Game story, lore and dialogue

Setting

Hollowmere is a valley lake that breathes. Each spring the Thaw raises the water and drowns the low fields; each autumn the Ebb pulls it back and uncovers old ruins, shells and seeds. Villagers farm on terraces and floating rafts, and the year is planned around the lake rather than the sun.

History in brief: two hundred years ago the valley was dry, ruled by the city of Merrow. The city dammed the river to grow rich, the dam cracked, and the lake swallowed Merrow in one night. Survivors built the village of Hollow on the hills above. Nobody has dived to the old city in living memory — until now.

Factions

Key characters

• Ada Fenwick, Guild elder — kind but stubborn; lost her brother to a Thaw flood. Motive: protect the village at any cost.
• Juno Reed, Raft Folk trader — cheerful, always a deal ready; secretly sends money to family downriver. Motive: buy her own boat.
• Brother Cal, Keeper — quiet scholar who found a Merrow diary. Motive: prove the flood was not an accident.

Quest outline: "What the Ebb Gave Back"

1. Autumn, week 1: the Ebb uncovers a stone door near your farm. Ada wants it reburied.
2. Week 2: Juno offers to trade a diving bell part for 20 lake lilies.
3. Week 3: Cal decodes a symbol on the door: the mark of Merrow's dam engineers.
4. Choice: open the door now (Cal's way) or wait for Guild approval (Ada's way). Each path changes who helps you in winter.
5. Reward: first dive unlocked; a new crop, drowned barley, that grows only underwater.

Lore rules (to keep it consistent)

• The lake never rises outside the Thaw; any "sudden flood" in a story must have a cause
• No magic spells; wonder comes from nature and old engineering
• Merrow's people are never pure villains — they built the dam to end a famine