Salt Upon the Drowned Ledger
A dead harbormaster, a missing ledger, and a town built on brine-soaked lies.
Investigate a murder in the storm-haunted harbor of Blackbrine before smugglers, cultists, and officials bury the truth at low tide. This adventure is part of the Loot Lore Complete Collection — get it along with two more complete one-shots for just $19.99.
◆Why This One Works Fast
◆The Adventure
Blackbrine survives on fish, lamp oil, customs fees, and the sort of secrets every port learns to stack beneath its books. Two nights before the Lantern Tide festival, Harbormaster Elian Broke is found dead in his counting house with a snapped seal cord in one hand and the most dangerous ledger in town missing.
Constable Nera Pike recruits the party because outsiders can ask questions without owing the council, the chapel, or the smugglers. Every clue drags them deeper into Blackbrine's ecosystem of pirate crews, brine-amber trafficking, funeral cults, frightened witnesses, and people who decided long ago that survival mattered more than clean hands.
Salt Upon the Drowned Ledger is a low-level investigation one-shot with maritime noir energy, a flexible clue web, and a finale that can resolve as a stealth raid, a public accusation, or a hard compromise with a dirty town.
◆What You Get Tonight
- ◈Low-level mystery tuned for a 3-4 hour session with multiple clue paths
- ◈Three compact encounters built around docks, warehouses, and a drowned chapel
- ◈Faction-rich NPC cast with custom stat blocks and mixed motives
- ◈Three printable handouts including a ledger scrap and warehouse route slate
- ◈Designed to reward table discussion, legwork, and decisive social play
◆Rescued From
r/dndnext · What's a campaign idea that you've always wanted to play in or run but never got the chance?
Distilled from u/Huffplume's Saltmarsh-style campaign idea in u/Mentleman's shelved-campaign thread: pirates, cultists, drug smuggling, and murder mystery pressure in one storm-lashed port.
◆Key NPCs
Constable Nera Pike
Honest law in a crooked portA disciplined local officer with too little power and too much evidence to ignore once the party starts pulling on the right threads.
Sable Reeve
Singer and compromised witnessA tavern performer who carried messages for the wrong people and now needs the truth handled carefully if she wants to live.
Captain Hobb Vane
Smuggler captainA dangerous pragmatist whose trade network is central to the conspiracy, even if the murder itself was not his idea.
Father Corlan Voss
Tide priest and brokerA solemn religious fixer using ritual and fear as cover for a murder meant to keep Blackbrine's books permanently wet.
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