The Missing Cleric
A trusted cleric or temple attendant vanishes after reporting angels in the bells and a demon in the confessional. The party is asked to find them before nightfall.
Campaign Overview
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Overview
A forgotten gate in the hills has begun to leak holy light and abyssal fire at once. Strange omens, possessions, and miracles plague a frontier settlement caught between two invading powers: a host of angels who believe judgment is overdue, and a horde of demons who want the world broken open. The party begins as investigators, rescuers, or hired blades and quickly discovers that both sides are manipulating mortal faith and fear.
Tone
Epic, perilous, and morally charged. Expect divine visions, infernal bargains, ruined shrines, and choices where *good intentions still cause harm*.
Starting Hook
The settlement of Ashen Gate sends an urgent plea for aid after a night of blinding fire, falling feathers, and screaming from the old chapel hill. The local faith leaders are missing, and both celestial and fiendish signs point to the same buried ruin beneath town.
What Act I Covers
Act I is an opening investigation and crisis arc. The party learns the conflict is not simply angels versus demons, but a struggle over a sealed gate and the mortal relic that can reopen it. They will defend the town, uncover clues, and confront the first agent of the infernal side.
Player Handout
Welcome to Ashen Gate
For three nights, the sky over Ashen Gate has glowed gold by turns and bled red at others. People report visions of winged figures in the roads, horned shadows in the churchyard, and prayers answered with fire.
You arrive for your own reason: duty, faith, greed, curiosity, revenge, or a promise to someone who vanished near the old hill chapel.
Your task
Help the town survive the next wave of supernatural violence and discover what lies beneath the chapel before the forces gathering overhead tear the settlement apart.
Tone
The story mixes sacred wonder with infernal horror. No one side is completely safe to trust.
Starting situation
The town leaders are frightened, the chapel is sealed, and the first night of the new omen ends with something pounding from below the altar.
Free Act I Preview
The War Above the Ashen Gate
Act I is a compact opening arc set in and around Ashen Gate. The party investigates omens of celestial and fiendish intrusion, protects townsfolk from escalating manifestations, and uncovers the hidden ruin beneath the chapel hill. The central villain is a demonic cult emissary trying to force the gate open by corrupting a holy relic. Keep the angels distant and morally ambiguous in this act; they should feel powerful, watchful, and possibly mistaken rather than openly allied.
Adventure Hooks
Ashen Gate’s Reward
The town council offers coin, lodging, and legal favor to anyone who can stop the hauntings and identify whether the omens are divine warning or fiendish attack.
Act Structure
Act I: Ash and Halo
Recommended level: 1-3The first act introduces Ashen Gate, the chapel hill mystery, and the mortal cost of celestial and fiendish intervention. The party begins as investigators, then becomes defenders of the town when the supernatural threat escalates. By the end, they stop the immediate ritual and learn the conflict is larger than one cult or one shrine.
Objectives
- Investigate the omens around Ashen Gate
- Protect townsfolk from the first wave of supernatural incidents
- Find the hidden reliquary beneath the chapel
- Defeat or drive off Varek Sul
The Town Under Signs
By dawn the market is half-empty, the well tastes of ash, and every bell in town seems to ring one note too long.
Open with rumors, frightened townsfolk, and competing interpretations of the signs. Let the party choose whether to aid victims, question clergy, or follow obvious occult clues.
Checks
- Religion DC 12: identify the omens as mixed celestial and fiendish influence
- Insight DC 12: notice one witness is lying about where they saw the fire
- Investigation DC 13: find the same black wax on three separate clues
Clues
- The chapel hill is the center of activity
- Someone has been moving through town at night
- The signs are deliberate, not random
Transitions
- The party follows the evidence to the chapel graveyard
- A frightened witness reveals the name Varek Sul
The Graveyard Wakes
The old graves rattle, the chapel bell gives a single cracked toll, and cold air rolls uphill like a warning.
Run the graveyard as the first open fight and a clue scene. The battle should feel like a public disaster, not a secret dungeon room.
Checks
- Medicine DC 11: determine the dead were disturbed after death, not before
- Arcana DC 12: identify the smoke as infernal residue
- Perception DC 13: spot a hidden stair near the oldest tomb
Clues
- The chapel hides a lower chamber
- The cult is trying to unseal something
- The dead are collateral, not the goal
Transitions
- The hidden stair leads to the reliquary approach
- The recovered key opens the sealed door
The Reliquary Below
The floor glows like banked coals under frost, and a voice from behind the stone says the ward will break with or without your blessing.
Use this scene as the final confrontation and reveal. Varek should be talkative, trying to justify the gate’s opening and tempt the party with half-truths.
Checks
- Athletics DC 12: force open a jammed mechanism or move debris
- Religion or Arcana DC 13: stabilize the ward long enough to stop the rite
- Persuasion DC 14: make Varek hesitate for one round by challenging his worldview
Clues
- The gate is ancient and not originally fiendish
- The angels observing the town are divided on what to do
- The relic can be used to preserve the seal
Transitions
- Victory ends the immediate crisis
- Failure releases a worse omen and sets up Act II
Milestone: The party reaches level 3 after securing the reliquary and surviving the confrontation with Varek Sul.
Villain Character Sheets
Varek Sul
Completed
Varek Sul is the kind of villain who makes a room feel quieter by entering it. He dresses and speaks like a temple scholar, not a marauder,…
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Varek Sul Character Sheet
Motivation
Varek believes the world is trapped in a counterfeit peace maintained by holy lies. He wants to shatter the chapel seal so a larger infernal power can expose the truth and reward the faithful strong enough to survive.
Personality
Smooth, fervent, and unsettlingly courteous. He speaks like a prophet, never like a thug, and treats suffering as proof.
Resources
- A small cult cell hidden among refugees
- Infernal pacts with imps and local desperates
- Stolen ritual notes from the chapel archives
- Knowledge of the buried gate and its weaknesses
Battle Plan
Varek starts by directing cultists and imps to slow the party, then uses the cramped reliquary to force bad positioning. He prioritizes completing the rite over direct combat, fleeing only if the ritual fails.
Defeat or Redemption
If defeated, Varek can be captured and questioned about the larger war, or he may die proclaiming that both heaven and hell fear what lies beyond the gate.
Running Notes
Recommended party: 3-5 players
Session Zero
This campaign includes religious imagery, possession themes, infernal corruption, and apocalyptic stakes. Before play, confirm comfort with angelic judgment, demonic temptation, body horror, and moral ambiguity. Use lines and veils for torture, children in danger, and forced possession. Clarify that the angels are not a safe authority and the demons are not cartoon evil; both can manipulate faith. Encourage players to define what their characters believe about divine power.
Scaling Guidance
For a weaker party, reduce each encounter by 1 lesser creature and give the party one extra potion of healing. For a stronger party, add one cultist to the first and final encounters, and let Varek use cover and escape routes intelligently. If the group is new, emphasize the relic and ritual clues so the final battle has clear objectives beyond simply reducing hit points.
DM Advice
Keep Act I moving by tying every clue to the chapel hill. Let the party learn something important in each scene even if they miss a check. Varek should be memorable and persuasive, not just hostile. The angels work best as brief omens, visions, or impossible interventions, preserving mystery for later acts.
Secrets & Clues
- The chapel seal was built by mortals to contain something both angels and demons want.
- The angels are not fully united; some want to protect the town, others want to judge it.
- The infernal rite can only succeed if the relic is moved, broken, or willingly surrendered.
- Varek is a believer, not a madman—he can be reasoned with briefly, but not trusted.
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Encounters
Feather and Ember Ambush
Encounter Builder
Moderate
Suggested Level: 1-2
On the road to the chapel, radiant motes and burning ash swirl into a sudden attack by cult thralls and scavengers. The party learns the town is already being watched by hostile forces.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Narrow lane bordered by stone walls
- Drifting ash that lightly obscures distant sight lines
- Broken cart provides half cover
Treasure
A silver holy symbol, 18 gp, and a torn page describing the chapel reliquary.
DM Notes
Remove one imp for a smaller party; add 1 cultist for a larger or optimized group. Use the imps to harass rear lines, not to focus-fire downed characters.
Graveyard Manifestation
Encounter Builder
Moderate
Suggested Level: 1-3
At the chapel cemetery, disturbed dead and infernal whispers rise together from the soil, forcing the party to defend mourners and uncover the source of the corruption.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Tilting headstones and shallow graves
- Unstable patches of earth that count as difficult terrain
- Mausoleum steps offering elevated positions
Treasure
A potion of healing hidden in a grave niche and a funerary key marked with celestial script.
DM Notes
If the party is struggling, replace the cult fanatic with a cultist. If they are breezing through, have the fanatic fight intelligently and use cover.
The Reliquary Door
Encounter Builder
High
Suggested Level: 2-3
Below the chapel altar, a sealed stone door throbs with holy heat and hellish wind while the villain performs a rite to break the ward before the party can stop them.
Creatures
Terrain Features
- Tight stone chamber
- Radiant cracks in the floor that illuminate concealment
- Blackened brazier vents smoke that lightly obscures one corner
Treasure
The Gate-Thread Relic, 1 spell scroll of aid, and 35 gp in ritual offerings.
DM Notes
This is the climax of Act I. The cult fanatic should try to complete the rite while the imps delay and distract. Reduce one imp for a low-optimization group; add one cultist if the party is very efficient.
Magic Items
Lantern of Dawn Ash
Completed
Lantern of Dawn Ash
Uncommon
A small brass lantern that burns with pale gold flame and sheds comfort against fear. While lit, it faintly reveals invisible creatures smeared with soot or holy residue.
Location
Act I: Chapel Graveyard
Attunement
False; no attunement required
Feather-Cord Charm
Completed
Feather-Cord Charm
Common
A braided cord tipped with a white feather and a black bead. Once per day, you can gain advantage on one saving throw against being frightened or charmed.
Location
Act I: Town Square and Chapel Hill
Attunement
False; no attunement required
Gate-Thread Relic
Completed
Gate-Thread Relic
Rare
A thumb-sized crystal shard from the buried ward. While attuned, it can stabilize a failing seal or grant a brief blessing of resistance against radiant or fire harm.
Location
Act I: Hidden Reliquary Beneath the Chapel
Attunement
True; requires attunement by a creature with a divine or arcane spellcasting feature
Player Characters
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