I
Vale
— County of Broken Keeps —The seat of the old confederation. Now its towers list at the angles of fallen knights. Wolves rule the high passes; pilgrims walk only at noon.
Capital · HollowmarshFaction · Wardens
The Warden's Archive
The Nine Counties & Their Dead
A gazetteer of the realm Dicebound is set in — its broken kingdoms, its surviving heroes, the things that wait beneath. Read at your own risk. The dungeons read back.
The Realm
The Nine Counties
Once a confederation. Now a graveyard with borders. Each county fell its own way.II
Mount Hollow
— Where the Dice were Sealed —A mountain that is more vault than peak. The seal cracked here in the first winter of the new age. The dead wear the names of the living.
Depth · Floor XII+Faction · Sealed
III
Ash Reach
— County of Long Smoke —Burned in the second war and never replanted. The fields glow at night. Witches come here to listen for what the soil remembers.
Hazard · Curse-bloomFaction · Hex Circle
IV
Brassmarch
— County of the Forgotten Forge —The smiths who quenched their iron in the river still work the bellows. Their orders come on parchment older than any of them. They do not stop.
Output · Cursed steelFaction · The Foundry
V
Drown
— County Below the Waterline —Sunk in the third reckoning. Bell-towers still chime the hours from beneath the lake. Fishermen do not row here. The fish row themselves.
Hazard · Drowned hymnFaction · Belltenders
VI
The Spine
— County of Long Roads —The trade highway that held the old realm together. Now it is a single road of mile-markers carved with the names of the dead. Walk it carefully.
Length · 421 milesFaction · Couriers
VII
Greychapel
— County Where the God Went Quiet —Once the holiest county in the realm. Now its bells toll only at random. Brother Aldwyn's home; he does not speak of it kindly.
Faith · LapsedFaction · Silent Order
VIII
Thornhalt
— County of the Long Hedge —A wall of thornwood five centuries grown. It is not clear which side is meant to be kept out. The hedge is patient. The hedge has time.
Wall · 34 miFaction · Hedgekeepers
IX
The Twelfth
— County That Should Not Exist —There were nine counties. There are nine counties. Yet the maps mark a tenth seal, a twelfth vow, a number missing from every census. Reroll required.
Status · SealedFaction · Unknown
Chapter III · The Fellowship
The Four Who Descend
Each carries a class, a curse, and a sliver of the kingdom they could not save.M
WitchClass · Witch · D6 Hit Die
Mira Ashwhisper
— The Hex-Touched —“I traded my name for the spell. I would not trade it back.”
Born in Ash Reach, the second of seven daughters in a line of cunning women whose names the church has been crossing out for three hundred years. She does not remember her birth-name. The hex took it as collateral, and the hex collects.
She fights from the back rank, throwing crimson threads of curse that mark the foe and stack until the body forgets how to be a body. Her affliction is Curse-Bound — the more enemies she hexes, the more of her own blood the spells require.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP25
AC12
MR16
SPD4
Abilities
Hexbolt
3d6 magicA thread of crimson woven from her own hair. Marks the target for one round.
Wither
2d4 + CurseA withered foe takes -2 to all rolls until it dies or the curse is cleansed.
Last Word
5d8 magicSpent at zero HP. Once per descent. Once per life.
➶
HuntressClass · Ranger · D8 Hit Die
Vesh of the Briar
— The One-Arrow Hunter —“I missed a shot once. Six years and four hundred miles ago. I do not intend to miss the second.”
Twelve years the Earl's huntress, three of them spent before she ever drew on a man. The county knew her for venison and clean shots; it knows her now for a single missed arrow she keeps in the back of her quiver, fletching half-eaten by the beech that caught it.
Long-rank skirmisher. Trades volume for distance — every shot that hits at extreme range stacks Mark on the target, and a Marked foe cannot break line of sight from her without taking the arrow she has been carrying.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP32
AC15
MR11
SPD5
Abilities
Long Draw
2d8 + DEXPierces the first body in the line and lodges in the second. Marks both.
The Mark
Stack · 1–4Each hit at long range stacks. At 4, the next shot cannot miss.
The One Arrow
12d8Spent once, on one named target, ever. The fletching is half-gone. So is she, after.
✺
Spark-GivenClass · Sorcerer · D6 Hit Die
Kael, Spark-Given
— The Prophecy —“I do not know what the spell will be until it is already happening. I am sorry. I am very sorry. I am trying.”
Pulled out of the Suncairn high pasture two months ago and read the prophecy of the Last Vow on the cathedral steps in front of seven hundred witnesses, none of whom he knew. He still asks after the goats. The temple does not know what happened to the goats.
Mid-rank caster, wildly off-rota. His spells roll twice on the surge table — once for shape, once for cost — and the cost is sometimes paid by the wrong person in the room. When the dice favour him, the floor opens. When they do not, he apologises.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP26
AC12
MR17
SPD4
Abilities
Wild Surge
Roll 2d20Pick the higher for damage. The lower picks the side-effect from the table the priests will not let him read.
The Apology
1d6 healing · SelfCast on the round after a misfire. Heals only the caster. Costs a tooth.
Eclipse Cast
8d10 mixedOnce per descent. The night he was born, returned for one round. He does not remember the cast afterwards.
⚔
OathbrokenClass · Paladin · D10 Hit Die
Sir Castellan Roth
— The Oathkeeper —“I swore an oath to a dead king. I keep it anyway. The dead are the only ones who do not move the goalposts.”
Captain of the Vale Wardens until the night the seal cracked. He stood the gate alone for three hours. He does not remember those three hours. The chronicle remembers them in his place; he carries the page in his shield.
Front rank, heavy steel, slow as a vow. He cannot dodge — but the page in his shield grants him a single reroll against any blow that would otherwise kill him. The page is not infinite.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP42
AC18
MR10
SPD2
Abilities
Bulwark
0 dmg · ReactionTake a hit meant for an ally. The blow rolls against your AC instead of theirs.
Banner Strike
2d8 + STRPlant the standard, rally the line. All allies gain +1 to-hit until end of round.
The Page
1 rerollOnce per descent, reroll a fatal blow. Three pages remain.
✟
LapsedClass · Priest · D8 Hit Die
Brother Aldwyn
— The One-Miracle Priest —“My god has gone silent. I am very loud. The chapel is empty. I sing anyway.”
The last cleric in good standing of the Greychapel order. He prays out of habit, heals out of stubbornness, and curses out of grief.
Mid-rank support. His healing rolls suffer because the channel is uncertain — but every successful heal stacks Faith, which on a d20 of 20 returns the channel for one perfect, terrible round.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP30
AC14
MR15
SPD3
Abilities
Mend
2d6 healingThe simple prayer. Roll low and the wound stays. Roll high and the bone remembers.
Bell & Bone
3d6 radiantUndead lose half their AC for a round.
The Channel Returns
OnceWhen Faith stack hits 5, his god is paying attention again. For one round.
⚜
FootpadClass · Warrior · D10 Hit Die
Quill of Hollowmarsh
— The Unrobbed Door —“I do not steal. I relocate the inheritance of the dead. The dead do not need eight golden teeth. I do.”
Raised in the alleys behind the Hollowmarsh Customs House, Quill learned three trades — picking pockets, picking locks, and picking the right moment. The third is the one that keeps her alive.
Mid-rank skirmisher. Trades raw damage for positioning, lockpicking, and the singular ability to convert any failed roll into a successful steal — provided there's a corpse, a chest, or a careless pocket within reach.
Stat Block · Floor IV Baseline
HP22
AC14
MR12
SPD6
Abilities
Backstab
3d4 + DEXCrit on 18+. From the rear rank only.
Lockpick
1d20 + DEX vs DCDoors. Chests. Manacles. Lips. Some are harder than others.
Inheritance
ReactionWhen you fail a roll, take 1 item from the nearest corpse. Up to 3× per descent.
The Field Guide
Bestiary, Floor I & II
A partial list. The lower floors do not consent to being catalogued.☠
Bone Choir
Threat · Moderate · CR 3A chorus of skeletons whose song stacks the curse die. Easy to break. Loud as they break.
⚜
Hollow Marrow
Threat · Low · CR 1Marrow that has remembered shape. Ignore the shape. Strike the femur.
✷
Curse Bloom
Threat · HazardNot a creature. A flower. It rolls a d20 each turn. On a 20 it is no longer a flower.
⛧
The Drowned Bell
Threat · High · CR 6A bell that drags itself by its rope. Each toll deals psychic damage to all within hearing.
⟁
Hedge-thing
Threat · Moderate · CR 4Thornhalt's children. They count steps. If you take more than seven without rolling, they catch up.
✦
Page-eater
Threat · Moderate · CR 4Eats your spellbook one prayer at a time. Leaves the cover. Always leaves the cover.
⛤
Mire-knight
Threat · High · CR 7A drowned knight risen from Drown. The water still inside its helm forms its responses to things you say.
∞
The Reroll
Threat · ████An entity that lives between turns. It is what asks are you sure? when your dice come up wrong.
A Brief Chronicle
From the First Wager to Now
Six centuries, in seven entries.Year 0 · The First Wager
The Old Gods accept the bet.
The Nine Counties wager their souls against the Old Gods on a single roll. The kings claim it was a draw. The dice are sealed beneath Mount Hollow as collateral.
Year 89 · The Brassmarch Treaty
The forge is lit and never lifts.
Brassmarch agrees to forge the seal-bands. The smiths sign on for ninety years. They are still working.
Year 211 · The Drowning
Drown County goes under.
The third reckoning. The lake rises in a single night. The bells did not stop ringing for forty years.
Year 388 · The Long Smoke
Ash Reach burns.
The second war is fought entirely in Ash Reach. No fortress remains. The witches return.
Year 542 · The Greychapel Silence
The bells go quiet.
The Greychapel order's god ceases to answer. Brother Aldwyn is born this year.
Year 597 · The Last Winter
The seal cracks.
An unknown party — fool, hero, or both — breaks the seal beneath Mount Hollow. The dice begin to fall on their own.
Year 600 · Now
Four travelers descend.
The fellowship is gathered. The first floor is mapped. The dice are loose. The first roll is yours.