Attributes
Featured NPCs335-tach335-teran
Chapter Number29
TitleRelic of Beasts
Primary Locationeastern-warstones-border
Dm Notes- Fey cannot leave the altar during the trial without resetting to round 1 — frame this as the relic requiring her full attention and physical presence; the party must hold the eidolon without her
- The eidolon targets the altar tactically: it uses Rending Slam to Grab party members and push them toward Fey's position, hoping to force her to react and break concentration. If it successfully Grabs someone adjacent to Fey, she must succeed a DC 30 Will save or her trial progress for that round does not count.
- Bond Frenzy aura (20 ft) affects Fey: if she fails the DC 35 Will save on her round, that round's skill check result is treated as a Failure regardless of the roll. The aura makes the trial measurably harder if the eidolon gets close to the altar.
- Tach's arrival is scripted. He does not roll initiative. He steps in before the Darkmoon Captain finishes speaking. This is not a combat encounter — it is a political one. If the party attacks the Darkmoon elves before Tach arrives, he steps in to separate sides and address the Captain formally; the withdrawal still occurs.
- Tach addresses the soldiers, not the Captain. This is intentional — he is reminding them of their oaths, not negotiating with the Captain's authority. The Captain's discomfort is because he cannot countermand a direct royal address without the soldiers noticing.
- The offer to Mac (come to Sanctuary) should be delivered plainly, not as pressure. Tach knows Mac won't say yes. He's planting a door. Accept the no gracefully and move to the Starfall agreement.
- The Darkmoon Captain's name is intentionally left blank for the DM to assign. Give them a real name before running the session — it makes the eventual return hit harder.
- If the party defeated the eidolon before the trial completed, let Fey finish the remaining rounds in peace. The beast's death doesn't reset the trial — only Fey leaving the altar does.
Introduced NPCs335-tach335-teran
Detailed NarrativeThe road east is quiet in a way that hasn't been earned — not the peace of a region at rest, but the emptiness of one that has lost its center. Gorefist's territory has gone to seed. Orcish encampments stripped bare. Frost giant waypoints abandoned. The further east the party travels, the more wildlife they notice: migration patterns running contrary to season, animals moving with purpose rather than hunger, all converging on a common point ahead.
The first sign of trouble is a pack of Relic-Called Dire Beasts — massive predators transformed over years of proximity to the relic's radiance. Larger than they should be, moving with coordinated intelligence they haven't earned through natural growth. They're not territorial in the normal sense; they're protective. The relic has been drawing them for years and they've made themselves its unintended guardians.
Beyond the pack, the Ancient Beast Sanctuary reveals itself: a ring of carved standing stones depicting hunters and their bonded companions, predating the orcish clans entirely. Older than Gorefist's conquest. Older than anything in this region has a right to be. At the center, atop a low altar stone, the Conduit of the Twin Soul pulses with a warm doubled heartbeat — visible from the sanctuary's edge, waiting.
Waiting is not unguarded. When the party approaches the altar, the Unbound Eidolon emerges from the treeline — an astral entity whose summoner died years ago, drawn here by the same resonance that called the beast pack, maddened by the broken bond it can feel but no longer complete. It has been circling the sanctuary for months, unable to leave, unable to claim what it needs.
Fey must stand at the altar and complete the five-round resonance trial — proving the champion bond to the relic's spirit through escalating tests of body, knowledge, intent, and will. She cannot leave without resetting. The rest of the party must hold the eidolon for five rounds without her.
When Fey succeeds — when the Conduit bonds to its champion for the first time — the bonding pulse is visible and loud. It draws something else: a Darkmoon unit of the Moonguard, the Dawncrest elves who have been tracking the party east since word of Mac's relic work reached their commanders. They step from the forest just as Fey holds the relic aloft.
Before the Darkmoon Captain can finish his declaration, a second figure emerges. He introduces himself quietly: Tach. Not a title. Just Tach. The soldiers recognize him. The Captain goes still. He is Prince Vesion of Dawncrest, self-exiled, rightful heir, returned from the Sanctuary plane — and he addresses not the Captain but the soldiers, invoking his royal claim over every one of them directly. The Captain retreats with a warning. The soldiers follow.
In the quiet after, Tach turns to Mac. He sees Alianna's work in everything Mac is building — mentions her by name, present tense, no weight. She's in the Sanctuary. She'll want to see this. He makes his offer — come to the Sanctuary, build without limits — and accepts the no without pressure. He agrees instead to come to Starfall. The Moonguard will return in force eventually. He'll be there when they do.
SummaryThe party travels east into the ruined Warstones territory in pursuit of Fey's champion relic, the Conduit of the Twin Soul. They fight through a pack of relic-drawn dire beasts before reaching the Ancient Beast Sanctuary — a pre-orcish site of primal bonding — where Fey must complete a five-round resonance trial to claim the relic while the rest of the party holds off an Unbound Eidolon. As Fey bonds with the relic, the Darkmoon elves of the Moonguard arrive to stop them. Prince Vesion — introducing himself only as Tach — steps in before a fight breaks out, invokes his royal claim over Dawncrest, and forces the unit to retreat. Afterward, Tach forms an immediate kinship with Mac and agrees to come to Starfall.
Campaignwizard-war
Locationseastern-warstones-borderancient-beast-sanctuary
Player Charactersfeymaclloydgriva