The main villains of the overall story are the titans Sydon and Lutheria. This section describes a series of special events and dramatic confrontations that will make the titans part of the story.

Sydon, Lord of Storms Sydon primarily takes action against the party through his legions of worshipers. These include the armies of centaurs, cyclopes, gygans, and other native creatures who revere him.

Lutheria primarily takes action against the party by sending monsters to attack them and nightmares to haunt their dreams. Unlike her husband, she is more focused on corrupting and subverting the party.

Event: The Lord of Storms#

Sydon sends this storm to batter the Ultros after the heroes have visited one or two islands in the Cerulean Gulf.

Storm clouds suddenly gather above your ship. Lightning flashes overhead, followed by booming thunder. The thunder becomes a voice—the voice of Sydon. “Heed my warning, mortals. Your quest is doomed. Your weapons will fail you. Your gods will perish, and your ship will shatter upon the rocks. Your cities will drown, and your names will be forgotten. You seek to challenge the Titans, but there is no power that can stand against the Lord of Storms.”

Lightning flashes across the sky a dozen times, and the wind turns into a howling gale. The sky darkens until it seems that night has fallen. Sydon has summoned a powerful hurricane to destroy the Ultros.

The storm worsens with every hour. After five hours have passed, the storm will reach a crescendo, and any ship in the area will be destroyed. Someone must pilot the Ultros and escape the storm by making at least three successful piloting checks as described below.

For each hour spent in the hurricane, whoever is piloting the ship must make a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check to keep the ship righted. On a failure, they must make a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check or be swept overboard. If someone is helping the pilot, then both characters must make the check.

There are alternative ways to avoid being sunk. A sacrifice to Sydon will calm his anger, but it must be a white ox or an intelligent creature. The Control Weather spell can be used to neutralize the storm. A conjured Air

  • Elemental or Water Elemental can guide the ship out of danger.

Event: Sydon’s Fleet#

This encounter occurs after the heroes have defeated or made a pact with Lutheria. It can also happen at a time of your choosing before the heroes have defeated either Lutheria or Sydon. This event can help motivate heroes if you want the story to hasten to its climax.

The winds pick up and the ocean waves grow choppy. On the horizon, you can see dozens of white sails. It seems that a fleet of ships is passing by, several miles to the east. But these are not normal ships—the oars are the size of tree trunks. They appear to be giant warships, crewed by gygans and cyclopes. And they seem to be headed directly for the City of Mytros.

This is the invasion force that Sydon has been gathering to wipe the mortals from the face of Thylea. This is immediately evident to Kyrah and Pythor.

The fleet consists of 30 ships, each crewed by twenty-four Gygans, one Gygan Hero, twenty-four Bronze

  • Automatons, and twelve Cyclopes (all found in appendix B). See the accompanying stat block for more information on the ships. Each of these mighty ships is 200 feet long. If the heroes are foolish enough to attack the fleet, then one of the gygan heroes will blow from a horn to summon 1–2 of Sydon’s children (Young Hyperions, appendix B). The reinforcements will arrive within 10 rounds, flying on the backs of Rocs. Once Sydon himself has been defeated, this fleet will lose its purpose. The bronze automatons will cease working entirely, as they have no intelligence to guide them. The gygans and cyclopes will return with their ships to the Garden of Helios in the Forgotten Sea.

Event: Corruption of Lutheria#

This dream comes to the heroes when they are sailing across the Cerulean Gulf. Read the following:

Lutheria’s voice comes to you, soft as a sea breeze. “Why do mortals feel the need to explore? To sail over every horizon? What do you expect to find out there in the vast emptiness of the oceans?” Five men cling to the wreckage of a ship, drifting towards a shoreline. As they draw closer, the relief on their faces is palpable. Eventually, they splash through the shallows and collapse on the white sand. “These men once sought treasure, but now they seek simple things: food and fresh water.” The sun slowly sets towards the wine-dark sea. The men have set up camp, and the tantalizing smell of roasting pork drifts from the fire. “Perhaps you’d like to join them? Are you hungry?” The men greedily chew the meat and gnaw at the bones, juice and gristle dripping down their chins. You notice that one of the men is missing now, and the discarded bones look much too large for a pig.

Everyone awakens together. Each hero must make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or be consumed with bloodlust for 1 minute. Those afflicted will do their best to reduce every other hero in their group to an Unconscious state. This is a chance for players to fight each other, no holds barred, without guilt or hard feelings.

illustration
Full-page art, p.39
Full-page art — p.39
Backward Encounters at Sea Chapter 2: The Cerulean Gulf Forward