Mawar Adventures Episode 01

After strange omens trouble Hamri’s harbor, Ryu, Wazir, and Trok rescue a merfolk traveler, recover a stolen drop of the Sentient Ocean from a tidal cave in the North Cliffs, and find a coded scroll pointing to a deeper mystery.

Timeline

• Jul 23, 1747 DR: Ryu, Wazir, and Trok rescue Illius, a merfolk traveler, from an elemental attack, and recover a stolen drop of the Sentient Ocean from a tidal cave in the North Cliffs across the bay from Hamri.

Cast of Characters

• Illius (they/them, merfolk): surviving merfolk expedition member.
• Turk (spirit shark): Ryu’s shark companion.

Places

• Hamri (town in the Mawar Confederacy, the Mawakel Peninsula): port town whose harbor and waterfront frame the opening merfolk crisis. Session context includes: harbor waterfront, harbor waters, and docks.
• North Cliffs (coastal cliffs in the Mawar Confederacy, the Mawakel Peninsula): coastal cliffs across Hamri’s sheltered bay where the tidal cave and abandoned seawatch tower hold the stolen drop of the Sentient Ocean. Session context includes: tidal cave beneath the cliffs, abandoned seawatch tower, and tidal cave cache.

Narrative

The morning of July 23, 1747 comes in the middle of a strange summer in Hamri, with unusual events noted in the harbor over the past weeks: a phantom ship docking one night, a massive creature of epic proportions disturbing the normal bioluminescent glow of the harbor, a day when no fish could be found anywhere along the coast.

As morning turns to afternoon, a strange ship races into Hamri against the tide, under attack by water elementals. Intercepted by Wazir, the owner of the Leviathan, Trok, a tattooed Lizardfolk outcast, and Ryu, a noted fisherman and deep sea diver, the ship was a vessel for a merfolk expedition sent to recover a drop of Sentient Ocean stolen from their home, now carrying only a sole survivor, Illius. Ryu, Wazir, and Trok drive off the water elementals and twisted fish-things assailing it while Turk, Ryu’s shark companion, helps steer the ship to safety.

Soon after the harbor rescue, Illius’s compass leads Ryu, Wazir, and Trok from Hamri to a tidal cave in the North Cliffs, across the sheltered bay from the port, connecting to the ruins of a long-abandoned seawatch tower. The party defeats the remaining water elementals, recovers the bottled drop of the Sentient Ocean, and returns it safely to Illius. He explains that marids from the Elemental Plane of Water have hunted the ocean for generations and believes one of them finally found a way through its defenses.

In the chest with the vial of Sentient Ocean was also a scroll of written notes, in some kind of code, and a silver amulet of a strange design. Wazir took the scroll to attempt to decipher its meaning, wondering if indeed the phantom ship brought someone new to town involved in the schemes of the marids of the plane of water.

Combat

• Harbor Ship Rescue: water elementals, twisted fish-like humanoids. Water elementals and twisted fish-like humanoids attack the merfolk ship in Hamri’s harbor, killing most of the crew before the party and Turk bring the vessel safely in.
• Tidal Cave Recovery: water elementals. Guided by Illius’s compass, the party reaches the North Cliffs tidal cave, defeats the last water elementals, and recovers the stolen drop of the Sentient Ocean.