The Choir Beneath the Bay

Original

One-Shot · Coastal horror

Fishermen in Kettle Cove are walking into the sea at night, singing. Their families want them back, and the sea wants the party too.

Character Level 4

Length 3–4 hours

Players 3–5

Map of Kettle Cove: the village, the beach, the lighthouse on the headland and the sea cave beneath it. — Click the map to open it full size; ⟲ ⟳ turn it. Numbered markers are explained in the map's key.

Read Aloud

The fog rolls in off the bay as the sun goes down, and with it comes the singing. It's faint at first, sweet and sad, like a hymn heard through a church wall. Down on the beach, a fisherman in his nightshirt walks steadily into the black water, smiling. His wife is screaming his name from the dunes, but he doesn't turn around.

The rest of this adventure is for your Dungeon Master's eyes only: its secrets, maps, encounters and rewards. No spoilers here. Switch to DM in the header if you're the one running it.

For the DM

A sea hag called Mother Brine has made the drowned sailors of Kettle Cove into her choir and sends them to sing more voices into the sea. Her lair is a sea cave under the old lighthouse, reachable at low tide. Breaking the conch she uses to lead the song frees the drowned and lets them rest.

Scene 1: Kettle Cove

The party arrive as the fisherman walks into the sea and can try to save him. In the village, they learn that the singing began when the lighthouse keeper died, and that the drowned have been seen on the rocks below the lighthouse at low tide.

Into the Water

2× Drowned Chorister (CR 1)

The choristers try to pull the fisherman under. Saving him requires a DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check while in the water.

Scene 2: The Lighthouse

The lighthouse is dark. Inside, the keeper's journal describes a 'kindly old woman' who visited every night and asked him to let the lamp go out. Relighting the lamp makes the singing falter for one night, buying the party time.

Things in the Stairwell

1× Merrow (CR 2)

A merrow, the hag's guard, lurks at the flooded bottom of the stairwell.

Scene 3: The Sea Cave

At low tide, the party wade into the cave under the lighthouse. The drowned choir stands in rows on the rocks, singing, and Mother Brine conducts them with a great white conch. The tide returns in 10 rounds, flooding the cave.

The Mother of the Choir

1× Sea Hag (CR 2)
2× Drowned Chorister (CR 1)

The conch has AC 15 and 10 Hit Points. Breaking it ends the choristers' Choir trait and frees the drowned, who sink peacefully beneath the water.

Characters

Mother Brine · Villain

Speaks sweetly, like a grandmother, and genuinely believes she's giving the drowned a family. Her true form is barnacled and terrible. Use the Sea Hag stat block.

Hessa Crane · Fisherman's wife

Desperate, fierce, and a strong swimmer. Will follow the party into the cave whether they like it or not. Use the Commoner stat block.

Rewards

100 gp collected by the village.
From the hag's hoard: Potion of Water Breathing ×2, a pearl worth 100 gp, and a Cloak of the Manta Ray.

Running It

This one-shot introduces the Drowned Choir from the Saltglass Stars campaign.
Count down the tide out loud in the final scene: '7 rounds until the cave floods.'