S7 - Flick of the Tail Session 2

## The Adventure: Background

Babazadeh has never been a lucky trader. Today, when he went to the market in west Sokkar, his efforts yielded little. Babazadeh was at the end of his rope when a miracle happened. When he made to draw water at the end of the day, he discovered he a magnificent fish in his bucket, covered in ruby scales that flashed like fire in the afternoon sun.

Babazadeh was inspecting the fish when it squirmed in his hands and begged him for its release. At first Babazadeh was astonished and apologized to the fish, but he soon regained his senses and explained that selling it in the bazaar would bring enough money to feed his family for a year. The fish promised great wealth in exchange for its freedom, but the trader ignored its desperate pleas. Sealing it in a pot, the trader carried his valuable catch back to the city.

When he reached the grand bazaar, other stall keepers were amazed to see him carrying such a heavy pot and asked to see what it contained. Having heard these same merchants mock and ridicule him countless times in the past, the trader proudly uncovered the jar. Immediately, the ruby-scaled fish stuck out its head and regarded its audience with a calm stare. Among the merchants and stall tenders watching the fish was a young porter named Khalid. When the eyes of the fish and the kind-hearted porter met, Khalid knew that he must act at once to save the beautiful creature from a dinner plate. Without further thought, he snatched the fish and ran.

At first, Babazadeh and the rest of the merchants were too astonished to do anything but stare in wonder at the audacious theft of the porter. While the other stall tenders laughed at the trader’s most recent turn of ill fortune, Babazadeh set off in pursuit of Khalid. The chase did not last long, since had Fate directed a large mule train to cut off the young porter’s escape near a well in the bazaar.

Babazadeh was on top of Khalid in an instant, raining blows and insults on the porter with all the fury of a sandstorm. In desperation, Khalid tossed the fish into the air. All eyes in the bazaar were on the scarlet fish as it slowly arced toward the mouth of the well. It plopped on the low wall surrounding the well, and with a flick of its brilliant tail, disappeared over the edge into the water below...

## Starting the Adventure

This adventure begins in the grand bazaar of Sokkar. The adventure can begin whenever the party wanders into the bazaar and notices a large crowd assembled near one of the many wells. The throng is assembled around the fight between Babazadeh and Khalid. The characters see Khalid toss the fish into the well, after which Babazadeh pounds Khalid and swears even more furiously. At last, with the young porter a bruised heap on the ground, Babazadeh turns his eyes skyward and calls upon his god for a second time, praying to Kawkaba and by the name of the Awakener to be delivered from this devastating ill-fortune.

The trader begins pleading with the crowd, asking for help to retrieve his lost fish at the bottom of the well. Seeing that the excitement has ended, the audience throws a few disparaging remarks at the unlucky trader and disperses, leaving the miserable Babazadeh standing beside the well with the bloodied porter and the PCs.

The trader wants nothing more than to recover his catch; he eagerly explains how valuable his talking fish would be if sold in the bazaar, and promises the party half of his profit if they can retrieve it from the bottom of the well. Although he admits that the fish might not be what it seems, what matters to him is earning enough money to feed his family. If he can earn that money by selling a sorcerous “genie fish” (as he calls it), then so be it.

The young porter, charmed by the fish into aiding her escape, was knocked senseless by Babazadeh’s beating. Any amount of care on the part of the party will restore him to consciousness.

Khalid will gladly relate his side of the story. He knows nothing about the fish’s true nature, only that it is beautiful and must be saved. He will do anything to secure its freedom so long as he remains charmed.

## The Fish's Secret

The scarlet creature that Babazadeh caught was not a fish at all, but a young noblewoman of Sokkar named Salana, who has been transformed by a Silat (appearing later in the adventure) into a fish, for having defied her. This happened at her last visit to the local bath house, several days ago. Unless her transformation is revealed, Salana is dependent on the water for survival and loses 1 hp (out of 4) for each round she is separated from water (this damage can be magically healed, using spells like cure wounds). The DM should keep track of time during this adventure; Salana is starving and will die in only a day or two.

## Down the Well

Unbeknownst to either the trader or the porter, the well connects to a nearby bath house via an underground conduit. The bath now stands abandoned on a side street near the bazaar, its reputation ruined by the nocturnal visitations of the silat Kadiga who has claimed the site as her lair. Kadiga uses magic to pose as the bath house’s owner, the merchant Yodfah, allowing her to dismiss casual suspicion of her lair. The real owner is dead, his spirit summoned on her whim.

The bath house has walls between chambers of thick glass, allowing only a vague and distorted image to be seen through the panes.

The DM is free to locate the bath house anywhere he desires in Sokkar. The numbered encounters for the site start below:

### 1. Well.

The 6-foot-diameter well is circled by a low stone wall. Water can be drawn up in a bucket using a line hitched to a donkey. Over 50 feet deep, the well is filled to a depth of 20 feet with cool, fresh water. There is no sign of the fish or any treasure, but there is a small, brick-lined tunnel. The conduit is 2 feet by 3 feet, and filled with 9 inches of water. characters will have to slosh through on their hands and knees.

### 2. Cistern.

The narrow tunnel from the well leads into the top of a cistern, filled with 9 feet of water. There are no ledges or protrusions so characters will have to tread water to stay afloat. Two underwater tunnels, each 3 feet in diameter, exit the cistern, heading north and east; faint light can be seen filtering through the eastern tunnel.

### 3. Cool Pool.

After 30 feet, the eastern tunnel opens into a shallow bathing pool, lined with glass green tiles. The heavy iron grating that used to cover the mouth of the tunnel lies on the bottom of the pool, twisted into a pile of scrap (it was pulled violently from the wall by Kadiga in the process of retrieving the fish). It is separated from the other bath through a wall of thick glass that distorts sight through it. Stone benches run along the 10 sides of the wall.

### 4. Cool Room.

When the public bath was still functional, this room served as a cool-down chamber where visitors would relax after bathing. Now, the room is a shambles. Most of the colored tiles covering the walls have been ripped off and scattered across the floor, along with animal fur, feathers, and bird dung. In the western wall, the former entrance to the room, leading to the rest of the bath-house, has been walled over with bricks.

A nest of giant centipedes rests underneath an overturned marble bench along the northern wall. If the broken tiles on the floor near the bench (or the bench itself) are disturbed, the centipedes attack, The centipedes have no treasure, but markings on the wall above the overturned bench bear the following message: “The evil eye is upon you! Respect your Elders!” The writing, gouged deeply into the cement, is spelled backward.

A narrow window pierces the eastern wall 11 feet above the floor, providing an easy exit to a small, deserted alley adjacent to the bazaar. The scratched wall beneath it provides an easy climb. Kadiga, the silat in area 15, now uses this window as her main exit during her infrequent forays to obtain food. There are scraps of poorly made fabric caught on a piece of the window, along with a spot of blood left by Kadiga, both of which can be seen with enough perception.

### 5. Warehouse.

This section of the public baths had been converted to a warehouse by its owner, a rich merchant named Yodfah. Since Kadiga took Yodfah's place, it has retained it's use, being rented to a cloth merchant, who uses the space to store white linen, though has begun to have doubts as to his deal. Because this section of the building has been walled off from the vandalized and flooded sections, it is unlikely that the PCs will explore here during the adventure. The only entrance to this area is the locked front door, which opens into a busy street. All windows have been bricked shut. Kadiga, content with running the bathhouse out of business, has no interest in this section of the building. PCs exploring this area will discover little of interest besides 21 canvas-wrapped bundles of white linen being stored here by the cloth merchant. Each bundle weighs 100 pounds and is worth 10-40 gp.

### 6. Boiler.

The tunnel opens here into an 8-foot-wide cylindrical tube, filled with only 3 feet of cool water. This is actually a large copper boiler, fed by the cistern and used to heat water for the bath’s warm pool, area 12. One of Kadiga’s first acts of vandalism was to punch a wide hole through one of the boilers, flooding the basement of the bath house. PCs can see through the 1 foot by 3 foot hole in the side of the boiler into area 7. Should a fight be triggered, Kadiga will activate the boiler, filling the bathhouse with steam.

### 7. Boiler Room.

Slaves once tended the superheaters here that warmed water for the hot pool and provided heating for the sweat chambers. Now, the domed chamber is flooded with 5 feet of dark, foul-smelling water. Those swimming in the brackish liquid must make a Constitution check or suffer the effects of a debilitating disease (see p. 209 of the PHB). The tops of two arches, leading to areas 11 and 9, can be seen through the hole in the boiler in area 6.

### 8. Hypocaust (Steam Tunnel).

This area can only be reached by diving through the filthy water under the boiler. When the baths were being used, hot air from the fire under the boiler would circulate in this 3-foot-high, cramped space underneath the sweat rooms (areas 13-15). Now, this area serves as the lair for a trio of poisonous snakes, who will attack any PCs crawling around their home. Note that because of the confined space, PCs will only be able to use short or thrusting weapons to fight the snakes.

### 9. Food Store.

This flooded chamber once contained food for the slaves that worked the boiler: There are corpses of said slaves in the water filling the basement, having polluted it. Characters investigating this room need to make a Constitution Save (DC 10) or suffer a debilitating disease.

### 10. Office.

The door to this chamber is locked. The room once served as the office for the baths; after they closed down, most of the valuable items were removed, but some remain. A search of the room will reveal a document cabinet, 10 sealed clay pots, a brass lamp, and a small lap desk.

The cabinet is half-filled with about three dozen ledgers which contain information about the daily maintenance of the business. Behind the ledgers, in the back of the cabinet, is a small, forgotten purse containing 25 gp. The ledgers themselves are worthless. The clay pots each contain four pints of rose- and clove-scented oil, used in the baths. Each pot is worth 10-40 gp and weighs 12 pounds. The lamp is unremarkable (5 gp), but the lap desk is intricately carved out of mahogany, with a hinged lid and a hollowed space for pen and parchment. The storage compartment is currently empty. The lap desk is worth 75 gp and weighs 10 pounds.

### 11. Sealed Exit.

This door is locked through magic, requiring a successful Strength check (DC 17) to budge. PCs listening at the door will hear the loud sounds of the busy street and bazaar outside, and those using this exit (except at night) are certain to draw attention to themselves.

### 12. Hot Pool.

After 10 feet, the narrow tunnel from the boiler opens into a pool lined with ceramic, heat retaining tiles. The pool is otherwise similar to area 3. It is separated from the cold bath, as well as the hot bath, through walls of thick glass that distorts sight through it.

### 13. Hot Bath (Kadiga's Chamber, see 15 and 16)

A glass wall takes up one half of the room, covered with thick dust. Where stone benches would have been along the walls, they have been removed. The walls, floor, and ceiling are covered with ceramic tiles that give 6 the chamber a dark, heavy feeling, not helped by the pillars standing tall near the vaulted walls. The air is stale and smells faintly of decay.

PCs will notice that the tiles near the pool are already wet and a moist trail can be clearly seen leading back and forth from the room’s only exit. If the PCs listen, they can hear a faint, absent-minded humming or crooning coming from area 15.

### 14. Bones.

The next chamber is covered with mounds and heaps of white bones. Although the overall effect is quite ghastly, a close inspection of the bones reveals that none are human, belonging to small animals instead: dogs, cats, rodents, even a young mule. The western arched exit has been walled shut. The humming mentioned in area 13 comes from the southern exit.

### 15. Elder. (THE PLAYERS ARE HERE)

In the center of this chamber, kneeling on a hole-ridden carpet, sits a withered old woman rocking slightly from side to side, all the while humming to herself unintelligibly. Three tiers of benches rise up around her, covered with strange objects. On the lowest bench sits a ceramic bowl. The ruby-scaled fish lies in the bowl. It is clearly scared and erratic.

The old woman is Kadiga, a polymorphed adult silat, who has claimed this part of the bath house as her lair. When Salana swam into the pool in area 12, Kadiga noticed her immediately and snatched her out of the water at once. At the moment, Kadiga isn’t sure whether she wants to save the fish for her collection of treasures or eat her.

Kadiga appears to be an eccentric old woman, contentedly humming unintelligible phrases to herself. Before the running the adventure, prepare a few stock phrases (such as SHIF YM, TFIG, YTTERP SHIF, etc.) for the silat and practice saying them backward to clue the PCs in to the fact that she only understands backward speech. She tries her best to communicate (speaking backward, of course) with PCs who try talking to her in any normal language, but she appears annoyed if any PCs start playing with her treasures.

The benches along the wall have been stacked into a set of shelves, containing an assortment of items gleaned from the streets of the city: two ceramic bowls (1 sp); a dirty porcelain tea pot (25 gp); a purse containing 27 sp, 13 gp, and 1 pp; a vial of perfume (10 gp); some tattered garments (1 sp); a wooden bucket (4 sp); a silver spoon (1 gp); a camel brush (1 sp); a jambiya (4 gp); a gold ring (100 gp, actually a +1 ring of protection); a dented metal mirror (7 gp); a silver earring (50 gp); a worn-out broom (10 cp); a gem-studded anklet with a broken clasp (250 gp); a small crystal prism (25 gp); and an elephant goad (2 gp).

Of course, Kadiga’s latest treasure is Salana, still in the form of a ruby-scaled fish. Salana’s current hp total will depend on how many hours it took the party to reach here. She should have enough strength to ask the party to save her, that she does not belong here. She will be silenced before she can elaborate.

Attacking Kadiga is a bad move (see next section). Instead, the party will have to take a more diplomatic role, trying to convince the silat to surrender her fish. The key to communicating with Kadiga is realizing that she speaks and understands only words spoken backward. Until then, she jabbers insistently in backward speech to the party unless they do something rude, like trying to steal one of her treasures. She will fix the offending PC with a withering glare and unless apologies are forth-coming, the silat will attempt to polymorph the PC into a fish.

Kadiga is not evil and has no intentions of harming the party. She will let the party have the fish, but will demand at least two services in return. These are left to the amusement of the DM, but they should be small and fairly trivial. For instance, Kadiga might ask a PC to use her broom to sweep her lair (PEEWS!), use the camel brush to comb her hair (RAIH YM SHURB), etc. In short, the PCs should perform at least two humbling, menial tasks for the silat’s amusement.

In addition, the silat might be willing to bequeath some of her treasure to the party if they entertain her well (DM’s discretion). The DM should feel free to distribute some of the silat’s treasure to reward good role-playing on the part of the PCs.

### Side Note

If the PCs learn how to communicate with Kadiga, she can provide a wealth of information about the city, which she has thoroughly explored while polymorphed.

## If A Fight Breaks out

In the event that the players trigger a fight with Kadiga, she will disappear with a cackle, her true form briefly visible. The boiler will activate, and the room will begin to fill with steam, quicker than could reasonably be expected from a natural source. The room will fill with the hostile ghosts under Kadiga's command, made difficult to see through the steam. The hot chamber's floor will become slick with water as well after 3 rounds, requiring a DC 10 Dexterity Save or moving at half speed to avoid slipping over. The ghosts can attempt to possess a player.

## Concluding the Adventure

Once they have released Salana from Kadiga, the PCs will have to decide how to get out of the complex. The window in area 4 will provide the most clandestine exit; using either the well (area 1) or the doors (area 11) will any of the beaches just outside the city walls should be fine.

Salana will assume her human form if the players convince Kadiga to change her back. She will reveal that she was a noble woman who visited the abandoned baths a few days ago for a bit of adventure, but ran afoul of the silat. In gratitude, she will offer them jewels equivalent to 200gp, or a gift of equal value that the players wish. Before leaving, she tells the PCs where they can come and look for her, should they need her help in the future.

Salana, she may show up again to introduce the PCs to “Zarastro’s Three Daughters.” Khalid, once his charm wears off, might be persuaded to join the party as a henchman fighter (1st level). Babazadeh, regardless of the adventure’s outcome, will feel cheated and will bemoan his miserable Fate at the hands of the PCs to any in the bazaar who will listen. Although not a powerful enemy, the tragi-comic trader should provide the PCs with a persistent antagonist until he is appeased with at least a few pieces of gold.

## Travelling Back to Muluk

After the players leave Sokkar, they will have to travel back to Muluk. On the way, there will be at least three random encounters. There will also be an encounter with Sirenna. The encounters might be as follows:

* A ragged-looking man wearing almost nothing will be going the opposite way to the players. He will avoid them, but if pressed correctly, will ask for food or clothes. He is actually a jackal man, run away from the mercenaries in the mountains. If the players show weakness, he will attempt to rob them.
* The players will spot large birds in the sky circling them. Eventually the birds will attack.
* (In the Mountains) A group of rugged men have set up camp, having killed two Jackal Men, and propped up their bodies as a deterrence against attack. They will be friendly to the players and will share food and stories. They have come from Simbaya, travelling through Talv, aiming to get to Sokkar. They are mercenaries, and hope to find employment one way or another around that city.
* A rockslide has occurred and the road through the mountain is blocked to camels.
* The players will hear singing coming from somewhere. It is coming from a man who has fallen into a hole, breaking and trapping his leg. He is singing to take his mind off the pain, do something he enjoys before he dies, and maybe attract help.