TEXT: EN5ider Presents:
  Godmind
  Part One
  A 5E-Compatible Adventure for 17th-Level Characters
  
  2 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Introduction
  Wherein Everyone Actually Is Out to Get You
  The great change has created widespread turmoil, however. The 
  sun has vanished, replaced by a gyre-shaped nebula barely brighter 
  than the old moon, and the moon itself is black, visible only for 
  the hole it cuts when it passes in front of the Gyre. Magic func-
  tions slightly differently, and it takes weeks of trial and error for 
  spellcasters to regain their previous powers, but even then some 
  magic like teleportation and long-distance communication have 
  to be rediscovered. Nature itself begins to revolt as the fey titans 
  who held sway over Risur in the ancient past awaken and vie for 
  control. And while the citizenry endure all these changes with ex-
  cellent — almost frightening — calm, psychic manifestations start 
  to appear wherever groups of too many like-minded people gather.
  Meanwhile across the sea, Nicodemus, leader of the Obscurati 
  and now tacit ruler of the world, has called the leaders and great-
  est thinkers of the various nations to gather in Cherage, capital of 
  Danor. He plans to unify them to create his vision of a utopia, and 
  the first step on the agenda is the conquest of Risur. If the party 
  can stabilize Risur in time to reach this gathering, they might have 
  a chance to undo what the conspiracy has wrought, but they’ll find 
  that other forces are already eyeing their newly vulnerable world.
  T
  he centuries-old Obscurati conspiracy has 
  completed its masterstroke. By altering the 
  world’s cosmology they have shifted the nature of reality, 
  and local rituals in each nation have made all of civiliza-
  tion loyal to them. All except the nation of Risur, where 
  the party thwarted the local ritual. While the Risuri pop-
  ulace is still affected by the metaphysical shift — which 
  guides people to be more rational, agreeable, and empa-
  thetic — they are still loyal to their homeland, and are the 
  sole bulwark against the Obscurati’s global domination.
  From the Pen of
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  Includes art in the public domain
  with Unparalleled Layout and Graphic Design by
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  Seamlessly Updated to Fifth Edition by
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  Ably Produced and Facilitated by
  Russ Morrissey
  Special Thanks to
  my mother Brenda, because you’ll never be a grandma (at least 
  from me), so Granny Allswell will have to do; and the hundreds 
  of gamers who backed the original release of Zeitgeist on 
  Kickstarter; and the over one thousand generous patrons of 
  EN World EN5ider whose support has made this Fifth Edition 
  update possible.
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  illustrations in the public domain), narrative and descriptive 
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  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 3
  Introduction
  Background
  Three elements are at play in this adventure — the Ob’s ritual to 
  change the world, the awakening of the fey titans, and the Ob’s 
  efforts to consolidate control of the world.
  The Great Eclipse.
  The world is fed by eight planes, providing energies of fire, air, wa-
  ter, earth, space, time, life, and death. The Obscurati’s ritual has 
  changed which planes this world is linked to, and so has altered the 
  nature of reality itself.
  Two years ago, the Ob’s research into the planes accidentally 
  roused the fey titan known as the Voice of Rot, and he has plotted 
  ever since. A primordial manifestation of death, the Voice of Rot 
  sensed the approaching reality shift, and realized it would give him 
  a chance to actually witness the world’s destruction. He subtly influ-
  enced agents and long-dormant cultists around the world to disrupt 
  the Ob’s ritual on Axis Island. Their interference prevented the Ob-
  scurati’s colossus Borne from correctly closing the Axis Seal, which 
  has left the world drifting away from its sun, pulled toward The Gyre.
  The Gyre is visible in the charcoal-black sky as a churning cloud 
  of flickering stars, moving like a pair of immense gears. Over the 
  coming months it will grow alarmingly close, and within a year the 
  world will be pulled into that vortex. In truth, the Gyre is a grave-
  yard of the multiverse, where dead or abandoned worlds are drawn 
  in, ripped apart, and scattered in order to create new planes. In lat-
  er adventures the party will have to go there to recover the planes 
  this world was once linked to — or choose new planes from among 
  the dying remnants — in order to undo the Obscurati’s designs.
  For now, the nature of magic has notably changed. See Appen-
  dix: Reality Shift for full details, but the most pressing one for the 
  party’s interests likely is that, unless you can see your destination, 
  it’s impossible to teleport somewhere if you have not been there 
  since the Ob’s ritual occurred. Similarly, long-range communica-
  tion like sendings only can contact people you have interacted with 
  since the world changed. For at least the immediate future, if the 
  party is curious what’s going on somewhere in the world, they will 
  need to trek there the old-fashioned way.
  The Fey Titans.
  The fey titans have over the centuries since Risur’s founding 
  occasionally risen up one at a time to vie for control of their do-
  main — the forests of the Ash Wolf, the fields of the Father of 
  Thunder, the mountains of Granny Allswell, the seas of She Who 
  Writhes, and the swamps of the Voice of Rot. Not since the na-
  tion’s founding have all the titans awoken simultaneously, but the 
  Voice of Rot’s battle with the party in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Star-
  ry Sky, combined with the sudden reality shift, has roused their ire.
  Traditionally the monarch of Risur has been responsible for sub-
  duing any rebellious titans, typically using some mix of physical 
  might and a canny abuse of fey quirks to trick them into defeating 
  themselves. After any such defeat, the titan is compelled to offer a 
  boon and then return to its slumber.
  Much of the first act of this adventure occurs in and around the 
  city of Bole, located south of Flint, in a more fey-friendly region 
  of Risur. In the farmlands west of Bole, the gazelle-like fey titan 
  Father of Thunder rampages. Attracting an ever-growing herd 
  of animals to his side, he devastates Risur’s breadbasket and will 
  cause a famine if not dealt with.
  In the Antwalk Thicket east of Bole, important lumber-provid-
  ing forests have been caught in rampant blazes. While locals blame 
  the fires on the Ash Wolf, the truth is more complicated. Salaman-
  der hunters from the plane of fire, Jiese, came through a portal and 
  killed one of the lupine titan’s pups. The titan mistakenly blamed 
  the loggers, and so the Ash Wolf hunts in the infernos to punish 
  them. The fires themselves are the salamanders’ doing, since they 
  hope to claim this land as their own.
  In the mines of Anthras Mountain, south of Bole, tremors and 
  quakes herald raids by gremlins, minions of Granny Allswell, who 
  desires children to raise as her own. With the mines thus forced to 
  shut down, Risur also faces a shortage of ore for industry.
  The PCs might prioritize more urgent threats, but they will need 
  to defeat at least one fey titan before they can access the rest of the 
  world. The tentacled titan She Who Writhes madly lashes out at 
  any vessel attempting to travel the seas around Risur. Her sheer 
  size, speed, and ability to detect intruders in her waters make any 
  sort of naval travel nigh impossible. While this titan’s attacks effec-
  tively land-lock the party and the Risuri navy, it also keeps Danor 
  and other nations from attacking. The party might be best-served 
  to deal with all the other titans before confronting the she-kraken.
  But the fifth titan, the Voice of Rot, avoids the party. Indeed, he 
  is making his way through the Gyre toward its center, feeding off 
  all the death around him. He will pose a great threat to the party 
  in Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven.
  Adapting the Adventure.
  As a stand-alone adventure outside the Zeitgeist campaign, you’ll 
  want to strip away most of the background of Godmind and focus on 
  the present. Have the awakening fey titans be a consequence of the 
  same psychic phenomena that are creating the hiveminds. In this way, 
  the adventure deals with “titans” of forest and field, mountain and sea, 
  and then civilization itself. The Axis Island elements don’t fit cleanly 
  into this abridged adventure.
  Alternately, if you just want to mine this adventure for your own 
  high-level campaign, the fey titans could show up as reawakened pri-
  mordial entities or extraplanar invaders. The Axis Island events could 
  be a rescue mission for an inventor who is using the island’s strange 
  magic to craft an airship, and who’s being pursued by a hostile army. 
  The titular godmind could be summoned by an eldritch ritual, or the 
  result of a person’s psychic powers activating and going out of control.
  Keep an Open Plot.
  At this point, your players have access to ridiculous powers and 
  resources, and so expecting a particular outcome for any given 
  challenge is foolish. The temporary limits on teleportation and long-
  distance communication at the beginning of the adventure allow us to 
  at least encourage a starting position, but we expect the PCs to come 
  up with myriad courses after that. Throughout the Zeitgeist campaign 
  we’ve enjoyed crafting complex, interlocking series of scenes, but we 
  recognize that at this high level it’s best to just throw up interesting 
  obstacles and let the PCs figure out their own path.
  We suggest you keep an open mind, and not get worried if they win 
  a few encounters too handily. We’ll push them to their limits eventually.
  
  4 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Introduction
  Obscured No More.
  During the Obscruati’s ritual on Axis Island, the conspiracy’s lead-
  er Nicodemus the Gnostic watched as the great colossus Borne 
  opened the hundred-foot diameter Axis Seal, a gigantic golden 
  disc. The opening of the Seal has unleashed devastating magical 
  energies from across the multiverse and damaged the colossus, but 
  Obscurati mages were present to shield him, and the wounded 
  Borne rearranged the enchanted stone pillars buried beneath the 
  seal. This adjusted which planes the world was linked to, bringing 
  about the new world the Obscurati desired.
  To complete the ritual, Borne needed to lower the seal back over 
  the ritual ground, which would protect the world from extraplanar 
  incursion. At this critical juncture, though, cultists of the Voice of 
  Rot who had infiltrated the Ob set off explosions that killed most 
  of those present and slew the body Nicodemus inhabited. Borne 
  was blasted by waves of planar energy that tore him apart before he 
  could close the seal. The three-hundred-foot tall colossus collapsed 
  in pieces at the edge of the ritual valley, and the Axis Seal fell upon 
  him, pinning the crippled construct.
  Nicodemus’s spirit form appeared in Methia, at the place where 
  he first died centuries ago, and it took him several days to find 
  a new host body and reach Cherage, the capital of Danor. Since 
  then he has fumed, not knowing what went wrong with his ritual 
  but suspecting Risur was responsible (and technically, it was). The 
  predations of She Who Writhes thwarted his first attempt to reach 
  Axis Island (and cost him another body), and so he is forced to wait 
  and turn his attention to other affairs.
  Recognizing Risur and the PCs as a threat, Nicodemus has 
  sent out word to the leaders and enlightened thinkers of Danor, 
  Drakr, and Crisillyir, as well as the various smaller nations north 
  of the Avery Sea. He has invited them to Cherage for the Forward 
  Symposium, where he will explain what has happened, and play 
  upon their mutual concerns to unify them into a global govern-
  ment. Because the new reality makes people more reasonable, he 
  can actually accomplish this goal with relative ease, after which 
  his plan is to launch a massive invasion of Risur in order to wipe 
  out any resistance. Then he’ll turn his attention to fixing whatever 
  went wrong at the Axis Seal.
  What he doesn’t realize, though, is that one of the planes he 
  chose to link the world to, Ratios, has been assimilated by an ex-
  traplanar race known as the Gidim. These creatures, formed of 
  psychic energies manifested into physical form, tried to invade the 
  world thousands of years ago, but the Axis Seal cut them off. Now 
  they return, and they find the mix of psionic energies the Obscurati 
  have woven into the new reality a handy tool. While the Gidim will 
  play a more prominent role in Zeitgeist #11: Gorged on Ruins, 
  a familiar one — the wayfarer Sijhen — will attend Nicodemus’s 
  conference and help provoke a devastating psychic manifestation.
  The Wildcard.
  In Zeitgeist #6: Revelations from the Mouth of a Madman, the 
  party thwarted a plot by Benedict Pemberton to conquer the na-
  tion of Ber. The former dragon tyrant, long disguised as a human 
  industrialist, might even have lost a daughter to the party. But 
  Pemberton swiftly came to realize the threat posed by the Ob, who 
  were trying to conquer and dominate the whole world.
  In the immediate aftermath of the Axis Seal ritual, Pemberton 
  and his minions invaded Axis Island and defeated the defenders, 
  who were panicked by the failure of the colossus. Expecting a 
  counterattack by the Ob, he had his minions seize the Axis For-
  tress. But when no attack came (thanks to defense by She Who 
  Writhes), Pemberton began to repurpose the fortress’s factories to 
  produce his own inventions.
  More importantly, Pemberton can see the aftermath of the Ob-
  scurati’s ritual, and while he doesn’t have the acumen to undo it 
  himself, he is inspired by the PCs’ perspicacity — or at least their 
  tenacity — in discovering and thwarting his own plot. He intends to 
  contact them and propose an alliance against the Obscurati.
  Adventure Overview
  The first act is contained to Risur, which the party will likely not be 
  able to leave until they defeat She Who Writhes. If the party does 
  this early without handling the other fey titans, they can return to 
  handle them later. In the second act, an ally encourages them to 
  visit Axis Island, and then they’ll have a chance to interrupt an ef-
  fort of the Obscurati to consolidate power, but the party could deal 
  with these two challenges in the other order.
  Act One: Against the Titans.
  The party finds themselves in charge of a changed Risur, where 
  there is no sun and the rules of magic have changed, forcing them 
  to spend at least a few weeks reinventing the wheel, as it were, 
  to regain access to necessary magic. During that time they start 
  to learn about the new nature of the planes, hear reports of the 
  fey titans causing trouble, and witness people’s behaviors change 
  toward cooperation and reason.
  This last one wouldn’t seem so bad, until a protest against inhu-
  mane work conditions turns into bedlam when the unified psychic 
  will of the protesters manifests as a tentacled “hivemind.” The 
  party must handle these troubles while cut off from news of the 
  outside world.
  In order to get beyond Risur’s shores they must subdue She 
  Who Writhes, but allies offer to help, including the mighty eladrin 
  dreadnought Asrabey Varal and the archfey of the sea Beshela, 
  who believes she can convince She Who Writhes to fight for them 
  if the party can get her close enough. But when the party sails out 
  to confront the fey titan, Asrabey betrays them and tries to kill 
  Beshela and take control of the kraken. Swayed by the power of the 
  new reality, he has decided to ally with the Obscurati.
  Act Two: The New Conspiracy.
  A blood tide rises after the battle with She Who Writhes. The 
  blood carries a message from the demoness Ashima-Shimtu (see 
  Zeitgeist #4: Always on Time), advising the PCs to investigate 
  Axis Island, deal with their most pressing problems (as detailed in 
  this adventure), and then rescue her (in Zeitgeist #11: Gorged 
  on Ruins).
  At Axis Island, the party sees a massive bloom of uncontrolled 
  planar flux erupting into the sky from the island’s central valley. 
  Pemberton invites them to explore the Axis Seal for clues on how 
  to undo the Ob’s ritual, and if they agree to cooperate on defeating 
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 5
  Introduction
  the new rulers of the world, he offers to share one of his innova-
  tions with them — airship technology. They’ll need it to cross the 
  world quickly and round up allies against the conspiracy. In fact, 
  Pemberton styles himself leader of a new conspiracy, since after all 
  he and the rest of the party are now the underdogs fighting against 
  the global order.
  Divinations and other clues alert the party to the upcoming For-
  ward Symposium, where dignitaries will discuss plans for a world 
  government founded with Nicodemus’s ideology. Pemberton wants 
  to send a sleeper agent in — Brakken of Heffanita, a telepathic mi-
  notaur and the former ambassador from Ber to Risur. He can form 
  a psychic link with the party so they can see what he sees inside the 
  symposium, and then decide how to respond.
  The Ob launch an attack to reclaim Axis Island. Recognizing he 
  can’t sustain a prolonged assault, Pemberton invites the party to 
  board their newly-upgraded airship, blow the joint, and fly the hell 
  out of there. The party can then land and hide out near Cherage, 
  since they need to stay within range of Brakken’s link.
  The Forward Symposium.
  Heads of state, military leaders, and great thinkers arrive in Cher-
  age, including familiar faces from previous adventures. Nicodemus 
  espouses a prosperous new world of cooperation, and paints Risur 
  and the PCs as villains who will try to stop them. He succeeds 
  in getting an agreement from several nations to unify and attack 
  Risur, and orders are sent out to begin preparations for an attack 
  within a week. But when Nicodemus opens the floor to discussion 
  of other ways to improve the world with the benefits of newfound 
  cooperation, the group’s aligned thoughts start to manifest a hive-
  mind, like the one in Flint.
  Philosophers suggest ways to improve the quality of life, econo-
  mists recommend improving labor efficiency, and politicians 
  propose a solution they’ve always secretly wanted but never have 
  been able to voice: kill everyone who doesn’t pull their weight. The 
  normally abhorrent idea is greeted with near-unanimous approval 
  by the assembled group. Possessing a clear purpose, the hivemind 
  grows a tentacle cocoon around the thinkers and sets out to cull 
  the city of Cherage of all undesirables. It has become the Godmind.
  Nicodemus flees in horror, but Brakken — trapped inside the 
  cocoon yet able to resist having his consciousness subsumed — is 
  able to communicate with the party and guide them should they try 
  to save the capital of the nation that has long been Risur’s enemy.
  While the party can totally sit back and let Cherage be consumed 
  by the psychic vortex of murder-philosophers that value economic 
  efficiency over human life, if they swoop in on their airship and 
  save the day, they’ll have planted the seeds for Danor to break free 
  from the Ob’s control. Now all they have to do is stop every other 
  country’s armies, but that’s for Zeitgeist #11: Gorged on Ruins.
  Rewards.
  The party begins this adventure at 17th level, and should reach 
  18th level after act one, then 19th level at its end. The appendices 
  at the end of Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky provide guide-
  lines for what resources the PCs have access to, now that they’re 
  basically in charge of an entire country. For that reason, we don’t 
  provide specific treasure, though the party can acquire various 
  boons. Any miscellaneous “loot” is probably better used by lesser 
  subjects of Risur, and as usual, count any such gear the PCs keep 
  against their monetary resources.
  Campaign Variety.
  This far into a campaign, different groups may have very different webs 
  of allies and enemies for the PCs. Consider how each of these NPCs 
  will fit into the campaign from here on.
  Alexander Grappa. The mindmaker was likely killed in Zeitgeist 
  #7: Schism, though he has enough mind magic to possibly have sur-
  vived by burrowing into the subconscious of another Obscurati officer. 
  If the party had a close bond with him, he might fill in the role of Brak-
  ken of Heffanita.
  Amielle Latimer. The tiefling ghost gunsmith might have flown 
  back to Danor and could be spying on the Obscurati. If she was found 
  out, though, she’ll want to stay in Flint to help protect it. However, she 
  doesn’t want to be privy to any secrets, because if she’s destroyed and 
  rejuvenates among the ghost council, they’ll be able to compel her to 
  talk. It might be best to keep her off-stage until the campaign climax, 
  when she can make a pivotal sniper shot to save an endangered PC.
  Copperhat the Headless. If he survives, Copperhat remains in the 
  Dreaming, spying for the Voice of Rot and poised to cause chaos in 
  Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven.
  Kasvarina Varal. If she rejoined the conspiracy, she’s with Nicode-
  mus running things. Her focus is on military and defense, and she’ll 
  direct the multi-pronged assault on Risur in Zeitgeist #11: Gorged 
  on Ruins.
  If she helped the party escape at the end of Zeitgeist #8: Diaspora, 
  she likely ended up in Elfaivar, where she and Athrylla Valanar prepare 
  the eladrin enclave Sentosa to resist the Obscurati’s world dominion. 
  If the party visits her, they can call upon her loyal dreadnoughts for 
  minor missions throughout the world.
  Lya Jierre. Likely a member of the ghost council, Lya adopts the 
  role of chief of staff for Nicodemus, which also keeps her by his side as 
  a bodyguard. Nicodemus intends to place her in charge of Risur once 
  the nation is conquered.
  Terakalir. If Pemberton’s daughter she survived Zeitgeist #6: Rev-
  elations from the Mouth of a Madman, she is present on Axis Island, 
  polymorphed to resemble a teenaged human with a mechanical pros-
  thetic arm and eye. She doesn’t have a significant role, though.
  Tinker Oddcog. If he lives, either as an ally of Risur or of Benedict 
  Pemberton, it would be smart to get him onto Axis Island in Act Two 
  (he might ask to go along, or stow away—since he’s so, so tiny—on 
  their ship) so he can put the finishing touches on their airship. He 
  could then disappear in the chaos of battle and show up again to help 
  the party deal with the colossus in the campaign’s finale.
  Viscount Inspector Nigel Price-Hill. Viscount Price-Hill still runs 
  the RHC, but will operate “off-screen” for the rest of the campaign un-
  less your party responded to him favorably. His main role is to provide 
  a foil for the party if they decide to ally with the conspiracy. In that case, 
  he assumes leadership of Risur and tries (likely futilely) to defend the 
  nation.
  
  6 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  T
  he party is assumed to begin Godmind in the 
  city of Flint immediately following the end of 
  Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky. Before the real “ad-
  venture” begins, the PCs need time to settle in after the 
  climax of defeating Governor Stanfield and disrupting 
  his ritual. A montage of scenes highlights in what ways 
  the world has changed.
  World of Ruin
  Exploration. Montage.
  The world has been shattered. Things are forever changed.
  While the PCs witnessed the effects of the ritual firsthand dur-
  ing their conflict with the emergent Obscurati forces, only as the 
  adventure begins does the full breadth of the Obscurati’s grand 
  scheme become obvious. The world has changed; the balance of the 
  planar cosmology is upset and new planes of existence align them-
  selves with the world. As the adventure begins, the PCs should 
  have some opportunity to learn about these changes.
  Magical Mishaps.
  One of the Risuri soldiers tries to give a healing potion to an in-
  jured comrade. The man swallows, coughs and writhes, then dies 
  of suffocation (his throat sealed shut with new flesh, blocking his 
  windpipe).
  Any magic the PCs attempt above cantrips either fails outright 
  or goes awry (10% chance of mishap per spell level; it fails if it 
  doesn’t mishap). Activated magic items have a similar chance of 
  failure. Permanent magic items function mostly normally, though 
  perhaps with odd side-effects. Simple detect magic reveals that 
  magical auras are almost the same, but most spells are suffused 
  with subtly unfamiliar magic.
  In general, spellcasters feels that with enough time they could 
  figure out how to use this new magic safely, but it will take days of 
  research and/or practice. Likewise, old magic items could be used 
  safely with a bit of training, but unsuspecting people will suffer a 
  lot of accidents in the coming days.
  Prologue: That Was One 
  Hell of an Apocalypse
  Meanwhile… Around the World
  Other adventures have started with news of events in Risur and beyond, 
  but now the party is cut off. They might discover this information by 
  divination, but due to She Who Writhes cutting off Risur’s sea lanes, 
  the PCs don’t get any firsthand news for months.
  Stable Transition. Unlike Risur, other nations have strong cells of 
  Obscurati agents who made sure their local brands of ancient monsters 
  didn’t wake up and start causing trouble (even if the party killed some 
  of the Ob’s officers in Zeitgeist #7: Schism, their underlings probably 
  could have taken over.)
  Magic now functions normally in Danor and the Malice Lands.
  Danor is firmly in league with Nicodemus the Gnostic, who reveals 
  himself and pens letters to several newspapers to explain what has 
  happened (in layman’s terms) and encourage cooperation. He does 
  not assume an official government position, but supported by Sover-
  eign Han Jierre, Nicodemus lets the people of the world know that he 
  has answers to their many questions, and invites the leaders and most 
  prominent thinkers of these nations—all except Risur and Ber, which 
  cannot be reached because of She Who Writhes.
  I Knew This Was Coming. The eschatologist movement in Drakr 
  actually prevents almost any chaos, as many Drakrans stoically accept 
  what they’ve seen as another step towards the End Times. In the far 
  north of Drakr, though, Grandis Komanov encourages her radical 
  eschatologist sect to raise an apocalyptic army of the dead to sweep 
  across the world. Komanov’s doomsday army is further detailed in Zeit-
  geist #11: Gorged on Ruins.
  Damned Lies. Crisillyir’s ruling hierarchs have long been subtly 
  swayed by the Obscurati, but the nation sees the greatest turmoil 
  of any. All those who would have resisted were visited in the hour of 
  transition and killed. They left behind cleverly-forged suicide notes, 
  confessing that their faith was a lie, and that they used myths of gods 
  only so they could hold onto power over the common people.
  Meanwhile, the demon Ashima-Shimtu, imprisoned for over a thou-
  sand years in the Crypta Hereticarum, uses blood magic to manifest 
  around Crisillyir and disseminate the sacrament of apotheosis (see 
  Zeitgeist #8: Diaspora). As she hoped, desperate people caught in 
  crises of faith use the ritual to call forth their gods and put them on trial. 
  The fallout of the sacrament of apotheosis and its use is further detailed 
  in Zeitgeist #11: Gorged on Ruins.
  Wait and See. The nation of Ber suffers small upheavals as Obscurati 
  agents attempt to seize control, but they are brutally quashed by Bruse 
  Shantus. Sensing the precariousness of his position, he charismatically 
  proclaims that the darkening of the sky heralds that this is Ber’s time 
  to prosper. Since many of the Beran races possess darkvision, the na-
  tion of recently-savage people actually remains mostly orderly. Bruse 
  Shantus is wary of Nicodemus, but plans to attend the conference in 
  hopes of maintaining his rule without unnecessary war.
  Old Wounds, New Wounds. Even the eladrin living in the colonies 
  that have overtaken Elfaivar respond positively to Nicodemus and the 
  Obscurati. However, those eladrin who hid for centuries in the fey en-
  claves—which existed between this world and the Dreaming—begin to 
  stream into colonial cities, telling of their enclaves splitting apart and 
  disintegrating. Thousands died. Only one enclave survived; Athrylla 
  Valanar, matriarch of the Sentosa enclave, managed to pull her city 
  back into the real world as the Ob’s ritual cut the Dreaming off from the 
  rest of reality. She urges her people not to be tricked, but her voice is 
  mostly drowned out by optimism for reconciliation.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 7
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  Gyre-Rise
  The night sky is black, or rather closer to slate gray. Close observa-
  tion with a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals a darker 
  disk of pitch black where the moon used to be, and only four stars 
  are visible. Skyseers immediately sense that this isn’t the same 
  moon, and recognize that three stars are in the location previously 
  held by the planet Apet (and its ring Reida), while the other is 
  where Mavisha used to be. But they aren’t the same planets.
  A DC 28 Knowledge (Arcana) check recognizes that the en-
  ergy of the moon matches an obscure star known as Mojang. This 
  was actually the same purple star that the Danoran telescope was 
  pointed at on Axis Island two years ago (see Zeitgeist #1: The 
  Island at the Axis of the World), though that star was only ever a 
  dot, not the size of the moon’s disk. The other planets match stars 
  known as Fourmyle, Baden, Illocus, and Ostea.
  After a few hours when the sun should rise, instead the Gyre 
  ascends into view. The churning Gyre provides as much illumina-
  tion as a full moon used to, so the new “day” is bright enough for 
  people to see dimly. Nevertheless, people around Flint panic at the 
  missing sun and start fires. If the party organizes firefighting ef-
  forts they can contain most of the blazes, but left alone 10% of the 
  city burns over the next three “days.”
  Storm clouds begin to form over Cauldron Hill, but when the 
  Gyre is directly over the city, no rain falls. Instead, with cracks 
  audible even from the Governor’s Island, trees are torn from the 
  stone and carried into the sky. Any Spirit Medium in the party gets 
  a lurching sense of a lot of spirit energy leaving the long-cursed 
  mountain. A Skyseer looking at those clouds recognizes that they 
  are somehow tied to the planet Av, once plane of Life. Indeed, some-
  one with a telescope might spot a tiny dark speck nearly motionless 
  in front of the Gyre. This is the plane of Av, ripped from its old orbit 
  and planted where Nem, the old plane of death, used to be.
  Throughout the rest of the day another three planets wheel 
  across the sky in the positions normally held by Jiese, Avilona, and 
  Urim. Jiese is actually still the same; the others are again obscure 
  stars: Perlocus and Ratios.
  If the party doesn’t figure out what these stars are, a royal as-
  tronomer will eventually contact them in about a week with the 
  information.
  Fey Affairs.
  Asrabey Varal and Gale find the party and inform them that it’s 
  still not possible to reach The Dreaming, and that their natural 
  eladrin teleportation ability doesn’t work anymore. Gale has 
  brought a small mirror with her, and she asks them to attend the 
  body of someone who died in the fighting. She looks in the mirror 
  for a bit, then shows that spirits of the dead are reflected in the 
  glass. Also, she and Asrabey (and any other eladrin) can slightly 
  affect the spirit’s reflection by moving their arms through the air 
  where it would be if it were visible.
  Gale offers to help the city however the party thinks she can. 
  Asrabey excuses himself, saying he is only useful in battle, and that 
  he will return when his sword is needed again.
  Beshela, Archfey of the Sea, who brought the fey titan She Who 
  Writhes to attack the Danoran fleet, vanished into the sea at the 
  end of that battle.
  No News Is Bad News.
  Without teleportation or sending, news must be delivered on foot. 
  Couriers dispatched to Bole by train could get word back in two 
  days. News from Slate will require two weeks or more on horse-
  back. News from distant Shale will take over a month; by then 
  Risuri mages will have figured out how to cast sending and teleport.
  What’s Up on Cauldron Hill?
  The cursed mountain once had a close connection to the Bleak Gate, 
  which was a dark reflection of the real world. That reflection was cre-
  ated by Av, the plane of life with traits of Dreams and Reflections. The 
  Obscurati shifted Av to fill the role of plane of death, which put it at the 
  edge of the “solar system” of planes that feed energy into the world.
  This has the effect that the old Bleak Gate and Dreaming have been 
  cut off from the rest of the world, pulled into the mass of doomed 
  planes around the Gyre. With no specific plane for the dead to linger 
  in, their spirits remain on the real world and are drawn toward places 
  like Cauldron Hill where they can find passage to Av, the new plane of 
  death. Most of these spirits are invisible, but can be seen in reflections.
  But Av is still metaphysically linked to the Dreaming and the Bleak 
  Gate, and so every time the Gyre passes above Cauldron Hill (and 
  similar places where “the veil is thin”), all the spirits collected there 
  are pulled into their appropriate afterlife. Some pieces of the physical 
  world are also torn away and sucked across the cosmos into the Gyre. 
  Within weeks, the peak of Cauldron Hill is bald, stripped of all its trees.
  Going there during “noon” when the Gyre is overhead is perilous. 
  PCs who have levels in the teens would probably just suffer some 
  negative energy damage and feel vertigo. Weaker people might be 
  sucked bodily into the Gyre, lost forever.
  Asrabey Varal. A centuries-old eladrin warrior, 
  Asrabey became one of the many husbands of Kasvarina 
  Varal. For years he trained, and undertook many daring 
  raids until he became famous as one of the greatest 
  eladrin warriors in the world. Two centuries ago Kas-
  varina sent Asrabey to Risur to offer his services to the 
  Unseen Court, and he unwittingly acted as a critical 
  source of information and influence for the Obscurati.
  Stern and unsympathetic to outsiders, Asrabey displays few emotions other 
  than righteous fury. Even with his wife he felt not so much love as intense 
  devotion. After Kasvarina lost her memories, Asrabey rescued her and pro-
  tected her. However, his foremost loyalty was to the woman he’d married, and 
  that Kasvarina was co-running the Obscurati. In the new world order, Asrabey 
  decides that he must serve the Obscurati, which means betraying the party.
  Hana “Gale” Soliogn. An eladrin woman just 
  over 100 years old, Hana can fly at will, control winds, 
  and speak with birds, plus since she received the favor of 
  a member of the Unseen Court she can wield offensive 
  weather magic. Bitter for her treatment by her Danoran 
  “foster family,” she originally used her powers to sabo-
  tage Danor-owned industry, earning the moniker “fey 
  terrorist.” After the Great Eclipse she puts aside her political aspirations in 
  order to help Flint defend itself from the Obscurati, though her ultimate loyalty 
  lies with the common people and the followers of traditional druidic faiths.
  
  8 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  The party likely dispatches a ship, perhaps the swift Impossible, 
  to get news. Less than half an hour after the messenger ship leaves 
  port, a fire is visible far out to sea. Gale, likely the only person 
  capable of flight, heads out, and returns a couple hours later carry-
  ing a single survivor — the ship’s young cabin boy, the only person 
  she could physically carry. The boy says they were set upon by She 
  Who Writhes.
  Any further attempts to sail through the seas of Risur meet with 
  similar fates if the vessels go into water deeper than thirty feet. The 
  fey titan is able to sense intruders into her domain for hundreds 
  of miles, and the new nature of teleportation magic allows her to 
  catch even the fastest ships.
  Who’s in Charge Here?
  Roland Stanfield is dead. Depending on the events of the previous 
  adventure, Flint could be left without a governing body. Principal 
  Minister Harkover Lee, advisor to the monarch, notices that peo-
  ple are confused who to report to, and suggests that whichever PC 
  is now king or queen name at least an interim governor of Flint.
  Possible options for a new governor include:
  •	 Captain Dale, Guardian of Cauldron Hill: A likely staunch 
  ally of the PCs, Dale makes for a good military head during 
  the crisis. He focuses on preparing for supernatural threats, 
  and he pursues a personal project of forcibly evacuating 
  squatters from Cauldron Hill, which keep the various 
  monsters in the woods and atop the mountain from causing 
  trouble. However, he neglects more mundane concerns like 
  maintaining infrastructure and paying people.
  The city is safe but the people are discontent, and the 
  imminent refugee flood from the south angers the wealthy 
  since Dale won’t let them shove the newcomers into slums 
  on Cauldron Hill.
  •	 Stover Delft, Head of Flint Royal Homeland Constabulary: 
  The PCs have likely grown beyond needing Delft’s guidance, 
  and far outclass him in terms of power. Delft will keep Flint 
  stable and is a good moderate contender for the governor 
  position.
  He has a great head for logistics, has been in the streets 
  enough to sympathize with the working class, but has done 
  enough politicking to keep those in power happy. But 
  Delft is just a safe choice, and he has no vision for the city. 
  Nothing gets worse, which might be good enough for now.
  •	 Thames Grimsley, Head of the Dockers Union: Thames 
  takes an active role in reorganizing the city and putting 
  more power in the hands of the people. His governing style 
  rubs major business owners the wrong way, but it does keep 
  the citizens content during the crisis. He and a bunch of his 
  friends will become very rich, but eventually he’ll become 
  beholden to the existing power groups, both legal and crimi-
  nal. During the campaign’s final adventure, Obscurati agents 
  might blackmail him into betraying the party.
  •	 Hana “Gale” Soliogn, Alleged Fey Terrorist: Nearly 
  everyone would hate the idea of Gale becoming governor, but 
  that pervasive distrust and fear would motivate her to never 
  waver in pursuing what is best for Flint. She’s sympathetic 
  to working people, but was raised in Danor to handle high 
  society. She has fought for her life a few times and has no 
  fear of organized crime, and her own unexplained magical 
  flight drives her to understand how the magic of the new 
  world could benefit the city.
  A Gale governorship would be marred by early protests 
  and conflict, but if the party steps in and offers regular shows 
  of support, she overcomes these obstacles, earns the trust of 
  disparate groups in the city, and pushes for transformative 
  leadership. The city will begin training youths in simple 
  magic (while including more broad education to improve 
  their value to the economy and their understanding of how 
  the world works), and if given enough time the city of Flint 
  will become a progressive beacon.
  •	 Catherine Romana, Obscurati Traitor: Catherine Romana 
  might have survived and escaped after attempting to assas-
  sinate the king in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky. If so 
  she disguises herself with illusions and adopts the identity 
  of Dextra Adienne, an orphan noble (who Romana murders 
  as part of her cover story). “Dextra” is firmly on the side of 
  existing power groups, but she promises to keep industrial-
  ists and financiers happy so that Flint will cheaply provide 
  supplies for what she expects is an imminent war with 
  Danor. Romana is a consummate opportunist, and only ever 
  joined the Obscurati because she thought it would bring her 
  more power.
  •	 Other Choices: The party could come up with a myriad of 
  alternate solutions to the leadership conundrum. Most other 
  NPCs who might be qualified aren’t Flint locals (Morgan 
  Chief Inspector Stover Delft. The party’s 
  former boss now obeys their commands. Delft handles 
  the logistical and political drudgery of the RHC, and will 
  deploy his constables throughout the nation and world to 
  get the party whatever information they need (though the 
  new world’s changes in magic will make some intelligence 
  slow in coming). He’s damned proud of the party, and is fully confident their 
  heroics will save the nation.
  Normally rather easy-going, Delft gets squinty and condescending when 
  politics obstruct important affairs. Delft chews tobacco, and thinks he looks 
  charming if he grins while sucking on tobacco juices. After several unpleasant 
  run-ins with mimics (including losing a chunk of his leg seventeen years ago), 
  he walks with a cane, which he’ll bang against inanimate objects before he 
  gets too near to them, in case they’re waiting to get him.
  Principal Minister Harkover Lee. Per-
  haps the most powerful mage in Risur (aside from any PC 
  spellcasters), Lee acts as bodyguard and chief of staff to 
  the king. Straight-backed and virile despite being in his 
  60s, Lee speaks crisply and passionately in a slight Ber-
  tinged accent, and was said to be quite the ladykiller in 
  his youth. He always dresses in reds and golds and carries 
  a solid gold orb tucked into his robes. He never eats or drinks in public. He was 
  once known as the dragon tyrant Inacht the Hex-Eater, but he has abandoned 
  that identity and is now loyal to Risur.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 9
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  Cippiano is, but would decline if offered.) Appointing an 
  outsider, organizing a council of representatives, or waiting 
  to hold elections don’t give the city solid leadership quickly 
  enough, so for a time chaos will grip the city.
  If none of the PCs wear the crown, whoever is the monarch 
  chooses Captain Dale.
  And Risur Is My Nation.
  Late in the day, a courier named Gully Foyle finds the PCs and 
  frantically asks for help. He’s been teleporting. A few times when 
  he was in a rush and he tried to weave through a crowd, he found 
  himself simply stepping straight to a spot he could see. He doesn’t 
  know if this is safe, but he can’t stop doing it.
  By doing a bit of testing, the party can find out he can teleport 
  anywhere he could walk or climb to, even across small bodies of wa-
  ter like Parity Lake or the Stanfield Canal (Delft recommends they 
  should probably rename that). He can’t teleport through a fence, 
  through bars of a cell, or onto the roof of a stranger’s house, but 
  he can teleport to any place that is public or that he has permission 
  from the owner to enter. He also can’t cross Flint Harbor or jaunt 
  to the Ayres Islands (She Who Writhes claims the seas as her own, 
  so Foyle doesn’t have permission from the owner).
  Most creatures can only use this ability once per day as an action, 
  and they need 8 hours practicing, after which they must succeed a 
  DC 17 Dexterity or Wisdom check to learn how to use this ability. 
  Any character with feats for greater mobility (or otherwise with a 
  focus on rapid movement) doesn’t need to practice to pick up the 
  skill, and can use it once every 5 minutes.
  Most common people hear rumors of this new power but its use 
  takes months to become widespread.
  For her part, Lauryn Cyneburg, the RHC’s minister of infil-
  tration, jokingly offers to give Gully her job, then less-jokingly 
  suggests they lock the man up in a lightless cell so he can’t share 
  the secret. She proposes building thin towers across the nation, 
  separated by miles but tall enough to be seen from the next nearest 
  tower, to allow rapid teleportation by approved forces.
  Bakers Gone Wild
  That night Delft reports of the first outbreak of violence, which 
  was an odd one. A baker’s guild meeting somehow led to two dozen 
  bakers roaming the streets, marching in odd lockstep, breaking 
  into businesses and taking various baking ingredients — flour, 
  butter, sugar, and the like. When police tried to arrest them, the 
  bakers fended them off with exceptional teamwork. The police 
  were forced to withdraw, and they say the perpetrators returned to 
  their guildhouse and have been baking all day.
  If the party goes to them, the bakers mostly ignore them unless 
  attacked. The two dozen men and women move with eerie unity, 
  and if asked questions about baking they respond in unison.
  The next day, the party will get word of a larger protest form-
  ing in Parity Lake, where newly-emboldened factory workers have 
  invited the entire district to come find the factory owners and force 
  them to provide better pay and safety conditions. Delft worries 
  there might be a riot, and thinks the party has the best chance to 
  stop bloodshed.
  Formation of a Hivemind
  Social/Action. Tactical.
  A protest turns riotous, then far more dangerous when a monster 
  appears.
  Not one to let a little world-altering-event threaten her profits, 
  factory owner Jaya Isfeld has instituted a lock-in. Similar to the 
  events in Zeitgeist #2: The Dying Skyseer, factory workers have 
  been forcibly incarcerated within their workplaces, and only al-
  lowed to leave when a replacement staff member comes to take 
  their shifts.
  Unforeseen Consequence.
  The Obscurati spent years scanning the heavens for stars that car-
  ried the right mix of magical energies. Then they wove magic to 
  pull planets from around that star into orbit with this world, so it 
  could share its energies. The plane of Ratios was selected because 
  it would lead to calmer and more logical discussion. Tests using 
  artificial demiplanes found the world was a barren, lifeless husk, 
  which meant it would be safe to link to our world, though a few 
  researchers mentioned hearing whispers in their mind.
  What was left undiscovered by the Ob was a lingering taint of 
  the Gidim, an extraplanar alien race composed of thoughts, which 
  must feed on a diverse diet of sentience to survive. The Gidim had 
  long-since found Ratios and stripped the world bare. Removing 
  its original inhabitants, and siphoning their thoughts away, the 
  Gidim left the world, but also implanted a latent strand of their 
  hive psyche on the world. It lay dormant until the thoughts of large 
  groups began to feed it.
  With the new cosmology established, the Gidim have become 
  aware of the presence of a whole civilization of thinking minds, 
  ripe for consumption. It will be a few weeks before the Gidim be-
  gin actually arriving on this world, but for now the latent Gidim 
  Thames Grimsley. A grizzled sailor, still with a 
  full head of hair in his early 50s, Grimsley heads the dock 
  workers guild in Flint and advocates for worker interests 
  in general. He took a gash from a policeman’s knife on 
  the side of his face in the last big docker riot. A couple 
  of months working at a theater as a child gave him a very 
  stylized public speaking voice, one full of unnecessary, 
  melodramatic pauses.
  Lauryn Cyneburg. Though over seventy years old, 
  as a half-elf Lauryn only betrays her age with the weari-
  ness of her eyes. As the RHC’s Director of Infiltration, her 
  expertise in teleportation has seen her delivering agents to 
  missions around the world, and she’s tired of seeing them 
  not return when things go wrong.
  Lauryn carries herself with an odd mix of stiffness and 
  informality. She’ll never let her guard down or expose her 
  own emotions, and she hates jokes because she hates 
  laughing. Though she shows little respect for anyone, not 
  even her superiors, she long ago decided that she had to pick something to 
  care about, or else she’d just end up teleporting around to no purpose. So she 
  chose Risur, because its people don’t take themselves too seriously.
  
  10 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  Mechanics of a Broken Age.
  The following is a breakdown of mechanics that have changed since the 
  completion of the Obscurati’s ritual. Trial and error are the best manner 
  for a PC to discover these mechanical changes, while high-level divina-
  tion magic may assist in ascertaining the exact changes to the world.
  Let the players discover this information through trial and error, then 
  give them the handout Appendix: Reality Shift as a reminder. Alternate-
  ly, a few weeks after the Great Eclipse the PCs get a report from Asher 
  Henton, Distinguished Professor of Otherworldly Physics at Kitham 
  University in Shale. Professor Henton will seek out the new monarch 
  and offer his expertise in understanding the new cosmos.
  •	 Applied Astronomy: Characters with the Applied Astronomist 
  prestige class get new powers; see Appendix: Reality Shift.
  •	 Black Hole Sun: Any spell that creates light is 1 level higher, and 
  no spell can produce light for more than 5 minutes (magic can 
  produce fire, which emits light; only magical light is affected). All 
  existing magical light effects end.
  In the new world, light is a 1st-level spell, and even high-level 
  heroes might need to rely on torches or lanterns for illumination.
  •	 Blood of Ostea: Though mundane infections rarely come into 
  play for heroic adventurers, throughout history disease has 
  always killed more people than war. Since the Great Eclipse, 
  people have found themselves far more resistant to nonmagical 
  infections, which has led to a small population boom similar 
  to the effect of widespread vaccinations. There are no game 
  mechanics for this; people are simply less likely to get sick and 
  die from most infections.
  Whenever you roll a death saving throw because you started 
  your turn at 0 hit points, you succeed on any result of 8 or higher. 
  You get one failure if you roll a 1 to 7, and if you roll a natural 
  20 you gain 1 hit point. Taking damage while at 0 hit points still 
  causes you to suffer a death saving throw failure.
  At the GM’s discretion, an attack that drops an NPC or 
  monster to 0 hit points might kill it immediately, or the creature 
  might simply automatically stabilize without needing to roll or 
  having the chance of regaining consciousness during a fight.
  •	 Death is Death: Slain deva no longer reincarnate.
  •	 Flight of the Fey: Eladrin lose access to Fe Step. Instead, all 
  weapon attacks made by eladrin ignore the damage resistances 
  and immunities of incorporeal creatures due to their connection 
  to the new plane of Death.
  •	 Magic Mishaps: As detailed above, whenever a character casts 
  a spell more powerful than a cantrip (either personally or with a 
  magic item), there’s a 10% chance per spell level that the effect 
  fails. If it doesn’t fail, it causes a mishap of some sort. Super-
  natural features and innately cast spells function normally.
  A character who can use magic of some sort can spend 
  8 hours researching and practicing, then make a DC 17 
  Intelligence (Arcana) check (or, at the GM’s discretion, an 
  ability check using their spellcasting ability). This check can 
  be attempted multiple times. On a success they become able 
  to safely use magic of up to 1st level, with no special chance 
  of failure or mishap. Each further day they can make additional 
  checks to regain mastery of the next higher level of magic, up 
  to whatever is the highest level they know. A character can only 
  attempt one of these checks per day.
  Alternately, a character who has mastered a level of magic can 
  spend 8 hours to aid another character with his or her mastery 
  attempts, granting advantage to the check.
  Existing magic items that cast spells are dangerous, but can 
  be rendered safe with a moment’s concentration by a spellcaster 
  capable of casting spells of sufficient level.
  •	 Reign of the Rational: All creatures have advantage on 
  Charisma (Persuasion) checks when using rational appeals 
  rather than emotional ones. All creatures have disadvantage on 
  Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
  •	 Impossibly Distant: Planar travel works to any of the new worlds 
  in orbit, but all other planes are out of range. The Dreaming and 
  the Bleak Gate are inaccessible. The Gyre can be reached from 
  various areas in the world, but travel is perilous and one-way. 
  Summoning spells work normally, though.
  •	 Fourmyle Jaunting. Every creature is able to jaunt—to teleport 
  within line of sight as if they had innately cast misty step. As an 
  action once per day, a character can teleport anywhere they have 
  line of sight to. They cannot teleport to a spot they could not 
  reach normally (that is, you must be able to walk or climb there 
  from here, so no teleporting through a barred cage). Creatures 
  cannot teleport if they’re immobilized or restrained.
  A character with a feat or feature that grants greater mobility 
  (or who otherwise focuses on fast movement) can instead use 
  this ability once every 5 minutes.
  •	 Teleportation and Communication. Gold no longer blocks 
  teleportation. However, it is not possible to teleport to a location 
  unless you can either see it or you have been there before. Any 
  places seen before the Ob’s ritual was completed don’t count, 
  and scrying is insufficient, so it won’t be possible to teleport 
  around the world for a while, until the PCs travel the traditional 
  way first.
  Similarly, magical communication cannot contact any creature 
  unless you can either see it or have interacted with it since the 
  Ob’s ritual.
  You cannot teleport to a spot that is owned or otherwise 
  controlled by someone who has chosen to bar teleporting 
  intruders (there will be a rash of robberies in the coming weeks 
  until word spreads that all you have to do is think and you can 
  bar teleporters from your property).
  What constitutes ownership tends to follow social consensus. 
  Streets and forests are public unless signs are prominently 
  posted or fences (or even token lines of rope) are set up. The 
  owner of an area can make exceptions for specific creatures or 
  groups of creatures. This restriction only bars teleporting into an 
  area, not out of an area or within an area.
  •	 Three Miles Is So Last Age: Spells that restore life to the dead 
  are no longer limited by the body having to travel less than 
  3 miles from where it died. However, spirits of the dead are 
  visible in mirrors, standing near their bodies. After a few days, 
  these spirits wander off and might be glimpsed occasionally in 
  reflections.
  •	 Wings of Liberty: Magical flight is now possible. Spells such as 
  fly and levitation have their normal duration and the spell slot 
  level required to cast them is reduced by 1.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 11
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  consciousness on Ratios has crept into the material world. When 
  large groups of like-minded individuals group together, they start to 
  think in unison. The more focused the thoughts of the group are, the 
  stronger the bond. This is called a gestalt, and is mostly harmless.
  When emotionally charged, though, gestalts can generate 
  hiveminds — physical entities whose powers and strength are com-
  mensurate with the number of thinking minds. As the PCs arrive at 
  Parity Lake to deal with the mob, one of these hiveminds manifests.
  Rabble Rabble Rabble.
  By the time the PCs arrive, the mob has grown to encompass al-
  most 500 angered workers; including family, friends, and people 
  who just want to shout against the injustices of the new world. The 
  mob is led by Thames Grimsley who is fed up with the govern-
  ing system and is finally ready to let his mob loose and forcibly 
  enter the factories to free imprisoned workers. He’s busy shouting 
  threats of how if the crowd finds the owners, he can’t be held re-
  sponsible for any bloodshed.
  A group of several dozen police officers form a loose blockade 
  between the Isfeld Drilling Cortege and the growing mob. As the 
  PCs arrive, the mob is pushing against the police line, and the 
  officers are shaken and firing off repeated warning shots into the 
  sky. Thames Grimsley shouts at the officers to abandon their posts 
  so no one will get hurt.
  Unless the PCs take drastic action against the mob, the situation 
  quickly escalates. A stray rock strikes a police offer and as another 
  officer moves to help him up, a second rock strikes. The downed 
  officer responds with a shot into the crowd, which strikes one of 
  the worker’s wives in the gut. Form here the mob makes a full push 
  against the police officers, only to be repelled by a volley of gunfire.
  Immediately, the mob begins to stamp their feet in unison and 
  chant, “Let our people out! Let us out! Let us out!” The air feels 
  thick with intention. The people in the mob don’t notice anything 
  amiss, but the party can spot something huge moving inside the 
  windows of the drilling factory, which flicker with turquoise light. 
  The mob grabs the officers and start dragging them into the center 
  of their mass, yanking at their limbs and breaking bones as the 
  cops scream in panic.
  Three rounds after this, the Labor Hivemind bursts out from the 
  inside of the drilling factory, collapsing the entire facing wall onto 
  the police and mob.
  Calming and Dispersing.
  Before the hivemind attacks, the party can attempt DC 29 Cha-
  risma (Intimidation or Persuasion) checks to either calm the 
  escalating violence or panic some protesters into fleeing. Specifi-
  cally focusing on Thames Grimsley and succeeding a check snaps 
  the man out of the psychic gestalt, granting the party advantage on 
  other checks to stop the crowd.
  While it’s impossible to fully disperse the crowd by talking or 
  intimidation, use of these skills lowers the conviction of the mob. 
  For every success the party has against the mob, the Labor Hive-
  mind takes a cumulative –1 penalty to ability checks, saving throws, 
  attack rolls, and damage rolls (maximum –3).
  Using magic to calm them is likely ineffective (both because the 
  party probably has no more than 1st level spells available right now, 
  and because the crowd uses the hivemind’s Wisdom saving throw 
  bonus, below). Attacking the crowd just improves their conviction 
  and causes the hivemind to attack early.
  Mind Strike.
  The Labor Hivemind manifests inside the factory. A shell of 
  thoughtform flesh forms around the workers trapped inside, and 
  massive tentacles smash through walls to help the people be free. 
  Afterward the hivemind is driven to find the owners of the factory 
  and kill them, but it will kill anyone who gets in its way.
  The mob remains oblivious to their psychic construct, and at-
  tempts to convince them of its presence only irritate the mob and 
  its leader, who see the PCs as trying to make them look simple.
  Three rounds after the gunshot triggers the hivemind’s creation, 
  it smashes through the factory wall in a flash of blue light. Char-
  acters standing with the police can attempt to get out of the way 
  with a successful DC 21 Dexterity saving throw or be crushed by 
  the falling wall for 27 (5d10) bludgeoning damage.
  The clearing dust reveals the labor hivemind, a translucent blue 
  mass of brain matter with eight tentacles that end in crude, fleshy 
  hammers and sickles. Eyes twitch along the surface of the orb, and 
  where they look, people’s flesh dissolves into ash.
  Tactics.
  The hivemind has all the knowledge of its creators, so it understands 
  the PCs are the immediate threat. It begins combat by unleashing 
  a series of psychic bolts at any PC it can see, preferring to target 
  those in the middle of the group first. From then on, the hivemind 
  tries to use conduits and its own tentacles to grapple every single 
  PC, then use of its Mental Overdrive ability to consume them.
  What the hivemind does not expect is that the PCs might be 
  familiar with its Gidim nature. As the PCs have likely had experi-
  ence with thoughtform creatures in previous adventures, they may 
  think to use thought against the creature.
  Any PCs reduced to 0 hit points are dropped and left to die 
  (though the new world traits for healing prevents that), while 
  PCs who are reduced to 0 in a mental ability score are absorbed. 
  Since the party is likely operating without most of their spells, this 
  fight might be overwhelming, forcing them to fall back and find 
  new ways to deal with the monster — cannons, rifle fusillades, or 
  explosives.
  Finally, the party can substantially weaken the hivemind if 
  they’re willing to attack the crowd of protesters. In this grim sce-
  nario, treat the protesters as noncombatants with AC 10 and 4 hit 
  points each. Every 20 who are killed impose a cumulative –1 pen-
  alty to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls, and damage rolls 
  (maximum –3).
  Aftermath.
  Slaying the hivemind unleashes a tremendous psionic boom. Ev-
  eryone in the crowd that created the thoughtform creature suffers 
  temporary backlash (reducing Intelligence, Wisdom, and Cha-
  risma by 1d6; a creature is incapacitated if this reduces an ability 
  score to 0 but otherwise, the reduction lasts until the creature fin-
  ishes 1d4 long rests) leaving them dazed and confused for the next 
  several days. After 3 days of rest, Thames Grimsley (if he survived) 
  
  12 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  approaches the PCs and apologizes to them for the display, but 
  he is adamant upon the point that something needs to be done, 
  because the people are scared of this new world. He predicts that 
  things will only get worse.
  Labor Hivemind
  Gargantuan swarm of Medium humanoids, neutral
  Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 310 (20d20+100)
  Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover; no higher than 20 ft. from ground)
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   24 (+7) 
  19 (+4) 
  21 (+5) 
  22 (+6) 
  21 (+5) 
  24 (+7)
  Skills Acrobatics +10, Arcana +12, Deception +13, Insight +11, Nature 
  +12, Perception +11, Religion +12
  Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, exhaus-
  tion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., truesight, passive Perception 26
  Languages Common; tongues (telepathy 200 ft.)
  Challenge 17 (18,000 XP)
  All-Around Vision. The Labor Hivemind can simultaneously look in 
  every direction and has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
  Conduits. On its turn, the Labor Hivemind can do one of the following 
  through all conduits within range of its telepathy:
  * Make an attack using one of its tentacles (reducing its normal 
  number of attacks by one), centering the attack on the conduit 
  instead of itself. A tentacle attack from a conduit can still grapple an 
  enemy and acts as though it were from the hivemind, though it falls 
  off if the conduit moves out of range or breaks free of this effect.
  * Cast any spell currently available to the conduit. Using this spell 
  does not prevent the conduit from using it during their action, 
  though it still uses a spell slot as usual.
  Flyby. The Labor Hivemind doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it 
  flies out of an enemy’s reach.
  Incorporeal Movement. The Labor Hivemind can move through other 
  creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) 
  force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
  Magic Resistance. The Labor Hivemind has advantage on saving 
  throws against spells and other magical effects.
  Mental Overdrive. Whenever the Labor Hivemind sustains a grapple, it 
  begins rewriting the target’s brain. At the start of the Labor Hive-
  mind’s turn, any creatures it is grappling must make a DC 21 Charisma 
  saving throw or reduced its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma 
  scores by 1d4 each. The target becomes incapacitated if this reduces 
  its Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to 0. The reduction lasts until 
  the target finishes a short or long rest. For each incapacitated target 
  the Labor Hivemind grows a new tentacle, regains 20 hit points, and 
  can make an additional melee weapon attack whenever it takes the 
  Attack action.
  Slavery of Thought. The Labor Hivemind’s attacks are as physical as 
  they are psychic and it ignores the effects of freedom of movement. A 
  creature under the effects of freedom of movement have advantage on 
  checks to escape the Labor Hivemind’s grapple.
  Swarm. The Labor Hivemind can occupy another creature’s space and 
  vice versa, and the Labor Hivemind can move through any opening 
  large enough for a Medium creature. The Labor Hivemind can only 
  regain hit points using Mental Overdrive and it cannot gain temporary 
  hit points.
  Thoughtform. Once per round on its turn, a creature within 30 feet of 
  the Labor Hivemind can spend a bonus action to try to influence the 
  Labor Hivemind with its thoughts. The creature makes a DC 12 Intel-
  ligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check and chooses to make the Labor 
  Hivemind make one of the following saves—Dexterity, Constitution, or 
  Wisdom (DC 26 for each).
  * Dexterity: On a failed save, the creature forces the Labor Hivemind 
  to drop all of its grapples (including those from conduits), and 
  moves the Labor Hivemind 10 feet in any direction.
  * Constitution: On a failed save, the Labor Hivemind loses the 
  Incorporeal Movement trait until the end of the influencing crea-
  ture’s next turn. If it’s flying, the Labor Hivemind must land or fall.
  * Wisdom: On a failed save, the influencing creature can cause 
  any number of conduits to cease being conduits. Additionally, the 
  influencing creature cannot be perceived by the Labor Hivemind for 
  1 round.
  Actions
  Multiattack. The Labor Hivemind attacks 8 times.
  Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 16 (2d8+7) bludgeoning damage and the target is grabbed 
  (escape DC 21 plus Mental Overdrive).
  Psychic Bolt. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, range 50/100 ft., one 
  target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) force damage and the target makes a DC 21 
  Charisma saving throw or becomes a conduit. A conduit acts normally 
  but is outlines in a halo of turquoise light. At the end of each round, a 
  conduit can repeat the saving throw to end the effect.
  ReActions
  Deflect Missile. The Labor Hivemind can use its reaction to deflect a 
  ranged weapon attack, negating the damage.
  Many. The Labor Hivemind can take up to 3 reactions each round.
  If the party is defeated, others manage to kill the creature, and 
  any PCs who were absorbed can be rescued, though without magi-
  cal healing they’ll need many days to fully recover.
  In either case, people notice a few other incidents of telepathic 
  gestalts linking together groups of people. Without guidance from 
  the PCs, the city suffers a few other attacks by hivemind monsters, 
  and people become paranoid of going out in public or gathering 
  in groups larger than 3 or 4. If the party offers reassurance and 
  explanation, they can convince people not to panic, and can train 
  the public to recognize the early signs of a gestalt and how to break 
  free of it. Nevertheless, police break up groups larger than a dozen 
  (though they realize the problem this causes when prisoners start 
  forming gestalts).
  Morgan Cippiano. Morgan Cippiano heads 
  the local branch of the Family crime syndicate, based 
  out of Crisillyir. Indeed, he’s a devout Clericist, but has 
  to act without guidance from the hierarchs now that 
  communication is cut off. Though gruff-voiced and 
  cocky, Morgan has an unusual fascination with fash-
  ion. He rejects trends, but has a good eye for classical 
  styles that people of any culture can appreciate. He hopes someday to be seen 
  as a father figure to his community, but isn’t above ordering some throats slit 
  to keep the right people safe.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 13
  Prologue: That Was One Hell of an Apocalypse
  Small Things
  Social. Montage.
  Various things that happen in the coming days and weeks.
  Some time after the hivemind rampage, Morgan Cippiano po-
  litely requests an audience. In the past he’s been used to inviting 
  the PCs to meet him, but he respects their authority. Regardless 
  of whether the party has been friendly or antagonistic with his 
  branch of The Family, he has the same proposal. He suggests that 
  some persistent opposition from the city’s criminal element will 
  help keep things unsteady; whoever Governor Stanfield worked for 
  wanted everyone to get along, so perhaps some discord will be good 
  for the soul.
  Each of the four fey titans detailed in the next act prevents some 
  part of Risur’s economy from functioning right.
  The fires in the Ash Wolf’s forest starves Risur of lumber, now 
  in high demand as people hope to drive back the perpetual gloom. 
  Wood is also needed for ship-building, paper, and even cooking. 
  The first effects get noticed after two weeks. If the party doesn’t 
  deal with the titan within a month, there will be major shortages, 
  and after two months people start chopping down Flint’s own for-
  ests en masse.
  The Father of Thunder’s stampede disrupts Risur’s crops and 
  harvests. After two weeks there’s still plenty of grain and vege-
  tables, but meat basically disappears from shops. After a month 
  people start to hoard food, and after two months famine grips the 
  nation.
  Granny Allswell’s gremlins wreak havoc with mines in the An-
  thras Mountains. After two weeks every industry reliant on steel 
  or stone slows to a crawl. After a month people start having to 
  cannibalize existing items to perform basic repairs, and after two 
  months mass riots occur in Flint as factories close and leave fami-
  lies unpaid and unable to support themselves.
  All sea trade is blocked by She Who Writhes, so after two weeks 
  prices spike for foreign luxuries like Elfaivaran fruit, high-quality 
  Drakran firedust, or leaf of Nicodemus from the Yerasol Isles. Af-
  ter a month, Risur depletes its own reserves of spell and ritual 
  components, since it imports heavily from Crisillyir; magic items 
  that normally cost under 2,000 gp have their costs doubled. After 
  two months, every spell with a material component costs at least 
  5 gp to cast.
  If the party waits an inordinate amount of time to take any ac-
  tion, in three months the Obscurati organize a fleet action to kill 
  She Who Writhes, and then they invade Risur.
  
  14 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  L
  egendary forces from ages past stir across 
  the nation. Awoken by a shared sense of unease 
  at the changes to the world, the Fey Titans of old have 
  each risen from their long torpor and have begun to 
  wreak havoc. All but the Voice of Rot — who is oddly ab-
  sent — damage the stability of the country, complicating 
  the party’s ability to stand against the Ob.
  In this act, the city of Bole is hub of fey titan activ-
  ity, with the Ash Wolf threatening the Antwalk Thicket 
  to the east, the Father of Thunder tromping through 
  croplands to the west, and Granny Allswell’s gremlins 
  disrupting mining and dams to the south. The party 
  must also deal with She Who Writhes in the seas around 
  Risur, but advisors suggest they wait to subdue that titan 
  last, because at least she’s keeping the Danorans at bay.
  Rather than follow a pre-set order, you should read each of the 
  Fey Titan encounters listed below. Each encounter begins with a 
  description of the effect the titan has on Risur. PCs should judge 
  which of the threats they deem to be highest priority, and deal with 
  those encounters in order. Cautious PCs might wait a week or two 
  until their spellcasting allies regain use of their magic, but doing 
  so risks letting the titans run amok.
  Refugee Crisis
  Exploration. Montage.
  News travels slowly once again, and most is delivered by refugees 
  fleeing devastation around Bole.
  The first word of trouble in Bole arrives as the Gyre sets, less than 
  24 hours after the Obscurati’s ritual. Tad Hilly, owner of the Think-
  ing Man’s Tavern in Flint’s Bosum Strand district, has old family 
  ties to Bole, and in the weeks after the Great Eclipse, refugees con-
  gregate there. The party hears only vague rumors unless they assign 
  someone to check out the tavern, or if they personally go.
  The first night, porters who came in on the railroad spread ru-
  mors that Bole’s druids sensed something amiss, that storms of 
  unheard-of power are brewing to the west, forest fires were spotted 
  over the horizon to the east, and that a dozen men dressed like 
  miners were found floating dead in the Slywater River, a tributary 
  of the Great Delve River. A DC 17 Intelligence (History) check 
  recalls that the Slywater was dammed upstream in the Anthras 
  Mountains a few decades ago as part of new mining operations.
  On the second day, hundreds of refugees arrive. They’d heard 
  rumors that, somehow, Flint still had a sun. In any case, they’re 
  happy to be in a bigger city, away from the eerie woods that sur-
  round Bole. Ominously, people actually haven’t seen any fey in the 
  forest, as if they knew something bad was coming and fled.
  On the third day, the trains from Bole are overloaded with a 
  thousand refugees. The people have no doubt that a great disaster 
  will soon befall their city, though there are only a few eyewitnesses 
  with useful information. By chance — or perhaps by a sympathetic, 
  psionic link — they’ve congregated in Tad Hilly’s tavern.
  First-Hand Accounts.
  With a bit of digging into the arrivals, the PCs find a few outspo-
  ken refugees telling their stories in the Thinking Man’s Tavern.
  Ash Wolf in the Antwalk Thicket
  Barnaby Krist is something of a folk legend in Bole, a hunter of 
  repute with a strong stomach for drinking and a stronger mouth 
  for telling stories. Almost seven-feet tall and seemingly made up of 
  scars and body hair, Barnaby speaks with a heavy accent that he 
  says is the byproduct of “true forest folk.”
  He explains that he saw distant fires and climbed to an overlook 
  to see the extent of the blaze. From miles away he noticed that the 
  fire was spreading outward in a ring — but forest fires spread with 
  the wind. Something was lighting the fires. He then asks for a 
  drink to loosen his tongue before he shares his big reveal.
  “On ma way oot of de forest, I saw a black pup runnin’ at me. Naw, pup 
  is a bad word, cause it was the size of that stuffed bear I used ta have in 
  me home. I thought it was gettin’ away from dat big fire, cause der was 
  smoke coming off da beast’s back. No flame, just smoke. It was like they 
  may’a been on fire afore, and dem eyes still glowed, ya see? Still burned 
  from within. I hollered at it and it turnt off, but I seen it prancin’ in front 
  o’ dat fire.”
  Act One: 
  Against the Titans
  Newborn for a New World.
  Long-time customer and occasional musician Jered Lawman is at the 
  Thinking Man’s Tavern with his girlfriend, celebrating the birth of their 
  daughter Alice. Since the world has suddenly changed, he’s nervous 
  about things that might endanger her, so he gets his band-mates to 
  practice modern versions of classic lullabies that supposedly repel fey. 
  While the party is present he performs a jaunty remake of All’s Well, a 
  tune miners drink to after a day with no mishaps in the mines.
  Later in this adventure if the party gets the miners of Favela to 
  sing this song, they can weaken Granny Allswell and make it easier 
  to fight her.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 15
  Act One: Against the Titans
  The legends about the Ash Wolf (known with a DC 22 Intel-
  ligence [History or Nature] check) tell of the Smoldering Wolves, 
  creatures akin to dire wolves with an aura of perpetual smoke that 
  follows them. When wounded or enraged, they burst into flame 
  and viciously fight to the death. Some stories say they can speak, 
  but they only ever seem concerned with hunting, or with driving 
  off those who threaten their father. They dance when near flames 
  because their mother was caught in a forest fire and let herself be-
  come the flames. Their father only ever stirs when there are mighty 
  blazes, in hopes of seeing his lost mate again.
  As a hunter, Barnaby is quite familiar with the local terrain, 
  and can point out the exact area the encounter occurred at on a 
  map — start at Bole, follow the rail line to the east, and when the 
  tracks turn north go another 23 miles east-northeast, in the craggy 
  woods near “dat ol’ layer-cake ruin” (he’s referring to the Ancient 
  ziggurat of Av.)
  Father of Thunder in the Weftlands.
  Slim Chance, a rancher living fifty miles west of Bole, plays har-
  monica with the tavern’s band (headed by Jered Lawman, whom 
  the PCs might recall from Zeitgeist #2: The Dying Skyseer). Slim’s 
  dog Hank sits with him, howling along occasionally to the music.
  Slim was out on a drunken bender in the cattle pasture (Hank 
  had been chewing silage and was a little drunk too) when all 
  the stars fell away a few days ago. He spotted a massive bolt of 
  lightning strike a few miles away, but the bolt didn’t fade. It just 
  kept flashing and rumbling for minutes. The cattle around him 
  all turned and stared at the spectacle, and Slim just enjoyed the 
  light show, too out of it to really worry. An hour later the lightning 
  stopped, and he heard the loudest roar in the world from where 
  the bolts had been striking, and then every single cow around him 
  starting making a ruckus and walking in that direction.
  Figuring it was his boss’s problem, Slim kept drinking until 
  morning (such as it was, with only the Gyre and no sun). He woke 
  with a blistering hangover, made worse by Hank barking and 
  snarling constantly. He realized the dog was keeping him from 
  getting trampled; hundreds of cows, some with brands from other 
  ranches miles away — as well as the occasional deer or goat — were 
  all heading in the same direction.
  So Slim went the other way as fast as he could. On his way back 
  to the ranch he thought he heard a whole mounted procession of 
  knights in plate armor riding out in the middle pasture, blaring 
  on trumpets, but that definitely was his boss’s problem. He got his 
  horse, his leaf of Nicodemus, and enough food for him and Hank 
  and rode like hell toward Bole. He basically kept running until he 
  got to the edge of the sea, and now he’s still drinking.
  Legends of the Father of Thunder (a DC 22 Intelligence 
  [History or Nature] check) tell that his presence is heralded by 
  great storms and great drinking, for the king of herd beasts is 
  an incontestable lush. He calls a mighty herd to surround him, 
  impregnates many mares and sows and does, and imbues the off-
  spring his boon, transforming them into wondrous steeds for any 
  who can capture them. The Great Hunt — stranded in the real 
  world after annoying the Voice of Rot and being banished from 
  the Dreaming for it — traditionally take all their horses from 
  among these blessed steeds.
  Granny Allswell in the Anthras Mountains.
  Grandma Goudada, a hang-lipped crone who isn’t shy about 
  knowing a few hexes, came into town with a gang of Fortunad 
  nomads — mostly half-elves of muddled ethnicity forced to wander 
  because they don’t fit in anywhere except with other misfits. She’s 
  happily terrorizing the various children in the tavern; refugees see 
  an old lady, assume it’s safe to leave their kids with her while they 
  drink, and wonder later why little Timmy is having nightmares.
  Grandma Goudada and her gang were at a small mining town in 
  the Anthras Mountains called Favela, and she was trying to show 
  some government lady (Kaitlin Eisner, see Part Three) to have 
  her fortune read, to know what fate awaited in this starless world. 
  Goudada got as far as pulling three cards before doing the unthink-
  able — she gave the woman her money back, hobbled away, and told 
  her family they had to get as far from the mountains as possible. Her 
  grand-nephew Emilian got them on a train to Bole, then to Flint, 
  which seemed like a good idea until Goudada saw Cauldron Hill.
  If properly flattered (or paid), Goudada explains with great por-
  tentousness that the cards showed the King wanting to trap and 
  kill a grandmother under a mountain. She glares at the PCs, warn-
  ing them that if they’re with the king, they should know better 
  than to come after this old granny.
  Legends of Granny Allswell (a DC 22 Intelligence [History or 
  Nature] check) tell that the grandmother of gremlins was last 
  defeated by Queen Zidi Wheatling in the year 218 A.O.V. After 
  brawling failed, Zidi took some of her royal treasure and buried 
  it inside three elder earth elementals, which left bits of themselves 
  like a trail of breadcrumbs into a deep mountain cave. While the 
  fey titan tried to pull the “owies” from the elementals, Zidi tricked 
  the granny’s gremlin minions into breaking the wooden supports 
  that kept the cave entrance from collapsing, sealing Granny Alls-
  well away for nearly three centuries.
  City of Bole
  Exploration. Montage.
  The RHC branch in Bole is dubious of Risur’s new monarch.
  Bole was capital of its own nation in ancient times, and it still 
  maintains its grandeur today. Historically rich from lumber and 
  from fertile forest gardens cultivated with the aid of fey, in recent 
  years it has boomed as a hub of trade. The Barret Damworks, 
  a network of mill dams and locks completed three decades ago, 
  tamed several tributary rivers from the Anthras Mountains, al-
  lowing the Great Delve river to flow smoothly westward, all the 
  way through Slate and on to Shale. The concurrent development of 
  steamships fostered traffic of great barges traveling up and down 
  the river, while the railroad linked it to Flint. Today raw materials 
  pass through Bole to and from nearly every corner of Risur.
  For the purposes of this adventure, the main features of Bole 
  the party needs to be aware of are the forest gardens which stretch 
  out from it miles in every direction, the logjam along the Great 
  Delve river where lumber is collected and processed after it flows 
  in from logging sites upstream, and the theater district which is 
  home both to the local RHC headquarters and to several famous 
  distilleries and breweries.
  
  16 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  The RHC in Bole
  The Chief Inspectress in Bole, a viperous half-elf named Shaiaila 
  Lundquist, is uncomfortable with the party’s ascent to power, and 
  just a little bitter that no one under her watch had as meteoric a 
  rise in prestige. She can’t help but think of the PCs as just normal 
  constables, and in particular she has a deep-seated respect for the 
  fey and Unseen Court, and naturally assumes anyone from Flint 
  would disagree with her.
  She’ll send a letter asking them to see her before they get per-
  sonally involved in local affairs. She prefers to meet in her office 
  across the street from a playhouse which has been closed, out of 
  fear that audiences might manifest hiveminds (this is a horrible 
  violation of protocol; indeed, she should be arranging royal accom-
  modations and ensuring the party’s safety, meeting them wherever 
  they need her.)
  Shaiaila has several theatrical posters hanging on the walls of 
  her office, and a primitive phonograph in the corner is loaded with 
  recordings of several famous opera singers. Her one accommoda-
  tion to the party’s prestige is to offer them some whisky and beer, 
  made just down the street.
  Titanic Problems.
  Shaiaila explains that the refugee situation is straining the city, 
  but having fey titans — which most people thought were just tall 
  tales — wreak havoc is at least giving people something immedi-
  ate to try to deal with, since no one has any idea what the sudden 
  disappearance of the sun and stars means. Her local agents have 
  collected a lot of eye-witness sightings of the Father of Thunder to 
  the west, but only a few of the Ash Wolf in the east, and none of 
  Granny Allswell, though miners to the south report an unprece-
  dented uptick in gremlin sightings, equipment breaking, and items 
  made of metal going missing.
  She’s looked into the old records, and it’s been seventeen centu-
  ries since all the titans were active at once. And never before did 
  multiple seem to be focused on destroying one city. Shaiaila pours 
  herself a stiff whisky, throws herself into her chair, and asks what 
  the hell the party intends to do now.
  Personnel Management.
  If the party just tries to order Chief Inspectress Lundquist around 
  or if they have a reputation for being hostile to fey interests, 
  Shaiaila agrees to follow whatever orders they give, but then works 
  against them behind their backs. She thinks Bole can solve the 
  fey titan problems on its own, and that the party’s plans will spell 
  disaster in the long run. After all, they were the ones who failed 
  to stop the colossus in Flint from being activated, or stop the Ob-
  scurati from changing the whole world in one fell swoop. She’s 
  suspicious of them, and thanks to the new world order, her subor-
  dinates readily follow her lead.
  However, if the party is attentive to the Chief Inspectress’s 
  concerns, and if they respect the fey titans or at least don’t imme-
  diately propose attacking them, she offers her agents to help scout 
  and coordinate any odd plans they might come up with. She’ll still 
  second-guess them, but it will be to their face.
  The White Tongue in Bole.
  Before the party leaves, the Chief Inspectress advises they speak 
  with Ochran Eisner, the city’s Minister of Fey Affairs. A classical-
  ly-trained druid, Ochran’s duties include appeasing the fey spirits 
  in the forest gardens and along the railroads to deter attacks. Only 
  a meager few fey are still in the real world — they were stranded 
  when the Dreaming was cut off by the Ob’s ritual — but Shaiaila 
  thinks Eisner might have useful information about how to keep 
  the fey titans from attacking Bole directly.
  Ochran is not personable, is uncomfortable with eye contact, 
  and only responds to people if directly addressed multiple times; 
  he’s usually too involved thinking to himself to pay attention to 
  the outside world. These days he is busy directing a citizen volun-
  teer unit, painting archaic sigils on trees and stones in the woods 
  around Bole. He claims these wards will keep the titans at bay, 
  though he cannot guarantee their minions won’t enter the city. If 
  the party examines the sigils, a DC 22 Intelligence (Arcana) check 
  recognizes them as obscure icons that are anathema to fey titans. 
  However, if the same PC also succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence 
  (Nature) check, they realize the sigils are being deployed in exactly 
  the wrong way.
  Ochran has placed sigils facing outward, explaining they will 
  drive back the titans. Really however these sigils will just anger 
  the titans, drawing them toward the city. If the sigils faced the city, 
  any titans who entered would be goaded away and back out into 
  the wilderness.
  In truth, Ochran is a servant of the Voice of Rot, who offered 
  the druid eternal solitude on a world bereft of civilization. If con-
  fronted with his mistake, Ochran struggles to come up with an 
  excuse (DC 12 Wisdom [Insight] check). When he realizes the jig 
  is up, he hisses at the party, revealing a forked white tongue, then 
  attempts to flee by transforming into a giant eagle.
  He’s no physical threat to the party, but if not caught he sabotages 
  efforts to protect Bole. He desires to guide the fey titans into the city 
  to destroy it. If interrogated, he’ll eventually confess to his allegiance 
  to the Voice of Rot, but say that he hasn’t heard from any of his 
  lord’s messengers since the sun disappeared. Intense interrogation 
  can also get him to reveal that his sister, Katlin, is working at simi-
  lar purposes in the mining village Favela (see page 27).
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 17
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Threat One: The Ash Wolf
  Rise and flicker, red and white,
  A howling fire burns this night.
  Awaken hunter, warrior beast! 
  The flames have risen — time to feast!
  — Hunters’ chant
  S
  alamanders have lit fires and killed one of 
  the Ash Wolf’s pups, but the titan blames Risur. 
  Either the fey titan or the interlopers from Jiese must go.
  Flames from the East
  Exploration. Montage.
  When the great forests burn, the Ash Wolf stirs and will reclaim his 
  domain.
  The fires in Antwalk Thicket actually don’t burn out of control; 
  Risuri foresters have done a good job of allowing small burns 
  each year to limit the amount of brush for fuel. But day by day the 
  flames advance, and by the third day after the great eclipse, over a 
  thousand people from villages in the woods have fled to Bole.
  The truth of the forest fire’s origin does not begin with the 
  Ash Wolf, but is actually the byproduct of the Obscurati’s reor-
  ganization of the planes. Long ago the Ancient civilization built 
  a ziggurat here linking to the plane Av, but the Ob’s ritual caused 
  the magic to go awry and link instead to Jiese, the plane of fire.
  Jiese itself was once part of the true plane of fire, but was cut 
  off by the Ancients into its own separate world. Only a few families 
  of salamander miners who lived on the frontier of the great efreet 
  empire came along, and just a single efreeti was trapped on the 
  plane. She was eventually enslaved, and the family who controlled 
  the efreeti’s power styled itself after the princes and generals of the 
  great City of Brass. While lesser salamanders hunted the fierce 
  elemental beasts that roamed Jiese’s surface, or mined out pre-
  cious gems of solid fire, the princes built palaces to celebrate their 
  uncontested dominion.
  A century ago the enslaved efreeti tricked the ruling sultan into 
  making a wish that led to the salamander royal family splinter-
  ing. The factions began constructing massive siege engines and 
  fought horrific wars. Finally one salamander claimed control of 
  the efreeti, and he proclaimed himself Sultan Kuyler, though he 
  ruled over only a few thousand surviving salamanders.
  In the grand scheme of things, the salamanders are basically in-
  bred yokels — especially the royal family. Supernaturally-powerful, 
  incredibly-skilled-at-battle, able-to-control-fire-with-a-thought yo-
  kels. They might have access to arcane siege weapons, but their 
  manners are atrocious.
  Salamander Invasion.
  Sultan Kuyler immediately sensed when the Axis Seal opened, 
  and his scouts found a portal that led to the ruined Ancient ziggu-
  rat in Risur’s Antwalk Thicket. Within a day Kuyler had marched 
  through with his “army” and started burning all the wonderful 
  
  18 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  trees around him. This attracted the attention of the recently-awo-
  ken Ash Wolf, who sent forth one of his pups to investigate. The 
  wolfling came into conflict with the salamanders, who slew it, then 
  magically erased traces of their presence before retreating to the 
  ziggurat.
  When the Ash Wolf discovered the death of his son, he went into 
  a seething rage, believing the humans of Risur had committed the 
  act. He has begun hunting on the edges of the forest fires, feeding 
  on villagers to regain his strength after a long sleep. In a few weeks 
  the fires will reach Bole, at which point he intends to slay every 
  child so that he can have his revenge.
  Kuyler wants his people to colonize a new bountiful land where 
  there are always things to burn, but he’s content to watch the Ash 
  Wolf spread terror through the woods. He sends his men to spread 
  the fires and lure the massive wolf into human territory, using the 
  magic of his bound efreeti to keep his warriors hidden from the 
  fey titan.
  Ancient Ziggurat.
  Barnaby and many other woodsmen of Antwalk Thicket know the 
  general location of the old ruins that once were the ziggurat of Av. 
  Due to a wish by Kuyler, the last mile of forest around the ziggurat 
  is still burning, and the trees — though dead — don’t crumble away. 
  He likes the aesthetic, and it keeps interlopers away.
  I Dream of Liesi.
  Salamanders are not the most intelligent of creatures, and neither 
  Kuyler nor any of his warlords, viziers, or dervishes understand the 
  meaning of the sun’s disappearance. But one of his minions does.
  Liesi, the bound efreeti whom Kuyler’s family has controlled for 
  millennia, senses that she could return home finally. She suspects 
  something is amiss with the sky, and has implored her master to 
  wish for an explanation. The petty Kuyler prefers to waste the daily 
  wishes she grants on dalliances and frivolous comforts. Already he 
  has wished for the boring ziggurat of Av to be transformed from 
  stone into brass, as befits a sultan.
  Liesi knows Kuyler will never release her, and hopes she can 
  warn someone of at least moderate intelligence of the threat she 
  sees in the stars. When she meets the party she’ll try to persuade 
  them into finding the efreeti bottle that controls her, then releasing 
  her so he cannot use her wishes against them.
  The Wolfpack.
  The Ash Wolf’s long dead mate spawned countless pups as she per-
  ished, though normally only a few are active. They guard a great 
  mossy cave where the Ash Wolf slumbered for centuries. Only 
  when forest fires break out do the other smoldering wolves appear, 
  and if the fires are great enough their father awakens so he can go 
  hunt for his lost love in the ashes.
  The Den of the Wolf.
  The Ash Wolf’s lair lies some forty miles from Bole, in a mossy cave 
  beside a river bank, seventeen miles from the ziggurat of Av. It’s 
  practically impossible to stumble upon, but tracking the smolder-
  ing wolves (a DC 26 Wisdom [Survival] check for every 5 miles) 
  or using divination magic can lead the party to the fey titan’s cave. 
  The forest fires have cut swaths through the area, though patches 
  of woodland remain unburnt.
  If the party intends to fight the Ash Wolf, their best chance is to 
  corner him in this cave so he cannot use his speed to his advantage. 
  But his pack might detect the party’s approach.
  Heralds of the Ash Wolf.
  The Ash Wolf’s strongest children, known as Smoldering Wolves, 
  can share their senses with their father. If the party is exploring 
  the forest on foot, these scouts can sense the touch of greater mag-
  ic on them. The party might spot one several hundred feet away 
  in the woods, but initially the wolves don’t attack, and will flee if 
  approached.
  Pack Tactics
  Action. Tactical.
  The Ash Wolf intends to kill the party, but can be reasoned with.
  This battle might occur anywhere in the forest fire, but it’s sug-
  gested that the Ash Wolf make its first appearance while the party 
  is near a Risuri town that’s endangered by fire.
  One such town is Muleshoe, population 4,000, located 20 miles 
  east of Bole. It lies in a valley clearing, surrounded on all sides by 
  forest. Many have fled the forest into Bole, but townsfolk plead 
  for help to fight the fires and evacuate those too weak to make the 
  long journey. Lumberjacks are desperately trying to clear the trees 
  nearest the town, and the forest fire is almost upon them when the 
  party arrives.
  Whether the party comes here 3 days after the great eclipse or 
  30, Muleshoe is just lucky that way. If the party doesn’t come, the 
  following encounter can happen anywhere in the forest, but the 
  setting of a town surrounded by a forest fire should be interesting, 
  considering how the size of the Ash Wolf contrasts with houses 
  and streets.
  Whichever PC is the monarch feels a surge of power which he 
  or she comes to recognize as the sign that a foe of great strength is 
  nearby and about to contest for control of the land. See the Rites of 
  Rulership in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky for details (since 
  the party is 17th level, the monarch should get a +3 bonus to AC 
  and ability checks, a +6 bonus to attack rolls and saving throws, 
  Regeneration 12, and they can interact with the titan as if they 
  were also Gargantuan.)
  Wolf Pack (see Appendix: Fey Titans)
  •	 12 smoldering wolves
  •	 The Ash Wolf
  Terrain and Environment.
  Smoke from the forest fire wafts through the town, lightly ob-
  scuring creatures beyond 60 feet, and heavily obscuring anything 
  beyond 120 feet, though the general shapes of trees can still be 
  seen when backlit by the forest fire.
  The town’s buildings are only one or two stories tall, and the 
  streets are narrow enough that the large wolves could only fit 
  through one at a time. The Ash Wolf treats the town as difficult 
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 19
  Act One: Against the Titans
  terrain, crushing buildings if he walks across them. However he 
  prefers to stay at the edge of town, charge in, and jump over the 
  buildings, snapping up a PC and carrying them off into the smoke.
  The forest fire stops about 60 feet outside the edge of town, 
  where lumberjacks have cut a firebreak, but a PC might be 
  tricked out into the woods or carried out there by the Ash Wolf. 
  Breathing the air inside the forest fire causes a creature to take 
  1d6 fire damage at the start of its turn each round (no save). In 
  addition, a creature must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 
  13 + 1 per previous save) or take 1d4 poison damage. A creature 
  that holds its breath can avoid the fire damage, but not the poison 
  damage. Creatures wearing heavy clothing or any sort of armor 
  have disadvantage on their saving throws. Those wearing metal 
  armor or who come into contact with very hot metal are affected 
  as if by a heat metal spell.
  The smoke is not thick enough to be debilitating.
  Tactics.
  The Ash Wolf approaches within a half mile of Muleshoe and 
  sends his pack of two dozen smoldering wolves out to surround 
  the town. They howl, but the smoke and soot conceals them until 
  they’re within 60 feet of the party (DC 26 Wisdom [Perception] 
  check). Any townsfolk would be well-served to flee indoors, but a 
  few remain outside and will be attacked by the pack. These wolves 
  attack at the edge of the PCs’ vision in an attempt to split them up.
  Four of the wolves are empowered by the titan’s pack bond trait, 
  and if the party splits up they engage someone at the edge of the 
  group. Otherwise they circle the party through the town streets for 
  about a minute, waiting for their father to give the signal. Before 
  having the pack attack, the Ash Wolf says, “Risur has slain my 
  child. Burnt my home. By the old rites, I demand blood and flesh.” 
  His voice seems to come from all directions, as the roaring forest 
  fire itself speaks for him.
  The pack then charges in. The Ash Wolf, able to see through 
  their eyes, uses fire storm to burn the party and ignite the buildings 
  around them, or perhaps transmute metal to wood if the party is at 
  the edge of the town near the fire.
  The four empowered smoldering wolves focus their attention on 
  a single target, while the other twenty stay about a 100 feet away, 
  watching. If any of the empowered wolves are reduced below 40 hit 
  points, the Ash Wolf has that child withdraw from battle and shifts 
  its power to another, which then charges in.
  After two rounds of this, or if any of his pups is reduced to 0 hit 
  points, the fey titan uses Hunting Surge, howling loud enough to 
  shake the ground and trees. With his speed briefly increased to 300 
  feet, he charges in and tries to snatch a spellcaster (and can jump 
  high enough to easily clear rooftops, bite someone beneath him, 
  then clear 110 feet horizontally) and carry them off. If possible 
  he rips off a leg, dumps the victim 150 feet away in the forest fire, 
  and circles around the edge of the battle, staying at enough of a 
  distance to remain unseen.
  Generally he attacks every other round, punctuating his assaults 
  by condemning the hunters who speared his son, recounting how 
  his mate died thousands of years ago and he’ll never have more 
  children, and threatening to burn the whole nation until he has 
  his revenge.
  Aftermath.
  The Ash Wolf should be terrifying, a predator that can kill any 
  PC in a round or two, but he initially assumes the party is not a 
  threat. He’ll try to wound several and scatter the group, and will  
  only focus on killing them if he’s reduced below 200 hit points, 
  which triggers the arrival of his long-lost mate (a titanic wolf spirit 
  composed of smoke and ash). If reduced below 0 hit points he will 
  yield, offering to serve the adventurers if they spare his children.
  The party might instead convince the fey titan to break off his 
  attack if they offer to find out who slew his son. He’ll be distrustful 
  (i.e., you have an excuse to get in a few terrifying strafing runs 
  before he relents), but then he’ll agree to give them one day before 
  he resumes his hunt.
  Mourning a Lost Child.
  If the party reaches the Ash Wolf’s cave — by sneaking in or by 
  parlaying with him, they find the body of a Smoldering Wolf lying 
  on its side, smoke pouring out of various wounds.
  Examining the deceased wolf with a DC 16 Wisdom (Medicine) 
  check reveals odd wounds not common among Risuri weaponry. 
  Further investigation with a DC 23 Wisdom (Medicine) check re-
  veals the weapons were made of obsidian and radiated an extreme 
  amount of heat.
  The Ash Wolf offers to have one of his children accompany the 
  PCs to the site where the body was first found. However, due to a 
  wish by Liesi, the salamanders left not physical trail, and magic 
  used to pursue them yields no information unless the caster suc-
  ceeds on a DC 18 spellcasting ability check. Brute force searching 
  takes several days (though it goes faster if the party splits up or 
  brings help) until eventually they find a patch of forest still burn-
  ing long after it should have died.
  The Flaming Ziggurat of Av
  Action/Social. Real-Time.
  Meet your new neighbors, the Salamanders of Jiese!
  A 1-mile diameter swath of forest burns perpetually around the 
  old Ancient ziggurat, which has been transformed into brass. Sev-
  eral dozen wormlike thoqqua roam the woods near the building, 
  and they screech when they detect any intruders (passive Percep-
  tion 17). Two falchion-wielding salamanders guard the entrance 
  of the ziggurat, and within Sultan Kuyler and some of his best 
  buddies from Jiese spend most of the day doing nothing.
  Kuyler is a foul-mouthed, illiterate alcoholic, who peaked long 
  ago when he took control of Liesi the efreeti. He’s been living 
  the easy life on wishes ever since. But with a new world suddenly 
  available — one a damn sight more fun to burn than his own “sul-
  tanate” — the salamander sultan sees an opportunity to give his 
  no-good children something they can conquer, so they can be as 
  great as their father.
  For now he just has a small expeditionary force, and he’s send-
  ing out scouts to find out who he’ll have to fight to conquer this 
  place. He’s only recently seen humans for the first time, and had 
  his men capture a few. He keeps them in a pit in the ziggurat, and 
  is trying to figure out how to get them to fight for his amusement.
  
  20 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  The Jiese-end of the portal is fairly far from his palace, so no re-
  inforcements will be readily forthcoming. For now, Kuyler’s forces 
  are limited. Forty or so rank-and-file salamander soldiers scout the 
  woods, while only a dozen guard the ziggurat itself. Since so far 
  they’ve only encountered panicked, harmless townsfolk, the initial 
  reactions of the invaders from Jiese when they see the party will be 
  reminiscent of a hunter spotting a deer. They’re excited, not wor-
  ried, and will coo at the party like they’re talking to a dumb animal 
  that doesn’t realize they’re about to kill it.
  Salamander Invasion
  •	 Kuyler, Salamander Sultan
  •	 Liesi, Bound Efreet
  •	 3 salamander viziers
  •	 6 salamander dervishes
  Environmental Effects.
  The immediate area outside the Ziggurat is considered severe 
  heat, while the inside of the ziggurat is considered to be an area of 
  extreme heat. This heat lasts as long as the ziggurat maintains a 
  connection to the plane of Jiese.
  Walls of Flame.
  Repurposed by the salamanders, the ziggurat’s interior is stark. 
  With a few wishes Kuyler created a plethora of permanent walls 
  of fire to break up the monotony of the ziggurat’s interior. While 
  harmless to the salamanders, these walls are extremely effective 
  defense mechanisms.
  Each are of flame shown on the 
  map is treated as a permanent 
  wall of fire, except these walls do 
  not radiate heat in a 
  specific direction, 
  so creatures only 
  take 
  damage 
  from 
  passing 
  through them.
  Ziggurat Interior.
  Interior walls of the ziggurat were once weathered stone with bare-
  ly visible carvings, now transmuted into polished brass. The only 
  light sources are the walls of fire and the portal to Jiese itself. The 
  constant fire actually mutes sound fairly well, and a battle probably 
  wouldn’t be heard more than 100 feet away.
  1. Entrance.
  Two dervishes and one vizier guard here, though for them guarding 
  consists of boasting about the monsters they’ve slain back home.
  2. Prisoner Pit.
  Kuyler keeps a dozen humans down here, and has placed walls of 
  fire at the doors to keep them from leaving. A dervish stands guard 
  outside either entrance.
  3. Map Room.
  An ancient world map on the floor has attracted Kuyler’s inter-
  est, and he’s set up tiny firegem carvings of warriors on shelves 
  here. He expects to plan an invasion, fight maybe a few thousand 
  humans, and conquer the world. He has no idea of the scale of the 
  map.
  4. Throne Room.
  Kuyler and three viziers party here, drinking and dragging in vari-
  ous trophies from outside so they can burn them for fun.
  5. Bare Halls.
  The walls and floor show signs of once having had traps installed in 
  them, which were long ago destroyed or disabled, and then more 
  recently transmuted into brass.
  6. Dervish Quarters.
  The dervishes sleep here on huge stone beds.
  7. Boring Spot.
  Kuyler makes Liesi stand here and do nothing when he’s used up 
  his wishes for the day but hasn’t finished drinking out of her home.
  8. Portal to Jiese.
  Two more dervishes stand guard here.
  Liesi’s Betrayal.
  Liesi is bound to a bronze bottle that Kuyler carries. Whenever he 
  deigns to let Liesi out of the bottle, he fills it with fiery alcohol so he 
  can mock her all day long by drinking out of her home.
  Liesi has been forced to serve the salamanders for thousands of 
  years, though she’s not aware of how much time has passed. The arrival 
  of the PCs presents her with a unique opportunity to arrange Kuyler’s 
  assassination and win her freedom. Of course, she’s still evil, and she 
  derives pleasure out of tricking people into miswording wishes to their 
  own detriment. Trusting her is a bad idea.
  Kuyler has forbidden Liesi from leaving the ziggurat without his 
  permission, but if the party comes inside, she’ll seek them out and hide 
  them from the salamanders long enough for her to make her pitch. Al-
  ternately, if the party attacks and withdraws, she’ll convince Kuyler to 
  send her out to scout invisibly. He agrees, but forbids her from talking 
  to anyone while she’s out. So she bends the letter of the order, and has 
  a programmed illusion talk for her.
  Liesi probes the PCs with various questions about the world, specifi-
  cally about the Gyre and whether it’s possible to go to other planes. In 
  exchange, she offers detailed descriptions of Kuyler’s motivation and 
  his forces. In addition to the pittance here, he has several thousand 
  warriors back on Jiese.
  If the party doubts her, Liesi swallows her immense pride and tells 
  the PCs that she merely wishes to leave this world, so she needs the 
  party to free her from Kuyler. She knows she’s risking simply trading 
  one master for another, and so she might avoid even mentioning her 
  discontent if she thinks the party is worse than a drunken salamander.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 21
  Act One: Against the Titans
  
  22 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Kuyler, Salamander Sultan
  Large elemental, lawful evil
  Armor Class 21 (+2 plate)
  Hit Points 207 (18d10+108)
  Speed 30 ft.
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   21 (+5) 
  18 (+4) 
  22 (+6) 
  8 (–1) 
  16 (+3) 
  15 (+2)
  Saving Throws Con +11, Int +4, Wis +8, Cha +7
  Skills Acrobatics +9, Deception +12, Insight +8, Intimidation +7, 
  Perception +13, Stealth +9
  Damage Vulnerabilities cold
  Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from 
  nonmagical weapons
  Damage Immunities fire
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 23
  Languages Ignan
  Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
  Contingent Wishes. Kuyler has a plethora of wish-based personal ef-
  fects thanks to his genie servant Liesi. Each wish effect is a one-time 
  use ability and is described below. Each contingent wish counts as 
  though it were a spell effect of 6th level (11th-level caster).
  Back Up. If there are no friendly allies within 60 feet of Kuyler, the 
  salamander warlord can expend this wish on its turn without requir-
  ing any action. Doing so summons 1d4 salamander dervishes or 
  viziers within 60 feet. These salamanders can immediately act and 
  are loyal servants to Kuyler.
  Expert Wrassler. If Kuyler fails an opposed Strength (Athletics) 
  check against an opponent (such as a grapple) he can immediately 
  re-roll the attempt with a +5 bonus and advantage. If the opponent 
  is under the effects of freedom of movement or a similar effect, the 
  effect is suppressed for 1 minute.
  Uh Oh. When reduced below 100 hit points Kuyler is immediately 
  targeted by a heal spell. Any ability that impairs his ability to act 
  (grappled, restrained, stunned, etc.) ends, and he gains the benefit 
  of freedom of movement for 1 minute.
  Heated Body. A creature that touches Kuyler or hits him with a melee 
  attack while within 5 feet of him takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
  Heated Weapons. Any metal melee weapon Kuyler wields deals an 
  extra 3 (1d6) fire damage on a hit (included in the attack).
  Power Attack. When Kuyler makes his first melee weapon attack in a 
  turn, he can choose to take a –5 penalty to his melee weapon attack 
  rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In addi-
  tion, Kuyler can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack 
  after he uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 hit points or 
  scores a critical hit with it. Kuyler can only use this feature on his turn.
  Actions
  Multiattack. Kuyler attacks four times with his halberd and once with 
  his tail.
  +1 Cold Iron Halberd. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., 
  one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+6) magical slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) fire 
  damage.
  Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 
  (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the 
  target is grappled (escape DC 18). Until this grapple ends, the target 
  is restrained, the salamander can automatically hit the target with its 
  tail, and the salamander can’t make tail attacks against other targets.
  Liesi, Bound Efreet
  Large elemental, lawful evil
  Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 95 (10d10+40)
  Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   22 (+6) 
  17 (+3) 
  18 (+4) 
  12 (+1) 
  14 (+2) 
  15 (+2)
  Saving Throws Int +4, Wis +5, Cha +5
  Skills Arcana +4, Deception +5, Insight +5, Intimidation +5, Perception 
  +5, Stealth +6
  Damage Vulnerabilities cold
  Damage Immunities fire
  Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
  Languages Auran, Aquan, Common, Ignan, Terran (telepathy 100 ft.)
  Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
  Bound. Several pacts and unique wishes bind Liesi in service to Kuyler. 
  For game effects, she cannot willingly attack Kuyler and must defend 
  the salamander to the best of her abilities. This effect can be dispelled 
  with three successful dispel attempts. The spell level to dispel the 
  associated magical binding is 9th level.
  Elemental Demise. If Liesi dies, her body disintegrates in a flash of fire 
  and puff of smoke, leaving behind only equipment she was wearing or 
  carrying.
  Heated Body. A creature that touches Liesi or hits her with a melee 
  attack while within 5 feet of her takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
  Innate Spellcasting. Liesi’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma 
  (spell save DC 15). She can innately cast the following spells, requir-
  ing no material components.
  At will: detect magic, scorching ray
  3/day each: enlarge/reduce, quickened scorching ray, tongues, wish 
  (to non-genies only)
  1/day each: conjure elemental (fire elemental only), gaseous form, 
  invisibility, major image, plane shift (willing targets to Jiese or 
  Material Plane only), programmed illusion, wall of fire
  War Magic. Liesi has advantage when she is concentrating on a spell 
  and has to make a Constitution saving throw from taking damage, she 
  can wield weapons or a shield in both hands and still make somatic 
  components for spellcasting, and can use her reaction to cast a spell 
  (maximum casting time: 1 action) at a creature that provokes an 
  opportunity attack from her.
  Actions
  Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 
  13 (2d6+6) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
  Hurl Flame. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 60/120 ft., one 
  target. Hit: 14 (4d6) fire damage.
  Change Shape. Liesi magically polymorphs into a humanoid or giant 
  that has a challenge rating equal to or less than her own, or back into 
  her true form. She reverts to her true form if she dies. Any equipment 
  she is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form 
  (Liesi’s choice).
    In a new form, Liesi retains her game statistics and ability to speak, 
  but her AC, movement modes, Strength, Dexterity, and special senses 
  are replaced by those of the new form, and she gains any statistics 
  and capabilities (except class features, legendary actions, and lair 
  actions) that the new form has but that she lacks.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 23
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Salamander Vizier
  Large elemental, lawful evil
  Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 126 (12d10+60)
  Speed 30 ft.
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   14 (+2) 
  17 (+3) 
  20 (+5) 
  20 (+5) 
  17 (+3) 
  13 (+1)
  Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +7, Cha +5
  Skills Acrobatics +7, Arcana +13, Deception +9, Insight +7, Intimida-
  tion +9, Perception +11, Stealth +11
  Damage Vulnerabilities cold
  Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from 
  nonmagical weapons
  Damage Immunities fire
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 21
  Languages Auran, Common, Ignan, Terran
  Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
  Empowered Evocation. The salamander adds +5 to one damage roll of 
  any wizard evocation spell it casts.
  Heated Body. A creature that touches the salamander or hits it with a 
  melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
  Heated Weapons. Any metal melee weapon the salamander wields 
  deals an extra 3 (1d6) fire damage on a hit (included in the attack).
  Overchannel. When the salamander casts a spell of 1st through 5th 
  level that deals damage, it can deal maximum damage with that spell. 
  The first time it does so between long rests, the salamander suffers no 
  adverse effects. If the salamander uses this trait again before finishing 
  a long rest, it takes 13 (2d12) necrotic damage for each level of the 
  spell immediately after the casting. Each time the salamander uses 
  this feature again before finishing a long rest, the necrotic damage 
  per spell level increases by 1d12. This damage ignores resistance and 
  immunity.
  Potent Cantrip. When a creature succeeds on a saving throw against 
  a cantrip the salamander casts, the creature takes half the cantrip’s 
  damage (if any) but suffers no additional effect from the cantrip.
  Power Attack. When the salamander makes its first melee weapon at-
  tack in a turn, it can choose to take a –5 penalty to its melee weapon 
  attack rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In 
  addition, the salamander can use a bonus action to make one melee 
  weapon attack after it uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 
  hit points or scores a critical hit with it. The salamander can only use 
  this feature on its turn.
  Sculpt Spells. When the salamander casts an evocation spell that 
  affects other creatures that it can see, it can choose a number of 
  those creatures equal to 1 + the spell’s level. The chosen creatures 
  automatically succeed on their saving throws against the spell, and 
  they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a 
  successful save.
  Spellcasting. The salamander is an 8th‐level spellcaster. Its spellcasting 
  ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). 
  The salamander has the following spells prepared from the wizard’s 
  spell list:
  Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, mage hand
  1st level (4 slots): burning hands, detect magic, magic missile, shield
  2nd level (3 slots): blur, flaming sphere, mirror image, scorching ray, 
  shatter
  3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic, fireball, haste, lightning bolt, slow
  4th level (2 slots): confusion, fire shield, wall of fire
  Actions
  Multiattack. The salamander makes three attacks: two with its spear 
  and one with its tail.
  +2 Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft. or 
  range 20 ft./60 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) magical piercing dam-
  age, or 13 (2d8+4) magical piercing damage if used with two hands 
  to make a melee attack, plus 3 (1d6) fire damage.
  Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 
  (2d6+2) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the 
  target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target 
  is restrained, the salamander can automatically hit the target with its 
  tail, and the salamander can’t make tail attacks against other targets.
  
  24 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Salamander Dervish
  Large elemental, lawful evil
  Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 90 (12d10+24)
  Speed 30 ft.
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   20 (+5) 
  18 (+4) 
  20 (+5) 
  12 (+1) 
  18 (+4) 
  13 (+1)
  Saving Throws Dex +8, Int +5, Cha +5
  Skills Acrobatics +12, Deception +9, Insight +8, Intimidation +9, 
  Perception +12, Stealth +12
  Damage Vulnerabilities cold
  Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from 
  nonmagical weapons
  Damage Immunities fire
  Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 22
  Languages Common, Ignan
  Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
  Heated Body. A creature that touches the salamander or hits it with a 
  melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
  Heated Weapons. Any metal melee weapon the salamander wields 
  deals an extra 3 (1d6) fire damage on a hit (included in the attack).
  Innate Spellcasting. The salamander’s innate spellcasting ability is 
  Wisdom (spell save DC 16). It can innately cast the following spells, 
  requiring no material components.
  At will: fire bolt, guidance, true strike
  5/day: command, divine favor, heroism, inflict wounds
  4/day: hold person, see invisibility, spiritual weapon
  3/day: dispel magic
  Power Attack. When the salamander makes its first melee weapon at-
  tack in a turn, it can choose to take a –5 penalty to its melee weapon 
  attack rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In 
  addition, the salamander can use a bonus action to make one melee 
  weapon attack after it uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 
  hit points or scores a critical hit with it. The salamander can only use 
  this feature on its turn.
  Actions
  Multiattack. The salamander dervish makes four attacks: three with its 
  spear and one with its tail, or four with its longbow.
  +2 Falchion. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 16 (2d8+7) magical slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) fire damage.
  Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 
  (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the 
  target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until this grapple ends, the target 
  is restrained, the salamander can automatically hit the target with its 
  tail, and the salamander can’t make tail attacks against other targets.
  +2 Longbow (20 flaming arrows). Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to 
  hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6+6) magical piercing 
  damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage.
  Tactics and Talking.
  The salamanders are well-trained in fighting animalistic monsters, 
  not people. They tend to rely on brute force or cruel tricks rather 
  than actual tactics. Once Kuyler figures out the party won’t go 
  down easily, he’ll wish for Liesi to teleport him and all his allies 
  in the ziggurat to the top level of the room with the prisoner pit. 
  From there he’ll threaten to kill his prisoners unless the party talks.
  With a break in the fight, Kuyler tries to figure out whether kill-
  ing the PCs will let him rule the world. If it becomes clear it won’t, 
  he offers instead to get a few thousand of his men to help them kill 
  the giant furry critter that’s running amok in these lands. Then he 
  and his people will control this region and sell weapons and magic 
  to Risur. He promises not to try to invade for at least a few years.
  At that, Liesi loudly suggests to Kuyler that in a few years the 
  world might not be here, because of that odd thing in the sky. 
  Again she’ll suggest he wish for her to find out more about it. He 
  yells at her, swigs the last of his ale from her bottle, then orders 
  her back into it, but he’ll call her back out if the fight renews, in 
  which case he uses his remaining wishes fairly simply, like wanting 
  his halberd to be human-bane or to dispel any fire resistance the 
  party has.
  Reconciliation
  Social. Montage.
  Risur might ally with the salamanders, or earn the favor of the Ash 
  Wolf.
  There are multiple ways the PCs can handle the salamander’s 
  intrusion. The most likely outcome is that Kuyler is defeated or 
  forced out of the world and back to Jiese. In this situation, the PCs 
  can inform the Ash Wolf what has happened, and the fey titan will 
  have a Smoldering Wolf inspect the ziggurat, then order his pack 
  back into the woods. The forest fires burn out naturally before they 
  reach Bole.
  If the Ash Wolf is appeased by having the salamanders driven off, 
  he owes the PCs two boons — one for helping him get revenge, and 
  one for showing him the error of his aggression. For the former, 
  he offers to aid Risur in one battle within the coming year. For the 
  latter, he offers to tell one PC how to find a perfect mate and lover. 
  If a PC accepts, the Ash Wolf instills in that character the identity 
  and general location of someone who would be whatever they want 
  and need in a companion.
  In the event that the PCs negotiate with Kuyler, the exact nature 
  of the salamander’s offer is met to the letter. If the Jiese natives are 
  allowed to stay, Kuyler brings further reinforcements to secure the 
  eastern forestlands of Risur; standing with the PCs against the Ob 
  should they attack. While Kuyler believes he can eventually take 
  the humans of Risur, he lives a long time and won’t be a problem 
  in the near future.
  If the party kills Kuyler or drives him away, the salamanders 
  won’t risk another incursion.
  If the party gets hold of Liesi’s efreeti bottle, they can call upon 
  her one time to get three wishes, after which she’s able to plane 
  shift back home thanks to the change in the Axis Seal. Alternately 
  they can keep her around to aid in more mundane ways, though 
  each time they call her there’s a 10% chance she simply plane shifts 
  away for good. If the party was kind to her, there’s no chance she 
  attacks the PCs.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 25
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Threat Two: Father of Thunder
  S
  torms and stampedes ravage Risur’s breadbas-
  ket, but with the aid of the Great Hunt the party 
  can ride down the fey titan. He’s stubborn, and won’t 
  listen to reason unless someone can defeat him in battle. 
  He just happens to equate carousing to battle, however.
  Please bless our land, o Father,
  Give rains and summers warm.
  Grant much in fall, o Father
  And bless with every horn.
  Please bless our herds, o Father,
  That they may graze our fields.
  Please bless our home, o Father,
  And bless our evening meal.
   — Prayer to the Father of Thunder
  The Drunken Stampede
  Exploration. Montage.
  There’s a giant gazelle-bison-rhinoceros running around the country-
  side, trampling all the crops, impregnating all the mares and sows, 
  and drinking all our liquor!
  The Father of Thunder stands 50 feet tall at the shoulder, with 
  horns jutting and curling and curving out of his back and head 
  and shoulders in myriad odd angles. His mere presence sires chil-
  dren in female herd animals — horses, cows, sheep, and more — and 
  those children possess supernatural speed, might, and resilience. 
  Harvested grains he sets his gaze upon ferment into alcoholic si-
  lage. Massive herds surround him and follow him wherever he goes. 
  The huge horned beast loves nothing more than getting drunk and 
  tromping across the countryside in a constant celebration.
  His bacchanalia is ruining Risur’s crops and killing livestock, 
  not to mention his stampedes crush buildings under his hooves. 
  For now he stays near Bole, tempted by its whiskey distilleries, but 
  it will be a few months before he’s gathered a large enough herd 
  for him to risk entering the city to get at that fine liquor.
  The Great Hunt
  During the events of Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky, Rif-
  fian — a bold fey knight clad in silver plate — accompanied the PCs 
  back into the material world, along with the other riders of the 
  Great Hunt. Traditionally the Great Hunt pursues the grandest 
  game, and upon learning that the Father of Thunder had awak-
  ened, Riffian led his riders to Risur’s heartland so they could hunt 
  the fey titan’s magical offspring.
  Riffian has bivouacked his riders just outside of Bole. He knows 
  that by themselves the Great Hunt can only manage to get the 
  offspring, but he will gladly aid the party in an effort to bring down 
  the titan himself.
  Do You Hear Thunder?
  The Father of Thunder’s rollicking herd roams somewhere between 
  20 and 50 miles from Bole. High-level magic or old-fashioned 
  tracking can pinpoint them fairly quickly, but finding a way to ac-
  tually deal with the problem will take longer.
  Empowered by the fey titan, the stampede moves at a ludicrous 
  speed (300 feet per round, or over 30 miles an hour), utterly de-
  stroying everything in its path. The sheer speed of the herd makes 
  it next to impossible to successfully engage or disrupt it. Reckless 
  attempts by the party to close in likely end with the PCs being 
  simply outrun, or trampled into the ground, or shot out of the sky 
  by the Father of Thunder’s lightning bolts. Even if the adventur-
  ers can get close enough and actually hit hard enough for him to 
  notice, the titan has enough disposable herd animals that he can 
  order a few hundred to knock away any enemies.
  If the PCs’ plan seems reasonable, give them a chance, but most 
  likely they’ll need the Great Hunt’s help. The riders can lend fast 
  enough steeds to the party, and will kill creatures of the herd that 
  try to interfere with the party’s assault.
  Talking to the Titan.
  The Father of Thunder assumes any non-herd animal is a threat, 
  and won’t even consider talking unless he’s exhausted “attack-
  ing” and “running away” as options. Even trying to magically 
  
  26 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  communicate with him won’t turn out well, due to his Stormy 
  Presence ability.
  He hates people who interrupt his fun by wanting to talk, though 
  he might respond to a challenge or insult by attacking and trying 
  to trample the offending party-pooper. Exceptionally good music 
  played with a DC 30 Charisma (Performance) check entertains 
  him enough to let someone get within a 100 feet, though the sight 
  of weapons and armor spook him into fleeing.
  The Clever Option.
  The Father of Thunder loves drinking, but his binges out in the 
  wild never go deep enough to really slow him down. If the party 
  lures him into Bole’s theater district (a mighty challenge itself), 
  they can let him wreck a couple distilleries while chugging to his 
  limit, and he’ll be far easier to handle. Getting him that drunk 
  gives him a –3 penalty to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls, 
  and damage rolls, and reduces his AC by 5.
  Alternately, the party might leave a trail of whisky barrel bread-
  crumbs, lure him into Bole, and then trick him into chasing them 
  across the logjam in the Great Delve River. He can swim, but isn’t 
  anywhere near as fast as on foot, and his herd is mostly harmless 
  when they’re panicked and trying not to drown.
  Riffian’s Camp
  Less than 10 miles outside of Bole, Riffian and his assembled rid-
  ers wait and prepare for their hunt against the Father of Thunder. 
  Mounts are left untethered, allowed to wander the forest gardens 
  as they see fit, with riders having no fear of losing their steeds. Dire 
  mastiffs patrol the edges of the camp. If the PCs rode with Riffian 
  in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky, the hounds remember their 
  scent, with some even giving forceful but playful head-butts.
  Each rider is humanoid with the stature of an elf, but their 
  whole bodies are hidden beneath supple mithral plate armor. Each 
  knight’s mask is decorated with different static expressions, many 
  resembling roots digging into the ground. Few of the riders speak, 
  only performing basic actions like feeding their mounts or sharp-
  ening weapons. They save their voices for singing during meals or 
  while on the hunt.
  Riffian works at the center of the camp, singing to sooth a pair 
  of colts recently captured from the Father of Thunder’s herd. Rif-
  fian explains that they’re less than a month old, and already are 
  nearly grown to be fit to bear a rider on the hunt.
  Riffian’s not much for planning, but his advice for subduing the 
  fey titan would be to ride in disguised under bison hides to appear 
  innocuous, get close, then have the party attack while he and his 
  knights keep the herd at bay.
  Cut ‘Em Out, Ride ‘Em In
  Riffian first asks for hides for the PCs and each of his dozens of 
  riders. With the size of the fey titan’s herd, and the exceptional 
  skill level of the adventurers and the Great Hunt, the GM can 
  easily reduce this to a few Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks, 
  or Dexterity (Stealth) and Wisdom (Survival) checks, represent-
  ing cutting off a few bison at a time, or sneaking in and killing a 
  few animals discreetly that will be left behind when the Father of 
  Thunder moves on.
  Ride Out, and Meet Them
  Action. Tactical. Level 25.
  Riding out to take down a fey titan — all in a day’s work.
  Riffian’s men take a few days to treat the hides and give them 
  minor enchantments. When the party is ready, Riffian offers them 
  each a steed and has everyone bundle under their hides. Disguised 
  as somewhat lumpy bison, the party and a couple dozen fey hunts-
  men can weave into the midst of the herd. Have each PC make a 
  DC 8 Dexterity (Stealth) check four times, with each check repre-
  senting a quarter-mile worth of herd they’ve passed through.
  After a single failed check the Father of Thunder sniffs, stands 
  up, and watches where the PCs are, looking for signs of trouble. 
  He drops a lightning bolt nearby, just enough to spook the party. 
  Then he returns to partying. A second failed check, however, causes 
  him to bellow and get the herd moving. If the party gets closer, he 
  likely spots them when they come within 100 feet. Once the titan 
  becomes aware of the threat, the PC who is the monarch feels a 
  great strength flow into themselves, as detailed in the Rites of Rul-
  ership (see Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky).
  The Grand Stampede (see Appendix: Fey Titans)
  •	 The Father of Thunder
  Battling the Father of Thunder.
  See the Father of Thunder’s stats in Appendix: Fey Titans. His 
  herd is an environmental hazard, which the Great Hunt protects 
  the party against, allowing the PCs to focus on the fey titan.
  His likely course of action is to flee while dropping lightning 
  bolts on those who give chase and stomping or goring anyone who 
  rides too close. Once injured enough (to about 2/3 his maximum 
  hit points) he stumbles, which triggers an earthquake and gives 
  him a chance to break away over uneven terrain full of perilous 
  chasms. When he’s desperate (reduced to about 1/3 his maximum 
  HP), he stops running and calls down a tornado that draws en-
  emies close for him to crush.
  Raucous and bawdy, the Father of Thunder will yell at the party 
  during battle, demanding they let him have his fun and keep bring-
  ing him more ale and mares if they don’t want him to demolish 
  their cute little cities. If while fleeing he can manage to get at least 
  400 feet from the party, he’ll roar, “We feast tonight in the woody 
  city! Run fast or there won’t be any whiskey left for you!”
  Then he sprints straight for Bole. With speeds fairly evenly 
  matched, he’ll slowly draw farther and farther away since rough 
  terrain doesn’t slow him down. A huge storm sweeps into the city 
  ahead of him, and he tears open buildings looking for liquor. When 
  the party catches up, he’ll call down his tornado and proclaim that 
  he is master of this land. If he wins, his herd ends up trashing the 
  city, and he lingers for a few days and finishes off all the alcohol 
  before heading back into the weftlands with a massive hangover.
  Can’t We All Just Get Along?
  The Father of Thunder surrenders when reduced to 0 hit points, 
  and the stampede comes to an abrupt halt. Full of braggadocio, the 
  fey titan pretends he was just confused, and that he was game to 
  talk all along.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 27
  Act One: Against the Titans
  A victorious party can simply demand the Father of Thunder 
  return to his slumber, at which point he’ll walk out into the wil-
  derness, pull a hillside over himself, and grumpily take a nap for 
  a few centuries.
  Or the party can make a deal with him. Like a rowdy neighbor, 
  he’ll agree to temper his parties and stay away from farmland that 
  is marked by fences decorated with lightning bolts. He demands 
  monthly offerings of alcohol — several hundred gallons at least. 
  And he wants to have sex with any women in the party, promising 
  them mighty children (though he can be dissuaded from this). In 
  exchange, he’ll provide three favors.
  First, he promises to ride into battle to defend the weftlands 
  should the Obscurati dare to tread on Risuri soil (the Obscurati 
  don’t have any interest in invading the heartland of Risur, though, 
  so it’s kind of useless.)
  Second, he’ll use his storms and his manure to bless the crops 
  of Risur. For the next year, everyone who eats from those crops 
  gains 5 temporary hit points each day. Individually it’s not much, 
  but should war occur thousands will survive wounds that normally 
  would have killed them.
  Third, he’ll grant one PC unmatched virility (with facial and 
  body hair to match), plus the ability to call down a 5d8 lightning 
  bolt (per call lightning) once per day as a bonus action.
  Steeds from the Great Hunt.
  The Father of Thunder is intentionally designed to mostly ignore the 
  party’s steeds. Even his lightning bolts don’t affect them. If it matters, 
  treat any steed the Great Hunt provides as a heavy warhorse with 
  Speed 150 ft., enough to keep up with the Father of Thunder, and a 
  +20 bonus to Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks to jump (this encounter 
  likely calls for a few long jumps, though the onus is on the PC to direct 
  the steed properly with a Wisdom [Animal Handling] check).
  Additionally, each horse has 25 temporary hit points, renewed at 
  the dawn of each day.
  Threat Three: Granny Allswell
  I
  n mines near a mountain town, Granny Allswell 
  has abducted children and murdered miners. An 
  agent of the Voice of Rot is trying to goad the fey titan 
  into destroying a dam that will kill thousands in Bole, 
  and revealing her tricks might make Granny angry 
  enough at her fellow titan to actually ally with Risur.
  Bedtime, children. Please, please hush.
  You don’t want granny waking up.
  — Common Risuri Nursery Rhyme
  Mountainside Madness
  Exploration. Montage.
  Favela is in turmoil.
  After the great eclipse, earthquakes began to shake Risur’s 
  Anthras Mountains, focused around an iron-rich peak known as 
  Redcap. At first the miners waited for the tremors to stop, but 
  then children started going missing in the night, tools and ma-
  chines started to break, and shiny objects of all sorts disappeared in 
  droves. The Fortunad nomads, normally to blame for such troubles, 
  started doomsaying and fled en masse. The superstitious miners 
  recognized all the hallmarks of the fey titan known as Granny 
  Allswell. Those miners who could afford to leave and who had not 
  already lost their children to the gremlins in the mountains fol-
  lowed the Fortunad, and now only the most desperate remain.
  With most of the miners and local officials evacuated, the most 
  respected authority figure left in town was Katlin Eisner, illusion-
  ist proprietor of a brothel and sister of the druid Ochran Eisner 
  
  28 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  from Bole. Like her brother she is a minion of the Voice of Rot, 
  and she imagines herself as a future sorceress-queen once the ser-
  pentine titan destroys most of Risur civilization.
  Town Background.
  Favela was once a community of outcast Risuri and former slaves 
  from Ber who lived on the steep hillside outskirts of a long-gone 
  town. When Risur built the Barret Damworks 30 years ago to 
  tame the flow of the Great Delve River, the old town was flooded, 
  but the slums were above the water line. The steadier river flow 
  made the town an attractive central point for mining operations 
  in the area, since ore and precious metals could be easily barged 
  downstream to Bole. More and more settlers came in, crowding 
  into the already-cramped community.
  The White Tongue’s Goal.
  The Voice of Rot tasked Katlin with directing the malice of Granny 
  Allswell toward a specific purpose. Katlin intends to goad Granny 
  and her gremlins into destroying the massive dam that holds back 
  Favela’s lake.
  Toward this goal, Katlin has been placing magic mouths around 
  Favela to make the sounds of playing children. When the gremlins 
  emerge from the mines at night seeking shinies for their Granny, 
  the sounds attract them. There aren’t any children left in the town, 
  so Granny grows frustrated at being unable to find these phantas-
  mal youths. She’s considering going out herself, but she still has a 
  few abducted kids to keep her occupied. In the meanwhile, she has 
  her gremlins break everything that can clank, rumble, and squeak 
  so they might better hear where the kids are hiding.
  Whenever Granny does emerge, she’ll hear children singing 
  from inside the dam. If the party doesn’t intercede, two months 
  after the great eclipse she’ll futilely destroy the dam, thousands in 
  Bole will drown, and each death would provide another small boost 
  in the Voice of Rot’s power.
  Bem Vindo ao Favela.
  When the party arrives, the town is mostly abandoned, but 300 
  miners have gathered at the docks on the lake, where “Mayor Eis-
  ner” is hosting the daily lottery. Huge braziers of firegems burn 
  throughout the favela — a dangerous fire hazard, but the townsfolk 
  are horribly afraid of the dark.
  Everyone is terrified of the gremlins and the fey titan, but since 
  without the mines everyone here would go hungry, the remaining 
  handful of mining foremen have a rule: anyone who wants to stay 
  in the town and not abandon their abducted children must put 
  their name into the lottery, and every evening five people must go 
  into the mines and play folk songs said to soothe Granny Allswell.
  The miners believe that the songs keep the gremlins away, so 
  that the next day whatever tunnels they sang in will be free of dam-
  age or traps. Those miners whose names come up in the lottery risk 
  their lives at night to make the mines safer during the day for the 
  rest of the men and women.
  Katlin draws out names from a hat, eliciting despairing out-
  bursts from those chosen. The mass of people and their combined 
  dismay begins to manifest a small glowing seed of a hivemind over 
  the crowd, which none of them notice. If the group is interrupted, 
  the hivemind fades away. Katlin, not realizing who the PCs are, 
  asks with a stutter if anyone in the party wants to take the place of 
  the lottery winners.
  Soothing Granny hasn’t actually worked so well, and every day 
  there’s a small chance the gremlins snatch one of the miners, ei-
  ther the night-time singers or the day-time workers. But a DC 30 
  Charisma (Performance) check (including +2 bonuses from each 
  assisting musician) keeps the gremlins from murdering any towns-
  folk. It won’t, however, keep Granny from demanding the children 
  be given to her.
  Royal Aid.
  The town is completely unprepared for a royal visit, and Katlin 
  tries not to panic when she finds out who the party is. The miners 
  are both totally obsequious and desperate for help, throwing them-
  selves at the party’s feet to beg they rescue their children. Katlin, 
  beautiful but surprisingly timid for the proprietor of a brothel, gin-
  gerly suggest the party talk to her indoors. She takes them to her 
  place of business, where the “Oremongers” sign has been hastily 
  covered with one that reads “City Hall.”
  She discounts people’s fears that an actual fey titan is here, and 
  she says she’s confident it’s just gremlins being bolder because it’s 
  darker than usual. She worries for the children, of course — why, 
  one of her employees, Natalie Distaff, is due to give birth any day 
  now — but she’s confident as soon as the sun comes back people are 
  going to be mining here again, and she’s not going to abandon her 
  business just because of some bad weather.
  Katlin deals in deception and seduction, so is a much better liar 
  than her brother (a DC 27 Wisdom [Insight] check). If caught, 
  though, she claims that the world is doomed anyway, so why 
  shouldn’t she stand highest atop the ruins?
  If the party takes more than a couple days to resolve affairs in 
  Favela, young Natalie gives birth, but Katlin forbids her from leav-
  ing. That night a dozen gremlins ambush the brothel and steal the 
  baby.
  Local Rumors.
  With a few purchased drinks and greased palms, multiple survi-
  vors can confirm the existence of “rather polite” fey in the Redcap 
  mines (these are the gremlins Glower, Guffaw, Pout and Tremble, 
  servants of Granny Allswell).
  Where Gremlins Come From.
  Folk tales tell of a child who disobeyed his parents and kept breaking 
  plates, windows, and everything else he could. His parents, on the 
  edge of poverty and unable to keep replacing the destroyed property, 
  took their son into the woods and told him to play a game: close his 
  eyes and sing a song about breaking dishes, down from ninety-nine 
  dishes until there were none left.
  While the boy counted, the parents snuck away, hoping the boy 
  would die and they’d never have to replace another broken item. 
  But his singing attracted Granny Allswell, who loved his voice and 
  adopted him to sing for her forever, along with all the other children 
  who had been abandoned in the woods. He became a gremlin, and on 
  his birthday the next year, his parents found everything they owned 
  cracked and shattered.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 29
  Act One: Against the Titans
  The miners can provide rough and often contradictory maps of 
  the mines, but all of them remember that there’s a large section 
  that has been abandoned for a few years. They broke through some 
  debris and found a much older section of tunnels, then went in and 
  started setting up cranes, a rail car, and a steam engine to drive 
  them, but then a representative of King Aodhan showed up and 
  ordered that section of the mine closed. Checking with the bureau-
  crats back in Slate reveals that they were pretty sure that section of 
  tunnels was where Granny Allswell had been buried.
  Long-Term Gremlinery.
  Favela’s miners operated in dozens of mines in the area, with 
  Redcap the most prominent and profitable. These mines’ outputs 
  fall off rapidly after the Great Eclipse, and then other mines far-
  ther away started having trouble. Granny’s old joints take a while 
  to limber up, so she hasn’t gone out personally, but she’s using 
  her witchy magic from beneath the earth to create gremlins all 
  throughout the Anthras Mountains. Given enough time, bands of 
  the little buggers will start marching into Redcap carrying chil-
  dren and shiny trinkets nabbed all along the mountain range.
  Gather ’Round, Children
  Action. Montage.
  Servants of Granny Allswell lure intruders to the mines of the Red-
  cap into traps.
  Unless the party wants to wait for Granny to come out (and 
  endure Risur’s mining operations being disrupted for two months), 
  they’ll need to enter the Redcap mines and find her.
  Granny’s witchy magic has given her a general description of 
  each PC, and she has told her favored children to be on the lookout 
  for them. Soon after receiving these instructions, the gremlins had 
  a series of mistaken identity situations, bringing random miners 
  from the Favela lottery to see Granny. The miners that met the fey 
  titan were driven mad and fed to the kidnapped children as stew. 
  The gremlins took the resultant scolding of Granny to heart and 
  opted to craft a series of tests for those who entered the mine.
  Redcap Peak—Above Ground
  The entrance to the Redcap mines is a lonely grouping of tempo-
  rary dwellings spaced between shafts leading into the mountain. 
  The buildings were once the homes of dozens of miners, as well 
  as support shops, meeting areas, recreation, and lavatories. All of 
  the buildings are abandoned; their interiors stripped clean, with 
  goods transported back to Favela or dragged into the mines by the 
  gremlins.
  No metal remains here. Doors have hinges crudely removed, 
  fences picked clean save for the wood mounts, and even the han-
  dles on the latrines are missing. Each of the entry shafts save one 
  are broken beyond mundane means of repair. Crashed elevators 
  and broken cabling tell stories of destruction for each, while the 
  sole working elevator has a crude wooden sign post erected at the 
  entrance. Written in haphazardly splashed blood is the following:
  This mountain is ours. Come and play. Play and be ours too.
  A 15-foot square platform acts as the elevator, with support ropes 
  on every corner and a central rope that connects to a pulley 20 
  feet above the entrance. The elevator can be turned on — sending 
  the cart down at a rate of 30 feet per round — from a lever on the 
  platform. The shaft descends 350 feet into the mountain and ends 
  at a juncture of several horizontal tunnels.
  Trap: A single gremlin waits 100 feet down the shaft nestled in 
  a small cubby. For the most part, the gremlin spends its days sleep-
  ing and lazing about in its hole, but is woken by the sounds of the 
  elevator if it is activated. The creature hides in the darkness (DC 
  26 Wisdom [Perception] check) waiting for the elevator to pass, at 
  which point it comes out and cuts the support cables.
  Creatures on the platform who fall from this height take 70 
  (20d6) bludgeoning damage along with 21 (6d6) piercing damage 
  from broken debris. PCs on the platform can attempt to grab onto 
  the wall though they need to make a quick jump and find a hand-
  hold on the smoothed shaft walls (a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw 
  followed by a DC 17 Strength [Athletics] check).
  The Greatest of Gremlins
  Four of the gremlins are considered the favorites of Granny Alls-
  well’s rambunctious children. Named Glower, Guffaw, Pout, and 
  Tremble, these gremlins take great joy in acting as ambassadors 
  for those who dare travel into the mines. Having a very twisted 
  sense of diplomacy and proper manners, these gremlins are not 
  immediately hostile and do their best to act as guides for the PCs.
  The posse of four waits at the exit of the elevator, expecting 
  visitors the moment the elevator activates. They’re initially hostile 
  but feign friendship, unless the party is playing music (a DC 17 
  Charisma [Performance] check) in which case they’re unfriendly. 
  They’ll still try to trick the party into danger unless the PCs make 
  a genuine effort to befriend them. If made helpful, they’ll explain 
  that there are traps up ahead, but that Granny only wants survivors 
  to make it to her, so they have to endure the traps to prove they’re 
  not just more boring miners.
  The four gremlins are:
  •	 Glower: A stunted (for a gremlin) blue-skinned creature 
  with a perpetual look of frustration on his face. He wears a 
  finely tailored suit that is clearly sized for a child along with 
  an appropriately sized bowler hat. Glower spends his time 
  talking about how nothing impresses him, and acts bitter 
  towards everyone and everything that is not him. The inside 
  lining of his jacket is filled with hooks that dangle dozens of 
  tiny children toys, which he occasionally pulls out and plays 
  with to illustrate his ennui. The only time Glower shows 
  any emotion beyond his irritation is when questioned on the 
  origin of his toys, to which he simply responds with a rictus 
  grin and no answer.
  •	 Guffaw: A humorously obese gremlin with orange-tinged 
  flesh riddled with freckles, Guffaw has the drooping ears of 
  a basset hound. He begins every sentence with a chortling 
  “Huh huh huh!” and ends with a simple “Eh?” Guffaw 
  dresses in rags that are a patchwork of quilts and blankets 
  each of which is inscribed with a different name. When 
  mocked by his siblings, Guffaw’s most common response is 
  to nervously break wind and begin crying.
  
  30 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  •	 Pout: The only female of the group, Pout is garbed in an 
  elaborate crimson dress and acts like a meek teenager 
  talking to her first crush. Her purple hued skin meshes 
  with the dress, but a close inspection of the fabric reveals 
  it to be originally a white dress now covered in blood. Pout 
  rarely speaks, but often has moments of seemingly random 
  disagreements with her siblings. Most of these disputes turn 
  into savage mauling as Pout attacks those who disagree with 
  her after she puts her foot down.
  •	 Tremble: A gray-skinned gremlin with a full set of disheveled 
  white hair, Tremble eternally shakes as his name suggests. 
  One of his two eyes is milky white, while the other is slit like 
  that of a cat, constantly blinking open and closed. Tremble 
  is the most talkative of the group, often initiating conversa-
  tion with an odd twinge of movement, probing newcomers 
  with endless questions about the foods they’ve eaten, the 
  places they’ve visited, their favorite color, why they chose 
  the weapons they chose, who their favorite celebrity is (for 
  the record Tremble’s is “Rock Rackus, the greatest of all 
  humans”), and continual questions about why they’ve entered 
  the Redcap mines. The gremlin’s only other quirk is his need 
  to stab things with his rusted kitchen knife, an addiction he 
  considerately fills on the local insect life.
  Glower, Guffaw, Pout, and Tremble
  Tiny fey, neutral evil
  Armor Class 21 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 72 (16d4+32)
  Speed 30 ft.
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   6 (–2) 
  22 (+6) 
  14 (+2) 
  13 (+1) 
  12 (+1) 
  13 (+1)
  Saving Throws Dex +9, Wis +4, Cha +4
  Skills Acrobatics +12, Deception +7, Insight +7, Intimidation +4, 
  Perception +7, Stealth +12
  Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from 
  weapons not made of cold iron
  Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
  Languages Common, Primordial, Sylvan
  Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
  Auras. Each gremlin has an aura that does not work on animals, or 
  other gremlins.
  * Angry Aura (Glower only): Glower radiates an aura of anger in 
  a 20-foot radius. Any creature in this area becomes bewildered 
  whenever it misses an attack roll or fails an ability check. This condi-
  tion lasts for 1 minute, during which the creature uses its action to 
  make a melee attack against a randomly determined creature within 
  its reach. If there is no creature within its reach, the creature does 
  nothing this turn. Once the bewildered effect ends, the creature can 
  be affected by this trait again.
  * Incompetence Aura (Guffaw only): Guffaw radiates an aura of 
  incompetence in a 20-foot radius. Any creature in this area has 
  disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
  * Timid Aura (Pout only): Pout radiates an aura of timidity in a 20-
  foot radius. Whenever a creature in this area takes a bonus action 
  or action, there is a 20% chance it does not perform that action or 
  bonus action and it is considered spent.
  * Twitching Aura (Tremble only): 
  Tremble radiates an aura of uncon-
  trollable shaking in a 20-foot radius. Any creature in this area can 
  take the Dash action as a bonus action. Anytime a creature moves in 
  this aura, it must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check 
  or fall prone.
  Cunning Action. On each of its turns, the gremlin can use a bonus 
  action to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
  Evasion. If the gremlin is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a 
  Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, the gremlin instead 
  takes no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half 
  damage if it fails.
  Innate Spellcasting. The gremlins’ innate spellcasting ability is 
  Charisma. They can innately cast the following spells, requiring no 
  material components.
  At will: quickened mage hand
  Magic Resistance. The gremlin has advantage on saving throws 
  against spells and other magical effects.
  Sneak Attack (1/Turn). The gremlin deals an extra 21 (6d6) damage 
  when it hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the 
  attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the gremlin 
  that isn’t incapacitated and the gremlin doesn’t have disadvantage on 
  the attack roll.
  Actions
  Multiattack. The gremlin attacks twice.
  +3 Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft. or 
  range 20/40 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d4+9) magical piercing damage. 
  After being thrown, the dagger reappears in the gremlin’s hand.
  ReActions
  Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker that the gremlin can see hits it 
  with an attack, the gremlin can use its reaction to halve the attack’s 
  damage against it.
  Gods vs. Gremlins.
  Let’s take a look at this objectively, shall we? The PCs are 17th level at 
  this point and have the ability as a group to bring armies to heel with 
  concentrated spell casting and martial prowess. Standing against 
  them in the Redcap mines is a gaggle of disorganized gremlins with 
  only 4 of them having any notable abilities.
  Not a fair fight.
  Mischievous as they are, the gremlins don’t pose a threat to the 
  PCs. What make Granny’s children an annoyance 
  are the traps that fill the mountain, and 
  the passive abilities Glower, 
  Guffaw, Pout, and 
  Tremble 
  possess. 
  Used together, these 
  could pose a major 
  hindrance to the PCs, 
  weakening them before 
  they meet the fey titan 
  herself.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 31
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Trouble in the Dark.
  The caverns of the Redcap mines are filled with twisting turns and 
  narrow passages, necessitated by Risur’s druid-overseen mining 
  practices, which favor appeasing nature spirits instead of strip 
  mining. Each section of the mine is reinforced with wooden struts 
  and every 100 feet or so there’s a secured bunker complex where 
  miners could seek shelter in the case of a collapse. There are no 
  lights, and the winding tunnels are typically 4 feet wide and 5 feet 
  high, with only occasional openings into larger chambers that once 
  contained profitable veins.
  Simple wooden tracks for mining carts weave through the mine, 
  though a few sections are missing where the tracks were metal. 
  These are typically nearby dismantled steam engines, which were 
  used to propel heavily-laden carts up slopes.
  The nature of the path allows the gremlins to take the PCs 
  through a variety of traps and tricks to “test” them before they 
  meet with Granny Allswell. If the party disarms a trap, the grem-
  lins might reset it using quickened mage hand (DC 35 Wisdom 
  [Perception] check to notice). If the party doesn’t go with the 
  gremlins, they still encounter the traps along the route to Granny.
  The gremlins pretend to be dumbfounded about how all these 
  traps got here, and they blame the miners for having unsafe work-
  ing conditions.
  Trap One—No Sleeping in Mine.
  A ladder that descends 30 feet has several long wooden slivers 
  coated with poison. Initially only one ladder run has these poisoned 
  splinters exposed, but the gremlins can use mage hand to trigger 
  different traps for each PC. If any PCs fall unconscious, the grem-
  lins want to strip them naked, scatter their gear in nooks around 
  the mines, and then eat their flesh.
  Sleeping Darts
  Mechanical trap
  When a creature steps on a hidden pressure plate, poison-tipped darts 
  shoot from spring-loaded or pressurized tubes cleverly embedded in the 
  surrounding walls. An area might include multiple pressure plates, each 
  one rigged to its own set of darts.
   The tiny holes in the walls are obscured by dust and cobwebs, or 
  cleverly hidden amid bas-reliefs, murals, or frescoes that adorn the 
  walls. The DC to spot them is 27. With a successful DC 25 Intelligence 
  (Investigation) check, a character can deduce the presence of the 
  pressure plate from variations in the mortar and stone used to create 
  it, compared to the surrounding floor. Wedging an iron spike or other 
  object under the pressure plate prevents the trap from activating. 
  Stuffing the holes with cloth or wax prevents the darts contained within 
  from launching.
   The trap activates when more than 5 pounds of weight is placed on 
  the pressure plate, releasing a poison dart. Each dart makes a ranged 
  attack with a +12 bonus against a random target within 10 feet of the 
  pressure plate (vision is irrelevant to this attack roll; if there are no 
  targets in the area, the darts don’t hit anything). A target that is hit 
  takes 2 (1d4) piercing damage plus 11 (2d10) poison damage, and must 
  succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or fall asleep for 1d4 
  hours, until the creature takes damage, or someone uses an action to 
  shake or slap the creature awake.
  Trap Two—Please Use Handrail.
  Wooden planks form a simple bridge over a 10-foot wide ravine. 
  Bundles of mining supplies dangle from it, include coils of rope 
  with swinging hooks. The gremlins collapse the bridge when the 
  third PC steps onto it, and the ropes snag and pull victims down 
  into a 15-foot deep pit filled with slimy stone spikes jutting upward 
  at odd angles. 
  Bridge over Spiked Pit
  Mechanical trap
  The bridge over this pit is rigged so the gremlins can collapse it 
  whenever they like. When this happens, a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw 
  allows a creature on the bridge to jump away and grab onto one of the 
  sides of the collapsed bridge.
   A creature falling into the pit takes 11 (2d10) piercing damage from 
  the spikes, in addition to falling damage, and becomes entangled in 
  ropes (escape DC 17). When a creature attempts to escape from the 
  ropes, it must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or takes 3 (1d6) 
  piercing damage from the spikes.
   Any creature that takes piercing damage from the spikes must also 
  make a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or reduce its Strength score 
  by 1d4. The target dies if this reduces its Strength to 0. Otherwise, the 
  reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest.
  Trap Three—Deadly Supply Bunker.
  Ladders, ropes, and wheelbarrows fill this 20-foot wide, 100-foot 
  long chamber. Racks of rusty picks and other metal implements 
  fill the walls. This place looks really dangerous — a DC 22 Wisdom 
  (Perception) check determines that any large force would cause a 
  lot of sharp things to fly through the air — and it takes a separate 
  DC 22 Dexterity (thieves’ tools) check to make any given 10-foot 
  square area safe (and even if the party does this, the gremlins use 
  mage hand to reset everything when the PCs aren’t looking).
  Flinging Metal
  Mechanical trap
  When one of the 10-foot panels on the floor is activated, for 1d4 
  rounds a flurry of metal slivers fills the space above it, dealing 21 (6d6) 
  slashing damage to any creatures in the area that fail a DC 20 Dexterity 
  saving throw.
   Any creature that takes slashing damage from the slivers must also 
  make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or reduce its Dexterity score 
  by 1d4. The target dies if this reduces its Dexterity to 0. Otherwise, the 
  reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest.
  Trap Four—Don’t All Miners Stow Giant 
  Boulders at the Tops of Slopes?
  Shortly after the deadly supply bunker room, a 60-foot long, 
  10-foot wide passage has a few nooks along the ground (DC 27 
  Wisdom [Perception]) check, each big enough for a Tiny creature 
  to stand safely in as a boulder rolls past. The end of the passage 
  slopes up, and as soon as anything heavier than 30 pounds steps 
  there, a huge boulder clunks loudly, falling from the ceiling 60-
  feet further ahead (120 feet from the deadly supply bunker). The 
  boulder bounces about for two rounds until it hits the end of the 
  bunker room, and as it moves it triggers the flinging metal traps.
  
  32 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Rolling Boulder
  Mechanical trap
  When this trap is triggered, roll initiative. Starting at initiative count 24, 
  and again at each initiative count until count 0, the boulder advances 5 
  feet down the hall, back toward the deadly supply bunker.
   The boulder can move through creatures’ spaces, and creatures can 
  move through its space, treating it as difficult terrain. Whenever the 
  rolling boulder enters a creature’s space or a creature enters its space, 
  that creature must succeed on a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw or take 
  42 (12d6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.
   As an action, a creature within 5 feet of the sphere can attempt to 
  slow it down with a DC 25 Strength check. On a successful check, the 
  sphere does not move that turn.
  Allswell Down Here
  Social. Real-Time.
  Granny Allswell seems too crazy to be a real threat, but she’s as ma-
  levolent as the Voice of Rot and cleverer than anyone gives her credit.
  After being suitably led through the mine by their gremlin guides, 
  the PCs hear a murmur of dozens of tiny voices, accompanied by 
  the hearty but somehow off-putting smell of a stew cooking. The 
  tunnel grows taller, and a scaffolding on the left leads up to a small 
  air vent. Beyond it, the passage opens up into a vast chamber, lit 
  only by a dim fire-light emerging from a pit to the north. Magical 
  fire runes around the pit keep warm the stew cooking 30 feet below.
  The chamber is filled with various lesser fey gremlins, most of 
  which stand less than a foot tall in height, though their coloration 
  is that of a sickly rainbow. In all there are over a hundred gremlins 
  of differing sizes and shapes who cower in front of the wall at the 
  opposite end of the chamber.
  The wall the gremlin horde stands in front of is actually a trio of 
  powerful earth spirits sent under Redcap Mountain by Queen Zidi 
  centuries ago. Zidi had tricked the elementals into absorbing some 
  of her gold royal treasure, which kept them from simply earth-
  gliding through the stone. Granny Allswell was trapped with them, 
  and she made them her pets, nursing the wounded elementals back 
  to health and extracting all the shiny metal from their owies.
  As the PCs enter the chamber, the elementals have taken the 
  form of a wall and only Granny’s head is visible, poking out of the 
  stone some 20 feet above the ground. Suspiciously, the stone of the 
  wall doesn’t quite match that of the rest of the mines (noticed with 
  a DC 30 Wisdom [Perception] check), and has a lot of tiny holes. 
  At the foot of the wall lies a pile of tons of shiny (and not-so-shiny) 
  metal doodads acquired by the gremlins. The mining cart rails run 
  directly into the pile, but any miner could tell that the tracks seem 
  out of place stopping at the wall (a bit of engineering known with 
  a DC 16 Intelligence check).
  On the right side of the room, a mass of makeshift metal cages 
  hold dozens of children, ranging between infants and twelve years 
  old. Behind the cages sits a huge pile of red barrels marked with a 
  fiery icon to warn of explosions; these hold firedust used for blast-
  ing. Several of the children have their wrists tied to the bars of 
  the cages with twine, and wooden signs hang around their necks, 
  painted in blood with the word “Naughty.”
  Don’t Take Granny for Granite!
  Tremble steps forward to address Granny, whose eyes — previously 
  pointed in different directions, spin to lock onto the party, then 
  twitch independently to examine each PC.
  Granny calls for her children to calm down. At first the grem-
  lins around the chamber don’t seem to listen, but a forceful shout 
  of “BE QUIET NOW!” causes them gremlins to freeze in their 
  tracks and slowly slink to the edges of the room. Even the four 
  named gremlins recoil in response to Granny’s outburst. Once the 
  gremlins are settled, Granny calls for the PCs to come closer so she 
  can “get a better look at them.”
  Granny Allswell knows the PCs are indeed powerful and tries to 
  gently ply them for information, starting with, “Why don’t cha tell 
  Granny what this is all about now?”
  Fey Demands.
  Hearing about a sunless world makes Granny grin and chortle, but 
  then she demures and coos that Risur’s children must be so scared 
  of the dark. At that point she looks into the corner of the chamber 
  that holds the children in cages. “Look how safe they are in there.”
  Granny wants control of the Anthras Mountains, and she wants 
  a steady stream of children — just the naughty ones, though — to 
  make part of her family. She even has a proposal: have all the 
  miners move out of the mountains, and instead send her all the 
  children old enough to sing a song or swing a pick. She’ll keep 
  them until they’re twelve, teaching them obedience if she can, or 
  making gremlins out of the ones who won’t behave. Then on their 
  thirteenth birthday she’ll send them back to civilization with what-
  ever they mined.
  Before all that, though, she wants all the children the people of 
  Favela are hiding from her. Her gremlins have heard kids playing, 
  so she knows there are more they’re keeping from her, and she 
  does not appreciate the rudeness.
  Of course, there are no such children; it’s just a trick by Katlin 
  Eisner to get Granny to destroy the dam. It also gives the party an 
  opportunity to avoid a fight, if they’re perceptive.
  Think It Over.
  If she’s denied, Granny suggests the PCs take a night to think 
  about it. Would they rather have her protecting their nation’s chil-
  dren, or snatching them away? If the party does leave, overnight 
  Granny weaves a spell — the mountain is limned in red faerie fire, 
  and quakes cause buildings to collapse in Favela. After an hour 
  there’s a crescendo of thunder and then a rancid stench wafts out-
  ward and covers the entire nation. All the milk that touches the lips 
  of children that night curdles, terrifying thousands of mothers and 
  causing thousands of children to become sick.
  However, this great expenditure of power by the fey titan weak-
  ens Granny for the next week (simply assign her a –1 penalty to 
  everything), a consequence the party might realize (with a DC 27 
  Intelligence [Arcana] check). Heartless PCs might goad her into 
  repeating the curse for several days to weaken her further still (the 
  penalty is cumulative).
  If the party arranges for a hundred people to sing the song All’s 
  Well (see page 16), they can stop the grand hex from affecting the 
  nation, but Granny Allswell is still weakened.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 33
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Titan Versus Titan.
  If the party finds out what Katlin is up to and drags her to Granny, 
  she compels the woman to speak the truth. Upon learning the 
  Voice of Rot tried to trick her, Granny offers a new deal: Risur can 
  keep its children, but she wants the Voice of Rot’s tongue, deliv-
  ered within a year. Until then, any miners in “her mountains” will 
  need to sing as they dig, or else she’ll collapse the tunnels on them.
  Changeling Option.
  The party might be able to negotiate her to let miners still operate 
  and leave Risur’s children alone if one of them offers his or her 
  own child, who will be raised among the gremlins. Granny then 
  lets the PC pick among Tremble, Guffaw, Glower, and Pout to 
  have as a new child.
  The Old Fashioned Way.
  Or the party can fight. Whenever battle begins, a PC who is mon-
  arch feels the loyalty of the Risuri people flow in and empower 
  him or her.
  Fighting the Old Hag
  Action. Tactical.
  Granny Allswell is smart enough to have allies of her own — hordes 
  of gremlins and three corrupted earth spirits.
  If the party attacks, the collected gremlins start to swarm in 
  from the edges of the room, and the wall Granny’s head emerges 
  from breaks apart, transforming into three huge earth elementals 
  with a bitter grudge against the Risuri monarchy. They attack the 
  party, revealing Granny herself — warty green skin, sixty feet tall, 
  her arms unnaturally long and gangly compared to her body, and 
  her eyes twitching in different directions.
  Gremlin Gang (see Appendix: Fey Titans)
  •	 3 corrupted elder earth spirits
  •	 Granny Allswell
  Terrain.
  The “air vents” that run along the north provide a hiding spot, 
  though Granny can send her gremlin gangs in, or just wall of stone 
  them shut if she’s really annoyed.
  
  34 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  The small pit full of stew deals 1d6 fire damage to a creature 
  when it enters the area or begins its turn in the area.
  If the firedust casks take more than 10 points of fire damage, 
  they’ll explode, dealing 70 (20d6) damage to each creature within 
  30 feet (a DC 22 Dexterity saving throw reduces this damage by 
  half). This kills the children.
  The steam engine and cranes in the eastern half of the room are 
  all damaged, but mending or similar magic could make them avail-
  able if PCs get clever ideas about dragging Granny into the big pit 
  or something similar.
  The piles of shinies are difficult terrain and mostly worthless.
  Tactics.
  Granny uses her Hordeling Outburst to control 9 gangs of grem-
  lins at a time, and the little bastards run all across the PCs, trying 
  to disarm or disrobe them. While the earth spirits provide beef 
  and initial melee damage, Granny starts by using her two Evil 
  Eye powers to disrupt the party, then uses her exceptionally long 
  reach to attack. She prefers to focus on spellcasters so she can steal 
  magic they might be using.
  If she can, she’ll use her hurl foe ability to knock PCs into the 
  stew pit. If enemies get behind her, she’ll instead throw them into 
  the massive mining shaft.
  Once she has used each Evil Eye power on each PC, she starts 
  using her bonus action to cast bestow curse, or Hostile Juxtaposi-
  tion (which lets her swap positions with an enemy whenever she’d 
  be attacked or affected by a damaging spell, causing the enemy to 
  become the target instead).
  Bringing Down the Mountain.
  When Granny is first reduced to 0 hit points, she’ll spit in defiance 
  and stop fighting. She agrees to return to her torpor, but makes one 
  last offer: give her Redcap Mountain as her personal playground, 
  let her remain awake, and in exchange she’ll send nightmares into 
  the sleeping minds of the party’s enemies, targeting whomever the 
  party desires (13 creatures that will suffer each night for a year).
  If the party continues to attack her, the fey titan’s face contorts 
  into a visage of tension and anger, her eyes comically rolling in 
  their sockets. The hilarity ceases, though, when the entire moun-
  tain begins to tremble. Two rounds later Granny’s cave collapses 
  around them, dealing 17 (5d6) damage per round (a DC 17 Dex-
  terity saving throw negates this damage). If the party moves at a 
  quick pace out of the mines they can outrun the cave-in, but the 
  four named gremlins — who avoided the previous fight — show up 
  along the way to stymie the party.
  Fleeing out of the mountain requires backtracking (a DC 17 
  Wisdom [Survival] check to avoid getting lost, taking 17 [5d6] 
  bludgeoning damage from falling rocks on each failed check). 
  This takes the party through all four of the gremlin’s traps, which 
  have been reset. Once up past the splinter-trapped ladder, another 
  DC 17 Wisdom (Survival) check is necessary to reach the elevator. 
  At that point, the GM should use their judgment as far as how 
  much time the party has to make its way up the 350-foot shaft 
  before the whole mine falls in on itself.
  To add to the climax, the GM can have Granny appear beneath 
  the party (the old witch polymorphed herself to navigate the tun-
  nels) and start climbing up after them. All it takes is one good hit 
  or clever idea to stymie her ascent, and then the shaft collapses on 
  her as soon as the party makes it to the surface.
  Kooky Talk.
  If you need a few strange things for Granny to say during this encoun-
  ter, you can use the following as is or for inspiration.
  •	 “Aww, look what you gone done now. Those little rocks was just 
  needing a few more kisses from ol’ Granny.”
  •	 “Ho ho, nice spell you cast wee one. Nice, tasty spell. Granny 
  thinks she wants it.”
  •	 “Don’t cha be hurting my children… well, don’t cha hurting 
  them too much, I know kids’ll be kids and all.”
  •	 “Hehehe, dat tickled ol Granny a little bit. Maybe after this 
  rough-an’-tumble you can come scratch me back a little.”
  Threat Four: She Who Writhes
  Arms of thousands make men weep,
  She lurks in depths of murky deep.
  Brave souls gone without a trace,
  Grasping ships with sweet embrace.
  Fishers, merchants, pirates, each
  Will tremble when they see her breach.
  When sailors wail ’neath stormy skies,
  It’s time for dinner, She Who Writhes.
   — Risuri Sea Shanty
  Beshela, Archfey of the Sea. Lady Beshela 
  serves as steward of the domains of the fey titan She Who 
  Writhes. With armies of sea creatures at her command, the 
  beautiful fey was like a queen of her own land, but since the 
  Great Eclipse her kraken mistress has wrought havoc upon 
  those people.
  Four decades ago Beshela was saved from captivity by 
  Ethelyn, the sister of Risur’s former king. Her pride and eagerness to help 
  Ethelyn in a coup made her an enemy of Risur for a time, but she has come 
  to realize the real threat was the Obscurati. Now she humbly hopes to aid 
  the party in defeating her mistress She Who Writhes, both to save her own 
  domain and to repay her debt to Risur.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 35
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Waves of Rage
  Exposition. Montage.
  No ship is safe from She Who Writhes!
  She Who Writhes may have assisted the party in Zeitgeist #9: 
  The Last Starry Sky, but only accidentally. She sees all intruders 
  on the seas as enemies, and so now no ship can come within thirty 
  miles of Risur’s shores without being attacked.
  As the PCs race around Risur dealing with threats, Beshela the 
  Archfey of the Sea searches for her fey titan mistress to try to calm 
  her. By the time the PCs are ready to deal with She Who Writhes, 
  Beshela has returned, and has the rough outline of a plan.
  Eladrin dreadnought Asrabey Varal offers to aid the party in 
  Beshela’s plan to soothe the rampaging fey titan. However, Asra-
  bey — already doubting his opposition to the Obscurati, since it was 
  co-founded by his wife Kasvarina — has decided in light of the Ob’s 
  ritual to switch sides. He intends to betray the party and weaken 
  Risur so the Obscurati can more easily accomplish its goals of 
  dominating the world.
  Fey in Water.
  At an appropriate point (likely after the other three fey titans are 
  defeated), Beshela makes herself known to one or more of the PCs. 
  She uses an effect similar to a programmed illusion spell, enchant-
  ing the bathwater at the party’s likely residences. The next time 
  one of them bathes or shaves, her image seems to rise out of the 
  water to address them.
  “The fey titans contest with Risur, but none will cause more damage than 
  my mistress, She Who Writhes. When you are ready to grapple with this 
  menace of the seas, you may find me by placing a bouquet of white lilies 
  on the water at your docks.”
  If the PCs contact her, the archfey Beshela rises from the water 
  atop the head of a giant octopus which emerges from the water. As 
  the octopus rises, a half-dozen merfolk mounted on the backs of 
  armored oversized seahorses appear, acting as the archfey’s escort. 
  Beshela’s demeanor depends heavily on her previous interactions 
  with the party. This time, though, she operates mostly on bluster, 
  and the forces with her are all the aquatic allies she could muster. 
  Most of the marine denizens have fled to deeper retreats.
  If the party declines to work with Beshela, about two months 
  after the Great Eclipse Asrabey approaches her, with Gale as back-
  up. The three they sail out in a small ship, and Beshela contacts 
  the fey titan, but Asrabey’s betrayal (see below) goes off without a 
  hitch. Gale is horribly wounded but manages to fly away so she can 
  tell the party what happened.
  Beshela’s Plan.
  Beshela says she knows a way she and the PCs can calm She Who 
  Writhes. They must head out to sea and force the titan to rise, then 
  trap her in a temporary storm, at which point Beshela will need 
  to maintain physical contact with the titan for a minute to cast a 
  spell that will charm her. Beshela can then explain the situation 
  with the Obscurati and open negotiations between the party and 
  her mistress.
  She suspects She Who Writhes would agree to aid the party for 
  a year if Risur abandons the use of steam engines and makes regu-
  lar offerings of virile men and golden treasure. If the party cannot 
  come to terms with She Who Writhes, at least the titan would be 
  in a vulnerable place so the party could defeat her, driving her back 
  to sleep. Beshela would regret having to betray her mistress in that 
  way, but she recognizes the greater stakes to the world.
  Depending on their relationship with Beshela, the PCs may not 
  trust her. After all, Beshela tried to sink the party’s ship during 
  Zeitgeist #7: Schism, and before that she assisted in an assas-
  sination attempt against King Aodhan. If questioned about her 
  previous actions, Beshela says that she has no regrets, and she 
  posits that had Duchess Ethelyn of Shale been allowed to com-
  plete her coup, it is quite possible the Obscurati would have been 
  stopped much earlier.
  Asrabey’s Betrayal.
  Asrabey offers to stand by Beshela and protect her while the PCs 
  handle subduing the fey titan. In truth, he plans to use an eladrin 
  ritual from the high age of Elfaivar to steal Beshela’s powers and 
  become an archfey himself. He plans to strike while Beshela is 
  bonded to She Who Writhes, gaining both magical power and 
  temporary control of the titan.
  Important Warning.
  Beshela makes sure to warn the party that She Who Writhes has 
  the power to unleash a deadly ululation that drives people so mad 
  that they kill themselves in order to stop hearing it (in effect, this 
  is the spell weird). She suggests that whatever the party decides to 
  do, they be ready for that threat.
  I’m on a Boat!
  The first part of Beshela’s plan requires luring She Who Writhes 
  from the ocean into shallow water. This should not be difficult 
  for the PCs to arrange, as the fey titan has been attacking pretty 
  much any vessel of notable size that ventures into water deeper 
  than thirty feet. The party’s advisors suggest taking the Coaltongue, 
  the Impossible, and any Danoran ships that were seized at the end 
  of Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky (since Flint’s own fleet was 
  mostly sunk). As for how to get to She Who Writhes, several op-
  tions are possible.
  First, the party can use illusion magic to shout challenges under-
  water, drawing the titan’s attention. They’ll linger close to a wide 
  An Excess of Caution.
  Asrabey does not underestimate the party. While they are out of Flint, 
  he secretly acquires numerous elixirs of glibness (granting advantage 
  and a +10 bonus to Charisma [Deception] checks made to conceal the 
  truth for 1 hour). Unless the party put a tail on him, by the time they 
  come back to deal with She Who Writhes, Asrabey will glibly avoid 
  dropping any hints of his betrayal (DC 27 Wisdom [Insight] check).
  The only real hint the party might easily notice is that he has ac-
  quired an enchanted crown. This item hides the magical aura of his 
  elixirs, both while they’re on his person and after he has drunk one. If 
  asked about it, he claims it makes him more personable, but with the 
  gruff eladrin it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
  
  36 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  sandbar that is hidden at high tide, and if possible they’ll simply 
  goad the titan into beaching herself.
  Second, each ship will have its cannons adjustable so they can 
  aim downward into the sea. Special enchantments will be needed 
  to allow the projectiles to travel more than a few feet through the 
  water, costing 12,500 gp per ship.
  If that fails, the third option is to have the other ships harpoon 
  her or drop jagged anchors to try to snag her. If at least three ships 
  get hold they can try to drag her onto the sandbar.
  As a back-up, a fourth option is to have several dozen spellcasters 
  on board with control water scrolls. If cast simultaneously they can 
  simply pull the water out from under She Who Writhes, even if 
  she won’t come into the shallows.
  The party will discover that She Who Writhes can teleport (just 
  like everyone else). They might try to break her line of sight, but 
  since she can see through water their best bet would be to churn 
  the seas, such as with a tornado or hurricane created by control 
  weather. An unprepared party is liable to lose many ships and per-
  haps a few PCs just trying to get close enough to She Who Writhes 
  to talk.
  She’s Writhing All Right!
  Action. Real-Time.
  The queen of the sea tries to kill intruders to her domain.
  The battle against She Who Writhes is divided into three phases; 
  the first phase being the party’s effort to beach the titan so they 
  can climb atop her without her simply submerging and teleporting 
  away. The second phase of the battle has the party defend Beshela 
  for a minute as she attempts to charm her mistress. The final phase 
  of the encounter begins when Varal stabs Beshela, then takes her 
  power to become an archfey himself.
  The first phase of this encounter can be mostly handled narra-
  tively. The party just needs to figure out how to thwart She Who 
  Writhe’s teleportation, perhaps taking a few crashing waves across 
  their deck in the process.
  Battle at Sea
  Let the party pick where they want to confront She Who Writhes. 
  There is plenty of nautical terrain within a few miles of Flint har-
  bor, or they might even engage her in The Ayres. Once they set 
  out, it’s only half an hour before the waters grow turbulent, and a 
  look-out spies something approaching under the waves.
  The first naval round occurs when She Who Writhes reaches 
  long range, and she attempts to make the party’s boat list with 
  waves and whirlpools. The following round she teleports (since af-
  ter all, any creature can teleport now) to the opposite side of the 
  party’s fleet and tries to capsize the ship by hitting it with waves 
  again. The party might not be prepared for her amazing mobility, 
  and unless they can stop her from teleporting or have very long-
  range weapons, she’ll keep jaunting around until the party’s whole 
  fleet is drowning.
  She stays in water that’s at least 30 feet deep, but if the party 
  has their allies use a massive number of scrolls of control water, 
  they can drop She Who Writhes into a watery depression too shal-
  low for her to teleport out of. The party will only have one minute 
  to close the distance (which entails piloting into a whirlpool with 
  steep sides), after which She Who Writhes manually crawls her 
  way out of the area of lower water and continues her attack.
  The party might instead try to goad her into attacking them 
  and leaving their allied ships alone, though pulling that off is chal-
  lenging (some appropriate show of force, plus a DC 30 Charisma 
  [Intimidation] check). Or they might have their allies flying for 
  the duration — an expensive undertaking, but possible. In this case, 
  She Who Writhes waits until she capsizes the party’s vessel, then 
  closes to devour them, at which point the control water spells can 
  strand her long enough for the party to climb aboard her.
  No doubt the PCs will think of other clever solutions.
  Simpler Engagement?
  Since the big twist of this encounter is battling Asrabey, the GM 
  can simplify the scene if pressed for time or if the players are getting 
  restless.
  The party can sail out as written; then when She Who Writhes 
  approaches and the water starts to heave around them, Beshela 
  performs a ritual to conjure a hurricane and pull the fey titan to the 
  surface. The party then must reach the “face” of She Who Writhes, 
  where Beshela needs a minute to commune with her mistress. If the 
  party can keep Beshela alive that long, She Who Writhes stops fight-
  ing them. Beshela starts to explain the threat of the Obscurati, but 
  then Asrabey stabs her in the back with his flaming sword. He draws 
  out her power and orders the kraken to destroy the party, while he 
  grimly explains why he has betrayed them.
  True Tentacle Horror.
  She Who Writhes manifests as a sort of kraken, a creature akin to 
  a giant squid, her body a hundred feet long and tentacles stretching 
  hundreds more. However, most of her body is a not solid mass of flesh, 
  but rather thousands upon thousands of smaller tentacles—some 
  suckered like an octopus, some scaled like a shark, others leafy like 
  kelp or covered in jagged golden rasps trawled up from ancient sunken 
  treasure.
  Her “face” has two massive eyes—capable of charming those she 
  sees and luring them to a drowned death—but those are merely her 
  most prominent. Dozens more eyes probe out from her body attached 
  to pseudopods, granting her near perfect awareness of her surround-
  ings. Masses of tentacles along the crown of her head defend the 
  primary eyes, and if they grapple creatures they pull victims through 
  the titan’s flesh into her body’s interior. Likewise, creatures bitten and 
  swallowed by her are drawn to this churning organ.
  Therein, the figure of a beautiful woman glows with biolumines-
  cence, while around her writhe the mindless but still-alive bodies of 
  hundreds of previous victims, their expressions rapt with physical 
  ecstasy. Creatures who can resist the psychic onslaught here can see 
  the true formlessness of She Who Writhes, for even this female figure 
  is just a ruse, like the tempting orb of an anglerfish. Up close she is 
  nothing more than innumerable wriggling tentacles, slick with bloody 
  mucus.
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 37
  Act One: Against the Titans
  She Who Writhes, Fey Titan
  Gargantuan fey, unaligned
  Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 577 (33d20+231)
  Speed 10 ft., swim 90 ft.
   
  STR 
  DEX 
  CON 
  INT 
  WIS 
  CHA 
   30 (+10) 
  11 (+0) 
  25 (+7) 
  22 (+6) 
  18 (+4) 
  20 (+5)
  Saving Throws Str +18, Con +15
  Skills Athletics +18
  Damage Immunities lightning
  Condition Immunities frightened, paralyzed
  Senses darkvision 300 ft., blindsight 300 ft., passive Perception 22
  Languages Aquan, Common; tongues
  Challenge 28 (120,000 XP)
  Feeding Tentacles. She Who Writhes uses a bonus action to lash out 
  at a creature or object within 160 feet. On a successful hit, she does 
  not deal damage but the target is pulled within 50 feet of her.
  Innate Spellcasting. She Who Writhes’ innate spellcasting ability is 
  Intelligence (spell save DC 23). She can innately cast the following 
  spell, requiring no material components.
  At will: dominate monster (creatures within her body only)
  Magic Resistance. She Who Writhes has advantage on saving throws 
  against spells and other magical effects.
  Mistress of the Sea. While she is submerged in water, She Who 
  Writhes can use a bonus action to teleport (as the spell) from one 
  body of water to another body of water she has previously swam in, or 
  to any area in the same body of water she is in.
  Pain Threshold. She Who Writhes ignores any attack that deals 10 
  damage or less.
  Regeneration. She Who Writhes regains 15 hit points at the start of 
  her turn if she has at least 1 hit point and is in the water.
  Waves and Whirlpools. She Who Writhes uses a bonus action to send 
  a heavy chop at any ship she can see that is in the same body of water. 
  The creature piloting the ship must succeed on a DC 26 Dexterity 
  (vehicle [water]) check or the ship is struck by a wave. Each creature 
  on deck must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to avoid 
  being washed overboard. On a failure of 5 or more, the ship lists from 
  the wave’s impact. If the ship is already listing, instead the ship is 
  capsized.
  Actions
  Multiattack. She Who Writhes makes one bite attack, one crush at-
  tack, and three tentacle attacks, or she makes eight tentacles attacks.
  Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 37 
  (6d8+10) piercing damage. If the target is a Huge or smaller creature 
  grappled by She Who Writhes, that creature is swallowed, and the 
  grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature has total cover against 
  attacks and other effects outside She Who Writhes, and it takes 21 
  (6d6) bludgeoning damage at the start of each of She Who Writhes’ 
  turns. A swallowed creature can escape by running back out of her 
  mouth, but treats her insides as difficult terrain and is moved 20 feet 
  deeper inside at the end of each of her turns.
    If She Who Writhes takes 50 damage or more on a single turn from 
  a swallowed creature, she must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution 
  saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed 
  creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of her. If She Who 
  Writhes dies, a swallowed creature can escape from the corpse using 
  15 feet of movement; the creature is no longer prone.
  Crush. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 
  49 (6d12+10) bludgeoning damage.
  Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 110 ft., one target. 
  Hit: 20 (3d6+10) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled 
  (escape DC 26). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained. She 
  Who Writhes has eight attack tentacles, each of which can grapple 
  one target.
  Whirlwind Attack. She Who Writhes can use her action to make a 
  tentacle attack against any number of creatures within 160 feet of her, 
  with a separate attack roll for each target. She can still grapple only 
  eight targets.
  LegendARy Actions
  She Who Writhes can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the op-
  tions below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and 
  only at the end of another creature’s turn. She Who Writhes regains 
  spent legendary actions at the start of her turn.
  Additional Action (Costs 1 Action). She Who Writhes takes an 
  additional action.
  Dominate (Costs 1 Action). She Who Writhes casts dominate monster 
  on a swallowed creature.
  Swallow Sea (Costs 2 Actions). She Who Writhes swallows a 30-foot 
  cone of water, including anything within that water. Creatures in the 
  area make a DC 26 Strength (Athletics) check or are swallowed. If the 
  creature has a swim speed, it makes this check with advantage.
  Beshela’s Ritual.
  Once the PCs have managed to stop She Who Writhes from play-
  ing keep-away, they have to climb aboard her. The map is just a 
  static image of her body, but in truth her tentacles are constantly 
  flailing about. Creatures on her outer tentacles must succeed a DC 
  17 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check at the end of every round or fall 
  into the water, and those who fall into the water must succeed on 
  a DC 16 Strength (Athletics) check at the end of every round or 
  take 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage from mighty waves and more 
  submerged tentacles.
  Tentacles sprout all over the titan’s body, and these try to pull 
  PCs into her interior where she can use dominate monster on them 
  and have slow, viscous congress with them until she grows tired of 
  it. The larger tentacles try to knock away melee threats, or simply 
  crush them. If no enemies are within range of her bite attack, She 
  Who Writhes uses her whirlwind attack.
  When She Who Writhes is reduced to 150 hit points, she sub-
  merges and teleports away. If she cannot submerge (or is otherwise 
  prevented from teleporting), she is unable to take any actions other 
  than to slowly crawl toward deep water. She heals to her full health 
  after about five minutes.
  While the party figures out what to do, Asrabey guides Beshela 
  to She Who Writhes’ face. There he readies actions to attack any 
  tentacles that threaten Beshela, but he suggests the party target 
  other parts of the kraken to distract her attention. If Beshela can 
  survive 10 rounds (1 minute) on the titan’s face, she completes her 
  communion and the titan stops attacking.
  
  38 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  
  EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One | 39
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Beshela’s Communion.
  Amidst the chaos of battle and the continuing torrent of water, the 
  spot where Beshela touches the titan’s face begins to glow. For a 
  moment, the contained storm calms, and the tendrils that make up 
  the face of She Who Writhes part, revealing the interior and the 
  titan’s feminine avatar.
  “Mistress!” Beshela calls out. “You have awakened to a world in peril. We 
  are not your enemies! We need your aid to save all our lands from the 
  threat of a great power. Please listen to my—”
  The moment is shattered. With a single lightning-fast movement 
  of his blade, Varal impales the archfey Beshela through the back. He 
  rapidly intones the syllables of some eladrin curse, and the dreadnought 
  undergoes a hideous transformation.
  His skin shifts from its usual brown tan to a blighted green, and his 
  cloak of smoke peels away as shadowy tentacles erupt from his back. He 
  shrugs Beshela’s body off his sword, dropping her body into She Who 
  Writhes’ interior. Then he sweeps his flaming blade as a challenge to the 
  party and proclaims:
  “I am Asrabey Varal, Archfey of Obedience and loyal ally to the rulers 
  of this new age! After centuries of spilling blood in vengeance, now I 
  see the path of justice is one of order and control. We must obey the 
  Obscurati! Champions of Risur, we have been allies, and I respect your 
  devotion, but you walk the wrong path! You shall either abandon your 
  rebellion, or you will taste my blade.”
  Seriously…You’re Betraying Us?!
  Asrabey Varal now has a measure of control over She Who Writhes, 
  and he directs her to defend him from the PCs. Let the party’s 
  past interactions with Asrabey determine whom he targets first; 
  he might be loyal to the Obscurati, but he’s still emotional and will 
  gladly repay any past slights with bloodshed.
  Asrabey’s goal is to bring the fey titan under his control and 
  escape. To do so, he needs to get She Who Writhes back into open 
  water so she can teleport them away, after which he’ll present the 
  titan to the Obscurati as a new weapon. First though he needs to 
  kill the PCs, or at least knock them off She Who Writhes, and 
  the titan needs a few minutes to crawl into deep enough water. 
  If there are any ships within reach, Asrabey could command She 
  Who Writhes to grasp the vessel and threaten to kill all aboard 
  if the party doesn’t surrender. Mostly, though, his plan is just to 
  defeat them in battle.
  Beshela has fallen unconscious from her wound (she is stable 
  at 0 hit points). As long as she is lying unconscious or otherwise 
  doing nothing, Asrabey ignores her. She can be brought back to 
  consciousness by concerned PCs; if she is, she tries to re-establish 
  her communion with She Who Writhes, though doing so im-
  mediately makes her Asrabey’s target. If she can spend 3 rounds 
  uninterrupted at this task, she calms the fey titan and convinces it 
  to turn against Asrabey. Of course, rescuing Beshela likely entails 
  entering the interior cavity of the kraken, where She Who Writhes 
  can dominate intruders.
  Screaming Titan.
  If She Who Writhes hasn’t already used her deadly ululation 
  (weird), she unleashes it now. Asrabey is immune to this effect, 
  as is Beshela. If the party guesses Asrabey’s intention to betray 
  them and stops him, instead have She Who Writhes wail halfway 
  through Beshela’s attempt at communion, since it can create a nice 
  moment of desperation.
  Back to the Bottom of the Ocean.
  When either Asrabey or She Who Writhes is reduced to 0 hit 
  points, She Who Writhes sags in exhaustion and coughs blood into 
  the sea. She gurgles out that she yields, and asks to be allowed to 
  return to her slumber. A moment later her entire body seems to un-
  ravel into millions of smaller tentacles, which dissolve into the sea.
  If the titan’s retreat was caused by saving Beshela and having 
  her complete her communion, She Who Writhes punishes Asra-
  bey: as her form collapses, she grasps him in her tentacles and 
  drags him screaming beneath the water.
  After she is gone, the sea is darkened with blood. The party has 
  a few minutes’ reprieve before another challenge presents itself, 
  detailed in Act Two.
  Rewards.
  If the party has dealt with the four fey titans — Ash Wolf, Father 
  of Thunder, Granny Allswell, and She Who Writhes — they should 
  go up to level 18. +
  
  40 | EN5ider Presents: Godmind, Part One
  Act One: Against the Titans
  Threat Five: The Voice of Rot.
  Whosoever ventures near,
  Be forewarned that Death lives here.
  If you should note the smell of death,
  Then soon shall come your final breath.
  —Sign outside the High Bayou
  The Voice of Rot is not present in the High Bayou. In the same way 
  the Ziggurat of Av in the Antwalk Thicket linked to Jiese, the Plane of 
  Fire, the Ziggurat of Apet in the High Bayou linked to Baden, the Ghost 
  Moon, which was once in the Gyre. The Voice of Rot slithered through 
  the ziggurat and emerged on Baden, and from there found his way to 
  the Gyre. He awaits the end of the world there, and he will probably 
  confront the party in Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven.
  In the meantime, the party finds nothing here. The fey titan moved 
  the swamp and caused the ziggurat to sink into the mire after he trav-
  eled to Av. Barring intense excavation efforts, the party won’t be able to 
  get inside the mud-flooded ruin to pursue the white serpent.
  However, coming here is not completely pointless. Strange magic 
  has summoned the spirit of a long-dead orc druid named Toteth To-
  pec, the original architect of the Axis Seal ritual. Only a small sliver 
  of his consciousness survives after so long, but the party can find him 
  near the ziggurat, drinking a citrusy alcoholic beverage while leaning 
  against a tree.
  Toteth vaguely answers questions posed about the original Axis Seal 
  ritual, but the information he provides comes down to three main facts.
  •	 The ritual requires eight worlds to link to, hopefully worlds that 
  don’t have hostile forces that could invade. Long ago, orcs did all 
  the hard work fighting such invaders, and he’s kind of disap-
  pointed that humans ended up taking over instead.
  •	 The ritual also requires a proper balance of energies: air, earth, 
  fire, water, life, death, space, and time. A bad mix could have 
  made the world uninhabitable or completely stolen free will. It 
  took years to find the right worlds, because they had to journey 
  to each on foot. It was possible to walk between the planes back 
  then; kids these days wouldn’t appreciate it.
  •	 The Golden Seal itself links the world to a star. Back in Toteth’s 
  day, you see, the world had no sun; Toteth saw one on another 
  plane and thought it was a good idea, because it kept the invad-
  ers away for half the day.
  There’s not enough of Toteth’s consciousness left to permit much con-
  versation about other topics, but he is able to share the recipe for the 
  drink he’s enjoying: a long-forgotten orc beverage called the margarita.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/EN World EN5ider/EN5ider 322 - ZEITGEIST 10 Godmind Part 1.pdf