The stone that eventually found its way into the crypts came from a group of crystalline elementals known as the Celestine. These beings hail from a neighboring plane of magic, where broken pieces of terrain and structures float through the light of arcane nebulae. It is here that the Celestine do their work.

The elementals gather pieces of the material world that have a strong enough presence of their crystals, tearing it from its moorings and teleporting it into their home plane. The crystals then grow as they feed on the plane’s ambient magic, birthing new Celestine and spreading through the stolen land. Once enough of it is overtaken by the crystals, the Celestine return it to its plane of origin. The broken remnants are scattered and teleported back in pieces, plummeting from the sky as asteroids to seed new lands and people with crystal shards, that they might grow and spread once more.

It is not known how long this cycle has been carried out, how it began, or how many times it has repeated. But those who witness the Celestine in their home plane can see clearly that another cycle is about to conclude. The ruins have been prepared. The rift is opened and the crystals are ready to be scattered once more. If the elementals are allowed to continue, they will spread the corrupting gemstone to untold corners. They must be stopped.

The battle with the Celestine is a follow-up to our previous encounter, ‘Through Crystal Eyes’, which had the party face a crypt full of crystallized undead. Both encounters can be used separately, or the Celestine can be used as the answer to the mysteries of the crystal crypts…

The Shattered Remnants

Amidst the celestial void, surrounded by swirling arcane nebulae, are the broken pieces of a structure and its surrounding land. The ancient stone ruins have been shattered into disparate pieces and now float loosely together, columns, walls, and tiles giving only a rough suggestion of whatever structure they once comprised. Piercing through these island fragments are turquoise crystals of various sizes and forms, some as large as temple pillars. They are thickest near the ruins, where some appear to be integrated and enshrined in the structure. Yet they have clearly grown beyond any original intention, the broken surfaces exposing more gem than there is stone, as if the ground itself was overtaken by the crystal. And beneath it all, an unknown distance away through empty space, is a singularity of deepest black, a sphere of all-consuming darkness that light, sound, and vision itself seems to spiral into and become lost within.

The ruins in which the Celestine are found are a portion of an unknown, ancient structure. These fragments were extracted from wherever they once stood, brought to the plane in which the Celestine dwell, and their crystals nurtured for long enough to grow and overtake much of the stone. This conversion produced more of the Celestine as the crystals grew. The process also drained the ruins of anything even resembling life, leaving no foliage or decoration on the sections of stonework that have survived the damage.

The remnants, though broken, are being held in place as the crystallization process occurs. As this terraforming cycle approaches its conclusion, the Celestine have opened a planar rift in the space far beneath the ruins, which grows as the crystals channel energy into it. The rift appears as a swirling singularity but is in fact an opening of unstable teleportation magic that transports objects entering it to random places on the destination plane. It is only large enough to have dragged in tiny stones that broke from the islands and drifted nearby, but its gradual expansion already fills the nearby space with ambient teleportation magic. It will not be long before the rift crumbles and consumes the ruins, scattering them across their plane of origin as meteors to seed new lands with Celestine crystals.

Ambient light. The crystals and surrounding nebulae bathe the area in soft light. The ruins are filled with dim light, while the large crystals that pierce through the terrain emit bright light in a radius of 10 feet.

Ancient fragments. The ruins that remain intact are not easily identifiable, though their architecture is reminiscent of areas the party has likely seen. A character that makes a successful DC 15 Intelligence (History) check is able to pinpoint similarities to the architecture of several other civilizations but cannot identify a single origin, drawing questions as to where the structure came from and how old it is.

If you are using this encounter as a follow-up to the ‘Through Crystal Eyes’ encounter, any character who studies the ruins or larger crystals is able to draw parallels to those in the crypts. They recognize a similar integration and even veneration of the gemstone, though the architecture does not match and the ruins lack the details necessary to deduce any beliefs surrounding the crystal.

Spatial distortion. Celestine magic holds the ruins in an area of suspended space. While on the shattered remnants, creatures’ jump distance is doubled, falling speed is halved, and the maximum damage a creature can take from falling is reduced to 3d6.

Planar singularity. The Celestine’s teleportation magic takes the form of a whirling singularity in the space far beneath the ruins. The presence of this rift is obvious, and a character that observes it can see small pieces of debris from the ruins drift into its event horizon and disappear in a flash of magic. If the character succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check, they recognize that the flash resembles conjuration magic, suggesting that the rocks are not being destroyed, but rather teleported somewhere else.

Only the keenly observant can see how the rift changes in relation to the Celestine. A character that can see the rift and that succeeds on a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check notices that the singularity is very slowly growing, drawing in more debris as it does. If a character is able to see the rift when a Celestine boötes is killed, they can make a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check to see the magic fluctuate as the rift destabilizes and shrinks slightly in response to the crystal being destroyed.

Atmospheric teleportation. The teleportation magic of the rift has suffused the space around the shattered remnants. A character that watches the debris floating around the nearby space or that succeeds on a DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check of the area notices some of the small rocks occasionally blink out of sight in flashes of ambient magic. If the character succeeds on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check, they are able to spot stones disappearing this way and reappearing in other locations, recognizing that they are being teleported randomly within the vicinity of the ruins.

This random teleportation extends to creatures too. If a creature that is not a Celestine moves more than 20 feet away from the island remnants, such as by falling or flying, roll a d100. The creature is able to move a number of feet away from the islands equal to the result of the roll before being teleported to a random space 1d100 feet above the islands. A creature can be teleported in this way only once per turn.

Map & Asset Downloads

The shattered remnants that the Celestine are inhabiting are based on four of our very own, connecting battle maps: the ‘Shattered Sky’, ‘Shattered Bridge’, ‘Shattered Stronghold’, and ‘Shattered Rift’. You can use them exactly as they are by downloading the ‘Shattered Rift Pack’, bring the Celestine and their crystals into any other of our maps, or even construct your own from our various assets…

If you’d like to reduce the urgency of the encounter, or simply don’t feel that the singularity fits for your world or the party’s level, feel free to exclude the Shattered Rift map. You can accommodate this change by having the teleportation magic be a side effect of the Celestine preparing to teleport the ruins, or even a natural effect of the plane. All other details and objectives of the encounter can remain the same.

Celestine Crystals

The creatures within the shattered remnants are elementals with alien will. They are pure crystal, arcanely animated with the powers of telekinesis, energy manipulation, and the ability to seed creatures and terrain with shards of themselves. Those slim few who have encountered the crystals call them the ‘Celestine’, alluding to details of their origins, abilities, and possible connections, yet never granting the information that might allow one to survive the crystals themselves.

Celestine Aries

CR 1

A central crystal is orbited by four smaller shards that rotate slowly around the central mass. They are all of the same green gemstone, fashioned in rough diamond shapes that come to harsh points at their bottoms.

The crystalline entities’ most basic drones are the Celestine aries. In mortal terms, these units act as basic workers and expendable footsoldiers with the simple task of seeding crystals in the Celestine’s targets. They accomplish this by launching their orbiting shards at targets, implanting tiny slivers before wrenching them back. Should they hold a positional advantage, the aries can also propel itself through a line of its enemies, spinning the shards as a whirling drill to strike at everything in their path. 

Celestine Sagittarius

CR 1

A single crystal orbits a larger stone in an undulating circle. Four others float at the bottom tip of the large gem, their own apexes angled inwards as if focusing along the central point.

Though the Celestine’s primary goal appears to be the spreading of their crystals, they do not hold back from the simple killing of targets when necessary. This role is fulfilled by the Celestine sagittarius, crystal formations specialized in absorbing, manipulating, and redirecting energy. It fires arcing beams of force at its targets, which can chain between nearby crystals, be those other Celestine or the shards implanted in their foes.

Celestine Scutum

CR 3

The thicker, octahedral crystal is guarded behind an arrangement of six smaller shards, diamond-shaped stones that float together in a loosely interlocking shield.

The attacks of the aries and sagittarius often invite reprisal, creating the need for the Celestine scutum. The scutum is a defensive unit that manipulates its shards in the form of a shield that it can send to protect its allies. This same shield can be separated into its component crystals, sacrificing defence to send them rocketing through the air to hold a chosen target in place and leave them vulnerable to the strikes, beams, and slams of the Celestines that the scutum protects.

Celestine Boötes

CR 3

A tiny orb of turquoise stone is surrounded by myriad crystals. Four slivers point inwards in a cross shape, while two rings of similar shards orbit above and below the central pearl, their points all directed diagonally inward.

The Celestine’s expansion requires not only the conversion of living beings into crystals, but also the terraforming of land. They spread crystal shards into terrain and structures, allowing the stones to overtake entire areas, which are then broken, moved, and rearranged to fit the Celestine’s esoteric design.

These latter tasks are the provision of the Celestine boötes. The boötes is a formation specialized in manipulating other crystals, telekinetically moving them and anything they are implanted in. This ability is primarily used for deconstructing and shifting large sections of their environment but can also be used to forcefully move creatures afflicted with implanted crystals, tossing them around or moving them into position for the rest of the Celestine to strike. At its most violent, the boötes can violently shatter these crystals, ending their control over the target but likely taking said target with them.

Celestine Caelum

CR 5

A rough cluster of crystals hangs in the air, far larger than any of the others and with points growing outwards in every direction. The massive formation is orbited by myriad other stones of different shapes and sizes, many resembling those that make up the other crystalline creatures.

The largest of the celestine are those responsible for seeding the land itself with crystals and spawning the many other Celestine: the Celestine caelum. The caelum is a meteoric mass that crashes itself and its shards into the ground, instantly spreading crystalline growths in the area, which then slowly grow as they sup on nearby energy sources.

This role as the crystals’ progenitor makes the caelum an important unit that the other Celestine work to protect. But it is not defenseless. The caelum is surrounded by disparate shards of its spawn, which it manipulates in mimicry of other Celestine’s signature abilities. They may form a scutum’s shield, wield the telekinesis of a boötes, or attack with imitations of the aries and sagittarius. This, all while the caelum’s central mass prepares to crush anyone nearby and feed what little is left of its victim to the crystals that spawn in the flattened viscera.

Looking for more out-of-this-world threats to pit your party against? Our ‘From Shards of Starlight’ encounter was loosely inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘Color out of Space’, and includes a fallen meteor that brought with it a trio of nigh indescribable energy creatures.

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