The Missing Cargo
A merchant offers payment to recover a stolen chest of shipping manifests taken from the docks during a stormy night.
Campaign Overview
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The Drowned Ledger
A strange tide has begun to seep into a busy harbor town, carrying bits of burned paper, old coin, and a sour chemical sting. Dockworkers vanish. Shipping records are altered overnight. And beneath it all, someone is hunting a ledger said to contain names, debts, and secrets powerful enough to ruin the town’s leadership.
In this campaign preview, the heroes begin at ground level: investigating thefts, following clues through the market and docks, and descending into a flooded archive where a single mastermind is using alchemy, bribery, and violence to bury the truth.
Tone
- Maritime mystery
- Low-level investigation and street danger
- Pressure from time, weather, and hidden corruption
What Act I Covers
- A civic crisis at the harbor
- Clues tied to missing records and chemical sabotage
- A first confrontation with the villain’s agents
- A descent into the drowned archive below the town
Player Handout
Welcome to the Harbor of Glasswake
The town of Glasswake depends on its docks, its ledgers, and the trust between merchants and stevedores. Lately, that trust has started to rot.
Tonight, a shipment went missing. A clerk was found unconscious beside a vat of acrid green residue. And someone has been asking about a sealed ledger kept beneath the old archive.
You are strangers, locals, troubleshooters, or hired hands drawn into the same problem: find out who is stealing from the harbor, stop the sabotage, and recover the ledger before it is destroyed or used to ruin the town.
Starting Hook
Meet at the flooded market near the quays as a storm rolls in and the town watch struggles to keep order.
Free Act I Preview
The Drowned Ledger
Act I is a compact harbor-town mystery that opens with missing records, dockside disappearances, and signs of deliberate sabotage. The party investigates three linked sites: the quay, a waterlogged scribe’s house, and an ancient flood tunnel feeding a submerged archive. The central villain is using stolen ledgers to blackmail merchants and officials while masking movements through the harbor. Keep pressure on the clock: each scene should reveal a new lead that points deeper underground.
Adventure Hooks
The Clerk’s Warning
A frightened town scribe begs the party to find a hidden ledger before masked thieves return to finish the job.
Act Structure
Act I: The Harbor Ledger
Recommended level: 1-2The party enters a storm-battered harbor town where cargo theft, altered records, and alchemical sabotage all point toward a hidden archive beneath the docks. Through investigation and escalating violence, the heroes uncover Mara Voss’s blackmail operation and recover the ledger before it can be burned.
Objectives
- Investigate the missing shipment and the altered records
- Trace the sabotage to the old archive tunnels
- Recover the harbor ledger and identify the culprit
Storm at the Quays
Rain hammers the harbor and lanterns sway on wet rope. Dockworkers argue over missing crates while a clerk kneels beside a smear of green residue and a torn page of shipping tallies.
Open with immediate tension and multiple points of interest. Let the party hear rumors, inspect evidence, and notice that someone is watching them from the crowd.
Checks
- Investigation DC 12 to link residue to the missing cargo
- Insight DC 11 to notice a witness is afraid of naming names
- Perception DC 12 to spot a follower in the crowd
Clues
- The residue is recent and intentionally smeared.
- The missing shipment was moved inland only briefly.
- Someone paid dockworkers to say nothing.
Transitions
- Leads to the scribe’s house for record comparison
- Leads to the dockside ambush if the party pushes too openly
The Scribe’s Hidden Workroom
Paper stacks crowd the room from floor to ceiling. A false bookshelf hangs open, revealing a narrow desk, a lockbox, and pages marked with careful corrections.
This is the investigation scene. The workroom provides proof that the records were altered and that someone used the archive as a laundering point for names and payments.
Checks
- Investigation DC 13 to find the hidden ledger copy
- Arcana or Intelligence DC 12 to identify alchemical blotting compound
- Persuasion DC 11 to coax the clerk into speaking
Clues
- The archive key was copied, not stolen.
- A second hand corrected the same entries every night.
- The ledger references a submerged vault beneath the archive.
Transitions
- Leads to the flood tunnels beneath the archive
- Can reveal the villain’s name if the party searches thoroughly
Vault Beneath the Flood
Cold water swirls around the iron chest as the last lantern sputters. From the dark beyond the shelves comes the scrape of boots and the jingle of a keyring.
This is the climax for Act I. Make the chamber feel cramped and urgent, with the ledger at risk of being burned. The party should be able to win by combat, negotiation, or bold theft.
Checks
- Athletics DC 12 to force the chest
- Thieves’ Tools DC 13 to open the lock quietly
- Religion or History DC 10 to interpret the archive marks
Clues
- Mara Voss is the one moving the records.
- The ledger contains enough names to shake the town’s leadership.
- A second route out of the vault leads toward the river
Transitions
- Ends the act with the ledger recovered or the villain forced to flee
- Points toward a future pursuit beyond the harbor
Milestone: The party reaches level 2 after recovering the ledger or uncovering Mara Voss’s operation.
Villain Character Sheets
Mara Voss
Completed
Mara Voss is the sort of villain who never raises her voice because she never needs to. She moves through Glasswake’s docks, archives, and …
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Mara Voss Character Sheet
Motivation
Mara wants control of Glasswake’s trade by collecting debts, secrets, and leverage from the harbor ledger. She sees the town as already corrupt and believes she is simply claiming power before worse predators arrive.
Personality
Calm, precise, and never hurried. She speaks like a careful accountant who has already totaled the cost of every life in the room.
Resources
- A network of paid dockhands and hired thugs
- Access to falsified cargo records
- Alchemical supplies that mask scents and damage documents
- Hidden routes through the old archive tunnels
Battle Plan
Mara avoids direct confrontation until cornered. She sends agents first, then uses prepared terrain, smoke, and narrow corridors to control movement. If defeated publicly, she tries to bargain with names from the ledger and escape through the tunnels.
Defeat or Redemption
If defeated, Mara can be arrested once the ledger is recovered. If the party exposes her leverage before a fight, she may surrender to save her own network from collapsing.
Running Notes
Recommended party: 3-5 characters
Session Zero
This campaign preview works best with a grounded mystery tone and low-level street danger. Confirm lines and veils around corruption, blackmail, coercion, and potential harm to civic institutions. Ask players if they want investigation, combat, or social play to be the focus. Establish whether theft from the party is acceptable and whether the table wants the villain to be redeemable or purely antagonistic.
Scaling Guidance
For a weaker party, remove one enemy from each encounter and give the heroes an extra healing potion. For a stronger or larger party, add 1 bandit to the ambush and 1 thug or hazard to the final vault. Keep the final fight dangerous by using terrain, water, and the threat of burning evidence rather than adding too many enemies.
DM Advice
Keep clues visible, redundant, and easy to find. If the players miss a lead, have a witness volunteer it, or let an enemy drop a note. End scenes with a clear next step. The act should feel like one escalating chain: rain, records, tunnels, vault, reveal.
Secrets & Clues
- The green residue is an alchemical masking agent used to confuse scent and damage ink.
- The old archive is still in use through hidden flood tunnels.
- Mara Voss’s network includes town officials, not just criminals.
- The ledger’s real value is blackmail, not cargo accounting.
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Encounters
Dockside Ambush
Encounter Builder
Moderate
Suggested Level: 1-2
Thugs and cutpurses attack while the party questions witnesses near the rainy quays. The fight is messy, public, and meant to frighten witnesses into silence.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Slick wooden docks
- Crates provide half cover
- Narrow gangplank over dark water
- Rain imposes poor visibility at distance
Treasure
14 gp, a signet scrap from a merchant seal, and a vial of pungent green alchemical residue
DM Notes
If the fight is too hard, remove one thug. If too easy, have one bandit try to shove a target into the water.
Flooded Archive Passage
Suggested Level: 1-2
The party navigates a partially submerged service tunnel filled with unstable debris, trapped air pockets, and lurking scavengers guarding the route inward.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Knee-deep water in places
- Crumbling stone shelves
- Narrow ledges above flooded sections
- A loose grate can be lifted or forced open
Treasure
A waterproof satchel containing copied cargo pages and 1 potion of healing
DM Notes
Use this as a brief resource drain before the final scene. The bandit may flee if reduced below half hit points.
Ledger Vault Stand
Encounter Builder
High
Suggested Level: 1-2
Inside the hidden vault, the villain’s last guards hold the line while the ledger is moved or destroyed. The room is cramped, flooded, and full of collapsing shelves.
Creatures
Thug
Count 2
SRD
· CR 1/2
· Humanoid
Bandit
Count 2
SRD
· CR 1/8
· Humanoid
Swarm of Rats
SRD
· CR 1/4
· Beast
Terrain Features
- Waist-high water in the vault corners
- Collapsing shelving creates difficult terrain
- A brazier can be kicked over to create smoke
- Locked iron ledger chest at the back
Treasure
The Harbor Ledger, 35 gp in bribes, and a silvered signet ring bearing the villain’s mark
DM Notes
If the party is struggling, have the rats scatter or the thug flee after the ledger is seized. If they are dominating, add one additional bandit from a side corridor.
Magic Items
Ledger-Seal Ring
Completed
Ledger-Seal Ring
Uncommon
A brass signet ring that helps authenticate documents. While worn, it grants advantage on checks made to detect forged seals, false ledgers, or tampered paperwork in the harbor’s records.
Location
Act I, found in the submerged archive vault
Attunement
False
Lantern of Clear Water
Completed
Lantern of Clear Water
Common
This hooded lantern burns with pale blue flame that reveals suspended ink, blood, and certain alchemical residues in water or rain within 20 feet.
Location
Act I, recovered from the scribe’s hidden workroom
Attunement
False
Charm of Tidal Breath
Completed
Charm of Tidal Breath
Uncommon
A carved shell charm that lets the wearer hold their breath for twice as long and ignore the first level of exhaustion caused by swimming or cold surf.
Location
Act I, hidden in the flood tunnel cache
Attunement
False
Player Characters
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