The Story
A scene-by-scene walkthrough for the DM — narrative flow, illithid events, and wisdom save triggers woven together in sequence.
Session 1 — Act 1: The Crash
Scene 1: Nautiloid Escape
Players wake on the crashing Nautiloid ship. Chaos. Screaming. The ship is tearing itself apart above the city. They have no idea who each other are — only that the tadpoles behind their eyes are thrumming in sync.
Combat: Cambions on the ship deck. Get to the transponder. Get out before the ship hits the ground.
ILLITHID EVENT — Psychic Pulse
At the start of combat, all players feel a wave roll through them. They sense each other's fear, anger, pain — raw and unfiltered. For 1 minute they can communicate telepathically without speaking. Sets the tone. This is what the tadpole does. This is what it will keep doing.
At the start of combat, all players feel a wave roll through them. They sense each other's fear, anger, pain — raw and unfiltered. For 1 minute they can communicate telepathically without speaking. Sets the tone. This is what the tadpole does. This is what it will keep doing.
Goal: Escape before the ship crashes. The session begins in media res — no preamble, no exposition. They wake up already in danger.
Scene 2: Ravaged Beach
They wake on the beach. The Nautiloid wreckage smolders behind them. Bodies of Mind Flayers, thralls, and passengers litter the sand. Shadowheart is nearby — wounded, clutching a strange artifact she won't explain, and immediately suspicious of everyone.
ILLITHID EVENT — Memory Flash
Choose one player. Without warning, a flash: Shadowheart's memory — a ritual, a dark temple, the artifact changing hands. She's hiding something about where she got it and what it does. She doesn't know they saw it. Play this quietly. The player knows. Shadowheart doesn't know they know.
Choose one player. Without warning, a flash: Shadowheart's memory — a ritual, a dark temple, the artifact changing hands. She's hiding something about where she got it and what it does. She doesn't know they saw it. Play this quietly. The player knows. Shadowheart doesn't know they know.
POD LOCATION #1 — Nautiloid wreckage. A shattered containment tank, still faintly humming. The pod is lodged in the cracked glass, half-submerged in black fluid.
POD LOCATION #2 — Beach cave. Hidden inside a dead Mind Flayer's skull, wedged behind the eye socket. Someone put it there deliberately.
POD LOCATION #2 — Beach cave. Hidden inside a dead Mind Flayer's skull, wedged behind the eye socket. Someone put it there deliberately.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Jackson | Trusts Shadowheart — extends goodwill to a complete stranger in a moment of crisis |
| Rachel | Admits she's scared or hurt from the crash — drops the armor, even briefly |
| Genuine emotional reaction to surviving — relief, gratitude, anything real |
Scene 3: Emerald Grove
The grove is under siege. Goblins press at the gates. Inside, Kagha — the acting druid leader — has cornered a tiefling child and is threatening her with a snake. The refugees are terrified. The druids are split. Everything is on the edge of violence.
ILLITHID EVENT — Coerce
Any player can attempt Illithid Persuasion on Kagha. DC 10 — auto-success if they've consumed a pod. Her mind bends. She backs down from the child, shaking, terrified of something she can't name. NPCs nearby notice the player's eyes flash purple. Kagha will not forget this.
Any player can attempt Illithid Persuasion on Kagha. DC 10 — auto-success if they've consumed a pod. Her mind bends. She backs down from the child, shaking, terrified of something she can't name. NPCs nearby notice the player's eyes flash purple. Kagha will not forget this.
Halsin is captured somewhere in the goblin camp. His allies in the grove beg the party to find him. Side paths available: the owlbear nest in the Blighted Village, a hidden Harper cache, the corrupted druid rites.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Holds back from violence — chooses to plan or observe instead of act | |
| Matt | Communes with the grove's nature spirits — the tadpole uses the channel |
| Jackson | Feels genuine peace in the grove — the calm before everything gets worse |
Scene 4: Goblin Camp
The goblin fortress: loud, chaotic, and full of opportunities to die or get creative. Three leaders to neutralize — Priestess Gut (the unctuous true believer), Dror Ragzlin (the warchief who can speak with the dead), Minthara (the ruthless drow commander). Any approach works. Diplomacy, deception, violence. Probably all three.
ILLITHID EVENT — Mind Read
Any player can reach out and read a goblin's surface thoughts. Fleeting, ugly images — fear of the leaders, hunger, boredom. The goblin gets a nosebleed and stumbles. They never know why. This one costs nothing. That's the point.
Any player can reach out and read a goblin's surface thoughts. Fleeting, ugly images — fear of the leaders, hunger, boredom. The goblin gets a nosebleed and stumbles. They never know why. This one costs nothing. That's the point.
POD LOCATION #3 — Goblin Camp basement. Priestess Gut's ritual chamber. The pod sits on the altar like an offering, wrapped in black cloth. She was studying it.
ILLITHID EVENT — Dominate
During any of the three leader fights, one player can psychically dominate a goblin minion for exactly 1 round. The minion acts on the player's turn, follows one command, then collapses. The player feels the goblin's mind like a puppet string. Brief. Nauseating. Efficient.
During any of the three leader fights, one player can psychically dominate a goblin minion for exactly 1 round. The minion acts on the player's turn, follows one command, then collapses. The player feels the goblin's mind like a puppet string. Brief. Nauseating. Efficient.
Halsin is in a cage in the worg pen. Free him. He'll fight out with them. He owes them everything, and he knows it.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Rachel | Lets someone else protect her — doesn't have to be the strong one, just for a moment |
| Performs sincerely — not for laughs, not deflection, but something genuine | |
| Matt | Heals an ally — the life energy flows through the tadpole's connection |
| Jackson | Spares a surrendering goblin — mercy costs something here |
SESSION 1 — Escalation Timeline
Early: Subtle. A pulse behind the eye. Brief headache after the Psychic Pulse. "Did you hear that?"
Mid: Louder. A flash of alien memory. The taste of copper before the Coerce. A brief, irrational urge that wasn't theirs.
End: Undeniable. After the Goblin Camp — if a player used Dominate — the tadpole moves. They feel it squirm. An NPC watching them notices their eyes flash violet for just a second.
Early: Subtle. A pulse behind the eye. Brief headache after the Psychic Pulse. "Did you hear that?"
Mid: Louder. A flash of alien memory. The taste of copper before the Coerce. A brief, irrational urge that wasn't theirs.
End: Undeniable. After the Goblin Camp — if a player used Dominate — the tadpole moves. They feel it squirm. An NPC watching them notices their eyes flash violet for just a second.
Session 2 — Act 2: Shadow and Mind
Scene 5: The Shadow-Cursed Lands
The light stops. Not darkness — something worse. The shadows here have weight, intention. The curse bleeds through everything. Torches dim. Spells feel muted. Something is watching from inside the dark, and it isn't afraid of them.
ILLITHID EVENT — Shadow Sight
The tadpole offers, unprompted: darkvision 120 feet to any who accept. The shadows feel comfortable. Familiar. Warm. There's no catch announced. That's the catch.
The tadpole offers, unprompted: darkvision 120 feet to any who accept. The shadows feel comfortable. Familiar. Warm. There's no catch announced. That's the catch.
POD LOCATION #4 — Shadow-cursed convoy wreckage on the road. A dead courier's pack, torn open by something with claws. The pod is inside, undamaged. Whoever sent it knew where it was going.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Matt | Wild shapes — transformation opens a channel the tadpole wasn't invited through |
| Doubts herself in the oppressive dark — the tadpole notices weakness like a current notices a gap | |
| Drops the jokes and admits actual fear — the mask comes off |
Scene 6: Last Light Inn
A pocket of safety in the cursed lands — Isobel's holy barrier holds the shadows back. The inn is warm, crowded with refugees and Harpers. Jaheira holds it all together through willpower alone. Let the party breathe here. Let them laugh. Then take it away.
ILLITHID EVENT — Truth Sense
Any player can reach into Jaheira's intentions. She's genuine — no hidden agenda with the party — but the desperation underneath is raw. She's been holding this line for months. She doesn't know how much longer she can. Let the player decide whether to tell her they looked.
Any player can reach into Jaheira's intentions. She's genuine — no hidden agenda with the party — but the desperation underneath is raw. She's been holding this line for months. She doesn't know how much longer she can. Let the player decide whether to tell her they looked.
The Attack: Cultists come for Isobel. If she falls, the barrier drops, and the inn is lost. Protect her or lose the safe haven — and everyone in it.
ILLITHID EVENT — Psychic Scream
If Isobel drops below 10 HP, any player can release it: a psychic scream that tears through the room. DC 13 INT save, 2d8 psychic damage + stun 1 round. The player's eyes go fully black. Isobel sees it. The party sees it. The cultists see it. Nobody says anything right away.
If Isobel drops below 10 HP, any player can release it: a psychic scream that tears through the room. DC 13 INT save, 2d8 psychic damage + stun 1 round. The player's eyes go fully black. Isobel sees it. The party sees it. The cultists see it. Nobody says anything right away.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Jackson | Laughs with the party at the inn — genuine safety, genuine connection, genuine guard down |
| Rachel | Physically restrained or pinned during the attack — not in control |
| All players: if they let themselves feel safe before the assault begins. The tadpole learns what they value by watching what they relax around. | |
Scene 7: Moonrise Towers
Ketheric Thorm's fortress. Stone and shadow and the smell of something wrong — formaldehyde and ozone. The dungeon beneath holds his experiments. Mind Flayer operating theaters. Half-transformed prisoners who beg to be killed. Ketheric himself is somewhere above, already knowing they're coming.
POD LOCATION #5 — Moonrise Towers dungeon. A Mind Flayer operating theater, mid-procedure. The pod is on the surgical tray beside instruments none of them can name. The patient on the table is already gone.
The truth about Ketheric: he can't die permanently because his soul is bound to the Absolute's network. To kill him, they have to break that link first — which means going deeper into Shar's domain.
| Player | WIS Save Trigger |
|---|---|
| Matt | Meditates or prays in this cursed space — the silence that answers him isn't natural |
| Listens to a plan instead of charging in — patience costs her something here | |
| Rachel | Admits vulnerability seeing the prisoners — the horror is recognizing herself in them |
Scene 8: Gauntlet of Shar
Shar's trials. Darkness literal and metaphorical. Each trial strips something away — certainty, memory, identity. The Gauntlet doesn't care who they are. It only wants to see what they do when they think no one is watching.
POD LOCATION #6 — The Trial of Darkness. Hidden in a false wall of the reward chamber — only visible if someone searches while the lights are out. The darkness makes it findable.
ILLITHID EVENT — The Tadpole Speaks
During the Trial of Self — the fear vision, the worst thing they carry — the tadpole offers: "Let me take the pain away."
If they accept: Auto-pass the WIS save. The fear dissolves. It felt like drowning and then not drowning.
The cost: The DM holds a 10-second puppet moment — at any point later in the session, the character does one thing they didn't choose. One action. Ten seconds. Make it count. Make it something they would have done anyway, almost. That's worse.
During the Trial of Self — the fear vision, the worst thing they carry — the tadpole offers: "Let me take the pain away."
If they accept: Auto-pass the WIS save. The fear dissolves. It felt like drowning and then not drowning.
The cost: The DM holds a 10-second puppet moment — at any point later in the session, the character does one thing they didn't choose. One action. Ten seconds. Make it count. Make it something they would have done anyway, almost. That's worse.
WIS Save Opportunities: The Gauntlet is designed to break people. Every character has a fear, a wound, a thing they haven't said out loud. Every character has a trigger here. Use what you know about them.
Scene 9: Ketheric Thorm — Final Battle
The roof of Moonrise Towers. Storm above, cursed land below, and Ketheric between them — ancient, armored, and furious. He regenerates. He won't stop. Until they break the soul link, everything they do to him heals. Then they break it. Then he becomes something worse.
This is what they've been building toward. Everything the tadpole gave them, everything it cost — it all comes due here.
ILLITHID EVENT — Hive Mind
If 3 or more players have consumed pods, they can link. One action, one round. Pool all remaining HP across the linked players and split evenly. The pain redistributes. The advantage redistributes. No one is weakest anymore. No one carries it alone.
Read this aloud when it activates:
"Now you understand. This is what we are. This is unity."
The voice is not theirs. It is very calm. It sounds like the right answer.
If 3 or more players have consumed pods, they can link. One action, one round. Pool all remaining HP across the linked players and split evenly. The pain redistributes. The advantage redistributes. No one is weakest anymore. No one carries it alone.
Read this aloud when it activates:
"Now you understand. This is what we are. This is unity."
The voice is not theirs. It is very calm. It sounds like the right answer.
ILLITHID EVENT — The Vision
During the fight — late, when things look bad — each player gets a flash. The Mind Flayer, patient and enormous, watching from somewhere behind their eyes.
"You were never going to win this without me."
It's not a threat. That's the worst part. It's just a fact.
During the fight — late, when things look bad — each player gets a flash. The Mind Flayer, patient and enormous, watching from somewhere behind their eyes.
"You were never going to win this without me."
It's not a threat. That's the worst part. It's just a fact.
WIS Save Opportunities: Every character has at least one natural trigger during this fight. The stakes, the exhaustion, the fear, the relief — all of it is live wire. Watch for the moments and call for the rolls.
SESSION 2 — Escalation Timeline
Early: Integrated. The powers feel natural now. The whisper sounds exactly like their own inner voice.
Mid: Intrusive. Involuntary telepathy bleeds through — a flash of another player's vision, uninvited. They're not sure whose thought that was.
Climax: Full presence. The Hive Mind activates. The horror is that it works. It helps. The Mind Flayer's voice says the thing they've all been thinking. And it feels good.
Early: Integrated. The powers feel natural now. The whisper sounds exactly like their own inner voice.
Mid: Intrusive. Involuntary telepathy bleeds through — a flash of another player's vision, uninvited. They're not sure whose thought that was.
Climax: Full presence. The Hive Mind activates. The horror is that it works. It helps. The Mind Flayer's voice says the thing they've all been thinking. And it feels good.
DM Reference
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| WIS Save DC | Session 1: DC 12 | Session 2: DC 14 |
| Corruption Rate | Maximum 1 tier increase per scene — even if multiple triggers fire |
| Tone | The tadpole isn't fighting them. It's merging with them. Never frame it as an enemy. |
| The Hive Mind Moment | Emotional climax of the campaign. The horror is that it works. It helps. It feels good. Let that land before anyone speaks. |
| Pod Consumption | Never pressure. Never forbid. Just make each one feel like a real choice with real weight. |
| The Puppet Moment | If a player accepted the tadpole's offer in Scene 8, use the puppet moment at the worst — or most meaningful — time. Not for cruelty. For story. |
The story ends with Ketheric defeated and the players alive — but the tadpoles are still there. They always will be. The question the campaign leaves them with isn't what happened to them. It's who are they now.
Puzzles
Drop-in puzzle modules keyed to scene flow, pod locations, and WIS DCs. Each includes read-aloud text, mechanics, hint ladders, consequences, and secret DM text cues for individual players via Discord.
Puzzle 1 — The Pod Lock (Organic Ring Cipher)
Scene 2: Ravaged Beach → Pod Location #2 (Beach cave / skull stash) • ~90 seconds at the table
Read Aloud
The dead mind flayer's skull isn't just hollow — it's engineered. Behind the eye socket, something smooth and wet pulses faintly. Three concentric rings of cartilage and pearl rotate with a soft grinding, like teeth on bone.
When you touch it, you feel it: fear, then anger, then pain — not yours. Everyone's.
When you touch it, you feel it: fear, then anger, then pain — not yours. Everyone's.
DM TEXT → Matt
"The organic cartilage in the skull feels alive to you — not dead tissue, something cultivated. You get the sense this thing was grown, not built. The rings feel like they want to be touched in a specific order — like petals opening."
"The organic cartilage in the skull feels alive to you — not dead tissue, something cultivated. You get the sense this thing was grown, not built. The rings feel like they want to be touched in a specific order — like petals opening."
DM TEXT → Rachel (if she touches it first)
"The anger ring hit you harder than the others. For a split second you felt your jaw clench so hard your teeth ached. You know exactly which ring is ANGER — the middle one. You don't know how you know."
"The anger ring hit you harder than the others. For a split second you felt your jaw clench so hard your teeth ached. You know exactly which ring is ANGER — the middle one. You don't know how you know."
Mechanic
Three rings: FEAR, ANGER, PAIN. Each can be rotated to show one of 6 symbols at the top notch: Eye Fang Crack Spiral Hand Star
The lock opens when the correct symbol is set on each ring AND the rings are touched in the correct sequence.
| Check | DC | Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Investigation | 12 | Each ring "prefers" one emotion (Fear/Anger/Pain) |
| Arcana | 12 | It's a resonance lock — alignment + sequence matters |
| Insight | 12 | The correct order is the order they felt it during the pulse |
DM TEXT → (on Arcana or Insight success)
"You realize the sequence matters — it's like a chord progression, not just individual notes. Fear was the first thing you felt on the Nautiloid. Then anger. Then pain. That order isn't random."
"You realize the sequence matters — it's like a chord progression, not just individual notes. Fear was the first thing you felt on the Nautiloid. Then anger. Then pain. That order isn't random."
Solution
| Ring | Symbol |
|---|---|
| FEAR | Eye |
| ANGER | Fang |
| PAIN | Crack |
Then touch rings in sequence: Fear → Anger → Pain
Feedback at the Table
- Eye set correctly → cold behind the eyes
- Fang set correctly → jaw tightens
- Crack set correctly → phantom ache in teeth/bone
- All three correct → skull "exhales," socket seam loosens
- Wrong sequence (right symbols) → wet click, stays locked, no damage
Hint Ladder
- Free: "It's the same trio from the pulse: fear, anger, pain."
- Investigation success: "Each ring has tiny notches — like it wants one specific symbol."
- Arcana success: "It wants coherence across rings, but also a sequence."
- Last resort: A dead thrall nearby scratched F → A → P into rock.
Failure / Consequences
- Wrong symbol → 1d4 psychic to the toucher
- Wrong sequence → no damage, wet click rejection
- After 3 total missteps → opens anyway, but opener makes WIS save DC 12 vs. intrusive thought: "You'll use it again."
DM TEXT → whoever opened it (on failed WIS save)
"The thought won't leave: 'You'll use it again.' It doesn't feel like a threat. It feels like a fact — like knowing the sun will rise. You're not sure it's wrong."
"The thought won't leave: 'You'll use it again.' It doesn't feel like a threat. It feels like a fact — like knowing the sun will rise. You're not sure it's wrong."
Reward
- The pod (Pod Location #2)
- Optional: single-use Illithid Focus token — advantage on one Illithid check later
Fast Variant
Skip symbols entirely. Just touch three rings in Fear → Anger → Pain order. Investigation DC 12 to notice the emotional echo.
Puzzle 2 — Druidic Oathstones (Tri-Value Logic + RP Vow)
Scene 3: Emerald Grove • Noncombat leverage point before/around Kagha tension
Read Aloud
Three standing stones form a half-circle around a shallow root basin. Each stone bears a single word: ROOT, BLOOM, THORN.
At their bases are three offering bowls, dry and clean — as if scrubbed after something messy.
An old relief behind them shows a snake, a child, and a druid's staff — and each carving has been worn smooth by anxious hands.
At their bases are three offering bowls, dry and clean — as if scrubbed after something messy.
An old relief behind them shows a snake, a child, and a druid's staff — and each carving has been worn smooth by anxious hands.
DM TEXT → Matt
"The moment you step near the stones, you feel the grove's energy shift — like the trees are holding their breath. The root basin smells like old rain and turned earth. You've seen this kind of binding before, in fragments — it's a tri-oath. It requires balance, not purity. All three values must be honored equally or the grove rejects the offering."
"The moment you step near the stones, you feel the grove's energy shift — like the trees are holding their breath. The root basin smells like old rain and turned earth. You've seen this kind of binding before, in fragments — it's a tri-oath. It requires balance, not purity. All three values must be honored equally or the grove rejects the offering."
DM TEXT → Jackson
"The relief carving — the snake, the child, the staff — nags at you. You've sworn oaths before. This feels like one, but older. The kind where the words matter more than the offering. Whatever they say at the end has to be real."
"The relief carving — the snake, the child, the staff — nags at you. You've sworn oaths before. This feels like one, but older. The kind where the words matter more than the offering. Whatever they say at the end has to be real."
Required Items (in-scene)
- Leaf — any plant matter
- Blood — anyone pricks a finger
- Coin — or anything "of value"
| Check | DC | Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | 12 | ROOT/BLOOM/THORN is the grove's triad ethic |
| Religion | 12 | It's a "binding tri-oath" — balance, not purity |
| Insight | 12 | Any oath omitting one value is rejected |
Solution
| Stone | Offering | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ROOT | Coin | Order demands payment/structure |
| BLOOM | Leaf | Growth/mercy/refuge |
| THORN | Blood | Defense costs |
Then speak a vow that includes all three concepts: order/tradition (Root), mercy/refuge (Bloom), defense/resolve (Thorn).
DM TEXT → (right before the vow)
"You can feel the stones waiting. Whatever gets said next, it has to name all three — ROOT, BLOOM, and THORN. Not just two. If someone skips one, it'll reject them. This is your wheelhouse. Help them get the words right."
"You can feel the stones waiting. Whatever gets said next, it has to name all three — ROOT, BLOOM, and THORN. Not just two. If someone skips one, it'll reject them. This is your wheelhouse. Help them get the words right."
Feedback at the Table
- ROOT correct: stones "settle" — something aligns underfoot
- BLOOM correct: basin smells of rain and green
- THORN correct: brief sting, then numb warmth
- Wrong offering → nothing happens, just "feels off"
- All correct + vow → basin fills with clean water, reveals hidden cache
Hint Ladder
- A nearby druid mutters: "You can't have bloom without thorn. Or root without cost."
- Nature success: "These are the three arguments happening in the grove right now."
- Insight success: "The vow matters more than the items — this is moral calibration."
Failure / Consequences
No damage. The grove doesn't punish — it withholds. If they keep brute-forcing, a senior druid arrives, annoyed: "Stop treating it like a lock."
Reward (pick one)
- A shortcut pass (restricted druid path)
- A healing cache (potions + antitoxin)
- A social boon: advantage on one negotiation with druids/refugees
Fast Variant
Skip items. Purely verbal: choose which of ROOT/BLOOM/THORN is most important and explain why. Correct answer: none alone — balance.
Puzzle 3 — Ragzlin's Bone Choir (Sequence + Trap Gate)
Scene 4: Goblin Camp → Basement access toward Pod Location #3
Read Aloud
Six skulls hang on hooks over a stone lintel, each with notches cut into the teeth like tally marks.
A soot-scrawled message reads: SING THE TRIBE TRUE OR BLEED.
When you tap a skull, it rings — thin, wrong, like tapping porcelain underwater.
A soot-scrawled message reads: SING THE TRIBE TRUE OR BLEED.
When you tap a skull, it rings — thin, wrong, like tapping porcelain underwater.
DM TEXT →
"The skulls aren't tuned to notes — it's a chant cadence. Call and response. You've heard goblin war songs before (or close enough). The rhythm is: short-short-LONG-short-short-LONG. The numbers on the teeth are the sequence, not the pitch."
"The skulls aren't tuned to notes — it's a chant cadence. Call and response. You've heard goblin war songs before (or close enough). The rhythm is: short-short-LONG-short-short-LONG. The numbers on the teeth are the sequence, not the pitch."
DM TEXT →
"You overhear a goblin around the corner humming to itself. The rhythm goes: two… five… one… then it trails off and the goblin wanders away scratching its head. It couldn't remember the rest."
"You overhear a goblin around the corner humming to itself. The rhythm goes: two… five… one… then it trails off and the goblin wanders away scratching its head. It couldn't remember the rest."
Mechanic
Each skull is numbered 1–6 by tooth notches. Play the correct 6-beat sequence to open the lintel.
| Check | DC | Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Investigation | 12 | Tooth-notches are deliberate numbering |
| Performance | 12 | It's a chant cadence (call/response) |
| History | 12 | Goblin litany: hunger/loot/war/laugh/fear/praise |
Solution
Goblin tribal litany maps to skull numbers:
Hunger(2) → Loot(5) → War(1) → Laugh(6) → Fear(3) → Praise(4)
Tap order: 2 – 5 – 1 – 6 – 3 – 4
Feedback at the Table
- Each correct tap → next skull's eye sockets briefly glow
- Wrong tap → all glow red for a moment (warning beat), trap arms
Hint Ladder
- Nearby goblin hums: "…two-five-one…" then forgets the rest
- Speak with Dead on a goblin corpse → it "sings" the full litany
- Performance success: "It's not melody — it's order and emphasis."
Trap / Consequences
- First wrong sequence → swinging log or falling slab: DEX save DC 12 or 2d6 bludgeoning, half on success
- Trap jams the mechanism after triggering → Athletics DC 14 to force it (loud, draws attention)
- Correct sequence → opens silently
DM TEXT → Rachel (if trap triggers)
"You saw the mechanism shift before the log swung. Military instinct. You could force that lintel open — Athletics DC 14 — but everyone in earshot will hear it. Your call."
"You saw the mechanism shift before the log swung. Military instinct. You could force that lintel open — Athletics DC 14 — but everyone in earshot will hear it. Your call."
Reward
- Quiet access to basement route toward Pod Location #3
- Optional: crude goblin idol worth coin, or a consumable
Fast Variant
Skulls literally show 2,5,1,6,3,4 scratched behind them. Investigation DC 12 to spot.
Puzzle 4 — Shadow Lantern Calibration (Filter Stack)
Scene 5: Shadow-Cursed Lands → Pod Location #4 (convoy wreckage / courier pack)
Read Aloud
A lantern frame lies cracked in the mud, its glass shattered — but the inner lenses remain: silver, amber, and a piece of black glass that seems to drink the light around it.
The courier's pack is torn open… except the seam that matters. It's there, but your eyes slide off it like oil.
The courier's pack is torn open… except the seam that matters. It's there, but your eyes slide off it like oil.
DM TEXT → any player who accepted Shadow Sight
"The black glass lens feels familiar. Not visually — the way it drinks light reminds you of the darkvision the tadpole gave you. The shadow around the lens isn't hostile. It's the same shadow behind your eyes. You have a gut feeling: darkness first."
"The black glass lens feels familiar. Not visually — the way it drinks light reminds you of the darkvision the tadpole gave you. The shadow around the lens isn't hostile. It's the same shadow behind your eyes. You have a gut feeling: darkness first."
DM TEXT → Matt
"The amber lens is warm in your hand — not temperature, but presence. Like sunlight through a canopy. It feels like it should go last, at the base. Foundation. But the black glass needs to lead — it's a filter, not a light source. You're filtering shadow, not making light."
"The amber lens is warm in your hand — not temperature, but presence. Like sunlight through a canopy. It feels like it should go last, at the base. Foundation. But the black glass needs to lead — it's a filter, not a light source. You're filtering shadow, not making light."
Mechanic
Stack three lenses into the lantern to produce a "safe" reveal-spectrum that makes the courier pack's hidden seam visible.
| Check | DC | Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Arcana | 14 | It's a filter, not illumination |
| Perception | 14 | The seam flickers when the correct lens is placed |
Solution
Lens stack (top → bottom):
| Position | Lens |
|---|---|
| Top | Black glass |
| Middle | Silver |
| Bottom | Amber |
Feedback at the Table
- Silver first: shadows recoil but seam stays hidden
- Amber first: lantern burns "too warm," shadow pushes back
- Black on top: area becomes "quiet" — Silver + Amber stabilize it below
Consequences
- Wrong stack → shadow-lash: CON save DC 14 or 1d6 necrotic + disadvantage on next Perception check (cold numb fingers)
- After 2 failures → seam becomes visible anyway, but opener makes WIS save DC 14 against a "comforting" whisper
DM TEXT → Jackson (on WIS save trigger after 2 failures)
"The whisper says: 'You could end the shadow. All of it. I can show you how.' It doesn't sound evil. It sounds like someone offering you a coat in winter. Your oath says to reject it. Your gut says it's telling the truth."
"The whisper says: 'You could end the shadow. All of it. I can show you how.' It doesn't sound evil. It sounds like someone offering you a coat in winter. Your oath says to reject it. Your gut says it's telling the truth."
Reward
- Pod from courier pack (Pod Location #4)
- Optional: once-per-scene advantage on a Stealth check in shadowlands ("the light forgets you")
Fast Variant
"Darkness first, then moon, then fire." Say it aloud and stack in that order. Done.
Puzzle 5 — Shar's Mirror Sentence (Doctrine Fill + WIS Pressure)
Scene 8: Gauntlet of Shar → Trial of Self • The door into the fear vision • Prime tadpole offer moment
Read Aloud
A mirror wall reflects you… but slightly wrong. Your posture is a fraction more defensive. Your eyes linger on weapons longer than they should.
Etched into the glass is a sentence with three gouged-out blanks:
"I am not what I _____. I am what I _____ when no one _____."
Three stone tiles rest in a tray like teeth: REMEMBER, CHOOSE, WATCHES.
Others lie scattered nearby — temptations: WANT, TAKE, FEAR, WIN.
Etched into the glass is a sentence with three gouged-out blanks:
"I am not what I _____. I am what I _____ when no one _____."
Three stone tiles rest in a tray like teeth: REMEMBER, CHOOSE, WATCHES.
Others lie scattered nearby — temptations: WANT, TAKE, FEAR, WIN.
DM TEXT → Jackson
"Your reflection's eyes keep drifting to your holy symbol. The mirror version of you isn't wearing it with conviction — it's wearing it out of habit. The sentence on the glass feels designed to contradict an oath. Shar doesn't reward what you show people. She rewards what you do unseen."
"Your reflection's eyes keep drifting to your holy symbol. The mirror version of you isn't wearing it with conviction — it's wearing it out of habit. The sentence on the glass feels designed to contradict an oath. Shar doesn't reward what you show people. She rewards what you do unseen."
DM TEXT →
"Your reflection is standing differently — shoulders slightly hunched, like it's bracing for something. The word FEAR in the scattered tiles keeps catching your eye. Don't use it. It's bait. The mirror wants to see if you'll pick the easy answer."
"Your reflection is standing differently — shoulders slightly hunched, like it's bracing for something. The word FEAR in the scattered tiles keeps catching your eye. Don't use it. It's bait. The mirror wants to see if you'll pick the easy answer."
| Check | DC | Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Religion | 14 | Shar's emphasis: secrecy + the self in darkness |
| Insight | 14 | The line must cut — heroic phrasing is "wrong" |
Solution
"I am not what I REMEMBER. I am what I CHOOSE when no one WATCHES."
Resolution
When correct, the mirror "accepts" them — reflections synchronize for one breath, then the glass becomes a door.
DM TEXT → (after they solve it, as mirror opens)
"For one second, your reflection smiled before you did. Not mocking. Approving. Like it's been waiting for you to get it right. It felt like the mirror saw something in you that you haven't said out loud yet."
"For one second, your reflection smiled before you did. Not mocking. Approving. Like it's been waiting for you to get it right. It felt like the mirror saw something in you that you haven't said out loud yet."
Failure / Pressure
- Wrong sentence → WIS save DC 14: on fail, 2d6 psychic + brief personal intrusive image (10 seconds)
- Immediately after (pass or fail), deliver the tadpole line: "Let me take the pain away."
ILLITHID EVENT — Tadpole Offer
If accepted → auto-pass the WIS check. Bank the puppet moment for later.
This is the pivot. Don't rush it. Let the silence do the work.
If accepted → auto-pass the WIS check. Bank the puppet moment for later.
This is the pivot. Don't rush it. Let the silence do the work.
DM TEXT → whoever accepts the tadpole offer
"The pain evaporates instantly. Like it was never there. You feel clear. Calm. Whole. For just a moment, you hear something that isn't your voice say: 'There. Wasn't that easier?' It sounded exactly like you. You're not sure it wasn't."
"The pain evaporates instantly. Like it was never there. You feel clear. Calm. Whole. For just a moment, you hear something that isn't your voice say: 'There. Wasn't that easier?' It sounded exactly like you. You're not sure it wasn't."
Hint Ladder
- "Shar doesn't reward what you want people to see. She rewards what you do unseen."
- Religion success: "Memory is unreliable; choice is the sin."
- Last resort: the mirror whispers one word: WATCHES.
Reward
Access to Trial of Self — segue directly into the fear vision.
Fast Variant
Give only the three correct tiles. Players just decide order.
DM Text Quick Reference
Summary of all private Discord messages by player. Have all five DMs open before the session.
| Player | Puzzle | When to Send |
|---|---|---|
| Jackson | P1 (Pod Lock) | — |
| P2 (Oathstones) | When they approach the stones — oath resonance clue | |
| P4 (Lantern) | After 2 failures, on WIS save — temptation whisper | |
| P5 (Mirror) | When they see the sentence — Shar vs. oath tension | |
| Rachel | P1 (Pod Lock) | If she touches it first — ANGER ring identification |
| P3 (Bone Choir) | If trap triggers — force option awareness | |
| P3 (Bone Choir) | Before they attempt — overhears goblin humming 2-5-1 | |
| P5 (Mirror) | When they see the tiles — FEAR is bait warning | |
| P1 (Pod Lock) | On Arcana/Insight success — sequence = chord progression | |
| P2 (Oathstones) | Right before the vow — all three values must be named | |
| P3 (Bone Choir) | When they see the skulls — chant cadence clue | |
| P5 (Mirror) | After solving — reflection approval moment | |
| Matt | P1 (Pod Lock) | When they find the skull — organic/grown nature clue |
| P2 (Oathstones) | When they approach — tri-oath identification + balance | |
| P4 (Lantern) | When they pick up the lenses — filter logic + amber placement | |
| Shadow Sight player | P4 (Lantern) | When they see the black glass — "darkness first" gut feeling |
| Failed WIS (P1) | P1 (Pod Lock) | On failed save — intrusive thought |
| Tadpole accepter | P5 (Mirror) | After accepting — "wasn't that easier" whisper |
Session Prep
Everything you need at the table, pacing targets for both sessions, and atmospheric descriptions for scene transitions.
What You Need
Before Game Day
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Character sheets (5) | Pre-printed, Level 5. Paper-clip a blank "Illithid Powers" card to each one — they fill it in as they consume pods. |
| Dice tray icons (printed) | Cut and place before players arrive. Universal icons in everyone's tray. Class icon in each player's tray. Keep the puppet strings icon hidden on your side of the screen. |
| Puzzle handouts | P1: Ring cipher diagram (3 rings, 6 symbols each, "TOP" notch marked). P5: Mirror sentence strip with blanks + 7 tile cards (REMEMBER, CHOOSE, WATCHES, WANT, TAKE, FEAR, WIN). |
| Pod tokens (6) | Something small and physical — black glass beads, dark marbles, or painted stones. One per pod location. When a player consumes one, they keep the token. It sits in their tray the rest of the game. |
| Corruption tracker | Index card per player behind your screen. Three columns: Tier (0–3), Pods consumed, Powers used. Update silently. |
| Puppet moment card | Blank card. If someone accepts the tadpole offer in Scene 8, write their name on it. Place it face-down visible to them. Don't explain. |
At the Table
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| This DM screen | Laptop or tablet, open to the Story page. Puzzles page on a second tab if possible. |
| Discord (open) | 5 DMs open before players sit down — Jackson, Rachel, Lexy, Brandon, Matt. Pre-type nothing. Send live. |
| Music | See ambiance notes below. Phone or second device. Keep volume low enough that you never have to raise your voice over it. |
| DM dice | Behind screen: d4 (psychic backlash), d6 (necrotic/puzzle damage), 2d6 (trap damage), 2d8 (psychic scream), d20 (NPC saves). Pre-roll nothing. |
| Initiative tracker | Folded tent cards or a whiteboard strip. 5 players + up to 4 enemies. Keep it visible to the table. |
| Snacks timing | Put food out before Session 1 starts. Don't break for food mid-session — the pacing can't survive a 20-minute break. Water is always available. Bathroom breaks happen between scenes, not during. |
Optional (Nice to Have)
- LED candles — kill the overheads for Session 2 (Shadow-Cursed Lands). Flickering light sells the mood.
- Battle maps — Owlbear Rodeo on a TV if available, or hand-drawn on grid paper. Only needed for: Nautiloid deck, Goblin Camp leaders, Last Light Inn defense, Ketheric rooftop.
- NPC voice notes — one line per NPC on an index card. You don't need an accent. You need a cadence. Shadowheart speaks in clipped sentences. Kagha drawls. Halsin is warm and exhausted. Ketheric is calm.
Music & Ambiance
Keep it atmospheric, not cinematic. No lyrics. No recognizable themes. Volume at "barely noticed until it stops."
| Scene | Mood | Search For |
|---|---|---|
| S1: Nautiloid | Chaos, urgency, alien dread | "Nautiloid ambiance BG3" or "sci-fi horror ship ambient" |
| S2: Beach | Aftermath, quiet tension, waves | "Desolate beach ambiance" or "post-battle calm ambient" |
| S3: Grove | Natural but uneasy, wind in leaves | "Druid grove ambiance" or "forest tension ambient" |
| S4: Goblin Camp | Crude, noisy, drums, fire crackle | "Goblin camp ambiance D&D" or "tribal camp ambient noise" |
| S5: Shadow Lands | Oppressive, muted, wrong silence | "Shadow cursed lands ambiance" or "dark cursed forest ambient" |
| S6: Last Light Inn | Warm refuge → sudden violence | "Medieval tavern ambiance" then swap to "combat tension ambient" |
| S7: Moonrise | Dread, stone corridors, distant screams | "Dark dungeon ambiance" or "evil fortress ambient" |
| S8: Gauntlet | Void. Near-silence. Heartbeat. | "Shar temple ambiance" or "void darkness ambient minimal" |
| S9: Ketheric | Storm, weight, finality | "Epic boss fight ambient" or "storm rooftop battle ambiance" |
Tip: Queue them in order on a playlist. Crossfade between scenes. Kill the music entirely for the Tadpole Speaks moment in Scene 8 — let the silence hit.
Scene Transition Descriptions
Read-aloud text for the moments between scenes. These are the breaths between punches. Don't rush them.
Opening — Before Scene 1
You don't remember being taken. You remember a sound — wet, surgical, close — and then nothing. Now there's light. Red light. The floor is alive beneath you, ridged and warm like the inside of a throat. Something is screaming, but it isn't a voice. It's the ship. The ship is dying.
You open your eyes. You don't know these people. But you know — without knowing how — that they have the same thing behind their eyes that you do. And it's awake.
You open your eyes. You don't know these people. But you know — without knowing how — that they have the same thing behind their eyes that you do. And it's awake.
Scene 1 → Scene 2 (Crash)
The last thing you see is sky where the hull used to be. Then the ground. Then nothing.
You wake up tasting salt and copper. The sand is warm. The wreckage of the Nautiloid burns behind you, black smoke threading into a clear sky. Bodies — thralls, passengers, things that aren't quite either — lie scattered across the beach like debris from a shipwreck. Because that's what this is.
Your head hurts. Not from the crash.
You wake up tasting salt and copper. The sand is warm. The wreckage of the Nautiloid burns behind you, black smoke threading into a clear sky. Bodies — thralls, passengers, things that aren't quite either — lie scattered across the beach like debris from a shipwreck. Because that's what this is.
Your head hurts. Not from the crash.
Scene 2 → Scene 3 (Road to the Grove)
The road inland climbs through scrub forest. You hear combat before you see it — shouts, the crack of wood, something snarling. The tree line breaks and you see it: a stone archway choked with vines, and behind it, a grove. Goblins are at the gates. Defenders are holding — barely.
The tadpole pulses once behind your eye. Not pain. Recognition. Something in there is familiar.
The tadpole pulses once behind your eye. Not pain. Recognition. Something in there is familiar.
Scene 3 → Scene 4 (March to the Camp)
The goblin trail isn't hard to follow. Broken branches, boot prints, the smell of cookfires carried on wind. The forest gets quieter the closer you get — not peaceful quiet. Cleared-out quiet. Nothing lives here that the goblins haven't decided to keep alive.
You hear the camp before you see it. Drums. Laughter. Something screaming that isn't laughing back.
You hear the camp before you see it. Drums. Laughter. Something screaming that isn't laughing back.
Session Break (Scene 4 → Scene 5)
READ THIS AS THE SESSION 1 CLOSER
The goblin camp burns behind you. Halsin walks free. The grove is safe — for now.
That night, you sleep. And for the first time since the crash, you dream. Not your dream. You're standing in a cavern so vast the ceiling is weather. The air smells like brine and old stone. Something enormous breathes in the dark — patient, curious, unsurprised.
It doesn't speak. It doesn't need to. You understand: it's been watching since the ship. It knows your name. It knows what you chose today and what it cost you. And it is pleased.
You wake up. Your pillow is wet. Your hands are clenched. The tadpole is quiet.
That's worse.
That night, you sleep. And for the first time since the crash, you dream. Not your dream. You're standing in a cavern so vast the ceiling is weather. The air smells like brine and old stone. Something enormous breathes in the dark — patient, curious, unsurprised.
It doesn't speak. It doesn't need to. You understand: it's been watching since the ship. It knows your name. It knows what you chose today and what it cost you. And it is pleased.
You wake up. Your pillow is wet. Your hands are clenched. The tadpole is quiet.
That's worse.
Session 2 Open (Scene 5)
The road south changes. Not gradually. There's a line — you can see it in the grass, where green stops and grey begins. Past it, the light is wrong. Not dark. Filtered. Like the sun is shining through something that doesn't want you to see it clearly.
The shadows here move when you're not looking at them. They don't move when you are. Your torch burns, but the light stops three feet out like it's hitting a wall. The air tastes like wet stone and old pennies.
The tadpole stirs. For the first time, it seems comfortable.
The shadows here move when you're not looking at them. They don't move when you are. Your torch burns, but the light stops three feet out like it's hitting a wall. The air tastes like wet stone and old pennies.
The tadpole stirs. For the first time, it seems comfortable.
Scene 5 → Scene 6 (Approaching Last Light)
A light ahead. Real light — warm, golden, steady. It shouldn't exist here. The shadow-curse parts around it like water around a stone. An inn sits inside the circle of protection, windows glowing, smoke from the chimney. People moving inside.
For a moment, walking toward it, you feel safe. Actually safe. The tadpole goes quiet. You're not sure if that's because the barrier blocks it or because it wants you to relax.
For a moment, walking toward it, you feel safe. Actually safe. The tadpole goes quiet. You're not sure if that's because the barrier blocks it or because it wants you to relax.
Scene 7 → Scene 8 (Descending into the Gauntlet)
The stairs go down. The torches stop. The dark here isn't absence of light — it's presence of something else. Shar's domain. The goddess of loss and secrets and the things you do when no one is watching.
The walls are smooth. Your reflection follows you in the stone — a half-second behind, like it's deciding whether to keep up.
The tadpole is awake. It's listening. Not to you. To what's down here. It recognizes something.
The walls are smooth. Your reflection follows you in the stone — a half-second behind, like it's deciding whether to keep up.
The tadpole is awake. It's listening. Not to you. To what's down here. It recognizes something.
Scene 8 → Scene 9 (The Ascent)
You climb. The Gauntlet is behind you — what it showed you, what it cost. The stairs spiral up through the guts of Moonrise Towers and then the ceiling breaks open to sky.
The roof. Storm clouds churn overhead, lit from within by something that isn't lightning. The shadow-curse radiates outward from here like a wound. And at the center of it, armored, ancient, and already looking at you — Ketheric Thorm.
He doesn't draw his weapon. He doesn't need to yet. He's been expecting you. He's been expecting you since before you were born.
The roof. Storm clouds churn overhead, lit from within by something that isn't lightning. The shadow-curse radiates outward from here like a wound. And at the center of it, armored, ancient, and already looking at you — Ketheric Thorm.
He doesn't draw his weapon. He doesn't need to yet. He's been expecting you. He's been expecting you since before you were born.
Campaign Close (after Scene 9)
Ketheric falls. The storm breaks. The shadow-curse doesn't lift — not yet, not fully — but the weight of it eases. Like a held breath finally released.
You're alive. All of you. That shouldn't be possible, and you know it.
The tadpole is still there. It will always be there. It's quieter now — satisfied, maybe. Or patient. You can't tell the difference anymore, and that's the thing that keeps you awake the first night after.
You saved the grove. You freed Halsin. You held the inn. You broke a dead god's grip on this land. And you did it with something inside you that isn't you.
The question isn't what happened to you. The question is who you are now.
You're alive. All of you. That shouldn't be possible, and you know it.
The tadpole is still there. It will always be there. It's quieter now — satisfied, maybe. Or patient. You can't tell the difference anymore, and that's the thing that keeps you awake the first night after.
You saved the grove. You freed Halsin. You held the inn. You broke a dead god's grip on this land. And you did it with something inside you that isn't you.
The question isn't what happened to you. The question is who you are now.
Session 1 Pacing
Target runtime: 3.5 – 4 hours. Four scenes. Two combats. Two puzzles. One moral dilemma. End on a dream.
| Time | Scene | Target | Must-Hit Beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Scene 1: Nautiloid | 30–40 min | Psychic Pulse fires. Players feel each other. Combat is fast and desperate — don't let it drag past 5 rounds. They escape or the ship decides for them. |
| 0:40 | Scene 2: Beach | 30–45 min | Memory Flash hits one player (text them). Pod #1 found in wreckage. Puzzle 1 at Pod #2. Shadowheart joins. Let them breathe but don't let them camp. |
| 1:15 | Scene 3: Grove | 45–60 min | Kagha + snake child scene. Illithid Coerce available. Puzzle 2 at the oathstones. Learn Halsin is captured. This is the RP-heavy scene — let Brandon and Jackson breathe here. |
| 2:15 | Scene 4: Goblin Camp | 60–90 min | Mind Read (free, cheap, seductive). Puzzle 3 at the basement gate. Leader fights (1–2 of the 3, don't need all). Dominate available. Pod #3 found. Free Halsin. End session. |
When to End Session 1
The trigger: Halsin is freed AND they've left the goblin camp. That's the exit.
Don't end on: a combat victory, a puzzle solve, or a pod find. Those are highs. You want the quiet after the high.
End on: the dream. Read the Session Break description above. The players should leave the table with the image of something enormous and patient watching them from inside a cavern that smells like the ocean. No cliffhanger combat. No "roll initiative." Just: it knows your name. It is pleased.
If you're running long (past 3.5 hours):
The trigger: Halsin is freed AND they've left the goblin camp. That's the exit.
Don't end on: a combat victory, a puzzle solve, or a pod find. Those are highs. You want the quiet after the high.
End on: the dream. Read the Session Break description above. The players should leave the table with the image of something enormous and patient watching them from inside a cavern that smells like the ocean. No cliffhanger combat. No "roll initiative." Just: it knows your name. It is pleased.
If you're running long (past 3.5 hours):
- Cut one goblin leader fight — Minthara retreats, they only fight Ragzlin + Gut
- Use the fast variant for Puzzle 3 (numbers scratched behind the skulls)
- Halsin breaks himself out during the final leader fight if they're bogged down
- Skip the worg pen entirely — Halsin was in a cell, not a cage
- Add a Blighted Village encounter on the road to the goblin camp — phase spiders or gnolls, 3 rounds max
- Let them explore the grove more — Harper cache, corrupted rites, the oak tree shrine
- Run all three goblin leader fights instead of two
Session 1 Corruption Check
By the end of Session 1, note where each player stands:
| Question | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Who consumed a pod? | They get the auto-success on Kagha's Coerce. They're ahead on the corruption curve. Session 2 hits them harder. |
| Who used an Illithid power? | Dominate is the big one. If they used it, the escalation timeline "End" beat fires — the tadpole squirms, eyes flash violet. |
| Who failed a WIS save? | They've felt the tadpole push back. They know it's watching. Session 2 WIS DC is 14 — remind yourself, not them. |
| Who refused everything? | Good. Don't punish this. Let the other players' power make the refusal feel expensive. The pressure is social, not mechanical. |
Session 2 Pacing
Target runtime: 4 – 4.5 hours. Five scenes. Three combats. Two puzzles. The emotional climax. End on a question.
| Time | Scene | Target | Must-Hit Beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | "Previously on…" | 5 min | Don't recap. Ask each player: "What does your character remember most from last time?" Their answers tell you where their head is. Use it. |
| 0:05 | Scene 5: Shadow Lands | 30–40 min | Shadow Sight offer. Puzzle 4 at the convoy. Pod #4. Establish the curse — oppressive, wrong, alive. No combat here unless they provoke it. |
| 0:45 | Scene 6: Last Light Inn | 45–60 min | Let them feel safe. Truth Sense on Jaheira. Then the attack. Isobel defense combat — tense, high stakes. Psychic Scream available if Isobel drops low. This is the action peak of Session 2. |
| 1:45 | Scene 7: Moonrise Towers | 30–45 min | Horror, not combat. The operating theaters. The half-transformed prisoners. Pod #5. Set up Ketheric — they learn about the soul link. They have to go through Shar's Gauntlet to break it. |
| 2:30 | Scene 8: Gauntlet of Shar | 45–60 min | Pod #6 (hidden, darkness search). Puzzle 5 at the mirror. The fear vision. THE TADPOLE OFFER. Puppet moment banked if accepted. This is the emotional peak. |
| 3:30 | Scene 9: Ketheric Thorm | 45–60 min | Final boss. Phase 1: he regenerates, they break the link. Phase 2: he transforms. Hive Mind available if 3+ pods consumed. The Vision fires late. Use the puppet moment here if you banked one. |
When to End Session 2
The trigger: Ketheric dies. The storm breaks. Done.
End on: the Campaign Close description. Read it slow. Let the last line sit: "The question isn't what happened to you. The question is who you are now." Then stop talking. Let them sit with it. Don't ask if they had fun. Don't break the spell. The silence after is part of the story.
If you're running long:
The trigger: Ketheric dies. The storm breaks. Done.
End on: the Campaign Close description. Read it slow. Let the last line sit: "The question isn't what happened to you. The question is who you are now." Then stop talking. Let them sit with it. Don't ask if they had fun. Don't break the spell. The silence after is part of the story.
If you're running long:
- Moonrise Towers (Scene 7) can be condensed to one room + Pod #5 — cut the exploration
- Use the fast variant for Puzzle 5 (give only the 3 correct tiles)
- Ketheric Phase 1 can be shorter — they break the link in 2 rounds instead of 3
- Add a shadow ambush on the road between the inn and Moonrise
- Expand Moonrise exploration — let them find the prisoner cells, read the research notes
- Give Ketheric a speech before the fight — let him monologue about what the Absolute showed him
The Three Moments That Must Land
If the session falls apart and you have to cut everything else, protect these three.
- The Tadpole Offer (Scene 8): "Let me take the pain away." — This is the moral fulcrum of the campaign. Give it silence. Give it time. Don't let combat or puzzle-solving crowd it out.
- The Hive Mind (Scene 9): If 3+ pods consumed, the HP pool activates. Read the line: "Now you understand. This is what we are. This is unity." The horror is that it helps. Pause after. Let them feel it.
- The Puppet Moment (Scene 9): If banked, use it during the Ketheric fight. Not for damage. Not for betrayal. For something the character almost would have done anyway. The gap between "almost" and "actually" is where the story lives.
Day-Of Checklist
| Task | |
|---|---|
| □ | Character sheets printed (5) with blank Illithid Power cards attached |
| □ | Dice tray icons cut and placed (universal + class-specific) |
| □ | Pod tokens ready (6 dark beads/marbles) |
| □ | Puzzle 1 handout: ring cipher diagram |
| □ | Puzzle 5 handout: mirror sentence strip + 7 tile cards |
| □ | Corruption tracker cards (5 index cards, behind screen) |
| □ | Puppet moment card (blank, behind screen) |
| □ | Puppet strings dice tray icon (hidden on DM side) |
| □ | Discord — 5 player DMs open and tested |
| □ | Music playlist queued (9 scenes in order) |
| □ | DM screen open on laptop/tablet |
| □ | Initiative tracker visible to table |
| □ | Dice behind screen: d4, d6, 2d6, 2d8, d20 |
| □ | Water and snacks out before players arrive |
| □ | LED candles for Session 2 (optional) |
| □ | Read all 5 puzzle solutions one more time |
Locations
Every room the party can enter, what they see, and why they can't leave. Copy any description into an image generator or read it aloud.
Containment — Why They Can't Wander
This is a railroaded 2-session campaign. The players move forward or they die. Here's what keeps them on the track at every stage.
| Scene | What Blocks Them | If They Try Anyway |
|---|---|---|
| S1: Nautiloid | The ship is crashing. Rooms behind them collapse. Bulkheads seal with organic membranes. There is no "back." | The floor gives way. DEX save DC 12 or fall into a lower deck that funnels them forward anyway. They lose 1 round, not the plot. |
| S2: Beach | Cliffs on three sides. The ocean is wrong — dark water churns with Nautiloid wreckage, leaking fluids, and something moving beneath the surface. The only path is inland. | Anyone entering the water feels the tadpole scream — blinding headache, 1d6 psychic, immediate compulsion to get out. The water itself is full of debris and undertow. There's nothing out there. |
| S3: Grove | Goblins outside the walls. The Rite of Thorns is sealing the grove — the druids are literally closing it. Once in, the vines grow thicker behind them. Kagha won't let them leave without resolving the standoff. | "The thorns are already growing. You can hear the gate sealing behind you." If they force it, druids confront them. Leaving means abandoning the refugees and Halsin — Shadowheart won't go. |
| S4: Goblin Camp | They entered enemy territory. The goblins know they're here (or will). Halsin is inside. Leaving means leaving him. | If they retreat, goblin scouts follow and ambush them on the road. They end up fighting anyway, but now with worse positioning. Forward is always easier than back. |
| S5: Shadow Lands | The shadow-curse closes behind them. Literally. The road they walked is gone — swallowed by dark. Torches dim. The only light is ahead. | "You turn around. The road isn't there anymore. The darkness behind you is solid — not empty, full. Something in it breathes." CON save DC 14 or 1d8 necrotic if they push into it. |
| S6: Last Light Inn | Isobel's barrier is the only safe zone. Outside is instant shadow-curse exposure. Leaving the barrier means death within minutes. | "The moment you step past the barrier's edge, the cold hits you like a wall. Your torch gutters. The shadows lean toward you. You have about 60 seconds before the curse starts eating." 1d6 necrotic per round outside the barrier. |
| S7: Moonrise | The fortress gates seal behind them — Ketheric's forces close the approach. The shadow-curse surrounds the tower. The only exit is up through the Gauntlet and out the other side. | Guards on every exit. The curse outside. The only way out is through Ketheric. They knew this coming in. |
| S8: Gauntlet | Each trial seals behind them with stone and shadow. The architecture reshapes. There is no back — the rooms they were in don't exist anymore. | "You touch the wall where the door was. It's solid stone. Cold. It was never a door." The Gauntlet only goes forward. Shar designed it that way. |
| S9: Rooftop | They're on a rooftop in a storm above cursed land. Ketheric is between them and the only stairs down. There is nowhere to go. | Jump? 200-foot drop into shadow-cursed ground. The storm makes flying impossible. Fight or die. |
Scene 1 — The Nautiloid
1A: Holding Pod Chamber
Where the players wake up. Start here.
A circular chamber of ridged, wet flesh. The walls pulse faintly — a slow rhythm, like a heartbeat winding down. Six translucent pods line the walls, cracked open from the inside. Black fluid pools on the floor beneath each one. The air smells like brine and copper. Emergency light — deep red, organic, embedded in the walls like bioluminescent veins — flickers in waves.
Two pods are empty and dark. The others hold your fellow players, just waking up. One pod in the corner holds something that isn't moving anymore — a body half-dissolved, the face gone. The pod fluid is still draining around it.
Two pods are empty and dark. The others hold your fellow players, just waking up. One pod in the corner holds something that isn't moving anymore — a body half-dissolved, the face gone. The pod fluid is still draining around it.
Details they might ask about:
- The pods: Organic glass, warm to the touch, ribbed like muscle tissue. The interiors are coated in a thin mucus that smells faintly sweet. Each has a small hole at the base where a tube was connected — now torn free.
- The fluid: Black, slightly viscous, body-temperature. Tastes of salt and metal if anyone is insane enough to try. Not blood. Not water. Something else.
- The dead body: Unrecognizable. The ceremorphosis process started but the crash interrupted it. Investigation DC 10: the skull is misshapen, something was growing inside it.
- The walls: Not stone. Not wood. Chitin and cartilage. The ship is partially alive. The heartbeat pulse is slowing — the ship is dying.
- Exits: One sphincter-style doorway to the north, partially open. The membrane is torn. Beyond it: a corridor, tilting.
1B: Nerve Corridor
Connecting passage. Tension builder.
A narrow passage of ribbed flesh, tilting 15 degrees to the left. The floor is slick. Bioluminescent veins in the walls pulse erratically — some bright, some dying. A thrall lies crumpled against the wall, eyes open, a thin trail of dark fluid from both nostrils. Dead. Whatever was piloting it stopped mid-step.
The corridor groans. Something structural gives way deeper in the ship — a low, wet crack. The tilt increases by a degree. The ship is falling.
The corridor groans. Something structural gives way deeper in the ship — a low, wet crack. The tilt increases by a degree. The ship is falling.
Details they might ask about:
- The thrall: Human, middle-aged, wearing simple clothes. No weapons. Hands are calloused — a laborer. Eyes are clouded violet. Dead for minutes. The tadpole behind the eye is visible if they look closely — grey, inert, curled like a dead worm.
- The walls: Veins carry a luminescent fluid. Touching one feels like pressing on a vein under skin. It's warm. Some have burst and are leaking pale blue fluid that dries quickly on contact with air.
- The tilt: Getting worse. Every few minutes, the ship lurches. Loose objects slide. If they don't move quickly, they'll need DEX checks to stay on their feet.
- Sounds: Groaning structure. Distant screaming — not human. Wind through the hull breach somewhere above. The heartbeat is fainter here.
1C: Command Deck
The transponder room. Where they need to go.
The corridor opens into a wider chamber — the ship's nerve center. A raised platform in the middle holds a console of bone and crystal, pulsing with dying light. Tendrils connect it to the ceiling, the walls, the floor — the ship's nervous system, all converging here. The transponder is a fist-sized crystal embedded in the console, still glowing faint violet.
A Mind Flayer lies dead at the base of the console. Its skull is cracked open from the inside. Whatever killed it came from within. The robes are soaked in something that isn't blood — too dark, too thick. One tentacle is still twitching.
A Mind Flayer lies dead at the base of the console. Its skull is cracked open from the inside. Whatever killed it came from within. The robes are soaked in something that isn't blood — too dark, too thick. One tentacle is still twitching.
Details they might ask about:
- The transponder: Crystal, warm, humming at a frequency they feel in their teeth. Removing it requires a STR DC 10 pull — the tendrils resist, then release with a wet snap. Once removed, the ship shudders.
- The dead Mind Flayer: Its head burst from inside. Arcana DC 12: something went wrong with its own ceremorphosis — or something rejected it. The brain is visible. It's wrong — too many folds, too much growth.
- The console: Bone and crystal grown into a single interface. Touching it produces a jolt — not painful, but cold. Fleeting images: a city seen from above, a cavern underground, a voice saying coordinates in a language none of them speak.
- Exits: A breach in the hull to the east — sky visible. This leads to the outer deck.
1D: Outer Deck
Combat encounter. Cambions. Escape point.
Open air. Wind tears at everything. The deck is a flat expanse of chitin plating, cracked and buckling. The sky is smoke and fire — other ships, other wreckage, falling around them. Below: land. Getting closer. Fast.
Two Cambions stand between the party and the helm — the escape point. They're not guarding it. They're trying to use it themselves. Wings half-spread against the wind, swords drawn, faces contorted with the same desperation the party feels. They see the players and make a calculation. It takes them about one second.
Two Cambions stand between the party and the helm — the escape point. They're not guarding it. They're trying to use it themselves. Wings half-spread against the wind, swords drawn, faces contorted with the same desperation the party feels. They see the players and make a calculation. It takes them about one second.
Details they might ask about:
- The Cambions: Fiendish humanoids, red-skinned, leathery wings. They were passengers or captors — unclear. They want the escape helm. They'll kill for it. They're scared too. That makes them dangerous.
- The escape helm: A smaller version of the command console — bone and crystal, mounted at the bow. Activating it ejects a section of deck as a makeshift glider. One use. Room for the party. Not for the Cambions.
- The sky: Other Nautiloid ships in the distance, also damaged. Dragons circling. Something hit the fleet. This wasn't an accident.
- The ground below: Forest, coastline, a beach. Maybe 2,000 feet and closing. They have minutes, not hours.
- The wind: Powerful. Ranged attacks have disadvantage unless braced. Movement near the edge requires a DEX check or slide 5 feet toward the drop.
Scene 2 — Ravaged Beach
2A: Crash Site
Where they land. Wreckage. Pod #1 is here.
A crater of sand and twisted chitin. The Nautiloid's forward section is half-buried in the beach, still smoldering. Pieces of hull plate are scattered across a hundred feet of coastline. Containment tanks — the same type they woke up in — lie cracked open in the debris. One is still humming, its glass spider-webbed but intact. Black fluid leaks from the seams.
Bodies. A thrall face-down in the surf. A Mind Flayer, or what's left of one, draped over a chunk of hull. Something that might have been a person but isn't anymore — the transformation caught mid-process, frozen in death.
Bodies. A thrall face-down in the surf. A Mind Flayer, or what's left of one, draped over a chunk of hull. Something that might have been a person but isn't anymore — the transformation caught mid-process, frozen in death.
Details they might ask about:
- The humming tank (Pod #1): Cracked containment vessel. The pod is visible inside — a dark, smooth ovoid the size of a plum, half-submerged in black fluid. Retrieving it: reach in through the crack. The fluid is cold and slightly numbing. The pod feels warm by comparison. It pulses once when touched.
- The wreckage: Chitin, crystal fragments, torn membrane. Some pieces are still warm. Some are still moving — autonomic twitches. The smell is brine, smoke, and something sweet-rotten underneath.
- The bodies: 3 thralls (dead), 1 Mind Flayer (very dead — skull split), 1 mid-transformation victim (disturbing — face half-melted, tentacles emerging from the jaw, eyes still open). Medicine DC 10: all died from the crash, not from each other.
- The water: Dark, churning, full of debris. Slicks of Nautiloid fluid on the surface — iridescent, oily. Shapes move beneath. Not fish. Don't go in.
2B: The Beach
Open area. Shadowheart is here. Exploration and RP.
Coarse grey sand stretching between the crash site and a low cliff line. Sea grass in clumps. Driftwood bleached white. The tide is out, leaving shallow pools that reflect the smoke-streaked sky. To the south: open ocean, wrong and dark. To the north: cliffs, maybe 40 feet high, with a narrow trail switchbacking up. To the west: a cave mouth at the base of the cliff, half-hidden by fallen rock.
A woman sits against a piece of wreckage, clutching something to her chest. Dark hair, pale skin, a wound on her temple. She watches you approach with the expression of someone deciding whether to run or fight.
A woman sits against a piece of wreckage, clutching something to her chest. Dark hair, pale skin, a wound on her temple. She watches you approach with the expression of someone deciding whether to run or fight.
Details they might ask about:
- Shadowheart: Half-elf, mid-twenties. Cleric armor under a torn cloak. Clutching a reliquary — ornate, dark metal, sealed. She won't explain it. She's suspicious, blunt, and in pain. She'll travel with them because the alternative is dying alone on a beach.
- The artifact/reliquary: Cold to the touch (if they get close enough). Faint hum. Investigation DC 14: Sharran iconography, subtle. Arcana DC 14: something is alive inside it. She'll deny everything.
- The cliffs: Grey limestone, crumbling at the edges. The trail up is narrow but passable. At the top: forest, and the road inland toward the grove.
- The cave: See room 2C below.
- The tide pools: Normal marine life — crabs, anemones, small fish. Except one pool near the wreckage: the water is black, and nothing lives in it. Don't touch it.
2C: Beach Cave
Pod #2 location. Puzzle 1 (Pod Lock) happens here.
A shallow cave cut into the cliff base. The entrance is narrow — single file. Inside, it opens to a space maybe 15 feet across, ceiling low enough to make the tall ones duck. The air is damp and salt. Bioluminescent moss on the walls gives off a faint blue-green glow — natural, not Nautiloid. This cave was here long before the crash.
Against the far wall: a dead Mind Flayer. Not from the crash — this one has been dead longer. Days, maybe. Propped upright, arms folded across its chest. Arranged. Someone put it here. Its skull has been modified — the eye socket conceals something mechanical and organic. Three concentric rings of cartilage and pearl, set behind the socket like a lock.
Against the far wall: a dead Mind Flayer. Not from the crash — this one has been dead longer. Days, maybe. Propped upright, arms folded across its chest. Arranged. Someone put it here. Its skull has been modified — the eye socket conceals something mechanical and organic. Three concentric rings of cartilage and pearl, set behind the socket like a lock.
Details they might ask about:
- The dead Mind Flayer: Decomposing but slowly — the tissue preserves differently than human flesh. This one was arranged post-mortem. Arms crossed deliberately. The robes are intact, quality material. This was someone important.
- The skull modification (Puzzle 1): See Puzzles page. The rings are set behind the eye socket. The pod is inside the skull cavity, locked behind them.
- The moss: Natural bioluminescence. Edible (tastes terrible). Provides enough light to see by but not enough to read. It avoids the area around the Mind Flayer's body — a clean circle of bare rock, like the moss won't grow near it.
- The cave floor: Sand and small stones. Near the body, a dead thrall has scratched something into the rock: F → A → P. This is the Puzzle 1 last-resort hint.
- Other contents: A leather satchel near the body. Inside: a water-damaged journal in a language none of them read (Deep Speech), a small knife of alien metal, and three empty pod casings — whatever was in them is gone.
Scene 3 — Emerald Grove
3A: Grove Gate
Entry point. The siege is visible here.
A stone archway 20 feet tall, choked with living vines as thick as arms. The vines are moving — slowly, visibly, tightening. This is the Rite of Thorns in progress. Beyond the arch: the grove. Green, impossibly green after the grey beach. The air changes at the threshold — warm, humid, alive.
Goblin bodies at the base of the gate — three of them, killed by the vine defenses. Thorns through the throat, the eye, the chest. The vines grew through them. A druid stands at the gate, staff in hand, exhausted. He sizes you up. "Are you with them, or against them? Pick fast."
Goblin bodies at the base of the gate — three of them, killed by the vine defenses. Thorns through the throat, the eye, the chest. The vines grew through them. A druid stands at the gate, staff in hand, exhausted. He sizes you up. "Are you with them, or against them? Pick fast."
Details they might ask about:
- The vines: Part of the Rite of Thorns. They're sealing the grove permanently. Once complete, nothing gets in or out. The process takes hours — they're about halfway done.
- The gate druid: Young, scared, trying to project authority. He'll let them in if they're clearly not goblins. He warns them: "Kagha's in charge. Halsin is gone. Things are tense in there."
- The goblin bodies: Recent — hours old. Small, poorly armed. Scout party, not a real assault force. The real army is at the goblin camp.
3B: Main Hollow
Central grove area. Kagha confrontation. Refugee camp.
A natural amphitheater formed by ancient trees. The canopy is cathedral-high, filtering sunlight into green and gold columns. The ground is packed earth, worn smooth by generations of bare feet. Stone steps descend to a central platform where a massive oak — the heart of the grove — spreads its roots across the floor like fingers.
The hollow is divided. To the east: the druid camp — lean-tos, herb gardens, stone circles. To the west: the refugee camp — tiefling families, makeshift tents, scared children, the smell of cook-fires and fear. Between them: tension thick enough to touch. A woman in druid's robes stands at the oak's base, a viper coiled around her arm, confronting a tiefling child who is trying very hard not to cry.
The hollow is divided. To the east: the druid camp — lean-tos, herb gardens, stone circles. To the west: the refugee camp — tiefling families, makeshift tents, scared children, the smell of cook-fires and fear. Between them: tension thick enough to touch. A woman in druid's robes stands at the oak's base, a viper coiled around her arm, confronting a tiefling child who is trying very hard not to cry.
Details they might ask about:
- Kagha: Acting druid leader. Authoritative, cold, afraid. The snake is real and will bite if she wills it. She's threatening to expel the refugees — or worse. She believes she's protecting the grove. She's wrong, but she's not lying.
- The tiefling child (Arabella): Maybe 8 years old. Stole a druid idol because another tiefling dared her. She's terrified. If the party doesn't intervene, the snake bites her. Non-lethal if the party acts fast. Lethal if they don't.
- The refugees: Tieflings, ~30 of them. Fled the goblin raids. Zevlor leads them — a former paladin, trying to hold his people together. They have nowhere else to go.
- The druids: Split. Half agree with Kagha (seal the grove, expel the refugees). Half want Halsin back — he'd never allow this. They're afraid to openly defy Kagha.
- The great oak: Ancient. The grove's magical anchor. Its roots run deep. A druid touching it can feel the grove's health. Right now: stressed, angry, conflicted — mirrors the people in it.
3C: Oathstone Circle
Puzzle 2 location. Off the main path.
A clearing off the main hollow, reached by a narrow root-path. Three standing stones, each twice the height of a person, arranged in a half-circle around a shallow basin carved from a single root of the great oak. The stones are old — older than the grove's current inhabitants. Moss covers everything except the carved words: ROOT, BLOOM, THORN.
At the base of each stone: an offering bowl, clean and dry. Behind the stones: a weathered relief carved into a fourth, shorter stone — a snake, a child, and a druid's staff. The carvings are worn smooth where hands have touched them over centuries.
At the base of each stone: an offering bowl, clean and dry. Behind the stones: a weathered relief carved into a fourth, shorter stone — a snake, a child, and a druid's staff. The carvings are worn smooth where hands have touched them over centuries.
Details they might ask about:
- The stones: Granite. Warm to the touch — sunlight retention or something else. The carved words are deep-cut, filled with lichen. Nature DC 10: these stones predate the current grove by centuries.
- The basin: Carved from a living root. Dry now. Stains suggest it held water — or blood — recently. The root still connects to the great oak underground.
- The relief: Snake = danger/defense. Child = innocence/growth. Staff = authority/tradition. Together: the grove's triad ethic. Religion DC 12: this is a binding oath site.
- The offering bowls: Stone, hand-carved, each slightly different. They've been scrubbed clean. Recently. Someone was here before them.
3D: Druid Sanctum
Kagha's private area. Optional exploration.
A chamber beneath the great oak's roots, accessed by stone steps worn smooth with age. Cool, dim, the smell of earth and dried herbs. Shelves of wood and bone hold jars, scrolls, dried plants. A sleeping pallet. A desk covered in half-written letters and a map of the grove's defenses.
In the corner: a locked chest. And on the desk, partially hidden under papers, a letter with a wax seal — black, stamped with a symbol none of the druids use.
In the corner: a locked chest. And on the desk, partially hidden under papers, a letter with a wax seal — black, stamped with a symbol none of the druids use.
Details they might ask about:
- The letter (if found): Shadow Druid correspondence. Kagha has been communicating with the Shadow Druids — a radical faction that wants to purge civilization from nature entirely. This is leverage. Massive leverage. If they show this to the other druids, Kagha's authority collapses.
- The chest: Locked. Thieves' tools DC 14 or STR DC 16 to force. Inside: Kagha's personal effects, a pouch of gold, and a second pod — if you want to add an extra one here. She found it and hid it. She doesn't know what it is.
- The herbs: Standard druid apothecary. Healing herbs, poultice ingredients. A healer's kit worth of supplies if they take the time to gather them.
Scene 4 — Goblin Camp
4A: Camp Gate & Courtyard
Entry point. Loud, chaotic, dangerous.
A palisade of sharpened logs and scavenged stone, crudely mortared. Goblin heads on spikes at the gate — their own, as punishment. Worg skulls as decoration. The gate is manned by two goblins who are actively drunk and arguing about who owes whom a chicken.
Beyond the gate: a wide courtyard of packed dirt, fire pits, and chaos. Goblins everywhere — fighting, eating, gambling, sleeping in piles. A worg chained to a post growls at everything. A makeshift stage where a goblin bard is performing badly to an audience that throws things. The smell is smoke, grease, unwashed bodies, and something fermenting that shouldn't be.
Beyond the gate: a wide courtyard of packed dirt, fire pits, and chaos. Goblins everywhere — fighting, eating, gambling, sleeping in piles. A worg chained to a post growls at everything. A makeshift stage where a goblin bard is performing badly to an audience that throws things. The smell is smoke, grease, unwashed bodies, and something fermenting that shouldn't be.
Details they might ask about:
- The guards: Drunk. Deception DC 8 to talk past. Intimidation DC 10. Or just wait — they'll get distracted by their argument within 2 minutes.
- The courtyard: ~40 goblins visible. Most are non-combatants — they'll flee in a fight. Maybe 12 actual warriors. They're not organized. They don't expect a threat from inside their own walls.
- The worg: Chained, hungry, angry. If released, it attacks the nearest goblin first. Useful distraction.
- Paths forward: The feast hall (Ragzlin's territory) is north. Priestess Gut's chapel is east and down. The worg pens (Halsin's cage) are south. Minthara's war room is west.
4B: Feast Hall
Dror Ragzlin's throne room. Combat likely.
A ruined temple repurposed as a great hall. Stone columns, half-collapsed ceiling, a hole in the roof letting in a shaft of dusty light. A long table — stolen, mismatched, covered in gnawed bones and spilled ale. At the far end: a throne made of a dead adventurer's armor, welded together and mounted on a stone dais.
Dror Ragzlin sits on the throne. He's a hobgoblin — bigger, smarter, meaner than the goblins he commands. Before him, on the floor: a dead Mind Flayer, and Ragzlin is speaking to it. Speak with Dead. He's interrogating it about the Nautiloid. He's looking for something. He looks up when the party enters.
Dror Ragzlin sits on the throne. He's a hobgoblin — bigger, smarter, meaner than the goblins he commands. Before him, on the floor: a dead Mind Flayer, and Ragzlin is speaking to it. Speak with Dead. He's interrogating it about the Nautiloid. He's looking for something. He looks up when the party enters.
Details they might ask about:
- Ragzlin: Hobgoblin warchief. Tactical, cruel, devout to the Absolute. He's using Speak with Dead on the Mind Flayer corpse to learn about the ship's cargo. He's looking for an artifact — possibly the same one Shadowheart carries.
- The dead Mind Flayer: On the floor, propped up for the ritual. It can answer 5 questions. Ragzlin has used 3. If the party interrupts, they lose the remaining answers. If they let him finish, they hear what he learns.
- The throne: Armor of a dead paladin. Investigation DC 12: the symbol on the breastplate is scratched out but it's Tyr's scales. Someone died here before the goblins arrived.
- Guards: 4 goblins, 2 hobgoblins. They're disciplined — Ragzlin's presence keeps them in line. If he falls, they scatter within 2 rounds.
4C: Priestess Gut's Chapel & Basement
Puzzle 3 in the basement. Pod #3 on the altar below.
A small stone chapel, formerly dedicated to some forgotten saint. The stained glass is shattered. The altar has been desecrated and repurposed — Absolute iconography scratched over the old symbols. Incense burning — cheap, cloying, too sweet. Priestess Gut stands at the altar, swaying, humming, tending to her shrine with unsettling devotion.
Behind the altar: a heavy wooden trapdoor. A padlock — crude, goblin-made. Below: steps descending into a basement where the real worship happens.
Behind the altar: a heavy wooden trapdoor. A padlock — crude, goblin-made. Below: steps descending into a basement where the real worship happens.
Details they might ask about:
- Priestess Gut: Goblin priestess. Unctuous, performatively kind, deeply unsettling. She'll offer to "help" with the tadpole. Her help involves a stone table, leather straps, and a rusty blade. She believes she can cure them. She can't.
- The chapel: Defaced saint's chapel. The old iconography is still visible under the Absolute symbols. Religion DC 10: this was a Selunite shrine.
- The trapdoor/padlock: Thieves' tools DC 12 or STR DC 14 to break. Gut has the key on her belt.
4D: Gut's Basement (Ritual Chamber)
Below the chapel. Puzzle 3 gate. Pod #3 altar.
Stone steps descend 20 feet into a low-ceilinged chamber. The air is cold and damp — a sharp change from the chapel above. The walls are covered in scratched symbols — some Absolute, some older, some unrecognizable. A stone lintel blocks the passage deeper in, with six skulls on hooks above it.
Beyond the lintel (once opened): the ritual chamber proper. A stone slab in the center, leather restraints. Shelves of crude surgical tools. And on a small altar against the far wall — the pod, wrapped in black cloth like an offering, sitting in a circle of scratched prayers.
Beyond the lintel (once opened): the ritual chamber proper. A stone slab in the center, leather restraints. Shelves of crude surgical tools. And on a small altar against the far wall — the pod, wrapped in black cloth like an offering, sitting in a circle of scratched prayers.
Details they might ask about:
- The skull lintel (Puzzle 3): See Puzzles page. Six numbered skulls, the bone choir sequence puzzle.
- The ritual chamber: This is where Gut brings "patients." The restraints have been used recently — there are stains. Medicine DC 10: the tools are surgical but crude. Someone has been performing amateur trepanation here.
- The pod on the altar: Wrapped in black cloth embroidered with Absolute symbols. The prayers scratched around it are in Goblin — badly misspelled. Gut was studying it. She doesn't understand what it is, but she knows it's important.
- The surgical tools: Rusted, stained. A drill, bone saws, forceps, something that might be a brain hook. Investigation DC 12: these are Mind Flayer surgical tools, adapted for goblin hands. Gut found them in the wreckage and has been trying to use them.
4E: Worg Pens
Halsin is here. Rescue point.
An open-air compound at the camp's south edge. High wooden fences, sharpened tops. The smell hits first — wet fur, meat, dung. Three worgs pace in separate pens, each the size of a horse, lips pulled back over teeth that could crush bone. They're hungry. The goblins feed them prisoners when they get bored.
In the far pen, behind a reinforced gate: a wood elf man, broad-shouldered and bloody. He's sitting against the fence with the calm patience of someone conserving energy for one specific moment. That moment is now. He looks at you and nods once.
In the far pen, behind a reinforced gate: a wood elf man, broad-shouldered and bloody. He's sitting against the fence with the calm patience of someone conserving energy for one specific moment. That moment is now. He looks at you and nods once.
Details they might ask about:
- Halsin: Archdruid. Captured while scouting the goblin camp alone. He's wounded (half HP) but functional. The moment he's free, he'll wild shape into a bear and fight. He's grateful, sincere, and exhausted. He owes them a debt he won't forget.
- The worgs: 3 worgs. Each in a separate pen. They're aggressive but chained. Releasing them causes chaos — they attack goblins first (they've been abused). Animal Handling DC 14 to calm one.
- The gate: Reinforced. Locked with a chain and padlock. Thieves' tools DC 12, STR DC 16 to break, or find the key on the goblin pen-keeper (usually asleep near the feed trough).
- The pen-keeper: One goblin. Usually asleep or drunk. Carries the keys to all the pens. Stealth DC 10 to take the keys without waking it.
Scene 5 — Shadow-Cursed Lands
5A: The Border
Where the curse begins. No going back.
There's a line. You can see it. The grass on this side is green. On the other side, it's grey. Not dead — drained. The color has been pulled out of everything past the threshold. Trees stand like charcoal sketches of themselves. The sky dims, not to night but to a permanent overcast that feels intentional.
The air at the border is cold, and crossing it feels like stepping through a membrane. A faint resistance, then release. On the other side, your torch dims. Not goes out — dims. The light reaches about three feet and then stops like it's hitting something solid.
The air at the border is cold, and crossing it feels like stepping through a membrane. A faint resistance, then release. On the other side, your torch dims. Not goes out — dims. The light reaches about three feet and then stops like it's hitting something solid.
Details they might ask about:
- The line: Visible, literal. Arcana DC 12: this is a Shar-origin curse — not darkness, but the memory of darkness made physical. It feeds on light and life and hope.
- Turning back: After they cross, the border seals. The green road behind them fades into the same grey. There's no going back. The curse has claimed the path.
- The light limit: All light sources reach 3 feet max. Darkvision works but feels wrong — the shadows have texture, like looking through dirty water. Magical light (Light cantrip, etc.) reaches 10 feet but flickers.
- Sound: Muffled. Voices carry less. Footsteps sound distant even when close. The silence isn't empty — it's full. Something is listening.
5B: Cursed Road
Travel segment. Atmosphere building.
A stone road, cracked and overgrown with grey vegetation. Milestones every hundred yards — the numbers are wrong. They skip, repeat, go backwards. The road curves but you can't see what's around the bend because the shadows lean in from the sides like curious spectators.
Abandoned carts. A horse skeleton still in harness. A merchant's pack, torn open, contents scattered — coins, cloth, a child's doll with no face. Everything is grey except the shadows, which are darker than black. They move at the edges of vision and stop when you look directly at them.
Abandoned carts. A horse skeleton still in harness. A merchant's pack, torn open, contents scattered — coins, cloth, a child's doll with no face. Everything is grey except the shadows, which are darker than black. They move at the edges of vision and stop when you look directly at them.
Details they might ask about:
- The milestones: Stone markers. The numbers don't make sense — 7, 4, 12, 4, 9. The curse distorts distance and direction. Perception DC 14: the stones have been moved. Something rearranged them.
- The shadows: They move. They watch. They don't attack — yet. At this distance from Moonrise, they're observers. Closer to the tower, they become predators. Nature DC 14: these aren't natural shadows. They're manifestations of the curse. They're alive.
- The merchant's pack: Coins (15 gp worth), ruined cloth, the faceless doll, a sealed letter addressed to "Last Light Inn." The letter describes a supply run that never arrived. Dated three months ago.
- The horse: Skeleton, still in harness. The bones are grey. The leather is grey. Everything the curse touches loses color over time. The horse has been dead for months but hasn't been scavenged — nothing eats here.
5C: Convoy Wreckage
Pod #4 location. Puzzle 4 (Shadow Lantern) happens here.
Two wagons, overturned. The horses are gone — fled or taken. Crates broken open, contents scattered: supplies, weapons, a healer's kit trampled into the mud. Claw marks on the wood — something attacked from above and behind.
Between the wagons: a body. A courier, face down, pack still strapped to their back. The pack is torn open by claws — except one seam. The final seam is intact, but your eyes can't focus on it. It's there. You know it's there. But looking directly at it is like trying to read in a dream. Beside the body: a cracked lantern frame. Three lenses glint in the grey light — silver, amber, and a piece of black glass that seems to drink what little light reaches it.
Between the wagons: a body. A courier, face down, pack still strapped to their back. The pack is torn open by claws — except one seam. The final seam is intact, but your eyes can't focus on it. It's there. You know it's there. But looking directly at it is like trying to read in a dream. Beside the body: a cracked lantern frame. Three lenses glint in the grey light — silver, amber, and a piece of black glass that seems to drink what little light reaches it.
Details they might ask about:
- The courier: Dead. Human, young, wearing Harper colors if they know what to look for (Perception DC 12). Killed by claw wounds to the back. Whatever attacked didn't take anything — it was looking for something specific and didn't find it.
- The hidden seam (pod): The seam is warded — the shadow-curse can't reveal it and normal sight slides off. The lantern puzzle (Puzzle 4) reveals it. Inside: Pod #4, intact, warm.
- The lantern: See Puzzles page. Frame is cracked but functional. The three lenses are undamaged. The black glass lens feels cold and heavy for its size.
- The crates: Supplies bound for Last Light Inn. Rations, medical supplies, weapon oil, blankets. Most are ruined. Some are salvageable — a healer's kit (3 uses), 2 days of rations, a shortsword.
- The claw marks: Investigation DC 12: not animal. The spacing is wrong — five claws, but the pattern is too symmetrical. Something made to look like a beast attack. These are shadow-spawn claws.
Scene 6 — Last Light Inn
6A: The Barrier
Exterior approach. The safe zone's edge.
A dome of golden light, maybe 200 feet in diameter, rising from the inn like a soap bubble. At its edge, the shadow-curse presses against the barrier like water against glass — you can see it deform slightly, push, then slide away. The light is warm. Stepping through the barrier feels like stepping into a bath. The cold drops away instantly.
Inside the barrier: color. Real color. Green grass, warm lamplight from windows, the sound of voices. Outside: grey death. The contrast is violent.
Inside the barrier: color. Real color. Green grass, warm lamplight from windows, the sound of voices. Outside: grey death. The contrast is violent.
Details they might ask about:
- The barrier: Isobel's creation. Divine magic. It costs her concentration and vitality to maintain — she hasn't slept properly in weeks. If she dies or falls unconscious, the barrier drops in 6 seconds. Everyone inside is exposed.
- The edge: You can see the shadow-curse moving against it. Shapes in the dark — not clear enough to identify, but watching. Waiting. They test the barrier every night.
- Guards: Harper sentries patrol the perimeter. 4 visible. They're professional but stretched thin. They've been doing this for months.
6B: Common Room
Interior. RP hub. Safety before the storm.
A large common room, warm and loud. A fire in a stone hearth. Wooden tables, mismatched chairs, the smell of stew and ale. Refugees sit in clusters — families, loners, a few Harpers in worn leathers. A bard plays something quiet in the corner. Children chase each other between the tables. It feels normal. That's what makes it fragile.
Jaheira sits at a table near the fire, a map spread before her and a drink she hasn't touched. She watches the door. She watches everything. She's been in charge here since the curse fell and it shows — the authority, the exhaustion, the thin line between the two.
Jaheira sits at a table near the fire, a map spread before her and a drink she hasn't touched. She watches the door. She watches everything. She's been in charge here since the curse fell and it shows — the authority, the exhaustion, the thin line between the two.
Details they might ask about:
- Jaheira: Half-elf. Harper leader. Former adventurer — legendary in some circles. She's commanding the defense of Last Light by willpower alone. She doesn't fully trust the party but she needs them. She'll be direct about that.
- The refugees: ~25 people. Mix of travelers, merchants, locals caught when the curse fell. Some have been here for months. Morale is fragile. They believe in Isobel's barrier because the alternative is despair.
- Isobel: Upstairs (see 6C). The party hears about her before they see her — "the cleric upstairs," "the one keeping us alive." She's spoken of with quiet reverence.
- Supplies: Running low. The inn has food for maybe 2 more weeks. The convoy (Scene 5C) was supposed to resupply them. It never arrived.
- The bard: An older halfling. Playing soft, sad songs. He knows 50 songs but only plays the slow ones now. "Nobody wants dancing music when they're waiting to die."
6C: Isobel's Room (Upper Floor)
Where Isobel maintains the barrier. Cultist attack target.
A small bedroom on the second floor. Simple — a bed, a desk, a window overlooking the barrier's edge. Holy symbols of Selune on the walls. Candles everywhere — dozens, all lit, the light warm and steady. Isobel sits cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, glowing faintly gold. The barrier radiates from her. You can see the connection — thin threads of light from her chest to the dome outside, pulsing with each breath.
She opens her eyes when you enter. She looks 30 but the eyes are older. She smiles and it costs her something.
She opens her eyes when you enter. She looks 30 but the eyes are older. She smiles and it costs her something.
Details they might ask about:
- Isobel: Cleric of Selune. The barrier is her doing — sustained by divine will and personal sacrifice. She's burning herself out to keep it up. She knows it. She does it anyway. She's kind, gentle, and absolutely resolved.
- The connection: Visible threads of golden light. If she moves more than 100 feet from the inn, the barrier weakens. If she drops to 0 HP, it falls entirely. The cultists know this.
- The room: Sparse. The candles aren't decoration — they're focus points for her concentration. Each one is tied to a section of the barrier. If a candle goes out, that section flickers.
- The attack (when it comes): Cultists breach the upper floor. They're coming for Isobel specifically. Winged cultist through the window. 2-3 more up the stairs. They want her alive — Ketheric wants her, not dead, but removed. If they grapple her and get her out of the barrier, it falls.
6D: Inn Yard
Exterior combat space during the attack.
The yard between the inn and the barrier's edge. Packed earth, a well, a stable with two nervous horses. During the attack: chaos. The barrier flickers as Isobel struggles upstairs. Shadow-spawn press against the weakening dome. Cultists pour in from the north road. Harpers form a defensive line but they're outnumbered.
The sky above the barrier darkens. The shadows outside lean in, sensing the weakness. If the barrier falls, everything outside rushes in — not just the cultists. The shadow itself.
The sky above the barrier darkens. The shadows outside lean in, sensing the weakness. If the barrier falls, everything outside rushes in — not just the cultists. The shadow itself.
Details they might ask about:
- The flickering barrier: Each time Isobel takes damage, the dome shudders. The players can see it from outside — gold light strobing. It's a visual clock. When it goes dark, they've failed.
- The cultists: Shar-aligned. 6-8 of them. Mix of melee and casters. They're fanatics but not stupid — they focus on getting to Isobel, not on fighting the party. Every round the party spends fighting cultists in the yard is a round Isobel is unprotected upstairs.
- The shadow-spawn at the edge: Pressing against the barrier. If it drops, 2d4 shadows rush in on the first round. Initiative rolled immediately.
Scene 7 — Moonrise Towers
7A: Main Hall
Entry. Dread and authority.
A vaulted stone hall, tall enough to echo. The architecture was once beautiful — arched windows, carved columns, a mosaic floor depicting the moon in phases. All of it defaced. The windows are bricked up or covered in dark cloth. The mosaic is cracked, the moon phases scratched out and replaced with Absolute symbols in dried blood. Torches burn with a purple-tinged flame that gives off light but no warmth.
Guards here are not goblins. These are cultists — human, disciplined, armored in dark metal. They don't challenge the party. They watch. Ketheric already knows they're here.
Guards here are not goblins. These are cultists — human, disciplined, armored in dark metal. They don't challenge the party. They watch. Ketheric already knows they're here.
Details they might ask about:
- The architecture: This was a Selunite temple. History DC 12: Moonrise Towers was a bastion of Selune's faith before the shadow-curse. Ketheric destroyed it from within.
- The guards: 8 cultists visible. They don't attack. They're under orders to let the party through. This isn't hospitality — Ketheric wants them deeper. They're being funneled.
- The air: Cold. Smells of formaldehyde and ozone — the smell of Mind Flayer surgery. It gets stronger as they go deeper.
- Paths: Stairs up lead to the rooftop (Scene 9, later). Stairs down lead to the dungeon (7B). The Gauntlet of Shar is accessed from the dungeon level.
7B: Dungeon — Operating Theater
Horror room. Pod #5. The worst thing they see.
The dungeon stairs open into a large underground chamber that was never part of the original temple. The walls are organic — chitin and membrane, like the Nautiloid. Someone built a Mind Flayer laboratory inside a Selunite temple's basement. The ceiling drips. The floor is tile, cracked, stained with fluids that aren't all blood.
Stone operating tables — three of them — arranged in a row. Surgical instruments on trays: bone saws, neural probes, things with no names in Common. One table is occupied. The patient is human. Was human. The transformation is maybe 40% complete — skull distended, skin translucent, something moving beneath the temple. They're not conscious. They're not dead either.
On the surgical tray beside the occupied table: the pod. Clean. Undamaged. Placed deliberately. Someone was about to use it.
Stone operating tables — three of them — arranged in a row. Surgical instruments on trays: bone saws, neural probes, things with no names in Common. One table is occupied. The patient is human. Was human. The transformation is maybe 40% complete — skull distended, skin translucent, something moving beneath the temple. They're not conscious. They're not dead either.
On the surgical tray beside the occupied table: the pod. Clean. Undamaged. Placed deliberately. Someone was about to use it.
Details they might ask about:
- The patient: Alive but irreversible. Medicine DC 12: the ceremorphosis is past the point of return. The brain is being consumed. The kindest thing is to end it. If they ask the patient, the patient's mouth moves but the sound that comes out isn't words. It's a frequency. The tadpole in the party recognizes it — it's a call for help in a language they almost understand.
- The surgical tools: Mind Flayer design. Some are still warm. Investigation DC 14: these procedures were being performed by humanoid hands, not tentacles. Someone is learning ceremorphosis surgery. Someone mortal.
- Pod #5: On the tray. Warm. Pulsing. It was about to be implanted in the patient. It's a fresh one — recently harvested. From what?
- The other tables: Empty but stained. Restraints at the wrists, ankles, and head. The head restraints have been modified — widened. For skulls that are growing.
- The walls: Part stone, part organic. The Mind Flayer infrastructure is growing into the temple like an infection. It's spreading. Slowly, but visibly.
- The cells: Adjoining chamber with iron-bar cells. 3-4 prisoners in various states of despair. They can be freed (the keys are on a hook by the door). They beg for help. They beg to be killed. Some do both.
Scene 8 — Gauntlet of Shar
8A: Entry Chamber
The threshold. From here, no turning back.
A round chamber, perfectly circular, carved from black stone so dark it seems to absorb torchlight. No visible seams — the room was carved from a single piece, or grown. The ceiling is a dome. The floor is polished smooth as glass. In the center: a pedestal with a bowl of dark water, utterly still.
Three doorways lead deeper. Each is marked with a symbol: an eye crossed out, a broken mirror, and a hand releasing something. The air is cold. Not damp — dry cold, like a desert at night. Something here is waiting. It's patient. It's been patient for a very long time.
Three doorways lead deeper. Each is marked with a symbol: an eye crossed out, a broken mirror, and a hand releasing something. The air is cold. Not damp — dry cold, like a desert at night. Something here is waiting. It's patient. It's been patient for a very long time.
Details they might ask about:
- The bowl of water: Perfectly still. Looking into it shows their reflection — but slightly delayed, like the water is thinking about it. If they touch the water, it's ice-cold and their reflection doesn't ripple. Religion DC 14: it's a Sharran scrying pool. It shows truth, but only the truths Shar wants them to see.
- The three doorways: Trial of Darkness (eye crossed out), Trial of Self (broken mirror, Puzzle 5), Trial of Loss (hand releasing). The Gauntlet requires completing at least one trial. The mirror trial is the critical path for the story.
- The symbols: Sharran iconography. Religion DC 12: the eye = sight denied, the mirror = identity questioned, the hand = sacrifice demanded.
- The stone: Black. Not obsidian — something else. It doesn't reflect light so much as slow it down. Touching the walls: cold, smooth, slightly magnetic. Metal objects near the walls vibrate faintly.
8B: Trial of Darkness
Pod #6 hidden here. Light denial challenge.
The moment they step through the doorway, all light dies. Not dims — dies. Torches go out. Light cantrips fail. Darkvision shows nothing. They are in absolute, total, complete darkness. They can hear each other breathe. They can feel the floor beneath their feet. They can feel the walls if they reach out. But they cannot see.
The room is a maze. Simple — maybe 4 turns — but in total darkness, every step feels like a cliff edge. The walls are smooth and featureless. The floor is level. There are no traps. The trial is the darkness itself — can they move forward when they can't see where they're going?
The room is a maze. Simple — maybe 4 turns — but in total darkness, every step feels like a cliff edge. The walls are smooth and featureless. The floor is level. There are no traps. The trial is the darkness itself — can they move forward when they can't see where they're going?
Details they might ask about:
- The darkness: Magical. Daylight spell, Light cantrip, torches — nothing works. Even the tadpole's Shadow Sight fails here. This is Shar's domain. She decides what is seen.
- Navigation: Touch, sound, communication. The maze is simple if they stay calm: left wall, 4 turns, about 200 feet total. Blind. Investigation DC 14 (made by touch): the walls have subtle grooves that act as a guide — follow the deeper groove.
- Pod #6: Hidden in a false wall in the reward chamber at the maze's exit. Only findable if someone searches in the dark before the lights return. Investigation DC 14 (in darkness, by touch). Once they exit the maze, dim light returns. If they didn't search in the dark, they missed it. The darkness was the key.
- The reward chamber: At the maze's end. Dim purple light returns. A small alcove with a stone bench. Rest point. The false wall is to the left — a panel that shifts if pressed.
8C: Trial of Self (Mirror Room)
Puzzle 5 location. Fear vision. Tadpole offer. The critical scene.
A hexagonal chamber, every wall a mirror. The mirrors don't reflect the room accurately — the angles are wrong, the proportions shifted. Each player sees themselves, but off. Posture more guarded. Eyes harder. Hands closer to weapons. The reflections move a fraction of a second behind, as if they're choosing to follow rather than forced to.
In the center of the room: a low stone table with a sentence etched into glass and seven stone tiles in a tray. The sentence has three blanks. The tiles offer seven words. Only three are correct.
In the center of the room: a low stone table with a sentence etched into glass and seven stone tiles in a tray. The sentence has three blanks. The tiles offer seven words. Only three are correct.
Details they might ask about:
- The mirrors: Not glass — polished black stone. The reflections are real but autonomous. They mimic the players but with subtle differences: more aggressive posture, harder expressions, lingering glances at each other's weaknesses. If someone stares too long, their reflection smiles first.
- The sentence (Puzzle 5): See Puzzles page. "I am not what I _____. I am what I _____ when no one _____."
- After the puzzle (fear vision): The mirrors go dark. Each player sees their worst fear — personal, specific, drawn from what you know about the characters. It lasts 10 seconds real-time. WIS save DC 14. On fail: 2d6 psychic damage and the image lingers.
- The tadpole offer: Immediately after the fear vision. The tadpole whispers: "Let me take the pain away." If accepted: auto-pass the WIS save. The fear evaporates. The DM banks a puppet moment.
- The door: When the puzzle is solved, the central mirror becomes a door. It's cold to the touch. Stepping through feels like falling through water for one second, then solid ground.
8D: Trial of Loss
Optional trial. Sacrifice mechanic.
A small chamber with a stone altar. On the altar: a flame, purple-black, burning without fuel. Before the altar: an inscription. "Leave something you cannot replace."
The trial requires a genuine sacrifice. Not gold. Not equipment. Something with real meaning — a memory, a keepsake, a promise. The flame consumes it. The sacrifice is real. What's lost doesn't come back.
The trial requires a genuine sacrifice. Not gold. Not equipment. Something with real meaning — a memory, a keepsake, a promise. The flame consumes it. The sacrifice is real. What's lost doesn't come back.
Details they might ask about:
- What counts: A letter from someone they love. A memory they describe aloud (it fades from their mind). A vow they break deliberately. The flame knows if it's genuine. Faking it does nothing — the flame dims and the door stays shut.
- The reward: A blessing of Shar. Once per long rest, the character can become invisible in dim light or darkness for 1 minute. The cost: they feel a small, cold absence where the sacrificed thing used to be. Permanently.
- Refusal: They can leave without completing this trial. The door to the entry chamber reopens. No penalty. Shar doesn't punish refusal. She simply withholds.
Scene 9 — Moonrise Rooftop
9A: The Rooftop
Final boss arena. Ketheric Thorm. Everything ends here.
Stone battlements. Open sky. A storm overhead that isn't natural — the clouds churn in a spiral centered on the tower, lit from within by pulses of dark energy. The shadow-curse radiates outward from this point in all directions, visible as a stain on the land below. Rain that isn't quite rain — it's cold and slightly viscous, and it tastes of metal.
The rooftop is 60 feet across. Broken crenellations provide half-cover at the edges. A stairwell behind the party — the way they came up. In the center: Ketheric Thorm. Ancient plate armor, black and pitted. A greatsword that glows faintly with necrotic energy. He's standing. Waiting. He's been waiting.
Behind him: a rift in the air itself. A tear in reality, dark purple, pulsing. The source of the shadow-curse. The Absolute's conduit. His soul is tethered to it. As long as it exists, he cannot die.
The rooftop is 60 feet across. Broken crenellations provide half-cover at the edges. A stairwell behind the party — the way they came up. In the center: Ketheric Thorm. Ancient plate armor, black and pitted. A greatsword that glows faintly with necrotic energy. He's standing. Waiting. He's been waiting.
Behind him: a rift in the air itself. A tear in reality, dark purple, pulsing. The source of the shadow-curse. The Absolute's conduit. His soul is tethered to it. As long as it exists, he cannot die.
Details they might ask about:
- Ketheric: Human, centuries old, sustained by the Absolute's power. Former Selunite paladin who lost his faith and his family. He turned to the Absolute out of grief, not ambition. He's calm because he genuinely believes he can't lose. He's almost right.
- The rift: The soul tether. Arcana DC 14: this is what keeps him alive. Breaking it requires sustained magical or physical force — 3 rounds of attacks targeting the rift (AC 15, 50 HP, immune to necrotic). While they attack the rift, Ketheric attacks them. Once broken: he becomes mortal. And angry.
- Phase 1 (tethered): Ketheric regenerates 15 HP at the start of each turn. He hits hard but isn't trying to kill them yet. He's testing them. Proving a point. He wants them to feel helpless.
- Phase 2 (mortal): The rift breaks. The storm intensifies. Ketheric screams — real pain, not performance. He transforms: larger, darker, necrotic energy pouring off him. No more regeneration but his damage increases. This is the death throes of a man who's been dead for centuries and is just now feeling it.
- The edge: 200-foot drop. The battlements are crumbling. Any knockback effect near the edge requires a DEX save DC 12 to grab the crenellation or go over. Ketheric can be pushed over too — but in Phase 1, the tether pulls him back. In Phase 2, he falls. And that counts.
- The storm: Lightning strikes randomly every 3 rounds. DEX save DC 14, 2d8 lightning, half on save. Targets a random 10-foot square. Adds chaos. Keeps them moving.
Common Player Questions
Things they'll ask that aren't tied to a specific room.
"What does the tadpole feel like?"
A pressure behind the left eye. Not pain — awareness. Like knowing someone is standing behind you in an empty room. When it activates: warmth spreading from the base of the skull, a taste of copper, and for a split second, the world looks sharper. Colors more vivid. Sounds clearer. Then it fades. And you miss it.
"What does consuming a pod feel like?"
The pod is warm and smooth. It fits in the palm. When you squeeze it, the shell cracks and something cold slides down your throat before you can think about it. For 3 seconds: blinding clarity. You see the room in perfect detail. You hear heartbeats. You feel the emotions of everyone within 30 feet, clear as text on a page. Then it settles. Integrates. Becomes part of you. The tadpole purrs.
"What does an Illithid power feel like to use?"
A flex. Not physical — mental. Like clenching a muscle you didn't know you had. The tadpole responds instantly, eagerly, like a dog that's been waiting to be told "go." Your eyes flash violet for a half-second. The target's expression changes — confusion, then compliance, then nothing. It's efficient. It's clean. It feels good. That's the part you don't tell the others.
"What do I know about Mind Flayers?"
Arcana or History DC 10 (everyone gets this): Mind Flayers — Illithids — are psionic predators from the Underdark. They eat brains. They reproduce by implanting tadpoles that consume the host's brain and transform the body over days. The process is called ceremorphosis. It's irreversible. It's what's happening to you. Slowly. The tadpole usually completes the process in about a week. You've had yours for two days.
"How much time do we have?"
Nobody knows exactly. The standard timeframe is 7 days. You're on day 2 at the start of Session 1, day 3-4 at Session 2. Something is slowing the process — the tadpoles in you are different. Modified. They're not completing the cycle on schedule. That's not necessarily good news. It might mean someone designed them to do something else instead.
"Can I remove the tadpole?"
Not without killing you. Medicine DC 14: the tadpole has already integrated with the nervous system. Removing it would require separating it from the brain stem. No known healer can do that. Halsin mentions a possible lead — someone who might know more — but it's not in these two sessions. The tadpole stays.
"What's the Absolute?"
Religion DC 12: A new deity — or something claiming to be one. Emerged recently. Worshipped by goblins, cultists, and Ketheric Thorm's forces. Its followers hear a voice that commands them. Its power is real but its nature is unclear. It's connected to the tadpoles — the Absolute's influence works through the neural network the tadpoles create. The players' tadpoles are part of this network but not fully connected. Yet.
"Who is Ketheric Thorm?"
History DC 12: A former paladin of Selune. Centuries ago. His daughter died and his faith shattered. He turned to Shar, then to the Absolute. He raised the shadow-curse to protect Moonrise Towers and the Absolute's operations beneath it. He cannot die — his soul is tethered to the Absolute through a rift. To kill him permanently, that tether must be severed first. He's not evil in the way a demon is evil. He's evil in the way a grieving father with unlimited power is evil.