The adventure ahead
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In the Bracken Vale, people are disappearing—not into the forest, but into a ledger. A quiet man named Corvin Ash is collecting 'soul tithes' for a hidden order called the Hollow Choir. The party arrives in Brackenford as the miller's son vanishes, and follows a trail of red lanterns, stolen names, and a whispering stone to a clearing where the first page of a larger conspiracy is written in ash.
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You are traveling the Bracken Vale when you stop at the Bent Antler inn in Brackenford. The ale is thin, the fire is warm, and the town elder, Mara Venn, is arguing with a young miller's apprentice. Henrik Bram, the miller's son, has not come home. A red lantern was seen at the old mill. Mara asks you to find him. Tone: misty frontier mystery, folk horror, small victories against a quiet evil. Bring a level 1 character; the act ends around level 3.
Behind the screen
Act I is a 3-4 session investigation in and around Brackenford. The party uncovers a tithe-ring run by Corvin Ash, a minor lieutenant of the Hollow Choir. Each key location reveals one layer: the town's fear, the mill's captives, the shrine's lore, and the clearing's ritual. The act ends with Corvin defeated or fled and a clue pointing to the Pale Archivist in Vaultspire. The villain is built for a hard fight at level 2-3; he is not the campaign's ultimate enemy.
Hook 01
Mara Venn meets the party in the low, smoky common room of the Bent Antler with twenty gold on the table and a missing miller's son on her mind. Henrik Bram followed a red lantern up the mill road two nights ago and never came back. Mara wants him found alive and the town kept from burning the old mill in panic, and she is hiring strangers because she no longer trusts her neighbors to look.
Hook 02
On the road into Brackenford the party passes a red lantern burning in the alder trees with no one holding it and no post beneath it. When they reach the inn, Mara Venn's first question is whether they saw it too, and whether anyone was walking under it. She has seen three such lights in a month and three people gone with them.
The party arrives in Brackenford as Henrik Bram vanishes. Following Tobias's lead to the old mill, they free Gera Voss and find tithe-tokens. Osric Thorne explains the ash ledger and the Hollow Choir. At the Ashwood Clearing, the party interrupts Corvin Ash's tithe ritual, rescues Henrik, and learns of the Pale Archivist in Vaultspire.
Read aloud
The Bent Antler smells of wet wool and old smoke. Mara Venn stands behind the bar with a ledger open and a frown she does not bother to hide. A young man twists a rag in the corner. 'Henrik Bram went to the mill two nights ago,' Mara says. 'He has not come back. A red lantern was seen. I want him found before the town decides to burn the mill down.'
Mara asks the party to find Henrik. Tobias knows the mill road and saw Corvin Ash's red lantern. If the party is gentle, Tobias admits he heard a man called Corvin speaking to Henrik. Mara offers 20 gp and a potion of healing. The scene ends when the party agrees to go or leaves for the mill.
Read aloud
The mill door hangs open. Inside, flour dust hangs in the air and a red lantern creaks on its hook. A voice from the loft says, 'Please—is someone there?' Below, a floorboard groans under a boot.
Tobias leads the party here and waits outside unless asked in. Two bandits and one cultist guard the mill; they fight if the party tries the cellar or loft. Gera Voss is tied in the loft. The strongbox contains three tithe-tokens and a note: 'Full tithe at the ash clearing. Bring the boy.' The note is signed with a spiral.
Read aloud
The shrine rises from the reeds, its altar slick with green water. An old man in a patched cloak watches from a lean-to. 'Speak softly,' he says. 'The stone has a long memory, and it has heard too many names lately.'
Osric is wary but desperate for help. He explains the ash ledger: a book that stores names and small tokens, feeding a ritual that binds people to the Hollow Choir. He knows Corvin is a minor lieutenant and that the Pale Archivist is his superior in Vaultspire. He will guide the party to the Ashwood Clearing if they promise to stop the tithe. Two giant frogs attack if the party searches the reeds carelessly.
Read aloud
The clearing is cold. Henrik kneels inside a ring of ash, his lips moving without sound. A thin man in a grey coat stands over him, reading from a black ledger. 'The last name,' he says. 'The full tithe.' He looks up without surprise. 'You are late. But the ledger has room.'
Osric leads the party here and hangs back unless attacked. Corvin Ash fights with the ash ledger, using binding words and shadow to control the field; he is supported by two bandits and one cultist. Henrik is restrained and weakened. If Corvin is bloodied, he tries to burn the ledger and flee toward Vaultspire. The surviving pages name the Pale Archivist.
Milestone: The party reaches level 2 after freeing Gera Voss and level 3 after defeating or driving off Corvin Ash.
Corvin Ash, the Tithe-Taker
Corvin Ash is a thin, forgettable man in a grey coat buttoned to the collar against the marsh damp, ink stains riding his long fingers like…
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Subscribe NowCollects 'soul tithes'—names and small tokens of the living—to feed a ledger that empowers his master, the Pale Archivist. He believes the Choir will grant him a place in the new order.
Soft-spoken, precise, never raises his voice. Treats violence as bookkeeping. Offers the party a place in the ledger if they are useful.
Corvin opens with a binding word to restrain the strongest fighter, then directs bandits to focus fire. He retreats to the shrine if bloodied, using the ledger to summon shadows (describe as his magic, not a monster stat block).
Defeated, he burns part of the ledger and escapes or is captured; the surviving pages name the Pale Archivist and a city called Vaultspire. Redemption only if the party offers him protection from the Choir.
Recommended party: Four characters, level 1 (a balanced party with at least one healer and one character good at investigation).
Before play, set expectations: this is folk horror in a wet frontier vale, with disappearances, stolen names, and children in danger, but no graphic torture and no harm to animals on screen. Use a lines-and-veils conversation and an anonymous X-card or open-door signal at the table. Confirm the party has at least one healer and one character built for investigation, and remind players that level 1 is fragile — running is always allowed. Establish that the Hollow Choir is a conspiracy, not a species, so no one assumes every stranger is a monster. Agree on how the group handles a captured enemy, since the mill bandits will surrender. Finally, ask each player why their character is on the Bracken Vale road, and tie at least one answer to a missing person or a red lantern so the opening scene lands personally.
Act I is tuned for four level 1 characters who reach level 2 after freeing Gera Voss and level 3 after the clearing. For three players, cut one bandit from the mill and one from the clearing, and let the cultist in the mill flee rather than fight to the death. For five or six players, add a bandit to each fight and give the clearing cultist a second one as backup, but keep Corvin alone — he is a lieutenant, not a boss monster, and the act should end with the party feeling capable rather than overwhelmed. If the party skips the mill entirely, move the strongbox note to the shrine so the trail to the clearing is never lost. If they skip the shrine, Osric can find them on the mill road instead. Never let a single bad roll at level 1 end the act: the bandits accept surrender, the frogs lose interest, and Corvin prefers a living witness to a corpse.
Run Act I as an investigation with teeth, not a dungeon crawl. Brackenford should feel like a place worth saving: name the same three townsfolk every time the party returns, and let Mara's fear and Tobias's shame do the work that exposition cannot. Keep the red lantern motif visible — one on the mill, one at the treeline, one in the clearing — so the players start recognizing the signal before anyone explains it. Corvin should be quiet, polite, and utterly certain; he offers the party a place in the ledger before he ever draws blood, and he runs rather than dies if the fight turns. Hand out the tithe-tokens early and let players guess what they are. End the act on the ledger's surviving pages and the word Vaultspire, not on a treasure pile.
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Corvin Ash, the Tithe-Taker
Corvin Ash is a thin, forgettable man in a grey coat buttoned to the collar against the marsh damp, ink stains riding his long fingers like…
Free campaign generations include one villain sheet. Additional villain, NPC, and player-facing module character sheets are available in premium campaigns.
Subscribe NowFree campaign encounters use official monster sheets, plus the campaign villain character when referenced. They do not include generated custom monster sheets. Subscribe to create custom campaign monsters and enemy stat blocks.
Subscribe NowCollects 'soul tithes'—names and small tokens of the living—to feed a ledger that empowers his master, the Pale Archivist. He believes the Choir will grant him a place in the new order.
Soft-spoken, precise, never raises his voice. Treats violence as bookkeeping. Offers the party a place in the ledger if they are useful.
Corvin opens with a binding word to restrain the strongest fighter, then directs bandits to focus fire. He retreats to the shrine if bloodied, using the ledger to summon shadows (describe as his magic, not a monster stat block).
Defeated, he burns part of the ledger and escapes or is captured; the surviving pages name the Pale Archivist and a city called Vaultspire. Redemption only if the party offers him protection from the Choir.
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The ground floor is crowded with flour bins, a broken mill wheel, and a sagging beam that provides half cover. Flour dust makes the boards slippery — a creature that Dashes must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. The cellar door is barred from the outside and needs a DC 13 Strength check to force. The loft ladder is rickety and collapses on a roll of 1-3 on a d6 if two or more creatures climb at once.
The cellar strongbox (DC 14 Thieves' Tools or DC 15 Strength) holds three tithe-tokens — a child's tooth, a wedding ring, and a scrap of cloth with a name — plus a note in Corvin's hand: 'Full tithe at the ash clearing. Bring the boy.' The cultist carries a small book of copied names and 8 gp.
For a weaker party, remove one bandit and let the cultist flee at half hit points. For a stronger party, add a second cultist, or have the bandits barricade the door and fight from the loft so the party must climb into them.
Suggested Level: 1-2
The marsh is difficult terrain. Patches of soft ground require a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check to cross; a creature that sinks is restrained until it or an ally succeeds on the check. Reeds provide half cover and heavily obscure anything beyond 30 feet. The altar stone is solid ground and can be climbed.
The white reed bloom grows beside the altar and can be harvested with a DC 12 Wisdom (Survival) check. Osric Thorne watches from his lean-to and approaches once the frogs are dealt with, offering dry cloth and shelter.
For a weaker party, use one giant frog and have it flee after the first hit. For a stronger party, add a third giant frog or shift the fight into deeper water where soft ground is more common.
Suggested Level: 2-3
The ring of ash is a 15-foot circle of soft grey ground; entering it without breaking the binding requires a DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check, and Henrik cannot leave it on his own. The blackened stone is solid cover. The ash trees are close enough to hide behind, the clearing's edge is difficult terrain, and the red lantern on the branch can be cut down as an action.
Corvin's ash ledger survives, though several pages burn. The surviving pages name the Pale Archivist and the city of Vaultspire and describe a 'second tithe' to be collected there. The bandits carry 15 gp and three more tithe-tokens. Henrik's freedom is the real prize.
For a weaker party, drop one bandit and let Corvin flee as soon as he is bloodied. For a stronger party, add a second cultist, or begin the fight with Henrik already half-tithed, giving Corvin a temporary edge to his binding magic.
Red Lantern of the Tithe
Completed
Act I — hanging from the eaves above the old mill's door.
False
Tithe-Token
Completed
Act I — the locked strongbox in the old mill's cellar.
True — by a spellcaster
Osric's Oilcloth Codex
Completed
Act I — hidden in Osric Thorne's lean-to behind the sunken shrine.
True — by a character who can read and write
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