The Missing Flood Keys
The town reeve offers coin and authority to anyone willing to recover the stolen floodgate keys before the reservoir is opened at the wrong time.
Campaign Overview
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The Drowned Ledger
A frontier settlement built beside an old stone reservoir is entering the wet season—and something beneath the water is waking up. When ledgers vanish, floodgates open at odd hours, and the town’s records begin to rot from the inside out, the party is drawn into a mystery of theft, sabotage, and buried history.
Act I focuses on discovering who is manipulating the town’s waterworks and why. The answers point toward a hidden vault beneath the reservoir, a scheme to drown the archive, and a villain who believes the town’s debts can only be erased in floodwater.
Tone: civic mystery, pressure-cooker danger, damp ruins, and tense social investigation.
What players can expect: clues, negotiation, a few sharp fights, and a final confrontation at a flooded intake chamber.
Player Handout
Welcome to Harlowe Bend
The town has survived three hard winters and one failed levy, but now the rain won’t stop—and neither will the trouble. The archive clerk says records are missing. Mill workers say the gates open by themselves. Fisherfolk whisper about lanterns in the reservoir at night.
You arrive just as the reeve posts a reward for anyone who can find out who is stealing from the town and tampering with the waterworks. The job sounds local. It isn’t. Something old lies under the reservoir, and someone is trying to wake it up.
Starting hook: accept the reeve’s job, protect your own interests, or follow a clue that points to the archive.
Free Act I Preview
The Drowned Ledger
Act I opens in the river town of Harlowe Bend, where the municipal ledger, water-control keys, and old reservoir records have started disappearing. The party is hired to investigate disruptions at the archive and the reservoir gates. The true culprit is using forged work orders and marsh-dweller mercenaries to access a sealed pre-settlement intake chamber. The act should move from social inquiry to a sewer-side ambush and end with a showdown at the lower floodgate. Keep the mystery legible: every scene should reveal one new lead tied to the villain’s plan.
Adventure Hooks
Ink That Won’t Dry
A local archivist hires the party after an entire shelf of water-stained ledgers vanishes overnight, leaving only one name repeated in the mud.
Act Structure
Act I: Rain Over Harlowe Bend
Recommended level: 1-2The party investigates missing records and sabotage around the town’s archive and reservoir. Early clues point to forged maintenance orders, hired enforcers, and an old sealed chamber under the waterworks. The act is built as a mystery with escalating physical danger, ending in a flooded control chamber where the villain’s plan is interrupted or completed in part.
Objectives
- Investigate thefts and sabotage in town
- Trace forged access to the reservoir
- Survive the ambush on the road or culvert
- Stop the floodgate breach and recover the hidden lead
The Reeve’s Offer
Rain beads on the reeve’s cloak as townsfolk cluster under awnings, waiting to hear whether the water will rise again tonight.
Open with a clear job offer and two or three rumors. Establish that the town needs help, but don’t overload the players with names. Let them choose where to start investigating.
Checks
- DC 10 Insight to read the reeve’s urgency
- DC 12 Investigation to spot forged paperwork
- DC 10 Persuasion to gain free access to records
Clues
- The stolen documents concern water rights and old tunnels.
- The work orders are official in appearance but subtly altered.
- Someone with clerical access is involved.
Transitions
- Leads to the archive scene
- Points toward the gatehouse or mill
Records in the Rain
The archive smells of wet parchment, lamp oil, and old stone. One shelf has been emptied so cleanly it looks like a missing tooth in the wall.
Run this as the primary investigation scene. Give the party a chance to talk to staff, search the room, and notice the theft pattern. If needed, reveal the culvert route through a marginal note or map scrap.
Checks
- DC 12 Investigation to find the map fragment
- DC 11 Arcana to notice the brine-tainted ink
- DC 10 Medicine to identify damp soot or mud on a suspect
Clues
- A hidden route leads beneath the mill road.
- The same hand signed multiple orders using a borrowed seal.
- The villain is searching for something older than the current town records.
Transitions
- Leads to the Sewer Side Ambush
- Can reveal the reservoir intake chamber
The Floodgate Below
Water slams the stone walls like an angry fist, and every chain in the chamber trembles with the weight of the storm above.
This is the climax. Make the environment matter: levers, slick ledges, and pressure surges should create urgency. Use the villain’s escape or capture as the end state, not a drawn-out war.
Checks
- DC 12 Athletics to hold or turn a gate lever
- DC 12 Acrobatics to cross the wet catwalk
- DC 13 Investigation to find the hidden vault clue
Clues
- The hidden vault lies beneath the reservoir floor.
- The ledger names people who funded the original settlement.
- Vey has a second route out through maintenance channels.
Transitions
- Ends Act I
- Sets up the next act’s descent into the buried vault
Milestone: The party reaches level 2 after resolving the archive break-in and discovering the route to the reservoir chamber.
Villain Character Sheets
Sister Vey of the Brine Quill
Completed
Sister Vey of the Brine Quill is the sort of villain who never feels as if she arrived with a drumroll. She arrives with paperwork. In Harl…
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Sister Vey of the Brine Quill Character Sheet
Motivation
Vey believes the town’s land registry is built on stolen rights and hidden corruption. She wants to open the sealed intake chamber, flood the archive, and recover a buried ledger that can expose the town’s founders or erase her own debts, depending on who reaches it first.
Personality
Soft-spoken, patient, and unsettlingly polite. She speaks like a clerk correcting errors, never raises her voice, and treats sabotage as a form of bookkeeping.
Resources
- Forged work orders and stolen seals
- A small ring of paid bandits and a zealous cultist lieutenant
- Hidden access to culverts and maintenance tunnels
- Knowledge of the old reservoir mechanism and its timing
Battle Plan
Vey avoids direct combat unless cornered. She uses hired muscle to delay intruders, manipulates the environment with gates and flooding, and retreats through maintenance routes if the chamber turns against her. If forced to fight, she uses terrain and minions to isolate targets and disengage.
Defeat or Redemption
If defeated, Vey can be arrested, exposed, or persuaded to reveal the hidden vault’s true contents. If redeemed, she may become a dangerous ally who still knows too much about the town’s secrets.
Running Notes
Recommended party: 3-5 characters
Session Zero
This campaign preview uses suspense, civic corruption, and environmental danger. Establish lines and veils for drowning, claustrophobia, and corruption themes. Ask players if they want the mystery solved through investigation, negotiation, or direct action. Clarify that the opening arc centers on a town under stress, not a moralizing view of poverty or religion. Encourage players to create a reason they care about records, law, family, or local stability.
Scaling Guidance
For a weaker party, remove one Bandit from each encounter and replace the Swarm of Rats with environmental pressure only. For a stronger party, add one Bandit to the first and last encounters, or increase the villain’s escape pressure by having the water surge each round. Keep official monsters only, and use terrain, alarms, and flooding to raise difficulty instead of adding extra enemies.
DM Advice
Reveal at least one actionable clue in every scene. Let the players feel clever for following paperwork and water logic. Use the storm as a timer, but avoid total dead ends. The villain should feel like someone exploiting systems, not a random monster. End Act I with a clear lead into the buried vault, even if the party never learns every secret.
Secrets & Clues
- The villain’s forged orders use real town stationery stolen weeks ago.
- The reservoir predates the settlement and was built over another structure.
- The archive’s missing ledger page references a sealed debt beneath the water.
- The culvert route can be opened from the mill road with the right gate token.
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Encounters
Archive Break-In
Encounter Builder
Moderate
Suggested Level: 1-2
The party catches thieves rifling soaked ledgers in a lamp-lit archive room while stormwater leaks through the ceiling and shelves begin to collapse.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Narrow aisles of shelves provide half cover
- Leaking ceiling creates slippery squares
- Falling book stacks can block movement or create difficult terrain
Treasure
A stolen seal ring, 12 gp in mixed coin, and a water-damaged map fragment.
DM Notes
Reduce to 1 Bandit and 1 Cultist for a very small party. Add 1 Bandit if the players are well armed or have strong combat options.
Sewer Side Ambush
Suggested Level: 1-2
On the way to the reservoir, the party is attacked in a culvert by hired toughs who try to push them into a drainage channel while the rain swells the current.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Waist-high culvert walls offer cover
- Fast water forces Dexterity saves to avoid slipping
- A rusted grate can be opened or jammed
Treasure
A pouch with 8 gp, a brass gate token, and a clue pointing to the lower floodgate.
DM Notes
Use this as a quick pressure fight or as a chase if the party prefers. For a harder version, add 1 Cultist who directs the ambush.
Lower Floodgate Showdown
Encounter Builder
High
Suggested Level: 2
At the reservoir intake, the villain’s agents try to complete the breach ritual while the floodgates strain, the water rises, and the chamber echoes with pounding pressure.
Creatures
Cultist
SRD
· CR 1/8
· Humanoid
Bandit
Count 2
SRD
· CR 1/8
· Humanoid
Swarm of Rats
Count 8
SRD
· CR 1/4
· Beast
Terrain Features
- Narrow stone catwalk over fast-moving water
- Control levers can raise or lower gates
- Slick runoff imposes movement hazards and prone risk
Treasure
A hidden compartment with 25 gp, the master key to the archive, and the act-ending lead to the sealed vault.
DM Notes
This is the act’s climax. If the group is struggling, remove the Swarm of Rats. If they are breezing through, add one more Bandit or make the water surge each round.
Magic Items
Ledgerkeeper Seal
Completed
Ledgerkeeper Seal
Uncommon
A brass signet that stamps fresh wax with a faint image of flowing water. Once per day, it can authenticate a document or reveal a recent forged impression on paper.
Location
Act I, archive break-in aftermath
Attunement
False; no attunement required
Waders of the Quiet Step
Completed
Waders of the Quiet Step
Common
These oilcloth boots dull sound in shallow water and mud. While worn, you have advantage on Dexterity checks to move silently through wet terrain.
Location
Act I, mill road and culvert scenes
Attunement
False; no attunement required
Lantern of Low Tide
Completed
Lantern of Low Tide
Uncommon
This hooded lantern burns with pale blue flame that brightens damp stone and reveals fresh water trails, drip paths, and recently opened sluices within 30 feet.
Location
Act I, reservoir intake chamber
Attunement
True; requires attunement by a creature proficient with Survival or Investigation
Player Characters
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