“The Potential Fuella”
Difficulty: This adventure is for 4 to 6 level 4 players.
Run Time: 2 to 4 hours.
Summary
The party is looking for buried pirate treasure.
Setup: Why is the Rum Gone?
A bar fight is happening because a tavern at a port town is out of rum. 24 Pirates(Bandit MM343) are brawling with fists doing non-lethal damage to each other. After the fight is over a sea soaked pirate stumbles in and collapses to the floor, spilling gold coins all over the floor. Quickly all the pirates in the bar scramble and the gold and all valuables on the corpse disappear before the party can act. The man looks up at the party and thrusts a crumpled piece of parchment up towards them with his dying breath and says "The Potential Fuella". It is a hand written map of some kind that uses a mix of common and some strange cypher and symbolism.
Investigation: Treasure Map
The party can discover the following information while talking with people in this port town:
The Potential Fuella is the name of a pirate ship that has been known for attacking wealthy merchant ships.
The Fuella's captain is Madu OarFace(Bandit Captain MM344)
Madu was heard talking about taking a royal transport loaded with a shipment of gold.
The shipment was supposed to be coming through the islands to the south.
The dead sea-soaked pirate was the Fuella's navigator.
A privateer captain, Rolfe Crosswind(Swashbuckler VGtM217) and his crew of 7 sailors(Bandit MM343) are willing to take the party out to sea to look for the treasure for 3000 gold. A successful bartering skill check can reduce this to 1500. If the party mentions the treasure to him, he wants 10% of the treasure, negotiable to 5%.
An old naked woman has been seen walking in the moonlight on an island off the coast.(She is a sea hag in disguise.)
Madu's First Mate, Semil FullSail(Martial Arts Adept VGtM216) is one of the most feared hand-to-hand combat fighters in the islands. -The seas are dangerous, containing large numbers of aggressive fish and a colony of savage sahuagin around the islands.
Counter Attack 1: Sea Hag
If the party investigates the island with the Sea hag, she appear to any member of the party that is alone, otherwise she stays hidden with a stealth DC16. If she gets a party member alone, she will attempt to bargain with them, offering them their greatest desire in exchange for the thing they value the least. If they agree she takes their memories and the PC is under the effect of Mind Blank for 24 hours. If attacked, on her first action she retreats and summons 4 Sea Spawn to her aid. If they kill the Sea Hag, they can find Tom Smith, a young man, tied up in her lair on the island. He is a recent recruit to the Fuella and tells the party that the Fuella ran aground in bad weathers on one of the islands and is loaded with royal gold.
Counter Attack 2: Sahuagin
A storm arises while the party is sailing and capsizes the boat. The party and crew are attacked by a Killer Whale(MM331), a Giant Octopus(MM326), and a Swarm of Quippers(MM338) while swimming. If the party is going to lose, Chandira Reefstone(Sahuagin Priestess MM264) and Elton Reefstone(Sahuagin MM263), her brother arrive to help chase off the fish and help pull the party to shore. If the fight seems too easy for the party, you can have the two Sahuagin attack the party or capture some sailors. The party washes up on the shore of the island where the Potential Fuella is crashed on the rocks next to the beach.
Counter Attack 3: Semil FullSail
If the party investigates the ship, they are attacked by Semil FullSail in the hold of the ship. All players make a perception check DC20. Any player that fails the roll is surprised. Semil will knock a player prone, then get two attacks at advantage on the same target, trying to kill as quickly as possible since he is outnumbered. He will not hit downed opponents until a PC is healed up from 0. After that he will hit downed opponents to finish them off. If interrogated he will reveal that Madu Oarface has taken the gold to hide it on the island somewhere. A DC15 cartogropher's tools check to inspect the map allows the party to find the captain and surprise him. Otherwise they will be surprised during the climax battle.
Climax: Madu OarFace
The party find the treasure hoard, either with Madu digging in the hole, or with the hole open and no one around. Either Madu surprises the party, or they surprise him. Madu has a pet Iron Cobra(MToF125) that is not surprised by the party. Madu will fight to the death for his treasure and the Cobra will fight to the death for him. If the party didn't encounter Semil FullSail, you may have him arrive during this battle if necessary, or possibly a couple sailors(bandits) if you need reinforcements to increase the difficulty of this battle.
Wrap-Up: Stranded!
The treasure from the treasure hoard roll is locked in a puzzle box. If the party can't get it open, they can pay 2000 gold to get a master theif from the theives guild to open it. You will have to design your own puzzle for the box, or require a DC20 sleight of hand (INT) check to open it. There is no readily available transportation back to the mainland. The party is effectively stranded on the island and must find their own way home with the treasure. If they defeated Semil, then can take the Fuella's longboat to the mainland, but the trip might be dangerous, but if not then Semil has already taken the longboat himself. Alternatively, the party can spend 100 days of labor either by hiring common laborors or working themselves with downtime to recover the shipwreck. If they do so, they recieve a Sailing Ship as described on page 119 of the DMG that requires 10 skilled hirelings to crew and 10g/day maintenance for a total of 30gp per day operating costs. The stolen Royal gold is of low purity and the 8000 gold is in 80 gold bars worth 100gp each that each weigh 100 lbs. As such the 8000 gold may be difficult to transport.
Treasure: 8,000 gold and roll once on Treasure Hoard: Challenge 5-9 tables on DMG p.137 and a Sailing Ship.
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