It started as a whisper, a rumor carried back on the wind by a shaken crew, their nets empty, their faces drawn with fear. The Iron Gull, a seasoned fishing vessel, returned from the outer waters, speaking of blood in the sea—a crimson tidebloom, thick and unnatural, where all was death.
Fish, dolphins, merfolk. Even an abandoned Atianna frigate, adrift with its entire crew dead, their bodies untouched yet lifeless, as if the very sea had stolen their breath. The water there was wrong, thick with clots of decay, and the deeper they looked, the worse it became.
The Republic officials dismissed it, calling it a seasonal algae bloom, a strange but natural event. The merchants worried about their trade, while the fishermen refused to return to those waters, claiming they could still hear the bodies knocking against their hulls in the dead of night.
Then, the first death came ashore.
One of the Iron Gull’s crew collapsed in a crowded market, his veins swollen and black, his breath ragged and wet. His body locked up, his eyes rolling back, and then came the vomit—a thick, tar-like sludge, bubbling and putrid, spilling onto the cobblestone. Floating in the filth was a half-digested fish, its flesh eaten from the inside out. The man spasmed, jerked once, then fell still, his face pressed into the rotting bile.
The docks were thrown into chaos. The market emptied in a wave of terror, sailors and merchants shouting over each other about curses, poisoned waters, and disease. Some claimed it was the wrath of the sea. Others swore it was Merfolk trickery.
One thing was for sure, out beyond the harbor where the waves swallowed the last light of the day, the ocean remained silent...
This will kick off a sea themed story arc allowing sailors and swimmers alike to take to the high seas. This will begin with lower level characters early on and progress to higher level characters as the story unfolds with new avenues to explore.
