Star-Salt Under Briarhill

retrieve

Star-Salt Under Briarhill

Lvl 3-53-51-2 sessions· medium

“A quiet mining job turns into a race for a rare reagent, a clash with rival claimants, and a dangerous choice about how much to take from the mountain.”

— Hook · retrieve

QuestgiverMaster Elira Voss

Retrieve

D&D 5E

Medium

Lvl 3-5

3-5

1-2 sessions

4 NPCs

3 encounters

The Opening

“The Briarhollow Alchemists Guild is paying well for a small, quiet job: go into the old hillside mine and bring back a fistful of star-salt before rival claimants or cave-ins ruin the seam. If you succeed, the guild says it can turn the reagent into medicine, protection, and coin enough for everyone to remember your names.”
— Hook · retrieve

Set the Scene

At the guildhall, Master Elira Voss spreads a hand-drawn map across a workbench and sets a silver scale beside it. She explains that the guild needs star-salt from a collapsed mine before nightfall tomorrow, and she asks for a team that can move quietly, think fast, and return with the reagent intact.

Patron

Questgiver

Master Elira Voss

Direct commission with urgency and a clear payment, plus a request for discretion.

On the Streets · In the Books

Rumours

d4 · table

01
The mine used to be a silver vein before the star-salt appeared overnight after a lightning storm.
02
Old miners say the crystals sing faintly if touched with iron tools.
03
A rival merchant house has been paying scavengers to map every abandoned shaft in the region.
04
Someone has been buying lamp oil in bulk, enough for a long stay underground.

Stakes

If the party succeeds, the guild gains a vital reagent and the region gains needed medicines and magical preparations. If they fail, the vein may be lost, the mine may collapse, and something buried under Briarhill may begin to wake.

Ticking Clock·The moonwater seam is most stable at dusk. After midnight, the crystals begin to shift and the mine becomes far more likely to collapse or seal itself.

Background Lore

The alchemists guild of Briarhollow has spent three winters trying to stabilize a rare reagent called star-salt, a mineral bloom that forms only where moonwater runs through ancient basalt. The last known seam was exposed when a hillside mine collapsed after heavy rains, and since then small creatures, smugglers, and something stranger have all begun prowling the area. The guild cannot send a full expedition without drawing attention, so they hire a small band to retrieve a sealable quantity before the vein is exhausted or claimed by rivals.

What the World Knows

The alchemists guild needs a rare mineral called star-salt from an abandoned mine beneath Briarhill. The job is to retrieve a usable sample before the site becomes too dangerous or falls into the hands of rivals.