As we make further progress on Under the Seas of Vodari, I got to write some additional location and adventure hook entries, to build in some extra creepy or weird things for our adventurers to investigate. It’s been a busy month of editing and writing, as well as a family vacation, so I thought I’d show you some of what I’ve been working on!

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Avalsi: Three-Winged Angel Statue

A team of treasure hunters found this fifteen-foot-tall marble statue in the ruins of the Titans’ Hall (see The Wild Seas and Beyond on page XX) and brought it back to the Remora Quarter with a combination of magic and engineering. The sculpture depicts a creature of approximately humanoid shape, with three wings intact and one broken. A mask conceals all but the angel’s eyes.

The statue is the subject of many superstitions. Several wealthy and prominent people have cooked up plans to relocate the statue to a better part of Damari, but ill fortune has struck each such attempt and brought fortunes to ruin. Citizens of the Remora Quarter touch the statue, perhaps also making an offering, before undertaking anything important. Some believe that the angel’s mask will someday rise and bring a great revelation to hand.

Koralla: Isoli’s Keepsakes

This unassuming shop is built of salvaged bricks from the surface and wedged between two larger, seemingly more important stores. Isoli (N nonbinary voda ancient sorcerer) runs this store, and they might or might not be the same Isoli who ran it 250 years ago. They aren’t telling, but they do seem to know a little bit about everyone’s business for the past several generations.

Isoli buys and sells curios, tchotchkes, minor magic items, and objects of unclear purpose. Prices are reasonable, but sometimes they sell you a lot more than you bargained for—especially if you forgot your manners. Many adventures into the uncanny and haunted side of Vodari have started in Isoli’s Keepsakes.

Tasi: Blood Shallows

Tunnels run beneath the city, allowing people to move or meet in secret. A hidden passage within leads deeper into a cavern. Though the cavern is filled with water, the lowest part of the cavern holds a pool of blood ten feet deep. Blood shed within this chamber sinks into the pool, rather than dispersing.

A cabal of three bloodbinder wizards, all of them important members of Diplomats Row society, use the Blood Shallows as their sanctum. They are the Scarlet Coin, and they use their political access to advance the cabal’s agenda. They feed blood to the Shallows to fuel greater workings and summon powerful beings for information and service.

Ralivaa: Silverchase

Something silver dances a small circle in the water below, looking like a sea salmon. It darts away, vanishing and starting again elsewhere if no one gives chase. When it is pursued, it stays just a few feet out of the reach of the fastest and slowest pursuers alike, always silvery and sparkling. It leads them through over, under, and through the city, with many cunning tricks to seem within reach but never caught. Being fast isn’t as important as being persistent.

This is an aquatic pseudodragon named Nixissu, who came here from the fey realm to provoke curiosity and delight. (Nixissu has the Amphibious trait and a swimming speed equal to its flying speed.) Anyone willing to keep up the chase until they can place a hand on her three times can choose to ask her three questions, receive a fey blessing, or gain passage into the seas of the fey realm.

Ker’alsi: Tapping Stones

At the edge of Ker’alsi are three precisely cut pieces of stone, long and thin with squared ends. The shortest is two feet long, the second three feet long, the fourth four feet long. When struck with whalebone, they create a powerful, directed sound. With these stones, the capital sends rapid alerts to each of the three largest outlying villages and raises an alarm in times of danger.

This is, however, only an incidental use for the stones that the merfolk discovered. The Tapping Stones sometimes sound on their own, a very different noise from the one that a striker makes. No one knows why, or what warning they are intended to give. The sirens say that ghosts are passing a message from the Seas Beyond, while many merfolk believe that it is a lingering call for help from the village of Rish’ohu, which fell to an unknown enemy many years ago.

Nah-Hak: Glittering Passage

In their many years of scavenging and trade, the grindylows have collected wondrous and strange treasures. They took the Glittering Passage in trade, expecting to resell it to a warlock in Avalsi, but the deal fell through and they were stuck. It is a section of stone wall, twelve feet long by eight feet wide and eight inches thick, within which is a stained-glass window of incredible beauty and delicacy. The window depicts lithe figures dancing under the light of the moon.

On the night of the full moon, if the window is exposed to moonlight, it opens wide into a passage that shines like glittering gemstones. Those who go through find themselves in the fey realm, and they receive a land treading spell. The window remains open for six hours, and anyone who doesn’t return through it in that time may find themselves in the fey realm for much more or less than the month that passes before the next full moon.

Areni: The Jade Chamber

In centuries long past, one room of Areni Castle was held to be the most beautiful, as well as the seat of rare magical power. This Jade Chamber was covered, from floor to ceiling, with panels of precious jade. Shieraki and her apprentice Luneko (CN male elf tidal sorcerer) worked magic here that manipulated the forces of luck and fate, bringing incredible wealth and victory to King Vilas.

Then it all went wrong. The seed of dissent between Shieraki and Luneko grew into a fated doom to their partnership. After fifty years of collaboration, Luneko betrayed his teacher, luring her away from Areni for a day and a night. In that short time Luneko dismantled the Jade Chamber, packing up its stone paneling and fleeing with it. Shieraki and the kingdom were devastated when this treachery came to light, but neither Luneko nor the Jade Chamber have been seen since.

Quendi: Lady Piety’s Graveship

Sixty years ago, a lunori noble named Oumiha died while far from home, and her body was borne back toward Arachni for burial. The ship, Solemnity, sank as the result of a terrible storm and an attacking sea monster, and the ship came to rest near Quendi. The sea elves rescued many sailors and bore them to safety, forging a lasting bond between the families of the rescuers and those they saved.

For the sea elves of Quendi, the sunken vessel and the seafloor near it are places of high honor for burial. Lady Oumiha’s body was eventually delivered to Arachni, but she has taken on a heroic stature in the imagination of the sea elves, who call her Lady Piety and invoke her name when they pray to the gods. Some go so far as to say they have seen celestial figures above or within the ruined hull.

Sanctuary: Leaden Coffins

The portal’s guardians are prepared to push back many kinds of threats, but they don’t have clear standing orders for what to do when an object comes through that isn’t obviously dangerous. On three occasions, separated by centuries, a coffin made of lead and wrapped with chains has come through, unaccompanied by any bearer. The guardians thought it foolish to open the coffins and rude to send them back, so they constructed a building to secure them.

Every portal guardian has their own idea about what’s in the coffins or where they’ve come from. Some believe they hear banging or murmuring coming from within; others point out that they can’t have been made on the Elemental Plane of Water, so they might come from anywhere. The first coffin bears a diabolic mark, the second a sign that might mean blood or sorrow, and the third reads “The Mysteriarch” in a runic script.

Sirenia: Crystalvine Caves

A strange plant-like growth runs through much of the Sirenia cave system. Vines made of surprisingly strong crystal pierce stone walls, but grow only an inch or two per year. Crystalvine leaves make excellent blades for arrows or spears, but the sirens collect only a few leaves a year to sustain growth. Long ago, druids took cuttings from the crystalvine, hoping to start growth elsewhere, but something about the caves—or perhaps the sirens’ songs—proved necessary to the vine’s life.

More worryingly, the sirens have found crystal tendrils in the deepest passages of their cave system with bites taken out of it. They have not yet seen a creature strong enough to consume the vines, but a shiver of fear passes through even the wisest of the sirens at the thought. It is, after all, not a community of warriors or hunters, but perhaps there is a song that could ensnare this new intruder?

Soli: The Bone Tangle

This kelp forest near Soli was a royal game preserve under the protection of the grand chiefs in ages past. Grand Chief Liuvu Coralcrest died there twelve years ago, under mysterious circumstances. Something strange and deadly now dwells within and shapes the kelp to its whims, and many do not return.

There have been repeated forays into the kelp forest, once known as the Chief’s Green. They have come home empty-handed, speaking of bones tied to the kelp and a throne carved of whalebone. One, a diviner named Yanir Clearwater, claims that his spells told him that “the throne awaits the hand of Morto’s judgment.” Depending on the needs of your campaign, this might be the work of Liuvu in the form of a wraith or a mummy lord, wrapped in bandages of kelp.

Huagimun: The Spectral Castle

Within the ruins surrounding Huagimun, some areas are too unsettling even for the sahuagin. The sea looks empty, but those who go alone into those ruins might find themselves drawn into the unfamiliar halls of a human building. The sahuagin have no consistent way to enter the Ethereal Plane, so they can’t enter the castle on purpose.

A group equipped with a ghost star (see Chapter 7: Magic Items & Spells) or another way to perceive and enter the Ethereal Plane would find that the castle is haunted with the memory of a human kingdom drowned in the Godwar. Its ghosts and wraiths recall ancient lore that is valuable beyond all reckoning, but they are unlikely to share it without persuasion or force.

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Under the Seas of Vodari is a 300-page book that provides 5E/Fifth Edition material for both gamemasters and players to dive into a world full of action and adventure set beneath the waves of Vodari or your own campaign world. This book is a follow-up to The Seas of Vodari, a setting book filled with swashbuckling action and magical adventure. Dive into your first adventure today!