Seal of the Skyward Stair Free One-Shot in PF2e and D&D 5e

The DM Lair has published Seal of the Skyward Stair, a free, high-level one-session adventure available in D&D 5e and PF2e stat blocks, designed by Kaylene Doss with cartography by Sir Vicke and a PF2e conversion by Zac Chaney. The release is presented as a stand-alone one-shot meant to reach the sky palace through a sealed stair, and the package explicitly positions itself for single-session runs.

The module opens on a mythic set piece: “The Skyward Stair has long stood as a divine passage to a palace among the clouds, its ascent guarded by four sacred pool portals that anchor and balance the surrounding planes.” That balance is broken in the adventure’s pitch: “Now that balance has shattered. Void corruption seeps through fractures in the fabric of reality, tainting the portals and unleashing a growing arcane surgestorm that warps magic, tears open dimensional rifts, and threatens to consume the glade entirely.”

Play centers on four corrupted portals. “The stair itself is sealed behind radiant runes of divine force, and only by entering each corrupted pool, surviving its trial, and restoring its astral harmony can the characters collapse the storm and reopen the path to the sky palace.” The conclusion is explicit: “Once the characters purify all four pool portals, the seal over the skyway stair dissipates, and the characters are free to head up toward the sky palace.”

The adventure highlights a distinctive environmental mechanic: “The storm pulses according to an unstable geometric sequence.” GMs can run that sequence with a defined set of checks: “A character can become aware of a pattern with a successful DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check.” “Following this with a successful DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check will allow them to identify and disrupt the pulse pattern, delaying the next arcane surge by 1 round.” The pulse disruption is limited by frequency: “They can do this once every 3 rounds.”

Pathfinder 2e tables and running notes are included in the conversion credited to Zac Chaney, and the adventure text instructs GMs directly: “Below are the details you need to run this adventure. However, the game master is encouraged to customize it slightly for their group and ongoing campaign.” The source material omits a number of specifics that GMs typically need for prep: the publication date and exact recommended character level range, page count and file formats, the presence or absence of VTT assets or map files, full stat blocks and encounter CRs for either system, and any licensing or attribution requirements.

Seal of the Skyward Stair presents a compact, system-ready hook for groups that want a high-magic, planar-threat one-shot with explicit mechanical beats. With free D&D 5e and PF2e stat blocks and credited contributors Kaylene Doss, Sir Vicke, and Zac Chaney, the adventure leaves GMs with a clear end state: purify the four pool portals and ascend to the sky palace.