D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Howler Cliffs: A Symphony of Stone and Screams

# Wilderness# Intrigue

The air here is a weapon. The Howler Cliffs are named for the ceaseless, bone-rattling shrieks of the simian Howlers, whose calls trigger devastating rockslides. But the tremors have worsened. The very mountains are groaning, threatening to bury the valley of Hearthstone below. You arrive in the last safe haven, the fortified town of Echo Hold, caught between two desperate factions: the Stone Wardens who believe the mountains are a living entity in agony, and the Expansionist Consortium who see the loosened rock as a bounty of rare minerals. The line between salvation and destruction is as thin as a spider's thread, and the echoes of your choices will be written in rubble and blood.

Chronicle Prelude

You stand on the shaking, timber-reinforced docks of Echo Hold, a town carved into the leeward side of the Howler Cliffs. The air is thick with a fine, gritty dust and the perpetual, low-frequency hum of the Howlers. To the east, the treacherous Cliffs loom, their faces scarred with recent slide paths. To the west, the fertile but endangered valley of Hearthstone stretches out, its fields and villages perpetually under the shadow of falling stone.

Environmental Traits

The Howler Cliffs are destabilizing at an unprecedented rate. The cause is twofold: the Consortium's deep-shaft mining has weakened the mountain's bones, while the Stone Wardens' ritualistic 'Calming'—which involves driving the Howlers into a frenzy to 'release the mountain's pain'—is accelerating the fractures. The ultimate goal is to discover the true source of the instability and decide the fate of the region before the entire cliff face shears off and buries the valley in an extinction-level avalanche.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

High Warden Greymoss
A tall, gaunt woman with silver-streaked hair and eyes that seem to hold the weight of the mountain itself. She wears robes of earthy tones embroidered with geometric stone patterns. Her hands are perpetually stained with chalk and herbal dyes.
Chief Surveyor Harrowick
A stout, energetic man in a practical leather coat covered in pockets and tool loops. His face is ruddy from the dust, and he constantly adjusts a pair of multi-lensed spectacles. He carries rolled charts and a gleaming brass compass.
Howler Matriarch 'Shrike'
A large, powerfully built primate with intelligent, amber eyes and a crest of white fur along her spine. She moves with a wary grace, her posture protective. Her troop of smaller Howlers watches from the canyon ledges above.
Defunct Survey Automaton 'Structor'
A rusted, humanoid machine of brass and iron, slumped against a wall. One optical lens flickers weakly. Its chassis bears the faded logo of the Hearthstone Consortium. It occasionally emits garbled snippets of log entries in a monotone voice.
Foreman 'Silent' Garth
A weathered, grim-faced man with calloused hands and eyes that avoid direct contact. He wears a miner's leather apron, but it is clean, unused. He stays in the shadowed corners of the Consortium camp.
Echo Wraith
A shimmering, translucent humanoid form that flickers in and out of visibility. It is surrounded by a perpetual, faint chorus of panicked shouts and the grind of rock. Its features are twisted in a silent scream, and the air around it is cold and damp.
Lens Grinder Erray
An elderly, blind woman with milky eyes, sitting at a cluttered workbench. Her fingers are stained with polishing compounds. She holds a tuning fork to various crystals, listening intently to their hum. Shelves around her are lined with lenses and sound-focusing devices.
Geode Elemental
A towering, haphazardly assembled construct of jagged crystal and living rock. It pulses with an internal, sickly light and emits a constant, low-frequency hum that makes teeth ache. Its movements are slow but immensely powerful, and it leaves a trail of vibrating crystalline shards.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Goblin Plight of Rivervale and the Cryptic Mine

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core