Prep & Session Planning

Session Planning

Outstanding Prep

• ☐ Party has some of the pine cones for the blessed tree

• ☐ What is the medallion? What is the collar? What is the other marking for Heyou?

• ☐ Moon Rune/Jara?

Next Session

• The party just witnessed Sylvie get her heart ripped out and survive, lost all their blessed branches, and leveled up with significant changes (especially Sylvie's Splendor → Dread transformation)

• Open with character reactions: How does Draz process his impulsive arrow leading to this? How does Sylvie feel speaking telepathically and terrifying her friends? How does Heyou deal with his animated leg?

Option A: Returning to Drosven's Gate

• They have ZERO blessed branches to bring back

• The pyre is still out, darkness still encroaching

• How do they explain complete mission failure?

Option B: Alternative Solutions Hunt

Option C: Pursuing the Witch?

• She has all three branches AND is planning to bind the gods

• Does the party try to stop her? Help her? Ignore her?

• Moral complexity: Is binding cosmic horror gods actually wrong?

Side A: Understanding Sylvie's New Nature

• What does it mean that she's "of the moon"?

• Her new Dread powers need exploration

• The missing heart situation needs investigation

Option D: Heyou's Limb Recovery

• Borek wants Askavir eggs for information about Heyou's missing limbs

• The Askavir dropped them on peaks - maybe eggs are accessible nearby?

Draz's Character Arc

• From paralyzed by fear → blind fury → shooting the witch during crucial conversation

• Consequence processing and growth opportunity

• His relationship with Sylvie after nearly getting her killed (from his perspective)

Jamal's Grounding Role

• As the party's tank and most "normal" member, how does he anchor them?

• His reaction to all this cosmic horror

Borek, the Syndicate dwarf actually is the one who took them in the first place, and basically replaced them with less valuable equivalents. He then pretended they were older, more precious artifacts and traded three away (including one in payment to Ygva for her services. He still has one left, which he figures he can give up if he gets something more valuable, like the Askavir eggs, for it.

When they go back down, Kelun will seem inert.

If they return all the way to Ulmira's Step, they'll have to explain the goblins, Mellon's death, and the lost tree... Or else deceive.

If they return to Drosven's Gate, Savel and Sarru will be getting overrun by zombie/wraith creatures; the former residents

Alternatively they can either go further up the mountains to where Sylvie once lost her powers, or else down the spine of the mountains to Verrow's Span and then St. Thera's Remit

• Sarru and Savel carried on to Drosven's Gate after the Askavir took Jamal and Draz to the witch. If the players return to Ulmira's Step, they will also be asked where Sarru is.

• The reason Sylvie is 'of the moon' is because her sorcerous powers were connected to the mountain top that was blown into the sky... and punctured through the world-shell into the next one. It appears to be "part of the moon" now.

Unanswered Questions

• Is Brathis connected to the Umbra
• Unlikely, but maybe

• Does the Askavir even lay eggs?

• What is the Age of Titans about?
• Mega-fauna from when the world was young?

• How did this age end?

• What makes Heyou and Kelun so different?

• What is Ygva’s exact plan? Does it have a chance of working?

Things from the Campaign Frame to introduce potentially

Immediate/Low-Lift Additions

Lurking Darkness Mechanics - Start using this now for any rests outside settlements. Roll the d12, narrate appropriately. Since they just got dropped on mountains separately, this would be perfect for building tension during their reunion/survival sequence.

Keep Watch Downtime Move - Introduce it as something Jamal or Draz knows from their time as hunters/survivors. "You can stay vigilant during camp—lets you roll your Hope die and potentially replace the Lurking Darkness roll." Makes it a learned survival technique rather than a rules dump.

Weather as Omen - The mountains they're currently on are perfect. Have a brief break in the gloom—golden sunlight piercing through for an hour. Anyone touched by it might gain a small boon (advantage on next roll? temporary HP?) or a cryptic vision. Makes the world feel less uniformly bleak and adds the "rare moment of beauty" contrast.

Near-Term Story Hooks

Mountain Peaks Piercing the Gloom - They're already on mountains! Have them discover that at certain high elevations, the sky actually becomes visible—stars, maybe even daylight. This could be where they reunite, or where they realize "there are places the Umbra can't fully reach." Creates a geographical goal: "What if we could build a settlement up here?"

Oracle Visions of Alien Minds - Sylvie has Splendor magic and seems spiritually attuned. Give her disturbing dreams: massive, incomprehensible presences pressing against the edges of reality where the gods used to keep watch. She doesn't understand them, but she feels watched. This seeds long-term cosmic horror.

Ancestry-Specific Flavor - Gradually emphasize: Are there Ribbets in their settlements who move on all fours? Heyou could encounter other Clanks and learn that many "stopped working" when the gods left—they're literally reanimated statues. This makes Heyou's continued function seem more significant.

Medium-Term Developments

Voice-Stealing Mystery (from the Inciting Incident) - One of their settlements could experience this: hunters go missing, then their voices start calling from the darkness beyond the walls. The party investigates, discovers it's an Umbra-touched creature that absorbed the victims' memories/identities. Forces them to decide: can this thing be cleansed, or must it be destroyed?

Eastern Damask Queens Equivalent - Introduce a morally gray faction in their region. Maybe raiders who've actually discovered a way to thrive in the Umbra—they coat their weapons in the kerosene-ooze, use controlled burns, have adapted to moving through darkness. They're ruthless but effective survivors. Do the party see them as enemies, rivals, or potential allies?

Community Leadership Dynamics - Flesh out the settlements they're protecting. Who's the Elder Akadona equivalent? Who makes the hard calls about sending hunters out? What happens when leaders disagree about whether to risk expeditions for resources vs. staying safe?

Long-Term World-Building

The Grand Ordinants' Fate - Since the Ordinants lit the Sacred Pyres before vanishing, where did they go? Could there be one hidden in the eastern mountains? A hermit who knows the truth about Otheidas's apostasy? Someone who could teach them to create new Pyres?

Regional Weather Patterns - The eastern region could have its own atmospheric quirks. Maybe the mountains create updrafts that occasionally tear holes in the gloom, or there are "ghost storms" of colored lightning (mentioned in the source material) that leave strange effects on those caught in them.

The Faction Conflict Template - Use the Celsians vs. Damask Queens dynamic as a template for future settlement drama. Not every settlement needs to be unified in purpose. Some might worship the memory of Otheidas. Others might be trying to replicate his "sharing of Splendor."

Confirm the Accuracy of these

Heyou

• You’ve built a rapport with a highborne figure. Who are they, and do you trust them, or are they just an easy mark?
• Old crew didn’t go well, crew had stolen from him.

• Can go to him.

• Who among your community have you knowingly cheated, and are they aware?

• You were part of a botched job not long ago, and the stain still lingers on your reputation. What happened, and who was at fault?

Sylvie (a witch)

• One of your village elders entrusted you with an heirloom. What is it, and what or who did they request you keep it from?

Jamal

• When you are alone in quiet places, what sound do you believe you hear, and what do you think it means?

• You’ve spent much of your upbringing within a reclaimed subterranean structure. What was its original purpose, and what did you discover about it that you’ll never forget?

• What is a place beneath your community that everyone knows to avoid at all costs? What happened when you snuck into it when you were younger?
• Only mining outward, not deeper. Rumors of a giant beast.

• Found a peephole that looked upon a giant cavern.

Draz:

• What landmark within the forest has appeared in your dreams since childhood? What do you think it means?
• Large, catching glimpses of it. It starts to wake up.

• Which nature spirit does your community rely on the most for protection? What early signs of their corruption are you worried about?

• What did you witness within the wilds that makes you fear your home doesn’t have much time left?

You know how non proliferation treaties ban precursors? I think something, maybe faerie or a spirit, does not want a repeat of the god-King and is trying to shut down societal advancements as a result

I think the ones responsible are a faun wizard and a firbolg seraph who believe in and can wield the power of splendor but it's been turned in on itself to become a domain of grief. They believe the gods should not come back even if they could; it is more befitting to mourn their loss

Note to Self

• Draz
• make the natural world here matter.

• Give them multiple enemies.

• All about movement and journeys.

• Experiences: Home in the Trees, Nature’s Friend.

• Deep fear of water

• Sylvie

Venomous Bite: When you succeed on an attack against a target within Melee range, the target becomes temporarily Poisoned. A Poisoned creature takes 1d10 direct physical damage each time they act

NPC Names At the Ready

• Mirevra

• Pelithra

• Daecin

• Kavra

GM Action Items

GM Action Items

Before Next Session

Resolved Decisions

• ☑ Sylvie's Splendor absorption → Demigod Transformation. Permanent features gained:
• Ichor of the Gods: Advantage die is always a d10 instead of a d6.
• Weight of Divinity: When she rolls a failure with Fear, she must mark a Stress or give the GM an additional Fear.
• ☑ Mollthain's Remnant dissolves into nothing. The cavern collapses. No physical remnant of the creature remains -- its essence is in Sylvie now.
• ☑ The party falls. The cavern collapse drops the party down into the rising waters. They land in/near the old Drakenn settlement of the Ahl-al-Ghrim as it begins to flood.

Immediate Tactical Situation

• ☐ Decide what the surviving Astral Assassin does -- caught in the collapse? Fled? Irrelevant now?
• ☐ The Flaming Skull's Time Lock -- does it get buried/drowned in the collapse, or is it still a factor?
• ☐ Bob (Living Fortress): Where does Bob end up after the collapse? Options:
• Bob falls with the party and lands in a larger chamber (the Qalb-al-Ghrim or the Qaat-al-Hirasah)
• Bob is too heavy and gets stuck above, separated from the party -- they need to retrieve the Blessed Branch before escaping
• Bob is damaged in the fall and needs repair before it can move
• ☐ Sarru and Savel: Where are they during the collapse? Still stashed with Bob? They'll drown if not moved.
• ☐ Draz: Still in ancestral-dream state. Someone must carry him. When does he wake? (See session prep for suggested dream content involving Tariq al-Ghrim and the Ahl-al-Ghrim.)

Session Opening

• ☐ The session opens with the fall -- read the collapse description, the rush of water, the party tumbling into the Drakenn settlement. They land wet, disoriented, in the dark. Sylvie glows.
• ☐ Immediately establish the dual threat: water rising from below, and the sounds of the dead stirring in the tunnels around them.
• ☐ Full session prep available: grithmaar-deep-the-light-goes-out

Decisions Needed (GM Worldbuilding)

Ygva's Reaction

• ☐ Ygva sent Sylvie the Damnation spell via dream -- she likely knows what happened. Does she sense the Demigod transformation? Does she reach out immediately, or wait?
• ☐ Sylvie now carries Mollthain's Splendor essence inside her. Is that what Ygva wanted, or is this an unexpected complication? Ygva needs totems of the gods -- is Sylvie herself now a totem?
• ☐ A physical Totem of Mollthain (stone idol) exists in the temple. If the party recovers it, how does Ygva want to collect it?
• ☐ Does Sylvie's Demigod status change her value to Ygva? More useful, or more threatening?

The Pyre Quest

• ☐ Define the relighting ritual. Does it require a specific person (pyre-keeper like Sarru)? Specific words? Or can anyone do it with a Blessed Branch?
• ☐ Can Umbra-mutated Sarru still perform the ritual? This is a critical question the party will ask.
• ☐ What is the current state of Drosven's Gate? The party saw it overrun with monsters and no townsfolk. Decide:
• Are the townsfolk dead, fled, mutated, or hiding?
• What monsters occupy it now?
• How difficult would it be to fight through to the pyre?

Sarru and Savel

• ☐ Determine if Umbra mutation can be reversed and how (Blessed Branch? Splendor energy? Pyre proximity? A god's intervention?).
• ☐ Sarru and Savel are being transported by the party. Decide their current state -- still unconscious? Deteriorating? Showing signs of awareness?

Borek's Response

• ☐ Decide what Borek does after being robbed and wounded. Options:
• Sends Syndicate agents after the party
• Sets a trap at a location the party must pass through
• Uses Heyou's essence as leverage from a distance
• Lays low and bides his time
• ☐ The Brathis symbol on Heyou's recovered leg -- prepare what this means if the party investigates it.

Prep for Upcoming Arcs

Escape from Grithmaar Deep

• ☐ The party must get out of the flooding Drakenn settlement first. Three escape routes exist (see session prep):

1. Back up through the collapsed tunnels (north) -- if passable at all

2. The chimney in the Ayn-al-Hayat (sacred spring cavern, top-right of map) -- too narrow for Bob

3. Through the flooded lower works (desperate, underwater)

• ☐ Whatever route they take, they emerge into the broader mountain tunnels. Then they must travel back through:
• Mountain trade routes (previously attacked by rope trap and iron figures -- now possibly flooded or collapsed)
• Past Ulmira's Step (where Borek may be waiting)
• Through or around Drosven's Gate (overrun with monsters)
• ☐ Decide if any of these locations have changed since the party passed through. The collapse of Grithmaar Deep may have caused tremors or flooding in connected tunnel systems.

Kelun's Return

• ☐ Kelun promised consequences for the Sacred Tree's destruction. When does he reappear? What does he demand?
• ☐ He views the party as "potentially useful components." Prepare what he wants them to do next.

The Heretic Marks

• ☐ This has simmered for 15 sessions. Consider whether to start seeding encounters with whoever hunts heretics. A chance meeting, a symbol recognized, a warning from an NPC.

Tamber's Next Move

• ☐ She is privately concerned about Draz's ambitions. Will she:
• Withhold knowledge the party needs?
• Warn other Celsians?
• Confront Draz directly?
• Do nothing for now?

Items to Track

Party Inventory (Key Items)

• ☐ Verify current status of: Blessed Branch (in Bob), Askavir Heart (Heyou), Devouring Dagger (Sylvie), Axe of Fortunus (Jamal), Phasing Vambraces (Heyou), Blunderbuss Handgun (limited ammo), Dragon Bile Glands (in Bob), Draz's Compass (steadied at 11 o'clock)
• ☐ The Splendor-infused armor pieces from the dismantled iron suit -- party discussed channeling this into the Living Fortress. Has this happened?
• ☐ New: Sylvie's Demigod features -- Ichor of the Gods (advantage die d10) and Weight of Divinity (failures with Fear → mark Stress or give GM Fear). Track these in play.
• ☐ Potential new loot from Grithmaar Deep (if recovered before flooding):
• Totem of Mollthain (Ygva needs this)
• Hadid-al-ghrim ingots (Splendor-infused metal, fading)
• Tariq Tablet (critical lore document)
• Hadid-al-ghrim smelting folio (crafting knowledge)
• Ceremonial warhammer by Samira al-Qarn
• Celsian journal (connects to Tamber/Athenaeum)
• Zariqa's unfinished warhammer head

NPC Status Board

• ☐ Ygva -- ally, sending dreams, cultivating Sacred Tree seeds
• ☐ Borek -- wounded, robbed, at large, hostile
• ☐ Sarru -- captured, Umbra-mutated, being transported
• ☐ Savel -- captured, Umbra-mutated, being transported
• ☐ Kelun -- absent, divine judgment pending
• ☐ Tamber -- wary of Draz, at Verrow's Span
• ☐ Valghast -- waiting per Ygva's instructions
• ☐ Katari with eye patch -- at Verrow's Span, suspected Syndicate

Long-Term Planning

• ☐ Decide the endgame for Ygva's god-binding plan. What actually happens if she succeeds? What if she fails?
• ☐ Develop the Heretic Marks origin story. Who marks, who hunts, what was the heresy.
• ☐ Flesh out Amber Reach if the campaign is heading west.
• ☐ Consider what Kreth (False Visions, The Moon) means for Sylvie's "Sister Moon" connection.
• ☐ Determine whether the emergence at Drosven's Gate was natural or orchestrated, and by whom.
• ☐ Decide the fate of Kaelen and Rhys (Sylvie's fellow Stoneweavers, possibly on the moon).

Session Prep — The Light Goes Out

The Light Goes Out

The Guardian crumbles. The radiance that has held the dark at bay for a hundred years gutters and dies. And from below, the sound of rushing water.

Overview

Mollthain's Protector is defeated. Two catastrophic consequences unfold simultaneously:

1. The Splendor fades. The Guardian's radiance was the reason Grithmaar Deep never needed a sacred pyre. The Drakenn called it Rukh-al-Ghrim -- "the light of the rock." Without it, the Umbra pours in through every tunnel mouth and shadow.

2. The dam breaks. The Guardian's colossal body was physically blocking the mouth of an underground river system. With it crumbling, water begins rising from the lower works.

The party must navigate a flooding, darkening Drakenn settlement while fending off Umbra horrors, with a narrow window to discover what this place was and what its people knew.

The Drakenn of Grithmaar Deep

The settlement was home to approximately 200 Drakenn. They called themselves Ahl-al-Ghrim -- "the people of Grithmaar." Their culture was built around the Splendor radiance of Mollthain's Protector, which they named Rukh-al-Ghrim -- "the light of the rock."

Their leader was the Ghrim-Hakim (Keeper of the Rock's Wisdom) -- a role part priest, part researcher, part diplomat. Unlike the surface pyre-keepers who tend flames, the Ghrim-Hakim tended a relationship with the Guardian, studying it, speaking to it, and documenting its behavior over generations.

The Named Dead of Grithmaar Deep

These names appear on the temple wall, in records, on personal effects, and -- most harrowingly -- as the shambling Crawling Dead the party must fight. Jamal may recognize family names or clan conventions.

GM Note: When the Crawling Dead emerge, describe the tools and clothes on the bodies. If Jamal examines one, he recognizes the guild-marks, the style of belt-buckle, the knot-work in the braids of desiccated hair. These are his people's kin. When the Grudge-Bound Shades appear, Idris al-Nahr is among them -- still barking silent orders, still trying to hold the line he couldn't hold a century ago.

Scene 1: The Moment Everything Changes

Opening Description

Read or paraphrase:

The Guardian's body lists, cracks webbing across its torso like veins of shadow. The luminous liquid that poured from its wounds is dimming -- not slowly, but in pulses, like a heartbeat failing. Each pulse is weaker. The cavern, which moments ago burned with golden Splendor light, is going grey.

Sylvie stands wreathed in stolen radiance. Draz is insensate, locked in his ancestral dream. Jamal tastes blood and dust. Heyou watches.

Then: a sound. Not from above, not from the tunnels the party came through. From below. A deep, resonant groan of stone under pressure, followed by the unmistakable hiss of rushing water. The floor in the lower chambers darkens with moisture. Something is rising.

And from the tunnels to the north, east, and south -- the tunnels that have been dark and empty and safe for a century -- you hear sounds. Scraping. Breathing. A low, rhythmic keening, like grief given voice.

The light of the rock is going out.

Immediate Situation

• Sylvie is coated in Splendor radiance from the Damnation absorption. She is conscious but weakened (sacrificed HP). The radiance may flicker or pulse -- it marks her as a beacon in the growing dark.
• Draz is in a lucid ancestral-dream state. He cannot act. He will come out of it in approximately 30 minutes of in-game time (or at a dramatically appropriate moment -- see "Draz's Dream" below).
• Jamal is battered but standing. He has the one-time Mending Touch boon (Splendor domain).
• Heyou is functional. Bob (the Living Fortress) is nearby but may not fit through all passages.
• The Flaming Skull is still frozen by Time Lock. It will reactivate when the party rests, but the flooding may reach it first.
• Sarru and Savel are restrained, Umbra-mutated, being transported. They are wherever the party stashed them (likely with Bob).

GM Decision: Draz's Dream

While Draz is unconscious, he experiences a vision. Suggested content:

Draz stands in a Drakenn hall, but it is whole and warm and lit by golden light that seems to come from the stone itself. Dwarves move around him, but they don't see him. They are content. A child runs past, laughing, chasing a stone beetle.

An elder -- grey-bearded, heavy-browed, wearing the layered robes of a Ghrim-Hakim -- stands before a carving on the wall. It depicts a vast figure, arms spread wide, light pouring from its chest. The elder speaks, but not to anyone present. He speaks to the stone.

"Rukh-al-Ghrim. You have been our wall and our warmth. When the gods walked away, you stayed. When the dark came, you held. We are the Ahl-al-Ghrim, and we endure because you endure."

The light pulses. The elder smiles. A brass nameplate on the wall reads: Tariq al-Ghrim, Ghrim-Hakim.

Then the light flickers. Tariq's smile falters. He looks at Draz -- through Draz -- and says:

"It was not meant to last forever. We knew. We always knew."

The walls crack. Water pours through the cracks. The dwarves begin to run. Tariq does not. He sits in his stone seat and faces the mosaic and waits.

Draz wakes with this knowledge: the dwarves knew the Guardian would fail eventually. They built here anyway. And they left records of what they learned.

Scene 2: The Flooding

Flood Stages

The water rises from the lower works (bottom-right of the map -- the area with the pools, storage rooms, and stairs leading down). Each stage triggers on a rough timer, but adjust based on pacing.

Stage 1: The Seep (Rounds 1-6 / ~1 minute)

• Water begins pooling in the lower works and the connecting corridors at ground level.
• The lowest rooms have ankle-deep water. Cold. Dark.
• Footing is slightly treacherous (-1 to movement-based checks in affected rooms).
• The party can move freely, explore, and investigate.
• Tension cue: The sound of water gets louder. Occasional deep thunks as air pockets collapse in the tunnels below.

Stage 2: The Rise (Rounds 7-18 / ~3 minutes)

• Water is knee- to waist-deep in the lower works and corridors. It has reached the Qalb-al-Ghrim (ceremonial hall, center) and the Hall of Mollthain (right).
• The lower works are now chest-deep and filling fast. Storage rooms are submerged.
• Movement through flooded areas costs double. Swimming checks needed in the deepest rooms.
• Small items on the ground are swept away or submerged.
• Tension cue: Furniture floats. The water is cold enough to cause numbness. Draz's unconscious body needs to be carried to higher ground or he'll drown.

Stage 3: The Flood (Rounds 19+ / 4+ minutes)

• The lower works are fully submerged. The ceremonial hall is waist-deep and rising.
• Water reaches the Masjid-al-Sur (temple, lower-left), the Dar-al-Hikma (archive, upper-left), and the Makhzan-al-Nar (forge, top-left).
• The Ayn-al-Hayat (sacred spring cavern, top-right) is the highest point and floods last, but water pours into it from below.
• All ground-floor rooms will be fully submerged within 10-15 minutes total.
• Tension cue: The current strengthens. Bodies and debris from the lower levels float up. The water is dark -- things move beneath the surface.

Flood Complications

• Bob cannot navigate narrow corridors even dry. In flood conditions, the Living Fortress is stuck wherever it is unless the party finds a large enough chamber. It can wade in shallow water.
• The Blessed Branch is inside Bob. If Bob gets stuck, the party must retrieve it.
• Sarru and Savel, if bound and stashed, will drown unless moved.
• Dragon Bile Glands in Bob's storage are volatile. Submersion in cold water should be fine, but jostling during flood escape could be dangerous.

Scene 3: The Umbra Incursion

Timing

The Umbra creatures arrive in waves as the Splendor fades. They come from the dark tunnel mouths that previously had nothing in them -- passages the Ahl-al-Ghrim never bothered to seal because the light kept everything out.

Wave 1: The Scavengers (Simultaneous with Flood Stage 1)

As the last golden pulse fades from the Guardian's corpse, shadows thicken in the tunnel mouths. The first things through are small, quick, and hungry.

Encounter: Crawling Dead

Reskinned Zombie Pack (Horde, Tier 1)

Features:

• Horde (1d4+2) - Passive. When the Crawling Dead have marked half or more of their HP, their standard attack deals 1d4+2 physical damage instead.
• Overwhelm - Reaction. When the Crawling Dead mark HP from an attack within Melee range, you can mark a Stress to make a standard attack against the attacker.

HP & Stress: Minor 6 / Major 12 / Severe. HP (6), Stress (3). Horde Size: 12

Description: Not the shambling dead of the surface. These are the desiccated remains of the Ahl-al-Ghrim -- preserved by the Splendor for a century, now released by its absence. They pour from side tunnels in a tide of dry bone and leathered skin, grasping blindly. They were miners, smiths, children. Some still clutch pickaxes and hammers. One wears the remnants of a gardener's apron embroidered with cave-moss patterns -- Ghazal al-Ward, who tended the ceremonial garden. Another, barely four feet tall, drags a training shield stamped with Mollthain's sigil -- Talib ibn Idris, who never got to grow old.

Jamal recognizes the guild-marks, the style of belt-buckle, the knot-work in the braids of desiccated hair. These are his people's kin.

GM Note: This is an emotional beat as much as a combat one. Play up the recognition. If Jamal hesitates, that's good roleplay, not a tactical error.

Deployment: 2 packs of Crawling Dead from different tunnel entrances, trying to surround the party.

Wave 2: The Haunting (Flood Stage 2)

The dead of Grithmaar Deep didn't just leave bodies. A century of souls, trapped between death and the Splendor's radiance, now have nowhere to anchor.

Encounter: Grudge-Bound Shades + The Warden of the Fallen

Grudge-Bound Shade

Reskinned Spectral Guardian (Standard, Tier 2)

Features:

• Ghost - Passive. Resistance to physical damage. Mark a Stress to move up to Close range through solid objects.
• Grave Blade - Action. Spend a Fear to make an attack against a target within Very Close range. On success, deal 2d10+6 physical damage and the target must mark a stress.

HP & Stress: Minor 7 / Major 15 / Severe. HP (4), Stress (3).

Description: Translucent Drakenn warriors in corroded armor, their faces locked in expressions of rage or grief. They fight as they died -- holding formations, defending chokepoints, rehashing the battle they could not win. Their mouths move constantly, shouting orders no one can hear. One wears a lieutenant's sash. Another carries a standard -- the wall-and-arms of Mollthain, tattered and spectral.

The Warden of the Fallen (Idris al-Nahr)

Reskinned Spectral Captain (Leader, Tier 2)

Features:

• Ghost - Passive. Resistance to physical damage. Mark a Stress to move up to Close range through solid objects.
• Unending Battle - Action. Spend 2 Fear to return up to 1d4+1 defeated Grudge-Bound Shades to the battle at the points where they first appeared (with no marked HP or Stress).
• Hold Fast - Reaction. When the Warden's Spectral allies are forced to make a reaction roll, you can mark a Stress to give those allies a +2 bonus to the roll.
• Momentum - Reaction. When the Warden makes a successful attack against a PC, you gain a Fear.

HP & Stress: Minor 13 / Major 26 / Severe. HP (6), Stress (4).

Description: Idris al-Nahr, Captain of the garrison of Grithmaar Deep. A towering Drakenn figure in ornate plate, one eye socket blazing with dim golden light -- the last ember of the Splendor it was exposed to in death. He carries a ghostly crossbow and rallies his shades with silent commands. He still thinks he is defending his home. His name is carved above the entrance to the Hall of Mollthain, and now he stands beneath it, dead and furious and unbroken.

GM Note: The Warden's Unending Battle ability means the shades keep coming back. The party needs to destroy the Warden to stop the cycle -- but he hangs back at Far range, sniping. The water is rising. The shades phase through walls. This should feel relentless.

Optional emotional beat: If Jamal addresses Idris by name (found on the wall or recognized from family stories), the Warden pauses for one beat -- a flicker of recognition -- before attacking again. He cannot stop. But he heard.

Deployment: The Warden appears in the Hall of Mollthain or the ceremonial hall. 3 Grudge-Bound Shades fan out, phasing through walls to flank. As shades fall, the Warden resurrects them.

Wave 3: The Colossus (Flood Stage 3)

Something vast moves in the deep tunnels. It has been down there since before the settlement was built -- an ancient Umbral horror that the Guardian's Splendor kept dormant. The Ahl-al-Ghrim never knew it was there. Mollthain's Protector didn't just keep the Umbra out; it kept this thing pinned beneath its radiance. Now it wakes.

Encounter: Al-Jua al-Muqayyad (The Chained Hunger)

Reskinned Crypt Colossus (Solo, Tier 2)

Features:

• Relentless (3) - Passive. Can be spotlighted up to 3 times per GM turn. Spend Fear as usual.
• Chained Essence - Passive. This adversary has resistance to magic damage. If the chains binding it are targeted (Difficulty 15, 5 HP), it loses this resistance.
• Tomb Collapse - Action. Mark a Stress to cause a section of ceiling to collapse at a point within Far range. All targets in a Close area must make a Finesse roll (Difficulty 15) or take 2d6+3 physical damage and become Restrained.
• Grasping Chains - Action. Make a standard attack. On success, the target becomes Restrained until they succeed on a Strength or Finesse roll (Difficulty 15).
• Undying Resolve - Reaction. When this adversary marks a Severe Threshold, clear 2 HP and 1 Stress. This can only occur once per combat.

HP & Stress: Minor 12 / Major 24 / Severe. HP & Stress tracked per stat block.

Description: It pulls itself up from the flooded lower works, water cascading off a body that is part stone, part chain, part void. The chains that bind it are corroded divine metal, etched with Mollthain's sigil -- Sur-al-Hadd, "the wall's boundary." They are the only remnant of divine order still holding it. Barely.

Al-Jua al-Muqayyad doesn't have eyes. It has a mouth that opens wider than its head, and the darkness inside it is deep. It finds prey by sensing warmth and Splendor -- which means Sylvie, still glowing with stolen radiance, is a beacon.

Umbral Spirit Escorts (Tuyur-al-Zalam / Shadow-Bats)

Reskinned Umbral Spirit (Skulk, Tier 2)

Features:

• Flying - Passive. While flying, gains +1 bonus to Difficulty.
• Screech - Action. Mark a Stress to send a high-pitch screech toward all targets in front of the Umbral Spirit within Far range. Those targets must mark 1 Stress.
• Guardian - Reaction. When an allied creature marks HP from an attack within Melee range, you can mark a Stress to fly into Melee range of the attacker and make an attack with advantage. On success, deal 2d6+2 physical damage.

HP & Stress: Minor 8 / Major 19 / Severe.

Description: Darting shapes like bats made of smoke and malice. The Drakenn had no name for them because they never saw them -- the Splendor kept them in the deep dark. They flit around al-Jua al-Muqayyad, shrieking, diving at anyone who gets close.

Deployment: Al-Jua al-Muqayyad emerges from the flooded stairwell in the lower works, blocking the south/east exits. 2-3 Tuyur-al-Zalam swarm around it. This is the "you need to leave NOW" encounter. The party should not try to kill this -- they should run.

GM Note: This fight is about escape, not victory. The Colossus is a "the dungeon is done, get OUT" signal. If the party tries to stand and fight in rising water against a Solo with 3 actions per turn, they will likely die. Reward clever retreat, use of environment, and sacrifice plays. If they do somehow destroy the chains and defeat it, that's incredible and deserves a massive payoff.

The Settlement of Grithmaar Deep -- Map Key

Use the provided battlemap. The party enters from the north (the tunnels they've been fighting through). The Guardian's body was in the large chamber north of the settlement, now crumbling. The settlement proper is what's on the map.

A. Makhzan-al-Nar -- The Forge of Enduring Fire (Top-Left)

"The storehouse of flame." The dwarven forge and ritual smithing space. Ornate floor with carved symbols and a central anvil-altar.

When Explored:

• The forge is cold but intact. Tools hang on racks, untouched for a century. The anvil bears Mollthain's sigil -- a wall with arms outstretched -- and the maker's mark of Zariqa bint Halar, master smith.
• Discovery: Ingots of a pale golden metal are stacked neatly on a shelf. This is hadid-al-ghrim ("iron of the rock") -- metal smelted in proximity to the Guardian's Splendor, infused with its radiance. It glows faintly, but the glow is fading. If the party takes ingots now, they retain a residual Splendor charge. If they wait too long, they go dark.
• A half-finished warhammer head sits on the anvil. Zariqa was mid-strike when the end came. Jamal would recognize the forging technique.
• Loot: 3 ingots of hadid-al-ghrim (crafting material, Splendor-infused). A master-quality set of smith's tools bearing Zariqa's mark. The unfinished warhammer head (could be completed by a skilled smith -- Jamal or Heyou).

Flood Timing: Reached during Stage 2. The corridor connecting it to the natural cavern acts as a funnel, filling it fast once water reaches this level.

B. Dar-al-Hikma -- The House of Wisdom (Upper-Left Purple Room)

"The house of wisdom." A study and archive with arcane circles on the floor and scattered records.

When Explored:

• Shelves of stone tablets and bound metal pages. The Ahl-al-Ghrim did not use paper -- they carved in stone and stamped in metal. Many tablets have fallen but the stone is durable.
• The arcane circles on the floor were used by Munirah al-Ghrim and later by Tariq al-Ghrim to study the Guardian's Splendor emanations. They measured it. They mapped its fluctuations. They were scientists as much as priests.
• Discovery (Critical Lore): A stone tablet mounted on the wall, carved in formal Drakenn script by Sultana bint Raqqa, the settlement's Celsian-trained scribe. It reads:

"We, the Ahl-al-Ghrim, record this truth for those who follow: We did not light a pyre. We did not need one. The Rampart's child stands in the deep, and its light is our light. Rukh-al-Ghrim.

The Athenaeum scholars say we are fools to trust a god's leavings. They say the Splendor will fade as the gods fade. Perhaps they are right. But the light has not dimmed in sixty years, and our children have never known the dark.

If you read this and the light is gone -- know that we did not waste what we were given. We built. We endured. We were warm.

Tariq al-Ghrim, Ghrim-Hakim, Year 62 After the Departure"

• Additional Discovery: A diagram by Faris ibn Dawud, ore-master, showing the Guardian's position relative to the settlement. It clearly depicts the creature's body blocking a passage marked with water symbols. Annotation in Drakenn: "The Rampart's child holds back the deep waters as well as the dark. If it moves, we drown. It has not moved."
• A child-sized practice tablet covered in wobbly inscriptions -- Dunya bint Tariq's training exercises. She was twelve, learning to be the next Ghrim-Hakim. She never got the chance.
• Loot: The Tariq Tablet (portable, stone, heavy -- one person can carry it with effort). A folio of metal pages by Sultana describing hadid-al-ghrim smelting techniques. A small journal written by a Celsian visitor addressed to Sultana, connecting to Celsian Athenaeum lore.

Flood Timing: Reached during Stage 2, but being slightly elevated it fills slower. One of the last rooms accessible before Stage 3.

C. Masjid-al-Sur -- The Temple of the Enduring Wall (Lower-Left Purple Temple)

"The mosque of the rampart." The large temple/shrine with a winged symbol on the floor and a red altar-niche at the south end.

When Explored:

• The largest room in the settlement. The floor bears a massive mosaic depicting Mollthain -- not as a god on a throne, but as a wall of living stone, arms spread wide, holding back a tide of shadow. It is beautiful and defiant.
• A shield bearing Mollthain's sigil leans against the altar -- it belonged to Talib ibn Idris, son of the garrison captain.
• Discovery: The red alcove at the south end is a mihrab -- a prayer niche. Behind it, a stone idol rests in a carved recess: a miniature of the Guardian itself, sculpted by Drakenn hands with exquisite detail. The idol radiates faint Splendor warmth. This is a Totem of Mollthain -- exactly the kind of artifact Ygva is seeking.
• Discovery: Carved into the wall beside the mihrab, a list of names. Every member of the Ahl-al-Ghrim, past and present, carved by Nabil al-Ghrim, keeper of the name-wall. Nabil's own name was the last he added. At the very bottom, in unsteady child's hand: Riyad al-Shams -- the youngest on the wall, who carved his own name at age three, as was tradition.
• GM Decision: Is Jamal's family name here? A generation or two back from his own line? Finding an ancestor's name on this wall, in this place, as it floods -- that's a defining character moment.
• Loot: The Totem of Mollthain (small stone idol, Splendor-charged, significant to Ygva's plan). A ceremonial warhammer mounted above the mihrab, forged by Samira al-Qarn -- her crescent-over-horn maker's mark is stamped into the pommel. Votive offerings of hadid-al-ghrim coins scattered around the altar base.

Flood Timing: Reached during Stage 2-3 transition. The mosaic on the floor disappears under dark water as the party watches. Emotional beat.

D. Qalb-al-Ghrim -- The Heart of Grithmaar (Center Green Room)

"The heart of Grithmaar." The green-tiled ceremonial hall with a carved face at the north entrance. This is the central hub connecting all other rooms.

When Explored:

• The hall is the crossroads of the settlement. Four passages lead to other chambers. The green tiles depict growing things -- cave-moss, luminous lichen, underground mushrooms. This was Ghazal al-Ward's garden, grown under the Splendor's light. A century dead, and still beautiful.
• Discovery: The carved face at the north entrance is not a gargoyle -- it is a stylized representation of the Guardian's face. It served as a ward. Its eyes are set with hadid-al-ghrim discs that still glow faintly.
• The floor has drainage channels carved by Faris ibn Dawud (now working in reverse, filling with water from below).

Flood Timing: This is the central room, and it floods during Stage 2 as water converges from multiple directions. It becomes impassable by Stage 3.

E. Qaat-al-Hirasah -- The Hall of Mollthain's Vigil (Right Red/Orange Hall)

"The hall of guardianship." A long hall with flame motifs and a beast mosaic on the floor -- the ceremonial heart of the Drakenn's relationship with their protector.

When Explored:

• The floor mosaic depicts the Guardian in full -- not as it appeared in battle (crumbling, ancient, hostile) but as the Drakenn saw it: a noble creature, radiant, watchful. The mosaic is made of hadid-al-ghrim tesserae and colored stone, and the beast's chest still glows faintly.
• Above the entrance, carved in deep Drakenn script: the name Idris al-Nahr -- captain of the garrison, who swore his oath here.
• Discovery: The walls are carved with a continuous narrative frieze, the life's work of Hasan al-Qalb, stone-carver. It tells the story:

1. The gods depart. Darkness comes. The Drakenn flee underground.

2. They find the Guardian, already here, already glowing. They call it Rukh-al-Ghrim.

3. They build around it. The dark cannot reach them. Children are born.

4. Generations pass. They thrive. Zahra bint Munirah sings to the Guardian on feast days. Rashid al-Sahra trades with the surface. Aminah bint Faris draws the Guardian on the tunnel wall.

5. The final panel is blank. Hasan's chisel and unfinished tools rest at its base. He never carved the ending.

• Discovery: At the far end of the hall, a stone seat faces the mosaic. This is where the Ghrim-Hakim sat. Tariq al-Ghrim spent his evenings here, studying the creature that kept his people alive. Notes scratched into the armrest in his hand: "It listens. I think it listens." (His predecessor Munirah first wrote this -- he carved it here as tribute to her.)

Flood Timing: Reached during Stage 2. The mosaic glows brightest just before the water covers it -- a last gasp of Splendor.

F. Ayn-al-Hayat -- The Spring of Life (Top-Right Natural Cavern)

"The spring of life." A natural cavern with a glowing blue-green pool -- the highest point in the settlement.

When Explored:

• The pool glows with bioluminescent algae, not Splendor. This was the settlement's water supply -- a natural spring, clean and cold, tended by Nasima al-Khal, healer.
• Discovery: This cavern was used for birth and death rituals. Farah bint Nasima (Nasima's daughter, the midwife) brought newborns here to be touched by the spring water, and the dead here to be washed before entombment. Niches in the walls hold small carved effigies of the deceased -- the most recent ones carved by Farah's hands, the last generation born under the light.
• Nasima's tools and dried medicines are still arranged on a stone shelf, undisturbed.
• This is the last room to flood and the potential final refuge/escape point. A narrow chimney in the ceiling leads upward -- possibly an escape route (Difficulty 15 Finesse check to climb, easier with rope or climbing gear).

Flood Timing: Reached last, during Stage 3. The spring begins overflowing as pressure from below pushes water up. The chimney is the way out if tunnels are impassable.

G. Al-Ashghal al-Sufla -- The Lower Works (Bottom-Right)

"The lower works." The mining and storage area with water, stairs leading down, and small rooms.

When Explored:

• This is where the water comes from. By the time the party reaches the settlement, this area is already flooding. The stairs down are a roaring waterfall in reverse.
• The storage rooms contain mining equipment, preserved food (century-old but sealed in stone containers), and crates of raw ore.
• Discovery: One sealed room contains the personal effects of those who didn't make it out. A courier's pack, still loaded for a journey never made -- Marwan ibn Khalid's, who was supposed to go for help. Bundles of clothing. Toys. Letters carved in stone tablets, never sent.
• A final entry from Ghrim-Hakim Tariq al-Ghrim, carved hastily into the wall near the sealed door:

"The light is failing. We know what comes. We have sealed the children in the upper chambers and the elders will hold the lower tunnels. If the Rampart's child falls, perhaps ours will not."

Flood Timing: Already flooding during Stage 1. Fully submerged by Stage 2. Exploring here requires swimming and breath-holding or magical aid.

Discoveries Summary -- "Rukh-al-Ghrim"

The core revelation, piece by piece:

1. The Guardian was the pyre. Grithmaar Deep never needed a Sacred Pyre because Mollthain's Protector -- Rukh-al-Ghrim -- served the same function. Its Splendor radiance held the Umbra at bay.

2. The Ahl-al-Ghrim knew it was temporary. The Celsian scholars warned them. They built here anyway, choosing generations of safety over the certainty of eventual failure.

3. The Guardian was also a dam. Its body blocked an underground river. The Drakenn knew this too -- Faris ibn Dawud documented it. It was feature and risk.

4. The Drakenn didn't worship Mollthain as a god -- they respected the Guardian as a protector and tried to communicate with it. Their Ghrim-Hakim was part priest, part researcher, part diplomat. Tariq and Munirah both believed it could hear them.

5. They left their ending unwritten. The narrative frieze by Hasan al-Qalb is incomplete. The party is living the last panel.

6. They smelted a unique material. Hadid-al-ghrim -- Splendor-infused metal -- is a crafting resource that exists nowhere else. The techniques are in Sultana's folio. The ingots are fading.

Emotional Resonance for Jamal

• These are his people's predecessors -- the Drakenn who came before his community.
• The names on the temple wall may include direct ancestors.
• The unfinished warhammer in the forge was made by hands like his, using techniques he knows.
• Tariq's final letter -- sealing the children in the upper chambers -- is a mirror of what happened to Jamal's own community.
• The Mending Touch boon Jamal received from the Guardian fight could be reframed: the Guardian gave it to him because it recognized him as one of the Ahl-al-Ghrim. A last gift from a protector who could not protect them anymore.

Escape Options

Option 1: Back the Way They Came (North Tunnels)

• The tunnels they fought through are still passable but the Flaming Skull's Time Lock will expire.
• Al-Jua al-Muqayyad is emerging from the south, so north is the "away" direction.
• Bob may be too large for some passages. The party must decide: abandon Bob, or find a way to get it through.
• The Blessed Branch is inside Bob. This is not optional to leave behind.

Option 2: The Chimney (Ayn-al-Hayat, Top-Right)

• A narrow natural chimney leads upward from the sacred spring cavern.
• Finesse Difficulty 15 to climb (with rope or pitons, reduced to 12).
• Too narrow for Bob. The party would need to extract the Blessed Branch using the Phasing Vambraces and carry it.
• Leads to the mountainside above Grithmaar Deep -- fresh air, open sky, but also exposure.

Option 3: Through the Water (Desperate)

• If all else fails, the flooded lower works connect to underground river systems.
• Swimming through submerged tunnels is extremely dangerous (breath-holding, current, darkness, things in the water).
• This is a "we're going to die if we stay" option, not a planned escape.

The Key Choice

The party must balance:

• Time exploring (discoveries, loot, lore) vs. time escaping (flood stage, Umbra creatures)
• Saving Bob (and the Blessed Branch, and Sarru/Savel) vs. speed (chimney escape is faster but abandons the construct)
• Fighting al-Jua al-Muqayyad (heroic but potentially fatal) vs. running (smart but it will follow)

Loot Summary

Pacing Guide

After the Escape

Once the party gets out, regardless of method:

• Grithmaar Deep is gone. Flooded and dark. The Umbra has it now.
• If they recovered the Totem of Mollthain, Ygva will want it. This advances her god-binding plan.
• If they read the Tariq Tablet or the frieze, they now know the truth: the Sacred Pyres are an imperfect replacement for what the gods left behind. The Ahl-al-Ghrim had something better -- a direct remnant of divine Splendor -- and even that wasn't permanent.
• Jamal has closure, or the beginning of it. His people's predecessors were brave and they were doomed and they built something beautiful anyway.
• The party still has the Blessed Branch. The mission to rekindle Drosven's Gate continues.
• But now they know: even if they relight the pyre, it's just buying time. The light always goes out eventually.