link:: Campaign - Shadows of a Radiant Heart, Arc 1 - Seeds of Deception

Session 75

Information

• session_title:: The Fracture
• session_date:: 2025-12-04
• eberron_date::
• player_characters:: Thirteen, Davira, Elrath, Sarodan, Took, Toriman
• level:: 8
• locations:: Khyber

Current Threads

• Face off against Lira

Storyline / Scenes

Scene 1

• Post-Combat & Loot discovery
• Party / Davira Vision RP

Scene 2 - The Diverging Paths

• Left Path: “The Steeple Stones” (High Risk / Fast)
  • A platforming challenge jumping between unstable, jagged debris.
  • DC 16.
  • Group Check: Acrobatics or Athletics.
  • Failure: 4d6 Bludgeoning damage. If they fail by 5 or more, they also lose a piece of non-magical gear.
• Right Path: “The Gravity Riptide” (Low Risk / Draining)
  • Riding a smooth stream of gravity. It is physically easier but exposes them to the raw, corrupting energy of the Breach for longer.
  • DC 13
  • Arcana (to steer the stream), Survival (to endure the environment), or Insight (to resist the whispers).
  • Failure:
    • Arcana Failure: “You misread the gravity current and steer the group through a pocket of raw entropy.”
    • Insight Failure: “The whispers get too loud, drowning out your own thoughts.”
      • Each character who fails the save loses one Level 2 Spell Slot (or two Level 1 slots).
      • They lose 3 Ki Points, 1 Rage usage, or 1 Use of Channel Divinity/Lay on Hands (10 pts).

Scene 3 - The Camp of Lost Things

• The Hollow Warmth Trap

  • The campfire flames are solid crystal. They emit a soft, inviting orange light that looks incredibly comforting in this cold void.
  • It’s a psychic lure. If a character touches the fire or sits too close for too long without checking it, they don’t get warm; they get paralyzed by a sudden, overwhelming feeling of hopelessness (Lira’s hopelessness).
  • Discovery by Investigation/Arcana (DC 14).
  • Effect: The character is Stunned for 1 minute and takes 2d6 Psychic damage as they relive a moment of Lira freezing in the dark.

• The Journal

  • A book lies by the fire. The pages are blank, but when touched, ink bleeds onto the page to form words.

  The Entry: “They call it madness. I call it clarity. The Bishop… he looked at me with pity. He didn’t see the rot. He only saw the polish. I will burn the polish away.”

• The Diagram

  • Scratched into the stone floor is a drawing of the Heart of Radiance, but with notes on how to invert its flow.

  Foreshadowing: There are sketches of wings. Notes about “Becoming the Angel.” This hints at her Valkyrie form.

• The Broken Holy Symbol

  • Lira’s old silver amulet. It is twisted and blackened.
  • If Toriman (Paladin) touches it, he feels a faint, dying pulse of genuine faith buried under the corruption. It confirms that a part of her (or Tira Miron) is still trapped in here.

Scene 4 - The Ghost of Good Intentions

• They find a translucent figure sitting on the edge of the island, legs dangling over the void, watching the Shattered Cathedral.
  • She looks like a silver ghost, but her eyes are burned out. She seems calm, almost dementia-like.
  • The Interaction:
    • She thinks the party are new recruits for Lira’s “New Order.”

    “Are you here for the purification? She’s almost done, you know. The big man… the shifter… he fought it at first. But she fixed him. She fixes everyone.”

    • The Reveal: If the party presses her about Lira or the corruption:

    “I tried to tell her. I told her the whispers weren’t the Flame. She cried when she sacrificed me. She said it was necessary. She said my blood would be the mortar for the new church.”

  • This confirms Lira is tragic but gone. She sacrificed her own friends. It also warns them that Martell has been “fixed” (twisted), setting up the next session’s fight.

Scene 5 - The Void Whale

• As the party approaches this secluded floating island, the violent winds of the Breach die down. It is strangely calm here. Floating alongside the island is a creature the size of a galleon. It looks like a humpback whale, but its skin is translucent and filled with swirling, starry nebulas. It has six gentle, paddling fins and a face with four large, bovine eyes that look incredibly bored.

“Oh, bother. More tourists. I don’t suppose you are edible? No, you look entirely too… bony. And full of anxiety. Anxiety gives me terrible indigestion. Tastes like old lemons.”

• The Whale (let’s call him Barnaby) is a “Khyber Leviathan” that filter-feeds on psychic residue and physical debris. He is currently “grazing” on the rocks here and finds them bland.

“Do you have a Secret? Or perhaps a nice, crunchy Lie? I’m famished.”

• The Feeding:
  • If a player offers a Physical Item (like a ration): Barnaby eats it, spits it out, and says, “Mundane. Droll. Zero stars.”
  • If a player offers a Concept (e.g., #13 tells a lie, or Davira admits a secret): Barnaby inhales deeply through his blowhole.

“Oh! Exquisite! Notes of betrayal, a hint of shame… and is that a finish of suppressed rage? Delightful!” - Reward: - If they entertain him or “feed” him a good emotion, he clears his throat and spits out a “tip.” - Barnaby’s Belch.

Scene 6 - The Inverted Walkway

• The Gravity Shear
  • At the midway point of the twist, gravity tries to pull them in two directions at once (towards the Camp behind them and the Cathedral ahead of them).
  • It creates a Nausea/Vertigo zone.
  • Everyone must make a DC 14 Constitution Saving Throw.
    • Failure: The character becomes Poisoned (disadvantage on attack rolls/checks) for 1 hour due to intense vertigo.

Scene 7 - Climax

As they crest the shear and gravity flips, they look “up” (which is now down) and see the massive doors of the Cathedral looming over them. End the session with the doors groaning open and Martell stepping out.

Recap from previous Session

“Entry… unknown. Time doesn’t work here. Gravity… is a lie. We learned that the hard way.

Last session, the floor of the world didn’t just break; it tore open like a wound. We fell not down, but in. Into a bruise on the face of the cosmos. We watched Lira drift away into the violet tide, looking like a saint ascending. We watched Martell spin away into the dark, screaming.

They left us behind. Stranded on an island of cold obsidian, drifting in the belly of the Dragon Below.

The air here hums with malice. We felt it immediately. The place… it remembers pain. Most of us saw a burning village. A dying brother. The silence of a god that wouldn’t answer. But Davira… she saw something else. She saw the darkness of a tool shed. The crushing weight of a secret. Trauma… made manifest.

And then, the shadows stood up. We fought for our lives on the edge of the abyss. Elrath was seized by weeping giants. Took was battered by screaming ghosts. And amidst the carnage… a moment of pure, chaotic instinct. Perhaps the madness took him for a second, but Sarodan attempted to pitch a camping tent in the middle of a duel. A bold strategy. Or a desperate plea for shelter.

But we are hard to kill. Davira burned the ghosts with fire. Elrath took the monster’s own harpoon and dragged it into the void. We survived.

Now, the ink is drying. The adrenaline is gone. The silence has returned. We stand on the precipice, looking out at the impossible horizon. In the distance… twisted, broken, and waiting for us… is the Shattered Cathedral.

Session Notes

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DM Post-Session Evaluation