Session Prep Bundlesettlement-starter

Ank Moran is a grand, bustling city of adventurers. Notable things include: A mausoleum in the city, a necromancer for hire, a university of wizards, a graveyard, many magic and general shops for adventurers.

Recipe: Settlement Starter

New
Contextual Narrative

The Echo of Copper and Bone

Ank Moran is a city carved from obsidian and history, where the tolling of the Great Mausoleum’s bell dictates the rhythm of life and afterlife. Spires of the University of Whispers pierce the low-hanging smog, casting long shadows over streets paved with enchanted cobblestones that hum with residual energy. Here, the dead are not mourned but put to work; skeleton laborers sweep the avenues while mages in silken robes haggle over the price of powdered sapphire in the sprawling High Market. Beneath the veneer of bustling commerce and scholarly pursuit, a localized chill grips the air. Adventurers from across the planes gather in smoke-filled taverns to spend their hard-earned coin on rare components and illicit spells. It is a place of boundless opportunity and profound silence, where every secret has a price and every corpse is a potential employee. But lately, the hum of the city has changed—a discordant note in the arcane weave that suggests the ancestors are no longer content with their servitude.

Valthus Grey, Necromancer for Hire

In Ank Moran, death is not an ending; it is merely a change in management.

Settlement

Ank Moran

Ank Moran is a vertical masterpiece of gothic marble and sleek obsidian. The city is tiered by status, with the Ivory Heights housing the sprawling University of Wizards and government manors. Below lies the Gilded Quarter, where shops cater to the needs of wealthy adventurers. At the base are the Bone Yards, a massive industrial sprawl of graveyards and factories where the unliving labor in eerie, coordinated silence for their living masters.

85,000 Living, 200,000 UnlivingPopulation
View
Tavern

The Gilded Ghoul

The monster skulls mounted on the walls occasionally chatter their teeth in unison when a wizard at the nearby university miscasts a spell.

TavernView
Shop

Aurius’ Arcana & Oddities

Aurius speaks in a raspy whisper and frequently consults a jar of pickled eyeballs on his counter before answering questions. The shop smells intensely of lavender incense used to mask the scent of decay.

Shop
View

Key Personas

Valthus Grey

Valthus views the world through a lens of extreme pragmatism. He is polite to a fault, treating both a grieving widow and a mindless skeleton with the same cool, professional courtesy. He possesses an internal tension between his genuine appreciation for high culture and his utter desensitization to the macabre. He is generous with his professional advice to those who respect the 'logic' of death, but he becomes icy and litigious with those who treat necromancy as a moral failing rather than a waste-management solution.

Arch-Mage Elara Sunstrider

Elara is a woman of sharp edges and absolute convictions. She is fiercely protective of Ank Moran's arcane integrity, viewing magic as a dangerous, nuclear-like force that requires a license and a pedigree. She is deeply generous and patient with her dedicated students but holds a vitriolic, cold contempt for 'hedge mages' and street performers who commercialize the craft. Underneath her icy exterior lies a panicked theorist; she is privately terrified that her lifelong work on ley lines is being undone by city expansion, leading to a hidden streak of obsessive-compulsive checking of her instruments.

Aurius Thorne

Aurius is a master of the 'friendly merchant' persona; he is incredibly warm and generous with his laughter when meeting new customers, yet he is known to be utterly miserly when it comes to the wages of his own shop assistants. He possesses a genuine passion for magical history that makes him lose track of time, but he will instantly snap back to a cold, calculating state if a customer tries to lowball him. He is fiercely protective of his reputation in Ank Moran, seeing his shop as his fortress.

Bundle Contents

06Items

Generated entities

Regional Effect

The Spectral Hum

The dense concentration of necromantic energy vibrates within the marrow of the living.

Mechanic

Living creatures have Advantage on Death Saving Throws, but Beasts have Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks due to unnatural unease.

Connections

Valthus Grey

LICENSED_BYAnk Moran

Valthus Grey

FREQUENTSThe Gilded Ghoul

Aurius Thorne

OWNSAurius’ Arcana & Oddities

Arch-Mage Elara Sunstrider

GOVERNSAnk Moran

Valthus Grey

BUSINESS_PARTNERAurius Thorne

Arch-Mage Elara Sunstrider

DISTRUSTSValthus Grey

Quest Objectives

Investigate why the 'Constructed' laborers have begun reciting ancient poetry instead of performing their tasks.

The players identify a mnemonic virus in the city's control wards and receive a permanent discount at magic shops.
A city-wide labor strike of the dead leads to a total collapse of public services and a surge in hostile spirits.

Recover a stolen 'Soul-Core' from the University of Whispers before it is sold on the black market.

The Arch-Mage grants the party access to the Restricted Archives for one week.
The thief weaponizes the core, causing a localized necrotic explosion that blights the Market District.