Diver Down

This adventure is for three to four player characters of 4th-5th level. If your party is significantly stronger or weaker, adjust the number and statistics of the opposition accordingly.

During an ocean voyage, the PCs put in at a small island for reprovisioning. The island is peopled by tribal fishermen, very simple in lifestyle and friendly to strangers. Casual conversation informs the PCs that a rich merchant ship went down in a storm several years ago in a nearby uninhabited atoll. Surprisingly, the fishermen have no interest in finding the wreck and retrieving anything of value from it.

Having learned this, the PCs are approached by a young woman who tries to enlist their aid. It was her father who captained the ship that was lost, and she and her three brothers want to retrieve some family heirlooms from the wreck-heirlooms of sentimental rather than monetary value. The island fishermen refuse to help them. Will the PCs come to their aid?

The Lair

The young woman, who calls herself Bella, is the spokesperson for the group, and introduces her male companions as her brothers: Stront, tethus, and Torok. She explains to the PCs that, when they heard of their father’s death, they made their way to the islands in the hope of finding where his ship went down. Although the locals were quick enough to tell them where the wreck is, they refused to help the family retrieve anything from it, believing that what the sea takes, the sea should keep.

If the PCs decide to help, Bella and her brothers board the PCs’ vessel, each bearing a light pack of personal possessions. Once underway, Bella gives the captain a course to an archipelago made up of tiny coral atolls, surrounded by wicked reefs. Bella tells them, and any experienced sailor confirms, that it’s suicide to try to approach her father’s resting place in any vessel larger than a ship’s 12’ longboat.

Conspiracy

There’s more to Bella and companions than meets the eye, and only a germ of truth in her story. In fact, Bella and the others are related only in occupation and goal. They are thieves who’ve heard rumors of a rich treasure vessel, wrecked on a coral atoll (needless to say, the captain was no relation to any one of the thieves). Unwilling to wander alone into danger, they’ve decided to find a gullible crew to take them to the ship’s resting place, and, if possible, clear the wreck area of anything harmful to life and limb.

If the PCs are killed in this pursuit, no great loss: The thieves will take what they can and make their escape in the longboat, threading through the reefs where a larger boat can’t follow. If the PCs survive the exploration and actually bring up anything of value, Bella and her friends intend to slay them at the first convenient opportunity, steal the longboat or-if they’re sure they can get away with it-the PCs’ ship, and make their getaway.

None of the four openly carries weapons: Their equipment is concealed in their packs. Bella’s pack hides a short sword, hand axe, 6 darts, and a potion of water breathing that she bought before undertaking this voyage. Bella won’t mention this potion to anyone, even her colleagues; it’s her “ace in the hole” if she must do any salvage herself. Torok’s pack conceals a light crossbow, two daggers, and six darts. Each of the others has a short sword, two daggers, and a dozen darts hidden in his pack. All have lockpicks and other tools of their trade concealed in their packs and about their persons.

The four thieves play their roles well. Although Bella is obviously the spokesperson, the others can believably answer questions about their background and about their father. When they’re with the PCs, all four do their best to appear harmless and even slightly incompetent. They move almost clumsily, disguising the fluid grace they’d show on the job, and Stront does nothing to demonstrate his above-average strength.

The Atoll

Formed entirely of coral, the island is small, just 50 yards in diameter with a shallow central lagoon. At its highest point, it’s no more than 10 feet above the high tide mark. Surrounding the island is a coral reef whose jagged top is only inches below the breaking waves. The only way to pass the reef is through one of several channels no more than 10 feet wide. Even here, passage is made treacherous by the waves, which threaten to throw a small boat onto the knife-sharp coral. The reef acts as a breakwater, and the inshore waters are calm and clear, with many brilliantly-colored fishes darting here and there.

Part of the shipwreck is visible from outside the reef. The forward quarter of a fairly large galleon shows above water, splintered against the sharp coral of the atoll itself. Further out from shore, the tip of a shattered mast breaks the surface. It’s obvious what happened: A storm blew the ship right over the reef, tearing the vessel’s bottom out. It swiftly sank in the inshore waters. Bella can add even more to this: From what she’s heard, the ship broke in two. The forward section is partially aground on the atoll; the remainder of the vessel is in deeper water, but still inshore of the reef.

Bella points out that the only way to reach the wreck is by small ship’s boat, which can hold no more than eight people and still make it across the reef. Bella and her brothers demand the right to go-it’s their father’s ship, after all-so that leaves room for four PCs.

(Note: One person plus light equipment is equivalent to about 2,000 g.p. of weight. Thus, if Bella and friends kill the four PCs accompanying them, they can anticipate making off with 8,000 g.p. weight of treasure.)

Passage through the reef is treacherous. The passage takes two rounds, and there’s a 10% chance per round of the boat going aground on the coral (the DM should make the danger seem much greater, however). If the boat is skippered by a PC with a secondary skill of “fisher” or “sailor,” this chance drops to 5% per round (but the passage should still appear highly dangerous).

The coral of the island itself also poses a threat to the unwary. It’s hideously sharp, causing 1-3 points of damage to anyone careless enough to walk on it with bare feet or improper footwear (anything with soles less resilient than leather). If anybody falls on the coral (during a fight, for example), they have a 50% chance of taking 1-4 points of damage from puncture wounds and abrasions. Coral wounds are very painful, and have a 50% chance of becoming infected if not treated promptly.

The Bow

The bow of the wrecked ship is partially aground, and so can be entered and explored from shore without swimming. The condition of the hull shows the violence of the storm that wrecked it, and also indicates that the wreck has been here for several years.

The decks are at strange angles, since the ship is bow-high and lying partially on its port side. The air inside is heavy and thick with the stench of decay. Within the forward compartments, or what’s left of them, all is chaos and destruction. There are several human skeletons, most with broken bones indicating that they were killed by the ferocity of the storm and the wreck, not by drowning. Charts and ship’s papers have long since weathered away, but a plaque, broken loose from a bulkhead, identifies the vessel as “The Outward Bound-Free Trader.’’

The aftermost area of the bow section is under water. The water is clear enough, however, so the PCs can see that the bulkhead separating the forward compartments from the hold has been smashed in. From the damage, it looks as though the load in the hold must have shifted forward, staving in the forward bulkhead. In fact, since the ship must have broken apart right at the hold, it’s possible that it was a shifting cargo that finally broke the ship’s back.

In about 3 feet of water, in an aft corner, is something that shines dully in the light: an ingot of platinum, weighing 200 g.p. and worth 1,000 g.p. The mark stamped into the ingot identifies it as coming from the coffers of the Prelacy of Almor.

(Note: When it went down, “The Outward Bound” was carrying the proceeds of a daring robbery, a raid on the treasure rooms of Almor. Bella and her companions are aware of this hence their interest in the ship, but deny any knowledge of it if questioned.)

Jaws Among the Coral

The aft two-thirds of the ship lies under 40 feet of water, about 50 feet offshore. The coral slopes between the bow section and the remainder of the ship are littered with nine platinum ingots identical to the one already found (200 g.p. weight, 1,000 g.p. value). To retrieve these ingots, somebody must dive for them. Bella’s companions immediately volunteer for the task, but are so enthusiastic that they’ll probably make the PCs suspicious enough to take on the task themselves. This is exactly what the thieves want.

A character of average constitution can hold his or her breath for two rounds while working under water; if the character’s constitution is 15 or more, this extends to three rounds. It takes about three segments to swim down to the depth at which the ingots lie (assuming the character can swim), and an equal time to return to the surface unladen. A character of strength 12 or more can swim to the surface carrying one (and only one) ingot, but it takes six segments to do so. A character of strength 11 or less can’t swim to the surface carrying an ingot. Of course, without magical assistance, characters working underwater can wear no metallic armor, and can carry only the lightest of weapons.

Living in fissures in the coral are two giant (moray) eels. Each time a character swims down to examine or retrieve ingots, there’s a 25% chance an eel will attack. These eels typically bite once and hold on, trying to keep their prey under water until it drowns. A character who stays down longer than he can hold his breath drowns in ld6 +2 rounds. A trapped character can pull the eel loose from its purchase on the rock by rolling under the character’s strength on 5d6. Such an attempt takes an entire round during which the character can do nothing else. If an eel is pulled loose, it will usually release its prey and retreat to its lair to await another less difficult victim. A dead eel can easily be pulled from the coral, but even in death its jaws remain locked in the victim’s flesh and must be pried loose.

Eels (2): AC 6; MV 119”; HD 5; hp 20; #AT 1; Dmg 3d6; THACO 15; SA hold victim under water until it drowns; AL N.

Sea Sprites

The remainder of the wrecked ship is the home of a family of eight sea sprites. As is their way, they believe that what the sea has taken should stay with the sea, and therefore will try to stop salvage attempts. The sea sprites won’t willingly leave the wreck, preferring to wait within to ambush anyone trying to enter. Before the sea sprites enter the picture, however, two barracudas, under the orders of the sprites, will attack anyone approaching the wrecked stern.

Barracuda (2): AC 6; MV 1/30”; HD 3; hp 15; #AT 1; Dmg 2d4; THACO 16; AL N.

Sea sprites (8): AC 6; MV 6“1/24“; HD 1; hp 5; #AT 1; Dmg 14; THACO 17; SA weapons tipped with sleep potion, can cast slow spell three times per day at 5th level of ability; AL CN.

If the PCs attempt to communicate, the sprites will explain that they are merely “protecting the sea’s property.” If the intruders leave things as they are, the sprites have no quarrel with them and will let them leave unharmed.

The shattered cargo hold of the wreck contains another 20 platinum ingots. A chest in the captain’s cabin at the stern contains a broadsword +I and a mace +2. Both weapons are badly rusted, concealing their true nature, but can be made usable through the ministrations of a weaponsmith. The chest also holds the ship’s log, wrapped in oiled leather and thus partially protected from the sea. The log confirms that “The Outward Bound” was a sometime pirate ship, and that its cargo was stolen from the Prelacy of Almor.

This adventure is for three to four player characters of 4th-5th level.

Conclusion-The Danger Above

The thieves will choose the best opportunity to slay the PCs-possibly when they surface, exhausted from fighting the dangers below-and make off with as much treasure as they can. Bella and her friends are sly, however, and won’t tip their hand too early. (For example, if a PC returns to the boat badly wounded, they might “help him along,” making his death look like a result of his wounds.) If the thieves successfully steal the ship’s boat, they’ll make their escape by sailing through small openings in the reefs around the islands. If the PCs are stupid enough to follow in their larger vessel, there’s a 50% chance per turn of pursuit that they’ll run aground on the coral.

Note: The amount of treasure to be collected from the wreck may seem excessive. Remember, however, that it’s underwater, and it’s unlikely that the PCs will make off with more than a fraction of it. If they decide to return to the wreck later, better equipped, they might find that another storm has obliterated any signs of the wreck.