The Great Dolmenwood Treasure Hunt, part 4: The Dawnward Path

  This is part of a series of blogposts

• Campaign framing, timeline, and general details
• Minor tweaks to hex descriptions
• The Lost Wing,
• The Dawnward Path, and coda. (this post)

In this post, I describe the end of the treasure hunt, running through the Fairy Roads unto the very gates of Heaven. It's a simple final stretch, so I'll try to go into reasonable potential developments. 

art by Honor C. Appleton

The Dawnward Path

A fresh-tilled dirt path runs through endless fields of sunflowers in the civil dawn of summer, wending towards the rising sun that never seems to break past the horizon

Doors: No permanent doors, for the One True God is the god of entrances and exits. Instead, entering any fairy road with the Heavenseeker Key converts the entire road to the Dawnward Path.

Length: 10 miles. It ends at the end (see below)

The Dawnward Path Locations

• 1. Puffy cloud smoke rises from sinkholes in gently rolling technicolor hills. From one emerges trumpet toots and the scent of seasoned meat. Descending into the hole leads a party to the fairy realm Turpsy-Tovey, a realm of misrule where outsiders are made into kings, bishops are jesters, and such.
• 2. The road passes through a dried riverbed, and at a point a tributary branches off, leading past many river stones carved with joyful faces to the fairy realm of Wouldst. There the dog-skull-faced lord Batterfrost leads his people in crafts, rhymes, and the mixing of warm drinks, ever wary for hostile goblins and humbugs who lurk at the edge of the night-tinged land.
• 3. Where the sunflowers grow especially high and especially thick, 1d3 scarecrows (DWM p.72) linger amicably. (It is always considered summer on the Dawnward Path unless something horrible changes that). Friendly, they can be quite demanding, wanting a justification for the party's trespass or imposing for a favor on a negative reaction roll.
• 4. 2d6 dark and hale wild horses cavort by the path. 1-in-6 chance that one is a fairy horse.
• 5. The sunflowers seem to overgrow an old cairn hillock, containing a serene tomb with 2d6 barrowbogeys. There is a 2-in-6 chance the tomb also contains a meditating pilgrim (d4): a penitent undead, a human enchanter, a breggle on a heroquest, or a humble fairy.
• 6. A bend in the road suddenly comes to a deep chasm and a long, narrow bridge. Anyone who crosses will come face-to-face with travelers much like themselves, and the bridge isn't wide enough to pass easily. These travelers will act precisely as the party does, only backtracking to let the PCs cross if the PCs also do so, fighting for right of way if the players do, and so on.
• 7. A wet, pebbled clearing breaks up the flowers, with old armaments and bridles strewn between shells the size of a mule. 3-in-6 chance that a lawful Giant Snail, Psionic (DWM p. 78) lies resting on this old battlefield.
• 8. A wayside tavern with several well-maintained shrines sits overlooking the path. The tavern-keeper, nameless and casual, breaks up sheets of chocolate bark or peanut brittle as he asks travelers what they seek. Those who rest at the tavern feel a sense of urgency eventually overtake them, and they save vs doom. Those who pass sometimes glimpse a sword hovering over them, especially as they're just about to fall asleep or in a mirror. They get +1 wisdom and +1 to all saves vs doom. Those who fail experience a bodily terror as the sense of urgency festers, and they are exhausted as though they've gone a night without rest.

The End: At the terminus of the path, travelers come to a thick fence of pearlescent bone, beyond which is an expanse of endless clouds and, perhaps, the lands of Pluritine heaven. The gate is guarded by the spirit of Saint Clewd, who warns that to pass through the gate is to enter death and the lands beyond it. Be clear to the players that this is to kill their characters. He does not bar entry, for the dead go where they are destined, but the gate is locked to immortal creatures like fairies unless they can cast Beseech. If asked for advice, Clewd speaks with the experience of a true hero— an adventurer who helped the multitudes, suffered gladly for the right, and fought evil.

Coda

To reach this point, the player characters have experienced much of Dolmenwood. They've plumbed the depths of the duke's castle, explored the depths of the fungal forests, and come to the brink of the Nag-Lord's dark presence. They've probably also gone on rip-roaring adventures well in excess of the most efficient possible quest, contending with meddling imperial inspectors, finding the lost treasure of Dewidort, saved the survivors of Blackeswell, or experienced a dozen episodes of wonder and woe. It well could be that one or more of the party has decided that they have left the legacy they wish, and that they will pass through the bone gates to the final adventure, having truly come to understand Dolmenwood (and helped the DM to get their money's worth in buying the box set, custom dice, and vinyl record). 

The great game of Dolmenwood's factions is sure to see a radical upset if the PCs don't keep the Heavenseeker Key secret:

• Obviously the Pluritine Church would be boundlessly enriched if they gained control of the Key and understood just how far it goes. At worst, corrupt churchmen might excommunicate and hunt the party, calling their story a heretical lie, all to keep from rocking the boat and having to answer too directly to pedants like Clewd's ghost. At best, the humble who still hold to their nominal commission will reward the PCs handsomely, establish a pilgrimage through the Fair Roads, and maybe even declare a renewed crusade against the Nag-Lord. "Saint Grace" could be officially canonized, or at least revered as a righteous servant of the right.
• The Duke's fortunes may have already been changed depending on whether the PCs have contended with the monster of the Oubliette they may have learned about in the Lost Wing. If not, he may try to seize on this great achievement to attempt to renew the Triple Compact and arrange a diplomatic bloc against his enemies, with a goal of eventually advancing the borders of his duchy north.
• The Hooded Men are hard to impress.
• The witches of Dolmenwood are likely to be impressed by the deeds of the party, but they see danger in anything that emboldens the church, and will try to covertly influence events. As for the PCs, they might distract them by tasking them with some worthy challenge like finding the Mirrors of Embala, or turn them and use them as direct agents against their enemies.
• Naturally, the party will receive the glad hospitality of pretty much every lordling and noble in Dolmenwood, since they have proven their worth.

If this is the culmination of your campaign, it would probably also suffice to prompt your players to describe what they hope for their characters' retirement, and go out on that note.