The Octopus Cult in the Ancient Outpost

 This adventure was originally made as a direct sequel to this adventure, but does not necessarily require that the party play the previous content.

The Setup

    After successfully convincing two companies of mercenaries to assist them in their fight against the invading kobold army, the party returns to Polip ahead of their new allies. Upon their return, the party discovers that Mayor Octavia has been kidnapped by a cult that worships octopuses. Enraged by the way the party treated the Octopus Queen, the cult has demanded the release of their captive god or they will destroy the town. 

    Most people in Polip weren't even aware that there was an octopus cult in the valley, but 1 in 10 will have heard rumors. Nobody has seen Oswald, the leader of the Arboreal Octopus Hunting Guild, since the mayor was kidnapped, and most people will say he was generally a private man who spent a lot of time at home. The town guards will say that he would leave just before the town gates closed once a month and not come back for 24 hours, never explaining what he was doing.

    Searching Oswald's home will reveal that no one is home and it seems like Oswald left in a hurry several days ago, leaving behind a lot of essential items for long-distance travel. Close inspection of his writing desk will reveal a locked drawer. The drawer is trivially easy to break open or pick, and contains a map leading to the ancient kobold outpost that the cultists live in.

The Dungeon

Key: A dot with a curved arrow one square away represents a door, the arrow indicating the direction the door swings open. If there is a letter "L" inside the curve of the arrow, that door is locked and the party must find the key, pick the lock, or break the door down to get through. The triangles made of lines represent stairs, with matching shapes in the corners of the stairs indicating which stairs connect to each other on the two levels. The stars indicate the items that are found inside the room.

    The ancient outpost, called a fort by the cultists, was built by the kobolds and was one of the first buildings taken by the colonists several hundred years ago. While the building is still sound, it is weathered and has not been well-maintained. The cultists have done their best to improve the long-abandoned outpost, but none of them have the skills of the ancient kobold builders.

    There are about 20 regular cultists in the fort, 4 regular octopus priests, including Oswald, their leader, Otto, and 6 mutated arboreal octopuses that have become feral and vicious through magic. During the day, about half of the cultists will be on level 1 (L1), and the other half, as well as the priests, Otto, and the mutated octopuses, will be below ground on level 2 (L2). At night, all cultists will be in the dormitory, all priests will be in their room, and Otto will be roaming the halls restlessly. Otto has done a lot to transform himself to be more like his objects of worship. He has extended his torso to make room for 2 extra pairs of arms, half of which have been turned into tentacles, and can summon waves of salt water or ink to attack his enemies. Despite his monstrous form, Otto is still and intelligent and charismatic, having strong control over his cult.

    The Mayor is tied up on the altar of the ritual room. There is a 50% chance that the cult is in the process of sacrificing her for a ritual when the party first arrives at the fort. If this is the case, the party has about 1 hour before the mayor is killed. If she dies, the ritual is complete and the Octopus Queen gains much more power and grows to the size of a house so she can destroy Polip. This problem may be more or less of an immediate issue depending on where the Octopus Queen is and her relationship with the town. It should be noted that the cult sees any direct interaction with the Octopus Queen as a heresy worthy of their current action, which the party probably did if they played the first set of adventures.

L1: This is the level that is above ground. Without knowing of the level built into the hill, the outpost looks like 3 buildings. There are 2 watchtowers and a larger hall. The towers are three stories tall and each one provides a good view of the Slimewater's Headwater Valley as well as the valley beyond the rise of the end moraine, the Great Joinder Valley. These towers are guarded during the day because they contain stairs to the lower level. The main hall contains the room where sermons are held, a room with a large statue of a golden octopus. The guarded room has at least 2 cultists in it at all times who only allow other cultists in. One of the books in the library is a book that teaches one a spell that sprays ink out of the caster's hands.

L2: This is the level below the ground, built into the hill at the end of the valley. The guarded rooms have 2 cultists inside at all times who are tasked with making sure only cultists are on the lower level. If the cult has managed to take back the Octopus Queen as well, she will be in the same room as the mutated arboreal octopuses. The room that the priests sleep in has 4 beds in it, and above each bed is a ceremonial mask made of gold. High Priest Otto's room contains a spell book that teaches one how to cast a spell that permanently turns a human arm into an octopus-like tentacle and requires the use of an altar like the one in the Ritual Room. The Ritual Room is where Mayor Octavia is being kept, tied up, on the altar. The common room has several tables with chairs around them, upon which are two magic items. The vault is not only locked, but has a heavy metal door that has been added by the cultists, making it very hard to get into without the key.

Running Notes

    When I ran this for my group, the overall context was the result of the party ignoring a threatening note left by the cult before they left to hire mercenaries in Jointown. Because they were gone for half a week, the cultists not only kidnapped the mayor, but took the Octopus Queen with them as well. They decided to split the party and ended up leaving one character to deal with almost all of the cultists alone. Otto was a tough fight for them because I meant for the party to work together to beat him, but they instead had only like half the party in the room for the fight. I had described the cultists as masked and robed so that it would be easy for the party to disguise themselves before starting a huge fight, but they ran in guns blazing which was also fine.