World · Place
SECRET — Demon and the mountain water
DM / author only. Do not put this in published chapter prose until the party learns it in play.
SECRET — Demon and the mountain water
DM / author only. Do not put this in published chapter prose until the party learns it in play.
This is an emerging theme — plant hints over many chapters; the boys should feel something is wrong with Ethium before they understand why.
The truth (hidden)
- Water from the mountains that feeds Ethium — springs, runoff, and the sources that fill pools and channels across the plateau — has changed.
- A great demon is coming to the mountains above / around Ethium. (Not yet arrived in full; the approach is what matters.)
- Residual magic carried on that changed water has stirred the Ethium Stones — waking what slept for generations, corrupting old sites (e.g. the pool wizard), and making the whole plateau restless.
The stones waking, the Gang of Four’s interest, goblins on wolfback, the dragon, and the undead below the tower are symptoms. The water is the thread.
What the party knows so far (published)
| Clue | Where |
|---|---|
| Ethium Stones are waking | Ch. 2 — Tobbs |
| Lights in ruins, strange animals, odd dreams | Ch. 2 — Tobbs (vague; no cause named) |
| Pool water comes from somewhere else — a source beyond the cave | Ch. 5 — Garnel / Mala’s notes |
| Ancient wizard corrupted trying to bend pool magic | Ch. 5 |
| Dragon over the plateau; half-goblin dropped from the sky | Ch. 4 |
| Healing pool works when four stones are set in the pillars | Ch. 5 |
None of this names the demon or the changed mountain water.
How to hint (without revealing)
- Water: wrong colour in a side channel, metallic taste, too warm/cold, foam, dead fish upstream, algae that shouldn’t grow on Ethium stone
- Stones: hum louder after rain or when near running water; Garnel notices grandmother’s notes mention “the flow” before “the waking”
- Dreams: water, mountains, something vast moving under stone (reuse Tobbs’s dream imagery — don’t explain yet)
- NPCs: old shepherds below the plateau refuse to drink from high streams; goblins avoid certain springs
- Pool module: whispers at the pool, dream-flashes — attribute to “old magic” until reveal
Do not name the demon, describe its form, or state that water is demon-tainted until the table earns the reveal.
When to reveal
- Party traces pool water upstream (mountain paths, collapsed aqueducts, shrine at source)
- Garnel + Mala’s book (if recovered) names the old warning about “what follows the black current”
- Tobbs / Nimozaran research in Fallcrest connects stone waking to watershed omens
- Confrontation or omen when the demon’s approach becomes undeniable
Adjust timing to session play — this is long-arc lore.
Links
ethium.md— plateau overviewethium-stonework.md— stone vs stone-magic- session-plan-ethium-pool-module.md — pool as hub
- 00-campaign-bible.md — open threads