The Stormsong Trials

The Stormsong Trials

A caravan of wanderers, pilgrims, fugitives, and oath-bearers attempts to cross the storm-wracked Velkar Spires. When a resonance storm awakens ancient vows and fractures memory, the party finds refuge in a hidden monastery whose monks claim the storm has “chosen” them for a sacred trial.

By: Joe McMahon
System: Daggerheart
Complexity: ⏺
Setting: Velkar Spires

The Pitch

High in the Velkar Spires, where storms remember every promise ever spoken, a simple caravan crossing becomes a trial of endurance, belief, and identity. Bound by rope and circumstance, the characters are drawn into a monastery that treats survival as judgment and silence as scripture. The storm listens, the mountain watches, and every vow carries weight. In The Stormsong Trials, the question is not whether you will face the storm, but what it will hear when you do.

Tone & Feel

Harsh, introspective, mystical, dangerous; themes of vows, storms, memory, and endurance.

Themes

• Endurance in the face of nature’s wrath
• Faith vs. skepticism
• Survival and sacrifice
• The danger of zealotry

Touchstones

Dark Souls, The Mist, True Detective, The Witcher, Annihilation, Wicker Man

Overview

If your group decides to play this campaign, give your players the following information before character creation.

High in the Velkar Spires, travel is an act of faith. Caravans creep along rope-bridges and knife-edge paths, bound together by shared risk and unspoken promises. Storms roll through the peaks without warning, carrying strange resonance that unsettles memory and blurs the line between the natural and the sacred. Those who cross the Spires quickly learn that survival depends as much on trust and restraint as it does on strength or skill.

The Stormsong Trials place the characters within this fragile web of passage and belief. They are not heroes arriving to fix a problem, nor pilgrims who fully understand the rites they brush against. Instead, they are travelers caught at a threshold, exposed to a place where vows linger in the air and intention matters more than reputation. The mountains listen, and what they hear is not always spoken aloud.

As the journey continues, the tone shifts from immediate danger to quiet unease. Shelter does not mean safety, and sanctuary does not mean absolution. The characters are observed, weighed, and invited to reflect—sometimes subtly, sometimes uncomfortably—on what they carry with them. Faith here is not uniform, and conviction takes many forms, from compassion to zeal, from patience to ruthless certainty.

The Stormsong Trials are ultimately about endurance: of identity, of belief, and of connection. The campaign asks who the characters are when stripped of momentum and forced to remain still beneath a listening sky. What matters is not what the storm will do, but what the characters choose to hold onto when the wind refuses to pass them by.

Communities

All Daggerheart communities are available for this campaign

Ancestries

Some Daggerheart ancestries that may experience notable advantages, pressures, or thematic friction in The Stormsong Trials. As with classes, this is not about mechanical imbalance, but about how the fiction of the Velkar Spires engages different ancestries

Human

Humans fit seamlessly into the social fabric of the caravan and monastery culture. Their adaptability and broad cultural presence make them easy to position as pilgrims, guards, scholars, or wanderers without friction.

Elf

Elves’ long memory and cultural relationship to history, oaths, and endurance resonate strongly with the campaign’s themes. They are often treated as figures of quiet authority or scrutiny in places that value patience and reflection.

Infernis

Infernis stand out sharply in a setting that interprets natural forces as sacred signs. Their elemental nature may draw fear, fascination, or theological tension from those who see fire and passion as disruptive.

Simiah

Simiah are exceptionally well suited to the physical dangers of the Spires. Rope-bridges, vertical travel, and precarious footing are all spaces where they naturally excel.

Classes

No class is advantaged/disadvantaged mechanically in The Stormsong Trials. Instead, different classes experience different kinds of spotlight

Bard

Bards thrive in this campaign’s emphasis on vows, spoken truth, and emotional resonance. Their ability to influence tone, morale, and meaning gives them strong narrative leverage in social scenes and quiet moments of tension. Wordsmith-style play in particular aligns well with storms that listen and environments that respond to intent.

Druid

Druids are well positioned to interpret the living environment of the Velkar Spires. Storms, stone, wind, and resonance all fall within their conceptual reach, giving them insight into dangers and shifts others may miss. Their connection to natural forces provides grounding in a setting where the environment is active and communicative.

Rogue

Rogues excel at navigation, positioning, and survival, but deception and secrecy can carry heightened consequences in a campaign where trust is fragile and observation is constant. Rogues gain spotlight through risk and timing rather than manipulation alone, which can deepen character tension.

Wizard/Sorcerer

Wizards and Sorcerers bring powerful tools for understanding resonance, memory, and magical phenomena. However, knowledge in this campaign often creates responsibility rather than control, and answers can complicate situations instead of resolving them. The wizard/sorcerer frequently knows more than is comfortable, and must decide what truths are safe to reveal.

Player Principles

You Are Not Here to Win, You Are Here to Endure

Approach challenges with the understanding that survival, growth, and meaning matter more than dominance or perfection. Success is defined by what your character preserves, changes, or lets go of, not by clean victories.

Silence and Stillness Are Also Actions

Not every important moment is loud or violent. Reflection, restraint, and choosing not to act can be as meaningful as bold intervention. Give space for quiet decisions to carry weight.

Trust Is a Choice, Not a Given

Cooperation keeps you alive, but trust must be earned and maintained. Let relationships between characters evolve under pressure, shaped by shared risk, disagreement, and moments of reliance.

Lean Into the Storm, Not Away From It

When danger, doubt, or uncertainty arises, engage it directly. Hesitation, fear, and failure are part of the story and often lead to richer consequences rather than dead ends.

GM Principles

Let the Storm Speak Before It Strikes

Use atmosphere, omen, and whispered implication before escalating to action. Storms, environments, and NPCs should foreshadow danger and consequence, giving players time to feel tension and choose how they respond.

Advance the World Through Consequence

When players roll with Fear or make imperfect choices, move the situation forward instead of stopping it. Escalate pressure, reveal costs, or shift the terrain—never negate player intent outright.

Spotlight Vows, Not Just Abilities

Frame scenes so characters’ beliefs, promises, and relationships are as relevant as their skills. Ask questions that invite players to define what their characters are willing to risk or sacrifice in the moment.

Keep Threats Multi-Directional

Design scenes with overlapping pressures—environmental hazards, social tension, moral strain—so every character has meaningful ways to engage. Avoid single-solution problems or “correct” paths.

Distinctions

The Storm Is an Active Presence

In this campaign, the storm is treated as a participant rather than a backdrop. Wind, lightning, and resonance are used to frame scenes, heighten tension, and guide attention, often reacting to what the characters say, believe, or hesitate to do. The weather carries implication and judgment before it ever becomes overtly dangerous, creating a sense that the environment is listening and responding. This approach reinforces the feeling that the world is not indifferent and that survival depends on awareness as much as action.

Vows Are Narrative Currency

Promises, oaths, and personal codes function as a form of narrative weight that shapes how the story unfolds. Characters are not rewarded simply for making vows, but for living with them, struggling against them, or choosing when to uphold or abandon them. NPCs, institutions, and even places respond differently depending on how a character treats their obligations. Over time, these commitments become a quiet measure of identity, influencing trust, pressure, and consequence without needing to be tracked as a separate mechanic.

The Inciting Incident

The journey begins as an ordinary crossing, the kind that demands caution but not reverence. The caravan moves slowly along narrow paths and swaying rope-bridges, bound together by habit and necessity rather than trust. Wind presses hard against the cliffs, clouds crowd the peaks, and the storm feels close but not yet inevitable. There is time for quiet conversation, for the creak of ropes and the steady rhythm of careful steps. Then the storm turns its attention toward the crossing. The air grows charged, sound distorts, and the wind carries more than rain. What follows is not a single moment of disaster, but a sudden awareness that the mountain is no longer indifferent. Survival becomes immediate and communal, forcing strangers into reliance and choice. When the storm finally loosens its grip, the caravan is changed, and so are those who endured it. Whatever the travelers thought they were passing through, they have instead crossed into something that has already begun to take notice of them.

Session Zero Questions

While creating the Daggerheart characters for this adventure during a session zero, use the following questions to help tie them to the area, the campaign, or the tragedy.

• What promise or obligation follows your character into the Velkar Spires, even though they wish it would not?

This can be a vow, debt, belief, or expectation placed on them by someone else.

• Who on the caravan does your character already trust, and why does that trust feel dangerous here?

Trust can be earned, assumed, or forced by circumstance.

• When the storm listens, what truth does your character fear it might repeat aloud?

This can be a doubt, regret, or unresolved choice.

• What would make your character choose endurance over escape when things become unbearable?

Name the line they will not cross, even if leaving would be easier.

• What does your character believe a true trial is meant to reveal about a person?

Strength, faith, guilt, loyalty, or something else entirely.

Campaign Frame