Old Garl

Old Garl dwells beneath Sharkfin Bridge among the reeds and driftwood.

The Bridgefolk consider him little more than a half-mad hermit — thin as a corpse, pale as river clay, wrapped in damp blankets and muttering to himself beside the tide.

They do not realize what he truly is.

Garl is undead.

Long ago, Garl was a fisherman living upriver. He was taken by gnolls within the Drowned Forest and forced to drink from the Still Pool before dying beneath the cypress trees.

The curse raised him again.

Somehow Garl escaped. Swept downriver by the current, he eventually crawled ashore beneath Sharkfin Bridge where he has lingered ever since.

The years have hollowed him out. Much of his mind is gone.

But he remembers enough to fear the forest.

Revealing the Truth

A character with Passive Perception 12 or higher notices unsettling details:

• Garl does not blink

• his skin is corpse-pale and cold

• his breathing is shallow or absent

• river flies never land on him

If his nature becomes known, the Bridgefolk react with fear and panic. Many have lived near him for years believing him merely strange, not dead.

How the party handles this discovery may affect their standing among Saltmarsh’s poorer riverfolk.

Tied to the Curse

Garl’s existence may be bound to the Still Pool itself.

Destroying or sanctifying the pool might finally grant him peace.

Or it may awaken something worse within him.

At Night: Garl sits alone beneath Sharkfin Bridge staring upriver with vacant, unblinking eyes.

During the Day: He disappears into the Drowned Forest following old paths few others can find.

Mannerisms:

• Eats fish remains, carrion, or drowned birds without concern

• Speaks rarely in a cold rasp

• Often pauses as though listening to distant voices

• Becomes distressed if asked about his past

• Repeats phrases such as:

“The river remembers.”

Garl no longer understands what he wants.

He remembers only fragments:

• the river

• the fog

• hunger

• the still water

He survives because he does not know how to stop.