D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Gilded Cries of Salt-Spray Rock

# Nautical# Wilderness# Intrigue# Urban# Beast

The salt-scarred cliffs of Salt-Spray Rock have long been a sanctuary for a clutch of sentient harpies, their haunting songs a grim warning to sailors. Now, their numbers are dwindling, picked off by ruthless poachers harvesting their iridescent feathers for the black market. But the poachers are merely the visible talon of a deeper rot: the Pearl-Smuggling Cartel, a syndicate that controls the region's illicit trade. The Cartel claims the harpies are a threat to their divers and legitimate commerce, while an underground resistance of shipwreck survivors and disgruntled locals sees the harpies as guardians of a lost, sacred pearl bed. Both sides have blood on their hands. The players arrive in the muddy port of Salt-Spray Rock, coin-purse light and conscience heavy, to find work—and a war that will test the very limits of their pragmatism.

Chronicle Prelude

The players dock at the ramshackle, perpetually fog-shrouded port of Salt-Spray Rock. The air reeks of fish, brine, and desperation. A few grim-faced sailors unload cargo under the watchful eyes of the Harbor Patrol, while a desperate-looking figure clutching a wounded gull beckons them from a dark alley. This is a hub of whispered rumors, cheap ale, and moral compromise.

Environmental Traits

The regional crisis is a three-way struggle: the dwindling harpy clutch, the expanding Pearl-Smuggling Cartel's operations, and the local populace caught between economic survival and a growing sense that something ancient and valuable is being desecrated. The ultimate goal is to navigate this conflict and determine the fate of the harpies, the cartel, and the secret of the Gilded Pearls.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Grald the Scaler
A tall, gaunt man with sun-bleached hair tied back tightly. His skin is weathered like old leather, and his eyes are the pale grey of a winter sea. He wears practical, salt-stained clothes and a brace of polished harpy talons around his neck as a trophy.
Maera Wave-Song
A middle-aged woman with long, braided hair the color of seafoam, woven with shells and coral. Her eyes hold a deep, fanatical conviction. She wears the tattered robes of a sea-priestess, stained with ink and saltwater. Her hands are calloused from both prayer and combat.
Finch
A slight, trembling man with haunted eyes and a bandaged head. His diver's suit is torn, revealing bruised skin. He flinches at sudden noises and clutches a shard of pearl shell like a talisman.
Sergeant Brine
A broad-shouldered, scarred man in mismatched leather and chain armor. A cartouche of the Cartel is branded on his shoulder guard. He carries a heavy crossbow and smells perpetually of brine and cheap spirits.
Elder Thorne
An ancient, weather-beaten fisherman with a clouded eye and hands gnarled like driftwood. He sits on a barrel outside a sagging tavern, mending a net with slow, deliberate movements.
Silas the Gull
A wiry, nondescript man who could be any fisherman or dockworker. His eyes, however, are constantly moving, scanning the crowds. He wears a single, inconspicuous earring shaped like a broken wave.
The Harpy Queen
A magnificent, terrifying figure. She stands taller than a man, with powerful, taloned legs and vast wings of iridescent blue-green plumage. Her face is eerily humanoid, set with intelligent, sorrowful eyes. A crown of pearls and woven kelp sits upon her head.
Alchemist Vero
A man of indeterminate age with ink-stained fingers and stained leather apron. He wears thick glass goggles pushed up on his forehead and carries a satchel clinking with vials. His eyes have a manic, curious gleam.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Oasis of the Scorpion's Kiss

The Medusa's Coiffure of Red Coral Bay and the Crated Bronze Mirrors of the Shipwreck