Whyrlis Rock

Battle-Scarred Slave Mines

Notable Settlements: Chalk Harbor (895)
Dominant Denizens: Humans
Other Denizens: Crysmals, earth elementals
Resources: Fresh water, safe harbor

Whyrlis Rock is an island in the eastern part of the Shackles. It is between Widowmaker Isle and Devil's Arches. The island is large but altered terribly by the eldritch powers unleashed by the two powerful sorcerers, Raugsmauda and Gray Whyrlis who fought one another for control of the archipelago, long before Chelish explorers made their way to the Shackles. Most of the shoreline seems to have collapsed into the sea. Spires of rock surround the island having broken off the original shores which are now sheer cliffs of white, chalky stone. The remaining landmarks on the cursed island are avoided by all. A few daring pirates have attempted to establish small settlements on Whyrlis Rock but the only functioning one left is the grim mining town of Chalk Harbor which serves as the base of the slaver Alahandra Boisich.

The grim mining town of Chalk Harbor is the only functioning settlement on Whyrlis Rock island in the Shackles. The town is the base of operations of the slaver Alahandra Boisich, rumored to have once been a powerful baroness of Cheliax. The ruthless Alahandra captains the barkentine Cloudbuster's Dream. There is no wildlife around Chalk Harbor save for bands of earth elementals and the few clusters of crysmals that lair underground, and no one can eat the sparse blighted crops that grow from the rocky soil. Water is drawn from the Elsewhere River, but all food is supplied by other islands and paid for by Alahandra.

The Field of Bones and Black Glass on Whyrlis Rock island in the Shackles is thought to be the field where the disastrous final battle between Raugsmauda and Gray Whyrlis occurred. The gruesome site is a magically dead zone about 4 miles in diameter. The place looks as though hundreds of skeletons clad in ancient armor were trapped and frozen in glassy black tar. A closer look reveals that the skeletal soldiers are fixed fast in solid obsidian as the earth beneath the victims boiled and solidified in seconds. Few adventurers dare to enter the place and snatch a sword or helm, and the field has remained undisturbed for thousands of years.

Heskott Bay was a town founded on the cursed island of Whyrlis Rock in the Shackles. It was located on one of the three decent anchorages left on the island. It was built as an outpost for the fleet of the pirate lord Baillie Heskott in the early years of the Shackles. It seems that three years after its foundation, all the residents of the town vanished into thin air. Those few who visited the abandoned town said that they heard the sounds of a busy city interrupted by screams of terror.

Norboro was the second town built on the cursed island of Whyrlis Rock, in the Shackles. It was founded only 6 months after its sister town of Heskott Bay. At about the same time that the residents of Heskott Bay vanished into thin air, the town of Norboro turned to ash. The location is now known as the Norboro Ashes.

LN female human bard 6/fighter 3

Area of Operation Chalk Harbor (Whyrlis Rock)

Vessel Cloudbuster’s Dream

More than 5 bitter years on the wind-battered Whyrlis Rock have given the mysterious and beautiful Alahandra Boisich the graying aspect of a much older woman. Nevertheless, she remains keen as ever, running an elaborate slaving operation based out of Chalk Harbor, where she forces any victims she captures at sea to work in the mines for a minimum of 2 years before releasing them. Despite her questionable means of acquiring workers, Alahandra proves to be a relatively kind overseer, and makes sure her enslaved miners are fed and watered. None know what the pirate lord hopes to find in her excavations of the rugged stone that makes up most of Whyrlis Rock, though in recent months she has become increasingly excited at her project’s progress, leading her allies to believe they may be close to uncovering whatever it is she’s seeking.

The only functioning settlement left on Whyrlis Rock, the grim mining town of Chalk Harbor serves as the base of operations for a slaver by the name of Alahandra Boisich (LN female human bard 6/fighter 3). Rumored to have once been a powerful baroness of Cheliax, Alahandra is the ruthless but effective captain of the barkentine Cloudbuster’s Dream. Three months out of the year, Alahandra can be encountered anywhere throughout the isles of the Shackles as well as in the waters of the Inner Sea, where she attacks bloated merchantmen and noble-carrying vessels with her crew of highly disciplined and loyal pirates. Alahandra drags aboard any individuals from the other ship who manage to survive the Dream’s onslaught, then offers her newly captured victims an interesting proposition: either die by the blade of her razor-sharp sabre, or serve her in the Chalk Harbor mines for a period of no less than 2 years. Needless to say, when faced with such a decision, most victims choose the latter.

Despite her ignoble means of recruiting new workers, Alahandra is a mostly kind overseer, and she sees to it that all her workers are fed, watered, and treated respectfully, and at the end of indentured worker’s service, Alahandra repatriates refugees back to their nations of origin. She has remained secretive about her motives behind the entire mining operation, and even her loyal and inquisitive first mate, Rockbogger (N male grippli fighter 3/rogue 2), and her favored lieutenant and adopted younger sister Luisa Boisich (CN female human bard 2/commoner 1) have been left completely in the dark since Alahandra first organized the massive undertaking more than 5 years ago. While it remains to be seen how much longer the operation will continue before Alahandra finds what she is looking for, in the past few months she has become increasingly excited as her indentured miners have begun to strike patches of oddly shaped minerals and gemstones during their work.

Alahandra Boisich

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