Starter Adventure — The Warden's Report

AX.GAN.14.03 - The Warden's Report

A Starter Adventure

Overview

Primary Plot: Mystery or Enigma (5-2), Interrogator: the Warden's field notes. Seeker: the party. Problem: what is happening to the communities on the Reach margin.

Secondary Plot Hook: Pursuit (5-1), Fugitive: a Kyne Daas scout who has seen too much. Pursuer: something from the Reach that has been following her trail.

Party Level: 9D generation package (experienced characters)

Session Length: 3–4 hours

Cultures Featured: Zephari (Kin, Air), Kyne Daas (Human), with Compact Warden NPC and incidental community members from Ashari and Voren

Power Tradition in NPC Use: Scar Reading (Kyne Daas scout); Murin Touch (Ghoul Infiltrator)

Setting: Two small communities near the Blasted Reach's western margin, a Zephari seasonal camp established four generations ago as a calibration site for Air tradition work, and a Kyne Daas rest-and-cache station used by scouts working the Reach approaches

Premise

Compact Warden Sarel Ondris has been running a routine circuit of Reach-margin settlements for eleven years. Her reports have been reliable, quarterly, and unremarkable. Six weeks ago, her reports stopped. The community she was headed to when contact was lost, the Zephari seasonal camp called Stillwind, sits where a long-running low-grade territorial dispute with the adjacent Kyne Daas station was scheduled for mediation.

The Compact has not yet escalated. Wardens sometimes go off-circuit for legitimate reasons. But the secondary factors, two previous unexplained communication breaks from other Wardens in the same general territory over the past three years, and the silence from Stillwind itself (the camp should have sent weather-observation reports by now), have prompted a quiet request for investigation. The party has been asked, through whatever contact makes sense for their composition, to find Sarel and determine what is happening at Stillwind.

What the party knows at start: A Compact Warden has missed six weeks of reports. The last known location is a Zephari seasonal camp called Stillwind, two days travel from the nearest established settlement. There was a pending territorial mediation between Stillwind and an adjacent Kyne Daas station. The territory is near the Blasted Reach margin.

What the party does not know: Sarel is alive, at Stillwind, and in Stage 1 Murin infection (Touched, she shows no symptoms and does not know). The territorial dispute between the Zephari and Kyne Daas communities has been systematically inflamed by a Ghoul Infiltrator operating under the identity of a Zephari community elder. The Infiltrator has been in place for two years. Two Zephari community members are already Turned; three more are at Stage 2 (Stained). The Kyne Daas station is intact and uninfiltrated. The scout at the station, Talin, has been tracking fissure anomalies in the immediate territory and knows something is wrong, but has been attributing it to elemental disturbance rather than Murin.

Stage 1: Arrival at the Waypoint

Challenge Type: Combat (with social opening)

Scene: The party arrives at a waypoint shelter two hours from Stillwind, a small stone structure maintained under a Compact agreement for use by travelers and Wardens on circuit. The shelter has been recently occupied. Someone left in a hurry: a bedroll partially rolled, a fire not fully banked, Compact-marked field equipment abandoned rather than packed.

The tracks in the packed earth outside lead toward Stillwind, and into the treeline to the south, where the ground drops toward a dry ravine. Something moved through the treeline two hours ago. Something moved through it again twenty minutes ago.

The encounter: A Reach Wraith (Minion) has followed a traveler's warmth-trail from the Reach margin and is now in the treeline, drawn to the recently vacated shelter. It is not coordinated or strategic; it is simply present, pulled by biological heat signature. It will not wait.

Combat note: A Reach Wraith at Minion tier should present a credible but manageable threat for a 9D party. Its Undying Persistence means killing it requires a second application of damage after it rises (5 Health). Its primary danger is the Shaken condition from its first attack, which catches players who underestimate it.

Foreshadowing placed here: - The abandoned equipment includes a Compact field journal. The last entry is brief and unsettled: "Stillwind community behavior inconsistent with eleven years of observation. Cold affect throughout. Asked Renn about the mediation; he looked at me for three seconds before answering. Renn has never done that." - The shelter's fire has been burning longer than the abandoned equipment suggests, whoever left was here for days, not hours.

Resolution options: - Combat (most likely): Defeat the Wraith. The second rising is the signal that something is different about this encounter from a standard predator threat. - Investigation before combat: Notice the tracks, assess the immediate threat, and prepare, the Wraith attacks regardless, but a prepared party has Advantage on their first round. - The journal is available regardless of how the combat resolves.

What the party learns from the journal: Sarel Ondris was here. She was already concerned about Stillwind before she arrived there. She noticed the cold affect, behavioral change in people she had known for years. This is the first piece of the investigation.

Stage 2: The Kyne Daas Station

Challenge Type: NPC Interaction (information gathering with genuine stakes)

Scene: Rather than going directly to Stillwind, the party finds the Kyne Daas station first, a small collection of lean-tos and cache-pits on a rocky shelf above the ravine line. It is occupied. Talin, a Kyne Daas Reach Reader in her thirties, was expecting something, though not necessarily the party. She is armed, alert, and has been alone here for three weeks.

Talin does not open with information. She opens with questions: Who sent you? Who knows you are here? Did you touch anything at the waypoint shelter?

NPC: Talin (Kyne Daas Reach Reader) This is not a combat encounter. Talin is a skilled practitioner with real information who is also a product of Kyne Daas information security culture; she does not share what she knows until she understands who she's sharing it with and what they will do with it.

• What Talin knows: Three fissures in the immediate territory have been showing "consuming" quality for eight months, energy moving inward rather than outward. This is distinct from standard Reach fissure behavior. Two of those fissures are within close range of Stillwind. The Zephari-Kyne Daas territorial dispute escalated in exactly the window when the fissures started showing this quality. She has not yet connected this to Murin, she was trained to read Reach fissures, and Scar Reading gives her the mechanics, but the specific interpretation (Murin-caused inward consumption) is not yet in her operational picture.
• What Talin will share freely: The fissure anomaly. She wants more eyes on this.
• What Talin will share for trust: That she has been watching Stillwind from distance with a scope and that the camp's activity patterns are wrong. The community is active at night and quiet during daylight hours. This is not Zephari behavioral pattern.
• What Talin will share only if the party demonstrates Compact connection or direct need: That she knows where Sarel is. The Warden is in Stillwind. She went in ten days ago and has not come out.

Skill opportunities: - Wit + Diplomacy (Threshold 2): Establish good faith without Compact credentials - Wit + Lore, Kyne Daas culture (Threshold 3): Understand what Talin needs before she'll share sensitive information; skips one step in the trust sequence - Wit + Notice (Threshold 2): Observe that Talin is scared under the professional composure; she's been alone here three weeks processing something that doesn't fit her framework - Scar Reading (if a character has it): Sharing the fissure observation with her creates immediate mutual professional recognition and opens everything she knows

What the party should leave Stage 2 knowing: - Sarel Ondris is in Stillwind, alive as of ten days ago - The territorial dispute's timing correlates with fissure anomaly - Stillwind's behavioral patterns are inverted, active at night, quiet in daylight - Talin will wait one day at the station before withdrawing; she has a message cache that she needs to activate if this goes further - (If earned) Talin's private assessment: "Something got into that camp. I don't know what. I know it came from the Reach."

Stage 3: What Renn Is Now

Challenge Type: Revelation (with immediate choice)

Scene: The party enters Stillwind. It is midday. The camp is quiet in a way that feels wrong; there should be wind-tradition maintenance, calibration work, the routine sounds of a living community. There are sounds, but they are minimal. The light seems slightly colder than it should.

Sarel Ondris is in a guest structure near the camp's center. She is alive, alert, and professional. She is also Touched, Stage 1 Murin infection, and does not know. She has been trying to understand what is happening at Stillwind and has concluded, incorrectly, that the community is suffering from a form of collective psychological stress related to the territorial dispute.

The twist: Midway through talking with Sarel, the party encounters Renn, the community elder that Sarel's journal noted. He is the Zephari cultural authority who has been escalating the territorial dispute with the Kyne Daas station. He is courteous, calm, and completely wrong. His posture is slightly off. He speaks with a three-second latency on personal questions. In direct midday sunlight, something in his face is not quite right.

Renn is a Ghoul Infiltrator. He has been in this community for two years, operating under the identity of an elder who died in a Reach-margin accident. He is the source of the territorial dispute's escalation. He infected Sarel with Murin Touch during a routine handshake greeting eight days ago.

Foreshadowing planted in Stages 1–2: - Journal: "Renn looked at me for three seconds before answering." - Talin's observation: community active at night, quiet in daylight (the inverted pattern of Stage 2 infection) - The cold quality of the light in the camp (Environmental note from AX.GAN.14.01, sentient Blackened presence creates subtle temperature drop)

Detection options: - Wit + Notice (Threshold 3): Something is wrong about Renn before the player can name it - Draconic Essence, True Form (Threshold 1): Identifies Renn as a Ghoul Infiltrator immediately; also identifies Sarel's Stage 1 infection - Medicine (Threshold 2): Recognizes the physiological markers of Stage 2 infection in two Zephari community members visible in the background - Scar Reading (Threshold 2): The fissure energy in the camp has the "consuming" quality Talin described; it is stronger here than at the station - If Renn is exposed to direct midday sun for more than a Round: Disadvantage on all rolls, which a perceptive character (Notice Threshold 2) notices as physiological distress

The immediate choice: Renn does not know the party has identified him, unless they show it. He is managing the situation: keeping the party engaged with a plausible narrative about the dispute while preventing them from examining the community too closely. The party must decide how to proceed: confront, investigate further, extract Sarel, or attempt to contain the situation without alerting Renn that he's been made.

Stage 4: The Camp at Midday

Challenge Type: Hybrid (social + combat)

Situation: The party must accomplish three things simultaneously, each of which is undermined by the others:

1. Extract Sarel Ondris; she is Stage 1 Touched and needs Draconic Essence treatment (Restore, Threshold 3) within 48 hours or she progresses to Stage 2. She does not know she is infected and will not understand why the party is urgency-moving her.

2. Prevent Zephari-Kyne Daas violence, Renn has been building to a direct confrontation, and the party's arrival at the station followed by their arrival in Stillwind has accelerated his timeline. If the party takes too long or makes noise, a group of three Zephari community members (two at Stage 2, one uninfected) will move toward the Kyne Daas station under Renn's direction. Talin, at the station, will not survive an uninvestigated three-on-one assault from people she has no reason not to trust.

3. Confront Renn, He will not let the party leave with Sarel without attempting to stop them. The confrontation is a Standard-tier combat (Ghoul Infiltrator profile, AX.GAN.14.05). In direct midday sun, Renn is at Disadvantage on all rolls, but he has cover options and will use them.

Sequencing note: The party controls the sequence. How they handle Stage 3's revelation determines what Stage 4 looks like: - If they expose Renn openly in front of the community, the two Stage-2 Zephari defend him (they are Stained and have degraded autonomy, not fully turned but compromised). Combat begins immediately, in the open, in the camp. - If they move Sarel quietly and signal Talin before confronting Renn, they can set up the confrontation on better terms, possibly isolating Renn away from the community and preventing the assault on the station. - If they attempt to handle everything through social pressure without exposing Renn directly, Renn allows it while accelerating his alternative, sending the community members toward Talin.

Renn (Ghoul Infiltrator, Standard tier) Use the full profile from AX.GAN.14.05. Key abilities in this encounter: - Living Mask: Renn's identity as a Zephari elder is Notice Threshold 4 to break with pure observation; direct sunlight drops this to Threshold 2. In the open midday camp, the party has the sunlight advantage if they keep him outside. - Murin Touch: Body Save Threshold 3 after any combat in which a character was damaged by Renn. Given Sarel's already-Touched state, this is the party's primary risk management concern. - Social Memory: Renn knows everything the real elder knew about this community. He will use it to redirect suspicion, manipulate community members, and undermine the party's credibility with people who have known "him" for two years.

Supporting threats: - 2 Stage-2 Zephari community members (Stained, not combat-capable at Standard tier, but each has a weapon and will act to protect Renn while experiencing genuine distress; they are victims, not enemies). Health 25 each; Combat pool 4D. - If the party has not addressed the Kyne Daas station situation, Talin is under assault in the background; this information arrives as a sound (distant shouting in Kyne Daas dialect) if the party has not sealed that vector.

Environmental notes: - The camp's central clearing is open to midday sun; this is favorable terrain for the party. - The structures at the camp's edge provide full shade and cover, where Renn will move if he can. - The camp has four structures. Two contain Stage-2 Zephari who will emerge if combat sounds begin. One contains Sarel. One contains the real evidence of Renn's operation: two years of identity-maintenance documentation and a communication cache using Calri-style encoding (a detail the GM can use later).

Victory conditions: - Renn at 0 Health or subdued - Sarel extracted from the camp - Talin alive at the station (if the party sealed that vector, automatic; if not, requires a secondary action during or after the Renn confrontation)

Partial outcomes: - If one of the Stage-2 Zephari is killed during the confrontation: a community tragedy that the Compact will have to process. The party did not cause the infection, but the deaths happened while they were present. - If Renn escapes: he cannot stay in the community (his identity is exposed), but the communication cache in his structure still exists and he remains operational somewhere in the territory.

Stage 5: What Was Found

Scene: Aftermath. The camp's surviving community members, the uninfected Zephari and the partially-Stained who can be supported through the early stages, are shaken and grieving. The territorial dispute is revealed as manufactured. Talin, reached by signal or in person, comes to the camp.

Immediate priorities: - Sarel requires Draconic Essence treatment (Restore, Threshold 3) within 48 hours. If the party has access to a Chronicler-Legate or a dragon partner, this can be addressed. If not, Sarel is transported to the nearest Ustara contact under urgency; she survives and recovers if this happens within the window, with full account of what she experienced. She will become a recurring ally. - Stage-2 Zephari community members cannot be treated by anything currently available, Draconic Essence Restore (Threshold 3) can address Stage 1; Stage 2 requires intervention that does not yet have a reliable form. This is a permanent consequence the party has to live with.

Rewards: - Wealth: Renn's communication cache and documentation represent significant intelligence value, 60–100 IM equivalent in commercial exchange, but more importantly: evidence that the territorial dispute was manufactured, which resolves the Compact mediation in the Zephari community's favor and creates a formal record of Ghoul infiltration that the Compact has not previously had. - Equipment: Sarel's abandoned field kit at the waypoint shelter (returned to her, but she offers the party something from it as acknowledgment): a Scar Awareness-enabling tool kit, equivalent to the first use of the Setting Perk for one character who does not have it. - Information: Talin shares what she was holding back: the three fissure locations with "consuming" quality, marked on a Kyne Daas-format map. Two of those fissures are now accounted for (adjacent to Stillwind). The third is further into the Reach, and it's the largest. - Relationship: Talin is not Compact, not affiliated with any faction the party may be working with, and not going to explain the Kyne Daas silence protocols. But she is going to trust the party enough to say: "Whatever was in this camp came from a specific place. I've been watching that place for two years. I can take you to the edge of it. After that, you'd need someone who's actually been in."

The Hook (Pursuit, 5-1):

Talin has not been idle while waiting. While the party was dealing with the camp, she found sign at the station's perimeter: something circled the station once, at night, three days ago. Not a Reach Wraith, Wraiths don't circle. Whatever it was stopped outside the Compact-marked boundary, assessed, and withdrew.

"It was following my trail back from the third fissure site. It didn't come in. But it knew where I was, and now it knows where you are."

The party can: - Follow this thread immediately toward the third fissure (into the deeper Reach approach, a harder arc) - Take the intelligence back to a faction contact who can contextualize it (the Compact, the Kyne Daas senior Readers, the Ustara if the party has that connection) - File it for later and focus on getting Sarel safely treated

The thread does not wait indefinitely. Whatever was circling the station will try again.

GM Notes

Running Sarel's Infection

Sarel does not know she is infected. She presents as entirely normal, because Stage 1 has no visible symptoms. The purpose of her infection in this adventure is not to create a betrayal plot (she is genuinely on the party's side and will help them effectively throughout). It is to establish the Murin infection mechanics as a real threat to people the party will care about, and to establish that the Blackened do not necessarily announce themselves.

If the party identifies her infection (via Draconic Essence or Medicine) during Stage 3 or 4, she will not believe it at first. She will need a moment. Then she will be Sarel: professional, controlled, and immediately focused on what needs to happen next. Her reaction to this information is not panic; it is the same steady competence she has applied to eleven years of Warden circuit work. She will ask what the treatment requires and who can provide it. The party's task is getting her there in time.

The Stage-2 Zephari

The two Stained community members are not villains. They are people who are losing. Their compromised behavior (defending Renn, being active at night) reads as suspicious but is, in the fiction, the result of a biological process they did not consent to and do not understand. If the party engages with them as people rather than threats, calming them, removing them from Renn's proximity, giving them a reason not to fight, they may be able to neutralize these characters without combat. Winning the Stage 4 confrontation without harming the Stained community members is a better outcome, and the party should feel the weight of outcomes where that wasn't achieved.

Renn's Documentation Cache

The communication cache in Renn's structure is written in a Calri-style encoding that is Not Calri (the Calri encode for their own networks; this is an adaptation). What it contains: two years of community observation notes, territorial dispute staging records, and a method of contacting the operation's next link, not the Ghoul Lord, but something one step closer. This is a campaign thread the party can pull or set aside. It is not required for this adventure's resolution.

If the party pulls it: an NPC Calri contact who sees the encoding will recognize it as not genuine Calri work but will be deeply interested in who else has been using their style. This creates an unexpected ally and an unexpected complication simultaneously.

Adjusting Difficulty

Easier (6D party or cautious play): Remove the Stage-2 Zephari from the Stage 4 combat. Renn is a single Standard threat, which a 6D party can manage. Reduce the time pressure on Sarel's treatment (she has 96 hours instead of 48). The pursuit hook from Stage 5 is less urgent, whatever circled the station doesn't return for two days.

Harder (12D party or confident play): Add a second Ghoul Infiltrator, not "Renn," but a Stained community member who has progressed far enough to begin acting with partial Blackened coordination. The party now has two Standard threats to manage, one of whom they've been treating as an ally. Increase the treatment threshold for Sarel to Threshold 4 (she's been Touched longer than the party knows). The circling thing from Stage 5 comes back during Stage 4's aftermath.

NPC Reference

Sarel Ondris, Compact Warden on circuit, eleven years in the margin territory. Human (Voren-trained, though not Voren lineage, she was apprenticed young). Steady, observant, professionally warm. Currently Touched (Stage 1, 48-hour window). Will not ask for help unprompted; will accept it clearly if offered. Favored Save: Body. Key Talent pools: Diplomacy 5D, Notice 4D, Strike 4D (she is a Warden; she can fight, she just prefers not to). Knowledge: this territory, the communities on it, the Compact's agreements in the region.

Talin, Kyne Daas Reach Reader, three weeks alone at the station. Early thirties. Has been processing something that doesn't fit her framework, which she does not show. Professional composure under significant private stress. Has the Scar Awareness Setting Perk. Key Talent pools: Notice 5D (Scar Reading enhanced), Stealth 4D, Attunement 3D (Scar Reading). Knowledge: the fissure anomalies, the general territory, Kyne Daas signal protocols, the third fissure location.

"Renn", Ghoul Infiltrator, two years in position. The real Renn died in what was recorded as a Reach-margin accident. This entity has been operating in his identity since. Knows everything the real Renn knew. Is in the late stages of managing this community's transition. Use the full Ghoul Infiltrator profile from AX.GAN.14.05.