Save the Last Ward
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Engine FloorChain WalkPedestal Ring
Roleplay EncounterDND5E 2024Party L20 · 5 PCs
Save the Last Ward
Read Aloud
Heat rolls up through cracked stone and makes the air shimmer. Seven pedestal lines burn bright across the floor, then flicker as one link spits blue fire into the ceiling. A voice like old copper and tired prayer says, 'Pick fast. The last ward is already losing the argument.'
The Scene
NEUTRALDEBATEBase DC 19Stakes If the party chooses badly or loses the argument, the temple's last ward network will fracture and the whole lower sanctuary will become unsafe.
20 to 35 minutes
NPC Goal
Keep the ward engine from tearing open the temple while protecting what little of the old wardcraft still works.
Leverage
The Echo wants the temple saved, not glorified. It can be convinced by practical proof, old liturgy, or a plan that preserves the relics.
Player Approaches
- Promise to preserve the reliquary chains
- Name the exact ward sequence from the temple records
- Show a safer way to bleed power into one pedestal
- Offer to leave the engine dead rather than half-fixed
NPC Gambits
- Appeal to duty
- Cite the cost of failure
- Threaten to cut the main line
- Demonstrate a working seal pattern
- Offer a clean alternative
NPC Reactions
- Sharp and suspicious when the party guesses
- Relieved by careful technical language
- Bitter when anyone talks about 'just smashing it'
- Almost tender when the old ward sequence is respected
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