The Labyrinth Beneath the Scream
The Labyrinth Beneath the Scream
“To save the bodies, first teach the souls how to stop being afraid.”
— Hook · Rescue and planar horror
“The villagers of Bellwether stand frozen in stone, each face locked in terror, while the soul larvae in your possession whisper their names from inside their writhing shells. One larva suddenly speaks in a child’s voice: “The hag is waking the maze.” Unless the souls are calmed and returned before dawn, the bodies may never live again.”
— Hook · Rescue and planar horror
The adventure begins in Bellwether’s abandoned meeting hall, where the party has placed the captured soul larvae in a salt-lined basin. Outside, petrified villagers line the muddy streets like silent statues. Brother Cael explains that ordinary healing will not help. The souls must first be calmed enough to recognize their bodies, after which Greater Restoration or similar magic can end the petrification. During the discussion, one larva develops the face of a terrified child and points toward a puddle of water, revealing Marsha’s reflection watching from the other side.
Elira Venn
Elira Venn approaches the party in the meeting hall while carrying a chipped stone hand wrapped in cloth. She has heard that the characters possess the soul larvae and begs them not to destroy them. Brother Cael interrupts with a practical warning: the victims have only until the next moonrise before the connection between their bodies and souls begins to fail.
Rumours
d5 · table- 01The statues in Bellwether move when nobody is looking, but only toward the old marsh road.
- 02A child’s lullaby can be heard beneath the water near the ruined shrine.
- 03Marsha cannot enter a home where every occupant speaks their true name aloud.
- 04The hag’s victims are not dead. They are dreaming somewhere with no sky.
- 05One petrified villager is smiling, and nobody knows why.
If the party fails, the petrified victims may become permanently empty shells, Marsha may gain a lasting anchor to the Material Plane, and the souls trapped in the Astral labyrinth may be transformed into fuel for future nightmares.
Background Lore
For three moonless weeks, villagers from the fen-settlement of Bellwether have been found transformed into pale stone. Their bodies remain alive but motionless, their eyes fixed in expressions of terror. The culprit is Marsha of the Marshes, a night hag who has learned to separate a victim’s soul from its petrified body and compress it into a writhing soul larva. Each soul larva is dragged into a fear labyrinth drifting in the Astral Plane, where Marsha feeds on terror before deciding whether to sell, consume, or permanently transform the soul. The party currently possesses several soul larvae taken from Marsha’s marsh shrine. The larvae are conscious, frightened, and capable of guiding the heroes if approached with patience rather than force.
Marsha of the Marshes is a night hag who has been petrifying people in and around Bellwether, stealing their souls, and imprisoning them in a fear labyrinth beyond the mortal world. The party has recovered several soul larvae from her shrine, but the souls inside are too frightened to return to their bodies unaided. The heroes must enter the labyrinth, calm the souls, defeat or outwit Marsha, and restore the victims before the petrification becomes permanent.
