Eternal Well of Oceanus | Free TTRPG Battlemap & Adventure

Living Up to His Legacy

While staying in a town you’re approached by a sea elf messenger. He is dressed in colorful silk clothes and bears the insignia of a seahorse. The messenger greets you politely before offering you a letter sealed with wax bearing the same ensignia. He says that the letter will explain everything, but his master’s have need of your help once again. After that, the messenger saunters away.

The letter is signed by Elleadon Carilis and explains that over the last couple of months since you helped him and his brother Ruthelon, they’ve put in a lot of effort to live up to their father’s legacy. Training every other day, in between their other responsibilities, as well as donating a portion of their income to veterans of the many under-sea wars who have been underserved.

In addition, Elleadon continues, he has personally started a research and development wing of their business focusing on the creation of new weapons and armor to be used in the war against the evil beings that belong to the darkest depths of the sea.

Elleadon laments that Ruthelon unfortunately disagreed with this approach, claiming that by the time it would take to create these weapons and armor, many could perish. Ruthelon believed it was unacceptable that they continue to stand aside while innocents lost their lives, before proceeding to enlist a small troop of soldiers with the intent of an assault on the location of an ancient portal known to harbor deep dwellers.

Elleadon then explains that Ruthelon has set up a forward base at a location (given at the bottom of the letter), and he wishes for you to go and assist him. Elleadon doesn’t believe Ruthelon knows what he’s getting himself into and he’s entrusting you to bring him back alive. In return, Elleadon says he’s willing to give up one of the first proto-types his enterprise finishes, either weapon or armor.

The location given in the letter is a week away off the coast and requires a vessel to reach, before having to take the plunge and swim down to a coral encrusted shelf where a small tunnel entrance is located. The tunnel is twenty meters long, before it sharply turns up and opens into a large cavern. As soon as you emerge, a set of three guards immediately point their spears at you.

The guards ask who you are and how you came across their hidden camp. If you explain that Elleadon had you sent as back up and you’re there to see Ruthelon, they let you pass with one of the guards making the off-handed comment that they’re in over their heads, and offering to show you to Ruthelon.

Making your way deeper into the cavern system you can see a dozen injured men on stretchers who are being treated by a medic, as well as several sets of crates which look to contain food and essential supplies. When you make it to the chamber containing Ruthelon you find him over a tactical map of the area, a stricken look upon his face.

When Ruthelon notices you, he looks down and lets out a sigh before muttering to himself that his brother does indeed know him well. He then motions for you to approach and begins explaining what has been occurring. Two weeks ago he arrived at this base camp, and from here he and his troop began launching attacks on the nearby deep dweller infested locations.

At first they had great success reclaiming two small hamlets that had been previously lost, but when Ruthelon set his eyes on a larger target called the Eternal Well it all went to shit. The Eternal Well was once used by an ancient civilization as some type of magical transportation around the ocean, but it long ago was abandoned and thus became another ruin in the vast seas.

Ruthelon continues to explain that he expected to find a small amount of resistance here as it’s not an important strategic location and his scouts only noted a handful of deep dwellers dressed in ragged cloth carrying encrusted coral canes. But when the attack took place, the deep dwellers did something to activate the Eternal Well, creating a portal through which many dozens of additional deep dwellers came through.

Ambushed, Ruthelon and his troops retreated; leaving many of them injured and several dead in the process. Ruthelon then finishes by explaining that he needs you to come with him back to the Eternal Well, to either destroy it or kill off the deep dweller summoners and reclaim the well for themselves. He fears that his actions may have set into motion something horrible, and he needs to stop it before it comes to fruition.

Ruthelon gives you some time to consider and says to let him know when you’re ready, explaining that he will bring what men he can to help deal with the enemies coming through the portal while you deal with the summoners.

When you arrive at the Eternal Well the summoners are hard at work keeping the portal open, which you can see deep dwellers very slowly trickling in from. It appears that the previous summoning that was used against Ruthelon and his men may have caused additional damage to the well and now this is the best they can manage.

Ruthelon then gives the signal and charges first towards the portal, several deep dwellers intercept him and his men but he’s given you enough room to deal with the summoners. When the summoners notice you coming closer they begin chanting loudly and well the well becomes brighter for a moment. Then, a large creature covered in tendrils appears in the wells light, ready to fight you. After the tendril creature and the summoners have been dealt with, the remaining deep dwellers attempt to flee.

Ruthelon thanks you, clasping your hand in his before exclaiming that perhaps he needs to learn to be more level headed like his brother. He wanted to do what was right and make his now deceased father proud, but he understands now that the task of making the seas safe is something he cannot rush without risking his inexperienced life and those of his men.

GM Notes:

This adventure is meant to be run as a follow up to another of our premium one-shots called One Father’s Legacy (which you can grab with its map for $2.98 from DriveThruRPG here).

After summoning the tendril monster, the Eternal Well has become too damaged to be used any further but it can be repaired by someone proficient enough in the arcane arts. After being repaired, the well can be used to connect to similar wells throughout the ocean by channeling arcane energy into it. If done, it grants access to instantaneous teleportation.

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