4. Hunger of the Deep

Once the players are ready to begin this last section of the adventure, read or paraphrase the following to set the scene:

“Wake up, travelers!” The voice of Boerth, one of Wavechaser's Crew members, rouses you from slumber. The sun is barely above the horizon, but you can just make out the docks of a port through the porthole window of your cabin. “It’s past dawn and time to get moving.”

When the adventurers emerge from their cabin, they find that the refugees from Palma Flora are packing up the few possessions they were able to save. They thank the characters again for their rescue before going ashore. One of the refugees has business contacts in the port, and can arrange to help the other refugees find shelter and plan their next moves. He is also able to draw on funds as a final reward for the characters’ assistance—5 gp per refugee brought on board.
If the characters made friends with any of these NPCs and want them to stay, they can encourage them to hang around the ship and continue traveling with them. Otherwise, all the refugees leave the adventure here. You can reintroduce these NPCs when the characters return to any port in the Clovis Concord, if either you or the players want to see them again.

Adapting Your Port of Call

An important part of being a Dungeon Master is knowing how to present the players with choices while also not forcing yourself to do more work than you have to. Allowing players the option of visiting three different ports is potentially a huge amount of work, even with the help of a book such as this one. To minimize the amount of preparation you have to do, a generic settlement with several shops and locations is presented here. Short descriptions then talk about how to make each possible settlement unique.
Three Earrings is in something of a rush and suggests that the characters not spend too much time on shore—or she’ll leave without them. This makes exploring the larger cities of Port Damali and Port Zoon less appealing, at least for now.

Port General Features

All the ports that the characters can visit in this section have the following general features. The specific information on the three ports, below, tells you how these general features and their NPCs are modified for each port.

• Apothecary - The port has a dedicated herbalist (use the druid stat block) selling remedies to passing travelers. The druid has four potions of healing in stock, which sell for 50 gp each, and one potion of animal friendship that sells for 125 gp.
• General Goods Store - The port has a general goods store, which sells items in the “Adventuring Gear” section in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook worth 50 gp or less. The store’s clerk (use the commoner stat block) has four of each item in stock. Characters can also sell items to the general goods store for half their price in the Player’s Handbook.
• Scrollery - The port has a shop that sells magic scrolls. The scribe here (use the mage stat block) has four spell scrolls for sale at a cost of 50 gp each: one spell scroll of magic missile, one of shield, one of guiding bolt, and one of thunderwave.
• Smithy - The port has a smithy that sells any armor and weapons found in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook worth 200 gp or less. The smithy has two of each item in stock.

Bisaft Isle

In addition to the general features noted above, the port of Bisaft Isle has the following features.

• Atmosphere - Bisaft Isle is warm and balmy, particularly in the early morning. The whole port smells of fresh rain. Its people are wary of Three Earrings, but are kind to visitors and refugees.
• Bisaft Scrollery - The scrollery is a mile from the harbor and is run by an old female tortle shaman named Grimalda (use the mage stat block). She owes Three Earrings a favor and grants one party member a charm of water breathing (see “Charms” in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide). The charm allows the character to cast the water breathing spell, after which its magic fades.

Brokenbank

In addition to the general features noted above, Brokenbank has the following features.

• Atmosphere - Brokenbank is a muddy, rain-slick village crammed full of travelers. It can feel claustrophobic, and it seems as though a leering Zhelezo guard stands on every street corner.
• Brokenbank Apothecary - Brokenbank's apothecary is a chubby, female sea elf druid named Aldageam. Three Earrings saved Aldageam’s life when she was young, and although she doesn’t fully trust the tabaxi (who she knows is a pirate), she is happy to help her friend. She has ten potions of water breathing in stock and sells them to the characters at half price for 40 gp each.
• Brokenbank Pawnshop and General Store - Brokenbank features a thriving pawn shop that doubles as its general store. Items sold here fetch 75 percent of their value rather than 50 percent.

Port Damali

In addition to the general features noted above, Port Damali has the following features.

• Atmosphere - Port Damali is a beautiful and lively city, but its docks are smelly, weather-beaten, and dangerous.
• Hektor's Smithy - The local smithy has received several experimental breathing helmets from inventors in Port Zoon. Three Earrings gives a letter to the adventurers and asks that they deliver it to the smith without opening it. (The letter reads: “The Revelry is requisitioning your supply of diving helmets. Ask no questions, and your next shipment will arrive unharried.”) The smith is a middle-aged human veteran named Hektor. He blanches when the note is read, but then offers up a number of diving helmets equal to the number of characters in the party. Each resembles a helm of steel and glass resembling a cage wrapped around a fishbowl. If asked about payment, the smith stammers out, “They’re yours! No questions asked. Thank you for your patronage.” These experimental helmets are breathing bubbles, described in chapter 6.

Departing for Palma Flora

Once the characters have concluded their business in port, Three Earrings looks sternly at them and asks, “Are you prepared? You’re about to risk life and limb for naught but treasure and a sense of vengeance. The only folk who would do such a thing are the greedy, the foolish, and those with nothing left to lose.”
A character can make a DC 16 Wisdom (Insight) check to read the tabaxi’s inscrutable face. On a success, the character discerns that Three Earrings is conflicted over something—and that she might even be looking at them sympathetically with her catlike eyes.

Roleplaying Three Earrings

Against her own nature, Three Earrings has taken a liking to these adventurers (unless they have done something to annoy her) and is having second thoughts about using them as disposable tools in her attempt to gain the Rod of Retribution.
If a character confronts the tabaxi over this in private at any time before the final battle (see “Sharkfeather Abyss” later in this chapter), Three Earrings asks, “What’s the most important thing a captain can feel for her crew? Is it trust? Or is it pride?” The character can make a DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check when they answer her. On a success, Three Earrings nods sadly and reconsiders her plan to use the adventurers as pawns. This choice comes into play after the final battle (see “Concluding the Adventure”).

Encounter on the Open Sea

In the middle of the night, one day after Wavechaser leaves port, the ship’s navigator, Kijori, shouts out a warning. Another ship has emerged from behind a tall rock formation and is moving to intercept!
This encounter provides a means of breaking up travel and for deepening the intrigue surrounding Three Earrings. If your group wants to finish the rest of this adventure in a single game session and is pressed for time, consider skipping this encounter.
The intercepting ship, named Moonbeam, is a caravel flying the colors of the Clovis Concord, the government of the Menagerie Coast. The craft is slightly smaller than Wavechaser and is gaining on her rapidly. Moonbeam is on the hunt for Three Earrings and is captained by Lieutenant Commander Voskiir Larth, a princely and flamboyant pale-skinned, male half-elf bandit captain. Wavechaser's druid crew member Dajarkal, a spy for the Clovis Concord, has reported the ship’s movements by way of her animal messengers, and Moonbeam has been sent to intercept the secret pirate vessel.

Combat Begins

It takes Moonbeam 10 minutes to intercept Wavechaser, giving the characters and the crew time to wake up and don their armor (see “Getting Into and Out of Armor” in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook). Combat begins when Voskiir and his boarding party of two thugs, two scouts, and four bandits swing aboard the vessel. He shouts out, “In the name of the laws of the Clovis Concord, surrender your vessel peacefully, or we shall take her!”
Three Earrings keeps a low profile at the start of the fight, skulking in the shadows and hoping that the crew and the characters can convince Voskiir he’s grabbed up the wrong ship. However, the commander responds to the slightest provocation with overzealous force. If the characters or crew react with confusion or try to talk things out with him, he refuses to listen and attacks outright. Use the map of Wavechaser to judge the positions of the characters, their allies, and their enemies in this combat.

Complex Combat

Running a combat with several allied NPCs can be complicated. To simplify this situation, have the four bandits on Voskiir's crew engage Boerth, Dajarkal, Dillyu, and Kijori, while Three Earrings fights from the shadows and Heidi stays at the helm to steer the vessel. This leaves the characters to take on Voskiir at the center of the fight. You can resolve these one-on-one duels using dice as normal if you wish, or you can declare that one side defeats the other depending on how the characters conclude their battle with Voskiir.
Dajarkal and Dillyu are wild cards in the battle, and can be used as you see fit. Dajarkal is a mercenary with no real alliance to the Clovis Concord, so she might hang back at first to see which side gains the upper hand. Dillyu might need to have a character convince him to fight on their side before he joins the fray.

Concluding Combat

Combat ends when Voskiir and his boarding party are defeated. Moonbeam sails away with all haste once the battle is lost, but Wavechaser doesn’t follow. If the boarding party is killed, that’s the end of that. If the adventurers capture Voskiir, however, they have the chance to interrogate him. (You can also have Dajarkal or one of Voskiir’s crew know what he knows if the captain didn’t survive.)
Voskiir offers up willingly that Three Earrings is a Revelry pirate and that he is an officer of the Shore Wardens sent to apprehend her. If the characters try to get more out of him, you can cut things short by having Three Earrings appear and order one of her crew to “Throw this wretched do-gooder in the brig.”
If Three Earrings's piratical nature isn’t public knowledge yet, now is a good time for the characters to question her about it. She tries to deflect all criticism and claims that she simply wants to claim the Rod of Retribution. The fact that she’s a pirate has no bearing on the characters’ situation. “Unless,” she adds with a smirk, “word gets out that you attacked an officer of the Clovis Concord defending a wanted corsair. Right now, the only people who know about this are you, me, and the varmints who boarded our ship.”

Parent Plot

Tide of Retribution