Shrine of the Deep Prince

The Prison of Abazad

Shrine of the Deep Prince Summary Background (a) The Shrine of Belian (1) - Quarters (2) - The Seacave (3) - The Chapel Navigator

 

 

Summary

 

The Shrine of the Deep Prince is an encounter site for a Renassiance fantasy setting. Certain story elements are keyed to the adventure: The Prison of Abazad, however, the story is mutable as needed. The setting for the site is heavily influenced by the sea, thus should remain in a port town or seaside setting.

 

 

 

Background

On a side street alley in Greenstone sits an insignificant shrine to Dagon, though few have penetrated its disguise as the more benevolent, and ancient, sea spirit Belian, King of the Emerald Seas. The ancient worship of Belian encompassed seasonal festivals of reproduction, birth, harvest and thankfulness. In each of these festivals, the sacrifice of a dolphin or seal was the centerpiece. Some believe that Belian was Dagon in disguise all along, however, the cult of Dagon uses the shrine to Belian as a 'messageboard' to this day. The messages are carried in the composition and arrangement of sacrifices on the small altar, typically consisting of a small whale or dolphine bone, fresh fish, crab claws, shells and the like. About five years ago, the local priest to Dagon discovered an irregularity in the symbol of Belian and after investigating, found that the symbol was the trigger to a secret passage. The passage led to an underground sea cave. The priest investigated the cave and found symbology and other evidence consistent with the worship of Dagon and relocated the secret ceremonies performed in various places in and around Greenstone to this sea cave. When the traffic to the shrine began to become a concern (many local fishermen still made regular sacrifices to the spirit of the fish), he had an alternate passage constructed that opened in the basement of a local taphouse that was owned by a Dagon cultist. He also modified the secret door so that it only opened with the holy symbol of Dagon and immediately sent a magical alarm to him, since the passage terminated in his personal quarters and was only kept open for emergencies.

 

Streewise (concerning the shrine) - Many years ago there were complaints about traffic to the shrine. It seemed that so many were visiting it that the alleyway was often blocked. The alleyway was once a heavily trafficked short-cut for local carts.

 

(a) The Shrine of Belian

 

A raised alcove cuts into the side of a small adobe building. In the floor of the alcove rests a collection of dried fish, crab's claws, and long white bones about the length of a man's finger. A faded engraving of a man holding a miniature whale decorates the back wall of the alcove.

 

Checks and Knowledge

Notice

• Engraving - The circlet on the man's head bears the symbol of a fish-headed man.
• Door - The back wall of the alcove is a secret door.
• Trap - (raise) - The door is trapped.

Knowledge (Religion)

• (no check) This is the Olmec spirit Belian, the King of the Emerald Seas, and a minor god of fishing and sea travel.
• (check) The symbology on the circlet is Belian's holy symbol
• (raise) The symbology is clearly similar to the Dagon holy symbol.

Knowledge (Art)

• The style of the engraving is consistent with early Olmec native art.
• (raise) Though the original engraving has been updated and possibly altered
• (raise2) the symbol on the circlet has been subtly modified to be more consistent with another holy symbol (Knowledge of Dagon would identify it immediately).

Knowledge (Architecture)

• The building is ancient and appears to have once been a granary, smokehouse or other storage building that predates Greenstone -- it's been modified some, but is probably Olmec).

Knowledge (Dagon)

• The arrangement of the sacrifices is some sort of message
• (raise) "The Adherent rises beneath the land waves with the bloody sun."
• (raise2) In Dagon symbology, the message translates to mean that a True Servant of Dagon (Adherent) will appear beneath Greenstone on the next red sunset.

Knowledge (Weather or the like)

• The next red sunset is today (or tomorrow or whenever the DM wants it to be).

 

Touching a Dagon holy symbol to the circlet on the engraving opens the back wall of the alcove. A set of crudely cut stairs leads down to area 1. Note that the trap simply emits a mental alarm alerting, Archogados, the Dagon head priest, that the door has been opened. A Lockpicking raise disables the alarm.

 

(1) - Quarters

The natural stairs lead down to Archogados' quarters (he's the only one that lives here on a permanent basis). The head priest is busy in the chapel trying to pull Bittersnail's soul out of his nose and release the power of the trapped djinni. He hears the alarm, but assumes that his two lieutenants and their minions will take care of it.

 

The Archogados' quarters are damp and chilly and the furnishings are simple, if a bit odd. Other than a wooden desk with a single drawer and a chair, the only other 'furnishing' is a wide pool of seawater teeming with life. The pool itself has a permanent Kiss of the Prince power cast on it allowing any air-breathing creature to enter the pool and breathe water. The priest sleeps here in the cast-off skin of a giant nurse shark's egg. The pool itself connects to the sea cave below, and allows access to Loach and his locathah minions.

 

Loach, Morkoth Dagon Priest

Locathah Warriors (2 per character)

 

Tactics

 

Loach also hears the silent alarm on the secret door, and immediately gets her minions into position. Half of the locathah force lurks underwater, hidden in the passageway down to the seacave, watching the surface. The other half hide in the room with their nets and tridents ready. When the ambusher's strike, those locathah hidden in the pool break the surface, leaping out onto the floor firing their crossbows. Loach is right behind them casting spells from where she floats in the pool. If her minions are defeated, Loach escapes into the seacave and alerts the Archogados via the Message Tube in her lair. If she is attacked in the pool, Loach attempts to grapple an opponent and drag him or her down into the sea cave (the Kiss of the Prince power only affects the pool and the passage to the seacave).

 

Treasure

 

Archogados' 'bed' holds a net bag with the following:

• 200 rilks
• 15 smerduks
• a sharkskin scroll Miracles: Dagon's Call (Burst, Sound trapping), Benevolent Hand (Deflection)

 

Development

If Archogados is notified of defeat by Loach, he drops out of the ceremony in the chapel, and sends a small group of zombies under the control of a lesser priest to delay the group. They meet the characters coming up the passage toward the chapel, or array themselves in the room if the party decides to investigate the seacave.

 

Lesser Priest of Dagon

Zombies (Dagon) (1 per character)

 

(2) - The Seacave

The seacave is inhabited by the locathah and Loach. Typically the locathah sleep in the open ocean off of Greenstone's shore, though they spend some time in the cave. If these creatures were defeated in the previous room, the seacave is only occupied by Loach's pet.

 

Giant Octopus (From Great White Games' Fantasy Bestiary Toolkit)

 

Treasure

Loach keeps his few possessions in a niche at the back of the seacave (Notice), including:

• 220 rilks
• 50 smerduks
• a golden nose ring worth 50 smerduks
• a potion of Healing.

 

Development

If Loach retreated to this room, or if he was not alerted to the presence of the party, he immediately contacts Archogados via a Message Tube. The message tube is a magical item that allows communication between parties. The user of the tube must have met the person to communicate to, and must concentrate for a full action (succeed at a Smarts check). The tube can then be used for a full day to send spoken messages to the recipient, who may reply (once they figure out they've been magically contacted).

 

 

 

(3) - The Chapel

 

The chapel is a room that was widened and worked out of a portion of the sea cave originally discovered under the Shrine to Belian. When discovered by Archogados' predecessor, this cave was determined to have a special connection to Dagon and his watery realm. As such, the chapel was created in order to perform complex rituals that required additional power. Archogados has spent many years and travelled many miles seeking the secrets of creating True Servants of Dagon. Seeing this as the evolving path to any devotee of the Prince, Archogados believes he finally has the necessary materials, rituals and power to accomplish his first transformation. Using the power of the Purple Sapphire, in addition to the special connection in this room, Archogados leads the first ritual of transformation supported by his few lesser priests in the region. Bittersnail, the unfortunate thief of the jewel, is set to be the requisite sacrifice, while Abazad, the djinni in the gem, is to be consumed to add power to the ritual.

 

The room is dominated by a massive sunken pool of seawater fed by the seacave (much like Archogados' bed). While the pool teems with sea life, the fish and other creatures appear as shadowy forms to the onlooker due to the vile soup Archogados has spiked the pool with, including the blood from several dolphins and seals (which lay enviscerated around the room), various alchemical substances, and clumps of mud from another site strongly linked to the Darkened Depths, the extraplanar home of Dagon.

 

The ritual is intended to transform a lesser adherent of the Prince into a First Circle True Servant, however, Archogados not only has the ritual wrong, his god has tricked him into releasing a monster on the populace of Greenstone for his betrayal of his superiors. As the characters enter the room, they have two full rounds of actions before the ritual completes (even if disrupted -- too late for that). Disrupting the ritual does have one benefit, however: The djinni is not consumed by the completion of the ritual.

 

 

 

The characters must first contend with the head priest and his minions:

 

Archogados

Lesser Priest of Dagon (mooks - 3)

Dagon Cultists (mooks - 3 per character)

 

Note: If Archogados' spoiling team was defeated earlier, reduce the priests numbers accordingly.

 

Dagon's Greater Zombies (dolphins and seals - 2 each)

 

After two rounds, the ritual completes itself, and a squirming adherent trapped at the bottom of the pool transforms and climbs out of the pool.

 

The Creature

 

Tactics

 

Archogados is not a 'fighting priest.' As such, he moves to the closest exit shouting for his minions to attack. The cultists advance with their clubs, while the priests hang back and fire crossbows. Archogados starts combat by casting Armor on himself, animating the dead dolphins and seals with a Greater Zombie spell, and ensuring his path is clear for escape (probably through the basement of the taphouse). If somehow trapped, Archogados uses all of his spells, and fires his two pistols to clear a path, if necessary.

 

When the Creature crawls out of the pool, Archogados, immediately realizes his error and runs. His priests and cultists fight to the death, believing that the creature is the first True Servant. The Creature attacks all that are in reach, regardless of their affiliation, and in fact, is probably more powerful than all of the combatants combined. The goal for the characters should be to save the gem, possibly save the unfortunate Bittersnail, and get the heck out of the area. Once the creature has devoured everything in the room (approximately 3 rounds, unless the characters stick around), it rips through the floor of the taphouse, destroying the building around it, and rampages the couple of blocks to the ocean, where it throws itself in and swims away. Falling debris requires an Agility check to avoid 2d6 damage every round.

 

Treasure

The group can only hope to retrieve the Purple Sapphire (which rests on a 4-foot tall pillar near the pool), and possibly Bittersnail.

 

Navigator

Scene 1 - The Awakening

Scene 2 - Shantytown Shakedown

Scene 3 - O'Mosh, Oh Gosh!

Interlude 1 - Stuck in a Rut

Scene 4 - Shrine of the Deep Prince

Interlude 2 - The Prisoner and the Djinni

Scene 5 - Museum Surprise

Scene 6 - Showdown at the Docks

Further Adventures