Temple of Crushing Wave

A map of the progress made so far exploring the Temple of the Crushing Wave. What follows is a brief description of who and what they encountered as they made their way through this watery dungeon.

After stumbling upon the carnage at Rivergard Keep, the party was eager for revenge, particularly Kahntun. They found the two boats moored up at the secret landing beneath the haunted keep, and after travelling several miles through dark, windy underground passages, they finally saw firelight shining from a large cavern ahead.

The stream opened into a large underground lake. To the right, a crumbling stone quay lead to a tunnel heading northeast. A ten foot skiff was moored to the quay, and a torch burned in a bronze sconce by the tunnel mouth. Beside the quay, a twenty-foot wide canal lead north from the large lake. The lake stretched westward into the darkness.

C1 Commander Eyon

This ranking cult member believed the party were also members. She commanded a small force. She instructed our heroes to travel across Whisper Lake to the west and report to her superior, Morbeoth, for their orders. The party carefully traversed the large body of water and tied their boats up on the rocky shore.

Subterfuge?

The party snoops around the south-western area of the dungeon and strikes a deal with an ambition member of the Crushing Wave Cult.

C19 Cavern Lakeshore

This natural cavern widened and descended toward a pebble-covered lakeshore. Several rotted wooden skiffs were drawn up on the shore. To the west, passages lead west and north.

C20 Gated Passage and West Guard Post

A crudely built iron gate that loked like a new addition to this ancient dungeon blocked the passage to the west. Five bugbears lounged around, seemingly on guard. They informed the party that Morbeoth cold be found in his workshop to the north. Although the bugbears spoke to our party with disdain, they didn't seem to question whether or not they belonged. The group then entered guard post that seemed to house the bugbears when they were not on duty.

C17 Morbeoth's Workshop

Parts of the next chamber were buried in piles of crumbling masonry, but enough remained intact to serve as an arcane workshop. A long wooden table in the middle of the room was littered with pieces of a complicated apparatus involving a large glass tank, copper fittings and piping, and a leather carrying harness, while shelves full of alchemical reagents stood against the south wall. The air was quite cold in there, and a chill mist clung to the floor. A large adjoining room to the north looked like someone's bedchamber. That is where they found Morbeoth and six suspicious Crushing Wave reavers.

Morbeoth

Morbeoth was proud and prickly. He felt his mastery of arcane power gave him the right to impose his will on anyone weaker or less willful than himself. He would not say what he was working on. He seemed to especially resent the fact that "a mere druid . . . hrrmph!!" was chosen to serve as the Prophet of Water, and than an ugly monster like a sea hag could serve as the cult's second-in-command. When pressed for more details about the prophet by Alexander and Kahntun, Morbeoth began to assume that these newly-met cult members might not strictly follow the chain of command either. A scheme began to form in his mind. He promised to give our paladin and fighter more information about the cult's prophet, Gar Shaterkeel, if they first sneak into the hag, Thuluna Maah's lair and murder her. He claimed that he was eager to remove her from his path to the top, but unwilling to reveal his ambitions to other members of the cult (other than his close associates who listened on). He smirked and promised that, if carried out, this deed would be rewarded.

Hoping to get more information and eager to kill a sea hag, the party agreed to Morbeoth's terms.

C16 Thunderhammer Brewery

Next, the party entered an old brewery. Two rows of large copper vats stood in the middle of the room. Always thirsty, Alexander knocked on the vats. three of which felt cold and clammy to the touch. Three new, backpack-sized glass tanks with carrying harnesses were stacked neatly at the end of the row of vats. The party was stumped. Alexander opened a vat and was violently grappled and yanked into the tank by a waterweird! Kahntun pulled him out and they were able to slay the monster.

LiKi then investigated the backpacks and figured out that they were for controlling the creepy watery monsters in the vats. Alexander and Leopold each put one on, crossed their fingers, and opened the other two vats which they suspected to hold waterweirds. As they had hoped, they now had a psychic connection to the monsters. They opened the tanks on their backs and ordered the weirds to get in, which they did. Smiling, Alexander cheerily exclaimed, "Well! These might come in handy!" Given that he had just been pulled under water by one of these murderous monsters, his companions wondered if this sense of ease reflected his bravery or his intelligence.

A weird tank is a ten-gallon tank of blown glass and sculpted bronze with a backpack-like carrying harness fashioned from tough leather. A waterweird is contained within the tank. While wearing the tank, you can use an action to open it, allowing the water weird to emerge. The water weird acts immediately after you in the initiative order, and is bound to the tank. You can command the water weird telepathically (no action required) while you wear the tank. You can close the tank as an action only if you have first commanded the water weird to retract into it or if the water weird is dead. If the water weird is killed, the tank loses its magical containment property, but there might be a way to restore this. (maybe ask around!) The tank has AC 15, 50 hit points, vulnerability to bludgeoning damage, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Reducing the tank to 0 hit points destroys it and the water weird contained within it.

C15 Dragon Bridge

Here, stairs on each side of the canal climbed up to a stone bridge, which spanned the canal fifteen feet above the water level. The sides of the bridge were carved in the image of dragons standing guard over treasure hoards. A single torch illuminated the bridge. As the party crossed the bridge, an aquatic-looking troll lurking beneath climbed up to the western side of the bridge. The party spoke briefly with the troll who let them through without incident.

C14 Hag Lair

The party sneaked around, following Morbeoth's directions, passed a courtyard with an old, damaged fountain with carvings of merfolk, then crept up to a door in the northwest of the grotto. Painted glyphs and carved images of aquatic motifs decorating the door had been marred by long scratches, obscuring their meaning. They listened at the door, then entered, encountering two huge ogres. When Alexander asked the brutes where Thuluna Maah was, they heard a cackling from behind a tattered green curtain. She emerged a second later. Her grotesqueness was fearful to behold. Leopold puked a little in his mouth. They talked, trying to extract information form the hag. She seemed open to negotiate until she saw LiKi's ring. "You serve that evil air cult! Die!" But LiKi convinced her that they had killed the prophetess of air, something that Leopold's new staff seemed to confirm. They were going to negotiate, but something happened, and battle broke out!

Thuluna Maah, the sea hag, and second-in-command at the temple

Fight highlights:

Kahntun got too close and the hag's horrific appearance terrified him; he was later reduced to 0 hps with her Death Glare; Leopold revived him, and Kahntun rejoined the battle;
They killed the ogres;
Thuluna begged for mercy and parlay, offering to tell the party where a great hoard of treasure could be found;
Alexander chopped her head off.
The two ogres were slain as well.

An Ambush!

Taking advantage of the party's weakened state after battling two monstrous ogres and a powerful sea witch, Morbeoth exposed his betrayal and attacked the party from behind. It was clear that this was his intention all along: have the party clear out the second-in-command, then gain favor with the cult by defeating the infiltrators. Very cunning that one! The fight was intense. Leopold had to use the charm of aura of vitality that he had received from the revenant, Javor, in order to keep his companions alive as they hacked and slashed at the conniving culprits. But in the end, the party proved victorious. As they were stacking the bodies in the partitioned area of these chambers, they found some loot! (see below). They then took a badly-needed long rest beneath Leopold's Tiny Hut.

Lootz!

The most notable loot the party discovered near the hag's bedding was a +1 longsword made of dragonbone with a dragon-leather grip. It had rubies in its pomel and hilt. The sword was warm and the rubies were glowing slightly. Leopold cast his identifying magic and determined that these effects signaled that the sword was within 120 feet of a dragon! This gave them something to think on . . . deep apprehension began to settle in.

They also found:

Four chairs worth 80 gp, but weighing 30 pounds (they left these);
A wooden chest containing some coins as well as
a potion of hill giant strength
and a potion of fire resistance.

C11 A Barricade and (another) Ambush!

After their long rest, the adventurers opened the door leading out of the hag lair only to discover that a series of razor-wire barricades had been set up and seemed to be resting atop a pool of thick, gunky oil!

The lizardfolk commander, Tornscale.

Although fierce, these warriors' efforts to barricade the party did not consider the versatility our heroes' talents.

As they peaked their heads out to investigate, a flaming crossbow bolt came howling in, igniting the oil! The flames angrily leaped high into the room.

Kahntun misty-stepped out, LiKi blinked beyond the fiery blaze; Leopold looked on from the safety of the doorway; Alexander used his spider staff to cast spider walk on himself.

They were ambushed by nine lizard warriors who fought with a rage that implied their zealous devotion to the newly-murdered Thuluna. Kahntun destroyed their commander, while LiKi mopped up the rest of these lizardy dudes with a carefully-positioned fireball.

C12 The Troll Hole

After the intensity of the previous fight, LiKi decided to call upon the powers of her bag of tricks. She pulled out a piece of fur, tossed it a few yards away, and ::poof:: a giant elk appeared! It's enormous horns grazed the walls of the dungeon.

Next, the party stealthily opened the door to the southeast of the courtyard. They were immediately struck by a terrible odor. Inside, two aquatic trolls were sleeping. Leopold sneaked up to the one closest to the doorway and engaged his immovable rod directly above the sleeping troll's throat, effectively pinning it to the ground. A fierce battle ensued. The troll they had earlier met joined the fray! Leopold used his magical staff to prod the troll he had pinned. Alexander chopped one to bits. LiKi harassed them with stinging firebolts, while Kahntun used his relentless avenger feature to ferociously pursue a fleeing troll. Although they took some damage, in the end, the party was victorious, after figuring out that trolls could only be killed by fire.

Killing these trolls wasn't as simple as smashing and slashing them up!

Kahntun, the Relentless

By 7th level, your supernatural focus helps you close off a foe's retreat. When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, you can move up to half your speed immediately after the attack and as part of the same reaction. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

LiKi's giant new buddy!

C22 Market Hall

Six tall columns of cracked and chipped red marble loomed over this hall, which lied east of an underground lake. Provisions and trade goods were stacked against the walls: bundles of valuable furs and pelts, sacks of flour and meal, barrels of salted meat and ale, casks of oil, and more. Three long tables with benches were set up in the middle of the room, and a large bronze gong stood on the stone quay at the lake edge. A single torch burned in a sconce on one of the room's middle pillars.

When they entered, they noticed four stockades positioned near the lake, a whimpering figure was bound in the northern-most, its head bowed, facing the lake.

Suddenly, a group of cultists entered from a doorway to the northeast. A strange, blue-skinned, pirate-looking dude was bossing around the others, ordering them to sort through the piles of stolen goods that laid about the giant hall. LiKi whispered to the group, "these must be allies of that Shoalar Quanderil, that filthy pirate genasi who plagued the Dessarin River before we ended him."

Responding with a quickly whispered "let's do this," Leopold snapped into action, barking orders at the cultists as if he was in charge. Although their leader was confused and skeptical, the authority of our bard's performance was convincing enough to get each of them to investigate a series of barrels along the northern wall.

Intuiting what he was up to, LiKi smirked devilishly, hopped down from her giant elk, and unleashed a devastating fireball on the large, unsuspecting party of water cultists!

Stunned as they were by the adventurers' deceitful tactics, it took a moment for the group of villains, which seemed to consist of mostly low-level cultists and perhaps a few sell-swords or initiates, to understand what was going on. While most of these adversaries rushed forward to engage Kahntun and Alexander in combat, one of them dashed toward the lake and banged on a gong, filling the underground cavern with an ominous thuwonggggggggg.

The leader of this group appeared to be a fathomer. LiKi's elk smashed this guy in the face with its hooves, grievously wounding him.

Kahntun and Alexander mopped up these low-level thugs. After a few rounds of combat, they appeared to be on death's door.

Suddenly, a monster emerges from beneath the murky green water of the underground lake: a dragon turtle!!!

Before the party, the forlorn figure in the stocks, or the cultists could react, the gargantuan sea monster unleashed a powerful blast of steam, filling the room with deadly-pain. Skin sloughed off the bones of the cultists as they died screaming in excruciating pain. Leopold and LiKi were knocked unconscious, but lived yet. Alexander made a beeline for the safety of a corridor exiting the hall to the north, but before he could escape, the dragon lashed out with its deadly tail, crushing our folk hero's collarbone, sending him spinning to the ground, broken and unconscious.

At this point, Kahntun stood in the southern part of the room among a jumble of bodies, one of which was his gnome sorceress friend LiKi. The body of LiKi's magically-conjured elk had already begun to fade from the material plane. Reconsidering his first instinct to rush into battle and avenge his friends (this was not easy for our zealous half-orc, vengeance paladin), Kahntun swooped our tiny gnome up and over his shoulder and sprinted toward the passageway to the south. Calling on his goddess Selûne, he sent a wave of powerful healing energy into his companion, restoring her to consciousness and vitality.

They peaked around the corner and saw the giant beast settling down in the center of the room, licking its forearms like a cat cleaning itself. Then, the giant opened its mouth and let out a slow, deep rumbling series of noises that seemed to shake the stony bones of this ancient place. LiKi listened for a second, then realized that, although a primitive form, the monster was speaking draconic, one of the several languages that, as both possessing draconic lineage and a wide and varied store of knowledge, she could communicate with.

Despite Kahntun's concerns, LiKi crept into view of the dragon and called upon her powers of illusion, summoning a watery effect, languorously floating her hair into the air, as if she was underwater. Flashing the symbol of the water cultists, she then told the dragon turtle that he was a good boy and had done well and that he deserved to return to his lair and rest. She almost thought she could see the simple-minded creature smile. Its tail even wagged as it turned to waddle back into the murky green waters and float away! Once again the dungeon was silent.

Although not nearly as intelligent as other dragon types, dragon turtles aren't usually as simple-minded as Bronzefume. LiKi assumed that this might be because he was only a century or two old.

Dragon turtles are known for haranguing boats in oceans, lakes, and rivers. Many a merchant company has lost everything to the dreaded shelled-terror.

Their investigation of the chamber turned up a bunch of stolen goods, but they also discovered that Wiggan Nettlebee, the villainous halfling, had been bound in the stockades. Apparently he never made it back to the Black Earth Cult.

C24 Bridge of Heroes

The party next headed north, out of the great feasting hall. A stone bridge crossed fifteen feet above the water level of the underground canal that seemed to encircle this central section of the dungeon. Steps on the south side of the canal climbed up to a bridge, which lead to a set of stone double doors. Painted on the doors was the symbol of the water cult.

West and east of the bridge, and level with it, culverts carved in the shape of huge, yawning dwarven faces discharged streams of water into the canal. The small waterfalls made a lot of noise in the vicinity of the bridge.

Alexander used his spider climb to walk on the ceiling and investigate the western culvert. Kahntun cross the bridge and opened the door . . . which had been trapped. A thunderwave knocked him back 10 feet and into the canal! He was then attacked by Eyon, the guard posted at the entrance to the dungeon who was mounted on a shark! Kahntun misty stepped back onto the bridge. The party defeated Eyon and her shark.

Commander Eyon

Apparently the commander had been searching for the party. When she found them, she fought ferociously, but succumbed to their strength in the end.

C25 The Temple of Elemental Water

A twenty-foot-wide moat divided the shrine into norther and southern halves. In the north half, two large stone pillars flanked an altar in the form of a plain stone block. A few coins rested on the altar. Above and behind the altar loomed a huge symbol made from beams of driftwood, fixed in an X-like shape on the wall.

In the southern half of the room, two ten-foot-wide channels ran along the east and west walls of the shrine, spilling out through low culverts to the south. Two more pillars stand here, and a low stone bridge lead across the dividing channel to the altar and the northern part of the room.

The group killed five more lizardfolk guarding the shrine. Gar Shaterkeel, the prophet of water, was nowhere in sight. This perplexed the party of friends. Kahntun used his divine sense ability which informed him that a fiend was close at hand!

Alexander opened his weirdtank and released his waterweird to investigate the canals. Suddenly, the fighter's psychic bond with the creature was broken. Something very powerful had killed it quickly. Then a demon emerged from the canal attacked the party. The fight was intense, but in the end, Kahntun, LiKi, Alexander, and Leopold were able to defeat the monster.

Instead of finding the water prophet as they had suspected the would, the group found a ferocious demon.

C26 Vault

Alexander discovered a small tunnel leading east under the water. A clear, deep spring filled most of the natural cavern to which it lead. On a dry ledge they found the following riches:

Several rusty iron coffers containing 720 gp, 900 sp, a silver ewer, a scroll of tidal wave and a scroll of vitriolic sphere.
Two waterproofed leather satchels that contained nearly fifty heavy old tomes written in Dethek. Although Bruldenthar, the sage from Mirabar, had been slain at Rivergard keep, LiKi and Alexander agreed that they would do what's necessary to get the books to an appropriate steward of knowledge.

C 27 Priests' Quarters

Next, the party discovered a well-appointed room containing eight neatly made bunks, a round table with several chairs, tapestries of green and blue, and a copper brazier full of glowing coals. In side they were met by four low-level cultists and two Crushing Wave Priests, including Saruki, the priest they had met camping at the druid festival at Scarlet Moon Hall. Battle ensued. The most interesting aspect of the fight might have been that LiKi unveiled a new spell! Storm Sphere. After killing most of the cultists in the room and backing Saruki into a corner, Leopold moved forward to end the trapped priest's life. However, Alexander stepped in, "Hold!" he commanded. "I have business with this priest." Kahntun and Leopold were able to extract the following information from her:

The cult hand gesture is a pass code of sorts
If asked who they serve, cultists respond by saying "Olhydra," "the Princess of Evil Water," or "water."
When asked what you are, the proper response is to say "bearers of the surge."
When asked what lies below the Crushing Wave Temple, cultists are told to say "the Fane of the Eye."

LiKi's lightning, draconic lineage and her new spell, coupled with her use of witchbolt, allowed her to unleash a torrent of electrical energy upon her foes! It was startling to see all that massive crackling energy flowing out of such a delicate-looking creature!

The Mysterious Gar Shaterkeel

Before executing the defeated Saruki (her request), they also learned some details about the prophet of water, Gar Shaterkeel. The details were a bit sketchy, but here's what they learned.

Shaterkeel was an orphan;
His parents had been killed by pirates who had then kidnapped him;
He worked as a pirate for years;
When he was out at sea with the band of pirates he traveled with, a sudden squall overtook their ship;
The ship was destroyed and all but Shaterkeel drowned;
A shark bit his arm off;
A strange current shift brought him back to dry land;
He credited the Evil God of Elemental Water, Olhydra with his salvation and dedicated his life to her service;
A druid with a keen understanding of the natural world, he was able to use magic to attach a working giant crab claw to his body to replace his missing arm (ew).

TL;DR

The group took skiffs from beneath Rivergard Keep into the subterranean Crushing Wave Temple.
They infiltrated the cult and learned some things and killed a lot of other things.
They learned about the cult leader, but have no idea where he may be.

Click here to see what happened next!

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