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 lived in Hawaii back in the late 70's for about three and a half years. I was young, 7-11 years old, and couldn't be kept out of the water. We went every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, to various beaches around the island of Oahu. One beach, Three Tables, had three large coral reefs at the opening of the bay, stretching from the floor of the bay (probably 20' down but it felt much deeper to an 8 year old) to the surface of the water.
ReplyDeleteI loved swimming at Three Tables. Then my Hawaiian History teacher, in third grade, told the class of a local myth. There was a young boy who would invite other kids to go swimming. He'd laugh and play with those kids, encouraging them to go into deeper and more dangerous waters. Then, when he had them far enough out, a shark's mouth would open up on his back, and he would devour the children, and the people on the shore couldn't hear their screams.
School was different in the late 70's...
The thought of that kid/shark hybrid has haunted me for decades. I hope he can find a home in your shark temple.
I wish I had thought of it! I grew up on the beach, but not exactly tropical.
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