Journeys through the Radiant Citadel

Godsbreath Pronunciations

Memories of Death

When the last farmer is defeated, locals return to tend to the wounded. The farmers are known to many in the crowd, prompting confusion over their strange appearance and what caused them to attack. Talk of curses begins to spread.

Aunt Dellie

Aunt Delanore "Dellie" Godsen (neutral good, human commoner) is a savvy operator with an honest reputation, a soft heart, and a talent for hearing a bit about everyone's business. A trader and skimmer boat pilot, Aunt Dellie has never been afraid to go her own way and knows much about Godsbreath's lands and threats. Although she's a small woman, Aunt Dellie's charm and knack for survival have gotten her through numerous near disasters. Everyone calls her "aunt," a trend started by her beloved goddaughter Kianna.

A Godmother's Fear

Aunt Dellie clearly recognizes the sketch on the parchment one of the strange farmers had with them. Her strong voice shakes as she explains its significance:

• The sketch was drawn by Aunt Dellie's goddaughter, Kianna. Aunt Dellie knows her art style, and this is a scene she draws regularly.
• As a child, Kianna saw her friend Culley drown in Cradlelace Lake while they were playing.
• Since Culley's death, Kianna has used art to work through the sadness and guilt she carries to this day.
• Kianna is currently working a farm in the Rattle—a half-day's travel from Promise. She was due to return to town for the Awakening Festival, but Aunt Dellie hasn't seen her yet.

Characters who investigate further and ask those nearby about the attack learn that the strange farmers all worked in the Rattle—a dangerous but fertile farming region haunted by deadly predators.

While the locals speculate about the fates of other farmers in the Rattle, Aunt Dellie has no patience for debates on what to do next. Aunt Dellie implores the characters to go to the Rattle where Kianna was working and make sure her goddaughter is safe, while she stays in Promise to organize a larger investigation. She offers the party 100 gp to undertake this mission, and 100 gp more if the characters return her goddaughter to Promise safely.

Aunt Dellie gives the characters directions to the Rattle, but she doesn't know exactly where Kianna's farm is. The characters must search for it once they reach the Rattle.

Lady Dre

Lady Dre (chaotic good, human scout) is a trader who makes an impression on everyone she meets. Tall and broad with shoulder-length locs, she's known for bright-colored clothing meant to catch the eye of potential business partners. She's a shrewd negotiator, thanks in no small part to her storytelling skill. Personable but focused, Lady Dre is willing to forgo short-term gains in favor of long-term growth.

Business Concerns

Lady Dre was horrified by the attack, and she wants to make sure no other folk in the Rattle are in danger. Characters who succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check recognize her motivations are not entirely altruistic. If pressed, Lady Dre admits she has made trade investments with several Rattle farms. She wants to ensure that no threats interfere with her getting first pick of the harvest.

If the characters are reluctant to allow Lady Dre to accompany them, she tries to win them over by offering the use of her horses and a comfortable wagon. She remarks that if the characters are going to head into a mystery, they should be prepared to transport anyone who might have been harmed or afflicted.

If the characters choose not to travel with Lady Dre, she accepts their choice and heads out on her own soon after they do.

Proclaimer Tungsten Ward

Proclaimer Tungsten Ward (lawful good, human acolyte) is small of stature and soft of voice, and their worldly appearance belies their young years. Despite Ward's relaxed demeanor, their approachability covers a calculating personality. Thanks to Ward's history of making friends, trading favors, and pulling strings, even rivals find the Proclaimer difficult to directly oppose. Ward seeks evidence of the gods' influence and motives in all things. Ward then adds such evidence to their orders' records and creates new verses of the Awakening Song.

For the Record

Proclaimer Ward introduces themself and briefly explains that they research magical manifestations across Godsbreath that they believe are signs of the gods' power—or challenges to it. Having witnessed the attack and spoken with locals in the aftermath, Ward wants to join the characters' expedition. The Proclaimer hopes to investigate what led to the farmers' strange behavior and determine whether it's linked to other misfortunes in the region, like the waning crop yields in the Ribbon. If the results are significant enough to weave into the Awakening Song, Ward assures the party that each character's name will feature prominently.

Savage Scavengers

If the characters follow the movement through the field, they come to a clearing and see an old farmer fleeing three horse-sized coyotes. The farmer is about 30 feet ahead of the coyotes. If the characters didn't enter the fields, a moment later, an old man stumbles from amid the crops and falls into the road. Three massive coyotes are soon upon him. In either case, the old man has no hope of defending himself against the creatures.

Massive coyotes are a persistent threat in the Rattle. The three coyotes use the dire wolf stat block, while the farmer they pursue is a commoner. A coyotes flees if reduced to 10 hit points or fewer.

If they're with the party, Lady Dre and Proclaimer Ward try to pull the farmer out of danger while the characters fend off the coyotes.

When the fighting ends, the farmer is bloodied but angrier at the animals than scared. He thanks the characters and introduces himself as Uncle Polder.

Uncle Polder

Uncle Polder (neutral good, human commoner) is an old man with a stocky build and an easy smile. He walks at an amble and speaks with a drawl—but his mind is constantly working, developing solutions to any problem he faces. Polder has spent many seasons in the Rattle and is dedicated to helping others thrive—in part to rid himself of the guilt of leaving a friend behind when he escaped a bulette attack during his first season.

Life in the Rattle

Following the battle, Uncle Polder thanks the characters and asks what brings them out this way. He invites them to water their horses and refresh themselves, gesturing to his nearby farm.

Uncle Polder's house is typical of farmhouses in the Ribbon and the Rattle—a wood-frame, single-story building with a large porch, bounded by trees. The other farmhouses in the surrounding part of the Rattle are all part of the same pact—a communal collection of farms whose inhabitants live, work, and share with each other. Uncle Polder's farmhouse is one of the largest in the group, suggesting his importance to the community.

Uncle Polder is glad to answer any questions the characters have about the area. Use the following points to guide the conversation:

• There's always trouble in the Rattle, but Uncle Polder can't recall any unusual problems this season.
• He's met Kianna and knows the farm she works at, though it's part of another pact. It's not far from Uncle Polder's, but people in the Rattle mostly stick close to home. The farmers of the two pacts don't interact often.
• Uncle Polder recalls helping Kianna's pact set up early in the season. He keeps an eye out for people who might not be a good fit for life in the Rattle—and Kianna seemed to have things on her mind other than farming.
• When Kianna and others of her pact came to Uncle Polder's pact a couple weeks ago to trade for tools, she seemed to be embracing life in the Rattle. She spoke of how happy she was that someone named Culley was coming to join her soon. Uncle Polder assumed Culley was another worker coming late to the farm.

From their conversation with Aunt Dellie, the characters remember that Culley was Kianna's friend who drowned many years ago. If Proclaimer Ward is with the group, Ward also recalls the story of the child's death, as the Proclaimer was responsible for adding Culley's drowning to the Awakening Song.

If told the truth about Culley, Uncle Polder is surprised; Kianna spoke as if Culley were a close and current friend.

Uncle Polder allows the characters to rest at his home as long as they please. When they're ready to go, he gives them detailed directions to the farm Kianna works at a few miles away.

Farmhouse Conditions

F1: Overgrown Yard

The house's yard is muddy red clay. Several rusty shovels and rakes lie scattered about.

F2: Porch

A large wooden porch wraps around the front and one side of the farmhouse. Its planks creak ominously when stepped on, but there is no danger here. Closed curtains shroud the windows, but the doors to the interior are unlocked and ajar. Both lead to a musty central hallway.

F3: Living Room

The art style is similar to that of the picture Aunt Dellie found in Promise. Any character who succeeds on a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check notices a break in the pattern under a chair. If the chair is moved, it reveals a muddy depiction of two children—one is reaching for the other, who is being dragged into the water by large hands. Scrapes in the muddy image form the name "Culley."

F4: Bedroom

The bedroom holds a bed and writing desk for a single occupant. Most of the space is neat and orderly, but the desk is strewn with art supplies and scraps of paper bearing fragmented images.

F5: Dining Room

This dining room has been ransacked, and red mud covers the furnishings and floor.

A character who approaches the table hears scratching coming from under it. Nothing is immediately visible beneath the table, but characters who investigate more closely find six crawling claws clinging to the underside. Once discovered, the monsters attack.

After the crawling claws are dispatched, any character who searches the room thoroughly can make a DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a successful check, the character finds several floorboards that have been pushed up from below, as though the crawling claws dug their way up through the loose soil beneath the house.

F6: Kitchen

In the center of the room, four enchanted farmers stand facing each other, their crimson eyes unblinking. Each holds a sharp knife or farming implement. They don't react when the characters enter or if they are touched or spoken to. They react only if harmed, stolen from, or commanded by the soul shaker. Each uses the cultist stat block. Although the farmers are initially harmless, their appearance and lack of reaction are unnerving.

F7: Cellar and Tunnel

Shelves bearing root vegetables and other foodstuffs line the walls of this unfinished cellar. The south wall has partially collapsed, revealing a dark, narrow tunnel.

The smell the characters noticed above is worse here, issuing from the tunnel. Character who have a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15 or higher hear the faint sound of a woman singing farther down the tunnel.

Characters who proceed 40 feet into the tunnel see a faint light emanating from around a bend.

F8: Cavern

The bodies are the farmers missing from the surrounding farms—save for Kianna. They've been killed and dismembered by the soul shaker.

[image: Kianna]

The Nightwater Isles

The Nightwater Isles rise from the waters of the murky cove from which they take their name. Though islanders mostly keep to themselves, their homes are visible from quite a distance, perched as they are on stilts to protect from floods. Each is painted in bold colors that not only honor the gods, but keep away the many monsters haunting the cove, including giant crocodiles, shambling mounds, and green hags.

Though each island has its own cultural and trade specialties, all the islands are connected to each other via flotillas of skims—flat-bottomed boats that ply the waters of the cove, operated by pilots known as skimmers.

The Ribbon and the Rattle

The zone of fertile crimson soil known as the Ribbon cuts a wide swath through the gray-brown plains that stretch from the water's edge to the lands of the Rattle. Most inhabitants of the Ribbon live on small family farms joined together in pacts—resource-sharing alliances forged by common interest.

Inexplicably, the Ribbon's soil grows less fertile each year, and no living soul in Godsbreath knows why. Residents of this land have been migrating into the fertile but dangerous lands of the Rattle. But Rattle farmers are threatened by oversized coyotes, bulettes, and other threats. Farmers whisper of strange magic that manifests without warning, causing unusual weather and reshaping the soil. Some believe these effects might be connected to ancient magics affecting the land or the will of the region's primary gods.

Promise

Promise is a town situated where the soil of the Ribbon meets the Nightwater Cove coast. Its paved streets and colorful two-story buildings are home to Covenant worship houses, trader storehouses, schooling circles, and more. Promise is also home to the annual Awakening Festival, which brings together folk from across Godsbreath. Participants trade wares, relive their shared history through the call-and-response Awakening Song, and settle regional disputes at the communal and annual summit known as the Meet, where canny traders and powerful pacts seek to gain influence.

Community and Consensus

Each community in Godsbreath is self-governing, with intercommunity and regional disputes settled at the annual Meet. Held in Promise during the Awakening Festival, this public forum between community leaders seeks majority consensus on each issue raised. The Meet continues until all items are resolved or half the participants leave.

Crime in Godsbreath is rare, and justice in this land focuses on making the wronged party whole. Decisions on how to make amends come through groups known as sevens—assemblies of the seven people who are closest at hand when an accusation of criminal behavior is made, but who have no direct stake in the outcome. For the most severe wrongs, offenders are banished to uninhabited islands, though they retain the right to travel to the Meet each year to seek reconciliation with the larger community.

The Gods' Tale

The influence of the deities who founded Godsbreath is captured in the Covenant tales—verses of the Awakening Song that tell stories of the gods' past exploits and share signs of their current influence. The bright colors found on homes throughout the region each honor a Covenant god, and many people craft and carry charms to invoke a favorite god's protection.

Proclaimers and the Covenant

The Proclaimers of the Covenant are the acolytes of Godsbreath's deities, tasked with promoting worship of the Covenant and maintaining the Awakening Song as a living history of this land. They take turns traveling throughout Godsbreath, listening to deeds of local renown that could be added to the Awakening Song, sharing stories from other regions, and challenging people to live up to the Covenant gods' example.

The Covenant is a pantheon of deities with a particular interest in Godsbreath. They have varied alignments and interests. This local pantheon is for you to define and might include gods appropriate to your campaign's setting or deities unique to Godsbreath.

Shared Stories

Stories are the glue that binds Godsbreath together, tying its people to their ancestors who helped shape this land and passing down traditions and beliefs through all the generations since. Most people here begin conversations with "give a listen" or "tell me true" before exchanging stories—the more captivating, the better. Although this sometimes encourages exaggeration, Godsbreath's people believe you can hear truth in the telling of any tale, and all enjoy the art of a well-crafted boast.

Stories of all kinds are shared around the evening fire in the heart of each community, while folk dine on roast rabbit and hog, spoon bread, hominy, rice and gravy, corn pone, or crawfish stew. Especially captivating tales might be memorialized on a grass-woven story basket from the Nightwater Isles or added to a Ribbon family's fireside quilt, creating invaluable heirlooms protected at all costs. Truly extraordinary stories might even be captured in song by one of the Proclaimers of the Covenant. Having a story chosen is a great honor and can make alliances and invitations to adventure easier to come by.

Names

Most folk in Godsbreath go by a single name—often a nickname picked up in their youth instead of their given name—preceded by an honorific reflecting their age, profession, or standing in the community. Those too young to have an honorific may be addressed without one, though it's often wise for strangers to use a courtesy honorific—Miss, Mister, Cousin—as a sign of respect. The following are examples of common given names in Godsbreath:

• Feminine. Aba, Bilah, Diya, Emilene, Essie, Sukie
• Masculine. Cato, Ellis, Kumber, Mobe, Saffran, Sogo
• Gender-Neutral. Deland, Holston, June, Madel, Winter
• Surnames. Godskith, Grayshore, Hilltop, Longkin, Riveridge

Godsbreath Adventures