Here is the player introduction to the event.

When the KORG folks first made up this adventure it seemed like a fantastically original idea: an adventure for merfolk in which the characters would battle all those underwater monsters you never use, like Eyes of the Deep and Krakens. Somehow at Gen Con that year there were two other underwater adventures, so maybe it wasn't such an original idea after all. Nonetheless, Waves of Sorrow was well received by the players. The power level was rather low, with few magic items, no Fireball spell, limited armor, and weapons like spears and daggers instead of swords and axes. The players took the roles of merfolk trying to hunt down a Sahuagin raiding party before it reported on the location of their hidden city to their king. While tracking the Sahuagin (accomplished by the merfolk ranger and his barracuda animal friends) the players negotiate with Locathah, fight various underwater monsters, and end up defeating the Sahuagin raiders. Unfortunately, round one of this team tournament ends with the party being captured by another Sahuagin party that is much bigger than the first.

Round two of the event started with an arena battle. The players were forced to fight in an arena of kelp as howling Sahuagin watched and occasionally threw things at them. This is where the Eye of the Deep came in - without looking do you know what powers these creatures possess? Few of the players did either. Eventually the party battled their way to freedom and returned home. (Yes, we here at KORG believe in happy endings).

Because this adventure took place underwater we had to use different equipment than usual. For example there was no chain mail, metal weapons, or the like. Here are the special rules we used.

• Hydrasil Whaleshadow: Fighter/Priest of Neptune and member of the Pearl clan (the largest and most powerful merfolk clan). The overall leader of the expedition (as the Pearl clan organized the task force).
• Delia Silverfin: Priestess of Neptune and member of the Dolphin clan (the smallest clan of the merfolk, noted for its artists and priests). She is the religious leader of the expedition.
• Tritheka Sunwater: A wizard, and a member of the Order of the Spiral (a mage/sage guild). Very curious about Sahuagin and all things magical.
• Pike Tiderunner: A ranger of the Tuna clan (the farmers of the merfolk). He has two animal barracuda pets, Ripper and Sharkbane. It is his job to track the Sahuagin before they make it back to their people.
• Arcadia Stillwater: Paladin of Neptune, member of the Order of Neptune. Totally fearless and dedicated to saving the merfolk city.
• Yarben Undertow: A thief and member of the Morays (the merfolk guild for thieves and assassins). She only joined the mission because Grandfather Urchin, the guildmaster, personally requested that she go.

• The Play: Once again parties were forced to perform a play for KORG's amusement. This time the play was to please a whale who was Queen of an area of ocean the party wished to swim through. The play itself was written by Sir Richard Daggereye, and was found in the wreckage of a sunken ship. The whale queen (who was served by dolphins that made a total mockery of court procedures, saying things like "Oh, yes, your highness!" in tone of sarcasm so thick you could slice it and put it on a sandwich) had been making changes to the play, filling in areas that had been damaged and making it take place in an underwater locale. Here is the play the party performed. Note that the song is sung to the tune of "Gaston" from the Disney cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (at the time that was very topical).
• The Death of Arcadia Stillwater: At the beginning of round two the party is brought before the Sahuagin king. Enraged at the death of his son (who was leading the rading party) he had Arcadia, the paladin, brought before him. It was at this point that the GM would ask the player running Arcadia to hand him the character sheet. He or she would then bite the top of the sheet, tearing off a large chunk of the top. This was a bit of role playing theatrics, as the king did indeed bite off poor Arcadia's head. This had a wonderful effect on the players - they suddenly realized they were in serious trouble. The player who had run Arcadia got to play a different character for the remainder of the round - a very strong (but incredibly stupid) Locathah warrior. The Locathah turned out to be incredibly tough and critical to the party's success in the arena.
• Betraying the King: The party gets out of the Sahuagin city with help from the Sahuagin prince. He makes them a deal - if they'll kill his father (thus making the prince the new king) he'll make sure they get away. He arranges to have the guards out of place and the party's door unlocked so that they can "escape" and "murder" the king on the way out. All of the parties took the prince up on his offer. When he later came onto the scene of the murder (where the party was hiding in a closet) the prince loudly proclaimed that he would personally lead the search to the north, as soon a he could put together a team of warriors, and he only hoped the merfolk didn't get away before he could assemble the team. All the parties took the hint, went north, and got away.

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