Act 1 · GM Reference

{{descriptive Three estates stand across the cursed country, each marked by a different obsession. Ash remembers what was lost. Glass shows what people would rather hide. Thorns will not let the past stay buried. }}

Act 1 is a linked sequence of haunted-estate infiltrations. Scenes 1 and 2 are the developed opening arc: the party enters the Mansion of Ash belowground, then rises into its upper level. The two scenes share clues, escalation, and a forward route.

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!The Mansions — Act 1 Cover Art{width:100%}

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{{wide ## Act objective

Cross the Mansions of Ash, Glass, and Thorns, recover one surviving clue from each estate, and determine what binds them together.

Act spine

Scene	Focus
S1 · Enter	Solve the flooded foundation, coordinate the Twelvefold Alignment, and open the Ash Lift.
S2 · Rise	Search the upper Mansion of Ash, survive its prepared responses, and recover the Ember Key.
S3 · Reflect	The Mansion of Glass turns observation, identity, and secrecy into obstacles.
S4 · Refuse	The Mansion of Thorns makes inheritance and obsession physically inescapable.

How to run Act 1

Treat each mansion like a place with a security problem, not a line of rooms waiting to be cleared. Stealth, bargaining, investigation, brute force, and a bad idea that happens to work are all fair approaches. Delay and failure should leave a mark—more patrols, a sprung trap, a worse position—but the central clue and a way onward should still be there. }}

{{note Pagination note: Keep each scene’s read-aloud, objective, challenge references, and transition together when printing. Start Scene 1 and Scene 2 on fresh pages if the preview engine honors page-break classes; otherwise use the scene headings as manual break points. }}

{{wide ### Developed scenes }}

S1 · The Flooded Foundation

The party begins below the burned house, where ash-water runs through paired marks, counterweights, and a submerged guardian. Use the challenge artifacts for the checks and outcomes; let the room itself do the rest of the explaining.

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S2 · Upper Level: Mansion of Ash

Upstairs, the mansion stops pretending it is empty. The party can move room to room, deal with the security it raises, and take the Ember Key. A slow approach should make the job harder, not make the job impossible.

{{note Transition: When the Ember Key is secured, point the party toward the ash-heart and preserve the consequences of their timing. A quiet opening gives them concealment; a noisy one gives later rooms more prepared hazards. }}

Scene 1 · Basement Level · The Mansion of Ash

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The Flooded Foundation

{{descriptive Beneath the burned mansion, water moves through old stone like a second heartbeat. The basement once carried ash and rain away from the rooms above. Now the channels answer to something in the house, and the dead household's old machinery has acquired a will of its own. }}

This is the mansion's working foundation: cisterns, counterweights, basins, and buried passages tied together by a flooded circuit. Areas 1–4 are the machine. Areas 5–9 are where the party can learn what the Ash family did here, find supplies, meet what survived, and uncover the buried engine.

{{note How to run the scene: Let the party figure the basement out by touching it, arguing over it, and making mistakes. The water carries marks from the Ash Intake to the Twelvefold Sump. The Counterweight Gallery gives them the order. The Ash Lift is the obvious way up. A clue in one room should make another room easier to read, but do not punish the party for choosing the wrong starting point. }}

Primary objective

Open the Ash Lift and reach the upper levels. Use the Scene 1 challenge artifact for the overall Twelvefold Alignment, then use the E1, E2, E3, and E4 challenge artifacts when the party engages with a specific part of the mechanism.

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Scene flow

Phase	What happens
Orient	E1 shows that the wheels and ash-marks are paired. E2 reveals that the counterweights encode the order.
Coordinate	The party carries the sequence into E3, where the flooded basins and opposite ledges make the machine physical and immediate.
Escalate	Failures raise the water and bring the submerged guardian closer. Pressure should change the tactical situation, not erase choices.
Advance	E4 opens the vertical spine of the mansion. The party may search the side rooms first, but the lift remains the clear forward route.

{{note Pacing and delay

When the party waits, circles, or retreats, let the flood creep higher, disturb something below the surface, or answer with a mechanism turning somewhere in the dark. Add a complication when the fiction earns it. A bad roll can make the next decision harder; it should not erase the lift, the clue, or the party's chance to try again. }}

`` Use the side rooms: Areas 5–9 are not mandatory challenge rooms. Use them for atmosphere, evidence, salvage, roleplay, and optional clues that make the Ash Mansion feel inhabited by its past. ``

{{note Transition: Once the Ash Lift opens, describe the party leaving wet stone and rising into dry soot. The upper level should feel like the same mansion transformed: the water is gone, but the house has begun watching them directly. }}

!Mansion of the Ash

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{{note ### Challenge 1: The Twelvefold Alignment

Primary Check :: Thievery, Crafting, or Athletics DC 16 to set a matching mark; Perception DC 16 to call the correct pair.

The party coordinates the Intake, Counterweight Gallery, and Twelvefold Sump as one mechanism. Each round, the caller identifies a mark and the teams set its matching pair. Achieve 6 successes before 3 failures. A failed check raises the flood one step and advances the submerged threat, but the alignment always remains solvable.

Critical Success: The water drops immediately after the final pair, the Ash Lift opens, and the party gains a clear route through the basement.

Success: One matching pair is set and the next mark becomes available.

Failure: The flood rises one step and the next check is made under worsening footing.

Critical Failure: The mechanism bucks violently. Count 1 failure, raise the flood one additional step, and advance the submerged threat. }}

The Ash Intake

{{descriptive A round cistern occupies the chamber. Twelve iron wheels ring its rim, each stamped with a different ash-mark. Water pushes through the lowest gate and rushes toward the central channel. }}

{{note Challenge: Use the E1 challenge artifact for identifying and turning the wheels. The party can return here whenever the caller in Area 2 identifies the next pair; Area 3 cannot be solved without this chamber. }}

E1 · Basement Area 1

The twelve wheels are six matched pairs. Each wheel here corresponds to a basin-stone in Area 3. The water is the messenger: when a wheel is turned, a dark ripple carries its mark downstream.

{{note ### Challenge 2: Read and Turn the Wheels

Primary Check :: Perception or Crafting DC 16 to identify a matched pair; Thievery or Athletics DC 16 to turn the wheel.

The party reads the ash-marks stamped around the cistern, identifies which two wheels form a pair, and turns the matching intake wheel against the flood. Each successful turn sends the correct mark downstream toward Area 3 and reveals the next pair. Achieve 2 successes before 2 failures. After each failure, the water rises one step; at 2 failures, the intake floods and the party spends 1 round clearing the channel before continuing.

Critical Success: The wheel locks cleanly. Count 2 successes, reveal the next mark, and the operator avoids the surge.

Success: The correct mark travels toward Area 3 and the next pair becomes visible.

Failure: The wrong mark floods the channel and raises the water one step. Count 1 failure.

Critical Failure: The wheel jams and sprays the operator with scalding ash-water. Count 1 failure and increase the water level immediately. }}

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The Counterweight Gallery

{{descriptive A dry gallery overlooks the flood channel. Six pairs of soot-black counterweights hang from the ceiling, each linked to a bell-pull and a chain disappearing into the stone. }}

{{note Challenge: Use the E2 challenge artifact for the sequence check. One PC can remain here as caller while the others split across the adjoining areas, or the party can memorize each call and move together. }}

E2 · Basement Area 2

This is the control room for the basement mechanism. A character here can read the order of the twelve marks and call it to the teams in Areas 1 and 3. The emergency stop halts the flood for one round but sends a shock through the mansion.

Emergency Stop

Pulling the black chain freezes the water for 1 round. It also advances the mansion’s ash-clock, making the upper levels more alert.

{{note ### Challenge 3: Read the Old Sequence

Primary Check :: Society, Crafting, or Thievery DC 16.

The counterweights encode the order of the twelve ash-marks. The caller studies their wear, bell-pulls, and chain tension, then relays the next matching pair to the teams in Areas 1 and 3. This challenge ends after 1 success or 1 failure; the emergency stop can freeze the water for 1 round, but using it advances the mansion’s ash-clock.

Critical Success: The party reads the sequence perfectly and gains a +1 circumstance bonus to the next alignment check.

Success: The party learns the next matching pair and can relay it to the Intake and Sump.

Failure: The caller misreads one mark; the next alignment check is made while the flood pressure worsens.

Critical Failure: A bell rings with the wrong pattern and wakes the submerged guardian early. The sequence remains recoverable, but the next alignment failure triggers the threat. }}

The Twelvefold Sump

{{descriptive Twelve stone basins line the flooded chamber. Each holds a thin skin of black water. At the center, something pale shifts beneath the surface whenever a new ripple arrives from the Intake. }}

{{note Connection: When the sixth pair is set, the water drains toward Area 4 and the Ash Lift unlocks. The party may abandon the puzzle and regroup; it is never a dead end. }}

E3 · Basement Area 3 · Puzzle and Moderate Threat

Split the party across the opposite ledges as described by the map and use the E3 challenge artifact to resolve the basin alignment. The submerged threat is tied to failure and rising water, not to a mandatory opening fight.

Moderate submerged threat:

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The Drowned Ash Guardian

On the third failure—or when anyone enters the central pool—run the moderate encounter: two level 1 aquatic hunters and one level 2 drowned guardian. Use the water, submerged ledges, and rising flood as active terrain.

Composition

• 1× Drowned Ash Guardian (level 2)

1× Drowned Ash Guardian

{{monster,frame,wide ## 1× Drowned Ash Guardian Creature 2 Unique medium aquatic undead water creature ___ Source :: Custom PF2 creature. Perception :: +8; darkvision Skills :: Athletics +9, Stealth +7, Survival +6 Str / Dex / Con :: +4 / +2 / +3 Int / Wis / Cha :: −2 / +2 / −1 AC :: 18; Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +8 HP :: 45; negative healing Resistances :: physical 3 except bludgeoning Speed :: 20 feet, swim 25 feet ___ ### Melee Ashen Slam. +10; Damage :: 1d8+4 bludgeoning plus Grab ___ ### Special Abilities Flood-Swollen Grab. A creature Grabbed in the sump is pulled 5 feet toward deeper water. Escape DC 18. : Blackwater Surge ◆◆. 15-foot cone; DC 18 Reflex. Success: pushed 5 feet. Failure: 1d6 bludgeoning and pushed 10 feet. Critical Failure: 2d6 bludgeoning, pushed 10 feet, and prone. : Ash-Drawn Guardian. While three or more basin-stones remain unsolved, the guardian gains a +1 circumstance bonus to Athletics and ignores hazardous footing in the flooded sump. : Pull Beneath ◆. Trigger: A creature within 10 feet critically fails a check to operate a basin. Effect: Swim half Speed and make an Ashen Slam Strike. }}

{{note Encounter use: Introduce it on the third puzzle failure or when a character enters the central pool. It defends the sump, not the whole mansion, and returns below the surface if the party retreats from the water. }}

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Composition

• 2× Electric Eel (level 1)

2× Electric Eel

{{monster,frame,wide ## 2× Electric Eel Creature 1 Small animal aquatic ___ Source :: Monster Core; retrieved through the local PF2 mirror at pf2.unwhelm.online. Perception :: +4; low-light vision Skills :: Athletics +6, Stealth +7 AC :: 16; Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +4 HP :: 18 Resistances :: electricity 7 Speed :: 5 feet, swim 30 feet ___ ### Melee Jaws. +6; Damage :: 1d6+3 piercing : Tail ◆. +6 (agile); Damage :: 1d4+1 bludgeoning plus 1d4 electricity and stunning shock ___ ### Special Abilities Stunning Shock. A creature critically hit by the tail must attempt a DC 17 Fortitude save: success stunned 1, failure stunned 2, critical failure stunned 3. }}

{{note ### Challenge 4: Twelvefold Basin Alignment

Primary Check :: Perception DC 16 to identify the incoming mark; Thievery, Crafting, or Athletics DC 16 to set its basin.

The party works from opposite ledges while black water carries each mark from the Intake. Each round, identify the mark and set the matching basin-stones. Achieve 6 successes before 3 failures. A failure raises the water and brings the submerged guardian closer; entering the central pool triggers the threat immediately.

Critical Success: The final basins glow gray, the water drains toward Area 4, and the submerged threat withdraws unless already engaged.

Success: The matched basins glow and the flood recedes one step.

Failure: The water rises, footing becomes difficult, and the guardian moves closer to the surface. Count 1 failure.

Critical Failure: The basin cracks and the central pool erupts. Count 1 failure and trigger the submerged threat immediately. }}

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The Ash Lift

{{descriptive A square stone shaft rises through the ceiling. An iron platform waits at its bottom, chained to a mechanism above. The lift is dry, but the walls are marked with the same twelve ash-signs. }}

{{note Transition: Once the lift opens, let the party choose whether to ascend immediately or search the basement for supplies. The Ash Mansion continues upward; this is not the finale. }}

E4 · Basement Area 4

When the Twelvefold Alignment is completed, the last counterweight releases and the platform rises to the first upper level. The shaft is the vertical spine of the mansion; two more levels remain above the basement.

Open the Lift

The completed alignment opens the lift automatically. If the party bypasses the puzzle, use the E4 challenge artifact. Each failure advances the flood and alerts the level above, but the lift remains accessible.

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Clue The upper levels were not built after the fire; they were sealed from below when the mansion began to burn.

{{note ### Challenge 5: Open the Ash Lift

Primary Check :: Thievery, Athletics, or Crafting DC 16.

If the Twelvefold Alignment has not already released the counterweight, the party can force the Ash Lift by working the chains, braces, and jammed release. Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. Each failed check advances the flood and alerts the level above, but the lift remains accessible.

Critical Success: The counterweight releases and the iron platform rises to the first upper level.

Success: The mechanism shifts and one success is recorded.

Failure: The chain slips, the flood advances, and the mansion above becomes more alert. Count 1 failure.

Critical Failure: The release snaps back with a shower of ash and sparks. Count 1 failure, advance the flood, and leave the lift jammed for 1 round. }}

Scene 2 · Upper Level · Mansion of Ash

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The Soot Gallery

{{descriptive The Ash Lift opens into a dry upper level wrapped around a dead central stair. Here the mansion has preserved itself rather than flooded: portraits, corridors, glasswork, and servant routes remain in place beneath a skin of soot. Every room seems to remember the party’s arrival, and the sealed stair beyond the Ember Key waits as the level’s silent center. }}

This scene is an infiltration through a haunted upper floor. The party enters from the lift, servants’ stair, or roofline and chooses how openly to cross the mansion. The map supports several routes, so treat the rooms as a network of sight lines, doors, balconies, service passages, and contested shortcuts rather than a single corridor of encounters.

{{note How to run the scene: Begin with uncertainty and observation. Let the players study the gallery, choose a route, and decide whether speed or quiet matters more. E10 is the level’s first hard reaction: the mansion can close doors, wake portraits, and bring its custodians into play. After that, vary the texture. Some rooms should be exploratory, some investigative, some hazardous, and only a few should become fights. Not every room needs a challenge artifact; use challenge artifacts only when the party is resolving a defined multi-check obstacle. }}

Scene objective

Secure the Ember Key in E16 and learn that it opens the sealed stair to the mansion’s ash-heart. The quest item must remain recoverable even after a failed check, a triggered hazard, or a retreat.

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Scene flow

Phase	What happens
Enter	The lift, servants’ stair, and roofline offer different approaches. Reward scouting with safer angles and useful information.
Probe	Portraits, conservatory glass, ash-choked passages, and old service routes show that the mansion is an active security system.
Choose	The party may take direct routes, investigate side rooms, or use a safer extraction path. Let their route determine which hazards and clues they meet.
Claim	E16 contains the Ember Key and the final security record for this level. Once the key is secured, the party chooses the direct stair route or the safer lift route.

{{note Pacing and delay

The house notices wasted time. A portrait may turn, a bell may crack, a door may lock, or ash may gather in a passage the party meant to use. Make the response specific to what the characters have been doing. The pressure can cost them position, quiet, or hit points; it should not take away the Ember Key or the chance to change tactics. }}

`` Read the level like a heist. The party is studying a security system, finding its blind spots, and deciding which risks are worth the time. If they make noise, let the house remember it. If they are clever, let that cleverness buy them a quiet route. ``

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{{note Transition: When the Ember Key is secured, let the mansion react—a bell somewhere below, a door opening by itself, heat behind the walls. The sealed stair is the clearest next lead, but pause long enough for the players to choose their route and live with the trouble their earlier choices created. }}

!Mansion of Ash — Upper Level Map

The Soot Gallery

{{descriptive Portraits of the Ash family line both walls. Their eyes follow the intruders. Gray ash lifts from the carpet in slow threads and settles on the frames instead of the floor. }}

{{note Lead: A soot fingerprint on the final frame points toward the Portrait Hall and the Ember Study. }}

E10 · Upper Level · Moderate Encounter

Trigger: Crossing the cracked mosaic seals the gallery doors and wakes two sootbound custodians. The party can fight, retreat through the servants’ stair, or expose the portrait anchors.

{{note Tactics: The custodians try to split the party, using the long gallery and sealed stair as cover. Expose an anchor and the room loses some of its grip. Expose all three and the gallery falls quiet enough for the stair to open. }}

{{note Delay clock: After the first round, every second round gives an unbroken portrait time to exhale a minor ash hazard or call another weak custodian. The gallery can become crowded and dangerous, but the party can still force a way through. }}

Unique · Quest Item · Mansion of Ash

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Ember Key

A palm-sized iron key holds a coal-bright ember in its bow. It stays warm even underwater. Near the sealed stair it leaves a faint soot trail, as though the key knows where it wants to go.

Use: Interact at the sealed stair on the upper level.

Effect: The key opens the stair to the mansion’s final level and suppresses the ash ward for 10 minutes. Once used, it becomes cold and inert until the mansion’s heart is confronted.

Story function: Finding the key completes Scene 2 and opens the next level. It is the prize the mansion has been trying to keep out of the party's hands.

{{note PF2e Challenge

The Soot Gallery Challenge

Primary Check: Perception, Crafting, or Thievery DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. If the party spends two rounds on the problem, let one of the portraits act: ash, movement, a watcher, or a new obstruction. The gallery remains passable.

Critical Success: The party exposes one portrait anchor and gains a +1 circumstance bonus to the next check.

Success: The party makes progress toward exposing an anchor.

Failure: A portrait exhales ash; creatures in the gallery are concealed until the end of the next turn.

Critical Failure: The gallery seals another door and releases an ash hazard. The party can still work the anchors or retreat and come back. }}

{{note E10 · Moderate Hazard · Level 2

Ashglass Portrait Snare

{{descriptive The portrait’s painted mouth opens just wide enough for a breath of ash. }}

Stealth: Perception DC 18 to notice the hair-thin soot thread before it is crossed.

Description: A soot thread connects the cracked mosaic to three portrait anchors.

Disable: Thievery or Crafting DC 16; 2 successes. A character can also expose an anchor with an Interact action.

Trigger: A creature crosses the mosaic or pulls a portrait frame without first disabling the snare.

Effect: The gallery doors slam shut. Ash fills the room, creatures are concealed until the end of their next turn, and two Sootbound Custodians emerge from the nearest portraits.

Reset: The trap resets after 10 minutes unless all three portrait anchors are exposed.

{{note Delay: Every two rounds after activation, one unbroken portrait releases another ash hazard. Once the trap is dealt with, the doors can still be opened. }} }}

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Composition

• Encounter 2 Sootbound Custodians
• Triggered by Ashglass Portrait Snare in E10

{{monster,frame,wide ## Sootbound Custodian Creature 2 Medium construct ___ Perception :: +8; darkvision Skills :: Acrobatics +8, Athletics +7, Stealth +8 Str / Dex / Con / Int / Wis / Cha :: +3 / +4 / +2 / −1 / +2 / +0 AC :: 18; Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +6 HP :: 34 Immunities :: mental, poison Resistances :: physical 3 except bludgeoning Speed :: 25 feet, climb 15 feet ___ ### Melee Portrait Claw. +10; Damage :: 1d6+3 slashing plus soot mark ___ ### Special Abilities Soot Mark. A creature hit by Portrait Claw is marked until the end of its next turn. The custodian can see a marked creature through ash concealment. : Framebound Reposition. Once per round, the custodian Steps or Climbs into an adjacent portrait frame. It must emerge in a frame with an exposed or broken anchor. : Portrait Collapse. When reduced to 0 HP, the custodian collapses into ash. Its frame becomes an exposed anchor. }}

The Portrait Hall

{{descriptive A hundred painted nobles gather around a blank frame. The only unpainted figure is a space shaped exactly like the party’s leader. }}

{{note Heist use: Quiet success preserves the party’s cover and makes later infiltration easier. }}

E11 · Upper Level · Social Infiltration

The hall is a sentry gallery, not a dead end. The blank frame can be passed by deception, etiquette, or careful study. Loud violence alerts E12 and E14.

{{note Success: The portraits turn aside and reveal a service door to E12. The party learns the phrase “the house remembers the ember.” }}

{{note Complication: A painted courtier steps out and demands a name. Characters can answer with a clue from E10 or accept a moderate combat complication; progress continues. }}

{{note Delay clock: Each failed round adds one audible bell. At three bells, the servants’ patrol in E12 begins alert but can still be bypassed. }}

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{{note PF2e Challenge

The Portrait Hall Challenge

Primary Check: Deception, Diplomacy, Performance, or Society DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. After two rounds of hesitation, add a bell, a suspicious question, or a painted courtier who steps too close. The service door is still there if the party changes tack.

Critical Success: The painted court accepts the party’s cover and reveals the service door without raising an alarm.

Success: The party passes the hall and learns the phrase “the house remembers the ember.”

Failure: A painted courtier demands a name, creating an additional complication but not blocking passage.

Critical Failure: The portraits sound a bell; the servants in E12 become alert, but the route remains open. }}

The Servants’ Stair

{{descriptive Narrow stairs wind between walls warm as an oven. Brass service bells hang at every landing, their clappers tied to black thread. }}

{{note Clue: Every bell is engraved with the same six-point ember mark found in E10. }}

E12 · Upper Level · Moderate Hazard

This is the quiet route around the gallery. The party must cross it while ash-servants carry sealed trays below. The stairs are cramped, vertical, and full of hiding places.

{{note Success: The party reaches the landing near E13 and may choose who scouts ahead. }}

{{note Complication: A rung or bell gives way, releasing a choking ash cloud. If the alarm sounds, a moderate patrol enters the stairs but withdraws after 3 rounds. }}

{{note Delay clock: After two rounds spent planning, one tray cracks open. The cloud imposes concealment but does not block movement. }}

{{note PF2e Challenge

The Servants’ Stair Challenge

Primary Check: Stealth, Thievery, Acrobatics, or Athletics DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. Every two rounds spent on the stairs creates a small problem: a cracked tray, a moving bell, or a servant looking up. None of these stops the climb.

Critical Success: The party crosses unseen and chooses who scouts E13.

Success: The party reaches the landing quietly.

Failure: A service tray cracks and releases a choking ash cloud; movement continues.

Critical Failure: A bell rings and a moderate patrol enters the stairs; it withdraws after 3 rounds. }}

{{note E12 · Moderate Hazard · Level 2

Black-Thread Bellwire

Stealth: Perception DC 18 to notice the hazard before it triggers.

Disable: Stealth or Thievery DC 16; 2 successes.

Trigger: Characters take the location’s risky action or fail the associated challenge.

Effect: A bell rings and two ash-servitors emerge from the lower landing. The patrol withdraws after 3 rounds if the alarm is not repeated.

Reset: The hazard resets after 10 minutes unless its anchor is disabled.

{{note Delay: Every 2 rounds after activation, add one environmental complication, but keep the route forward open. }} }}

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The Ash Conservatory

{{descriptive The passage opens into a conservatory that should have been bright, warm, and green, but the image before you is a gray ruin beneath a cracked glass dome. Several panes are missing, leaving the black sky exposed, while the remaining glass is filmed with soot and webbed with fractures that catch the ember-light in thin red lines. Ash lies across the tiled floor in pale ridges around dead planters, collapsed benches, and the warped frame of the door toward E14. }}

{{descriptive Translucent vines have swallowed the walls and ceiling supports; they look like branches made from smoked glass, jointed and razor-edged, with colorless leaves and tiny orange lights pulsing inside them. The lights brighten and fade in slow waves, as if the conservatory is breathing through its roots. At the center, a broad ceramic planter is split by a jagged crack. Orange radiance leaks from its soil, illuminating a knot of roots and a thumb-sized ember-spark suspended above the rim, while the nearest vines curl around it like a protective cage. }}

{{descriptive Wind enters through the broken dome with a hollow hush like distant surf. Beneath it comes the dry tick and soft crackle of buried embers. Every footstep answers with a glass-on-glass shiver; loose panes knock in their frames; and the E14 door gives one slow metallic creak before silence returns. The air smells of wet stone, old smoke, and crushed leaves. Fine ash drifts from the rafters whenever the wind changes. Nothing moves at first, but the orange lights turn toward the party one by one. The conservatory has noticed them. }}

{{note GM direction: Use the E13 challenge artifact for the approach, checks, DCs, and ember-spark payoff. }}

E13 · Upper Level · Conservatory Hazard

The conservatory grows the mansion’s living alarm system. The vines have overgrown the passage toward E14, and the room’s ember-light reacts to every disturbance. Choose an approach

Approach	What it accomplishes
Quiet the vines	Clear the passage without waking the room.
Harvest the ember-spark	Gain a clue for the sealed lock in E14.
Force the route	Accept a hazard in exchange for speed.

{{note Escalating hazard · Every 2 rounds

A dormant planter opens and releases a minor plant hazard. Excess noise makes the room difficult terrain for 1 round. }}

`` Route and clue: The cleared passage leads toward E14. The central planter contains the ember-spark. ``

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{{note PF2e Challenge

The Ash Conservatory Challenge

Primary Check: Nature, Survival, Occultism, or Crafting DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. Give the room time and it reacts—glass shifts, vines tighten, or the ember-spark burns hotter. The passage remains open once the party deals with the immediate danger.

Critical Success: The ember-vines fold away and the party harvests a safe spark for E14.

Success: The party opens a clear route through the conservatory.

Failure: Vines lash out and the room becomes difficult terrain for 1 round.

Critical Failure: A dormant planter releases a moderate plant hazard; calming or defeating it ends the challenge. }}

Composition

• 1× Ashvine Guardian (level 2)

1× Ashvine Guardian

{{monster,frame,wide ## 1× Ashvine Guardian Creature 2 Medium construct plant ___ Source :: Custom PF2 creature. Perception :: +8; darkvision Skills :: Acrobatics +8, Athletics +7, Stealth +8 AC :: 18; Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +6 HP :: 34 Immunities :: mental, poison Resistances :: physical 3 except bludgeoning Speed :: 25 feet ___ ### Melee Ash Strike. +10; Damage :: 1d6+3 bludgeoning plus a location-specific complication ___ ### Special Abilities Vine Lash. The guardian uses the conservatory’s hazardous terrain and can see through its ash or alarm effect. : Collapse. When reduced to 0 HP, the guardian collapses into inert ash and the linked hazard can be disabled. }}

{{note Encounter use: This creature is linked to E13’s conservatory hazard and appears only when that hazard’s challenge calls for it. }}

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Composition

• 2× Elegecide (level -1)

2× Elegecide

{{monster,frame,wide ## 2× Elegecide Creature −1 Small fiend aquatic ___ Source :: Salt of the Ocean; Demiplane Perception :: +8 Languages :: Chthonian; telepathy 100 feet Skills :: Diplomacy +5, Deception +4, Intimidation +5 Str / Dex / Con / Int / Wis / Cha :: +2 / +1 / +0 / −1 / −1 / +3 AC :: 15; Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2 HP :: 8 Weaknesses :: cold iron 1, holy 1 Speed :: 15 feet, swim 25 feet ___ ### Aura Doom Aura. (aura, divine, fear) 30 feet. When a non-demon creature ends its turn in the aura, it must attempt a DC 16 Will save. Failure makes it frightened 1; critical failure makes it frightened 2. ___ ### Melee Tail ◆. +6; Damage :: 1d6 bludgeoning ___ ### Innate Divine Spells DC :: 16; Attack +8 1st :: bane, fear Cantrips (1st) :: daze, divine lance, figment, message, sigil ___ ### Special Abilities Hope Vulnerability. The first time each round that a creature critically fails an attack or skill check against the elegecide, it experiences a burst of hope and becomes stunned 1. : Dorsal Lash ◆◆. (mental) The elegecide lashes out with its dorsal fins at a target within 15 feet. The target takes 1d4 mental damage and attempts a DC 16 Reflex save. Critical Success: unaffected. Success: half damage. Failure: full damage and grabbed. Critical Failure: double damage and restrained. }}

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The Sealed Stair

{{descriptive A stairwell descends through solid stone, but a black iron door bars the way. A keyhole glows with a coal-red outline and the lock clicks like a heartbeat. }}

{{note Connection: The Ember Key from E16 is the clean solution; the sequence is the emergency route. }}

E14 · Upper Level · Moderate Lock Hazard

The stair is the objective route to the mansion’s final level. It accepts the Ember Key from E16, but clever characters can also open it by restoring the missing sequence of six house marks.

{{note Success: The lock records the party’s progress and can be opened immediately if the Ember Key is later inserted. }}

{{note Complication: The stair exhales heat and summons a moderate ash hazard. The lock resets, but the clues remain. }}

{{note Delay clock: After each two rounds, one rune brightens and a distant stair begins descending toward the party. The sound creates urgency without sealing the encounter. }}

{{note PF2e Challenge

The Sealed Stair Challenge

Primary Check: Thievery, Arcana, Occultism, or Crafting DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. After two rounds, the lock makes its presence known with heat, a distant footfall, or a rune changing under someone's hand. The sequence can be reconstructed even after a setback.

Critical Success: The lock records the correct sequence and the Ember Key will open it immediately.

Success: The party reconstructs enough of the sequence to continue working the lock.

Failure: The stair exhales heat and summons a moderate ash hazard; the clues remain.

Critical Failure: The rune sequence resets and a distant stair begins descending toward the party; the route is still recoverable. }}

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The Ash Lift

{{descriptive A freight lift hangs over a black shaft. Its chains disappear into the ceiling, and the platform is covered in fresh footprints that stop at the edge. }}

{{note Heist use: Fast work gives the party a clean extraction route after the Ember Key is secured. }}

E15 · Upper Level · Moderate Movement Hazard

The lift connects this level to the hidden service levels. It can carry the party toward the next act, but the brake has been deliberately sabotaged.

{{note Success: The lift becomes a reliable escape or pursuit route. The party may move between levels without splitting. }}

{{note Complication: The lift jolts one level and drops gear into the shaft. A recovery climb remains possible. }}

{{note Delay clock: At the end of every second round, the counterweight moves and creates a new unstable section. The final setback adds a moderate hazard, not a dead end. }}

{{note PF2e Challenge

The Ash Lift Challenge

Primary Check: Athletics, Thievery, Crafting, or Engineering Lore DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. Each pair of rounds makes the lift less trustworthy: a chain jerks, a brake slips, or the counterweight groans overhead. Keep a recovery option visible.

Critical Success: The counterweight is secured and the lift becomes a reliable extraction route.

Success: The party can use the lift, but it jolts once during travel.

Failure: The platform drops one level and gear falls into the shaft; recovery remains possible.

Critical Failure: A moderate lift hazard activates. No character is trapped permanently. }}

The Ember Study

{{descriptive The study is untouched by soot. A single desk faces the sealed stair, and a coal-bright key rests beneath a glass bell. The room’s fire burns without fuel. }}

{{note Resolution: Once the key is secured, let the players choose E14 for the direct route or E15 for a safer extraction route. }}

E16 · Upper Level · Moderate Investigation · Quest Payoff

The study contains the Ember Key and the owner’s final security record. The party can take the key quietly, decode the record, or break the bell and accept the mansion’s attention.

{{note Success: The party claims the Ember Key and learns that the sealed stair leads to the mansion’s ash-heart. }}

{{note Complication: The glass bell cracks, the study fills with ash, and a moderate guardian or hazard appears. The key remains recoverable. }}

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{{note Delay clock: Every two rounds, the glass bell gains another fracture. At three fractures, it rings; this increases later combat or traps but never removes the quest item. }}

{{note Quest item: Ember Key. A palm-sized iron key with an ember trapped in its bow. It opens E14 and points the party toward the mansion’s final level. }}

{{note PF2e Challenge

The Ember Study Challenge

Primary Check: Perception, Thievery, Arcana, or Society DC 16

Progress: Achieve 3 successes before 2 failures. Every two rounds, another fracture creeps across the glass bell or the fire changes color. The key remains in the room, but the quiet way out may not.

Critical Success: The party claims the Ember Key quietly and gains a 1-round head start toward E14.

Success: The party claims the Ember Key and learns that the sealed stair leads to the ash-heart.

Failure: The glass bell cracks and the study fills with ash; the key remains recoverable.

Critical Failure: The bell rings and a moderate guardian or hazard appears; the quest item remains available. }}