X Marks the Spot (Penny Blood Adventures) Hardcover – February 13, 2026

Three nights. Three rival crews. One skull-shaped island that won't be here at dawn.X Marks the Spot is a 5e-compatible competitive racing adventure for 4–5 players, levels 5–7 (scalable 1st–11th), designed to run in 3–5 sessions. Published by Penny Blood Adventures, it also includes a full Daggerheart conversion appendix.Once a century, the Blood Moon drags the Phantom Isle from the sea — a titanic skull too large to be real, too wrong to ignore. Inside its bone corridors waits the Hoard of the Lich Admiral, sealed behind the Pineal Vault. The island exists for three nights. When the third dawn rises, anyone still on the island doesn't die. They become part of the story. And stories on the Phantom Isle are always hungry.Your players are not the only crew with a map.Three rival factions land at the same time, each hunting a different artifact from the Vault. The Blood Tide Reavers — undead sailors led by a captain who honors his oaths and expects the same. The Moon Chasers — a werewolf hunting pack that respects strength and smells weakness before you show it. And the Arcane Syndicate — wizard corsairs who smile, negotiate, and lie, because they aren't just racing for treasure. They're performing a ritual to anchor the island permanently. If no one stops them, the Phantom Isle stays — and that's a catastrophe for everyone.This is not a dungeon crawl. It's a tournament race with knives in the dark.The adventure runs on a Race Clock of 24 Ticks across three nights, each escalating in supernatural intensity. Night One is atmosphere — the island tests you. Night Two pushes back with mechanical instabilities: stealth fails, gravity inverts, the dead mistake your players for people they loved. Night Three is the Eclipse, where reality fractures and every Tick brings Phase Pulses that make the island actively hostile. A single Moon Save DC per night keeps tracking simple. Rivals advance on their own progress rolls at the end of every Tick — the world never waits.Three distinct routes through the skull create genuine replay value. The Crown Path is the longest — eight to ten Ticks through both eye sockets and the Marrow Gardens — but collects all three keys and arrives at the Vault with the boss weakened and the Inner Sanctum ready. The Brain Path is the middle road — six to eight Ticks through the eyes and the Folded Library — collecting two keys and balancing speed against preparation. The Throat Path is fast and brutal — five to six Ticks straight down through the Whispering Ear Caves and the Throat Descent — but arrives with no keys, no Vault contribution, and a boss fight at full strength. Different routes suit different parties and create different stories.Inside you'll find ten fully detailed zones, each with encounters, terrain, NPCs, and activities that resolve on the clock. Three rival factions with encounter stances for every situation — first meeting, negotiation, threat, losing, winning, and at the Vault. An Anchor Ritual tracker for the Syndicate's secret plan, complete with foreshadowing prompts so it never feels like a gotcha. A ghost tavern that serves as the only safe harbor. A sea spirit who trades passage for real secrets. A bone treant named Edda who crowns the worthy. A convergent finale where all surviving factions meet at the Pineal Vault during a three-Tick Eclipse Window. Four complete endings with rewards, consequences, and campaign hooks. Plus a full monster codex, magic items, DM troubleshooting guide, and handout checklist.The island is sinking. The rivals are moving. And the clock doesn't care who wins. Read more