The adventure ahead
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Brinehollow Isle is a remote plantation island in the Azure Reach, where salt-cane is harvested under the watch of Proprietor Cassius Vane. Workers have been vanishing for months, and the townsfolk of the only port, Gull's Rest, refuse to speak of it. By night, pirate ships raid the coast, burning storehouses and stealing cargo—but the raids always seem to cover something else. The party arrives as hired hands, investigators, or concerned travelers, and quickly learns that the missing workers are being shipped off the island to a buyer known only as the Ninth Wave. To find the truth, they must brave the cane fields, break into the overseer's manor, and descend into a sea cave where the first answers—and the first real danger—await.
Share with your players
You have come to Brinehollow Isle, a jagged speck of black sand and cane fields in the Azure Reach. The plantation owner, Cassius Vane, pays well for strong backs and sharp eyes, but the workers who sign on with him have a habit of disappearing. The port town of Gull's Rest is a place of locked doors and averted gazes. At night, pirate ships slip past the reef and set fire to the storehouses—yet the fires always seem to burn the same empty buildings.
You have your own reasons for being here: a missing sibling, a debt, a contract, or simple curiosity. Whatever brought you, you can feel that Brinehollow is hiding something. The salt wind carries the smell of smoke and something older, like a tide that never goes out. Your first night on the island, a dockhand whispers a warning: 'Don't ask about the missing. The Ninth Wave hears everything.'
Behind the screen
This is Act I of a campaign for 1st- to 3rd-level characters. The adventure is a mystery-horror sandbox set on Brinehollow Isle. The central villain of this act is Cassius Vane, the plantation proprietor, who is a mid-level character (his character sheet is provided in the full module). He is not a monster and should not be given a monster stat block. He is a cruel, calculating man who sells enslaved workers to the Ninth Wave, a shadowy organization that needs living souls for a ritual called the Tidebound Ascension.
The pirates are a rival crew led by Captain Rilla Voss, who is also investigating the Ninth Wave for her own reasons; she may become an uneasy ally. The townsfolk are silent out of fear, bribery, or because they have family members who are also missing. The act ends with the party rescuing the missing workers, exposing Vane, and finding a map to the mainland where the Ninth Wave operates. The larger villain, the Tidefather, is only hinted at through symbols, letters, and a prisoner's whisper. The act is designed for three to four sessions.
Hook 01
One of the party carries a bundle of letters from a sibling who signed a three-year contract with the Brinehollow Plantation and stopped writing after the second month. The last letter mentions a dockhand named Pell, a bonus for 'night work in the east fields,' and a man in a gray coat who counted the workers like livestock. The sibling's final line is a warning: 'If I stop writing, do not come alone.'
Hook 02
A nervous shipping agent in the port of Gull's Rest pays the party to guard a salt-cane shipment and quietly report why so many sealed crates leave Brinehollow Isle with no matching harvest to show for it. The pay is good, the agent's hands shake, and the contract includes one strange clause: 'Do not open any crate stamped with nine waves.'
The party arrives on Brinehollow Isle and uncovers a conspiracy: enslaved workers are being sold to a mysterious buyer called the Ninth Wave. They must navigate a fearful town, investigate the plantation, break into the overseer's manor, and descend into a sea cave to rescue the missing and confront Cassius Vane. The act ends with the first solid lead to the larger organization behind the disappearances.
Read aloud
The ferry groans against the dock as salt spray stings your eyes. Gull's Rest is a huddle of tar-paper roofs and shuttered windows, and the only sound is the clang of a buoy and the distant crack of a whip from the cane fields. A thin dockhand named Pell meets you with a lantern that shakes in his grip. He counts your coins twice, then leans close. 'You're here for work? Keep your head down. Don't ask about the missing. And if you hear a bell after dark, get inside. The pirates don't take prisoners.'
This scene sets the tone of fear and secrecy. Pell is terrified; he knows a little but will not speak openly. If the party presses him, he mentions that three workers vanished last week and that the overseer, Cassius Vane, has been buying more chains than usual. The docks are watched by two of Vane's enforcers (use 2 Bandit) who loiter near a warehouse. If the party tries to enter the warehouse, the bandits confront them.
The warehouse contains crates marked with a nine-wave sigil and a manifest listing 'cargo' bound for 'the Ninth Wave'. The pirates are not present yet, but their ship can be seen on the horizon at dusk.
Read aloud
The cane fields stretch like a silver sea under the moon. The barracks are dark, but a single lantern burns in a window. As you approach, you hear a low chanting—not words, but a rhythm, like a heartbeat. The air smells of cut grass and something metallic. A fresh grave marker leans in the dirt, and the cane around it has been trampled flat.
The workers are afraid to talk, but a few will whisper if approached gently. They say that people are taken at night by 'the men in gray' and that the overseer's manor is the last place they are seen. The chanting is a mourning song for the missing. A pack of 3 Giant Rat has been drawn by the smell of blood near the grave. If the party investigates the grave, they find a shallow pit with a torn shirt and a shell token marked with nine waves.
The barracks have a hidden floorboard with a tally of missing workers. The overseer's guards patrol the fields; use 2 Mastiff and 1 Guard if the party is spotted after curfew.
Read aloud
The manor is a block of dark stone with barred windows and a single iron door. A lantern burns in the study on the second floor. Two guards in gray coats play dice on the porch, and a third paces the roof. The wind carries the smell of ink and old paper. Somewhere inside, a man is laughing—a cold, thin sound.
The manor is guarded by 2 Thug and 1 Spy. The party can sneak in, bluff their way past, or fight. Inside, the study contains Vane's ledgers and correspondence. A locked cabinet holds a letter from the Ninth Wave demanding more 'cargo' and a map to a sea cave on the north shore. Cassius Vane is present in his study. He is a villain character (character sheet provided in the full module) and should not be given a monster stat block.
He fights with a rapier and a hand crossbow, uses his guards as shields, and flees through a secret tunnel if reduced to half his hit points. He will not surrender; he believes the Ninth Wave will protect him. If the party captures him, he spits that 'the Tidefather will drown this whole island' before he is silenced by a poison pill hidden in his ring.
Read aloud
The cave mouth yawns like a wound in the cliff, and the tide slaps against the rocks. Inside, lantern light flickers over wet stone. You hear chains, and a low moan. A dozen workers are huddled in a cage, and gray-coated guards load them onto a longboat. A man in a fine coat—Cassius Vane—stands on a ledge, counting coins into a chest. He looks up and smiles. 'Ah. The new hires. You're just in time to join the cargo.'
This is the climax of Act I. The cave contains 1 Spy, 3 Bandit, and Cassius Vane (villain character sheet). The workers are in a locked cage; the key is on Vane's belt. The longboat is ready to depart. Vane will fight from the ledge, using the high ground, and will order his guards to push the party into the water. If Vane is defeated or flees, the remaining guards surrender.
The party can rescue the workers and recover a locked chest containing a nine-wave amulet, a manifest listing destinations on the mainland, and a prisoner who whispers about 'the Tidefather' and a place called 'the Drowned Cathedral'. The pirates (Captain Rilla Voss) may arrive at the end to offer a truce and information, hinting that the Ninth Wave is bigger than one island.
Milestone: The party reaches 3rd level after rescuing the missing workers, defeating or driving off Cassius Vane, and recovering the manifest that points to the mainland. They have also learned the name of the Ninth Wave and the first hint of the Tidefather.
Cassius Vane
Cassius Vane is a tall, spare human in his late forties, with iron-colored hair combed precisely back from a narrow, clean-shaven face. His…
Free campaign generations include one villain sheet. Additional villain, NPC, and player-facing module character sheets are available in premium campaigns.
Subscribe NowFree campaign encounters use official monster sheets, plus the campaign villain character when referenced. They do not include generated custom monster sheets. Subscribe to create custom campaign monsters and enemy stat blocks.
Subscribe NowVane owes the Ninth Wave a debt he cannot pay in coin, so he pays in people. Every worker he sells buys him another month of standing and another step toward the inner circle he believes will survive the Tidefather's ascension. He is not a fanatic; he is a man buying his own seat on the ark, and he has convinced himself that the workers were always going to be taken by someone.
Cold, courteous, and never loud. He treats cruelty as bookkeeping and uses people's names, not numbers, because names unsettle them more. He laughs thinly at things that are not funny. He offers wine before he offers threats, and he means both. He never raises his voice, even when he is losing, and he never admits fear—only inconvenience.
Vane opens at range with his hand crossbow from the highest ground available—the study doorway, the manor stair, or the sea-cave ledge—and keeps a hired guard between himself and the nearest threat. He uses his rapier only when cornered, and he fights defensively, giving ground rather than trading blows. At half his hit points he disengages and flees through the bookcase tunnel or the longboat, abandoning his guards without a word. If captured, he stays calm, names the Ninth Wave and the Tidefather freely, and then bites the poison ring before he can be taken to Gull's Rest. He never surrenders and never bargains for his life, because he believes the Tidefather will drown the island either way.
There is no redemption for Vane; he chose his buyers long before the party arrived. He can be killed in the manor or the sea cave, captured and interrogated before the poison ring silences him, or driven off to return in Act II as a broken pawn of the Ninth Wave who has outlived his usefulness. If he escapes, the party still recovers his ledgers and the manifest, and the workers' testimony is enough to break his hold on Brinehollow. If he dies, the Ninth Wave simply sends another broker, which is the first hint that the organization is larger than one cruel man.
Recommended party: Four to five 1st-level characters. A balanced party with at least one healer, one character skilled in Stealth or Thieves' Tools, and one character with strong social skills is ideal. No special equipment is required, but rope, lanterns, and a way to deal with the dark will be useful.
Before play, tell the table plainly what this campaign is about: slavery, imprisonment, coerced labor, and the horror of people being sold as cargo. Brinehollow is a place where cruelty is administrative, and the party is expected to oppose it, not profit from it. Establish lines and veils for depictions of chains, cages, and violence against captives, and use a safety tool such as the X-card or a script change. Agree that player characters will not own, buy, or trade in people, and that the rescued workers are people with names, not treasure. Confirm the tone: mystery first, horror second, swashbuckling third. Ask each player why their character came to Brinehollow and what they are willing to risk for a stranger. Set expectations that Act I ends at 3rd level and that the larger villain, the Tidefather, will not appear in this act.
Act I is written for four to five 1st-level characters who reach 3rd level by the sea cave. For a party of three, remove one Bandit from the docks and one from the sea cave, drop the spy from the manor, and let Vane flee at one-quarter hit points instead of half. For a party of six, add a Bandit to the docks and the sea cave, add a Thug to the manor, and give the spy a shortbow perch. If the party reaches the manor at 1st level, run it as a stealth scene with a single Thug patrol and no Vane; save the confrontation for the sea cave. If the party is struggling, let the freed workers help in the cave—three of them can shove a bandit into the water on the party's turn with a successful DC 12 Strength check. Never scale by giving Vane a monster stat block; scale his guards, his position, and his escape route instead.
Run Act I over three to four sessions. Session one is the ferry, Pell, the dockside warehouse, and the cane fields at midnight—use 3 Giant Rat near the fresh grave and 2 Mastiff with 1 Guard on the curfew patrol to keep the pressure low and the mystery high. Session two is Gull's Rest, the barracks tally, and the manor. Session three is the sea cave and the confrontation with Vane. Keep the pirates as weather, not as a rescue: their raids burn empty storehouses and their ship sits on the horizon, and Rilla Voss only appears after the cave fight is decided. Play Vane quietly. Let the players hear the Tidefather's name three times before anyone explains it, and never let Vane answer a question he was not asked. If the party frees the workers early, let the escape be messy and loud—the longboat, the tide, and the harbor watch all become complications. End the act on the manifest and the words 'the Drowned Cathedral,' and stop there.
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Cassius Vane
Cassius Vane is a tall, spare human in his late forties, with iron-colored hair combed precisely back from a narrow, clean-shaven face. His…
Free campaign generations include one villain sheet. Additional villain, NPC, and player-facing module character sheets are available in premium campaigns.
Subscribe NowFree campaign encounters use official monster sheets, plus the campaign villain character when referenced. They do not include generated custom monster sheets. Subscribe to create custom campaign monsters and enemy stat blocks.
Subscribe NowVane owes the Ninth Wave a debt he cannot pay in coin, so he pays in people. Every worker he sells buys him another month of standing and another step toward the inner circle he believes will survive the Tidefather's ascension. He is not a fanatic; he is a man buying his own seat on the ark, and he has convinced himself that the workers were always going to be taken by someone.
Cold, courteous, and never loud. He treats cruelty as bookkeeping and uses people's names, not numbers, because names unsettle them more. He laughs thinly at things that are not funny. He offers wine before he offers threats, and he means both. He never raises his voice, even when he is losing, and he never admits fear—only inconvenience.
Vane opens at range with his hand crossbow from the highest ground available—the study doorway, the manor stair, or the sea-cave ledge—and keeps a hired guard between himself and the nearest threat. He uses his rapier only when cornered, and he fights defensively, giving ground rather than trading blows. At half his hit points he disengages and flees through the bookcase tunnel or the longboat, abandoning his guards without a word. If captured, he stays calm, names the Ninth Wave and the Tidefather freely, and then bites the poison ring before he can be taken to Gull's Rest. He never surrenders and never bargains for his life, because he believes the Tidefather will drown the island either way.
There is no redemption for Vane; he chose his buyers long before the party arrived. He can be killed in the manor or the sea cave, captured and interrogated before the poison ring silences him, or driven off to return in Act II as a broken pawn of the Ninth Wave who has outlived his usefulness. If he escapes, the party still recovers his ledgers and the manifest, and the workers' testimony is enough to break his hold on Brinehollow. If he dies, the Ninth Wave simply sends another broker, which is the first hint that the organization is larger than one cruel man.
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Level Up to Premium!Suggested Level: 1st level
- **Slick dock planks:** a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to run or charge without slipping.
- **Stacked crates:** half cover, 5 feet high, climbable with a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check.
- **Mooring ropes and a cargo hook:** improvised weapons within easy reach.
- **Light:** bright moonlight on the dock, dim light inside the warehouse.
A crate manifest naming the Ninth Wave, a branding iron stamped with the nine-wave sigil, 15 gp in a strongbox, and a ring of warehouse keys.
This is a shakedown, not a slaughter. The bandits want the party gone, not dead, and one surrenders below 3 hit points. If the party avoids the fight, they still find the manifest but lose the strongbox and keys. Use the fight to teach the table that Brinehollow's violence is bureaucratic and quiet.
Suggested Level: 2nd level
- **Iron door and narrow stair:** a natural choke point that favors the defenders.
- **Barred windows:** half cover from outside, impossible to squeeze through.
- **Study and bookcase tunnel:** a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the tunnel behind the bookcase.
- **Roof:** the spy has a clear line of sight over the porch and the front yard.
Vane's ledgers, a letter from the Ninth Wave, a map to the north-shore sea cave, a nine-wave key, 60 gp in a desk drawer, and Vane's Signet Ring.
Reward stealth and bluffing as much as fighting. Vane flees at half hit points through the tunnel and is waiting at the cave if he escapes. If captured, he names the Ninth Wave and the Tidefather before the poison ring silences him. Never give Vane a monster stat block; use his villain character sheet.
Suggested Level: 3rd level
- **Ledge:** 10 feet above the cave floor, reachable with a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check; high ground for ranged attacks.
- **Rising tide:** knee-deep cold water counts as difficult terrain after round 3.
- **Iron cage:** AC 19, 30 hit points, holds twelve workers; the key is on Vane's belt.
- **Longboat:** half cover, and the spy will cut its line to strand the party.
A locked chest holding a nine-wave amulet, a manifest listing mainland destinations including Marrowgate, and 120 gp in mixed coin, plus the cage key and the freedom of twelve workers.
This is the act's climax and its moral center. Give the party a clear choice between chasing Vane and freeing the cage. The bandits surrender once Vane falls or flees. Rilla Voss arrives only after the fight is decided, offering a truce and the name of the Drowned Cathedral.
Nine-Wave Amulet
Completed
Act I, in the locked chest in the north-shore sea cave
Yes, requires attunement
Vane's Signet Ring
Completed
Act I, in the study of Cassius Vane's manor
No
Bitter Harvest Machete
Completed
Act I, under the hidden floorboard in the eastern barracks
No
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