The Ember Votaries' Hour
The Ember Votaries' Hour
Read aloud
A runner staggers into your path, soot-blackened and bleeding from one ear. “The Votaries have breached the Split Fumarole. Vaelen says Shava is there, and the fissure is already answering her.” From beneath the mountain comes a deep, molten pulse that rattles the stones underfoot.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Answer the Scale-Breakers' urgent call and reach the Split Fumarole.
- 2Set the Siege Ledger and determine the battle's terms.
- 3Hold the Sunken Assembly and prevent the fissure from being widened.
- 4Limit the human cost and learn exactly what Shava intended.Optional
The clock
The Votaries are working to widen the fissure during the assault. Keep the pressure visible through worsening tremors, spreading lattice-light, and blocked approaches. The encounter's outcome determines whether the clock improves by 1 or falls by 2; do not require a separate hidden countdown unless the table wants an additional tactical timer.
Scenes
- 0:00The Runner Through the Ash
- 0:45The Outer Hold
- 1:45The Siege Ledger
- 2:45Shava's Last Case
- 5:15What the Fissure Leaves
Cast
- Vaelen Ash-WeaverAlly and information broker
- ShavaAntagonist and commander of the Ember Votaries
- Tamsin RookScale-Breaker defender and witness
The hook
Set the scene
Read the hook as the party receives the warning, then let the runner share what they know while the group continues toward the mountain. The path descends through heat-warped stone. Ash coats the tongue, and a low tremor travels through the soles of their boots. The runner has seen the Votaries take the outer approaches, but has not seen Shava herself. The defenders' message is clear: the Assembly will not hold without help.
How Vaelen Ash-Weaver asks
A Scale-Breaker runner brings an urgent message from Vaelen Ash-Weaver.
If Vaelen is unavailable in the campaign's continuity, a defender sent in their place carries the same warning and a rough route map.
Rumours
Scenes
about 6.5 hours0:00
45 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Runner Through the Ash
A road or occupied district on the approach to Mount Ignis-Vulkanis. Heat shimmer blurs the rocks; ash rasps against the throat, and a distant subterranean thud pulses through the ground.
A messenger reaches the party with news that the Votaries have begun their assault. Give the players a brief opportunity to question the runner, choose their approach, and decide whether to spend time gathering allies or hurry directly to the Assembly. Establish the sensory signs of a lattice disturbance without revealing its full cause.
NextThe runner points out a service descent beneath the mountain. As the party takes it, the air grows hotter and the route bends toward the first Scale-Breaker barricade.
0:45
60 min
skill
2. The Outer Hold
A cramped basalt passage marked with old Scale-Breaker signs. A barricade shudders with each impact from beyond; smoke stings the eyes, and hot grit shifts underfoot.
The party meets Tamsin Rook and the defenders holding the outer approaches. Learn who remains in the Assembly, which entrances are under pressure, and whether any flank can be held long enough to evacuate the wounded. The party may earn practical help by rescuing defenders, clearing a blocked route, or persuading the fighters to coordinate rather than make a desperate countercharge.
NextOnce the party has a route through the defenders, a tremor rolls up the passage. Dust pours from the ceiling, and the light at its end flickers with the color of the fissure.
1:45
60 min
exploration
3. The Siege Ledger
A broad chamber around the floor fissure. Ember-glow paints the smoke from below; the stone smells of hot iron, and the floor vibrates with a slow, irregular pulse.
Let the party see the Sunken Assembly and understand the immediate stakes. Vaelen outlines the visible lines of attack, then the group calculates Starting VP and chooses any expenditures before a die is rolled. Resolve urgent preparations, including moving defenders to a flank or confirming the condition of the fissure controls.
The Siege of the Split FumaroleNextA Votary horn sounds from the far approach. The defenders brace as the enemy comes into view, and Shava steps into the ember-light.
2:45
150 min
combat
4. Shava's Last Case
The Sunken Assembly's main chamber, divided by a glowing crack. Ruined slag chutes and old fortifications make broken lanes of cover while defenders and Votaries struggle across the floor.
Run the Siege encounter. Shava focuses on disrupting whoever can reach the fissure controls; the Courtiers secure chokepoints and try to keep the party away from her. Give the players a chance to speak to Shava before or during combat. Her argument should sound personal and exhausted, not gleefully cruel. If the party wins, they prevent the fissure from widening; if they lose, apply the campaign consequences rather than ending the adventure.
The Siege of the Split FumaroleNextThe last clash gives way to the sound of the fissure settling or tearing wider. Smoke drifts toward the opening as surviving defenders move to find the party and count who remains.
5:15
60 min
social
5. What the Fissure Leaves
The battered Assembly after the assault. The air cools unevenly, soot drifts from the ceiling, and the fissure's light either steadies or crawls farther across the broken stone.
Resolve the consequences of the Siege, determine Shava's fate, and let the party tend to the wounded or question any captured Votaries. Update the Lattice Integrity Clock and record which reinforcements or institutions answered the call. Grant the level 18 milestone, then make the route toward the Vault the next clear choice.
NextVaelen marks the route downward. The party follows the surviving defenders through the opened passage as the mountain's next deep pulse draws them toward the Vault.
Behind it
What people believe
The Ember Votaries are assaulting the Split Fumarole, a Scale-Breaker refuge built around a fissure linked to the failing lattice beneath the Obsidian Spire.
Defenders have sent for help, and the Renewal's future may depend on whether the party can hold the Sunken Assembly. The Votaries are led by Shava, whose purpose and willingness to negotiate remain uncertain.
Background
Twenty years after the death of High Sovereign Varkas, the Dawn Compact reaches its renewal.
The Ember Votaries have spent those years turning grief, grievance, and fear into an organized force. Beneath Mount Ignis-Vulkanis, the Split Fumarole was once a Scale-Breaker refuge and remains connected to the failing lattice beneath the Obsidian Spire. Its Sunken Assembly now stands between Shava and the catastrophe she intends to unleash.
The stakes
If the party holds the Fumarole, the fissure is stabilized, the Lattice Integrity Clock improves, and the Renewal continues with momentum.
If the Votaries take it, the fissure widens, the clock worsens, and the Vault's Upper Depths are already partially collapsed when Act IV begins. Either outcome changes how much time and safety remain for the descent.
Encounters
1The Siege of the Split Fumarole
Combat
The Sunken Assembly's main chamber beneath Mount Ignis-Vulkanis. A glowing fissure divides the floor, with ruined slag chutes, stone breastworks, and Scale-Breaker fortifications providing scattered cover. The approach is crowded with defenders and refugees until the party secures a route through.
Foes
10 Scale-Twisted Courtiers, CR 6 each, 2,300 XP each
Shava, using the Archmage stat block, 142 hit points, CR 12
ComplicationThe 15-foot-wide floor fissure is connected to the Vault's lattice. A creature that falls in takes 6d6 fire damage and must succeed on a DC 17 Strength check to climb out; on a failure, it is swept toward the Vault. At Initiative Count 20, losing ties, the chamber shudders and every creature within 15 feet of the fissure makes a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or falls prone. Slag chutes and old fortifications provide half to three-quarters cover. The dim ember-glow below the fissure leaves the chamber in dim light.
ScalingFor the specified level 17 party of four, the base force totals 31,400 XP before Siege Ledger adjustments. Use the provided CR 13 stat block for Seshath or Thrazh Vuld instead of Shava if that conspirator escaped Book One and joined the Votaries; this version totals approximately 33,000 XP. Apply Siege Ledger spending before initiative: 1 VP removes two Scale-Twisted Courtiers from the initiative entirely; 2 VP reinforces one chosen flank, granting creatures behind its breastworks three-quarters cover against attacks and effects originating from the fissure side; 4 VP can reinforce both flanks; 3 VP makes Shava begin with half her hit points missing, or makes the substitute conspirator begin with half their listed hit points missing. Starting VP is 3, plus 2 if the party defended Draknaar in Book One, plus 2 if any Act I Delegation Standing track is 6 or higher, plus 1 if the Act I ward galleries were stabilized, plus 1 if the party reasoned with Act II's tower warden. Shava opens with her most disruptive control option, targeting whoever appears best placed to reach the fissure controls. The Courtiers then hold chokepoints while Shava attempts to widen the fissure. Below half strength, Shava does not retreat. If the party is not four characters or is notably stronger or weaker, adjust the number of Courtiers and the VP effects to fit the table.
Cast
3Vaelen Ash-Weaver
QuestgiverAlly and information broker
WantsKeep the Sunken Assembly and its people out of Votary hands, while buying the party time to reach the fissure controls.
“The west passage is gone. If you can keep the center, we can still hold the room.”
Shava
Antagonist and commander of the Ember Votaries
WantsForce a crisis on her own terms, convinced that the Renewal's delegates cannot prevent another political catastrophe. She has committed the remainder of her life to this plan and does not expect to survive it.
“I watched this realm nearly break itself over one dragon's death and one throne's empty chair. I would rather force the reckoning myself than wait for it to happen to us.”
Tamsin Rook
Scale-Breaker defender and witness
WantsPreserve the safehouse and the people sheltering in it without allowing the faction's history to become an excuse for indiscriminate violence.
“We have spent twenty years arguing about what the Scale-Breakers should become. Tonight, we need to decide what we will protect.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Recover one Rare-tier item or equivalent Votary intelligence, at the DM's discretion.
A recovered Votary order names the fissure controls as the assault's focus and confirms how Shava intended to use them.
On a win
If the party defeats or drives off the Votary force and prevents Shava from widening the fissure, increase the Lattice Integrity Clock by 1.
The fissure is stabilized rather than widened, the Scale-Breakers retain the Sunken Assembly, and the Renewal proceeds with real momentum. The party reaches level 18 once the Siege resolves, regardless of its outcome. They recover whatever gear or intelligence the Votaries carried, at the DM's discretion, with a Rare-tier reward appropriate to the campaign.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party loses the Siege, is driven from the main chamber, or cannot stop Shava from forcing the fissure wider.
- The Fumarole's fissure is widened. Reduce the Lattice Integrity Clock by 2. Act IV begins with the Vault's Upper Depths partially collapsed; run the Sealed Threshold as already breached and proceed directly to the Guardian Barracks or Ember-Wrought Archive.
- The party abandons the defenders or evacuates them without contesting the Votaries' hold on the Assembly.
- The Scale-Breakers suffer casualties and lose the safehouse as a secure refuge. Their survivors can still provide directions into the Vault, but cannot spare defenders or reliable supplies for the descent.
- The party defeats the assault but leaves Shava's fate unresolved, or fails to secure the chamber after the Courtiers break.
- Shava is taken alive, escapes, or dies according to the party's choices. If she survives, the Renewal's political crisis continues with her plan exposed; if she dies, her remaining Votaries may splinter rather than surrender.
Complications (d6)
- 1A slag chute collapses across the western approach. The route becomes difficult terrain until a creature uses an action to clear a passage or a successful DC 18 Strength check clears it.
- 2A surge through the floor fissure showers the nearest creature within 10 feet with sparks. That creature makes a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d6 fire damage on a failure or half as much on a success.
- 3A Scale-Breaker defender is pinned beneath fallen stone near a Votary-held chokepoint. A character can free them with an action and a successful DC 17 Strength check; if rescued, the defender draws one Courtier away from the party until the end of the next round.
- 4A lattice pulse makes the floor buck. Creatures within 15 feet of the fissure make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. Use this instead of, not in addition to, the encounter's Initiative Count 20 ground effect for that round.
- 5A Votary signal flare blinds the defenders to the eastern flank. Until someone spends an action to douse or smother it, attacks against creatures behind that flank's cover do not benefit from that cover.
- 6A Votary runner carries a written order identifying the fissure controls as the assault's true target. If captured or recovered, the party learns where Shava intends to concentrate her next push.
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