some time and had rotted in the salt air.
To make the walkway less tempting, the tide carried one of the burnt ships careening into the west wall of the cove, where it had destroyed the central 50 feet of walkway.
The water in the eastern section of the cove was 20 feet deep - deep enough that a person could dive into the water from the cliffs forty feet above, taking no damage.
The one surviving ship in the harbor was the Sea Wyvern. The Sea Wyvern was a fearsome vessel. Her sails were decorated with stylized figures of a wyvern; its tail raised over its back as though ready to strike at enemies. Even its figure carried the figurehead as motif; a powerful wyvern, its wings unfurled, crouched at the prow. This ship had seen plenty of action; her hull was scarred in many places by scratches and dents, and a single huge claw mark raked across the starboard, deliberately left as a scar of battle. The ship's wheel was designed to represent a dozen-headed wyvern.
A fifty-foot wide beach separated the waters of Kraken's Cove from the cliffs to the north. A ten-foot-wide cave opened at the base of the cliff to the northwest, while to the northeast several planks provided a crude bridge across a tide pool to a second, smaller cave entrance. The swaths of blood and ragged body parts strewn across the beach testified to a terrible and recent battle upon the sands here. Broken crates and bamboo cages littered the area, blood and bits of bone sprayed across bolts of silk and cracked barrels of ambergris seeping into the coarse, rocky sand. A number of mangled corpses, each stripped nearly clean of flesh and bones cracked open, lay strewn about the beach. The casualties were staggering, with a quick count putting the dead at nearly forty.
Two savage pirated remained here, lurking hungrily among the rubble. They may have once been men, but now their gray skin, strangely flopping arms and legs, and the vacant-eyed vestigial head hanging from their neck make these creatures anything but. Yet perhaps worst of all is the creatures' mouth, a cavernous wound in their twisted face filled with a twisted landscape of teeth, a mouth designed for one thing only - the tearing of flesh from the bone.
The two savage pirates hid in the ruined wreckage along the shore, waiting for untainted flesh to draw them out. When they noted the Tropic Thunder approaching the cave entrances, the gibbering menaces leapt from hiding and charged.
Examination of the bodies in this area showed them to be devoured with a ferocity that bellies reason - bones gnashed in a single crashing bite, entire lengths of flesh and muscle ripped free. It was also obvious that the battle broke out suddenly between friends and allies. Crossbow bolts riddled the few savage pirates slain, and the mingling of deformed corpses and those nearly completely devoured was demonstrative of the infighting that took place. Near the tide pool, two sea cats lay dead on the rocks, still chained fast to a heavy iron stake embedded in the ground.
A deep pool of rushing water separated the smaller cave entrance from the beachhead. Two wide wooden planks served as a crude bridge to cross the surging waters of the pool.
The water was 20 feet deep below the boards. Crossing the slippery planks required a good balance.
The cave walls were of smooth, wet stone and stalactites hanged from the ceiling in places. Passageways averaged ten feet in height, and caverns were about twenty feet high. The pirates had long since removed the stalagmites that once clustered in many of the caves, and had spread sand through the entire area to even the floor and make movement through the caves less treacherous. The caves were lit by cheap hooded lanterns that hanged from the walls every 30 feet; these lanterns were burnt out by the time the Tropic Thunder entered the caves.
There were body parts, swaths of blood stained sand, deep scratches in the walls, and other macabre hints of mayhem throughout the caves. Further, exploration of the caves was accompanied by a symphony of howls, shrieks, maniacal laughter, clanging of metal on metal, and other discordant sounds one might expect from a madhouse whose locks have failed. As a result, hearing accuracy suffered in the caves.
Dozens of bolts of once-fine brocaded silk hanged from lines of rope stretched lengthwise across the ceiling of the first cavern, making it difficult to accurately judge the size of the sandy-floored cavern.
There the Tropic Thunder faced a creature resembling a deinonychus. The deinonychus' back writhed with wriggling tentacles, several of which wept puss and left a disgusting trail of yellowish smears on nearby silk sheets.
The hanging silks provided cover for any creature standing behind them, as they served to obscure vision and cast long shadows on the walls. As soon as the deinonychus detected the Tropic Thunder, it began stalking them, slipping quietly through the hanging sheets of silk until it picked Vicros to attack. The dinosaur then pounced on Vicros, killing him within seconds before the rest of the heroes could defeat it.
In the sheltered cove below, signs of a past inferno were visible. Several ships, including a two-masted caravel, a sizeable frigate, a long barge, and what might have once been a schooner were all burnt to the waterline. Further out, a three-masted caravel seems to have escaped the fire - for now. A shiny slick on the surface of the water itself reflected the sunlight, evidence of an oil fire. The crashing sounds of the waves masked any other sounds that may be issuing up from below. Through periodic gaps in the smoke, however, movement on the beach was visible - something still lived in the inferno below.
Descent to the beach below was accomplished by climbing down ropes. The cliffs that surrounded the cove were sheer but featured numerous handholds. They were forty feet high, and the Tropic Thunder scaled them down.
Another route was a rickety wooden walkway that descended from the eastern cliff down to the beach below. Although the fire had not reached it, the rickety wooden walkway had not been used by the pirates in some time and had rotted in the salt air.
To make the walkway less tempting, the tide carried one of the burnt ships careening into the west wall of the cove, where it had destroyed the central 50 feet of walkway.
The water in the eastern section of the cove was 20 feet deep - deep enough that a person could dive into the water from the cliffs forty feet above, taking no damage.
The one surviving ship in the harbor was the Sea Wyvern. The Sea Wyvern was a fearsome vessel. Her sails were decorated with stylized figures of a wyvern; its tail raised over its back as though ready to strike at enemies. Even its figure carried the figurehead as motif; a powerful wyvern, its wings unfurled, crouched at the prow. This ship had seen plenty of action; her hull was scarred in many places by scratches and dents, and a single huge claw mark raked across the starboard, deliberately left as a scar of battle. The ship's wheel was designed to represent a dozen-headed wyvern.
A fifty-foot wide beach separated the waters of Kraken's Cove from the cliffs to the north. A ten-foot-wide cave opened at the base of the cliff to the northwest, while to the northeast several planks provided a crude bridge across a tide pool to a second, smaller cave entrance. The swaths of blood and ragged body parts strewn across the beach testified to a terrible and recent battle upon the sands here. Broken crates and bamboo cages littered the area, blood and bits of bone sprayed across bolts of silk and cracked barrels of ambergris seeping into the coarse, rocky sand. A number of mangled corpses, each stripped nearly clean of flesh and bones cracked open, lay strewn about the beach. The casualties were staggering, with a quick count putting the dead at nearly forty.
The two savage pirates hid in the ruined wreckage along the shore, waiting for untainted flesh to draw them out. When they noted the Tropic Thunder approaching the cave entrances, the gibbering menaces leapt from hiding and charged.
Examination of the bodies in this area showed them to be devoured with a ferocity that bellies reason - bones gnashed in a single crashing bite, entire lengths of flesh and muscle ripped free. It was also obvious that the battle broke out suddenly between friends and allies. Crossbow bolts riddled the few savage pirates slain, and the mingling of deformed corpses and those nearly completely devoured was demonstrative of the infighting that took place. Near the tide pool, two sea cats lay dead on the rocks, still chained fast to a heavy iron stake embedded in the ground.
A deep pool of rushing water separated the smaller cave entrance from the beachhead. Two wide wooden planks served as a crude bridge to cross the surging waters of the pool.
The water was 20 feet deep below the boards. Crossing the slippery planks required a good balance.
The cave walls were of smooth, wet stone and stalactites hanged from the ceiling in places. Passageways averaged ten feet in height, and caverns were about twenty feet high. The pirates had long since removed the stalagmites that once clustered in many of the caves, and had spread sand through the entire area to even the floor and make movement through the caves less treacherous. The caves were lit by cheap hooded lanterns that hanged from the walls every 30 feet; these lanterns were burnt out by the time the Tropic Thunder entered the caves.
There were body parts, swaths of blood stained sand, deep scratches in the walls, and other macabre hints of mayhem throughout the caves. Further, exploration of the caves was accompanied by a symphony of howls, shrieks, maniacal laughter, clanging of metal on metal, and other discordant sounds one might expect from a madhouse whose locks have failed. As a result, hearing accuracy suffered in the caves.
Dozens of bolts of once-fine brocaded silk hanged from lines of rope stretched lengthwise across the ceiling of the first cavern, making it difficult to accurately judge the size of the sandy-floored cavern.
There the Tropic Thunder faced a creature resembling a deinonychus. The deinonychus' back writhed with wriggling tentacles, several of which wept puss and left a disgusting trail of yellowish smears on nearby silk sheets.
The hanging silks provided cover for any creature standing behind them, as they served to obscure vision and cast long shadows on the walls. As soon as the deinonychus detected the Tropic Thunder, it began stalking them, slipping quietly through the hanging sheets of silk until it picked Vicros to attack. The dinosaur then pounced on Vicros, killing him within seconds before the rest of the heroes could defeat it.
Replacement PCs
Just in case we have more casualties, these character ideas work well with the current part of the campaign:
Jade Ravens: While the Vanderborens' trusted mercenary company are specifically detailed, their allies could make perfect sources for new PCs. A compatriot of the Ravens hired to infiltrate the party could make a good-naturedly duplicitous PC. Alternatively, a relation of one of the Jade Ravens' members - too young or inexperienced to join the company - might join the PCs either to show his worth or vex his family.
Natives: The Olman humans and the grugach elves of the Amedio Jungle make perfect sources of exotic characters. Barbarians, sorcerers, and clerics of savage deities might all have inscrutable reasons for seeking out the PCs. The pirates of the Crimson Fleet might also have a particular interest in Olman natives, primarily as slaves to sell to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Should the PCs free such captives, some tribe members might join the party to repay the life-debt owed.
Sasserine Military: The city's varied military holdings each present opportunities for new characters. Blisterwall and Castle Rakin both support soldiers well versed in tracking and familiar with the ways and creatures of the jungle, mountains, and swamps. Fort Fendawor might produce sailors and marines experienced at sea and skilled at fighting pirates. While members of all classes and races could find employ in the Sasserine military, human fighters and rangers most commonly fill the ranks.
Swamper: Those uncomfortable with or outcast from society scratch out hard lives in the swamps. Smugglers, swamp hunters, bog witches, and followers of strange religions might all find a desirable solitude among the snakes and insects. Any class or race with reason to retreat from civilization might cross paths with the party in the swamp.
Jade Ravens: While the Vanderborens' trusted mercenary company are specifically detailed, their allies could make perfect sources for new PCs. A compatriot of the Ravens hired to infiltrate the party could make a good-naturedly duplicitous PC. Alternatively, a relation of one of the Jade Ravens' members - too young or inexperienced to join the company - might join the PCs either to show his worth or vex his family.
Natives: The Olman humans and the grugach elves of the Amedio Jungle make perfect sources of exotic characters. Barbarians, sorcerers, and clerics of savage deities might all have inscrutable reasons for seeking out the PCs. The pirates of the Crimson Fleet might also have a particular interest in Olman natives, primarily as slaves to sell to the Scarlet Brotherhood. Should the PCs free such captives, some tribe members might join the party to repay the life-debt owed.
Sasserine Military: The city's varied military holdings each present opportunities for new characters. Blisterwall and Castle Rakin both support soldiers well versed in tracking and familiar with the ways and creatures of the jungle, mountains, and swamps. Fort Fendawor might produce sailors and marines experienced at sea and skilled at fighting pirates. While members of all classes and races could find employ in the Sasserine military, human fighters and rangers most commonly fill the ranks.
Swamper: Those uncomfortable with or outcast from society scratch out hard lives in the swamps. Smugglers, swamp hunters, bog witches, and followers of strange religions might all find a desirable solitude among the snakes and insects. Any class or race with reason to retreat from civilization might cross paths with the party in the swamp.
Friday, June 6, 2014
KRAKEN'S COVE (month 1, days 5-8)
Kraken's Cove serves smugglers well, for the entrance to this secluded rift in the coastal cliffs that line the eastern shore of Blood Bay is riddled with dangerous reefs and submerged threats. As a result, only sailors who know the region or possess charts of the waters dare approach the cliffs here - the ship the Tropic Thunder has access to has neither.
Without charts, the safest option was to put aground a few miles north of Kraken's Cove at a secluded beach. From there, it was a fairly short hike up to the cliff tops and then south along a narrow path that eventually reaches the cove itself.
Before the Tropic Thunder reached Kraken's Cove, they realized something was horribly wrong. Plumes of smoke rose into the sky above the cove, visible from a mile away. Worse, as the heroes approached, swaths of dead wildlife, from parrot to gull to monkey to snake, lay dead on the ground, their bodies horribly distorted and deformed. What few wild animals remained alive were similarly deformed, and shockingly aggressive. The Thunder witnessed animals tearing each other apart numerous times on their approach, and at some point before they reached the cove, a clutch of five deformed monkeys attacked them as well.
The five deformed monkeys flopped and writhed down from the trees or across the ground with shocking speed. Their jaws were filled with tiny fangs, and their bodies were covered with open sores from which hooked bonespurs protruded. The deformed monkeys fought to the death, and could be effectively harmed only by magic weapons.
When a deformed monkey died, it immediately made a bite attack, snapping at any one creature in reach just before it succumbed. Once this bite attack was resolved, the deformed monkey's body melted into a puddle of acidic goo, leaving behind only its skeleton. Any living creature within a five foot radius of a melting deformed monkey took acid damage - this acid damage affected only living flesh. The deformed monkeys themselves were resistant to acid. A pool of acid remained on the ground, taking up a space equal to the monkey's space while living - it dealt damage to any creature that moved through the area. The acid dried to a harmless green powder over the course of one minute.
A deformed monkey fought without penalty while disabled and dying.
A creature bitten by a deformed monkey could contract a supernatural disease. The incubation time of this disease was 1 minute, after which point the victim's flesh broke out into a terrible black rash that caused short bony protrusions to extrude from the affected area; the victim also took Intelligence damage. Every day thereafter, the victim took more Intelligence damage as the terrible rash spread and his mind grew more and more bestial.
Since Vicros and Quarion's wolf were afflicted with the disease, the Tropic Thunder returned to the fishing boat, where Quarion successfully treated them both.
Without charts, the safest option was to put aground a few miles north of Kraken's Cove at a secluded beach. From there, it was a fairly short hike up to the cliff tops and then south along a narrow path that eventually reaches the cove itself.
Before the Tropic Thunder reached Kraken's Cove, they realized something was horribly wrong. Plumes of smoke rose into the sky above the cove, visible from a mile away. Worse, as the heroes approached, swaths of dead wildlife, from parrot to gull to monkey to snake, lay dead on the ground, their bodies horribly distorted and deformed. What few wild animals remained alive were similarly deformed, and shockingly aggressive. The Thunder witnessed animals tearing each other apart numerous times on their approach, and at some point before they reached the cove, a clutch of five deformed monkeys attacked them as well.
The five deformed monkeys flopped and writhed down from the trees or across the ground with shocking speed. Their jaws were filled with tiny fangs, and their bodies were covered with open sores from which hooked bonespurs protruded. The deformed monkeys fought to the death, and could be effectively harmed only by magic weapons.
When a deformed monkey died, it immediately made a bite attack, snapping at any one creature in reach just before it succumbed. Once this bite attack was resolved, the deformed monkey's body melted into a puddle of acidic goo, leaving behind only its skeleton. Any living creature within a five foot radius of a melting deformed monkey took acid damage - this acid damage affected only living flesh. The deformed monkeys themselves were resistant to acid. A pool of acid remained on the ground, taking up a space equal to the monkey's space while living - it dealt damage to any creature that moved through the area. The acid dried to a harmless green powder over the course of one minute.
A deformed monkey fought without penalty while disabled and dying.
A creature bitten by a deformed monkey could contract a supernatural disease. The incubation time of this disease was 1 minute, after which point the victim's flesh broke out into a terrible black rash that caused short bony protrusions to extrude from the affected area; the victim also took Intelligence damage. Every day thereafter, the victim took more Intelligence damage as the terrible rash spread and his mind grew more and more bestial.
Since Vicros and Quarion's wolf were afflicted with the disease, the Tropic Thunder returned to the fishing boat, where Quarion successfully treated them both.
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