The Last Light of Farwatch
The Last Light of Farwatch
Read aloud
The beacon at Farwatch Tower has gone dark, and the settlements along the western road have received no warning of the latest Rift squalls. Warden Sella Venn offers a reward to anyone who can reach the tower and restore its signal before the next storm arrives. From the ridge, a pale light flickers once inside the dead tower, then vanishes.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Reach the silent tower.
- 2Discover what disabled the beacon.
- 3Decide the fate of Farwatch Tower.
- 4Uncover the Rusk family's connection to Farwatch.Optional
The clock
A major Rift squall is expected within a day. Use visible changes such as darkening skies, shifting road markers, and increasing tremors to make the deadline clear. If the party delays too long, the squall reaches the settlements before they can send a warning.
Scenes
- 0:00A Beacon Goes Dark
- 0:35Across the Greycut
- 1:35The Keeper's Empty Room
- 2:25The Keeper's Demand
- 3:20The Last Light
Cast
- Warden Sella VennQuestgiver
- Tamsin RuskWitness and local guide
- Oric ValeAntagonist and former Marchwarden
The hook
Set the scene
The party arrives at Warden House in Brackenford during a gusting afternoon. Sella lays a weather-stained route map across the table and marks Farwatch Tower, the last working relay on the western road. Outside, merchants argue over whether to risk the route, while a dull tremor rattles dust from the rafters. Sella asks the party to leave before nightfall.
How Warden Sella Venn asks
Sella makes a practical offer in front of the party, then privately admits that the beacon's last signal contained a pattern she has never seen before.
She wants the party to investigate quietly, since panic could empty the western settlements before the danger is understood.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4.5 hours0:00
35 min
socialThe table is here
1. A Beacon Goes Dark
Warden House and the busy square of Brackenford.
Sella briefs the party, names the reward, and gives them a route map. The characters can question her about the last signal and gather supplies or rumors in Brackenford.
NextThe party leaves through the western gate as weather gathers over the Marches.
0:35
60 min
combat
2. Across the Greycut
The broken road spanning the Greycut Ravine.
The party crosses the causeway and faces an ambush, a dangerous approach, or a negotiation with scavengers who claim the tower's equipment belongs to them. Evidence on the road points toward a deliberate shutdown.
The Shattered CausewayNextFrom the far side, the party can see the dark tower and a brief pulse of light within it.
1:35
50 min
exploration
3. The Keeper's Empty Room
The lower rooms of Farwatch Tower, where dust, old tools, and Rift-glass fragments cover the floor.
The party searches the abandoned keeper's quarters and studies the beacon controls. They can find a hidden family mark, records of the shutdown, and signs that the lens is drawing energy toward itself. A successful inquiry may bring Tamsin's family connection to light.
NextA movement on the stairs leads the party toward the upper chamber, where the current keeper is waiting.
2:25
55 min
social
4. The Keeper's Demand
The tower's upper chamber, beside the cracked lens and emergency controls.
Oric confronts the party and explains that he disabled the beacon to prevent its use as a weapon. He offers evidence, but will not hand over the focusing key unless the party agrees to change the tower's purpose. The characters can bargain, expose the Wardens' plan, or attempt to take the key.
The Silent BeaconNextWhether by agreement or force, the party must now decide what to do with the unstable beacon.
3:20
60 min
skill
5. The Last Light
The tower's control dais as the lens grows brighter and the room begins to distort.
The party repairs, alters, or destroys the beacon while a Rift squall closes in. Their chosen approach determines which communities receive a signal and whether the Wardens can use the tower as they intended.
The Silent BeaconNextThe beacon's final pulse carries across the Marches, setting up the party's return and the next political struggle.
Behind it
What people believe
The Farwatch beacon has gone dark, leaving the western settlements of the Rift Marches without warning of dangerous weather or threats along the old road.
Warden Sella Venn hires the party to reach the tower, investigate the failure, and restore a reliable signal before a major Rift squall strikes. The route is hazardous, and the tower's last keeper is rumored to have vanished.
Background
The Rift Marches are a borderland of wind-scoured plateaus, broken roads, and deep ravines where reality was torn during an ancient calamity.
Small settlements cling to old caravan routes, relying on signal towers to warn of storms, raiders, and dangerous shifts in the Rift. The towers are maintained by the Marchwardens, whose authority is respected but unevenly enforced.
The stakes
If Farwatch remains dark, the western settlements will face the next Rift squall without warning.
If the beacon is restored without changing its design, the Marchwardens may gain a weapon capable of controlling territory across the Marches.
Encounters
2The Shattered Causeway
Combat
A narrow stone causeway spans a deep ravine. Broken parapets provide partial cover, while loose stones and gusts of wind make movement near the edges hazardous.
Foes
Rift-scavenger outriders
Glassback prowler
ComplicationWhen the beacon's cracked lens is disturbed, it emits pulses that briefly distort distance. On each pulse, the GM can shift cover, obscure a route, or separate combatants by a short distance.
ScalingFor a smaller or less experienced party, use only the outriders and let them retreat when half are defeated. For a larger or more experienced party, add a second Glassback prowler or give the outriders a prepared ambush position.
The Silent Beacon
Combat or social
The signal tower's upper chamber has a cracked crystal lens, narrow walkways, waist-high machinery, and a central control dais. A fall is dangerous but not automatically fatal if the party has a way to catch or rescue someone.
Foes
Oric Vale
Two signal-tower custodians
ComplicationOric has armed the tower's emergency discharge. If the party uses force or mishandles the controls, the device begins a visible countdown of three rounds or three clear turns, depending on the system.
ScalingFor a less experienced party, the custodians hesitate to attack and can be persuaded to stand down. For a more experienced party, Oric uses the tower's shifting platforms and the custodians coordinate to protect the controls.
Cast
3Warden Sella Venn
QuestgiverQuestgiver
WantsRestore the signal network before isolated communities are cut off.
“The beacon failed at dusk. By dawn, the whole western road could be gone.”
Tamsin Rusk
Witness and local guide
WantsProtect the people of Brackenford, while keeping them from learning that her family once helped sabotage the tower.
“That tower has been silent for years. Ask why the Wardens suddenly care, and watch their faces.”
Oric Vale
Antagonist and former Marchwarden
WantsKeep the Rift’s unstable energy from being harnessed as a weapon, even if the settlements suffer for it.
“I did not break the beacon. I merely gave the Marches a chance to speak for themselves.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Farwatch signal token, which identifies the bearer to Marchwarden patrols
A sealed repair kit containing useful tools and several replacement lens fittings
On a win
The party reaches Farwatch, learns what caused the failure, and makes a deliberate choice about the beacon's future.
A successful restoration gives the settlements a working warning signal; an altered restoration can preserve that benefit while frustrating the Wardens' weapon plan. The party returns with evidence and a decision that will shape who controls the Marches' signal network.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party cannot stabilize or replace the beacon's lens.
- The beacon remains dark, and Brackenford and two nearby hamlets lose reliable warning of Rift squalls and hostile travelers.
- The party fails to stop the emergency discharge.
- The beacon discharges into the Marches, damaging the tower and creating a temporary zone of unpredictable spatial shifts along the old road.
- The party lets Oric leave with the key or openly sides against the Wardens without securing another solution.
- Oric escapes with the tower's focusing key, giving him leverage over the next signal station and making the Marchwardens distrustful of the party.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden Rift squall sweeps across the route, burying the trail markers in black grit and forcing the party to navigate by sound or distant lights.
- 2A caravan arrives from the opposite direction with a broken axle. Its passengers insist that a familiar voice called to them from the ravine.
- 3A Marchwarden patrol mistakes the party for tower-breakers and demands that they surrender their weapons until Sella can verify their story.
- 4A section of the old road shifts several yards sideways during a Rift tremor, separating one character from the group behind a newly opened fissure.
- 5Tamsin recognizes a hidden mark left by her family near the tower and asks the party to conceal it before the Wardens arrive.
- 6A beacon flare ignites without warning, drawing scavengers and a dangerous Rift-born creature toward the party's position.
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