Sand Towers Story 1

 

Once upon a time...

  A merchant band of Thalasseans traveled the sea floor with their trusted carting crabs in hopes of reaching the Darkara Waste River. It was that time of year when any day could spawn the first storm of the storm season. They were hoping luck would be on their side and the reward for taking this risky journey would richly reward them. Then, their worries came true. A storm blew in, roiled the waves above them. I caused a surge in the currents and the sands of the seafloor rose up on to cloud everything. The swirling made navigating impossible so the decision was made to stop. They hunkered down at the base of coral reef. It took nearly a day for the great storm to pass. In its wake it left rippled dunes of new sand along the sea floor making their cart crabs travel even slower. Reaching the river was now something that would have to wait until the storm season passed.   The merchants had prepared for the eventuality of making a storm rest, a long camp meant to stand for months before they could move on. Most importantly, they set up a sand tower around which they could set up their camp in comfort. Their cart crabs found great foraging at the reef and would not wander off in need for a good long time. For months, they waited out the storm season until it was time to continue on their journey, leaving their sand tower in place. It would serve all Thalasseans as wayrest and they felt proud to provide it.   Above the waters of the reef, the sand tower changed the nature of the surface. There was a swirling of the water as the waves came in over the deep edge of the reef hiding the small whirlpool leading down the through center of the sand tower. Though the sand tower only collected sand ... they whirling center was the core of its power and anything that got into it would be brought down before being spat out into the swirling sand where it would then eventually be released. Thalasseans found this great fun and just the thing for cleaning their fishtail scales. Air breathers, however, found it deadly.   Many seasons past without any surface folk discovering the whirlpool until, one day, they did. A merchant ship laden with wares found itself being pursued by a pirate ship. They raced at their top speed but it was not fast enough and they were soon under attack. The merchant was not completely helpless as it had its own compliment of weaponry to fight back with even as it continued to try and out manuever and escape. By twitlight, however, the merchant ship fell to the pirates. In all the mayhem and with the coming dark, one long boat was loaded with the most precious cargo and a small crew sent to take it across the reef to hide it from the pirates.   The boat neared the deep edge of the reef before the pirates spotted it and launched two of their own boats after them. Launching attacks at the unarmed merchant, the pirates eventually hit it dealing it terrible damage. The merchant crew were masters of their little craft and managed to keep it afloat as the rowed hard to get over the reef. Unfortunately for them, it was getting dark and the waves were strong. They hid the whirlpool until it was too late. The whirlpool ripped the damaged merchant boat to pieces sending everything and everyone down to the bottom. The pirates retreated back to their ship, too afraid to face the whirlpool.   The treasure: a new blessed Armor of Faith, the Imposing Visage of Relnu prients, and the Fatal Blow (mace that deals 1 Injury to a target that is already wounded instead of HP damage on its next successful attack. One time ... its a spell waiting to trigger one least time)   Word of the lost treasure at the unnamed reef began to spread until they reached the ears of a naval captain who decided to send a Brahmaur Sergeant of the XXX Marines to look into the matter.   The shallow side of the reef is very close to a small uninhabited island that is home to some Boggy Rats who swim out to to feed at the reef during the day and stay safe on their island at night.