Storm Haven to Hillport
Bards sing the praises of Hillport in taverns from Sunport to Storm Haven. Tales in port side shanties and swamped among deckhands in their swinging hammocks tell of great treasures, lost cities, and lands waiting for the right ruler to come and claim them up the Quell and Rodenno Rivers. These and more bring people to Hillport in Southern Libynos. As travel by land between these two outposts is dangerous, the wilds are filled with fearsome animals, terrible monsters, and local cultures who do not take kindly to strangers (largely thanks to long experience with outsiders), most people travel by sea.
Taking a ship out of Storm Haven is fairly easy, the port serves as one of the few safe harbors from the storms of the Reaping Sea. While few are bound for Hillport specifically, it is one of the common stops on the way south. One could sail their own ship, but the route is perilous with reefs, squalls, and unmapped islands making it highly recommended to hire a local navigator. Leaving Hillport, the first hurdle is to sail around the Thundering Peninsula. Waves, currents and storms flowing from the Reaping Sea to the south pummel the rocky cliffs, creating a dangerous coast that it would be best to stay clear of. Rounding the point of the peninsula, a choice must be made to take the inner passage through the Sezar Islands or risk the Reaping Sea and the outer passage around them. Either route allows for a stopover at Jah Sezar and a visit to that famed island city. Those sailing in large ocean going ships can sail far out into the Reaping Sea and avoid the islands altogether, but that presents its own dangers in the form of pirates and sea beasts.
Either from Jah Sezar or after passing the Sezar Islands, travelers skirt around the treacherous Sinking Peninsula on their way to a port of call at Bargarsport on the Bay of Tumbled Columns or around the peninsula to Rodenno-Quell Bay and the final run to Hillport.
Taking a ship out of Storm Haven is fairly easy, the port serves as one of the few safe harbors from the storms of the Reaping Sea. While few are bound for Hillport specifically, it is one of the common stops on the way south. One could sail their own ship, but the route is perilous with reefs, squalls, and unmapped islands making it highly recommended to hire a local navigator. Leaving Hillport, the first hurdle is to sail around the Thundering Peninsula. Waves, currents and storms flowing from the Reaping Sea to the south pummel the rocky cliffs, creating a dangerous coast that it would be best to stay clear of. Rounding the point of the peninsula, a choice must be made to take the inner passage through the Sezar Islands or risk the Reaping Sea and the outer passage around them. Either route allows for a stopover at Jah Sezar and a visit to that famed island city. Those sailing in large ocean going ships can sail far out into the Reaping Sea and avoid the islands altogether, but that presents its own dangers in the form of pirates and sea beasts.
Either from Jah Sezar or after passing the Sezar Islands, travelers skirt around the treacherous Sinking Peninsula on their way to a port of call at Bargarsport on the Bay of Tumbled Columns or around the peninsula to Rodenno-Quell Bay and the final run to Hillport.
Points of Interest
Beside the above mentioned well known points of interest, characters will pass by the following.-
Named for the constant roar of the fearsome Reaping Sea crashing upon its rocky slopes, this short fat peninsula is ringed with steep cliffs topped with jungle and grasslands. Orcs, ogres, and other non-human villages dot the heights. For the most part they farm, raid each other, and hunt, but this income is supplemented by looting the wrecks of ships that have run aground on the peninsula’s savage rock reefs. Should a ship stray too close and the Reaping Sea not oblige to push it upon the rocks, the locals are not above helping the situation along. Towards that end several villages have constructed crude rock throwers, ballistae, and other siege engines.
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The Sezar Islands form a long chain of barrier islands along the coast between Thundering Peninsula and the Sinking Peninsula, the greatest of these being Jah Sezar. The lesser Sezar Islands run from small sandbars that are only visible at certain times of the year to large islands that can support a village or even two. The entire chain of islands has not been mapped, but the route from Jah Sezar through the inner passage is well known.
Holdon trades services, foodstuffs, and casks of water to passing ships in exchange for manufactured goods which he in turn pays his islander workers with. The excess is used to trade for pearls and spices from the Sezar islands, which in turn are sold to passing ships at a steep profit. The trading post runs on the smallest of margins but somehow manages to keep in operation, largely because Holdon doesn’t want to get rich, he just wants to live on an island paradise.
Kraken’s Legs
This coral atoll has a round center with nine radiating spikes of coral that give it its name. It is used as a landmark for the inner passage and outer passages of the Sezar Islands. Ships wishing to take the inner passage take to the northwest when they sight the Kraken’s Legs, those seeking the outer passage tack to the southwest. No ships approach the island, legends persist that the island itself will reach out and grab vessels that get too near. There is some truth in this as the central area is far deeper than most atolls, impossibly deep, and is home to a great sea beast that sleeps away the eons waiting for the sea to change the stars to realign. From time to time it stirs and hungers, reaching out to grab a passing ship, leaving no survivors and nothing of the ship save broken spars and flotsam.Blue Island
Largest and most inviting of the inner passage islands, Blue Island would be a fine place to put in. Perspective visitors should take note that there is not a settlement on this large heavily wooded island, that the bay is wide and well protected, and that the mountainous interior looks to be quiet and lush with springs. These are all illusions, for Blue Island is alive and hungry. There are no animals there, not even insects, and any that migrate there or wash up on shore are soon consumed by the island. Likewise, visitors are apt to be slowly swallowed up by Blue Island. Trees reach out, the land opens up, and streams gather into huge surges that wash their victims away.Holdon’s Trading Post
The flyspeck known as Shark Fin Island is barely a mile long and only three hundred feet wide at its best. The island forms a shallow arced crescent along the outer passage, and although low lying, it is large enough to provide a safe port from the fury of the Reaping Sea. The bay has only a few huts, one of which is a longhouse that houses Holdon’s Trading Post. Founded a few years ago, the trading post has become a popular place for ships sailing the outer passage to stop and take on provisions or make repairs following on of the Reaping Sea’s infamous storms.Holdon trades services, foodstuffs, and casks of water to passing ships in exchange for manufactured goods which he in turn pays his islander workers with. The excess is used to trade for pearls and spices from the Sezar islands, which in turn are sold to passing ships at a steep profit. The trading post runs on the smallest of margins but somehow manages to keep in operation, largely because Holdon doesn’t want to get rich, he just wants to live on an island paradise.
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The outer passage to Jah Sezar is only taken by those ships sturdy enough to handle the constant pummeling of the Reaping Sea and whose captains feel they can keep station and course against the strong cross current. Despite these caveats, there are always those who seek to trade speed for safety, or daring for prudence. Their hulls can be seen dotting the sparse islands of the outer passage, rotting on the beach and picked clean by wreckers.
Unlike the winding inner passage, the outer passage is fairly clear of obstacles. There are a handful of islands, barely enough to protect ships from the Reaping Sea. Many of these are inhabited by small villages that owe allegiance to Jah Sezar. Be warned, many a damaged vessel has put into what they thought would be a friendly village for repairs only to discover that not all of the islands of the outer passage are dependents of the great island city; and some are even violently opposed to Jah Sezar and all it stands for.
Unlike the winding inner passage, the outer passage is fairly clear of obstacles. There are a handful of islands, barely enough to protect ships from the Reaping Sea. Many of these are inhabited by small villages that owe allegiance to Jah Sezar. Be warned, many a damaged vessel has put into what they thought would be a friendly village for repairs only to discover that not all of the islands of the outer passage are dependents of the great island city; and some are even violently opposed to Jah Sezar and all it stands for.
Dolphin Island
Dolphins flock to this small island in the outer passage. The local islanders venerate dolphin gods and regularly provide the dolphins with a portion of their catch. Although never welcoming, the natives of Dolphin Island were not aggressive or violent, that is until last year. Late in the year they began felling trees on their island and building great war canoes. Ironwood was cut and shaped into warclubs, large stocks of fish and other provisions were laid down, and the entire island seemed gripped in a frenzy of activity. Captains who regularly plied the outer passage took note, but the worst of the storm season came and shipping stopped for weeks. When it resumed they found Dolphin Island uninhabited by both the human natives and the local pods of dolphins.Snake Island
Not truly an island but the curved back of a mighty sea serpent that was slain centuries ago. Coral has accumulated along its body and begun to rise up to form a new island, although most remains under three to five feet of water. The coral has been growing along the serpent’s bones, giving the formation a sinister appearance.-
Bordered on the west by the Sezar Islands and with the Bargar Bay to the east, the Sinking Peninsula presents the greatest hazard to navigation on the Storm Haven to Hillport route. While the spine of the peninsula is high and rocky, its slopes are broad and shallow. Depending on the season the Sinking Peninsula might be a broad expanse of muck leading from the drier ridge or a barely submerged reef and bar hundreds of miles long.
The sun striking upon the water helps to hide the nature of the peninsula, and when the water is high and the sky heavy with grey clouds, the sunken bars and reefs are nearly invisible. Best not sail by touch here, go slowly and make frequent soundings.
Along the ridge line are old stone watchtowers of some ancient and long dead civilization. These have not been thoroughly explored, but the one at the farthest tip of always dry land has been turned into a lighthouse by the mayor of Bargarsport.
The sun striking upon the water helps to hide the nature of the peninsula, and when the water is high and the sky heavy with grey clouds, the sunken bars and reefs are nearly invisible. Best not sail by touch here, go slowly and make frequent soundings.
Along the ridge line are old stone watchtowers of some ancient and long dead civilization. These have not been thoroughly explored, but the one at the farthest tip of always dry land has been turned into a lighthouse by the mayor of Bargarsport.
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Bargarsport sits at the top of this wide island filled bay on The Delta of the Wahr River. In many ways the bay is just a continuance of the Sinking Peninsula. The bay is shallow, a draft of only fifty-five feet at its deepest, with the islands being high points that sometimes extend up to form long ridges and plateaus. To aid in navigation the mayor of Bargarsport has had buoys placed throughout the bay. Just follow them and you’ll get to the port. That is assuming no one has moved them or a storm hasn’t ripped them away.
Adding to the danger of the bay, past civilizations built upon the now sunken and shifting sand bars, islets, and mud flats. The remains of these cities lie below the shallow bay and the taller columns or buildings thrust up above the waves at varying times of the year and day. The more stable islands also have ruins on them, likely unexplored due to their location and tendency to suddenly sink beneath the waves.
Adding to the danger of the bay, past civilizations built upon the now sunken and shifting sand bars, islets, and mud flats. The remains of these cities lie below the shallow bay and the taller columns or buildings thrust up above the waves at varying times of the year and day. The more stable islands also have ruins on them, likely unexplored due to their location and tendency to suddenly sink beneath the waves.
People Along the Way
The following NPCs can be encountered along the route.-
Of the many ships that ply the coasts of the Reaping Sea, few are as well-known as the Happy Chances. While others are hardier, faster, or more successful in trade, the Happy Chances is the luckiest. Many times the ship has faced certain doom and survived, sometimes even bringing its captain and crew out of danger with it. Old sailors and dock rats speak of the ship as if it was alive, and in some sense it just might be. Once, blown by a storm off of the Reaping Sea the Happy Chances nearly crashed upon the rocky shores of Thunder Peninsula, only to be turned aside at the last moment when the ship was rammed by a pod of whales. The Moon’s Gift was bearing down on the Happy Chances when the latter slipped into a fog bank and escaped, although the ship did run aground on a barren island and leave its crew stranded to starve to death.
There are dozens of other thin escapes, often ones that led to further misery. The current captain, Elzario Pilthan, has so far been the most fortunate of the ship’s long line of masters. His vessel’s luck seems to ride with him, even ashore in dockside dice games, and he has made the run along the Reaping Sea a dozen times. To some this is a sure sign that the ill luck that befalls those sailing in the Happy Chances has been broken, others posit that the wind is waiting to change and Pilthan’s days are numbered.
There are dozens of other thin escapes, often ones that led to further misery. The current captain, Elzario Pilthan, has so far been the most fortunate of the ship’s long line of masters. His vessel’s luck seems to ride with him, even ashore in dockside dice games, and he has made the run along the Reaping Sea a dozen times. To some this is a sure sign that the ill luck that befalls those sailing in the Happy Chances has been broken, others posit that the wind is waiting to change and Pilthan’s days are numbered.
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Rarest of lycanthropes are those who blend the mammalian bodies of humans and demihumans with the reptilian. Old Scarshell is one such, a wereturtle whose body is either an old man or a scarred and battle bitten giant sea turtle. He leads a rag-tag band of lycanthropes of all types, werewolves, weretigers and jaguars, and rarer ones such as weresharks and werebirds. The band is based on a Castrohage navy frigate that they captured in a daring raid some years ago. The Moon’s Gift works the waters of the Reaping Sea but is known to put into hidden isles along the coast from Storm Haven to Hillport. Their success is largely due to their information network. Not only do they scout out their prey using their animal forms, many have learned to communicate with their normal animal brethren. Should the Moon’s Gift be spotted, wise captains make a run for it. Hiding is not likely given the better than even chance that the pirates have spies in the water, on the land, and in the air, and the werepirates ask and give no quarter. Looting is only one reason they take ships, the feasting that follows is their main goal.
Adventure Hooks
The following seeds can be expanded and even linked together.-
The Price of Pride wrecked along the Thunder Peninsula with the loss of all hands. Its cargo of indigo and cotton no doubt divided among the wrecker gangs. Baron Hywden of Reme had contracted a group of adventurers to acquire the fabled Jewel of Isahn-tar from a hidden ruin deep in the jungles of southern Libynos, and they were on the ship when it wrecked. The characters are hired by the nobleman to recover the lost Jewel and return it to him; but can they navigate the wrecker gangs, treacherous coastline, and pry it from the hands of the original adventurers who the baron is trying to cut out of the deal and not pay?
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