Skip to content
CharGen Icon
CreatePricing

The Empty Crossing

Quests
5 scenes · about 3 hours · 2 encounters

The Empty Crossing

The ferry returned. The crew did not.

Read aloud

At dawn, the cable ferry drifts into Reedhook with its engine cold, its deck empty, and its crew gone. Beyond the far anchor, where open water should be, a pale shard hangs in the air above the route. Portmaster Mara Venn offers a reward for answers before the next crossing is due.

Run the session

Scene
1/5
The Ferry Comes Home
Objectives
0/4
Objectives
A complication

Cheat sheet

Objectives

  1. 1Determine what happened to the missing ferry crew.
  2. 2Discover a safe approach to the folded route.
  3. 3Recover the crew without collapsing the route.
  4. 4Decide who controls the shard's future.Optional

The clock

The next scheduled ferry is due before nightfall. Mara plans to suspend the route if the party cannot offer a credible safety plan, while Corven intends to claim the shard as soon as the port's watch changes.

Scenes

  1. 0:00The Ferry Comes Home
  2. 0:20Marks on the Empty Deck
  3. 0:55Witnesses and a Salvage Claim
  4. 1:25Across the Repeating Route
  5. 2:10A Way Back Through

Cast

  • Mara VennQuestgiver
  • Tallis ReedWitness
  • Ilyra QuillAlly
  • Corven PikeAntagonist

The hook

Set the scene

The ferry's hull bumps the Reedhook landing without a pilot at the wheel. Its deck carries a half-coiled line, a dropped lantern, and a wet handprint that stops at the rail. Across the channel, the far-side beacon flashes once, then goes dark. A pale shard glimmers above the empty route.

How Mara Venn asks

Mara Venn approaches the party on the landing as the ferry is secured.

Rumours

Roll a rumour

1“A deckhand swore the ferry passed its own wake twice before vanishing from the far beacon.”
2“The cable was inspected the night before the disappearance, but the inspection record has an unexplained gap.”
3“Some say the shard is a piece of fallen star. Others insist it is part of the first crossing post.”
4“Corven Pike has been buying old ferry charts and asking which routes have been abandoned.”
5“Tallis heard their brother call from the water after the ferry had already reached the port.”

Scenes

about 3 hours

  1. 0:00

    20 min

    SocialThe table is here

    1. The Ferry Comes Home

    Reedhook landing, at dawn, beside the returned ferry.

    Mara hires the party while port workers secure the empty ferry. The group can set priorities, learn the deadline of the next scheduled crossing, and see the shard from the landing.

    NextMara grants access to the boat and port records. Tallis Reed waits nearby with a witness account.

  2. 0:20

    35 min

    Investigation

    2. Marks on the Empty Deck

    The ferry's deck and Reedhook's cramped signal office.

    The party examines the deck, the cable fittings, crew belongings, and the port log. Useful evidence includes a fresh cut on a survey line, a lantern bearing pale grit, and a beacon entry recorded after the ferry had supposedly returned.

    NextClues point toward the far anchor and reveal that the crew were performing an unlisted survey.

  3. 0:55

    30 min

    Social

    3. Witnesses and a Salvage Claim

    A net shed overlooking the port, with the crossing visible through its open doors.

    Tallis and Ilyra help the party compare accounts and decode the beacon sequence. Corven arrives to offer cooperation, then tries to secure a private claim on the shard.

    NextThe party learns how to test the route and chooses whether to accept, refuse, or exploit Corven's offer.

  4. 1:25

    45 min

    Exploration

    4. Across the Repeating Route

    The cable ferry and the open channel between Reedhook and the far-side anchor.

    The party boards the ferry or follows the cable out to the far anchor. The route repeats small details, and the group must use the beacon, cable tension, and survey notes to recognize when they are approaching the same stretch again.

    The Ferry That Repeats

    NextThe party reaches the maintenance platform, where the shard becomes visible from multiple angles.

  5. 2:10

    60 min

    Skill

    5. A Way Back Through

    The far-side maintenance platform at the edge of the folded route.

    The party stabilizes the cable and aligns the crossing posts while facing the shard's memory distortions. Corven may attempt to seize it; once the route is safe, the trapped crew can be guided back.

    The Shard at the Empty Route

    NextThe crew return to Reedhook, and the party decides the shard's custody and what the port should be told.

Behind it

What people believe

A cable ferry has returned to the port of Reedhook with its crew missing.

Background

In Ferryfall, settlements depend on cable ferries strung across deep, fast-moving channels.

The stakes

If the party fails, the missing crew may remain trapped, Reedhook's ferry route may close, and Corven may claim the shard.

Encounters

2

  • The Ferry That Repeats

    Combat or hazardous obstacle

    An empty cable ferry suspended over a deep channel. The narrow deck is slick, the central cable jerks without warning, and a broken handrail opens onto the water.

    Foes

    • Route-echoes: faceless silhouettes that repeat the missing crew's last motions

    • One cable-snarled ferry guardian formed from rope, iron fittings, and river debris

    ComplicationThe ferry's movement makes footing unreliable. Each sharp cable-tug shifts the deck, and loose objects slide toward the open channel. The shard's light can briefly reveal routes through the distortion, but only from changing angles.

    ScalingFor a smaller or less combat-focused party, use only two route-echoes and make the guardian a hazard that can be disabled. For a larger or more capable party, add echoes that appear from below the deck and make the guardian actively drag targets toward the rail.

  • The Shard at the Empty Route

    Social and skill challenge

    A narrow maintenance platform beside the far-side anchor. The route beyond it appears empty, though the shard hangs in open air where the ferry path should continue.

    Foes

    • No required foes; Corven Pike's two salvagers may become hostile if negotiations fail

    ComplicationThe shard's pulses cause memories to overlap. Each round or major exchange, someone hears a different crew member calling from a different direction, making it easy to split up or misread signals.

    ScalingFor a gentle resolution, the shard can be approached after the crew's names and last route are identified. For higher tension, the crossing contracts with every failed approach, forcing the party to divide attention between stabilizing the cable and reaching the shard.

Cast

4

  • Mara Venn

    QuestgiverQuestgiver, portmaster of Reedhook

    WantsRecover the missing crew and preserve the port's livelihood, while concealing that she approved a risky late-night survey of the route.

    “The ferry came back empty. I want my crew found, and I want the crossing kept open before panic closes the port.”

  • Tallis Reed

    Witness, dockside net-mender and sibling of a missing deckhand

    WantsConvince someone to take her warning seriously and prove that her brother, a deckhand on the missing crew, did not simply desert.

    “I heard the cable singing before the ferry went. Not creaking. Singing, like someone pulling a wet finger around a glass rim.”

  • Ilyra Quill

    Ally, itinerant surveyor who has studied strange route distortions

    WantsKeep the shard from being removed or studied until she can understand its effect on Ferryfall's crossings.

    “The route is not empty. It is waiting for the right weight to cross.”

  • Corven Pike

    Antagonist, salvage broker and former ferry pilot

    WantsClaim the shard and sell its location to a powerful buyer, even if the route remains dangerous.

    “You call it a rescue. I call it a chance to recover what the river has been hiding.”

How it ends

Rewards

Experience: Award experience or an equivalent milestone for resolving the investigation, rescuing the crew, and making a consequential choice about the shard.
Gold: A fair local payment from Mara, with a larger bonus if the whole crew returns and the ferry route is restored.
In the story: The port's trust, access to ferry records, and the choice of who studies or guards the shard.
Standing: Respect from Reedhook's port workers and ferry operators. If the party protects the crossing from Corven, the local salvage guild also owes them a favor.

Items

  • A brass crossing-token that grants priority passage on Reedhook ferries

  • A sealed survey case containing Ilyra's annotated route maps, useful for future travel or research

On a win

The party aligns the crossing posts and stabilizes the cable long enough to reach the folded route.

What it leaves open

The crew remembers seeing a second, older ferry traveling beside them inside the fold. Its passengers may still be there.
Ilyra believes the shard came from one of Ferryfall's original crossing anchors, several of which were lost before the port was founded.
Corven Pike may have sold a rough sketch of the shard to a buyer who already knows the route's location.
The recovered crew disagree about how much time passed inside the repeating route, leaving one deckhand convinced that someone spoke to them from beyond the shard.

If it fails

The party cannot establish what happened to the crew or prove the crossing can be approached safely.
Mara suspends ferry service and the port loses trade for several days. Nearby settlements grow hostile toward Reedhook, and the party must find another way to cross the channel.
The party allows Corven to take control of the investigation or leaves the shard unguarded.
Corven claims the shard's location and sells access to it. The route becomes a contested salvage site, bringing armed crews and political pressure to Ferryfall.
The party reaches the ferry but fails to stabilize the route or communicate a safe way back.
The missing crew remain trapped in the route's repeated passage. They may be recoverable later, but each return to the crossing makes their memories less reliable.

Complications (d6)

  1. 1A sudden backwash sweeps loose gear and one nearby bystander toward the water. Rescuing them costs time and draws attention from the port.
  2. 2The crossing cable emits a painful, glasslike note. Anyone close to it loses their bearings for a few minutes, and the shard brightens enough to attract the crowd.
  3. 3Corven Pike's hired salvagers arrive early and begin cutting a mooring line, claiming the ferry is abandoned property.
  4. 4A witness changes their account after receiving a quiet threat. The party can restore their confidence by protecting them or finding independent evidence.
  5. 5A fog bank rolls through the port. The shard disappears from view, while the far-side beacon flashes a signal that no living operator admits sending.
  6. 6A small object from the missing ferry arrives on the current, dry and dusted with pale grit. Its arrival briefly opens a view of the crossing from the opposite side.

Media

0 images

No images yet.

Visual sheet

Turn The Empty Crossing into a sheet

A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.