The first Savage Tide has already touched the mortal world, yet none who live today recall this terrible time of red ruin. It swept over an ancient city, transforming beggar and noble, merchant and thief, resident and visitor, one and all into feral, ravenous fiends. What took the ancients hundreds of years to build came crumbling down in a matter of days. When the final ripples of the tide faded, only ruins remained.
Now, after a thousand years, the hidden architect of the Savage Tide gazes upon new targets. This time, the doom will not be limited to one hapless city. This time, all of civilization is perched on the shore, blissfully ignorant of what the tide is about to bring in.
Just remember, you don't have any of your gear or armor. All you have are your clothes and the weapons you picked up.
Max, that includes your holy symbol. This means you can't cast most of your spells. (I goofed when I let you cast Bull's Strength.)
Figuring that getting out of here as quickly as possible is your best bet, You take up your new-found weapons and head down the largest corridor, hoping that it will lead you out. The path immediately branches three ways: left, forward, and right, going from narrowest to widest in that order. Keeping to the widest branch, you turn right.
Fin's heart almost stops as he rounds the corner and a huge shape lunges at him. The priest has only a moment to spy the very sharp teeth on the creature and brace for impact, when it's pulled short, not a couple of feet from him, by a large chain bolted to its collar. A second joins in the attack, but it too is chained and can't leave the cavern.
As soon as he can breathe again, Fin can see that the creatures are cat-like hyena creatures that appear terribly sick ... and deformed. They have open sores on their bodies out of which bone spurs and tentacles have grown. The two seem angry, intent on attacking anything and everything that comes into the cavern.
As Fin and Wavedancer look on, the beasts continue to lunge at them, trying desperately to get free from their chains.
You don't know what it's called. But it's a krenshar - a strange, catlike carnivore with extremely flexible skin on its head. A typical krenshar measures 4 or 5 feet in length with a long, narrow head. It weighs about 175 pounds.
This image is a healthy krenshar. The ones you can see are malformed.
Wavedancer looks at the creatures, considering, "We should put them out of their misery." He frowns, "I can incapacitate them, perhaps ... though, it is not guaranteed."
He steps forward, "What do you think?"
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
"I think we should get out of here as fast as possible. These creatures will die anyway, we should spare our enery." Before Wavedancer can do anything stupid Fin takes the way in the middle.
Max Power - "Kids, there's three ways to do things; the right way, the wrong way and the Max Power way!"
Children - "Isn't that the wrong way?"
Max Power - "Yeah, but faster!"
Please remember that the encounters in here are calibrated for four adventurers with full gear. Running wildly around into rooms without thinking is a great way to get killed.
Avoiding the cat-like hyenas, Fin dashes down the middle corridor without much thought for what dangers might be within. He pauses, for a moment, at the entrance to the next cave. Without any light of your own, you're limited to what areas are lit by torches or lanterns. The trophy room is well lit, as is the kennel. But the cave in front of you either has no lights or has had its light put out.
Inside you can hear the sound of sloshing water, though none is visible within the dim area of light. Both Wavedancer and Fin are familiar enough with the sea to know that this isn't the sound of surf on the sand, but something else.
It's hard to hear much above the howls, screeches, and banging echoing through the caves, but as you pause, you can hear the sounds of something within the cave chewing loudly. Between bites whatever it is wails and calls out, "soooo hungry! Won't someone come and feed me?"
Meanwhile, the mutated hyena cats continue to growl and lunge, straining their chains with the desire to get free.
The shaded area represents dim light. Wavedancer can see in it just fine.
"Wait, would you?" Wavedancer follows the priest, but is not happy to be running around like a chicken without its head. The elf concentrates, attempting to form a cantrip to light their way. "Just wait, do not call out." Attempting to use his elvish sight, Wavedancer looks down the tunnel to try to see whatever it is that is yelling.
Dancing Lights
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
Fin stops walking and turns around. " I think you are right, I just wan't to get out of this cave as fast as possible. Any suggestions what we should do?"
Max Power - "Kids, there's three ways to do things; the right way, the wrong way and the Max Power way!"
Children - "Isn't that the wrong way?"
Max Power - "Yeah, but faster!"
"Trust me," the elf says, "You are not the only one." He peers through the darkness, broken slightly by his spell, in an attempt to see what is speaking the gibberish from down the tunnel.
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
Holding Fin back, Wavedancer offers a different solution than rushing into danger. The half sea elf quietly summons some dancing lights inside the chamber. The extreme noise in the caverns serves to mask the verbal components, and soon the cavern is lit without any indication of where the lights came from.
The lights reveal an open chamber, the southeastern half or third made up of a frothy tide pool, its depths thick with seaweed and its surface rolling with the surge of the sea. Several narrow fissures in the ceiling seem to lead up and out through the wall to the south, though none large enough for either Fin or Wavedancer. They do, however, allow a brisk breeze to whip through the chamber.
Sitting at the edge of the tide pool, gnawing on a half-eaten raw fish is what looks like a woman who has been disfigured in the same way the cat-like hyena creatures were. Overlayed over what might once have been a beautiful face and body, she has a twisted jaw of shark's teeth, a hunched back, and wide played hands writhing with additional hook-tipped fingers.
The creature looks up immediately upon seeing the light. "Is that you, my love?" she shrieks in a raspy, but recognizably female, voice. "I knew you wouldn't leave me here. You wouldn't leave me all alone and hungry. I knew you'd come back. She drops the fish and shambles over to the light.
"Where are you dearest," she cries out. "I don't want to play games. I want to eat. You must bring me food, my love." The creature seems puzzled by the lights and the lack of her lover. She walks up to and through the lights, and even pokes her head in the water.
When the lights go out, there is a hideous shriek. "VANTHUS! Don't leave me again. Don't leave me here alone!"
Dancing Lights appears, lasts a minute, then disappears. You can recast if you want. But for now, the room is dark.
This shows what it looked like when the lights first came up.
"Might I suggest another way?" Wavedancer says to the priest. "I do not believe I wish to deal with a crazed woman ..." The elf takes a step back, "I will light our way again. Let us find the path to freedom."
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
