The Pearl Beneath the Straw
The Pearl Beneath the Straw
“Steal the relic. Evade the harvest. Escape before the town belongs to the dark.”
— Hook · Heist
“Mara Vey offers you a fortune to steal the Shadow Pearl from Blackwater Row before midnight. The gemstone is hidden in a guarded counting house, and demonic scarecrows patrol every street after dark. If you fail, the Gutter Crown will use the pearl to put the entire shanty town under its command.”
— Hook · Heist
Mara Vey meets the party in a closed bathhouse beneath the respectable quarter. She places a sealed iron box on the table and explains that the Shadow Pearl must be delivered to her before midnight. She provides three possible entry plans: pass through the Lantern Market with false identities, follow Pip Tallow across the rooftops, or enter through the flooded foundations. Mara warns that the demonic scarecrows cannot be bribed, but they can be deceived, distracted, or temporarily bound.
Mara Vey
Mara Vey arranges a private meeting in an abandoned bathhouse and presents the job as a high-risk theft with a strict deadline. She offers partial payment up front and claims that the pearl is dangerous only because several criminal factions want it.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The scarecrows only move when nobody is looking directly at them.
- 02The Gutter Crown counts every stolen secret in the Black Counting House.
- 03A black pearl once sank an entire neighborhood without making a sound.
- 04Old Nessa Brine knows a path beneath the town that even the scarecrows avoid.
- 05Sable Rusk has not slept since the pearl arrived.
If the party succeeds, the Gutter Crown loses control of a relic capable of binding the desperate population of Blackwater Row into a supernatural criminal army. If they fail, the town may become the first stronghold of an expanding underworld sovereign.
Background Lore
Blackwater Row is a sprawling shanty town built over the flooded foundations of an older city. Smugglers, fugitives, and unlicensed spellcasters live beneath patched canvas roofs while the town's crooked walkways shift with the tide. Three nights ago, a black gemstone called the Shadow Pearl was brought into Blackwater Row by the crime syndicate known as the Gutter Crown. The pearl is now hidden inside a shrine-like counting house and guarded by demonic scarecrows that patrol the settlement after sundown.
The Gutter Crown has hidden a priceless black gemstone called the Shadow Pearl inside a guarded counting house in Blackwater Row. The settlement is defended by demonic scarecrows that hunt intruders after sundown. Mara Vey wants the pearl stolen before midnight and is willing to pay generously for a clean escape.
