The Church Crypt
HauntTreasureThe Church Crypt
Once the last spectral attacker dissolves and the initial fury of the night's surge dies down, Sister Mirela wipes sweat and blood from her brow and gestures toward the cellar doors. "It's time," she breathes, taking up a heavy brass lantern to lead you down into the darkness beneath the church floorboards.
Stepping down into the crypt feels like plunging beneath freezing water. Right at the center of the vault, the air has split wide open. A ragged veil-tear hangs in empty space like a bleeding wound, leaking a sickly violet light that casts long, unnatural shadows. Rooted directly into the subterranean bedrock beneath the altar sits the Threshold Seed—a jagged, pulsing mass webbed with silver veins. Every slow, heavy pulse bleeds cold planar static, drawing the tear a little wider.
The party faces an immediate decision to end the threat: destroy the Seed by physical force or perform a sacred ritual to purify and seal it.
| Resolution Path | Requirements & Checks | Outcome & Consequences |
|---|---|---|
| Option A: Shatter the Seed |
Object Stats: Hardness 8, HP 40 (BT 20). Immunities to precision and mental damage. |
Brute force destroys the structure. When reduced to 0 HP, it detonates in a 20-foot psychic shockwave. All creatures in range must attempt a DC 20 Will save or take 2d8 mental damage and become stunned 1 (or stunned 2 on a critical failure). |
| Option B: Purify the Seed |
Primary Check: DC 22 Religion or DC 24 Occultism (1-hour ritual). Cost: Requires expending a 2nd-rank or higher spell slot with the vitality or sanctified trait (or 1 Focus Point). Mirela can act as a secondary caster (+13 Religion) to grant a +2 circumstance bonus. |
Critical Success: The silver veins burst with blinding light, the stone turns dead-gray, and the veil-tear seals instantly. The party regains 1 Hero Point. Success: The Seed turns to inert ash, and the tear snaps shut with a sharp crack. All local echoes vanish. Failure: The ritual breaks. The Seed releases a freezing pulse dealing 2d6 cold damage (DC 19 basic Fortitude save) and spawns 2 Thornwick Echoes to defend itself. Critical Failure: As failure, but spawns 1 Coalesced Echo (Level 5) and resets ritual progress. |
Story Milestone XP & Resolution
Successfully cleansing or shattering the Threshold Seed closes the planar tear beneath Thornwick, ending the nightly echo surges and completing the main objective of Act 1. Award the party 80 XP (Moderate Milestone reward for a 3rd-level party).