The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

‘My friends, these enemies of ours have been busy on
many fronts. I have received a magical distress signal
from a fellow mage of Xoth Sarandi, the Lady Azbeth,
who has spent the last six months investigating the
motley pirate brotherhood that call themselves the Sea
Harriers. She was convinced that they had made an
alliance with the drow, and based her views on reports
of ships seen in the mist, captained and crewed entirely
by dark elves. Now, it seems, she has come a little too
close to the truth. Her sending said that the Sea Harrier
vessel A Dream of Pomegranates was closing on her
and she had no chance of outrunning them.
‘By now, Azbeth has undoubtedly been taken prisoner.
The Sea Harriers have her. I cannot tell whether or
not she still lives. From what she was able to tell me
in the little time she had, the Sea Harriers have indeed
struck some sort of a deal with the drow. There is strong
evidence to suggest that they are behind the kraken’s
presence at the harbour. It is imperative that we go to
her aid, both for her sake and for our own. If it is true
that the Sea Harriers called up the kraken, then we may
be able to undo their work and send it back to whatever
ocean trench it crawled from.
‘Azbeth was able to tell me her location before she was
taken. According to the maps, she was in the open sea
hundreds of miles from land, which can only mean that
she is still on one of the Sea Harriers’ ships. I suggest
that we seek that ship and attempt to intercept it before
it reaches land.’
If the Player Characters check the location that
Archimandrus cites, they see that it is indeed in a region
of open sea, only two or three days’ sailing away from
their current location. The maps show nothing at all
nearby, not even the tiniest of islands.
Event: Hunting the Hunters
Searching for the Sea Harriers that took Azbeth is a
wearisome task. The Player Characters can do little but
scour her last known location looking for clues, while
Archimandrus repeatedly casts enlarged locate creature
spells and tries to scry on Azbeth. His scrying reveals
her to be alive, chained up in a tiny wooden-walled cell
that is obviously part of a ship.
The Games Master can extend this search as long as is
appropriate for the story, throwing in red herrings and
random encounters as needed. We suggest any of the
following:
A band of ‘helpful’ merfolk who lie about having seen
the Sea Harriers and spin a tall story about where they
went.
A pair of whales fleeing past the Player Characters’ ship,
closely followed by the cry of a sea serpent echoing
across the waters (actually the Beast Bellower from the
deck of the Celebration, for which see below).
A group of tritons or aquatic elves who encountered
Azbeth and spoke to her before she was captured.
A gang of pirates from the Shard, who hate the Sea
Harriers and know nothing of any prisoner.
The Player Characters should, however, find a lead
before they become bored. While they are searching,
the Games Master should have one of them notice a fog
bank off the port bow. At sea it is important to avoid
fog if possible, as ships can easily collide with unseen
hazards, so it would be wise to inform the crew. In
fact, the Sea Harriers have been banking on just such
caution in order to remain undetected, since nobody
would purposefully steer into a fog bank. A Knowledge
(nature) or Profession (sailor) check (DC 20) reveals
that the weather conditions are not right for fog. There
is something unnatural about this cloud.
If the Player Characters need even more encouragement
to steer into it, Archimandrus exclaims that he has
found Azbeth. His enlarged locate creature spells show
that she is less than 1,600 feet away, in a direction that
would take the ship right into the fog bank.
The fog can work to the Player Characters’ advantage
here. It conceals the mothership, but it also hides
anything approaching it. The smaller the craft, the more
efficient is the concealment. The Player Characters can
choose how best to approach whatever lies inside the
fog. Taking one of the ship’s rowing boats is better for
stealth, while going in with the whole ship provides
more warriors in the event of a fight. Archimandrus
argues for stealth, since they have no idea what is in
there.
Event: Sighting the Celebration
When the Player Characters first encounter the
Celebration, the Games Master should read or
paraphrase the following:
There seems to be no end to the chill fog that surrounds
you. The only sound is the rhythmic sculling of oars
in the water. Then, looming out of the fog, you see the
vague shape of a ship, though it seems to be nothing but
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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