Brazen Wolfe Tabletop

Cleardraw Conspiracy

531SaClCo

Through the twilight-shrouded streets of Cleveral, the city mourned beneath banners of sacred blue and gold, honoring Carlo Cleardraw, the twice-blessed hero thought to be unshakable. His funeral procession moved with solemn reverence, petals and prayers scattered for the man who had been a beacon against darkness and a voice of divine purpose. But as the procession reached the temple of Auronel and the coffin was placed at the altar, its lid split open after a bearer’s faltering grip, and the impossible was revealed. The coffin was empty.

Confusion and panic erupted within the temple’s sanctum as divine wards sealed the mourners inside. The high priest, stunned but steadfast, declared that Carlo’s death defied divine law; no illness nor blade should have taken him. Within the casket lay only a trace of ash and a pale blue feather, an echo of Auronel’s presence, sacred and ominous. Whispers stirred that Carlo had not died, but vanished through means older and stranger than death itself. In the feather’s glow and the priest’s trembling voice, the room breathed an unrest no prayer could soothe.

Within the temple’s quiet chambers, three casket bearers met with the party, worn from travel, heavy with memory. Tharen, the seasoned warrior, spoke of Carlo’s recent heroism; Brenna, the dwarf rogue, shared her sorrow at his unwavering belief in her. And Elaric, the older cleric, recounted a strange wound delivered in battle, one he had dismissed until now. Their recollections spiralled into guilt, suspecting that they should have seen the signs. But Elaric’s pious serenity began to crack, and the party felt unease settle like dust. Something in his tale did not align with Carlo’s fate.

That fracture split open when Brenna, consumed by fury, dragged Elaric before the group. She accused him of betrayal—that he had delivered Carlo into a trap masked as divine mandate. Elaric confessed to being manipulated by Imiriel’s high priests, who claimed Carlo’s blessings endangered cosmic balance. Twisting silence into duty, they had convinced him sacrifice was necessary. His remorse was deep, his gods distant, and his faith shaken. As Brenna hurled a prayer crystal and Carlo’s journal at his feet, Elaric’s grief turned to resolve.

The journal revealed Carlo’s final thoughts, a warning and a plea, hinting at knowledge beyond his fate. Elaric read the words and begged for redemption, offering to lead the party to Carlo’s prison beneath Imiriel’s church. A single feather descended as he knelt, a soft seal of divine acknowledgment, not of forgiveness, but of purpose yet unfulfilled. The party, raw from betrayal and aching with hope, chose action over doubt. Carlo’s story was not over.

Guided by Elaric, they found their way to the forgotten church, a place quiet in distance but thrumming with foul magic. Outside its sealed chamber, the air pulsed with corrupted essence. Elaric’s face twisted between fury and regret as he realized the depth of his error. With trembling hands, he pushed open the final door, and within, Carlo hung in cursed chains, his light siphoned, his soul endangered. The party had arrived at the brink, and their next steps would not be taken lightly.

---

---

PDF adventure – Cleardraw Conspiracy

---

---