Isle of Dread - Have you been to Sharks Bay?

 

Not far from the village of Tanaroa and the great wall there is a bay with narrow beaches that is inhabited by several especially aggressive Bull Sharks. I don't think it is named, but i always referred to it as Sharks Bay. 

When I was envisioning this campaign, I wanted to use that area as more than just "there are sharks." So I thought it might be a good place for a ruin of the ancient civilization, and that evolved a bit more into a temple of the shark god. It is a crumbling ruin inside a great boulder, and it is now used by a shark god Shaman and some weresharks. 

I had this particular part of the bay be mostly sea cliffs. Even with some rope it is a bit of a difficult climb to get down there.

The temple itself was about 60 feet or so from the cliff bottom water line. During high tide the water in between would be several feet deep. But at low time it is just a few inches of water, a tidal pool area, where you can actually walk across to the entrance. 

Inside the crumbling ruin some rays of light from cracks above showed that it was sort of an indoor tidal pool itself. Some giant crabs and "Ochre Pods" that were sort of mini ochre jellies (looking like large tadpoles). Minor annoyances compared to the Shark God shaman and weresharks that entered once the alter and its treasure goodies were tampered with. 

After a pretty big fight the Shaman escaped (raising the local water level as he did so the party had to scramble back to the cliff as the tidal pool water raised enough for sharks to come swimming at them). 

I'm hoping to tap into him again, and the shark god itself, before the party leaves the island. 

Isle of Dread - what color is your Axe Beak?

 The weekly Isle of Dread campaign continues. 

One thing I have been doing in most sessions is creating my own small random charts to use in that particular session. Early in the campaign while in the big city before the great ocean voyage, I was doing this. So like in the city I would have several things on a table like encounter a troublemaking gang, aggressive panhandlers, an already established enemy NPC, etc. 

So the other session I had one for the beach areas both on the village side of the great wall, and also for the Sharks Bay area on the other side of the wall not far away. I had giant crabs, lions, tiger, axe beaks, etc. On a grassy hill near the sea cliffs of Sharks Bay they randomly encountered some Axe Beaks.

For many years now Axe Beaks have been a staple for coastal areas for me. I don't really know why, But at some point I used them near a beach and this became the environment I liked to have them encountered. 

I actually have loved big flightless Terror Birds since the 2008 film 10000 BC..

Adding to the fun is that these scary carnivorous birds have actually existed, and not that long ago really. They stalked the earth at the same time as early man. 

Of course in DnD they have always been around, and the images have been almost countless..

I have probably used a different image in each encounter I use them in every few years. But when the party on the Island encountered some I did not have an image handy. So into The Google Machine I go. And pretty quick I find an image perfect for Isle of Dread Axe Beaks..

Polly want a human liver?

They made honking and "ookie Dookie" sounds, and the party dubbed them "Ookie Dookie" birds. Certainly not the hardest encounter they will have, but a nice basic fight to keep the blood flowing is good. But it was really fun to come up with a perfect image for an Isle of Dread Axe parrot-like Beak on the spot and hurl it at the characters. 

Cheers