Cinder Guard

Featured In Modules

This lore entry is featured in the following adventure modules:

• Bliss UnmadeWith He Who Slumbers re-subdued in the caverns beneath Kingdom Grand, the four guilds send adventurers back down to clean up the aftermath. The surviving Cinder Guard stand masterless in a Bliss-Leeched stupor, and the coven that stole Molokite youth-magic has withered into bitter Witchlings and Withered Crones. Guided by Guildmaster Teyla Coalmaker and the hidden medicine woman Raphira, the party brews an Antidote of the Wardens, cleanses a corrupted cistern, and frees the Cinder Guard en masse—restoring the memory and name of one guard, Veyl.
• Evil from the PastThe four guildmasters of Kingdom Grand, Evenfell, Kdor, and New Arcanum send adventurers to Holt's abandoned laboratory beneath the temple of Vitalia, discovered through Sage Elbera's final intelligence. A magic mouth delivers Holt's farewell before vents release shimmering Lullwater that floods the chambers. Navigating rising water and failing magic, they recover Holt's journal revealing his childhood among the Molokite, his manipulation of their ancient desires, and his belief that their "god" was one of The Evil One's experiments—a creature grown from a tarrasque corpse through biomancy, controllable by the Lullwater. They escape the drowning ruin as the guildmasters prepare a full strike on Holt's camp at the dungeon gate.
• Finding the MolokiteWith Holt missing and Sage Elbera dead, Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers to the dwarven mountains to learn what Holt's notes mean by "Molokite." They travel by carriage—teleportation circles remain unreliable—and meet Durven MeadAnvil, who knows of no such ore but points them to an ancient sealed forge deep below the mountain, guarded by a demonic Armanite. After slaying the beast, they find no Molokite metal, only records of elves who sought ever-greater power, were corrupted, and were driven underground by the dwarves and other mortal races.
• Forge FireThe freed Cinder Guard need weapons, and only a sunsteel blade forged in divine fire can permanently harm He Who Slumbers's tentacles. Guided by Guildmaster Alyndor "Aly" Marvale and the ghost of Captain Kaelen, the party relearns the lost forging sequence at the Sunsteel Forge and uncovers the Book of Molok, Chapter IX, a prophecy naming the Living Seal needed to hold the Beast forever. The first new Sunsteel Blade is forged for Veyl.
• Sound the Horns of WarThe four great guilds unite to stop Holt and the Molokite from awakening He Who Slumbers. Their combined forces march on the ancient gate beneath Kingdom Grand, where the final dungeon has opened and Holt's army has already entered. Adventurers join the vanguard, clearing Molokite cultists, mind-controlled adventurers from Evenfell, and remaining defenders to establish a forward operating base before the assault on the dungeon proper.
• The DungeonThe tremors beneath Kingdom Grand intensify again. Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride orders adventurers back into the caverns to find the source, survive collapsing passages and Slumber Cultist patrols, and report on cultist numbers and whether the ancient door has been opened. From a cliff overlooking the monumental gate—now larger and pulsing with light—they spy Holt among pale-skinned elves marked with glowing green veins, kneeling with hundreds of cultists as he forces them to drink from water skins.
• The Living SealThe Liturgy of Binding holds He Who Slumbers, but with the Molokite civilization gone it needs a permanent living anchor. Led by Guildmaster Elrin Veymar, the party descends to the Sealing Chasm, fights off Dreamleechers at the threshold, and sings the Liturgy while the Beast's Dread tempts each of them with their deepest desire. Veyl steps through the arc of light to become the Living Seal, sealing himself into the binding forever as Captain Kaelen's century-long vigil finally ends.