To Lord Elroe Duvain, heir apparent and Knight Commander of his household,

From the Strange Company et. al., Reikhardt Flaxmane of Serra, Cayden Shenir of Serra, and archmage ascendant Ned Dwimmerfall,

Greetings.

Our gratitude for your recent hospitality and our joy for you and your growing household. We hope to arrange another ‘play date’ for Cayden’s offspring and yours soon, as we had a wonderful time visiting you and yours, and would encourage such good times to continue.

This missive comes to you not on good winds, however, but troubled ones, as we have both concerns, and a hope, for our mutual friend Dunmar Kalfon. While in Ekrekik, we encountered his commanding officer, Eva Glyn. She told us of her intention to retrieve Dunmar from his self-imposed exile, especially given his status of absent without leave from the front.

Dunmar is a dear friend to us, as you know, and we would never wish harm or misfortune on him, doubly so never wishing to inflict it on him ourselves, and we know you feel the same, if not moreso. Therefore it is understandable that you would reject Eva’s idea of using the international recognition of her army’s efforts as legal means to force Dunmar to return for court martial. While it seems a harsh path, we believe it will benefit him — especially once his run of good luck runs out and he is forced into the Cabal’s pits. There are no words for the kind of harm and misfortune he might encounter there.

Dunmar is a keldon, and an honorable one at his core, and a chance to actually be punished might assuage his obvious feeling of need for punishment, despite the circumstances not being his fault. To put it bluntly, he needs a boot in the ass so he’ll stop wallowing in grief and pain, and bring that pain to bear on the enemies that threaten our beloved lands.

To that end, we ask that you please hear Eva Glyn out. If you find her plans objectionable, we ask no more than that. But if you find her rationale sound, and her methods more effective than they are distasteful, we encourage you to offer her the information she needs. We want our mutual friend back, Lord Duvain. And if he must suffer a bruised bottom to facilitate that, so be it. Perhaps if you insist your family is given the task of undertaking Dunmar’s rehabilitation, it might create a blend of both your kinder solution and her more direct one.

We wish you long life and good health, and hope to see you again in the fullness of time.

Respectfully yours,

The Strange Company

Cayden Shenir

Ned Dwimmerfall

Reikhardt Flaxmane

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• Also included with this missive is a second piece of paper, containing the phrase ‘I like butts’ with a huge, scrawling signature of ‘Ned Dwimmerfall’ that takes up more than 90 percent of the page.

Stick it to the Stymphalides: The Stymphalides are ancient creatures, strange and deadly, though well below the prowess of the adventurers. While the feathers and beaks of these birds are often coated in steel, some come in more valuable (and usually more dangerous) varieties. Fire-Feather’s brother saw a swarm with shiny black wings when he was out hunting last week. They must be killed carefully, lest the thin amounts of metal be destroyed, but such a hunt would be fairly lucrative (relative to the danger). Fire-Feather knows the rough 2 mile radius where they were last seen.

Testing the Temple: The Temple of Three is a large temple in the eastern dunes of the Verlorex, a row of Sphinx statues leading up to the compound. While it appears to have originally been made by the Khenra, it has long been a home to actual sphinx. The temple was once a temple of arcane worship, though Fire-Feather isn’t sure exactly what that worship entailed. Overly confident ogres have on multiple occasions tried to claim it from the sphinx that make their home here. Apparently a group of ogres succeeded at some point in the last 100 years, but have since been displaced and the temple reclaimed. The sphinx here are friendly to those traveling the deserts, but offer deadly games for the comforts, knowledge, and power the temple contains. Fire-Feather knows the rough 6 mile radius where the temple should be, though it’s unlikely that such an excursion would lead to the finances the party is looking for.

The Sunken City of Abu-Ima: South-east of the heart of the Verlorex, a marble statue thrusts up from the surrounding desert. Tall enough that the dunes rarely cover it, the state’s worn jackel face stares serenely to the north-west. Here, hundreds of feet below the sands, rests the ancient khenra city of Abu-Ima. While the city has long been known among the viashino and explorers, the depth of the city has long stymied any efforts to completely scavenge the place. Complicating matters greatly is a very intelligent sub-species of sand krakens that lives here, along with a number of other deep-desert loving species. While many rumors surround the city, it is often believed these strange cephalopods somehow led to the city’s demise. Further complicating any exploration efforts are the frequent visits by the khenra horrors, considering how near Jenraza is.

Bleeding Bloodstone: The Vale of Stone Trees is a valley of petrified life in the cliffs to the east of Renthis, formed in the wake of the terrible ritual that destroyed the Gilded Forest. This valley was swept over by the energies, scarred but not totally destroyed by the forces. All life within was warped, their forms hardening to stone and their vital fluids turning to boiling blood. The valley is accursed and rarely entered, though supposedly there are many material riches to harvest within. Ogres and orcs hunt with some frequency in the valley. Fire-Feather has never been to this valley, but her siblings are both familiar with it.

The Well of Al-Sharaz: Al-Sharaz is a long-destroyed viashino city from millenia past. According to the stories explorers tell, it is a difficult place to find, and one can walk right past it without noticing the ruined buildings. Not to mention that it is often covered by the shifting dunes. But, if found, adventurers claim to always find treasures in Al-Sharaz – sometimes even in places they claim to have found empty when visited years prior. Many claim that the ancient inhabitants of Al-Sharaz were binders and that the strange elementals they controlled still wander here, along with other primordial forces. Perhaps these creatures are yet retrieving treasures for their long deceased masters? Whatever the case, many adventurers claim the Well of Al-Sharaz is the city’s true treasure. Guarded in an ancient pharaoh’s pyramid, the Well can supposedly conjure the spirits of the dead, and those who have visited it claim it to be a transformative experience. Fire-Feather knows a rough 12 mile radius area where Al-Sharaz should be, though she’s never been there, and doesn’t actually know why it’s so hard to find.

Belaying in Badr: In the northwestern reaches of the Verlorex is a region with more plantlife than most, fed more often by runoff from the nearby peaks and kept cooler by the proximity to the ocean. Here, many of the dunes are held tight by these roots and many animals thrive – both mundane and monstrous. Buried among these dunes is the entrance to an old Khenra tomb, the Crypt of Badr Al-Mosak. The tomb holds a plethora of undead monstrosities and construct guardians, along with scattered bits of local flora and fauna that have made their homes here. And traps, of course, there’s always the traps. While it has been raided on more than a few occasions – a couple times by Fire-Feather herself – the “looted” crypt often bears forth yet more treasure, and has long suspected that the crypt is actually a deeply buried pyramid. Fire-Feather knows roughly where the entrance to this crypt was, but the area has most likely changed in the past hundred years.

A Mega Megatog: Fire-Feather’s sister spotted a particularly massive megatog scouring the southern cliffs when she was out hunting the southern cliffs a few months ago, and against just about two weeks past. Considering its size, she decided to avoid it. For it to stay so large and for so long, it’s likely it found and ate a particularly powerful (and likely somewhat large) metallic magic item. Or possibly a large deposit of mystical metal. Whatever’s inside of it is surely being digested, but it it’s still so large it can’t have been destroyed yet. Fire-Feather’s sister knows the rough 6 mile radius it was last seen in.

Sleepless in Seneferu: In the southern dunes of the Verlorex is a sprawling underground compound, an ancient khenra necropolis known as The Eternal Rest of Seneferu. Or, as more commonly known among treasure hunters, The City of the Dead. It resides in the southern dunes of the Verlorex. While the top side of the city has long since eroded away, the burial chambers still exist below the sands and are surprisingly active. For reasons unknown, there are very few restful corpses in Seneferu, though many undead here are not aggressive. Mostly skeletons and zombies, the ancient jackals mill about in the seemingly endless necropolis, some even seeming to go about their normal lives. It is from here that much of what Creed knows about the Khenra society originates (as little as that is). However, there are still many undead here that thirst for mortal blood (or worse), and a disturbing plethora of diseases, traps, and hazards make every hallway an unknown danger. Many adventurers have claimed countless treasures from these halls, some spending their entire career hunting here. Fire-Feather knows a roughly 9 mile radius of where it is, though finding one of the entrances to the underground can be tricky.

Brightwing: Fire-Feather’s Order contact passed on an interesting report. Apparently a rare golden sand barioth has been spotted hunting near Ovjirakthend. It appears to have developed a taste for orcs, though it happily kills ogres as well. While the scouting group didn’t approach it, they swear it saw them and let them be. Golden barioths are usually some degree of sentient (at least as compared to their normal cousins), so this behavior might actually have purpose. The Order is passingly interested in making an ally of this powerful creature, if at all possible. It’s not exactly what the party was looking for, as there doesn’t seem to be any financial gain to be had, but Fire-Feather thought it interesting enough to pass on. Fire-Feather knows it was seen on the north-eastern side of the city, though that was a couple months back.

Meet the Mahamoti: The viashino long told the story of a mysterious and malcontent djinn that lived in the desert, known as the Mahamoti. He was a creature of trickery and misdirection and would sweep into viashino cities like a great storm – swindling copper and confidence from the rich and the poor, seducing wives into breaking their binding vows, and bedeviling even the most stoic mystics. However, as malicious as he might seem, he fiercely loved the viashino, and many times acted to defend them from more vile threats. Unfortunately, one day he crossed a great family of mages when he slept with the patriarch’s eldest daughter. The family tried killing him, many times, but nothing stuck. Ultimately, they were able to bind him, sealing his essence in an oasis somewhere in the desert. They made a vessel to control him, move him, or even free him if need be – a golden lamp, after the ancient fables – but divided it into 3 pieces. One they kept for themselves, in Ovokthari, another gifted to the eldest prince and kept in the vaults of Rhyza Varus, and the final gifted to the Sandstalkers in Ovklarvym. If the pieces could be reunited, and his binding undone, an ancient protector of the viashino could be awoken. But, this might be more of an undertaking than what the party is looking for right now.

The Salt Barge: An ancient story that Fire-Feather isn’t sure is true, but could be of interest. Supposedly, an ancient viashino ghost ship sails the salt-flats that run up into the north-eastern cliffs. It’s supposed to be a royal vessel from back when the area – thousands of years ago – was a salt lake. Adventurers claim to have boarded the swiftly moving spectral vessel and were greatly challenged and greatly rewarded by the crew. Fire-Feather knows where the salt flats are, but the roughly 20 mile radius the salt flats exist in certainly wouldn’t be easy to search.

A Black Beast: Fire-Feather’s sister was accosted by an adult massacre wurm when she was scouting in the southern dunes. Fortunately, the wurm was just posturing at a great distance, so her sister was able to escape. While they’re rare in the region, massacre wurms can occasionally be born from death wurms and can thrive here thanks to the cursed black sands. These things are damn powerful, but can be harvested for some substantial reward. Wurm hide for wurms this large and powerful can be fashioned into a set of armor – even full plate – that offers some measure of resistance against negative energy. This was a few months back and wasn’t near any black sands, so Fire-Feather would suggest at least a 16 mile search radius from where her sister saw it. Though, it might be more of an undertaking that the party is looking for right now, and anyone felled by the wurm would likely need a Resurrection spell considering the amount of necrotic energy it attacks with.

Academic Abductions: Many things were lost with the fall of Rhyza Varus, most of which can never be reclaimed. But, in the heart of Ovokthari, there lies a prize that might yet be reclaimed – Oktharianku, The Academy of the Thought Shapers. While long thought destroyed, Fire-Feather has heard through the Order that this building yet stands. Unfortunately, it seems to have been turned into a research hub for sangromancers and other ogre magi, though the Order believes the O-bakemano have mostly left the place be. The Oktharianku holds countless books detailing the history, arts, magics, and many works of the viashino. It additionally holds countless secrets, many of which Fire-Feather doubts the guileless ogres would have found even in two hundred years. It would be dangerous – very dangerous – but it could be incredibly rewarding for the party, for the viashino people,...and for the many people no doubt trapped within they might rescue. Though, it might be more of an undertaking that the party is looking for right now.

The Toxic Womb: Kikanuti is an ancient volcano that rises tall among the cliffs east of the Verlorex. Hundreds of years ago – before the ogre wars even – a number of flamekin came to experiment on the cooling heart of the volcano. Seeking ways to reignite the cooling Tanufel, these flamekin and their allies undertook deeply experimental and often dangerous experiments – both mystical and mundane. Ultimately, their research backfired, and an underground river was accidentally let into the core. The resulting explosion killed those present and set wild the experimental magics they were working with. A small group of researchers out hunting for new supplies were the only survivors. Today, the core of kikanuti – now called the Womb of Kikanuti – is filled with a toxic lake and scores of deadly mutant flora and fauna, along with the many valuable tools, materials, and magic items the researchers were using that survived the explosion. Fortunately, the force collapsed the eastern cliffs around the cavern, so deadly inhabitants have been largely kept within the mountain, and few actually know of the caverns existence. While Fire-Feather has heard rumors of adventurers heading to find and explore the caverns, it seems most who enter do not exit. Fire-Feather knows where the entrance to the cavern is, though finding a way through the earthquake and avalanche-prone region can be a trick. Fire-Feather advises against exploring here unless the adventurers wants a truly deadly challenge, and even then might want to bring more powerful allies for such an excursion.

Bake an O-Bakemano: The Order has identified an ogre O-Bakemano, Zusizig, that seems to have broken off from his peers and taken a small number of students, a good number of oni, and a yet larger number of slaves with him. He has created a new home some miles east down the Olvaradies River, by Ovklarvym. He has been separated for some years now and the Order thinks he may be a ripe candidate for capture or, if not possible, assassination. That said, he seems to be quite powerful, as all o-bakemano are, and it might be beyond what the party is currently thinking about taking on, and even then might want to bring more powerful allies.

The Black City of Jenraza: Many ancient ruins are difficult to find and easily walked right past, and those easily found are rarely worth visiting for treasure hunters. This is not true for the Black City. Jenraza was once the heart of the Khenra people’s nation, long ago destroyed by some apocalyptic and accursed force. Today the ruins peak out from a sea of black sand, a well of darkness in the heart of the Velorex. The Khenra Horrors seem to make their home here, along with hordes of skeletons and other aberrations and undead. The raw quantities of negative energy here make the use of positive energy difficult if not impossible. Most treasure hunters give Jenraza a wide berth. However, in the very heart of the city rises a massive black pyramid, so large that even the greatest of sandstorms cannot cover it entirely. Some of the greatest treasure hunters and adventurers in Creed’s history have tested themselves against this place, and those who exit come bearing unimaginable riches and terrible stories. Fire-Feather knows exactly where the Black City is, as her father shows it to every one of his children and makes them swear to avoid it at all costs. Fire-Feather advises against exploring here unless the adventurers wants a truly deadly challenge, and even then might want to bring more powerful allies, especially if exploring the central pyramid.

The Primeval Tomb: According to Fire-Feather’s father, the Verlorex was long ago a flourishing rainforest protected by the primeval father Rith. Countless millennia before even her father’s own birth, Rith was slain by mortal hands, and the rainforest disappeared shortly thereafter. Some stories claim the rainforest mourned his passing so long and so powerfully, that it wept out every drop of water the land had to offer, and the Great Desert was born. Whatever the truth, Rith’s tomb is supposedly somewhere along the western cliffs. Many explorers (and even some more boisterous dragons) have claimed to have “found” the primeval’s tomb, but such claims have always been proven false from what Fire-Feather has heard. Usually, they are the tombs of other dragons, seeking to rest eternal in the same area as their primal father. Finding one of these tombs, or even the Primeval Tomb itself, could be an incredibly lucrative discovery, though also an incredibly dangerous one. Additionally, there may be draconic items within such a tomb that her father or siblings could reactivate (or a way to find such items). As much as this is a hunt Fire-Feather has always been interested in undertaking, the potential danger may be far beyond what the party is looking for – or even capable of – and such a hunt may take a very long time and may never actually pay off.

Desert Items

Distillation Kit: This simple kit uses the sun and the ambient heat to evaporate pure water from body or cooking waste, salt lakes, poisonous plant saps, and so on. This “solar still” consists of a sheet of glass fastened at an angle into a frame, with a lip and a small spout (the components are packed separately and assembled when needed). The bottom and sides of the frame are covered with black oilcloth, the edges sealed with grease or tar to make it watertight.

To use the still, pour the dirty water into the bottom of the container, then place the glass lid on top. The water evaporates and condenses on the underside of the glass surface, where it runs down and collects in the lip, dripping through the spout and producing about 1 gallon of water per day (if the container is filled to capacity). 50 gp per kit.

Filter Mask: A filter mask is a fine cloth mesh, usually of silk or cotton, that covers your mouth and nose. Cords or straps fasten the cloth around the back of your head to provide a good seal. A filter mask negates the effects of suffocation from dust and sand, and grants a +2 bonus on saves against supernatural or magic dust (such as slumber sand) for up to 4 hours. After this time, the mesh is clogged with grit and can no longer allow air to pass through freely. A clogged filter mask requires thorough and careful laundering before it can be reused (rough washing can tear the fine mesh), but most travelers simply replace it with fresh fabric. 1 gp per mask.

Parasol: The simplest form of portable shade, a parasol can range from an animal hide draped over a crude framework to a collapsible construction of textile and metal. The typical parasol described here is made of stretched canvas over wood or bone. A parasol offers immunity to sun glare, grants 1 level of heat protection in sun-baked environments, and offers some protection against sun hazards. It also grants a +1 bonus on Fortitude saves against non-magical dehydration. 5 gp for a parasol.

Sand Tube: When a storm scours the land, the best defense is to escape. Burrowing into the ground is one way to do this, but sand is loose and difficult to stabilize. This handy device enables you to create a burrow beneath the sand, in which you can rest while waiting for the storm to pass.

A sand tube looks something like an open-ended sleeping bag, made of treated hide attached to a number of collapsible hoops. After digging a small hole in the sand to get started, you shove one end of this apparatus inside the hole and expand the hoops to stiffen it into a tube. More sand can then be dug from the buried end (usually you crawl partway into the tube and use your hands) and removed through the tube, which is shoved more deeply into the tunnel as digging progresses. In normal sand, it takes 10 minutes of digging to fully bury a sand tube.

When fully buried, a sand tube can hold one Medium humanoid. A flap fastens over the exposed end to provide shade and protection from dust storms and sandstorms. 80 gp for a sand tube.

Sun Lenses: This item, made of thin slabs of mica or volcanic glass affixed to curved frames, can protect your eyes from being dazzled by most natural light, such as glare. If you are already dazzled when you don the lenses, you are treated as if you had entered an area of shade; you recover from the dazzled condition 1 hour if you continue to wear the lenses. 10 gp for sun lenses.

Desert Outfit: This outfit consists of loose, billowy clothing to keep the wearer cool and protected from the sun while in hot, dry desert terrain. It includes a caftan, turban, scarf, loose pantaloons, and sandals or high cloth boots. This outfit counts as light clothing and offers limited protections against some waste hazards (see Chapter 1). The protection it offers against heat is negated if the wearer also dons armor. 6 gp for a desert outfit.

Heatsuit Outfit: This suit is designed to protect against heat, often worn by firefighters or volcanologists. It consists of heavy pants and coat, a specially treated leather apron, thick mittens, a thick hood, and goggles. This suit is treated as light armor that grants +1 armor bonus, has a +4 maximum Dex bonus, a -1 armor check penalty, and a 15% spell failure chance. A heatsuit outfit prevents 2 points of lethal or nonlethal damage per round from hot environments. Although the outfit is a type of armor, its heat-resistant materials negate the usual –4 penalty on Fortitude saves against damage dealt by hot environments. 50 gp for a heatsuit outfit.

Armorbright: This metallic paint is applied with a brush to the outside of a suit of sufficiently stiff armor (requiring 1 minute to apply), producing a shiny surface that reflects the light of the sun to reduce the effects of hot weather on the wearer. For 24 hours after applying armorbright to a suit of armor, you gain a +2 bonus on Fortitude saving throws to avoid heat dangers. Armorbright is not effective in hot environments with no sun, such as the Elemental Plane of Fire. One pot contains enough paint to cover the armor of a size medium creature. 40 gp per pot.

Blackeye: This oily paint is smeared around your eyes and on your cheeks to reduce the effects of bright sun, protecting you from sun glare for 4 hours. 1 gp per vial.

Deep Draught: This powder is a mixture of salt, dried herbs, and extracts of desert plants. Adding it to water increases your body’s retention of fluid and helps counteract the effects of dehydration. One packet of deep draught is enough for 1 gallon of solution, which grants a +5 bonus on the Heal check to treat dehydration. 10 gp per packet

Keepcool Salve: This small clay pot contains several ounces of a dark brown ointment, enough to cover one Medium creature. Applying the ointment to your skin increases your level of protection against heat by one step. Keepcool salve is not effective in hot environments with no sun, such as the Elemental Plane of Fire. 40 gp per pot.

Sunshade Lotion: This translucent green lotion contains extracts of succulent plants, mixed with oils from the skin of chameleons. It darkens slightly on exposure to sunlight. One flask is sufficient to protect a Medium creature from nonlethal damage due to sunburn for 4 hours. 20 gp per flask.

Camouflage Netting (Desert): This loose mesh of twine and varicolored cloth is used to disguise the presence of creatures or large objects. Camouflage netting must be manufactured to provide camouflage in a single type of terrain, such as snow, sand, forest, grass, swamp, urban, or water. When you hide under the netting in the appropriate terrain, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks as long as you remain immobile and prone. Covering up with camouflage netting is a full-round action requiring a DC 10 Survival check (failure means you do not cover yourself correctly with the netting and do not gain its bonus on Stealth checks). You have the entangled condition when using the netting, except your Dexterity penalty does not affect your initiative or Stealth checks. Taking off camouflage netting is a move action, or a swift action if combined with a move action to stand up from a prone position.

You may spend 1 minute covering an object with camouflage netting. Make a Survival check with a –10 penalty and use the total as the Stealth check result for the object. Creatures who fail a Perception check against this Stealth DC do not recognize what the object is and usually treat it as a natural part of the terrain. For example, you can conceal a wagon as a rock or patch of brush. Covering a Large object requires two nets. Covering a Huge or Gargantuan object requires five nets and takes 10 minutes of work, and the Survival check penalty is –20 instead of –10. Camouflaging a Colossal object depends on its shape but generally requires at least 10 camouflage nets and takes 1 hour of work, and the Survival check penalty is –30 instead of –10.

A creature with the scent ability ignores the effect of camouflage netting and makes checks against your actual Stealth roll when in scent range. Each net costs 20 gp.

Other: Other than those, plenty of trail rations and water canteens, and the standard adventuring stuff.

Desert Spells

• Waste Strider is absolutely vital if you plan to move on foot
• Expeditious Excavation
• Resist Energy
• Endure Elements
• Life Bubble is useful, but won’t protect against suffucating in a dust storm
• Hidden Lodge or Mage’s Magnificent Mansion or something similar is definitely useful
• Burrow and Tremorsense, along with Heart of Earth are a helpful trio of spells when dealing with subterranian enemies or enemies that like to drag you under the sands
• Deep Breath is similarly useful to deal with suddenly being under the sand.
• Shifting Sand
• Transmute Sand to Stone
• Transmute Sand to Glass
• Slipsand
• Move Earth can be useful to set up ambush locations
• Consider reducing or eliminating fire and cold damaging spells from your list, along with spells that attempt to impose dehydration, hypothermia, frostbite, heatstroke, or dazzle conditions. Many creatures in the desert are either resistant or outright immune to some or all of these effects.

Supernatural & Exotic Desert Hazards

Black Sand: Mundane volcanic lands sometimes feature black sand composed of ground-up cinders. Other than its striking color, such sand is no different from any other. However, magical black sand is a vile peril, whether touched by forces from the Dark Lands or in places cursed by foul magic. Black sand is infused with shadowstuff and negative energy. A region of black sand literally swallows light; magical darkness rises to a height of 20 feet over the surface. Nothing short of a sunburst spell can disperse this darkness, and even then only for a period of 1 hour per caster level. In addition, creatures that come in contact with the sand take 1d4 points of damage per round from negative energy. Upon reaching 0 hit points, they crumble and join the black sand.

Devil Dunes: The fastest dunes advance only a couple hundred feet each year, but dunes made of sand under the influence of unearthly winds or particles of unusually fine material (such as ground bone or glass) might move many times faster. A “racing dune” is a mountain of grit that travels at least 1 foot per hour – often faster. It can choke an entire city in days, fill up precious waterways, and even smother sleeping creatures. These dunes, threatening as they are, pale in comparison with devil dunes.

Certain sand dunes seem to resent the disturbance caused by the passage of mortal feet across their surfaces, and seek to exact a grim vengeance for the presumption. These devil dunes move under their own magical power, rolling like great waves of sand as they pursue those who trespass against them.

Devil dunes usually measure 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 40 feet high. They move at a rate of 60 feet per round, as though blown by a powerful yet undetectable wind. They relentlessly pursue trespassers to the very edge of the waste – the limit of their domain. As long as their prey travels upon the sands, devil dunes always know where to find it.

Devil dunes kill by enveloping their prey and suffocating it. When any part of a devil dune enters a square containing its quarry, the creature is allowed a DC 15 Reflex saving throw. If the save fails, the quarry is buried. Buried creatures take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per minute. Once unconscious, a buried creature must make a successful DC 15 Constitution check each minute thereafter or take 3d6 points of lethal damage until free or dead.

A devil dune seems almost like a living creature, except that no amount of ordinary damage can stop it. A soften earth and stone spell cast on a devil dune reduces the dune’s speed by half for the duration of the spell. An earthquake spell breaks apart a devil dune, which takes weeks to reform.

Firestorms: In certain locations in the waste, magical fire falls from the sky like rain – a phenomenon that waste-dwellers call a firestorm. Firestorms occur somewhat more frequently than rainfall does in the desert, though they are hardly an everyday (or even every month) occurrence.

Firestorms are presaged by the formation of dark clouds in the sky, which the uninitiated might mistake for rain clouds (DC 25 Survival check to determine that they are not). A DC 15 Perception check reveals that the flashes of light in the clouds are more reddish-orange than ordinary lightning, or a DC 5 Perception check reveals that the darkness under an approaching storm cloud is pierced by streaks of ruddy light.

The fiery raindrops produced by firestorms deal 2d6 points of fire damage each round to everything in the area. The flaming raindrops automatically ignite any flammable item they touch; otherwise, they burn out immediately. The raindrops themselves are not magical, though the rain clouds that produce them are. The constant crackle and low roar of the falling fire provides a –4 penalty on Perception checks. Ranged weapon attacks in a flamestorm are made with a –2 penalty if the projectile is constructed—even partially—of wood (such as an arrow, a spear, or a throwing axe).

A flamestorm generally lasts 5d6 rounds before it passes

Necrotic Flaywind: When a sandstorm arises in an area of black sand, the storm is known as a necrotic flaywind. The necrotic power of the black sand is added to the bone scouring force of the sands already thrown by the storm. A creature killed by such a storm is reduced to bone, which the negative energy of the black sand then animates into a skeleton. When a necrotic flaywind passes on, it might leave behind armies of skeletal beings.

Leech Salt Flats: Ordinary salt flats found in the waste are dangerous enough simply because potable water is extremely scarce. Beyond that, in salt flat areas where the ground is suffused with arcane energy, the salt can drain moisture out of living beings.

A leech salt flat appears like any other salt flats, though it radiates a faint necromancy aura. Living creatures that travel across a leech salt flat require five times the usual daily allotment of fluids (based on the regional temperature) to avoid becoming dehydrated, as the environment itself steals moisture from their bodies.

A traveler whose water supply runs out is in even more trouble: After a number of hours equal to its Constitution score + 4, the creature must make a successful Constitution check (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of desiccation damage. A creature that takes desiccation damage from leech salts is dehydrated. The creature must repeat this check every 10 minutes until receiving at least 2 quarts of water or until death. Leaving the leech salt flat extends the time between these checks to 1 hour.

Mirror Sand: When ordinary sand mixes with deposits of tin or silver, and the resulting granules are polished by windblown dust to a mirror finish, the sand itself can reflect light – and heat. Travelers in the waste dread mirror sand, because it is extremely unsafe to cross in the daylight. In addition to raising the temperature by 20%, mirror sand effectively blinds anyone who gazes at it – sometimes permanently. A creature that wishes to make a Perception check while traveling over mirror sand must first make a DC 18 Fortitude save. Any creature that fails this save cannot open its eyes long enough to take a good look around. The DC increases by 2 each consecutive round that the creature has already been looking around. Plus, each full round that a creature’s eyes are exposed to mirror sand requires a DC 10 Fortitude save. If this save fails, the creature becomes temporarily blinded, due to damage to its eyes. The creature can make another DC 10 Fortitude save to recover from this blindness after spending 24 hours in darkness or with its eyes closed.

If, for some reason, a blinded creature continues to expose its eyes to the reflected brightness from mirror sand, it must make a successful Fortitude save each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or become permanently blind. In the case of either permanent or temporary blindness, the spell remove blindness/deafness removes the condition immediately.

It is somewhat safer to cross mirror sand if one knows the route well enough to travel it blindfolded. Some desert dwellers do – though, of course, any creature traveling with its eyes closed is extremely vulnerable to nearby predators. If the terrain is unfamiliar, a creature risks stepping into a chasm or even over the edge of a cliff.

Plains of Glass: Very high temperatures melt sand into glass. Lightning strokes from thunderstorms might produce a number of small glassy areas, and a volcano’s eruption can eject “bombs” of glass. Additionally, some spells can create a wide expanse of fused sand that stretches for short distances.

Traveling on a plain of glass is treacherous. The surface is almost as slick as an ice sheet. Each square costs 2 squares of movement to enter, and the DC of Balance and Tumble checks increases by 5. A DC 10 Balance check is required to run or charge across glass.

Glass plains are often fractured, with jagged shards sticking out in all directions along huge fissures. Explosive attacks against a smooth glass plain, or the impact of a siege engine’s missile, throw up a devastating cloud of glass slivers that fills a 5-foot-radius area 10 feet high. Creatures caught in a glass spray take 3d6 points of piercing damage, though a successful DC 13 Reflex save reduces the damage by half. The glass is vulnerable to sonic attacks. The damage of a spell or effect that deals sonic damage increases by 50% and always generates a glass spray when the effect is targeted on a smooth plain of glass.

Shadowsand: This substance, if encountered in the daytime, appears to be ordinary sand, albeit slightly darker than normal and cool to the touch. Even in subtropical and tropical climates, the temperature in an area covered by shadowsand rises only to about 70º F during the hottest part of the day.

At night, the true nature of shadowsand becomes apparent. The temperature of the sand plunges to below 0º F, catching many desert dwellers unprepared for such severe cold. Shadowsand sucks the heat out of campfires and other blazes, preventing them from providing enough warmth to significantly improve matters. A DC 15 Survival check is required to realize that the radical drop in nighttime temperature in an area of shadowsand is not a natural occurrence.

If it were found in larger quantities, shadowsand might qualify as a terrain type, but areas of shadowsand are rarely more than a few hundred feet across. They are hardly a danger to those who are prepared for them, or who have the luxury of moving after night falls. What makes shadowsand especially dangerous – and what might explain why it exists – is that certain types of undead (particularly vampires, spectres, and wraiths) are drawn to it, and they dwell under it during daylight hours. Any patch of shadowsand has a 25% chance of hosting one or more such undead.

Slipsand: Tiny nodules of glass can form in the splash of a meteorite impact or as the result of a supernatural collision. Such particles have extraordinarily smooth, slippery surfaces. For this reason, a field of slipsand is far more deadly than the quicksand, or even supernatural softsand. The surface gives way readily under the slightest weight, swallowing up anything unfortunate enough to step on it. It is impossible to swim through or tread water in slipsand; a creature caught in it sinks to the bottom and begins to suffocate when it can no longer hold its breath. Even viashino and creatures with a burrow speed are subject to this effect of slipsand, despite their ability to swim through normal sand. Slipsand looks no different from ordinary sand or dust from a distance, and a DC 20 Survival check is necessary to notice it. Charging or running characters are not entitled to a check.

Pulling a character from slipsand is similar to rescuing a character from quicksand, but the DC of the rescuer’s Strength check is only 10 instead of 15, since slipsand does not have the gluey texture of quicksand. A character who fails to hold onto the rope or branch is not entitled to a Swim check, but immediately sinks to the bottom again.

Softsand: Though actual quicksand cannot exist in dry environments, softsand can provide a similar effect in completely dry terrain. Not nearly so deadly as slipsand, softsand is not actual sand, but extremely light, powdery dust. Generally scattered harmlessly about by desert winds, it can sometimes collect in pits shielded from the wind, where it looks like ordinary sand.

A character approaching a patch of softsand can attempt a DC 10 Survival check to recognize it for what it is before stepping out onto it – though a charging or running character doesn’t receive the same consideration. A typical patch of softsand is 20 to 50 (1d4+1×10) feet across. Running or charging characters usually make it about 1d2×5 feet into the softsand before beginning to sink.

A character in softsand must make a DC 15 Swim check to move 5 feet in any direction, and must get a result of 10 on a Swim check every round simply to remain where he is without sinking. A character who gets a result of 5 or lower on this check sinks below the surface and begin to suffocate.

A character below the surface of softsand can climb back to the surface if he can move toward the edge of the pit by making DC 15 Swim checks (as described above). Climbing out of a pit of softsand, once a character has reached the edge of the pit, requires a DC 15 Climb check.

Any character not trapped in softsand can extend a rope, branch, spear shaft, or similar object to the trapped character, then make a DC 15 Strength check to pull the victim to safety. The victim must make a DC 10 Strength check to retain a grip on the branch, pole, or rope, however. A victim who fails to hold on must immediately make a DC 15 Swim check or fall beneath the surface. If both Strength checks succeed, the victim is pulled 5 feet closer to safety (toward the character holding the branch, pole, or rope).

Wailing Waste: Where the winds blow constantly across the dunes, thin streams of sand pour from the dune tops with an eerie hum. Sometimes these singing sands are infused with a malevolent presence. Some claim that the spirits resent the presence of the living in their waste. Others believe the unearthly moans come directly from the planes – perhaps a howling wind from Limbo, or cries from souls tortured in the red-hot vaults of Dis. Whatever the source, an area of wailing waste is detrimental to those who hear it.

A creature within the area affected by a wailing waste’s sound must make a DC 15 Will save or fall subject to a confusion effect for as long as the victim is able to hear the sound. Blocking the ears with wax or something similar seals out the sound and grants a new saving throw with a +4 bonus to end the confusion effect. A silence spell cancels the supernatural wailing, and any affected creatures return to normal after 1d4 rounds. A bard can also use the countersong ability to help allies resist the effects of the wailing sand.

Diseases

There are some diseases and maledictions unique to the Verlorex.

Disease	Infection	DC	Incubation	Damage
Sandeyes	Contact	14	1 day	1d4 Cha
Volcanic Fever	Inhaled	17	1d3 days	1d6 Con
The Wasting	Injury	19	1 day	1d4 Dex, 1d4 Con

Sandeyes: A creeping blindness caused by desiccated eye tissue. Each time the disease deals 2 or more points of Charisma damage, a victim must make another successful Fortitude save or become permanently blind.

Volcanic Fever: This disease spreads through the inhalation of dust borne pathogens, which causes the victim’s body temperature to rise to an unearthly heat. A character killed by volcanic fever crumbles into fine ash within 24 hours.

The Wasting: This is a supernatural disease spread by strange and foul creatures of the waste, often thought to have been made in a demon’s womb. Skin and tissues slowly dry and toughen, mummifying the victim. Those who succumb to this disease often rise as a mummy or other undead within the days after their death. Victim must make three successful saving throws in a row to recover.

Desert Monsters

Even Fire-Feather does not know the name or nature of every beast within the Verlorex, and she doesn’t anyone truly does. But there are many she can share some notes on.

Aberrations: Rust monsters, and rust lords, make their homes in the eastern deserts, feeding on the minerals in the crumbling mountain sides. Dust diggers will lay waiting in the sands, creating sinkholes, and often nest near (or maybe even spawn) whirlmaws – strange fleshy leech-like flying monsters. The horrors of the Khenra – titanic long-limbed jackel monstrosities that walk the wastes – are incredibly rare but also incredibly dangerous. These creatures are cruel and impossibly swift, known for dismembering creatures and watching them die rather than killing them outright. These creatures act as markers for some the greatest Khenra ruins, though only the bravest (or most insane) adventurers try to take them on or sneak past these horrors.

Animals: Many animals make their homes here. Bats, cats, camels, foxes, snakes, hares, jackals, weasels, mongoose, hyenas, raptors, owls, toads, frogs, crocodiles, lizards, chameleons, skinks, snails, various crustaceous, various small fowl, hedgehogs. However, animals very distinctly divide themselves across the three regions. Many goats tread the eastern cliffs, along with a number of rocs. Dire regressions and gigantism is fairly common among the animals here.

Constructs: Outside of ancient tombs or the more heavily guarded pyramids, constructs are rare. Many more wealthy adventurers rely on constructs for aid when traveling the deep of the desert, as the automatons are unaffected by most of the desert’s challenges. These constructs are usually designed with specifications that make them more capable of dealing with deep sands. While rare, she has seen foul blood-fueled or flesh-woven constructs made by sangromancers in the past.

Dragons: Desert drakes are a very real threat, especially their hunting packs. They tend to roost on the Aerie and swoop down to hunt through the eastern desert. There are some that hunt the central regions, but tend to be particularly dangerous and well adapted if they do. The sand barioth is a particularly nasty wyvern-relative that lives in the region – incredibly swift flyers and sandswimmers that create small tornados when challenged – but they’re fortunately rare. A variety of wurms make their homes here – death wurms, purple wurms, ash wurms, crimson wurms, etc. Of course, there are also many actual dragons native the Aerie that hunt here, and even a few that live within the desert itself, such as the desert dragons.

Humanoids: It is believe there were once other humanoid species that made their home in the Verlorex, many of the ruins are though to have belonged to them. Some of the viashino’s imagery are thought to have originated with these once-neighbors. Not well known, but there is solid evidence a diverse species of jackelfolk once lived here, a canine cousin of the catfolk. Their treasures and trappings are occasionally still found deep within ancient tombs long lost beneath the sands, along with their less-than-restful corpses.

Magical Beasts: The greatest power of magical beasts is their ability to evolve and adapt to optimize their performance in an environment. Unsurprisingly, the desert has allowed many highly specialized and very powerful magical beasts to evolve. Sphinx live almost exclusively in deserts, and are a notable power that even the oni have not successfully displaced. The red reaver, a cousin of the grey render, are simple but violent creatures that are occasionally befriended by viashino and other travelers. Cinder wolves, ash rats, and death dogs make their home on the outskirts of viashino lands – not durable enough to survive the interior enough of the desert. Sand krakens (not actual krakens, more a desert dwelling squid) are well known for pulling down inexperienced travelers and suffocating them in the sands. Sand stalkers are large spiders able to hypnotize and paralyze their prey. Phoenixes make their homes up in the mountains overlooking the deserts, while rukhs live closer to the wastes. A smattering of atogs make their home along the coastline, and megatogs are known to scour the cliffs on the eastern deserts. Some basilisks, chimera, and manticores make their homes here. Behir and bulettes are far from uncommon. Shedu are rare and reclusive, often passingly friendly with sphinxes, and are of great aid to travelers. Unfortunately, most were wiped when the ogres called forth their oni allies. Stymphalides are an uncommon but problematic danger. They move in flocks and will blind their foes with their metallic feathers before settling on them and eating them alive. Disturbingly, they prefer humanoid and monstrous humanoid prey.

Monstrous Humanoids: Ogres are unsurprisingly one of the greatest threats in the region. Many wield massive tetsubos and any ogre to claim true station is well versed in sangromancy. Mountain giants and fire giants occasionally live at the mountainous edges of the mountains, and sand giants are occasionally found within the interior of the desert, though clashes with the ogres have reduced their numbers.

Oozes: Oozes are fairly uncommon in the deserts, as their bodies are largely made of water. A few are notable exceptions, such as the capacitor ooze and the fire ooze. Oozes become somewhat more common near waterways, during the seasonal storms and floods, or inside of ancient and well-sealed crypts – such as the rare pyramids of the desert.

Outsiders: Djinn are fans of the desert and, long ago, traded and traveled regularly in here. Today, few but the most vile make their way here, though viashino still tell stories of benevolent djinn raiding ogre outposts and towns to whisk away their helpless captives. Earth and mineral elementals can be found here, along with the occasional radiant elemental and the extremely dangerous dust elementals.

Plants: Plant creatures are uncommon in the deserts. Most plant creatures exist to protect themselves and similar non-sentient plants, particularly from overly aggressive monstrous herbivores. There are some, however, that have evolved to kill and consume any creature that might come too close.

Undead: Many, many undead are found in the deserts, particularly the old tombs and lost cities. Many varieties of mummies – both natural and man-made – slumber in their graves or walk the wastes. Grave guardians are a regionally unique undead commonly found in tombs here, the dedicated undead forms of animals or servants that were once the pets of old pharaohs and nobility. Known as ubashki, these creatures often move as quiet and stealthy mummy-like wardens, though some move as swarms of scattered spirits.

Vermin: Vermin are more prevalent in the desert than many would think. Scorpions, beetles, wasps, ants and ant lions, solifugid, spiders, centipedes, and flies are all fairly common, and it is not uncommon to see gigantism among them. The krotiq is a notable vermin, a centipede as giant as a wurm and just about as vicious.

Common Desert Hazards

Temperature: While heat is normally a serious problem in the desert, it won’t really become one for another few months. Heatstroke shouldn’t be a concern given that. That said, see Temperature Rules for information in case it does come up.

Dehydration: The desert is demanding on the body, even when not incredibly hot or cold. As the body loses fluids, biological processes begin to break down. This leads to in pallor, shaking, nausea, and eventually, a complete collapse of the nervous system. Though dehydration can occur in any environment, the combination of high heat and low humidity typical in waste environments makes it an omnipresent threat there. In a desert environment, a character must consume double the normal water (most creatures need 1 gallon of water per day). The amount of water required to avoid dehydration increases by 1 gallon per temperature band higher than hot (so 3 gallons in severe heat, 4 in extreme heat, and so on). A creature can go without water for a number of hours equal to 24 + its Constitution score. After this time, the creature must make a successful Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and become dehydrated (treat them as fatigued, and dehydrated characters always take lethal damage from hot conditions). In particularly hot environments (those above 90º F), the time a creature can go without water before making Constitution checks is reduced.

Deadly Gases: In a desert, PCs can attempt a Perception check (base DC 15) to notice potentially deadly or dangerous fumes leaking up from the broken badlands before coming to harm. Otherwise, they must succeed at a Fortitude save (Base DC 15) or take 1d4 points of Constitution damage and be nauseated for 10 minutes. Some gases may cause different effects and have different DCs, as may higher concentrations or quantities of gas.

Mirage: Mirages are naturally occurring optical illusions that result from light refraction and produce the appearance of false images on the horizon. Though they are not magical, mirages function as illusion (glamer) spells, generally blur and hallucinatory terrain. Unlike magical illusions, mirages cannot be dispelled, though some of them can be disbelieved. Mirages take two primary forms: the traditional mirage and the phenomenon known as heat haze.

Traditional mirages are long-distance phenomena in which hazy images appear on the distant horizon, often in the shapes of rock formations, flat pools of reflective water, or oases and city walls. These mirages pose the greatest threat to travelers suffering from dehydration (whose desperation may persuade their minds to believe in an otherwise obvious mirage), or to those using the desert’s few landmarks as navigation aids. When navigating in the desert, the existence of a mirage imposes a –4 penalty on Survival checks to keep from getting lost.

Because mirages are created by light refraction and not magical manipulation of the environment, they’re very difficult to distinguish from true structures or terrain features without the aid of magical divination or trial and error. Magically discerning the true nature of a mirage, or reveal what the mirage is obscuring, are rare, largely because of the distance (generally several miles) at which the phenomena are observed.

Outside of magical means of detecting a mirage, a character must interact with the illusion to disbelieve it. A character who makes a successful DC 20 Survival check while observing a mirage can estimate the perceived distance to the image. When the character has traveled the estimated distance toward the mirage, he may attempt a DC 10 Will save to realize what they’re seeing is false.

Heat Haze: Heat haze appears in areas where the air close to the surface of the desert is heated to a significantly higher temperature than the air above it. During the day’s hottest points, when hot air rises and cooler air above it sinks, this causes the air to appear to shimmer. This type of mirage can be seen from as little as 30 feet away. In conditions of heat haze, creatures beyond 30 feet appear indistinct, as though affected by the blur spell, and gain concealment against ranged attacks. Effects and abilities that would allow a character to ignore this concealment, such as blindsight and true seeing, negate this effect. Heat haze has no effect on navigation and cannot be disbelieved.

Quicksand: Quicksand can’t occur without water. Saturated sand is surrounded and buoyed up by the surrounding liquid, forming a suspension that unwary travelers can mistake for normal sand. While an oasis or the edge of a salt lake might contain the conditions for quicksand to occur, it is not likely – and there is no chance of encountering quicksand in the dry waste. Supernatural hazards, though, such as slipsand, are sometimes mistakenly referred to as “quicksand,” and such places give rise to terrible stories.

Flash Floods: Storms or spring runoff from nearby mountains can send deadly walls of water through ravines or along low desert gullies. A flash flood can suddenly raise the water level of an area, filling a dry gulch to the top of its walls. A flood typically raises the water level by 1d10+10 feet within a matter of minutes. Water washes through affected squares, traveling at a speed of 60 feet or more, unless impeded by slopes or solid barriers. Treat a flash flood as stormy water (Swim DC 20 to avoid being swept away). An additional DC 20 Swim check is required each round to keep the head above water.

Along with the hazards of fast-flowing water, the flow uproots trees and rolls enormous boulders with deadly impact. Characters struck by a wall of water during a flash flood must make a successful DC 15 Reflex save or take 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage and be swept up into the waters if Large or smaller. A flash flood passes through an area in 3d4 hours.

Desert Storms

Severe and stronger winds pose a far graver danger than winds of equal velocity within landscapes that support a ground covering of grasses, sedges, and other terrain features that preclude instantaneous erosion. In waste areas covered by sand, loose earth, or grit, high winds are always accompanied by dust storms or sandstorms. The stronger the wind is in such regions, the more severe the effect.

Contrary to popular belief, non-magic dust storms and sandstorms do not bury people alive. The accumulation does not occur so quickly as to prevent escape or digging, but a sandstorm can suffocate and kill victims by burying them under the accumulation. The heaps of debris left behind might be deep enough to cover small buildings, though, and the landscape is drastically reshaped after a major storm, which could remove landmarks and cause a party to become lost.

Duststorms: Dust Storms arise in waste areas when the wind speed rises above 30 miles per hour. A dust storm typically reduces visibility to 1d10 × 10 feet and provides a –2 penalty on Perception checks. Additionally, a dust storm deals 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per hour to any creatures caught in the open. A dust storm blows fine grains of sand that reduce visibility, smother unprotected flames, and even choke protected flames, such as a lantern’s light (50% chance). A dust storm leaves behind a deposit of 1d6 inches of sand.

Sandstorms: A sandstorm typically reduces visibility to 1d10 × 5 feet and provides a –4 penalty on Perception checks, and typically has wind speeds between 50 and 74 miles per hour. A sandstorm smother unprotected flames, and choke protected flames, such as a lantern’s light (75% chance). Moreover, sandstorms deal 1d3 points of nonlethal damage each round to anyone caught out in the open without shelter and pose a suffocation hazard. A sandstorm leaves 2d3–1 feet of fine sand in its wake. Driving sand creeps in through all but the most secure seals and seams, chafing skin and contaminating carried gear. Sand storms are very common in the summer and somewhat common in the spring, but occur year round. Sand storms typically range between 500 ft and 10,000 ft tall and usually stretch out for at least a few miles.

Flensing Sandstorm: Flensing sandstorms arise in waste areas when the wind speed rises above 74 miles per hour (flensing sandstorm conditions can also occur during a tornado in a waste setting). Flensing sandstorms reduce visibility to brownout conditions, smother unprotected fl ames, and choke protected flames (100% chance). Moreover, flensing sandstorms deal 1d3 points of lethal damage each round to anyone caught out in the open without shelter and pose a suffocation hazard (see the Suffocation in a Sandstorm sidebar). A flensing sandstorm leaves 4d6 feet of sand in its wake.

Sand Suffocation: Exposed characters might begin to choke if their noses and mouths are not covered. A sufficiently large cloth expertly worn (Survival DC 15) or a filter mask negates the effects of suffocation from dust and sand. An inexpertly worn cloth or other protection held (even a pair of cupped hands) across the nose and mouth protects a character from the potential of suffocation for a number of rounds equal to 10 × her Constitution score. An unprotected character faces potential suffocation after this period, or if unable to protect their nose and mouth. As the sand will build up against the face, mouth, and nose when unprotected, holding your breath is – at best – a temporary measure. If breathing ends, the character must make a successful Constitution check (DC 10, +1 per previous check) each round or begin suffocating on the encroaching sand. In the first round after suffocation begins, the character falls unconscious (0 hp). In the following round, she drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she suffocates to death.

Brownout: Sandstorms can create brownout conditions, especially if the winds breach 75 mph. Swirling grit obscures the air and makes it nearly impossible to get one’s bearings. Brownout conditions block vision beyond 5 feet, as per fog. Creatures in a brownout move at half speed and take a –4 penalty on Dexterity checks and Dexterity-based skill checks as well as on vision-based Perception checks (stacking with the normal penalty of a sandstorm). The amount of time an inexpertly worn cloth or similar measure will protect someone is halved in a brownout, as is the lifespan of a filter mask or similar protection.

Whirlwinds: The baking ground of the waste heats air above it very quickly, producing spinning winds of varying intensity. When the weather is clear, the rapidly rising hot air forms a dust devil. This resembles a tornado but is smaller and relatively weak, with winds rarely exceeding 60 miles per hour. Still, winds that reach severe or windstorm speed are strong enough to deal damage. At ground level, visibility is reduced to practically nothing, granting total concealment to creatures within. A tornado is the most violent kind of mundane whirlwind, with winds that can exceed 200 miles per hour. It is very localized, though – the widest tornado is less than a mile across, and most have a diameter of only a few hundred feet. Tornadoes move relatively slowly across the landscape but can make sudden, erratic turns that are impossible to predict. They occur most often at the boundaries between waste environments and more temperate areas.

Khamaseen Storm: Powerful desert storms are known as khamaseen. These blasts of hot wind can last days, sweeping across the desert and carrying the dunes before them until the land is changed beyond recognition. Khamaseen are capable of swallowing whole towns, uncovering ancient ruins, and scouring skin from the bones of anyone foolish enough to be trapped in one. Though they resemble normal sandstorms, these violent storms can be miles tall and rip forward with the force of a hurricane. A khamaseen often forms from the coast and rips in towards the mountains, rarely affecting areas other than the heart of the desert.

A khamaseen storm reduces visibility to 1d6 × 5 feet and imposes a –8 penalty on Perception checks. The storm’s blasting sands deal 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 1d3 points of fire damage per hour of exposure. A khamaseen leaves behind 1d6 inches of dust and sand per hour it rages over a specific location. A single khamaseen can last anywhere from 1d4 hours to 1d3 days, and historians report a rare few lasting a week or even longer, generally resulting in a completely different landscape left in the wake of its shifting sands.

Sand Dunes:

Sand dunes are wandering things, although the mundane variety travels no more than a couple of hundred feet in a year. This is enough to eventually overrun farmland and choke out forests, but it is not an immediate hazard to most creatures. However, the constant action of wind on sand produces potentially hazardous situations.

Collapse: A sand dune has a long, shallow back slope shaped by the wind and a sharp leading edge with a steep drop on the lee side. This edge is precarious, with the pull of gravity just balanced by the tendency of sand grains to stick together. Coarser sand or lighter gravity produces higher and steeper dunes, while fine grains or heavier gravity produces low dunes with gentler slopes. However, the wind can swiftly shift the balance, blowing sand off the edge and triggering a sudden collapse. A collapsing dune is every bit as dangerous as an avalanche and follows the same rules.

Blowout: A change in wind direction can produce a blowout, hollowing out the center of a dune and leaving a large cavity. This cavity is not always visible, and a thin layer of safe-looking sand might cover a vast tomb that swallows people and animals without a trace. The crust covering a blowout is too weak to support any creature larger than Tiny. Noticing a blowout usually requires a successful DC 15 Survival check; however, charging or running characters are not entitled to a check. Characters enveloped by the sand begin to take damage and suffocate as though trapped by an avalanche. A blow out hides in one out of every one hundred sand dunes (1% chance).

Sand dunes that have been stabilized by grasses or shrubby trees are much less likely to collapse. Still, even such a place can hide a blowout if the undergrowth in the area is thin.

Sand Travel

Fields of deep sand can impede the movement of creatures that cannot fly, float, or otherwise stay off the ground when traveling. Most creatures do not automatically sink all the way into deep sand. A hard crust of dried mud or salt can make the surface hard enough to support some weight. Sand that has been stabilized by desert growth is generally safe to walk on.

Shallow Sand: Shallow sand is much more common in desert areas than deep sand. Areas covered by this terrain feature have a layer of loose sand about 1 foot deep. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with shallow sand, and the DC of Tumble checks in such a square increases by 2.

Deep Sand: Deep sand is most often found in deep deserts near areas of rolling dunes and fierce storms. Many creatures unfamiliar with desert terrain mistake deep sand for quicksand, although deep sand is not nearly as deadly. Areas covered by this terrain feature have a layer of loose sand up to 3 feet deep. It costs Medium or larger creatures 3 squares of movement to move into a square with deep sand. It costs Small or smaller creatures 4 squares of movement to move into a square with deep sand. Tumbling is impossible in deep sand.

Sand Crust: A sand crust appears as normal solid ground. Usually formed from a hardened crust of dried mud or salt, sand crusts sometimes cover areas of shallow sand (or, very rarely, deep sand). If a creature weighing more than 100 pounds (including equipment carried) enters a square covered with a sand crust, it breaks through to the sand below. The creature treats the square as shallow sand or deep sand, whichever lies below that square of sand crust, and it must deal with the effects of the sand on movement as described above. Creatures moving through an area of sand crust leave a trail in their wake, turning the sand crust they pass through into shallow sand or deep sand squares as applicable. Creatures weighing 100 pounds or less can treat sand crust as normal terrain.

Sun Dangers

In the clear, dry air of the waste, nothing blocks the sun’s rays, which can pose dangers of their own.

Glare: The sun can be extremely dangerous to unprotected eyes, drying and irritating the tissue. Areas of white sand, salt, gypsum, or similarly light-colored material reflect the sun’s glare into the eyes even when not looked at directly. Sun glare is doubly dangerous during winter months, when the sun is low on the horizon and thus difficult to avoid looking at.

Characters traveling in such conditions must cover their eyes with a veil, dark lenses, or a similar eye covering. Those whose eyes are unprotected in such conditions are automatically dazzled. Such characters take a –1 penalty on attack rolls, Search checks, and Spot checks. These penalties are doubled for creatures that have light sensitivity. Characters who take the precaution of covering or shielding their eyes automatically eliminate the risk of being dazzled by sun glare and take no penalties.

Glare-induced blindness lasts as long as characters remain in an area of sun glare and for 1d4 hours thereafter, or for 1 hour thereafter if the character enters a shadowed or enclosed area. The dazzling effect of sun glare can be negated by a remove blindness spell, but an unprotected character still in an area of sun glare immediately becomes dazzled again when the spell’s duration expires.

Sunburn: Sunburn is a serious hazard when traveling in the waste. A mild sunburn is merely distracting, but more severe burns can be life-threatening. Avoiding sunburn requires covering up exposed skin, wearing hats or robes, or carrying a parasol. Protective lotions also keep the skin safe, and beings native to torrid climates have developed dark skin pigmentation to protect against the sun. Of course, wearing heavy clothing carries its own risks (increasing the likelihood of succumbing to heatstroke), and sunlight reflected from light-colored surfaces can still reach beneath a hat or shade.

Characters who take even minimal care to protect their skin from direct sunlight (a hat, a cloak, or other body-covering garment will do) are not subject to sunburn. Wearing the desert outfit is sufficient to prevent sunburn.

If a character is caught out in the sun and completely unprotected, serious consequences can result. After 3 hours of such exposure, the character is mildly sunburned and takes 1 point of nonlethal damage. After 3 hours more exposure, the character develops severe sunburn and immediately takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage and a –2 penalty on Fortitude saves to avoid damage or fatigue from heat dangers until the nonlethal damage is healed. Characters or creatures with naturally dark (or tanned) skin pigmentation are naturally resistant to sunburn. Such individuals can remain in the sun unprotected for 6 hours before becoming mildly sunburned, and for 12 hours before becoming severely sunburned.

The Verlorex

The Verlorex has an incredibly diverse and surprisingly vibrant ecosystem. It is made of up three distinct regions: the central desert, the coastline, and the eastern desert.

Central Verlorex: The center of the Verlorex is what most people imagine when they think of a “desert” – an erg. Huge sand dunes coiling across an almost empty expanse, pushed by occasionally fierce winds. The sands here are loose and travel by foot is difficult if not nearly impossible at some places, especially when trying to scale the larger dunes. Here is where most adventurers tread, and where the most intense preparation is required. It is a place rules by monsters, hiding ancient ruins, temples, and, the most feared and beloved find for treasure hunters, pyramids. Most seem to have been built by the viashino, long ago when it is believed the interior of their lands were far more hospitable than they are today. However, many have come from other peoples – cults and outcasts that sought free land, even ancient cultures long forgotten. The ruins of the Khenra – a long-extinct race of humanoid jackals – are often found by explorers after harsh storms. This region was, before the war, CR 5-20 and up. Today not that much has changed, as the ogres, oni, and orcs have little cause to travel these lands other than to plunder ruins or hunt down runaway slaves.

Coastal Verlorex: The coastlines are a bit more stable than the interior, the ground more solid and plantlife more common. Oasis dot the deserts here and even the sand dunes are stable and strong from the plant life. Small streams and rivers stretch from these oasis out towards the coast. The weather is a bit more stable along the coast though fogs are common along the coastline, particularly in the morning. The coastlines are where the viashino truly established Rhyza Varis. Hurricanes and tornados often start just inland and sweep east from here. Before the war this region was typically CR 6-11 near the streams and rivers, and CR 1-5 is the stretches between them. The ocean itself is far more dangerous, CR 12-18, as many leviathans and sea serpents make their home in the twisting currents and use the regular fogs and storms to hunt. However, since Rhyza Varus was taken in the Oni Wars, these lands are incredibly dangerous to any not allied with these forces, and the danger of such an area simply cannot be calculated.

Eastern Cliffs: Where the desert encroaches on the Aerie Mountains, the mountains have been worn away over the millenia. There are mesas and stone towers stretching out from the mountains, and substantial rubble has built up along crumbling cliffs. Rockslides are constant threats, and many monsters that eat stone and metal call this place home. Undergrowth is more common here, and once you breach east of the first large cliffs of the mountains you start seeing the deep and rich valleys the Aerie is famous for. As many of the more violent and far-ranging hunters from the mountains will hunt these lands, the CR was, before the war, 10-25 and up. However, the ogres and orcs have long made their home in these mountains, and they patrol the slopes for runaways or trespassers.

Verlorex Terrain Types

Desert Rules: Anyone traveling in and spending a large portion of their time out in a desert consumes double the normal resources they require to survive (normally food and water). This does not apply to those adapted to the environment or immune to the desert’s desiccating nature (such viashino and other desert natives, those immune to fire, or those that are by nature non-dessicable). Those who spend their day out of the sun and away from the heat and dry air similarly avoid this requirement (such as those who stay largely in-doors in a coastal city). In particularly hot regions of the desert, individuals may need to consume more water (or their racial equivalent).

Light Undergrowth: Consisting of scrubby, hardy bushes and cacti, light undergrowth functions as described for other terrain types.

Light Rubble: Small rocks are strewn across the ground, making nimble movement more difficult. The DC of Acrobatics checks increases by 2.

Dense Rubble: This terrain feature consists of more and larger stones. Dense rubble counts as difficult terrain. The DC of Acrobatics checks increases by 5, and the DC of Stealth checks increases by 2. Large boulders are often present in areas of dense rubble.

Sand Dunes: Created by the action of wind on sand, dunes function as hills that move. If the wind is strong and consistent, a sand dune can move several hundred feet in a week’s time. Sand dunes can cover hundreds of squares. They always have a gentle slope pointing in the direction of the prevailing wind and a steep slope on the leeward side.

Other Desert Terrain Features: Rocky deserts have towers and mesas consisting of flat ground surrounded on all sides by cliffs and steep slopes (as described in Mountain Terrain). All desert terrain is crisscrossed with dry streambeds (treat as trenches 5 to 15 feet wide) that fill with water on the rare occasions when rain falls.

Magister Soulstoke, it is my hope that you are well and your research is fruitful. This journal is the experiences of a dream, created by a sentient cinder that, while living, you knew. His name is Char.

From the dream, I know you and him shared a deep, close relationship, not unlike a father and son. However… these experiences should serve as a warning. Char, in becoming an undead (even the unique type of undead that a cinder is), has had his morality twisted. My experiences in talking with intelligent undead support this. Further, he has dealt into Demonology. Very, very deeply into demonology. He has become something truly evil, and I believe him to be irredeemably so.

It should be noted that this was the happiest dream that could be created for Char. It was a dream where Cinder ruled, and ash was everywhere. In fact, the Ashridge Mountains, in that dream, much resembled the Plane of Ash. The cinders, using magic that turned fire spells ashen and prevented curated healing, much in the way a Vile Spell does the same, was created from a uniquely evil being. The insertion of some powerful demon into the corpse of an incredibly powerful Flamekin.

Your corpse.

Its unfortunate, but Char wants nothing more than the extinction of the Flamekin race. I won’t go further into it in this forward, but before you started reading into this, you needed to be warned. You are in danger from Char, as is maybe any other extremely powerful flamekin. If you should have any questions, Ashling knows much of what transpired. Should she not be able to answer your questions to your satisfaction, send me a letter or try and get in contact with me through the Keepers. I do occasional mercenary work for them.

Be careful, and stay safe.

Events of the Last Six Years

5133

• Fall: Salif Se’a Ke – Call of the Seed Guides – finally occurred. Mudu knows the seed guides did come under some kind of attack, but never did find out exactly what happened.

5134

• Spring: A cure was created for the Jade Contagion, though it was unable to cleanse those already fully affected. For nearly a year it seemed to be the end of the strange disease. Unfortunately, in the latter winter months, early into the next year, a new strain of the Jade Contagion ripped forth across Elemental Plane of Earth.
• Summer: Tavka was brought back into the world under the Keldon banner. Travel to and from the island was highly restricted as the time-lost island adjusted to its new home.
• Summer: With Tavka brought back into the world and Keld’s attention divided, Alabastra was beset by a great turbulence. Keldon houses vied for power with the new upset and nishoba raiders began stretching further and further into Keldon lands. An upstart Witch King, Krieg the Cannon, revealed his flying warship and used it to decimate a band of raiders lead by Ekshen the Bloodborn. With his success and revealed might, Krieg took a commanding seat in the Necropolis Council.
• Winter: In the light of Oona’s new Twilight power, many kingdoms had begun to restrict the travel of their guards, making smaller settlements yet more reliant on adventurers or local guards for protection. Many cities began hiring rangers, elves, and others who specialized in fighting and defending against the fae. Almost every city has ramped up their city guard and added new protections, even if simplistic.
• Winter: In the deep of winter, a group of adventurers – A Fellowship of Fools, part of the Golden Drakes adventurers guild – were able to rescue almost one hundred slaves from Rhythus and helped them retreat back to Akrekik across the southern slopes of the Aerie.

5135

• Spring: Aquatic sea life, particularly major predators, became suddenly much more aggressive. Strangely, homarids nearly disappeared during this time. Many of the currents in the ocean shifted during this time. Those near the continents were missed by most as they were very subtle, and few ships traveled far enough out to feel the substantial change in currents further out into the ocean.
• Spring: An elvish hero, Rosa Isphalan, The Rose of Celanthiral, was reported by her husband as having been missing for over a year. She’s a famed explorer and he said she was last seen heading off to explore the celestial forests of Saltala on the Lands of Light.
• Summer: Another 4-day faerie day occurred, during which many major cities were once again hit hard. Fortunately, the common decision to keep city guards on tighter rotation and increase defenses paid off, and many cities were able to much better defend themselves. The 4th day was the twilight faerie day, during which the young leonin prince, Raksha, was assassinated. He was found in the middle of a city square, a number of the “blades” famously carried by the flower queen’s blackguard buried in his back.
• Summer: A group of vedalkin researchers were jailed for unlicensed genetic manipulation and experimenting with environmental manipulation in the Twin-Kingdoms. This was a huge win for both the Keepers and for Sanctuary, as a pair of Sanctuary Crafters working for the Keepers hunted down the mutated creatures they unleashed and led the arrest – Ellia Lorellia and Rukek Kerasar.
• Summer: The Order of the Silent Chime, a group of ninjas and monks and yamabushi in Ikari, claimed that they found an ancient relic that would help them more readily fight kami. “Fight fire with fire” they said, and began a call for any shaman or samurai that could join on their missions. They’ve kept the exact nature of the relic secret but it was obviously very effective.
• Winter: By the time winter rolled around, the seas had gone back to normal. Again, almost at the same time, homarids began returning. However, they had become more aggressive, and specimens of their species not seen before began showing up. They had also migrated out further, showing up near the silver isles, up the eastern coast of dentyr, and even around Tavka.
• Winter: A series of brutal pirate attacks were carried out across almost every port on Creed, almost simultaneously. Even Keld was taken aback at the sudden onslaught. Many towns were hit hard but the sudden force. Strangely, many people were kidnapped. None of them have been seen since.
• Winter: Strange almost fae-seeming saplings started growing sporadically on the edges of the Dentyr Wasteland. However, the warped denizens of the waste seemed drawn towards them. Druids and other naturalists flocked to the area to defend the odd growths, alongside a number of strange faeries, but at the end of the day only a handful of growths survived. Many of these naturalists set up conclaves with these trees. Rumor got around that the faeries here were some strange new type of faerie, and apparently the credit for these growths went to the late Crafter, Ruby Salinger. Today, there are some trees growing up near Talra and many doing surprisingly well in the areas surrounding the Greyflame Keep, down towards Ekmas, and even up towards Kraki-Ra around the mountain’s edge. Though, as of the last year or so, the strange faeries that were living in them seem to have more or less disappeared.

5136

• Spring: The Stygian Order revealed a major breakthrough – thanks to the combined efforts of the hero Sagro Sataro, the Izzet Guild, and (supposedly) a faerie archmage, the Stygian Order had mastered a method to enter and exit the clinging mists. Unfortunately, they explained that the mists contained an area of terrible corruption and disease, and that efforts must be taken very slowly.
• Spring: The Order somehow joined forces with an extremely powerful outsider, a being known as the Hand of Justice, a force of unflinching justice that even Archons fear. The Order claimed that it was the only response to the unprecedented force and unity the barbarians had been showing for the last few years, and the continuing outrage of them holding Pianna’s Hold which they so cruelly named “Fool’s Gold”. With the Hand of Justice, the Order retook Fool’s Gold, killing and capturing many of the barbarians there. Notably, the beautiful and much beloved champion of the Rhodim tribe, the pyromancer Marsa, was brutally annihilated by the Hand during the attack.
• Summer: No one’s sure if it was due to the Stygian Order pushing into the mists, or if it just…happened. Creatures began erupting out of the clinging mists. Greenish Pus- and mucus-like ooze monstrosities began emerging. Their touch was corrosive and whatever did survive it almost always walked away with a horrible and deathly infection – a strain of slimy doom never seen before. The Stygian Order rallied and many local adventurers came together to evacuate the settlements nearest to the mists and to spread the word to keep travelers away. Fortunately, many adventurers and heroes joined the Stygian Order to stand against the sudden incursion – notably Sagro Sataro, Brigid Baeli, Aleksi Briclot, and Teira Karsa. Ooze monstrosities continued to pour out of the mists for nearly five days. Finally, a single ooze creature of unimaginable size emerged, its body laden with a dozen dozen eyes and fifteen sets of teeth in seven maws (there’s a song). Along with it came a sudden wave of the smaller oozes, larger than any seen before. Exact details are sketchy, but the heroes claim they only persevered because of – perversely – The Flower Queen. A Twilight Faerie Day started and the entirety of the Clinging Mists was surrounded by Faewoods Outcroppings, out of which rode the armies of Oona. Brigid Baeli claims she saw Oona herself drive back the titanic abomination, though no one else has corroborated her story. (Few dare question the honesty of the Hero of Kinsbaile, but it is widely believed Oona cannot trespass upon the Outcroppings.) Since then, the mists have ceased to expand, and even seem to have retracted a small amount. However, the stygian order is being very careful with their approach to the mist.
• Fall: Unfortunately, it seemed like the Twin Kingdoms wasn’t done being hit. The tar pits began boiling up in the fields once again, and the same elementals and undead from nearly six decades past began to rise up once again. Some believe the sudden resurgence was connected with events surrounding the Clingings Mists. The sudden rise in these creatures was met with severe force by the Twin Kingdoms and the Order.
• Winter: As winter moved in and the Twin Kingdoms began their entrenched efforts to once again wipe out the tar pits, the Ashridge barbarians struck back. Used to fighting in the harshest conditions, the barbarians moved as a terrifyingly united force. The Ashridge barbarians retook Fools Gold and sacked Wealdston and Warthford. Rumors hold that the barbarians generally held well to their honor code, but spared few of the Order soldiers they found, or the Twin Kingdoms soldiers that stood with their Order allies.

5137

• Spring: The elves – ever beset these days it seem – were hit by a very strange uprising in their kingdom. A number of thalids seemed to achieve some measure of sentience and attempted to overthrow a pair of elvish towns. Unfortunately, the brutish creatures’ seemed to have learned strange tricks – they had somehow gained the ability to dominate weak-willed elves with their spores and used this to gain access to a town, then attacked from within. Some theorize these “intelligent” thalids may have been growing for some years, starting with some unusually wild and aberrant growth showing up in strange groves across the Great Forest as far back as 5133.
• Summer: A slave uprising started in Klurikon’s capital, surging up with a surprisingly level of coordination. It was ultimately put down, but not before more than a few powerful nobles and slave traders had been killed.
• Summer: A rash of slimy doom swept across the Twin Kingdoms during the hottest of the summer months, thought to have been caused by the oozes that had escaped the Clinging Mists.
• Fall: A two-headed bladewing dragon briefly invaded and took over Tvalir, a small city up in the Terraces, and terrorized the surrounding region for weeks, little known to the outside world. A pair of local heroes went in, Arish and Nasha Wraksen, but unfortunately were struck down by the dragon Ultimately, an owl aven wizard named Warruk (known to some as a Crafter) went in with the assistance of two adventuring groups, the Fellowship of Feathers and The Stonesworn, and were able to take it down. Supposedly Warruk’s still in the area, attempting to ascertain why the dragon was drawn to such a place.
• Fall: Another three-day faerie day hit late into the fall, turned into a four-day run by another twilight faerie day, though cities were far more prepared this time for the onslaught. Strangely, the attacks seemed far less intense, and very few major threats were leveled at cities this year. In fact, prankster fae were more problematic.
• Winter: The Sunset Fields began struggling with a strange plague. Larger and larger vermin have been found in the fields, eating through crops, attacking travelers, and even a few massive insects attacked cities. Fortunately, as all the year’s faerie days were spent, cities were far more willing to send out city guards to help, though many farms ended up having to pay adventurers and mercenaries for protection. Ultimately, the winter arrival of the Golden Fleece Caravan was able to provide emergency support and aid to be beleaguered region. The wave of vermin stopped as suddenly as it started, though to this day some particularly large and aggressive vermin are found around the fields.

5138

• Spring: Two houses of Keld have gone into a on-and-off war over one of the southern mountains in the Twilight Spires, as the mountain was recently identified as the mountain that most likely held the ancient grave of Kradak and his treasures. Both houses claim they own the mountain, though the House of Kradak has actually remained quiet the entire time. With the information released, nishoba, giants, and even adventurers have moved in to try and steal the mountain out from under the waring houses. Claims have recently come up of strange weather around the mountain.
• Summer: In a historic moment, the Order of the Sacred Bell and the Order of the Silent Chime made a public appeal to The Nine Guardians to help end kami hostility. The two guilds had long been in philosophical and occasionally physical conflict – the two had radically opposing viewpoints on how to confront the kami – so this sudden unity drew great attention. While no one held much hope (such pleas had been made many times over the decades), the allied guilds claimed they had proof that the kami hostility was destabilizing the Reikai. After almost two months of silence, Alisandria of Shallows released a short declaration, “The Nine Guardians have seen in the Reikei a clear and present threat to Creed’s future. We now stand with the thousands of men, women, and kami who have long rallied to end the rage sweeping the spiritual realms, and the thousands more that have lost their lives in the wake of this consumption. May the Myojin have mercy upon those we take to task for their transgressions.”
• Summer: An orc hero, Dresna the Vigilant, who everyone thought had been dead for years turned up in Akrekik with a small host of orcs she rescued who hadn’t allied with the ogres. Word has gotten out that the o-bakemano are experimenting like mad with the orcs, breeding orggs and some strange red orcs with massive tusks and a dark talent for sangromancy and, worryingly, demonology. She called them fel orcs.
• Fall: Rumors from the Ikari Jungles hold that some catfolk are going missing, and then later showing up with bizarre fleshy growths covering their heads, acting like completely alien creatures. Some believe they might be licids, a creature not seen in any quantity in quite some time.
• Fall: The Silver Isle found a number of unusual crystalline caverns underneath the island and has begun excavating them, hoping to find relics of their ancestors.
• Winter: A huge hurricane swept north of Alabastra and caught one of the crystal storms from the Diamond Steppe Isles, sweeping razor sharp crystal dust across the hinterlands at incredible speeds. A small number of inhabitants from the incredibly dangerous island appear to have caught the ride over as well. The wild north is currently in disarray, hundreds of nishoba and other northern natives dead in the storm’s wake, and monsters violently lashing out at their strange new home.

Dear Ikantea,

I hope this letter finds you well. I apologize for my extended absence and for my lack of reply to your much-appreciated care package. Our return messenger was waylaid on his way back, so my gratitude remained unconveyed.

You have most likely heard that my friends and I have returned from our journey — it is Starfork after all and news travels obscenely fast there — and spent the Festival of Lights with our immediate families. I hope you enjoyed the holiday with those closest to you as well. Perhaps at some later date I can once more regale you with the tales of our sometimes ludicrous and often perilous journey. I was a Kami briefly, whose head was a hat, and that’s not even the strangest occurrence.

Justice never rests, however, and so we’re immediately off to help a friend rescue her mother. I’ll be gone again for an indeterminate amount of time, but at least this time I should be able to get mail reliably. The life of an adventurer is never boring, but I do wish it would afford me more opportunities to slow down and spend time with those I care about.

As a belated Festival of Lights gift and a token of my gratitude for the one you gave me, let me know if there’s a place from which you’d like a token or item, and I’ll endeavor to find one for you. My esteemed friend Ned has made instant world-travelers of our group, and he thinks nothing of bouncing between continents these days. I can most likely convince him to give me a lift for such a purpose.

After all, in the darkest hours of our journey, when I had naught but myself for company, your image filled me with bliss, and I can only hope to repay the favor.

Cordially yours,

Reikhardt Flaxmane