D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Rusted Oars of Captain Blacktide

# Undead# Nautical# Wilderness

The wind carries the scent of brine and decay across the skeletal fleet of the Graveyard of Lost Skimmers. Here, the eternally rowing Skeleton Sailors whisper of a treasure map hidden within the final will of their tyrannical Captain Blacktide. Two desperate factions clash over the map's promise: one seeks a legendary artifact to cleanse a homeland curse, the other craves the wealth to forge a new haven for the persecuted. The will is locked behind ancient wards, and the map itself may be a key to something far worse than gold.

Chronicle Prelude

The safe harbor of Port Viles, a ramshackle settlement clinging to a rocky cliff overlooking the Graveyard of Lost Skimmers. Ghostly ships with skeletal crews perpetually row in the fog, their oars striking the water in a rhythmic, maddening tempo. The air is thick with salt and sorcery.

Environmental Traits

The region is under a lingering nautical curse: ships that stray too close are drawn into the graveyard to join the silent fleet. The curse is tied to Captain Blacktide's undying oath, and his final will may hold the key to breaking it—or unleashing its power upon the living world.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Maren the Keeper
A gaunt figure in a stained oilskin coat, with a milky-blind left eye and a lantern perpetually in hand. The brass lens of his lighthouse key hangs around his neck. He smells of brine and deceit.
Tide Priest Alaric
A weathered man in soaked, salt-stained robes of blue and white. His hands are calloused from hauling nets and holding prayers. His eyes burn with a desperate, fanatical light. He wears a pendant shaped like a crashing wave.
Captain Reva
A charismatic woman with a weathered face, a cutlass at her hip, and the confident bearing of someone who has commanded both respect and fear. She wears the tattered finery of a former pirate queen, now leader of a hidden cove of outcasts.
The Ghost Cartographer
A translucent, spectral figure in a tattered cartographer's coat, perpetually hovering over a ghostly drafting table. His form flickers with the strain of his eternal task. He looks up with hollow, pleading eyes when approached.
Wraith of First Mate Garrett
A semi-transparent, humanoid figure of seething green smoke and spectral light. He wears the phantom garb of a naval officer, a wound of spectral fire glowing in his chest. His voice is a bitter, echoing rasp.
Wraith Librarian
A tall, gaunt spectral entity draped in the shredded remnants of scholarly robes. It hovers amidst floating, ghostly books and scrolls, its eyes two points of cold, blue light. It attacks any who disturb the study without the proper authority.
Oracle Crab
A hermit crab of enormous size, its shell a mosaic of coral, coins, and glittering stones. It speaks in a slow, clicking voice, its intelligent eyes regarding you with ancient patience from within a hidden lagoon.
Skeleton Sailor Choir
A shifting mass of skeletal figures in rotted nautical garb, moving with eerie coordination as they row phantom boats or march along the wrecks. Their jaws click in a discordant, rhythmic chant—a song of duty and eternal servitude.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Shifting Cetacean Archways of Whalebone Isle and the Skeletons Drifting with the Tides

The Salt-Choked Requiem