Akkardon: Port by the Storm

Akkardon

LG metropolis

Corruption +2, Crime +0, Economy +4, Law +4, Lore +3, Society +0

Qualities academic, prosperous, tourist attraction

Danger 10

Demographics

Government Overlord (King Sargoth IV)

Population 39,531 (12,639 merfolk, 10,673 tabemisu, 7,115 squoros, 3,953 zang, 3,162 koup’ira, 1,581 dohrnii, 408 other)

Notable NPCs

Royal Mystic Advisor Gilgorthanto (LG old bronze dragon)

Grand Hierophant Hamurbai (NG tabemisu medium 9)

Zikur Albyn, Head of the Blackfin Mercenary Company (NE zang barbarian 15)

Marketplace

Base Value 13,000 gp; Purchase Limit 75,000 gp; Spellcasting 6^th

Minor Items 4d4; Medium Items 3d4; Major Items 2d4

The largest city outside of the koup’ira kingdoms in the Cyan Shelf, Akkardon is located within a large bay near two major currents from both the north and the south. The Trade Spires each stretch at minimum twenty feet above the surface, even during high tide, so as to facilitate the blue-haired surfacers that come to trade. The Royal Quarters also breaks the waterline, allowing them to sleep without fear of drowning.

     Despite what King Sargoth and the authorities would claim, several powerful crime syndicates operate in the shadowy depths of the city. A black market thrives, selling poisons, surfacer artifacts, and things taken from the dark depths of the ocean past the Long-Drop, where the Cyan Shelf ends and the ocean desert begins.

A Port by the Storm

Founded nearly nine hundred years ago by the tabemisu, Akkardon has been a center of trade for the entirety of its life. Tucked into a sheltered bay, its location was chosen due to the proximity of two currents: the Frost Current from the north and the Blooming Flow from the south. The two currents pass by each other just two miles north of Akkardon Bay, bringing a myriad of fish, krill, and trade caravans.

     The Frost Current comes from the north-east, looping up along the coast of the Green Coast towards Sylvanor and many zang clans claim stretches of it as their hunting grounds, seeking to take advantage of the yearly whale migration. The Blooming Flow comes from the sout-east, looping around the small archipelago that houses Akkardon before heading south-west over Kraken-Corpse Reef.

     Entire tribes of dohrnii and merfolk come from the warmer southern oceans to partake in the splendors of Akkardon, while zang exiles come from the north to sell their skills to the highest bidder and koup’ira craftsmen come to sell their wares.

Dark Tides

Even the city’s criminal underbelly thrives on trade. If you know who to ask, you can get anything in the alleyways of the city. Smugglers bring in hallucinogenic fish and jellyfish, zang sell goods stolen from surfacer pirates that trespassed in their hunting grounds, the rare sahuagin offers slaves for bargain prices. If you can imagine it, it’s for sale.

     The most powerful forces in the city’s underbelly are the Abyssal Hands, Riptides, Cross Currents, and Pana Apalu. The Abyssal Hands are an assassin’s league that boast the ability to kill anyone for the right price and they’ve spent centuries proving that it is no idle boast. The Riptides are the largest and most successful mercenary guild in the Cyan Shelf, large enough to field entire armies if hired to do so. The Cross Currents are a gang of merfolk, and effectively rule the lowest levels of the city. Finally, Pana Apalu is a cult that reveres the mightiest denizens of the lightless abyss that is the ocean floor beyond the Long-Drop: Nyriok. Amongst the largest of creatures in the seas, Nyriok possess powers over light and darkness greater than any mortal spellcaster.

Adventure Hooks

Due to the nature of the city, two sets of adventure hooks will be provided: one for traditional characters and one for aquatic characters.

Standard

There’s rumors of a sunken treasure off the coast of the Green Coast, and there’s a port city where you can restock your supplies as you make your way there. Only, perhaps “port” isn’t the best word as that implies the city is intended to be above the water.

One of the Trade Princes is determined to find a way to safely eat shark, and you have been hired to talk to the inhabitants of Akkardon to find someone that knows how.

Aquatic

All throughout the city the guard have been offering bounties for grindylow. The local tribes have been growing bold and restless, but not so much so that the guard themselves need to intervene.

A trade caravan has arrived, but one headed by a new race. They look like merfolk, but in place of teeth their jaws have bone plates like shears.

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