Chapter 4: Yon
Endelyn Moongrave, the Dame of Unhappy Endings, presides over this realm, and her penchant for theatrics has transformed the land around her. Storm clouds roil, shadows take on a life of their own, and the air is filled with a sense of impending dread.
Carved into the realm’s tallest pinnacle is Motherhorn, Endelyn’s theater, where hapless souls come seeking hope, only to leave after stark revelations of decline and despair—if they leave at all.
Running This Chapter
In this chapter, the characters navigate the bleak mountains of Yon, searching for their lost things or a route to the Palace of Heart’s Desire.
Before your first game session in Yon, follow these steps to help make the players’ experience as entertaining as possible:
Yon is ruled by Endelyn Moongrave, also known as Bitter End, Creeping Lyn, and the Dame of Unhappy Endings. Read the hag’s description and skim her stat block.
Read this chapter in its entirety, and reacquaint yourself with the “Prismeer Overview” in chapter 2.
Look over the map of Yon. Locations marked on the map are described later in the chapter.
You can find Stagefright's lines of dialogue from appendix E in the rollable table Stagefright's Lines. See the Macros handout for more information. See “A Tragedy in the Making” later in the chapter for how Stagefright’s lines come into play.
Lost Things in Yon
If you used the “Lost Things” adventure hook, check the Story Tracker to see if Endelyn Moongrave has anything or anyone the characters seek to reclaim. When the characters enter Yon, anyone who had something stolen by the hag gets the nagging sensation that it is somewhere in this realm, though the character doesn’t know where. The feeling fades when the character either regains what was lost or leaves Yon without recovering it. Anything the characters might want returned to them is kept in area M22.
Navigating Yon
Using the map of Yon as a reference, describe what the characters see as they forge their path through the splinter-realm. Yon’s numerous lightning rods and the other landmarks detailed in the “Encounters in Yon” section sit atop high peaks and plateaus and are easily spied from a distance.
Shortly after arriving in Yon, the characters encounter a talking dandelion named Amidor, who knows its way around Yon, where the characters might stumble upon one or more of the following locations:
Lockbury Henge, a meeting place for korreds who can give directions to Brigganock Mine
Brigganock Mine, where wish stones are unearthed by tiny creatures called brigganocks
Pillars of rock called the Fey Beacons, which are clearly visible from Lockbury Henge
One route to the Palace of Heart’s Desire lies in Motherhorn’s belfry, which contains a silver bell that summons giant cranes when it is rung. These birds serve as flying mounts and can deliver the characters to the palace. The characters can also reach the palace by an overland route, but they need a guide who knows the way. Without a guide, they would become hopelessly lost in the mountains of Yon.
Guide from Yon to Hither or the Palace of Heart’s Desire
Amidor, a swashbuckling dandelion, can guide the characters from Yon to Hither and back to Yon. It also knows a safe overland route to the Palace of Heart’s Desire. The characters encounter Amidor shortly after arriving in Yon (see “Arrival in Yon”).
Features of Yon
Yon is a realm of rocky peaks, thunderclouds, and howling winds. The narrow ledges and footpaths that curl around the mountains make foot travel possible, but such routes are arduous, and dead ends are common. Skittish goats leap and bound across the mountain slopes with ease, but they avoid strangers. To see farther than a mile or two, one must ascend to high ground, where the rain and winds are particularly fierce.
Lightning Rods
Endelyn Moongrave has erected copper lightning rods on mountaintops throughout Yon and uses them to harness electricity from the storms, which in turn powers the contraptions in her theater. Each lightning rod is 30 feet tall and topped with a 10-foot-diameter symbol of a sun or moon made of copper. Each hour, the rods discharge the electricity they’ve accumulated, sending arcs of lightning across the sky to lightning rods atop Motherhorn.
Each lightning rod is a Huge object with AC 17, 75 hit points, and immunity to lightning, poison, and psychic damage. A lightning rod has abundant handholds and footholds that allow it to be climbed without a check. It can be toppled by lashing ropes to the top of it and then pulling it over, which requires either a successful DC 30 Strength (Athletics) check or the effort of multiple creatures with a combined Strength of 60 or higher. A rod can’t be toppled by pulling or pushing at its base.
Shadowless
A shadowless creature is one that carries the curse of having no shadow—a fact evident only when the creature is in bright or dim light. A remove curse spell or similar magic ends the curse on a shadowless creature, reuniting it with its shadow instantly.
Creatures native to Prismeer will not trust or do business with a known shadowless creature or those who ally themselves with one.
Brigganocks and Korreds
The brigganocks who live under the mountains of Yon are at odds with the korreds who live on the slopes and peaks. Each group believes that the other is in league with Endelyn Moongrave, not realizing that the hag is a menace to both. The characters encounter the korreds at Lockbury Henge and the brigganocks at Brigganock Mine.
If the characters discover that the brigganocks are not allied with Endelyn and convey this information to the korreds, Queen Argantle of the korreds promptly arranges a meeting with the brigganocks to sort out their differences. Similarly, if the characters convince the brigganocks that the korreds don’t work for Endelyn, the brigganocks agree to meet the korreds outside the mine. After this meeting, the korreds and the brigganocks unite to aid the characters in Motherhorn (as described in the “Fey to the Rescue!” section later in the chapter).
The following encounters take place at locations marked on the map of Yon. As the characters explore Yon, you can move these locations as needed, putting them in the characters’ path. These locations can be explored in any order, or not at all:
Lockbury Henge. This henge sits atop a rocky plateau. The characters might come here hoping to forge an alliance with the korreds of Yon.
Fey Beacons. An elf prince named Alagarthas is doomed to light fires atop these pinnacles of rock until he finds a way back home. The characters can help him or not.
Brigganock Mine. The korreds of Yon are at loggerheads with the brigganocks who inhabit this mine. The characters might visit the mine in the hope of uniting the brigganocks and the korreds, or in search of a hero willing to help them. Inside the mine, they encounter a member of Valor’s Call and discover a secret way into Motherhorn.
If Amidor is still with the characters when their business in Yon is concluded, the dandelion can lead them back to Hither, or it can guide them along a meandering route through the mountains of Yon to the foot of a bridge that arches across a misty expanse and ends at the front gate of the Palace of Heart’s Desire. Amidor is willing to make this journey only after Gleam and Glister are reunited and borne safely to the Fey Beacons (and from there to the Witchlight Carnival).
If the characters ring the silver bell in area M20, they can travel to the palace on the backs of Zybilna’s giant cranes, which swoop gracefully over the pinnacles of Yon and gently deposit the characters in the palace garden. Again, Amidor won’t travel to the palace until his commitment to Gleam and Glister is fulfilled.