Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

Pronunciations

The Shankhabhumi Pronunciations table shows how to pronounce key names in this adventure.

Setting the Adventure

Use the following suggestions to help contextualize Shankhabhumi in a wider world:

• Through the Radiant Citadel. Characters traveling from the Radiant Citadel arrive just outside Sagorpur. If you wish to further detail that region, use the "x" section at this adventure's end as a departure point.
• Eberron. Shankhabhumi could appear as its own island between the continents of Khorvaire and Xen'drik. Alternatively, it could be a hidden nation in Xen'drik, east of Dread Lake.
• Forgotten Realms. Shankhabhumi might be found in the jungles south of the Shining Sea, near Chult, or as its own island west of Lantan.

Character Hooks

Consider the following ways to involve characters in this adventure:

• Event Guards. Judges overseeing the Shankha Trials want to make sure the important event goes smoothly. They hire the characters to serve as bodyguards for visiting athletes.
• Holy Waters. The characters or their allies need a magical reagent or blessed water and believe the riverines of Shankhabhumi can provide it. When the characters arrive in Sagorpur, though, the city is swept up in the final days of the Shankha Trials. Members of the local riverine temple will provide these waters only after the upheaval surrounding the trials is ended.

The Shankha Trials

Characters who come to Shankhabhumi learn the following details about an exciting event called the Shankha Trials:

• The Shankha Trials are a spectacle of art and athleticism. They take their name from shankha shells—the shells of conch mollusks—which feature in Shankhabhumi's legends and are an icon of the land.
• These contests are held over a twelve-day period every twelve years.
• Competitors come from all three of Shankhabhumi's city-states, and they include some folk descended from survivors of the ruined city of Manivarsha.
• Contests include boatbuilding, boat racing, cooking, dancing, shankha diving, and swimming.
• The contests honor the region's riverines, spirits who hold power over the region's many rivers.
• One contestant among three dozen emerges victorious and claims the great conch-shell trophy known as the Riverine's Shankha to grace their home city until the next competition.

Mass Destruction

The wave has caused utter devastation across the plaza, and hundreds of people rush to escape. Roll on the Wave Chaos table one or more times to see what perils confront the characters.

Chaos at the Temple

After a few rounds of contending with the destruction, the character who has the highest passive Wisdom (Perception) score sees the following scene:

A hostile water elemental and two water weirds with heads shaped like king cobras attack anyone who comes near the temple.

A character who succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Religion) check realizes the water creatures are defenders of the temple. A character who uses an action and succeeds on a DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check convinces the confused creatures to stand down; the Elementals then dissolve back into the waters within the temple.

Dukha Bhatiyali

Dukha Bhatiyali is an experienced majhi. Although he appears human, his colleagues and passengers don't know he's a weretiger (neutral). While several bands of such lycanthropes dwell deep in the swamp forests of Shankhabhumi, Dukha left his tribe and is trying to live as a human. He roams the rivers around Sagorpur in human guise and subjects anyone who accompanies him on his expeditions to endless tales of forest lore.

Way of the Waters

If the characters seek to hire Dukha, he offers to guide them for 100 gp. A character who haggles and succeeds on a DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces him to reduce this price by 25 gp. Once a deal's been made, he shares these details:

[image: Dukha Bhatiyali]

• Dukha was traveling toward Sagorpur when the wave struck.
• While approaching, he saw a current of water sparkle with an eerie green light and sweep away from the city. He has seen that same glowing ripple recently along local tributaries of the Iravati River. The first time he saw it was twelve days ago, the first day of the Shankha Trials.
• He followed the glowing ripples, tracing them along a small river called the Tinjhorna.
• Near a series of waterfalls, Tinjhorna the riverine warned Dukha to stay away, accusing mortal folk of unleashing tainted magic upon his waters.
• Dukha can share any of the details in the "x" section at the end of this adventure.

Dukha suggests taking the characters to that same series of waterfalls on the Tinjhorna River in the hope of learning more from the riverine. He has little further information and, at this time, he doesn't share that he's a weretiger.

Dukha's boat is a narrow, flat-bottomed skiff with room for the characters but little else. It moves at a rate of 1½ miles per hour. The majhi is ready to head off whenever the characters please.

Contacting the Riverine Iravati

The characters might attempt to contact Iravati, the riverine guardian of the river that flows past Sagorpur. The riverine, like the river, is listless and slow to act. No calls or offerings made to Iravati provoke the riverine into appearing.

River Journey Encounters

Falls Clearing

As the characters approach the series of waterfalls, read the following description:

Dukha explains this is where he met the riverine Tinjhorna. He moors the boat amid the islands opposite the falls so the group can attempt to call upon the riverine—and to keep it safe in case the spirit proves hostile.

As Dukha ties up the boat, characters who succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check notice several pairs of green, feline eyes watching from amid the island's foliage. Upon being noticed or soon after the characters land on the island, three hostile weretigers in hybrid form emerge with longbows drawn. They gauge the party's intentions for 1 round before attacking. A character who talks to the weretigers during this round can convince them not to attack by succeeding on a DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check. Even if the weretigers do attack, a character who spends an action can attempt this check, convincing the weretigers to stand down if they're successful. All the weretigers flee from combat when any of them are reduced to 10 hit points or fewer.

Headwater Pool

From where Dukha moors his boat, the characters can follow an indirect but mostly dry path to the cliffs the parallel waterfalls cascade down. Climbing the slippery, 20-foot-tall rock face around the waterfalls requires a successful DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check. Those who fail the check fall 10 feet into the water. If more than one character falls, a swarm of quippers takes notice and attacks.

When the first character reaches the top of the waterfalls, the following scene unfolds before them:

Tinjhorna the riverine (detailed at the x) is speaking in Aquan and trying to calm a pair of water elementals corrupted by the strange magic afflicting his river.

Characters who succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognize the frothing pillars as water elementals. Characters risk provoking the Elementals if they're noisy or approach without caution. Characters who approach carefully and succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) or Charisma (Persuasion) check to calm the creatures aid Tinjhorna in pacifying the Elementals, and a moment later, the creatures vanish. If the characters are aggressive, the water elementals are startled and attack.

The pool is 4 feet deep and is difficult terrain.

[image: Tinjhorna the Riverine]

Forest of Hands Encounters

Forest Heart

Pushing through the Forest of Hands eventually brings the characters to a clearing at the forest's heart. This area is depicted on map 9.1. Read the following description when the characters arrive:

The water in this area is 10 feet deep (see the Player's Handbook for details on swimming). The island rises gently to the north and south, while on its east and west sides, 10-foot-high bluffs rise from the river. Characters who succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check notice the island's rocks look like pieces of an ancient structure.

Amanisha (neutral good, human spy) is unconscious. She currently has no weapons and 5 hit points. Magical healing or a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Medicine) check restores her to consciousness. Characters who look for her trophy from the Shankha Trials, the Riverine's Shankha, don't see it.

Jijibisha's Vengeance

Jijibisha Manivarshi, a vicious soul from the land's past, lurks in the nearby forest. Long ago she made a deal with wicked otherworldly forces that gave her longevity and fiendish powers, a bargain that ultimately resulted in the ruin of Manivarsha. She is behind Amanisha's capture and is loath to let her prisoner escape.

Before the party can complete their conversation with Amanisha, the effects of Jijibisha's wall of fire spell spring up, separating as many characters from their boat as possible. Read the following description:

Jijibisha Manivarshi uses the ultroloth stat block, but she has access to only the wall of fire spell and the at-will spells from her Innate Spellcasting trait. Despite her fiendish powers, she looks like an ancient, withered human.

After she finishes speaking, Jijibisha attacks. She attempts to use her Hypnotic Gaze to turn Dukha and Amanisha against the characters. While she fights, Jijibisha mocks the characters, claiming to be the last champion of Manivarsha and the only Manivarshi who can rightfully claim the Riverine's Shankha. If Jijibisha is separated from the Riverine's Shankha, she has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls until she regains it. She fights to the death.

A character who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) check has heard of Jijibisha Manivarshi and can confirm that she was favored to win the Shankha Trials the year Manivarsha was destroyed.

Adirohit's Retribution

When Jijibisha Manivarshi is destroyed, all is silent for a moment before a voice drifts from beneath the tree stump at the center of the Forest Heart.

If the characters respond to the voice, the speaker shares the following information:

• The voice says he is Adirohit, the riverine of the lost Adirohit River, which once nourished the great city of Manivarsha.
• Adirohit has been locked away for hundreds of years beneath a mighty mangrove that once adorned a temple built in his honor—ever since the Shankha Trials that precipitated the destruction of Manivarsha.
• Jijibisha trapped him here using her fiendish power and forced him to cause the flood in Sagorpur.
• Now that Jijibisha is gone, touching any blessed shankha to the tree stump will release him.

Using either the Riverine's Shankha or the magical shankha Plabon gifted the characters releases Adirohit. However, Amanisha urges the characters to consider cautiously.

Through roleplaying or by succeeding on a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check, a character can convince Adirohit to reveal the following details:

• Long ago, Jijibisha Manivarshi made a deal with a wicked god to give her fiendish powers that would ensure her victory in the Shankha Trials.
• Adirohit was outraged that humans would pervert the sacred trials and unleashed a flood to punish the whole city by sinking it into the swamp.
• Jijibisha Manivarshi survived, though, and declared herself winner of the trials.
• Jijibisha used her sinister powers to bind Adirohit within his ruined temple.
• Jijibisha was delighted that she would be the last Manivarshi to ever win the Shankha Trials—at least, until Amanisha's victory.

While Adirohit is a captive now and has been used by Jijibisha, he was not when he sank Manivarsha.

It's up to the characters to determine whether or not they free Adirohit. Amanisha has complex feelings about this, seeing Adirohit as a tie to her ancient people and one who could restore a measure of what was lost, but also a tempestuous being who destroyed her ancestors. She will not impede the characters no matter what choice they make.

Features

Those familiar with Shankhabhumi know the following details:

• Hallmarks. This region is known for its isolated city-states separated by tangled swamps, and for the capricious river spirits that rule its waters.
• People. Urban society is a mix of humans, halflings, elves, and dwarves. Skin tones in Shankhabhumi span shades of brown, and people have uniformly dark hair that ranges from wavy to very curly.
• Languages. The folk of Shankhabhumi speak Common and Shankhi, the regional tongue.

Noteworthy Sites

Hundreds of rivers flow through Shankhabhumi, creating natural paths to its three great cities.

Life in Shankhabhumi

Outsiders often refer to the people of Shankhabhumi collectively as "riverlanders," but the folk of the three city-states call themselves Sagorpuri, Ashwadhatuj, or Tippuri, and claim to have little in common with one another. However, that's an exaggeration; the people of Shankhabhumi share unifying traits and experiences.

Legends of Shankhabhumi

The ancestors of the people of Shankhabhumi migrated here from other lands about a thousand years ago. They arrived to find swamp forests infested with monsters and other dangers—a land shaped by hundreds of riverines who were indifferent to the newcomers and their fates. Then the elven leader Kubjhatika killed a giant mollusk that attacked her people. After the battle, she carved the tale of her victory and her people's journey on a beautiful, red-ridged shell. This shell became the Riverine's Shankha. Kubjhatika offered it as tribute to the riverines, appealing to them for refuge amid the unforgiving land.

The four greatest riverines—Adirohit, Iravati, Mehul, and Joltara—each wished to claim the Riverine's Shankha as their own. Kubjhatika proposed the Shankha Trials to ensure it would circulate fairly. But since people who could barely survive in this unstable land couldn't put on such a spectacular event, Kubjhatika persuaded the riverines to each create a site for a great city. Thus, the riverines created the stable islands on which Manivarsha, Sagorpur, Ashwadhatu, and Tippurika would be built, and the histories of those great cities began.

Adventures in Shankhabhumi

Consider the plots on the Shankhabhumi Adventures table when planning adventures in Shankhabhumi.

Characters from Shankhabhumi

If players create characters from Shankhabhumi, consider asking them the following questions during character creation:

Which city do you come from? Were you raised in cosmopolitan Sagorpur, traditionalist Ashwadhatu, or hardy Tippurika?

Are you looking forward to the next Shankha Trials? Are the trials the best part of living in Shankhabhumi for you, or just a spectacular nuisance every twelve years? Have you participated in past trials?

Have you ever encountered a riverine? Did the unpredictable spirit harm you or bless you in some way? Have you seen the riverine since then? Do you now have a deeper connection to it?

A Riverine's Lair

Some riverines enjoy reverence akin to worship. Their likenesses are cast as statues and housed in temples, and worshipers act as agents between the river spirits and the people who revere them. These temples often become the home of the riverine itself, serving as its lair, though other nexuses of power along the river's path—such as its source or a significant waterfall—can also be used as lairs by a riverine.

A riverine encountered in its lair has a challenge rating of 13 (10,000 XP).