Savage Tide



"The first savage tide has already touched the mortal world. Unleashed from the cruel heart of a shadow pearl, the tide swept over an ancient civilization, transforming the citizens into feral, cannibalistic fiends. The hateful architects of the savage tide watched, taking pride in the ruin they had wrought. Now, after a thousand years, the savage tide is about to return. Yet this time, the doom will not be limited to one hapless city. This time, all of civilization waits unknowing on the shore, blissfully ignorant of what the tide is about to bring in..."

'''Warning! Unmarked spoilers follow! If you are playing in Savage Tide, you have been warned!'''

Savage Tide is an Adventure Path released for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons during Paizo Publishing's run of Dungeon (magazine). The adventure begins when the adventurers are hired by a noblewoman of the port city of Sasserine, Lavinia Vanderboren, to track down her missing brother, Vanthus. Over the course of twelve adventures that follow, the Player Characters go from adventures in Sasserine to exploring the infamous Isle of Dread to braving the terrors of the Abyss itself in order to stop a plot by one of D&D's greatest villains to cast the entire world into savagery.

Savage Tide nominally takes place in the Greyhawk setting, though far to the south of the Free City of Greyhawk. It is the third in the Dungeon adventure path series, after Shackled City and Age Of Worms; the three adventure paths are in the same continuity, and Savage Tide assumes that the previous two campaigns have occurred.

The adventure path is notable for being the final adventure path released in Dungeon prior to its cancellation and relaunch as an online-only title for D&D Fourth Edition. The Grand Finale, "Prince of Demons," was the final adventure published in the printed era of Dungeon (magazine), and so served not only as a finale to the campaign, but to the magazine as well.

Savage Tide provides examples of

 * Action Girl: Lavinia Vanderboren, Amella Vankalie, numerous villainous examples.
 * A God Am I:
 * Always Save the Girl: Oh, Lavinia.
 * Arch Nemesis: Vanthus Vanderboren. The players start the campaign searching for him, and when they find him, he locks them in a dungeon full of pirate zombies and leaves them to die. Over the course of the campaign, they track him down, discover his links to the savage tide, and eventually kill him on the Isle of Dread.
 * Big Bad:
 * Black Magician Girl:
 * : It's implied (and was outright stated by James Jacobs) that
 * "She's a GOOD girl!"
 * City of Adventure: Sasserine.
 * Cool Boat: The Sea Wyvern, which the players acquire after the second adventure. It stays with them until near the very end of the campaign.
 * Demon Lords and Archdevils: Stuffed to the gills with them towards the end.
 * Damsel in Distress: Lavinia, twice.
 * The Dragon: Vanthus Vanderboren, to
 * Enemy Mine: The penultimate adventure, "Enemies of My Enemy," natch.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: The Isle of Dread.
 * The Evil Prince: Vanthus. He murders his parents in hopes of inheriting their fortune... Only to discover they left it all to Lavnia.
 * Fanservice: Malcanthet, Shami-Amourae, Lavinia, Harliss Javell, Iggwilv, Tyralandi... yeah, there's a lot of this. Especially Malcanthet. She's not called the Queen of Succubi for nothing. Especially when.
 * Grand Finale: "Prince of Demons"
 * Hungry Jungle: The Isle of Dread, particularly in Chapter 4, "Here Be Monsters."
 * Lost World: The Isle of Dread
 * Mayincatec: The Olman Tribes on the Isle of Dread. In their distant past, they even built massive Mesoamerican-esque ziggurats and had a far-reaching empire...  Now there are only seven small tribes left, huddled at the edge of the Isle of Dread.
 * Spiritual Successor: The Pathfinder adventure paths Serpent's Skull and Skull and Shackles can be seen as successors to different aspects of Savage Tide.
 * Wham! Episode: There's a few. In "The Bullywug Gambit," the players  In "Tides of Dread," they   In "City of Broken Idols," they
 * Wretched Hive: Scuttlecove, an anarchic pirate town the players visit late in the campaign.
 * Wretched Hive: Scuttlecove, an anarchic pirate town the players visit late in the campaign.