Campaign: Terrors of the Gloaming Wood

## Happenings

Several changes are taking place in the Gloaming Wood at the time of the campaign that the players may discover:

* The Hollow, soulless husks who have lost themselves to the forest, are being sighted with increasing regularity. People in settlements once thought safe from the effects of the Wood are turning into Hollow and disappearing. A bounty has been placed on information about the cause.
* The magical storms that wrack the Gloaming Wood are increasing in number and intensity, endangering those who live on the frontier. Scholars are attempting to find out why.
* The reclusive wizards of Mistsifter Academy have created magical marvels through phrax research: A massive tower rising above Lysunia that shields the city from magical storms, as well as augmentation rituals that grant the Emperor's chosen arcane power through markings on their skin.
* People have reported nightmares of a monster they call the Gloamglozer.

## Intro

You have come to the great city of Lysunia, gem of the Gloaming Wood and seat of the ruler of Ryddia, Emperor Vernax Pentissimus. Bustling tradesmen, pious pilgrims, and adventurers wielding exotic weaponry line the streets of the crowded city. Native or not, they are all here for a reason: the untold mysteries of the Wood. Turning away from the massive spired palace in the center of the city, you come upon a cozy tavern with ivy trailing up the wooden sides, the Dancing Dryad.

"New in town? Look'ere." A stout Half-orc woman brusquely mutters to you and jabs a thumb at the bulletin board behind her. 'Adventurer's Board' is painted above it, but a vandal has marked across the first word and written "Idiot's" next to it. On it are posted several notes:

* NEEDED: SKILLED FIGHTERS TO RECLAIM FORT OLD HOPE FROM THE SOULLESS HUSKS OF THE LAST PEOPLE TO ATTEMPT RECLAIMING IT. REWARD: 150 GOLD PIECES. CONTACT LIEUTENANT COSADIUS, ROYAL PHRAX COMPANY
* Help desperately needed. My fool brother got gloam sickness and had the idea in his head that he saw a stag walk straight up some old tower. Now he's convinced there's a pile of phrax at the top of it and he went to find it two weeks ago. Haven't seen the moron since. Bring him back in one or several pieces and my family's magic codpiece is yours. Meet me in the farm outside the northeast gate
* Are you a devotee of doctrine? Do you mingle with metaphysics? Join my colleagues and I on a stunning pilgrimage of philosophy! We require some adventurers to guide us through the Wood to our professor's oratorium. Bring your pen and notebook! Reward negotiable. IQ greater than 120 preferred!

Choose an option to start your adventure.

## Campaign Notes 8/12/18

* Barkeep describes rumors that are happening, see happenings.
* Man rocking back and forth, he had a nightmare of the Gloamglozer.
* Grizzled old morph with twisted features describes the dangers of the forest. They need food, purpose, and a way to fight the dizzying twilight glow, perhaps gnomeworks. They could also use some way to test for anomalies, magical disruptions.
* Execution of three people who tried to smuggle phrax on a boat out of the city. Minister reads out their crimes in a lame voice.
	+ Hawker advertising Birdtalker's health spring
	+ City random encounters
* Donahue farm, the older brother **Phallucius** is looking for his brother **Diggus.** Pledges his magic family codpiece. Says his brother is always moving from one scheme to another, and constantly finds himself in trouble. But now Phallucius's knees are giving out and he can't bail out his brother anymore.
	+ Explain travel rules and encounters

* Overland travel
	+ Meet the trickster stone and meeting with the Green Man, who says the bones of the earth quake as they walk and explains that the Wood is sick. He opens their senses to a plant in his garden that grows wilts, and grows again within the space of seconds. It is screaming.
* Tower, it seems unadorned and the interior is ruined but marked with strange symbols (druidic language describing the danger and how to access the fey portal)
* They enter a reception for a wedding between Diggus and **Calla Jellytwirl,** the daughter of a Chancellor of the Summer Court. The people in the party are a strange mix of fairies, nature spirits, and eladrin dressed in bizzare finery.
	+ On a grand stage there is an orchestra full of enchanted instruments that bob gently in the air and play a beautiful song without any players. In the front of the stage is a floating conductor's baton with sheet music in front of it, only the sheet music is arcane symbols.
	+ There is a pen of hounds with well-groomed lightning instead of fur. They seem to whimper and paw the ground anxiously, desperately wanting to play.
	+ On the altar where the minister would be, there is a tall, mostly incorporeal being made of blue mist with a face that resembles a frog's. He thinks he is marrying the new King and Queen of the Summer Court, which is why someone as important as him agreed to minister the wedding.
	+ There is a stack of crates near the end of the hall. Inside are fireworks for after the ceremony.
* They are greeted by an usher who asks their name and whose party they are a member of. Their appearance draws several confused glances. The usher asks them to take an outfit to better dress themselves.
* Before they can confront the bride and groom, a haughty Eladrin named **Hanza** flanked by two others approach the party and ask if they support the wedding. They don't and they want to crash it with the players help, since they have to maintain political neutrality.
	+ The bride's aunt, **Poppy Jellytwirl**, speaks to them and asks them if they've seen any trouble brewing. She knows marrying a human from the mortal plane will cause quite a stir. She worries for Diggus' safety in a place as treacherous as the Summer Court, but she wants to support Calla's decision and will reward them if they manage to help the wedding go smoothly with the **Rings of Empathic Locality**. She and her camp must keep up appearances.

**Recap**

* Talked with Thori's Gnomeworks. They are on a mission to find a lost shipment that disappeared in the old road from Alboria to Lysunia.
* **Captain Emon**, commander of the RPC Camp.
* Binda the Halfling rogue of Cyric and Ellasi the Elven ranger are looking for the lost Gnomish city of Twylldywyr. Binda is a mercenary in Ellasi's employ.
* Monkey spirit Ji accosted them but entertained him enough to leave alone, opening the way to the Green Man's cottage.
* Green man said they bear a heavy fate on their shoulders, and that there is a sickness in the wood. The Gloamgloazer has risen again, the Hollow Men appear to be organized by an unknown force, and the magical phraxstorms are becoming greater in intensity.
* Met with an Illusionist and pilgrim of Leira, the goddess of illusions. She tried to deceive you out of pity, but was revealed and killed by the party.
* Innil's hands are disconnected and Reed has Glotrot disease (mushroom tongue). On Day 5 gloam sickness will set in

## Campaign Notes 8/19/18

* Traveling through wood.
* Gopnir encounter where he is staking out an anomaly, and asks for their help in return for splitting whatever phrax may be in the center.
	+ A large crater with swirling fireballs you must dodge. In the center are mind-controlling fireghosts "pyrogeists" that make you lose your resolve and hurl flames. After subdueing the anomaly, the phrax becomes visible at the center, and smashing it into dust causes the anomaly to dissipate.
* After he introduces the idea that coffee protects against the mental effects of the Wood. He carries a barrel of beans on his back, and he grinds them up and mixes them with boiling water.
* **Gerivaldi** the Eladin Houndmaster cares for a pack of blink hounds, lightning-elemental dog creatures.
* **Hanza Victarion** says he will give his father's enchanted gambeson **Grifter's Gambeson** if they crash Calla's 17th wedding. He has been sabotaging all of Calla's marriages since their divorce.
* Innil has Stage 1 Gloamsickness (disadvantage on death saving throws).

Recap for Will:

Gloaming Wood is a tremendous forest that is infused with the chaotic magic of the Fey. Many adventurers brave the hypnotic light of the twilight wood to obtain phrax, a substance containing the pure essence of magic. The Wood has several dangers:

* Monsters of Fey origin
* Magical storms and anomalies, destructive manifestations of the Wood's innate magic.
* Hollow Men, walking corpses whose souls have been drained by the Gloaming Wood's strange light.

In Lysunia, the capital city of Ryddia, Emperor Vernax Pentissimus hoards refined phrax, requiring that all unprocessed phrax found in the wood be submitted for payment, and requiring those carrying it to buy a license beforehand. The Royal Phrax Company refines the phrax using heavily guarded magical secrets, then auctions off the refined pieces for rich sums.

Quest Log:

* Thori from The Gnomeworks lost a shipment of lenses for SPEX, goggle-like devices that shield from the Gloaming Wood's light. He thinks the caravan was lost on the Old Road from Alboria to Lysunia.
* You heard a crier saying that a man named Beauregard Birdtalker has created a phrax-powered health spa.
* The Elites of the Town Guard and the Royal Phrax Company have identical spirit marks, arcane infusions similar to Innil's that are supposed to be vanishingly rare.
* A duo of Halfling and Elf named Binda and Ellasi are searching the Wood for evidence of Twylldywyr, a lost gnome city.
* Phallucius Donahue's brother Diggus went missing after discovering a ruined tower in the Wood. He wants him returned, for either a reunion or a funeral.
* The Green Man, an enigmatic spirit, said that the Gloaming Wood is sick and has manifested a creature called the Gloamglozer to protect itself. He wants you to find some way to stop it and solve what's causing the problem.

## Campaign Notes 8/26/18

* At the party, Calla comes up to them and introduces herself in front of Diggus' "friends". She has white hair and insect-like wings on her back. She is excited to meet them, and wishes them a good time at the wedding.
* While they are near the Eladrin tent, they hear a muffled shout. Inside is **Serval Vanessi,** an Eladrin man with Elk horns. He was supposed to be the one to wed Calla, but he was enchanted by magic and made to say horrible things to Calla, then he was imprisoned by the Eladrin. He is confused as to how the wedding is still going, not knowing of Diggus. He says that The Summer Court is desperately trying to wed Calla to produce a male heir because an unknown tragedy killed the male members of the Jellytwirl family, and Poppy and Calla are not very popular in the court.

## Campaign Notes 9/30/18

* Event: Injured RPC soldier, from attack on Old Hope Fortress. He says there was some kind of mage controlling the Hollow Men, he hasn't seen anything like it.
* Corvus Society: Led by **Master Z**. Their experiments on the hollow men have been failing, as more and more of them free themselves from the society's influence and join roving bands in the Gloaming Wood. They need more subjects in order to find a cure to Gloam Sickness. Frequent attacks on the city.
	+ They have studied the motions of the hollow men, and they seem to concentrate in the [mark map of corpse garden] area. They should investigate.
* Brothers of the Storm: Led by **Gareth Rezorius** They have captured one of the mages who designed the phrax refining process, and they need a good location to conduct their new operation to undercut the Emperor's hold on phrax. Into the forest, but not so deep they suffer bad gloam sickness.
	+ He remarks that too many people have been executed or imprisoned for the sake of phrax. The benefits and research of the substance should go to everyone, not just whatever rich gasbags can afford Emperor Vernax's scraps.

* Occulists: Led by **Belric Findabin.** Rohj meets with the Occulists in their hidden base, and they are all very skeptical of him and view him with fear. He learns form the leader that the coin is called a Occulist sightcoin, which can allow the user to see things from the Far Planes. Their form is by nature inscrutable, so the magic of the coin is necessary to even perceive them without losing your mind, if they even allow themselves to be perceived at all.
	+ He fetches a couple hand mirrors and asks Rohj not to be alarmed at what he sees. There is a spider-like creature hooked to his back, with its undulating black tendrils grasping him tightly.
* He explains the creature is called a **croyel** and it is harmless until it is needed to fulfill its purpose. Croyel are used as a sort of guarantee of collateral when making profane dealings with beings from the far places. Trying to remove it would kill you, so the only hope would be to find out who used you as collateral. Do you have any idea?
* He nods his head. Of course, you must be the child of Zahir and Rasha. They left for Raba Esse many years ago, and have not been heard from since.
* If you wish to know more about the bargain that was struck, they are currently investigating an extraplanar presence in the northwestern area of the Gloaming Wood. If you were to make contact with it, perhaps it would help in return for something. Such beings are rarely evil for the sake of evil, and as you're probably aware, they can be bargained with.

* **Temple of Leira:** A temple with waterfalls falling upward, and statues that pose and shift dramatically. There is a path leading straight into a wall, and an inscription can be read underneath the creeping vines that cover the old stone. "Here our world crosses the world of dreams, Here nothing is as it {seems}. When the last words are spoken, a door appears behind them, leading into the real temple.
	+ A halfling man greets them. Welcome to the temple of Leira, I'm Dan. You're just in time for the feast. Follow me! He leads them forward into a 50-foot pit.
	+ Room with nothing but six enormous chests and four **paintings**.

* N is an adult half-orc. Inscription: Bul-grobob, age 18.
* W is a human woman. Inscription: Sarah, age 29.
* E is an aged elf. Inscription: Syllin, age 633.
* S is an adult dwarf. Inscription: Targus, age 135

* Key is in water fountain, but is actually acid.
* Next key is in room with Inscription: "That which reveals can just as often conceal." Traps line every inch of the room, and will only deactivate in darkness, when they extinguish the torches.
* In the next room, they enter the door with inscription: "That which isn't, is." They enter with key 2 only to be at the bottom of a 100-foot pit with smooth walls. In this room, only illusions, imagination, etc. can create permanent things to climb the walls. At the end is a pedestal with the third key, which leads them into the last room
* The last room has some snacks, noisemakers, and party balloons that say, "Great job! You did it!" Investigation shows another inscription in the door at the end of the room: "The door cannot be broken down, by the number of keys you found." They must climb to the painting in the main room whose age cannot be divided by 3.
* In the final room, they find the friends of the Illusionist they killed, Misty, while they patiently wait for her at the shrine of Leira. They question where she is, and will attack if not mollified. If they suspect anything, then Delicious will cast detect magic and find her flute.

## Campaign Notes 10/21/18

* Four scholars are traveling to Profesor Yiuf's oratorium. There, the enigmatic wizard will be delivering a dissertation on magical theory.
* When they arrive, the scholars join the modest crowd of scholars. Professor Yiuf the gnome has deep yellow eyes and seems to sport a coat of fur. He explains to them that they ened not worry about the sickness here. In certain areas of the forest like this they will not recover, but they will not get any worse. Insight check to see he is not fully in control of his actions.
* After enjoying some refreshments, Yiuf gathers everyone in the oratorium to begin his speech. His words are complex and so steeped in magical vocabulary that you can only piece together parts of what he is saying. His words seem to drag on, and you feel yourself being lost in his droning speech. Make INT saves to determine if they are incapacitated the first round of combat.
* The students that had arrived before all begin to try and hold the new students and players down, as two spectators, Yiuf, and a mind flayer attack.
* After they are defeated, they surrender, saying that this is necessary to their survival. The mind flayer says to Rohj that his elder could perhaps help him with his... problem. Keep him alive and he will lead you safely.
* After being freed, Yiuf offers them a scroll of legend lore and a scroll of his own creation that he was developing to combat the invaders before they overtook his oratorium and began controlling him. He gives them a scroll of Migrainosus. He asks them to destroy whatever leads the creatures at all costs. They are surely mighty, but the scroll will grievously weaken them.
* At the brain, there is a cracked area of the Wood where it looks as if some explosion ravaged the area. Even so, the highest trees have hungrily filled the gap in the canopy, leaving only a single beam of sunlight streaming through.
* The brain speaks to them, saying of Rohj: "Ah, this one is interesting. Have you come to seek my wisdom, worm?"
* They can bargain with the elder, who is laying at the bottom of a pit on a crested hill.
* "We were exiled from our home, and we landed here. But we quickly found that this land, this accursed forest... is indomitable. Only madmen and beasts make their home here. Tell us of a better place, and we will help you."

## Campaign Notes 11/4/2018

* They left two scholars at the Oratorium, unconscious but alive after the Mind Flayer encounter. They found in Yiuf's journal a scroll of Migrainosus, a weapon against Mindflayers.
* **Level 7 titles**
* **Zynian the Thronebreaker**
* **Innil the Worldsoul**
* **Rohj the Valiant**
* **Reed the Tollkeeper**

## Campaign Notes 11/18/18

* Events in Lysunia:
	+ The Introduction to the Masters of Mistsifter Academy
		- **Kriiyari,** White female dragonborn who specializes in anomalies and magical storms
		- **Bentus Bonnworth,** Dark-skinned human man who studies the fey origins
		- **Master Z,** masked unknown with raspy voice who studies the hollow men. He seems interested in Reed.
	+ Hollow Men led by massive rainbow-colored birds assault the walls of Lysunia and are subdued by the guard. They use their tattoos to summon wild magic to repel them back.
	+ The RPC, led by General Scipio Sulla hiring Phrax Hunters to go on an expedition deep into the Gloaming Wood. They seek to destroy whatever is making the Gloaming Wood behave so erratically. Among them are Gopnir the Barbarian, Ellasi the Scholar, and Binda the rogue.
		- Gopnir is cold to them, but despite his large share of phrax at their last haul, he seems hungry and his clothes old and worn. He is hiding his money to pay the Frost Giants which hold his people ransom.
		- Ellasi and Binda have found a lead to Twylldywyr. An old druid told them that Twylldywyr was once the greatest city in the Gloaming Wood, but one year as he made his travels the entire city had vanished from its foundations. This was almost a hundred years ago. They have a location, past the Source.

## Campaign Notes 12/2/18

* Happenings:
	+ Hollow Men are attacking Lysunia in greater numbers. More and more people are disappearing into the Wood and dreams of the Gloamglozer are more frequent.
	+ Many people report a large troop of the finest RPC soldiers and phrax hunters leaving on an expedition to the Source to end the Gloamglozer's reign.
* They offered an agreement between **Danston the Bandit Prince's** crew of morphs to allow the Brothers of the Storm to move their base of operations there.
	+ **Pimbus the Beggar** was tricked into allowing them entry. Fucking Pimbus.
* For the Broken Fortress, the Gloamglozer shows them terrifying visions and warns them they should turn back or perish. Fey creatures accost them. An Archfey Paladin called **Insomnia** is guarding the ruins of the fortress with her minions. Insomnia is a fearsome warrior-mage, and is sworn to **Fate**, the archfey that controls the Gloaming Wood.
	+ If they defeat Insomnia, the forcefield blocking the lower ruins opens, and they enter a tomb of Kings. This crypt contains all the previous rulers of the Gloaming Wood, and contain a mix of gnomes, elves, eladrin, and giantkin. As they move through the crypt, their shades silent appear and gaze at them.
	+ At the end of the tomb is the first King and Queen of the Gloaming Wood, two eladrin, and a hazy portal leading to a small enchanted grove. The two shades rise and ask the party if they have new jailmasters. They were imprisoned here by Fate, the Archfey, and the pact between man and forest that kept the Wood in harmony was broken, perverting the power of the land. Inside the grove is:
	+ **Concord**, the living pact. Concord is three mortals who were bound to each other, forming an amalgam of roots and flesh like a dryad. They lived at the Source, and metered out its great power so that the land would be nourished by it, not corrupted. They are bound by the Threads of Fate, a powerful artifact fashioned by Fate to imprison them.
	+ Once freed, Concord asks them to end the reign of Fate and her children so that they may restore the land.

## Campaign Notes 1/5/18

* Last time, the party negotiated with **Bandit Prince Danston** and his gang of morphs to allow the Brothers of the Storm to use their fortress for phrax refining.

* Report to **Gareth Rezorius** and aid him in sneaking out the equipment from mendicants guild as well as the sympathetic mage from Mistsifter Academy (Mage: Vog the Dwarf Sorcerer). He hands them all facemasks, then brings them to the academy on a small raft. He says to wait, and he will be back in a few minutes.
	+ Fend off the angry mages as Gareth runs out with a squat dwarf who is panting in exertion
	+ Keep watch for the ferry
	+ Guard patrol
	+ Drunkard starts shouting about what they're doing
	+ One of the phrax machines starts to grow unstable from the phrax inside
	+ Gatehouse: convince them to open, force it, or haul over the wall taking more time

* Vog thanks them for getting him out and tells them he is thankful for Gareth and their help. He says they kept him in a dusty lab all day with some annoying bronze pillar that hummed and sparkled constantly, forced him to work unpaid overtime, and didn't even have dental benefits! Can you believe...
* Once they get set up, they will provide a better price for phrax (250 silver per pound) as well as share their experimental results.
* **Back in the Wood**: On the first night they are greeted by a specter of the Gloamglozer with a cloaked figure astride a black unicorn. "You dare march your armies of silver and steel in my domain? This is the Green Man's doing isn't it? He was always soft on (venom) the civilized folk. One cup of tea and he's your best friend. Well he doesn't know what's best for the Wood. I know. Fate knows. And she will have her due." They are then ambushed.
* Possible special events:
	+ Gloaming Nullhide Owlbear
	+ Druid of the Old Ways
	+ Meet Binda and Selasi, hot with a new lead. They learned of a village at the foot of the Source Mountains that know of Twylldywyr.
	+ Anomaly: Scintillating Canyon.
	+ Nightmare Moth, puts them to sleep and feeds on their dreams.

## Campaign Notes 1/13/19

* Link: Shattered Castle

For the Broken Fortress, the Gloamglozer shows them terrifying visions and warns them they should turn back or perish. Fey creatures accost them. An Archfey Paladin called **Insomnia** is guarding the ruins of the fortress with her minions. Insomnia is a fearsome warrior-mage, and is sworn to **Fate**, the archfey that controls the Gloaming Wood.

* "Now who are these intruders that would defile this sacred place? Hmm.. the poor fools. The threads of fate already bind your souls to this place. Begone now, pests, and your life will be spared.
* Insomnia is King Xorthos, a human man who betrayed concord for fate and the gloamglozer.
* Concord is a dryad-like being wrapped in golden thread.

* "Has Fate sent another prison master to torment us?"
* They united the human, elves and gnome races of the Gloaming

Wood millenia ago, and they combined their bodies into one as a
testament to our kingdom's solidarity. They would make the peoplke of the Wood like them, one with the forest in body and mind. But our kingdom... already had a
ruler. They were betrayed by the human king Xorthos, led by an archey
named Fate.

* The Gloaming Wood has a master, older than any of us. She is

an Archfey named Fate, and she directs her terrible children to do her
bidding from the tallest peak of the Source Mountain. One who called
himself the Gloamglozer, raised our own people against us. Whenever one
would fall, they would be reborn as one of his mindless servants. The
Green One led us in circles and tormented us endlessly. Then terrible
monsters of the forest awakened, our kingdom was buried, and we were
bound here to rot for eternity while Fate fattens herself on the
Source's power. Please, would you free us?

* When freed, they hear rumbling and storms in the distance. they ask what state the Wood is in now. If the

players swear they will go to the Source and destroy Fate and her
children, they say that the Gnomes of Twylldywyr were working on weapons
 to defeat her. Does Twylldywyr still stand?

* When they exit the castle Concord sees Xorthos bound and gagged and recognizes him. Concord laments his betrayal before extending their roots into Xorthos's mouth, rapidly withering his body into dust.
* an old house that Reed recognizes appears

is in the middle of the path. Out steps Binda and Ellasi, who explain that they found Twylldywyr, and while they don't know what's going on, Long Hua wants to see them.

* They start to feel the magic of the place clouding their minds

 and making their limbs heavy. They must say the phrase of power:
LUNKAR, which means unity in gnomish.

* They are transported, and feel a gentle sea breeze and the

smell of salt in the air. They look to be on an island near the coast,
atop a great stone tower on a hill. They see along the steep cliffs of
the island, hanging homes have been built. They are greeted by somewhat
young gnome wearing long green robes. He is Tobar Kelgrim, the "elder"
of Twylldywyr. He remarks that Reed is a Firbolg, and that his
grandfather made frequent trips to the Primeval Forest, their home.
Anyway, He says that Long Hua felt Concord's presence awaken, and knew
that there was hope for his people to return to the wood, their home.

* They go down a winding trail to a squat stone building. Tobar

leads them up a staircase to a platform, and looking below they are
regarded by one massive eye. Show them the map.

* Merzu, do you recognize me? It has been almost a millenium.

Concord thinks for a moment but shakes his head. I am weak, and my
connection to the past is distant. I remember little from my life before
 I became Concord.

* "We were old friends. And when your people were in danger, I

agreed to protect them until you were able to defeat Fate. I see you
could have been more successful, friend! But now, these four. I feel my
 bones quake when I read their destinies. Are you the champions of this land? What say you?

* "Haha! Go now to my snout, I have gifts I've been holding onto for some time! your commisions, Merzu!"
* They walk down and he opens his massive mouth and extends his long tongue, presenting four

 small chests. They are artifacts that will grant you great power, but
only for a short time. You should attune to them when the moment of
conflict draws near.

* The elder gives them 4 superior healing potions, and 4 potions of restoration that allow an automatic success on the next saving throw. The Elder says that he can bring them close to the source, but

 they will need to make the last walk alone, or Fate's power will detect
 them.

* + When they hike up to the peak, they see a tremendous number of Hollow One and RPC corpses, then they meet General Whiteclaw with his bloodied regiment of RPC soldiers.
	+ "What is your purpose here, fools? Have you come to die in this forsaken place?"
* At the peak is a massive spider creature with a beautiful human woman's face, a gnarled demon-looking creature, and a scintillating butterfly trapped in a web of golden thread inside a withered willow tree. In the middle of the peak is a perfectly still pool of water that trickles down the side of the peak, joinining with other springs below.
* General Whiteclaw shouts out. "Your reign is over, demons! Behold the power of the emperor!" Fate and the Gloamglozer cry out as he brandishes a perfect black sphere of phrax. The butterfly in the web twitches and spasms. Innil feels a convulsing in his stomach. The Gloamglozer launches his staff and ruptures the orb, but not before the Source pool turned pitch black and the storms raging above grew even more tumultuous.
* "Fate: You meddle in forces beyond your understanding, simpleton! What have you done?!"
* "The emperor has no more need for this source. We have power of our own."
* "This entire land will die without it! This serves no one! She screams. Perish!"

* Concord wanted to bind the spirits of their people to the wood, making them gloamborn but changing them like Concord was changed, perhaps robbing them of their personhood?
* Fate and Xorthos wanted to leave the people as they were, but use the Source to grant them power and dominion over them.
* Emperor Vernax and the RPC want to destroy the Source, ending the storms and terrors of the wood. Inside the Magna Luxa tower, they have created a mini version of their own Source.
* Ko, the butterfly spirit of the source, wants to return the Gloaming Wood to its original state, free of civilization.

Fate, the Weaver

AC 16, HP 256 + 256, Speed 50

Saves: STR +4, DEX +2, CON +10, INT +5, WIS +13, CHA +5

***Spellcasting.*** Fate is a 16th-level
spellcaster. Her spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17,
 +9 to hit with spell attacks). Baba Lysaga has the following wizard
spells prepared:

* Cantrips (at will): acid splash, fire bolt, light, mage hand, prestidigitation
* 1st level (4 slots): detect magic, magic missile, sleep, witch bolt
* 2nd level (3 slots): crown of madness, enlarge/reduce, misty step, web
* 3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic, stinking cloud, lightning bolt
* 4th level (3 slots): blight, Everard’s black tentacles, polymorph
* 5th level (2 slots): cloudkill, geas, scrying
* 6th level (1 slot): programmed illusion, true seeing
* 7th level (1 slot): finger of death, mirage arcane
* 8th level (1 slot): power word stun (golden thread)

 Multiattack: Fate makes one attack with her fangs and two with her claws.

Fang: +8 to hit, 1d4 + 4 piercing and must succeed on DC 17 CON save or take 4d6 poison damage.

Claw: +8 to hit, 1d8 + 4 slashing.

***Frenzied slash:*** Fate makes eight claw attacks. Recharge 6.

***Syzygy:*** Fate weaves the destiny of up to one target at a time, granting them disadvantage on all saves and all attacks have advantage against them. on 3d6 align, they die.

Legendary Resistance: 3

Legendary Action: 3

Gloamglozer:

AC 20, HP 139+ 139, Speed 30 fly, blink

Saves: STR +1, DEX +3, INT +10, WIS +14, CHA +14

Gloam is a 10th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). Gloam knows
 the following sorcerer spells:

* Cantrips (at will): chill touch, fire bolt, friends, mage hand, message, produce flame, thaumaturgy
* 1st level (4 slots): burning hands, chromatic orb, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, shield
* 2nd level (3 slots): darkness, detect thoughts, misty step, silence, moonbeam
* 3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, hypnotic pattern
* 4th level (3 slots): phantasmal killer

 Nightmare Slash: +8 to hit, 1d6 + 3 damage, and must succeed a CHA save or take 3d8 psychic damage.

Inhvoke Staff: Each enemy within 60 feet is affected by Irresistable Dance+.