D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Crab-Scoured Span

# Wilderness# Dungeon# Fey# Beast

A vital trade route is severed at Broken-Bridge Station, a crumbling waystation besieged by colossal Rock Crabs that mimic the ruined structures. Two desperate factions vie for control: one seeks to eradicate the crab 'plague' to reopen the road and feed their starving people; the other, a hermit Circle, believes the crabs are a sacred ecological correction and are using ripening crab lures to accelerate the infestation. The truth lies buried in the crabs' strange origins and the station's dark history.

Chronicle Prelude

You arrive at the besieged perimeter of Broken-Bridge Station. The air smells of brine and rot. Crumbling stone parapets are manned by haggard guards from the nearby town of Haven's Cross, while strange, chirping sounds and the scrape of chitin echo from the collapsed bridge beyond. A wizened druid watches you from a copse of twisted, salt-stunted trees, her eyes glowing faintly in the dusk.

Environmental Traits

The campaign's central crisis is the ecological and economic collapse of the region. The Rock Crabs, a seemingly invasive species, are rapidly consuming stone and infrastructure, threatening to isolate Haven's Cross from vital supply lines. The players must navigate the conflict between the desperate townsfolk who see the crabs as monsters to be slaughtered, and the enigmatic Circle of the Salted Womb who see them as a divine instrument of renewal. The ultimate goal is to determine the true nature of the Crab Tide and decide the fate of Broken-Bridge Station and the surrounding lands.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Captain Elara Vance
A weathered woman in her late forties, her Garrison armor dented and stained. Her face is gaunt with exhaustion, but her eyes are sharp and pragmatic. She carries the weight of her starving town on her shoulders, distrusting magic and viewing the Circle's faith as dangerous fanaticism that will doom them all.
Elder Thalis
A tall, serene woman with skin weathered like old driftwood and hair woven with salt crystals and dried seaweed. She wears robes of woven crab-chitin and speaks with an unsettling calm, her eyes holding the fervor of absolute belief. She views the Garrison's suffering as a necessary part of the world's cleansing.
Sergeant Harlan
A stocky Garrison officer with shifty eyes and a uniform that's slightly too well-kept for the desperate conditions. He smells faintly of river mud and coin pouches. He hoards crucial station maps and documents, planning to sell them to the highest bidder, be it bandits or Circle sympathizers.
The Salt Oracle
A gaunt figure caked in dried brine and sand, their face hidden behind a mask of fused crab shells and coral. They twitch and mutter constantly, their voice a raspy whisper. They are half-mad from prolonged exposure to the Rock Crabs' pheromones, but their fragmented insights into the crabs' artificial nature are terrifyingly accurate.
Drowned Archivist
A spectral figure in waterlogged scholar's robes, translucent and faintly glowing with a blue-green light. It hovers over a submerged desk in the flooded library, endlessly trying to piece together a shattered crystal. It does not speak, but its presence exudes a sense of desperate, unfinished research.
Crab Queen
A colossal Rock Crab, easily twenty feet across. Its carapace is a fortress of jagged stone and glowing, corrupted ley-line crystals. It is a creature of immense, territorial intelligence, guarding the nexus beneath the station with primal fury. It does not seek conflict, but will destroy any who threaten its domain.
The Gestalt Crab-Construct
A horrifying amalgamation of dozens of Rock Crabs fused together with arcane metal and pulsating organic tissue. It moves with a jerky, unnatural rhythm, its multiple eyes glowing with a unified, malevolent red light. It is the swarm's gestalt consciousness, a weapon of mass deconstruction now operating on pure, corrupted instinct.
Elara the Stoutheart
A middle-aged merchant with calloused hands and worried eyes. She is trapped in Haven's Cross, her trading caravan destroyed by the crabs. She constantly fiddles with a locket containing a portrait of her children, who are safe in the capital. She is willing to take risks for the chance to return to them.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Shattered Frostholm Accords

The Reckoning of the Blood-Soaked Bracers