ARISE: The Sovereign Gate

The Hook

The Ashwatch Concord — the Delver guild of Virengard — has one job nobody wants: babysit the 'cleared' D-rank Gate under Millhaven Quarter until cleanup crews seal it. It's grunt work, which is why it goes to the lowest-ranked licensed Delvers alive. When the party (and their friend, fellow E-rank hopeful Petra Wick) descend to log the all-clear, the Gate turns out to have a second layer nobody scanned for — and it's crawling with Ashfang Ghouls answering to something far worse. Petra dies buying the others three seconds. As the last of the party goes down under the Butcher of the Second Layer's claws, a voice with no mouth says: 'Qualification met. Arise.' They wake up on the cavern floor, alone among the dead, with numbers hanging in the air that only they can see.

🎭 The rest of this tale is the Dungeon Master's secret. You'll live it at the table.