D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Entangled Deeps: Locathah Ambitions & Crown Contraband

# Nautical# Intrigue# Wilderness

The shipwreck-strewn cove of Vae'lar is more than a graveyard of vessels; it's a contested nexus. Deep beneath the waves, the Locathah commune of Ahn'kethi labors under a secret pact with a land-locked smuggler's guild, the 'Crown of Cinders.' The Locathah salvage royal contraband—weapons and arcane artifacts meant for a rebel duchy—in exchange for a magical potion that staves off a creeping, unnatural blight threatening their breeding pools. The Crown, meanwhile, believes the Locathah are hoarding the goods and demands their 'share.' Players arrive as outsiders, tangled in a web of desperation, duty, and greed, where neither side holds a monopoly on virtue.

Chronicle Prelude

The surface ruins of the 'Drowned Man's Rest,' a crumbling tavern on the cliff's edge overlooking Shipwreck Cove. The air smells of salt and rust. A handful of shipwreck survivors, smuggler scouts, and wary locals drink in tense silence, each watching the tide.

Environmental Traits

The blight in the Locathah pools is accelerating, tied to a corrupted artifact at the heart of the cove's deepest shipwreck. The Crown of Cinders grows impatient, threatening to send mercenaries to 'reclaim' their goods by force. The players must navigate the cove's literal and metaphorical depths to prevent a massacre or ecological collapse.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Captain Gruk
A scarred, grizzled human male with a shaved head and a jagged scar running across his left eye. He wears a salt-stained leather brigandine bearing the Crown of Cinders' ember emblem. His demeanor is one of exhausted desperation.
Vox, the Locathah Elder
An ancient, stooped Locathah with scales the color of bleached driftwood and large, sorrowful eyes that glow faintly in dim light. He carries a staff topped with a bioluminescent anglerfish lure. His movements are slow and deliberate.
Crown Scout Mira
A young human woman with sun-darkened skin and unkempt brown hair tied with a strip of leather. She wears a lighter version of the Crown brigandine and carries a shortbow. Her eyes dart nervously, and she flinches at sudden sounds.
Locathah Hunter Keth
A powerfully built Locathah with dark green scales and a jagged notch in his dorsal fin. He wears armor made of layered shells and carries a barbed spear. His movements are aggressive and territorial.
The Silent Salvager
A gaunt, weather-beaten human male of indeterminate age. His skin is tanned like leather, and he wears patched clothes made from sailcloth. He moves with a silent, fluid grace. He carries a slate and chalk for communication.
Blight-Born Leviathan
A horrifying hybrid of giant crab and anglerfish, its shell fused with pulsating, green-veined coral. Its multiple eyes glow with malevolent intelligence. A massive, blight-corrupted anglerfish lure dangles from its head, casting a sickly light.
Crown Ensign Roric
A young, stern-faced human male in immaculate, water-proofed Crown armor, contrasting sharply with the surrounding decay. He carries a well-maintained longsword and a shield bearing the Crown emblem. He stands with rigid discipline.
Commune Guardian Ahn
An ancient, massive Locathah, twice the size of its kin. Its scales are a deep indigo, scarred with ancient battles. It carries a colossal anchor chain as a weapon and is partially fused with the coral wall of the sanctum, as if it has stood guard for a century.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Gilded Cries of Salt-Spray Rock

The Sapphire Lake Devourer and the Shattered Gate