As I put out another one of these adventures, I’d like to draw attention to another fantastic blog, this one dedicated to Godbound, among other things. The Amateur Dungeoneers is a great blog that has a ton of quality content for the world of Arcem, of which Godbound is set. Give it a look for some great idea and writing that can really help flesh out the world of Arcem and add a ton of nuance to your game.

Disclaimer: First off, my apologies as this adventure may require a little bit more work on the part of the GM in order to properly run. Normally, I can’t stand this, as when someone is looking for a pre-written adventure, it’s kind of asinine for the writer to expect the person who picked up the adventure to do a lot of the leg work. That’s not the point of something pre-written. However, this adventure is meant to be inserted into the reader’s game and as such, some level of involvement on the GM’s part is expected in order to truly make it your own, and is more appropriate for a group a few sessions in. This adventure is more meant to build up your players and have them truly come in to their own and realize their impact as a Demi-God. This is not feel good, namby-pamby, therapy session hug-it-out nonsense, but for players to realize their actions have lasting consequences and to be able to defend their choices, as the game is overall about their choices. Before running this, it is recommended that a GM review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as the challenges between floors involve meeting those needs for a PC to supposedly reach “self-actualization.” Now, I’m not espousing this theory, nor am I disagreeing with it, but I do find it a useful framing device for challenges within this ruin. If I come across as preachy, please believe me that that is not my intention. The choice of what to believe is and always will be yours. Anyways, I’ve ranted enough. On with the show.

On a lonely expanse of plains somewhere in the world stands a solitary iron tower that stretches well in the sky. Like a jagged nail in the earth, it seemingly has no entrance or windows, just a crown of eight spires branching out from the top. Any attempt to reach the top from the outside is met with failure, as no matter how high one flies or climbs, the top will always seem just out of reach. This is due to the fact that the top is on another metaphysical plane of existence, and can only be reached by going through the tower. The first step then would be to get inside, which is of course, if one can find an entrance. Anyone who places a hand on the outside will see runes glow along the walls, and an unearthly voice will whisper inside their heads. “Wish ye to undertake the trials of all that is?” If they say yes, they will find themselves teleported inside the first room.

Hall of the 1 st dimension-earth solid: the first trial will entail the element of earth, the solid material state, and the first dimension of spatial reasoning, or a straight line. As they appear here inside a small room of worked granite, while in front of them is solid earth and a stone sign reading “the shortest distance between 2 points”. The only way through is to break through is going straight through the earth, whether that be through brute force or more magical methods. Once they choose a destination, they must go straight, as any attempt to deviate from a straight path will cause a collapse dealing 2d6 straight damage, and pinning them in place until they use a miracle or some other method again. Going 150 feet in a straight line will lead into an opening that stretches out into a vast desert.

dimension-earth solid: the first trial will entail the element of earth, the solid material state, and the first dimension of spatial reasoning, or a straight line. As they appear here inside a small room of worked granite, while in front of them is solid earth and a stone sign reading “the shortest distance between 2 points”. The only way through is to break through is going straight through the earth, whether that be through brute force or more magical methods. Once they choose a destination, they must go straight, as any attempt to deviate from a straight path will cause a collapse dealing 2d6 straight damage, and pinning them in place until they use a miracle or some other method again. Going 150 feet in a straight line will lead into an opening that stretches out into a vast desert. The Guardian of the Physical- Immediately, the pantheon will be hit with pangs of hunger and thirst, even those that do not normally feel these petty mortal short comings. The pantheon will have to find sustenance, and until they do, they will find no rest. Conjured goods and water will be more than enough to fulfill this requirement, or any PC with appropriate facts should be able to forage or find an oasis. Once enough food and supplies can be found to sustain the party at least for a bit, a pool of water will appear, deep enough to step into and glimmering with an inviting inner light.

Hall of the 2nd dimension-water liquid: the second trial will entail the element of water, the liquid matter state, and 2 dimensional spatial reasoning. They will appear inside a large water bubble in front of a titanic whirlpool, and swirling around them will be runes that read, “The path of submission.” Should they choose to enter the whirlpool, they will be immediately swept into the current. Each round they remain in the whirlpool, they must make a hardiness save or take 1d4 regular damage from the pressure of the water. Any attempt to swim straight down to the center or to fight against the current will cause the PC to remain in place and have to make another hardiness save at -4 or take 1d8 straight damage. If they choose to swim with the current, have the player roll a wisdom check with a -4 to notice that the water does not seem to be going down, but rather moving in a circular manner. They must last for 5 rounds if just going with the current and while swimming against or through the current does not advance them any, swimming with it will cause them to get there in 3 rounds. Once they reach the center of the whirlpool they will be seemingly pushed back near the pool they had found next to their supplies in the previous area.

The Guardian of Security- As the pantheon takes stock, everyone should roll wisdom checks, with those succeeding notice raiders bearing down on them. However, the strange thing about these enemies is that they appear to be foes that the pantheon has defeated or dealt with in the past and will disappear into fractal glass shards when defeated. (should you run this, you can either use the smattering of enemies provided here, use ones right of the Godbound core rulebook, or recycle enemies you have used in previous sessions) In any case, these foes always attempt to go for the supplies that the party has created and pursue the party relentlessly. In order to stop them and complete this trial, the party will have to find some way to either safeguard their goods or create some sort of shelter and security, as whenever they defeat a group of enemies there will be more on the horizon. When this has been completed, a massive sandstorm will blow through, covering everything and seemingly transporting the party to the next room.

Sample Foes Large Mob of Mutated Hell Beasts- AC : 6 Hit Dice : 32 Attack: +3×2 Damage : 1d8+2 flaming claws Move 40’ run Save : 14+ Morale : 8 Effort : 1. Can commit effort on turn to take 1 fewer point of damage from all incoming sources of damage, whether physical or magical. Immune to normal fire. Blood Like Water x2 Mighty Spirit of Death – AC: 3 Move: 30’ fly Hit Dice: 20 Save: 7+ Attack: two auto-hits Damage: 1d8 straight death hand Morale: 12 Effort: 12. Can take 2 actions per round. Bound to the Word of Death. Gifts: Scythe Hand -As an Instant action, it can Commit Effort; a hit or damaging effect on it does an equal amount of damage to the assailant. It will usually only use this power on big, damaging hits against it, compelling its victims to use smaller attacks or run it out of Effort first., White Bone Harvest, Reaping Word, Mantle of Quietus . Insightful Scholar, Trained Lomite Mage (Cold Breath- commit 1 effort in order to use miracles or non-constant gifts) usually found alongside a war band of soldiers or mutated Hell Beasts – AC : 7 Hit Dice : 6 Attack : +5 1d6 magic blast Move 30’ run Save : 12+ Morale : 8 Effort : 6 Can act twice per round. Woeful Fate Avoiding Prana: Automatically reroll saves or enemy hit rolls that would result in the hero’s death or mortal injury. The second roll is taken, even if it’s worse. Negative Karmic Altering Mantra : Commit effort for the scene as an action, and a single non-Mob target is cursed with misfortune. They’ll always lose games of chance, bad things of varying non-fatal character will always happen to them, and they always roll twice on hit rolls and saves and take the worse result. Worthy foes can make a Spirit save to resist, and the effect lasts until the caster chooses to lift it, it’s dispelled, or the caster dies. Denier’s Flame : Commit Effort for the scene as a smite action. Choose a point within sight; every chosen target within 100 feet of it is struck by falling flame for 3d8 die of damage with an Evasion save allowed to halve the damage taken, rounded up. Only affects beings with divine powers, like Godbound. Molag-Mar, Hell Knight of Karakal- AC : 3 Hit Dice : 10 Attack : +10×2 1d10+4 Glass-Steel Spear Move 30’ run Save : 11+ Morale : 11 Effort : 4 Can act twice per round. Gifts: Hell-Born Aura (Nimbus of Flame gift), Mammon’s Scales (Defy the Iron gift), Devil’s Wrath (Divine Wrath from the Sword Word) war band of trained soldiers (made up of 1 hit dice mortals) AC: 6 Move: 30’ run Hit Dice: 12 Save: 15+ Attack: +2 Damage: 1d8 weapon Morale: 10 Effort: 1 Overwhelm : 1d6 damage vs. 1 target and deny with hardness save 5 Cyber-Ninjas- AC : 2 Hit Dice : 5 Attack : +7 melee +8 Ranged Damage : 1d8+2 Spring Blade or Shuriken Launcher Move 40′ sprint Saves : 11+ Morale : 10 Effort : 2 Disciple of the Strife of the Hunting Beast Cybernetics: Implanted Arm Weaponry, Warded Skin, Memory Vault, Spring blade, Agate Eyes, Gecko Augmentation



Hall of the 3rd dimension-air gas: the third trial deals with the element of air, the gaseous matter state, and 3 dimensional spatial reasoning. The party will be teleported onto a gently bobbing platform amidst vast open space filled with howling tornados and storms. Various other floating platforms gently bob up and down in the screaming winds, of which the party will have to navigate in order to get to a raging black cloud covered in lightning strikes at the center. Runes scrolling along the platform will read “adapt.” In order to get across, a PC will have to either jump from platform to platform or fly across. However, they must make sure that they never move in a spatial direction twice in 3 squares of movement. Essentially they must move in all three dimensions. Should they fail to do this, roll an evasion save with a failure causing them to take 1d10 damage and begin falling. Moving from platform to platform shouldn’t trigger this, unless they say they are jumping straight towards another one nearby. Leaping into the central cloud will transport them very suddenly to a different place.

The Guardian of Belonging- A grand masquerade ball in eclectic fashion containing any and all non-playing characters they have dealt with thus far (Note: these next few challenges will rely more on role playing than rolls. While they can be skipped over with some ability checks, saves, and miracles, try and let your players really explore the space) A massive party with all manner of men, women, spirits, angels, and even beasts from the Uncreated Night all congregating and mingling. While each party member will be in a different place, offset from the rest of the party goers, they will be approached by a figure. Now who the figure is, or what will be hard to make out, but the player should feel themselves drawn into conversation. The figure will ask some questions, mostly along the lines of why the character is standing off, and if they recognize someone here. At this point, the ball is in the player’s court, if they recognize someone or not. Now whether they do or do not is irrelevant, as the figure should begin to question them about who is, or isn’t here. During this scene, the GM can simply ask the players about their allies. Who are their friends? More importantly, Why are they friends? What would you do without them? What would you do to stay friends with them? As the GM, just ask a few pointed question and try to really get a player to expound. If you have a player who’s having a hard time coming up with something, use some leading questions. Who helps you with your projects? Who are your followers? Why do they follow you? Who do you trust? If player characters start talking about other player characters, that’s fine as well. The goal of this challenge is for a player character to realize and define their interpersonal relationships with the people and other creatures in the world around them. When they have done so, this figure seems satisfied, and the person or people they described will come and lead them through a door way to the next level

Hall of the 4 th dimension-fire plasma: this fourth and final trial deals with the element of fire, the plasma matter state, and movement through the dimension of time. They will appear on a brass platform as all around them erupts in fire and plasma, though curiously, some eruptions happen in the blink of an eye, while others move at a snail’s pace, some yet move normally though linger as if frozen, and others appear to be moving in reverse. Time flows differently in this place. The only clue to survival here are the glowing runes that read “patience is a virtue.” The moment they wish to begin, the protective circle stops, and the party must navigate a sea of swirling time through flames. In order to move forward, they will need to make a spirit save in order to navigate the strange occurrences of time flux in the area. Failing 2 in a row means that they are hit by a temporal distortion causing them to take 1d12 damage, and increasing by another 1d12 for every failed save until the PC succeeds. Also, each round the flames burn higher and hotter. Barring any immunity to flames, the fire will deal 2d10 damage per round, though again, this can be mitigated by a miracle or a gift. Once 5 rounds have gone by, the flames dissipate into darkness, only for lights to come on, revealing each party member on a trial stand.

dimension-fire plasma: this fourth and final trial deals with the element of fire, the plasma matter state, and movement through the dimension of time. They will appear on a brass platform as all around them erupts in fire and plasma, though curiously, some eruptions happen in the blink of an eye, while others move at a snail’s pace, some yet move normally though linger as if frozen, and others appear to be moving in reverse. Time flows differently in this place. The only clue to survival here are the glowing runes that read “patience is a virtue.” The moment they wish to begin, the protective circle stops, and the party must navigate a sea of swirling time through flames. In order to move forward, they will need to make a spirit save in order to navigate the strange occurrences of time flux in the area. Failing 2 in a row means that they are hit by a temporal distortion causing them to take 1d12 damage, and increasing by another 1d12 for every failed save until the PC succeeds. Also, each round the flames burn higher and hotter. Barring any immunity to flames, the fire will deal 2d10 damage per round, though again, this can be mitigated by a miracle or a gift. Once 5 rounds have gone by, the flames dissipate into darkness, only for lights to come on, revealing each party member on a trial stand. The Guardian of Self- As the area gradually lights up, it will reveal a trial room filled with every enemy, ally, and entity they have interacted with thus far. While they are on the stand, a figure will emerge from the darkness. Covered in black robes obscuring any kind of features, the figure will begin to accuse the party members, claiming that they have yet to accomplish anything truly worthwhile and are incapable of progression. What enfolds is that the party members will have to defend their accomplishments and achievements against the barbs of an accuser. What the party needs to progress is a sense of self respect, and while it might seem as though the GM is trying to tear down and belittle their accomplishments, the idea is for the party to grow and develop a sense of self-worth as they themselves go over each of their accomplishments. Even listing progression towards a goal helps. If rolling is needed, then they can each roll a spirit save after each one recounts their deeds to combat the sense of creeping despair coming off the accuser, with a failure causing them to take 1d10 straight mental damage. After they have finished defending themselves before their accuser, this black robed figure will seem satisfied, and the lights will slowly go out one by one before relighting in the final room

Summit of the 5th dimension-mind immaterial and Self-Actualization: teleporting to this large stone room reveals some amazing sights. It is round, but possesses no roof, but a high wall where 8 spires branch out, while above that the sky is filled with various molecules and atoms, as though the party is looking at reality at a subatomic level. The room itself is covered in sorcerous glyphs, runes, and pentagrams showing vast magical knowledge while hologlyphic iconography plays in the background over vast shelves of books. Sitting in a large throne across from where the party enters is the theo-technical scientist the Ant-Giant. Clad in ornate red and purple robes, he has a silvery gray helmet on his head covering his eyes, with several small antenna branching out of the top, while on his face is a slight smile. “Welcome,” he says warmly. “You are some of the first to make it up here in a long, long time. How can I help you?” As a reward for making it up the tower he would be happy to teach any sorcerer in the party a spell of their choice from his volume of knowledge as well as offering insight on any issue they may have, fulfilling any requirements they may have for a quest for knowledge. As a prodigiously old and powerful sorcerer, the Ant-Giant has vast stores of magical knowledge and artifacts, and would be happy to offer some to the party. In game terms, he offers 2 Celestial Shards in the forms of vials of fractal glass containing an unknown rainbow colored liquid, as well as the mighty artifact, the Grimoire of Sage-King.

The Ant-Giant: an extremely powerful archmage from just before the Shattering, Pym is an expert in magic and science, but is content now to explore the mysteries of the universe from the top of his tower. Personable and fairly friendly, he can seem arrogant, as he knows that almost no one can keep up with his level of knowledge. He set up his tower as a way to keep away from the battles of the Shattering in the outside world, though he is more than happy to share some of the things he has learned with those who make it through his defenses, although those of dark intent may find that he will not share anything with them and may eject them from his presence, forcefully if necessary. He has no intention of leaving his lab, as to do so would probably kill him as time caught up with him, but could be persuaded to help the party with questions of a magical nature AC: 2 Move: 120’ teleport Hit Dice: 36 Save: 3+ Attack: +15 x 3 attacks Damage: 1d12 magic straight Morale: 11 Effort: 15. 3 actions per turn Bound to the Words of Sorcery, Beasts, Artifice, and Knowledge Invocations The Gate: Beacon of Celestial Purity, Seal of Regnal Dominion, Pore of Hell The Way: Delay the Coming of Dawn, Sunder the Greater Spell The Throne: A Heart’s Desire, Legion of Marching Clay In Combat, Pym can summon a vast mob of vermin (ants) as an instant action, but can only have 1 mob at a time

The Grimoire of the Sage-King– 18 Dominion 3 effort. A mighty book penned in ages past by the mightiest wizards and most learned sages, this book is said to be an attempt to emulate the omniscient mind of the Almighty. It constantly seems to be writing new pages as any who open the book can never open it to the same page twice, though the book seems to possess a mighty foresight, always showing the bearer whatever they need to know. Woe betide any mortal to read this book though, for the knowledge contained within is too much and will consume any mortal who attempts to read it, their curiosity doomed to never be slaked, and all they can do is turn the page, unable to look away. Memory of the Almighty – Constant. Grants the Omniscient Scholar Gift Memetic Foresight – Commit Effort for the scene; get an answer to any question, provided the truth about it is not being intentionally concealed by all who know it. This answer is generally brief, no more than a few sentences. Eyes of the Magus – On turn. With a moment’s concentration, you can discern any low magic or theurgy active in the area, identifying its general function. Other forms of magic present are noted, but only a vague sense of danger or weal is imparted. Effort can be committed for the scene to render the bearer immune to any low magics



Once their business with the Ant-Giant has been concluded, he is more than happy to return the pantheon to where they started and is able to provide them with keys should they wish to return. While the party has been successful in meeting with the Ant-Giant, it is entirely possible that he call on them for a favor. Perhaps to find and return to him a tiny universe contained within a drop of dew on the tip of a crystalline flower contained within a shard of heaven and guarded by only the most zealous of Heaven’s warriors, or maybe to find the thousand fragments of the Eye of Xarmog, the shattered physical mind of a continent sized Genius Loci. Even a few of the Ant-Giants ancient rivals may still be lurking, like Xel’Rak’Thuul, an ultratelluric hive mind entity of vast mental powers and unending spite, or the Keeper of the Shadowed Chalice, a potent Umbramancer nursing an ancient grudge.