The Casket
The Casket
Read aloud
At the Cairn-Ring, the Registry reads out a count claiming that the retaining wall above Cobbler's Bastion has not shifted. In your pack, the casket knocks three times, pauses, then knocks twice. Kusi has measured nine inches of drift, and the waiting crowd is looking toward you.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Correct the Screefoot count and open the casket.
- 2Keep the casket in the party's care from Screefoot to Port Talus.
- 3Collect the first three Proofs: Kusi's measurements, Tarsa's clause, and Isolt's notes.
- 4Deliver the casket and evidence to the point where the road climbs into the Mist-Belt.
The clock
The party has three days on the coastal road before reaching Port Talus, with a further journey to Sailmaker's Reach. Use the road events and travel delays to show that Registry Count-Readers are arriving early. The ambush occurs when the party crosses Kelpmead; it is not a countdown that forces combat, but the Cultists' knowledge of the casket spreads as time passes.
Scenes
- 0:001. The Count at the Cairn-Ring
- 0:502. Letter of Passage
- 1:103. The Coastal Run
- 2:404. The Exchange and the Notes
- 3:555. The Kelpmead Ambush and Sailmaker's Reach
Cast
- KusiWitness and ally
- Isolt FenwickQuestgiver and ally
- Tarsa IronvaleBuyer and potential ally
- Gudrun QuakesongAntagonist
The hook
Set the scene
Midmorning crowds fill the Cairn-Ring, where guides, haulers, and Slope Watch stand around rune-etched stones. Isolt Fenwick unrolls the Registry scroll and begins the annual district count. The casket knocks from the party's pack, and several faces turn. The posted figure says the retaining wall above Cobbler's Bastion has not moved. Kusi, nearby with a knotted survey cord, has measured nine inches of drift. Invite the party to decide whether to speak before or after the reading, then resolve the custody claims from Ulric Fane of the Masons, Omiya Vela of the Syndicate, and Havel of the Guides. A DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check or a clever appeal to law settles the matter in the party's favor. On a failure, the claimants agree to accompany them as observers.
How Isolt Fenwick asks
Isolt approaches the party after the public count, away from the crowd.
She admits that the figure she was instructed to read did not match her notes and asks them to carry the casket toward the Registry in Zephyria, where it may be understood. She offers a letter of passage that opens the Registry's gates. She does not mention her uncle.
Rumours
Scenes
about 5 hours0:00
50 min
socialThe table is here
1. 1. The Count at the Cairn-Ring
The crowded Cairn-Ring in Screefoot, among rune-etched stones, guides, haulers, and Slope Watch.
Begin with the official count and let the party choose when to challenge it. Kusi can provide the nine-inch measurement. Resolve the custody claims before the group leaves. If the corrected figure is read publicly, the casket opens and reveals the Unaltered Ledger.
NextAs the crowd's argument breaks into smaller, urgent conversations, Isolt draws the party aside and presses a sealed letter of passage into their hands.
0:50
20 min
social
2. 2. Letter of Passage
A quiet lane beside the Cairn-Ring, with Registry clerks packing scrolls and the coast road visible below.
Isolt asks the party to carry the casket toward the Registry in Zephyria and offers the letter that will admit them to its gates. She does not speak of her uncle. Let the party settle their immediate supplies and choose whether to take the coastal road or ask after alternate passage.
NextWith the letter secured and the casket packed, the party follows the cliff road toward the salt wind and the long descent to Port Talus.
1:10
90 min
exploration
3. 3. The Coastal Run
A cliff road above the Talus Shelf, narrowing at scree slopes and descending to a cold, mud-choked fjord.
Cover the three-day coastal journey with one chosen or rolled road event per day. Each morning, a Wisdom (Survival) check finds the safe line through scree; failure costs half a day and a mule. On the second day, run the tide-trap fjord as a skill challenge. The optional moved cairn can reveal someone redirecting travelers toward Kelpmead.
The Tide-Trap FjordNextAs the road turns toward Port Talus, the salt air thickens with tar and fish smoke, and the party reaches the Tidal Steps with the casket still close.
2:40
75 min
social
4. 4. The Exchange and the Notes
Port Talus, between the Exchange Vault's polished dining room and the Registry rooms where Isolt keeps her working notes.
Tarsa invites the party to dine and offers to buy the casket or arrange passage aboard a Star-Sand cutter to Sailmaker's Reach. The party can seek her contract clause by persuading her, deceiving a clerk, or entering the strongroom. Isolt has come ahead to read the harbor count and may share her pencil notes if the party recognizes her fear and persuades her they will not harm her uncle.
NextOnce the party's business in Port Talus is settled, the harbor falls behind them and the route bends toward Kelpmead's low, green flats.
3:55
70 min
combat
5. 5. The Kelpmead Ambush and Sailmaker's Reach
A ferry halt among Kelpmead's quiet kelp racks, shallow estuary channels, and tide-wet platforms.
At Kelpmead, Gudrun's cell tries to take the casket intact. Use the kelp racks, rising tide, and casket rhythm to shape the confrontation. The party can fight, bargain, or answer the knocking to stop Gudrun's drumming. End with the party deciding whether to share anything they learned with her.
The Kelpmead AmbushNextWhen the drums cease or the last pursuer retreats, the party continues along the shore until the shipbuilding roofs of Sailmaker's Reach rise ahead and the road starts climbing.
Behind it
What people believe
The party must carry a sealed casket from Screefoot to Sailmaker's Reach while local organizations dispute who has the right to hold it.
Along the coast, they will face difficult roads and a dangerous fjord crossing, then negotiate with Tarsa Ironvale, a buyer from Aethelgard. In Port Talus they can gather records that call the official Anchor Count into question. Before the road climbs into the Mist-Belt, a group seeking the casket confronts them at Kelpmead.
Background
In 1400 TF, the yearly Anchor Count reaches Screefoot while the coast road carries freight and travelers toward Port Talus and the Mist-Belt.
The party has been entrusted with a sealed casket whose knocking has begun to answer public corrections to false measurements. Several local authorities claim custody, a buyer from Aethelgard offers passage and payment, and a cell of Tectonic Cultists believes the object can unlock something beneath the coast. This adventure covers the casket’s journey to Sailmaker’s Reach and establishes evidence and enemies that can follow the party into the wider campaign.
The stakes
If the party loses the casket, the first tangible evidence of false counts may vanish into the hands of people who misunderstand it or wish to control it.
If they keep it, its presence becomes public knowledge, making later travel more dangerous. The disputed measurements concern real infrastructure and communities at risk, while the party's choices determine whether the people and organizations they encounter become witnesses, allies, or obstacles.
Encounters
2The Kelpmead Ambush
Combat
Kelp racks are difficult terrain and grant half cover. At the start of each round after the third, a 10-foot strip of the flats floods. A creature in that strip makes a DC 12 Strength saving throw or falls prone. The tide and racks create narrow channels that can separate combatants.
Foes
Gudrun Quakesong, use Cult Fanatic statistics
2 Cultists
3 scree-prowlers, use the campaign's scree-prowler creature statistics
1 Silt-Eater Fjord-Crab, use the campaign's Silt-Eater Fjord-Crab statistics
ComplicationThe party can end the confrontation without fighting. A character can answer the casket's rhythm with a successful DC 14 Charisma (Performance) check, or interpret it with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check. This stops Gudrun's drumming and leaves her shaken; conversation can then turn her cell away from violence. The cultists prioritize grappling the casket-bearer and pulling the casket free.
ScalingDesigned as a moderate encounter for four 4th-level characters. For three characters, remove one Cultist and one scree-prowler. For five characters, add one Cultist. For a low-resource party, omit the fjord-crab. If the party restored the moved coast cairn and warned a caravan, remove one Cultist.
The Tide-Trap Fjord
Skill challenge
A cold estuary cuts across the road, with sucking mud, a submerged old ford, and a rope line strung between exposed rocks. Rising water threatens to sweep away pack animals and unsecured gear.
Foes
Silt-Eater Fjord-Crab, one per failure
A pack of Silt-Eater Fjord-Crabs if the party reaches three failures
ComplicationThe party needs four successes before three failures, with DC 13 checks. Suitable approaches include Wisdom (Survival) to read the tide, Strength (Athletics) to haul pack animals, Intelligence (Investigation) to locate the old ford, and Dexterity (Acrobatics) to cross the rope line. The casket-bearer gains one automatic success as the casket warms near a hidden Cairn-Stone. Each failure adds one Silt-Eater Fjord-Crab to the crossing; three failures bring a pack of them.
ScalingUse the party's resources and the number of failures to set the danger. With a tired or smaller party, allow a third failure to cause a lost pack animal and a retreat rather than immediately bringing a pack of crabs. A party that helped the fishers earns one additional automatic success.
Cast
4Kusi
Witness and ally, Oread surveyor
WantsKusi wants the actual measurements read aloud and used to protect people living beneath unstable stone. They will not surrender their field records to anyone who intends to bury them.
“The posted figure says the wall is sound. My cord says it shifted nine inches. I will not pretend those are the same number.”
Isolt Fenwick
QuestgiverQuestgiver and ally, Anchor Registry Count-Reader
WantsIsolt wants the discrepancy between her notes and the Registry's official count documented. She fears what exposing her uncle's role might do to her family, but trusts careful, fair-minded investigators.
“A number read in public belongs to everyone who has to live with it. That is why I am asking you to carry the casket somewhere it can be examined.”
Tarsa Ironvale
Buyer and potential ally, Exchange Vault factor from Aethelgard
WantsTarsa wants to secure the casket or, failing that, learn what it can reveal. She also wants to keep the Star-Sand route open and preserve the Exchange Vault's long-running anchor-certification business.
“I am buying a place at your table, not the right to dictate what you do with your evidence. Shall we discuss passage?”
Gudrun Quakesong
Antagonist, leader of a Tectonic Cultist cell
WantsGudrun believes the casket can open a way to a buried power. She wants it intact and will use restraint and force to seize it, though the casket's rhythm can make her question her certainty.
“That knock is a summons. Hand over the key, and the stone will answer us.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Letter of passage from Isolt, granting formal access to the Registry gates in Zephyria during Act IV.
Cairn-Stone Charm if the party restores the moved coast cairn or finds Sunniva's hidden cairn at the Mud-Shed stables.
Unaltered Ledger, contained in the casket after the party publicly corrects the count.
On a win
The casket reaches Sailmaker's Reach in the party's custody.
If the party corrected the count at the Cairn-Ring, its grey seam has faded and the Unaltered Ledger lies within. The party can hold up to three first Proofs: Kusi's cord measurements, Tarsa's contract clause, and Isolt's pencil notes. The Ledger is Dormant at this stage. The journey has made the party's possession of it known to everyone interested in its meaning.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to settle the custody dispute at the Cairn-Ring.
- The party still leaves with the casket, but the Masons, Syndicate, and Guides send observers along. Leaving them behind later costs one Standing with the High-Council of Needlepeaks.
- The party accumulates three failures during the fjord crossing.
- The casket is delayed, an animal is lost, or the crossing draws dangerous crabs. The party can retreat and try another route, but reaches Port Talus later and gives interested parties more time to hear about the casket.
- The party fails to obtain the contract clause through persuasion, deception, or theft.
- Tarsa refuses to share the clause willingly and may restrict access to her records. She does not summon the guards if the party is caught stealing; instead she asks what they found and reassesses her offer.
- The party does not meet Isolt's conditions for sharing her pencil notes.
- Isolt withholds her notes and remains guarded. The party can still travel onward, but misses this source of evidence and may need to earn her trust later.
- The party is defeated or surrenders during the Kelpmead ambush.
- If the party loses the ambush, Gudrun's cell escapes with the casket and takes it to a concealed camp near Kelpmead. The party can pursue, bargain, or track them. The cell's knowledge of the casket spreads either way.
Complications (d6)
- 1A Guide marks the road closed with a red cairn-stone and demands a passage toll. A successful DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check or a valid letter of passage gets the party through without delay.
- 2Crab-pot fishers ask the party to help cross the tide flats. If the party assists, they gain one automatic success during the fjord crossing challenge.
- 3A scree-slide breaks across the road. Each traveler makes a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
- 4A Slope-Watch rider reports that Registry Count-Readers are arriving earlier than expected. The news gives the party a reason to hurry or to question who is coordinating the schedule.
- 5A Syndicate patrol requests a cargo manifest. The casket is not listed. A successful DC 13 Charisma (Deception) check avoids a search; on a failure, the party must explain its presence or lose an hour to inspection.
- 6The casket knocks three times, then three times again. Nearby pack animals become agitated. A character who studies the rhythm and succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check notices it quickens near a concealed cairn-stone.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Turn The Casket into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.
