Grimcrown Caller
- Adversary
- Support
- Tier 2
Appears in: Undead, Curses and Bargains, Urban Intrigue, Social and Negotiation
Grimcrown Caller
- HP
- 5
- Stress
- 4
- Difficulty
- 15
- Attack
- +2
Staff Strike: 2d6+2 phy
Shade Leash. Spend a Fear. The caller loosens the shade's binding. One target within Close range must succeed on a Presence Reaction Roll (15) or lose a Hope as the shade presses cold fingers through their chest. On a success, the target resists but the shade remains visible and unsettling.
Dead Man's Answer. Mark a Stress. The caller summons a faint spirit to answer one question. The spirit answers truthfully but can only recall what it knew in life. Each use of this ability in the same scene makes the shade harder to control; after the second use, the caller's difficulty increases by 2.
Crown Ward. When the caller would take damage, the crown flares and the shade absorbs the blow. Reduce the damage by 1d8. If this reduces the damage to zero, the shade grows one step more agitated (the GM tracks this; at three steps, the shade breaks free and acts independently as a separate adversary).
Binding Circle. While the caller stands within their prepared circle, allies and enemies within Very Close range cannot teleport, turn invisible, or shift between planes. Spirits summoned by the caller cannot leave the circle unless released.
How to run Grimcrown Caller
Grimcrown Caller is a tier 2 support for Daggerheart. Drop it into any fitting scene; the statblock above is free to add to your compendium in the app, and the one-shot below gives you somewhere to run it.
Where it begins
- 1
A widow paid the caller to speak with her dead husband and came back mute, her voice traded to bind the spirit longer.
- 2
Three soldiers found their dead captain's signet ring on their doorsteps overnight, each engraved with a new order in his handwriting.
- 3
A pale bird has been circling the bell tower for six days, and the sexton says it screams in a voice he recognizes.
What the Dead Remember
The party needs information only a dead person can provide. A Grimcrown Caller can summon the spirit, but every summoning feeds the shade bound to the caller's crown, and this one is getting hungry.
The Caller's Vigil
A circle of tallow candles marks a low stone platform behind the charnel house. The caller sits at its center, staff across their knees, a crown of yellowed teeth and finger-bones resting on matted hair. A pale bird perches on the staff's tip, turning its head to watch each of you in turn. The air smells of old wax and copper.
The Grimcrown Caller is willing to summon the dead, but states the terms up front: a personal sacrifice from whoever asks the question (a treasured memory, a year of sleep without dreams, or a physical token of real value). The pale bird is a minor spirit bound as a scout. The caller will not negotiate on the core price but can be talked into adjusting the form of payment. If the party is rude or threatening, the caller simply refuses and the shade behind the crown stirs visibly.
