The Pomegranate Dead
One-Shot · 6 Players · Level 10 · ~3–3.5 Hours · Underworld Mystery · + Optional Cerberus
📜 Session Summary
| Style Underworld Mystery — Ferry → Audience with Hades → Investigation → Stall Boss → Saving Face |
| Win Condition Stop the rising: Persephone leaves initiative (Hades arrives, a bargain, or Cerberus's alternate jurisdiction). She cannot be killed. |
| Best Ending Not a word. Nobody says aloud, in the King's presence, what the Queen has been doing. Both gods save face, each owes the party a favor, and the party keeps the Obol |
| Players 6 × Level 10 |
| Est. Duration 3–3.5 hours |
| Encounters 3 main + the King's Audience (social) + optional Cerberus (not counted among the three) |
| Allies Recruit one for the finale: Asclepius (cleric / necromancer) or Orpheus (bard). Whoever goes, the other stays to hold Asphodel |
| Setting The Greek Underworld — the Styx crossing, the throne room of Hades, pale Asphodel meadows, Persephone's black-pomegranate garden |
| Atmosphere Hushed dread with a marriage underneath it. The skeletons shouldn't be here, the bone-dogs shouldn't be this hungry, the dead shouldn't be breathing — and the King of the Dead is being very careful about what he doesn't say |
| Miniatures Enc. 1 — 8 skeletons + 2 skeleton captains (Spartoi). Enc. 2 — up to 4 death dogs, 2 centaur skeletons, 2 Cyclopean figures as Breath-Thief Zombies; a humanoid for Asclepius and one for Orpheus. Enc. 3 — a humanoid for Persephone, 4–9 skeletons, the 2 skeleton captains at the bell. Optional — a Chimera as Cerberus |
| Materials Obol of True Passage handout (22 words); the tracker strip on the DM screen (Pressure Threshold 180, Arrival Clock 5, clues 3 of 4, Hades' patience) |
| Tone Gothic mythpunk played as a domestic comedy of manners — reverent toward the cosmology, horrified by its violation, and always aware that two gods are watching each other through the party |
Session Mural — The Queen's Garden
The whole descent in one black-figure garden: Charon's ferry and the sown dead, Hades on his rock throne, the bone hounds and centaurs of Asphodel, and the Queen enthroned beneath her black pomegranate while someone rings the bell. Hover the thumbnail to preview it, open the table version in a new tab, or print the clean handout. All artwork lives in the Murals gallery.
Description
In coastal Misthaven the dead have been walking back. Not as empty husks — as claimed things, breath still in their chests, eyes open and counting. Hermes finds the party at dusk and says only, "The King would like a word." Then the mist comes in off the water, and when it lifts, the harbor is gone. Charon poles them across the Styx — Hermes has paid — and halfway over, the sown dead come up out of the river to drag them in.
Beyond the river, in a hall of black basalt, Hades receives them himself. He is courteous, harried, and enormously proud. He needs the dead to stop rising; he is far too busy to look into it ("Just because the dead are rising doesn't mean the living have stopped dying!"); and he spends a surprising amount of the audience explaining that the pride of a god is easily wounded, especially in their own domain. He lends them the Obol of True Passage and points them to two people who know Asphodel better than his scribes: the healer Asclepius and the singer Orpheus.
Either one will lead the party to the truth: the Queen's garden, and Persephone at the heart of it. She cannot be killed. The husband must come — late, loudly, and on his own terms — and the party must make sure that, when he does, nobody says anything that cannot be unsaid.
Handouts
Key NPCs
Hades — Lord of the Dead, Quest Giver
Personality: Courteous, dry, perpetually behind on paperwork, and proud to the marrow. Scribes read him the names of the newly dead the whole time he talks to the party. Every so often he glances at the second throne beside his own, where a half-eaten pomegranate rests on the arm, and then changes the subject.
Motivation: Pride and love. He knows what his wife is doing; he needs it to stop; he will not confront her, will not seem controlling, and will not let her be embarrassed in her own home.
Secret plan: Arrive late, then publicly congratulate the party on solving the problem — implying they must have disintegrated some lich, or that Cerberus ate whoever was responsible — so that Persephone overhears and gets the message. He cannot name her. He steers the party toward an ally who will lead them to her, so that they "discover" it without his help.
The rule of his house: He interrupts every time a PC begins to accuse the Queen. A PC who talks over him and says it aloud makes him Hostile — he cannot let his wife be spoken ill of in his own home and leave it unpunished, especially if she might be listening.
Skill DCs: Insight DC 15 (he knows far more than he says), Insight DC 20 (he is protecting someone he loves — and he keeps looking at the empty throne), History/Religion DC 15 (Asclepius once raised the dead and Hades had him struck down for it; the healer is a pointed recommendation).
Persephone — Queen of the Dead (Boss)
Personality: Warm, amused, a little reckless. She treats the party as interesting guests right up until they try to stop her, and then as interesting opponents.
Motivation: Boredom, curiosity and ambition. She is here a quarter of every year, and a quarter of forever is still forever. She wants the Underworld to be her home too, and she wants to be a goddess in her own right rather than somebody's daughter or wife — she is experimenting to find out what she might be goddess of. "Goddess of the Undead? Of the Shades? Who knows."
Secret: She loves her husband — the richest of the gods, the most faithful of the god-husbands, arguably the most powerful. She suspects he knows. She does not want him to acknowledge it; that would mean being watched.
At the end: When Hades arrives she smiles, tells the party "Not a word," asks him to let them keep the Obol, and retires to her chambers. She owes them a favor.
Hermes Psychopomp — Escort
Personality: Brisk, amused, discreet. He fetches the party from Misthaven, pays Charon for them, and walks them to the throne room. "The King would like a word" is all he will say.
Secret: He knows exactly what the Queen is doing and finds the whole marriage enormously entertaining. If pressed: "Pay attention. Mind your tongue in his house. Do not eat the fruit."
Charon — Ferryman of the Styx
Personality: He speaks in slow sentences that cost him nothing. The living unsettle him — not with fear but with the minor irritation of a schedule disturbed. He is not cruel; he is complete.
Secret: He knows the skeletons are wrongly sown and has watched them rise for three weeks. Offered a "truth toll" (any coin, freely given), he says: "The pomegranate smell. That is not from the deep soil. That is from a garden." He also mentions, unprompted: "The singer crossed again. Without a coin. I did not stop him."
Skill DCs: Persuasion DC 14 (truth toll), Insight DC 16 (he already knows more than he says).
Asclepius — Physician of the Asphodel Plague (Cleric / Necromancer)
Personality: Methodical, gentle, quietly horrified. Eleven days in Asphodel without sleep. The dead keep presenting with healing inverted into undeath — and he is the one mortal-born healer who ever raised the dead, so he knows exactly how it is done.
Secret: He already has three of the four clues and is waiting for someone with the authority to act. The bone centaurs hunting him are Chiron's kin, the family of the teacher who made him a healer.
Recruitment: Show ≥2 floral/royal clues (Persuasion DC 13 with the evidence). In the garden he heals, breaks the pomegranate, turns the raised dead, and cuts the Arrival Clock by 1 round. If he goes, Orpheus stays behind to keep the shades calm.
Orpheus — The Man Who Came Back (Bard)
Personality: Precise, tired, devastatingly polite. He has been to the bottom of this once and came back wrong. He will not help anyone who treats shades as obstacles to cut through.
Secret: Eurydice's shade is missing from Asphodel. He came down again, alone and without leave, to find her — and Persephone, who once wept at his song and let her go, is the one who has her now.
Recruitment: Protect him from the hunt and tell him what Lydia saw (Persuasion DC 14; advantage if no shade was drained on the party's watch). In the garden his song lowers the bargain to DC 15, silences Persephone's legendary actions once, and lulls the summoned dead. If he goes, Asclepius stays behind with his patients.
Session Rewards
Keepable prizes earned by completing (or excelling at) this session. One character claims each reward unless noted. Full cards are under Reward Cards.
| Reward | Description | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Obol of True Passage | Closed-eye obol that steadies underworld thresholds and can call one soul back, once. | Stop the rising without a word: if both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let you keep the Obol he lent you. |
Creature / Enemy List
| Creature | E | M | H | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra-Tooth Skeleton | 6 | 8 | 9 | Enc. 1, 3 |
| Spartoi Captain | 1 | 2 | 2 | Enc. 1, 3 · elite |
| Skeletal Death Dog | 3 | 4 | 4 | Enc. 2 |
| Bone Centaur | 1 | 2 | 2 | Enc. 2 · Chiron's kin |
| Zombie (Breath-Thief) | 1 | 2 | 2 | Enc. 2, 3 |
| Persephone | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unkillable stall boss |
| Cerberus | — | opt | opt | Optional |
Major Beats
- The Summons (Misthaven): Hermes finds the party at dusk: "The King would like a word." The harbor fog rolls in; when it clears, they are on the wrong shore.
- Enc. 1 — Teeth on the Styx (Hard, 3–4 rounds): Hermes has paid; Charon poles them across on a 30×10-ft ferry. Eight Hydra-Tooth Skeletons come up out of the river and two Spartoi Captains climb over the bow — not to kill the party but to grab, shove and drag them into the Styx. Hold on until the ferry grounds. The teeth are pomegranate-stained (Investigation DC 12).
- The King's Audience (social): Hades receives them in his throne room — proud, harried, and very careful. He lends the Obol, names two people who know Asphodel (Asclepius, Orpheus), refuses to name a culprit, and warns them at length about the pride of gods in their own domain. Say the wrong thing aloud and he turns Hostile.
- Enc. 2 — The Healer and the Singer (Hard): Asphodel's meadows. Skeletal Death Dogs, two Bone Centaurs and two Breath-Thief Zombies hunt the healer and the singer through the flowers. Four mystery clues; gathering 3+ opens the Garden Road. The party brings one ally to the garden: Asclepius or Orpheus.
- Enc. 3 — The Queen's Garden (Deadly): Persephone receives the party among black pomegranates — gracious, then revealed, and honest about why. She cannot be killed. Two Spartoi hold the ferry-bell. Paths: (A) strike the Obol on the bell → Hades arrives in 5 rounds; (B) break her Threshold (180), then bargain (DC 18, or 15 with Orpheus); (C) flee to Cerberus.
- Optional — The Triple Gate (Hard · not counted): Cerberus at the Kennel Road. Calm, distract or fight (iconic — prefer not to kill); Orpheus makes calming him much easier.
- Not a Word: Hades arrives late and congratulates the party, loudly, on whatever lich they must have destroyed. Both gods catch the party's eye: not a word. Persephone asks him to let them keep the Obol and retires. Hades turns back: he saw all of it, and he owes them a favor.
Encounter 1 — Teeth on the Styx
The mist parts on a shore of black sand and cold fog. No stars — the sky here is not a sky but a ceiling of compressed dark. Charon poles toward you in a long, narrow ferry, black and low in water that reflects nothing. Hermes has paid. You step aboard, the boat settles until the river is a hand's breadth below the gunwale, and Charon pushes off. Halfway across, the water beside the hull bulges. A hand comes up — bone, green with river-slime — and closes on the rail. Then another, on the other side. Then a dozen. At the bow, two taller shapes in green bronze haul themselves up out of the Styx, and they are not reaching for their spears. They are reaching for you.
Overview
A short, desperate set-piece on a narrow boat. The sown dead are not trying to kill the party with damage. They are trying to grab, shove and drag the living into the Styx, where the river does the rest. Hydra-Tooth Skeletons rise beside the hull and climb aboard; two Spartoi Captains board at the bow and shove. The party's job is to hold on — and to throw the dead back into the water — until the ferry grounds on the far bank at the end of round 4.
- Style: Ferry set-piece — grapples, shoves, a river that hurts
- Win Condition: Reach the far bank with everyone aboard. The dead let go when the ferry grounds and sink back into the river.
Creatures
- 8× Hydra-Tooth Skeleton — CR 2 (450 XP each), in two waves of four
- 2× Spartoi Captain — CR 5 (1,800 XP each), boarding at the bow on round 2
- Charon (neutral — poles; saves paid passengers; never fights for anyone)
- Hermes hovers over the prow on winged sandals: "Not my department."
Budget
- 7,200 XP raw against Hard ≈ 10,800
- Plays Hard because of the river, not the damage: every square on the ferry is next to the water
🗺 Terrain & Features
Charon's ferry — 30×10 ft (6×2 squares), crossing the Styx. Dim light. Water on every side.
- Every square is a rail square. The ferry is two squares wide, so any push of 5 ft or more away from the centre line sends a creature overboard. A creature knocked prone is still aboard.
- Charon stands in the stern square and does not move. Hermes hovers over the prow and takes up no space. That leaves 11 squares for six PCs and whatever climbs aboard.
- Heeling: at the start of each round, if one long side of the ferry holds 3 or more creatures more than the other, the boat lurches: every creature on the heavy side makes a DC 12 Dexterity save or falls prone.
- Climbing aboard: a creature in the water beside the hull climbs into a free square with 15 ft of movement (Athletics DC 12 for a PC; a grappled creature can't climb). With no free square, it hangs on the gunwale instead.
- Hanging on the gunwale: speed 0, touching the river (see below); climb aboard with 15 ft of movement into a free square.
- Ferry-bell on the prow — no use yet. Once Hades lends the Obol, any ferry-bell will call him.
The Crossing, Round by Round
| Rd | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hands on the rail. Four Hydra-Tooth Skeletons rise beside the hull, two on each side. They stay in the water this round and use Grasping Hands on anyone in a square beside them. |
| 2 | Boarders. The first four climb aboard into free squares (or hang on and keep grabbing). Four more rise beside the hull. The two Spartoi Captains climb over the bow at the end of their turns. |
| 3 | Shove. The captains Shield Bash toward the water; the skeletons grapple and Drag Under. This is the round the party loses someone if it's going to. |
| 4 | The far bank. Black shingle looms. At the end of the round the ferry grounds: every skeleton and captain lets go and slides back into the Styx. It cannot follow the living onto land. |
Faster crossing: a PC can take the second pole (action, Athletics DC 15). Two successes and the ferry grounds at the end of round 3 instead. Charon allows it without comment.
How the Dead Fight on the Ferry
- Grasping Hands (replaces an attack): DC 12 Strength or Dexterity save or grappled (escape DC 12). A skeleton in the water can grab anyone in a square beside the hull.
- Many Hands: each other skeleton grappling the same PC adds +2 to the escape DC and to the Drag Under save. Three skeletons on one PC is DC 16.
- Drag Under (action): one grappled creature makes a DC 12 Strength save (disadvantage if prone) or goes overboard; a skeleton aboard goes over with it, still holding on.
- Shield Bash: the skeletons' bash knocks prone (DC 12). The captains' bash pushes 10 ft and knocks prone (DC 15 Strength) — on this boat, that is overboard unless the target is pushed lengthwise along the deck.
- Tactics: skeletons knock a PC prone, grab, and drag; they gang up on whoever is nearest the rail. The captains ignore their spears and bash. Nobody attacks Charon.
- Turnabout: the living can shove too. A skeleton shoved overboard is back in the water beside the hull and spends its next turn climbing aboard (it can still grab). A Spartoi Captain shoved overboard sinks in its bronze and is gone for good. Breaking a grapple, shoving the dead off and holding the centre line beat killing.
- Reassembly still applies (5–6 while a captain stands), but the encounter is too short for it to matter much.
The River Styx — Touching It, Falling In
- Touching it (hanging on the gunwale, trailing a hand, held by a skeleton from the water): a creature takes 7 (2d6) necrotic at the start of each of its turns while in contact, and can't regain HP until it stops touching the water.
- Falling in: the cold of the dead goes through you. DC 15 Constitution save: 14 (4d6) necrotic on a failure, half on a success.
- The river takes something. The first time a PC goes in, the player names one memory the character loses — a face, a name, the words of a prayer, how a friend laughs — and the PC gains 1 level of Exhaustion. Both last until Hades gives them back (see the Audience) or a long rest.
- In the water: the PC is touching the river (2d6 necrotic each turn). Swimming takes an action and an Athletics DC 15 check to move 15 ft; otherwise the current carries the PC 10 ft sternward at the end of its turn. A PC beside the hull can climb back aboard (Athletics DC 12, 15 ft of movement) if it isn't grappled.
- Hauling someone out: a PC aboard can use an action to pull a creature beside the hull back aboard (Athletics DC 13; a rope, staff or spear haft means the rescuer never touches the water).
- Charon's pole: once per round, when a paid passenger goes overboard, Charon holds out his pole — DC 12 Dexterity save and the PC ends up hanging on the gunwale instead of in the river.
- Left behind: a PC more than 30 ft behind the ferry is out of the fight. Nobody drowns — the fare is paid, and Charon does not lose passengers. When the ferry grounds, he walks back along the shingle and hooks the PC out with his pole. They arrive soaked, shaking, and with a second level of Exhaustion.
- Undead and the river: the sown dead take no harm from the Styx. That is why they are trying to put you in it.
Resolution
- Clues: skeletons destroyed on deck leave their teeth behind, pomegranate-stained (Investigation DC 12) — floral necromancy, not Hades' usual law. A Spartoi's bronze, if one was dropped aboard, carries a Theban sowing-mark (History DC 14): someone knows the old Cadmus rite.
- Anyone the river touched arrives at the Audience missing a memory and Exhausted. Hades notices.
Creature Cards
Hydra-Tooth Skeleton (Harryhausen)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 2 (450 XP)
AC 14 (armor scraps) | HP 26 (4d8+8) | Speed 30 ft.
Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Sown from Teeth. When reduced to 0 HP, roll a d6: on a 6 (5–6 while a Spartoi Captain stands within 60 ft.), the bones reassemble at 1 HP at the start of its next turn unless shattered (bludgeoning), burned (fire) or seared by the Obol (radiant).
Pack Drill. Advantage on attack rolls if another Hydra-Tooth Skeleton is within 5 ft. of the target.
River-Risen. Sown in the bed of the Styx; the river does not harm it. From the water it can use Grasping Hands and Drag Under against a creature in a square beside the hull. Knocked overboard, it spends its next turn climbing back aboard (Enc. 1).
Many Hands. Each other Hydra-Tooth Skeleton grappling the same creature adds 2 to the DC to escape the grapple and to the save against Drag Under.
Multiattack. Two shortsword attacks, or one shortsword and one shield bash. It can replace any of them with Grasping Hands.
Shortsword. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing.
Shield Bash. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) bludgeoning; DC 12 Strength save or prone.
Grasping Hands. One creature within 5 ft. makes a DC 12 Strength or Dexterity save (its choice) or is grappled (escape DC 12).
Drag Under. One creature the skeleton is grappling makes a DC 12 Strength save, with disadvantage if prone. On a failure it goes overboard into the Styx, and a skeleton that was aboard goes with it, still holding on.
Spartoi Captain (Sown Man)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 17 (bronze scraps, shield) | HP 97 (13d8+39) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Str +7, Con +6 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, frightened, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 | Languages: understands Ancient Greek; barks drill-calls
Sown from the Dragon's Teeth. The first Spartoi sprang from the teeth Cadmus sowed at Thebes; these were sown in the Queen's garden and wear the bronze of the men they replaced. At 0 HP it collapses into a heap of teeth; on a 5–6 at the start of its next turn it rises with 15 HP, unless the killing blow was bludgeoning, fire or radiant.
Drill Captain. While it stands, Hydra-Tooth Skeletons within 60 ft. that can hear it reassemble on a 5–6 instead of a 6. Kill the captains first.
Bronze Sinks. If it goes into the Styx it sinks in its bronze and is out of the fight; the river keeps it. On the ferry it uses Shield Bash, not its spear: it wants you in the water.
Multiattack. Three Dory attacks, or two Dory attacks and one Shield Bash.
Dory. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing.
Shield Bash. +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning, and the target makes a DC 15 Strength save or is pushed 10 ft. and knocked prone.
Hold the Line. When a creature it can see moves within 5 ft. of the ferry-bell (or of another post it guards), it makes one Dory attack against that creature. On a hit the target's speed becomes 0 until the end of the turn.
Charon
Medium Undead (Unique), Neutral · Ferryman
AC 16 | HP 110 (13d8+52) | Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Skills: Insight +7, Perception +7 | Immunities: necrotic, poison; frightened
The Fare. Hermes has paid the way in. The way home costs the Obol Hades lends the party. Attempting to fight him capsizes the ferry: everyone aboard goes into the Styx (see Enc. 1).
Ferryman. He poles; he does not fight for anyone. The crossing takes 4 rounds whatever happens on deck. When the ferry grounds, he hooks any passenger still in the river out with his pole.
Neutral Witness. Answers one honest question about recent crossings if paid fairly. Will not accuse the Queen by name.
Ferryman's Pole. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) bludgeoning + 7 (2d6) necrotic.
Styx Lash (Recharge 5–6). 30-ft. line; DC 15 Dexterity. 21 (6d6) necrotic on a failure, half on a success; a failure also reduces speed to 0 until the end of its next turn.
Paid Passage (1/Round). When a passenger whose fare is paid goes overboard, he holds out his pole. The passenger makes a DC 12 Dexterity save; on a success it catches the pole and ends hanging on the gunwale instead of in the river. "The fare is paid. Hold on."
Interlude — The King's Audience
Beyond the landing a road of black glass runs up to a hall cut from a single block of basalt. Pillars of petrified root hold up a ceiling you cannot see. Scribes in grey sit at long tables reading names aloud — thousands of names, the newly dead, without pause. At the far end are two thrones. One is obsidian and occupied. The other, beside it, is carved with pomegranates and empty; a half-eaten fruit rests on its arm. The man on the obsidian throne is tall, tired and beautifully dressed, and when he speaks his voice is warmer than the room. "Ah. Hermes found you. Good. Sit — no, don't sit, there isn't time. Listen."
Overview
Hades gives the party the situation, the Obol of True Passage, and two names — never the culprit. Play him as a host managing a delicate dinner party: courteous, harried, proud, and steering every sentence away from the one subject he cannot raise. The scribes never stop reading. He never stops glancing at the empty throne.
- Style: Social scene — exposition, a warning, and a choice of allies
- Win Condition: Leave with the Obol, the two names, and the King's goodwill — without saying the unsayable
What Hades Tells Them
- The problem: "The dead are getting up. Mine. In Asphodel, on the banks, in Misthaven — walking about with breath in their chests that does not belong to them. It must stop."
- Why not him: "Because I am busy. Look at them —" (the scribes) "— just because the dead are rising doesn't mean the living have stopped dying!"
- The Obol: "Take this. It pays the ferryman to bring you home. And when you have found — whatever you find — strike it on a ferry-bell, and I will come. When I can." He gives it to whoever looks most reliable.
- The two names (his steering): "There is a physician in Asphodel counting the false dead. Asclepius. I have several complaints about him on file. He is still the cleverest man in my meadows. And there is a singer wandering my house again, without leave, looking for his wife. Orpheus. He has walked every road down here. Either of them will know more than I have time to."
- What the river took: if a PC fell into the Styx, Hades sees it at once. Asked courteously, he gives it back with a wave of his hand — the memory and the Exhaustion both: "The river keeps what it takes. I keep the river." Asked rudely, he forgets to.
- Only one: "Bring one of them with you, not both. Somebody has to keep Asphodel from coming apart while you're gone — the healer with his patients or the singer with his lyre."
- What he will not say: who is responsible. Asked directly: "If I knew who it was, would I be asking you?" (Insight DC 15: he is lying. DC 20: he is protecting someone he loves — and his eyes go to the empty throne.)
On the Pride of Gods (Read Aloud)
Hades spends much of the audience on this, unprompted, and comes back to it whenever anyone gets close to the subject he will not raise.
The Rule of His House
- Interrupt, every time. Whenever a PC starts to suggest that the Queen is responsible, Hades cuts them off mid-sentence — DM, actually interrupt the player — with a change of subject, a question about their travels, or another speech about the pride of gods. He dances around the truth; he never acknowledges it.
- Said aloud = Hostile. A PC who talks over him and finishes the accusation makes him Hostile: he cannot hear his wife spoken ill of in his own home and leave it unpunished — especially if she might be listening. He uses Rebuke of the Dead King on the speaker (see his card) and ends the audience.
- Hostile consequences: no pointers to Asclepius or Orpheus (the party must find them unaided), no favor at the end, and he takes the Obol back when he arrives. He still lends it now — he still needs the rising stopped.
- The same rule holds in the garden whenever Hades is present, and from the moment the Arrival Clock is running (he is on his way, and anyone might be listening).
- Talking around it is fine. "Someone in your court," "a royal hand," "the gardener" — Hades approves of discretion and will relax visibly (advantage on the party's next Charisma check with him).
Resolution
Creature Cards
Hades, Lord of the Dead
Medium Celestial (God), Lawful Neutral · Quest Giver · Not a combatant
Role: Briefs the party in his throne room; ends Enc. 3 when the Arrival Clock completes
Pride and Love. He knows what his wife has been doing. He needs the dead to stop rising, but he will not confront her — he is glad she is finding new interests and will not seem controlling — and he will not let her be embarrassed in her own home.
His Plan. Send mortals to "discover" it, arrive late, and very publicly congratulate them on destroying whatever lich must have been responsible — loudly enough that she hears, and gets the message.
What He Will Not Do. Name the culprit, look into it himself ("Just because the dead are rising doesn't mean the living have stopped dying!"), or hear his wife accused in his house. He steers the party to an ally who will lead them to her instead.
The Rule of His House. Whenever a PC begins to accuse the Queen in his presence, he interrupts — every time. A PC who talks over him and says it aloud makes him Hostile.
Hostile. He uses Rebuke on the speaker, ends the audience, gives no pointers to allies, owes no favor, and takes the Obol back at the end. He still needs the rising stopped.
Arrival Clock. Struck on a ferry-bell, the Obol calls him: 5 rounds (Harder: 6; Library Standard: 4), ticking at the end of each of Persephone's turns. Late on purpose.
Not a Word. If both gods save face, he owes the party a favor and "will pay it on the day the sky is on fire" (Cerberus joins the party against Typhon in Victory Unchained).
Persistence. Do not fight or kill Hades. He is the off-ramp, not a boss.
Rebuke of the Dead King (only when Hostile). Each creature that spoke against the Queen makes a DC 18 Constitution save, taking 27 (6d8) necrotic damage and becoming frightened of Hades for 1 hour on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
Obol of True Passage
Wondrous Item (maguffin), Unique · Lent by Hades
Appearance: black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye; warm like living blood
Handout Text (22 words). "When the queen's garden sings with stolen breath, press this eye to the ferry-bell — the husband hears iron before lies."
The Fare Home. Hades lends it in the throne room. It pays Charon for the whole party on the way back, with one spare "truth toll".
Burning Eye. While a creature holds the Obol, its nonmagical weapon and unarmed attacks deal radiant damage instead of their normal type (its choice on each hit). Radiant from the Obol stops Hydra-Tooth Skeletons and Spartoi from reassembling.
Ferry-Bell. As an action, strike it against a bronze ferry-bell (garden / throne / dock): begins the Hades Arrival clock (see Enc. 3). Once per session.
Optional Cerberus. Offering it as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on the first Animal Handling check to calm Cerberus.
Kept. If both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let the party keep it (session reward).
Encounter 2 — The Healer and the Singer
The path from the palace leads into meadows of pale asphodel — waist-high flowers the color of old bone, stretching to a horizon that doesn't exist. Somewhere in the mist a tent glows: oil lamp and healer's kit and the soft sounds of someone cataloguing the wrong things. Somewhere else, further off, a lyre is playing — the only warm sound in the Underworld. Then the barking starts: dry, rattling barks, like bones in a sack, and under it hoofbeats with no flesh in them.
Overview
Asclepius tends a shade-plague tent, tracking stolen vitality. Orpheus walks the flowers calling a name that nobody answers. Skeletal Death Dogs and two Bone Centaurs hunt both of them — herded, Asclepius notes, by flower-sweet whispers from the Queen's direction — and two Breath-Thief Zombies shamble in behind. Lydia the shade can testify if calmed. The party can reach both NPCs, and brings one of them to the garden.
- Style: Investigation skirmish / escort / recruitment
- Win Condition: Gather 3 mystery clues, keep the healer and the singer alive, and choose an ally for the garden
Creatures
- 4× Skeletal Death Dog — CR 1 (200 XP each)
- 2× Bone Centaur — CR 5 (1,800 XP each)
- 2× Breath-Thief Zombie — CR 5 (1,800 XP each) · arrive round 3
Budget
- 8,000 XP raw against Hard ≈ 10,800
- Plays Hard: two non-fighters to protect at opposite ends of the field, archers in the mist, and the zombies arriving as the dogs thin out
🗺 Terrain & Features
Asphodel field — 110×70 ft; mist banks (light obscurement), the healer's tent at the west end (¾ cover), Orpheus on a bone cairn at the east end, path split: Garden Road vs Kennel Road (Cerberus optional).
- Two dogs go for the tent, two for the cairn; the centaurs shoot from the mist at 60–100 ft., then charge along the long axis
- Zombies enter from the garden side at the start of round 3, heading for whichever NPC is nearer
Mechanics
- Asclepius's Diagnostic Gaze / Medicine DC 14: the wounds show healing inverted into undeath.
- Lydia (Persuasion/Religion DC 13): flower-crowned sowers after midnight, riders made of bone — and a woman with a snakebite at her ankle led toward the pomegranates. Orpheus goes very still.
- Survival DC 14: tracks of bare divine feet + dragging bone sacks toward the pomegranate garden.
- Arcana DC 15 on a bone-dog's collar or a centaur's bridle: the royal seal of the Queen, not Hades' helm-mark.
- Asclepius (action), or a PC he is coaching (Medicine DC 15), calls a Bone Centaur by its old name: it makes a DC 14 Wisdom save. Fail → it lowers its bow for 1 minute unless attacked; a second failure lays it down for good. "I know that bridle-knot. He taught it to me. He taught it to all of us."
- Orpheus is playing to keep two of the dogs at bay. If nobody reaches him by round 2, his song breaks and they drag him down (he is stable at 0 HP).
- He will not trust a party that lets a shade be drained for good in front of him (Breath Thief). If none has been, he talks to them as equals.
- Recruit: protect him and tell him what Lydia saw — Persuasion DC 14 (advantage if no shade was drained). "She let Eurydice go once. Because I sang. Then I looked back."
- Skeletal Death Dogs try to drag the NPCs off; the zombies use Breath Thief on dying shades — a shade drained to 0 is gone for good.
- Animal Handling or Religion DC 15 (adv with the Obol's scent) turns one Skeletal Death Dog for 1 minute.
- Non-combat path: Stealth DC 14 to lead the NPCs along the fog while one PC distracts (Performance/Religion DC 14). Orpheus can be the distraction.
- Asclepius (cleric / necromancer): recruited with ≥2 floral/royal clues (Persuasion DC 13 with the evidence). In the garden: heals, breaks the pomegranate, turns the raised dead, returns one fallen PC, and cuts the Arrival Clock by 1 round.
- Orpheus (bard): recruited as above. In the garden: the bargain drops to DC 15, his song silences Persephone's legendary actions once, and he lulls the summoned dead; he also makes Cerberus far easier to calm.
- Only one goes. Whoever stays holds Asphodel — the healer with his patients, the singer keeping the shades quiet. If the party cannot choose, let the players vote; if they recruit neither, the garden is harder (see Difficulty).
Resolution
Creature Cards
Skeletal Death Dog
Medium Undead, Neutral Evil · CR 1 (200 XP)
AC 13 (bone plates) | HP 39 (6d8+12) | Speed 40 ft.
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +4 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 120 ft.
Two-Headed. Advantage on Wis (Perception) and on saves vs. blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, or knocked unconscious.
Grave-Hound. A two-headed hound picked clean to the bone and strung back together with pomegranate vine; its ribs rattle when it runs and it still wears the Queen's collar. When reduced to 0 HP by anything but bludgeoning or radiant damage, it collapses into a heap of bones that twitch for a round.
Multiattack. Two bite attacks.
Bite. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing. If both bites hit the same target on a turn, the target makes a DC 12 Constitution save or is poisoned and diseased (grave-rot: HP max reduced by 5 per failed daily save until cured — Asclepius can cure with Healing Touch).
Bone Centaur of Chiron's Line
Large Undead, Neutral · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 15 (bone barding) | HP 110 (13d10+39) | Speed 50 ft.
Skills: Athletics +7, Perception +4, Survival +4 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14 | Languages: understands Ancient Greek
Chiron's Kin. Raised from the bones of the centaurs of Chiron's line — the teacher who taught Asclepius medicine. Asclepius knows them on sight. He (or a PC he is coaching, with a DC 15 Medicine check) can use an action to call one by its old name: it makes a DC 14 Wisdom save. On a failure it lowers its bow and takes no actions for 1 minute unless attacked; a second failure lays it down for good.
Hunting Charge. If it moves at least 30 ft. straight toward a target and then hits it with a Pike attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage and makes a DC 15 Strength save or is knocked prone.
The Queen's Bridle. Its skull is bridled in black leather stamped with the Queen's seal — a clue (see Enc. 2).
Multiattack. Two Pike attacks, one Pike and one Hooves attack, or two Longbow attacks.
Pike. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing.
Hooves. +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) bludgeoning.
Longbow. +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) piercing plus 7 (2d6) necrotic.
Breath-Thief Zombie
Large Undead, Neutral Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 11 | HP 115 (11d10+55) | Speed 25 ft.
Saves: Wis +1 | Resistances: necrotic | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned
Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Stolen Breath. A bloated corpse from the Asphodel fields, swollen with breath the Queen stole from the living. Its chest heaves; every exhale smells of pomegranate and grave-soil.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces it to 0 HP, it makes a Constitution save (DC 5 + the damage taken) unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, it drops to 1 HP instead.
Death Sigh. When it dies, it exhales every breath it stole: each creature within 10 ft. makes a DC 14 Constitution save or takes 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and is poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Multiattack. Two Grave Slam attacks.
Grave Slam. +8 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning plus 7 (2d6) necrotic. The target makes a DC 14 Constitution save or its HP max is reduced by the necrotic damage until it finishes a long rest.
Breath Thief (Recharge 5–6). It presses its mouth to a grappled, prone, or dying creature within 5 ft. and inhales: 21 (6d6) necrotic, DC 15 Constitution save for half, and the zombie regains HP equal to the damage dealt. A shade reduced to 0 HP this way is gone for good.
Asclepius
Medium Humanoid (Demigod physician), Neutral Good · Cleric / Necromancer · CR 6 ally
AC 14 | HP 97 (15d8+30) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Int +7, Wis +7 | Skills: Medicine +10, Nature +7, Insight +7, Religion +7
Why He Is Here. Following a plague of "false deaths" — corpses walking with stolen breath. He believes someone is siphoning Asclepian healing into necromancy.
Raiser of the Dead. The one mortal-born healer who ever brought the dead back — Zeus struck him down for it at Hades' complaint. He knows exactly how the dead are raised, which is why this frightens him. Hades still keeps complaints about him on file.
Chiron's Pupil. Chiron the centaur taught him medicine. The bone centaurs in Asphodel are Chiron's kin, and he can call them by name (see their card).
One Ally Only. If the party brings him to the garden, Orpheus stays in Asphodel to keep the shades calm. Recruit with ≥2 floral/royal clues (Persuasion DC 13 with the evidence).
Iconic. Do not kill. If reduced to 0 HP, he stabilizes in a sacred sleep (removed from the fight). He will not strike Persephone to kill.
Serpent Staff. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning + 7 (2d6) poison or radiant (his choice).
Healing Touch (3/Day). A creature he touches regains 18 (4d8) HP and may end one poison or disease.
Turn the Inverted (1/Day). Each undead within 30 ft. that Persephone raised makes a DC 15 Wisdom save or is turned for 1 minute (it flees and takes no actions unless cornered); the effect ends on a creature that takes damage.
Return from the Threshold (1/Day). A creature that died within the last minute returns to life with 1 HP.
Diagnostic Gaze. Insight/Medicine check with advantage to identify how an undead was made (reveals the summoner-signature: floral + grave).
Field Surgery (1/Round). One ally within 5 ft. gains 10 temporary HP.
Orpheus
Medium Humanoid (Human, son of Apollo), Neutral Good · Bard · CR 6 ally
AC 14 | HP 82 (15d8+15) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Dex +6, Cha +8 | Skills: Performance +11, Persuasion +8, Insight +5, History +4
Senses: passive Perception 12 | Languages: Common, Ancient Greek
The Man Who Came Back. The only living man to cross the Styx twice. He walked out of the Underworld once with Eurydice behind him, looked back, and lost her. He has come down again, alone and without leave, because her shade is missing from Asphodel.
The Song She Wept For. Persephone wept once at his song; it was she who let Eurydice go. While he plays within 60 ft. of her, the bargain (Path B) is DC 15 instead of DC 18.
Calms the Hound. Cerberus has heard him before. Checks to calm Cerberus have advantage while he plays, and his playing counts as one success.
One Ally Only. If the party brings him to the garden, Asclepius stays in Asphodel with his patients. Recruit by protecting him and telling him what happened to Eurydice (Persuasion DC 14).
Iconic. Do not kill. At 0 HP he is stable and unconscious, still holding the lyre.
Lyre-Blade. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing.
Spellcasting (Cha, DC 16, +8 to hit). At will: vicious mockery (3d4), friends. 2/day each: calm emotions, healing word (3d4+5). 1/day: hypnotic pattern.
Lull of the Lyre (Recharge 5–6). Each skeleton, death dog and zombie within 30 ft. that can hear him makes a DC 16 Wisdom save or is incapacitated until the end of its next turn.
The Song She Wept For (1/Encounter). He plays the song from his first descent. Persephone takes no legendary actions until the start of her next turn.
Inspiring Refrain (3/Day). One ally within 60 ft. who can hear him gains a d8 Bardic Inspiration die for 10 minutes.
Counter-Song. When a creature within 30 ft. makes a save against being charmed or frightened, it has advantage.
Shade Witness (Lydia)
Medium Undead (Shade), Neutral · Informant
AC 11 | HP 22 (5d8) | Speed 30 ft.
Role: Enc. 2 clue-giver
Testimony. Saw flower-crowned servants sowing teeth in Asphodel after midnight, and riders made of bone herding the dead toward the garden — among them a woman with a snakebite at her ankle (Eurydice).
Recruitment. If comforted (Persuasion/Religion DC 13), she guides the party toward Asclepius, Orpheus, or the garden bell.
Chilling Touch. +3 to hit. Hit: 5 (1d8) necrotic — only if panicked.
Encounter 3 — The Queen's Garden (Boss)
The garden gate stands open. That is the first wrong thing. It is never open. Inside: rows of black pomegranate trees with fruit so dark they pull the light, furrows in the black soil where something was planted and has already grown and died and been replaced, a bronze ferry-bell on a plinth near a second, smaller throne — and, either side of the bell, two figures in green bronze with spears grounded who do not breathe. The Queen stands at the center of it all in a gown the color of late autumn. She says, warmly: "I was wondering when my husband would send someone. He never comes himself. He's so very busy."
Overview
Persephone receives them among black pomegranates and tooth-furrows — gracious, then unveiled as summoner-queen, and quite honest about why. She cannot be killed. The party must survive and force her off the initiative list, with one ally beside them. Her two Spartoi Captains hold the ferry-bell, so the Obol has to be fought to the plinth.
- Style: Stall fight + fight-to-the-bell + ritual clock + a social ending
- Win Condition: Persephone leaves initiative via the Hades Arrival clock, a successful bargain after the threshold breaks, or Cerberus's alternate jurisdiction. Best: nobody says it aloud when Hades arrives
Creatures
- 1× Persephone — CR 12 threat (8,400 XP)
- Starting: 4× Hydra-Tooth Skeleton; 2× Spartoi Captain at the bell
- Summons: Sow the Teeth (1d4+1 skeletons; at most 9 skeletons on the map — extras wait off-board); Reap & Sow turns a skeleton into a Skeletal Death Dog; at half threshold she calls 1× Breath-Thief Zombie
- Ally: Asclepius or Orpheus — one, never both
Budget
- 13,800 XP at the start against Deadly ≈ 16,800; summons push it past Deadly within two rounds
- Persephone cannot drop, so the danger is attrition: watch the clock, not her HP
🗺 Terrain & Features
Queen's garden court — 100×80 ft; pomegranate trees (½ cover; fruit = poisoned lure DC 15 Wis), tooth-furrows (difficult terrain), the bronze ferry-bell on a plinth (Obol target) with a Spartoi Captain either side, the Queen's small throne.
The Queen Explains Herself (Read Aloud, as the fight turns)
- If a PC threatens to tell Hades: "Tell him? Darling. He knows. He simply hasn't said so — and I would very much like to keep it that way."
- She is not cruel and not sorry. She loves her husband; she is bored, curious and ambitious, and this is the most fun she has had in a thousand years.
Mechanics — Resolution Paths
- Start: An action to strike the Obol of True Passage on the ferry-bell. The Spartoi's Hold the Line reaction stops a PC dead at the plinth — get there with a Dash, a shove, a distraction, or by dropping a captain first.
- Clock: 5 rounds (4 with Asclepius). It ticks down at the end of each of Persephone's turns; announce what is left. Hades is late on purpose.
- The rule of his house applies from now on: he is on his way and anyone might be listening.
- Reduce the Pressure Threshold to 0 (180). She becomes Wrathful but is still unkillable.
- Persuasion/Intimidation DC 18 — DC 15 if Orpheus is playing (advantage if the pomegranate is destroyed and Asclepius is present). She laughs and offers terms: "Ring the bell. Say nothing. And I shall owe you one." She leaves initiative; play the ending below.
- The party can Dash toward the Kennel Road mid-fight (opportunity attacks apply). This becomes the Optional Cerberus encounter as the alternate resolution.
- Asclepius: clock −1; Healing Touch; breaks the pomegranate as a "medical necessity"; Turn the Inverted on the summoned dead; returns one fallen PC.
- Orpheus: bargain at DC 15; The Song She Wept For silences her legendary actions for a round; Lull of the Lyre on the summons.
- Orpheus's temptation (optional): mid-fight, Persephone offers him Eurydice — if he walks out of the garden now and does not look back. A PC must talk him into staying (Persuasion DC 15). On a failure he goes, and Eurydice goes with him; he is gone from the fight, and grateful forever.
- Neither: see Difficulty Scaling.
- Track Threshold 180 (tick it off in tens on the DM screen). All damage reduces it. Destroying the pomegranate: −30 and no Sow the Teeth for 2 rounds.
- Do not describe her dying at 0 — describe cracked composure, falling flowers, screaming silence.
Resolution — Not a Word
When the clock completes (or she takes the bargain), Hades arrives — late, booming, delighted, and loud enough to be heard in every corner of the garden:
- Persephone: "Such a relief." She meets the party's eyes — not a word — and, a beat later, so does Hades. The summons kneel and crumble.
- If nobody says it: Persephone: "Husband — they've earned the coin, surely. Let them keep it." He does. She retires to her chambers. She owes the party a favor.
- Hades, once she has gone: "Lovely woman. Terrible gardener." Then, quietly: "I saw all of it, of course. Every moment. Not a word — and I owe you one. I will pay it on the day the sky is on fire." He owes the party a favor (it arrives as Cerberus, fighting beside them against Typhon in Victory Unchained).
- If anyone says it aloud: Hades is Hostile — Rebuke on the speaker, the Obol taken back, no favors from either god, and Persephone's favor becomes a grudge. The rising still stops; Charon carries them home in silence, for a price to be named later.
Creature Cards
Persephone, Queen of the Unquiet
Medium Celestial (Goddess), Neutral (ambitious) · CR 12 threat · UNKILLABLE BOSS
AC 18 | HP — (Threshold 180; see Immortal Court) | Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
Saves: Dex +10, Wis +11, Cha +11 | Skills: Deception +11, Insight +11, Nature +9, Religion +9 | Resistances: necrotic, psychic; BPS from nonmagical
Queen in Her Own Right. Bored, curious and ambitious. Her mother is the Harvest, her husband the Dead; she will not be only "his wife". She is experimenting with what she might be goddess of — the Undead? the Shades? — by raising a private legion. She loves Hades and does not want him prying. Above all she will not have it said aloud, in her own home, that he knows. The reveal is the mystery payoff.
Immortal Court — Cannot Be Killed. She has no true HP. Track a Pressure Threshold of 180. Damage and certain effects reduce the threshold. At 0 she does not die — she becomes Wrathful (see Legendary Actions) but remains unkillable. Win = she leaves initiative (Hades arrives, a bargain, or Cerberus).
Pomegranate Focus. While she holds her pomegranate (object AC 20 / HP 40, immune to psychic), she can summon. Destroying it prevents new summons for 2 rounds and drops the threshold by 30.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). Turn a failed save into a success.
Multiattack. Two Necro-Vine attacks and Cast a Spell, or three Necro-Vines.
Necro-Vine. +10 to hit, reach 15 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) piercing + 10 (3d6) necrotic; DC 18 Strength save or restrained (escape DC 18).
Cast a Spell. Spell save DC 18, +10 to hit. At will: chill touch (4d8), command. 3/day each: hold person, blight, spirit guardians (necrotic blossoms). 1/day: circle of death (8d6, 60-ft. radius — only while the pomegranate is intact).
Sow the Teeth (Recharge 5–6). Summons 1d4+1 Hydra-Tooth Skeletons in unoccupied spaces within 30 ft. They act after her.
Vine (Cost 1). One Necro-Vine attack.
Whisper (Cost 1). One creature within 60 ft. makes a DC 18 Wisdom save or is frightened until the end of its next turn.
Reap & Sow (Cost 2). One skeleton within 60 ft. explodes (10-ft. radius, DC 15 Dex, 14 (4d6) necrotic) and is replaced by a Skeletal Death Dog.
Wrathful Queen (Cost 3, only at Threshold 0). Sow the Teeth recharges immediately and she casts chill touch on two targets; still cannot be slain.
Spartoi Captain (Sown Man)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 17 (bronze scraps, shield) | HP 97 (13d8+39) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Str +7, Con +6 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, frightened, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 | Languages: understands Ancient Greek; barks drill-calls
Sown from the Dragon's Teeth. The first Spartoi sprang from the teeth Cadmus sowed at Thebes; these were sown in the Queen's garden and wear the bronze of the men they replaced. At 0 HP it collapses into a heap of teeth; on a 5–6 at the start of its next turn it rises with 15 HP, unless the killing blow was bludgeoning, fire or radiant.
Drill Captain. While it stands, Hydra-Tooth Skeletons within 60 ft. that can hear it reassemble on a 5–6 instead of a 6. Kill the captains first.
Bronze Sinks. If it goes into the Styx it sinks in its bronze and is out of the fight; the river keeps it. On the ferry it uses Shield Bash, not its spear: it wants you in the water.
Multiattack. Three Dory attacks, or two Dory attacks and one Shield Bash.
Dory. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing.
Shield Bash. +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning, and the target makes a DC 15 Strength save or is pushed 10 ft. and knocked prone.
Hold the Line. When a creature it can see moves within 5 ft. of the ferry-bell (or of another post it guards), it makes one Dory attack against that creature. On a hit the target's speed becomes 0 until the end of the turn.
Hydra-Tooth Skeleton (Harryhausen)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 2 (450 XP)
AC 14 (armor scraps) | HP 26 (4d8+8) | Speed 30 ft.
Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Sown from Teeth. When reduced to 0 HP, roll a d6: on a 6 (5–6 while a Spartoi Captain stands within 60 ft.), the bones reassemble at 1 HP at the start of its next turn unless shattered (bludgeoning), burned (fire) or seared by the Obol (radiant).
Pack Drill. Advantage on attack rolls if another Hydra-Tooth Skeleton is within 5 ft. of the target.
River-Risen. Sown in the bed of the Styx; the river does not harm it. From the water it can use Grasping Hands and Drag Under against a creature in a square beside the hull. Knocked overboard, it spends its next turn climbing back aboard (Enc. 1).
Many Hands. Each other Hydra-Tooth Skeleton grappling the same creature adds 2 to the DC to escape the grapple and to the save against Drag Under.
Multiattack. Two shortsword attacks, or one shortsword and one shield bash. It can replace any of them with Grasping Hands.
Shortsword. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing.
Shield Bash. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) bludgeoning; DC 12 Strength save or prone.
Grasping Hands. One creature within 5 ft. makes a DC 12 Strength or Dexterity save (its choice) or is grappled (escape DC 12).
Drag Under. One creature the skeleton is grappling makes a DC 12 Strength save, with disadvantage if prone. On a failure it goes overboard into the Styx, and a skeleton that was aboard goes with it, still holding on.
Breath-Thief Zombie
Large Undead, Neutral Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 11 | HP 115 (11d10+55) | Speed 25 ft.
Saves: Wis +1 | Resistances: necrotic | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned
Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Stolen Breath. A bloated corpse from the Asphodel fields, swollen with breath the Queen stole from the living. Its chest heaves; every exhale smells of pomegranate and grave-soil.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces it to 0 HP, it makes a Constitution save (DC 5 + the damage taken) unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, it drops to 1 HP instead.
Death Sigh. When it dies, it exhales every breath it stole: each creature within 10 ft. makes a DC 14 Constitution save or takes 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and is poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Multiattack. Two Grave Slam attacks.
Grave Slam. +8 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning plus 7 (2d6) necrotic. The target makes a DC 14 Constitution save or its HP max is reduced by the necrotic damage until it finishes a long rest.
Breath Thief (Recharge 5–6). It presses its mouth to a grappled, prone, or dying creature within 5 ft. and inhales: 21 (6d6) necrotic, DC 15 Constitution save for half, and the zombie regains HP equal to the damage dealt. A shade reduced to 0 HP this way is gone for good.
Hades, Lord of the Dead
Medium Celestial (God), Lawful Neutral · Quest Giver · Not a combatant
Role: Briefs the party in his throne room; ends Enc. 3 when the Arrival Clock completes
Pride and Love. He knows what his wife has been doing. He needs the dead to stop rising, but he will not confront her — he is glad she is finding new interests and will not seem controlling — and he will not let her be embarrassed in her own home.
His Plan. Send mortals to "discover" it, arrive late, and very publicly congratulate them on destroying whatever lich must have been responsible — loudly enough that she hears, and gets the message.
What He Will Not Do. Name the culprit, look into it himself ("Just because the dead are rising doesn't mean the living have stopped dying!"), or hear his wife accused in his house. He steers the party to an ally who will lead them to her instead.
The Rule of His House. Whenever a PC begins to accuse the Queen in his presence, he interrupts — every time. A PC who talks over him and says it aloud makes him Hostile.
Hostile. He uses Rebuke on the speaker, ends the audience, gives no pointers to allies, owes no favor, and takes the Obol back at the end. He still needs the rising stopped.
Arrival Clock. Struck on a ferry-bell, the Obol calls him: 5 rounds (Harder: 6; Library Standard: 4), ticking at the end of each of Persephone's turns. Late on purpose.
Not a Word. If both gods save face, he owes the party a favor and "will pay it on the day the sky is on fire" (Cerberus joins the party against Typhon in Victory Unchained).
Persistence. Do not fight or kill Hades. He is the off-ramp, not a boss.
Rebuke of the Dead King (only when Hostile). Each creature that spoke against the Queen makes a DC 18 Constitution save, taking 27 (6d8) necrotic damage and becoming frightened of Hades for 1 hour on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
Obol of True Passage
Wondrous Item (maguffin), Unique · Lent by Hades
Appearance: black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye; warm like living blood
Handout Text (22 words). "When the queen's garden sings with stolen breath, press this eye to the ferry-bell — the husband hears iron before lies."
The Fare Home. Hades lends it in the throne room. It pays Charon for the whole party on the way back, with one spare "truth toll".
Burning Eye. While a creature holds the Obol, its nonmagical weapon and unarmed attacks deal radiant damage instead of their normal type (its choice on each hit). Radiant from the Obol stops Hydra-Tooth Skeletons and Spartoi from reassembling.
Ferry-Bell. As an action, strike it against a bronze ferry-bell (garden / throne / dock): begins the Hades Arrival clock (see Enc. 3). Once per session.
Optional Cerberus. Offering it as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on the first Animal Handling check to calm Cerberus.
Kept. If both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let the party keep it (session reward).
Optional Encounter — The Triple Gate (Cerberus)
Overview
Use when the party takes the Kennel Road from Enc. 2, flees Enc. 3 toward the kennels, or explicitly seeks Hades' private court. Cerberus guards the Triple Gate. This is an alternate resolution: calm or pass the hound to wake Hades' jurisdiction without the garden ferry-bell — or drag him as a chaotic interruption into Persephone's court. Miniature: a three-headed Chimera stands in well.
- Win Condition: Calm / distract / slip past Cerberus (preferred), or reduce him to 0 HP (he flees — Hades is displeased, but the Arrival clock starts with 3 rounds left)
- Alternate Resolution: If calmed and shown the Obol, Cerberus howls the husband-call — treat it as starting the Enc. 3 Arrival clock at 3 rounds, even in the kennels; Persephone senses it and may pursue (run a short chase into Enc. 3 with the clock already ticking)
- With Orpheus: Cerberus has heard him before. Calming checks have advantage and his playing counts as one success.
🗺 Terrain
Triple Gate kennel yard — 90×60 ft; iron stakes, bone piles, three archways (only the center leads to Hades' court).
Mechanics
- Calm path: Animal Handling or Performance DC 16 (adv with the Obol scent-token or Orpheus). Group check: 3 successes before 3 failures while others Dodge/Dash. Success = Cerberus sits; the party passes; optional husband-howl.
- Distract: throw rations / illusions — DC 14 Deception; buys 2 rounds to Dash through the center arch.
- Combat path: full Cerberus stats. Iconic — prefer not to kill. At 0 HP he flees; the Arrival clock starts (3 rounds) as Hades feels the wound.
- Do not replace Enc. 1–3 with this; it is additive / fork only.
Creature Cards
Cerberus
Huge Monstrosity, Lawful Neutral · CR 10 (5,900 XP) · OPTIONAL / Iconic
AC 16 (natural) | HP 178 (17d12+68) | Speed 50 ft.
Skills: Perception +10 (adv) | Senses: darkvision 120 ft., smell living breath 300 ft. | Immunities: frightened
Iconic — Prefer Not to Kill. Win by calming, distracting, or slipping past — not by slaying Olympus's hound. If reduced to 0 HP, he flees whimpering (Hades will be displeased).
Three Heads. Advantage on Perception; can make opportunity attacks against three different creatures per round.
Gate Guardian. Blocks the inner road to Hades' private court. Getting past him is an alternate resolution that calls Hades without the garden ferry-bell.
Multiattack. Three bite attacks (one per head).
Bite. +10 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 17 (2d10+6) piercing. If two or more bites hit the same target in a turn, DC 18 Strength save or grappled and restrained in the jaws (escape DC 18).
Tripartite Roar (Recharge 5–6). 60-ft. cone; DC 16 Wisdom. Fail: frightened for 1 minute (repeat at the end of its turns) and deafened for 1 round.
Detect (Cost 1). Wisdom (Perception) check.
Bite (Cost 1). One bite attack.
Drag (Cost 2). Move up to 20 ft. dragging one grappled creature without provoking.
Obol of True Passage
Wondrous Item (maguffin), Unique · Lent by Hades
Appearance: black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye; warm like living blood
Handout Text (22 words). "When the queen's garden sings with stolen breath, press this eye to the ferry-bell — the husband hears iron before lies."
The Fare Home. Hades lends it in the throne room. It pays Charon for the whole party on the way back, with one spare "truth toll".
Burning Eye. While a creature holds the Obol, its nonmagical weapon and unarmed attacks deal radiant damage instead of their normal type (its choice on each hit). Radiant from the Obol stops Hydra-Tooth Skeletons and Spartoi from reassembling.
Ferry-Bell. As an action, strike it against a bronze ferry-bell (garden / throne / dock): begins the Hades Arrival clock (see Enc. 3). Once per session.
Optional Cerberus. Offering it as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on the first Animal Handling check to calm Cerberus.
Kept. If both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let the party keep it (session reward).
⚖️ Difficulty Scaling
As Written ★ — 6 Players, Average Level 10
- Baseline for this guide. Encounters 1–2 are Hard; the Queen's Garden is Deadly for six PCs at average level 10, with one ally.
- XP budgets (6×L10): Hard ≈ 10,800 · Deadly ≈ 16,800. Enc. 1 is 7,200 raw and Enc. 2 is 8,000 raw — the river and the narrow ferry, the escort and the timed zombie wave carry them to Hard. Enc. 3 starts at 13,800 and summons push it past Deadly.
- Pressure Threshold 180 · Arrival Clock 5 rounds (ticks at the end of Persephone's turn) · Persephone DCs 18 · one ally (Asclepius or Orpheus). No ally recruited: start the Arrival Clock at 4.
Library Standard — 6 Players, Average Level 8
- Enc. 1: 6 skeletons + 1 Spartoi Captain; Drag Under saves have no disadvantage against prone targets. Enc. 2: 3 death dogs, 1 bone centaur, 1 zombie. Enc. 3: 4 skeletons + 1 Spartoi at the bell.
- Threshold 140; Arrival Clock 4; Persephone's DCs 16 and Legendary Resistance 2/Day; no circle of death; skill DCs −1.
Easier
- APL 8–9: use the Library Standard, then start the Arrival Clock at 3 when the Obol strikes, and drop the zombie Persephone calls at half threshold. You may let both allies come.
Harder
- APL 11–12: Threshold 220; Arrival Clock 6; 9 skeletons in Enc. 1; zombies arrive in Enc. 2 on round 2; circle of death twice; the ally starts Enc. 3 at half HP.
📋 Appendix — Cards
Creature Cards
Hydra-Tooth Skeleton (Harryhausen)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 2 (450 XP)
AC 14 (armor scraps) | HP 26 (4d8+8) | Speed 30 ft.
Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Sown from Teeth. When reduced to 0 HP, roll a d6: on a 6 (5–6 while a Spartoi Captain stands within 60 ft.), the bones reassemble at 1 HP at the start of its next turn unless shattered (bludgeoning), burned (fire) or seared by the Obol (radiant).
Pack Drill. Advantage on attack rolls if another Hydra-Tooth Skeleton is within 5 ft. of the target.
River-Risen. Sown in the bed of the Styx; the river does not harm it. From the water it can use Grasping Hands and Drag Under against a creature in a square beside the hull. Knocked overboard, it spends its next turn climbing back aboard (Enc. 1).
Many Hands. Each other Hydra-Tooth Skeleton grappling the same creature adds 2 to the DC to escape the grapple and to the save against Drag Under.
Multiattack. Two shortsword attacks, or one shortsword and one shield bash. It can replace any of them with Grasping Hands.
Shortsword. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing.
Shield Bash. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) bludgeoning; DC 12 Strength save or prone.
Grasping Hands. One creature within 5 ft. makes a DC 12 Strength or Dexterity save (its choice) or is grappled (escape DC 12).
Drag Under. One creature the skeleton is grappling makes a DC 12 Strength save, with disadvantage if prone. On a failure it goes overboard into the Styx, and a skeleton that was aboard goes with it, still holding on.
Spartoi Captain (Sown Man)
Medium Undead, Lawful Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 17 (bronze scraps, shield) | HP 97 (13d8+39) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Str +7, Con +6 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, frightened, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 | Languages: understands Ancient Greek; barks drill-calls
Sown from the Dragon's Teeth. The first Spartoi sprang from the teeth Cadmus sowed at Thebes; these were sown in the Queen's garden and wear the bronze of the men they replaced. At 0 HP it collapses into a heap of teeth; on a 5–6 at the start of its next turn it rises with 15 HP, unless the killing blow was bludgeoning, fire or radiant.
Drill Captain. While it stands, Hydra-Tooth Skeletons within 60 ft. that can hear it reassemble on a 5–6 instead of a 6. Kill the captains first.
Bronze Sinks. If it goes into the Styx it sinks in its bronze and is out of the fight; the river keeps it. On the ferry it uses Shield Bash, not its spear: it wants you in the water.
Multiattack. Three Dory attacks, or two Dory attacks and one Shield Bash.
Dory. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing.
Shield Bash. +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning, and the target makes a DC 15 Strength save or is pushed 10 ft. and knocked prone.
Hold the Line. When a creature it can see moves within 5 ft. of the ferry-bell (or of another post it guards), it makes one Dory attack against that creature. On a hit the target's speed becomes 0 until the end of the turn.
Skeletal Death Dog
Medium Undead, Neutral Evil · CR 1 (200 XP)
AC 13 (bone plates) | HP 39 (6d8+12) | Speed 40 ft.
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +4 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 120 ft.
Two-Headed. Advantage on Wis (Perception) and on saves vs. blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, or knocked unconscious.
Grave-Hound. A two-headed hound picked clean to the bone and strung back together with pomegranate vine; its ribs rattle when it runs and it still wears the Queen's collar. When reduced to 0 HP by anything but bludgeoning or radiant damage, it collapses into a heap of bones that twitch for a round.
Multiattack. Two bite attacks.
Bite. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing. If both bites hit the same target on a turn, the target makes a DC 12 Constitution save or is poisoned and diseased (grave-rot: HP max reduced by 5 per failed daily save until cured — Asclepius can cure with Healing Touch).
Bone Centaur of Chiron's Line
Large Undead, Neutral · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 15 (bone barding) | HP 110 (13d10+39) | Speed 50 ft.
Skills: Athletics +7, Perception +4, Survival +4 | Vulnerabilities: bludgeoning
Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned | Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14 | Languages: understands Ancient Greek
Chiron's Kin. Raised from the bones of the centaurs of Chiron's line — the teacher who taught Asclepius medicine. Asclepius knows them on sight. He (or a PC he is coaching, with a DC 15 Medicine check) can use an action to call one by its old name: it makes a DC 14 Wisdom save. On a failure it lowers its bow and takes no actions for 1 minute unless attacked; a second failure lays it down for good.
Hunting Charge. If it moves at least 30 ft. straight toward a target and then hits it with a Pike attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage and makes a DC 15 Strength save or is knocked prone.
The Queen's Bridle. Its skull is bridled in black leather stamped with the Queen's seal — a clue (see Enc. 2).
Multiattack. Two Pike attacks, one Pike and one Hooves attack, or two Longbow attacks.
Pike. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing.
Hooves. +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) bludgeoning.
Longbow. +6 to hit, range 150/600 ft. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) piercing plus 7 (2d6) necrotic.
Breath-Thief Zombie
Large Undead, Neutral Evil · CR 5 (1,800 XP)
AC 11 | HP 115 (11d10+55) | Speed 25 ft.
Saves: Wis +1 | Resistances: necrotic | Immunities: poison; exhaustion, poisoned
Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Stolen Breath. A bloated corpse from the Asphodel fields, swollen with breath the Queen stole from the living. Its chest heaves; every exhale smells of pomegranate and grave-soil.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces it to 0 HP, it makes a Constitution save (DC 5 + the damage taken) unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, it drops to 1 HP instead.
Death Sigh. When it dies, it exhales every breath it stole: each creature within 10 ft. makes a DC 14 Constitution save or takes 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and is poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Multiattack. Two Grave Slam attacks.
Grave Slam. +8 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning plus 7 (2d6) necrotic. The target makes a DC 14 Constitution save or its HP max is reduced by the necrotic damage until it finishes a long rest.
Breath Thief (Recharge 5–6). It presses its mouth to a grappled, prone, or dying creature within 5 ft. and inhales: 21 (6d6) necrotic, DC 15 Constitution save for half, and the zombie regains HP equal to the damage dealt. A shade reduced to 0 HP this way is gone for good.
Persephone, Queen of the Unquiet
Medium Celestial (Goddess), Neutral (ambitious) · CR 12 threat · UNKILLABLE BOSS
See the full profile: Persephone, Gods & Immortals
AC 18 | HP — (Threshold 180; see Immortal Court) | Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
Saves: Dex +10, Wis +11, Cha +11 | Skills: Deception +11, Insight +11, Nature +9, Religion +9 | Resistances: necrotic, psychic; BPS from nonmagical
Queen in Her Own Right. Bored, curious and ambitious. Her mother is the Harvest, her husband the Dead; she will not be only "his wife". She is experimenting with what she might be goddess of — the Undead? the Shades? — by raising a private legion. She loves Hades and does not want him prying. Above all she will not have it said aloud, in her own home, that he knows. The reveal is the mystery payoff.
Immortal Court — Cannot Be Killed. She has no true HP. Track a Pressure Threshold of 180. Damage and certain effects reduce the threshold. At 0 she does not die — she becomes Wrathful (see Legendary Actions) but remains unkillable. Win = she leaves initiative (Hades arrives, a bargain, or Cerberus).
Pomegranate Focus. While she holds her pomegranate (object AC 20 / HP 40, immune to psychic), she can summon. Destroying it prevents new summons for 2 rounds and drops the threshold by 30.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). Turn a failed save into a success.
Multiattack. Two Necro-Vine attacks and Cast a Spell, or three Necro-Vines.
Necro-Vine. +10 to hit, reach 15 ft. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) piercing + 10 (3d6) necrotic; DC 18 Strength save or restrained (escape DC 18).
Cast a Spell. Spell save DC 18, +10 to hit. At will: chill touch (4d8), command. 3/day each: hold person, blight, spirit guardians (necrotic blossoms). 1/day: circle of death (8d6, 60-ft. radius — only while the pomegranate is intact).
Sow the Teeth (Recharge 5–6). Summons 1d4+1 Hydra-Tooth Skeletons in unoccupied spaces within 30 ft. They act after her.
Vine (Cost 1). One Necro-Vine attack.
Whisper (Cost 1). One creature within 60 ft. makes a DC 18 Wisdom save or is frightened until the end of its next turn.
Reap & Sow (Cost 2). One skeleton within 60 ft. explodes (10-ft. radius, DC 15 Dex, 14 (4d6) necrotic) and is replaced by a Skeletal Death Dog.
Wrathful Queen (Cost 3, only at Threshold 0). Sow the Teeth recharges immediately and she casts chill touch on two targets; still cannot be slain.
Cerberus
Huge Monstrosity, Lawful Neutral · CR 10 (5,900 XP) · OPTIONAL / Iconic
AC 16 (natural) | HP 178 (17d12+68) | Speed 50 ft.
Skills: Perception +10 (adv) | Senses: darkvision 120 ft., smell living breath 300 ft. | Immunities: frightened
Iconic — Prefer Not to Kill. Win by calming, distracting, or slipping past — not by slaying Olympus's hound. If reduced to 0 HP, he flees whimpering (Hades will be displeased).
Three Heads. Advantage on Perception; can make opportunity attacks against three different creatures per round.
Gate Guardian. Blocks the inner road to Hades' private court. Getting past him is an alternate resolution that calls Hades without the garden ferry-bell.
Multiattack. Three bite attacks (one per head).
Bite. +10 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 17 (2d10+6) piercing. If two or more bites hit the same target in a turn, DC 18 Strength save or grappled and restrained in the jaws (escape DC 18).
Tripartite Roar (Recharge 5–6). 60-ft. cone; DC 16 Wisdom. Fail: frightened for 1 minute (repeat at the end of its turns) and deafened for 1 round.
Detect (Cost 1). Wisdom (Perception) check.
Bite (Cost 1). One bite attack.
Drag (Cost 2). Move up to 20 ft. dragging one grappled creature without provoking.
NPC Cards
Hades, Lord of the Dead
Medium Celestial (God), Lawful Neutral · Quest Giver · Not a combatant
See the full profile: Hades, Gods & Immortals
Role: Briefs the party in his throne room; ends Enc. 3 when the Arrival Clock completes
Pride and Love. He knows what his wife has been doing. He needs the dead to stop rising, but he will not confront her — he is glad she is finding new interests and will not seem controlling — and he will not let her be embarrassed in her own home.
His Plan. Send mortals to "discover" it, arrive late, and very publicly congratulate them on destroying whatever lich must have been responsible — loudly enough that she hears, and gets the message.
What He Will Not Do. Name the culprit, look into it himself ("Just because the dead are rising doesn't mean the living have stopped dying!"), or hear his wife accused in his house. He steers the party to an ally who will lead them to her instead.
The Rule of His House. Whenever a PC begins to accuse the Queen in his presence, he interrupts — every time. A PC who talks over him and says it aloud makes him Hostile.
Hostile. He uses Rebuke on the speaker, ends the audience, gives no pointers to allies, owes no favor, and takes the Obol back at the end. He still needs the rising stopped.
Arrival Clock. Struck on a ferry-bell, the Obol calls him: 5 rounds (Harder: 6; Library Standard: 4), ticking at the end of each of Persephone's turns. Late on purpose.
Not a Word. If both gods save face, he owes the party a favor and "will pay it on the day the sky is on fire" (Cerberus joins the party against Typhon in Victory Unchained).
Persistence. Do not fight or kill Hades. He is the off-ramp, not a boss.
Rebuke of the Dead King (only when Hostile). Each creature that spoke against the Queen makes a DC 18 Constitution save, taking 27 (6d8) necrotic damage and becoming frightened of Hades for 1 hour on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.
Asclepius
Medium Humanoid (Demigod physician), Neutral Good · Cleric / Necromancer · CR 6 ally
AC 14 | HP 97 (15d8+30) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Int +7, Wis +7 | Skills: Medicine +10, Nature +7, Insight +7, Religion +7
Why He Is Here. Following a plague of "false deaths" — corpses walking with stolen breath. He believes someone is siphoning Asclepian healing into necromancy.
Raiser of the Dead. The one mortal-born healer who ever brought the dead back — Zeus struck him down for it at Hades' complaint. He knows exactly how the dead are raised, which is why this frightens him. Hades still keeps complaints about him on file.
Chiron's Pupil. Chiron the centaur taught him medicine. The bone centaurs in Asphodel are Chiron's kin, and he can call them by name (see their card).
One Ally Only. If the party brings him to the garden, Orpheus stays in Asphodel to keep the shades calm. Recruit with ≥2 floral/royal clues (Persuasion DC 13 with the evidence).
Iconic. Do not kill. If reduced to 0 HP, he stabilizes in a sacred sleep (removed from the fight). He will not strike Persephone to kill.
Serpent Staff. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning + 7 (2d6) poison or radiant (his choice).
Healing Touch (3/Day). A creature he touches regains 18 (4d8) HP and may end one poison or disease.
Turn the Inverted (1/Day). Each undead within 30 ft. that Persephone raised makes a DC 15 Wisdom save or is turned for 1 minute (it flees and takes no actions unless cornered); the effect ends on a creature that takes damage.
Return from the Threshold (1/Day). A creature that died within the last minute returns to life with 1 HP.
Diagnostic Gaze. Insight/Medicine check with advantage to identify how an undead was made (reveals the summoner-signature: floral + grave).
Field Surgery (1/Round). One ally within 5 ft. gains 10 temporary HP.
Orpheus
Medium Humanoid (Human, son of Apollo), Neutral Good · Bard · CR 6 ally
AC 14 | HP 82 (15d8+15) | Speed 30 ft.
Saves: Dex +6, Cha +8 | Skills: Performance +11, Persuasion +8, Insight +5, History +4
Senses: passive Perception 12 | Languages: Common, Ancient Greek
The Man Who Came Back. The only living man to cross the Styx twice. He walked out of the Underworld once with Eurydice behind him, looked back, and lost her. He has come down again, alone and without leave, because her shade is missing from Asphodel.
The Song She Wept For. Persephone wept once at his song; it was she who let Eurydice go. While he plays within 60 ft. of her, the bargain (Path B) is DC 15 instead of DC 18.
Calms the Hound. Cerberus has heard him before. Checks to calm Cerberus have advantage while he plays, and his playing counts as one success.
One Ally Only. If the party brings him to the garden, Asclepius stays in Asphodel with his patients. Recruit by protecting him and telling him what happened to Eurydice (Persuasion DC 14).
Iconic. Do not kill. At 0 HP he is stable and unconscious, still holding the lyre.
Lyre-Blade. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing.
Spellcasting (Cha, DC 16, +8 to hit). At will: vicious mockery (3d4), friends. 2/day each: calm emotions, healing word (3d4+5). 1/day: hypnotic pattern.
Lull of the Lyre (Recharge 5–6). Each skeleton, death dog and zombie within 30 ft. that can hear him makes a DC 16 Wisdom save or is incapacitated until the end of its next turn.
The Song She Wept For (1/Encounter). He plays the song from his first descent. Persephone takes no legendary actions until the start of her next turn.
Inspiring Refrain (3/Day). One ally within 60 ft. who can hear him gains a d8 Bardic Inspiration die for 10 minutes.
Counter-Song. When a creature within 30 ft. makes a save against being charmed or frightened, it has advantage.
Charon
Medium Undead (Unique), Neutral · Ferryman
AC 16 | HP 110 (13d8+52) | Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Skills: Insight +7, Perception +7 | Immunities: necrotic, poison; frightened
The Fare. Hermes has paid the way in. The way home costs the Obol Hades lends the party. Attempting to fight him capsizes the ferry: everyone aboard goes into the Styx (see Enc. 1).
Ferryman. He poles; he does not fight for anyone. The crossing takes 4 rounds whatever happens on deck. When the ferry grounds, he hooks any passenger still in the river out with his pole.
Neutral Witness. Answers one honest question about recent crossings if paid fairly. Will not accuse the Queen by name.
Ferryman's Pole. +7 to hit, reach 10 ft. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) bludgeoning + 7 (2d6) necrotic.
Styx Lash (Recharge 5–6). 30-ft. line; DC 15 Dexterity. 21 (6d6) necrotic on a failure, half on a success; a failure also reduces speed to 0 until the end of its next turn.
Paid Passage (1/Round). When a passenger whose fare is paid goes overboard, he holds out his pole. The passenger makes a DC 12 Dexterity save; on a success it catches the pole and ends hanging on the gunwale instead of in the river. "The fare is paid. Hold on."
Hermes Psychopomp (Escort)
Medium Celestial (shapechanged), Chaotic Good · Escort
Public face: travel-stained guide in Misthaven who "knows a ferry"
Role. Fetches the party from Misthaven on Hades' behalf, pays Charon for the crossing, and walks them to the throne room. All he will say is: "The King would like a word."
Secret. He knows exactly what the Queen has been doing, and finds the whole marriage enormously entertaining. He will not say so to anyone.
If Confronted. "Pay attention. Mind your tongue in his house. Do not eat the fruit."
Shade Witness (Lydia)
Medium Undead (Shade), Neutral · Informant
AC 11 | HP 22 (5d8) | Speed 30 ft.
Role: Enc. 2 clue-giver
Testimony. Saw flower-crowned servants sowing teeth in Asphodel after midnight, and riders made of bone herding the dead toward the garden — among them a woman with a snakebite at her ankle (Eurydice).
Recruitment. If comforted (Persuasion/Religion DC 13), she guides the party toward Asclepius, Orpheus, or the garden bell.
Chilling Touch. +3 to hit. Hit: 5 (1d8) necrotic — only if panicked.
Item Cards
Obol of True Passage
Wondrous Item (maguffin), Unique · Lent by Hades
Appearance: black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye; warm like living blood
Handout Text (22 words). "When the queen's garden sings with stolen breath, press this eye to the ferry-bell — the husband hears iron before lies."
The Fare Home. Hades lends it in the throne room. It pays Charon for the whole party on the way back, with one spare "truth toll".
Burning Eye. While a creature holds the Obol, its nonmagical weapon and unarmed attacks deal radiant damage instead of their normal type (its choice on each hit). Radiant from the Obol stops Hydra-Tooth Skeletons and Spartoi from reassembling.
Ferry-Bell. As an action, strike it against a bronze ferry-bell (garden / throne / dock): begins the Hades Arrival clock (see Enc. 3). Once per session.
Optional Cerberus. Offering it as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on the first Animal Handling check to calm Cerberus.
Kept. If both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let the party keep it (session reward).
Reward Cards
Post-session keepables. Reward is the first tag. Mechanics below are for ongoing use after this oneshot.
Obol of True Passage
Reward · Wondrous · 1/Long Rest · Revivify ×1
Mechanics. Once per long rest, as an action, strike the Obol against a bell, gate, or ferry within 30 feet: for 10 minutes, you and up to five allies are treated as having lawful passage by undead guardians of CR 5 or lower (they won't attack first unless attacked). Once per short rest, offering the Obol as a scent-token (action, not consumed) grants advantage on one Animal Handling or Persuasion check against an underworld beast or psychopomp. Once, press the Obol to the eyes of a creature that died within the last minute: it returns to life with 1 hit point, as the revivify spell (no material component). The eye then closes for good and this property is spent.
Appearance. A black-iron coin stamped with a closed eye, warm like living blood.
Lore. Lent by Hades, kept at Persephone's request — the price of a silence both of them wanted. Outside the Underworld its eye no longer burns, but it still remembers the way back.
Quote. "The husband hears iron before lies." — Obol of True Passage
Earn when: Stop the rising without a word: if both gods save face, Persephone asks Hades to let you keep the Obol he lent you.
