D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Shattered Protocols of Silver Keep

# Intrigue# Arcane# Wilderness

The legendary Silver Keep, bastion of arcane stability, is under assault. Its enchanted spear guardian, a construct of immense power, now lashes out wildly, its runic stabilization protocols shattered. The keep's Smith, the only one who understood the core runes, vanished amidst the chaos. Two factions scramble for control: one seeks to preserve the keep at any cost, the other believes its flawed power must be contained. Players are drawn into the conflict, tasked with navigating the destabilizing keep to discover the truth behind the missing protocols and the Smith's betrayal.

Chronicle Prelude

The party arrives at the fortified outer ward of Silver Keep. The air crackles with unstable magical energy. The keep's frantic Warden and a contingent of grim, armored Preservers greet them, explaining the spear construct's rampage and the Smith's disappearance. They offer a contract: help stabilize the keep or aid in its orderly evacuation and dismantling.

Environmental Traits

The entire campaign region is the progressively destabilizing Silver Keep and its surrounding cursed grounds. The ultimate goal is to reach the Inner Sanctum, the source of the enchanted spear's assault, and decide the fate of the keep's power—either by restoring its lost protocols or by triggering a final, contained collapse to prevent a greater catastrophe.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Warden Theron
A tall, gaunt man in his late fifties, his Preserver captain's armor polished but bearing the deep scores of recent conflict. His eyes are weary but burn with a fanatical determination. He moves with the rigid posture of a career soldier, his gaze constantly scanning for threats or dissent.
Handler Elise
A woman in her mid-forties, dressed in the practical, dark leather and grey wool of the Stabilizers. Her face is lined with stress and haunted by things she has witnessed. She carries a worn satchel of documents and moves with a cautious, quiet efficiency that speaks of deep paranoia.
Quartermaster Voss
A portly man in a stained Preserver quartermaster's uniform, his eyes small and shrewd. He has a perpetual sheen of sweat on his brow and fingers stained with ink and grease. He operates from a cluttered storeroom, always seeming to count inventory or shuffle manifests.
Scout Kael
A young Stabilizer scout, no older than twenty, propped against a broken statue in the Shattered Courtyards. His leg is bound in a crude splint, and his uniform is torn and bloody. He clutches a short bow, his knuckles white, and watches the approaching path with wide, panicked eyes.
Runic Barrier Sentinel
A humanoid automaton of tarnished bronze and granite, standing sentinel before the pulsating Runic Barrier. Its form is elegant but damaged, with cracks running through its limbs and one optic lens shattered. It moves in stiff, precise gestures, its voice a synthesized monotone that repeats fragments of outdated security protocols.
Captain Maren
A formidable Preserver captain stationed at the Dungeon Core entrance. She wears battle-scarred full plate armor and holds a heavy mace. Her face is set in a permanent scowl of zealous suspicion, and she eyes all who approach with open contempt, especially those not wearing Preserver insignia.
The Hollowed Stabilizer
A figure in the tattered remnants of a Stabilizer uniform, their body unnaturally thin and their eyes glowing with a sickly green luminescence. They move with twitching, erratic motions, and their voice is a layered whisper of their own thoughts and something else. They guard the second Seal fragment with a desperate, maddened fervor.
Echo of the Smith
A translucent, flickering projection of a man in workman's robes, his face etched with terror and sorrow. He moves about the Inner Sanctum's workshop, interacting with phantom tools and consoles. His lips move, but his words are silent, playing out the final, desperate moments of his existence like a recorded loop.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Stormspire Schism

The Brimstone Furnace