The adventure ahead

Campaign Overview

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Kallista Starfall has gathered seven companions for the most audacious voyage ever attempted: leaving Earth behind and crossing the black ocean of the heavens. But the solar system is not empty. The worlds beyond are the children of a radiant tyrant named Sol Vane, and each orbit hides a trial, a trickster, or a battle. This is the first act of an epic sung across the stars — the story of the Starfall Seven's escape from Earth, their first clash with the machine servants of the Sun, and the first hints of the cosmic sorceress who binds the planets in her spell.

The players will face the Satellite swarm in orbit, duel the forgotten dwarf-world Pluto, win the mercurial trickster Mercury to their side, and finally confront Circe the Cosmic Sorceress herself — all while the golden shadow of Sol Vane watches from the heart of it all.

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Player Handout

You are one of the Starfall Seven — seven souls chosen by Kallista Starfall for a journey no one has ever survived. Earth has grown quiet and strange. The sun rises at the wrong hours. The stars have begun to rearrange themselves. And no ship, rocket, or spell launched skyward in the last three years has ever come back. Kallista believes something at the heart of the solar system is holding every world prisoner, and she intends to break the chain — starting with Earth's own.

The tone of this campaign is mythic and operatic: a spacefaring epic sung in acts, where every planet is a person, every battle is a verse, and the Sun himself may be listening. Your journey begins on a launch platform at the edge of a dying twilight, with the whole black ocean of the heavens above you. What will you do? What path will you choose?

Free Act I Preview
Levels 3 5 Sessions 4-6 sessions

The Saga of the Starfall Seven: Rise of the Vessel

Behind the screen

DM OVERVIEW — ACT I:

THE ASCENT. This free preview covers the Starfall Seven's departure from Earth and their first steps into the solar system. The campaign's true enemy is Sol Vane, the living Sun, but he does not appear in Act I except as omens: golden light that watches, a whispered voice in solar static, and the sorceress Circe who acts as his will among the planets. Act I's central villain is CIRCE, THE COSMIC SORCERESS — she receives a full character sheet in the final stage; never assign her an SRD stat block.

SECRETS: (1) Sol Vane is not merely a star but a consciousness that has chained his children, the planets, into orbits of obedience. (2) Mercury, the Trickster, serves Circe unwillingly and will defect to the party if treated with wit and respect. (3) Pluto was cast out of the family for asking a forbidden question: 'What lies beyond the Sun's light?' The party's escape from Earth will answer that question and set them on the path to the truth.

(4) The Satellites are Earth's own abandoned machines, reprogrammed by Circe's magic to prevent anyone from leaving the planet. PROGRESSION: The party begins at level 3 and should reach level 5 by the end of Act I. The act ends with Circe's defeat (or escape), Mercury's defection, and the revelation of Sol Vane's name — the first true hint of the campaign's final adversary. Later acts (subscriber content) will carry the Seven through the Jovian worlds, Venus and Mars, and finally back to Earth for the confrontation with the hologram of Sol Vane himself.

Adventure Hooks

Hook 01

The Sky That Devours Ships

No vessel launched skyward in three years has ever come back. Kallista Starfall has spent those years salvaging wreckage, reading star charts drawn as chains, and gathering seven souls brave or desperate enough to try again. The party is her Seven, and tonight is the last launch.

Hook 02

The Handprint in the Wreckage

Every recovered satellite fragment bears the same scorch mark — a woman's handprint burned into the metal. Someone conscripted Earth's own machines against their makers, and that someone's mark appears again on a frozen halo at the edge of the solar system. Whoever she is, she has been binding more than machines.

Act Structure

Act I: The Ascent — Breaking the Sky's Chains

Recommended level: Levels 3-5

Kallista Starfall gathers the Seven on Earth, launches them beyond the sky, and leads them through their first cosmic trials: a swarm of enslaved satellites, the exiled world Pluto, the trickster Mercury, and the sorceress Circe who binds them all. The act ends with the party learning the name Sol Vane and choosing the path their saga will take.

Objectives

  • Gather the seven members of the team and launch beyond Earth's sealed sky
  • Survive the Satellite swarm guarding low orbit
  • Defeat or befriend Pluto, the exiled dwarf-world, and learn the forbidden question he asked
  • Win Mercury the Trickster's aid against the Cosmic Sorceress
  • Confront Circe the Cosmic Sorceress and break her hold over the inner worlds
  • Learn the name Sol Vane and choose the path forward

Scene 1: The Last Launch

The Starfall launch platform, a cliff-top ruin on Earth's eastern coast, at the hour of false twilight

Read aloud

The sun hangs low, though every clock insists it is midnight. Its light is too gold, too patient, like an eye that never blinks. On the cracked launch platform, Kallista Starfall checks the harnesses of a vessel cobbled from star-chart, spellwork, and salvaged rocket steel. Below you, the ocean is silent. Above you, the stars have begun to move — not with the slow wheel of the heavens, but nervously, like a crowd that has seen something terrible enter the theater. Somewhere beyond the sky, a voice in the solar static hums a single warning note.

Running this scene

This is the gathering scene. Kallista briefs the Seven: every vessel launched in three years has been destroyed in low orbit by Earth's own satellites, which have turned against their makers. The party must launch anyway. Run this as a roleplay and preparation scene — let each member define why they joined. Before launch, three checks shape the voyage. Do NOT assign any stat block to the watching presence of Sol Vane; describe it only as golden light and a voice in static, foreshadowing the final adversary.

Checks
  • DC 13 Arcana check to attune the vessel's warding crystals: success grants the vessel 5 temporary hull points for the orbital battle; failure means the ward flickers and the first Satellite hit in Scene 2 deals an extra 2 damage to a random party member
  • DC 12 Perception or Investigation check to notice the golden light pulsing in rhythm with the party's speech: success reveals that something above is listening, granting the first clue of Sol Vane's awareness
  • DC 14 group Stealth check during launch ascent: success means the Satellite swarm in Scene 2 is surprised on the first round; failure means the swarm is waiting
Clues
  • Kallista's star charts show every planet's orbit drawn as a chain-link, not a circle — someone drew them as bindings
  • A salvaged satellite fragment on the platform bears a scorch mark shaped like a woman's handprint — the mark of Circe
Where next
  • On a successful launch, the vessel punches through the false twilight into the black ocean of low orbit, where the Satellites are already turning toward you — proceed to Scene 2
  • If the party delays more than an hour, the golden light intensifies and the launch becomes rougher, imposing disadvantage on the Scene 2 surprise check — proceed to Scene 2 under watchful eyes

Scene 2: Commence Battle Initiative — The Satellite Swarm

Low Earth orbit, a graveyard of shattered machines and dead stations

Read aloud

You break through the sky, and the heavens are a junkyard. Hundreds of dead satellites drift in slow constellations, their solar panels like broken wings. Then, one by one, their eyes ignite red. They were not destroyed. They were conscripted. A woman's voice, sweet and ancient, crackles across every frequency at once: the sky belongs to the Sun's chosen, and nothing leaves Earth without his leave. The swarm closes in. Commence battle initiative.

Running this scene

The first boss encounter of the campaign. The reprogrammed Satellites are represented by SRD monsters: 2 Flying Sword as fast interceptor drones, 4 Animated Armor as heavy hull-breaker drones, and 1 Scrying Eye as the command node — destroy the command node and the rest of the swarm falls inert. Circe's voice taunts the party throughout; describe her actions and words as the villain she is, with no SRD stat block. The battle takes place in zero gravity: allow Acrobatics checks (DC 10) to move between debris fields as a bonus action, and let clever players use drifting wreckage as cover.

Checks
  • DC 13 Arcana check during battle to trace the swarm's command signal to the Scrying Eye node: success reveals the node's location and that destroying it deactivates all remaining drones
  • DC 12 Acrobatics check to vault between debris without provoking opportunity attacks from the Flying Sword drones
  • DC 14 Investigation check on a downed drone after battle: success recovers a fragment etched with a spiral sigil — Circe's mark — and coordinates pointing beyond Mars, toward the dark where Pluto waits
Clues
  • The command node's final transmission repeats a name in solar static: 'Vane... Vane... Vane...' — the first syllables of the true enemy's name
  • The swarm's targeting protocol labels the party 'ESCAPEES OF THE THIRD CHILD' — Earth is someone's child, and that someone has many more
Where next
  • With the swarm destroyed, the vessel is damaged but spaceworthy; Kallista sets course along the recovered coordinates into the outer dark — proceed to Scene 3
  • If the party is defeated, they do not die: the drones drag the vessel back toward Earth's atmosphere, and the party must attempt a DC 15 group Strength or Athletics check to break free and limp into the dark — proceed to Scene 3 wounded and without the surprise advantage against Pluto

Scene 3: The Exiled World — Pluto's Rematch

The Kuiper Verge, a frozen drift-ring at the solar system's edge, lit by a distant blue dawn

Read aloud

The dark out here is older and colder than any night on Earth. Then a shape rises from the frost: a towering figure of rime and heartstone, crowned with a broken halo. He names himself Pluto, the Ninth Child, cast out of the family of worlds for asking a question the Sun forbade. He has waited years for someone to answer it. No one leaves his drift-ring without a rematch. He raises his frozen fists. Commence battle initiative.

Running this scene

Pluto's boss encounter, represented by SRD monsters: 1 Frost Giant as Pluto himself, with 2 Ice Mepit as shards of his shattered halo. Pluto is not evil — he is lonely and proud, and the fight is a test. If the party reduces the Frost Giant to half hit points and then speaks the question he was exiled for asking (found in Scene 2's clue trail, or coaxed out with a DC 14 Persuasion check mid-battle), Pluto halts the fight, weeps frozen tears, and becomes a helper.

If the party fights to the death, Pluto falls, but his final words carry the same secret. Either way, he reveals that Circe bound the planets' orbits with sorcery, and that the trickster Mercury knows the way to her sanctum. IMPORTANT: Pluto's second, stronger rematch is reserved for a later act; do not escalate him beyond this stat block here.

Checks
  • DC 14 Persuasion check (usable mid-battle as an action) to ask Pluto why he was exiled: success ends the fight peacefully and grants Pluto's Blessing — each party member gains one use of resistance to cold damage before the end of Act I
  • DC 13 Insight check to read Pluto's fighting style: success reveals he pulls every blow, and that he wants to lose with dignity rather than win
  • DC 15 History or Arcana check to recall legends of the Ninth World: success reveals the forbidden question — 'What lies beyond the Sun's light?' — allowing a party member to speak it and end the battle instantly
Clues
  • Pluto's broken halo bears the same spiral sigil as the satellite fragment — Circe's mark is on every world
  • Pluto whispers that the Sun's true name is never spoken aloud by his children; they call him only Father, but the exiled worlds whisper the name Vane
  • Pluto names Mercury as the swiftest and most slippery of the family — a trickster who serves Circe but resents her
Where next
  • Whether defeated or befriended, Pluto points the Seven toward the inner system and the swiftest world — proceed to Scene 4
  • If befriended, Pluto grants the party a frost-charm that will let them recognize Circe's illusions for what they are — carry this forward into Scene 5

Scene 4: The Trickster's Toll — Mercury's Crossroads

The Mercurial Causeway, a ribbon of molten light and shadow between the Sun's glare and the deep dark

Read aloud

A figure sprints along a bridge of light faster than thought, and arrives before you having never seemed to leave. He is Mercury, the messenger, the herald, the trickster — dressed in a courier's coat stitched from both shadows and sunbeams. He grins, but the grin is tired. He serves the Cosmic Sorceress, and he is very, very bored of it. He offers you a wager instead of a fight: two roads lead onward, and he will open either — but you must choose, and you must pay his toll.

Running this scene

Mercury is a helper, not a boss — he acts as the party's herald against Circe, in the manner of a swift messenger god. Do not assign him a stat block and do not run him as a combatant; describe his actions narratively. This scene is the campaign's first great PATH CHOICE, and the module's guiding questions — 'What will you do? What path will you choose?' — are asked aloud here.

THE SUNLIT PATH: the direct road to Circe's sanctum across the causeway of open light. It is faster but watched — choosing it means Circe knows they are coming, and her sanctum in Scene 5 is fully alerted, with both of her cult attendants present and her illusions at full strength. VIVIDLY: those who walk the Sunlit Path feel the golden eye of the Father upon them at every step, hear their own names whispered in solar static, and arrive at the sanctum with their shadows stretched long behind them like accusations.

THE SHADOWED PATH: a smuggler's road through the dark side of Mercury, through caverns of frozen night where Circe's spellwork is thin. It is slower and guarded — choosing it means an ambush by 3 Shadow along the way, but the party arrives at the sanctum unnoticed, and Circe's opening illusion in Scene 5 is automatically seen through if any member holds Pluto's frost-charm. VIVIDLY: those who walk the Shadowed Path pass through caverns where the Sun has never once looked, hear the honest silence of unwatched things, and each member glimpses, in the black ice, a reflection of themselves standing before a burning throne — a vision of the campaign's true end.

If the party splits between paths, run each group's journey in alternating beats, and both consequences apply to their respective members at the sanctum. Mercury's toll: one true answer from each member to the question, 'Why do you leave home?' — their answers become the saga's verses, and Mercury swears himself to the Seven's cause.

Checks
  • DC 13 Insight check to read Mercury's true allegiance: success reveals he resents Circe and will defect — granting advantage on the Scene 5 check to see through Circe's opening illusion
  • DC 14 Deception or Performance check to pay Mercury's toll with a clever non-answer: success amuses him greatly, and he gifts the party the location of a hidden supply cache (2 Potion of Healing and 1 Potion of Climbing) before the chosen path
  • DC 12 group Survival check on the Shadowed Path to navigate the frozen caverns without losing an hour to the dark; on the Sunlit Path, a DC 12 group Stealth check to cross the causeway without the golden eye marking every member's face — failure means Circe targets that member first in Scene 5
Clues
  • Mercury confirms the sorceress's name: Circe, who came from beyond the Sun's light and taught the Father a new kind of chain
  • Mercury reveals that Circe's sanctum sits on the Sun-facing cliff of his own world, woven from illusions — nothing there is as it appears
  • The vision in the black ice shows a burning throne and a figure seated upon it — the first true image of Sol Vane, though no name is given yet
Where next
  • Once the toll is paid and the path is walked, Mercury leads the Seven to the cliff of illusions — proceed to Scene 5
  • If the party refuses the wager and attacks Mercury, he vanishes laughing, and both paths become watched: the sanctum is alerted AND the Shadowed Path ambush grows to 5 Shadow — proceed to Scene 5 under the worst of both roads

Scene 5: The Cosmic Sorceress — Circe's Sanctum of Illusions

The Sun-facing cliff of Mercury, a palace woven from heat-shimmer, gold, and lies

Read aloud

The palace does not exist. You know this the moment you step inside, because the walls breathe and the doorways blink. At its heart, on a throne of woven sunlight, sits a woman of impossible age and beauty, her fingers trailing spiral sigils in the air. Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress, rises. She has chained the orbits of worlds, conscripted the machines of Earth, and bound the trickster to her service — and she has been expecting you. Behind her throne, a colossal golden face flickers in the light of the Sun itself, watching its servant work. Commence battle initiative.

Running this scene

The Act I climax. CIRCE, THE COSMIC SORCERESS is the central villain of this act and receives a full character sheet in the final stage — do not assign her any SRD stat block; run her actions, spells, and tactics from her forthcoming sheet. Her attendants are SRD monsters: 2 Cult Fanatic and 4 Cultist as her orbital cult. The golden face behind her throne is Sol Vane's presence — describe it only as light and a watching gaze; it does not act, it only observes, and its silence is the act's final and greatest hint of the true enemy.

Illusion mechanics: at the start of the battle and at the end of each of Circe's turns, one random party member must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check (advantage if they hold Pluto's frost-charm, or if Mercury's Insight clue was earned) or believe an illusion — describe vivid false terrain, false allies, and false exits. If the party walked the Sunlit Path, Circe opens with her strongest illusion and targets the marked member first.

If they walked the Shadowed Path, she is surprised on the first round. If the party splits paths earlier, each member's arrival condition applies to them individually. TACTICS: Circe isolates the party with illusions, lets her cult screen for her, and offers each member a whispered bargain mid-battle — abandon the voyage and be returned safely home. Any member who refuses aloud gains advantage on their next save against her illusions.

Checks
  • DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check each round to pierce the illusions, with advantage from Pluto's frost-charm or Mercury's insight clue
  • DC 15 Wisdom save (or her sheet's spell DC) to resist Circe's whispered bargain — refusing aloud grants advantage on the next illusion save
  • DC 14 Perception check as the battle ends: success catches the golden face behind the throne mouthing a single word as Circe falls — the name Vane, spoken by the Sun himself
Clues
  • Circe's dying words (or her parting words, if she escapes): 'I only taught him the chains. He forged them himself. His name is Sol Vane, and he will not let you leave his sky a second time.'
  • Among her effects: a star chart of the outer system with four orbits circled in gold — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune — labeled 'The Jovian Wall, Act of the Second Journey'
  • A locked solar locket that hums when held toward the Sun — it opens only in a later act, but its warmth is unmistakably a father's
Where next
  • If Circe is defeated, the illusions collapse, the golden face fades with the whispered name, and the Seven stand in the true light of the inner system, knowing the enemy's name at last — Act I ends here, with the party at level 5 and the path to the Jovian worlds ahead
  • If Circe escapes (below half her forces and reduced to a quarter of her sheet's hit points, she flees by illusion), she vanishes toward the outer system, vowing the Jovian children will finish what she started — Act I ends with the name Sol Vane learned, but the sorceress still at large
  • Either way, close the act with the module's guiding questions asked to the table: What will you do? What path will you choose? — and let the Seven's answer open Act II

Milestone: The Seven have broken Earth's chains, survived the swarm, answered Pluto's forbidden question, won the trickster Mercury to their cause, and faced the Cosmic Sorceress. They now know the name Sol Vane — the Sun who binds his children — and the Jovian worlds await in the next act.

Villain Character Sheets

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress, is a woman of impossible age and impossible beauty, her skin carrying the pale gold of starlight filtered thro…

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Monsters & Enemies

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Villain Plans

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress Character Sheet

Act I central villain — the sorceress who chained the orbits of the worlds and conscripted Earth's machines

Motivation

Circe came from beyond the Sun's light and taught the Father a new kind of chain. She binds the planets into orbits of obedience through spiral sigils and illusion-work, serving Sol Vane's will among the children. She believes the family of worlds is happiest in its chains, and she has been expecting the Starfall Seven since their launch.

Personality

Impossible age and beauty; patient, sweet-voiced, and utterly convinced of her own benevolence. She isolates her enemies with lies, screens herself with devoted followers, and offers whispered bargains mid-battle — abandon the voyage and be returned safely home. She treats defiance as an amusing prelude to surrender.

Resources

  • 2 Cult Fanatic and 4 Cultist attendants forming her orbital cult
  • A palace of illusions woven from heat-shimmer, gold, and lies on the Sun-facing cliff of Mercury
  • The conscripted Satellite swarm of Earth
  • The bound service of Mercury the Trickster, held unwillingly
  • Spiral sigil spellwork binding the orbits of the inner worlds

Battle Plan

Circe isolates the party with illusions — false terrain, false allies, false exits — while her cult screens for her. At the start of the battle and at the end of each of her turns, one random party member must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check (advantage with Pluto's frost-charm or Mercury's insight clue) or believe an illusion. If the party walked the Sunlit Path, she opens with her strongest illusion and targets the marked member first; if they walked the Shadowed Path, she is surprised on the first round. Each member faces a whispered bargain requiring a DC 15 Wisdom save — refusing aloud grants advantage on the next illusion save. If reduced to a quarter of her hit points with her forces below half, she flees by illusion toward the outer system.

Defeat or Redemption

If defeated, her dying words reveal the truth: she only taught him the chains; he forged them himself; his name is Sol Vane. If she escapes, she vows the Jovian children will finish what she started. Either way, the golden face behind her throne mouths the name Vane as the act closes.

Running Notes

Recommended party: 7 players

Session Zero

Before play, have each of the seven players define why their character joined Kallista Starfall's voyage — their answer to 'Why do you leave home?' will be asked again by Mercury in Scene 4 and becomes one of the saga's verses. Establish the tone: mythic and operatic, a spacefaring epic sung in acts, where every planet is a person, every battle is a verse, and the Sun himself may be listening. The party begins at level 3 and should reach level 5 by the act's end.

Scaling Guidance

The recommended party is seven players beginning at level 3. For smaller parties, apply the per-encounter reductions listed in each encounter's scaling notes. Milestone leveling: reach level 4 after the Satellite swarm, and level 5 after Pluto's rematch or the Shadowed Path ambush, before the sanctum climax.

DM Advice

Sol Vane never appears in Act I except as omens: golden light that watches, a voice in solar static, the colossal golden face behind Circe's throne. Never assign him a stat block or describe him acting — he only observes, and his silence is the greatest hint of the true enemy. Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress, is the act's central villain and receives the only generated character sheet; never represent her as an official or custom monster. Pluto's stronger rematch, the Venus and Mars confrontation, and the final hologram of Sol Vane are reserved for later acts. Close the act by asking the table the module's guiding questions: What will you do? What path will you choose?

Secrets & Clues

  • Sol Vane is not merely a star but a consciousness that has chained his children, the planets, into orbits of obedience
  • Mercury the Trickster serves Circe unwillingly and will defect to the party if treated with wit and respect
  • Pluto was cast out for asking 'What lies beyond the Sun's light?' — the party's escape answers that question
  • The Satellites are Earth's own abandoned machines, reprogrammed by Circe's magic to prevent anyone from leaving the planet

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Villain Character Sheets

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress, is a woman of impossible age and impossible beauty, her skin carrying the pale gold of starlight filtered thro…

Premium Campaign Feature

Free campaign generations include one villain sheet. Additional villain, NPC, and player-facing module character sheets are available in premium campaigns.

Subscribe Now

Monsters & Enemies

Premium Campaign Feature

Free 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.

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Villain Plans

Circe, the Cosmic Sorceress Character Sheet

Act I central villain — the sorceress who chained the orbits of the worlds and conscripted Earth's machines

Motivation

Circe came from beyond the Sun's light and taught the Father a new kind of chain. She binds the planets into orbits of obedience through spiral sigils and illusion-work, serving Sol Vane's will among the children. She believes the family of worlds is happiest in its chains, and she has been expecting the Starfall Seven since their launch.

Personality

Impossible age and beauty; patient, sweet-voiced, and utterly convinced of her own benevolence. She isolates her enemies with lies, screens herself with devoted followers, and offers whispered bargains mid-battle — abandon the voyage and be returned safely home. She treats defiance as an amusing prelude to surrender.

Resources

  • 2 Cult Fanatic and 4 Cultist attendants forming her orbital cult
  • A palace of illusions woven from heat-shimmer, gold, and lies on the Sun-facing cliff of Mercury
  • The conscripted Satellite swarm of Earth
  • The bound service of Mercury the Trickster, held unwillingly
  • Spiral sigil spellwork binding the orbits of the inner worlds

Battle Plan

Circe isolates the party with illusions — false terrain, false allies, false exits — while her cult screens for her. At the start of the battle and at the end of each of her turns, one random party member must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check (advantage with Pluto's frost-charm or Mercury's insight clue) or believe an illusion. If the party walked the Sunlit Path, she opens with her strongest illusion and targets the marked member first; if they walked the Shadowed Path, she is surprised on the first round. Each member faces a whispered bargain requiring a DC 15 Wisdom save — refusing aloud grants advantage on the next illusion save. If reduced to a quarter of her hit points with her forces below half, she flees by illusion toward the outer system.

Defeat or Redemption

If defeated, her dying words reveal the truth: she only taught him the chains; he forged them himself; his name is Sol Vane. If she escapes, she vows the Jovian children will finish what she started. Either way, the golden face behind her throne mouths the name Vane as the act closes.

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Encounters

The Cosmic Sorceress — Circe's Sanctum of Illusions

Encounter Builder Moderate

Suggested Level: 5

The Act I climax. At the heart of a palace woven from heat-shimmer, gold, and lies, Circe rises from a throne of woven sunlight. Behind her, a colossal golden face flickers in the light of the Sun itself — Sol Vane's presence, described only as light and a watching gaze; it does not act, it only observes, and its silence is the act's final and greatest hint of the true enemy.

Creatures

Flying Sword Count 2 SRD · CR 1/4 · Construct Animated Armor Count 6 SRD · CR 1 · Construct

Terrain Features

A palace that does not exist — breathing walls, blinking doorways, false terrain, false allies, false exits; a throne of woven sunlight; the colossal golden face of Sol Vane flickering behind the throne, watching but never acting

Treasure

A star chart of the outer system with four orbits circled in gold — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune — labeled 'The Jovian Wall, Act of the Second Journey'; the locked Solar Locket of the Father; Circe's dying or parting words naming Sol Vane

Solar Locket of the Father Rare

DM Notes

Circe is the Act I central villain and receives a full character sheet in the final stage — never assign her an SRD stat block; run her actions, spells, and tactics from her sheet. Her attendants are 2 Cult Fanatic and 4 Cultist. Illusion mechanics: at the start of the battle and at the end of each of Circe's turns, one random party member must succeed on a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check (advantage with Pluto's frost-charm or Mercury's insight clue) or believe an illusion. Sunlit Path walkers face her strongest opening illusion and the marked member is targeted first; Shadowed Path walkers find her surprised on the first round, and her opening illusion is automatically pierced by any frost-charm holder. Each member faces a whispered bargain (DC 15 Wisdom save); refusing aloud grants advantage on the next illusion save. If reduced to a quarter of her hit points with her forces below half, she flees by illusion toward the outer system. As the battle ends, a DC 14 Perception check catches the golden face behind the throne mouthing a single word: Vane.

The Trickster's Toll — Mercury's Crossroads

Encounter Builder Moderate

Suggested Level: 4-5

A figure sprints along a bridge of light faster than thought and arrives before the party having never seemed to leave. Mercury, the messenger, the herald, the trickster — dressed in a courier's coat stitched from both shadows and sunbeams — offers a wager instead of a fight: two roads lead onward, and he will open either, but the party must choose and pay his toll.

Creatures

Ice Mephit Count 20 SRD · CR 1/2 · Elemental

Terrain Features

The Mercurial Causeway, a ribbon of molten light and shadow; the Sunlit Path across open, watched light; the Shadowed Path through frozen caverns of unwatched night

Treasure

Mercury's supply cache (2 Potion of Healing, 1 Potion of Climbing) if his toll is paid cleverly; his sworn service as herald to the Seven's cause

DM Notes

Mercury is a helper, not a boss — he acts as the party's herald against Circe in the manner of a swift messenger god. Do not assign him a stat block and do not run him as a combatant; describe his actions narratively. This is the campaign's first great PATH CHOICE, and the module's guiding questions — 'What will you do? What path will you choose?' — are asked aloud here. THE SUNLIT PATH: the direct road to Circe's sanctum, faster but watched — Circe knows they are coming, her sanctum is fully alerted with both cult attendants present and her illusions at full strength; walkers feel the golden eye of the Father upon them at every step, hear their own names whispered in solar static, and arrive with their shadows stretched long behind them like accusations. THE SHADOWED PATH: a smuggler's road through the dark side of Mercury where Circe's spellwork is thin — slower and guarded by an ambush of 3 Shadow, but the party arrives unnoticed and Circe's opening illusion is automatically pierced by any frost-charm holder; walkers pass through caverns where the Sun has never once looked, hear the honest silence of unwatched things, and glimpse in the black ice a reflection of themselves standing before a burning throne — the first true image of Sol Vane, though no name is given yet. If the party splits between paths, run each group's journey in alternating beats, and both consequences apply to their respective members at the sanctum. Mercury's toll: one true answer from each member to the question, 'Why do you leave home?' — their answers become the saga's verses, and Mercury swears himself to the Seven's cause. If the party refuses the wager and attacks Mercury, he vanishes laughing, and both paths become watched: the sanctum is alerted AND the Shadowed Path ambush grows to 5 Shadow.

Magic Items

Frost-Charm of the Exiled World Frost-Charm of the Exiled World Completed

Frost-Charm of the Exiled World

uncommon
A sliver of Pluto's broken halo, cold to the touch and faintly blue. While carried, the bearer has advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to discern illusions, and automatically sees through the first illusion they would otherwise fall victim to in Circe's sanctum. Once per long rest, the bearer can gain resistance to cold damage for 1 minute.

Location

Granted by Pluto in the Kuiper Verge if he is befriended rather than slain

Attunement

no

Sigil Fragment of the Spiral Hand Sigil Fragment of the Spiral Hand Completed

Sigil Fragment of the Spiral Hand

uncommon
A scorched satellite fragment etched with a spiral sigil — the mark of Circe, shaped like a woman's handprint. While held, it functions as a compass that points toward the nearest active spiral sigil, and once per dawn it can cast the Detect Magic spell (no components, no attunement required). It also hums warningly within 60 feet of any of Circe's illusions.

Location

Recovered from a downed Satellite drone after the orbital battle (Scene 2)

Attunement

no

Solar Locket of the Father Solar Locket of the Father Completed

Solar Locket of the Father

rare
A locked golden locket that hums with warmth when held toward the Sun. It cannot be opened in Act I — it is sealed by a father's magic — but while attuned, the wearer gains a +1 bonus to saving throws against spells, and once per long rest they may cast the Shield spell as a reaction without components. The locket's warmth is unmistakably a father's, and it will open only in a later act, at the heart of the Sun's domain.

Location

Found among Circe's effects after her defeat or flight in Scene 5

Attunement

yes

Player Characters

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