Party just cornered Veth at the altar but he teleported out. Give me a beat for the fallout.
Drafted a cold-open beat picking up right after the teleport -- cracked altar, lingering hum, Gristle shaken but alive.
Draft beat
Cold open -- fallout from the ritual interruption
Veth vanishes mid-ritual in a burst of shadow. The altar cracks; a low hum lingers in Chamber 2.
Good. Now build the ambush encounter for the road back to camp.
Hard-budget ambush, 2,150 XP -- 4 cultist remnants plus 2 shadow mastiffs tracking the party's scent.
Draft encounter
Cult remnant ambush on the road
2,150 XP · Cultist Remnant x4 · Shadow Mastiff x2