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The party wakes in the cells of Ironhollow Keep, accused of burning the granary of the town of Millbrook and poisoning its wells. The town believes it. The magistrate believes it. Even the guards spit at their names. But the truth is far darker: a manipulative villain named Sereth Vane, a respected 'philanthropist' and spymaster, framed them to eliminate witnesses to his smuggling network. Act I follows the party from their cells, through interrogation and escape, as they gather the first clues that someone powerful orchestrated their downfall — and that Vane is only a servant of something worse.
You have been accused of a terrible crime you did not commit. The town hates you. The law hunts you. Somewhere, someone is smiling. Find them. Clear your names. Survive.
This free preview contains all of Act I: three playable scenes, three combat encounters, three magic items, and the central villain with a full character sheet. Act I takes the party from a holding cell to fugitives with their first real lead on who framed them. Later acts (subscriber content) would follow the trail to Vane's patron, the true big bad.
Three nights ago, the granary of Millbrook burned and the wells ran black with poison. Witnesses swear they saw the party near the flames. The party remembers only drinking at the Gilded Goose tavern — and then waking in chains, heads thick with fog. Someone drugged them and dressed the scene.
A fellow prisoner, an old smuggler named Dorn, scratches a message into the party's cell wall before he is dragged away: 'VANE SETS THE STAGE. FIND THE LEDGER. TRUST NO MAGISTRATE.' It is the first thread to pull.
Framed for the burning of Millbrook, the party escapes Ironhollow Keep, uncovers the courier trail of House Vane, and confronts Sereth Vane at the ash mine — emerging as fugitives with proof of their innocence and the first hint of the Ashen Hand.
You are pulled from the holding cell one by one, manacled and marched down a corridor that smells of wet stone and old blood. Each of you is thrown into a bare questioning cell. Through the wall, you hear the magistrate's clerk: 'Sign the confession by dawn, or the gallows signs for you.'
Run a short solo interrogation with each character (a guard asks leading questions; Insight DC 12 reveals the guard is reading from a script he doesn't understand). Dorn's scratched message is found here. End the scene with the Interrogation Room Ambush encounter.
Millbrook's streets are hung with charcoal sketches of your faces. 'Murderers of the Granary,' a crier bellows, and shopkeepers bar their doors as you pass. Somewhere ahead, the crooked sign of the Gilded Goose sways in the rain — the last place anyone saw you free.
Run the town as a stealth/social gauntlet: crowds jeer, watch patrols (2 Guard each) sweep main roads, and Tessa the barmaid signals the party into the tavern's back room. She describes the courier with the crane pin and the satchel he dropped in the cellar. Lead into the Cellar of the Gilded Goose encounter.
The mine mouth yawns at the end of a rutted cart track, its timbers stamped with a faded crane. Inside, crates of grey ash are stacked to the ceiling, and men in fine livery load them onto wagons. At the center of it all stands a gentleman in a grey coat, and when he sees you, he smiles like a man greeting old debts.
Climactic scene of Act I. Vane monologues just enough to confirm the frame-up ('You were simply in the wrong tavern on the wrong night') before the Hard encounter begins. He retreats below half HP. Searching his abandoned dispatch case yields the 'Ashen Hand' orders — the campaign's true hook.
Milestone: Reaching level 4 after escaping the keep or defeating the cellar thugs; Act I concludes after the mine confrontation.
Sereth Vane
Sereth Vane is the kind of villain who apologizes while ruining your life and means every word of the apology. To Millbrook he is a philant…
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 NowVane framed the party to bury witnesses to his smuggling of alchemical reagents for a hidden patron he calls only 'the Ashen Hand.' He is a mid-tier schemer — dangerous, but a stepping stone to the campaign's true villain.
Polite, meticulous, and utterly without conscience. He apologizes sincerely while ruining lives, and treats the party's ruin as a professional necessity.
Vane avoids direct confrontation until the ash mine. There he debuffs the party's frontliner with Hold Person, repositions with Misty Step, and withdraws below half HP using a smoke pellet — his survival is the hook for Act II.
Vane cannot be redeemed in Act I; capturing him alive yields the 'Ashen Hand' clue faster than killing him.
Recommended party: 4-5 players, any class composition; at least one character with Stealth or Deception proficiency recommended
Discuss how the party knows each other (fellow travelers drugged at the same tavern works for any group). Establish that all characters are innocent and that the campaign is about clearing names and uncovering a conspiracy. Set expectations for a fugitive tone with limited access to towns and resources.
For parties of 3, remove one creature from each encounter and reduce Vane's hit points by 25%. For parties of 5-6, add the listed creatures and have Vane use his smoke pellet at 60% HP instead of half.
Keep the pressure on: the party is wanted, so long rests are risky. Brann the sympathetic guard and Tessa the barmaid are the party's only safe contacts in Act I. Vane should always feel one step ahead until the mine, where the party finally turns the tables — only to learn he is a pawn of the Ashen Hand.
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Sereth Vane
Sereth Vane is the kind of villain who apologizes while ruining your life and means every word of the apology. To Millbrook he is a philant…
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 NowVane framed the party to bury witnesses to his smuggling of alchemical reagents for a hidden patron he calls only 'the Ashen Hand.' He is a mid-tier schemer — dangerous, but a stepping stone to the campaign's true villain.
Polite, meticulous, and utterly without conscience. He apologizes sincerely while ruining lives, and treats the party's ruin as a professional necessity.
Vane avoids direct confrontation until the ash mine. There he debuffs the party's frontliner with Hold Person, repositions with Misty Step, and withdraws below half HP using a smoke pellet — his survival is the hook for Act II.
Vane cannot be redeemed in Act I; capturing him alive yields the 'Ashen Hand' clue faster than killing him.
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Suggested Level: 3-4
Cramped cells with heavy iron doors; chains and manacles can be used as improvised weapons; a barred window offers an escape route
A ring of keys on the fake guard, 15 GP
If the party subdues the fake guards quietly, they gain advantage on their escape; a loud fight triggers the alarm and hardens the escape scene.
Suggested Level: 3-4
Ale casks provide half cover and can be burst open (DC 12 Strength check) to create slippery, flammable puddles; low ceiling blocks Large creatures
The courier's satchel (quest item), 75 GP, 1 Potion of Healing
The thugs carry silver crane pins — a clue the party can trace to House Vane.
Suggested Level: 3-4
Mine shafts with rickety support beams (DC 13 Dexterity check to collapse a tunnel and split enemy forces); stacked ash crates provide cover and explode if set alight (3d6 fire damage, 10-foot radius, DC 13 Dexterity save)
Vane's dispatch case: orders signed 'for the Ashen Hand,' 100 GP, 1 Potion of Healing
Vane fights only briefly (retreats below half HP via a smoke pellet) — he is the Act I villain, not the campaign's big bad. The 'Ashen Hand' signature is the first hint of a greater power behind him.
Key of Quiet Doors
Completed
Ironhollow Keep evidence room
none
Pin of the Silver Crane
Completed
Gilded Goose cellar (carried by a thug)
required
Smoke Pellet
Completed
Vane's dispatch case (Ash Mine)
none
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