Dark Sun: The Scorched World of Athas

Marauders of the Dune Sea
The Face in the Stone

Cult of Dust
The group headed back towards the entrance and then proceeded down the eastern passage. Their progress was blocked by a set of doors bearing markings similar to those found on the Obelisks out front. Cautious of a trap, Morg attempted to disable the device but found as he went through the door that the trap was still active and received a nasty shock. The rest followed him down a long hallway with a large crack in the floor, which had three sets of doors near the far end.

The door at the end of the hallway was closed, but they could hear a crackling sound coming from the other side. Wary of traps, but having no other option, they opened the door to reveal a large room light by four massive braziers, one in each corner of the room. The skeleton of a snake-like creature lay crumbling on the floor. In the flickering light, an altar of carved bone was visible along the northern wall.

When Vinara moved up to the altar to investigate a skeletal figure appeared in each of the two northern braziers, burning but undamaged by the flames. Fire flared in the eye sockets of the skeletal creature on the floor; its tail rising and lashing out sending shards of bone and stone flying. Smoke puffs in the two southern braziers appeared and then faded, revealing several shambling corpses. Two of the corpses were crusted with salt.

The corpses moved with surprising speed and surrounded Vinara, clawing and biting her. She swung her bronze staff, a halo of primal magic surrounding her, the undead quickly falling to her attacks. As the whipping tail of the skeleton continued to blast the room with poisonous bone and stone fragments, Gwyn summoned spectral claws that slashed into a burning skeleton and a salt zombie. Bear and Morg tore into the blazing skeleton and the second salt zombie, taking them down quickly. Morg hacked at the skeletal tail until nothing was left.

After the battle was concluded the group searched the room and found only writing above a picture of a massive serpent with a golden crown on it’s head carved into the altar. Vinara could barely translate the writing.

In the beginning, Ul-Athra and its siblings created the world. For a time, each primordial claimed a domain among the formless, empty regions. Ul-Athra, a creature of wind and rage, had dominion over the fury of the dust storm. It wore upon its brow the Crown of Dust, into which the primordial had invested a considerable sum of its power. When Ul-Athra was lost to the world, fragments of the Crown remained.

Storm Seat
Resting BonesContinuing straight down a hallway, ignoring two side doors, the group found themselves in front of another pair of doors. Tired of caution, Morg flung open the doors and walked inside of a large natural chamber. In a niche in the southern wall, a massive, vaguely humanoid creature made of fused bone was resting on the ground. Four statues, apparently carved from the floor were visible in the chamber. A great stone cauldron was visible on the northern side of the chamber.

As the heroes moved into the room, they could hear low whispers coming from the cauldron. The ghostly mutterings continued without end, mixing words from many languages without meaning. As Vinara moved towards the cauldron, she avoided getting too close to the statues, as the air around them seemed disturbed. The cauldron was large enough to hold the entire party, but was empty except for what appeared to be a faint mist.

Ancestor Hall
Deciding that their need to find the artifact was greater than the need to satisfy their curiosity, the group moved out of the room. Once again they avoided getting too close to the statues. The hallway was light from the far end and had two side passages that each had a large stone urn at the far side.

The southern passage had a snake design decorated on the floor tiles in what appeared to be charcoal. The northern passage was similarly decorated, but the design was painted in a dark green fluid. Both hallways had strange writing which Vinara translated as the phrase “Our ancestors require obeisance” etched in the walls. The large urns remained untouched as the group ventured towards the source of the light.

Wide steps lead down into a grand chamber. Crackling fire burned in two braziers that flanked the stairs. The flames bathed the room in oddly inconstant light, throwing shadows across a floor covered in skeletal and mummified humanoid remains. Vinara moved forward, heading to the southern doors leading out of the room, when she was wracked with pain.

With a shriek, several bodies scattered across the floor began to rise, the sickly sweet odor of decaying flesh blowing through the chamber. A snake sigil, previously obscured by the bodies began to glow with a scarlet light. Around the sigil, a number of ghostly figures appeared moving towards the immobilized Vinara, caressing her with shadowy hands. Morg charged the wraiths, cleaving them with his axe. Vinara and Bear defeated the remaining two with a combined attack.

Gwyn flung her arms in a wide arc spraying the zombies and skeletons with liquid fire. Although Vinara was in constant pain as the sigil continued to drain her energy, their remaining foes were dispatched quickly. Gwyn used her magic to disrupt the sigil long enough for the group to leave the room and head deeper into the Face in the Stone. The exit from the room eventually forked with doors visible at the end of each branch.

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Marauders of the Dune Sea
The Face in the Stone

The Face
The Face in The StoneThe heroes cautiously approached the entrance to the face and as they did so, it became apparent that the movement within was caused by a small group of hejkin. Castri decided to remain outside the face, standing guard in case any of the marauder’s allies attempted to breech the dust storm surrounding the Face.

Gwyn moved forward past the obelisks, which crackled with lightning, striking her. Not seriously injured, she continued in and attempted to intimidate the hejkin into fleeing, bu they were not routed and battle commenced. Morg and Vinara rushed into the cave as the hejkin unleashed lightning attacks of their own. Despite her magic claws tearing into the hejkin, Gwyn suffered the worst under their attack. Two of the hejkin were defeated by Vinara and her entourage, while Morg and Gwyn slew the others.

The group retreated out past the Obelisks, which eventually went dark again. Carefully approaching them, they attempted to discover a way to disable the trap. Unfortunately their actions caused the traps to explode, causing further injuries.

Hejkin Lair
Venturing down the left-hand passage, the group heard a strange sound, akin to a breeze through a fine crystal chime. The source of the sound was found to be the most unusual sight the adventurer’s had seen – running water. Free running water falling down one side of the corridor, pooled in the center of the runnel and flowed away down another constricted channel. Vinara’s keen eyes spotted a shape resting 10 feet below the surface of the water. The creature, resembling a scorpion with tentacles in it’s mouth, was recognized as a chuul. Wary of disturbing the beast, the group vaulted over the stream and continued on down the corridor.

Past the pool of water, the twisting corridor ended in a wide chamber stinking of rotting carrion and spoor. Piles of debris were scattered like nests, and large hole was visible in the center of the chamber. Barely visible in their flickering torchlight, several more hejkin were visible.

Hurt and tired, the heroes charged in to try and make quick work of their foes. Gwyn summoned a blast of fire, burning the hejkin chief as he rang a gong near the entrance. Vinara and Bear took down two of the hejkin quickly before being attacked by the chuul who approached from behind. Morg charged the chief and knocked him into a pit in the room, but its quick reflexes saved it from certain death. Pulling itself out of the pit the chief tossed Bear into the pit and savagely tore into Morg with its claws.

Eventually the hejkin were defeated and Bear was able to climb out of the pit. The group, now completely exhausted was forced to rest in the foul lair of the hejkin. During their rest they uncovered some coins that the hejkin were hoarding, but very little else of value.

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Marauders of the Dune Sea
Finding the Face

Desert Trek
Morg, Vinara and Castri headed to the Merchant District to purchase supplies for their expedition into the desert. Eager to start their trip, the trio did not spend much time listening to news or gossip, but rather made their purchases and headed back.

While the others were busy procuring supplies, Gwyn opened their shop and attempted to attract some business. The day was slow, with only one patron, a merchant named Dalem Shom, of House Shom. While inking his house symbol onto his arm, Dalem expressed concern over a missing caravan and a dramatic increase in raider activity. Gwyn mentioned that when they were in the desert, they would keep a look out for the lost caravan.

The group set out the next day, guided only by the shared visions of Vinara and the Wastewalker, they headed towards the rising sun. Watchful for the vague landmarks seen in the visions, the group struggled against the harsh terrain, with Gwyn suffering the most as they crossed ravines and escarpments.

As the group moved through a particularly narrow section of the badlands, thin strands of nearly invisible crystal suddenly became apparent. As they got closer, it was apparent that the strands formed a large web stretching between several of the boulders. Having seen this type of web before, the heroes were not surprised by the appearance of two large crystal spiders. The battle against the spiders was not difficult for the seasoned adventurers, although the blinding light reflected by the spiders caused Gwyn to be blinded for a short while.

After eight grueling days of travel, the group finally reached what they assumed could only be their destination; a dust storm hanging in place over a cliff wall. The stationary storm, a twisting pillar of blowing dust and sand ascended over 50 feet into the sky. The screaming wind promised stinging death to those who entered.

Storm’s Edge
Dust StormFrom their vantage point, the adventurers could see more than a dozen humans and humanoids among the jumble of rocks and dunes ahead of them. Their ragtag and eclectic dress suggested they were raiders. Some were perched atop the rocks as sentries and other gathered farther away, partly sheltered by a large boulder. Numerous bound human captives lay near the edge of the stationary dust devil. While they assessed the situation, three of the raiders began to drag a captive across the sand and tosses him into the swirling dust. The captive screamed and was gone.

Acting quickly to maintain the element of surprise and prevent more of the captives from being killed, the group sprang into action. Castri launched a volley of arrows across the boulder taking out one of the tarek raiders who was throwing captives into the storm. Morg charged the nearest raider while Gwyn used her magic on a tougher looking tarek. Vinara and Bear moved to position themselves but were unable to take down any of the raiders.

Gwyn summoned claws of arcane energy to tear away at the raiders foolish enough to close in with her. Vinara drained the lifeblood from her opponent to heal Morg who had been wounded battling several of the humans. Castri continued to launch arrows into the raiders switching to those near the captives after they tossed another into the storm.

The group suffered a bit under the hail of javelins and stabs of spears, but eventually they emerged victorious. Although one of the raiders was alive, the heroes tossed him into the storm. The surviving captives were discovered to be the missing House Shom caravan and promised to tell of the heroics of their saviors upon their return to