Bonewater Isle

• The Aftermath

When your PCs finally make it to shore they should be left exhausted, helpless, and penniless. There are ways you can avoid this, obviously, such as allowing the Kraken to show up in the middle of the day when the PCs have all their gear on them but I personally like the idea of sort of resetting them back to square one. It makes a seasoned PC struggle and reminds them how important their wits are in certain situations. However, if you don't want to be the meanest GM on the face of the planet, you're PCs could find some chests and crates that have washed ashore with them that contain some (or if you really want, all) of their gear along with some useful items and some gold. I personally suggest that less is more in this situation but you be the judge here. If there are four PCs, I would let two of them find their weapons, two of them find their armor, all of them find something useful such as rope, hammers, food, etc. and one or two of them finding some gold. It would be possible, too, if you were really getting into one of the crew members aboard your ship and didn't want that character to die at the hands of the Kraken, they could find their way to shore as well and either meet the PCs on the beach or at a later time within the nearby town.

• Where are we?

Your PCs will have no idea where they are. They've swam to a place called Bonewater Isle. Their ship was attacked in Bonewater Bay. Both places are aptly named because of the large, sharp, jagged rocks in the shallows that are commonly hit by sailing vessels that aren't familiar with the area. The result over many years is there have been many sailors drowned or beaten to death against the rocks by the waves in the shallows. Many of the bodies wash ashore and give the beach a grim look with nothing left but bones protruding here and there from the sand.

Your PCs will not have to travel far up the coast to the nearest, and only, town they can see. Port Reeverling.

Should your PCs not wish to travel to the city they will quickly discover the island has a slew of dangers to it such as poisonous snakes and spiders along with some larger predators like crocodiles and jungle cats. However there could be some reward for traversing these remote parts of the island such as finding an abandoned cabin or cave for shelter or discovering some buried treasure with some gold or useful items.

• The island itself

Bonewater isle is in size 3,200 (sq mi) or 8,288 (km2). It is about one third the size of Sicily in Italy for reference.

Bonewater Isle is fairly remote apart from the port city that resides on it. Not many people apart from traders and pirates even know of the island's existence. There are, however, enough traders from other nearby islands and coasts that the people living on Bonewater Isle don't fully need to fend for themselves. They can get much of what they need in trade.

The island is considered a jungle. It has a thick canopy of lush tropical trees in most areas and on average it rains 300 days out of the year. Jungle inhabitants of note consist of a variety of poisonous snakes and spiders, large jungle cats, monkeys, and a variety of birds, insects, and small mammals like rats and shrews.

The island also has many swamps that are home to large crocodiles and a race of frog-like humanoids known as Bullywugs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullywug Use that link for more info on Bullywugs.

Port Reeverling

• The City of Port Reeverling

As is obvious, it is a port city. It is a fairly small city in terms of square miles but has a large population density. The size of the city is about 140 acres with a total population of nearly 9,000. Only about 7,000 residents are permanent. The other 2,000 are long term traders, pirates, sailors and mercenaries that seem to stay for a while and then move on as business dwindles or they simple get bored with the island life.

Port Reeverling is largely considered a pirate town. There are more brothels, bars, inns, an exotic merchants per capita in this town that anywhere else in the kingdoms. There is a towns guard but it is not of much good. There is roughly 1 guard per every 8 lawbreakers in the city. And of the few guards there are, most are being paid off by criminals.

• A Criminal Society

Although this is a 'pirate' town, the pirates here are very sophisticated. They are more along the lines of organized crime kingpins than random thieves, drunkards and pillagers. The PCs will have to be careful when entering the town not to get themselves in the middle of a turf war between two or more of the pirate organizations.

The law abiding citizens know they must basically fend for themselves. Because of this most merchants sleep in and sell their wares out of their own houses rather than having a separate store for their goods. All buildings, homes, stores, or otherwise are locked and boarded every night. No window in the town is without bars and no door is without a lock.

For these reasons it is difficult at a glance to distinguish a pirate from a normal law abiding citizen as the lifestyle has made what might be the fairest maiden in all the land look like a seasoned pirate that would snap your neck if you looked at her the wrong way. This town breeds the hardiest of folk, and the shrewdest also.

A few pirate groups worth mentioning:

• The Plunderer's Guild

This is the most influential and powerful organization in Port Reeverling. No one knows exactly how many members are in this guild but it is assumed anytime a successful assassination, heist, or like is pulled off in the town, The Plundere's Guild was behind it. About a third of the city guard are 'unofficially' part of this guild.

The head of this group is a pirate named Boon Reeverling. The town is not named after him. He has taken on the name Reeverling to assert his dominance within the town as any outsider that meets him, like the PCs, will initially suspect the town is named after him. He has also taken this name to assure that any other organizations give him his due respect for the empire (criminal empire that is) that he has built. He knows anything and everything that goes on within Port Reeverling. His web of spies is incredibly extensive and goes beyond the borders of the city and even the island itself. The PCs will not avoid being spotted by his agents for very long, and should they start to make names for themselves you can bet Boon Reeverling will want to have a 'chat' with them.

• Greeves Thorobough

Boon Reeverling's right hand man is Greeves Thorobough. Greeves personally handles speaking on behalf of Boon Reeverling almost always. If Boon wants to send a message to someone, he usually sends Greeves. Greeves is feared among everyone because his presence means Boon has a strong interest in whatever is going on at that time. Or it means someone has personally pissed off Boon. Greeves himself is not intimidating to look at although when he shows up somewhere it's usually with the largest and most intimidating two members The Plunderer's Guild currently has.

• The Winemakers

This organization controls the distribution of wine throughout the city. They have a sort of criminal monopoly on it. Mind you, they don't make the wine. They tell the real winemakers how much to make, who to sell it to, what price to sell it for, and how much of a cut is theirs. This organization is particularly brutal. If they have beef with one individual they have been known to kill of that individual and their entire family along with them. (Pirate logic so that no would-be 'avengers' will come after them seeking revenge later.) The Winemakers and the Plunderer's Guild try to avoid each other as much as possible and settle disputes as quickly as possible. Neither is afraid of the other but both have earned their due respect among their enemies as well. The leader of The Winemakers is a female pirate named Captain Eloise Deadeye. She's as shrewd as they come and it's always intimidating seeing a woman with an eye-patch.

• The Golden Fangs

The Golden Fangs is an all orc organization based out of the Greenstown district within Port Reeverling. They are most notably against the guards of the town as opposed to other pirate groups. The orcs' hideous features along with their ill-tempered demeanor breeds a lot of racism from the other townspeople. Though, to be fair, the orcs hate others as much as they are hated in return. The guards, due to mainly racist reasons, tend to try to keep the people happy by arresting members of The Golden Fangs as often as possible. As with any organized crime, this is mainly all happening on the surface. Typically The Golden Fangs will 'tip off' the guards when a crime is about to be committed by an orc so long as the guards turn a blind eye to the next crime about to be committed by one of their members. In short, the guards allow the Golden Fang to commit a crime. The Golden Fang then set up some poor orc sap to take the fall for his own crime along with the previous crime committed. The guards capture and execute the scapegoat. The people are happy because 'justice' has been served, the guards are happy because the people aren't angry with them for doing nothing, and the Golden Fangs are happy because they can keep doing what it is they do. Everyone wins. Well, except the scapegoat orc... The leader of the Golden Fangs is a massive burly orc name Grushkar the Maneater.

• A list of other pirate groups

These pirate groups are not as well established within the city though that doesn't mean they are of no significance. Simply compared to the previous three organizations these ones hold little power. But good luck trying to explain that to someone who has recently lost a loved one, been robbed by, or is paying tribute for 'protection' to one of these guilds.

• The First Mates - a group that has 50% of a monopoly on the docks, taking tribute for many exports and imports.
• The Ironworkers - this group is comprised of mainly human and dwarf blacksmiths and gunsmiths. They primarily sell the weapons they make to the other pirate guilds. This doesn't at first sounds like an illegal business, but the buying, selling of, and distribution of weapons in Port Reeverling is punishable by death.
• The Wharf Dogs - a group that has the other 50% monopoly of trade at the docks. This group is in constant turf war with The First Mates.
  
• The Mad Crabs - this group focuses mainly on prostitution as their income and own most of the brothel houses throughout Port Reeverling. Because of this, they are quite often the reason for tension between the other guilds as members of different guilds often run into each other at one of these brothel houses usually resulting in a fight or sometimes even a murder.

People/Places of Note and Quest Hooks

• The Wharf District and Docks

When your PCs arrive they will most likely want to find another ship to take them back to sea on whatever quest it was they were initially trying to do. The wharf-master Jonan Delver (a human) will inform them that no ship has come to dock in nearly three weeks now and no ships are leaving the dock anytime soon because of the Kraken. Should the Kraken move out of the waters or be killed, trade and travel will resume. Until then Port Reeverling will have to fend for itself. He could suggest the PCs get comfortable with the town while they are stuck here. And if the PCs befriend him enough, he may warn them of some of the pirate guilds or help them figure out what places in town they should stick to and what places they should avoid.

Another quest that could be offered at the docks would be to clear the warehouses of rats. And these aren't just any rats, these are 120 lb. dire rats.

Upon doing a quest or two for the wharf-master Jonan Delver, he could offer to give the PCs some wreckage he found floating ashore in unopened chests and crates that could contain more of their gear and gold.

It is also possible that the PCs could recognize crates from the wreckage being stored at the warehouse in the docks. Upon opening it they could find their gear and gold that way.

• The Golden Fox Lodge

This is a tavern and inn near the docks. It's about as uppity as you can get for a pirate town. Prices are high for food and beds alike. However they do offer protection as their are always at least two heavily armed guards stationed in the entryway day and night. They are paid by Herrick, the owner of the Golden Fox Lodge. The PCs could find work here as guards doing some mundane policing of drunkards and fighters as well as keeping the perimeter free of loiterers. They could also be hired by some of the more wealthy patrons of this establishment to recover stolen items from pirates. There could also be a few 'Wanted' posters on the front door. These could be anything from 'Wanted dead or alive: Captain Tully the Black' to 'Wanted: My children were stolen, please return safely.' A note at the bottom of these wanted posters would lead to PCs to the Bonewater Barracks for more info on these posters.

• Bonewater Barracks

Housing for the guards as well as a prison for criminals. The cells are small and few as they are not for holding criminals for long periods of time. They merely serve as a holding cell for a few days until execution. Because of the rampant crime in this town even petty criminals are sentenced to death. Tarthius Mabry is captain of the guard. He or any of his next in command will have detailed information on any 'wanted' notes hung throughout the city. He himself is above bribery but he's not stupid. He will play politics with the pirate organizations so long as he can somehow benefit either himself or the town in the long run. He is very cunning and able to do this most of the time without the other party realizing he is doing it. He also has a large web of loyal spies throughout the city, some of them within the various pirate guilds. Not much goes on without his knowing. Joining the town guard is also a possibility for the PCs. Though dangerous because it will put a target on their back and no doubt send them into dangerous situations, it pays well.

If the PCs haven't gotten their gear back at this point, perhaps they notice some crates and chests in the holding area of the barracks that were from the ship they were on. Obviously the guards found out that weapons and armor washed ashore and they confiscated it before any criminals could get their hands on it. Perhaps a bit of persuading may get the PCs back their gear or they may have to figure out a way to sneak off with it unnoticed.

• Rusty Tongue Pub and Coin

A seedy bar and gambling house towards the north end of the town. All sorts of gambling and pub games can be found here. What won't be found is a good night's rest. The roughest of the rough frequent this bar and many shady dealing go on here. Typically, the guards avoid this part of town. Prices are cheap but swindlers are everywhere. This particular pub is on a territory dispute between the Golden Fangs and the Mad Crabs. So it's not uncommon to see both orcs and humans alike in this establishment, which often leads to a lot of brawling. Quests of the more lucrative kind could be found here but will most likely end in dangling your PCs by a rope if they get caught. If the PCs do anything at all of note here, Boon Reeverling will immediately want Greeves to meet with them. Either to offer them a quest to get them killed, or to offer them a quest to see if they'd make for a worthy addition to the Plunderer's Guild.

• Greenstown District

This part of town is inhabited strictly by orcs and goblins. Depending on the world settings of your game, this may be an unusual way of seeing orcs and goblins as barbaric as they remain, they will be somewhat sophisticated here. They can speak the common tongue and deal with non-green-skins so long as they see benefit with it. They will most likely be standoffish with your party unless there is an orc or half-orc in your group. In which case extremes will arise. Some will take kindly to outsiders that are friends of an orc, but others will hate the orc that befriended outsiders. The Golden Fangs may try to use your PCs as scapegoats should they cross paths.

• Greeves Thorobough

If the PCs start to make a name for themselves, it make attract the attention of Boon Reeverling, thus causing a chance meeting with Greeves. Greeves will ask the PCs to do something illegal. Steal something from a rich individual in town. He will offer a very large reward for completing this. Should the PCs succeed, he will offer more and more quests with greater and greater rewards until eventually asking them to join the Plunderer's Guild. This will give them access to all the Plunderers Guild's hideouts (11 throughout the city) where they can sleep free of charge. They also connect to each other through hidden tunnels. Should the players fail to succeed in completing theses quests or outright refuse to accept them, Greeves will simply leave and say 'consider this your warning.' This will provoke random attacks on the PCs as they stay in town. No evidence of who is attacking them will be able to be figured out.

• Tarthius Mabry, Captain of the Guard

After this happens a few times, Tarthius Mabry, Captain of the Guard will arrest them on false charges so that he may speak with them in private. He will explain they've been attacked by the Plunderers Guild and ask if they could help him (bribing them with their freedom). Even though the PCs are most likely innocent, he explains he could have them hanged tomorrow. He resorts to this measure only if they are not initially cooperative. He will give them a list of names of Plunderers Guild members that he wants arrested and ask the players to pose as town guards to arrest them. His endgame is to get all the Plunderer Guild leaders rounded up, and eventually bring down Boon Reeverling himself. If he brings down Boon Reeverling, none of the other pirate guilds would dare to be so bold in their dealings as long as he was Captain of the Guard.

• Seven Ship's Merchant House

This is a trading house near the docks. They are out of most of their wares as ships are no longer coming to port but they will still have a variety of useful items for the PCs to buy or trade. This trading house has pretty much everything. Think along the lines of a general goods store.

It s possible here, as well, that some of the PCs gear and gold was taken. Most likely most of it was put into storage and not opened just yet. The PCs could perhaps realize some of their gear is in this building while browsing the merchant's goods they stumble across an item that for certain is theirs.

• The Ironworks

This armory is not going to be readily accessible to the PCs. They will have to ask around or pay for info as to its whereabouts. The distribution of weapons to anyone other than the guards in Port Reeverling is illegal. Therefor this armory is hidden under the basement of Glohun Ironbeard's workshop. Glohun is a dwarf blacksmith that deals in iron pots, pans, hammers and other daily used tools. He is not part of the Ironworker's Guild but they offer him protection and a percentage of their profit to keep their armory beneath his house/shop. Glohun is not easily convinced about letting others down the secret door. He will have a series of questions and play dumb for a long while. Usually a coin with a stamp of an anvil on it will grant immediate access and no questions asked.

• Ironbelly Inn

The main bar of the dockworkers as it's cheap and nearby the docks. It is oddly enough one of the safer parts of town as most of the time this is where traveling traders stay. Because the Wharf Dogs and the First Mates make most of their 'business' in trade, they want to keep the visiting merchants happy and police this Inn themselves. Even though the two groups hate each other and are constantly at war, they have both agreed for business purposes that the Ironbelly Inn is off limits for disputing and that peace there must be kept at all costs. If one of the two guilds breaks this truce at the Ironbelly Inn, the penalty is the death of the individual and his or her immediate family. Any unsuspecting fool that wanders into the Ironbelly Inn looking for trouble usually ends up staring down the muskets of both the Wharf Dogs and the First Mates. This establishment is a good place for the PCs to find work at the docks, or work within either of the two gangs in the area.

• Warriton's Farmstead

Warriton is a human farmer just on the outskirts of town. He is one of many farmers but he himself is the most successful and has the largest farm. He could have posted notes throughout the city that read 'Help needed on Warriton's Farmstead.' The posted notes aren't needed unless the PCs show no sign of wishing to explore the outskirts of the city. Warriton will need help as his livestock are being taking. He fears it is the jungle cats. But upon staking out his farm and waiting for the attacker, OR by tracking the area, the PCs will discover it is Bullywugs from the nearby swamp that are taking his livestock. Further investigation will show that the Bullywugs are skinning the livestock and leaving their rotting carcasses in the swamp to attract giant flies (which is the staple diet of the Bullywugs.) Reason with the Bullywugs will be impossible as they will attack any humanoid or beast that enters their territory without warning and without reason. The PCs could find a very small village of them (of about 20 or so Bullywugs) or a cave of even less that they will need to eradicate. There are obviously more Bullywugs on the island but they are spread our throughout the swamps in very small clans.

• Along the Beach

If the PCs find themselves along the beach they could stumble upon an encounter with giant crabs. They could also potentially find one of their original crew members still alive on the beach. Or they could find another crate or two from the wreckage with more of their gear inside.

• Some Random Quests
  • A cook needs crab meat for a stew. The catch is the crabs are 3 feet across at the back and capable of crushing human bones with their large claws should they be attacked.
  • A potion dealer needs a specific root or herb but it is in a remote part of the swamp in crocodile and Bullywug territory.
  • A house has been abandoned for years. Someone recently bought the house but can't move in because there's a ghost that's residing in that house.
  • A random encounter of a drunk mob approaches the PCs demanding their money back from last night's gambling. He is obviously wrong about the PCs but he won't listen to reason and his group is looking to fight.
  • The PCs overhear of a hunting party being formed to bring back some jungle cat meat. The leader of the hunting group is more than willing to add a few more members to his hunting party... especially after the incident during the last hunting trip...

  Leaving the Island

Maybe by now you've made this part of your main campaign or used the Kraken as your introductory event to a new adventure with new PCs. If so, great! If not, let's get your PCs back to where they belong.

• Returning to your main campaign

So after some time, that Kraken could wash up dead on shore. Likely? Yes. Probable? Eh... Epic? Obviously not.

After a time a ship should make its way into port. Beaten and battered by the Kraken but still fairly together. It may need a few things to make it seaworthy again. The captain of this ship could offer the PCs a few simple quests like aiding his wounded or taking a small group from his ship through the jungle on a minor expidition while his ship is temporarily out of commission. In return, he could offer your PCs some chests and crates his crew found washed up on some very small island the day before his ship was attacked by the Kraken. These crates could contain the rest of your PCs gear that was lost in the first Kraken encounter at sea. And now you're the greatest GM ever!!!

This could also lead to a few more quests for you PCs to obtain some raw materials, food, or gold to give the captain of this ship so he can get what he needs to make the ship seaworthy again. In exchange, he could offer your PCs passage off of this island. There's one catch though... The Kraken is still out there.

• The Kraken Encounter, part 2

Luckily the captain, and his massive ship might actually stand a chance at getting by the Kraken again. I mean, he managed it once right? He did lose some crew members along the way though and this is where you PCs enter in. While sailing back to wherever it is they're all going, the Kraken strikes again. Your PCs could be sleeping or awake. It doesn't much matter this time.

The alarm bell starts ringing frantically and a crew member shouts that he saw the Kraken in the distance. 'To arms!' yells the captain as his men and your PCs hasten to get ready. Soon enough, the Kraken attacks.

The tentacles of the Kraken are trying to break the masts and pull men overboard. Your PCs will need to fend them off. And just as they hurt one enough that it slinks back into the churning sea, another massive tentacle comes crashing over the edge of the ship.

Because the Kraken is so big that swords won't kill it, your PCs will need to fend off the tentacles long enough for the captain and his gun-crew to get off a few broadsides into the body of the beast. You determine how many broadsides will kill the Kraken and how often they are able to reload their cannons to do this.

I would personally recommend 4 broadsides. Why? Mainly just because 3 seems too obvious. You could play into that though. After the captain fires two, he could yell 'One more ought to do it boys! Reload quickly!' Your PCs will think they just need to hold on a smidge longer... only to make for that much more drama when the third broadside doesn't fell the beast and the situation is dire now that they're out of health potions and daily abilities.

A Final Note

I hope you all enjoyed this submission. I know some things in here are vague and lead you to ask more questions. But that was by design. I wanted to offer a way to totally throw your PCs for a loop, but a fun and interesting loop. I wanted to leave the island and its quests with an open world feel rather than a paint-by-number-style campaign. I wanted the PCs to remember what it was like to have an open world available to them. Most campaigns PCs embark on are linear. Even if they're not totally linear, they can feel that way. But sometimes open worlds can be too tough on the GM because of the vastness of the world. So I tried here to make a world that was open but small enough that it is easily manageable for the GM. I also think many of these plot hooks could turn into larger campaigns should you so desire. I tried to leave it a little open to interpretation for the GM as well. You can add as many NPCs, plot hooks, and areas of interest to this island as you like. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Thanks!