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  Shadows of the fiend – chapter 4 of 4 
  by Davide C. Milano 
   
  
   
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  Abstract 
  Welcome to Tides of Danger, a D&D Eberron adventure, part 4 of 4 of the “Shadows of the fiend” story. 
  The adventure begins with the characters repairing their crashed airship and taking the route to home, 
  filled with gold, new passengers and dangerous entities. 
  The coasts of Khorvaire are on sight – are they near enough? 
  Adjusting the adventure 
  This adventure is designed for 5 2nd-level characters. The story arc should lead the group from 1st level to 
  5th within 8 chapters. 
  If you play it as a one-shot adventure, anyway, you can find suggestions about how to increase or lower the 
  difficulty of the encounters for different groups. 
  Shadows of the fiend 
  The “Shadows of the fiend” set of stories is designed to offer a good way to shift from a set of new 
  characters to a group of new characters. Each chapter explores tips and situations to develop bonds 
  between the characters, both PCs and NPCs. 
  “Shadows of the fiend” uses rules of 13th moon – Eberron Shared Campaign, which you can download for 
  free. Characters will need 2 chapters to obtain a level up. If you don’t use these rules, you can adjust XP 
  rewards accordingly.  
  
   
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  Introduction 
  The airship Oceanus started its journey some day ago from Sharn, but some escaped prisoners hijacked the 
  airship, setting route for an unknown island. A group of adventurers defeated the bandits but the airship, 
  without a pilot, crashed on a forgotten island. 
  On the island the adventurers found a small team of cyren soldiers, left as sentinels during the Last War 
  and forgotten, their communication officer driven insane by a powerful fiend hidden on the island, Nal 
  Shalor. The fiend trapped the elemental of the ship, let the adventurers find it, and convinced them to  
  Development 
  The adventure begins on the lost island of Durast and takes place in three acts. 
  After a quick setup, the Act I – Finishing touches is about collecting the last items needed to repair the ship 
  and to prepare the passengers for an uncomfortable journey. 
  In Act II – Dragonmarked surprise, the characters will face two new dragonmarks being corrupted by an 
  unseen presence. They must try to fix them, improvising a good solution. 
  In Act III – Boarded from within, the wight Jerome Luliac unleashes an attack against the characters, killing 
  the passengers and reanimating them under his command. It’s up to the characters stop him before it’s too 
  late. 
  The end of the first journey! 
  This first tier1 adventures for 13th moon are designed in 2 storylines of 4 chapters. The first storyline, 
  “Shadows of the fiend”, is made by 
  • 
  Flying fear (level 1) – hijack of the Oceanus and crash on the mysterious island of Durast 
  • 
  Ruins of madness (level 1) – exploration of the island of Durast and discovery of lost cyren soldiers 
  • 
  The Shadowflame altar (level 2) – finding the lost temple of Nal Shalor, the group will find 
  something unsettling and a well known elemental 
  • 
  Tides of danger (level 2) – after repairing the ship, will the characters be able to find a safe way 
  back home? 
  NPCs presented in these adventures should help introduce special themes of the setting: widespread 
  magic, savage frontiers, faiths and religions, clear and obscure conflicts. This should help with an 
  introduction and a chance for the PCs to build their relations with NPCs and other PCs. 
  
   
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  Act I – Finishing touches 
  Duration: 30/45 minutes 
  The characters begin the adventure stranded on an unknown island, with a broken airship, the Oceanus, a 
  Khyber dragonshard with a bound fire elemental and the will to come back home. Many people are with 
  them: the passengers and the crew of the airship (30 total, or less if some of them died in previous 
  adventures), a group of 8 cyren soldiers forgotten on the island since the Last War, and a small childish blue 
  fire spirit – actually Nal Shalor, a powerful fiend in disguise. 
  Setup 
  If you didn’t play the previous modules or there are new players, you can play a short intro scene with your 
  characters to introduce them to all other players. You can ask each player to introduce the character, 
  adding some relevant information on where or what the character is doing. 
  You can also set up an “opening credits” scene, describing the last instants of the previous episode – the 
  daring escape from an ancient ruin filled with zombies while carrying a large amount of treasure. Ask your 
  players to describe how their character behaved during the escape, to better outline their features and 
  showing more than telling who they really are. 
  Notable characters 
  Same as the previous adventures, there are 
  various NPCs for the PCs to interact with. You can 
  of course change what happened to them to your 
  own accord. 
  • 
  Captain Shorel d’Lyrandar is a daring 
  adventurer and ex-captain of the ship. His 
  leg is wounded, and he is unable to act 
  due to exhaustion. He still needs some 
  rest to recover. He can give good advice to 
  the PCs 
  • 
  Countess Louette Lorianne is the vain and 
  frivolous daughter of a rich merchant of 
  Sharn. She was almost unscathed at the 
  crash, but she keeps annoying everyone 
  around her, trying to draw anybody’s 
  attention. 
  • 
  Count George Blacktail is Leouette’s 
  betrothed. He often brags a lot about his 
  combat skills, but he’s more an animal 
  handler. He can develop a Mark of 
  Handling in this adventure – if he survives. 
  He’s unhappy of Louette, who is too vain 
  and careless.  
  
   
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  • 
  Roman Dylar [Moshar d’Phiarlan] is a member of House Phiarlan in disguise. He’ll try to kill and get 
  the message from Bringer without being discovered. Can be a minor antagonist for PCs.  
  • 
  Sam Guilleran was the bartender on the Oceanus. The captain will ask him to be his eyes and keep 
  an eye out on the passengers. He can be trusted by the characters for surveillance of the 
  passengers. 
  • 
  Kurgaath, the brutal and disciplined hobgoblin was a former ally of Jerome Luliac but after the 
  crash he is changing his mind and looking for a chance to find his own way. His hatred towards 
  Lyrandars will create trouble with the captain. 
  • 
  Bringer, the warforged messenger, can be an ally of the PCs: he’s looking for a reason to live, since 
  he was built to deliver a message and the recipient is no more, lost forever after the Mourning. 
  • 
  Kevin, the ship boy will be a problem for the PCs, since he’ll try in any way to get involved in 
  adventures, putting himself at risk. He can develop a Mark of Creation in this adventure – if he 
  survives. 
  You don’t have to use them all: try to choose NPCs that will be more interesting for your players. 
  In addition, there are 3 more entities that will sneak on the ship: 
  • 
  The Blue flame elemental, a sparkle of Nal Shalor, a powerful fiend disguised as a harmless 
  elemental. It will keep a low profile: its goal is to reach Khorvaire to get back all its powers and it 
  will try to stay hidden in the stern of the ship. 
  • 
  The ghost of Zznotharak, a powerful beholder killed by Nal Shalor and seeking vengeance. 
  • 
  Jerome Luliac was a cold-blooded killer. After the crash he died and got raised as a wight by Nal 
  Shalor. Now he is trying to get the revenge he wants from the people who denied him his higher 
  destiny. His aberrant dragonmark is still visible but not working. He will sneak in the ship and try to 
  kill everyone, turning them into undead servants. 
  Who goes where? 
  The ship has lost some piece and the lower deck is obstructed by rubble. The mid deck is overcrowded with 
  passengers, soldiers and sailors, so the characters should decide where to place everyone, with the captain 
  not able to think clearly and the second-in-command dead. 
  Their decisions will change emergencies during the subsequent acts: the two new dragonmarks can activate 
  far from each other, limiting any kind of help from the PCs, and Jerome will start his attack from the lower 
  deck, turning more or less passengers into zombies for his final attack. 
  Where do we go? 
  Someone will be required to trace the route for the ship which, still damaged and with an unstable 
  dragonshard, will not be able to fly but can still sail, elementally propelled. A DC15 wisdom[survival] check 
  will set the correct line to follow. Let the player roll with advantage if he has proficiency in vehicles[water], 
  if he has some good spell to help, or they implement some good idea. 
  A failed check will lead the ship into a section of rough sea, which will create some trouble during the next 
  acts. 
  
   
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  Act II – Dragonmarked surprise 
  Duration: 45 minutes 
  After a couple of hours, the group will see that the bad weather is getting worse – 
  and something even worse is upon them. 
  George Blacktail and the ship boy Kevin will start showing strange marks on their skin, 
  bright and painful. They are developing a dragonmark but the malign presence of Nal 
  Shalor is corrupting the two dragonmarks, making them unstable and dangerous. 
  Not handled enough 
  George Blacktail was developing a Mark of Handling, but the corruption is twisting 
  its capabilities into something more heinous: instead of calming animals, his 
  presence is enraging people around him. All people begin acting like under the 
  effect of a confusion spell, with cyren soldiers turning hostile against every other 
  passenger of the ship. 
  Count how many cyren soldiers on the same deck as George are left unattended: they 
  will attack one passenger each. PCs can try to engage enraged soldiers in combat 
  (statistics of a guard), preventing them from killing passengers. 
  Make flesh, not stuff 
  Kevin, the ship boy, is developing a Mark of Making, but dark powers are 
  warping its abilities and instead of making objects he begins making 
  compositions of flesh. This has two consequences: 
  • 
  Zznotharak finds himself revived again with a new body but this sudden 
  corporeality causes him some trouble: he is again a beholder, but he is 
  trapped inside the rubble on the lower deck, its eyestalks mostly disabled, and 
  unable to move. He is stuck with his central eye looking through an opening in 
  the rubble, projecting his anti-magic field. He is also able to scream, which will 
  do, commanding other puny creatures to set him free. 
  • 
  A passenger near Kevin is suddenly disassembled in a bunch of little slugs made 
  of flesh (statistics of 10 slaad tadpole). They will start to merge and within 
  one round they will form a huge humming mass of flesh, a gibbering 
  mouther, with 50hp + 5hp for every surviving tadpole. The gibbering 
  mouther will start attacking everything nearby. Every 10 minutes a 
  random passenger near Kevin will suffer the same transformation. 
   
   
  
   
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  …so, what? 
  Both George and Kevin can’t control their powers, so the adventurers must find a way to address these 
  problems. There are multiple options: 
  • 
  Zznotharak is mostly harmless: if they manage to find a way to block its dangerous bite they can 
  place both under the influence of his anti-magic field, stopping their nefarious effects 
  • 
  If they throw in the sea one or both of them, their effects come to an end within one minute. 
  • 
  If they manage to move George or Kevin, they can notice, with a DC15 wisdom[perception] check, 
  that moving away from the stern will reduce the effects: every 10 minutes roll 1d20, with a result 
  of 11 or more the effects are halted for 10 minutes (enraged creatures calm down and no gibbering 
  mouther is created). 
  • 
  If the PCs have some good idea, which can spice up things for Act III, let it work – your call, let 
  entertaining things happen. 
  Reward good play and adherence to character’s background with inspiration, as usual. 
  Note: action paced combat 
  This act and the following one are heavily combat oriented: do not turn the fight into a siege war, let it be 
  dynamic and fun. You are on a ship rolling on bad weather, full of rubble, furniture, ropes, and all the stuff a 
  character needs to create a fun and spectacular combat scene. Let yourself and your players enjoy the 
  action. 
  
   
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  Act III – Boarded from within 
  Duration: 45 minutes 
  While chaos spreads through the ship, events get worse: Jerome Luliac (statistics of a wight) appears with 4 
  zombies in the upper deck, trying to turn into undead minions (zombies) every passenger he can touch. A 
  cyren soldier not enraged by the effects of George’s dragonmark can defend up to 2 passengers, lowering 
  the number of monsters to face. 
  After starting the attack, Jerome will turn to the PCs, recognizing the reason of his defeat. If there is a 
  character who dealt the killing blow on him during the events of Flying fear, Jerome will focus his attacks on 
  that character. 
  If the route for the ship in Act I was not traced correctly, the bad weather will set up a perfect environment 
  for Jerome: everyone else, zombies included, will be surprised at the beginning of the fight because of the 
  rough sea. 
  Chaos – better than darkness 
  During the fight, Bringer will try to defend passengers and will 
  count as one unraged cyrene soldier against Jerome’s attack. 
  While combat enrages, anyway, Moshar d’Phiarlan 
  (statistics of a Bandit captain with the special abilities 
  from the Mark of Shadows and the Greater Mark of 
  Shadows) will try to incapacitate him, hoping to extract 
  his messenger without triggering its escape. 
  Any character with a passive perception of 16 or more or 
  any character who uses his action to make a DC12 
  wisdom[perception] check will notice that “Roman 
  Dylar” is attacking Bringer and they will automatically 
  notice that Bringer is defeated after 2 rounds. The 
  character can try to defend the allied warforged. Moshar will 
  escape as soon as he drops below half of his hit points, using his 
  Slip into shadows ability. 
  
   
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  Rewards 
  After the fight, the ship manages to reach Sharn in 
  safety. Many expert healers from the Healer’s Guild 
  sent by House Lyrandar take care of passengers and 
  crewmen while more notable characters attract 
  special attentions: 
  • 
  George and Kevin, if they survived, have 
  now a normal dragonmark and 
  Dragonmarked Houses call them, hoping to 
  acquire new members. If they survive they 
  will accept the offer, becoming members of 
  the house and giving the character the Cannith 
  favoured and Vadalis favoured story award. 
  • 
  Zznotharak is taken into custody by the City 
  Guard. He will escape on the way, managing to 
  hide himself in the city. 
  • 
  The Blue flame elemental is nowhere to be found. 
  Who knows? 
  • 
  If at least 10 passengers survive the journey, House 
  Lyrandar will reward characters with Wealth. The 
  captain, if survived, will thank them with a potion of 
  growth that let who drinks it instinctively know 
  where the north is (to be added to all players’ 
  magic item list, 50gp price). 
  At the end of the adventure, every player receives 1 
  XCP and 1 TP. 
  DM special 
  If you DMed all four adventures, you can add to 
  your list any one magic item from one of the adventures. 
  Story award: Cannith favoured 
  When doing any charisma-based check to influence a character affiliated to House Cannith with advantage, 
  you can reroll one of the results and use the new result instead. 
  Story award: Vadalis favoured 
  When doing any charisma-based check to influence a character affiliated to House Vadalis with advantage, 
  you can reroll one of the results and use the new result instead. 
   
  Ca 
  
   
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Davide Milano/13th Moon Shared Campaign - Tides of Danger.pdf