D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Searing Tide: Redstone River Scourge

# Arcane# Wilderness# Intrigue

The Redstone River, once a lifeline for the valley, now boils with volcanic fury. Fire-fish, corrupted elemental spawns, swarm its scalding waters, scorching the banks and poisoning the air. Two desperate factions clash over the only path to salvation: the Boiling Springs beneath the river's heart. One seeks to drain the springs to save the surface, the other to purify them to restore balance. The land burns, and time runs out. Choose who to condemn.

Chronicle Prelude

The players arrive in the smoldering settlement of Ember Ford, a collection of heat-resistant stilt-houses clinging to the river's northern bank. The air shimmers with heat, and the smell of sulfur is constant. Refugees from downstream gather here, their eyes hollow with the memory of the Great Scald.

Environmental Traits

The Redstone River is undergoing a catastrophic elemental surge. The Boiling Volcanic Springs beneath its bed are destabilizing, causing the river to literally catch fire. The immediate goal is to reach the springs' source to end the Scorching, but the path is blocked by elemental fury and two irreconcilable ideologies.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Warden Chief Elara Stonehand
A weathered woman in her 50s with a jagged scar running down her left cheek and calloused, soot-stained hands. She wears practical, heat-damaged leather armor bearing the Wardens' river-and-shield insignia.
Ignis, High Priest of the Ember
A tall, serene man with shaved head and serene, unblinking eyes. His robes are woven from fibers that seem to shift like embers. He holds a staff topped with a cooling crystal that glows like a coal.
Kael, the Smoke Ferryman
A gaunt figure wrapped in layers of stained, heat-resistant canvas, piloting a boat made of strange, dark wood coated in reflective tar. His face is obscured by a breathing mask made from a hollowed-out beast skull.
Corpse of an Unknown Explorer
A charred, desiccated body slumped against a hot rock in the Labyrinth, clutching a satchel. The clothing is common traveler's garb, melted in places. The air nearby is still acrid with toxic fumes.
Mara, Voice of the Displaced
A young woman with hollow eyes and ash-dusted clothing, organizing a line of gaunt refugees at a water barrel in Ember Ford. Her hands tremble, but her voice is firm.
Emberfin Leviathan
A massive, eel-like creature made of smoldering rock and magma, with glowing yellow eyes. It patrols a shallow, superheated section of the Smoking Shallows, its body causing the water to steam violently around it.
Warden Scout Aris
A young Warden operative, leg trapped under a fallen rock slab, covered in dust and minor burns. Their gear is scattered, including a strange, humming device.
Ember Cult Fanatic
A wild-eyed figure in tattered robes marked with flame sigils. Their skin is covered in ritual burn scars, and they wield a crude, super-heated metal staff. They guard the entrance to the Charred Gorge with unnerving stillness.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Stormspire Schism

The Brimstone Furnace