Prizewater is a coastal town that lives and dies by the ship graveyard on its doorstep. Locals say it’s named for its opalescent waters, but the truth lies in the broken hulls that wash ashore. The town was built from wreckage and thrives on whatever cargo the sea coughs up. Recently, a ruthless gang called the Sand Bandits began claiming every prize. When the missionary vessel Fairlight shatters on the reefs, rumours spread of a relic aboard known as the Sun Siren Beacon. An artefact said to control sunlight in an entire region. The mayor and the bandits want it for their own reasons, and the characters are caught in the middle.

Prizewater

Prizewater was built from scavenged beams and torn sails, raised by families who raced each other to every new wreck and “adopted” whatever cargo the sea coughed up. It started as a scrappy community that still thrives on wrecks to this day, but has now grown into a pleasant stop for caravans and merchants trekking the coastline. Such growth for a community naturally comes with its complications.

A few key landmarks help anchor the town of 1000 people.

The Prizewater Steps zig-zag down the cliff to a rock landing where skiffs are tied, the usual departure point for runs to the ship graveyard.

Founders’ Walk is a row of homes built almost entirely from visible ship parts.

The Scurvy Stern is a large open-air tavern, and the only place on the coast to taste kelp lager.

Tide-Bell Shrine is an all-faith shrine that serves as the town hall and medical centre, where elected officials and clerics can tend to the town’s needs in one place, though murmurs of tension between the law and religion have some townsfolk concerned.

Notable NPCs

Mayor Carina Rowley

Role: Elected town official.

Appearance: Early-forties human woman with sun-browned skin, dark hair threaded with grey and tied back in a scarf, and a weather-beaten sailor’s coat worn over a neat mayoral sash.

Personality: Steady, sharp-eyed, and dryly humorous. Carina listens more than she speaks and hates wasted opportunities. She genuinely cares about Prizewater but is fiercely protective of her authority.

Motivation: Keep the Sun Siren Beacon out of the Sand Bandits’ hands, prevent the priests from gaining too much leverage over the town, and quietly turn the relic into coin and political favour via the black market.

Carina (F Human Noble) grew up in Prizewater as the child of wreck-pickers and clawed her way into leadership by keeping the town alive through lean years. She remembers when the priesthood was small and grateful for whatever the town could spare; now their influence is growing, and the wreck of the Fairlight threatens to tip that balance. Carina knows the ship carried a missionary relic called the Sun Siren Beacon, a supposedly holy icon meant to “guide the lost.” She’s heard darker whispers: that its light calls creatures from the deep and stirs up the sea.

If the priests claim the Beacon, they gain a miracle and a bargaining chip. If the Sand Bandits steal it, they gain a weapon. Carina wants neither. She secretly plans to sell the Beacon to a contact in a nearby city, trading one dangerous problem for coin, supplies, and promises that will keep Prizewater hers. To the characters, she offers coin, town favour, and salvage rights to anything that isn’t the Beacon—and insists, with a perfectly straight face, that they return the relic to her “for the town’s safety” and do it quietly.

Sister Maris of the Lucent Maiden

Role: Resident priest of Prizewater

Appearance: Young human priest with wind-tangled brown hair, travel-stained robes in pale blues and whites, and a simple golden holy symbol of the Lucent Maiden.

Personality: Earnest, soft-spoken, and a little overwhelmed by politics. Steady in a storm, but more comfortable with small, honest conversations than grand speeches.

Motivation: Keep the Sun Siren Beacon in the hands of the Church of the Lucent Maiden and ensure it’s used only to protect and guide those in danger at sea.

Maris (F Human Priest) serves as the resident priest of the Tide-Bell Shrine. Her duties are simple: tend the bell, bless departing boats, and pray that the Lucent Maiden guides strangers safely past the reefs. She’s grown up with stories of the Sun Siren Beacon, a relic of her faith said to clear storm clouds and conjure bright sunlight within a mile radius, turning night into day and fog into clear sky. She also knows the dangerous side: every use stirs the sea and calls creatures from the depths, drawn to the sudden light and warmth.

Maris does not threaten Mayor Carina Rowley’s authority and has no ambition to. All she wants is for the Beacon to be recovered and returned to the Church of the Lucent Maiden, where it can be strictly warded and only invoked when lives are truly at risk. However, the implications of the church possessing the beacon in Prizewater may not be evident to her. If the characters visit the shrine before setting out, Maris asks them, gently and without pressure, to bring the Beacon to her order rather than selling or hiding it. She can offer blessings, minor healing, safe-passage charms, and the promise that, in the church’s care, the Beacon will be guarded, not exploited.

Rook Varlo

Role: Leader of the Sand Bandits

Appearance: Lean half-elf with sun-bleached hair and weathered skin. Wears a cloak the colour of wet sand, strung with shells, teeth, and driftwood, with bare feet and salt-cracked hands.

Personality: Calm, patient, and quietly ruthless. Speaks about shipwrecks as part of the natural cycle. Loyal to his gang, indifferent to everyone else.

Motivation: Control the wreck trade along the coast, keep his people fed and free, and stop towns and temples from claiming what the sea has already taken.

Rook (Male Half-Elf Druid) began as a caravan guard on cliff roads and coastal tracks, watching cargo and crews destroyed by storms and bad luck while wealthy owners simply wrote off the loss. Tired of being the one left in the mud, he walked away and turned to the shoreline instead. Over time, he learned the moods of wind and water, and his druidic talents grew from that obsession: he can read incoming weather, track currents, and gather information through gulls, crabs, and other scavengers.

With that knowledge, he shaped the Sand Bandits into a fast, organised crew of ex-fishers, deserters, and shoreline outcasts. They use Rook’s instincts and animal scouts to patrol the cliffs, reaching fresh wrecks before anyone from Prizewater can. To them, anything the sea has broken is fair game. The Sun Siren Beacon is not holy in Rook’s eyes; it is a dangerous tool that twists storms and draws monsters. If he discovers it survived the Fairlight, he will want it taken out of other factions’ control—whether by stealing, sinking, or bargaining with it.

Adventure Setup

Whether the characters are locals or visitors to Prizewater, they know the names of the aforementioned Notable NPCs and their roles in the community. Either Mayor Carina or Sister Maris hires the characters to find the Sun Siren Beacon. To spice up the adventure with some intrigue, have one patron hire the characters after the other.

Adventure Hooks

The Mayor’s Quiet Contract

When the missionary vessel Fairlight shatters on the reefs, Mayor Carina Rowley quietly summons the characters to her office beside the Tide-Bell Shrine. Her offer is simple: get to the wreck first, secure the Sun Siren Beacon, and bring it to her. In return, they gain coin, salvage rights to everything else, and the mayor’s favour. One condition: no one can know they’re working for her—not the council, the priests, or the Bandits.

The Priest’s Plea

Sister Maris of the Lucent Maiden is still shaken by news of the Fairlight’s wreck. She explains that the Sun Siren Beacon, a church relic, was aboard: an artefact that can clear clouds and conjure sunlight within a mile, but also stirs the sea and draws monsters when misused. She asks the party to recover the Beacon, and return it to her order, offering healing, blessings, and the lasting goodwill of her faith.

Walk to the Wreck

The two-hour trek to the Fairlight’s wreck is uneventful, albeit suspiciously quiet.

The blistering sun competes against the cold salt breeze of the ocean. The journey to the Fairlight’s wreck is uneventful, but you’ve noticed an abundance of rotting fish on the coastline, as if something was driving them out of the water.

A character who takes the Search action and succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) Check discovers that all of the fish have been torn up and half-eaten, with their wounds embedded with hooked teeth. 

A character who takes a Study action and succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) Check learn that fish were also crushed by force as if a tentacle was used to grasp the fish before being eaten.

Wreck of the Fairlight

The wind knifes in off the water, sharp with salt and the sour reek of rotting kelp. The ship graveyard sprawls across the shallows: splintered ribs of old hulls, broken masts jutting like snapped teeth, and at its heart the fresh ruin of the Fairlight. Her hull is split wide on the rocks, cargo spewed in dark crates and torn bundles as waves punch through shattered planks, lifting and dropping whole sections of deck with a long, grinding groan. Slick rock paths and half-sunk timbers lead down into the wreck-strewn surf. Gulls wheel and shriek overhead, the tide is already nosing higher around the wrecks, as if the sea means to swallow its prize back down.

The characters arrive when the tide is low (Ship Graveyard – Low Water). It will take a couple of hours and three Search actions with successful DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) to find the Sun Siren Beacon in the debris. While they search with a low tide, refer to the random table below after each roll to introduce an encounter or determine what they find in the debris.

After characters have made three Search actions (whether successful or not), the tide rises (Ship Graveyard – High Water) and introduces a different table of encounters, treasures and complications.

When the characters have made three successful Search actions to find the beacon, read the following:

Wedged between broken beams and tangled canvas, you spot a faint, steady glow—too regular to be sunlight on water. As you clear the debris, your hands brush against smooth glass and cold brass. Nestled in a shattered crate lies a fist-sized stone icon, caged in a lattice of metal, its surface carved with curling wave and sunburst motifs. It’s warm to the touch, like the morning sun on your skin.

As the characters find the beacon, Rook (Druid) and 4 Sand Bandits arrive on scene. They won’t kill the characters unless the characters kill a bandit first. When Rook and his bandits are outnumbered, he will flee the scene, knowing of the beacon and remembering the faces of the characters.

Conclusion

When the characters have the Sun Siren Beacon, they have the fate of Prizewater in their hands. The future of the community depends on what they do with it.

If the Characters Give the Beacon to Mayor Carina

Mayor Carina locks the Sun Siren Beacon away in a hidden cache and pays the party promptly. In the short term, Prizewater prospers: new supplies arrive, repairs are funded, and the Sand Bandits keep their distance after word spreads that “something nasty” now watches over the town. Behind closed doors, Carina’s contacts in a nearby city begin negotiations. If the party returns later, they might find a more fortified, better-equipped Prizewater—but one now beholden to faceless investors and quiet favours. The church grows wary, murmuring about “lost miracles,” and Carina becomes increasingly paranoid about who knows the relic’s fate.

If the Characters Give the Beacon to Sister Maris

Sister Maris receives the Beacon with shaking hands and immediately begins the rites to shroud and ward it. The Tide-Bell Shrine becomes a place of whispered pilgrimage, as word spreads that a true relic of the Lucent Maiden rests within. For a time, the seas off Prizewater seem kinder: fewer wrecks, gentler storms, more near-misses than disasters. But the Beacon’s presence subtly shifts local power. The church’s influence grows, and Carina quietly resents needing “permission” to call on miracles. Future adventures might see the party mediating between a town that wants practical control of its coast and a faith that now literally holds the light.

If the Characters Keep or Sell the Beacon Themselves

If the party keeps the Sun Siren Beacon, they leave Prizewater with a relic that can turn night into day, and quietly churn the sea beneath their keel. Using it may save ships, armies, or whole towns, but every activation risks drawing monsters and warping local weather. Both Carina and the Lucent Maiden’s church will eventually learn that the Beacon survived, and bounty hunters or “envoys” may follow the party’s wake. If they sell it, the buyer becomes a powerful new actor in your setting: a coastal tyrant, reclusive collector, or rival church. Either way, the Beacon’s legend will grow, with their names tangled in its story.

If Rook Survives (With or Without the Beacon)

If Rook Varlo survives, he remains a persistent problem or uneasy ally. Without the Beacon, he nurses a grudge but also a wary respect for the characters who beat him to the prize. The Sand Bandits may harry Prizewater less openly, focusing instead on other stretches of coast, but Rook will remember any slight. If he escapes with the Beacon, the coast changes quickly. He uses its power as leverage: threatening to “light the sea” off harbours that don’t pay, or luring monsters toward rivals. Prizewater, the church, and distant powers will all have reasons to hire the party again.

Support the Creators

Ian Arguilles
What do Ian, a hydra, and a hat rack have in common? They all wear many hats. Ian freelances across copywriting, short fiction, and RPG design. If you’d rather just hear him ramble about telling better stories at the table, look for Unfound Fables on Instagram.

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