D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Ashveil Ledger: Flames of Avarice

# Investigation# Intrigue

The Ashveil Warehouse District burns with suspicious regularity, and the Underwriters' Guild grows obscenely rich denying claims while insuring new properties. You are not heroes; you are claims adjusters, investigators, and mercenaries hired by a desperate merchants' consortium. Your mission: untangle a web of insurance fraud, serial arson, and guild corruption before the district collapses into a charred, bankrupt husk. Every witness has a price, every document hides a secret, and the truth is more profitable than any lie.

Chronicle Prelude

The soot-stained, half-timbered facades of the Merchant's Rest tavern, the unofficial headquarters for the beleaguered Merchants' Consortium. The air smells of stale ale, cheap parchment, and the ever-present scent of distant smoke. Desperate shopkeepers and warehouse owners cluster around tables, arguing over claim denials and rising premiums.

Environmental Traits

A systemic crisis of credibility and capital. The Underwriters' Guild controls all legitimate insurance in the city, and their denials are bankrupting merchants. A shadowy arsonist strikes with impunity, and the city watch is either corrupt or incompetent. The players must find proof—any proof—to force a reckoning, either by exposing the fraud, brokering a new deal, or burning the whole corrupt system to the ground.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Elara Vane
A weary human woman in her late 40s with sharp eyes and calloused hands. She wears a merchant's vest faded from fine blue to a dull grey. Her posture is strained, and dark circles underline her gaze.
'Sooty' Sam
A gaunt human youth barely out of his teens, with soot permanently ingrained in the lines of his hands and face. He wears oversized, patched clothes and moves with a nervous, skulking gait.
Corrupt City Watchman
A uniformed human watchman with a tarnished badge and shifty eyes. He leans against a wall, his posture casual, but his hand never strays far from his truncheon. He wears a slightly-too-fine cloak beneath his official gear.
Guild Archivist Tarn
A precise, middle-aged human male with ink-stained fingers and pince-nez glasses. He wears the dark blue robes of a Guild functionary and holds a heavy ledger like a shield. His expression is one of severe disapproval.
Guildmaster Theron Vale
A impeccably dressed human man in his 60s with silver hair and a calm, assessing gaze. His suit is of the finest wool, and a large, gilded signet ring adorns his finger. He projects an aura of composed authority.
Arsonist Renn
A haunted-looking human male with reddened, chemical-scarred hands and soot-stained clothes. He smells of volatile compounds and lives in a hidden, makeshift lab amidst the ruins. His eyes dart with guilt and paranoia.
Loan Shark Krezk
A burly, well-dressed dwarf with a menacing grin and a ledger of his own. He wears the pin of the Moneylenders' Guild and flanked by two tough-looking human enforcers.
The Underwriter's Champion
A towering figure in full plate armor, enameled in the Underwriters' Guild's dark blue and silver. The helmet's visor is down, revealing nothing. The figure stands perfectly still beside Guildmaster Vale, a massive, ornate halberd held at rest.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine

The Brinebound Schism