The Sleepless Queen

One-Shot · 6 PCs Lvl 12 · ~3–3.5 hrs · 3 encounters · Delphi / Crisa / Mount Cirphis · Finale Deadly

Style: Investigation → two interchangeable middle acts → vampire-coded lair rescue | Win: Herophile out of the cave alive, and Lamia denied her bier

Lose: the taken children drain dry, or her smoke reaches an intact bier · Maguffin: The Sleepless Eye · QG: Theoxena, Senior Pythia · Allies: Acheilus (E1) · Alcyoneus (E2)

The family: Lamia's three children are Acheilus (E1), Herophile (E3), and Scylla — all three are alive, and Scylla never appears.

"She gave up her eyes so she could sleep. It did not work. Make her look." — Theoxena, pressing the amber into someone's palm

THE PREMISE. Queen Lamia of Crisa and her three children vanished at the end of last summer. Now livestock, then a shepherd, then children come back emptied — dry, not torn. Crisa's elders say beast. Delphi says a creature made by the wrath of Hera, and refuses the name.

DM truth: Hera changed this family. She did not kill it. Acheilus took the shoals and lives as a pariah; Scylla went out into open ocean and has not come back. Herophile is nine and looks untouched, and what came for her came as prophecy — she speaks true things in her sleep. Her mother has decided that is the change arriving slowly and can be held off, and every drained calf, shepherd and child has gone into holding it off. Lamia does not keep what she drinks — it goes into her daughter. She is wrong: it finished months ago, and Herophile told her so and was disbelieved.

Therefore: Herophile is not a prisoner — not bound, caged, or drained. She stays because she is nine and will not leave her mother alone with this. The finale is an argument, not a jailbreak. Hera never appears. Scylla never appears.

Major Beats

Misthaven mist-line → the Sacred Way. Theoxena gives the Sleepless Eye and names two roads.
Sea path (E1): the monster on the shore is not the killer — he is the queen's son, and he has a sister he cannot reach.
City path (E2): Alkippe is four steps from throwing a garlanded boy off the Leap to appease a goddess who never took anybody. The Garlands are the off-switch.
Finale (E3): the Sleepless Cave — charm, thralls, shapechange, three taken children on a six-round Draught Clock, and a daughter who is not tied up and will not leave.
A spring rises where the body falls. Crisa names it Sybaris. Herophile goes to Delphi, and Theoxena is the one who tells her nothing was ever coming.

Running Order — Either Path First

	Sea first (1 → 2)	City first (2 → 1)
2nd act warned	Rite Track starts at step 2; Wardens already on the terrace; Alkippe gets a 4th charge	Acheilus opens submerged, no surprise, tide floods round 1; +2 Raiders round 3
Worth / E3 door	Clue 3 — the only place the family is called alive out loud; auto-completes Choice step 2. Earns the sea-mouth (Ferry Out, surprise round)	Breaking the rite is visible from the cave mouth — auto-completes Choice step 1. Earns the upper crack (surprise round)
Both / neither	Both allies: split the approach, two PCs by sea-mouth and the rest by the crack, both acting round 1 — strong on purpose. Neither: in the front door, in the dark, four Hollowed awake. Also fine.

Clue Track — What Hera Actually Did every clue points one way: nobody in this family died

#	Clue	Where / DC
1	"Changed, not killed" — Hera leaves a household walking around	Delphi, second ask · Insight 15 / Persuasion 16
2	The Eye is a person's — set aside by a queen who did not want to watch	The Eye · History 16 / Religion 15 / Arcana 15
3	"I have a mother." Acheilus is her eldest; his sister is still in that cave	E1 · parley only — never at swordpoint
4	Bites are human; bodies are emptied, not fed on — the life is going somewhere	E1 bodies or E2 dry calf · Medicine 16
5	Krisos was in the room. Wool on the chamber door, knotted from the inside	E2 · Investigation 15 / Persuasion 18 / Insight 17
6	Acheilus, Herophile, Scylla — three names, three fates (shoals, cave, open ocean)	E2 · Meganira or History 14

Name Them (action, E3 only) — needs 3+ clues; once per clue above 2. Speak all three children and what became of each. Lamia makes a DC 18 Wis save (DC 20 from the garland-wearer) or loses legendary actions and Sleepless Regeneration until the end of her next turn. 5+ clues also auto-completes Choice step 3. 0–2 clues is a valid outcome — the argument just has to be made cold.

Creature / Enemy List Easy · Medium · Hard · full stat blocks on sheet 3/4

Where	Roster
E1 shore	Ichthyan Raider CR 3 (2·3·4, +2 if city-first) · Brineseer CR 5 (1·1·2) · Reef-Hound CR 3 (1·2·2) · Acheilus CR 10 (1) elite, recruitable, her eldest
E2 terrace	Yoke-Sworn Acolyte CR 2 (4·5·6) · Peacock-Eyed Warden CR 5 (1·2·2) · Bronze Yoke-Heifer CR 6 (—·1·1) · Alkippe CR 9 (1) leader, surrenders
E3 cave	The Hollowed CR 2 (2·3·4, +2 P2) · Strix Flock CR 3 (1·1·2, +1 P2) · Empusa CR 6 (1·1·2) not her daughters
Boss	Queen Lamia of Crisa CR 15 — HP 310, LR 3/day, two phases, Deadly

Difficulty

Tier	Adjust
As Written ★	6 PCs · APL 12 — E1/E2 Hard (≈13,700 / 13,600 XP), E3 Deadly (≈22,400 XP)
Library Standard	6 PCs · APL 8 — Lamia HP 200, LR 2, bite 4d6 (6d6 P2), Regen 10; all DCs −2; cut 1 Empusa / 2 Hollowed / 1 Strix and the P2 wave; Acheilus CR 7 (HP 130, no Undertow); E2 = 4 Yoke-Sworn, 1 Warden, no Heifer; Clock 8, two children. Finale reads Hard.
Easier	APL 10–11: Lamia HP −15% and Regen 15; cut 1 Empusa; Draught Clock 7; E1–E2 lose one elite each.
Harder	APL 13–14: Lamia HP +15%, LR 4/day, third Empusa in the sea-mouth; Douse the Light also suppresses darkvision past 30 ft; Draught Clock 5. Never raise the Choice DCs — the argument is the session, not the challenge.

DM Tips

Run the clue count openly — it is what gets a nine-year-old to walk. Both middle acts pay the same XP talked down or fought; say so if asked.
The Eye has one use in E3, three choices — bier, socket, or the girl's hands. Make them choose out loud; do not hint. All three are right answers to different questions.
The Empusae are not her daughters. They are the first women she drank. Do not let a player conflate them with the children.
Minis: angler/shark → Acheilus · sahuagin → Ichthyans · sharks → Reef-Hounds · pirates → Yoke-Sworn · storm-spirit constructs → Wardens · skeletons → Hollowed · harpies → Strix · Scylla mini → Lamia in Serpent-Coil.

Encounter 1 — The Shark-Marred Tide HARD · ~45–50 min

🗺 Shingle shore & sea-stacks 80×60. Three stacks (half cover, Athletics 12) · tide pools south (difficult) · eleven drained bodies laid out above the high-water line, hands folded. Tide clock: end of rounds 2 / 4 / 6 the water advances 10 ft — difficult terrain for the party, open water for gills; Acheilus regains 10 HP/turn while a foot deep.

Roster: 1× Acheilus (CR 10) · 4× Ichthyan Raider (CR 3) · 2× Brineseer (CR 5) · 2× Reef-Hound (CR 3) = 13,700 XP | He is Lamia's eldest son. He will not say so to anyone holding a weapon.

He talks first. "I have killed four of you this season. I remember every face. Do you want to be five?" A party that answers instead of rolling initiative gets the parley for free.
PARLEY (non-combat): any one of — show the Eye (automatic; he has seen it before, wet, on his own sand, and knows whose it is), sheathe weapons and let him speak first, or Persuasion/Intimidation 16. Then group check 3 successes before 3 failures, DC 15 (Persuasion / Insight / History / Performance — flattering his old face gives advantage once, and is the cruellest move available, because the face is a lie he tells).
What it buys — CLUE 3. He drops the Aphrodite story: "I had a mother. I still do. She is in a cave on that mountain and she has my sister." Three names, three fates, and the fact the session turns on — Hera changed this family, she did not kill it. Nowhere else is it said out loud.
Clue 4 here: Medicine 16 on the row of bodies — human jaw, two punctures, and emptied rather than fed on. An action; can be done mid-fight.
RECRUIT ACHEILUS → holds the sea-mouth in E3: flooded back entrance + surprise round, Ferry Out, and auto-completes Choice step 2. He will not fight his mother — he comes as far as the water. A PC may ask him in anyway: see Her Son in the Water.
Combat→parley: breaks off at 60 HP for terms (Persuasion 14; free with the Eye); Ichthyans follow his lead. Loot: 400 gp votive bronze; one potion of water breathing per two PCs.

Killing him closes Clue 3 and the sea-mouth permanently — and the party has killed the queen's son without ever learning they did. Do not soften it, do not announce it; if it comes out in the cave, Lamia has advantage on attacks for 1 round and immediately uses Call the Strix, and Choice step 2 closes forever.

Encounter 2 — The Garlanded Boy HARD · ~45–50 min

🗺 Threshing-floor terrace 70×70. The Leap along the south edge (200-ft drop, no rail, 10 ft of loose chalk — Acrobatics 13 or slide 5 ft toward it) · altar-block centre (half cover) · colonnade north (Wardens) · four shovable braziers · 200 Crisans ring the terrace two deep.

Roster: 1× Alkippe (CR 9) · 6× Yoke-Sworn (CR 2) · 2× Peacock Warden (CR 5) · 1× Bronze Yoke-Heifer (CR 6) = 13,600 XP

RITE TRACK — advance 1 step at the end of every round. Also advances while 3+ Yoke-Sworn chant within 30 ft of each other, even if Alkippe is down (Chorus).
1 Naming → 2 Anointing (he stops moving on his own) → 3 Yoke-Cord (restrained; Alkippe regains a charge) → 4 The Leap — he goes over.

THE GARLANDS ARE THE OFF-SWITCH. Tear off (action, Sleight of Hand or Athletics 14, auto if adjacent & unopposed) → Rite drops back one step, Heifer stunned 1 round. Wear them yourself (action) → rite pauses, Yoke-Sworn cannot attack you, Alkippe attacks you at disadvantage, Heifer will not charge you — and you become the mark. Destroy them (off the Leap or into a brazier) → every Yoke-Sworn makes a DC 16 Wis save or flees 1 min; Heifer stunned; Alkippe loses her remaining charges.
NON-COMBAT: show Theoxena's token or Religion 17 to recite the true Delphic verse, then Persuasion 16 (advantage with 3+ clues). Alkippe reads it herself and stops the rite. She will not apologize.
THE SHORTER PATH: her rite rests on Hera having taken the royal household. Tell her it is alive — queen in a cave on Cirphis, with her own daughter — backed by Clue 3 or 5, and she stops with no check at all and sits down on the altar step. "Then what, exactly, am I giving her back?"
THE CROWD: any area effect within 10 ft of the crowd line, or any hit on a civilian, panics them — terrace becomes difficult terrain everywhere and the party forfeits Clues 5 and 6. Warn the table out loud the first time someone lines up a fireball.
RECRUIT ALCYONEUS — free him without stripping his dignity (let a player ask) or wear the Garlands yourself. Brings the upper crack and carries children out one per round.
She is watching. The terrace is visible from the cave mouth and Herophile spends her evenings at it. Breaking the rite auto-completes Choice step 1. Do not tell the party; let her say so.
The Eye here (action): every Yoke-Sworn takes the Morale save at disadvantage thereafter; Alkippe loses a charge. Loot: 600 gp offering; periapt of health on her belt if turned.

If step 4 completes: Alcyoneus dies. No ally, no upper crack, no auto-complete on Choice step 1 — what Herophile watched was a city killing a boy on her mother's account — and the Draught Clock starts at 5.

Encounter 3 — The Sleepless Cave DEADLY · ~60–75 min · 2 phases

READ FIRST — Herophile is not a prisoner. Not bound, not caged, not drained. She is standing on the Drinking Floor in a clean wool dress watching her mother work, and she can walk out any night she likes. She stays because she is nine and will not leave her mother alone with this. The rescue is an argument (Herophile's Choice, page 4/4). The clock is on the other children.

🗺 The Sleepless Cave 120×90, no natural light. Threshold (E, 20×30) — a built doorway hung with wool threads knotted from the inside; Lamia cannot cross it either way while they are intact. Nursery (N, 30×30) — three child-height biers made up as beds; one slept in this week, two not in a season. Search = Clue 6 free; no Night-Smoke. Drinking Floor (centre-S, 50×50) — shed-skin drifts (two 15-ft difficult patches), eleven baskets 20 ft up with three living children (rope AC 12 / 5 HP; a dropped basket = Dex 12 or 2d6), the Bier south. Sea-Mouth (W, 20×40) — chest-deep, 60 ft underwater passage out. Ceiling 25 ft.
Standing terrain, always on: Drifts — enter or start a turn in one, Dex 16 or restrained (escape 16). The Sleepless Dark — nonmagical flames give dim light at half radius, magical light ≤3rd suppressed, heavily obscured beyond 30 ft regardless.

Roster: 1× Queen Lamia (CR 15) · 2× Empusa (CR 6) · 4× Hollowed (CR 2) · 2× Strix Flock (CR 3) = 20,800 XP; +2 Hollowed / +1 Strix on Phase 2 ≈ 22,400. No Long Rest inside.

DRAUGHT CLOCK — start 6 (5 if Alcyoneus died). Remove one at the end of every round; track it openly. At 3 one child stops moving and Herophile watches the party notice. At 0 every child still in a basket dies, and each death restores 30 HP to Lamia — she is not hoarding it, she is passing it on, and the party can watch where it goes.
Save one: reach the basket (Athletics 13 to climb, fly, or cut the rope) + an action — Sleight of Hand 15, Athletics 16, or any slashing damage to the wicker. Out of the draught permanently.
Get them clear: the Nursery (no smoke) · Alcyoneus one per round · Acheilus ferries without limit. She will not stop you — no action defending baskets, no attack on a PC carrying a child. She does not think she is doing anything wrong.

PHASE 1 — The Queen's Welcome (HP 310–156). She does not attack first. She explains, calmly, like a physician describing a regimen — she wants a second opinion and has not had one in a season. Insight 16: she is not enjoying any of this. Opens Queen's Welcome on the garland-wearer, else the highest-Cha PC. Hollowed rise from the drifts and grapple; Strix hold the ceiling near the baskets and punish anyone climbing to a child; Empusae guard the Nursery in false form. Drinking Bite only on grappled / charmed / restrained / incapacitated targets.
A MOTHER'S BLINDNESS. She cannot harm Herophile, target her, or land an area effect that would catch her — and anyone within 5 ft of her is in that blind spot too. Let the party work it out, including for holding the Bier wall.
WIN: Herophile leaves the cave alive — by her own choice or in someone's arms. Lamia at 0 HP with the Bier denied is the complete victory. Bier intact and Eye-free → she reforms in 1 hour at 50 HP; a party that won the Choice and left has still won the session. Say so.
PHASE 2 — The Skin Comes Off (HP 155–0). Free transition: permanent Serpent-Coil, DC 18 Wis or frightened to end of next turn, +2 Hollowed and +1 Strix arrive. Drinking Bite → 8d6; Call the Strix recharges 4–6; +2 to hit. She stops explaining — the argument is over and she has decided she needs them out of the room, not agreeing. If she has been Named, she says one thing in Phase 2 and it is "She is still small." Let the table sit in it.

BOSS — QUEEN LAMIA OF CRISA, THE SLEEPLESS

Large Monstrosity (Shapechanger), CE · CR 15 (13,000 XP) · BOSS

AC 18 | HP 310 (27d10+162) | Speed 40, climb 40, swim 30 | LR 3/day

STR 20 (+5) · DEX 18 (+4) · CON 22 (+6) · INT 17 (+3) · WIS 18 (+4) · CHA 22 (+6) — Saves Dex +9, Wis +9, Cha +11 · Deception +11, Perception +9, Stealth +9 · Resist necrotic, nonmagical B/P/S · Immune charmed, exhaustion, frightened · darkvision 120, blindsight 30 · Sleepless (no sleep/exhaustion) · Serpent Climb (ceilings, no check)

Shapechanger (bonus action) — Queen (Medium, the face on Crisa's coins) · Serpent-Coil (Large, true form, Claw reach 10 ft) · Night-Smoke (fly 40 hover, through any 1-in gap, immune nonmagical B/P/S, adv Dex saves; cannot attack/speak/handle objects; cannot enter running water or the Nursery). Reverts to Serpent-Coil at 0 HP.
Sleepless Regeneration — regain 20 HP at the start of her turn unless she took radiant damage or damage from running water since the end of her last turn.
Threshold-Bound — cannot cross a doorway hung with a household's wool threads unless invited. This is why she takes children out of doors. She tied her own, around the last of her household.
A Mother's Blindness — cannot willingly harm Herophile, cannot target her, aborts any area effect that would catch her; anyone within 5 ft of Herophile is in that blind spot too.
Her Son in the Water (1/enc) — first time Acheilus is visible to her in the cave: Wis DC 20 or stunned to end of her next turn.
Multiattack — three attacks, only one may be Drinking Bite. Claw +11, reach 5 (10 in Coil): 16 (3d6+5) + grapple (escape 17), two at once.
Drinking Bite +11, reach 5, vs. grappled / restrained / incapacitated / willing: 12 (2d6+5) piercing + 21 (6d6) necrotic — 8d6 in Phase 2. Target's HP maximum drops by the necrotic dealt (until long rest) and Lamia regains that many HP. HP max reduced to 0 = dies and rises in 24 hrs as one of The Hollowed. (She does not keep it. It goes into Herophile.)
The Queen's Welcome (Recharge 6) — one creature within 30 ft that can see her: Wis DC 19 or charmed 1 hour; treats her as a trusted friend and is a willing target for Drinking Bite. Repeats the save whenever she or her allies harm it; immune 24 hrs after it ends.
Call the Strix (R5–6; 4–6 in P2) — 1 Strix Flock or 2 Hollowed within 60 ft, on her initiative.
Legendary — Uses 3 (4 in Lair); the whole finale is her lair, so 4/round: Drift (1) half speed, no OAs (full in Night-Smoke) · Hungering Gaze (1) Wis 19 or disadvantage on its next save vs. her · Child-Voices (1) Wis 16 in 60 ft or frightened, fail by 5+ also move to the deepest tunnel, deafened immune · Owl-Cry (2) chosen creatures in 30 ft, Con 18 or 14 (4d6) psychic + deafened · Drink (2) one Drinking Bite.
Levers: Name Them (Wis 18/20) and Eye in socket (Wis 18) each kill her regeneration for a round; Eye in bier or a burned bier makes 0 HP final; the Choice completing is Wis 20 or stunned.

STAT BLOCKS

Acheilus, Shark-Marred CR 10

E1 elite · recruitable · her eldest son

AC 17 | HP 184 | 30, swim 60

Multi: Bite +9 (22, grapple 17) + 2× Harpoon-Claw +9 (16, Str 17 or pull 10 ft) · Tide-Fed +10 HP/turn in water · Blood Frenzy
Undertow R5–6: 30-ft cone Dex 17, 36 (8d8) + push 15 + prone
Breaks off at 60 HP for terms. Will not fight his mother.

Ichthyan Raider CR 3 · Reef-Hound CR 3

Sahuagin reskin · shark mini

Raider AC 16 | HP 60 | 30, swim 40 · Hound AC 14 | HP 76 | 20, swim 50

Raider: Bite +5 (6) / Trident +5 (10, thrown 20/60), two attacks · Net 1/turn (escape 13) · Blood Frenzy
Hound: Bite +6 (13) + Str 14 or dragged 5 ft to water · Pack Tactics · Blood Frenzy

Ichthyan Brineseer CR 5

Tide-priest · spell DC 15

AC 15 | HP 82 | 30, swim 40

2× Brine-Spark +7 (14 cold, 60 ft) · Barbed Staff +4 · 3/day hold person · 1/day tidal wave

Alkippe, Hierophant CR 9

E2 leader · surrenders at 0 HP

AC 18 | HP 150 | 30 | spell DC 17

2× Yoke-Rod +6 (9 + 10 radiant), or rod + cantrip
Yoke-Cord 3/day (bonus): Str 17 or restrained 1 round
3/day hold person, spirit guardians, guiding bolt · 1/day flame strike, banishment, mass cure · Reaction 3/day healing word (3rd) · disadv. vs. garland-wearer

Yoke-Sworn Acolyte CR 2

AC 15 | HP 45 | 30

2× Sickle +3 (6 + 3 radiant) · Hymn-Bolt +5 (10 radiant, 60 ft)
Chorus: 3+ within 30 ft advance the Rite without Alkippe
Morale: garlands lost → Wis 16 or flee 1 min (disadv. if the Eye was shown)

Peacock-Eyed Warden CR 5

Temple bronze construct

AC 18 | HP 95 | 30

2× Bronze Glaive +7, reach 10 (14) · Eye-Flare R5–6: cone Con 15, 18 (4d8) radiant + blinded · never surprised

Bronze Yoke-Heifer CR 6

AC 17 | HP 126 | 40 | blindsight 60

2× Gore +8 (16) · Hooves +8 (18, prone) · Trample Charge Str 16 · Brazen Lowing R6 Wis 15
Garlands leave a living wearer → stunned 1 round

Empusa CR 6

E3 lieutenant · not her daughters

AC 15 | HP 104 | 30 | resist fire, nonmag B/P/S

2× Claw +7 (13), or Claw + Draining Kiss (17 necrotic, HP max −half, she heals) · Beguiling Word R5–6 Wis 15
False form hides the bronze leg — Insight 18 · Flame-Hair 7 fire on grapple
The first women she drank. Lamia has three children; none is in this block.

The Hollowed CR 2

Her drained · undead

AC 13 | HP 52 | 30, climb 20

2× Grasp +5 (10) + grapple 13 — sets up her Drinking Bite · Dry Bite +5 (7 + 7 necrotic), grappled only
Remembering: speak its living name → stunned 1 round

Strix Flock CR 3

Screech-owl swarm

AC 13 | HP 66 | 10, fly 40

Beaks +5 in its space: 14 (4d6) + 3 necrotic (half HP → 7)
Screech R6: 20 ft Con 13 or deafened — deafness blocks her Child-Voices

KEY ITEMS the Eye has one use in the cave and three ways to spend it

The Sleepless Eye — maguffin

A human eye, brown and unclouded, set in a plum-sized lens of amber resin. Always slightly warm.

Handout: "She gave up her eyes so she could sleep. It did not work. Make her look."
Clue 2: History 16 / Religion 15 / Arcana 15 — adult, human, recent; a Libyan queen was granted the setting-aside of her eyes, and used it the night her household changed so she would not have to watch.
E1: shown to Acheilus, opens the parley automatically. E2: action — every Yoke-Sworn takes the Morale save at disadvantage thereafter; Alkippe loses a charge.
E3 — one use, three choices. Into the Bier: her smoke cannot enter it; 0 HP becomes final — the win against the monster. Into her socket (she must be grappled, restrained, stunned, or unaware within 5 ft): Wis DC 18 or stunned to end of her next turn with regeneration offline. Into Herophile's hands: she looks into her mother's own eye and sees what was done and what was never coming — every remaining step of the Choice completes at once, the win without a body.

The Sacrificial Garlands — E2

Three fillets of white wool and laurel. Whoever wears them is the rite's claimant; nothing else marks it.
Tear off 14 → rite back a step, Heifer stunned. Destroy → Wis 16 morale rout.
Wear → rite pauses, Yoke-Sworn cannot attack you, you become the mark (Lamia opens on you in E3; your Name Them is DC 20).

The Bier of Shed Skins — E3

AC 12 · HP 40 · vulnerable fire and radiant. About one round of committed effort with an open flame.
Perception 13: the skins are arranged, not shed — a bed with room for four, and a diadem at the bottom. Telegraph it.
Intact + Eye-free → she reforms there in 1 hour at 50 HP.
She defends it: from the first damage, every legendary action goes to whoever is nearest.

HEROPHILE'S CHOICE — THE ACTUAL RESCUE

Three things she needs to hear, each from a different source, one action apiece. She listens, does not interrupt, and has thought about all of this more than the party has.

1 · That it does not stop when she leaves. Persuasion or Insight 16. Automatic if the party broke the rite at Crisa — she watched it from the cave mouth.
2 · That her brother is alive and waiting. Automatic with Clue 3, or Acheilus at the sea-mouth. A lie does not work — she will know, and the step closes for good. So does telling her he is dead.
3 · That it was never coming for her. Religion, Medicine or Arcana 18. Automatic with 5+ clues, or if she is handed the Eye to look into. This is the one she has been trying to tell her mother for months.
On completion: she takes the nearest offered hand and walks. Lamia makes a DC 20 Wis save or is stunned to the end of her next turn. Herophile becomes a freed ally — A True Word 1/enc: reaction, one roll against her mother within 30 ft is made with advantage.
Carrying her always works and is always worse: half speed, she screams for her mother, Lamia has advantage on the carrier until she is out.

NPC QUICK REFERENCE

Theoxena, Senior Pythia — Quest Giver

RP: formal, precise, treats every statement as testimony; accepts correction from evidence, despises flattery.
Secret: the word was changed, not killed. She will not name Hera's grudge inside Apollo's precinct. Insight 15 / Persuasion 16 outside it → Clue 1.
Epilogue: adopts Herophile the same afternoon — and is the one who can say the sentence the girl has needed for a season: nothing is being held off, and nothing ever was.

Acheilus, the Shark-Marred — E1 ally · her eldest

He is Lamia's son and knows exactly what is in that cave. The drained wash out of his mother's sea-mouth; he has spent a month laying them above the waterline and folding their hands, because he cannot stop her and cannot turn her in.
RP: strangers get the Aphrodite story; the truth means saying his mother's name, and he will not until the parley earns it.
Will not fight his mother. He comes as far as the water. A PC may ask him in — see Her Son in the Water.

Alkippe, Hierophant of the Yoke — E2

Insight 17: she is terrified, and the terror predates the rite — the verse came in her own sleep.
Wants a household restored for a household unmade — wrong, not evil, and not lying.
Turns on the true Delphic verse — or instantly, no check, on being told the household is alive (Clue 3 or 5). Surrenders at 0 HP and will not let the Acolytes die.

Alcyoneus of Crisa — E2 ally

Sixteen, chosen by lot. Recruit: free him without stripping his dignity, or wear the Garlands yourself.
Gives: the upper crack into E3; carries one child per round out of the cave.
Stats: AC 13 · HP 32 · Sling +5 (6) · Shout Down 1/enc — one ally gets advantage on its next save vs. charm.

Sibyl Herophile — the rescue · her youngest

Nine. Not bound, not caged, not drained. She can walk out any night and has not, for a season, because she will not leave her mother alone with this.
She prophesied her own ending, told her mother once, was disbelieved, and stopped trying. She will say it to the party in a flat voice.
What came for her came as prophecy — she speaks true things in her sleep. Her mother has decided that is the change arriving slowly. It already finished, months ago.
Asked, she gives all three children's names and four of the Hollowed's living names, with or without Clue 6.

King Krisos of Crisa — clue source

Clue 5: Investigation 15 in the royal house, or Persuasion 18 / Insight 17 on him — no fight here. He was in the room. Hera's wrath took his wife and all three children in one night, in front of him, and changed rather than killed them, and he ran. The chamber is untouched — three children's beds, wool knotted on the door from the inside.
"A beast can be hunted. Say the other thing and you are asking me to hunt my daughter." Told she is alive, he asks only whether she is still small.

AFTERMATH & REWARDS

The spring called Sybaris

Every child out of a basket goes home and Crisa watches them go home; the elders still call it a beast. Loot: the diadem (900 gp, Crisa pays double to bury it) · 1,200 gp votive silver under the Nursery biers · the Eye unless spent.
Herophile to Delphi: she walks past Theoxena to the tripod and says something specific, unprompted and correct about a PC. Theoxena names the gift and says nothing was ever being held off. She stays; she will be a Pythia.
Acheilus, if he lives, cannot come to Delphi and does not ask to — somebody has to go down to the shingle and tell him. Scylla stays in open ocean; leave it unresolved.

Sleepless Fangs of Lamia — reward

Earn: destroy her for good — smoke denied, bier burned — and draw the fangs before the body cools. (A party that wins the Choice and leaves her alive does not get these, and should be told that is a fair trade.)
Crafting component: a long rest + smith's or leatherworker's tools, DC 15, sets them into one weapon.
Fangbound Weapon: once per turn on a hit, +1d6 necrotic and regain half. 3/long rest, against a grappled / restrained / incapacitated target or one that cannot see you, instead +4d6 necrotic, regain half, and reduce its HP maximum by the necrotic dealt until it long rests.

Remember: the win is Herophile, not the kill — she is not tied to anything and has to be persuaded. The clock is on the other three. The Eye has one use. The Threshold threads keep her in as well as out. Hera never appears. Scylla never appears.

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