Overview

In the free city of Dawnspire, the execution of Captain Rook—a reformist who exposed a grafted council—becomes the spark that binds three strangers who meet at the scaffold. As the noose tightens, a sudden shimmer of magic erupts from Rook’s charm; the crowd is blinded, the prisoner vanishes, and the three realize they share fragments of a map that Rook used to locate an ancient vault beneath the city.

Hook

On the hour of the deed, each PC glimpses a shard of Rook’s last oath: find the three keys before the city starves. With the crowd terrified and the guards hunting, they must decide to cooperate or be crushed by the Crown’s agents.

Main Quest

Reveal a conspiracy between the Dawnspire Council and a shadowy order called the Veiled Eye, who seek to awaken the Null Engine beneath the city to drain life and fuel a ritual that would bind Dawnspire to their will. The party must recover the Veil Key and descend into the Vaults beneath the Temple of Veil to disrupt the ritual before the next eclipse.

Settings & Travel

Begin in the Market Quarter of Dawnspire, venture through the Clockwork District, descend the Drowned Sewers, and explore forgotten Vaults beneath the temple. Encounters include political intrigue, automata guardians, shifting corridors, and a rival faction pursuing the same artifacts.

Side Quests

Rescue a caravan of healers from a plague-bringing carnival, or break a debt-forgery ring that shackles street urchins. Both paths yield allies, crucial information, and leverage against the Veiled Eye.

Objectives & Challenges

Unravel tangled loyalties, solve arcane puzzles within the Vaults, and outpace the Veiled Eye’s countdown to the eclipse. The trio must learn to trust each other while navigating Dawnspire’s corrupted power structure and ancient wards.

Rewards & Consequences

Gaining the Veil Key grants access to the Vaults and potential alliances with the Mages Guild and Dawnspire’s military; magical items such as Cloak of Dawn and Sigil of Veil await, and the city is saved—or doomed—by the choices the trio makes about power, trust, and freedom.