Silent Tide (scenario)

For another meaning of "Silent Tide", please see Silent Tide.

Silent Tide, a Pathfinder Society scenario written by Michael Kortes for tier 1-5, was released in August 2008.

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When strange reports of misty undead spread through Absalom, you and your fellow Pathfinders are dispatched to the half-drowned district of Puddles. Notoriously rough, the drooling addicts, flesh panderers, and quick-handed knifers of Puddles are the least of your worries. The night's tide brings with it an ancient armada of some long-forgotten war and you are the only thing between their mist-shrouded ghost fleet and Absalom's utter oblivion.

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Scenario overview

Level	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Type	Urban
Location(s)	Puddles Absalom

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Background

In the early 40th Century AR, Taldor planned a naval invasion of Absalom, code-named the Silent Tide. The plan relied on a fifth column of infiltrators known as Black Echelon who would weaken Absalom from within and send a signal to begin the invasion once their sabotage was complete. However, the Black Echelon were identified and defeated by courageous heroes of Absalom, and the signals were never sent.

That would have ended the matter, had it not been for the fact that each member of Black Echelon swore an oath, known as the Binding Word, to fulfil their duties, even beyond death, and now they wait to be given the signal to launch the Silent Tide anew.

In 4708 AR, an elderly military historian named Yargos Gill came into possession of an ancient codebook detailing the Silent Tide codes. Driven by curiosity, he replicated the Silent Tide signals—which caused Black Echelon to rise from the dead and resume their campaign of sabotage, with the aim of weakening Absalom and then raising an undead army of marines from the ocean floor.

Before Gill could undo his folly, he was captured by Nessian, leader of the local War Hounders gang, who planned to manipulate Black Echelon so as to take advantage of their sabotage and rule Absalom's underworld.

Adventure

Venture-Captain Adril Hestram receives word of Gill's acquisition of the ancient codebook, and dispatches a team of Pathfinders to locate Gill and secure his codebook for the Pathfinder archives.

The Pathfinders find Gill in the clutches of Nessian's War Hounders as he is about to be thrown from the cliffs at Torsen's Maw. When Gill is rescued, he informs the Pathfinders of the threat of Black Echelon, and suggests that the codebook—still in Nessian's hands—contains a master abort code that will call off the Silent Tide invasion.

The Pathfinders consult Grandmaster Torch for information on Nessian's whereabouts, which he reveals in exchange for their help in solving a series of locked puzzle boxes.

The Pathfinders also prevent Black Echelon from poisoning Absalom's grain reserves, and then prevent them from signalling the undead armada in a fight atop the Metro-Cathedral's massive pipe organ.

Finally, the Pathfinders confront Nessian at his lair in the Temple of the Dog, a base constructed from the remains of old siege towers outside Absalom. They defeat him, retrieve the codebook, and use it to abort the Silent Tide.

Recurring characters, concepts, and locations

The following characters, concepts, or locations can be found in this scenario, but also significantly appear in the publications listed below:

Map support

Silent Tide uses three custom maps.