1. 0:00

   60 min

   socialThe table is here

   1. A Voice in the Fire

   Room 13, the Unbound Ember's Sanctum beneath the Obsidian Spire

   Use the Sourcebook's Room 13 read-aloud. Give the party a moment to take in the heat, the failing lattice, and the Ember's presence. Unless the party attacks on sight, the Ember opens with a plain confession: it has sensed Mors Imperiis drawing nearer and had nearly stopped hoping its bearer would speak first. Let questions and answers carry the scene. A DC 20 Persuasion or Insight check, offered through genuine conversation rather than combat, establishes the Different Ending and opens the strongest resolution.

   NextAs the conversation reaches its turning point, the party must decide whether to make an offer, draw weapons, or ask the Ember to hear one last truth.

2. 1:00

   90 min

   combat

   2. If It Comes to a Fight

   Room 13, amid the pulsing anchor point and the Sanctum's heated stone

   If the party attacks, run the Awakened Ember encounter. If a peaceful conversation fails or is refused, let the party choose whether to attempt the channel during combat. A character can spend an action to channel Mors Imperiis and attempt the DC 20 Persuasion check at disadvantage. Another character can cancel that disadvantage by actively protecting the channeler with The Line I Won't Cross, if available under the campaign's Book 3 rules. If the Ember is defeated, the Reunion is permanently lost and the party still must stabilize the lattice.

   The Sanctum's Last Defense

   NextWhen hostility ends, the lattice continues to shudder, making it clear that victory over the Ember alone has solved nothing.

3. 2:30

   75 min

   skill

   3. The Choice That Holds

   The Sanctum's anchor point as the lattice's failing pattern gathers around the Ember

   Give the party time to make an informed choice. A DC 18 Arcana check before offering Mors Imperiis as an artifact confirms that it will be destroyed in the reforging. The Living Sacrifice requires a willing volunteer and should be played with the same gravity as Varkas's death, with the added sorrow that the party now understands the cost may not have been necessary. For the Artifact, describe the medallion being spent into the lattice and the Ember remaining bound. For the Reunion, use the supplied reunion read-aloud: the medallion does not shatter; it ceases to be separate, and the chamber falls quiet in a way that sounds like relief. The lattice stabilizes permanently, nobody dies, and the Ember may remain as a willing guardian or depart.

   The Anchor Under Pressure

   NextOnce the lattice steadies or the chosen attempt fails, a passage opens in the stone, and the Forgotten Regent begins to emerge.

4. 3:45

   45 min

   social

   4. The Regent's Judgment

   The Sanctum, beside the newly stabilized or still-failing lattice

   The Forgotten Regent appears after the resolution, never as an additional option beforehand. After a Living Sacrifice or Artifact resolution, it acknowledges the seal as valid but insufficient because the underlying cause remains. After the Reunion, it says, “Resolved. I did not think I would see it. Perhaps I judged this era too quickly.” If the attempt failed or the Ember was killed, the Regent may demand an explanation, accept a genuine binding oath, or contest the outcome directly if the table wants an additional fight. It does not fight to the death.

   NextThe Regent's final words follow the party out of the Vault as messengers carry news upward toward the Grand Assembly.

5. 4:30

   60 min

   social

   5. The Renewal Concludes

   The Grand Assembly at the Obsidian Spire

   Bring the party back before the Renewal's delegations within hours of the Sanctum's outcome. Conclude the Dawn Compact according to the seal's condition, the Lattice Integrity Clock, and the party's accumulated Delegation Standing. If the seal holds and the Clock never reached 0 or below, the Renewal succeeds on the terms the party has earned. If the Clock reached 0 or below, stage the Assembly in genuine crisis even if the party ultimately sealed the lattice; require significant diplomatic work based on the standing tracks.

   NextAs the delegations commit their final words to the record, the party's choices become the shape of the next century.

• The Sanctum's Last Defense

  combat, optional

  The Sourcebook's Room 13 sanctum, including its anchor point and existing lair features. Use the sourcebook's room read-aloud and terrain details. At initiative count 20, the sanctum walls glow white-hot; each creature not adjacent to the Ember takes 4d6 fire damage, DC 20 Dexterity saving throw for half.

  Foes

  • Awakened Ember, custom Huge Elemental, CR 24, built from the Sourcebook's Unbound Ember stat block with the changes below

  ComplicationIf the party attacks on sight, combat begins immediately. Otherwise, give the Ember a genuine chance to speak first. If a character channels Mors Imperiis during combat, the DC 20 Persuasion check is made at disadvantage unless another character actively protects them with The Line I Won't Cross as described in the campaign's Book 3 rules. A defeated Ember does not stabilize the lattice.

  ScalingFor a party below four characters or lacking appropriate high-level resources, reduce the Awakened Ember to 350 hit points and remove one Legendary Resistance. For a party of five or more, retain its listed statistics and consider increasing its hit points to 500. Keep a peaceful channel open at every scale.

• The Anchor Under Pressure

  skill

  The Sanctum's anchor point, where the party must make a clear, informed choice while the unstable lattice pulses around them.

  Foes

  • Ember Votary survivors, only if established by prior play

  ComplicationThe ritual can be disrupted by an escaped Ember Votary if one survived Act III, or by a complication rolled from the d6 table. Defeating the Ember does not itself seal the lattice.

  ScalingUse surviving Votaries and their established campaign statistics. If none survived, run this as a skill challenge rather than adding new enemies.

• The Unbound Ember

  wildcard, the isolated guardian and potential conversation partner, ally, or opponent

  WantsThe Unbound Ember wants its severed fragment reunited and the lattice's failure genuinely corrected. After fourteen centuries without contact, it is tired, candid, and willing to explain itself to anyone who asks in good faith.

  “You carry a piece of me. I have felt it getting closer for two lifetimes of your kind. I confess I had stopped hoping it would arrive attached to someone willing to talk first.”

• The Forgotten Regent

  witness and judge

  WantsThe Forgotten Regent judges whether the party corrected the underlying failure or merely delayed it. It respects a valid choice even when it considers that choice incomplete, and it does not seek conquest.

  “The seal holds. That is not nothing. But you have not answered why it broke, only bought silence from the breaking.”

• Kaelen

  ally and possible volunteer

  WantsKaelen, if present and still committed to completing Varkas's original mechanism, may volunteer for the Living Sacrifice. Apply the Act IV Grace note before allowing this choice; he must have a meaningful, uncoerced reason to offer himself.

  “If the old mechanism asks for a life, I will not pretend the price is anything but a life. Let me choose with my eyes open.”

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