Something Beneath the Cove
Seaton’s Cove, Duchy of Salinmoor — 9 Fireseek, 576 CY
Session 1 — July 8, 2023
Adventurers: Arenir Stormrider, Cyr Baggins, Haldir Sorenson, Hugo Baudelaire
Level: 1st
Adventure: RX-01A — Menace Under Seaton’s Cove
Weather: Cool and breezy; overcast in the morning, clearing somewhat by afternoon; around 60°F
Seaton’s Cove was the sort of place where trouble usually arrived by sea. Storms rolled in from the Azure Sea, wrecks sometimes washed up along the rocky coast, and sailors brought stories of pirates, strange lights, and things seen beyond the harbor that sensible folk preferred not to investigate.
Those were dangers the people of Seaton’s Cove understood. What they were less prepared for was something stirring beneath their own streets.
The Earthquake
Late on Moonday, 17 Sunsebb, 575 CY, a small earthquake shook Seaton’s Cove.
For most of the town, the tremor caused little serious damage. The exception was the Thirsty Alpaca, which collapsed completely during the night. Because the earthquake struck so late, the tavern was otherwise empty except for its owner.
At first, the ruins were left undisturbed. The remaining structure was unstable, and no one wanted to risk bringing more of it down while searching through the wreckage.
Then, in the days and weeks that followed, people began noticing things around the site. Strange sounds came from beneath the rubble, unpleasant smells drifted from the wreckage, and after dark some claimed to have seen eerie lights glowing among the ruins. No one could say what was causing them.
Whether the earthquake had simply opened old spaces beneath the tavern or disturbed something that had been sealed away, the townsfolk had little interest in finding out for themselves. The ruins of the Thirsty Alpaca were given a wide berth, and life in Seaton’s Cove continued for almost a month.
Then another problem appeared beneath the Salty Net & Fishery Hall.
Trouble at the Salty Net
Nearly a month after the earthquake, word began to spread through Seaton’s Cove’s wharf district that something was getting into the stores beneath the Salty Net & Fishery Hall.
Saltfish had been disturbed. Supplies were being damaged. Whatever was responsible seemed to be coming and going from somewhere below the building.
The Salty Net’s proprietor, Tamily Tanderveil, had little interest in waiting for the problem to get worse. A halfling with a practical streak and a reputation for knowing how to keep the Fishery Hall running, she began asking around for anyone willing to investigate.
Word eventually reached four newly fledged adventurers: Arenir Stormrider, Cyr Baggins, Haldir Sorenson, and Hugo Baudelaire.
This was not a grand quest involving lost kingdoms or legendary treasure. Something was getting into Tamily’s fish, and for four 1st-level adventurers looking for a place to begin, that was enough.
The investigation started in the basement of the Salty Net.
Below the Cellar
The basement of the Salty Net & Fishery Hall should have been an ordinary storeroom. Instead, the earthquake had broken open part of the wall and exposed a passage into spaces beneath the building.
It quickly became clear that whatever had been getting into Tamily’s supplies was not coming through the tavern above. It was coming from below.
The party had little time to examine the opening before several giant rats rushed from the darkness, drawn by the smell of fish and the easy access into the storeroom.
For four inexperienced adventurers, the encounter was a sharp introduction to what awaited them underground. The rats were killed, but the opening in the wall remained.
Beyond it lay a passage that had not been part of the Salty Net at all.
The adventurers pressed forward and quickly discovered that the breach did not lead into a simple burrow or drainage space. It opened into a much larger underground complex extending beneath Seaton’s Cove.
Some passages appeared natural. Others seemed to connect with older, buried portions of the town—places forgotten beneath newer construction and ordinary streets.
The deeper they went, the clearer it became that the rats were only the first inhabitants they would have to contend with.
And turning back at the cellar wall was already starting to feel like the safer choice.
Webs in the Dark
The passages beneath Seaton’s Cove soon proved to be occupied by more than rats.
In one section of the underground complex, the party encountered a giant spider that had made its lair among the forgotten chambers. Webbing stretched through the area, turning the passage into a dangerous hunting ground.
The encounter reinforced what the adventurers were beginning to understand: these buried spaces had been isolated from the town above for some time, and different creatures had claimed portions of them as their own.
Every chamber now had to be approached carefully.
Every dark opening might conceal another threat.
And the deeper the party explored, the less the tunnels felt like an extension of the Salty Net’s cellar and the more they seemed like the remains of an older, hidden world beneath Seaton’s Cove.
Forgotten Dead
Deeper in the complex, the party encountered something more troubling than vermin or beasts.
They found undead.
Their presence changed the character of the expedition. Whatever these buried spaces had once been, they were not merely natural caverns beneath the town. Somewhere below Seaton’s Cove lay older chambers and forgotten places with histories of their own.
The adventurers had no way to know who the dead had been, how long they had remained below, or what had caused them to rise.
The earthquake may have opened passages that had been sealed for years, but it had not created what waited on the other side.
For the first time, the party was forced to consider that the dangers beneath Seaton’s Cove might be older than the town above them realized.
There was little time to investigate further.
The passages continued, and so did the party.
The Kobold Warren
The farther the adventurers pushed beneath Seaton’s Cove, the clearer it became that some of the underground complex had been deliberately occupied. They found kobolds.
Unlike the rats, spider, and undead, the kobolds had established themselves in the passages below the town. This was no chance encounter with a wandering creature; the party had entered a small warren.
The tunnels became more confined and purposeful as the adventurers pressed deeper. Signs of habitation appeared, and the kobolds defended their territory rather than simply fleeing into the dark.
For four 1st-level adventurers, fighting through an organized group of enemies was far more dangerous than dealing with isolated creatures. Even small opponents became a serious threat when they knew the passages and could fight on ground they had claimed as their own.
Eventually, the party reached the heart of the warren and defeated the kobold leader. That should have marked the end of the immediate threat, but the passage beyond the kobold lair continued downward.
Whatever lay ahead had not been built for kobolds.
The Dragon Below
Beyond the kobold warren, the passages led the adventurers still deeper beneath Seaton’s Cove.
Eventually, they emerged into a strange grotto filled with giant mushrooms. The chamber was unlike anything they had encountered so far—less like a buried room beneath the town and more like a hidden world that had been growing in darkness for years.
They were not alone. Among the enormous fungi waited a young green dragon.
The discovery immediately changed the expedition. Rats, spiders, undead, and kobolds were dangerous enough for four 1st-level adventurers. A dragon was something else entirely.
The party tried to face the creature, but it quickly became clear that they were badly outmatched. Whatever confidence had carried them through the kobold warren gave way to the simple need to survive.
The adventurers withdrew, fleeing back through the underground passages and leaving the mushroom grotto—and the dragon—behind them.
What had begun as an investigation into missing saltfish had uncovered a threat far beyond anything Tamily Tanderveil had expected to be living beneath her cellar.
Back to the Surface
The retreat carried the party back through the passages they had already explored, past the kobold warrens, forgotten chambers, and the breach that had first led them below.
Eventually, the four adventurers emerged once more into the basement of the Salty Net & Fishery Hall.
They had gone below looking for whatever was getting into Tamily’s stores and returned with an answer no one had expected. There were giant rats beneath the cellar, buried passages extending under the town, and kobolds established in a warren in the darkness.
Deeper still, a green dragon had made its lair beneath Seaton’s Cove.
Tamily was relieved to see the adventurers return alive, but the news they brought left little room for celebration.
A problem with stolen fish had become something far more serious.
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