Page 179 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

If Dory is aware of the characters' approach. he casts Dory is willing to give up this information because he
invisibility on himself before they arrive here. While knows its time in the Styes is coming to an end-and
the golem holds intruders at bay, Dory retreats to the
he wants to trigger as much final mayhem as it can.
far corner of the room and uses Eye of Corruption to
If he can't use the cult for its own purposes, he wants
weaken the most threatening character. He then follows
the characters to seek out and slaughter its members.
up with cloudkill. catching the victim of Eye of Corrup- That doesn't mean he won't nurse his grudge for a few
tion. He uses fear to drive the characters away from him months, then come back seeking revenge against the
and. with luck, into the lingering cloudkill spell. Finally, characters for ruining his fun.
he mixes fireball and his melee attacks to finish off the The wicker plate on the desk is heaped with strange
party. If the situation becomes dire, he casts ethereal- and hideous fish, their bodies burst as if from internal
ness in an attempt to escape. pressure. A successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature)
Development. If the golem is defeated and Dory is check identifies them as fish from the deep sea. seldom
captured, his bravado vanishes. He begs for mercy. caught by fishers. (Dory has the flesh golem fetch these
promising information to the characters in return. He delicacies.) A careful search of the room also locates a
willingly provides any of the following information in crumpled sheet of soggy parchment bearing a message:
exchange for a promise of freedom:
•
• Jarme was guilty of the Lantern Ghost murders, but
The catch again indicates a disturbance beneath us. We
was never anything but a mind-controlled pawn.
cannot locate the cause but fear THEY may be in the water
A cult ofTharizdun is thriving in the Low Quarter.
near you. Praise Tharizdun! He rests and awaits!
The cult has made an alliance with some sort of sea
monster, which the cultists have identified as a spawn The Whisperer anticipates renewed Lantern Ghost har-
of their dark god. vests-the young one must be fed. This is how you will serve
The cultists augment the spawn's growth by incubat- us. The harvest must increase, for the young one grows in
ing it in the fear and misery of the Styes. The Lantern
both size and appetite. Find someone to resume the Lan-
Ghost murders were set up to amplify that fear.
tern Ghost's task, and bring the candidate to the temple,
The cultists hope to have their god's spawn fully
grown in a matter of weeks. where we shall appraise its worth.
Dory does know the location of the cult's temple, and •
gladly shares it. But he will not go there with the char-
Dory received this note from one the Whisperer's min-
acters under any circumstances.
ions in response to jarme's arrest. It tasks Dory with
finding more Aesh and negative emotion for the kraken.
Other notes on the desk and the table arc either hor-
rid examples of disturbing erotica written with a shaky
hand. or various letters that implicate Dory in foul
crimes. Still more scraps of parchment contain scrib-
bles and crude drawings of tentacled monsters- mad vi-
sions induced by Dory's connection to the Whisperer. lf
the characters saw the drawings on the walls of jarme's
cell. they immediately notice a similarity.
Treasure. The mahogany box on the desk is unlocked.
Within it is a velvet purse containing six rubies (500 gp
each). The box also contains a tattered book with a Aorid
spiral design. A successful DC 15 Jntelligence (Religion)
check identifies this design as the symbol of Tharizdun.
The book is handwritten in a combination of Abyssal
and Infernal. It contains nonmagical prayers to Thariz-
dun, and a folded scrap of parchment tucked inside the
front cover with a note written in Infernal:
•
This book contains all the invocations and prayers you'll
need to learn the truth, Mr. Dory. The dark god's faithful
are wary of new converts. But learn the words, and they
should accept you soon enough. Seek their pulpit in the eve·
ning shadow of Frother's Lamp. Praise Tharizdun!

If the characters don't know the reference to ''Frother's
Lamp," inquiries anywhere in the district can direct ..
~
them toward the abandoned lighthouse in the Low <
:;
Quarter. where part 4 of the adventure takes place.

C II t\ PT l R 8 Tl 11 SJ) ~ s