The Fractured Lands Arc 1.1 Recap

Sessions 1–5

1/6/2025 - 4/7/2025

“Burrow Deep, Strike True.”

The first five sessions of The Fractured Lands establish the rebellion in Rhaglunieath as more than a resistance movement. It is a civil war built on the backbone of an Ages long spiritual cosmic war. The Cult of the Crawling Chaos struck when Ahriman trapped Ansil, Auriel, and Ceslida in song. The Cult conquered Rhaglunieath and the territories around it. Nowhere on the continent - Underdark or Sunside - is safe from the Cult of the Crawling Chaos.

The party—Murf, Markus, Marak, and Lilith’s growing circle—are not just participants. They are catalysts. This opening arc follows the party’s integration into the rebellion, their early sabotage operations, escalating confrontations with Matron Morraine’s regime, and their first brushes with the Crawling Chaos’ corruption beneath the city.

The Underdark is changing. Rhaglunieath is no longer simply cruel. It is becoming something else….and something below is hungry.

Motivations of the PCs & Their Leader

The party entered this campaign not as saviors, but as survivors. They came carrying scars, debts, unfinished business, and convictions that would not let them stand aside. Each of them has something at stake in this city and something to lose. Each one of them is also being changed by the rebellion.

Murf seeks freedom for his people and justice for the enslaved.
His hatred of slavery is not abstract. It is memory and lived experience. Rhaglunieath represents everything that was taken from him and countless others — identity, dignity, autonomy. Every sabotage mission, every Blackguard patrol disrupted, every chain broken is personal. Murf does not fight for politics. He fights for liberation. And beneath that resolve is a quieter hope: that freedom can still mean something real in a city built on domination. Personally, Murf seeks to bring his motherlike figure, Hattie, a peaceful, safe life. He also hopes one day to see sunlight and find the tribes of his homeland.

Markus walks the line between assassin, romantic, and opportunist.
He understands power and survival are intertwined, making himself known quickly as a competent assassin skilled well beyond his years. Markus is also motivated by being great. He is personally drawn to beauty, to ambition, forbidden love to a noble woman, and to the idea of carving his own legend into the stone of this nightmare city. Markus is a victim of star-crossed love. The love of his life is tied to the very hierarchy the rebellion seeks to destroy. Deep down, Markus believes his love is willing and able to sacrifice to be with him, but he worries he must prove himself worthy of these sacrifices first. Markus’ loyalties are layered. His desires complicated. He may become a symbol of revolution — or its most unpredictable variable.

Marak carries unfinished history with Arch-General Xazrith.
The past of Marak and Xazrith is intimate, emotional, and incredibly unresolved. Marak describes himself a survivor of a toxic, abusive relationship as well as this cold, heartless city. Marak’s personal trauma is suffocating at the personal and societal level. Xazrith is not merely a military obstacle — she is memory made flesh. She is overwhelmingly crushing power made personally real. Marak understands his experiences and pain are not unique to him. His journey for personal peace will bring retribution for many more.

Lilith fights for revolution — and redemption.
Once a noble priestess within the system she now opposes, Lilith understands exactly how deep the rot goes. Leadership has forced her to make choices she once would have condemned. She carries the burden of every rebel lost, every risk calculated, every sacrifice demanded. She believes Rhaglunieath can be reclaimed. But the longer this war stretches, the more she must ask herself: reclaimed into what?

Across these five sessions, the party has transitioned from uncertain recruits to trusted operatives capable of shifting the balance of power. They are no longer reacting to events. They are shaping them.

And that makes them dangerous.

Character Trajectories Entering Session 6

Murf – Emerging as a moral center and potential symbol. His Blank nature creates strange reactions around Source-saturated magic and he is followed by a legendary cait sith. Though its full implications remain unclear, Murf remains absolute that the cait sith are good auguries sent to him by the Divine.

Markus – Balanced between revolutionary and wildcard. His assassin ambitions and romantic entanglements could fracture—or strengthen—the rebellion.

Marak – On a collision course with Xazrith. Emotional resolution or catastrophic confrontation feels inevitable.

Lilith – Hardened but not broken. Leadership is reshaping her. The rebellion’s survival may demand even more.

Arc One Recap – Sessions 1–5

Burrow Deep. Strike True.

Rhaglunieath does not fall in a single night.

It erodes. It whispers. It rewrites.

Sessions 1–5 mark the beginning of the rebellion’s escalation from scattered resistance to coordinated insurgency. The party entered the city as operatives in a fragile underground network. By the end of Session 5, they had become central to its survival.

And the city began to notice.

Session 1 – Welcome to the Rebellion

Session 1 opens with the party scrambling through the foul sewers beneath Rhaglunieath’s spider-haunted streets, escaping oppressive forces while navigating muck, vermin, and torrents of waste. In the depths a Goliath Bard, the Tabaxi Paladin, a pirate Rogue, and an elderly Tabaxi shaman meet each other — and are soon confronted with the grim reality of the city’s descent into chaos. The sewers are a pathway out for them to escape a regime and city that has become both brutal and warped by creeping eldritch influence.

The party finds the rebellion camp and are immediately treated with suspicion. Dragged before Lilith, the White Rabbit — the telepathic leader of the burgeoning rebellion — the group must plead their case to earn a place among the insurgents. They convince her of their value and are entrusted with their first mission: to explore a crypt rumored to house a powerful artifact that could shift the balance in the rebellion’s favor.

Trust is cautious and they are to be tested. Resources and information will be scarce. Surveillance of their accomplishments will be constant. If they are to succeed, the party will be allowed to join as full fledged members of Lilith’s rebellion. Murf is especially excited as he is promised more access to the Black Church and protection for his motherlike figure, Hattie.

The session ends with the party settling into the Forgotten Warrens, their purpose defined and their path forward set.

Session 2 — Crypt Crawling and Sharing stories

In Session 2, the party continued their mission into a crypt the rebellion recently uncovered. They navigated pressure plates, traps, and unsettling architecture as they probed deeper into the tomb. Marak’s keen perception unlocked a heavy door into a branching tunnel, where the group encountered everything from animated statues to poisonous snakes hidden in a bucket trap. They fought through hazards, managed the dangers practically, and ultimately uncovered treasure — including a bag of holding, a greater healing potion, and a spider climb spell scroll — before choosing to rest and regroup.

Between exploration and combat, the party shared personal reflections around the campfire. Each character discussed their aspirations, challenges, and motivations, revealing what drives them forward in the rebellion and in life. These moments of role-play grounded the dungeon crawl in character growth, reminding the group — and the players — why they fight beneath Rhaglunieath in the first place.

Session 3 – Worthiness & the Lunar Moth

In Session 3, the party pressed deeper into the dungeon beneath Rhaglunieath, entering a temple-like chamber marked with gravestones and an inscription that read, “Only the Worthy are granted recompense.” Their exploration led them down a dark spiraling staircase into a water-logged cavern filled with decomposing bodies — and a pack of vicious aquatic darklings. The battle was gritty and unforgiving, with luck seeming to turn against the group. Murf even almost perished before they finally overcame the creatures and secured a strange metal key from a swarm of bone keys.

Pushing forward, the party located a sarcophagus room beneath the crypt and confronted a massive Lunar Moth Guardian — a glowing, otherworldly defender tied to the tomb’s trial. Through a mix of persuasion, personal resolve, and sheer grit, each member proved their worthiness amid life-or-death rolls; Markus in particular struggled before finally landing a crucial strike that helped earn the guardian’s respect. The session concluded with the party’s victory, their level-up, and the startling discovery of a young woman with vibrant red hair and a giant witch hat lying within the sarcophagus — a mystery that will be central next session.

Session 4 — Into the Whispering Deep

In Session 4, the party’s mission took them beneath the war-torn lands around Rhaglunieath into the long-abandoned dwarven complex known as the Whispering Deep. Their objective was to recover the Void Hammer Keystone — a powerful and ancient artifact that could decisively shift the balance in the rebellion’s favor before Matron Morraine’s corrupted regime could seize it for themselves. The mine’s ruins were filled with dangers both mechanical and mystical, testing the group’s resolve at every turn.

As they pushed deeper into the forgotten tunnels, the adventurers uncovered more than traps and relics: they encountered remnants of lives long gone and inexplicable signs of memory and myth tangled with the mine’s history. Most striking was the awakening of Ansil, the Black Lady — or a mortal echo of her — emerging confused and fragmented from a long slumber. Her presence injected divine uncertainty into the mission, hinting at forces beyond mortal designs. Elsewhere, the crew befriended a construct, recovered journals tied to previous expeditions, and unearthed clues linking the Keystone to personal histories they never expected to confront. By the session’s end, the descent into the mine had become not just a race for an artifact, but a deeper journey into memory, legacy, and the unseen war shaping the Fractured Lands.

Session 5 — Tea, Trust, and the Vein Below

In Session 5, the party pressed deeper into the Whispering Deep, expecting monsters… but first finding something stranger: Satori, a serene but lost monk standing vigil amidst the ruins. His calm remained unshaken even when the group welcomed him into their fellowship, despite the risks of trusting a stranger in a place this twisted. Alongside him, they grew more familiar (and more suspicious) of PH1L, the ancient construct with impeccable tea service, holographic projections, and an unsettling mix of charm and uncanny potential.

Their exploration led them to a sealed dwarven vault door, which they breached through teamwork — blending brute strength, thieves’ tools, and well-timed mage hand — only to confront floating fungus-infested eyeball aberrations within. After a tactical victory using familiar-baiting and coordinated kiting, the party discovered a rotting altar and a cult journal hinting at deeper connections to the Crawling Chaos and the ominous Gloamcryst, a relic whispered to anchor alien influence. Despite fatigue and strategic debate, they chose to push forward, united by trust, curiosity, and the shared goal of uncovering what lies deeper in the mine toward the Void Keystone.

Key Points (Sessions 1–5)

• The party escaped through the sewers of Rhaglunieath and formally joined Lilith’s rebellion in the Forgotten Warrens.

• Lilith entrusted them with investigating a crypt rumored to contain a powerful artifact that could aid the rebellion.

• The party navigated traps, branching tunnels, aquatic darklings, and dungeon hazards, securing magical items including a Bag of Holding, scrolls, and potions.

• They passed the trial of the Lunar Moth Guardian, proving themselves “worthy” within the tomb.

• Inside the sarcophagus, they discovered a young red-haired woman wearing a giant witch hat, an unexpected and unresolved reveal.

• The rebellion’s larger objective shifted toward securing the Void Hammer Keystone before Morraine’s regime could claim it.

• The party descended into the Whispering Deep, an abandoned dwarven complex tied to the Keystone.

• They encountered and befriended Phil, an ancient dwarven construct capable of projections, tea service, and deeper unknown capabilities.

• They met Satori, a monk standing vigil within the ruins, and accepted him into the group.

• The party breached a sealed dwarven vault, defeated aberrant floating eye creatures, and recovered a cult journal referencing the Crawling Chaos and a relic known as the Gloamcryst.

• The Void Hammer Keystone remains deeper within the mine, still unrecovered.

Unresolved Quests & Objectives

• Secure the Void Hammer Keystone before Morraine or her agents do.

• Discover the full purpose and power of the Keystone — weapon, power source, or something worse?

• Determine how to help Ansil recover.

• Assess whether Phil the construct is an ally, a dormant weapon, or something tied to the mine’s deeper secrets.

• Investigate the cult references to the Gloamcryst and its potential connection to the Crawling Chaos.

• FInd a safe route to the Sunside.

Mysteries & Unresolved Questions

• What does it truly mean that the party was deemed “worthy” by the Lunar Moth Guardian?

• Who sealed the crypt originally — and why was the red-haired woman preserved there?

• What is the Gloamcryst? A relic? A keystone fragment? A conduit for the Crawling Chaos?

• Is PH1L simply a caretaker construct, a warforged, or something much older and more powerful?

• What are worforged?

• What happens if Morraine’s forces reach the Void Hammer Keystone first?

• Is the Keystone a tool of rebellion… or a catalyst for catastrophe?
  

Rhaglunieath

City of Silk and Madness

Rhaglunieath is a vast Underdark metropolis built of obsidian spires, bioluminescent fungus, and impossible architecture that seems to lean inward as if listening. Once a proud drow stronghold of arcane mastery and rigid hierarchy, it has transformed into something far more unstable under Matron Morraine’s rule. The Crawling Chaos is no longer a hidden cult beneath the city — it is embedded in its infrastructure, its rituals, and its power structure.

The streets are patrolled by the Blackguard legions, disciplined soldiers who enforce order with surgical brutality. Psychic surveillance, magical wards, and ritual towers reinforce control. Whispers of memory distortion, dream intrusion, and reality-bending magic circulate through markets and noble courts alike. In places, the stone itself feels wrong — pulsing faintly, as if something beneath the city is breathing.

Yet Rhaglunieath is not wholly conquered.

Beneath the surface lies the Forgotten Warrens, where Lilith and the rebellion organize sabotage, intelligence networks, and desperate strikes against Morraine’s regime. The city exists in tension: cult influence expanding above, resistance burrowing below. Every district carries risk. Every conversation may be overheard. Every structure may hide ritual significance.

At the center of the city’s growing instability lies the Depthless Vein — a metaphysical wound tied to the Crawling Chaos. Whether it is a conduit, a prison, or an awakening point remains unclear. What is certain is this:

Rhaglunieath is no longer simply a city.

It is a battleground between memory and erasure, freedom and control, rebellion and transformation.

And it is getting worse.

More about Rhaglunieath can be found here: https://www.burningkol.com/wiki/rhaglunieath and https://www.burningkol.com/wiki/murf

City Overview & Atmosphere

Location & Environment
Rhaglunieath sits deep within an immense network of caverns and tunnels known collectively as the Underdark—a brutal, sunless realm where light is precious and the earth itself feels alive.

The city is defined by:

• Obsidian towers that scrape unseen ceilings.

• Bioluminescent fungi that glow with unsettling rhythm.

• Glyph-lit alleyways that pulse like veins.

• Pulsating, yellow fogs that seem to think.

• Architecture that shouldn’t be structurally possible—because its angles shift under observation.

Memory and perception are fragile here; the city actively reshapes them. Wanderers may forget their purpose, lose days in minutes, or hear their own thoughts echoed as reality.

Factions & Power Structures

The Cult of the Crawling Chaos

At the center of the city’s corruption is an outer entity spoken of only in whisper and symbol. This isn’t religion alone—it’s a sentient infection that warps identity, rewrites memory, and tears at the soul.

Under Matron Morraine’s rule, the cult doesn’t recruit—it rewrites. Faithful followers are not converted; they are rewritten. Their devotion becomes living glyphs.

Key traits:

• Structures grown from flesh, fungus, and impossible geometry.

• Psionic wards built from memory and emotion.

• Reality-warping rituals and temples.

• The cult’s ultimate goal: awaken the Crawling Chaos fully and remake existence itself.

The Blackguard Legions

The legions are the cult’s martial arm. Under Arch-General Xazrith, these soldiers do more than fight—they unmake opposition.

Blackguards:

• Are psychically branded to suppress emotion and doubt.

• Silently move in perfect order.

• Crush dissent with brutal precision.

Legions are not just a military—they are living doctrine.

The White Thread (Rebellion)

Beneath the city’s corruption lives resistance. The rebellion—known as the White Thread—is an ever-changing lattice of insurgents, defectors, and memory-bound cells.

They operate not with banners, but with song-keys, psychic codices, and mnemonic rites pulled from sacred relics. Messages are woven through memory rather than ink.

Their belief isn’t just in overthrowing a tyrant—it is in restoring what was erased.

Key People of Rhaglunieath

Rhaglunieath is shaped as much by individuals as it is by eldritch influence. Beneath obsidian towers and fungal glow, powerful figures steer the city toward either domination or defiance.

Matron Morraine

Ruler of Rhaglunieath · Vessel of the Crawling Chaos

Once a pragmatic and calculating drow matron, Morraine’s descent into pact-bound corruption reshaped the city itself. After forging a covenant with the Crawling Chaos in the Depthless Vein, she transformed Rhaglunieath into a cultic bastion of aberrant power.

She governs not just through fear, but through metaphysical control. Ritual towers hum with her influence. Psychic wards enforce loyalty. Architecture bends around her will. Morraine’s ambition is no longer political dominance — it is transcendence through awakening something far older than the city itself.

If she succeeds, Rhaglunieath will not merely fall.

It will become a gateway.

Arch-General Xazrith

Commander of the Blackguard Legions

Xazrith is discipline made flesh.

As head of the Blackguard legions, she enforces Morraine’s rule with surgical efficiency. Her soldiers are branded, conditioned, and unwavering. Patrols move in perfect order. Resistance is crushed before it can root.

Yet Xazrith is not merely a war machine. She is intelligent, calculating, and deeply personal in her vendettas. Her history with Marak makes her more than a battlefield obstacle. She understands strategy — and she understands weakness.

If Morraine is the mind of the regime, Xazrith is its blade.

Thaelynn

Arch-Seeress of the Crawling Chaos

Thaelynn serves as one of Morraine’s most dangerous ritual leaders.

Charismatic and touched by aberrant influence, she bends reality with unsettling ease. Her magic warps perception, fractures sanity, and reshapes flesh and stone alike. Where Xazrith crushes rebellion physically, Thaelynn erodes it mentally.

She represents the ideological core of the cult — proof that devotion to the Crawling Chaos brings power beyond mortal limitation.

She does not conquer through steel.

She converts through revelation.

Lilith — The White Rabbit

Leader of the Rebellion

Once a noble priestess within Rhaglunieath’s hierarchy, Lilith defected after witnessing the depths of Morraine’s transformation. Now she leads the rebellion from the Forgotten Warrens.

Lilith blends charisma with ruthlessness. She inspires hope in the oppressed while orchestrating sabotage against the regime. Her faith is not naïve — it is sharpened by guilt and responsibility. Every rebel life lost weighs on her.

She believes Rhaglunieath can be reclaimed.

Whether she is right remains uncertain.

Ph1L

Ancient Dwarven Construct

Polite. Capable. Unsettling.

Phil is an ancient construct discovered within the Whispering Deep. He serves tea with perfect etiquette and projects dwarven holograms with ancient precision. His demeanor is warm, but his capabilities remain largely unknown.

Was he built as caretaker? Archivist? Weapon?

The deeper the mine’s secrets unfold, the more significant Phil may become.

The Red-Haired Woman in the Sarcophagus

Identity Unknown (Ansil?)

Discovered after the Lunar Moth trial, this young woman emerged from a sealed sarcophagus wearing an oversized witch’s hat and carrying unanswered questions.

Why was she preserved?
Why did the tomb test for “worthiness”?
What does she remember?

Her awakening may prove as pivotal as any artifact.