Attributes
Featured NPCs335-tethis335-aet335-faust335-drakarion
Chapter Number31
TitleThe Patient Source
Primary Location335-ubrover
Dm NotesArc 4a opener. Pace the two deaths deliberately — Tethis' death-lines plant Path C, Aet's plant Path A, and Aet's are now the most articulate version of Path A in the campaign. Pick the Path C vessel before 4d opens: Helvi if recoverable, Clarissa Tomes read as Tethis-touched, Bethany Fey turned, or a surviving cathedral disciple. Faust has received the benefit of the party clearing his territory's upstream threat and paid no cost, which changes what an offer to him looks like.
Detailed NarrativeAet comes to the gate not to deliver an item but to fight for one — Tethis holds the Necklace, the Relic of Soul, and Aet has come to take it back. He joins the party for the assault on the Cathedral of the Patient Hand, whose three gates demand honest answers before they open.
The structural climax is two cosmic positions argued from dying mouths in the same room: Tethis plants Path C with his last breath, Aet plants Path A with his. The party leaves carrying both arguments and the bodies of both believers.
The relics' true function and the void stones are both named here for the first time. The party recovers the Relic of Soul from Aet's chest fitting, plus Tethis' Relic of Dominance (Black Cowl) and Relic of Treachery (Coin), and several volumes of his theological writings — whoever inherits those inherits the argument.
Aftermath: the plague is broken at source and new blooms stop within a week as the Ubrover production chain collapses, though existing infections run their course through the end of 4a. The party returns to Starfall holding 15 of 20 relics — an unmistakable reservoir a reasonable observer would notice — and Aet's body. The campaign's bridge to the cosmic is gone; the next contact with Drakarion will be Drakarion himself, in person, with the void stones.
Events
SummaryThe party traces the Hallows-minted coin back along the plague corridor to its source in Ubrover, meets Aet at the gates of Tethis' cathedral, and fights through a puzzle demanding honest answers to a boss who has been waiting for them. They kill Tethis. Aet recovers his relic. Aet dies. The first chapter of Arc 4a and the campaign's first cosmic lore-drop.
Campaignwizard-war
Locations335-ubrover335-hallows
Player Characters335-fey335-griva335-lloyd335-mac