Page 183 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

Development. Sgothgah recognizes that accom· lyre) found by a cultist years before. The lyre is the cult's
plished adventurers would be highly useful servants in greatest treasure. and has been kept as a gift for the
its conflict against the aboleths sent from the Endless leader that the cultists hoped would someday come to
Nadir, and it tries to keep at least three of the characters them. (They offered the lyre to Sgothgah. but the aboleth
alive if it can. If the battle appears to be turning against had no use for it.)
the characters, Sgothgah contacts one of them telepath-
ically (without identifying itself) to demand their surren- MYSTERIOUS TuNNEL
der. If that demand is ref used. the aboleth softens it to a The submerged tunnel snakes westward for nearly a
request that they accept a temporary truce and agrees to mile, and is flooded along its entire length. It opens up
answer a few questions.
to the seafloor 40 feet underwater and a few hundred
The aboleth has no intention of dealing with the char-
feet off a deserted stretch of coastline. The only visible
acters honestly, since inferior beings don't merit such
landmark in the area is the spire of Landgrave·s Folly,
treatment. Using its Probing Telepathy, it discerns each
the sunken island where Sgothgah has been raising the
character's greatest desire. then uses this information
juvenile kraken.
against the party, promising each character what it
ff the characters return to the Styes without explor-
knows the character wants in exchange for nothing
ing the area further, any of the folk in the Styes can tell
more than being allowed to spend a few more months
the story of Landgrave's Folly (as detailed in the next
in the temple. After that time, Sgothgah promises, it
section) in response to hearing about the spire that the
will return to the unfathomable depths of the ocean and
characters spotted jutting out of the waves. If the char-
never bother humanity again.
acters investigate the temple and take on the final sec-
If the characters have put together a sense of the abo- tion of the adventure immediately, the background story
leth's plots, Sgothgah admits that it is raising a kraken, ofLandgrave's Folly can be filled in after they return to
but it claims that the creature is meant to be used the Styes.
against its enemies in an ongoing civil war between
opposing factions of the aboleth civilization. It claims PART 5: THARIZDUN's
that those enemies are already probing the aboleth's de-
fenses around the Styes, and are just as much a threat PROGENY
to the district and its people as to it. If the characters
are so inclined, Sgothgah says, it could use their help in At the height of the Styes' long-ago glory, a local ec-
driving them off-concocting some far-flung suicide mis- centric noble named Bryson Landgrave announced his
intention to discover what lay on the underside of the
sion for them on the spot.
Sgothgah freely weaves lies, truths, half-truths, and world. To that end, he ordered the digging of a great
the characters' desires into the conversation. As long pit that would eventually lead to whatever was there.
as doing so is believable, Sgothgah offers and promises Locals dismissed the effort as mad, but the noble was
anything- because the cunning creature has no inten- rich, and no one complained about the wages he offered
to diggers.
tion of ever delivering. All it wants is for at least three
For reasons no one could comprehend, Landgrave
promising victims to come close enough to the pool for it
chose to excavate down through the solid rock beneath a
to use a lair action to send forth a grasping tide, pulling
small islet a mile or so west of the Styes. The work went
the characters into the water in an attempt to infect and
well at the start. But then workers began to perish in bi-
enslave them.
zarre or mysterious accidents. In an attempt to counter
Dark Altar. The shark hanging above the stairs
his ill luck, the noble commissioned the construction of
serves as the altar in this evil place. The cult routinely
a temple (using material removed from the hole) at the
kidnaps beggars, vagrants, and lost children and sac-
dig site to confer blessings on his work. As Landgrave's
rifices them to the dark god, saving their heads and
affixing them to the shark. Eventually, the carcass will luck would have it, on the night the temple was to be
rot to the point where it tears loose from the ropes and consecrated, a violent earthquake struck the islet, which
falls into the water to be eaten by scavengers. When that sank into the sea and took the pit, the temple, all but a
happens, the cult members celebrate the occasion, hunt handful of workers, and Landgrave himself with it. Only
down a replacement shark, and star t the cycle again. the temple's spire is still visible above the waves as a
Treasure. The cultists hid treasure they have col- testament to what becomes of rich fools, and the site be-
lected from victims under the topmost step leading came known as Landgrave's Folly.
down into the pool. The treasure can be discovered with
a search of the staircase and a successful DC 18 Wis- DEATH FROM THE D EEP
dom (Perception) check. Landgrave's Folly is where Sgothgah has hidden the
Inside a flooded hollow under the removable step are growing kraken. in the pit at the bottom of the flooded,
eight sacks of coins, each containing 100 sp and 50 gp. ruined temple. The two aboleths that tried to attack the
A rusted iron coffer holds 17 pieces of jewelry worth a site did well in their earlier battle with Sgothgah, forcing
total of 1,530 gp. along with three potions of healing, it to retreat, and are in the process of dismantling the
four potions of greater healing, and six potions of water last of the magical wards set up by the renegade aboleth.
breathing. As the characters approach Landgrave's Folly after
Also inside the hollow is an object sealed inside a either defeating Sgothgah, making a deal with the abo-
tightly sewn oilcloth- an instrument of the bards (Cli leth, or succumbing to its enslavement. the two aboleths

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