Echo Brine

“Some knowledge is like a plague. We must cut the sickness away.“
-Inquisitor Ingrid Steele

A couple of months ago, the fishermen of Hemlock Cove found unusual stones caught in their nets. As more were surfaced, a small cabal within the coastal village of Hemlock Cove learned how to use them to their own ends.

A month ago, a renowned group of adventurers and a fanatical sect of Knights of Ord arrived to help at the same time.

A few weeks ago, the witches within the village of Hemlock Cove summoned an elder being who raised the dead, scarred the landscape, killed dozens, and plunged the area into darkness. The renowned adventurers died defending the town from the abominations – but not before encasing the town in a magical barrier and destroying the mortal form of the being. Meanwhile, the Zealots of the Secret were conducting a witch hunt in Hemlock Cove, putting dozens to death.

The barrier still stands, the people of Hemlock Cove are frightened, and the Zealots of the Secret still hunt incessantly.

Echo Brine is a town crawl that takes place in the ruined, coastal port town of Hemlock Cove. Adventurers looking to loot its remains will find it still inhabited by struggling villagers and its (missing) mayor, heretical witches with varying agendas, and the knights willing to raze the place in order to contain its secrets. Smart adventurers will find opportunities to ally with any of these factions or play them against one another.

A new mechanic is introduced (Echoes of Violence) that allows your party to experience the trauma that happened here first-hand and – maybe – set it right. This 56 page adventure is designed for characters level 4-6 and contains:

• 31 locations to explore
• NPCs to ally with or betray
• 12 new enemies to avoid (or fight)
• 15 new items and 1 spell 
• a new character class (the Smuggler)

This is the second in a series of Shadowdark compatible modules where legendary heroes have fallen defeating a mighty evil, only to leave critical work undone. Players can choose to finish what these heroes started or take an opportunity to loot while the great evil is temporarily quelled. This module provides mechanics to run as a short session or to integrate into a larger campaign.