The Hollow Stair
The Hollow Stair
“Beneath the marsh, something is still watching the stars.”
— Hook · explore
“For three nights, blue lights have moved across the marsh where the ruined Brackenvault stands. A survey team sent to investigate has vanished, and Mara Venn offers coin for anyone willing to find them before the lights reach the road to town.”
— Hook · explore
Mara Venn meets the characters beneath the leaning sign of the Reedcross ferryhouse. She spreads a damp map across a table and points to a stretch of marsh marked with three blue circles. The latest survey team was expected back two days ago. Their last message said only, 'The stair is open, but the stars are underneath us.' Mara offers payment, supplies, and a larger reward if the party returns her brother's survey seal.
Mara Venn
Mara Venn approaches the party in person after hearing they are capable adventurers. She is practical, tired, and visibly reluctant to ask outsiders for help, but she provides an accurate map and refuses to conceal the expedition's last warning.
Rumours
d4 · table- 01No bird crosses the marsh near the Brackenvault, not even in summer.
- 02The old observatory was built by people who mapped stars that cannot be seen from the surface.
- 03A blue lantern has been seen walking along the marsh road with no person carrying it.
- 04Mara Venn's brother always returned from dangerous work, until he followed the lights.
If the party fails, the lens will continue broadcasting through the marsh, drawing creatures and curious people toward the Brackenvault. Reedcross's roads will become dangerous, the missing surveyors will remain trapped, and a faction seeking ancient focusing shards may gain a powerful lead.
Background Lore
The Brackenvault was once a waystation built around an ancient stone stair descending into a buried observatory. The observatory's scholars tracked seasonal floods, migrating beasts, and strange lights beneath the earth. After an earthquake sealed the lower halls, the site became a local superstition known as the Hollow Stair. Recently, blue lights have appeared in the surrounding marsh, and animals have begun fleeing toward nearby settlements.
The Brackenvault is an abandoned observatory in the marsh, sealed after an earthquake decades ago. A recent survey team entered the ruins while investigating strange blue lights and never returned. The party must explore the flooded approach, locate the missing expedition, and learn whether the phenomenon threatens the nearby settlement.
