Pathfinder Encounter: Red Waves Aflame

Red Waves Aflame — Moderate 15

The city of Bloodcove, on the western coast of the Mwangi Expanse, is one of the region’s major port cities, a veritable melting pot where a merchant can find any item they’re looking for, a traveler can find any dish to fill their belly, and an outlaw can find any number of places to lay low. While it’s named for the crimson waters that flow between its giant mangroves and reflect the burning sunset, the city is also a chaotic one. Pirate captains and cutthroat merchants vie for control and brawls are tolerated as long as they don’t cause to much disturbance, providing another possible interpretation of its name.

Lately, several of the fishers in one of the city’s docks, as well as nearby restaurant owners, reported receiving threatening messages demanding a share of their catch and profits in an obvious protection racket. Though such a thing is hardly unknown in Bloodcove, the growing presence of some local Firebrands has empowered the dock workers to resist the scheme, and they’ve even managed to drive off a few pirates come to collect. The last such tussle ended with the pirates threatening that their leader was going to send “a collector” next time, and the merchants worry that things are getting beyond their ability to handle.

The adventurers have been called to the docks to make sure everything’s well. After a few minutes, the “collector” surfaces in the bay. A maliadi—a hippo-like beast as greedy as it is massive, known for taking tribute from those it considers its lessers—emerges from the water and begins to rampage. The adventurers must stop the creature before it can make its way deeper into the inland markets, and maybe find out who sent it there in the first place!

Creature The maliadi remains in the water initially, attacking from range using fire magic like produce flame and, if necessary, volcanic eruption, relying on its collar of fire to stymie incoming attacks and attempting to separate PCs from each other using its wall spells. If targeted by magic, it uses its Counterspelling Wall and then, seeing this as a challenge to its dominance, charges down the spellcaster who would be so presumptuous as to use magic against it and attempts to Swallow them Whole. When reduced to 30 Hit Points, the maliadi tries to flee by turning itself into a river; if caught after this point, it recognizes its defeat and is willing to give up the names of those who called it here, possibly leading the PCs to their next encounter in Bloodcove.

Rickety Docks The docks here are all either old, floating, precariously built over mangrove roots, or a combination of all three, and in any event were hardly made to withstand a rampaging Gargantuan hippopotamus. The maliadi can Capsize the docks as if they were boats of Huge size.

Illustration by Firat Solhan from Pathfinder Lost Omens The Mwangi Expanse

Maliadi — Creature 17

Uncommon, LE, Gargantuan, Beast

Perception +29; darkvision, scent (imprecise) 60 feet, true seeing
Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Mwangi
Skills Athletics +36, Deception +28, Intimidation +28, Nature +29, Survival +29
Str +9, Dex +3, Con +9, Int +1, Wis +6, Cha +3
Deep Breath The maliadi can hold its breath for 1 day.
AC 40; Fort +34, Ref +25, Will +28
HP 285; Immunities death effects, fire

Collar of Fire (abjuration, fire, primal) The maliadi has resistance 20 to physical ranged attacks, such as arrows, bolts, javelins, and thrown rocks, as such attacks are magically diverted through its collar of fire. Non-magical weapons and ammunition affected by this ability are incinerated and destroyed.

Counterspelling Wall [reaction] (evocation, fire, primal) Trigger A creature within 100 feet of the maliadi that the maliadi can see Casts a Spell that targets the maliadi; Effect The maliadi casts one of its innate wall of fire spells, with a duration of 1 round. If the spell that triggered this reaction passes through the wall of fire, the wall attempts to counteract it, with a counteract modifier of +28.

Speed 30 feet, swim 20 feet; freedom of movement

Melee [one-action] jaws +35 (deadly d12, magical, reach 20 feet), Damage 3d12+19 piercing plus Improved Grab

Melee [one-action] foot +35 (agile, magical, reach 20 feet), Damage 3d10+17 bludgeoning

Primal Innate Spells DC 38, attack +30; 9th wall of fire (×3), wall of stone (×3); 8th fire shield, volcanic eruption; 4th air walk, gaseous form; Cantrips (9th) detect magic, produce flame; Constant (8th) freedom of movement; (7th) true seeing

Capsize [one-action] The maliadi tries to capsize an adjacent aquatic vessel of its size or smaller. The maliadi must succeed at a DC 35 Athletics check (reduced by 5 for each size smaller the vessel is than the maliadi) or the pilot’s Sailing Lore DC, whichever is higher.

Change Shape [one-action] The maliadi can take on the appearance of any Large, Huge, or Gargantuan animal. This doesn’t change its Speed or Strikes.

River Form [three-actions] The maliadi takes on the form of a stretch of river, with the effects of wind walk, except the maliadi can only affect itself, appears as a section of a flowing river that takes up the same space as the maliadi, and can’t leave the ground.

Swallow Whole [one-action] Huge, 3d10+17 bludgeoning, Rupture 35

Trample [three-actions] Huge or smaller, foot, DC 38

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Map This map is constructed using Flip-Tiles from Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Urban Waterfront Expansion. To create the map, lay out each Flips-Tile so that the label in the lower-left corner matches the orientation on the map below—for example, rotate this piece marked 21A so that the label is in the upper left. You can place these tiles over a blank mat or place them over an aquatic map such as Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Basic Terrain Multi-Pack. While the water in the Flip-Tiles is normally blue in color, we’ve altered the tiles below slightly to more closely resemble Bloodcove’s signature red waves.

Untagged map