Xolec

Xolec was Ineca’s closest friend and loyal first mate aboard the Pale Prow. When rumors surfaced that the Pearl Heart had reappeared near Saltmarsh, Xolec convinced a merchant captain to secretly ferry him into town so he could retrieve it and end the curse that binds his crew.

Instead of finding the Heart, he found the Clerics of St. Cuthbert.

The clerics’ divinations revealed his undead nature. Unable to destroy him through ordinary means, they bound him with a potent Cuthbertine curse: Xolec may leave the cellar only if freed by one pure of heart.

He has remained trapped beneath Crabber’s Cove for nearly a century.

Despite the long isolation, Xolec remembers fragments of the past with painful clarity:

• Azure’s Tide raging across the coast

• The Pearl Heart vanishing again and again over the decades

• The doomed battle of Port Monmurg and the fall of the Pale Prow

• The moment the curse bound Ineca and the crew

• That the Heart is somewhere in the Saltmarsh region

• And that time is running out for Ineca’s lover’s soul

Xolec does not willingly reveal why the Pale Prow seeks the Heart. He fears, as all cursed aboard the Pale Prow fear, that if others learn the artifact’s true purpose, it could be:

• used against them, or

• destroyed, damning the crew forever.

The Heart is their only hope of salvation. If it is shattered, the curse becomes eternal.

For now, Xolec simply says:

“We seek the Heart because we must. Without it, we are lost.”

Only once trust is earned or desperation forces his hand will he confess the truth of the curse and the soul trapped within.

Xolec is bound to the Pearl Heart by the same curse that animates him. He can feel the Heart’s presence, an instinctive pull that grows stronger the closer he gets, but it offers no sense of direction or distance. Before he was sealed away, he had uncovered a faint clue to its whereabouts, though time and imprisonment have left only fragments of that memory.

See Clues in the Location section.

• Haunted Insight: “I can feel the Heart… like a pulse in the dark. The closer I am, the stronger it becomes—but it gives no direction, only hunger.”

• Reluctant Truth: If pressed about why he seeks it:
  “The Heart binds more than a soul… and its purpose is not yours to bear. Help me find it, and you’ll understand.”

• Fragmented Memory: He offers a clue tied to the chosen location: “Before they sealed me away, I learned this much—[insert clue from Location]. It’s all know, help me find it.”

Xolec wants only one thing: to recover the Pearl Heart and end the curse binding him, his captain, and the crew of the Pale Prow. He will do anything to see the trapped soul released, even if he cannot reveal the Heart’s true purpose. His goal is not power or blood, but freedom from the unlife he never chose. Every word he speaks, every bargain he offers, is driven by this single desperate hope.