D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Animated Bread Golem Market Rampage of Welcoming Day and the Reanimation Alchemical Powder Swapped by the Pastry Chef

# Intrigue# Construct# Magitech

The annual Welcoming Day festival in the city of Hearthstone has been shattered by a massacre of animated bread golems. What began as a whimsical parade turned into a slaughter as enchanted dough constructs, meant to distribute pastries, went berserk with hidden reanimation powder. The city guard is dead, the bakeries are burning, and the survivors are terrified. The culprit? The beloved Pastry Chef, Orson, who claims he was forced to swap the harmless alchemical binding agent for a necromantic reanimation powder by the city's hidden masters—the Hearthstone Council—to cover up a plague of undead rats in the sewers. Now, two factions vie for control of the narrative and the city's future, and the players are caught in the middle of the flour-dusted chaos.

Chronicle Prelude

The smoldering ruins of Hearthstone's Market Square, where the Welcoming Day festival was to take place. Overturned stalls, scattered loaves of now-inert bread golem parts, and the bodies of guards and civilians litter the ground. The air smells of burnt sugar and blood. Survivors huddle in alleys, whispering about the 'Bread Plague'.

Environmental Traits

The city is under a de facto martial law. The Hearthstone Council, led by the pragmatic Lord Valerius, seeks to contain the panic by blaming the Pastry Chef and the 'Bread Cult'. The underground 'Crumb Collective', a guild of disenfranchised bakers and alchemists, believes the Council is covering up a far greater threat from the sewers. The players must navigate this rift to uncover the truth and decide the city's fate before the next 'Warming'—when the city's central hearth is relit, an event that could trigger the remaining hidden golem powder caches.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (11)

Lord Valerius
An older man in immaculate but slightly singed robes bearing the Council's sigil. His face is etched with fatigue and a stubborn resolve. He carries an air of weary authority.
Mira
A young woman with soot-stained alchemical goggles pushed up on her forehead. Her eyes burn with fierce intelligence and anger. She wears the patched leather apron of the Crumb Collective.
Orson the Pastry Chef
A flour-dusted, terrified man hiding in the shadows of the Old Windmill. His eyes dart constantly, and his hands tremble. He clutches a worn, empty knife belt.
Captain Garret
A stern, armored City Guard captain. His uniform is immaculate, but his eyes are haunted. He stands before the Sealed Gate, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword.
The Blightsmith (Alder Fenwick)
A figure in a scorched Council artificer's coat, fused with dark, pulsing dough and strange machinery. His eyes glow with a sickly green light, and he wields a hammer crackling with unstable energy.
Tess the Beggar
A wretched, coughing figure huddled in the ruins of the Ashen Alleys. Her clothes are rags, and she watches everything with keen, desperate eyes.
Sergeant Holt
A City Guard in heavy armor, patrolling the putrid sewers. His armor is stained, and his crossbow is leveled. He carries an official dispatch pouch.
The Hearth Keeper
A shimmering, translucent figure of warm light and embers, appearing only in the Central Hearth Cavern. It has no fixed form, but its presence feels ancient and sorrowful.
Rogue Bread Golem
A shambling, half-formed humanoid mass of dough and crust, lurching forward with mindless aggression. It leaves a trail of crumbs and emits a faint, yeasty stench.
Sewer Blight Swarm
A churning mass of undead rats and viscous, dark sewage, moving as one entity. Their eyes glow with the same sickly green light as the reanimation powder.
Grand Golem Core
A massive, pulsating amalgam of dough, brass machinery, and corrupted geothermal energy. It is more a living factory than a creature, the source of the city's plague.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Lost Workshop: Heart of a Raging Core

The Reignited Forge: A Crisis of Iron and Will