Table of Contents
Credits
Running this Adventure
Adventure Primer
The Temple of the Sea Mother is a Fifth Edition adventure intended for Three to Five Characters and is optimised for a party of four characters with an average party level (APL) of 8. Characters that successfully complete the Temple of the Sea mother should gain enough experience to level up to level 9. This adventure is an under sea quest and dungeon designed to challenge your party with dangerous puzzles and challenging combat encounters. The mystery of the temple's sudden appearance and the involvement of the Kuo-Toa drive the core plot of the adventure and can introduce new environments and or planar travel and knowledge to your party.
Background Information
The Sea Mother is an incredibly ancient sea hag that has evolved through the worship of her Koa-Toa subordinates becoming a matriarchal demi-god for the species. Her will drives the Kuo-Toa's beliefs, allowing her temple to move along the seafloor that it is bound to. Ofen this temple will happen across triton and other undersea mortal settlements, becoming its inhabitants into the temple to become food for the children of the Sea Mother.
About Black Reef
Black Reef is a small neutral settlement on the sea floor built into a coral reef. Its main inhabitants are Triton and Sea Elves with the odd monstrous aquatic creatures found in the market square. Due to its prime location in relation to a close coastal town it has an influx of trade and tourism and thus is well know to locals of the area.
About the Temple of the Sea Mother
The Temple itself is a sunken palace that the Sea Mother has become bound to as a result of her evolution. Despite its great size the temple can be observed to move on its own across the seafloor and appears to disappear and appear at random. This strange nature of the temple extends to its interior with randomly shifting rooms and no consistency from its architecture to its floor plan.
The temple is a very dangerous place with a large reward as its inhabitants have stockpiled a large amount of gold and a vast variety of magic items for adventures to plunder. The danger of the temple comes from its various death traps and the mutated children of the Sea Mother.
The Sea Mother herself is the final encounter for your party and poses a good challenge with powerful magic, dangerous lair actions, and spontaneous reinforcements to keep up interest in the combat encounter.
Adventure Hooks
A Sailors Tale. Long has the tale of a castle under the sea been passed down from sailor to sailor, the promise of adventure and mystery enticing many to a wild goose chase and a watery grave. However not only does Old Man Phineas claim that the legend is real but he has seen it himself on his last voyage, promising a map to a long lost island passed down in his family for any proof of his claim.
A Missing Father. Whilst browsing the wares of the market square you happen upon a little girl crying claiming that her father had left her claiming that he heard a beautiful voice drawing him away. After investigating this seems to be something of a pattern as more and more men are drawn away by the allure of this mysterious voice.
Relics and Riches. Hearing the stories of a temple appearing under the sea many adventure guilds and universities begin sending adventurers to seek out this mysterious temple and bring back its treasures and knowledge.
Black Reef
Overview
Black Reef is a small under sea town home to a few aquatic races and a thriving tourist location. The town is built into an abnormally large coral reef separated into 3 sectors; the market, Restaurant reef, and The suburbs.
Places of Interest
A few places your party may want to visit are as follows;
The Market. The Market is operated 24hours and is known as the sleepless trade. The market offers many items from common to rare aquatic magic items, to exotic creatures, to potions of many uses such as potions of water breathing and potions of healing.
Restaurant Reef. Restaurant Reef is a long ally lined mostly with restaurants, inns, and other entertainment outlets. The party can find food, rest, and information here.
The Suburbs. The Suburbs is the area where the locals of Black Reef live in home made of shells and coral towering to the point here they nearly break the surface of the sea. The party may be directed here to speak to certain NPC's, go sight seeing, or to help in the nights watch to protect the towns people from being drawn or allured to the temple.
People of Interest
Some notable NPCs in Black Reef that can be used to aid the party in this adventure are as followed;
Javnah. The captain of the town guard and leader of the Night Watch this triton is a paragon of order and is troubled but in no position to aid in the mission to stop the denizens of the Sea Mother. The party can find out about the citizens going missing and join the night watch to aid Black Reefs defence.
Bellamy. Bellamy is a foreigner to Black Reef but has settled in now running the Drowning Crow inn in Restaurant Reef. Born in the Underdark this Drow has escaped his former life now trading both spirits and information to those with the coin to spare. Bellamy knows much about the strange appearance of the temple and can point the party in the right direction.
Justina. A Sea Elf commoner and local to Black Reef Justinia is looking for her lost husband who has been missing for a week now. She believes that he must have been captured and taken to the temple and is willing to reward the party for his return.
Temple of the Sea Mother
Entrances
There are two entrances to the temple, the front entrance and the back entrance. The front entrance is the most apparent and easiest way to gain entry to the temple, it is unlocked and unguarded but presents a challenging encounter to gain entry to the lair. The secret entrance is hidden but could be discovered in a multitude of ways. Captives are taken through this entrance as well as any patrols from the temple will also use this entrance leading directly to the lair. Discreetly following these patrols can reveal the entrance which is sealed over with a large stone.
3 - The Pool (Black Key)
This room is 30ft. diameter round cave with a 20ft. diameter round pool in its center. Investigating the pool reveals that it is clear undisturbed water, the bottom of the pool can be seen clearly with what looks like a dark reflective jewel at the bottom.
The pool. The pool is 50ft. deep and its water appears almost invisible to the naked eye. There are 3 water elementals within the pool that will attack creatures that attempt to enter the pool. They can be lured out of the pool if a creature is pushed into the pool or blood is spilt into the pool they will go berserk leaving the pool. The water elemental wont react to non organic material being placing into the pool. The black key is at the bottom of the pool.
There are two exits to the room, one on the left and one at the bottom of the room.
4 - The Barracks (White Key)
A large L shaped room with small pools lining the perimeter and holes carved into the wall haphazardly. This room is the living quarters for the Sahuagins and Kou-Toa that live within the temple. The temples inhabitants sleep during the day and are active during the day and will be active in this room and can patrol the halls. Touching any of the water in the room during the day will wake the denizens and cause them to begin pouring out from the water. At maximum meaning no creature has been killed to this point that includes; 20 Sahuagins and 15 Kou-Toa.
The Key can be found in this room if a player dives into one of the pools finding a mirror of the above room with the White Key in its center.
5 - The Swamp
This 40 foot square room is built to replicate a swamp environment perfectly even to the point of having the natural flora growing from the large pond. The room is lit by iridescent crystals that give off light and heat.
The Swamp Water. The pond in this room is made to match a swamp. Attempting to swim through this heavily obscured water will reveal a huge tunnel leading to the Captive Chamber. Creatures who are not resistant to poison damage will take 1d4 poison damage each round they remain within the water and must make a DC12 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned.
6 - The Holding cells (Blue Key)
An oval shaped room with prison cells on the left and right of the room. Inspecting the room with a DC14 Investigation check can reveal the hidden tunnel that leads to a secret entrance/exit to the temple. Captured creatures are held in the prison cells and if a recently captured person was the impudence for entering the temple this is where they will be found as long as they haven't been in the temple for more than a week. A kuo-toa whip holds the Blue Key, along with 3 other kuo-toa that alway stay with it.
7 - The Catacombs
The Catacombs are in the northmost room of the lair and is where followers of the sea mother are stored when they die. The room is 50 feet long with the remains stored in shelves etched into the the walls tended to by a lone aged Kuo-toa.
Gravekeeper. The aged Kuo-toa is blind and thus wont react to the party unless personally addressed. If attacked the gravekeeper can use its reaction to raise 8 zombies to help defend him. The Gravekeeper can give background information on the sea mother and her followers as well as her origin. The Gravekeeper keeps a Hags Eye in his mouth.
8 - The Kitchen
The kitchen is the most developed room of the cave section of the temple, with fully functioning appliances, kitchen staff, and food storage.
The kitchen staff are only present at night and number 5 Sahuagins armed with kitchen knives and 3 Kuo-toa armed with fry pans(clubs).
The kitchen contains enough rations of food to feed a party of 4 characters for 3 weeks.
9 - The Captive Chamber (Green Key)
A crudely carved stone room with a starved froghemoth chained to the center and a pool of foul water at its end. This froghemoth understands and can speak Undercommon and will attempt to engage characters in conversation to approach him. Any character that gets within 10ft. of the froghemoth will be attacked by the froghemoth tentacle attack. If the party Speaks with the froghemoth they can try to bargain food for the green key hanging from its neck. The froghemoth can become a valuable ally if fed and freed from its chains, although it cannot traverse through the temple it can traverse through the foul water to the swamp room. The froghemoth has information on the background of the sea mother, her temple, the order of the keys, and how it was taken from its swamp and bullywog followers. If the froghemoth is fought it has half the hit points of a normal froghemoth.
10 - The Pillar Room (Yellow Key)
A large and tall 30ft. square foot stone room with a 4ft. pillar in its center. Placed on the pillar is the yellow key frozen in ice. Any attempt to melt the ice or touch the key will cause the room to shake, the entrence to be sealed by stone, and the pillar to rise up 50 feet nearing the room's ceiling. Coinciding with the pillar rising, the room's temperature reduces to the point of being extremely cold.
There are rods poking out of the pillar allowing players an attempt at climbing it with every 10ft. climbed requiring a DC10 Dexterity saving throw to not slip and fall from the pillar.
Upon touching the yellow key again the pillar recedes back into the ground, the room returns to normal temperature, and the room unseals.
The Hags Laboratory
The Hags Laboratory is where a coven of sea hags live and serve the sea mother directly. The 3 sea hags are located in each room and wont confront the part unless they are at least two of them in the room. The hags eye can be destroyed to severely weaken them.
When the hags are killed the thrones in the Coven Chamber split apart to reveal the submerged tunnel leading to the Brood chamber.
Room 1 - The Entry
Exiting from the archway portal the party arrives in a large wooden cabin room deck with strange occult objects and small creatures picked in jars. A fireplace lights the room and peeling back the curtains to the windows reveals that the cabin is deep undersea.
Two large stone sea serpent heads are located on the left and right of the room Each with a placard and a blue orb on the tongue. When a creature touches one of these orbs they dissolve into water and are absorbed by the orb and then transported into the corresponding room.
The plaque on the right head reads in Sylvan; "Room of Hexes" (Magic Room) while the left plaque reads; "Room of Arguments" (Coven Chamber) also in Sylvan.
Room 2 - Coven Chamber
The covens chamber is a round room with three thrones in its center. This room contains 1 of the sea hags who will attempt to flee to the Experimentation Room upon seeing a creature enter the room. This room has no other furniture or items as the hags do not want to have other thing in the room made to hash out their disagreements.
The two sea serpent heads in this room read in Sylvan "Room of Rest" (The Entry) on the right and "Room of Specimens" (Experimentation Room) on the left also in Sylvan.
Room 3 - Magic Room
The magic room is where the hags keep all of there magical items and components for there hag magic. The room is tall with shelves crooked and intersecting lining the room all the way up to its ceiling and a large mirror standing against the back wall.
One sea hag is in this room that rides a large ball jointed doll that has feathery wings for arms. She will throw a glass vile at the first creature she sees from above, the targeted creature must make a DC16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is charmed by the sea hag and will attempt to stop the party from chasing the hag as she flees to the opposite room that the creature came through.
Big Mirror. The large mirror that stands in the back on the room is in actuality a gateway to the elemental plane of water. If the mirror is touched the creature mmust make a DC18 Strength saving throw or be pulled through. On the other side the gateway cannot be seen and the creature will have to be pulled back through by creatures on the other side.
The two sea serpent heads in this room read in Sylvan "Room of Rest" (The Entry) on the left and "Room of Specimens" (Experimentation Room) on the right also in Sylvan.
Room 4 - Experimentation Room
The Experimentation Room is where the hags keep there captives and creatures of particular interest. The room is busy filled with large glass tubes dividing the room into a small maze.
The Sea Hag in this room will throw 1d4 shrunken heads that catch fire as they sore animating and attacking the party as she flees the room. These heads use the Flameskull statblock.
Glass Tubes. Within the glass tubes are the remains of mutated and captured creatures for experimentation. If the party was searching for lost men and women this is where they will be if they went missing for more than 1 week. Creatures within the tubes are still alive but will require medical attention to fully recover and awaken.
The Brood Chamber
The brood chamber is where the eggs birthed from the sea mother are taken to gestate. The chamber is a 150ft. submerged hallway lined with clusters of opaque blue eggs.
The Eggs. The eggs are clustered into groups glued to the walls and floor of the cave. Inspecting the larger eggs shows the underdeveloped fish like humanoids within the eggs. Each egg has 1 hit point and destroying the eggs kill the fish humanoid within.
The end of the chamber leads into the sea bed where the sea mother lays.
The Sea Bed
As the party moves out of the brood chamber they find themselves in a 50ft diameter round cave with the towering figure of the sea mother gracing its center.
Desperation. When the Sea Mother reaches 50 hit points or less she will retreat down her coral bases into her true nest. Following the sea mother down the hole she retreated down is the most dangerous path as the kelp in the tunnel will attempt to retrain creatures pursuing her, requiring creatures to make Strength saving throws to keep moving will sharp spines deal 1d4 piercing damage. Following down a different hole will be a better experience leading to the nest. While in the nest she will hatch 1d6 koa-toa from the eggs to join her fight and this resets her Come my Children lair action. In the nest the sea mother can attack creatures will melee attacks at any range as she can freely move her body to strike as well as having her grotesque bloated body revealed.
Creatures
Sea Mother
Huge Aberrations , Chaotic Evil
- Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 294 (28d12 + 45)
- Speed 0ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 22 (+6) 8 (-1) 22 (+6) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 8 (-1)
- Saving Throws STR +8, CON +11, WIS +6
- Skills Perception +11, Arcana +5
- Damage Resistances cold
- Damage Immunities poison
- Condition Immunities Exhaustion, Grappled,, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Unconscious
- Senses Darkvision 60 Ft., passive Perception 13
- Languages Aquan, Common, Deep Speech, Giant
- Challenge 14 (11,500 XP)
Horrific Appearance. Any humanoid that starts its turn within 30 feet of the sea mother must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the sea mother is within line of sight, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the sea mother's Horrific Appearance for the next 24 hours.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the sea mother fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Spellcasting. The sea mother is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). It requires no material components to cast its spells. The sea mother has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): mind sliver, minor illusion, frostbite, lightning lure
1st level (4 slots): hold person, charm person, Magic Missile
2nd level (3 slots): bestow Curse, counterspell, lightning bolt
3rd level (3 slots): phantasmal Killer, polymorph
4th level (3 slots): Contact other plane, scrying
5th level (1 slot): eye bite
Actions
Multiattack. The sea mother can make three attacks: one with a Cantrip and two with its Claws
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) piercing damage
Death Glare. The sea mother targets one frightened creature she can see within 30 ft. of her. If the target can see the sea mother, it must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or drop to 0 hit points.
Legendary Actions
The sea mother can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The sea mother regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Cast a Spell (Costs 3 Actions). The sea mother casts a spell from its list of prepared spells, using a spell slot as normal.
Claw Attack The sea mother makes a claw attack against a creature in range.
Move. The sea mother can move to another coral throne in her lair.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the sea mother takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the sea mother can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
Lord over Currents. The sea other asserts her authority over the sea currents to draw creatures closer to her. All creatures within the lair must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, creatures are pulled 25ft. towards the sea mother.
Sandstorm. The water throughout the lair swirls kicking up sand and debris from the ground and walls, heavily obscuring vision for all except the sea mother.
Climbing Barnacles. The barnacles spread from the sea mother base and climb onto creatures, all creatures must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, creatures movement speed is reduced by half.
Come my Children. (3 uses only) The sea mother signals to her children to hatch and protect her. 1d6 kuo-toa hatch from the eggs in the brood chamber and join the encounter. The sea mother cannot use this feature if the eggs where destroyed.
Practice
Safe
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