# Complication Toolkit

DM-facing pressure moves for moments when the players have found the path of least resistance and the scene needs a new cost, witness, accusation, or decision.

The goal is not to invalidate a good plan. A complication should do one of four things:

- make the players reveal what they are doing;
- make them spend a resource or owe someone a favor;
- force them to choose who they trust;
- advance a neglected NPC or faction while their plan still remains possible.

## How to Use This

1. Identify what currently feels too easy: secrecy, time, faction agreement, access, or combat preparation.
2. Pick a complication that pressures a **different** resource. Do not simply declare their successful work undone.
3. Give the players one clear chance to answer it.
4. Escalate only if they ignore it or fail visibly.

Use one complication at a time. Two simultaneous complications feel like the world reacting. Four feel like the DM refusing to let a plan work.

### Pressure Levels

| Level | Use when | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| **Nudge** | Momentum is slowing or a scene is too comfortable | A question, tell, suspicious witness, or private warning |
| **Obstacle** | The party has a strong uncontested route | An NPC demands access, payment, proof, or a concession |
| **Crisis** | The party ignores an established warning or the clock is nearly spent | A public accusation, stolen tool, abduction, attack, or faction ultimatum |

---

## d20 Quick Complications

Roll or choose. The entries are deliberately short; fuller versions appear later.

| d20 | Complication |
|---:|---|
| 1 | **Thera catches the cellar party returning.** She asks what they found and gently reminds them that Mags owns every secret below. |
| 2 | **Mags notices the black key is missing.** She closes the kitchen and searches everyone who passed through it. |
| 3 | **Dace recognizes stolen evidence.** He offers silence in exchange for seeing it first. |
| 4 | **Haddon recognizes old summoner equipment.** He publicly asks why the party is carrying it and who opened the lower rooms. |
| 5 | **Sevra demands a chain of custody.** Evidence without a named finder and location will not move the House. |
| 6 | **Kael sees a cult pin, ritual component, or suspicious blade.** He assumes the nearest cultist planted it. |
| 7 | **Rennt calls the party Mags's hired thieves.** He demands the cult's papers and property back. |
| 8 | **Dalla finds the conduit extract at the worst moment.** Rebinding negotiations stop immediately. |
| 9 | **Essek's brand flares while he helps.** Haddon notices his brass indicator warming. |
| 10 | **Bren becomes lucid in public.** He identifies Xarrul's presence but also calls Haddon “Professor.” |
| 11 | **Haddon recognizes the Workroom's Oil of Etherealness.** He publicly asks who opened Mags's hidden laboratory and demands custody of the planar tool. |
| 12 | **A soulcoin whispers from someone's pocket.** Thera hears it and calmly asks to inspect their belongings. |
| 13 | **Xarrul exposes one true secret in a stolen voice.** The accused denies it too quickly. |
| 14 | **A branded NPC remembers a PC tampering with evidence moments ago.** The memory is false, but the witness is sincere. |
| 15 | **One anti-ethereal dose is missing.** It was moved, not destroyed; three different NPCs have reasons to possess it. |
| 16 | **The iron bell rings once by itself.** Everyone who knows it matters assumes someone else has begun a ritual. |
| 17 | **A cellar ward pulses.** Mags knows someone touched a cage, the Vault, or the Old Work—but not which. |
| 18 | **The factions issue competing ultimatums.** Sevra wants one suspect surrendered; Haddon wants one item returned. |
| 19 | **A trusted voice rises from the cellar stair.** One PC hears an offer the others do not; it may be Xarrul, the Guest, or only an echo. |
| 20 | **Xarrul marks the plan's indispensable person.** The ritualist, bell-ringer, ethereal observer, or salt-carrier now has a visible death clock. |

---

## Someone Notices the Cellar

Use these when the party returns too cleanly from the Deep Cellar, carries conspicuous equipment, or begins treating the hidden level like a consequence-free supply room.

| NPC | What they notice | What they say | What they want |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Thera** | Dust, old webbing, or the smell of the lower wards | *„Co jste tam dole našli? Myslím, že Mags nebude nadšená, až uslyší, že se jí hrabete ve sklepě. Nemyslíte?”* | Information first; leverage if they evade |
| **Mags** | Missing key, moved barrel rack, or lower alarm | *„Položte to na stůl. Pak mi řeknete, které dveře jste otevřeli. V tomhle pořadí.”* | Protect the cells and learn whether the rift was disturbed |
| **Sevra** | New weapons or evidence appearing without provenance | *„Důkaz bez původu je jen předmět, který někdo potřeboval položit na správné místo. Kdo ho našel?”* | A chain of custody before she acts |
| **Dace** | Ledger page, cult pin, or Vault trophy | *„Tohle nevypadá jako něco, co Mags půjčuje hostům. Můžu se nedívat. Bude mě to něco stát?”* | See or steal anything that implicates him |
| **Kael** | Ritual dust, cult material, or Dace's records | *„Kdes to vzal? A nelži. Dneska už mám lží dost.”* | Immediate public disclosure |
| **Haddon** | Binding coffer, old notation, or planar instrument | *„Fascinující. Tohle nebylo nahoře. Takže—který z vás otevřel starou pracovnu?”* | Recover the coffer and control its interpretation |
| **Rennt** | Anything bearing the Order's symbols | *„To patří Řádu. Vrať to, nebo přestaň předstírat, že jsi vyšetřovatel.”* | Recover cult property and provoke a loyalty test |
| **Dalla** | Blood tubing, conduit notes, or a child's object | *„Proč je na tom moje jméno?”* | An immediate explanation, regardless of the current plan |
| **Essek** | Someone carrying volatile summoner equipment incorrectly | *„Nedržte to tak. Prosím. Až se Haddon zeptá, kde jste to našli, neříkejte moje jméno.”* | Prevent disaster and secure discretion |
| **Bren** | The silver mirror, silvervein root, or a prepared dose of Oil of Etherealness | *„Vidíte ho? Tak se nedívejte na mě. Dívejte se na ty nitě.”* | Recognition, one lucid moment, or freedom |

### Fast Resolutions

- Tell the truth and lose secrecy.
- Lie and create a future witness against them.
- Offer a share, favor, or piece of evidence.
- Bring the NPC into the plan, accepting their preferred ending.
- Silence the witness socially, magically, or physically—and let that choice matter.

---

## Corrosive Whispers

Xarrul prefers true content delivered in the most damaging voice. Every statement below is true in the underlying story, although the imitated speaker may never have said it.

Use a whisper when the room is becoming cooperative or when one faction has accepted the party's plan too easily.

| Target | Voice used | Whisper | Truth underneath | Likely accusation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Kael** | Rennt | *„Dace nám prodal Haratha tři dny před varováním.”* | Dace sold the Harath dossier | Kael attacks Dace and blames Rennt for knowing |
| **Sevra** | Dace | *„Haddon má můj podpis. Když shoří jeho deník, nemá nic.”* | Haddon's journal contains Dace's field-sign | Sevra moves to seize both Dace and the journal |
| **Dalla** | Haddon | *„Mohla ji zachránit už před měsíci.”* | Vyre postponed Nessa's reintegration | Dalla confronts Haddon immediately |
| **Dalla** | Haddon | *„Zeptej se ho, co krmila tvoje krev.”* | Her blood fed the binding through Nessa | Rebinding loses Dalla's support |
| **Rennt** | Sevra | *„Až se ty dveře otevřou, první umřeš ty.”* | Sevra intends to answer the archive attack | Rennt prepares a preemptive strike |
| **Haddon** | Essek | *„Pouto je pryč. Zůstalo jen krmení.”* | Essek knows Xarrul is unbound | Haddon searches or punishes Essek |
| **Essek** | Haddon | *„Viděl jsem, jak ti značka hoří.”* | Haddon's brass indicator reveals strong activations | Essek panics and may flee a safe conversation |
| **Dace** | Thera | *„Devět dní.”* | Thera has already marked him | Dace searches for the source and exposes fear |
| **Mags** | Haddon | *„Kruh dole ho dokáže znovu spoutat.”* | Haddon can adapt the circle | Mags realizes Haddon knows more than he admitted |
| **Mags** | Guest | *„Orenn věděl, koho jste nechali zemřít ve druhé cele.”* | Orenn knew about Cell Two | Mags assumes the cellar secret has escaped |
| **Sevra** | Thera | *„Tohle není moje mince.”* | Thera recognizes soul-withdrawal | Sevra starts asking why Thera has a category for it |
| **Any PC** | Another PC | A true sentence from that PC's dossier or disclosed goal | Xarrul has listened all night | The party must decide whether the speaker betrayed them |

### Whisper Guardrails

- Use only facts Xarrul plausibly knows.
- The sentence itself remains true; the falsehood is attribution, timing, or omitted context.
- Let a careful player compare where the imitated speaker actually was.
- Bren should react when Xarrul comes close enough to place a whisper. His sudden lucidity is the counter-clue.

---

## Visions and False Memories

Use a **momentary vision** on a branded target through Visions of Spite, or on an oil-user crossing near the tear in the Old Work. Use a persistent **false memory** only on a creature Xarrul has branded and affected with Waking Dream.

**Hard limit:** Waking Dream can rewrite only the preceding minute. It cannot add a new witness to Orenn's murder, change what someone remembers from the opening brawl, or revise an interrogation that happened earlier in the lockdown. It can only falsify something that appears to have happened **just now**.

A fresh false memory may change how someone interprets older evidence—“I just saw that PC plant Orenn's dagger”—but it cannot change the older event itself.

| d12 | What the victim experiences | Accusation it encourages | Tell that can break it |
|---:|---|---|---|
| 1 | They remember a PC slipping a current piece of evidence into their coat seconds ago | “They are hiding or replacing evidence” | The item is still in its original place or another witness watched it continuously |
| 2 | They remember Haddon wiping fresh black residue from his fingers after examining an item | “He just contaminated the evidence” | His hands and handkerchief carry no residue |
| 3 | They remember Kael passing Dace's ritual-marked dagger beneath the table moments ago | “The House is coordinating a cover-up” | The dagger is somewhere neither man could have moved it from |
| 4 | They remember Mags quietly ordering a PC not to mention what they found below | “Mags is suppressing the cellar evidence” | The PC never spoke with Mags, or someone heard the actual exchange |
| 5 | They remember Dalla handing Rennt a fresh vial of blood | “The cult is preparing another ritual now” | Dalla still possesses every vial, or the supposed vial cannot be found |
| 6 | They remember Essek tracing a wall sigil immediately before a ward pulse | “Essek just activated the house wards” | His fingertips lack chalk or residue and the real pulse began elsewhere |
| 7 | They remember Sevra slipping Dace a folded note or payment during the latest argument | “Sevra is protecting the traitor” | A search finds nothing and another witness saw both of Sevra's hands |
| 8 | They remember Thera planting a warm coin in a PC's pocket seconds ago | “Thera is framing that PC—or the PC is carrying soul-work” | The coin remains on Thera, or the PC's pocket is empty |
| 9 | They remember hearing the Guest's voice answer from inside a returning PC's coat or pack | “The party smuggled something out of Cell One” | Searching the pack finds nothing; Bren reacts to Xarrul elsewhere |
| 10 | They remember a trusted PC nicking or smearing the active salt line a few heartbeats ago | “That PC is sabotaging the finale” | The line is intact, or the mark predates the PC's approach |
| 11 | They remember another PC whispering their private secret to Haddon or Sevra within the last minute | “My companion betrayed me” | The supposed recipient cannot repeat any supporting detail |
| 12 | In a momentary vision, every person present wears Orenn's dead face except one NPC | “The unchanged person is controlling this” | This is a present hallucination, not a memory; Bren stares toward Xarrul's true position |

### Escalating a Vision

1. The victim becomes distracted or frightened.
2. They privately confront the apparent culprit.
3. If dismissed, they accuse them publicly.
4. Only then should they draw a weapon or sabotage a plan.

This gives the party several chances to discover that the accusation is sincere but the memory is wrong.

---

## Upstairs Escalation Beats

Use these to keep the upstairs pressure cooker moving underneath the investigation. Pick the faction that has been least pressured recently. Before the Vacancy finishes, Xarrul's compact keeps it from landing or deliberately commanding a killing blow, but faction NPCs remain dangerous to one another.

| Beat | What happens | What stops it |
|---|---|---|
| **Search the cult table** | Kael demands every cultist empty their bags. Rennt refuses on principle. | Sevra accepts a narrower search with a named item |
| **Search the assassins** | Haddon publicly identifies Dace's ritual-marked dagger and demands equal scrutiny. | Evidence that the dagger concerns Dace, not the whole House |
| **The missing folio** | Haddon accuses the nearest PC or assassin of taking his two extracts. | Produce one extract, expose his panic, or point out the theft happened in darkness |
| **Dalla collapses** | Her accumulated blood loss catches up with her during an argument. Both sides accuse the other of magic. | Medicine, visible care, and examination of her old scars |
| **Essek's brand activates** | He cries out while contradicting Haddon. Rennt calls it proof of betrayal. | Hide the brass indicator and physically protect Essek |
| **Dace takes a hostage** | Evidence closes around him, so he grabs Bren or an isolated PC. | Safe passage, a distraction, or exploiting his fear of Thera |
| **Thera offers order** | She calmly proposes that one suspect be bound “until facts improve.” | Notice that she selects whoever threatens her secret, not Xarrul |
| **Kael hears the laugh again** | Xarrul repeats Rennt's original laugh from behind him. Kael swings before looking. | Someone recognizing the impossible direction or Bren's reaction |
| **Rennt demonstrates the Opening** | He produces a brief planar flare to prove the cult's theory. The room interprets it as an attack. | Haddon counterspells his own ally or the party contains the flare |
| **Sevra sets a deadline** | She gives the investigators ten minutes to produce the traitor or the House acts. | Concrete evidence, a professional counterproposal, or invoking Grey Quay through Mags |
| **Mags's mark flares** | Mags freezes in an Orenn vision while both factions think the other attacked her. | *Remove Curse*, Bren's explanation, or showing the matching brand |
| **A patron disappears** | During a distraction, Xarrul nonlethally isolates someone coordinating the cellar search. | Immediate headcount and a coordinated search before Mags takes control |

---

## Complications by Easy Ending Route

### The Vacancy Is Too Easy

- The Executioner arrives at the circle and takes the clean shot at the projected Guest.
- Mags hears Orenn's stolen voice below and begins descending.
- Haddon realizes Xarrul is committed and tries to preserve it for rebinding.
- The vacant body takes damage, forcing the party to protect the vessel as well as attack Xarrul.
- The Guest reads a PC's plan and exposes their secret objective to buy protection.
- One anti-ethereal character must choose between attacking Xarrul and keeping the Guest's cord safe.

### Rebinding Is Too Easy

- The conduit extract reaches Dalla just before she offers blood.
- Essek states publicly that the ritual restores feeding, not control alone.
- Mags asks Haddon why the ritual requires the blood of a desperate mother.
- Sevra demands custody of Xarrul after the ritual, which Haddon refuses.
- Before capture, Shadow Surge breaks a Litany reader's sightline and opens a route away from the circle.
- A reader must choose between spending their action on the chant or casting the verbal spell that would save an exposed ally.
- Once captured, Xarrul tells Dalla exactly what the restored conduit will do to Nessa; if she stops, the 2d6 psychic backlash can break a second station.
- Xarrul tells Rennt that Haddon knew the command line was dead. Rennt demands an answer while all three stations must remain active to make progress.

### Bell-and-Sigils Is Too Easy

- Dalla fears the seal will make Nessa unreachable and demands proof the connection survives.
- Haddon wants the circle rewritten as a binding before he will help restore it.
- Xarrul marks the bell-ringer, making every approach to the bell dangerous.
- A foundation sigil lies beneath an active faction skirmish.
- The salt line is complete except for a section directly under Mags, frozen by her Warden's Mark.
- Thera offers to hold Xarrul in place, but doing so exposes her soul-work or gives her access to the tear in the Old Work.

### Ethereal Destruction Is Too Easy

- Haddon and Rennt try to pull the Ethereal hunter back rather than openly joining Xarrul.
- Xarrul remains Material and mauls the weaker Material group, refusing the side where the waiting executioner has the advantage.
- An Ethereal oil-user is isolated, blinded or forced away just as Deathless Slip carries Xarrul across at 1 HP.
- Xarrul brands the only character covering one side of the veil and uses the mark to track and avoid them.
- The Ethereal group sees Skein threatening Bren at the same time Xarrul becomes vulnerable.
- Dalla withdraws her support at the last moment after a vision of Nessa's silver cord snapping.

### The Planar Pincer Is Too Easy

- Xarrul kills or blinds the character with ethereal sight first.
- Voice Thief sends the salt-carrier toward the wrong manifestation.
- Xarrul manifests beside the salt-carrier, forcing them to choose between anchoring it and protecting a vulnerable ally.
- The bell reveals Xarrul, but it immediately moves away from the restored sigils and binding circle where the toll could suppress its jaunt.
- Haddon counterspells a decisive attack because he still wants the asset alive.
- A frightened defender drops the only remaining Veilhook Salt between the factions.

### Siding With Xarrul Is Too Easy

- Mags conducts a roll call before opening the doors and notices an extra or missing face.
- Sevra uses a private House countersign that disguised Xarrul cannot answer.
- The Guest demands that its Astral fate be included in the bargain and threatens to expose the party.
- Xarrul agrees to spare everyone but refuses to accept a vague promise; it demands the exact person being framed.
- Dalla will help only if Nessa's rescue is spoken as an explicit condition in front of witnesses.
- A framed suspect produces an alibi that only another PC can destroy by revealing their own secret.
- Mags offers the framed suspect a final private interview, where her Fixer's Read is strongest.

### The Empowered Guest's Takeover Is Too Easy

- False Mags uses the wrong hand for Orenn's black key.
- Bren reacts to Voice Thief coming from “Mags.”
- Twinkle refuses to obey the person wearing Mags's face.
- Sevra asks about Grey Quay, a history the Guest only partly knows.
- The real Mags pounds a coded house rhythm through the pipes from Cell One.
- The Guest offers one PC ownership or secrecy in exchange for ignoring a tell.

---

## Secrets as Complications

When the party is cooperating too smoothly, bring one dossier goal into the open without naming the entire secret.

| Secret conflict | Pressure move |
|---|---|
| **Debtor vs. Collector** | A loose ledger page falls from someone's coat in front of both PCs. The fireplace is three steps away. |
| **Agent vs. Executioner** | The Guest speaks the Agent's countersign, then tells the Executioner: *„Zabij mě a jeho slib zemře se mnou. Pak jsi jeho první nové tělo.”* |
| **Mourner vs. Executioner** | The Guest offers the Mourner's answer only after its cell door opens. |
| **Recruit vs. Blackmailed One** | Haddon asks the Recruit, publicly, whether their companion has “completed the agreed service.” |
| **Blade vs. cult helper** | Sevra announces that proof of PC collaboration will activate the contract's replacement clause. |
| **Mercy** | The infection settles near the Guest, then begins pulling harder toward the Old Work, proving the apparent answer was incomplete. |

---

## Last-Resort Crisis Moves

Use these only near midnight or after the party repeatedly ignores pressure.

- Xarrul brands the one person every current plan requires.
- A faction seizes one anti-ethereal tool and barricades itself around it.
- Mags declares the cellar closed and places herself physically between the party and the stairs.
- Dalla offers her blood to the first side that promises Nessa will live.
- Thera kills or extracts Dace before he can testify.
- As the shell lapses, the Guest begins the Vacancy at the tear before every PC reaches the Old Work.
- Xarrul abducts the person the party has invested in most and begins preparing the Hollowing.
- The faction war starts while half the party is still below.

Every crisis should still leave at least two responses. The point is to force a decision, not announce a result.

---

## Five Reliable Lines to Keep Ready

When there is no time to search a table, use one of these:

- **Thera:** *„Co jste tam dole našli? A komu jste to ještě neřekli?”*
- **Mags:** *„Jeden člověk zmizel. Dveře zůstávají zavřené. Začněte mluvit.”*
- **Haddon:** *„Než to zničíte, možná byste se měli zeptat, koho tím vláknem držíte při životě.”*
- **Sevra:** *„Máte jednu minutu na důkaz. Potom přestanu čekat na svolení.”*
- **Xarrul, in a trusted voice:** *„Řekli ti plán. Neřekli ti cenu.”*