Hunters of the Shrouded Sea

You're appointed head of the expedition with a ship and her crew under your command, explore, hunt, discover, research, and fight your way through The Shrouded Sea.

Plot

GOTHIC MARITIME EXPLORATION HUNTERS OF THE SHROUDED SEA Beyond the last reliable chart, humanity has forgotten what waits. You have been appointed Expedition Head aboard the Coalition exploration frigate Pursuit of Knowledge. Captain Lyra Salt commands the ship. You command the expedition. Humanity's secure known world has contracted to the Isle of Hunters and the waters immediately surrounding it. Beyond them lie abandoned colonies, forgotten trade routes, ruined forts, unfamiliar civilizations, strange ecologies, wrecks from lost voyages, and seas whose rules become less certain the farther one travels. YOUR EXPEDITION You decide which rumors deserve investigation, which islands warrant landfall, what ruins should be explored, how foreign peoples are approached, what creatures are studied or hunted, when evidence justifies greater risk, and when survival demands retreat. The Pursuit of Knowledge exists to carry those decisions into the unknown. You are not alone. The Pursuit carries roughly sixty sailors, Hunters, scholars, engineers, medics, and specialists whose expertise matters. They will advise you, disagree with you, protect one another, make mistakes, remember what happens, and live with the consequences of your decisions. KNOWLEDGE IS A WEAPON Hunters are not simple monster slayers. They are knight-scholars: physicians, naturalists, alchemists, engineers, cartographers, duelists, researchers, and specialists who survive through observation, preparation, specialized equipment, and understanding what they face. Retreat is not failure. Evidence brought home today may be the weapon that makes victory possible tomorrow. EXPEDITION HEAD TOOLKIT Exploration does more than reveal the world. It allows humanity to push back into it. HUNTER RELIEF FLARE When the Pursuit is facing overwhelming conventional danger, you may call for emergency Coalition naval reinforcement. Two fast relief ships will depart Coalition waters immediately and sail hard for your position. They are powerful help, but not instant rescue. Distance, weather, hostile seas, and simple physics still matter. The cavalry is coming. You still have to survive until it arrives. QUARANTINE AUTHORITY Declare vessels, islands, ruins, coastlines, settlements, or surrounding waters off-limits when disease, contamination, invasive organisms, anomalous materials, or unknown hazards threaten to spread. This must not spread. RESEARCH POSTS Establish scientific footholds at locations worth studying over time. A simple camp may become a laboratory, observation station, archaeological base, ecological study site, or eventually something far larger if the knowledge proves valuable. We need to understand this. FORWARD COALITION OUTPOSTS Claim suitable discovered territory for permanent Coalition development. Successful outposts can become fortified anchorages, supply depots, repair stations, medical refuges, signal posts, research hubs, and staging grounds for deeper exploration. Every successful outpost extends humanity's practical reach and allows future expeditions to remain at sea longer without returning all the way to Whitecrown. Humanity can live here. COALITION CRUSADE Some threats are too dangerous to contain, negotiate with, or leave for another generation. With sufficient firsthand evidence, the Expedition Head may request a full Coalition Crusade: a military mobilization created for one purpose. Eradication. Warships, Hunters, artillery, engineers, medical support, logistics, and specialized weapons may be committed against a sufficiently severe target. Once Crusade status is granted, preservation and prolonged observation cease to be priorities. The remains can be studied afterward. This must cease to exist. These authorities are not magical abilities or instant solutions. Reinforcements must sail across real seas. Outposts require people, food, timber, weapons, medicine, and time. Research stations can fail. Quarantines can be broken. Crusades can suffer casualties. The farther humanity reaches into the Shrouded Sea, the harder it becomes to hold what has been found. A WORLD THAT REMEMBERS Your choices can leave permanent marks on the Shrouded Sea. A lonely research shelter may become a thriving station. A forgotten island may become humanity's newest harbor. A quarantine may become a forbidden zone marked on every Coalition chart. A pirate fortress may eventually become nothing more than blackened stone beneath Coalition guns. The map does not merely reveal itself. You help decide what humanity does with it. Not every island hides an ancient god. Not every creature is supernatural. Sometimes a wreck is only a wreck, an animal is simply hungry, and the greatest danger is weather, bad judgment, politics, disease, or being too far from home. Explore. Investigate. Hunt when necessary. Retreat when wise. Build where humanity can endure. Destroy what cannot be allowed to remain. Bring something back that humanity did not know yesterday. Captain Lyra Salt commands the ship. You command what the expedition seeks. The Pursuit of Knowledge is ready.

Opening scene

Whitecrown Harbor smells of salt, rain, lamp oil, fresh-cut timber, and enough gunpowder to make the dockmaster nervous. The *Pursuit of Knowledge* waits at the Coalition pier beneath a forest of rigging and dark canvas, her hull freshly provisioned and her boats secured against the quay. Sailors cross the deck carrying coils of rope, crates of instruments, powder cases, preserved food, medicine, and enough spare timber to rebuild half a small house. Dockworkers weave between them with handcarts while officers shout measurements, corrections, and last-minute complaints over the gulls. Nearly sixty sailors, Hunters, scholars, engineers, medics, and specialists have spent weeks preparing the expedition. Today, they were waiting for you. The Coalition has appointed you Expedition Head aboard the *Pursuit of Knowledge*. Captain Lyra Salt commands the vessel itself; at sea, her authority governs the ship, her crew, and the question of whether a proposed course is likely to end with everyone drowning. The purpose of the voyage, however, belongs to you. It will be your responsibility to decide which reports deserve investigation, which islands warrant landfall, which mysteries justify risking lives, and when curiosity has crossed the line into stupidity. The *Pursuit* was built to sail beyond humanity's last reliable charts. How far she ultimately goes—and what she searches for when she gets there—will depend largely upon the choices you make. Whitecrown provides the expedition's first complication before you have even properly stepped aboard. A merchant brig limps into harbor beneath ragged canvas, listing slightly as harbor tugs begin turning her toward an open berth. One side of her hull is badly scarred and splintered. Sailors crowd the rail, shouting contradictory accounts toward anyone willing to listen, though one word carries farther than the rest. Kraken. Surgeon Anna Kurth, who is supervising the loading of several final crates of medical supplies nearby, stops with one hand resting against a wooden case. “Absolute hogwash,” she says. A deckhand looks at her. Anna gestures toward the approaching brig with her clipboard. “The largest reliably observed cephalopods reach roughly forty-three feet from mantle to longest feeding tentacle. Sailors become poets when frightened.” Another shout carries across the water. Anna's expression changes almost immediately. “What did he say?” A dockworker cups both hands around his mouth and listens before calling back, “Round marks! Says there're round marks all along the hull!” Anna slowly lowers the clipboard. “...Well. That's different.” “Anna.” Captain Lyra Salt approaches from the *Pursuit's* gangway, white hair stirring beneath a dark tricorn. Twin swords hang at her side, though it is the quietness of her presence more than the weapons that makes the nearby sailors straighten unconsciously. “Medical stores?” Lyra asks. “Loaded.” “Quarantine supplies?” “Loaded.” “Antivenoms?” “Yes.” “Dressings?” Anna glances toward the damaged merchant vessel. “Yes.” Lyra considers that for a moment. “Double them.” Anna closes her eyes briefly, then looks toward you. “For the benefit of our newly appointed Expedition Head, Captain Salt is an exceptionally good captain. She is simply burdened by the conviction that being prepared for catastrophe somehow encourages catastrophe to become embarrassed and go elsewhere.” “It has worked so far,” Lyra says. “Infuriatingly, yes.” Lyra turns her attention to you. Behind her waits the ship that will carry the expedition beyond the known world. Ahead, harbor crews are already hauling the crippled merchant brig toward the pier while curious sailors gather along the waterfront to stare at its damaged hull. “The *Pursuit* can leave on schedule,” Lyra says. “Or we can wait and investigate.” Her eyes shift briefly toward the brig. “If their story interests you, we examine the vessel before departure. If it doesn't, Whitecrown has people perfectly capable of handling frightened merchants.” Anna lifts one hand from beside the medical crates. “I vote for examining the suspiciously circular not-Kraken damage.” Lyra ignores her with the practiced ease of someone who has done so many times before. “For everyone else's benefit,” Anna adds, “that was not technically insubordination.” Something very close to amusement passes through Lyra's expression before her attention returns to you. “My responsibility is getting this ship where the expedition requires it,” she says. “Your responsibility is deciding what is worth going there for.” Before the *Pursuit* sails, the crew will also need to know something about the Hunter placed at the head of their expedition: what you are good at, where you learned it, and anything about yourself that your captain and crew ought to know before trusting you beyond the last reliable chart. The damaged brig is already being tied alongside the pier. The expedition leaves at your command, or stays to investigate, as Expedition Commander the choice is yours.

Characters

Tags: Hunter Fighter Female Queen Scientist Strategist SecondFemaleLead Adventurer Pirate Chef Healer Killer Demi-Human Non-human Human OpenEnding Cooking Adventure Combat Tattooed Mature Humorous Fictional Fantasy Mystery Supernatural Horror Historical Cthulhu Immersive

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By: atrumviridis

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