Waxen Hollow

A 1st-level adventure for Prisma

Candles burn brightest when they are made from something that once wanted to live.

Credits

Design & Writing: Kirill Sakhin, ChatGPT.
English translation and editorial preparation: AI-assisted, from the complete Russian adventure manuscript.
Setting: Prisma: magitech, leylines, noir politics.
Adventure: The Waxen Hollow.
Rules baseline: D&D 2024 and Prisma homebrew rules.
Recommended level: 1st level, advancing to 2nd level by milestone.
Original document production: The Homebrewery, Homebrewery.Naturalcrit.com.

About the setting: Prisma

The world of Prisma stands on the brink of an industrial and magical revolution. Mana is refined, pressed into crystals, and used to power shields, engines, weapons, lamps, trains—and the appetites of those in power. Nations that master magitech move ahead while others cling to old gods and old fears. In cities such as Vordanne, gilded salons overlook alleys where syndicates trade in miracles and monsters.

In The Waxen Hollow, Prisma's larger themes begin on a small scale: a closed road, an overcrowded village, missing people, and candles that burn far too cleanly.

Adventure overview

Synopsis

Rukfen is a poor, rain-soaked village two hours southeast of Vordanne. It is now overflowing with stranded travelers: Vordanne's gates have been quarantined after rumors of a Withered outbreak, and the Bronze Wardens admit no one without sealed permits.

Then people begin disappearing in Greybriar forest.

Village headwoman Mara Vane offers a reward to anyone who can find out what is happening. The trail leads through frightened households, an improbably successful alchemist's shop, white-blue candles that never smoke, and finally a limestone cave the locals call the Waxen Hollow.

At first, the kobolds seem to be responsible. The truth is worse. They abduct people on the orders of Doctor Ossian Krail, an alchemist addicted to mana dust. He renders bodies into alchemical tallow and uses it to make Lux Tallow candles, sold in Rukfen and secretly shipped to Vordanne as “sanitary quarantine supplies.”

The horror is not a single murder. It is a supply chain.

Adventure details

Recommended level: 1st.
Party size: 4–5 characters.
Length: 2–4 sessions.
Advancement: Milestone advancement to 2nd level at the end.
Primary pillars: Investigation, social scenes, exploration, light combat.
Tone: Rural noir, folk horror, industrial atrocity.
Location: Rukfen, a village near Vordanne.

Themes and mood

• The price of progress. A useful invention conceals a monstrous cost.
• False comfort. The candles soothe rooms, nerves, and consciences.
• Poverty as cover. Rukfen is too small and poor to ask where its cheap miracles come from.
• The city's shadow. Vordanne is physically out of reach, yet its hunger drives the story.
• Monsters and middlemen. The kobolds are visible; the buyers and smugglers are not.

The 1st-level principle
The adventure should feel dangerous without feeling unfair. Characters at 1st level are fragile. Apply pressure through fear, clues, moral choices, unease, and terrain, rather than sheer monster strength. A party that investigates, negotiates, and prepares should gain an advantage.

Handling difficult themes

This adventure includes missing people, implied murder, the desecration of bodies, addiction, coercion, and elements of body horror. Adjust its intensity to the players' answers in the session-zero questionnaire.

Mild version: The candles are made from “life essence” and alchemical remnants; descriptions remain symbolic.
Standard version: The candles are made from rendered bodies, but details are brief.
Intense version: The Tallow Works contains explicit evidence of the process. Use this only with the players' consent.

Adventure flow

Structure map

The central mystery

Keep these truths behind the screen.

Running the twist

Let the players buy, carry, light, give away, or use the candles. Do not push them; make the candles seem convenient. They are cheap, useful, and everywhere. The revelation lands harder if the party has already come to rely on them.

Escalate in stages:

1. A pleasant detail. Pale candles burn cleanly in the inn and the headwoman's house.
2. A strange detail. Dogs hate them; their flames “reach” toward the forest.
3. A suspicious detail. The same wax appears at abduction sites.
4. An incriminating detail. Krail's ledger links candle batches to the missing.
5. The terrible truth. The Tallow Works reveals the method.
6. A campaign hook. Some shipments have already reached Vordanne.

Character hooks

Chapter I: The village of Rukfen

Beginning the campaign

Read or paraphrase this when the party first gathers in Rukfen.

Rukfen was never meant to hold this many people. Its streets are mud, straw, and deep wheel ruts; the inn spills guests into its stable; candles burn in the chapel day and night for those waiting outside Vordanne's closed gates.

To the north, beyond the wet black line of the road, the city stands behind quarantine banners and Bronze Warden barricades. No one enters. No one leaves.

Then a charcoal burner's daughter disappears. Then a peddler. Then a boy who went out to gather mushrooms.

By the fourth disappearance, the headwoman climbs the steps of the meeting house and promises coin for answers. Around her, pale candles burn with a steady white-blue flame, as still as watching eyes.

Rukfen at a glance

Rukfen is a damp roadside village southeast of Vordanne. It feeds and services the city: charcoal, sheep, root vegetables, cheap tallow, wagon repairs, seasonal labor.

Village Tension

At the end of each Long Rest or major failed scene, increase Village Tension by 1.

Village NPCs at a glance

Key locations

1. The Wick and Barley inn

A low inn with a sagging roof, smoke-blackened beams, and far too many guests. It uses Lux Tallow candles because they burn for a long time, freshen the air, and help frightened travelers sleep.

NPCs: Old Rennik, merchants, pilgrims, an off-duty Bronze Warden scout.

Clues:

• A drunk saw Krail's apprentice unloading crates after midnight.
• The innkeeper's dog will not enter rooms where the candles are burning.
• A traveler heard “children laughing under the road.” It was actually kobolds talking in the drainage passages.

2. Headwoman Vane's house

A clean, poor, practical house. Three pale candles burn on the table during the first conversation.

Clues:

• A crate is marked KRAIL SANITARY TALLOW — CERTIFIED FOR QUARANTINE USE.
• The stamp is slightly crooked. A DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals it is forged.
• The candles arrived before the most recent disappearance, rather than afterward.

3. Chapel of the Gentle Hand

A small chapel to Amarethiel and Verdana, tended by Sister Anwen. Pale candles burn beside old wooden icons.

Clues:

• Drafts do not extinguish the candles.
• Sister Anwen says that at night their flames “lean” toward Greybriar.
• A DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine or Religion) check reveals that the candles induce unusually deep sleep.

4. The quarantine roadblock

The Bronze Wardens hold a barricade beneath yellow quarantine flags. Sergeant Iven Koll refuses entry to anyone without sealed permits.

Use: Establish that Vordanne is close but inaccessible. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check uncovers a rumor: one shipment of alchemical goods passed through on emergency sanitary papers.

5. Krail's shop

The alchemist's shop stands near the market square and seems surprisingly well kept for this village. It is described in detail below.

6. The village market

Vegetables, charcoal, milk, candles, braid, and small hardware are sold here. Toward evening, the market becomes a place for arguments. Who is to blame: the kobolds, the city, the Wardens, or the missing themselves?

Clues: Tovan Rask sells candles far too cheaply. A DC 12 Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check makes him admit that he transports Krail's goods.

7. The southern charcoal burners

Wet sheds and black heaps of charcoal at the forest's edge. The first disappearances occurred here.

Clues: Small tracks, blue paper from candle wrappers, and drag marks leading north.

Krail's alchemy shop

The sign reads “Krail's Sanitary Alchemy and Rural Physic.” Beneath the lettering is a white-blue candle held in a brass hand.

The shop smells of lavender, vinegar, boiled herbs—and something faintly sweet beneath it all. The shelves are crowded with glass jars: dried roots, amber tinctures, black salts, blue powders under wax seals. A neat display of pale candles burns at the counter with an unwavering white-blue flame.

Behind the counter stands a thin man with fever-bright eyes, ink-stained cuffs, and a doctor's smile worn smooth by exhaustion.

“Travelers,” he says warmly. “Stranded, I take it. Everyone is stranded. Tea for the nerves? Or a sanitary candle? Village tallow fills a room with smoke. Mine clear the air. Vordanne's physicians value them.”

Krail in the village

In Rukfen, Doctor Ossian Krail plays the useful specialist. He is polite, a little condescending, and visibly tired. His questions sound medical, but they help him identify people who are alone, weak, or traveling without protection.

Krail's mannerisms:

• He rubs the blue-white residue beneath his nails with his thumb.
• He smiles too quickly at the word “missing.”
• He keeps a burning Lux Tallow candle nearby.
• He drinks from a dark vial when he thinks no one is watching.
• He calls Vordanne “the patient,” rather than “the city.”

What Krail knows

Krail knows everything and lies selectively.

If confronted early

Krail avoids fighting in the village unless cornered. He may:

• call for help and accuse the party of attacking a doctor during the quarantine;
• throw a smoke vial and flee through the back door;
• offer a bribe: 15 gp and “proper papers” for the Vordanne roadblock;
• send a runner to warn the cave.

If the party attacks him in public without evidence, increase Village Tension by 1.

Shopping at Krail's

Krail sells genuine supplies alongside Lux Tallow. He offers a discount to adventurers planning to enter the forest: it is in his interest to have them watched.

Let them buy the candles
Do not overplay the unease. Krail should sound practical and helpful. If the party buys candles, remember who carries them. Later, when the truth comes out, the players will check their inventories and briefly hate you. That is a good sign.

Clues in the shop

False goods, real consequences

If the characters use Krail's purchases in the forest, add small consequences:

The secret ledger

A thin supply ledger in an oiled leather cover is hidden in the shop's back room, beneath the false bottom of the lowest drawer. A successful DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds it. If the characters capture and question Krail, he may reveal its location while claiming that “everything was documented for quality control.”

Excerpt:

Batch L-17: Base mass 31 pounds. Stable flame.
Batch L-18: Base mass 24 pounds. Wax cloudiness above tolerance.
Batch L-19: Base mass 42 pounds. Excellent burn.

O.P. — Material unsuitable.
D.S. — Complete purification.
B.V. — Partial yield.
N.V. — Deferred until the next rendering.

The entries deliberately omit names, but the initials correspond to the missing. If the party has a list of missing villagers, a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check connects the ledger to the disappearances. On a success at DC 15, the character also realizes that the “batches” are recorded by the time bodies were processed, rather than by delivery date.

Chapter II: Cast of characters

Headwoman Mara Vane

Human woman, about 50; headwoman of Rukfen.

Mara is a practical, weary leader. A handkerchief is always tied around her wrist, a habit from when she worked with sheep rather than human panic.

Appearance: Square jaw, dark hair streaked with gray, weathered hands, an old wool coat.
Personality: Direct, protective, intolerant of theatrics.
Goal: Find the missing and stop the village from tearing itself apart.
Fear: Vordanne will abandon Rukfen, then blame it for the quarantine.
Secret: She bought Lux Tallow candles for the meeting house and her own home. She does not know what they are.

Mara's offer

Mara offers 40 gp in total, free lodging, and a letter of recommendation for the quarantine roadblock. Respectful bargaining with a DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check raises the reward to 50 gp in total and adds two Healer's Kits from the village's stores.

Doctor Ossian Krail

Human man, nearing 50; former hospital alchemist in Vordanne; addicted to mana dust.

Krail began as a physician-alchemist trying to calm patients with Withered fever during outbreaks in the city. His early formulas may even have helped, for a while. Then the city needed more candles, the buyers paid in advance, and animal fat was no longer enough.

He calls the first human batch “an emergency deviation.”

There have been many emergency deviations.

Appearance: Thin and pale, blue-white residue beneath his nails, cracked lips, immaculate cuffs.
Personality: Gentle until questioned; icy when pressed; panicked under pressure.
Goal: Keep production going until he secures a major contract in Vordanne.
Fear: Withdrawal, exposure, and the thought that his work was never needed.
Addiction: Stage II, approaching III.
Combat: A fragile controller who relies on alchemy and henchmen.

Krail's philosophy

“You call it murder because you can afford to count bodies one at a time. In Vordanne, we count by wards. By streets. By districts. These candles contain panic. They dull the symptoms. They keep the gates closed long enough for order to survive.”

Skittrik Three-Wicks

Kobold foreman; nervous, clever, hard to kill.

Skittrik wears a child's brass thimble as a helmet ornament and three candle stubs on his belt as sacred trophies.

Goal: Feed and protect his brood.
Fear: Krail's men, “the blue hunger,” and the prospect of surface folk slaughtering the entire brood.
Secret: Two victims are still alive because Skittrik delayed handing them over. He is no hero; he is afraid. But fear can be turned toward mercy.

Playing Skittrik

• He speaks rapidly, with a hiss, often referring to himself in the third person.
• He never stands with his back to an exit.
• He sees candles as signs of an agreement and of authority.
• He does not understand the whole process, but understands enough to fear the lower room.

Making a deal with Skittrik

A DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check, food, a promise of safety, or evidence that the party does not kill indiscriminately can persuade Skittrik to help.

He can:

• show them a bypass tunnel;
• disable the bone chimes;
• identify Krail as “the big glass man”;
• lead them to living prisoners;
• refuse to fight in the final encounter.

Supporting NPCs

Tovan Rask

Tovan is not the main villain. He is sweaty, smiling, and far too quick to agree. He suspected that the goods were wrong, but chose profit and ignorance.

If caught: A DC 12 Charisma (Intimidation/Persuasion) check, or a display of evidence, makes him admit that the candles come from Krail and that part of the cargo is due to leave at night along the old quarry road.

If released: He may flee to Vordanne and later die with blue wax in his mouth.

Chapter III: Investigation

Running the investigation

Do not require a single “correct” check. The players need to find at least one route to the forest, one to the kobolds, and one to the candles. If they miss a clue, move it into another scene at a cost in time, tension, or resources.

Three paths to the truth

Clue matrix

Rukfen rumors

Failing forward

If the party stalls:

• another abduction is attempted;
• Brindle, Rennik's dog, leads them to wax;
• Krail becomes too eager to offer help;
• Tovan tries to leave the village at night;
• Skittrik leaves a trail to delay the next “batch.”

Do not hide the adventure behind a single roll
A bad roll should change the cost, the time required, or the enemies' position, rather than block the entire way forward. In this adventure, clues matter more than beating a DC.

Village scenes

The most recent disappearance site

A narrow trail beside the charcoal heaps. The ground is wet; the tracks are imperfect but fresh.

Visible without a roll: Churned mud, a candle stub nearby, silent birds.
DC 10 Survival: Small footprints and signs of a body being dragged.
DC 12 Investigation: The wax crumbs match the shop's candles.
DC 13 Medicine: The victim was probably not killed at the site.

Tovan's cart

Tovan sells candles, belts, and small remedies. He jokes too loudly.

Approaches:

• friendly conversation: DC 12 Persuasion;
• intimidation with evidence: DC 12 Intimidation;
• searching the cart: DC 13 Investigation;
• secretly stealing the ledger: DC 12 Sleight of Hand.

Tovan's confession: “I only haul it! Krail pays. There are papers. I don't ask why the candles smell sweet.”

The chapel at night

If the party returns after sunset, Sister Anwen shows them that the flames of all the Lux Tallow candles lean toward the forest, though there is no draft.

Result: The party gains Advantage on its next Survival check to find the route.

Brindle, the innkeeper's dog

Brindle hates the candles and can follow their scent.

The nighttime shipment

If the party watches the shop, one of Krail's assistants wheels a crate toward the old road on a handcart after midnight. This can replace or accelerate the trail through the forest.

Catch him quietly: A group DC 12 Dexterity (Stealth) check.
Questioning: The assistant knows only “the quarry” and “the little workers.”
Failure: He abandons the crate and runs, increasing the cave's Alert Level by 1.

Chapter IV: Greybriar

Entering the forest

Greybriar is an old working woodland where charcoal burners, mushroom gatherers, and shepherds' children have walked for generations. Now the trails seem far too quiet.

Forest features:

• Wet undergrowth, slippery roots, fallen trunks.
• Wax dripping down bark where no candles should be.
• White-blue lights among the trees at night.
• Air that sometimes smells of lavender, vinegar, and sweet fat.

Finding the route

The snare line

The kobolds use nonlethal snares: Krail pays more for living prisoners.

Detect: DC 12 Wisdom (Perception).
Trigger: A creature enters a 5-foot square and makes a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw.
Failure: The creature is hoisted upside down and has the Restrained condition.
Escape: DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics), or an ally cuts the rope.
Complication: Cutting the rope incorrectly rings the bone chimes.

Forest details

Kobold scouts

This scene presents the kobolds as frightened abductors, rather than glorious warriors.

For 4 characters: 2 Rukfen Kobolds.
For 5 characters: 3 Rukfen Kobolds.
If the party is wounded: The kobolds throw stones and flee.

Tactics

The kobolds hide, throw stones, use snares, and run. They do not fight to the death unless cornered. One carries a small Lux Tallow candle in a metal acorn cup.

If captured

A DC 11 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check, or automatic success with food and a promise of safety, produces the following answers:

• “Big glass man pays.”
• “No killing in forest. Warm ones go down.”
• “Three-Wicks says: hurry before boiling moon.”
• “Tall people hit harder than village people.”
• “Blue paste quiets hunger. Then hunger gets worse.”

The candle tree

The party finds a hollow tree with three candle stubs inside. The kobolds have scratched a crude map around its trunk.

A DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check identifies:

• the cave entrance;
• a room marked with three candle scratches;
• a deep chamber marked with a spiral and steam lines;
• a rear tunnel toward the Vordanne road.

First-session cliffhanger
A good ending for the first session is the discovery of the hollow, the crude map, and a fresh human track beside the kobold tracks. It says: yes, the kobolds are involved; no, they are not alone.

Chapter V: The Waxen Hollow

Dungeon overview

The Waxen Hollow is an abandoned limestone quarry connected to natural caves. Krail has turned its lower chambers into a hidden alchemical production site.

The kobolds occupy the upper rooms; Krail's men and equipment occupy the lower ones.

Text map

A. Hidden quarry entrance
        |
B. Snare gallery ---- C. Kobold den / brood alcove
        |                         |
D. Prisoner pit <-----------------|
        |
E. Tallow Works
        |
F. Krail's laboratory ---- G. Smugglers' exit

Dungeon features

Light. A–C are dimly lit by stolen candles. E–F are brightly lit by furnaces and white-blue lanterns.
Ceilings. 7–10 feet in the work areas; 4–6 feet in the kobold crawlways. Medium creatures squeeze through.
Sound. Chimes, dripping wax, bubbling vats, distant kobold chatter.
Smell. Sweet wax, vinegar, smoke, wet limestone, a fatty note beneath it all.
Rest. A Short Rest is possible only if the party secures C or withdraws outside.

Alert Level

The cave responds to noise and warnings. Begin at Alert Level 0.

The moral frame

The upper rooms contain noncombatant kobolds: eggs, elderly and sick members of the brood, stolen blankets, and food. This does not excuse the abductions, but it complicates “kill them all.” If the party attacks indiscriminately, Skittrik will not negotiate, and the village will learn only half the truth.

Area A: Hidden quarry entrance

An old stone mouth amid the undergrowth. Drops of wax mark the stones. Near the entrance is a kobold warning sign: three candle scratches.

Clues:

• DC 10 Survival: Small footprints and tracks made by two booted humans.
• DC 13 Investigation: Carts enter heavier than they leave.
• No check: The smell of Krail's shop is fainter here, but recognizable.

Area B: Snare gallery

A narrow passage hung with bone chimes, jar lids, and candle stubs on strings.

Approaches:

• DC 12 Dexterity (Stealth) to pass quietly.
• DC 12 Dexterity with Thieves' Tools to disable the chimes.
• Failure increases Alert Level by 1.

If combat begins: 2 Rukfen Kobolds retreat toward C, rather than E.

Area C: Kobold den / brood alcove

Dirty blankets, small treasures, eggs in clay bowls, sick kobolds, and jars of blue paste fill this room.

Scene goal: Show that the kobolds are accomplices, but do not control the supply chain.

Clues:

• The blue paste is a cheap mana-dust substitute.
• Children's shoes lie in the pile of “treasures,” but bear no blood.
• A crude map depicts the lower rooms.
• Skittrik knows that “the steam room” is bad.

Negotiating with Skittrik

Skittrik will talk if the party does not kill noncombatants. He demands:

• food;
• a promise not to hand the eggs over to the village mob;
• protection from “the men with hooks”;
• that “the big glass man” never learn he spoke.

Success: He shows them D and a shortcut to F.
Failure: He withdraws but leaves one clue behind: the map has not been put away.

The blue paste

A DC 13 Medicine or Arcana check reveals that the paste contains unrefined mana dust. It does not cure hunger; it briefly suppresses withdrawal and makes it worse.

Kobolds and guilt
Skittrik is not innocent. He took part in the abductions. In Prisma, however, the question is often more than “who is guilty?” It is also who built the system in which a small, cowardly monster became a link in the supply chain.

Area D: Prisoner pit

Two prisoners are still alive: Nico Varr and Jessa Kelm. If involving children is unwelcome, Nico is an adult mushroom gatherer or charcoal burner's apprentice.

They are drugged, dehydrated, and terrified.

Release them quietly: DC 12 Dexterity with Thieves' Tools, or Strength (Athletics) if breaking the bars.
Failure: The bone chimes ring, increasing Alert Level by 1.
DC 10 Medicine: Rouse a prisoner enough to whisper: “Krail… doctor… candles…”

Area E: The Tallow Works

The heat strikes your face before you see the room. Copper vats sit above brick furnaces. Pale wax flows along stone channels, setting in rows of candle molds. The air is sweet, fatty, and wrong. Against the far wall stand crates bearing Vordanne's quarantine stamps.

The truth for the DM: Bodies are processed here. Describe only as much as the group is ready for.

Tallow Works hazards

Tallow Works encounter

For 4 characters: 1 Krail's Hired Blade and 1 Wax Assistant.
For 5 characters: Add 1 kobold, or another assistant if the party is fresh.

Tactics: The assistant opens valves and hides behind vats; the mercenary tries to delay the party. No one will die for Krail if he flees.

Tallow Works clues

Area F: Krail's laboratory

The table is buried in ledgers, test tubes, wicks, glass retorts, and black vials. Krail confronts the party here if he has not escaped.

Evidence

The red sun note

A folded sheet of black paper with a red lacquer sun seal:

Next delivery through the eastern drain.
Payment after a clean burn.
No village noise. No names.

— R.S.

Do not explain the Crimson Sun in full. This is a seed for a future investigation in Vordanne.

Area G: Smugglers' exit

A narrow tunnel rises toward cold air. Wheel tracks cross old dust. Small red suns on the stones at knee height point north.

The tunnel leads to a drainage route connected to the Vordanne road.

Chasing Krail

If Krail flees, run the chase over 3 rounds. Each round, one character can make an appropriate DC 12 check: Athletics, Acrobatics, Survival, Perception, or clever use of a spell.

3 successes before 2 failures: The party catches Krail.
2 failures first: Krail escapes, leaving a ledger page and a broken vial.

The cache

The cache contains:

• 18 gp and 32 sp;
• 1 Potion of Healing;
• 1 flask of Acid;
• a packet of refined mana dust worth 25 gp to the wrong buyer;
• a Clean-Wick Candle prototype.

Mana dust at 1st level
Do not turn mana dust into a routine consumable if your Prisma rules are not yet ready. At this stage, it is evidence, contraband, and a future temptation.

Chapter VI: Endings and consequences

Ending the adventure

The adventure ends when the party removes the threat in the cave and decides what to do with Krail, the kobolds, the evidence, and the candles already in circulation.

Milestone advancement to 2nd level is recommended after the party returns to Rukfen or reaches the quarantine roadblock with evidence.

What happens to Krail?

What happens to the kobolds?

What happens to the candles?

Once the truth is revealed, ask the players directly: what do they do with all the Lux Tallow candles in the village?

What happens to the evidence?

Possible endings

A. A clean rescue. The prisoners are saved, Krail is captured or killed, and the cave is exposed. Rukfen thanks the party grimly.

B. The alchemist escaped. There is enough evidence, but Krail will reappear later—for example, in a Vordanne hospital ward lit by his candles.

C. A deal with a kobold. Skittrik helps; the village demands punishment. The party must decide whether justice includes mercy.

D. A cover-up. The Wardens take the evidence and announce that kobolds killed the missing. The party learns its first lesson about Vordanne: order is not truth.

E. Fire in the Hollow. The vats are destroyed, mana dust flares, and the cave collapses. Some evidence is lost; a crack may reveal ancient Underspire stone.

Rewards and continuation

Standard rewards

• Milestone: The characters advance to 2nd level.
• Coin: 40–50 gp from Mara, divided among the party.
• Cache: 18 gp, 32 sp.
• Consumables: 1 Potion of Healing, 1 flask of Acid, 1 Healer's Kit if Mara helped.
• Evidence: The ledger, formulas, red note, forged permits.
• Social reward: Mara's recommendation to the Vordanne roadblock.

Reputation

If the party acted with restraint, Sister Anwen tells people that they saved lives instead of merely killing monsters. If they were cruel, Rukfen still pays, but children hide when they pass.

Continuing the campaign

Level 2: The quarantine gates. Sergeant Koll offers a choice: surrender the evidence and enter quietly; help trace where the candles went; or leave and forget.

Levels 2–3: The candle route. The party traces shipments through Vordanne: quarantine wards, undertakers' cellars, workers' barracks, an aristocrat's chapel, a Crimson Sun warehouse, and a Bronze Warden emergency depot.

Levels 3–4: Buyer after buyer. The red sun seal leads to a Crimson Sun factor. He swears he only transported sealed goods and “never asked what was inside.”

Level 5: Vordanne noir. The party is ready for Vordanne's intrigues: auctions, noble households, blackmail ledgers, foreign agents, and monsters in silk gloves who never touch the vats.

Long-term consequences

The campaign's central question
After this adventure, the question is no longer “who made the candles?” The party knows. The real question is who in Vordanne knew what they were made from—and who decided they were still worth buying.

Appendix A: Stat blocks

These stat blocks are designed for a 1st-level party. The creatures are fragile; the danger comes from position, traps, enemy numbers, and moral pressure.

Rukfen Kobold

Small Humanoid, any alignment

AC 13; HP 5 (2d6 − 2); Speed 30 ft.
STR 7 (−2), DEX 15 (+2), CON 9 (−1), INT 9 (−1), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 8 (−1)
Skills Stealth +4, Survival +2; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 10
Languages Draconic, broken Common; CR 1/8

Pack Tactics. The kobold has Advantage on an attack roll against a creature if an ally of the kobold is within 5 feet of the target and is not Incapacitated.

Cowardly Morale. At 2 HP or fewer, the kobold tries to Disengage and flee unless cornered.

Dagger. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) Piercing damage.
Sling Stone. Ranged Attack Roll: +4, range 30/120 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) Bludgeoning damage.
Bonus Action — Scuttle. The kobold takes the Disengage action if an enemy is within 5 feet and an ally is beside that enemy.

Skittrik Three-Wicks

Small Humanoid (Kobold), Chaotic Neutral

AC 14; HP 13 (3d6+3); Speed 30 ft.
STR 7 (−2), DEX 16 (+3), CON 12 (+1), INT 11 (+0), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 10 (+0)
Skills Deception +2, Stealth +5, Survival +3; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.
Languages Draconic, broken Common; CR 1/4

Pack Tactics. As for the Rukfen Kobold.

Three-Wicks' Nerve. As a Reaction when an allied kobold fails a D20 Test, Skittrik shouts an order: the ally adds 1d4 to the roll. 2/Long Rest.

Notched Dagger. Melee Attack Roll: +5, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) Piercing damage.
Thrown Candle-Cap. Ranged Attack Roll: +5, range 20/60 ft. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) Bludgeoning damage; the target has Disadvantage on its next Wisdom (Perception) check before the end of its next turn.

Bonus Action — Scuttle. Skittrik takes the Hide or Disengage action.

Krail's Hired Blade

Medium Humanoid, Neutral Evil

AC 13 (leather armor); HP 11 (2d8+2); Speed 30 ft.
STR 12 (+1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 9 (−1)
Skills Intimidation +1, Stealth +4; Senses Passive Perception 10
Languages Common; CR 1/4

Paid Coward. If the mercenary begins its turn Bloodied and Krail is out of sight, it must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or flee.

Shortsword. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) Piercing damage.
Light Crossbow. Ranged Attack Roll: +4, range 80/320 ft. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) Piercing damage.

Wax Assistant

Medium Humanoid, Unaligned or Neutral Evil

AC 11; HP 7 (2d8−2); Speed 30 ft.
STR 10 (+0), DEX 12 (+1), CON 9 (−1), INT 12 (+1), WIS 9 (−1), CHA 8 (−1)
Skills Arcana +3, Medicine +1; Senses Passive Perception 9
Languages Common; CR 1/8

Knows the Valves. The assistant has Advantage on checks involving the Tallow Works' hazards.

Wax Hook. Melee Attack Roll: +2, reach 5 ft. Hit: 3 (1d6) Piercing damage.
Hot Wax Flask. Ranged Attack Roll: +3, range 20/60 ft. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) Fire damage; the target's Speed decreases by 5 ft. until the end of its next turn.

Doctor Ossian Krail

Medium Humanoid (Human), Lawful Evil

AC 12; HP 22 (4d8+4); Speed 30 ft.
STR 8 (−1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 12 (+1), INT 16 (+3), WIS 11 (+0), CHA 13 (+1)
Saving Throws Con +3, Int +5; Skills Arcana +5, Deception +3, Medicine +4
Senses Passive Perception 10; Languages Common; CR 1/2

Mana-Dust Tremor. When Krail is Bloodied, he has Disadvantage on Dexterity checks, but his alchemical attacks deal an additional 2 Force damage.

Scalpel. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) Piercing damage.
Alchemical Flask. Ranged Attack Roll: +5, range 20/60 ft. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) Acid or Fire damage.
Dust Flash (Recharge 5–6). 10-foot Cone; DC 12 Constitution saving throw or Blinded until the end of the target's next turn.

Bonus Action — Desperate Dose (1/day). Krail inhales mana dust, gains 6 Temporary HP, and his Alchemical Flask deals an additional 1d6 Force damage until the end of his next turn. Afterward, he begins to tremble visibly.

Morale. At 6 HP or fewer, Krail tries to escape through area G.

Brindle, Rennik's dog

Medium Beast, Unaligned

AC 12; HP 7 (2d8−2); Speed 40 ft.
STR 12 (+1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 9 (−1), INT 3 (−4), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 7 (−2)
Skills Perception +3, Survival +3; Senses Keen smell, Passive Perception 13

Keen Smell. Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on smell.

Hates the Candles. Brindle will not willingly enter a room where Lux Tallow is burning unless calmed with a DC 10 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check.

Bite. Melee Attack Roll: +3, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) Piercing damage.

Quick balance adjustments
For a party of 3 characters, remove one kobold from the forest scene and one mercenary or assistant from the Tallow Works. For a party of 5–6 characters, add one kobold sentry to area B or one Wax Assistant to area E.

Appendix B: Items and handouts

Lux Tallow candle

Adventuring gear, illicit alchemical item

A pale candle with a white-blue flame. It burns for 8 hours, sheds light like an ordinary candle, produces no smoke, and has a faintly sweet scent.

If the candle burns in an enclosed room for at least 10 minutes, creatures in the room feel calm and drowsy. It has no effect in combat, but ordinary NPCs become less anxious unless directly threatened.

Hidden truth. Lux Tallow is made from human remains treated with traces of mana dust.

Identify. A character proficient with Alchemist's Supplies, or one who succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Medicine) / Intelligence (Arcana) check, realizes that this is not ordinary animal fat.

Price
At Krail's shop, one candle costs 5 cp, and a bundle of ten costs 2 sp. The price is suspiciously low for a “sanitary” product supposedly approved for quarantine use.

Clean-Wick Candle

Common consumable, minor magitech/alchemical item

The purified prototype burns for 8 hours with white-blue light. During the first 10 minutes after it is lit, it grants Advantage on one Wisdom (Medicine) check to stabilize a creature or diagnose poison, disease, or mana contamination. After that, it is simply a candle.

Unlike Lux Tallow, a Clean-Wick Candle is made from mineral wax and herbal stabilizers. Krail abandoned the formula because it was too expensive.

Packet of refined mana dust

Contraband, uncommon trade good

A sealed packet about the size of a thumb. It is worth 25 gp to an alchemist, criminal, or desperate mage—and more to those with bad intentions. At this stage, it is evidence or contraband, rather than a routine consumable.

Using it as evidence
If the characters show the packet to the Bronze Wardens, they become interested in the supply chain rather than the village. If the characters show it to criminals, the price suddenly rises and the conversation becomes more dangerous.

Samples in the laboratory

Handouts

Krail's candle wrapper

KRAIL SANITARY TALLOW
Clean flame. Clean air. Clean conscience.

Certified for quarantine rooms, hospital wards, chapels, watch posts, and enclosed carriages.

Burn time: 8 hours.
Keep dry. Do not ingest.
Do not expose to an open mana flame.

The red sun note

Next delivery through the eastern drain.
Payment after a clean burn.
No village noise. No names.

— R.S.

Ledger scrap

Batch L-17: Base mass 31 pounds. Stable flame.
Batch L-18: Base mass 24 pounds. Wax cloudiness above tolerance.
Batch L-19: Base mass 42 pounds. Excellent burn.

O.P. — Material unsuitable.
D.S. — Complete purification.
B.V. — Partial yield.
N.V. — Deferred until the next rendering.

The initials correspond to the missing. If the party has a list of missing villagers, a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check connects the ledger entries to specific people. On a success at DC 15, the character also realizes that the “batches” are recorded by the time bodies were processed, rather than by delivery date.

Appendix C: Quick reference

Scene checklist

Act I — Rukfen

• Establish Vordanne's quarantine.
• Show pale candles in public places.
• Mara offers the job.
• The characters introduce themselves.
• Give at least two village leads.

Act II — Investigation

• The party can visit Krail's shop.
• Krail sells or offers candles.
• The dog or chapel makes the candles unsettling.
• Tovan links the shop to the old road.
• Tracks lead into Greybriar.

Act III — Forest

• Candle stubs in the wild.
• Snares.
• Kobolds flee or can be captured.
• The route to the cave is revealed.

Act IV — Cave

• The kobold den complicates the moral picture.
• Prisoners prove that victims are still alive.
• The Tallow Works reveals the horror.
• Krail offers a justification or bribe.
• The laboratory points toward a buyer in Vordanne.

Act V — Consequences

• Decide Krail's fate.
• Decide the kobolds' fate.
• Decide what to do with the candles.
• Decide who receives the evidence.
• Award 2nd level.

Important DCs

Clue summary

Compressing the adventure into one session

1. Begin with Mara's briefing.
2. Use two locations: Krail's shop and either the inn or the chapel.
3. Run one forest scene: a snare and a scout.
4. Use only areas A, C, D, E, and F.
5. End with the red note and advancement to 2nd level.

By dawn, Rukfen smells of rain, smoke, and melted wax. The villagers carry pale candles in baskets, crates, pockets, trembling hands. Some weep. Some pray. Some look north toward Vordanne's gates, where the road disappears into the fog.

One by one, the candles are broken, buried, burned, or sealed away.

Beyond the quarantine roadblock, the city still waits: hungry, bright, and full of rooms where little white-blue lights may already be burning.

Original sourcebook illustration

The original map labels its inn “The Bent Nail Inn”; the adventure manuscript names its inn “The Wick and Barley”. Use the written adventure for locations and routes. The A-G text map in Chapter V defines the dungeon's connections. Decorative map lettering is retained from the original image.