event

Seaward Barrier and Water Crisis

Summary

The Seaward crisis joined a water shortage that may have lasted twenty years with council conflict, drowned or murdered deputies, missing connections to Isabella, and a suspicious skull-buying scheme. Flickering pylons and rumours of water elementals breaching the Barrier led the party from the city through the quarry and a disturbed cliff face into Salinus’ Prison. There they encountered a Black Scales gnome operating under a truce with the Underbelly, learned more about Salinus and elemental containment, and heard the prisoners describe the Dome as a “death dome,” making Seaward an early direct link to the wider Elemental Prisons crisis.

Known Details

  • Seaward had a long-running water problem, possibly lasting about twenty years.
  • Barrier instability was visible through pylon flickers and wider reports of creatures breaching the Barrier.
  • The party investigated council conflict, murdered or drowned deputies, Isabella’s friends, and a suspicious skull-buying scheme.
  • The trail led through the quarry and cliff-side disturbance into Salinus’ Prison, where an old Black Scales gnome asked whether the party were Underbelly because of an access-granting truce between the two factions, and the party learned more about elemental containment.

Timeline

  • day-11: Seaward politics, water scarcity, pylon flickers, and wider Barrier crisis reports surface.
  • day-12: The council conflict, drowned deputies, and skull-buying thread deepen.
  • day-13: Barrier flickers near Seaward are tracked toward the quarry and cliff-side disturbance.
  • day-14: The party enters Salinus’ Prison and learns more about elemental prisons, Garadule, Salinus, and the water elementals’ description of the Dome/Barrier as a “death dome.”

Open Questions

  • What caused Seaward’s water problem, and was it truly about twenty years old?
  • How did the Seaward pylon and water elemental rumours connect to the wider Barrier crisis?