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When an attempt to arrange an early inheritance backfires, a man of lesser ambition than Vanthus Vanderboren would no doubt withdraw into his sister’s manse to hide under her skirts and pray that the truth of his patricide remains hidden. Fortunately for Vanthus, lack of ambition has never been a problem. Now the Vanderborens’ prodigal son slinks east along the coast to Blood Bay, lured by rumors of an incredible prize kept in a smuggler’s hideout called Kraken’s Cove. Yet what he is destined to find there is far more than a lucrative bit of banditry. What awaits him is the savage tide.

“The Bullywug Gambit” is the second chapter of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in DUNGEON magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out DRAGON magazine’s monthly “Savage Tidings” articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand upon the campaign. Issue #349 of DRAGON magazine (Savage Tidings Part 2 : Beyond Sasserine) looks into the region surrounding Sasserine, and provides useful information if your PCs wish to explore this area more thoroughly than they do in the course of this adventure.

Switching Sides

It’s possible that the PCs agreed to Rowyn’s offer to join the Lotus Dragon at the end of “There Is No Honor,” in this case, their reasons for traveling to Kraken’s Cove change – Rowyn is concerned that Vanthus might not intend to return to Sasserine with her share of the haul, and hires the PCs to trail him in secret to Kraken’s Cove and observe him if he seems to be preparing treachery, the PCs are to intercede, capture him, and return him and his loot to the Lotus Dragons for punishment.

When she learns that Vanthus has apparently fled the region, Rowyn is momentarily distraught but recovers quickly. She asks the PCs to take advantage of the Bullywug attack on Vanderboren Manor to sneak into the estate and learn what they can about when Vanthus may have fled to. While they’re there, if they can steal some more of Lavinia’s wealth for the Lotus Dragons… all the better

Adventure Background

Brissa Santos was a vivacious woman, in youth a notorious pickpocket who, after several brushes with the law, turned her attention to art. Her paintings still grace many of the inns and taverns in Sasserine’s Azure and Merchant Districts, yet the sedentary life of an artist left the woman wanting more. When she met Vanthus Vanderboren several months ago, she felt she’d found a man who could provide her just that. As a couple, they encouraged each other’s self-destructive habits, and finally Brissa revealed to her lover her family’s ties to the Crimson Fleet, an infamous consortium of pirates and smugglers.

In an attempt to win Vanthus favor, Brissa told him of nearby Kraken’s Cove, and of how the Fleet used it as a staging area for smuggling operations. Even more enticing–scuttlebutt held that the latest cargo bound for this secret cove included an enormous black pearl destined for an undisclosed noble’s collection in the city of Sasserine. Vanthus and Brissa planned their raid on Kraken’s Cove to the finest detail, going so far as to hire a small army of desperate mercenaries from a local guild of scoundrels called the Black Shield Company to provide support for the assault.

Yet Brissa’s love for her dark suitor had blinded her. To Vanthus, she was nothing more than another conquest he could use to get what he needs – she wasn’t even his only lover. Vanthus was a member of the Lotus Dragons, a guild of thieves poised to seize control of Sasserine’s underworld. By using Brissa and her contacts with the Crimson Fleet, Vanthus hoped to rob Kraken’s Cove blind, present the loot to his lover Rowyn (the guildmistress of the Lotus Dragons), and pin the blame for the theft on Brissa, leaving her and her family to suffer the brunt of any retaliation from the pirates.

Yet what neither Brissa nor Vanthus realized was that the immense black pearl they sought to steal was something far more than a fantastic treasure – it was the first in a wave of sinister artifacts from the Abyss itself: a shadow pearl. When the robbery turned sour, the shadow pearl activated, releasing a devastating savage tide that transformed nearly everything it touched into ravenous monsters. By some mockery of fate, Vanthus resisted the effects of the savage tide and fled on a stolen ship, leaving Brissa to a horrid fate of insatiable fiendish hunger.

Adventure Synopsis

Still seeking Vanthus for their employer, Lavinia Vanderboren, and spurred on by discoveries made in the Lotus Dragon guildhall, the PCs seek out Kraken’s Cove, nestled within the scarlet reaches of Blood Bay. Expecting to find a secret pirate hide out, the PCs instead discover the place in the grips of utter bedlam. Arriving shortly after Vanthus releases the savage tide, the PCs must contend with savage flesh-eating pirates. To make matters worse, this particular crew was transporting dangerous and exotic creatures in the holds of their ships, and now their deadly cargo, infected by the Abyssal energies of the tide, has escaped. Man and beast haunt the cove’s twisting passageways, and the PCs must navigate the caverns of Kraken’s Cove while enduring an onslaught from savage enemies.

Eventually they encounter Captain Harliss Javell, one of the few pirates to survive the savage tide intact. From her, the PCs learn that she sent her first mate and a band of froglike bullywug conscripts into Sasserine to extract revenge from Vanthus and his home, erroneously assuming the cowardly man fled there from Kraken’s Cove. The party must race back to Vanderboren manor before their patron suffers at the slimy hands of bullywug mercenaries.

Yet in order to reach the manor, the PCs must first navigate a city in the throes of a wild celebration in honor of Kyuss’ defeat one year past. Parades and revelry reign in the streets and the PCs must wind their way through the wild throng to Lavinia’s manor. In transit, they are targeted by a band of assassins hired by Kellani family coin to pay the party back for their transgressions against Rowyn and the Lotus Dragons in the previous adventure. After contending with stilt-walking monks, the PCs reach Vanderboren manor with little time to lose.

Inside, Drevoraz Kabran, Captain Javell’s first mate, has captured Lavinia and her household. The PCs must stop the bullywug gambit, battling the frogmen to free their lovely patron before she pays for her brother’s crimes with blood.

Adventure Hooks

If you are not playing this adventure as part of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, then there are several ways to motivate the PCs to get in on the action. Even if you are using “The Bullywug Gambit” as part of the path, you may want to consider the options below to further involve the PCs in this adventure.

Abducted by Pirates: A PC’s friend or relation has been pressed into service with the Crimson Fleet. Research reveals that the press gang has relocated to Kraken’s Cove. Whether they have succumbed to the savage tide is left to you.

Courting Lavinia: If a PC is noble born, or simply ambitious, he may be courting Lavinia’s hand in marriage for any number of reasons (love, money, or an increase in social status). Upon hearing that her brother has gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd, the party could head to Kraken’s Cove to sort him out and bring him back to Lavinia in an effort to earn her favor.

Wormfall Festival

As the PCs prepare for their journey to Kraken’s Cove, make sure to mention how the city of Sasserine is gearing up for a major festival. The one-year anniversary of the defeat of Kyuss draws near. Although the final events of the Age of Worms played out thousands of miles to the north, repercussions were felt in this region as the Worm-god nearly brought about the dawn of a new age. In the nearby Spire of Long Shadows, a small army of his undead minions erupted from the ruins there, along with several dangerous outsiders known as broodfiends. Three of these broodfiends made their way to Sasserine, but were destroyed by high-level heroes from the city of Cauldron before they could do much damage.

The event has since become yet another reason for Sasserine’s Dawn Council to celebrate, the production of festivals being an excellent way to build up the city’s morale and wealth as they continue to recover from 100 years of servitude to a foreign power. Criers loudly announce the coming festival on the city streets and canals, posters go up on tavern walls, and everywhere the citizens are abuzz with excitement. The Wormfall Festival is in full swing by the time the PCs return to the city in Part Three, but if you plant its seeds before they leave, the festival won’t be a surprise to them

PART ONE: TO KRAKEN’S COVE

After recovering the money stolen from the Vanderboren Vault and defeating the Lotus Dragon thieves, the PCs still haven’t succeeded in the primary mission assigned them by their patron, Lavinia Vanderboren. Her brother Vanthus is still at large, but with the discovery of the true extent of Vanthus’ involvement in the death of her parents, Lavinia no longer hopes to find and redeem him. Instead, she wants him returned to Sasserine so he can answer for his crimes. According to documents discovered in the Lotus Dragon guildhall, Vanthus and a woman named Brissa recently left the city to travel to a location known as Kraken’s Cove to mount a robbery of several pirate ships supposedly moored nearby.

Determining the approximate location of Kraken’s Cove on the eastern shore of Blood Bay is possible with a DC 20 Gather Information check, a DC 15 Knowledge (geography) check, or a 50 gp visit to Highwall House in Sasserine’s Noble District to speak to Sloren Highwall, the expert on local geography.

The Journey To Blood Bay

Although Vanthus has already left for Kraken’s Cove, the actual point at which the pirates arrive and Vanthus, Brissa, and their hired mercenaries make their move is scheduled to occur a few hours before the PCs reach the area, no matter how long they take getting there. The PCs should have time to recover from their previous adventure, liquidate loot and shop for gear, and perhaps even go on one or two minor side quests before they set out for Kraken’s Cove.

The cove itself lies on the eastern shore of Blood Bay, about 60 miles along a marshy coastline (or a mere 40 miles as the gull flies). The brisk salt-breeze of the ocean would make for a pleasant journey, if it weren’t for the oppressive proximity of the trackless marshlands and the looming Amedio jungle beyond.

The safest and fastest method of reaching Kraken’s Cove is by boat. If one of the PCs has ranks in Profession (sailor), a rowboat that seats four can be purchased in Sasserine for a mere 50 gp. For parties who lack this skill, the best option is to hire a fishing boat or similar vessel. Blood Bay is a notorious region, and most sailors or fisherfolk balk at visiting this location. With a DC 25 Diplomacy check, round-trip passage to Kraken’s Cove from Sasserine can be had for 8 gp per passenger – otherwise, the best the PCs can hope for is 20 gp per passenger. If the PCs wish their transport to wait for them while they take care of business in Kraken’s Cove, there’s a further 10 gp/day charge. By rowboat, the journey takes 40 hours. If the PCs stop to rest, rowing for 8-hour stretches each day, it takes five days to reach Kraken’s Cove. If they row non-stop in shifts, they can reach the cove in just under two days. By pinnace, cog, or fishing boat, the trip takes only 16 hours (non-stop if the PCs leave on Day 1 at 6:00 in the morning, they can expect to reach Kraken’s Cove at 10:00 in the evening).

If the PCs wish to travel to Kraken’s Cove by land, they face a long, grueling journey through a trackless, monster-and bullywug-infested swamp. Hugging the coast is no solution; beaches are rare, and more often the transition from swamp to sea consists of miles of briny saltmarshes with little solid ground. A maze of hummocks and marsh provides a maddeningly slow method of travel on foot-assuming the PCs travel for only 8 hours a day at a speed of 30 feet, it’ll take them five days to traverse the 60-mile journey to Kraken’s Cove.

Feel free to liven up the journey with random encounters as you see fit. “Savage Tidings” in issue #349 of DRAGON magazine provides some sample random encounters for the region, or you could build encounters with bullywugs, sharks, and other local terrors to menace the PCs.

PART TWO: KRAKEN’S COVE

Kraken’s Cove serves smugglers well, for the entrance to this secluded rift in the coastal cliffs that line the eastern shore of Blood Bay is riddled with dangerous reefs and submerged threats. As a result, only sailors who know the region or possess charts of the waters dare approach the cliffs here – none of the ships the PCs have access to have either. If they’re making their own way to Kraken’s Cove, they’ll need to make a series of a dozen DC 30 Profession (sailor) checks to wind their way through the maze of reefs to approach by sea.

Without charts, the safest option is to put aground a few miles north of Kraken’s Cove at a secluded beach. From there, it’s a fairly short hike up to the cliff tops and then south along a narrow path that eventually reaches the cove itself.

When the PCs arrive, things are not well in Kraken’s Cove. A few short hours before they get there, Vanthus and his agents struck, setting fire to several of the pirate ships moored in the harbor and releasing many cages of exotic (and dangerous) animals the pirates were in the process of transferring from ship holds to holding pens on land. During the chaos, Vanthus attempted to steal the shadow pearl from the hold of the Slippery Eel, but was caught by the ship’s captain, Harliss Javell. No match for her, Vanthus tried to escape, and in so doing accidentally triggered the shadow pearl, unleashing its savage tide upon the Cove. The resulting wash of Abyssal energies transformed most of the pirates, thugs, and smuggled creatures into savage monsters. Only a few avoided this terrible fate, among them Vanthus (who quickly made good his escape aboard one of the two pirate ships to survive the fire), Captain Javell, and her first mate, a half-orc named Drevoraz Kabran. Furious at the permanent damage Vanthus had inflicted on her operation, Captain Javell commanded Drevoraz to make his way through the swamps to Sasserine, picking up a tribe of allied bullywugs who served the Crimson Fleet as caretakers of the region surrounding Kraken’s Cove along the way. His mission: infiltrate Sasserine, make his way to Vanderboren manor where Captain Javell (erroneously) believes Vanthus fled, and raze the estate to the ground after murdering Vanthus and his family.

Captain Javell hoped to have dealt with the transformed monsters that were once her crew and cargo by the time Drevoraz returns, but these savage monsters quickly proved to be too much for her to handle on her own. By the time the PCs arrive, she’s retreated to area K14 of the caves, abandoning the cove itself to savagery.

Mad Monkeys (EL 3)

Even before the PCs reach Kraken’s Cove, they’ll realize something has gone horribly wrong. Plumes of smoke rise into the sky above the cove, visible from a mile away. Worse, as the PCs approach, swaths of dead wildlife, from parrot to gull to monkey to snake, lie dead on the ground, their bodies horribly distorted and deformed. What few wild animals remain alive are similarly deformed, and shockingly aggressive. The PCs should witness animals tearing each other apart numerous times on their approach, and at some point before they reach the cove, a clutch of four savage monkeys attacks them as well.

Creatures: The four savage monkeys flop and writhe down from the trees or across the ground with shocking speed. Their jaws are filled with tiny fangs, and their bodies are covered with open sores from which hooked bonespurs protrude. The savage monkeys fight to the death.

SAVAGE MONKEYS (4) CR1

CE Tiny animal (chaotic)
Monster Manual 276, Appendix 2
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +3, Spot +3 AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14
hp 6(1 HD), ferocity; DR 5/magic
Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mindaffecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +1
Weakness afflicted
Spd 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d4-2 plus disease [DC 12])
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Base Atk +0; Grp -10
Abilities Str 7, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 5
SQ death throes
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +10, Climb +10, Hide +10, Listen +3, Spot +3

Into the Inferno

Once the PCs reach the cliffs overlooking Kraken’s Cove, they are greeted with a tragic and horrific sight.

In the sheltered cove below, an inferno rages atop the water. Several ships, including a two-masted caravel, a sizeable frigate, a long barge, and what might have once been a schooner are all ablaze. Further out, a three-masted caravel seems to have escaped the fire for now. A shiny slick on the surface of the water itself burns as well, creating a wall of wood and flame. The heat rises in searing sheets, and the roar of the flaming maelstrom mixed with the crashing surf masks any other sounds that might be issuing up from below. Through periodic gaps in the smoke, however, movement on the beach is visible-something still lives in the inferno below.

When Vanthus needed a distraction to sneak on board the Slippery Eel to steal the black pearl, he emptied several barrels of whale oil from one of the ships’ cargoes into the harbor. The thick substance floated atop the water, and Vanthus lit it afire. The oil slick will continue to burn for an hour, after which only the ship moored furthest out survives – a caravel called the Sea Wyvern.

Descent to the beach below can be accomplished a number of ways. The cliffs that surround the cove are sheer but feature numerous handholds. They’re forty feet high, and can be sealed with a DC 15 Climb check.

A more tempting route is via a rickety wooden walkway that descends from the eastern cliff down to the beach below. The slippery, narrow surface can be navigated with a DC 10 Balance check. Remember that a balancing character moves at half speed unless he takes a -5 penalty on his check. Although the fire has not yet reached it, the rickety wooden walkway has not been used by the pirates in some time and has rotted in the salt air. The walkway can support up to two creatures at a time. If a third creature boards it, the entire walkway creaks and moans ominously. If it still supports three creatures one round later, it collapses into the sea. The walkway collapses immediately if a fourth creature boards it. If the walkway collapses, all creatures on it must make a DC 13 Reflex save. Success indicates the creature clings to the cliff wall or a jutting piece of wood, and may attempt to clamber down the cliff. Failure indicates a fall into the water below, which isn’t quite deep enough to cushion the landing. The base damage inflicted by the fall depends on how high up the character was when the walkway collapsed (no more than 40 feet, in any event) plus an additional 1d6 points of damage from the collapsing structure itself.

To make matters worse, while the PCs navigate the walkway, the heavy ropes mooring the burning Slippery Erl finally burn through and snap audibly. The Eel wrenches free and the tide carries it careening into the west wall of the cove, where it destroys the central 50 feet of walkway in a terrific crash. A DC 15 Spot or Listen check is enough to note the vessel’s sudden motion, granting two rounds of action before it strikes. All PCs on the walkway when the Eel strikes it must make DC 15 Balance checks to avoid being knocked off; those in the middle section that is destroyed fall as described above (with a DC 13 Reflex save allowing them to grab a protrusion). Increase falling damage in this case by 1d6 fire as the PC crashes into the burning wreck below.

The water in the eastern section of the cove is 20 feet deep – deep enough that a person can dive into the water from the cliffs forty feet above, taking no damage if they make a DC 15 Swim or Tumble check. Failure indicates 2d3 points of nonlethal damage.

Kraken’s Cove Cave Features

The smuggler’s caves in Kraken’s Cove are the brainchild of a retired pirate named Kigante Valeros. Kigante discovered the caves two decades ago and realized then that they’d make a great place for the Crimson Fleet to stage smuggling operations, transfer cargo and consolidate booty, or simply rest this far north of the fleet’s home port of Scuttlecove. He and a small group of smugglers and guards were the keepers of the Kraken’s Cove caves. They provided aid to visiting pirates and safeguarded the hideout when no one else was about. When Vanthus triggered the savage tide, many of Kigante’s men succumbed to the madness. Although Kigante himself retained his humanity, he did not live for long after, and was murdered and eaten by his own men.

The cave walls are of smooth, wet stone and stalactites hang from the ceiling in places. Passageways average ten feet in height, and caverns are about twenty feet high. The pirates have long since removed the stalagmites that once clustered in many of the caves, and have spread sand through the entire area to even the floor and make movement through the caves less treacherous. The caves are lit by cheap hooded lanterns that hang from hooks in the walls every 30 feet; these lanterns have only a few hours of fuel left before they start burning out.

Remember that the PCs first arrive in this area only a short time after the savage tide wreaks this terrible toll. The freshly transformed savage pirates tore apart those unfortunate enough to resist the tide’s magic, leaving body parts, swaths of blood stained sand, deep scratches in the walls, and other macabre hints of mayhem throughout the caves. Further, exploration of the caves is accompanied by a symphony of howls, shrieks, maniacal laughter, clanging of metal on metal, and other discordant sounds one might expect from a madhouse whose locks have failed. Much of this cacophony comes from area Ky, as the savage slaves therein howl and shake the bars of their cages in an attempt to escape. As a result, Listen checks in the caves suffer a 4 penalty. At some point when the PCs have defeated enough of the savage creatures dwelling in the Cove (determined by you) this penalty goes away.

The Sea Wyvern

The one surviving ship in the harbor is destined to play an important role in the Savage Tide Adventure Path. This is the Sea Wyvern. This three-masted caravel served as a pirate ship for the last twenty years. The Sea Wyvern is a fearsome vessel. Her sails are decorated with stylized figures of a wyvern; its tail raised over its back as though ready to strike its enemies. Even its figurehead carries the motif: a powerful wyvern, its wings unfurled, crouches at the prow. This ship has seen plenty of action; her hull is scarred in many places by scratches and dents, and a single huge claw mark rakes across the starboard, deliberately left as a scar of battle. The ship’s wheel is designed to represent a dozen-headed wyverns.

The Sea Wyvern becomes central to the Savage Tide Adventure Path starting in the next adventure, “The Sea Wyvern’s Wake”. The PCs first glimpse of the ship is an important moment of this adventure – be sure to give them a powerful description of the ship. The ship itself can be crewed by a group as small as 7 individuals as long as one of them has ranks in Profession (sailor), but even if the PCs leave the ship in Kraken’s Cove for the remainder of the adventure, it’s securely moored. They’ll be able to head back to collect it when they need it at the start of the next adventure.

K1. Beach of Ruin (EL 4)

A fifty-foot-wide beach separates the burning waters of Kraken’s Cove from the cliffs to the north, A ten-foot-wide cave opens at the base of the cliff to the northwest, while to the northeast several planks provide a crude bridge across a tide pool to a second, smaller cave entrance. The swaths of blood and ragged body parts strewn across the beach testify to a terrible and recent battle upon the sands here. Broken crates and bamboo cages litter the area, blood and bits of bone sprayed across bolts of silk and cracked barrels of ambergris seeping into the coarse, rocky sand. A number of mangled corpses, each stripped nearly clean of flesh and bones cracked open, lie strewn about the beach. The casualties are staggering, with a quick count putting the dead at nearly twenty.

This beachhead was a mooring ground for the Crimson Fleet, a place where the pirates could dock their ships between raids and store contraband, much of it living creatures. When Vanthus released the savage tide, the majority of the pirates both on the ships and here on the beach became ravening cannibals in a matter of seconds, falling upon those who resisted the tide in a frenzy. When the battle ended, some of the surviving savage pirates boarded the ships and locked themselves below decks, only to be consumed in the inferno. Others fled deeper into the caves, pursued by savage monsters liberated from their cages. Two remain here, lurking hungrily among the rubble.

Examination of the bodies in this area shows them to be devoured with a ferocity that belies reason – bones gnashed in a single crushing bite, entire lengths of flesh and muscle ripped free. It is also obvious that the battle broke out suddenly between friends and allies. Crossbow bolts riddle the few savage pirates slain, and the mingling of deformed corpses and those nearly completely devoured is demonstrative of the infighting that took place. Near area K2, two sea cats lie dead on the rocks, still chained fast to a heavy iron stake embedded in the ground.

Creatures: Two savage pirates hide in the ruined wreckage along the shore, waiting for untainted flesh to draw them out. If they note any PCs approaching the cave entrances, the gibbering menaces leap from hiding and charge.

Savage Pirates (2): hp 10 each; see Appendix 2.

Treasure: A DC 20 Search of the rubble (taking ten minutes per check, or three hours, 20 minutes on a take 20 check) uncovers three surviving items of value – a leather sack of stolen saffron worth 600 gp, a crate of fine dishware worth 200 gp, and a case of potions of cure moderate wounds stolen from a naval frigate (of which only three survive intact).

A character that explores the harbor underwater notes a section of seabed about forty feet from shore that appears strangely barren of life-the rocks and sand gleam, with not a trace of seaweed to be found. With a DC 20 Search check of this region, a PC discovers what looks like a fist-sized black pearl that has shattered into five jagged chunks. This was the shadow pearl that triggered the savage tide. Now nonmagical, the shattered remains are still worth 250 gp.

K2. Tide Pool

A deep pool of rushing water separates a cave entrance from the beachhead. Two wide wooden planks serve as a crude bridge to cross the surging waters of the pool.

The water is 20 feet deep below the boards. Crossing the slippery planks requires a DC 10 Balance check.

Anyone making a DC 15 Knowledge (nature) or Survival check realizes that, given the way in which the water in the tide pool ebbs and flows, an underwater passageway likely exists somewhere below. Anyone in the water locates the entrance with a DC 15 Search check. Navigating the seaway to area K11 is possible with a DC 15 Swim check.

K3. Mess Hall (EL 5)

This cavern must have served as a mess hall, yet now the large tables lie in ruins, To the north, dozens of barrels that once contained fresh water and food stores have been smashed to splinters. Bodies lie throughout the cave in various stages of dismemberment and consumption-it’s hard to count the total dead due to the state of the corpses, but at least six people recently met a gory end in this cave.

This large cavern is the serving area where the Crimson Fleet pirates took their meals. The hall was the stomping ground of Kadmos Grimly, a fierce cook who spiced his food to match his temper – hot. Cooking for a band of cutthroat pirates is a dangerous job, and most of Grimly’s predecessors were run through on account of their lack of culinary skill. Grimly’s food was no better than that of those who came before him, but few wished to chance his ire or his deft mastery of the cleaver, which claimed more than a few fingers of dissatisfied feasters foolish enough to voice their opinions on the cuisine.

Creatures: Kadmos still reigns supreme in the mess hall, having succumbed to the fell power of the savage tide. He’s spent the last hour in a gruesome repast of his friends – a former bosun lies strewn on the table. Grimly is in the kitchen area in the southwest corner of the room, hacking away with relish at a dead crewman with his cleaver, while two of his fellow cannibals wait impatiently at a table. As soon as they detect the PCs, they attack and fight to the death.

Savage Pirates (3): hp 10 each: see Appendix 2.

K4. Wyvernsting’s Corridor (EL 4)

Creature: This long, high-ceilinged passageway has been chosen by a strange creature as an ambush point. This creature is Navesh Wyvernsting, a phanaton slave born into captivity on a pirate ship many years ago. The phanatons are a race of small arboreal creatures with large eyes and prehensile tails that resemble a cross between a monkey and a raccoon. Between their arms and legs are thin membranes the creatures use to glide through the air. Navesh’s ancestors come from a tribe on the Isle of Dread, yet he has never known the companionship of others of his kind. Captain Harliss Javell purchased him from a Scarlet Brotherhood slaver and quickly realized the monkey-like creature would prove a capable crewman. In return for limited freedom, she released him from slavery and hired him as a bosun.

Once lauded for his cool head under fire, his quirky sense of humor, and his unquestioning loyalty to Javell, the savage tide has transformed Navesh into a long-limbed, deformed creature with writhing, boneless fingers. The savage phanaton lurks in this hallway, waiting for something exciting to happen in area K3 before scurrying forth to join the fight. He’s rather afraid of Ripclaw (the denizen of area K5), and won’t join any fights that occur there, although he might come to investigate a few rounds after a fight in the cave ends.

Navesh’s once-fine gray-brown fur is matted with blood and bits of gory tissue. Sizzling drool dribbles from his fanged, misshapen mouth. He slavers as he grunts and hoots before finally managing to snarl out in Common, “Come to me, meatbags. Just give me a mouthful of your tasty pink flesh!”

NAVESH WYVERNSTING CR4

Male savage phanaton rogue 3
CE Small humanoid (chaotic)
DRAGON 339 62, Appendix 2

Init +7: Senses darkvision 60 ft, low-light vision; Listen +13, Spot +13
Languages Common, Elven, Goblin
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 14
hp 22 (3 HD), ferocity: DR 5/magic
Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mindaffecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10.
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +2
Weakness afflicted
Spd 30 ft., climb 20 ft.; gliding
Melee mwk kukri +5 (1d3-1/18-20) and bite-1 (1d6 plus disease [DC12])
Base Atk +2: Grp-1
Combat Gear potion of bear’s endurance, oil of keen edge
Abilities Str 12, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 8
SQ forest awareness
Feats Improved initiative. Weapon Focus (kukri)
Skills Balance +11, Climb +9, Diplomacy -5. Disguise-5, Escape Artist +7, Gather Information -5, Hide +13, Intimidate +3, Jump +13, Listen +13, Move Silently +13 (+17 in forests), Spot +13, Swim +7, Tumble +11

Possessions combat gear, masterwork kukri, slippers of spider climbing, gold nose ring and silver chain linked to silver hoop earring (whole set worth 100 gp), ruby ring worth 120 gp

Forest Awareness (Ex) Navesh gains a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws in forest locations.

Gliding (Ex) Navesh’s rudimentary wings allow him to negate damage from a fall of any height and allow 20 feet of forward travel for every 5 feet of descent, effectively giving him a fly speed of 20 feet while falling (average maneuverability). He cannot hover, even if his maneuverability rating increases. He can’t glide while carrying a medium or heavy load, nor can he glide while unconscious or helpless.

Tactics: If Navesh hears the sounds of battle in area K3. He still possesses the sense of mind to down his potion and apply his oil of keen edge to his masterwork kukri. Of all the savage pirates. Navesh retains the most intelligence, and he knows that any group capable of slaying Kadmos is not to be trifled with lightly. He climbs up into the dark recesses of the ceiling and glides down to ambush the PCs when they arrive. Navesh fights until slain.

K5. Hall of Hanging Silks (EL 4)

Dozens of bolts of once-fine brocaded silk hang from lines of rope stretched lengthwise across the ceiling of this chamber, making it difficult to accurately judge the size of the sandy floored cavern.

This large cavern is where the pirates store waterlogged booty from ships damaged and taking on water before being boarded. The silks hanging from the lines were damaged by a leak, and were hung up to dry only a few hours before the savage tide tore through the region.

Creature: One of the Slippery Eel’s most dangerous recent acquisitions from the Isle of Dread was a deinonychus. The dinosaur had been painstakingly transported here for sale, but escaped its cage after being transformed by the savage tide. The dinosaur was not-so-affectionately nicknamed Ripclaw after it disemboweled a careless pirate who got too close to the creature’s cage. Ripclaw’s back writhes with wriggling tentacles, several of which weep pus and leave a disgusting trail of yellowish smears on nearby silk sheets.

RIPCLAW CR4

Savage deinonychus
CE Medium animal (chaotic)
Monster Manual 60, Appendix 2

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 fl., low-light vision, scent Listen +13, Spot +13
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17
Hp 42 (4 HD); ferocity: DR 5/magic
Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mindaffecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will -2
Weakness afflicted
Spd 70 ft.
Melee talons +9 (1d8+6) and 2 foreclaws +7 (2d3+3) and bite +7 (2d4+3 plus disease (DC 18] Base Atk +3; Grp +9
Atk Options pounce
Abilities Str 23, Dex 15, Con 23, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 10
SQ death throes
Feats Improved Initiative, Multiattack
Skills Escape Artist +6, Hide +10, Jump +31, Listen +13, Spot +13, Survival +9

Tactics: The hanging silks provide cover for any creature standing behind them, as they serve to obscure vision and cast long shadows on the walls. As soon as Ripclaw detects the PCs, it begins stalking them, slipping quietly through the hanging sheets of silk until it picks out a single target with its scent. The dinosaur then pounces on that target, fighting to the death.

Treasure: The hanging silks are badly damaged; if they’re harvested, id8 of them are salvageable and worth 50 gp each. A low table in the northeast corner of the room also holds a number of rare books laid out to dry on it. Though water damaged, this collection of tomes on topics ranging from lizardfolk cuisine to naturalist studies of the Amedio are worth 200 gp as a lot.

K6. Laboratory (EL 3)

A barricade of shelves and tables blocks entrance to this cavern. The barricade has hardness 5 and 30 hit points, and can be pushed aside with a DC 18 Strength check.

A fairly even layer of sand covers the floor of this musty-smelling cavern. Large pottery urns line the walls of the cave, and within each grows a riot of strange mushrooms, fluted toadstools, phosphorescent molds, greasy-looking fronds of pale lichens, and ail matter of strange fungi. Several large glass terrariums, their walls beaded with condensation, stand along the west wall. One of these is shattered, the loamy soil within spilling out onto the sandy floor near a long but low table heaped with flasks, jars, bottles, and tools. Protruding from under the table are a pair of small boots, perhaps those of a gnome.

Coursing the seas of the world, exploring far-off frontiers, and pillaging their communities offered Leemo Varand the perfect opportunity to study a wide range of environments. A naturalist and scholar with a curiously overdeveloped interest in fungus, Leemo enlisted with the Crimson Fleet as a poisoner with the stipulation that he be allowed to gather all manner of bizarre samples from the farthest reaches of the world. Leemo ended up on the Slippery Eel, and Kigante Valeros set this cave aside for the awkward gnome to store a collection of plants and fungi odd, rare, and lethal.

Creatures: Ironically, Leemo met his fate at the frond of one his own dangerous samples. When the savage tide struck, the little gnome barricaded himself in this room. In so doing, he accidentally shattered a terrarium containing a violet fungus, which immediately lashed out at Leemo and quickly killed him. The violet fungus then retreated into the swath of fungi along the northwest wall. Anyone who investigates the table (or Leemo’s boots) comes in reach of the fungi’s tentacles, in which case it immediately attacks.

Violet Fungus: hp 15; Monster Manual 112.

Treasure: A strange creature that resembles a two-foot-long tadpole with a mass of four facial tentacles and a lamprey-like mouth is laid out on a wax dissection pad on the table. This hideous creature is a malformed and preserved larval mind flayer that Leemo recently acquired; some scholars might pay as much as 1,000 gp for such a find, although most merchants would pass on the foulsmelling monster.

A length of countertop on the northern wall of the room contains two small jars of maylss root paste, a vial of sassone leaf residue, a dose of id moss, and a striped toadstool (see Dungeon Master’s Guide page 297 for details on these poisons). Leemo’s body is rotted beyond recognition, but a search of his corpse ironically reveals the two potions of lesser restoration he always kept on hand in case of an accident.

K7. Slave Pens (EL 2 to 9)

As the PCs approach this chamber, the sound of shouts, wet cries of anguish, and the clang of metal on metal grows louder.

Dozens of five-foot-wide iron cages are built into the walls of this large cavern. Some are empty, while others contain the partially eaten remains of dead men and women. Yet most horrible are those cages that contain thrashing, wailing figures. Each of these seems more deformed than the last, twisting legs, writhing arms, vestigial heads, and jaws agape with too many teeth are all on display as the mad prisoners howl and slobber and throw themselves against the walls of their cages in a cacophonous attempt to break free

Creatures: The Crimson Fleet pirates used these cages to house prisoners, sorting them into groups before shipping them off to Scarlet Brotherhood ports for sale as slaves. When the savage tide washed over the caves, those prisoners who didn’t succumb to the tide were quickly murdered and eaten by those who did.

There are now 11 savage slaves locked in these cages. They thrash and writhe, but for all their noise they aren’t quite strong enough to break free from their cages. Anyone who comes within five feet of a cage is in reach, though, and the savage occupant may be able to make a bite attack against such foes. Although each of these slaves are different humanoid races and classes, you can simply use the savage pirate statblock as necessary should any of these deformed souls become important in combat.

Savage Prisoners (11): hp 10 each; see Appendix 2 (use savage pirate).

K8. Trophy Cave

This sandy-floored cavern seems to be some sort of trophy hall. The centerpiece of the displays is an enormous reptilian skull, nearly six feet in length, mounted on a wooden display. Other trophies line the walls-nameplates from ships, battered sea chests, mounted heads of sea monsters, and weathered figureheads, each doubtless carrying a sordid history of theft and betrayal.

Kigante Valeros’ interest in oddities was not limited to creatures. The retired captain kept a collection of other odd and obscure nautical treasures on dis play in this cave. Most of these trophies are relatively valueless, but there are a few exceptions.

The enormous skull is from a tyrannosaurus; other monstrous trophies include several shark jaws, a sahuagin’s head, jars containing enormous fragments of tentacles, and a set of dragon turtle teeth. Among the nameplates of ships (all stolen or scavenged from other ships, pirate and merchant vessel alike) are names like St. Asmod’s Hope or Wavereaper. One recent addition to this collection is a barnacle encrusted mast of wood with letters badly eroded by a great deal of time spent below the waves. The only legible letters read “T…M…AUT.” Nearby hangs a heavily rusted ship’s bell bearing the name Sea Ghost.

Treasure: The only trophy of any real value is a leather-bound collection of nautical charts well over three hundred years old. These charts are remarkably accurate, even more so than most modern ones, and grant a +4 circumstance bonus on Profession (sailor) checks made to plot a course on the ocean.

Three locked sea chests (Open Lock DC 30) in the corner of the room contain a total of 120 gp. 448 sp, 683 cp, three garnets worth 20 gp each, an emerald brooch worth 50 gp, and 5 pearls worth 100 gp apiece.

K9. Kennel (EL 4)

The bodies of three strange creatures lie in a mangled heap in the center of this cave, their bodies torn apart and gnawed down to the bone. It’s difficult to tell what manner of wolflike or hyenalike creatures they once were. Spiked collars lie empty beside the decapitated bodies, chains running from each to iron hooks in the walls.

Creatures: Kigante often kept exotic animals as guardians, picking and choosing new creatures from the exotic animals smuggled through the region. His most recent guardians were a pack of five krenshars, creatures he’d taken to calling “skull dogs.” When the savage tide struck, three of the krenshars managed to resist the tide, and were quickly torn apart by the two that did not. The remaining savage krenshars wait here still. They wear spiked collars attached to long chains that allow them full reach of anywhere in this cave, but prohibit them from pursuing foes beyond the cavern. The savage krenshars have larger jaws than their untainted kin, and large patches of their mangy fur have fallen away to reveal leprous skin covered with writhing tendrils.

SAVAGE KRENSHARS (2) CR 2
CE Medium magical beast (chaotic)
Monster Manual 163, Appendix 2

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Listen +7, Spot +5
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15
Hp 15 (2 HD); ferocity, DR 5/magic Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mindaffecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
Weakness afflicted
Spd 50 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d8+2 plus disease (DC 13]) and 2 claws +2 (104+1)
Base Atk +2; Grp+4
Special Actions scare Abilities Str 15, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 13
SQ death throes
Feats Multiattack, Track
Skills Escape Artist +6, Hide +4, Jump+15, Listen +7, Move Silently +6, Spot +5

K10. Storage

This small area is filled with piles of blankets, clothing, cases of crossbow bolts, and a collection of swords, pole arms, axes, and other weaponry.

These weapons could serve to replenish characters who have lost weapons or other pieces of equipment. There are 120 crossbow bolts, 3 short swords, 5 rapiers, a long swords, 2 scimitars, a glaive, 2 guisarmes, a halberd, 2 light crossbows, a heavy crossbow, 2 battle axes, 9 throwing axes, and a greataxe to be had here.

K11. Tributary Chamber (EL 4)

The sound of sloshing water fills this damp cavern. The eastern half of the cave consists of a large, frothy tide pool, its depths thick with seaweed and its surface roiling with the surge of the sea. Several narrow fissures in the ceiling seem to lead up and out through the cliff face to the south, allowing a brisk breeze to whip through the chamber.

The narrow fissures are impassable to creatures of larger than Tiny size, and even Tiny creatures must make a DC 30 Escape Artist check to navigate them. The tide pool itself is connected via submerged tunnels to the pools in area K2 and K14.

Creature: Although Vanthus withstood the rapture of the savage tide, his accomplice Brissa was not so lucky. The tide transformed the once-beautiful young woman into a malformed monster, a slavering madwoman with a twisted jaw of shark’s teeth, a hunched back, and wide splayed hands writhing with additional hook-tipped fingers. Vanthus escaped her hunger by pushing her overboard before she recovered from the pain of her transformation, then fled the cove entirely. Brissa swam through the seaway and eventually ended up in this room, wracked with unholy hunger and twisted memories of love.

Brissa waits near the southern edge of the pool, hunkered over a large pile of raw fish and sea anemones she has nearly finished devouring. If she notices intruders in this cave, she leaps to her feet, shrieking out in a hoarse voice, “Where are you, my love? Is that you? I knew you wouldn’t leave me! Sooooo hungry… please… feed me…”

Brissa Santos CR4

Female savage human rogue 2/fighter 1
CE Medium humanoid (chaotic)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +10, Spot+10
Languages Common
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16; Dodge
Hp 27 (3 HD); ferocity; DR 5/magic
Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mindaffecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +1; evasion
Weakness afflicted
Spd 40 ft.
Melee mwk rapier +5 (106+1/18-20) and bite-1 (1d8 plus disease (DC 14])
Base Atk +2; Grp +3
Atk Options sneak attack +1d6
Abilities Str 12, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 13
SQ death throes, trapfinding
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative. Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +6. Climb +6, Craft (painting) +2, Diplomacy +2, Disguise-3, Escape Artist +6, Gather Information-3, Hide +7, Intimidate +5, jump +10, Listen +10, Move Silently +7, Spot +10, Swim +4

Possessions +1 studded leather, masterwork rapier, purple silk cloak with emerald clasp worth 20 gp, silver locket containing a tiny portrait of Vanthus (worth 10 gp)

K12. Savage Maze (EL 5)

This small labyrinth of tunnels leads to Kigante’s personal chambers. The retired pirate chose the caverns beyond as his lair precisely because of this – the warren of tunnels would have made an excellent defense against enemies who were unfamiliar with their layout. Unfortunately, the enemies that finally got to Kigante did not have this disadvantage.

Creatures: Three of the savage pirates that killed and consumed Kigante still lurk in these caves. Although their knowledge of the maze’s layout could have given them a significant tactical advantage, their madness prevents such coordinated assaults. Once one of them notices the PCs in the area, it shrieks and howls in delight as it shambles forth to attack. Its two mates arrive soon thereafter to join the battle.

Savage Pirates (3): hp 10 each; see Appendix 2.

K13 Kigante’s Chamber

This cavern has been outfitted with the finest in stolen furniture. Thick rugs cover the floor, and fine silk tapestries and masterful seascape paintings hang from the walls, giving the place an almost regal feel. A four-poster bed takes up much of a large nook to the south, and nearby stands an oak desk with a matching armoire. Alas, much of this furniture is ruined, spattered and stained with gore and deeply scarred by swordplay. A skeletal body dressed in the ruins of a once-fine suit of studded leather lies in a red heap at the foot of the bed. Five more bodies lie about the room, horribly deformed men and women who seem to have perished on a rapier’s point.

Kigante Valeros, an old salty dog of a half-elf and a Crimson Fleet veteran, called this dry warm patch of cave home. The cavern walls are lined with extraordinary paintings (more than a few of which were gifts from Brissa).

Kigante himself lies against the foot of his bed, his corpse half-devoured by savage pirates. Kigante did not die without a fight, as the bodies of five savage pirates in the room testify.

Treasure: Kigante’s weapon of choice, a +1 rapier with a bronze hilt in the shape of a griffon, lies under his bed where it was kicked by a savage pirate eager to get to the dying man’s flesh. A DC 15 Search check is enough to find the magic weapon (its discovery is automatic if a player specifically states he’s checking under the bed).

A closer examination of Kigante reveals a bit more treasure – a ring of swimming (a gold band set with several aquamarine gemstones) still sits snug on a bony finger, and his darkwood buckler remains strapped to an arm. A DC 15 Search of his desk uncovers three silver bars worth 30 gp each in a lower drawer. A vial of vermillion ink worth 40 gp sits on top of the desk, one of the few objects in the room to escape damage during the battle that ended Kigante’s life.

K14. Javell’s Standoff (EL 4 or 13)

As the PCs approach this cavern, the sound of combat, the unmistakable slobbering cries of rage and hunger from several savage pirates, and a woman’s voice shouting profane threats and curses become audible.

The floor of this cavern slopes downward to the southeast, finally ending in a large tide pool. The waters seem to be surging from a submerged passageway leading to the southwest. A hammock strung between two stalagmites sways gently to the south, next to an overturned table and a broken chair.

This chamber was used by Kigante as an escape route via the seaway, and as a quiet place to withdraw from the revels of piracy and contemplate life and his place in the great wheel of the world. Now, this tranquil getaway is the site of a heated battle between Harliss Javell and a horde of savage pirates.

Creatures: Harliss Javell has been backed into the southern corner of the cave, where she uses the overturned table as cover to fend off a half-dozen savage pirates. Over a dozen more lay dead on the ground, yet for all her skills in swordplay, Harliss is growing weary. She’s been bitten several times by the savage pirates, and is suffering from savage fever already. When she spies the PCs, she cries out, “Oi! Get in the fight or stay outta me way, buckos. These things are lookin’ to die, and I plan on obliging.”

Harliss is a bold beauty with raven black hair that flows like the deepest shade of midnight against her deeply tanned skin. She wears tight leather armor studded with fire opals and pearls and wields a curved rapier and dagger in a blinding display of swordplay. As she fights, she taunts her foes with phrases like “Ye picked the wrong lass to make a meal of today,” or “Hungry? Have a taste o’me cold steel, ya stinking carcass!”. As she recognizes one of the savage pirates, she might even say something like “Jebidiah? Is that you lad? You’ve looked better boy. Here, let me send you on your way.” The savage pirates themselves don’t notice the PCs until they are attacked, at which point three of them break off the fight against Harliss to attack them.

CAPTAIN HARLISS JAVELL CR 13
Female human swashbuckler 3/rogue 3/ scarlet corsair 7
CN Medium humanoid
Stormwrack 65

Init +4; Senses Listen-1, Spot-1
Languages Aquan, Common, Yuan-ti
AC 22, touch 16, flat-footed 18
hp 76 (currently 51, 13 HD)
Fort +9, Ref +16, Will +7; evasion
Spd 40 ft.
Melee +2 rapier +18/+13/+8 (106+2/18-20) or +2 rapier +26/+11/46 (1d6+2/18-20) and mwk dagger +15 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged mwk dagger +17 (1d4/19-20)
Base Atk +12; Grp +12
Atk Options Combat Expertise, Flick of the Wrist, Improved Feint, corsair’s feint, sneak attack +4d6
Abilities Str 10, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 14 (currently 8), Wis &, Cha 12
SQ sailor’s step, trapfinding, trap sense +1
Feats Combat Expertise, Flick of the Wrist, Improved Feint, Iron Will, Quick Draw, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +17, Bluff +14, Climb +6, Diplomacy +12, Gather Information +10, Intimidate +19, Jump +17, Knowledge (geography) +5, Knowledge (local) +4, Profession (sailor) +13, Sense Motive +6, Sleight of Hand +12, Swim +14, Tumble +15. Use Rope +13

Possessions +3 leather armor, +2 rapier, 4 masterwork daggers, ring of protection +2, cloak of resistance -2, rope of climbing, boots of striding and springing, a pair of marilith-shaped earrings with each limb composed of a different precious metal worth 1,200 gp for the pair, a jade necklace with a shark’s tooth at its center worth 600 gp

Corsair’s Feint (Ex) Harliss may make a feint as a free action once every 1d4 rounds.

Flick of the Wrist (Ex) If Harliss draws a light weapon and makes a melee attack with it in the same round, she catches her opponent flat-footed (for the purpose of this attack only). She may use this feat only once per round and once per opponent during any single combat encounter. This feat is from Complete Warrior.

Grace (Ex) Harliss gains a +1 competence bonus on Reflex saves as long as she does not wear medium or heavy armor and is not carrying a medium or heavy load.

Insightful Strike (Ex) Harliss applies her Intelligence bonus to damage rolls with any light weapon, as well as any other weapon that can be used with Weapon Finesse. Targets immune to sneak attacks or critical hits are immune to this additional damage. Harliss loses this ability if she wears medium or heavy armor or carries a medium or heavy load.

Sailor’s Step (Ex) When aboard a ship and wearing nothing more than light armor, Harliss gains a +2 dodge bonus to her Armor Class

Scourge of the Seas (Ex) When Harliss uses intimidate to demoralize foes, the attempt affects all enemies within 30 feet who can see and hear her, and the effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier. This is a mindaffecting ability, and multiple uses of the ability don’t stack.

Savage Pirates (8): hp 10 each; see Appendix 2.

Tactics: Although wounded and sick, Harliss Javell should have no problem dealing with the remaining savage pirates. Nonetheless, she fights using Combat Expertise to increase her Armor Class. Be sure to play up Javell’s imposing presence and puissance at swordplay in this encounter and feel free to have her bail out a PC about to meet death at any moment with a hurled dagger. Javell is poetry in motion as she avoids the maws of the cannibals, dancing among them, her blades flashing impossibly fast. When the last cannibal pirate falls, Javell sheaths her blades and regards the PCs with a cold, appraising eye as she catches her breath and tries to determine who they are and what they’re about. If the PCs attempt to fight her, they most likely find themselves dead before they know what happened, so it is best to describe her battle with the savage pirates in a manner that makes the PCs think twice about crossing steel with her. If they insist on fighting, Javell fights with Combat Reflexes and uses Tumble to avoid being surrounded. She won’t stop to finish off anyone she drops, and as soon as she realizes the way is clear, she may just abandon the PCs and attempt to escape on foot.

Speaking With Captain Javell

After the battle, Harliss calls out to the PCs. “What manner of driftwood do we have here? Speak up! Your names, lubbers! If only so’s I can cut ‘em inta’ yer chests and save the undertaker some asking ‘round.”

Harliss appreciates characters who stand up to her gruff attitude with threats of their own, but in truth she is grateful to see non-deformed faces and hopes they may have some insight into what happened to her crew. Harliss turns her hard gaze on the PCs and demands to know their business in this “little piece o’ hell.” Take some time to roleplay this scene, and establish her character well, as Harliss is destined to make further appearances in the Savage Tide Adventure Path. In fact, the PCs’ interactions with her here may greatly affect their later dealings with the Crimson Fleet.

Harliss grows grows frustrated when she realizes that the PCs know less about what happened at Kraken’s Cove than she. This, combined with her clouded mind from the savage fever she’s contracted, makes her a bit more talkative about Crimson Fleet matters than she probably should be. As soon as she hears Vanthus Vanderboren’s name, she flies into a poetic litany of profanity that lasts several seconds and is as magnificent as it is scandalous to hear. When she recovers herself, she explains as she rights the toppled table and sits down upon it to rest. Feel free to break up the following soliloquy as you wish, allowing the PCs to interject questions here and there.

“All this ye see here,” the flamboyant woman says as she waves her hand at the slaughtered deformities, “and what nightmares ye must have fought through t’get t’me; t’was all Vanthus Vanderboren’s doing! That vomitous pig came t’me with his hussy ‘n asked t’see our wares; made like he were a black marketeer lookin’ fer some fur or scale t’move. Told him we had a ship coming in today what were full of exotica for him ta’ shop, so he stayed on a few nights. Seemed a fine enough chap, but then not an hour ago, he dumped a hold full of whale oil into the cove and lit it up. I was on th’Slippery Eel at the time, and that’s when I caught the two of them on board, fixin t’rob me! Can ye imagine that? A pair of base curs tryin’ t’rob Captain Harliss Javell? Anway, I stuck the fool in the arm with me blade, he yelped, and then as he ducked aside he dropped what he were tryin’ t’rob. Were a black pearl. One th’size o’a man’s fist, mind you! Was going to make some fair coin off that bauble, but as it fell, the thing cracked like an egg. Some o’Vanthus’s blood from my blade spattered the pearl, and it boiled and flashed with light. This foul, choking green gas started spewin’ from it, burning through the wood like it were acid. I grabbed th’thing, ran up topside, then threw it inta’ the water, but as it struck, the thing exploded!

“After that… things got a bit weird, mind ye. A green mist filled my vision, and I felt strange. Like someone else were in my head. Someone… someone hungry! And the rage! Rage like I never felt ‘afore! And then, just like that, it were gone. Vanthus were on deck too by then, but he and I were the only humans left. That pearl, it did something to me crew. Ta’ Vanthus’ little girly too! Turned them bad, like something ye might find in a net and throw back on account the sun got no purpose lookin’ upon it. These things! She kicks one of the deformed pirates in distaste. “Whatever were in that damnable pearl turned over three score men into… into man-eating freaks!”

“Vanthus, he seen what his friend and the rest turned into. He dove into th’water t’get away. I did the same, only I swam for shore. Found me first mate Drevoraz there. He’d resisted the change too, as had some others here and there, yet they were nothin’ but the banquet for those things. We fought our way into th’caves and managed to hole up here with Captain Kigante, the man who keeps these caves for us. Only, Kigante’s freak food now; he got jumped by a mob of them not twenty minutes ago. Tore him apart like they was sharks!

“And one more thing. I think they got the sick in their maws. The places they done bit me still burn, and it’s hard to think straight… But hey! You fought yer way in here! That means there ain’t much left of them out there, yeah?”

If asked about the pearl, Captain Javell has little more to say. She admits she knew the pearl was magic, but that she’d been asked by her superiors to transport it to Kraken’s Cove and wait there for someone to arrive to pick it up. She refuses to reveal much more about the identity of her superiors or who was supposed to collect the pearl, but a DC 20 Sense Motive check reveals that she seems rather afraid of both mysterious individuals.

If the PCs ask her about Vanthus (or if they start pressing her too forcefully for more details about the pearl or her allies), she curses and flies into a tirade.

“I’ll learn that cur what it is t’foul my business! I know who he is! Th’Vanderboren name’s no secret to me. I know he’s got family’n holdings in Sasserine! I sent me right hand Drevoraz t’deal with yer friend, I did. Drevoraz is on his merry way to Sasserine as we speak. He’ll do for Vanthus’ sister, his mum and pop, and any other family or friends the bastard has in that dunghill city Cross the Crimson Fleet and we take everything in your life from ye. Best not forget that, boyo.”

Harliss does not reveal the involvement of a tribe of allied bullywugs in this strike on Vanderboren Manor. If asked why she didn’t go instead, she explains how she wasn’t about to abandon Kigante to these men turned monsters and fought her way into the cove in hopes of helping him escape (only partially true-in fact, she was more interested in making sure certain papers on his desk did not fall into the wrong lands).

At this point, ask the PC with the highest Diplomacy bonus to make a Diplomacy check; all other PCs can attempt to aid another by making DC 10 Diplomacy checks of their own, with each success granting a +2 bonus on the primary roller’s check. If the PCs have healed Harliss wounds or used lesser restoration to cure some or all of her Intelligence damage, the primary roller also gains a +8 bonus on his Diplomacy check. Make a note of Harliss final attitude, as this determines how she interacts with the party later in the Savage Tide Adventure Path when their paths cross again.

DC 4 or less (Hostile): Harliss smiles, thanks the PCs for hearing out her rant, and then apologizes to them for what must be done, they are, after all, friends of Vanthus, and now it’s time for them to pay for his sins against the Crimson Fleet. She attacks the PCs at once, intending to kill them all.

DC 5 (Unfriendly): Harliss eyes the PCs suspiciously, but decides that it’s probable that they’re after Vanthus as much as she. She bids the PCs to be on their way, warning them to stay away from Vanderboren Manor for a few days if they don’t want to get hurt. If the PCs don’t leave, she turns hostile and attacks.

DC 15 (Indifferent): Harliss remains indifferent to the PCs. She encourages them to leave Kraken’s Cove, inferring that they’d best not be around when reinforcements arrive. This is a bluff; Harliss has decided to cut her losses, and not long after the PCs leave, she flees the region on foot to the east. She eventually reaches a Scarlet Brotherhood fort and is able to secure passage on a ship back to Scuttlecove.

DC 25 (Friendly): Harliss believes the PCs’ story, and may even apologize for any trouble that her first mate might be bringing to the Vanderborens. She encourages the PCs to make haste back to Sasserine and Vanderboren Manor if they want to warn Lavinia about the coming assault, but doubts they’ll get there in time. If asked, she’ll write a brief note to Drevoraz, ordering him to hold off on the attack, but secretly she knows her half-orc first-mate won’t believe the note even if the PCs can deliver it to him. Not long after the PCs leave, she flees to the east as detailed above.

DC 40 (Helpful): Harliss is impressed by the PCs, and gives them one of her marilith earrings as a token to show Drevoraz if they can reach him in time. This is a prearranged code between the two that signals to her first mate that the bearer of her note and the earring is to be trusted. She won’t accompany the PCs to Sasserine, since she knows she’ll be recognized by the city watch in no time and be thrown in jail, but she does honestly regret sending her man to strike against the Vanderborens if the PCs are this diplomatic. In any case, not long after the PCs leave, she sets cut to the east as detailed above.

If the PCs kill Harliss or if she flees before she imparts any or all of the information above, you should take a few moments to prepare a lengthy note as a handout for the PCs to find somewhere on her person or in the nearby area. This note chronicles all of the information above, but is addressed to a Crimson Fleet Commander – a missive Harliss intended to send ahead of her return to Scuttlecove to let the Crimson Fleet know as soon as possible what happened in Kraken’s Cove.

Note also that if the PCs manage to defeat Harliss, her gear represents a major haul for characters of this level. In this case, you should consider adjusting treasure found for the remainder of this adventure and perhaps the next as appropriate.

PART THREE: THE WORMFALL FESTIVAL

While the PCs frantically rush back to Lavinia after their harrowing encounter with the aftermath of the savage tide, wheels are in motion back in Sasserine. Bullywugs led by Drevoraz, Harliss half-orc first mate, have descended on the Vanderboren estate, or rather ascended from the canals below, and are now engaged in a pitched battle with the manor’s defenders.

The battle has gone largely unnoted by the city at large. The bullywugs have managed to prevent anyone from escaping so far, and as the city itself is deep in the chaotic celebration of the Wormfall Festival, no one has noticed the shouts and sounds of battle that periodically echo out of the manor. In order to reach Vanderboren Manor, the PCs must navigate a city thick with parades and festivity. To make matters worse, the Kellani family, their feathers still ruffled from the PCs’ meddling in “There Is No Honor,” have hired exotic killers to confront the PCs and extract vengeance for their role in the humiliation of Rowyn Kellani and the disruption of the Lotus Dragon Thieves’ Guild.

Wormfall Parade

One year ago, a horrific brush with apocalypse in the far-off city of Alhaster sent deadly ripples across the entire face of the world. Even in Sasserine, the Wormgod’s brief emergence into the world had an effect, as monstrous minions boiled out of the Spire of Long Shadows in preparation of the dawn of this new age. Only the intervention of a band of powerful heroes from the neighboring city of Cauldron saved Sasserine from a terrible fate. Now, one year later, Sasserine honors the heroes of that dark day with a wild parade and festival to remember the fallen and rejoice at the victory of good over evil.

Wormfall, as the holiday has been dubbed by city officials, is to be an annual event, a gigantic affair involving troupes of trained acrobats, marching bands, garish costumes in homage of the heroes of Alhaster and Cauldron (and corresponding effigies of their undead and wormy enemies), and floats constructed in the image of enormous green worms and shrouded skulls. Kites of green worms borne on sticks and strings dance in the air above the rooftops. Green lanterns burn above the streets, casting a sickly pale glow upon the cobblestones below, each with a removable shade and a layer of bright gold paper below to bathe the city in the warm sunlight of victory at the exact moment the worms feel and the heroes of Alhaster struck down their foul god.

When the PCs arrive in Sasserine they find the city in the throes of Wormfall and must navigate the teeming crowds of celebrating citizens in order to reach Lavinia’s estate. Allow the PCs to trace their route through the city on a map of Sasserine (available in issue #139 or online at paizo.com in the Savage Tide Player’s Guide), but no matter what route they take they find the going slow and frustrating. And of course, the crowd contains a few surprises for them along the way. You can use the following encounters at any point on the way back to Vanderboren Manor to spice up the journey.

The Belligerent Gnome (EL 5)

Creatures: A gnome by the name of Jilanth Turtoso, normally one of Sasserine’s more docile citizens, becomes an unholy terror once he gets his third drink in him. Thankfully, Jilanth as a half-orc buddy named Kurgol with him. Kurgol does his best to keep Jilanth from starting fistfights with every person who crosses his path, but now and then the wily little gnome gets away from him. While the PCs are moving through the crowd, Jilanth targets them for a “bump” so he can accuse them of being “a bunch of rude, oversized louts.” After slamming into one of the PCs on purpose, Jilanth huffs and puffs and rolls up his sleeves while Kurgol desperately tries to intervene.

If the PCs apologize for the “insult” by making a DC 20 Diplomacy check, they can hold off a fight long enough for Kurgol to arrive and talk some sense into the drunk gnome. Give the PCs a +2 circumstance bonus on the Diplomacy check if there is a gnome or hal-orc in the party, and a +4 if they seem to be a little tipsy themselves or comment on the fun of the festival (Kurgol spent all yesterday volunteering his time setting up for the parade). If the PCs get verbally or physically aggressive with Jilanth, the little gnome immediately attacks. If the PCs inflict lethal damage on Jilanth, Kurgol flies into a rage and attacks them as well. This encounter should pose little physical threat to the PCs, but if handled poorly, the resulting chaos (and possible arrest and jail time if Jilanth or Kurgol is killed) could prevent the PCs from reaching Vanderboren Manor in time.

Jilanth Turtoso, gnome warrior 1: hp, Monster Manual page 132.

Kurgol, half-orc barbarian 5: hp 43. Use the stats for the sample 5th-level barbarian on page 112 of Dungeon Master’s Guide, except that he carries no weapons. Replace his Weapon Focus (greataxe) feat with Improved Unarmed Strike, giving him unarmed strike +9 melee (1d3+4).

Worm’s Revenge (EL 3)

During the height of the celebration, a float-wagon heading downhill bearing a huge humanoid form shrouded in wriggling paper-mache worms and bearing two burning lanterns for eyes rolls out of control toward an open-air tavern filled with revelers. With a DC 15 Listen check, a PC hears the shouts of alarm and has three rounds to react. With a DC 15 Spot check, a PC sees the trundling cart rolling down the hill and has only two rounds to react. If both checks are failed, the PCs automatically notice the runaway float in time to take one round of actions. In any event, the PCs themselves are directly in the path of the runaway cart. A character may try to halt the careening float’s progress by grabbing it (automatic unless the attack to grab the float is a natural 1) and making a DC 25 Strength Check to stop it, by destroying one of its wheels (AC 15, Hardness 5, hp 15), or by creating an obstruction of at least 1,000 pounds (perhaps by toppling a haphazardly-stacked mound of barrels of ale with a DC 20 Strength check). Certain spells, like web, shatter (targeted at one of the wheels), soften earth and stone (cast on the dirt road in front of the float), or warp wood can halt the cart’s progress as well. If the PCs warn the revelers in the tavern, 1d8 of the 20 can escape out of the float’s path each round.

Assume that all of the PCs are in the float’s path unless they specifically mentioned that they’re spread out. A DC 12 Reflex save allows a PC to leap out of the way of the cart before it strikes them, otherwise it rolls right over them and inflicts 3d6 points of damage.

At the end of the three rounds, the wagon slams into the tavern with a tremendous explosion, sending furniture, dishware and patrons hurling in all directions. Worse, the Wormgod’s eye lanterns shatter, spewing flaming oil in all directions and lighting the paper float on fire. Anyone still in the tavern at this time takes 3d6 points of damage-since each reveler has only 5 hit points, this disaster may well result in several deaths if the PCs aren’t quick. Once the fire starts, it spreads quickly. The fire is contained by a bucket brigade before it spreads to neighboring buildings, but the tavern itself burns to the ground unless the PCs can organize a bucket brigade faster with a DC 20 Diplomacy check or use magic to aid in putting out the flames. If cast on the first round, a gust of wind extinguishes the fire, but after this, the wind only fans the flames. Pyrotechnics can transform the fire into an impressive display of fireworks or a choking cloud of smoke if cast within three rounds of the crash.

Ad-Hoc Experience Award: If the PCs stop the float before it crashes, award them as if they’d defeated an EL 3 creature in combat. If the cart crashes but the PCs save at least 15 of the revelers and save the tavern from burning down, give them an EL 1 award.

Kellani’s Killers (EL 6)

How’s the Weather Up There?

Although stilts are designed for performances, for an agile user they can grant unique advantages in combat. Stilts are generally ten feet tall, placing a character on stilts out of reach of melee attacks from most Medium creatures. With a DC 10 Balance check, a character can move at his normal speed while wearing stilts, failure by 5 or more indicates a fall for 1d6 damage. A character on stilts can move through crowds with ease, and generally gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls with melee weapons against Large or smaller creatures due to the advantage of higher ground (although the stilt walker generally needs reach weapons to target Medium creatures).

A foe can attempt to sunder a stilt if it were a weapon. A stilt has hardness 5 and 10 hit points, and each time it is struck, the stiltwalker must make DC Balance check to avoid a fall. If a stilt is destroyed, the stiltwalker automatically falls. While on stilts, you suffer a -4 penalty to resist bull rush, overrun, and trip attempts, but you may substitute your Balance check in place of the normal check to resist the attack if you wish.

Angered at the shame the PCs brought upon her daughter Rowyn, and furnous at the loss of income generated by the Lotus Dragon Thieves Guild, aging noblewoman Heldrath Kellani has hired a group of specialized murderers and killers to strike a blow of vengeance against the PCs. Led by a dangerous woman named Diamondback, this group of rogues poses as a band of street performers mounted on stilts and patrols the streets surrounding Vanderboren Manor, waiting for word of the PCs’ approach.

Creatures: Diamondback is a deadly performer, late of the Talventa Academy before she decided there was more money in murder-for-hire. Diamondback, decked out in a form-fitting and sensual-if-macabre black bodysuit decorated with a white skeleton, is accompanied by an entourage of six acrobatic rogues who parade about the streets on ten-foot-high stilts. Diamondback precedes the stiltwalkers, dancing and performing an impressive array of acrobatic flips and leaps, while the stiltwalkers themselves wow audiences by juggling daggers and flasks of oil with burning rags stuffed into them. As they approach the PCs, allow them a DC 20 Sense Motive check to notice that the acrobatic troupe seems to be up to no good just before they mount their assault. Those who make the check may act in the surprise round.

DIAMONDBACK CR 4

Female human battle dancer 4
CN Medium humanoid
Dragon Compendium 26

Init+5: Senses Listen-1, Spot-1
Languages Common
AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 15: Dodge, Mobility
Hp 25 (4 HD)
Fort +2, Ref +9, Will 40
Spd 40 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +9 (108+1)
Base Atk +4; Grp +5
Special Actions dance of reckless bravery
Combat Gear potion of cat’s grace, potion of eagle’s splendor (both already used)
Abilities Str 12, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 18
SQ AC bonus
Feats Dodge, Mobility, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +12, Escape Artist +10, Jump -14, Perform (dance) +11, Tumble +12

Possessions combat gear, ring of protection +1, black skeletal leotard, jade serpent earrings worth 500 gp as a pair

AC Bonus (Ex) Diamondback adds her Charisma bonus to her Armor Class; this bonus applies even against touch attacks or when she is flat-footed, but she looses the bonus if immobilized or helpless, when she wears armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

Dance of Reckless Bravery (Su) Diamondback can inspire bravery in her allies by taking a move action while within an opponent’s threatened area. This does not provoke an attack of opportunity. All of her allies within 30 feet gain a +4 bonus on saves against fear effects for a number of rounds equal to 5 + her Charisma modifier (currently 9 rounds).

STILTWALKERS (6) CR 1
Male and female human rogue 1
CN Medium humanoid

Init +2; Senses Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Common
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 11
Hp 8 (1 HD)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
Spd 30 ft.
Melee dagger +1 (1d4+1/19-20)
Ranged dagger +2 (1d4+1/19-20) or alchemist’s fire +2 touch (1d6 fire)
Base Atk +0; Grp +1
Atk Options sneak attack +1d6
Combat Gear 2 flasks of alchemist’s fire Abilities Str 13, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
SQ trapfinding
Feats Agile, Skill Focus (Balance)
Skills Balance +11, Bluff +3, Escape Artist +8, Jump +5, Listen +5, Perform (juggling) +3, Sleight of Hand +6, Spat +5, Tumble +6

Possessions combat gear, padded armor, stilts, 4 daggers

Tactics: Diamondback and her killers are well acquainted with the PCs’ appearances, and unless they go to great lengths to disguise themselves as they move toward Lavinia’s mansion, the killers strike at some point before they reach it. Diamondback drinks her two potions before she approaches the group from behind and attacks the last character in line. At this attack, the stiltwalkers each throw a flask of alchemist’s fire at the PCs, hoping the resulting explosions of fire damage them and cause a swath of chaos in the streets.

The attack works like a charm. For the following 2d4 rounds, panicked crowds fill the square. The stiltwalkers can move through the crowd with ease, but all other characters treat movement through the crowd as difficult terrain. Diamondback tries to stay within five feet of her chosen target at all times, tumbling away to find a different target if reinforcements arrive.

As soon as a rogue or Diamondback is brought below 4 hit points, he or she attempts to flee into the crowd. If cornered, a badly wounded villain surrenders.

Development: It takes the city watch a few minutes to respond to the attack, likely giving the PCs plenty of time to become scarce. Even if they remain at the scene of the fight, the large number of witnesses are more than enough to convince the watch that the PCs were only defending themselves. With a DC 10 Diplomacy check, the guards let the PCs go after only a few minutes of questioning. A captured rogue or Diamondback readily gives up the identity of their employers if interrogated. Legal action against the Kellanis is unfortunately a bureaucratic nightmare beyond the scope of this adventure, but this assault combined with any evidence the PCs uncovered in the Lotus Dragon Guildhall in “There Is No Honor” goes a long way toward stripping the Kellanis of their noble status. In any event, after this failed attack, Heldrath washes her hands of the PCs, realizing they’re too tough to tangle with. If her daughter Rowyn still lives, though, she has further plans for revenge that see fruition in the next adventure.

PART FOUR: FROGS IN THE HOUSE

When Captain Harliss Javell gave her first mate the orders to seek out the Vanderborens and extract punishment for Vanthus’ treachery, she suggested to the half-orc he recruit several members of the Trub Glorp bullywug tribe as thugs. The Trub Glorp tribe dwells in the swamp south of Kraken’s Cove, and have a long-standing alliance with the pirates of the Crimson Fleet. Drevoraz was able to secure the aid of the entire tribe (along with one of their pets) for the raid. Fortunately for the PCs, this significantly slowed Drevoraz’s journey to Sasserine. Forced to make the last legs of the journey under stealth, the bullywugs arrived at Vanderboren Manor only a few hours before the PCs arrive, invading the mansion via a short creek that passes through the basement.

It wasn’t long before the invaders clashed with the Jade Ravens, another adventuring party employed by Lavinia. Further, Lavinia herself, perhaps inspired by the PCs, has taken up her interest in fencing and has honed her skills as a swashbuckler. She and the Jade Ravens put up a terrific fight in the manor courtyard, but the bullywugs eventually defeated them, capturing most and sending one of the Ravens into desperate hiding before they settled in to wait for Vanthus arrival.

The majority of the bullywugs encountered in Vanderboren Manor are Trub Glorp hunters, rangers possessing a burning hatred of all things human. A bullywug is a froglike humanoid with green, gray, or mottled yellow skin. They have long, flicking tongues and typically speak with thick, sloppy accents. They stand four to seven feet tall, weigh 100 to 300 pounds, and reek of the swamp. Bullywugs are fanatic creatures loyal to their tribe; they fight to the death. Note that these bullywugs have already taken some damage in the fight to wrestle the manor away from the Jade Ravens and Lavinia. When encountered, a Trub Glorp hunter has already taken 1d5 points of damage. Named bullywugs are at full hit points, as they held back from the initial fights or have already been healed by their shaman, Bua Gorg.

Trub Glorp Hunter CR 1
Male and female bullywug ranger 1
CE Medium humanoid (aquatic)
Monster of Faerun 25

Init +2; Senses Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages Common
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15
Hp 12 (-1d6, 1 HD)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will -1
Spd 20 ft., swim 30 ft.; marsh move
Melee club +3 (1d6+2)
Ranged throwing axe +3 (1d6+2)
Base Atk +1; Grp +3
Atk Options favored enemy +2 (human)
Abilities Str 14, Dex 15, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 4
SQ amphibious, wild empathy -2
Feats Alertness, Track
Skills Hide +6 (+12 in marshes), Jump +6, Listen +1, Spot +1, Survival +3, Swim +14

Possessions leather armor, club, 3 throwing axes

Amphibious (Ex) Although bullywugs are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely out of water.

Marsh Move (Ex) A bullywug suffers no movement penalties for moving in marshes or mud.

Vanderboren Manor

The bullywugs have posted no guards outside of Vanderboren Manor so as to not draw attention to the grounds during their invasion, making it relatively simple for the PCs to approach the manor. If they approach openly, there’s a 20% chance that a bullywug notices them through one of the manor’s windows and raises the alarm – any attempt at stealth negates this chance entirely.

You should provide the PCs with a map of Vanderboren Manor to help them plan the rescue mission – they’ve likely been to the mansion numerous times by now, and while they may not have visited every room in the building, they should be familiar with its layout. The manor itself is a well-made structure. Bullywugs lack darkvision or low-light vision, so if the assault occurs at night they’ve lit the manor’s numerous wall-mounted lamps. Doors are made of wood and are unlocked unless otherwise indicated in the text.

The following room descriptions assume the bullywugs are not aware of the PCs. If the alarm is raised, refer to that room’s Development section to note any changes to the room’s condition. Without concrete proof that bullywugs have invaded Sasserine, the city watch has little time or resources to devote to aiding the PCs in their task. With the Wormfall Festival in full swing, they’ve got their hands full keeping things in relative order as it is. PCs who waste time trying to organize an army of guards to assault the manor may well find that they’re too late to save its occupants

Note on Treasure: Although many of these rooms list objects as treasure, honorable parties won’t loot their employer’s home. If your party is working for Rowyn, she may ask the PCs to steal as much of this treasure as they can during their infiltration of the manor (see the “Switching Sides” sidebar at the start of this adventure).

Note that many of the treasures in Vanderboren Manor are trophies from noteworthy and infamous adventure sites throughout the world – the Vanderborens have a proud family tradition as adventurers, and the decor of their manor reflects some of their more obscure finds.

V1. Atrium (EL 3)

This enormous great hall’s marble stonework is smooth and white. Two oak stairwells with burnished brass railings ascend to an open first-floor landing. Tapestries depicting a beautiful and savage frontier of sprawling jungle landscapes and an eerie shoreline hang from the upper landing. A glass chandelier hangs from the atrium’s ceiling.

Creatures: Three Trub Glorp hunters stand watch here, two on the ground floor between the stairwells and one patrolling the first floor landing. The two downstairs hunters stand directly under the chandelier; if the chandelier’s rope is cut, its fall strikes the bullywugs for 2d6 points of damage (Reflex DC 12 half).

Trub Glorp Hunters (3): hp 12 each; see page 33.

Tactics: The bullywugs rush any discernable threat they notice, raising the alarm as they attack.

Development: If the alarm is raised, the bullywugs hide behind tapestries and prepare to ambush anyone who moves through the atrium.

V2. Statuary

This marble-floored room contains many fine sculptures of Vanderboren ancestors, long dead friends, and important personages. A partially-finished statue of Lavinia’s parents, Verik and Larissa Vanderboren, stands in the center of the chamber. Their visages are incomplete from the nose down, so that their eyes stare outward toward the viewer, with no mouths to speak the secrets of their lives and deaths.

Treasure: On a marble pedestal near the south wall sits a gem-studded ceremonial silver dragon engraved with the stylized depiction of an obscure demigod of earth, weather, and hidden treasure known as the Earth Dragon. The statue is worth 1,100 gp. On another pedestal sits an odd golden likeness of half of a cow’s head with a ruby eye worth 800 gp.

V3. Library

Row upon row of bookshelves filled to bursting with tomes on all manner of subjects line this room. A hearth sits against the north wall, embers glowing softly within. A reading table sits near the fireplace.

An old musty diary written in a strange archaic language (Suel) rests on the reading table, the initials “L. of G.” burned into the cover. The diary’s current page is marked with a strange card of flexible gray material with bumps and holes along its surface.

Treasure: The card of gray material is an unusual key that opens doors in an exotic and distant dungeon of metal hidden deep in the Barrier Peaks, and is useless to the PCs except as a curiosity worth 15 gp.

V4. Study

An impressive darkwood desk with a high-backed chair behind it sits in this spacious study.

This is where Lavinia’s mother and father took important meetings with close friends, economic advisors, and members of the Seeker Lodge. The large office has gone unused for weeks.

V5. Gallery

This dismal excuse for a gallery obviously once held dozens of works, but now most of the frames stand empty, save a few exotic landscapes and a portrait of Lavinia’s parents.

The contents of this room suffered recently, as Lavinia was forced to sell most of the paintings herein to collec tors and merchants to pay off the most critical of her inherited debts.

V6. Trophy Hall (EL 3)

This exhibit hall displays many huntingtro phies, all well-preserved by taxidermy, great saber-toothed cats, a crouching deinonychus, a bloated toad the size of a pony, and a strange badger-like creature with golden fur and eight legs round out a menagerie of more mundane leopards, wolves, and bears. The carpet in this room is terribly stained with mud, especially around a door in the northeast corner of the room.

The door in the northeastern corner of the room leads down to the basement. The mud stains are from the bullywugs who invaded the manor from below; a DC 20 Survival check by a character with Track reveals many webbed footprints in the mud stains.

The secret door into area V15 can be discovered with a DC 25 Search check.

Creatures: Three bullywug hunters have taken a liking to the stuffed dire toad, and have gathered around it while they guard this room. They attack anyone who enters the room.

Trub Glorp Hunters (3): hp 12 each; see page 33.

Development: The bullywugs hide behind the dire toad trophy if the alarm is raised. A strange “blourp!” sound emitted from behind the toad a split second before they leap out to attack is the only warning the PCs get if they fail to notice the hiding bullywugs before they attack.

V7. Courtyard

A plethora of exotic flowers and plants populate this lush courtyard. A small pend dotted with water lilies sits at the center of the courtyard, a gentle stream draining away to the north. Benches and a stone table with an intricate marble and iron dragonchess set built into its surface complete the idyllic scene, which is marred here and there by splashes of blood on the grass or walls. Three froglike bodies lie in a heap on the southern share of the pond next to a dead badger.

Three dead bullywugs, one riddled with throwing knives, another smote with a blunt blow to the head, and a third badly riddled with deep holes caused by magic missiles lie about the pond. The Jade Ravens made their last stand here, and managed to kill three of the bullywugs before they were overwhelmed and scattered throughout the manor. The dead badger was Kaskus’s animal companion (see area V15).

V8. Kennels (EL 3)

Four locked cage-stalls fill the northern portion of this room. The air reeks of unkempt dogs.

Creatures: Three mastiff hounds named Leshton, Ealia, and Kurz, diligently raised as hunting dogs by Lavinia’s father, are kept here. Normally, the dogs had free run of the estate most of the time, but they were kenneled at the time the bullywugs struck and no one was able to release them. The dogs are agitated and whimper with fear-they can smell the bullywugs in the mansion, and if released, the faithful dogs want nothing more than to defend their masters’ home from the intruding monsters.

They growl at any PCs who approach and bark loudly (the bullywugs have been ignoring the dogs’ incessant barking since their arrival, so this does not draw any investigation by the frogmen). If calmed with a DC 15 wild empathy or Handle Animal check, the dogs obey the party, though they rush to attack any bullywugs they encounter.

Mastiffs (3): hp 16 each, Monster Manual 272 (riding dog)

V9. Storage

This large closet is filled with cleaning supplies, blankets, sheets, pillows, and other necessities of the household.

V10. Servant’s Quarters

This simple room contains a few narrow beds and a single free-standing dresser.

These simple 10-foot-by-10-foot rooms are where the Vanderboren serving staff resides. Lavinia hasn’t had a chance yet to rehire a full staff, so the only denizen of this room is her loyal majordomo, Kora Whistlegap, who unfortunately has not survived the bullywug invasion – her body can be found in area V27.

The Jade Ravens

The PCs aren’t the only adventurers in Lavinia’s employ. The Jade Ravens consist of a group of mercenaries and adventurers who have served the Vanderborens for many years. Traditionally, as members of this group became higher level, they went their own ways after recruiting new members to replace themselves. The current group consists of four 3rd-level NPCs. Having just returned from the nearby city of Cauldron with monetary aid from Vanderboren relations there, the Jade Ravens were present to aid in the initial defense of the manor against the bullywugs. Unfortunately, they where overwhelmed and are now scattered throughout the manor, either hostages or unconscious. As the PCs encounter them, they can rescue these NPCs and thus recruit additional aid in reclaiming the manor. How the PCs interact with the Jade Ravens here has repercussions throughout the rest of the Savage Tide Adventure Path. Will they be allies? Or will they become bitter rivals?

Tolin Kientai (LN male human ranger 3): The self-proclaimed leader of the group, Tolin is as vain and brash as he is handsome. He may take an interest in an attractive female PC, although his ego might make him difficult to get along with.

Zan Oldavin (N male half-elf rogue 3): A jaunty, flamboyant man  who takes perhaps too keen an interest in his dagger collection. Zan’s carefree and sometimes irresponsible attitude tends to get all four of the Jade Ravens into trouble with the authorities.

Kaskus Kiel (LN male dwarf druid 3): Kaskus has a deep and noisy love of mountains and caverns, and longs to return there some day after he’s repaid a debt of loyalty to Lavinia, whose father rescued Kaskus from slavery to the Scarlet Brotherhood nearly a year ago.

Liamae Teslikaria (CN female human sorcerer 3): Liamae is a somewhat haughty woman, a rebel against her noble parents, who ran away from home to the exotic south to experience what life has to offer. She may become romantically involved with an attractive PC, but her capricious and sometimes self-destructive lifestyle might put long-term relationships under undue strain.

V11. Ballroom

This large chamber was used to entertain the Vanderboren’s guests in bygone days. Now this area contains only a long dining table, an empty buffet table, and a few well-worn chairs.

Like the gallery, much of the finery that once decorated this ballroom has been sold to pay off several debts.

V12. Private Dining Hall (EL 6)

This spacious room is filled with comfortable upholstered chairs, bookshelves, and a few tables. A window overlooks the manor’s central courtyard and the carpet is thick and soft. A large portrait hangs on one wall, a fine work depicting a handsome young man with a short beard and a sneer on his face.

Creatures: Huntress Lorb-Lorb Tub, a mottled brown and green bullywug wearing mismatched studded leather armor, relaxes here with three of her hunters. She is the mate of Chief Lorpth and a powerful personage in the Trub Glorp tribe. The huntress finds this whole affair ridiculous, and has refused to take an active part in the raid, instead becoming thoroughly distracted by a box of fine cigars in this room. She smokes them at her leisure and greets any PCs who enter with a slime-drooling smile and a puff before ordering her hunters to attack. She does not attack until at least one of her hunters fills or she is herself attacked, at which point she rages and fights to the death.

HUNTRESS LORB-LORB TUB CR 5
Female bullywug barbarian 2/ranger 3
CE Medium humanoid (aquatic)
Monsters of Faerun 25

Init +1; Senses Listen-1, Spot-1
Languages Common
AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 18; uncanny dodge
Hp 57 (5 HD)
Fort +11, Ref +4, Will +0
Spd 30 fl., swim 30 ft.; marsh move
Melee +1 hand axe +9 (106+3/x3) or +1 hand axe +2 (1d6+3/x3) and +1 hand axe +7 (1d6+2/x3)
Base Atk +5; Grp +7
Atk Options favored enemy +2 (human), rage 1/day
Combat Gear potion of barkskin +3
Abilities Str 15, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8
SQ amphibious, wild empathy +2
Feats Endurance, Track, Two Weapon Defense, Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (handaxe)
Skills Climb +10, Hide +4 (+10 in swamps), Jump +10, Swim +10, Survival +2

Possessions combat gear, studded leather armor, 2 +1 hand axes

Amphibious (Ex) Although bullywugs are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely out of water.

Marsh Move (Ex) A bullywug suffers no movement penalties for moving in marshes or mud.

Rage (Ex) When she rages, Lorb-Lorb Tub’s stats change as follows:
AC 16, touch 9, flat-footed 16
hp 67
Fort +13, Will +2
Melee +1 hand are +11 (106+5/x3) or +1 hand axe +9 (1d6+5/x3) and +1 hand axe +9 (1d6+1/x3)
Grp +9
Abilities Str 19. Con 24
Skills Jump +12, Swim +13

Trub Glorp Hunters (3): hp 12 each; see page 33.

Tactics: The hunters and Lorb-Lorb Tub both attempt to flank opponents. Lorb-Lorb Tub is the smartest of the bullywugs in the mansion and fights in a manner demonstrative of both her canny hunter’s instincts and intellect. Lorb-Lorb Tub is also not stupid enough to fight to the death and attempts to flee if reduced to less than 10 hit points. If cornered, she hurls down her weapons and begs for mercy.

Development: If the alarm is raised, Lorb-Lorb Tub ignores it and continues testing cigars. Her hunters grow more nervous, but dare not disobey the chieftain’s mate. If captured alive, Lorb-Lorb Tub offers to tell the PCs all she knows about her mate Chief Lorpth, Bua Gorg, and the half-orc stranger in exchange for her life. She can tell the PCs exact numbers and the locations of the other bullywugs, but won’t aid in fighting them.

V13. Washroom

This room contains a matching large bathtub and washbasin.

Area V14. Privy

Beyond three fine porcelain lavatories that empty into a series of pipes that likely drain into the nearby canal, there is nothing of interest in this room.

V15. Hidden Armory

The walls of this stone-floored room are lined with weapon and armor racks, many of which are empty. Still remaining on the walls are a silvery bastard sword, a light crossbow, a glowing dagger, a suit of studded leather armor, a light steel shield, and a small wooden coffer. The wooden coffer lies on its side, the lid open and its-contents (several potion vials and a pair of boots) strewn on the floor. Slumped on the ground nearby is what appears to be a recently slain dwarf.

This hidden armory is where the Vanderborens keep several of their spare weapons, stored here in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, neither the Jade Ravens nor Lavinia were able to reach this room in time for its contents to make a difference during the bullywug attack.

Creature: The dwarf druid Kaskus Kiel managed to hide in this room after the other Jade Ravens were captured. Unfortunately, the wounded druid didn’t know about the magic missile trap that once warded the coffer of healing potions, and in his frenzied attempt to get to the contents he triggered the trap and was nearly slain. As fortune would have it, the dwarf stabilized naturally at -7 hit points. If the PCs can heal him, he frantically recounts the battle for the manor (including a tearful account of the death of his animal companion Brunthus at the hands of that damn half-orc). Kaskus readily agrees to join the PCs in their task of reclaiming the manor.

KASKUS KIEL CR3
Male dwarf druid 3
LN Medium humanoid

Init +1; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +0, Spot +0
Languages Common, Dwarven, Druidic, Sylvan
AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 17
Hp 26 (currently-7, 3 HD)
Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +5
Spd 20 ft.
Melee scimitar +2 (1d6/18-20)
Base Atk +2: Grp +2
Combat Gear potion of expeditious retreat
Spells Prepared (CL 3rd, +2 melee touch, +3 ranged touch)
2nd-bull’s strength (already cast), cure moderate wounds (already cast)
1st-cure light wounds (already cast) longstrider, produce flame (already cast)
0-cure minor wounds (2, both already cast), guidance (already cast), light
Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 6
SQ wild empathy +1
Feats Augment Summoning, Spell Focus (conjuration)
Skills Concentration +9, Handle Animal +4, Knowledge (nature) +9, Listen +8, Spot +8, Survival +4 (+6 nature)

Possessions combat gear, +1 hide armor, +1 heavy wooden shield, scimitar, goggles of minute seeing, 35 gp

Treasure: The weapons and armor in this room are of masterwork quality. The glowing dagger is in fact a keen dagger. Four of the potions that were once in the coffer are smashed, but four potions of cure moderate wounds sarvive intact. The boots are boots of striding and springing.

V16. Guest Rooms

This chamber is furnished with a bed, a low desk, and a free-standing dresser.

There is nothing of interest in these chambers.

V17. Laboratory

Alchemical and vivisection tools and all manner of glassware are scattered about on three or four tables in this windowless room. The fireplace is constructed with a brass grating fitted with slots to accommodate glass test tubes for heating.

This room is where biological samples gathered on the Vanderborens’ many explorative journeys are kept, and where they created alchemical concoctions and potions. Lavinia’s mother Larissa used this room often, but since her death the chamber hasn’t been visited in over a month.

Treasure: A shelf on the north wall has the following samples in glass jars: a shrunken head of a simian humanoid (a tasloi) worth 20 gp. A bulbous green worm floating in alchemical preservative worth 50 gp, a strange one-eyed bat-like thing mounted on a board and whose body gives off an eerie soft glow worth 100 gp, and a piece of stretched leathery skin bearing a tattoo of an eye with an arrow crossed over it (this last is a patch of half-fiend skin that bears the notorious Carcerian Sign) worth 25 gp.

V18. Family Shrine

A large stone disk carved with the road and crescent moon of Fharlanghn is set into the wall above a modest altar heaped with offerings of dried fruit and other strange objects.

Although the Vanderborens have traditionally been a secular family, the worship of Fharlanghn remained a well-loved tradition in the family. Lavinia has not visited this shrine in weeks, and everything here is covered with a layer of dust.

Treasure. The offerings here include several sprigs of cinnamon worth 5 gp in all, a rare and preserved orchid worth 10 gp, a ruby brooch in the shape of a bat worth 300 gp, a small silver offering bowl with a crescent-shaped base made of bone worth 60 gp filled with fine dates from a far-off desert (the dates are worth 20 gp in all), and a carved white oak staff of passage (1 charge remaining)

V19. Training Hall

This large open room is devoid of furniture, save a weapons rack containing several quality weapons, including three longswords, an axe, two daggers, four rapiers, a strange-looking crossbow, a ranseur, and a spiked chain. The floor is thickly carpeted to absorb the shock of a fall or takedown. The bodies of four froglike humanoids lie sprawled on the floor.

These four bullywugs were cut down in a valiant effort by Tolin Kientai and Kaskus Kiel before they were subdued and brought upstairs with the rest of the hostages. The weapons on the racks are all of masterwork quality: the strange-looking crossbow is, in fact, a +1 repeating crossbow.

V20 Laundry (EL 2)

This white paneled room is filled with basins and hampers. A large tab of water sits in the middle of the room, and numerous cords hung with clothespins lace the ceiling.

This is where the staff washes linens and clothing.

Creatures: Two bullywug hunters sift through the hampers here, searching for more fine silk robes. Bua Gorg, the bullywug cleric in area V27 above, has taken a liking to these soft garments and plans on taking as many as possible back to his lair in the swamps. The bullywugs battle to the death to protect their master’s “treasure.”

Trub Glorp Hunters (2): hp 12 each, see page 33.

Development: If the alarm is raised, these two hunters move out onto the balcony (area V21) to watch for intruders.

V21. Balcony

This open-air balcony overlooks the corner of the Vanderboren Grounds, providing an excellent view of the city of Sasserine. Three reed chairs sit near the railing.

Development: The two bullywug hunters in are V20 crouch here if the alarm is raised, watching the streets for any sign of reinforcements.

V22. Kitchen

Stoves, basins, and preparation counters fill up this cramped chamber. This kitchen is large enough to prepare a banquet.

Although the kitchen is sizable, it has been underused since the deaths of Lavinia’s parents. The only evidence of recent occupation is a small wheel of Lavinia’s favorite cheese (Hollowsky port) and a loaf of hardened bread. Even the wine rack is empty (Lavinia sold off some of the bottles and Vanthus drank the rest during his short stay in the manor immediately after their parents’ death).

V23. Basement (EL 7)

Water from the central pool in the court yard flows through this room, cascading through a grate in the south wall and then out through a second grate to the north. This second grate is nearly completely rusted through; only a few jagged shards of metal remain. Great swaths of mud stain the floor here.

This is where the bullywugs invaded Vanderboren Manor. Chief Lorpth used his pet rust monster to eat through the grate to allow access to the room from the creek. A Medium or smaller creature can still use this missing grate to enter and exit the Vanderboren Estate relatively unnoticed.

The muddy floor is difficult to walk through, and is treated as difficult terrain. Remember: bullywugs can move through mud like this with no penalty.

When the PCs first reach this area, the sounds of deep slobbery laughter, a woman’s cries of distress, and a weird trilling chitter echo into the area from the chamber to the east.

Creatures: Chief Lorpth has taken the basement as his personal headquarters during the incursion. He has no interest in the finery of pinkskins, and enjoys the mud down here (he’s homesick already). He’s had three of his hunters bring in buckets of water and mud to transform the ground here into a soupy approximation of the swamp he misses so much.

While he waits for his kin and Drevoraz to finish with their business upstairs, and while his mate works her way through the cigars in area V12, Chief Lorpth has decided to have a little fun down here in the basement. He’s pulled a large overstuffed chair from the ballroom above down here, setting it up in the southwest corner of the basement so he can watch as his pet rust monster Chunkus (the source of the strange chittering sound) torments a distraught human woman.

This is Liamae Teslikaria, one of the Jade Ravens. Having cast almost all of her prepared spells and losing her dagger to Chunkus hunger, Liamae has been biding her time for the opportunity to escape her bloated captor. Until then, Chief Lorpth has forced her to perform a demeaning game for his entertainment – she has been forced to wear nothing more than a tattered sheet into which the bullywugs have threaded nearly two dozen pieces of silverware. Chief Lorpth promised Liamae that if she can keep at least one piece of silverware away from Chunkus until he and his kin are set to leave, he’ll let her go. If Chunkus gets all of the spoons and forks, he’s promised to eat her. Liamae’s down to only three spoons and a single fork, and by the time the PCs arrive she’s desperate enough to try to escape, using her last spell to distract the Chief long enough to make a run for it. Covered with rust monster bites, she sees the arrival of the PCs as her chance and immediately casts her last charm person at Chief Lorpth.

CHIEF LORPTH CR 5
Male bullywug fighter 5
CE Medium humanoid (aquatic) Monsters of Faerun 25
Init 1; Senses Listen -1, Spot -1
Languages Common

AC 18 touch 11, flat footed 18
Hp 57 (5 HD)
Fort +9, Ref +2, Will +0
Spd 20 ft., swim 30 ft.; marsh move
Melee* +1 greatclub +7 (1d10+13)
Base Atk +5, Grp +8
Atk Options Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack
Combat Gear potion of shield of faith +2, potion of cure moderate wounds, salve of slipperiness
*3-point Power Attack
Abilities Str 16, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 11
SQ amphibious
Feats Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (greatclub), Weapon Specialization (greatclub)
Skills Hide -1 (+5 in swamps), Intimidate +8

Possessions combat gear, +1 hide armor, +1 greatclub, wooden crown fitted with seven moonstones (each worth 100 gp)

Amphibious (Ex) Although bullywugs are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely out of water.

Marsh Move (Ex) A bullywug suffers no movement penalties for moving in marshes or mud

LIAMAE TESLIKARIA CR 3
Female human sorcerer 3
LN Medium humanoid
Init +1; Senses Darkvision 60f,; Listen +0, Spot +0
Languages Common, Dwarven, Druidic, Sylvan

AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10
Hp 12 (currently 3, 3.HD)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +6
Spd 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +0 (103)
Base Atk +1; Grp +0
Spells Krown (CL. 3rd, 3 ranged touch)
1st (6/day, 1 remaining)-charm person (DC 14), magic missile, shield
0 (6/day, 3 remaining)-acid splash, daze (DC 13), detect magic, light, read magic
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 15
SQ summon familiar (Rat named Scabies, currently deceased)
Feats Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Spell Focus (enchantment)
Skills Concentration +7, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Spellcraft +8

Chunkus, rust monster: hp 27; Monster Manual 216.

Trub Glorp Hunters (2): hp 12 each; see page 33.

Tactics: Chief Lorpth commands Chunkus to attack the most heavily armored foe (an unnecessary command, given Chunkus’s ravenous appetite) and his three minions to gather around him to prevent the PCs from flanking him. Chief Lorpth has a vastly over-inflated opinion of his combat skills, and uses Power Attack even if he’s regularly not hitting a foe. The bullywugs fight to the death, but Chunkus waddles off into a corner to eat if given a sizable chunk of metal to gnaw on.

Treasure: Chief Lorpth has stacked Liamae’s gear in a pile next to his impromptu throne. This consists of a ring of protection +1, a potion of false life, a wand of mage armor with 10 charges, a wand of shocking grasp with 30 charges, and 78 gp.

Development: Liamae gratefully thanks them if she survives, and can quickly fill the PCs in on what happened over the last few hours. She was cut off from the other Jade Ravens after the battle in the courtyard turned sour, and is quite worried about their well-being. She’s also concerned about Lavinia, but not to the same extent.

V24. Reservoir

This chamber contains several twisting pipes and a large water container.

The mansion’s water supply is stored here, and can be pumped up from the container into the kitchen above as needed.

V25. Lavinia’s Room

Tall windows overlook the city of Sasserine to the west and south from this spacious bedroom, which features a large, four poster bed made with frilly, lacy sheets and heaped with pillows. Several of the sheets and pillows lie scattered across the floor, and a bloody handprint with webbed fingers mars the wall near the door, additional bloodstains and muddy footprints stain the carpet in places. A dead frogman lies slumped against a desk in the northwest corner of the room.

This chamber has been Lavinia’s since childhood, and is filled with her clothes and accoutrements. Though by all rights she should now be keeping her quarters in the master bedroom, Lavinia is not comfortable doing so and hasn’t yet moved out of this room. The bullywugs, many of which were already wounded in their fight with The Jade Ravens, found Lavinia to be a tougher catch than they’d realized, and she managed to kill one of them before they subdued her.

V26. Vanthus Room

This large bedroom is clean, well-ordered, and almost sterile in appearance; it’s obvious that no one’s used this chamber in weeks.

This is where Vanthus kept his quarters in the manor, although he hasn’t slept here in well over a month. His bed is a luxuriant four-poster affair with silk drapes and satin sheets. A reading table and cabinet sit against one wall, a bar with various (now empty) bottles of wine and liquor and a collection of fine drinking vessels, one of which is a tankard with the words “Grog’s” engraved on it.

Treasure: Inside the cabinet is a gold ring with a rounded blue stone worth 150 gp, a large ivory key worth 60 gp, and a collection of strange signet pins of various colors and crests (a mushroom on one, a whip on another, a pair of spiders on a third). The whole collection of pins is worth 100 gp in all.

V27. Master Bedroom (EL 8)

This room is dark and cloying the shutters are closed, and the air smells of a rank combination of body odor and swamp mud. The desk, chairs, and most other furniture in this room have all been draped with white canvas dust covers, giving this room the eerie feeling of a tomb. Only the large four-poster bed in the northwest corner of the room has been uncovered, its dust covers lying in a heap at the side.

Creatures: Having secured the manor as best he can, Drevoraz Kabran claimed this room as a place to wait for Vanthus to return to the manor. After she was captured, Lavinia managed to convince Drevoraz that she’d heard from Vanthus, that he was enroute to Sasserine and should be arriving home by the end of the day. Her plan to delay Drevoraz worked, as he now plans on executing Lavinia and the Jade Ravens in front of Vanthus before he murders the treacherous Vanderboren himself, assuming that he’ll arrive in a few short hours. Drevoraz relaxes on the bed, passing the time alternately reading a racy novel he swiped from the library and tormenting the prisoners to fight off boredom before Vanthus’s arrival. Also present in the room is the disgusting spiritual leader of the Trub Glorp bullywug tribe – a cleric named Bua Gorg. This bloated bullywug has soaked one of the dustsheets in water and now sits on an overstuffed chair in the northeast corner of the room, swaddled in the soaking sheet for comfort as he offers prayers to his demonic patron, Dagon.

Four hostages are tied to chairs, back to back, in the center of the room. The hostages include Lavinia, two of the Jade Ravens (Tolin Kientai and Zan Oldavin), and Kora Whistlegap, Lavinia’s one remaining house servant. Of the four only Lavinia is conscious, regarding her captors silently with eyes narrowed in fury. Tolin and Zan are both stable but unconscious at -4 hit points. Poor Kora is dead, her throat cut by Drevoraz in a brutal display of power intended to cow the other three prisoners into compliance.

Drevoraz is a muscular half-orc dressed in studded leather and decorated with numerous tattoos. Two years ago Drevoraz, then a lowly deck swabbing rogue onboard the Sea Wyvern, distinguished himself by taking a crossbow bolt to the right eye in a fight but plowed on through to the end, saving Captain Javell herself from an enemy’s blade. Captain Javell immediately promoted him to first mate, and since then the half-orc has served the captain with unwavering loyalty.

Bua Gorg is the most grotesque bullywug of his tribe, with sickly yellowish skin and sagging throat pouch, disgustingly deflated after an enemy tribesman’s spear punctured it. Now when the priest breathes heavily in delighted anticipation of bloodshed, his ruptured throat pouch sucks and dribbles noisily. Bua Gorg thoroughly enjoys the perks of his position, and has already made a mental list of finery he would like dragged back to the swamp from the manor for his enjoyment. He worships the demon lord of the briny depths, Dagon, although much of his religious dogma is self-taught and based on his own sadistic pleasures.

DREVORAZ KABRAN CR 6
Male half-orc fighter 6
LN Medium humanoid (orc)

Init +2; Senses Listen +1, Spot +1
Languages Common, Orc
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 15; Dodge
Hp 43 (6 HD)
Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +2
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +1 scimitar +13/+8 (106+10/18-20)
Base Atk +6; Grp +11
Abilities Str 20, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Feats Athletic, Dodge, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (scimitar), Weapon Specialization (scimitar)
Skills Climb +7, Intimidate +2, Profession (sailor) +9, Swim +12

Possessions masterwork studded leather, +1 scimitar, belt of ogre power (as gauntlets of ogre power), 17 gp

BUA GORG CR 6
Male bullywug cleric 6 (Dagon)
CN Medium humanoid (aquatic)
Monsters of Faerun 25

Init +1: Senses Listen +2, Spot +2
Languages Common
AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16
Hp 54 (6 HD)
Fort+11, Ref +3, Will +7
Spd 20 ft., swim 30 ft.; marsh move
Melee mwk spear +7 (138+3/x3)
Ranged mwk spear +6 (1d8+3/x3)
Base Atk +4; Grp +6
Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds (8 charges), potion of sanctuary

Spells Prepared (CL 6th)
3rd-cure serious wounds (already cast), magic circle against good⁰ (already cast), summon monster III
2nd-cure moderate wounds (2, 1 already cast), fog cloud (already cast), silence (already cast), summon monster II (already cast)
1st-command (already cast), cure light wounds (2, already cast), obscuring mist, summon monster I
O-Cure minor wounds (4, already cast), guidance (already cast)
D domain spell; Domains Evil, Water
Abilities Str 14, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 4
SQ amphibious, spontaneous casting (inflict spells) Summoning
Feats Brew Potion, Combat Casting, Great Fortitude
Skills Concentration +8, Heal +7, Hide +1 (+7 in marshes)

Possessions combat gear, +1 leather armor, masterwork spear, periapt of Wisdom +2

Amphibious (Ex) Although bullywugs are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely out of water.

Marsh Move (Ex) A bullywug suffers no movement penalties for moving in marshes or mud.

Summoning (Su) Bullywug clerics are notorious for their powerful but unpredictable summoning abilities. When a bullywug cleric casts a summon monster spell, there is a 50% chance that one more monster than the spell would ordinarily summon appears. In such cases, there is then a 25% chance that the summoned monsters are not under the bullywug’s control, and attack random targets.

LAVINIA VANDERBOREN CR 2
Female human aristocrat 2/swashbuckler 1
NG Medium humanoid
Complete Warrior 11

Init +5; Senses Listen -1, Spot -1
Languages Common, Elven, Halfling
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10
Hp 20 (currently 18, 3 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +4
Spd 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +2 (103)
Base Atk +2; Grp +2
Abilities Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 15
Feats Improved Initiative, Negotiator, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Weapon Finesse
Skills Appraise +7, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +17, Gather information +9, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +7, Perform (stringed instrument) +7, Sense Motive +7, Tumble +4

TOLIN KIEΝΤΑΙ CR 3
Male human ranger 3
LN Medium humanoid

Init +6; Senses Listen +7, Spot +7
Languages Common Page 29 AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 0
Hp 17 (-4 currently, 3 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +2
Spd 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +5 (1d3+2)
Base Atk +3; Grp +5
Abilities Str 15, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 12
SQ wild empathy +6
Feats Endurance, Improved Initiative, Track, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (short sword)
Skills Handle Animal +7, Knowledge (nature) +5, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Listen +7, Ride +4, Spot +7, Survival +7 (+9 nature or underground)

ZAN OLDAVIN CR 3
Male half-elf rogue 3
N Medium humanoid (elf)

Init +2; Senses low-light vision, Listen +0, Spot +0
Languages Common, Elven, Orc
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10
Hp 19 (-4 currently, 3 HD)
Immune sleep
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +0; evasion
Spd 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +4 (103)
Base Atk +2; Grp +2
Atk Options Combat Expertise, sneak attack +2d6
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 12
SQ trapfinding, trap sense -1
Feats Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse
Skills Balance +10, Diplomacy +3, Disable Device +7, Escape Artist +8, Gather Information +3, Hide 8, Move Silently +8, Open Lock +8, Search +8, Tumble +8, Use Magic Device +7

Tactics: If the alarm is raised, Bua Gorg moves to a position near Drevoraz and prepares an action to start casting summon monster III as soon as he sees intruders. Drevoraz stands near Lavinia, his scimitar at the ready to strike the woman at a moment’s notice. When the PCs enter the room, Drevoraz demands the PCs lay down their arms or he’ll hack off their pretty employer’s head. Showing him a note from Harliss won’t make a difference, but if they also show him one of her marilith ear rings, Drevoraz wavers in his position. With this, or with a DC 40 Diplomacy check, his demands change. He asks the PCs for safe passage out of the city, at which point Bua Gorg croaks in rage, shrieking “We were promised blood for the lord of the depths! Dagon will not be denied!” The bullywug immediately attacks the closest PC, and Drevoraz takes advantage of the chaos to attempt an escape, fighting only as much as he needs to in order to clear a path to freedom.

If, on the other hand, the PCs fail to bargain with the half-orc (or if they simply attack) he tries to strike Lavinia down. Unknown to him, Lavinia has already managed to work free from her bonds and as soon as he starts to approach, she lunges free. Call for initiative checks. If Drevoraz goes before Lavinia, he moves up to her and makes a single attack against her. If Lavinia goes before him, she moves to seek safety with the PCs, and on his turn Drevoraz attacks the closest PC instead. Bua Gorg has used up most of his spells, and tries to spend as much time possible summoning monsters to aid the fight. If Drevoraz takes lots of damage, the bullywug moves in to use his wand of cure light wounds on the half-orc. If the PCs free and heal either of the Jade Ravens, they quickly join the fight as well, grabbing their weapons from the pile near the bed if possible. Drevoraz attempts to flee if brought below 15 hit points. If prevented from doing so, he fights to the death too proud to give up to the enemy. Bua Gorg’s motivations stem more from fanaticism than pride – he fights to the death as well.

Treasure: Drevoraz has stacked all of the gear he’s taken from Lavinia, Tolin, and Zan in a heap next to the bed. Lavinia’s gear consists of a potion of cure light wounds, a masterwork rapier, a ring of protection 1, a pair of gold earrings worth 100 gp for the pair, and a jade ring worth 80 gp. Tolin’s gear consists of a chain shirt, two masterwork shortswords, a composite longbow (+2 Strength), 40 arrows, a cloak of resistance +1, and 56 gp. Zan’s gear consists of a suit of +1 studded leather armor, a masterwork buckler, a masterwork rapier, a masterwork shortbow with 40 arrows, goggles of minute seeing, and 14 gp.

Development: If the PCs have already rescued the other two Jade Ravens and have defeated the remaining bullywugs in the manor, proceed with “Concluding the Adventure, below. Otherwise, Lavinia, Tolin, and Zan beg them to help rescue Liamae and Kaskus; none of them know where the other two have been taken, but the basement is the first place they suggest checking.

CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE

At the end of this adventure, the PCs are no closer to finding Vanthus, yet they have made an important discovery – although they may not yet realize it. The shadow pearls constitute the greatest threat Sasserine has ever faced, and the PCs’ destiny is now inexorably tied to these dangerous black gems.

For now, however, the PCs have earned a break. Further impressed with their ability to act under pressure, Lavinia rewards the PCs not only with monetary wealth (using the monies she’s gained from the various guilds and nobles who have finally paid back the debts owed her family, she can grant each PC a reward of 100 pp) but increases their monthly stipend from 100 gp to 200 gp. If you use the upkeep variant rules from the Dungeon Master’s Guide (page 130), you can instead assume that she keeps the PCs in an extravagant lifestyle long as they remain in her employ.

Let the PCs enjoy their “time off.” They can use this time to craft magic items, shop for new gear, explore Sasserine, or even go on adventures beyond the city walls in the surrounding regions. Several possible adventure hooks are presented in issue #349 of DRAGON magazine, which details the Sasserine region in that issue’s “Savage Tidings.” The PCs may even wish to follow up on parts of this adventure, although for now, their questions about Vanthus and the shadow pearls are destined to reveal only dead ends. Vanthus never returns to Sasserine, and as the days go on, Lavinia’s need to see her brother face his crimes goes from a burning obsession to a quiet brooding anger.

In Kraken’s Cove, the remaining savage creatures quickly die off as their violent natures send them into constant battles with the dangerous creatures of the region. By the end of the month, they are gone, and all that remains of their passing is an empty seacave littered with well gnawed bones. Consultation with sages and libraries in Sasserine provides little insight at this time into the nature of what occurred at Kraken’s Cove, and stories the PCs spread quickly become part of the region’s rumor-haunted tradition.

By the time the itch for adventure strikes the PCs again, Lavinia is ready for them. She’s finished reading through the strange notebooks recovered from the family vaults in the first adventure, and reports that they were, in fact, penned by her own mother during a trip to a place called the Isle of Dread. Further, it would seem that one of her parents’ last accomplishments before their untimely deaths was to establish a colony on a relatively safe islet near the Isle of Dread. According to the notes, her parents planned on returning to this colony, called Farshore, with supplies and additional colonists, but their deaths put an end to that plan. With the PCs’ aid, Lavinia hopes to travel to Farshore, resupply the colonists, and nurture the settlement into a living monument for her parents. The trip, she warns them, will be anything but short and safe, but the prospects for adventure and wealth should outweigh any fears the PCs may have. All she needs is another ship to aid in the voyage. Perhaps one of the pirate vessels that survived the fire in Kraken’s Cove might fit the bill?

Affiliation Awards

If your PCs belong to any of the affiliations detailed in DRAGON magazine #348’s “Savage Tidings,” goals exist in The Bullywug Gambit” that can increase their affiliation score. Each of the following criterions grants an affiliation score modifier of +1.

Church of the Whirling Fury: Kill all of the savage creatures in Kraken’s Cove and provide a detailed report to Lady Silverhair.

The Dawn Council: Capture Drevoraz alive and turn him over to the city watch for interrogation regarding the Crimson Fleet.

The Scarlet Brotherhood: Deliver a live savage creature to Brotherhood Representative for experimentation and Investigation in the motherland.

The Seekers: Turn the nautical charts found in area K8 over to the Seeker Lodge.

The Witchwardens: Recover the fragments of the shadow peart from area K1 and turn them over to the Witchwardens for study.

Zelkarune’s Horns: Capture the rust monster Chunikus alive and turn him over to the Arena to become a featured monster.

APPENDIX 1: THE SHADOW PEARL

The original shadow pearl was created over a thousand years ago by the Prince of Demons and then sent to the Material Plane for his followers to discover and use. The results of the first savage tide released by a shadow pearl devastated an entire nation and created the realm known to sailors today as the Isle of Dread.

Despite being minor artifacts themselves, the shadow pearls being produced by the hidden rulers of the Isle today are poor approximations of the first pearl. Yet these lesser shadow pearls are more than enough to serve Demogorgon’s needs, and as more are created and seeded throughout the world, the awful culmination of the demon lord’s plans draws near.

A shadow pearl is a lustrous black pearl approximately four inches in diameter. Anyone who studies the pearl’s glossy surface for more than a minute sees what appears to be a swirling vortex of shadows within. As the viewer watches, faces form in the shadows until a twisted, feral reflection of the viewer rises to the pearl’s surface, leering and hateful. While unnerving, this has no effect on the viewer.

A shadow pearl serves one function – to create a savage tide. This is a wave of rippling green energy that washes over the surrounding region, transforming creatures within to savage creatures (see Appendix 2). To trigger a pearl, it must be anointed with the blood of an intelligent creature – just a single drop will do. For one minute thereafter, the pearl sizzles and flashes with green light, reverting to normal after this time if no further action is taken. If the pearl is dropped or struck a solid blow during this minute, it cracks open and unleashes a choking cloud of green gas in a 20-foot-radius spread. Any creature that ends its movement for a round inside this cloud takes 1d6 points of acid damage. The smoke itself teems with swirling evil spirits and gnashing fangs. Once a shadow pearl is cracked, it smokes and sputters for one minute before exploding into a savage tide. Only by negating the pearl’s growing magic with a successful dispel magic or Mordenkainen’s Disjunction can the oncoming savage tide be halted. Placing the pearl in an antimagic zone until this minute passes also prevents the savage tide.

Once the pearl explodes, a savage tide flashes like a wave of boiling green water and fog out to a one-mile radius spread. All corporeal aberrations, animals, dragons, fey, giants, humanoids, magical beasts, and monstrous humanoids in this area must make a DC 15 Will save. Success indicates the creature is merely nauseated for one round. Failure means that the savage tide has washed away their sanity and immediately transforms the victim into a savage creature (see Appendix 2).

A shadow pearl is a one-use item. Once it unleashes a savage tide, it is consumed.

Strong transmutation (chaotic, evil): CL 20th; Weight 1 Ib.

APPENDIX 2: NEW MONSTER

Savage Creature

It may have once been a man, but now its gray skin, strangely flopping arms and legs, and the vacant-eyed vestigial head hanging from its neck make the creature anything but. Yet perhaps worst of all is the creature’s mouth, a cavernous wound in its twisted face filled with a twisting landscape of teeth, a mouth designed for one thing only the tearing of flesh from the bone.

Savage creatures are a horrific transformation of living flesh into Abyssal nightmare. Created when the hateful energies of a savage tide corrupt and transform its victims, savage creatures are akin in many ways to fiendish creatures, yet they are tied more closely to the evil and chaos of the Abyss than any other plane.

Sample Savage Creature

This example uses a human rogue 1 as the base creature.

SAVAGE PIRATE CR 2
Male and female savage human rogue 1
CE Medium humanoid (chaotic)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Listen +5, Spot +9
Languages Common
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15
Hp 10 (1 HD), ferocity: DR 5/magic
Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mind affecting, stunning, pain
Resist acid 10
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1
Weakness afflicted
Spd 40 ft.
Melee scimitar +3 (1d6+3/18-20) and bite -2 (1d8+1 plus disease [DC 14])
Base Atk +0; Grp +4
Abilities Str 17, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 8
Atk Options sneak attack +1d6
SQ death throes
Feats Athletic, Improved Initiative
Skills Balance +6, Bluff +3, Climb +9, Diplomacy -5, Disguise -5, Escape Artist +6, Gather Information -5, Intimidate +7, Jump +7, Listen +5, Profession (sailor) +5, Spot +9, Swim +9, Tumble +6
Possessions masterwork studded leather armor, scimitar

Creating a Savage Creature

“Savage Creature” is an acquired template that can be added to any intelligent corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid.

Size and Type: The base creature’s size and type remains unchanged, though it gains the chaotic subtype.

Armor Class: A savage creature’s natural armor bonus increases by 2.

Speed: Increase the base creature’s land speed by 10 feet.

Attacks: A savage creature gains a bite attack. If the base creature can use weapons, it retains this ability. When armed with weapons, the creature’s bite attack becomes a secondary attack.

Damage: A Medium savage creature’s bite attack inflicts 1d8 points of damage on a hit. Larger or smaller savage creatures do more or less damage, as outlined on Table 2-2 on page 28 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. A savage creature’s bite attack is treated as a chaotic and magic weapon for the purposes of penetrating damage reduction.

Special Attacks: A savage creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following special attacks.

Death Throes (Su): When a savage creature dies, it can immediately make a bite attack, snapping at any one creature in reach just before it succumbs. A savage creature can make this free bite attack only after an attack kills it outright. Once this bite attack is resolved, the savage creature’s body melts into a puddle of acidic goo, leaving behind only its gear and its skeleton. Any living creature within a five-foot radius of a melting savage creature takes 1d6 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 15 negates) – this acid damage affects only living flesh. A pool of acid remains on the ground, taking up a space equal to the creature’s space while living – it deals 1d6 damage to any creature that moves through the area. The acid dries to a harmless green powder over the course of one minute.

Disease (Su): A creature bitten by a savage creature must make a Fortitude save (DC 10+1/2 savage creature’s racial HD +savage creature’s Con modifier) or contract a supernatural disease called savage fever. The incubation time of savage fever is 1 minute, after which point the victim’s flesh breaks out into a terrible black rash that causes short bony protrusions to extrude from the affected area; the victim also takes 1d6 points of Intelligence damage. Every day thereafter, the victim must save again or take another 1d6 points of Intelligence damage as the terrible rash spreads and his mind grows more and more bestial. Once a victim reaches an Intelligence score of 0, he collapses into a coma-like state and transforms into a savage creature. His Intelligence score now heals (up to its new maximum, adjusted by the savage creature template) at the normal rate, when he awakens, he immediately seeks out fresh prey.

Special Qualities: A savage creature has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.

Afflicted (Ex): Once transformed into a savage creature, a greater restoration spell causes the victim to revert to normal, provided the caster succeeds on a caster level check (DC = 10 + 1/2 the savage creature’s hit dice + the savage creature’s Charisma modifier). A miracle or wish spell automatically restores a savage creature to normal. A savage creature that is killed and then brought back to life loses the effects of this template.

Damage Reduction: 5/magic

Darkvision 60 feet.

Immune to disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mind-affecting, stunning, and pain-related effects.

Resistance to acid 10.

Ferocity (Ex): A savage creature fights without penalty while disabled and dying.

Abilities: Change from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Con +4. Int -6 (minimum 1). A savage creature whose Intelligence is reduced below 3 can no longer understand any languages, nor can it cast spells or use spell-like abilities of any kind.

Skills: Savage creatures are hideously deformed. Many possess vestigial tentacles, sickening patches of bristles or tangled hair, rudimentary eyes, twisted arms and legs, and sometimes a second vestigial head. No two savage creatures have the same deformities, but each gains a +4 racial bonus on Escape Artist, Intimidate, Listen, and Spot checks, and a -4 penalty on Disguise, Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.

Alignment: Always chaotic evil.

Challenge Rating: As base creature +1

Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +3.

Scaling the Adventure

“The Bullywug Gambit” is designed for a group of four 3rd-level characters, but with a little work it can be adapted for use by 1st-2nd level or 4th-5th level characters. Simply adjust any NPC character levels up by 1 for every level by which your party’s average exceeds 1; if this results in a 0 level NPC, simply give that NPC a level of warrior or expert. Specific changes to the adventure include:

1st-2nd-level characters: Encounters with savage creatures should be reduced significantly, at least until the PCs have a reliable magic weapon. Consider removing the DR 5/magic quality from savage creatures of CR 3 or lower. Replace Ripclaw with a savage crocodile or savage Medium viper, and replace Jajirlok with a savage lizardfolk. Replace the violet fungus in area K6 with a Large monstrous spider. Consider having rescued members of the Jade Ravens be less wounded so they can provide more aid to the PCs.

4th-5th-level characters: Add an additional savage pirate to every encounter that features them. Advance Ripclaw by 2-4 Hit Dice, and give Jajirlok one or two levels of barbarian. Add a second violet fungus to area K6, and 2-3 more savage krenshars to area K9. Keep the bullywug hunters as 1st-level rangers, but add 2-4 to each encounter with them. Add a like number to area V27.