Adventure Summary
The Serpent’s Skull Adventure Path begins with the PCs being shipwrecked on an inhospitable island, the legendary Smuggler’s Shiv. Yet before you begin, you should take a moment to let the PCs introduce themselves to each other in the framework of a long ship voyage. ...
After the PCs wake on the shores of Smuggler’s Shiv, they must contend with carnivorous plants, predatory monsters, vengeful undead, and aggressive cannibals as they scavenge for food and water and hope for rescue. Complicating the situation is the eventual realization that they’ve been placed in this situation through the design of one of the ship’s own passengers—a mysterious Varisian scholar named Ieana who went missing during the ship’s wreck just offshore of Smuggler’s Shiv.
As the days go by, the strange mysteries and dangers of Smuggler’s Shiv make it abundantly clear that the castaways are not welcome on this hostile island—and if the PCs are to survive long enough to be rescued or to repair their crippled ship, they must take the offensive and stand against the restless spirits and treacherous denizens of the island. The PCs are eventually forced into a final confrontation with the island’s cannibals, only to discover that below the cannibals’ camp lies an ancient serpentfolk temple to Ydersius. This temple contains clues leading to a hidden Azlanti temple to Zura elsewhere on the island. The PCs use these clues to find the hidden temple, only to learn that the traitorous Ieana, in fact a disguised serpentfolk named Yarzoth, has beaten them to the ruins and will stop at nothing to ensure that only she escapes Smuggler’s Shiv alive with the temple’s astonishing secret—the way to legendary Saventh-Yhi, a fabled city said to be hidden somewhere in the depths of the Mwangi Expanse.So, that's the context around which we'll be deconstructing this adventure. That, of course, doesn't mean that I'll be reconstructing it with a similar context, but at least it will make the stuff we're about to see make sense.
FEAST ON THE BEACH (Not as fun as Sex on the Beach, sadly.) The PC's wake up, in order of Fortitude saves made earlier, from having been poisoned and shipwrecked. They're lying on the beach, and their gear is nearby, but big eurypterid sea scorpions are nipping at them and need to be killed. (Eurypterids are an arthropod order of "sea scorpions" that flourished from the Ordivician until the late Permian. They're not really scorpions.) They're sick for the duration of the encounter. There's also almost half a dozen other survivors. They can see the wreck of their ship out to sea not far away, stranded on a reef and broken.
SINISTER OMENS I'm a big fan of using dreams, strange events, and other stuff to create mood and foreshadowing. I won't repeat the specifics of this one, but there are a lot of fun ideas here. Use 'em.
EXPLORING THE ISLAND There's a list of locations here that the PCs will presumably find just by wandering around exploring. Which they probably will do assuming that they don't want to die of starvation or thirst, if nothing else. They can also go out to the wreck of their ship, on a rocky reef not far away, where they may fight more sea scorpions, but salvage some useful stuff. Here, they also find the first mate's body and an increasingly disturbed and disjointed captain's log, where he admits to changing course for this island at a passenger's request, who he had obviously become more and more obsessed with over time.
There are also numerous predators scattered all over the island, and the PCs should probably come into contact with them by exploring. There's a list of what they presume you will find, some of which is not surprising (snakes, giant spiders and crabs, monitor lizards), some of it is very D&Desque (shocker lizards, cave fishers) and then there's a Dimorphodon; a small pterosaur from the Early Jurassic "Jurassic Coast" of England. I guess this gives it that Lost World or Skull Island kind of vibe. I'm a big fan of having dangerous wildlife be on the loose whenever the PCs are in the wilderness, and anything that's kind of tropical, jungley or island based should fit, although keep in mind that we're talking beginning, low level characters still here. There could also be "natural traps"—poisonous nettles or vines, etc, quicksand, and then, of course, actual traps and snares set by the cannibals who live inland. They have a small island just off shore covered in poisonous fungus and populated by a small group of vegepygmies and their "fungus god", but that's such a weird D&Dism, that I'll almost certainly pass. And I don't have any equivalent to Zuggtmoy either. There's also a dryad, who wants to convince the PCs to get rid of the fungus foulness, but since I doubt I'll use the fungus, I doubt I'll use her either. Although I do like to throw in a classical mythological reference when I can.
There are also older, more rotted and decrepit shipwrecks on the beaches, or just off the beaches, that can be explored, although little is to be found in them except dangerous marine life and undead former crewmen; as skeletons, zombies or even ghosts. The shipwrecks are also dangerous to explore because of their poor condition; parts will break and fall, etc. regularly. One ghost captain in particular is mentioned, but it's needless backstory; all you need to know is that the island is indeed haunted by the undead. One area in particular is a buried treasure spot, complete with a few traps and undead sailors that the captain killed after they buried it, so they couldn't give away the secret of where the treasure was buried.
There's an interesting thing; a gigantic, house-sized crab-shell that's been hollowed out and a marooned sailor or something lives there. He's a kenku in the book, but of course, I don't have any bird-people in my setting, so I'd make him something else. He's a little crazy, but he can confirm that his original crew were killed and eaten by cannibals, so there's that. Speaking of which, a cannibal ambush and/or trap would be a nice touch somewhere in here. If you want to give the PCs something useful (for later; they can't spend 'em here) they could harvest a few pearls in a quiet bay too.
And finally, they find evidence of old camps of other shipwrecked sailors, but one in particular is pretty fresh, and it includes evidence that the captain of the ship and at least one other spent some time there before the PCs find it.
THE CANNIBAL CAMP There are cannibals on the island. There's a whole backstory behind them, but who cares? They're cannibals; they want to eat you, not tell you where their ancestors came from. Their camp is under a partially ruined (or never completed, more accurately) lighthouse, and they wander the island. The PCs might find them first, or maybe the other way around, depending on what the PCs do. There's a fair number of cannibals; nearly two dozen in all, but they may not all be sitting around waiting to be discovered in their huts, obviously.
There's a chief and a witch-doctor statted out as specific NPCs, but whatever. If the cannibals are supposed to be so crazy and evil, it seems unlikely that you'll really spend time chatting with them. Ieana has been here, sacrificed the captain, dominated the chief at one point, studied the caverns under the lighthouse, etc. You won't meet her yet, but there are a bunch of ghouls living in these caverns, as well as a few other undead of various types. There are also notes from the poor captain, who on recovering from his spell-induced hysteria, feels like writing a note explaining himself, for some reason. And there are instructions for how to use the Tide Stone, which causes massive lightning strikes and the tide to go down to an unnatural level. Ieana does this herself right as the PCs are cleaning up the cannibal camp, showing that the adventure isn't quite over yet.
TEMPLE OF BLOOD When the PCs go out to the headland that leads to the submerged Azlant temple to Zura (a demon goddess of vampires and cannibals, and the reason the island is cursed and haunted) they are attacked by a flying chupacabra—unless they've already wandered across and killed it during the course of their exploration of the island. Then they walk out along an uncovered causeway that normally sits just below the surface. There's a shark that got stranded in a pool on the causeway that they can fight. There's also a now uncovered shipwreck with a water mephit who thinks he's the "captain" of it, and a crew of sea urchins and other aquatic animals. I get the feeling that they're supposed to be kind of comic relief.
After this, they can explore the temple proper. There are serpentfolk skeletons to defeat right away. There are human skeletons (former slaves) and a pit trap. Another nearby room has doors that crash shut and then bladed pendulums that swing down to kill anything in the room. I admit; I think trapped dungeons are boring beyond all get-out. I can pass. But I make note of their presence in the module as written for the record. There's some weird encounter with soulbound dolls; strange little animated humunculi or sorts, that actually seek out the PCs once they are aware that they're in the temple. And an old pool of water in a side-room is home to a gibbering mouther (a weak shoggoth, for those more familiar with Lovecraft than with D&D.) And finally, in the nave of the temple, they encounter Yarzoth/Ileana, now revealed as a serpentman himself, with skeletons. After this, they discover the clues to the lost city of Saventh-Yhi, which makes up most of the rest of the adventure path. They're to get this from the carvings on the walls, and then translating/interpreting them later. After this, allow the PCs to escape the island either by being able to create a signal (perhaps in the lighthouse) or by building a raft or something, and then on you go to the next adventure.
NPC SIDE QUESTS There are a number of fellow castaways that all have side-quests associated with them, just like a computer game. Maybe you'll find them kinda fun to do or not, but here's a quick n dirty summary of them anyway.
Aerys Mavato is one of those pixie-ninjas; probably weighs all of 100 lbs tops, but is tough and angry and has a chip on her shoulder about men in particular (don't flirt with her.) She's also an alcoholic and an aspiring novelist. She sounds like someone that the writer knows, but flattered into believing that she can fight.
Gelik Aberwhinge is a little gnome fop and con-man, who is a bit like Harry Hill from The Music Man. (If anyone is cultured enough anymore to get that reference.) He does have a meaner, snarkier tongue, though. One of the shipwrecks is his potential target for exploration, as it might get him back in good with the Pathfinder Society.
Ishirou is a lost Japanese guy with a sad and tragic history, who is quiet and taciturn and generally introverted. He's got a treasure map to the treasure mentioned above, though, if he can be convinced to tell you about it.
Jask Derindi plays the role of the "Magic Negro"—he's literally in chains for a crime he was framed for when you first find him, and the keys are on the ship that you crashed in. Evidence of his innocence is to be found in another one of the shipwrecks.
Sasha Nevah another completely unrealistic, yet Harveywood common archetype; the manic pixie dream girl (who is also a deadly assassin) with—of course—red hair and green eyes; the physical type of beta nerds everywhere. In typical manic pixie dream girl fashion, her sidequest is to bring her a baby Dimorphodon which she wants to have as a pet.
BESTIARY
The new monsters associated with this Bestiary section are the Eurypterids, the ningyo (a kind of really ugly monkey mermaid), several types of pterosaurs, a giant sea urchin, and the tuyewera, a kind of undead with legs severed at the knee and a long frog-like tongue. Off-hand, I don't think I need to write any new monster stats for anything that's shown up either in the adventure text or the bestiary, but I'll analyze that when I'm ready to start hanging these encounters and ideas into a new framework of some kind.
So, what stats would I need for this module, and what do I already have (or can repurpose?) Not counting NPCs:
- sea scorpions (how about using byakhees, but taking away their ability to fly and replacing it with the ability to swim)
- In general, a fair bit of dangerous wildlife; giant spiders and crabs, snakes, lizards, pterosaurs, etc. I have a fair bit of wildlife already, and for the most part, what I don't have can be recreated anyway by using existing wildlife stats and just calling them something different in game.
- a dryad (I've got)
- vegepygmies (Eh... I'm not interested, but I'm sure something that I already have can be adapted. I won't bother myself, because I think the notion of these guys is kinda silly. If I have plant men, I'd rather have them resemble the weird fey creatures from Leigh Brackett's The Vanishing Venusians.)
- undead that I have stats for already, including skeletons/zombies, ghouls and ghosts
- a shark (hmm... I don't have one of these. I'd probably use crocodile stats and just present their habitat and hunting tactics differently, though.)
- a water mephit (I think using an imp and replacing the poison sting with something more aquatic-like would work.)
- soulbound dolls—assuming that I use these, I'd probably have to whip up new stats for them.
- gibbering mouther (shoggoths are basically the same thing, but significantly more powerful. I'd probably use the shoggoth stats, but halve the hit points and lower the To Hit score, although maybe not as drastically as halving it.)
- serpentman sorcerer. I've been reluctant to stat serpentmen, because I've already got lizardmen, and really; what's the difference? Making one a "boss sorcerer" though requires a little bit of work.
LOCATIONS Maps and other locations that can be adapted to another setting:
- Smuggler's Shiv island
- Thrunefang (cannibal) village/camp
- Caves of the Mother (small cave system under the lighthouse ruins
- Azlanti temple and semi-flooded causeway that reaches it
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