Shattered Echoes of the Anchor: 5e TTRPG Encounter
- iyrunner9
- Apr 1
- 4 min read
A Level Two 5e TTRPG Encounter in the world of "Aithos: Dragonsfall Cycle"
*Use this 5e TTRPG Encounter adventure, should the players decide to pursue the Anchor shard mentioned in the encounter: “Madness at the Red Stag.”
Location:
The Hollow of Azhrel – A sunken ruin hidden deep in the misty wilderness beyond Las Coronas.
The Hook:
After the events at the Red Stag, the adventurers hear rumors from the surviving hunters about where they found the Anchor shard—a place they now call the Hollow of Azhrel.
According to Matias Ferrero, they had been tracking a wounded elk through the fog-shrouded hills when they stumbled upon an ancient stone archway, half-buried in moss and timeworn carvings. At its center, they glimpsed a faintly glowing shard, pulsing with an eerie blue-green light. When Javier touched it, the shard vanished, leaving behind only silence and a faint ringing in their skulls.
Matias refuses to go back, but he marks the location on the adventurers' map—should they dare to uncover what remains.
The Hollow of Azhrel
Two days’ travel from Las Coronas, deep within the fog-choked woodlands, the players find themselves in a narrow ravine, its walls slick with moss and speckled with bone-white roots. The air thrums with a strange energy, and those attuned to magic feel an almost imperceptible pull.
At the heart of the ravine, they find the archway Matias described—a crumbling ring of black stone, its surface engraved with forgotten sigils. Laying in the center, partially sunken into the damp earth, is a circle of broken stone—the shattered remnants of a sealing mechanism that once held the Anchor shard.
As they step closer, the air shifts, and suddenly the world around them distorts.
The Puzzle: The Echoing Shard
The Challenge: The Anchor shard never truly vanished—it phased into another state of existence, scattering echoes of itself across a broken reality loop. The adventurers must solve the puzzle to restore the shard to the material world.
The Effect: The moment the adventurers step into the ruin, they experience a temporal displacement—time fractures, and they find themselves trapped in a loop, experiencing the same moment over and over, with subtle differences each time.
The Phases of the Loop
Each time the players step forward, interact with the ruins, or make a wrong move, the world "resets"—but with one subtle change.
The Initial Phase (Perception DC 14 / Arcana DC 16)
The adventurers step into the ruin.
The archway is intact, and the shard hums faintly but remains unreachable.
The air vibrates with strange whispers, which grow clearer in each cycle.
The runic inscriptions on the archway glow, forming a sequence of symbols—a clue to solving the loop.
The Echoing Past (Investigation DC 15 / History DC 14)
A ghostly vision of the past appears—faint, indistinct figures chant in an ancient tongue, performing a ritual.
One figure steps forward, placing an object in the center before the shard appears, floating in place.
The chanting phrases change in each loop, forming a fragmented pattern that must be reconstructed.
If a player tries to touch the shard now, they are thrown backward, and the loop resets with new details.
The Shattered Future (Insight DC 14 / Survival DC 12)
The archway cracks, and the world around them begins to crumble, hinting that the longer they stay, the more unstable reality becomes.
The whispers now form coherent words, offering cryptic guidance.
The moon overhead shifts positions in each cycle—another hidden clue that time is resetting.
A player attuned to magic can sense they must repeat the ritual from the past to stabilize reality.
Solving the Puzzle
To retrieve the Anchor shard, the players must:
Reconstruct the Ritual
By listening to the fragments of whispers, watching the ghostly figures, and deciphering the runes, they can piece together the correct order of events.
Activate the Sigils (Intelligence DC 15 / Arcana DC 16)
The glowing symbols on the archway must be touched in the correct sequence, based on the runes that changed in each loop.
The wrong order results in a full reset of the loop.
Offer a Resonant Object
The ritual requires a catalyst to "anchor" the shard back into reality. The players must place something infused with emotion or history—such as a personal item, a relic from the Red Stag, or even a drop of their own blood.
Time the Ritual with the Sky
The position of the moon in each loop reveals when the ritual must be performed.
If done at the wrong time, the cycle resets again, growing increasingly unstable.
Success & Rewards
If the adventurers successfully restore the ritual, the Anchor shard materializes in their hands—thrumming with power. But with its return, they awaken something else…
🔹 They now wield an unstable fragment of an Anchor, capable of small, reality-bending effects but also drawing attention from unseen forces. 🔹 The whispers grow silent—but the players feel watched, as though something ancient now knows of their actions. 🔹 The ghostly figures bow—one mutters a name before fading: “Azhrel waits.”
Failure & Consequences
If the adventurers fail to complete the ritual, the loop collapses violently.
The Anchor shard remains lost, dissolving from reality.
The ruin collapses, forcing the players to escape or be buried.
The next time they dream, they hear the whispers again—but now they call them by name.
And for those who want to dive deeper into the mysteries of Aithos, the novel awaits…
Read Aithos: Dragonsfall Cycle to discover the full world beyond the game!
This weekly encounter series will continue exploring new locations, conflicts, and legendary mysteries within Aithos. Dungeon Masters, how will your players handle the madness of the Anchors? Stay tuned for next week’s adventure!
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