The Price of Deep Water
The Price of Deep Water
“Every mine Deepwell buys leads one step closer to a buried power that wants to own the world above.”
— Hook · investigation
“The Deepwell Corporation is buying exhausted mining camps for prices no sane water company would pay. Now an entire settlement has vanished overnight, leaving only a flooded mine, a bloodstained ledger, and one survivor who insists the water was whispering her name. Find out what Deepwell is really purchasing before the next camp disappears.”
— Hook · investigation
The party arrives in the mining settlement of Mercy Bell during a tense public hearing. Deepwell representatives are offering to purchase the settlement's exhausted mine and communal well, while residents argue that the company's surveyors have already begun fencing off the old shafts. Before the hearing can conclude, a soaked and injured woman named Mara Flint staggers into the square carrying a ruined ledger. She claims her entire camp was taken by the water beneath the mine.
Elias Venn
Elias Venn approaches the party after the public hearing, offering payment from a coalition of miners, ranchers, and independent merchants. He has enough evidence to prove Deepwell is falsifying purchase records, but not enough to explain the disappearances or identify the company's final objective.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01Deepwell pays more for flooded mines than for productive ones.
- 02Miners who drink from the newest company wells dream of cities beneath the earth.
- 03A camp called Saint Orra was bought, evacuated, and erased from every public map within a week.
- 04The company is shipping empty water barrels into the mountains and sending them back full.
- 05Silas Rook has not aged in twenty years, though nobody remembers seeing him before Deepwell was founded.
If Deepwell succeeds, it will control the region's water, enslave or manipulate the mining population through the reservoir's psychic influence, and gain an economic monopoly backed by supernatural power. If the party fails at the final confrontation, the Dryglass Range becomes the first territory in a much larger network of controlled settlements.
Background Lore
For decades, the mining camps of the Dryglass Range have relied on shallow wells and seasonal runoff. Recently, the Deepwell Corporation began purchasing exhausted mines, collapsing claims, and even entire camps at prices far above their value. The company publicly claims it is consolidating water rights and planning a modern aqueduct, but its surveyors are mapping tunnels instead of streams. As miners vanish, wells turn brackish, and company agents restrict access to old shafts, suspicion spreads across the frontier.
The Deepwell Corporation is purchasing mining camps across the Dryglass Range, including sites with little remaining ore and no obvious commercial value. The company says it wants to secure water rights and build an aqueduct, but residents report missing workers, restricted wells, and surveyors exploring abandoned shafts. The party must investigate the acquisitions, determine what Deepwell is hiding, and prevent the company from taking control of the region's last reliable water sources.
