Adventure Summary: A one-session wilderness expedition for four to five 6th-level characters. The party must escort a reliquary caravan through ash storms and glass canyons, expose a saboteur, and save the wagons from an ember drake at a collapsing bridge.
Ashfall Crown Saga: Part 2 of 4. This adventure stands alone. Previously: The Bells Beneath Embermarket. The saga continues with Heist at the Obsidian Reliquary.
Overview
The Cinderwake Caravan leaves Embermarket carrying food, medicine, and a sealed reliquary toward the monasteries beyond the ash wastes. Its masters do not know the reliquary contains a second Ashfall Crown shard. The Ashen Choir does. Caldra’s agents have poisoned the spare water, altered route markers, and hired raiders to strike when the caravan reaches Glasswind Canyon.
The adventure is an escort mission driven by meaningful choices. Supplies, trust, and wagon condition matter, but no single failed check strands the party. Track three Caravan Strain. At three Strain, one wagon axle breaks before the final crossing unless the characters spend an hour and a spell slot, tool proficiency, or 50 gp in supplies to repair it.
Background
For generations, the monks of the Reliquary Road transported sealed pieces of dangerous magic without recording their contents. Caldra identified this shipment from the route ledger stolen beneath Embermarket. Her plan is to let the terrain exhaust the guards, then take the reliquary during a staged rescue.
Standalone hook: Caravan master Damas Rook offers 750 gp for capable escorts after three guards vanish. Saga hook: Caldra’s ledger and the first shard both react to the caravan seal, proving the shipment is part of the same broken crown.
Characters
- Damas Rook: Gruff caravan master who values schedules but will risk profit to save a teamster.
- Maela Sorn: Veiled ash-waste guide, cautious and exceptionally competent. She suspects sabotage but lacks authority.
- Brother Halvek: Cheerful reliquary custodian who knows protective rites but not the cargo’s identity.
- Jessa Vane: Assistant quartermaster and secret Choir agent. She wants the shard, not civilian deaths.
Setting
The ash wastes are cold at night, furnace-hot by afternoon, and almost featureless beyond black ridges. Each travel scene asks the party to choose speed, safety, or secrecy. A character who takes the lead cannot assist a second travel check in the same scene.
The eight wagons carry thirty civilians and guards. Treat them as stakes, not combatants. Strong planning preserves supplies and allies for the bridge; poor planning adds hazards rather than ending the mission.
Plot Outline
The party audits supplies, chooses a route through the Basalt Needles, survives a glasswind, uncovers the saboteur at the tollhouse, defends the Cinderwake Camp, and saves the reliquary wagon from a drake on the canyon bridge.
1. The Poisoned Casks
Before departure, characters may inspect the train. Three DC 13 successes using Investigation, Medicine, Survival, or brewer’s supplies reveal bitter gray resin in two water casks and boot prints leading to the quartermaster wagon. Failure still finds the poison after one teamster becomes sick, adding one Caravan Strain. Jessa has planted evidence against an innocent guard.
2. Through the Basalt Needles
The direct route saves half a day but requires four successes before two failures using DC 14 Animal Handling, Athletics, Perception, or land vehicles. Each failure damages a wagon and adds Strain. The longer Sootwater route avoids this challenge but gives the Choir time to reinforce the tollhouse with two additional raiders.
3. Glasswind Canyon
A cutting wind carries flakes of volcanic glass. Every exposed creature makes a DC 14 Constitution save, taking 3d6 slashing damage on a failure or half on a success. The party can prevent all civilian harm with three creative protections: anchored canvas, magical windbreaks, careful timing, or DC 14 Survival checks. Maela notices one route marker has been reversed.
4. The Broken Tollhouse
Raiders posing as injured pilgrims request aid. A DC 14 Insight or Perception check spots soot deliberately painted over healthy boots. Negotiation can reveal they were paid by a woman matching Jessa’s description. If a fight begins, the raiders flee when their captain falls, and captured attackers trade the bridge ambush plan for safe passage.
5. Fire in Cinderwake Camp
During the long rest, two magma mephits ignite the fodder wagon while Jessa attempts to move the reliquary. Run four simultaneous problems: fire, panicked draft lizards, missing cargo, and a trapped child. Each character can solve one with a DC 14 check or fitting spell. Jessa confesses if cornered and offers to help stop the drake if promised a fair hearing.
6. The Glass Bridge
An ember drake attacks as three raiders cut the reliquary wagon’s chains. The wagon falls after three failed stabilization checks; securing it requires four total DC 15 successes using Athletics, Animal Handling, land vehicles, or thieves’ tools. Characters may damage the drake, drive it off by destroying two bait braziers, or calm it with three DC 15 Nature or Animal Handling successes. Jessa or Maela provides one automatic success if the party earned her help.
NPCs and Monsters
| NPC or Monster | Statistics | Key Abilities and Table Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Damas Rook | Use veteran statistics; AC 17, HP 45. | Commands guards but stays with threatened civilians. He grants one ally advantage each round at the bridge. |
| Maela Sorn | Use scout statistics; AC 13, HP 32. | Survival +7. As a reaction, she lets an ally reroll a failed ash-waste travel check. |
| Brother Halvek | Use priest statistics; AC 13, HP 27. | Prepares protective and healing magic. He will not open the reliquary without proof of immediate danger. |
| Jessa Vane | Use spy statistics; AC 13, HP 30. | Smoke pellets obscure a 10-foot area. She surrenders if civilians are endangered by her plan. |
| Cinderwake Raider | Use bandit statistics; captains use bandit captain. | They flee when half their number fall or their captain is defeated. |
| Ember Drake | Use young red dragon statistics with HP 120 and no speech. | Fire Breath becomes a 30-foot line. It retreats at 40 HP or when both bait braziers are destroyed. |
| Magma Mephit | Use standard magma mephit statistics; AC 11, HP 22. | Targets wagons and fodder rather than characters until attacked. |
Rewards
- 750 gp from Damas, plus 150 gp if no wagon is lost.
- Cinderwake Compass: The bearer cannot become lost in natural ash, smoke, or sand. Once per dawn, it can cast pass without trace, but the effect resembles drifting ash.
- The Second Crown Shard: Brother Halvek entrusts it to the party or seals it for transport. Its inner edge shows the floor plan of an obsidian reliquary.
Scaling the Adventure
For a 5th-level party, use a wyvern with fire resistance instead of the ember drake and remove one tollhouse captain. For a 7th-level party, give the drake 145 hit points and add two magma mephits at the bridge. For a shorter game, reveal the poisoned casks immediately and begin at the Basalt Needles.
Ash-Waste-Themed Table Gear
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- 28 mm merchant-wagon miniatures. Make wagon condition, marching order, and the bridge rescue immediately visible.
- Gridded desert battle mat. A reusable surface for the Basalt Needles, tollhouse ambush, and Glasswind Canyon.
- Metal fantasy compass prop. Hand it to the party when Maela asks them to choose between the safe and fast routes.