3.1 KiB
3.1 KiB
type, campaign, status
| type | campaign | status |
|---|---|---|
| quest | The Hollow Between | active |
The Waking Hollow
[!info] Core Goal Learn what is waking beneath Briarcross and decide whether to contain it, understand it, or renegotiate the old bargain before the Lantern Moss is reshaped by its return.
What the Party Knows
- A bell sounds from beneath campaigns/the-hollow-between/locations/the-hollow-bell
- The region's old customs appear connected to keeping the situation stable
- The locals disagree on whether the waking place is a threat, an inheritance, or a wronged power
Main Questions
- What exactly is the Sleeper Under Toll?
- Why was it put to sleep?
- Which old customs still matter, and which are only echoes?
- Who benefits if the place wakes fully?
- What price will the party accept to resolve the crisis?
Moving Parts
| Force | Wants |
|---|---|
| Mara Thornfield | Restore order and stop the waking by reasserting the old rules |
| Brother Hale | Uncover the truth before anyone acts rashly |
| Ysa of the Reeds | Renew the relationship rather than repeat a fearful old solution |
| The Listeners Below | Encourage the waking, recruit the disillusioned, and turn every sign into proof that Briarcross must yield |
| The Sleeper Under Toll | To be acknowledged correctly and allowed to finish what was interrupted |
Likely Approaches
Containment
Reconstruct the forgotten parts of the old bargain, reinforce the bridge, and keep the hill closed.
Cost: the region stays stable, but old obligations become binding again.
Understanding
Open the western door, learn the history, and discover what judgment or crossing was interrupted.
Cost: the party accelerates the waking and must manage the fallout.
Bargain
Negotiate directly with the waking place and its spirits to create a new agreement for Briarcross.
Cost: someone must promise something lasting, personal, and difficult to take back.
Escalation Clock
Stage 1 - Uneasy Signs
- bells in the earth
- drifting roads
- dreamwalking
Stage 2 - Breached Customs
- bridges misroute travelers
- names go missing in the marsh
- villagers repeat words they never said
- the Listeners Below start sabotaging protective customs and calling it liberation
Stage 3 - The Region Remembers
- old paths overwrite new ones
- houses and graves appear where they used to be centuries ago
- the village must choose whether it still wants to exist in its current form
- open support for the waking place splits Briarcross into fearful loyalists, opportunists, and true believers
Rewards
- trust and leverage with Briarcross
- access to place-based magic, favors, or boons
- secrets about Eldar's older rules of crossing and settlement
Session Seeds
- escort Tam after another sleepwalking incident and decide whether to follow or stop them
- investigate why the bridge has started showing people places tied to unkept promises
- bargain with Ysa for safe marsh passage in exchange for recovering a stolen name
- witness the buried bell ring from inside the hill and choose whether to open the western door
- discover who has been collecting removed bell clappers and using them in secret midnight rites