Quest: Daughter of the River Wind

Hook: A Father's Shame, A Daughter’s Chains

On a moonless night, the party notices the usually colorful Rhennee Rhenn-folk camp outside Nulb oddly quiet. Talla Velkori, their scout, intercepts the party with a wary glare and a whispered plea:

“Eryk’s daughter is gone. Taken. This land steals people in the dark.”

If the adventurers speak with Eryk Velkori at his camp, they find a broken man nursing bruises and shame. He reveals that his daughter Serena, a quick-handed and sharp-tongued girl of eighteen, vanished after a brawl at the Boatman’s Tavern. The Rhenn had been drinking and dancing, entertaining the river pirates, when tensions with the Crimson Reapers exploded into violence.

“I don’t remember the end. We woke up on the docks. Blood in my mouth. Serena was gone.”

Witnesses suggest Serena was last seen in the company of Lorveth “The Broker” Thrask, Skole, and the sultry and silent Lodriss, a regular figure at the Brothel. Eryk suspects a setup—he believes Serena was sold to pay for damage caused during the fight.

Investigation Phase

Locations & Leads:

• 4: Boatman’s Tavern and Nulb Market
  Speaking with Pearl or Dala (serving girls), or Captain Tolub (if well-inclined), reveals that Serena was forcibly dragged out after the brawl. A Reaper named Burgan mentions “a debt repaid” and that Lorveth handed her over to Elvanna Thorne at the brothel.
• 22. The Brothel of Nulb
  Talking to Elvanna reveals she now holds Serena as a servant-slave—legally purchased through Nulb's gray market practices. She refers to Serena as "compensation" for damages caused by the Rhenn at the Boatman’s. She'll smirk:

“If you want her back, it'll cost you 500 gold. That’s the going rate for beauty, debt, and disobedience.”

Players can negotiate, intimidate, pay, or plan a heist—but brute force will bring down the full wrath of the Iron Talons and The Crimson Reapers.

Optional Subplot – Serena’s Story

If freed or rescued, Serena (Level 3 Thief, Chaotic Neutral) opens up to the party:

• Mona helped pay off a debt she didn’t even owe.
• She’s been kept “safe” but under watch—used as leverage.
• She knows her father is being coerced into ambushes along the Forest Road.
• She is clever, wounded in pride, and has been waiting for her chance to escape.

Resolution & Rewards

• Buying Freedom (500 gp): Serena is released from the Iron Lash. She returns to her family, and the Rhenn’s trust is fully earned. The party gains advantage on social checks with the Rhenn, and access to their black market inventory.
• Rescuing Her by Force: Dangerous. The entire brothel may be alerted. If successful, Serena flees to the camp. The Rhenn are grateful, but The Crimson Reapers and Lorveth place a bounty on the party.
• Failing to Intervene: The Rhenn begin to quietly pack camp. Within a week, they vanish from Nulb—along with their information, influence, and underground access.

Optional Reward: A Fortune Told

After her release, Serena offers the party a whispered fortune beneath her family’s canopy:

“The winds bring blood, and the trail you follow leads to stone and fire. Choose your path, heroes—do you seek coin, glory, or justice?”

The player chooses:

• "Whatever the gods may have in store for me, I am prepared."

Serena smiles, nodding solemnly. “Then may you find courage in the silence between heartbeats.”

DM Tip: This dialogue has no mechanical effect but sets tone and foreshadows the themes of fate and sacrifice awaiting in the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Eryk Velkori – “A Father’s Shame, A Daughter’s Chains”

You step through the mist that clings to the muddy rise outside Nulb, where the usually vibrant Rhenn camp lies unnaturally still. The air smells of ash and river rot. The jingle of bells is gone—replaced by silence thick enough to choke on.

A shadow steps from the firelight. It's him—Eryk Velkori, leader of the caravan, eyes once full of heat and fire now sunken, bloodshot, and rimmed with sorrow. He clutches a half-drained bottle of Imerydy's Rum, and sways slightly with the weight of grief.

“So…” he rasps, barely above a growl. “You come walkin’ in like crows on a corpse. Lookin’ for trade? Or tales? Or maybe a map to the hells, eh?”

He stares at you through tangled braids and pain.

“She gone. My firelight. My Serena.” His voice cracks, but his stare doesn't waver. “Boatman’s Tavern saw the last of ‘er. We were drinkin', dancin'... even made the Reapers smile. But I blinked, just once, and woke up with blood in me mouth and nothin’ but a whisper on the wind.”

He tosses the bottle into the fire with a hiss.

“Those bastards—Zelt's rats, them Reapers. Or maybe Nysera’s Talons dragged her to the Iron Lash, thinkin’ she’s just another pretty neck for their chains.” His fists clench, the bells in his sleeves silent for the first time you can remember.

Then his voice hardens, a tremble of rage returning to his tone.

“I’m no seer like me mam... but I know this: Serena didn’t vanish into smoke. She’s flesh, blood, and fight. And I need folks what ain’t afraid to crawl through pisswater and blade to get her back.”

His eyes finally meet yours, full of storm and steel.

“So. You got guts for ghosts? Steel for slavers? Or are you just here for pity and songs? ‘Cause if you ain’t, then step inside my firelight... and I’ll show you a father’s shame worth burnin’ the world over.”

Here is a follow-up scene with Vethra “Old Eyes” Velkori’s divination, written in immersive second-person dialogue, thick with Rhennee mysticism and drama. It follows the moment after Eryk pleads for aid, and the adventurers agree to seek answers. This scene can serve as a narrative transition, giving the party a clear but cryptic lead toward the Iron Lash, the Waterside Hostel, or a crimson-marked barge.

Scene: “Smoke, Card, or Bone” — Vethra’s Divination

The fire dims to coals as Eryk steps aside, his breath ragged in the silence that follows. Then, without a word, the crowd of Rhenn clears. You feel it before you see her: a gravity in the air, like a storm watching from beyond the trees.

Vethra Velkori sits cross-legged in the shadows of her wagon, a worn blanket draped with bones, blackened cards, and a copper bowl that smells of clove and blood. Her clouded blue eyes don’t look at you—they look through you.

She speaks, her voice like bark peeled from an old tree.

“My boy burns with fury. That’s a path easy to follow, easy to lose y’self in. But you…” her pale gaze settles on you, “you got more than fists. You got fate. Sit.”

She gestures to the blanket.

“Smoke, card, or bone. The winds already whisper… but I must listen proper.”

If the party chooses “Card”:

She fans out a deck of faded tarokka, her fingers quick despite the years.

“Ahh... the Chain. The Betrayer. The Flooded Gate.”

Her lips tighten as she draws a fourth card and turns it with a hiss of breath.

“A barge. Crimson-painted and cursed. Sailin’ low on the Velverdyva, heavy with souls that ain’t singin’ no more.”

She looks up at you.

“She was taken there. Drugged, bound, traded—like meat.”

If the party chooses “Bone”:

She tosses wolf knuckles and pigeon vertebrae into a shallow bowl and rattles them with a low chant.

The bones click, scatter, fall. She leans close, inhaling the shape they form.

“Iron teeth… and blood-slick sand. The Lash.”

Her voice darkens.

“She may be on her knees, but she ain’t broken yet. Not with my blood in her.”

If the party chooses “Smoke”:

She burns a lock of braided black hair, muttering in a dialect older than Common. Smoke swirls, then shapes—a crooked house with shifting shadows and a narrow, high window.

“A tavern with too many secrets,” she says softly. “The Waterside. It sees all that slips between coin and curse.”

Then, fainter: “A man with a red sash and no soul—watch him. He deals in whispers and iron.”

Conclusion:

Vethra’s gaze sharpens, her voice as final as a dagger drawn.

“Three paths. Only one holds her now—but the others will bleed for tryin’. Choose fast, child. The river don’t wait for grief.”

She leans back, exhausted, and the smoke clings to the inside of your throat like a promise.