D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Peatfall Desolation

# Dark Fantasy# Wilderness# Economic

The Mire of Veils, once a thriving fenland, is withering into a cracked, desiccated wasteland. At its heart, an ancient horror—a Peat Monster—is awakening, drawing life and moisture from the land, leaving behind a grey, ashy dust. But the land's death reveals a secret: vast, ancient coal beds lie beneath the surface, a source of immense power and wealth. Two desperate factions clash over the fate of this dying land and the power beneath it. Veterans will navigate a world where survival demands difficult choices, and every gain comes at a cost to someone—or something—else.

Chronicle Prelude

The PCs arrive at Fenwatch, a crumbling outpost on the desiccating edge of the Mire. It's a place of last resort for refugees, prospectors, and scholars. The air is dry and chalky, and the ground is littered with brittle, grey husks of plants. The outpost is tense, split between those who see a chance for salvation in the coal below and those who believe the Peat Monster is a punishment that must be appeased or fled from.

Environmental Traits

The Mire is dying. The Peat Monster, a primordial entity of rot and growth, is undergoing a forced, unnatural desiccation, transforming it into a creature of dust and thirst. Its awakening is draining the life from the region. The ancient coal beds, the fossilized remains of a prior age, are exposed. The crisis is ecological, spiritual, and economic: save the Mire's ecosystem, exploit its buried wealth, or flee before the desiccation spreads beyond the fen.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Agramund
An elderly human druid with bark-like skin and hair like dry reeds. He wears robes of woven moss and lichen, and carries a staff of gnarled, living wood. His eyes hold the deep patience of the bog, but also a profound sadness.
Korvak
A stout dwarf with a braided, coal-dusted beard and arms like peat boulders. He wears a heavy leather apron over practical miner's clothes and carries a set of master-crafted tools. His face is set in a permanent scowl of pragmatic determination.
Sera
A young human woman with sharp, watchful eyes, dressed in waterproofed leather and a hooded cloak of mottled greens and browns. She moves with a light, cautious step, constantly scanning the treacherous ground.
Peat Shade
A vaguely humanoid shape composed of dry, crumbling peat and ash. It moves with a shuffling, wind-blown gait, leaving a trail of gritty dust. Its eye sockets are hollow pits that seem to absorb light, and its limbs crack and reform as it moves.
Coal Golem
A hulking, bipedal construct made of fused chunks of black coal and shimmering, dark mineral. It moves with a grinding, geological slowness. Veins of dull, internal heat pulse through its form, and its eyes are two deep, glowing fissures.
Elder Maren
A stout, practical-looking human elder with greying hair tied back in a simple knot. Her face is lined with worry, and she wears the practical, durable clothes of a frontier leader. She holds a ledger of supplies and a worn map of the outpost.
Captain Gratha
A tall, scarred human woman in piecemeal plate armor over a Delver's uniform. She carries a heavy warpick and a hand crossbow. Her expression is one of arrogant confidence, and she wears a necklace of polished coal nuggets.
Wisp of the Old Mire
A faint, shimmering apparition that takes the form of a will-o'-the-wisp, but with a core of intertwined roots and fossilized leaves. It hums with a soft, melancholic light and seems to drift between the physical and the ethereal.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Bay of Chitin and Lees

The Gold-Dust Pit: Suffocating in the Shadow of Fortune