Phantasmal Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phantasmods) wrote2008-03-08 09:13 pm
phantasmods) wrote2008-03-08 09:13 pm
DUNGEON: KEYSTONE SHORE
MAP: Keystone Shore (Effects and creatures in italics only appear in the active regions of the Fissure, not the stabilized ones.)
HOME BASE: Keystone Lighthouse
A ramp extends down from the lower level of the station's roof to the ground below. This upper section of the sea cliff is sandy, rocky soil, dominated mostly by creeping vines and tough shore grass. Aside from the scrub, it's fairly open, allowing characters a clear view of the clifftop and leaving them exposed to the constant sea breeze. The effects of the Fissure shade the whole shoreline in shifting maroon, darkening under cloud cover but usually not causing any harm (except on Bloodsands Beach; see below).
The ruins of a tall lighthouse that overlook the station from the other side of its cliff peninsula, it must surely have been impressive when it was still standing. Unfortunately, the tower is cracked soundly in two, the upper half lying across the ground pointed away from the station. From the growth of moss and other decay set in on the ruins, it's been left alone for at least a century.
Of more potential interest, however, is the lower half - while the entry door is pitted, oxidized copper, it opens without too much trouble. (Or, if you prefer, you can climb in the open the top and descend the staircase inside to ground level.) Another door inside, this one wooden and half-rotted away, leads to a basement staircase, carved out of the stone of the cliff.
Though this staircase is dark at first, it soon gains a faint blue-green glow - like the Tempest Seacaves below that it leads into, there are crystal formations to light your way. Fortunately, none are large enough to cause the wind found in the caverns below. There's no door on the bottom end of the staircase, just a shift from carefully carved steps to natural cavern floor, and the stairs end nearer to the Glitterstone side of the caverns.
Critter: Seacats
Danger level: Petty annoyance
Type: Modified animal
Environment: All open-air areas of the Fissure
Behaviour: Jerks
These black-headed gulls are almost completely normal, except for their strange calls, which are for some reason the vocalizations of cats instead of birds. Their behaviour, on the other hand, could be more accurately described as "magpieish" - these birds will snatch up anything they can get their beaks on to carry off in the direction of their nests along the cliffside, including things that are quite clearly someone else's possessions.
In stable areas, they revert to normal seagulls - still likely to try and pinch a snack if they can, but not making off with everything you own. They're vulnerable to all the things normal birds are vulnerable to, and don't drop anything special.
BLOODSANDS BEACH
This sandy beach stretches long to the south of the station, three to three and a half miles in total length. The sand tends towards grey-brown, and occasional smooth stones can be found in it, as well as chunks of dried seaweed along the tideline. Large objects do not frequently wash up on this beach, unless they've arrived via the Fissure. A reef is visible some distance beyond the tideline, rocks occasionally jutting up out of the water in the distance. The beach is east-facing, and so has amazing ocean sunrises.
On all sides, the beach is closed in by tall cliffs, with the northern end of the beach scattered with large rocks for the last hundred yards or so before the cliffs proper. (See Skyclimb Cliffs, below.) Otherwise, the sands tend to run right up to the base of the cliffs, except for a flat stone section near the southern end of the beach that could probably be used as a campground. At night, the lights of Keystone Station, overlooking the north end, are visible almost all the way down the beach.
There is little to no vegetation on the beach, except for seaweed and the tough, bristly grass that grows against the base of the cliffs. As far as animal life, though, the beach is quite a happening place. Seabirds nest in the cliffs and come down to pipe their beaks into the sand, crabs cluster in the rocks, razor clams shoot up occasional bubbles along the tideline. Shells and sand dollars occasionally wash up. In total, it looks like the beach hasn't been occupied by humans in at least some decades.
Hazard: Red Sea
Danger level: Mild/situational during the day; moderate at night
Type: Fissure effect
Active: Under cloud cover
The maroon shading of the beach intensifies under the cloud cover. Day or night, character who glance to the ocean will find that it seems to be made of blood instead of water. In smell, color, and most other regards, the seawater appears as human blood - the exceptions are the consistency (still thin as water) and the temperature (still fairly cold seawater). Anyone who looks at the blood sea for too long will find themselves compelled to touch it and find out if it's really blood.
This is where the true danger lies - for those unwary enough to follow the compulsion will find themselves the victim of a sudden, striking exhaustion upon touching the water. Exactly how deep the exhaustion goes depends on how long one is in contact with the water, but it always strikes suddenly and intensely. It's still possible to move away, but exhausted characters may find themselves easy prey for the landsharks that wander the beach.
At night, the siren-call effect of the water is much stronger. Rather than simply stopping where the water washes over their feet, characters will be tempted to walk deeper, regardless of their sudden exhaustion. You might easily end up knee or even waist deep before you quite realize what's happened, and then getting out, working against the tide... Well, it could be quite the task, couldn't it? Careful that you don't simply slip and get pulled under...
Fortunately, this effect disappears entirely in stabilized areas of the beach. Additionally, "blood" that is on a character's clothes or body when the cloud cover breaks turns back into sea water (or salt stains, if it's ready dried), and will not change back into blood.
Critter: Landsharks
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Shorelines, primarily Bloodsands Beach but occasionally Glitterstone Beach
Behaviour: Sneak attackers
Extremely large sharks that are as at home in sand or gravel as they are in the water. They rarely venture further up the beach than the tideline, and prefer to stay where the waves meet the shore. This is because their movements through sand and stone can be tracked by those with a keen eye, and landsharks are primarily ambush hunters. The motion of the waves helps to obscure their movements, enabling them to sneak up on the unwary.
Landsharks are between nine and twelve feet from nose to tail, and look generally like members of the great white family. Their skin is rough and sand-colored - indeed, it might even be that it's made out of sand, given how much of the stuff seems to be embedded in their skin when closely inspected. Crack them open, however, and you'll find meat the same as any other shark, albeit a somewhat darker red than normal and tasting faintly of chocolate whether cooked or eaten raw.
Once they break the surface of either water or sand, however, it's possible to fight back. They're particularly weak to blows to the snout (which tend to stun or drive them off entirely), attacks to the gills, and electrically charged attacks or magic. A good old fashioned sword will do the trick, too. In addition to looting the corpse for meat and sharp teeth, for some reason, they occasionally leave behind candygrams. If their bodies are left untouched for ten minutes, however, they collapse into a pile of sand.
SKYCLIMB CLIFFS
Arguably the defining feature of the shoreline, these cliffs surround both beaches and cut out to the water beneath the station and lighthouse. Rocks also frame either end of the beaches, extending out into the ocean itself - as the tide changes, little whirlpools and riptides form in the gaps in between them, so keep your wits about you if you go exploring there. Much of the exposed rock has been worn smooth by the wind and the tides.
Tucked in between the rocks, into little cracks and wherever else they'll fit, are the true treasures of this area, however. Crystallized water magic - in little blue outgrowths, forever damp to the touch - occurs at the tideline and below. None of the crystals are much larger than a couple of fingers, and even the largest clusters are no bigger than a fist, but there's some to be found attached to nearly every rock.
In addition to the crystals, the tidal zone is full of shellfish of various varieties, some of them quite large. Mostly it's barnacles, mussels, and oysters, but there's also the occasional limpet and a wide variety of snails. Given the way the beach has been decades without any kind of human interference, some of them are quite large and easy to make a meal of... If you can pry them off the rocks.
Higher on the cliffs, should you choose to make the climb, are the nests of various birds and similar creatures, often built onto ledges that shouldn't logically support them or pushing over cliffside grasses. The gulls are not laying eggs this time of year, but there's all sorts of other treasures to be found - anything that they can carry off might end up at a nest, and neighbors frequently steal from each other. Might be a good place to find some trinkets, if you're into that sort of thing.
Critter: Bottle crabs
Danger level: Pinched fingers
Type: Animal
Environment: Skyclimb Cliffs rocks
Behaviour: Docile
Like excessively large hermit crabs, these guys put their vulnerable backsides into any hard container they'll fit into. Conch shells, bottles, even rusted helmets - if it seems protective, you might turn it over to find that some bottle crab has made its home inside.
Neither aggressive nor friendly, they just kind of go about their crab business. If you harass them, though, you might find yourself getting pinched for your troubles.
Critter: Giant Enemy Clam
Danger level: Mild
Type: Magic-using animal
Environment: Skyclimb Cliffs rocks; the Fingers
Behaviour: Reactionary
These large clams can be difficult to spot - their shells are rock-colored and frequently have other, smaller shellfish growing on them, so the only part that catches the eye is the rim of the clam, where the flesh peeks out between layers of shell. On average, they're at least two feet wide, with the largest reaching four or even five feet. Various shades of bright blue and green, the clams themselves close up fairly tightly when they're not submerged, and they're underwater at all times except the very lowest point of the tide.
However, they're very sensitive to vibrations, so stepping too close - or on the calm itself - will cause them to release a burst of electrically charged water from their rims. Direct attacks will cause them to just close down even more tightly to defend themselves.
Should you manage to defeat a clam, however, there's plenty of reward. The clamfish itself is edible - if a bit prone to giving your mouth a static tingle - and the inside of the shells is a fanciful abstract of blue-and-green iridescence that would fetch quite a price... If there was anyone to sell it to other than your fellow station residents.
Hazard: Tangleweed
Danger level: Mild to moderate
Type: Physical entrapment
Active: All times, tidal zone (cliff rocks, the Fingers)
Some of the clumps of seaweed you find among the rocks aren't quite as innocent as others. Tangleweed isn't exactly a creature, but it sure does like to... uh, tangle. Around your arms and legs. Or anything else, really.
Tangleweed's not really complex enough to have any kind of goal in mind - it just grabs onto things to try to keep from getting washed away in the tide. Unfortunately, not everything it grabs onto is so stable, so it quite quickly becomes a tripping hazard or something potentially even more dangerous. Luckily, for all that it's really strong, somewhat mobile seaweed, it's ultimately just seaweed, and anything with a sharp edge will cut it apart with a bit of effort.
TEMPEST SEACAVES
Under the base of the cliffs are a series of caverns carved out by the ocean and time - normally, the entrances to the beaches on either end are only visible at night (when the glow of the crystals inside is easier to see), but characters can also find their way in via the staircase from Keystone Lighthouse above. Once the beachside entrances have been located, they won't change positions - that much of the caves, at least, is stable enough reality even with the Fissure active.
The insides of the caves, a little less so. Large crystals - much larger than the ones found in the rocks outside, in the blue of water magic and a yellow-green that seems to generate a faint breeze - fill the caverns with a dim glow. And while you're sure that the majority of the caves are above the tideline, there's occasional pools of water that lap at the floor, rising and falling with the tides.
Other than the crystals, shellfish can be found clustered at the sides of the pools, and the occasional crab wanders through the caverns. A constant wind whistles through the caves, inspiring the name - even once the Fissure is stabilized, it doesn't entirely disappear.
At the far eastern end of the caves, a pathway leads at a slow angle to an overlook that sticks out right over the water. It's quite a romantic little spot, if you're looking for some privacy, though mind that you don't fall into the rocks and waves below.
Hazard: Emotional breeze
Danger level: Annoying to moderate
Type: Magical effect
Active: All times
There's something odd about this breeze. Though the green crystals always seem to wrap the wind around them, surely the wind shouldn't be this high...?
The wind in the unstable parts of the seacaves - and sometimes the stable parts by extension, at least until the whole thing is stabilized - is responsive to strong emotion. It doesn't matter what emotion - joy, anger, and panic all produce the same results, which are whipping, potentially gale-force winds. The stronger the emotion, the harder the wind blows - which can lead to rather nasty feedback loops, if you should react to the sudden strange wind by panicking.
Hazard: Storm crystals
Danger level: Moderate to severe
Type: Magical reaction
Active: When the wind is highest
Sometimes, when the wind speeds reach their peak, the wind and water crystals in the caverns will start to react with each other. The end result? An electrical shock in a localized area that's easy enough to knock you flat, if not stronger, depending on the exact size of the crystals involved. The blast might also knock crystals or stones loose from the ceiling.
Luckily, if you've got your wits about you instead of being knocked about by the breeze, you can predict the bursts of energy by the way the crystals involved start to glow and send off little sparks before the Big One. You've got maybe thirty seconds to get out of range, at that point, so move fast!
Critter: Alligroupers
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Aquatic ambushers
Environment: Cavern tidal pools
Behaviour: Hungry
Looking more like 'large lungfish with alligator mouths" than any actual kind of grouper, these large fish lie in wait for those foolish enough to step into the tidal pools without checking first. Between two and three feet from nose to tail, they're not as dangerous as the landsharks that patrol the beaches (indeed, at their size, they'd be ideal prey - perhaps that's why they've taken to the caverns?), but they're much harder to see when at rest.
Unlike the landsharks, however, these guys dig their teeth in and, once they've got a hold of you, they aren't leaving without their pound of flesh. They even do the deathroll thing to twist off whatever flesh they've gotten a hold of, if they can. Even if you manage to kill them before they manage that, you've still got a hell of a lot of deep puncture wounds to deal with... Best to just try to avoid them entirely.
GLITTERSTONE BEACH
A small, gravel-covered beach, with gentler waves than the exposed shorelines of the Bloodsands to the south. In the sunlight, it glitters impressively as the sun reflects and refracts off the numerous colorful scales that form part of the gravel. These scales, the by-product of the dragon eel colony that lives in the lagoon, are typically about fingernail sized, and occur in all colors of the rainbow. They're also all slightly transparent, and so a quick glance might cause someone to mistake the beach s being filled with colorful glass shards.
The ruins of the lighthouse are visible to those standing on this beach, as well as the rocky outcroppings of the Fingers. It ends rather suddenly when the cliffside swings back out to the water at the northern end, while the southern end is tucked into the place where the cliff peninsula supporting the lighthouse and the station folds back around.
Critter: Scale tick
Danger level: Annoyance to mild
Type: Parasitic animal
Environment: Beach gravel, anywhere wet
Behaviour: Bloodthirsty
These water-loving parasites can be a nasty surprise - like more terrestrial kinds of tick, they tend to hide in folds of clothes and wait before getting their teeth into you in some easily missed spot. Fortunately, they're brightly colored, and easy to spot on humans or most other visitors to the beach, because their usual hosts are the brightly-colored glowing serpents that come out at night.
In addition to the blood sucking, characters with magical abilities will find that the ticks also suck some small amount of their magical energy. Luckily, it doesn't seem that they carry any diseases. Also, if they get too dry, they'll abandon ship and drop off their own accord to try and make their way back to the water.
Critter: Dragon Eels
Danger level: High if provoked
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Underwater; Glitterstone Beach, the Fingers
Behaviour: Nocturnal; active hunters
These sea serpents remain hidden in underwater nooks during the day, only coming out to hunt at night. Ranging in size from five to twenty feet long, the adults are the largest and most dangerous thing the shoreline has to offer. Fortunately, they are fully aquatic, and not much interested in anything above the waterline.
The most notable trait of these beasties is that they're lit by an internal glow, which creates a mesmerizing effect given the distinct colors of each individual's scales. The second most notable thing is their mouths full of large, sharp teeth.
The most dangerous trait, however, is that they reflect all forms of magical attack or interference back at the caster. Combined with their hard, glossy scales, size, and quick speed in the water, this makes them quite dangerous to try and fight...
Lucky for you that, unless you're stupid enough to go swimming close enough to register as prey, they won't bother you if you don't bother them. Most of the larger individuals also go out to open water to hunt at night, rather than staying in the lagoon, so that's a plus.
Critter: Refraction Orb
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Glitterstone Beach, daytime
Behaviour: Floaty; aggressive at short range
Occasionally, the sun will reflect off the abundant scales just right, and the reflected rainbow of colors takes on a life of its own. These glowing orbs can be easily spotted from some distance down the beach, due to the rainbow of light interplay that makes them up. Most are small, about the size of two fists pressed together.
Approaching them, however, carries potential risks, as the orbs of light magic move quickly to defend themselves. They flash like flare grenades or strobe lights, causing short-term blindness and potentially long term damage. If you're close enough, the light can also cause burns, like a sudden, intense sunburn.
After taking these steps to defend themselves, the orbs zoom away from their perceived attackers. They all dissipate at night, without sunlight or a similar source to sustain them. Bright lights at sunset will attract a group of them down the beach as they attempt to sustain themselves with the artificial source.
THE FINGERS
This series of three rocky outcrops reaches protectively between the ocean and Glitterstone Beach, blocking the majority of the crashing waves and causing the lagoon in between to be some of the calmest water along the shoreline. Like the rocks along the base of the cliffs, the Fingers are scattered with water crystals, shellfish, and the occasional crab. Even at high-tide, they don't completely submerge; although characters out on the Fingers will find nowhere to be exactly dry (especially on the outmost outcrop, where the waves send spray high into the air), hey will at least not find themselves stranded or at risk of drowning.
At the far end of the Fingers, a blue sheen hangs in the air. Here lies the edge of the Keystone Reef Fissure, a wholly different environment... Literally. Characters who venture out this far - the last ten or twenty feet of the above-water part of the Fingers - will find that the air is unnaturally damp and sticks in their lungs. Spending too long out here causes the strange sensation of drowning in perfectly breathable air, even for characters who do not normally need to breathe.
Anyone who tries to progress beyond will get a slightly panicked call on their communication device, the android at the other end asking them to hold off for the time being. Let's just focus on stabilizing the one Fissure for now, okay?
Hazard: Ankle-grabbers
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure effect
Active: All times in unstable areas
The Fingers are perhaps too accurately named - those moving out onto them will find the waves themselves snatching at their ankles, with water-formed hands and claws. While the claws are occasionally sharp enough to draw blood, the major danger, of course, comes from being grabbed while one is trying to climb across the rocks, and instead being tripped or pulled down into the water. And unlike the tangleweed that can occasionally be found, the grabbing hands here are actively malevolent, because if they can knock you off balance, more will form, and they'll just keep grabbing and grabbing...
Physical blows or fire magic, at least, will temporarily disperse the shaped water, but only temporarily.
Critter: Helios fish
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Fissure creature (NOTE: Keystone Reef Fissure)
Environment: Tips of the Fingers, where the Reef Fissure's magic bleeds into the shoreline's
Behaviour: Drifting
These large, flat fish are... Well, they're something, alright. Actually, those familiar with marine biology will note that they're almost exactly identical to sunfish, except that they're "swimming" (whatever passes for swimming)... Through the air. The only visual difference is the gold sunbursts along the back sides of their fins and tail.
Helios fish are native to the Keystone Reef Fissure, not the Keystone Shore, and only occasionally drift onto the Fingers. A keen eye will spot them hovering over the waves further out over the reef itself. Being of a different Fissure, they do not disappear when the Keystone Shore is stabilized.
HOME BASE: Keystone Lighthouse
A ramp extends down from the lower level of the station's roof to the ground below. This upper section of the sea cliff is sandy, rocky soil, dominated mostly by creeping vines and tough shore grass. Aside from the scrub, it's fairly open, allowing characters a clear view of the clifftop and leaving them exposed to the constant sea breeze. The effects of the Fissure shade the whole shoreline in shifting maroon, darkening under cloud cover but usually not causing any harm (except on Bloodsands Beach; see below).
The ruins of a tall lighthouse that overlook the station from the other side of its cliff peninsula, it must surely have been impressive when it was still standing. Unfortunately, the tower is cracked soundly in two, the upper half lying across the ground pointed away from the station. From the growth of moss and other decay set in on the ruins, it's been left alone for at least a century.
Of more potential interest, however, is the lower half - while the entry door is pitted, oxidized copper, it opens without too much trouble. (Or, if you prefer, you can climb in the open the top and descend the staircase inside to ground level.) Another door inside, this one wooden and half-rotted away, leads to a basement staircase, carved out of the stone of the cliff.
Though this staircase is dark at first, it soon gains a faint blue-green glow - like the Tempest Seacaves below that it leads into, there are crystal formations to light your way. Fortunately, none are large enough to cause the wind found in the caverns below. There's no door on the bottom end of the staircase, just a shift from carefully carved steps to natural cavern floor, and the stairs end nearer to the Glitterstone side of the caverns.
Critter: Seacats
Danger level: Petty annoyance
Type: Modified animal
Environment: All open-air areas of the Fissure
Behaviour: Jerks
These black-headed gulls are almost completely normal, except for their strange calls, which are for some reason the vocalizations of cats instead of birds. Their behaviour, on the other hand, could be more accurately described as "magpieish" - these birds will snatch up anything they can get their beaks on to carry off in the direction of their nests along the cliffside, including things that are quite clearly someone else's possessions.
In stable areas, they revert to normal seagulls - still likely to try and pinch a snack if they can, but not making off with everything you own. They're vulnerable to all the things normal birds are vulnerable to, and don't drop anything special.
BLOODSANDS BEACH
This sandy beach stretches long to the south of the station, three to three and a half miles in total length. The sand tends towards grey-brown, and occasional smooth stones can be found in it, as well as chunks of dried seaweed along the tideline. Large objects do not frequently wash up on this beach, unless they've arrived via the Fissure. A reef is visible some distance beyond the tideline, rocks occasionally jutting up out of the water in the distance. The beach is east-facing, and so has amazing ocean sunrises.
On all sides, the beach is closed in by tall cliffs, with the northern end of the beach scattered with large rocks for the last hundred yards or so before the cliffs proper. (See Skyclimb Cliffs, below.) Otherwise, the sands tend to run right up to the base of the cliffs, except for a flat stone section near the southern end of the beach that could probably be used as a campground. At night, the lights of Keystone Station, overlooking the north end, are visible almost all the way down the beach.
There is little to no vegetation on the beach, except for seaweed and the tough, bristly grass that grows against the base of the cliffs. As far as animal life, though, the beach is quite a happening place. Seabirds nest in the cliffs and come down to pipe their beaks into the sand, crabs cluster in the rocks, razor clams shoot up occasional bubbles along the tideline. Shells and sand dollars occasionally wash up. In total, it looks like the beach hasn't been occupied by humans in at least some decades.
Hazard: Red Sea
Danger level: Mild/situational during the day; moderate at night
Type: Fissure effect
Active: Under cloud cover
The maroon shading of the beach intensifies under the cloud cover. Day or night, character who glance to the ocean will find that it seems to be made of blood instead of water. In smell, color, and most other regards, the seawater appears as human blood - the exceptions are the consistency (still thin as water) and the temperature (still fairly cold seawater). Anyone who looks at the blood sea for too long will find themselves compelled to touch it and find out if it's really blood.
This is where the true danger lies - for those unwary enough to follow the compulsion will find themselves the victim of a sudden, striking exhaustion upon touching the water. Exactly how deep the exhaustion goes depends on how long one is in contact with the water, but it always strikes suddenly and intensely. It's still possible to move away, but exhausted characters may find themselves easy prey for the landsharks that wander the beach.
At night, the siren-call effect of the water is much stronger. Rather than simply stopping where the water washes over their feet, characters will be tempted to walk deeper, regardless of their sudden exhaustion. You might easily end up knee or even waist deep before you quite realize what's happened, and then getting out, working against the tide... Well, it could be quite the task, couldn't it? Careful that you don't simply slip and get pulled under...
Fortunately, this effect disappears entirely in stabilized areas of the beach. Additionally, "blood" that is on a character's clothes or body when the cloud cover breaks turns back into sea water (or salt stains, if it's ready dried), and will not change back into blood.
Critter: Landsharks
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Shorelines, primarily Bloodsands Beach but occasionally Glitterstone Beach
Behaviour: Sneak attackers
Extremely large sharks that are as at home in sand or gravel as they are in the water. They rarely venture further up the beach than the tideline, and prefer to stay where the waves meet the shore. This is because their movements through sand and stone can be tracked by those with a keen eye, and landsharks are primarily ambush hunters. The motion of the waves helps to obscure their movements, enabling them to sneak up on the unwary.
Landsharks are between nine and twelve feet from nose to tail, and look generally like members of the great white family. Their skin is rough and sand-colored - indeed, it might even be that it's made out of sand, given how much of the stuff seems to be embedded in their skin when closely inspected. Crack them open, however, and you'll find meat the same as any other shark, albeit a somewhat darker red than normal and tasting faintly of chocolate whether cooked or eaten raw.
Once they break the surface of either water or sand, however, it's possible to fight back. They're particularly weak to blows to the snout (which tend to stun or drive them off entirely), attacks to the gills, and electrically charged attacks or magic. A good old fashioned sword will do the trick, too. In addition to looting the corpse for meat and sharp teeth, for some reason, they occasionally leave behind candygrams. If their bodies are left untouched for ten minutes, however, they collapse into a pile of sand.
SKYCLIMB CLIFFS
Arguably the defining feature of the shoreline, these cliffs surround both beaches and cut out to the water beneath the station and lighthouse. Rocks also frame either end of the beaches, extending out into the ocean itself - as the tide changes, little whirlpools and riptides form in the gaps in between them, so keep your wits about you if you go exploring there. Much of the exposed rock has been worn smooth by the wind and the tides.
Tucked in between the rocks, into little cracks and wherever else they'll fit, are the true treasures of this area, however. Crystallized water magic - in little blue outgrowths, forever damp to the touch - occurs at the tideline and below. None of the crystals are much larger than a couple of fingers, and even the largest clusters are no bigger than a fist, but there's some to be found attached to nearly every rock.
In addition to the crystals, the tidal zone is full of shellfish of various varieties, some of them quite large. Mostly it's barnacles, mussels, and oysters, but there's also the occasional limpet and a wide variety of snails. Given the way the beach has been decades without any kind of human interference, some of them are quite large and easy to make a meal of... If you can pry them off the rocks.
Higher on the cliffs, should you choose to make the climb, are the nests of various birds and similar creatures, often built onto ledges that shouldn't logically support them or pushing over cliffside grasses. The gulls are not laying eggs this time of year, but there's all sorts of other treasures to be found - anything that they can carry off might end up at a nest, and neighbors frequently steal from each other. Might be a good place to find some trinkets, if you're into that sort of thing.
Critter: Bottle crabs
Danger level: Pinched fingers
Type: Animal
Environment: Skyclimb Cliffs rocks
Behaviour: Docile
Like excessively large hermit crabs, these guys put their vulnerable backsides into any hard container they'll fit into. Conch shells, bottles, even rusted helmets - if it seems protective, you might turn it over to find that some bottle crab has made its home inside.
Neither aggressive nor friendly, they just kind of go about their crab business. If you harass them, though, you might find yourself getting pinched for your troubles.
Critter: Giant Enemy Clam
Danger level: Mild
Type: Magic-using animal
Environment: Skyclimb Cliffs rocks; the Fingers
Behaviour: Reactionary
These large clams can be difficult to spot - their shells are rock-colored and frequently have other, smaller shellfish growing on them, so the only part that catches the eye is the rim of the clam, where the flesh peeks out between layers of shell. On average, they're at least two feet wide, with the largest reaching four or even five feet. Various shades of bright blue and green, the clams themselves close up fairly tightly when they're not submerged, and they're underwater at all times except the very lowest point of the tide.
However, they're very sensitive to vibrations, so stepping too close - or on the calm itself - will cause them to release a burst of electrically charged water from their rims. Direct attacks will cause them to just close down even more tightly to defend themselves.
Should you manage to defeat a clam, however, there's plenty of reward. The clamfish itself is edible - if a bit prone to giving your mouth a static tingle - and the inside of the shells is a fanciful abstract of blue-and-green iridescence that would fetch quite a price... If there was anyone to sell it to other than your fellow station residents.
Hazard: Tangleweed
Danger level: Mild to moderate
Type: Physical entrapment
Active: All times, tidal zone (cliff rocks, the Fingers)
Some of the clumps of seaweed you find among the rocks aren't quite as innocent as others. Tangleweed isn't exactly a creature, but it sure does like to... uh, tangle. Around your arms and legs. Or anything else, really.
Tangleweed's not really complex enough to have any kind of goal in mind - it just grabs onto things to try to keep from getting washed away in the tide. Unfortunately, not everything it grabs onto is so stable, so it quite quickly becomes a tripping hazard or something potentially even more dangerous. Luckily, for all that it's really strong, somewhat mobile seaweed, it's ultimately just seaweed, and anything with a sharp edge will cut it apart with a bit of effort.
TEMPEST SEACAVES
Under the base of the cliffs are a series of caverns carved out by the ocean and time - normally, the entrances to the beaches on either end are only visible at night (when the glow of the crystals inside is easier to see), but characters can also find their way in via the staircase from Keystone Lighthouse above. Once the beachside entrances have been located, they won't change positions - that much of the caves, at least, is stable enough reality even with the Fissure active.
The insides of the caves, a little less so. Large crystals - much larger than the ones found in the rocks outside, in the blue of water magic and a yellow-green that seems to generate a faint breeze - fill the caverns with a dim glow. And while you're sure that the majority of the caves are above the tideline, there's occasional pools of water that lap at the floor, rising and falling with the tides.
Other than the crystals, shellfish can be found clustered at the sides of the pools, and the occasional crab wanders through the caverns. A constant wind whistles through the caves, inspiring the name - even once the Fissure is stabilized, it doesn't entirely disappear.
At the far eastern end of the caves, a pathway leads at a slow angle to an overlook that sticks out right over the water. It's quite a romantic little spot, if you're looking for some privacy, though mind that you don't fall into the rocks and waves below.
Hazard: Emotional breeze
Danger level: Annoying to moderate
Type: Magical effect
Active: All times
There's something odd about this breeze. Though the green crystals always seem to wrap the wind around them, surely the wind shouldn't be this high...?
The wind in the unstable parts of the seacaves - and sometimes the stable parts by extension, at least until the whole thing is stabilized - is responsive to strong emotion. It doesn't matter what emotion - joy, anger, and panic all produce the same results, which are whipping, potentially gale-force winds. The stronger the emotion, the harder the wind blows - which can lead to rather nasty feedback loops, if you should react to the sudden strange wind by panicking.
Hazard: Storm crystals
Danger level: Moderate to severe
Type: Magical reaction
Active: When the wind is highest
Sometimes, when the wind speeds reach their peak, the wind and water crystals in the caverns will start to react with each other. The end result? An electrical shock in a localized area that's easy enough to knock you flat, if not stronger, depending on the exact size of the crystals involved. The blast might also knock crystals or stones loose from the ceiling.
Luckily, if you've got your wits about you instead of being knocked about by the breeze, you can predict the bursts of energy by the way the crystals involved start to glow and send off little sparks before the Big One. You've got maybe thirty seconds to get out of range, at that point, so move fast!
Critter: Alligroupers
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Aquatic ambushers
Environment: Cavern tidal pools
Behaviour: Hungry
Looking more like 'large lungfish with alligator mouths" than any actual kind of grouper, these large fish lie in wait for those foolish enough to step into the tidal pools without checking first. Between two and three feet from nose to tail, they're not as dangerous as the landsharks that patrol the beaches (indeed, at their size, they'd be ideal prey - perhaps that's why they've taken to the caverns?), but they're much harder to see when at rest.
Unlike the landsharks, however, these guys dig their teeth in and, once they've got a hold of you, they aren't leaving without their pound of flesh. They even do the deathroll thing to twist off whatever flesh they've gotten a hold of, if they can. Even if you manage to kill them before they manage that, you've still got a hell of a lot of deep puncture wounds to deal with... Best to just try to avoid them entirely.
GLITTERSTONE BEACH
A small, gravel-covered beach, with gentler waves than the exposed shorelines of the Bloodsands to the south. In the sunlight, it glitters impressively as the sun reflects and refracts off the numerous colorful scales that form part of the gravel. These scales, the by-product of the dragon eel colony that lives in the lagoon, are typically about fingernail sized, and occur in all colors of the rainbow. They're also all slightly transparent, and so a quick glance might cause someone to mistake the beach s being filled with colorful glass shards.
The ruins of the lighthouse are visible to those standing on this beach, as well as the rocky outcroppings of the Fingers. It ends rather suddenly when the cliffside swings back out to the water at the northern end, while the southern end is tucked into the place where the cliff peninsula supporting the lighthouse and the station folds back around.
Critter: Scale tick
Danger level: Annoyance to mild
Type: Parasitic animal
Environment: Beach gravel, anywhere wet
Behaviour: Bloodthirsty
These water-loving parasites can be a nasty surprise - like more terrestrial kinds of tick, they tend to hide in folds of clothes and wait before getting their teeth into you in some easily missed spot. Fortunately, they're brightly colored, and easy to spot on humans or most other visitors to the beach, because their usual hosts are the brightly-colored glowing serpents that come out at night.
In addition to the blood sucking, characters with magical abilities will find that the ticks also suck some small amount of their magical energy. Luckily, it doesn't seem that they carry any diseases. Also, if they get too dry, they'll abandon ship and drop off their own accord to try and make their way back to the water.
Critter: Dragon Eels
Danger level: High if provoked
Type: Magical beast
Environment: Underwater; Glitterstone Beach, the Fingers
Behaviour: Nocturnal; active hunters
These sea serpents remain hidden in underwater nooks during the day, only coming out to hunt at night. Ranging in size from five to twenty feet long, the adults are the largest and most dangerous thing the shoreline has to offer. Fortunately, they are fully aquatic, and not much interested in anything above the waterline.
The most notable trait of these beasties is that they're lit by an internal glow, which creates a mesmerizing effect given the distinct colors of each individual's scales. The second most notable thing is their mouths full of large, sharp teeth.
The most dangerous trait, however, is that they reflect all forms of magical attack or interference back at the caster. Combined with their hard, glossy scales, size, and quick speed in the water, this makes them quite dangerous to try and fight...
Lucky for you that, unless you're stupid enough to go swimming close enough to register as prey, they won't bother you if you don't bother them. Most of the larger individuals also go out to open water to hunt at night, rather than staying in the lagoon, so that's a plus.
Critter: Refraction Orb
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure creature
Environment: Glitterstone Beach, daytime
Behaviour: Floaty; aggressive at short range
Occasionally, the sun will reflect off the abundant scales just right, and the reflected rainbow of colors takes on a life of its own. These glowing orbs can be easily spotted from some distance down the beach, due to the rainbow of light interplay that makes them up. Most are small, about the size of two fists pressed together.
Approaching them, however, carries potential risks, as the orbs of light magic move quickly to defend themselves. They flash like flare grenades or strobe lights, causing short-term blindness and potentially long term damage. If you're close enough, the light can also cause burns, like a sudden, intense sunburn.
After taking these steps to defend themselves, the orbs zoom away from their perceived attackers. They all dissipate at night, without sunlight or a similar source to sustain them. Bright lights at sunset will attract a group of them down the beach as they attempt to sustain themselves with the artificial source.
THE FINGERS
This series of three rocky outcrops reaches protectively between the ocean and Glitterstone Beach, blocking the majority of the crashing waves and causing the lagoon in between to be some of the calmest water along the shoreline. Like the rocks along the base of the cliffs, the Fingers are scattered with water crystals, shellfish, and the occasional crab. Even at high-tide, they don't completely submerge; although characters out on the Fingers will find nowhere to be exactly dry (especially on the outmost outcrop, where the waves send spray high into the air), hey will at least not find themselves stranded or at risk of drowning.
At the far end of the Fingers, a blue sheen hangs in the air. Here lies the edge of the Keystone Reef Fissure, a wholly different environment... Literally. Characters who venture out this far - the last ten or twenty feet of the above-water part of the Fingers - will find that the air is unnaturally damp and sticks in their lungs. Spending too long out here causes the strange sensation of drowning in perfectly breathable air, even for characters who do not normally need to breathe.
Anyone who tries to progress beyond will get a slightly panicked call on their communication device, the android at the other end asking them to hold off for the time being. Let's just focus on stabilizing the one Fissure for now, okay?
Hazard: Ankle-grabbers
Danger level: Moderate
Type: Fissure effect
Active: All times in unstable areas
The Fingers are perhaps too accurately named - those moving out onto them will find the waves themselves snatching at their ankles, with water-formed hands and claws. While the claws are occasionally sharp enough to draw blood, the major danger, of course, comes from being grabbed while one is trying to climb across the rocks, and instead being tripped or pulled down into the water. And unlike the tangleweed that can occasionally be found, the grabbing hands here are actively malevolent, because if they can knock you off balance, more will form, and they'll just keep grabbing and grabbing...
Physical blows or fire magic, at least, will temporarily disperse the shaped water, but only temporarily.
Critter: Helios fish
Danger level: Annoyance
Type: Fissure creature (NOTE: Keystone Reef Fissure)
Environment: Tips of the Fingers, where the Reef Fissure's magic bleeds into the shoreline's
Behaviour: Drifting
These large, flat fish are... Well, they're something, alright. Actually, those familiar with marine biology will note that they're almost exactly identical to sunfish, except that they're "swimming" (whatever passes for swimming)... Through the air. The only visual difference is the gold sunbursts along the back sides of their fins and tail.
Helios fish are native to the Keystone Reef Fissure, not the Keystone Shore, and only occasionally drift onto the Fingers. A keen eye will spot them hovering over the waves further out over the reef itself. Being of a different Fissure, they do not disappear when the Keystone Shore is stabilized.