Manus, the Chaos Duelist

Medium humanoid chaotic neutral

AC/DC 19 | HP 250 (150-420) | Atk/Prof +11 | DPR 69 | # Atks 3 | Dmg (2d8 + 7) + (2d6)

Armor Class 19 (Natural Armor) Hit Points 250 (30d10 + 120)
DPR: 69 (2d8 + 7) + (2d6) Speed 50 ft. Saving Throws Dex +11, Con +8, Wis +7, Cha +10
Condition Immunities Frightened, Grappled, Restrained
Damage Resistances Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison
Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Passive Perception 13 Skills Acrobatics +11, Deception +10, Insight +7, Intimidation +10, Performance +10
Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal

Phase 1: The Rescue

• Day 1: Meet at Raven’s Perch, track kidnappers
• Day 2: Rescue Winry from the tomb
• Day 3: Return to Tannis, get gear from Sig, rest at windmill

Phase 2: Darkness Falls

• Day 4: Darkness hits Tannis, escape through church, meet Arbiter
• Day 5: Travel to Vidrir’s grove
• Day 6: Meet Vidrir, learn about Summer’s Edge, rest

Phase 3: Tracking the Cult

• Day 7: Travel toward silver maple, encounter pixies
• Day 8: Rescue pixies from darklings, find Serenity’s cabin
• Day 9: Battle flameskull, encounter charmed Serenity, flee with orb
• Day 10: Return to Vidrir, get Order medallion, meet Francis

Phase 4: Winter Court

• Day 11: Travel to Winter Court, meet rangers
• Day 12: Arrive at embassy, meet Alora, heal Olivia
• Day 13: Hunt and kill Bandersnatch, get magic items
• Day 14: Investigate Winter leyline temple (with Trius)
• Day 15: Final battle with Serenity, burn cabin
• Day 16: Debrief with Alora, receive teleportation ring

Phase 5: Autumn Court

• Day 17: Travel to Autumn Court (fey thieves ambush)
• Day 18: Festival, battle Xolthos, meet Ali/Arden
• Day 19: Meet Lord Farkris, investigate Autumn temple
• Day 20: Rest at treant’s grove

Phase 6: Summer Court

• Day 21: Travel to Summer border, fight cultists at battlefield
• Day 22: Arrive Summer Court, meet Lady Sylvia, attune ring
• Day 23: Investigate breached Summer temple, encounter Manus
• Day 24: Meet Elara, plan Feywild expedition

Phase 7: Feywild Adventure

• Day 25: Shop, Blackbird contract night 1, travel to Starfall Crater
• Day 26: Fight celestial guardians, get ore, contract night 2
• Day 27: Travel to Shimmering Glade, contract night 3, enter Feywild
• Day 28: Join a feast at the Satyr camp
• Day 29: Capture the first kiss of the midday sun and Manus encounter
• Day 30: Weaver’s ancestral home

Phase 8: Summer’s Edge and the Spring Court

• Day 31: Return to the summer court, reforge summer’s edge (feywild timeskip)
• Day 32: Journey to Spring Court, close Hollow Threshold (Beastland theme), meet Vael
• Day 33: Arrive at Spring Court, meet Faela Mossheart, rest at the Moonlit Hearth tavern
• Day 34: Travel to the Spring Leyline Temple, investigate corruption, fight Bodak and other undead, find note from Manus detailing the Cult’s endgame
• Day 35: Journey to the Chained Library, learn critical information about repairing the barrier and discover Vidrir’s true identity as the Knight of Ravens and leader of the Order of Seasons.
• Day 36: Visit Vidrir to debrief about Summer’s Edge, learn Vidrir is Odin and maintaining Nidhogg’s seal, visit Tannis
• Day 37: Close Hollow Threshold with ties to the elemental Plane of Air that Vael discovered in the Winter Court’s territory; recover the royal artifact Skreek was dispatched to find.
• Days 38-43: Travel and preparation; race against the clock — Manus’s note warned the ritual would occur on the next new moon, roughly ten days from the Spring Temple discovery
• Day 44: The ancient battlefield — the Weaver’s ritual to release Nidhogg is underway; Trius’s Moonbeam strikes the killing blow; the Weaver is dead, the ritual fails, and Nidhogg remains sealed in the Shadowfell. Campaign conclusion.

🌿 Thematic Pillars

• Renewal & Growth: Spring represents change, personal development, and the courage to bloom after hardship.
• Contracts of Intention: The Court values commitments to self-improvement and healing over oaths of power or allegiance.
• Gentle Judgment: Unlike the ambition of Summer or the solemnity of Winter, Spring’s authority is quiet but unwavering.
• Landmarks:
  • [[Endless Meadow]]
  • [[Grand Windmill]]
  • Spring Leyline Temple

👩‍🌾 Key NPC

Faela Mossheart - High Druid

• Race: Elf (likely centuries old, with a presence that feels both ancient and nurturing)
• Appearance: Wears layers of living moss, bark-woven robes, and carries a staff sprouting blossoms. Her hair is vine-wrapped and flowers bloom in her footsteps.
• Personality: Calm, maternal, but not passive. Sees potential in all things — including the party.
• Role: Guide to the Spring Temple; speaks in gentle riddles and seasonal metaphors. May be the only one who can truly commune with the temple’s ancient spirit.

Vibe

🎭 Strong Start

• Enter the strange portal and deal with the beasts and strange magic inside.

🗺 Scenes Overview

• Hollow Threshold 3 - The Primal Hunt
• Meet Vael and learn something of the Chained Library
• Visit the Spring Court and meet with Faela Mossheart
• Visit the Spring Leyline Temple

🔑 Secrets & Clues

• Hollow Thresholds are being created by the Cult of the Eclipse
• Vael, agent of the Chained Library, is investigating the weakening barrier and the hollow thresholds
• Chained Library is located beneath the “Tael’anore”, the central mountain in Elven territory
• Skreek’s royal egg is being used as a Hollow Threshold anchor for a plane of air themed threshold.
• The Spring Court is led by the High Druidess, Faela Mossheart
  • Theme of renewal and reinvention. change is part of life’s natural rhythm and that spring is the season where everything gets a chance to start anew.

Vael’s Intro

“I am a witness. An agent of balances long frayed. My name is Vael. Fifth Binder. Chainbearer of the Silent Vault. When minds shatter against what they should not know, we are the ones who pick up the pieces. Or burn them. Some truths are too dangerous to be carried, so we bury them in silence—where even their echoes find no ears.”

🎭 Strong Start

• Use the leyline gate network to travel to the Order of Seasons Tomb via a nearby standing stone, encounter Hollow Threshold along the way

🗺 Scenes Overview

• Visit Vidrir to check in and he can see Summer’s Edge
• Visit Tannis: Lerissa , Arbiter?, Sig Rockwell (Toby’s wrist blade)
• Hollow Threshold 3 - The Primal Hunt

🔑 Secrets & Clues

• Vidrir is much older than he seems and was the champion of the summer court that Skreek saw in his visions
• Hollow Thresholds are being created by the Cult of the Eclipse
• Vael, agent of the Chained Library, is investigating the weakening barrier and the hollow thresholds
• Chained Library is located beneath the “Tael’anore”, the central mountain in Elven territory
  • “the roots beneath the seasons” / “vault at the world’s bloom.”
• Skreek’s royal egg is being used as a Hollow Threshold anchor for a plane of air themed threshold

Vael’s Intro

“I am a witness. An agent of balances long frayed. My name is Vael. Fifth Binder. Chainbearer of the Silent Vault. When minds shatter against what they should not know, we are the ones who pick up the pieces. Or burn them. Some truths are too dangerous to be carried, so we bury them in silence—where even their echoes find no ears.”