D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Shallow Maw: A Feast of Filth and Fins

# Urban# Wilderness# Intrigue# Beast

The port of Silt Harbor is choking. Its lifeblood, the Shallows Catwalk—a sprawling network of wooden piers and boardwalks over the tidal flats—has become a deathtrap. Cargo barges, laden with expired fermented fish feed from the city's fishmongers, are being routinely overturned by colossal, mutated catfish that swarm the polluted waters. The fishmongers claim this dumping is a necessary economic act, preventing rot in their warehouses. The Catwalk Wardens, a militia of dockworkers and fisherfolk, see it as a deliberate poisoning of their livelihood and home. Players arrive as tensions boil over, forced to navigate the stinking canals and crumbling infrastructure to find a solution before the Shallows are lost forever, or the violence spills onto dry land.

Chronicle Prelude

The players arrive at the bustling, grimy Silt Harbor district. The air is thick with the smell of salt, rot, and industry. The Shallows Catwalk, a visible but seemingly distant network of piers, is partially obscured by a low, toxic fog rising from the water. Dockworkers mutter angrily, while City Watch patrols look nervous. The safe zone is the 'Salty Spout' tavern on the relatively stable main dock.

Environmental Traits

The central crisis is the ecological and economic collapse of the Shallows. The mutated catfish, grown massive and aggressive on the fermented feed, are not just a nuisance; they are a destructive force reshaping the landscape, destroying property and threatening lives. The victory condition is to break the cycle of dumping and predation, a task mired in the conflicting survival needs of two desperate factions.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Captain Sal 'the Gutter'
A weathered woman in her 50s, with sun-scorched skin and a network of scars on her arms from snagged lines and catfish spines. She wears practical, salt-stained leathers and carries a harpoon not as a weapon, but as a walking stick and symbol of her authority. Her eyes are hard and weary.
Master Merchant Halius Thorne
A tall, impeccably dressed man in middle age, with a neatly trimmed beard and a calculating gaze. His fine wool coat is spotless, a stark contrast to the grime of the docks. He carries a ledger and a signet ring bearing the Consortium seal.
Old Fenna, the 'Silt Seer'
An ancient, blind fisherwoman who lives in a shack built on the sturdiest of the old catwalks. Her eyes are clouded white, but she navigates by touch, sound, and a deep, unsettling intuition. She smells of brine and dried herbs.
Kael
A wiry young man in his late teens, with a wild look in his eyes and a fresh scar across his cheek. He wears the makeshift armband of the Wardens and carries a cudgel and a coil of rope. He moves with nervous, agitated energy.
Grigor, the 'Dock Fist'
A massive, bald man with knuckles like walnuts and a permanent scowl. He wears a reinforced leather apron over chainmail and carries a heavy, iron-shod club. The Consortium seal is branded on his apron.
The Matriarch
A colossal catfish, easily forty feet long, its mottled grey-brown skin bulging with unnatural, glowing cysts. Its barbels are as thick as ship's ropes, and its three eyes glow with a sickly, bioluminescent light. It moves with a terrifying, silent grace through the murky water.
Miriel
A young woman with ink-stained fingers and dark circles under her eyes. She wears a soiled Consortium alchemist's apron and constantly wrings her hands. She flinches at loud noises.
Sergeant Wulf
A city watchman with a paunch and a shifty gaze. His uniform is slightly too fine, his boots too polished. He carries a official mace, but his hand often rests on a purse at his belt.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

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