A group of survivors from the burning of Westgate are tasked with rebuilding an old fortress and cleansing the lands of corruption and blighted creatures. What begins as a frontier restoration mission becomes a struggle against the unfinished consequences of The Breach, the decay of an ancient Celestial Prison, and the corruption spreading through the northern mountains.

The campaign follows the founding field cell of the restored Aegis Order as they investigate Far Realm wounds, recover dangerous relics, recruit unlikely allies, and learn that the ruined wards of the old prison may only be restored by confronting the black sap of Belatu-Cadros and the powers trapped below.

The Breach began when ancient wards hidden deep in the northern mountains were weakened, allowing horrors, corruption, and Far Realm-touched forces to spill into the Winterlands. Westgate was overrun by Far Realm monsters and outsiders, and the future founding members of the Aegis Order survived only by fleeing with Church aid to Thronstadt.

Three years later, the survivors were recruited to restore the Aegis Order, a knightly order of irregular agents meant to solve problems ill-suited to conventional military forces, temple bureaucracy, or ordinary church agents.

The Breach was never fully corrected. The ancient Celestial Prison still holds, but its wards are weakened and its contents have degraded into a dangerous concentration of evil Far Realm energy. Two major corruption fronts are known:

The greatest known enemy behind the prison crisis is Diantha, an Erinyes partially corrupted by the Far Realm and still trapped by the remaining wards. She seeks to weaken or destroy the prison's remaining defenses and escape.

The campaign is built around lawful good agents making hard choices in morally and politically difficult situations. The Aegis Order is expected to right wrongs at the behest of the Keeper of the Light, but its enemies are rarely simple battlefield threats. The party frequently faces corrupted relics, strained alliances, hostile theology, desperate civilians, devils, undead, aberrations, and ancient powers that cannot be defeated by force alone.

Key recurring questions:

• Can corruption be understood without being tolerated?
• What must be preserved, purified, contained, or destroyed?
• How much compromise is acceptable in service of a greater good?
• Can old enemies become allies when the world itself is in danger?
• Are the Dragonmarks a blessing, a ward-key, a warning, or something stranger?

The founding PCs came of age as Wards of Wintershield when The Breach caused Westgate to be overrun by Far Realm monsters and outsiders. With help from members of the Church of the Flame, including Winny and Markus, they escaped to Thronstadt with several children and civilians.

After a three-year time jump, they were recruited to reform the Aegis Order.

The Keeper sends the PCs to investigate a remote Underdark settlement plagued by strange disappearances. At Wellspring they meet Rebecca Mason, Conner, Flapjack the Flumph, and Sir Khorzak. In the abandoned fortress, the party discovers a Far Realm portal, kills its guards, seals the breach, and frees Cera the Aranea.

After the portal is sealed, those nearby are marked by holy Flame energy. Following a ceremony conducted by the Keeper, the PCs and several allies receive mysterious Dragonmarks.

The party journeys into the Wyrmscale Mountains to destroy a Triad base. After succeeding, they track additional agents deeper into the mountains and discover that their Dragonmarks protect them from a corruption that confuses and traps the natives, making escape nearly impossible.

After killing the agents and witnessing creatures released by the corruption, the party returns to Thronstadt and finishes the construction of Aegis Fortress. During this arc, they recover several samples of black sap produced by Belatu-Cadros.

The Keeper sends the party to Ember Library to recruit occultist Ulrich DeWolfe von Steinbech, whose knowledge of the Celestial Prison may be essential. The Keeper also suspects other hidden problems within the library.

At Ember Library, the PCs work with Ulrich and Dr. Oren, an agent of the Church and the goddess Marrow. Dr. Oren is hunting an excommunicated Marrow worshiper who stole the Liber Sanguinis, a holy relic and blood magic spellbook said to be written in the blood of the goddess herself.

After deposing the corrupted library leadership, the party confronts Mirelle Vey, who has used the Liber Sanguinis and corrupted Belatu-Cadros sap to corrupt a hidden Warforged Creation Engine. After Mirelle is killed, the PCs purify the engine and create a single Warforged named Scorch, who awakens dedicated to the Flame.

The Broken Fang, an Icengrim-aligned tribe historically hostile to Thronstadt and the Church, requests aid against Far Realm threats attacking their homeland. The PCs travel into the mountains and meet Grandmaster Maelis Darkspire and Inner Circle Knights of the Order of the Onyx Dawn at the Ebon Fort.

At the Broken Fang settlement, they find the Jarl old and infirm and meet his heirs: Fenrir, a tiefling fighter, and Boudica, a human barbarian. Though skeptical of the Church, the tribe is desperate for aid.

During a night attack, the PCs and the Broken Fang kill two shadow dragons. The portal left by the slain dragons is purified, making that section of the mountains safe for now. Shared survival washes away much of the immediate hostility between the factions, though not all old wounds are forgotten.

Ulrich has often been invited to the Candleblack Auction, an annual occult auction whose attendees range from legitimate scholars and collectors to hidden devils and dangerous cult agents. The PCs accompany him to acquire information about contacting a celestial inside the Celestial Prison.

The party meets Miro Radanavich, a Vistani Mist-road guide, and travels by carriage into a pocket Domain of Dread. The central moral pressure of the arc is that the party possesses two Bank of Gurkel blank checks and can likely buy the mission objective, but cannot prevent every dangerous relic in the room from passing into enemy hands.

The PCs purchase the Celestial Roster of the Seventh Ward and the Contract of the Bound Choir. They also meet Seraphine Vael, a Wintershield mage and Ulrich's ex-wife, who becomes a contact at Valkenbane Academy. Seraphine purchases the Warforged Memory Cog. Ashford purchases the Frost-Sealed Heart using Soul Coins. Agents of the Triad purchase the Litany of Unmaking.

Wanting to avoid being trapped in the Domain of Dread, the party avoids open conflict and returns to Aegis Fortress using Miro's carriage. The Ossuary Compass is later recovered when the Aegis Knights-Errant attack Corsair pirates and retrieve it.

The Keeper determines that the celestial can be contacted from a point in the Daemon Wastes. In midwinter, the party travels by magical stagecoach and is accompanied by Boudica, Sir Khorzak, and Flapjack.

At Northgate, they are warned about the Shadar-Keth, Feng-worshipping border killers who help keep intruders from entering the outer Wastes. The party survives the Wastes, defeats a Shadar-Keth ambush, pushes onward to the dream-city of Cael-Seryn, defeats the Memory Thief, and contacts Seraphel Aundren, a Celestial Dragon.

Seraphel confirms that the prison below still holds, but its locks are failing. He provides information and promises future aid.

The Dragonmarks first appear after the sealing and purification of the Far Realm portal beneath the reclaimed fortress. They continue to appear after major purification events. They do not make the marked invincible, but they seem to help the marked endure or enter places where unmarked allies may falter, sicken, become lost, or be destroyed.

The party now has a name, a living contact, and a partial map of the prison crisis. Seraphel Aundren appears to be exactly the kind of celestial being who may know how to purify damaged wards or restore structures connected to the Celestial Prison. The next major movement likely centers on interpreting Seraphel's guidance, defending the Aegis network from enemies who now know the party is close to the truth, and deciding how to confront Belatu-Cadros.

• The Aegis Order
• Aegis Fortress
• Church of the Flame
• Keeper of the Light
• Knightly Orders of Rath
• Thronstadt
• Ember Library
• Daemon Wastes
• Cael-Seryn
• Shadar-Keth
• The Winterlands