Burning Sands

A multi-session and complicated adventure that started in Velora, moved to Hotempa and culminated in the Temple of Eternal Stars, this was one of the touchstone adventures of the campaign, and introduced Baelwren SummerStorm to the Companions of the Rising Sun.

Intro

The introductory phase of this adventure is detailed in the Intro flowchart . It takes place about four weeks after the events of the Wreck of the Venerable Drake.

Auction

It started off with an auction, at which was rumored to be sold some gear belonging to the Blood Fists, whom the party believed responsible for an attack on them during the affair of the Wreck of the Venerable Drake. The Companions purchased a set of tack, which was marked with the logo of the Carriage House, a Velora stable and outfitters. The saddlebags contained, among other things, two books - a copy of Red Day Dawning, and the Librera. It had belonged to Salah Abdul Rashid, the sorcerer of the Blood Fists that attacked the Companions.

Books

Folded inside Red Day Dawning was a letter , which described the Companions and their next mission in great detail, and also instructed the bearer to retrieve the Breath of the Four Winds and the Heart of the Endless Sea by whatever means required.

Tucked inside the Librera was a chart , which appeared to detail someone's attempts to figure out the composition and organization of the Blood Fists. The chart was, however, damaged, and much appeared to be in code. However, one name was given in the notes.

Finally, scrawled inside the cover of the Librera was a prayer of some sort, titled the Litany of the Blood Fists .

Combined, these items seemed to indicate that one Thurbold Vec, in Velora, was worth investigating.

Velora

Traveling to their hometown, Velora, the Companions discovered that Vec had purchased the Carriage House. The Companions were attacked nearly as soon as they arrived, by some thugs hired apparently for that purpose. Vec's office had been abandoned, but left with traps for the Companions. Once the traps had been disabled, they discovered a second letter , this one signed by Thurbold's hand and instructing the bearer to eliminate the Companions and retrieve the Breath, and then meet Thurbold in Hotempa.

The Companions naturally decided to proceed to Hotempa, in hopes of finding out just why they kept being attacked, and what was so important about the amulets they carried.

Desert Roads

Venturing into the desert was a first for all the Companions. Though most of the journey was uneventful, they did have one memorable encounter with the Lonely Roads Band - a group of traveling undead bards, which nearly ensnared them with their mystical music and drained them of all life.

Hotempa

Hotempa

Hotempa is a largish city in the desert, last true civilized location before the empty waste. It is full of rumors, lies, backstabbing, and innuendo - a web of cross-information and complexity. Who knew what, and what they would tell the party is detailed in the Information Web and the Information Key , which are themselves keyed to the Hotempa Map (see the Hotempa page for more detail).

Most importantly, the party learned that there was a chance - though slim - that Vec was not what he appeared, but was instead a member of the Order of the Holy Compass - the Mage Hunters - and was using the Blood Fists as a front or as muscle in some covert operation.

Preparations

After learning that two groups of people - one of which was led by Thurbold Vec - had recently headed out to the Eastern Desert, the Companions began to prepare for an excursion into the desert themselves. They replaced Nigel's armor with a custom-made ceramic breastplate, and hired a guide: Baelwren SummerStorm, who, in the initial interview, drank Jericho under the table.

Desert Excursion

After suitable preparations were made, the party ventured out into the desert, following Baelwren's guidance. The soon encountered Thurbold Vec himself, dying in the wasteland. Obviously the victim of an ambush, he confirmed that he was a member of the Holy Compass, and told the party that he was attacked by his niece, Carriyn bint Vec. She intended to claim the amulets for herself, and had continued on to the Temple of Eternal Stars. He then died.

Welcome to the Temple of Eternal Stars

The entrance to the Temple of Eternal Stars stands some 70 feet off the floor of the desert. By the time the Companions caught up, Carriyn and her retainers were already in the Temple. Forced to climb, the Companions had a near escape with disaster when Jericho slipped and fell, nearly dying from a grave concussion. Fortunately, Nigel's ability to lay on hands cured the most grievous of his wounds, allowing him to heal himself the rest of the way.

We Are Not Alone

Upon ascending to the entrance, the party found the Temple to be occupied by more than just Carriyn's group. A team of scholars calling themselves The Archeologists was in residence, doing research on the old temple and attempting to figure out how to open the doors to the lower level.

Though disparing of the odds, Carriyn's group attacked the Archeologists, and both they and the Companions discover how disturbingly deadly a mid/high level fighter and rogue working together can be. Carriyn's retainers were sliced to ribbons in mere moments, and Carriyn herself surrendered. She was captured, bound, and locked into a room in the Temple the Archeologists called the Chamber of Solace, a magically dark, silent room with a strong lock.

She later escaped, of course.

The Archeologists

See the Archeologists page for more details on these unique adventurers.

Temple, Level 1

The first level of the temple consists of 8 locations.

Archeologists quarters

Once a common room, this is the room that the Archeologists have chosen as their bunk/mess hall.

Library/Workroom

A room full of ancient scrolls and tomes, as well as the reference materials the Archeologists brought with them.

Chamber of Solace

A magically dark, silent room usually used for meditative purposes.

Mummification Room

Filled with the stench of embalming fluids and rotten linens, this room is where the ancients prepared their dead for the journey to the afterlife.

Bedchamber

Apparently once belonging to a highly-ranked priest, this chamber is beautifully furnished but currently unused.

Chamber of Eternal Stars

A large room, with a beautiful mural of the desert sky on the ceiling. Notable for the constellations of stars, which loosely match those seen by the Companions during the Save the Last Dance adventure.

Landor's Rest

Much to the surprise of the Companions, this chamber is the tomb of Landor Caladon -- Lelani Caladon's late husband and murderer. He lies atop a Crystal Pillar, in the center of a magic circle composed of equal parts arcane runes and symbols closely resembling the shapes of the constellations in the Chamber of Eternal Stars.

Clutched in his hand was a scroll, on which he wrote his final journal entry . It warned against tampering with the residents of the level below.

The Companions, perhaps against their better judgement, elected to cast speak with dead on the corpse of the late priest, and were granted two questions:

What can you tell me about the guardians of the temple?

They are eternal and powerful. They await the coming of the worthy. They gave up life to protect all life. Each one left their legacy behind.

How do we get the relic?

Prove yourself worthy to carry it.

Chamber of Dreams

A large room with huge gold double doors at one end, and a magical sleep enchantment throughout. The doors were magically locked and trapped. Beyond them is a staircase leading to Level 2.

These doors opened at the approach of the Companions. Later discussion revealed that the Archeologists had been working for weeks to try to get the doors open, and were never successful. It is theorized that, by virtue of possessing some artifacts of the High Magic, they were deemed worthy to enter.

Temple, Level 2

This level consists of a long, wide hallway, with a large set of double doors at the end, and six small chambers off each side. The doors at the end had ten keyholes in them, and were locked.

Each of the smaller chambers was the final resting place of one of the Temple's guardians.

Zerk's Tomb

Zerk was known as the Tenacious, for his refusal to quit a task once accepted.

He was animated as a mummy. The Companions defeated him quickly, and found a key amongst the rags with which he was wrapped.

Jolas' Tomb

Jolas was known as the Desert Bear, for his special connection to the animal world.

The Companions were attacked by a pair of zombie dire bears, and fought a pitched battle with them. A key was found on a loop of mouldering ribbon around one of their necks.

Dosher's Tomb

Dosher was known as the Hidden.

This room was filled apparently with broken junk. The Companions found a key amongst it only after a long search.

Pediah's Tomb

Pediah was known as the Light of the Desert, for her friendship with the Desert Wisps.

The Companions bypassed a poison lock on the door here, and fought a pair of flame-spewing desert wisps. They found a key in one of the clay urns scattered around the chamber.

Esomelech's Tomb

Esomelech is known as the Keeper of the Chronicle.

Here, the party found a surprise. Rather than a fight, Esomelech lived, as a Deathless mummy. He asked for news of the outside world, which he added to his already full library. He willingly gave the party his key, and offered to answer three questions for them -- stating that his ability to answer questions, and thereby interact with current events, was limited by the magic that kept him alive. He was a watcher, eternal, and prevented from any more than limited interaction with events.

Though two of the questions the Companions asked have since been lost to time, it is known that they asked him what the amulets for which they were questing were for. He responded by giving them a description of the Ceremony of Union.

When last they saw him, Esomelech was still writing on a scroll, keeping his Chronicle up to date.

Eitan's Tomb

Eitan was known as the Collector of Dreams.

One of the most beautiful and foreboding of the tombs, this room was dark and glittered with tiny sparkles of light.

Eitan lay in his sarcophagus, and there was no key to be found. Engraved into the lid of the sarcophagus was an inscription, requesting that each mortal present share his truest wish. Jericho spoke of a time when his leadership on a dangerous quest would no longer be needed; Nigel spoke of fighting and dying gloriously in the service of ORB; Regina of having a true family, and so on.

Things got tense, though, when Baelwren, who had claimed to be a bard, spoke of her dream of a time and place where those of arcane power would no longer be persecuted, revealing what she had kept hidden - that she was in fact a sorceress. Jericho spoke in her defense, and, while Nigel threatened her with beheading should she ever use her power to harm the Companions or their mission (a threat he's eminently capable of fulfilling), she was allowed to remain with the Companions.

When all present had told of their deepest dream, a key appeared in Eitan's hand.

Dati's Tomb

Dati was known as the Jungle Queen, and her tomb is filled with verdant foliage.

Some of the flora proved poisonous, but fortunately the Companions avoided it and safely retrieved Dati's key from its bed in the moss.

Chinoar's Tomb

Chinoar was known as the Thief, for his love of traps.

Where previously all of the tombs had been small rooms, this chamber had a hallway at the back that wound around in ever-decreasing lengths, forming a squared-off spiral. The hallway was chock full of traps, but each of them seemed to have been bypassed by a clever and patient thief.

Proceeding with caution, Kimo and Regina followed the spiral to a small central chamber, where they found what they believed to be the body of the thief, clutching a small box and burned beyond recognition.

When they took the box from the body, they heard the adventurer's most feared sound. It was not the roar of a dragon, nor the clomping of the boots of a battalion of orcs, nor even the chittering of a rust monster... just, a small, simple, *click*.

At this point, Regina turned to Kimo, and said, simply, "Run!".

Moving at top speed, they ran through the spiraling hallway, hearing traps resetting themselves behind them. Kimo and Regina both slid out ahead of the final trap, but Nigel, who had been waiting some short distance inside the hallway, was not so quick. He did prove lucky, though, as a pendulum blade trap caromed off his brand new ceramic breastplate and didn't hurt him.

Contained in the box, which they fortunately remembered to bring, was Chinoar's key.

Adir's Tomb

Adir was known as the Spirit Caller. In life, he called and bound many spirits, forcing them to do his will. Justice was in some measure served, though, as upon his death, he turned into a wraith.

One of the more difficult encounters the Companions have faced, he would not give up his key until his destruction.

Raafe's Tomb

Raafe was known as the Scorpion Lord, for reasons that became apparent as soon as the Companions opened the door to his crypt. Attacked by a massive swarm of fire scorpions, and lacking any non-fire-based area affect spells, the Companions were effectively reduced to stomping on the scorpions one by one.

Raafe's key was found in one of the urns lining the walls, once the last of the scorpions was dispatched.

Ammeen's Tomb

Hieroglyph Puzzle

Ammeen was known as the Spell-Keeper, as he was one of the most knowledgeable of the Theurgists.

His tomb contained a puzzle, written in an ancient script. Once deciphered, the puzzle read:

Cold and dark, this hallowed tomb
Shall remain, drained of her beauty.
Until once more I look
Upon dawn’s gilded face

After a great deal of thought, Jericho cast daylight on the sarcophagus. Ammeen's key appeared, glinting in the light of ORB.

Iftah's Tomb

Mosaic Floor Puzzle

Iftah was known as the Artisan, for his love of creating beautiful, magic artwork.

His tomb, on the corner, was actually a large room, with a giant mosaic on the floor. Each section of the floor pictured a different type of undead, from skeletons and zombies all they way up to liches and vampires. A small pedestal stood against the far wall, with Iftah's key clearly visible.

The Companions quickly discovered that stepping on a section of the floor set off a magical effect -- damaging the person stepping on it. A little bit of further investigation revealed that the effects differed depending on the type of undead pictured, with more potent and dangerous effects being triggered on the more powerful undead. They were then able to pick their way across the floor, sticking to pictures of skeletons and zombies, and retrieve the key.

Liana's Tomb

Having retrieved all 10 keys, at great cost to their health and peace of mind, the Companions were able to open the final door. There they faced a powerful mummy spellcaster, Lianna -- the leader of the Theurgists. Driven mad by her long stay in a tomb as an undead, she attacked the party at once.

Slaying her, they found the real treasure -- the Keystone of the Great Arch, an amulet very similar to the one already carried by Kimo and the one currently in the possession of Lady Dara Sunglimmer.

Wrap Up

After resting and recuperating, the Companions quickly reversed their steps, bidding the Archeologists farewell and returning to Luminaux. Accompanying them was their new friend Baelwren, who had proved herself to be trustworthy and loyal.

Upon arrival, they discovered that someone had torched their apartment, and that House Sunglimmer, Regina's employer, had enacted a house-wide evacuation plan due to attack from an unknown source. Details are found in the Burning Sands Wrapup document.

TODO

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