Broken Lens Run

Workshop · Quests

Create your own Quest

Escort

Broken Lens Run

Lvl Low to mid level, or equivalent starting-to-early campaign tier3 to 5 characters3 to 5 hours· Moderate to Hard

“Carry the light, hide the truth, and outrun the city that wants both.”

— Hook · Escort

QuestgiverWell Keeper Sera Vane

Escort

System-agnostic escort adventure

Moderate to Hard

Lvl Low to mid level, or equivalent starting-to-early campaign tier

3 to 5 characters

3 to 5 hours

4 NPCs

3 encounters

The Opening

“Well Keeper Sera Vane needs discreet escorts for a cracked aether lens before rival factions seize it. She can pay, but the real danger is that everyone in Aethering who understands aether politics will assume the lens is worth more than the city’s safety. If you can get it across the city intact, you may prevent a blackout, or start a quiet war.”
— Hook · Escort

Set the Scene

Sera Vane draws a cloth from a metal case to reveal a cracked ring of pale crystal threaded with brass veins. The air around it hums like a held breath. 'Take it to the repair vault under Lantern Ward,' she says. 'Do not let anyone see what it is until you are inside.'

Patron

Questgiver

Well Keeper Sera Vane

Direct but cautious, with an offer of payment and an implied warning that the mission is politically sensitive.

On the Streets · In the Books

Rumours

d4 · table

01
The broken lens was pulled from a tower that should have been sealed a century ago.
02
Mira Quill only works for buyers who never sign their names.
03
The ward inspectors have been asking about a missing calibration ledger.
04
Scrap-hounds appear whenever bright aether spills into the canals.

Stakes

If the lens is delivered safely, Aethering avoids a ward cascade and the party gains dangerous knowledge. If it is stolen or broken, the city’s power web begins to fail and rival factions blame the escorts first.

Ticking Clock·The ward network will surge at sundown, giving the party until evening to reach the repair vault before the cracked lens triggers a cascading blackout.

Background Lore

Aethering is a soot-bright trade city built around a network of canals, glassworks, and humming aether pylons that keep the lower districts lit after dark. The city depends on a handful of ancient lenses mounted in water towers and ward spires to focus raw aether into safe, usable power. One of those lenses has cracked, and the fracture is destabilizing the surrounding ward network in subtle ways that only a specialist would notice at first.

What the World Knows

Escort a cracked aether lens across Aethering before rival crews, inspectors, and opportunists seize it. The city’s wards are already flickering, so the party must choose routes carefully, keep the lens concealed, and decide who to trust when the chase tightens.