Immortal Engines: FREE 5e Compatible 9 Session Monster Hunting Campaign Sourcebook with DnD Battlemaps

Hey guys just a short update. Unfortunately the family has had the flu / covid for the last week and a half and it has done an absolute number on us. So Decembers release might be slightly late, estimate the 3rd-5th of December instead of the usual 2nd. All the maps are done as is the system agonistic campaign as you can see below but I still need to format the PDFs and finish up the 5e related stats for the campaign, so sorry for the delay! I'll update this post with the 5e version of the campaign as soon as it's done.

I'm also going to make sure I build up some extra sick days in future so this doesn't happen again but I just wasn't expecting for the family to be so sick for so long.

~ Luke

Vehicle Tokens, Foundry VTT Modules, Printable Battlemaps & 2 Campaign Sourcebook .PDFs (5e & System Agnostic) Will Be Released December 2025 for Premium Members.

What’s Included for Free Below:

• 9 ready-to-run 5e compatible sessions for an entire campaign.

• 4 VTT importable battlemaps for the campaign’s encounters, painted especially for this and designed with player tactics in mind by an experienced GM.

• An instrumental soundtrack of 17 songs, sorted into playlists by theme (Town & Tavern, Exploration, Combat, Boss Battle, ect) that you can loop while gaming, to help bring the Immortal Engines to life.

$3USD Upgrades:

• Download this campaign sourcebook as 2 illustrated .PDFs; one 5e compatible, the other completely system agnostic.

• Download 14 vehicles with new vehicle mechanics and 5 different stations for each vehicle with unique mechanics allowing all players to enjoy vehicle combat and dozens of new siege weapons which can be used with the new vehicles - also available as 2 separate documents; one for 5e, the other system agnostic.

• Download all the 9 battlemaps for the campaign Foundry VTT ready with walls, lighting, and sounds already done.

• Get all the 9 battlemaps ready for easy, to-scale printing at home on A4 pages, or professionally as A1-A0 posters.

• Download all 14 vehicles + The moving village, prison and Scav destroyer as 2D tokens at epic (30x30ft per square) and regular scale:

• Download the 17 songs from the OST as an organized folder of MP3 files.

• Download my backlog other campaign sourcebooks with battlemaps (previously system agnostic).

• At the end of each month, I post the free version of the next month’s campaign in advance. This way, you can cancel your membership before being charged if you don’t think you’d use the content.

• My wife and I’s gratitude; your support tells us this is the kind of content you want to see more of.

• Become a Reaper of Lore member for $3USD today (or join a higher tier for 50-100 extra battlemaps monthly) and make your life as a GM super easy!

Brave the badlands in this high-octane 9+ session D&D 5e compatible campaign (levels 3-6+), packed with vehicular combat and custom maps of roving villages, underground labs, colossal prisons, and otherworldly nexuses.

an epic TTRPG campaign blending high-stakes vehicle combat, pulse-pounding exploration, and cosmic horror in a gritty post-apocalyptic frontier. Your journey begins in Saint Maria, a roving frontier village skirting the edge of civilization. Here, among friendly townsfolk, you take on a simple salvage run—only to stumble into a conspiracy centuries in the making. A routine expedition turns deadly when your transport is ambushed, dragging you into the depths of a ruined underground laboratory where shattered steel, forgotten schematics, and prowling Scavs conceal something never before seen. A living Immortal Engine, housing Cal, an ancient, wisecracking entity with fragmented memories, your simple quest for treasure explodes into a race against time.

Uncover hidden labs filled with ancient mechanical schematics, infiltrate a mobile prison fortress to recruit a fallen prophet, and expose betrayals from within your own ranks. As the fanatical Iron Prophet and his Scav hordes seek to reopen a rift to the dying otherworldly plane, you'll commandeer armored war machines, forge alliances with unlikely heroes, and charge into colossal battles where the fate of the plains hangs by a thread.

Gear up, rev your engine, and rewrite history, or watch the stars die. The badlands call. Are you ready to answer?

Campaign Hook:

40x30 Plains Scrapyard (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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The players have recently arrived (either together or independently) in the small roving village of Saint Maria, potentially having ridden in on other trading villages or smaller, roving caravans looking for adventure. Saint Maria is known to skirt the safety of Freemen territory to venture into the Badlands; dangerous areas full of Scavs, worshippers of the Iron Idol, heretics, bandits, slavers, and worse.

Home to less than a hundred people, Saint Maria is a close knit community. They are welcoming of other Freemen of the plains, but always cautious at first before trust is acquired.

Players are staying at the Lucky Seven Tavern, the only tavern that offers housing accommodation for visitors in Saint Maria. The sun rises on the horizon, awakening the players who eventually make it downstairs for breakfast. Bella, the barmaid, a young woman with long brown hair, fair skin, and hazel eyes approaches with a bright smile, ready to take their order. “Good morning! What can I get you all? And where are you lot from, anyway? Not many strangers come this far out.”

Before the players can answer however, they’re interrupted as a large, handsome muscular man holding a bag of salvage enters the tavern. Everyone goes silent and the man peers around at the tavern crowd, before giving a sly smile;  prompting everyone to jump up and greet him happily. Shaking his hand, patting his shoulder and just generally giving him praise.

If the players ask who that is, Bella, blushing slightly, explains,“That’s Cassidy,” she says, a little too dreamily. “He captains one of the deep-badlands crews. He’s only been around a short while, new here, like you, but he’s already everybody’s favorite.” The players can tell by the way Bella is talking about him, that she herself is quite fond of him.

Soon after, it all quiets down and another man, named Clay, enters the tavern. He’s the salvage master of Saint Maria, responsible for organising the salvaging runs into the badlands, taking crews that don’t have their own engines yet and dropping them off to see what treasure they can find, before they’re picked up again later. He approaches the players directly. “Morning. You looking for work? Most crews that roll through here are. I’ve got a run going out today if you’re interested.” If they agree, he explains. “You’ll ride with one of the salvage teams to a scrapyard just inside the badlands border. We drop four teams, including yours, then come back just before dusk to pick everyone up. Stay low if anything big shows up. Otherwise, grab whatever looks valuable.”

After being dropped off at the scrapyard, players spend several hours looking through piles and piles of wreckage. Any player with history would know that this was caused during the great war several hundreds of years ago, when the great houses battled for supremacy (this is a false history, although it is rare for someone alive these days to know that). Eventually the players feel like something is watching them, and a perceptive player might notice small, humanoid shaped figures moving throughout the salvage piles. Soon after, the players are ambushed by Scrap goblins wearing make-shift metal armor, who are carrying rusty pikes and daggers.

40x30 Scav's Ruined Underground Mechanical Laboratory (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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Eventually the transport can be seen in the distance heading towards the players to pick them up, but before it gets to them, it’s ambushed by a Scav vehicle. The loud boom of cannon shots are heard in the distance. Losing the battle, the transport is slowly towed away by the Scav vehicle. After a few minutes, just over the ridge to the south, the players can see smoke begin to rise. It’s only a couple miles away, and looks like the Scavs might have a secret base there. Being two hours drive away, almost eighty miles from Saint Maria, the players are left with little choice but to follow the Scav vehicle to investigate.

Cresting the hill, the players can see an old underground vehicle bay which the Scavs are using as a temporary base. The transport is outside but it looks like the players are too late to save the driver, his lifeless bloody body left dragged outside it. No Scavs can be spotted, but the players can see smoke exiting the vehicle bay indicating a fire within.

Making their way into the base, the players encounter four Scavs, two sitting at a table drinking while the others sack the area, looking for valuables. The two drinking Scavs at the table are laughing and boasting loudly “Ha! We come all this way for the Iron Prophet’s ‘machine key,’ and we get a free transport out of it too! We’re gonna be rich when we roll back into Darkswords, straight to the brothel for me!”

When engaged, they fight with jagged rusty swords, wearing armor made of leather scraps, ringsteel, and misshapen metal plates. After they’re dealt with, the players can make their way deeper into the ruin. They find a small workshop with a book journal containing early schematics of the Immortal Engines, as well as handwritten notes about them from someone named Gideon Caldwell, but the name doesn’t ring a bell.

Deeper in, the players hear the clang of tools with two Scavs cursing about an iron door, “Bloody thing won’t budge!” one snarls. “You wanna go back to Darkswords and tell the Iron Prophet we failed? He’ll hang us out to dry!” the other replies “Wait, hold on, I think I’ve got something…”

The players hear a creak then a clang and the first man yells again “This fucking door!” This goes on with the Scavs trying to get through this door until just before the players engage in combat, which is when one of the Scav excitedly shouts “Hey look I got it!”

Down a set of darkened stairs towards where the players heard the yelling Scavs, they can see a couple of Scavs sitting at a table laughing about the idiots trying to get the door open. If engaged, they wake up two other Scavs napping in hammocks nearby and draw the attention of the further two Scavs working on a thick metal door down the next staircase. Shocked, the sleeping Scavs miss out on their first turn. Just before the last Scav falls, he spits blood and snarls, “You’re dead…” (He knows that another Scav crew is on their way to meet up with them and should arrive any minute).

Up the stairs where the players came from is a library, with books on physics, energy distribution systems, and mechanical engineering. A trove of information and maybe a big score in valuable information that any town should be happy to buy, even if the books look to be a bit outdated.

After all of the Scavs have been dealt with, the players can inspect the door and to their surprise the damn fools did in fact get it open. Opening it they find a round room with an Immortal Engine core inside. The players note that, unusually, this one is glowing green when every other core they’ve ever seen always glows red.

A bodyless voice echoes throughout the room, the Immortal Engine’s glow brightening before a ghostly visage of a torso and faceless head appear gesturing fondly, “Gideon, you old bastard! Off by only two years. I owe that man an ale.”

“Call me Cal. That’s the name Gideon and I settled on, my true name’s a bit… unpronounceable in mortal tongues.” If the players ask who Gideon is, Cal says “He was a friend. A long time ago… or a short time? Depends on your perspective, I suppose. We did things together… important things. Or did we?” The glow dims,  his voice falters as though grasping at memories.

“Anyway, are we getting out of here? I’ve been cooped up for a while.” If the players ask for how long Cal, says “Three, four hundred years, give or take a few decades. To you mortals that’s an eternity. To me it felt like… one of your years. More than enough time alone, believe me.”

He pauses. “There was something important Gideon told me to guard. I just… can’t remember. This vessel, this engine, was damaged right before he left me here. My thoughts are scrambled. I need your help to fix it.”

Players who closely inspect it who are familiar with Immortal Engines will note it seems to be of unique design, unlike anything they’ve ever seen. “Right,” Cal says. “Go upstairs and look for a… a seal thing. Looks like this.” A green holographic image flickers from his hand.

Going upstairs, after some scrounging the players finally find the item described. It is unfortunately in two pieces. Pieces which were being used by the Scavs as mugs…

Cal raises a spectral finger. “Okay. Plan B. Gideon had another secret lab. Here…” His form shifts into a glowing map with a blinking marker high in the northern mountains up past the current location of Saint Maria. “We go there, you find the part I need, you fix my engine, I remember what I’m supposed to remember, and then we do whatever that is. Deal, partners?”

If the players ask what’s in it for them. Cal rubs his hands together, “I’m certain Gideon left useful things behind, he won’t be needing them anymore. Plus, you’ll have my charming company! And trust me, I have tricks to share.” He glances upward. “You’ve got a ride topside, yes? Of course you do. Take my vessel off this broken engine and slap me onto any other Immortal Engine you like.” Taking him upstairs Cal says “Let’s take that Iron Beetle, the other transport’s too shot up.” Once Cal is installed in the Iron Beetle and the interior lights up green:

“Full systems integration,” he says proudly. “Give her a drive and see what we can do together.”

DM’s Notes: Once Cal is attached to an Immortal Engine, players gain access to their special skills granted at all vehicle stations.

60x40 Epic Scale Northern Rocky Plains Roads (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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If the players suggest heading back to Saint Maria for the night, Cal replies that that is a “Smart plan, we have to head that way anyway.” But regardless of whatever the players decide, heading back to Saint Maria or tracking down and rescuing the other salvaging groups first, they’re interrupted as a Scav vehicle catches up to them. If the players don’t stop, the vehicle catches on that they aren’t the right crew and attacks their vehicle, leading to combat.

If on the other hand the players stop, the Scav vehicle stops too and some of their crew get out ready to meet up, a little peeved that the Iron Beetle wasn’t exactly where they said they were going to be. This gives the players the chance to either ambush the unaware crew, or potentially bluff their way out of the situation without revealing themselves, as unless they changed into Scav garb they'd be immediately outed as Freemen.

After the Scav vehicle is dealt with, the players are on their way again and returning to Saint Maria. They’re greeted by Great Spear Ballistas pointed right at their new vehicle. Getting out of the vehicle or otherwise showing they're not a threat allows them entrance back into the village, with everyone ready to hear what went down for them to acquire a Scav vehicle.

Clay is saddened to hear about the death of the transport driver. "That's terrible news, he was a fine man. I’ll see that his remains are collected, but before that I need to get another transport for the other salvage teams." he says sadly, before hurrying off, if the players didn’t already pick them up. If they did pick them up, they're rewarded with extra gold for their help. 

The players meet the mayor for the first time, a man named Sterling Rook, previously an engineer when he was young. He’s most intrigued by the talking Immortal engine they acquired (should the players not keep it a secret), noting that "I've never seen or heard of anything like that before, the Immortal Engines are old technology, their origin lost to time. You may be dealing with something dangerous, so keep on your toes." he warns them.

Meanwhile, Bella is excited and shocked by their tale. "That's incredible, and terrifying!" she exclaims. “What’s your next move now that you have your own engine?” If the players choose to head out to the second laboratory, a town navigator is happy to help them and points out the mountains they’re heading to should be around 2 days travel if they’re going at standard engine speeds.

A perceptive player might note that the handsome muscled man named Cassidy is eavesdropping from the other side of the tavern, leaning up against a wall drinking his ale acting as if he doesn’t care about the situation. If at any point the players bring up Cal, Cassidy slinks out which a perceptive player might also notice. Cassidy heads down to the Docks under the city and leaves with his crew. A player sneaking after him will see he’s heading for the badlands with his crew.

30x20 Ruined Mechanic's Cliff Laboratory (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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The players spend the night at Saint Maria and head out in the morning. They are wished good luck by Bella and Clay, as well as the other patrons of the Lucky Seven. On their travels, if they mentioned Cal in the tavern and Cassidy escaped, they're ambushed by a Scav vehicle on the second day just after dawn. Cassidy has been secretly working with the Scavs and has given up information about Cal, particularly to a Scav prophet named the Iron Prophet who the Scavs from the first laboratory were working for.

If the players didn’t mention Cal in the Lucky Seven Tavern, they have an uneventful trip to the laboratory, driving over the plains for two days before approaching a steep ridge. At the bottom, however, is a Scav vehicle. Cal warns the players “The Lab is up on the cliff face, there's a path you can take but it’s a steep climb, stay focused; it’s a certainty Scavs are already raiding the place. No idea how they managed to find it, all of Gideon's labs were fairly well hidden, though he did tend to have a lot…”

Making their way up the cliff face’s narrow path, the players arrive at the lab’s exterior door within 20 minutes. They can’t hear any sound from the exterior, and, entering, find themselves in a large empty antichamber. A couple of voices can be heard through the northern door. “Ain't nothing of value here, just books. Iron Prophet said we’s looking for an iron door that hides a machine key, not books. Waste of time if you ask me. Maybe the other boys found something more useful.”

If the players take too long, four Scavs open the northern door and enter the anti-chamber where the players currently are. The Scavs are shocked at first but then ready to fight. After dealing with the Scavs the players can investigate the library, once again containing plethoras of valuable information on mechanics of vehicles. A dedicated player might, however, also find another book that talks about other distant planes. In particular, focusing on a plane Gideon calls the Plane of Fading Light. The book details this plane, which he believes is a plane of unimaginable energy, and that if he could somehow harness it he would be able to bring the world forward into a new age of peace and prosperity.

The antichamber’s eastern door enters a small, winding cavern. Inside is a path which leads deeper into the cliff with a stream running through it. A Scav is non-chalantly pissing into the river from a small broken steel bridge which leads to the other side of the cavern, and into another section of the lab. When spotting the players, The Scav legs it inside to warn the other two Scavs further on. A small bedroom has a journal on the table that reads:

“The war goes on and the Eidolons' assault continues unabated. The development and construction of our new Immortal Engines however has changed the tide of the war, but it feels as if the Eidolons numbers are endless. Cal has assisted me as best he can with the development of a new machine that may just close the rift to the Fading Light for good. Perhaps this will be our only hope of victory.”

Entering the next section of the lab, the players find it seemingly abandoned. But, entering the final room, they’re instantly attacked by the prepared Scavs; two of them shooting muskets at the first player to enter. Afterwards, they all draw their sword and attack.

The players find the part they need in this final room, in addition to some other mechanical bits and pieces. If the players decide to take the path deeper into the cliff, they walk some 200ft before being met by a large iron door which they cannot get through. A strange device around the size of a hand sits at waist height on one side of it.

Returning to their vehicle, they can fix up Cal’s engine. Afterward, Cal’s voice is suddenly sharp, and clear “Oh. Oh that’s better. Like waking up from a three-hundred-year hangover. I can think again.” He pauses, somber. If the players ask more about what Cal actually is, he explains that “All the Immortal Engines are powered by the Eidolons from the Fading Light. My people.”

“Each Immortal Engine allows for the connection to a unique Eidolon from the Fading Light, which in turn powers the engine. If the engine is destroyed, the link is broken, but the Eidolon is fine. However, unlike my brethren, I’m actually here within the material realm, confined to this engine. If my engine was to be destroyed, my energy would eventually dissipate and I would be no more. It's what makes me unique and what allows me to do what I do.”

If the players ask how Cal can allow his people to be used like this, he explains “I no longer side with my people. My people come from a dying plane, something of their own creation. Instead of accepting their fate, they sent me as a scout to other planes, looking for suitable features that they might change into their own, extinguishing the host population in the process. When I left nearly all of my people slept, only I was awoken by the Caretaker to go on this mission. The Eidolons that power the Immortal Engines even now are sleepers. It is why the energy the Engines give off is red, while my energy is green.”

If the players ask more about how all of this came about. He explains “When I arrived here hundreds of years ago, I was injured due to the transversal and the different nature of this plane. Gideon Caldwell found me, and despite my alien origin saved me by creating the first Immortal Engine. It was then I decided I could not damn this world for the greed of my own people, but when the Caretaker learned of my betrayal they came anyway. Opening a rift between our planes and sending forth their ships. Towns and cities here were demolished, and people ran and hid in the hills.” 

“Gideon and I began work on the first great machines to fight back against them, but after years there were no more towns or cities to save. Everything was wiped out in the plains, despite the victory of the great machines of the Freedmen, we could not win the war. It was then that Gideon built the machine which closed the rift and sealed the Eiolons away, back to the Fading Light.”

Regardless of the amount of information Cal gives, he says “what is most important is I think I understand what this Iron prophet and the Scavs are up to. I believe for whatever reason they seek to once again open the rift and we cannot let that happen. The machine that stopped rifts being opened previously was hidden away even from myself, but after so many years have passed it is reasonable to assume that the machine may have already failed. What we need to protect now is the key to the rifts, the only way to open them from this side. Which, as you may have guessed, lies beyond the iron door above.”

He continues “Unfortunately only Gideon could open this one, the door had a magical trigger built in that could only be activated by a drop of his blood and he’s long dead. But perhaps a living descendant of his might suffice? If we can find one, we can open the door and get the key. The Scavs already know this location, and given enough time they might even be able to breach it. Might it take years? Perhaps, but I have a feeling they will not give up so easily. Let's head back to Saint Maria. Maybe they can help us track down Caldwell descendants.”

60x40 Multi-Level Moving Fortress Prison (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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Arriving back at Saint Maria, the players can ask around about how they might find out about the descendants of Gideon Caldwell, with Bella or other townsfolk pointing them to the town archivist. He’s happy to help but explains “I’ll need at least a day to go through all of the records I have, but I’m’s fairly confident that if a descendant exists I should be at the very least able to point to the town they were born in.” At the end of the day the archivist comes to the players with good and bad news. “I have found two descendants, brothers in fact. One Jesse

Caldwell, bad news, dead. And one Boone Caldwell, good news, I even know where this man will be with a one hundred percent certainty, more bad news, this man is imprisoned within the moving fortress of Freehold.”

If the players ask what Freehold is, the archivist raises an eyebrow but nonetheless explains “It is a place where the worst of the worst are kept, those with crimes so horrible even death is a mercy to them, a place without light and without hope. Which means for Boone to be housed there, he must have committed a heinous crime indeed!”

The archivist continues “If you still wish to continue your quest for the descendant, perhaps the guards there will look kindly upon your request. The town's navigator can send you the coordinates for Freehold, they don’t make their presence hidden. They follow a regular route around the plainsland, afterall no one is stupid enough to attack the moving fortress! One last bit of good news, Clay is the warden's brother, so go see him and perhaps he can give you a recommendation that might help.”

Returning to the player's vehicle, Freehold is a little over two days away, luckily following a path that will take it towards the player's current location. Two days travel later and the players spot Freehold breaching the horizon; a lumbering stone mountain, framed by iron bars and a massive stone statue of a guardian at its peak. Driving into place behind it, a metal claw is latched onto the player’s vehicle, pulling it along so the prison doesn’t need to stop. A ladder is lowered down to the players to climb up. The guards professionally escort the players into the carved stone walls of the prison, with flickering lanterns hanging from the walls, and into the warden's office so they might make their request. 

The warden is a muscled man with a mustache and a no-nonsense attitude. He listens carefully to the players request, giving it thought but he explains “My brother’s word carries weight, but I can’t release a monster like Boone Caldwell so you can fetch some ‘magical key.’ However, if blood is all you need, that can be arranged.”

If the players agree, the warden arranges two guards to take them to the highest floor of the prison. On the way, they pass by a circular prison complex with prisoners shouting from the halls which lead off in multiple directions. Climbing stairs ever higher they eventually reach the final room at the peak of the prison. The guards ask the players to enter the final room, locking it behind them, explaining it will be unlocked once their business has been resolved. The guards explain that the final cells can only be accessed by activating a magical crystal in the center of the room. The crystal temporarily changes the structure of the stone wall giving access to any one of the seven cells, in this case Boone Caldwell's cell.

“Opening cell four.” Calls one guard, and the crystal sends a beam of powerful red energy towards the solid stone wall which disappears. A well built man, strong and tall with long ragged red hair and beard sits on a sturdy wooden bench in the faint darkness, his head hung towards the ground.“I have been expecting you,” he says with a deep raspy voice that obviously has not been used in a long time. Around his neck is a magical lock that projects an antimagic field on the wearer, while magically giving sustenance at the same time. Meaning that those locked up in these cells may not have seen or heard from anyone since they were locked away.

If the players explain that they need his blood, he chuckles before saying “So be it, if my blood may bring something good to this world let it be part of my penance.” But as the players approach Boone the entire prison shakes, coming to a halt and throwing less dexterous players off their feet.

The guards looking after the players tell them to stay put while they investigate, but minutes later they don’t return. Chanting and shouting begin to grow louder and the sounds of a fight break out. Suddenly a group of Scavs appear, opening the gates and entering the room the players are in. Their leader approaches, bloodied hands stretched out wide. “Oh great Copper Prophet, we have come for you.” he says motioning to Boone.

“Ain't no one's Prophet anymore.” Boone retorts solemnly, “I have spent a decade in these lightless halls and found your god to be false.”

The Scavs take a step back in shock. “Heretic!” the Scav leader screams. “The Eiolons will bring about a new Eden, never again will we hunger or want! Those who do not stand with us stand against us!” Then they attack Boone and the players.

After the Scavs are defeated, Boone, still solemn, says “A path has been laid before me, a path to redemption. I will help recover the key, and end the Iron Prophet. Let us go.”

Downstairs the players can still hear screaming and fighting going on and, making their way down there, they find several guards fighting off dozens of unarmed prisoners within the circular room who have been let out by the Scavs. If the players help the guards, they’re forever grateful, and head downstairs to check on the warden and the other guards.

On the warden's floor the players find dozens of dead Scavs and many dead and wounded guards within the corridor. The warden is amongst them, he’s suffered an abdomen wound and is bleeding from his mouth but will live. When he sees Boone with the players, he eyes Boone fiercely, “They came for you. We’ve got nothing left, we cannot defend this prison against another wave of Scavs, not for the likes of one prisoner.” 

He motions to a guard who returns with a key. The warden approaches Boone, removing his prison necklace. “He’s yours now. Don’t fuck it up.” On the way out Boone picks up a scav sword and some armor. Exiting the prison, it becomes apparent how large of an assault this actually was; with dozens of Scav vehicles littering the battlefield, pierced by tree sized ballista bolts.

Heading back to the cliff face laboratory takes three days, and during this time if Boone is asked more about being a “Copper Prophet" he explains “In another life, I was an icon amongst the Scavs, a leader and priest who spoke the gospel of the Eidolons, beings of pure energy that offered the world a new eden… or so I believed. I… I did horrible things in the name of bringing about this Eden, and only now after my decade of solitude do I understand my folly. For the true gods have spoken to me and set my final path.”

If he is asked about the Iron Prophet he explains “He is my younger brother, Jesse Caldwell. The most fervent of my followers, and the one who took over my congregation when I was finally apprehended.”

Arriving at the Laboratory the players make their way up the cliff face and to the iron door, to only find it open and the key gone. The door shows no sign of forced entry and Boone, standing behind the players just whispers. “Jeese…”

When Cal is informed about the missing Key, he explains “We need to get back to Saint Maria now!” If asked why, he explains that “Saint Maria was the first town founded after the war ended. Founded by Gideon himself, although I wouldn’t expect anyone alive to know that. Why does that matter? Well, every key is designed with a certain lock, and the lock for the rift key is built into the Immortal Engine of Saint Maria.”

“Why didn’t I give this information up earlier? It was a need to know basis. If you were kidnapped and tortured I couldn’t exactly have you give away that one piece of information the Scavs might not have. But that doesn’t matter now, we need to hurry, the Scavs have known so much, who knows if they already have this information.”

60x40 Multi-Level Scav's Destroyer (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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Thanks to Saint Maria's course changes, it only takes the players one day to return, but when they arrive the town is already under siege by Scavs. Three smaller vehicles are attempting to disable the town while a larger destroyer hangs back, enjoying the fireshow. Cal points out “The Iron Prophet will be on the destroyer. Cripple its tracks and guns, board it, and end him.”

During the fight, the smaller vehicles ignore the players, focusing on the town while the destroyer attempts to take the players out. Once the wheels have been disabled and the players are adjacent to the destroyer, they can make their way on board with Boone joining them. Inside they find three Scavs on either side of the destroyer manning the port and starboard cannons, another three Scavs within the engine room and another three Scavs in the command room driving the vehicle and using the front cannons. After they’re dealt with, the players make their way to the temple room behind the command room. 

Which is where they find two heavily armored Scavs standing in front of the Iron Prophet, who is dressed in a flowing black robe and covered in mismatching iron armor and jewelry. He is carrying a strange device in his left hand that appears to attach to the vehicle via a long cable. Behind him on an altar lies the magical rift key.

“Brother.” the Iron Prophet says turning around. “I sent hundreds to their deaths to bring you here, so that you may see with your eyes what you bled for, for so many years. A New Eden. They went willingly, all for you.”

Boone responds, “They are false gods, Jesse, please stop this.” 

“My dear brother, that prison took from you what no one else could. Your faith. I will not let mine die so easily.” The Iron Prophet then motions to his elite guards to attack the players and Boone. During the fight, the Iron Prophet casts holy spells bolstering his companions and healing them.

A fight ensues but once the guards are dead and the Iron Prophet has been severely wounded, he falls to the ground dying. Boone runs up to him grabbing his left, hand holding him firmly in his lap. If the players attempt to grab the rift key it becomes clear that the key is just a magical illusion. The Iron Prophet grins sheepishly, “I am not such a prideful man that I must be the one to bring about the beginning of New Eden personally, and while I will not see it, my name will be spoken of as a savior who gave his life for others…” before dying.

Boone lowers his head in mourning, tears streaking his face, but doesn’t remove his firm grip upon his brother's lifeless left hand. If the players explain that they understand his loss but they need to get to Saint Maria, Boone explains “Jesse is holding a deadman switch, most likely rigged to blow up the destroyer should he die. I can’t remove my hand from his now, or we’re all dead.” He raises his head “Step forward, I have a final penance to perform for you.” before healing them to full health, and tells them “May the gods bless your path, go, stop the rift from being opened. I will stay here until after the battle, then we can figure out what to do about the switch.” He yells “Go! we have no time!” After the players are safely out of the destroyer, the destroyer explodes into a colossal fireball.

60x40 Multi-Level Colossal Roving Vehicle Village (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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Getting in their vehicle with Cal, they rush over to Saint Maria which has been immobilized and make their way up a Scav ladder leading to the town's entrance on the main floor. A couple of citizens have been killed in the courtyard, but the Scavs have mostly just rounded everyone up and tied their hands. Six Scavs are patrolling back and forth in the area, and spotting the players, they try to parley. “No need to fight! New Eden comes! Surrender and be welcomed!” If the players refuse, they attack. 

After they’ve been dealt with the villagers explain “Cassidy is working for the Scavs, he was seen heading down stairs to the Immortal Engine room with some type of machine key, you’ve got to hurry.” The room itself is guarded by another two Scavs either side of the main door, but when dealt with the players can enter. Cassidy is standing on the other side of the Engine, about to plunge the key into the engine, but stops briefly when he sees the players enter. Then grins and stabs it deep into the engine saying “Whoops.”

60x40 Epic Scale Eidolon Astral Realm Nexus (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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The ground begins to shake and the players feel as if all of reality is warping around them, Cassidy takes the opportunity to attempt to escape, bursting out one of the engine room doors and jumping over the ledge. If he succeeds he manages to grab a cable on the way down swinging safely to the ground.

The players making their way back up to the main floor of Saint Maria find the sky shifting into a dark night sky with blinking green dying stars. The towns folk are scared, but some of them have managed to take off their binds with the dropped Scav swords. The Mayor approaches the players, explaining “I’ll get the mechanics working on getting Saint Maria up and running as soon as possible, while the rest of the towns folk take refuge in the Lucky Seven. Thanks for the assistance.” But the fear in his eyes gives away his true feelings.

Reaching the Ladder the Scavs used to scale the town, the players can see the extent of the problem. Before them are the dying lands of the Eiolons, blackened stone plains and hills, with sporadic explosions of green lightning reaching from the ground to the sky. And in the distance, the Eiolons come, several large machines hovering above the ground, with magical armaments equipped to their decks. 

Making their way back to their vehicle, Cal is distressed. “They’ve opened the Rift” he says with some concern… “We can’t build another machine to stop it this time, but I have a plan, we have one shot at this.” He continues “We need to make it to the Nexus, that swirling vortex of energy beyond the Eidolon vehicles. If you can enter the Nexus, you can kill the Caretaker. Then this all ends.”

If asked what he means by “This all ends.” He explains “The Caretaker is the one keeping the majority of Eidolons asleep, the Fading Light doesn’t have enough energy to sustain all of the Eidolons. If he dies, they all wake up, all the energy left in the Fading Light will be consumed instantly, killing every Eidolon, it’s like having no air for you mortals but, you know, if you were also made of air too.”

If the players ask what about Cal, he explains “I’m willing to die for my friends, including the memory of Gideon.” Behind the player's vehicle Saint Maria looms, repaired and ready to go. In addition, some of the salvage teams have made their way down to two of the Scav vehicles and are driving up side by side to the players' vehicle. Clay calls out from a hatch that they have the players backs. Heading off, the players encounter multiple Eiolon vehicles which send beams of green energy towards their vehicle which erodes and disintegrates small objects. The two salvage teams driving the Scav vehicles act as decoys, taking hits as best they can to get the players through to the Nexus. With Saint Maria in the back shooting.

As the players approach the Nexus it’s just them versus an Eidolon battle barge, as the salvage team and Saint Maria are busy with other enemies. The players can either choose to destroy the battle barge or head straight to the Nexus. Getting closer it becomes apparent that there is an edge where the Nexus is and driving over edges tends to be bad but Cal reassures the players, “You need to drive right into it, it’s the only way to reach the Caretaker.”

Following his guidance the players drive right off the edge into the Nexus. Cal raises his green glowing hand in a salute, “Good luck partners” he says. As the vehicle begins to be separated into multiple pieces as if it was being taken apart by an unseen hand, suddenly a bright green light flashes and the players find themselves standing on a platform in the center of a Ziggurat chamber. 

60x40 Floating Astral Death Monolith (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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“We were once of flesh too, you know. Weak flesh, mortal flesh.” The Caretaker says from an unseen vantage point. “We languished, we hungered, we outgrew it, we became something more… Immortal.”

“I have seen a thousand stars die. I am the Caretaker, the watcher, a servant of my people. They sleep, but not for long. You think yourself different from us? And yet you take just as we do, you use our world, the last of it as energy for your wars. For your disputes, you kill. Pathetic. Eiolons outgrew such pettiness long ago, we are united, one world, one banner. Can you say the same? So brandish your little knives, your words of power, face me and show me that your world deserves to survive!”

The Caretaker appears as a ten foot lanky ghost like form, with sparking green electric energy pulsating through his body.

During the fight he appears and disappears every round, alternating between meleeing with energy claws at close range and then using ranged energy attacks from a more distant position. He’s also resistant to mundane attacks. During the fight, when the Caretaker is at a ranged position electric orbs spawn above the heads of the four statues surrounding the players platform. Destroying an orb empowers the player's weapon, to ignore the damage resistance the Caretaker normally has but, also increase their damage for the next round.

Once the Caretaker has been defeated his form slowly fades, “I have failed my people…”  he says ominously. “Do not fail yours…” 

The ground begins to shake again with the world warping before the players eyes until the players find themselves laying on the soft green grass of the plains staring up at the blue sky. Getting up, the players see their vehicle a couple minutes walk away, and Saint Maria in the far distance behind it. Entering it they find their engine dull. Lifeless. Cal gave his life for them, all of them...

However, approaching it,the engine comes to life; Cal's green glow covering the whole interior of the vehicle. “Well this is a pleasant surprise,” he says.

Epilogue

The player's vehicle crests the last rise just as the sun bleeds gold across the endless grass. Saint Maria waits ahead, scarred but upright, her massive treads caked in mud and ash, no smoke rising from her flanks anymore. The siege is over. The world has ended and begun again in the space of a single afternoon.

Cal eases the vehicle to a gentle stop at the foot of the village's main ramp. For a long moment no one speaks. Then the ramp clangs down and people spill out: mechanics with soot-streaked faces, children clutching salvaged toys, old men leaning on make-shift weapons they no longer need. They move slowly, like folk waking from a nightmare they can’t quite shake.

Clay reaches the players first. The salvage master looks ten years older than when they left, fresh grey in his beard. He stares at the green-lit vehicle cabin interior, then at the players climbing out one by one, dusty, bandaged, alive. “You did it,” he says, voice cracking on the second word. “Whole damn town felt the sky change back. Thought we were dreaming.”

He pulls each of them into a rough embrace, not caring about blood or gun-oil.

Bella comes running next, apron still tied from the makeshift infirmary in the Lucky Seven. She throws herself at the nearest player hard enough to stagger them, then moves down the line, hugging each in turn, tears cutting clean tracks through the grime on her cheeks.

“You’re late for breakfast,” she laughs, half-sobbing. “I saved you the good rashers.”

Mayor Sterling Rook waits at the top of the ramp, leaning on a crutch, his left leg splinted from a Scav bullet. The old engineer’s eyes are red-rimmed but sharp. He studies the player's vehicle's glowing interior for a long time.

“So the stories are true,” he murmurs. “One of them chose us.”

Cal asks to be brought into the village for once, to share in the victory. Inside the tavern it is quiet, the kind of quiet that only follows too much death. Tables lie shoved together as makeshift beds; someone has draped a blanket over the body they never managed to save and a few candles burn low.

Clay pours whiskey with a shaking hand. Bella sets down plates nobody touches.

Eventually the mayor clears his throat. “Every Immortal Engine on the plains went dark at the exact same moment,” he says. “From Freehold to the deep badlands. Red lights turn to cold iron. The great war-machines, the city-fortresses, even the little skiffs… none of them move anymore. We’re all on foot now, or on beasts, or on whatever muscle we can cobble together.”

He looks around the room, meeting every eye. “Some will call it the end of the world. Others will call it the first day of a new one.” Silence. Then a child’s voice pipes up from the stairway. “But Cal still works, right?” Every head turning toward Cal, his warm, wry and impossibly alive voice drifting through the tavern. “Present and accounted for, little one.” The tavern erupts in tired, disbelieving laughter.

Someone starts clapping. Someone else starts crying. 

Later, when the moon hangs high and most folk drift home to whatever sleep they can find, the players sit with Clay, Bella, and the mayor around the hearth. The fire crackles; outside, wind moves across grass that no longer smells of green lightning.

Clay stares into his cup. “Whole trade routes collapse tomorrow. No more moving cities. No more engines the size of hills. We learn borders again. Farms. Walls that don’t walk.” Bella rests her chin on her pulled-up knees. “Maybe we just… live smaller,” she says softly. “Closer to the ground. Like before the war, like the oldest stories say.”

The mayor nods slowly. “There will be dark years. Warlords who still have black-powder and grudges. Hunger while we remember how to grow things without machines the size of gods. But the sky is blue again. The stars aren’t dying anymore.”

He looks toward Cal’s green glow painting the threshold. “And we have one miracle left.”

Bella finally asks the question they’ve carried all the way from the dying plane. “Cal… why didn’t you die with the others? When the Caretaker died, when the fading light burned itself out, why are you still here?” 

The glow brightens, and Cal’s translucent form shimmers into view above the table; arms folded, head cocked in that familiar wry angle. “Because I wasn’t there,” he says simply. “I was never linked like the sleepers. I was already awake. Already here. Gideon built my engine different, whole and complete, no tether back to the fading light. A final gift from my best friend.” He looks around at the tired, stubborn, impossible humans who carried him home.

“Besides,” he adds, voice softening, “someone has to stick around and make sure you lot don’t do anything stupid with the quiet.”

Clay raises his glass. “To absent friends,” he says. “Gideon. Boone. All the ones who don’t get to see tomorrow.” 

“To tomorrow,” Bella echoes. They drink. 

Outside, the grass whispers under a wind that belongs only to this world. Somewhere far off, a horse nickers, a real horse, not an engine. The great machines stand silent. But the small ones, the ones made of hope and stubborn, reckless humanity, are already turning. 

And somewhere in the dark, Cal smiles, the ghost of an Eidolon who has chosen, against every ancient law of his people, to become part of a different story.

The story isn’t over.

It is just beginning again.

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