Act I · The Carnival of Echoes

The Veil Unbound A Dark Fantasy Saga

"Something stirs behind the curtain. Not a monster. Not a god. Something that has been waiting, very patiently, for exactly the right five people."

11
Sessions Played
6
Current Level
5
Souls Bound
Enter
The Chosen

Party Roster

Lvl 6 ☯
Barnabas
Human · Monk · Way of Mercy
A veteran of the paranormal whose hands heal as surely as they harm. He came to the Carnival hunting answers. He found something hunting him.
Lvl 6 ⚗
Fippy Darkfall
Kobold · Alchemist · Dynamo
The sole survivor of a massacre that was never spoken of. Her concoctions crackle with volatile grief transmuted into energy.
Lvl 6 ♾
Za'ren
Yuan-Ti · Fighter · Echo Knight
A prince who fled his destiny, followed everywhere by an echo of himself — a ghost of what he might have become, or what he still will.
Lvl 6 ✵
Clementine
Elf · White Witch
Ancient elven power stirs in her blood, still unawakened. She watches gods debate like chess pieces. She wonders if she's one too.
Lvl 6 ✶
Corwen
Half-Elf · Sorcerer · Wild Magic
Wild magic surges through him, unpredictable as starfire. Every spell is a gamble — and so far, the odds have been interesting.
The World

Known Territories

Aelthyra is vast. Its regions hold old names, older grudges, and secrets that predate the gods who claim to have made it. The map shows what is known. What is unmarked is not necessarily empty.

🗺 Open the Map of Aelthyra →
Faces in the Dark

Persons of Interest

— Records being compiled —
The Chronicle

Session Log

Session I The Carnival Arrives The Beginning
Five strangers with no reason to trust each other receive invitations to a carnival in Briar Glen. They attend. The lights are warm. The performers smile too widely. Something watches from behind the curtain.
Briar Glen First Contact No Combat
Session III Into Silverhollow Trade District · Day 1
The party arrives in Silverhollow's Trade District and prevents a tavern brawl, catching the eye of a harengon investigator named Penny Quickstep. She speaks of wrongness at the Radiant Sanctuary. A boy named Malcolm clutches a carnival coin and won't wake up.
Silverhollow Penny Quickstep Radiant Sanctuary Malcolm
Session IV Silverhollow — Day 2 Districts of Faith & Learning
The party investigates deeper into the Sanctuary's rot. Arch Scribe Caeluin identifies Malcolm's cursed coin — Shadowfell-touched, blending enchantment and necromancy. Sage Esser breaks the curse. Malcolm wakes. The party hears something they cannot unhear.
Shadowfell Coin Caeluin Curse Broken
Session V Thanksgiving Session The Sanctuary Descends
Tensions rise. The party presses deeper into Maldrick's domain. What they find in the Sanctuary's lower levels reveals how far the corruption has spread — and who let it in.
Maldrick Corruption Radiant Sanctuary
Session VI Confronting Maldrick The Confrontation
The party faces Maldrick directly. His betrayal of the Sanctuary is confirmed. A battle that forces each character to make a choice. The Shield of the First Dawn remains missing. Sister Ashpur, they learn, has been dead for fifteen years.
Boss Fight Maldrick Defeated Ashpur Dead
Session VII After Penny Leveled to 4 · Gilded Rest
The party recovers and debriefs. They return Paylor's shield. They argue over the Carnival's Shadowfell connection — and reach no resolution. Za'ren vanishes in the crowd. The Council summons them. They enter the Carnival early, in disguise.
Level 4 Council of Twelve Infiltration Grand Maester Wretch
Sessions VIII–IX Back to the Carnival Inside the Illusion
The party navigates the Carnival's interior in costume. The House of Mirrors reveals things. The Ferris Wheel offers a view from above. The big tent holds a puppet show that knows their names. Retch's office holds secrets. The illusion is thicker than ever — and something knows they're watching.
Carnival Interior House of Mirrors Wretch's Office Disguises
Session XI The Shattered Spire, Pt. 2 Leveled to 6 · The Embrace Tower
The party defeats the corrupted scholar Thessavra — Dr. Dune, transformed into a flesh wall by the Ember Shard. The Shattered Spire's darkness is cleared. An Ioun Stone is recovered. The party finds a handpainted portrait of a child named Markus, with a message on the back: "please for Markus tell him I'm sorry."
Level 6 Thessavra Ember Shard Ioun Stone Markus Mystery
What Is Known

Lore Fragments

🎪
The Carnival
The Carnival of Echoes
It has no fixed location. It travels. It invites. Its coins carry Shadowfell-touched magic blending enchantment with necromancy. The Grand Maester Wretch denies any connection to the dark realm — but the evidence says otherwise.
🌑
The Planes
The Shadowfell Connection
Something passed through the Feywild long ago. Dark, twisted fey creatures now exist in the Shadowfell — remnants of a carnival that has harvested across planes. Fey energy corrupted, displaced, absorbed. This is not the first time it has come for a world.
🛡
Silverhollow
The Radiant Sanctuary
District 12. A holy site that rotted from within. High Priest Maldrick was corrupted — but by what, and when, remains unclear. The Shield of the First Dawn was stolen. Sister Ashpur has been dead for fifteen years. Someone was wearing her face.
💎
Artifacts
The Ember Shard
Recovered from the Godwound by Dr. Dune — now called Thessavra. It granted a terrible power. The Identify revealed it can undo, but the cost is erasure. The party holds it now. What it truly is has not been named.
🗺
Quests Active
Agaris's Map
Two sites were marked: Duskmire Sanctum in the northern forests of Velastra — former hagcraft ritual grounds — and the Shattered Spire, now cleared. The map suggests someone mapped these locations deliberately. Who is Agaris? And why these two sites?
🧒
Mysteries
Markus
A handpainted portrait. A child. A message on the back: "please for Markus tell him I'm sorry." Found in the ruins of the Shattered Spire. No last name. No explanation. The child in Malcolm's vision was also called Markus.