Location Overview

The Three Cormorants is a crumbling stone outpost perched on a storm-battered sea stack just off the Lost Coast, marked day and night by three ever-circling black cormorants. Once a minor Thassilonian watch-spur, it has been reshaped and reused over centuries as a smugglers’ roost and hermit’s retreat. Now it stands as an ominous, half-forgotten landmark that most locals watch from a distance and avoid.

For a GM, the site offers a compact but layered arena: a tense coastal approach, infiltration of a precarious ruin, negotiation with morally gray occupants, and a short delve into ancient stone below the surf. The constant roar of waves, slick stone, and shrieking seabirds keep every scene on edge, and the unstable tides turn time itself into a hazard.

PCs typically come here chasing rumors of smugglers, searching for a missing fisher or Varisian youth, tracking strange lights seen offshore, or following clues from Sandpoint’s sages and priests about Thassilonian wards. Hidden in the deepest flooded chamber lies a minor ward-stone and faded inscriptions that echo Runelord-era magic, foreshadowing the Runewell and the wrathful runes that haunt Rise of the Runelords.

Geography & Environment

The Three Cormorants refers to a narrow, tapering sea stack and two smaller teeth of rock just off the coast north of Sandpoint. At particularly low tides, a slippery natural causeway of barnacled rock links the main stack to the shore; at other times, only boats or magic reach it. The approach is exposed—PCs pick their way across wet stone with waves slapping at their boots, or they row in through choppy surf under the watchful orbit of the birds.

Sheer cliffs rise from the waterline, encrusted with barnacles and razor-sharp shells. Climbing is possible but punishing; loose handholds, guano-slick ledges, and sudden waves striking from below all threaten to send climbers tumbling into the surf. Narrow switchback stairs carved by long-ago occupants wind up the lee side of the stack, their edges crumbling and their landings open to the drop.

Weather here is fickle and can change the tone of an approach. Sudden banks of sea fog roll in to erase visibility, dampen sound, and turn the stack into a looming silhouette. High winds whip cloaks and can buffet fliers and climbers alike, pushing them off-balance along exposed ledges or into each other during combat. On clear days, the summit commands a sweeping view of the Lost Coast Road, Sandpoint’s harbor, and distant Thistletop.

Tides shape both access and danger. At high tide, the rock causeway vanishes and lower entrances flood; caverns that seemed safe an hour ago become cold traps for the unwary. At low tide, tide pools and half-revealed caves invite exploration, but conceal hazards such as slick algae, jagged stone, and lurking predators. A GM can use a changing tide as a countdown: if the PCs dawdle in the lower chambers, water rises inexorably around them.

Seabird colonies dominate the upper ledges. Swarms of smaller cormorants, gulls, and terns nest in crevices, their noise masking stealth and drowning out shouted warnings. Disturbed flocks can explode into the air and reveal intruders to anyone watching above, or they can panic mid-battle and turn a straightforward skirmish into chaos. Sparse, salt-hardened vegetation clings to cracks in the stone—tough grasses, sea mosses, and a scattering of pale, bioluminescent barnacles in sheltered caves. These ghostly barnacles shed a faint blue-green light that can expose hidden shapes in the dark and hint at the presence of seeping, centuries-old magic.

The main stack’s summit once supported a proper outpost. Now, the broken ring of a watch-platform and collapsed rubble create ready-made cover, sniper perches, and unstable footing for rooftop chases or desperate last stands.

Notable Features

The Three Cormorants breaks naturally into a few distinct areas, each suited to exploration, negotiation, or combat.

Low-Tide Cavern Mouth

At the base of the main stack yawns a jagged cave mouth, visible only at low tide or from beneath the waves. Inside, the walls shine with algae and wet rock, and tide pools pock the floor between jutting stone teeth. The ceiling hangs low, forcing taller creatures to stoop and making missile fire awkward.

Over years of use, smugglers and other secretive visitors have cut stash niches into the stone, hidden behind loose rocks or seaweed screens. Discarded torches, scraped stone where boats have been dragged, and overlapping bootprints can quickly confirm that the place still sees traffic. This entrance lets PCs bypass upper sentries but risks confrontation in a confined, treacherous space.

Flooding is the cavern’s main threat. Water creeps back in before the tide visibly turns outside, filling pools and swallowing low ledges. A prolonged fight here can become a race against rising water, forcing choices between finishing enemies, grabbing evidence, or saving a downed ally before the sea claims them.

Broken Watch-Platform

Near the summit, a circular stone platform juts out over the sea, its outer wall shattered in several places. Waist-high parapets and fallen stones provide cover, while a single surviving stone column leans near the center. Faint Thassilonian sigils spiral up this column, worn by salt and time.

The platform is an ideal vantage point. From here, watchers can survey the coast, signal ships using lanterns or mirrors, or spot movement on the Lost Coast Road. For the GM, it is a natural stage for tense parley on the brink of a sheer drop, rooftop skirmishes, or last-second rescues as someone goes over the edge.

Hidden within the carved column is a faintly active rune tied to lost surveillance magic. It reacts when exposed to Runewell-tainted power or to acts of intense, immediate wrath (such as a killing blow delivered in anger), flaring with a brief crimson light and tracing a ghostly rune across the stone. PCs who notice this can connect the site to other wrathful magic in the campaign and may learn that the column once relayed signals to distant Thassilonian nodes.

Hermit’s Hut or Smuggler’s Shanty

Clinging to a slightly sheltered terrace below the summit is a lopsided structure of driftwood, salvaged planks, and scavenged stone. A narrow, exposed stair carved into the cliff face leads down to it, with nothing but wind and waves on the outer side. The interior is cramped but lived-in: charts pinned to the walls, carved driftwood fetishes, rope-strung shelves, and a small hearth.

Depending on how you use the location, this is either the Tide-Quiet Hermit’s solitary home or the Black Netters’ coastal shanty. In either case, it holds valuable paper and personal clues: journals filled with dreams and visions, coded ledgers of contraband shipments, or prophetic scrawlings that mix local gossip with half-understood Thassilonian references. These documents can point toward other sites in the AP, identify buyers or cult sympathizers in Sandpoint, or foreshadow the nature of wrath magic.

The shanty is also a fragile battleground. One stray fire, a shattered support post, or a concussive blast could send sections of the floor tilting toward the sea, forcing quick decisions as gear and NPCs threaten to slide over the edge.

Submerged Chamber

Beneath the main stack lies a smoothed cavern that bears unmistakable signs of deliberate shaping: right angles at corners, evenly stepped ledges, and a central dais now half-drowned by black water. It is reachable via a tight shaft from an upper cave, an underwater tunnel from the sea, or a secret trapdoor in the hermit’s or smugglers’ quarters, depending on your needs.

The chamber floods and drains with the tide, leaving brackish pools and slick stone. Thin lines of carved runes encircle the walls at knee and chest height, almost invisible when dry. When wet, however, they glisten and complete patterns of wrath-aspected sigils, briefly readable by anyone with the right knowledge. This interplay lets you treat the tide itself as a timer for deciphering or disabling magic.

At the heart of the room rests a dormant ward-stone or similar magical focus, bound to an echoing sentry-spirit known as the Drowned Whisper. Disturbing this focus—by study, tampering, or violence—can awaken spectral guardians, trigger visions of ancient coastal wars, or unleash surges of unstable energy that lash out at the most wrathful creatures present. Calm, respectful investigation may earn cryptic but valuable insight into Runelord-era defenses; reckless aggression risks empowering the very magic the PCs hope to understand.

The Three Birds

On a high, narrow ledge above the summit nests the trio that gives the site its name: three unusually large, nearly black cormorants. Their eyes gleam a subtle, unnatural red in some lights, and they circle the stack in eerily coordinated patterns. They are more intelligent than mundane birds and subtly influenced by the ancient ward-stone below.

These birds act as living omens and tools for foreshadowing. Agitated circling and harsh calls can herald incoming danger or the activation of magical effects. Sudden dives may lead the PCs’ gaze to hidden boats, submerged entrances, or weak sections of cliff. Eerie, motionless perching during storms can underline moments when the Drowned Whisper is watching closely.

PCs can shoot at, befriend, or magically influence the birds. Kindness, food, or druidic magic might win their loyalty, granting the party a noisy early-warning system and a symbolic claim on the site. Driving them off or killing them can quiet the stack—but may disturb the underlying magic, prompting the creation of new, stranger birds later.

Factions & NPCs

The Tide-Quiet Hermit (Reluctant Warden)

This reclusive mystic, failed priest, or former Sandpoint watchman retreated to the Three Cormorants after the Late Unpleasantness. Haunted by visions and half-heard whispers from the submerged chamber, he has convinced himself that his purpose is to keep “the bad stone” quiet and to discourage the curious.

His immediate goal is to prevent both townsfolk and criminals from awakening whatever sleeps below. He responds to arriving PCs with suspicion and ominous half-explanations, testing whether they are reckless meddlers or potential allies. If convinced they take the threat seriously, he may bargain for their help reinforcing wards, smashing specific runes, or casting offerings into the sea before he shares anything about Thassilonian magic.

The Black Netters (Pragmatic Smugglers)

The Black Netters are a small gang of coastal smugglers using the low-tide cavern and shanty as a discrete drop-point between Magnimar and Sandpoint. Their cargo runs from mundane contraband—untaxed liquor, exotic drugs, poached goods—to more dangerous items, such as illicit alchemical reagents and stolen relics.

Their motives are simple: profit and obscurity. Some members feel mounting unease about strange lights in the submerged chamber and shared dreams of drowning cities, but they conceal this for fear of losing a lucrative base. When the PCs arrive, the Netters treat them first as a threat to be driven off or bought, then as potential competitors or business partners. Standoffs on narrow stairs, hostage exchanges on the watch-platform, and running fights through bird-swarms all suit their style.

The Drowned Whisper (Bound Presence)

Bound to the ward-stone beneath the stack, the Drowned Whisper is a semi-sentient echo of a Thassilonian sentry-spirit or wrath-aspected guardian. Its mandate is to detect intruders, punish traitors, and record acts of wrath; centuries of isolation have warped those priorities.

It manifests as cold whispers on the wind, phantom red-tinged lights in the fog, and briefly coalesced shapes formed from seawater and foam. It seeks to provoke anger and violence, then drink in the resulting emotional resonance. If placated—through respectful offerings, nonviolent choices, or deliberate attempts to communicate—it can reveal fragmented visions of ancient conflicts, glimpses of Runelords, or blurred images of other sites tied to wrath magic.

Adventure Hooks

• Missing in the Mist: A young fisher or Varisian youth vanishes after boasting that they will camp on the Three Cormorants. Their empty boat drifts ashore near Sandpoint, and locals beg the PCs to follow the tracks along the coast and bring the fool back—if they still live.
• Smugglers’ Crossfire: Sandpoint’s sheriff or Magnimarian agents hire the PCs to crack down on coastal smuggling. Informants whisper that a “bird-rock” north of town is a key drop-point. The party must infiltrate the site before the next exchange or risk the smugglers vanishing along the coast.
• Birds of Omen: A Varisian seer spends nights watching the cormorants from Sandpoint’s cliffs and claims their strange flight patterns foretell renewed Runelord activity. She urges the PCs to visit the stack, offering to interpret whatever signs or dreams they bring back.
• Storm-Lit Runes: During a violent storm, several townsfolk witness red light flaring around the sea stack—sharp lines like runes seen between bolts of lightning. Desnan clergy or local scholars ask the PCs to investigate before the next storm, fearing the coast’s bad history is waking.
• Debt on the Rocks: A Shoanti hunter’s body washes ashore tangled in kelp, with crude wrath symbols carved into nearby driftwood. His clan arrives furious, convinced settlers or smugglers have defiled the coast, and pressures the PCs to confront whoever holds the Three Cormorants.

Secrets & Mysteries

• The submerged chamber’s ward-stone once relayed signals along a broader Thassilonian network. Careful study, or visions granted by the Drowned Whisper, can reveal cryptic references to Runelords, military campaigns, and distant sites along Varisia’s coast.
• Each time wrathful magic or intense anger is unleashed on or near the stack, the Drowned Whisper grows more potent but less stable. This increases the danger of its manifestations while sharpening the clarity of its prophetic visions.
• The Tide-Quiet Hermit’s visions are fueled by a small Thassilonian focus item—a pendant, ring, or carved token—he carries unknowingly. Removing it drastically reduces his torment, changing his attitude, and hands the PCs a reusable, risky divination tool.
• The Black Netters have recently moved an item already tainted by Runewell energy—perhaps something tied to Nualia or another AP villain—through the site. If hidden in the submerged chamber for too long, it could destabilize the ward or fuse with it, altering its behavior.
• At extremely low tides or during rare celestial alignments, a hidden sigil on one of the smaller outer rocks activates, opening a short-lived passage into a deeper flooded annex or a warped pocket-realm of drowned memories.
• The local superstition that “three cormorants mean three deaths” has a kernel of truth. Each time the ward’s magic consumes a living intruder in the depths, one of the birds lays a new egg. The chick hatches with a faint echo of the victim’s memories, occasionally mimicking familiar gestures or calls.

Ties to Rise of the Runelords

The Three Cormorants works best as early foreshadowing. It introduces wrath-aspected magic, the idea of surveillance wards, and the sense that the coast’s history runs deeper than Sandpoint’s records.

Journals in the hermit’s hut or ledgers in the smugglers’ shanty can mention unusual buyers from Sandpoint, Thistletop, or Foxglove interests, providing alternate paths into AP locations. Repeated sigils in these notes can match the rune on the Runewell or on Nualia’s artifacts, letting observant PCs connect threads earlier.

The hermit’s personal story can tie directly to the Late Unpleasantness or another town tragedy. His withdrawal reflects Sandpoint’s broader habit of ignoring uncomfortable warnings until disaster arrives, creating an emotional echo for later chapters.

As the PCs stir Runewell energy in Sandpoint, the Drowned Whisper can react. On a later visit, it might recognize their auras, becoming more aggressive or more eager to share relevant visions—perhaps showing flashes of future threats, distant Runelord ruins, or looming giants long before the AP reaches them.

Even once its mysteries are plundered, the sea stack remains on the horizon. References to strange lights or storm-echoes from the Three Cormorants in later chapters can remind players of the Runelords’ long shadow and hint that not all of Thassilon’s watchers have gone dark.