D&D 5E (2024) [Let's Read] Sands of Doom: a D&D Sandbox where you fight an army of Fantasy Egyptian Gnolls!

[sevenbastard]

Like a warlock using an imp familiar to scout the place out as a rather low-risk method.

100%. Leaving the DM scrambling.

 

[Libertad]

Welcome to the sandbox! Literally! This open-ended chapter is balanced for 4-person parties levels 5 to 8, and details 18 landmarks throughout the region of Kirat. Not all locations are equally detailed, with some given brief writeups and others getting better detail with their own maps, events, and inhabitants. Also present are various listings of random encounters and environmental hazards. There’s a player-friendly version of the Sands of Doom map, and the DM is supposed to reveal undiscovered locations whenever the party is within one hex (2 miles) of a location.

Wasteland Locations is the bulk of this chapter, outlining the major landmarks. Those which qualify as an Oasis have the “Oasis” word in parenthesis next to the title for easy reference. Some locations, such as the ruins of Anan’Thul, are given greater detail in future chapters, but otherwise this section’s pretty comprehensive. I won’t detail every location, instead focusing on the more notable ones.

Center Spire and Scalding Mists are locations home to imprisoned genies, the former entry containing a djinni and dao and the latter a marid. PCs who have the Magic Lamp item from the Roaming Treasury of Sehkmet can use it to free the genies. Center Spire is a 10 mile tall pillar jutting into the sky, its peak surrounded by a literal ring of fierce winds. A powerful monster known as Terrakhet guards the surrounding sands. Terrakhet was originally a Dao terraformed into a monstrous form by the Aru to terraform the land, but without anyone to direct it the monster now attacks anyone who comes close to the spire. Terrakhet uses the stats of a Kraken, but can burrow instead of swim and deals alternate damage types to represent it using sand and heat instead of water and storms. The stormy peak at the top of the spire is home to manticores, but only a Huge or larger creature can hope to brave the strong winds. The winds are the bound form of a djinni, and air elementals will be summoned to attack anyone who tries to free them. The Moonstone Cloak Divine Relic is also here. Said item can turn whatever is worn or covered by it invisible (which is broken by several factors but is otherwise indefinite), and the attuned user can see anyone and anything made invisible by it.

As for the Scalding Mists, its waters double as an Oasis, and the nearby environs are home to small villages of salamanders (the elemental monster kind) who are not initially hostile to the PCs but don’t have much to offer or trade. A boiling lake known as the Issith Cauldron is a shared watering hole for various monsters of the wastes, ranging from worgs to remorhaz. A marid is imprisoned at the bottom of the lake, and can only be freed if she listens to a song infused with magic. This method of freedom is open-ended but can include a variety of solutions, such as an appropriate bard spell, a harpy’s song, and the like. Unlike the two other genies, she can be seen and interacted with while imprisoned, and will tell the PCs about the Magic Lamp and the Roaming Treasury if they don’t already know about either.

Malicia’s Lair is an eight-room dungeon crawl spread across 2 floors, taking place in a wrecked ship that was used to sail nearby waters that have since turned into salt flats. The black dragon has made it her residence, and whether or not she is home is determined by a percentile die.

If the party is on the Path of Erudition, an Anubian search party will be present looking for the dragon, and Malicia will arrive shortly after the PCs encounter the Anubians. An encounter which will likely result in violence. In this case, Lord Ammu has a more hostile outlook on the black dragon after an earlier meeting between the two, seeking to kill her for possessing the Ruby Eye Divine Relic.

If the party is on one of the other two paths, the meeting has yet to happen. The Anubians instead wish to offer her audience with Lord Ammu; a meeting that will go poorly once Malicia refuses to help him attack Al’Kirat.

The lair holds captive animals for Malicia to feed as well as experiment on, and the dungeon is full of useful treasure. There’s also research notes about how blood might be used to destroy the Rust of the Wasteland, and a personal journal on the magical capabilities of Vizier Rashid. While Malicia won’t be too pleased at the thought of the PCs stealing from her, she reserves special ire for anyone who upsets her moist, mossy bed. She poured (metaphorical) blood, sweat, and tears into fashioning a comfortable nook for a being used to living in a swamp. PCs who are respectful while visiting can share information and trade for goods with Malicia, even if they’re not on the Path of Erudition. However, she uses her Ruby Eye relic to sense any deception during such deals.

Oasis of Zarai is one of the few permanent population centers in the Wasteland. Although it still has a reliable water supply, economic depression has robbed it of people and the remaining locals are reliant upon passing caravans for survival. The only location of interest here is an Obelisk of Anubia, and the villagers are aware of its properties and have some spare amber on hand, but will only use it in an emergency such as for curing illnesses. The two people of interest here are a Druid by the name of Eli Alaia, who made a deal with local boars to share the spring with Kirati villagers; and a formerly enslaved ogre named Zug Zug, whose freedom was bought by the tieflings here. Zug Zug has since tried to sell himself back into slavery several times in order to find meaning in life, but the villagers talked him into receiving money for his labor.

Southspire Mountains is the southern mountain range running along the northern border of O’grila. They serve as a natural barrier against the Rust, meaning that the Will of the Sands cannot exert its influence in the kingdom of dinosaurs, giants, and orcs. The mountain is a perilous region, home to flocks of perytons who have hunted all other life forms in the mountains to extinction and now subsist on orcs fleeing the kingdom. A particularly massive peryton known as Gorgoroth lives in a Valley of Moving Shadows, which has an Oasis but the water source is guarded by Gorgoroth who derives sadistic pleasure in seeing other creatures perish of thirst. Gorgoroth uses the stats of a Roc, but is Huge size, resistant to nonmagical physical damage types, and is intelligent and capable of speaking Common. As can be expected, Gorgoroth has a nearby lair filled with the corpses of orcish warriors and the magical items they wielded in battle against the monster.

Thoughts: While most of the encounters should be doable by a Tier 2 party, I honestly don’t see how the PCs are supposed to defeat Terrakhet, given that a Kraken is a CR 23 monster and this version counts its lair as being everything within 1 mile of the Center Spire. I do like how most of the Oasis locations have some sort of danger to overcome, which grants the PCs a reward of sorts in unlocking a new resupply point. Many of the locations are lightly-detailed, consisting of little more than sample encounters and environmental hazards. As such, this chapter can feel quite light, but when combined with the expanded entries in later chapters it gets a bit more depth.

Random Encounters presents us with three different kinds of events that can transpire while PCs are roaming the wilderness. Not all of them are combat-related, with some intended for non-violent roleplaying. The book says that the DM should run encounters at their discretion, but recommends one combat encounter for every 2 days of travel and 1 Interesting Find for every 3-4 days.

Creature Encounters is self-explanatory, presenting 17 possible results. Most of them involve generic NPCs and monsters, with only 2 involving named characters. They range the gamut, from ankhegs protecting underground territory the PCs are passing over to jackalweres venturing to an Oasis to meet up with some bandits to swap intel. One of the more interesting encounters involves a lost herd of dinosaurs who, if led back to their jungle home in O’grila, will have the PCs blessed in their dreams by a winged rainbow serpent. This blessing takes the form of +1 to an ability score of choice that is neither a character’s highest nor lowest.

The two named encounters involve Gorgoroth herding a stampede of elephants in order to pick off one of them to torture and kill, and Lord Ammu who will magically speak through a high priest named Hamza as a long-distance meeting. This last encounter only happens if the party has one or more Divine Relics in their possession, with Lord Ammu offering the party to join his army in exchange for pledging obedience to him. Refusal is met with combat by Hamza and other Anubian soldiers. As Hamza is wielding a Divine Relic known as the Flail of Reeds, this can be an opportunity for the PCs to net another piece of valuable loot. The Flail has the magical ability to cause plants to Wither, dealing necrotic damage to them, or Bloom, causing a point on the ground to immediately grow a tree. The relic’s magic is such that it can overcome the Will of the Sands, but fruits produced by such plants cannot provide sustenance to those who eat them.

Interesting Finds and Wasteland Hazards round out this section of the chapter, the former detailing five events that don’t fit neatly into the concept of an encounter and the latter detailing forces of nature that can endanger the PCs. The former include things such as a hidden Oasis or Anubian Obelisk, or a talking statue of a sphinx that can offer an ability score boost (+1 to any that isn’t highest or lowest) as a reward to whoever answers its riddle, or a curse for failure that manifests in Wisdom damage and a Geas to ponder the riddle’s meaning and to seek its solution. As for the hazards, they include game mechanics for your typical desert dangers such as sandstorms and mirages, but also some less conventional hazards like dunevine which are thorny vines buried beneath the sands that lash out and restrain creatures to suffocate to death. Additionally, the Will of the Sands can use magic to enhance the illusory aura of mirages to present images from the distant past, which could lead the party to an Interesting Find but also a guaranteed combat encounter.

Thoughts: There’s a good number of encounters and events here, with enough variety that their use shouldn’t feel too monotonous throughout the campaign. The creature-based encounters even have Recommended Level suggestions as part of the random dice table, which I appreciate. I also like how some of the more supernatural encounters, such as the mirages portraying past events, show that the Wasteland is not just a hot desert but a distinctly unnatural place crawling with ancient magic beyond mortal ken.

Return to Kunaten is a distinct event, but is detailed at the end of this chapter on account that its triggering is time-sensitive unlike the earlier locales. After the events of Chapter 5, Kunaten Keep is too heavy with Anubians for the PCs to venture inside it, but once 30 days pass the army will depart to make the march to Al’Kirat. Before leaving, Lord Ammu opens up a portal to the Duaat (afterlife), commanding Asmara to find the divine essence of their child by seeking out Anamnesis, an Aru gate guardian. Her journey is doomed to failure, for the divine essence she is looking for is held by Souk’s Golden Spear.

The portal of the Duaat creates a persistent aura of dangerous spiritual energy to radiate across the land in a 1-mile radius, and PCs who don’t have the protection of a Divine Relic suffer 20 necrotic damage at the end of every round unless they are Constructs, Undead, or made out of shadow. Otherwise, the Keep is virtually unoccupied, home to otherwise non-hostile spirits of the dead and a few shadow-themed monsters who will attack the party. PCs who enter the Duaat Portal find themselves on the Bridge of Souls, a long structure overlooking a literal river carrying countless spirits to various divine realms. Across the bridge is the entrance to a ziggurat. Falling into the river means instant death (no save) and the deceased can only come back to life via the Onyxian Jar or intervention by an Aru.

Asmara is on the bridge with a retinue of Anubians, and as time flows much slower here she has only “just arrived” no matter how long it’s been. The PCs have only one chance to get Asmara on their side via a DC 20 Deception/Persuasion check, with cumulative +5 bonuses if they know the Divine Child’s true killer and/or if they have a way to return the child to life. She is more powerful than when the PCs last encountered her, with a souped-up Spirit Guardians she can cast at will. She might also be attuned to the Onyxian Jar if she has it, but if not she has a valuable chunk of Heka amber worth 500 gold.

The Ziggurat leads to the first layer of the Duaat, where spirits purify themselves by passing through several gates which each hold a form of purgatory. Guarding the gates are a pair of jackal-headed deva celestials, and a cyclops by the name of Nemisis who wields a Divine Relic known as the Bronze Staff and can summon ghosts and banshees to fight on his behalf. He views the PCs (and possibly Asmara and the Anubians) as intruders, and will challenge the party to a duel.

Anamnesis, an Aru guardian of the first gate, will appear after the fight with Nemisis. He is a male sphinx who will tell the cyclops to stand down then introduce himself to engage the PCs in conversation. Any PCs who died will turn into ghosts and then be restored to life by the sphinx.

Anamnesis is already aware of their visit, and can tell the party that Lord Ammu, Asmara and the Anubians have fallen under the corruptive influence of the Will of the Sands. He also knows that Souk killed the Divine Child with the Golden Spear under Prophecy’s orders. If the PCs judged the soul of the Divine Child as Harmony, then Anamnesis will summon the soul and give it to the party. Once the body, soul, and divine essence are together, the PCs can petition Anamnesis to resurrect the baby, and he will entrust the party (or Asmara, if she’s alive) to take care of the baby, who is a healthy gnoll cub. Anamnesis will choose the name and gender of the child as is Aru tradition, calling her Amen.

If the PCs are on the Path of Benevolence, Anamnesis cannot conduct the Rite of the Solar Throne, but he can send Nemisis to recite it once the time comes. If the PCs haven’t obtained the Rite, the sphinx will tell them about the Roaming Treasury of Sekhmet. If Asmara’s alive, she will become a long-term ally of the party, heading with Amen to Al’Kirat to obtain safety from the Will of the Sands. She is still in denial that Lord Ammu is a wicked man, but her eyes will be opened to the truth during the Siege of Al’Kirat.

Additionally, the sphinx has his own quest to give the party. Lord Ammu’s opening of a portal to the Duaat is messing up the natural order, and it must be sealed. The PCs must kill any remaining shadows around Kunaten Keep in order for him to close it. As a reward, he will have Nemisis give the party the Bronze Staff, on the condition that they touch it upon the portal once they’re back outside to seal the rift for good. This relic is capable of teleporting the attuned wielder to a point they can see within 500 feet up to 5 times per day. Additionally, if the wielder sees a creature teleport, they know the direction and distance as well as the name of the plane if they went to another plane of existence. They also automatically know how any teleportation-related item, device, or spell works.

Thoughts: This is a rather short and linear adventure, albeit one that is very important for PCs on the Path of Benevolence or who otherwise wish to restore Amen’s life. The fight against Nemisis is going to be very hard for 7th-level PCs, particularly if they don’t have the Anubians’ help. As Anamnesis will automatically revive them if they fall in battle, it smacks heavily of those “unwinnable fights” in video game RPGs where the loss is meant to move the story forward, so I’m not a fan of it. The mention of the passage of time being diluted within the Duaat is inconsistent. Once the party crosses over (both into and out of) the PCs gain the benefit of a long rest, but Asmara is practically frozen until the PCs undertake this quest. There is text that says that what would amount to a single day here is an entire year in the mortal realm, which would make one hour be 15 days, with 20 minutes being 5 days. Which can be risky if the Anubian army is progressing via a day-based schedule, for PCs who enter the Duaat later rather than sooner may end up bypassing the campaign’s climax! The book doesn’t say how to handle this possible element either, which is a minus.

Thoughts So Far: Overall, I like the setup of locations and events in this chapter, and it really evokes the themes of a deadly wasteland full of ancient secrets. Most of the encounters look doable, minus two that I am not very fond of: Terrakhet and the cyclops battle at the ziggurat. Otherwise, I have few complaints.

Join us next time as we bust up the Veiled Syndicate’s slavery ring (and possibly get a Divine Relic while doing so) in Chapter 7: the Veil and the Flame!

 

[Distracted DM]

Wow, the art is top friggin' notch. Appreciate you doing this read-through, I remember seeing it years ago but never followed up with it. Might be worth considering after all this overview!

 

[Libertad]

Content Warning: Grooming, Incest, Sexual Assault, Sexual Slavery. While not consisting of the majority of this post, they are major elements for both the background of this adventure and the main antagonist's motivation, and incorporates a significant amount of my ending thoughts. If any of these elements are triggering or can ruin your day, skip ahead to my next post.

To Caballero's partial credit, the above content warnings are outlined at the beginning of the chapter, but not with the warnings at the beginning of the book. I presume that this is an oversight.

You might notice that I don't have an illustration to go with the chapter header. Well, the fact is that Lilith, the antagonist of this chapter, is topless in every picture she's in. And two out of three of said pictures are either drawn in a salacious manner or have a clear portrayal of abused slaves. For that reason, I can't really show what she looks like on most forums on which I post this.

The bulk of this chapter takes place in Al'Kirat, centering on Lilith the lamia crime lord and her Veiled Syndicate. Lilith is the reigning leader of the city's slum, alternatively using the carrot of charity and the stick of blackmail and slavery to hold power and influence over people. She also holds a grip on the city's sex trade; even when it comes to "free" sex workers, she traps them in debtor's prisons and uses what they gather from merchants and officials to garner blackmail material. Lilith also has designs on violently overthrowing the city's government via gathering more and more beastfolk slaves into the city, where she seeks to make conditions bad enough for them (plus importing weapons into the Slums) in hopes that they'll usher in a violent revolution.

Vizier Rashid has long been aware of the Veiled Syndicate, although he's been unable to decisively stamp it out. And with the rise of Lord Ammu, he's taken the hammer approach in trying to purge their influence by kidnapping and killing citizens who would be opposed to the Veiled Syndicate in an attempt to turn public opinion against them. That many such citizens are people the Syndicate abuses or is opposed to (abolitionists, anti-human racists, and independent sex workers) was done by Rashid on purpose. This has spread fear in the city, with many brothels shutting down. The Adventurer's Guild is swamped with contracts to find missing people, as well as bounties on Syndicate members.

Beyond Rashid, Lilith has been engaging in her own kidnappings. Much of the Veiled Syndicate is made up of the lamia's children, whose demonic womb causes her offspring to mentally and physically mature in a matter of days and weeks rather than years. She has sex with her adult offspring once they come of age to create even more, but also has men kidnapped to serve as her sex slaves for both reproduction and her own pleasure. During the course of the adventure, Lilith will develop an obsession with one of the male PCs if the party has one, and desires to have his child in the belief it will make for a strong minion.

Part 1: Searching for Clues is an open-ended investigation of missing people and the Veiled Syndicate in Al'Kirat. PCs can freely gather rumors, with lists organized into subject matter, levels of secrecy, and appropriate times to dispense them during the investigation. Through these methods, the party can initially either learn of an underground slave pen in the city or a human named John in the Bazaar who is known to have Syndicate contacts.

There are three major areas in Al'Kirat that comprise this adventure. The first is the Burning Velvet, one of the most exclusive high-society brothels, where PCs can interview Orianna the madame. She can tell them about a strange male visitor who paid for a magical dream-based service, but his dreams were very disturbing on account of cannibalism (he's a jackalwere), and that he was last seen in the Slums. Beyond this, the module goes into a bit of detail of the prices and varieties of sex work at the Velvelt, such as how much it costs to employ sex workers with particular spells to use during a session (Enhance Ability, Vicious Mockery, etc) and the aforementioned dream-based service. In the latter case, the text mentions the most common types of sexual fantasies requested, such as auto-erotic asphyxiation via the thighs of Helga, a half-ogre who acts as the brothel's security.

The second area is the Slaver's Den, a 14 room dungeon crawl spread across two levels. Its front is an unassuming house in the Slums, and Kallista the tiefling adventurer from Chapter 3 might point the party this way along with accompanying them there to bust some heads. She can also join the PCs for the rest of the investigation unless they turn her down, in which case she'll be ambushed and captured before being brought to Lilith's lair.

This group of slavers is more secretive than usual, on account that they've been kidnapping tieflings fitting Lilith's tastes. As such, while they also have beastfolk slaves, they keep the tieflings hidden away in a secret room and will give inquisitive PCs a limited tour to show them only the beastfolk. PCs can notice various things out of order, such as that the larder is stocked with far too much food for the current occupants, interviewing next-door neighbors who talk about hearing rumbling construction projects beneath the house which hints at a secret room, and interviews with the captive beastfolk about humans entering a particular room and then seemingly disappearing.

The slavers are a mixture of typical thuggish warrior/rogue stat blocks, plus a unique ogre known as Gaddugg the Foul who has better gear and hit points than the average of his species. There's also a black pudding that the slavers are holding in the room with the tieflings, imprisoned in a box that can be triggered to devour all organic material as a sort of living crime scene cleaner. Stopping the black pudding from destroying evidence nets PCs the opportunity to find a personal letter revealing that a Syndicate member is dealing poisons at the Bazaar, and that the gangsters are hunting for a traitor at the Djinn's Den bathhouse. As for Gaddugg, he is steadfastly loyal to Lilith, but his stupidity means that he can be tricked into divulging secrets about her and the Syndicate. Gaddugg cannot tell much beyond that his mother is in charge and her name is Lilith. An Arcana check can reveal that Lilith is a lamia name, and her legacy is public knowledge among the beastfolk of Kirat, although most believe that she is dead or vanished.

Due to the slavery ring being a supposedly legal operation, PCs who attack the slavers or break in are at risk of arrest unless they can show the existence of the tiefling slaves. If the PCs end up imprisoned or on the lam, the Vizier will pull some strings to get their sentences lifted and reveal that he's also investigating the Syndicate. But he will not reveal his extrajudicial murders and kidnappings.

The beastfolk slaves are two harpies, a lizardfolk, and a minotaur, who haven't set foot in Al'Kirat before and thus seek to escape as their first and foremost opportunity. The tieflings are now fully aware that their kidnappers are jackalweres disguised as humans, and that they were to be transported somewhere south along the river heading out of the city at the request of a figure that the monsters called "mother." If the PCs end up in legal trouble from the assault on the slavers, the tieflings will speak in their favor.

The poison-seller is a jackalwere named Jackal John, who is actually one of the named merchants PCs can otherwise buy from in this adventure path. He can be found automatically if the PCs have the note, or more easily found out if the party knows the password Syndicate members use to confirm each other's identities ("mother is watching"). John will run for it if he suspects that he's being followed or the PCs try to capture/attack him, dropping vials of blinding poisonous gas as he does so. The chase is resolved as a skill challenge with potential complications and penalties from obstacles. Jackal John has fallen out of favor in Lilith's eyes, so he's more willing than other Syndicate members to sell out his boss. But only if they can convince the Jackalwere that they can protect him from the Syndicate's revenge. John can tell the PCs about the crime network's vice trades, the name and identity of Lilith, the Syndicate's current plan to incite a revolution in Al'Kirat by importing in enough beastfolk slaves, and even the location of Lilith's headquarters. He doesn't know about the security within the lair, and is unwilling to personally go inside.

The Djinn's Den bathhouse is a mixed bathhouse that creates dense fog which causes the shapes of other bathers to appear as vague silhouettes. This allows for a preservation of modesty while still maintaining the public baths as a social occasion. The traitor is Jenna, a jackalwere who sought to mimic the form and mannerisms of a male sex slave that Lilith became obsessed with, which resulted in the lamia mocking and punishing her. Jenna killed the slave in revenge, which resulted in the Syndicate gunning for her head. A pair of jackalwere assassins are hunting for her in the baths, whose lack of tiefling social customs make their conversation sound weird to others but sounds perfectly normal to Jenna. For example, one assassin might say "hello person, I am distraught and in need of a Jenna from this establishment. Have you seen one of those?"

They intend to kill Jenna with a dagger coated with a paralytic poison so that she drowns in the bath face-down. As she will transform into a jackal upon death, this can further cover up their tracks. PCs have various opportunities to save Jenna: the most obvious is by combat, but if the assassins stab her, they will seek to escape and the party has 1 minute to find Jenna before she drowns. The assassins will attempt to cause public panic to hinder any pursuers by shouting that there's a murder in the baths. Once again, the jackalwere lack of social customs can come in an advantage for the PCs, as most people are covering their privates as they run out, but the jackalweres awkwardly cover random body parts instead.

Jenna knows what Jackal John knows, but is more helpful to the PCs in her willingness to personally accompany them into Lilith's lair and engage in combat.

Thoughts: This investigation is non-linear, relatively open-ended, and is generous with both alternative resolutions and helpful NPCs that it looks to avoid the common problem of "fail a skill check and the PCs are stumped" that plagues many mystery-centric adventures. I will note that we see the first inklings of this adventure being a lot more sexual than normal, on account of the detail of common fantasies requested by brothel clients at the Burning Velvet and the pay rates for particular spells.

Part 2: Hunt for the Lamia is the second half of this chapter, where the PCs learn of the general location of Lilith's lair. It is in an abandoned mine downriver to the southwest of Al'Kirat. At this point in the adventure, Lilith is aware of the PCs snooping into her affairs and will make regular use of Scrying (she can cast it 3 times a day) to measure their progress. A letter will be sent to the most handsome/charismatic male PC in the party, where she asks them to come visit but "without any soldiers." Aka, no cops. The overall tone of the letter makes it very clear that Lilith has a sexual interest in said PC, along with the veiled threat that she is watching him in particular. Due to Lilith's obsession with said PC, she will use all of her scrying spells on him, which can possibly play to the party's advantage if that character has better protection against that kind of spell.

The journey to the lair takes one day, with 2 potential combat encounters. The first involves cockatrices with valuable eggs, and the second is a group of a minotaur and harpy raiders who mistake the PCs for slavers. If the PCs helped free the beastfolk from the slavers' den, one of the harpies will be one of those slaves, who will tell the group to hold off. As a reward, the PCs will be given four harpy feathers which can be used to put others to sleep.

Lilith's hideout is a 10 room dungeon crawl spread out across a single level. The entrance to the dungeon is a cantina full of Syndicate members partying, with chained harpy slaves forced to sing. Her security consists of a mixture of mundane humans with various "criminal warrior" stat blocks, along with jackalweres, ogres, and half-ogre/ogrillions. An unaffiliated creature is a particularly powerful grick in a section of the mine studded with Heka-infused amber. The gangsters will initially be non-violent on account of it being a common gathering spot for business meetings as well as the party receiving Lilith's personal invitation. A lizardfolk assassin named Krazak Sandscale is a potential ally, who recently accepted a contract from Lilith to kill Eurydice. But he has also taken a contract from Eurydice to kill any lamia found in Kirat. PCs can hire him for 500 gold to help slay Lilith, which is lower than normal on account that he knows that Eurydice will be good for the bounty, so in effect he gets a win/win situation of doing the job with backup and more money.

Lilith's sex slaves can be found in this dungeon closer to Lilith's location. One of them is by himself in a room: Gruntz "the Fertile," a nearly-naked ogre collapsed on the ground and sweating. Gruntz was once famous for being the strongest of his species in the region, and was chosen by Lilith to bear most of her ogre children. She forces him to have sex with her almost every waking hour, resulting in 4 levels of exhaustion and thus he wishes for nothing but to rest. There are 8 male slaves, mostly tieflings and a few humans, who have been kept starving in filthy stables. Interacting with them reveals that they've been visibly traumatized: averting eye contact, telling the PCs they can't talk to them as they're afraid of dying, or not talking but breaking down in tears. They all have Geas spells on them to not speak or act against her.

Lilith's audience room is where she is located during the dungeon crawl, with a banquet set out. She is attended by four jackalweres, two ogres, a pet giant snake, and seven tiefling slaves who visibly tremble and huddle around her throne. She has a Mirage Arcane spell concealing the truth of the feast: an NPC ally of the PCs has been captured and killed to serve as the main course. The module has 3 suggestions, along with potentially using a character from a PC's backstory or a previously-killed PC.

PCs who don't fight their way through Lilith's lair and instead take her up on her meeting offer have the opportunity to learn more about her and what she wants. Lilith has been scrying on various affairs in Kirat, including the ill-fated expedition to the Great Pyramid. She is well aware of the Anubian threat, and as the city they seek to assault is the one she wants to rule, Lilith makes an offer of alliance to the party. She will pay them 1,000 gold every week, use her scrying powers to keep tabs on the party's enemies, put a moratorium on Syndicate kidnappings and killings as well as freeing all the slaves held in her lair, and telling them that a Divine Relic is being held at exclusive auction known as the Enchanted Gala. In exchange, she asks the PCs to cease their investigation and attacks against the Syndicate, and falsely inform the authorities that they killed her.

Lilith is also wearing a Divine Relic herself, the Mask of Opals (can create illusory duplicates of yourself and creatures of Intelligence 5 or greater find you attractive regardless of their sexual orientation and regard all your words as intelligent no matter what you say). However, she will not voluntarily give it up, as she can only unattune to it in death. She will also deny any involvement in the deaths and disappearances of Rashid's targets, claiming that someone else is trying to implicate her; Lilith is telling the truth, as she is not aware of Rashid's involvement.

Should the PCs seek to fight Lilith, it can be a difficult battle. Not only do they have to contend with Lilith, there's also her minions who will join in, and the Geas-bound slaves will be used as humanoid shields to inconvenience the PCs. If the party loses in battle against her, female characters will be killed, but male characters will be kept alive to become her charmed sex slaves.

If the party allies with her and are in need of a favor from her later, Lilith will request a night with the male PC she is obsessed with. She wishes to bear his children, and in order to maximize this chance she "expects a full night of intimate indulgence with the 'Favored One,' lasting until dawn and broken only by brief moments of rest." We also get a description of how many children she sires, equal to the PC's Constitution modifier. Which can backfire on lilith, for this means that a PC with an average or worse Constitution may be effectively sterile!

Thoughts: Well now, where do I begin? This part of the adventure feels tonally different from the rest of the module, and seems to lean too heavily in favor of Porn Logic. Besides the rather descriptive scene of a sweaty, practically-naked ogre exhausted from sex, or the oddly-detailed explanation of how many children Lilith can have with a male PC, there's also the implied expectation that the party will be more open to working with the lamia.

While Lilith is willing to hold up her ends of the bargain, I figure that most of it is going to sound way too good to be true to most players. The author appears to have the impression that a lot of gaming groups would seriously consider an alliance. Why? Errr, sexy snake lady, I guess?

Lilith is seductive and overtly sexual. Her voice is soft and decadent, punctuated by heavy breaths or soft moans when she pauses. She is almost always touching something suggestively—her hair, which she brushes; her slaves, whom she pets; or her own body, which she caresses. She directs most of her attention and flirtations to her 'Favored One.'

During the meeting, the lamia should be portrayed in a way that would make it feel counterproductive for the party to attack her. To achieve this, she openly invites the characters into her chambers, makes no threatening moves, answers their questions truthfully, and offers peace and aid in return.

Lamias are corruptive and persuasive; if the party entered her hall intending to end her life but left as pawns in her schemes, the lamia has been roleplayed perfectly. It is important, however, not to twist the narrative to forcefully make the lamia seem less evil than she is. Her helpful demeanor must stand in contrast to the grim darkness around her—the tortured slaves she's exploited and the terrible creatures she births. This contrast is what makes the decision to ally with her difficult, and what makes the scenario unique.

Let's reverse the genders of Lilith and her slaves: I imagine that most parties would be all too eager to give a male Lilith a violent end. To say nothing of how they'd react when they find out that one of their allies was killed and served as the main course! Female sexual predators are taken less seriously in the real world, and the way this text reads feels like it's playing off this, which gives a major "ick" factor. Additionally, I can't see most groups thinking it would be a good idea to let the PC the rapist slaver is obsessed with spend the night alone with her. Again, this is something that requires Porn Logic in order to be a plausible element to plan for in a campaign.

Thoughts So Far: Dark sexual themes aside, this chapter is a workable mystery with a followup dungeon crawl. I do feel that the final encounter may be a tad difficult, but as the party has multiple opportunities to get NPC allies on their side, this might edge in their favor.

I do want to touch upon this chapter's overall…horniness, for lack of a better term. It feels closer to one of those eroge RPGs on Steam, where arousing and exciting the player is just as important as the gaming elements. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but such games are straightforward and honest in what they're about, and unlike the social contract with group-based tabletop it's much easier to dip out of troubling or uncomfortable elements by closing out the game or using a fast-forward/scene skip button. What makes Sands of Doom falter in this is that it's, for all intents and purposes, a PG-13 campaign otherwise. And given the earlier mention of how this basically shows up in the middle of the book without proper forewarning until you start Chapter 7, it just feels dissonant than if these themes were part of the campaign from the beginning.

While the author suggests changes to this chapter to make elements less sexual, there's still quite a bit of work for the DM to do than if it were the default. Namely that Lilith's artwork is not safe for work, and her roleplay notes push her sexual behavior first and foremost. Thus, a less predatory Lilith would have to be designed from the ground up with original artwork, for one. Additionally, without the overt sex appeal, there isn't really much reason I can see PCs allying with her, other than those types who will go "well, we need all the help we can get" and are also willing to believe she'd give so much while asking for so comparatively little. The Mask of Opals' ability to automatically make characters find Lilith sexy and sound smart with no means of countering feels way too heavy-handed, as it can be interpreted as a blatantly artificial means of the DM saying "I didn't say you failed your Wisdom save, but you failed your Wisdom save."

Join us next time as we attend an auction for a Divine Relic and other precious items at the Enchanted Gala!

 

[Libertad]

This chapter also takes place in Al'Kirat, although is significantly shorter due to being virtually in one location. Master Zakaro is a wealthy businessman who hosts an exclusive auction of unique and expensive items every year at an event known as the Enchanted Gala. It is invitation-only, kept secret from the general populace, and a Divine Relic known as the Knife of Topaz is one of the items for sale. While stealing the Knife is always an option, PCs will need to prove that they are of wealthy means to even be allowed to participate in the auction, so the book recommends checking that the party has 5,000 gold minimum, with 7 to 10,000 recommended.

The PCs have various means of learning about the Gala, such as via Prophecy or Lilith telling them about it, or learning from the Adventurer's Guild that a knife of unknown properties was sold to Zakaro after the adventuring party that obtained it couldn't figure out its true purpose. Securing an invitation can be done either via approaching Zakaro by offering their own expensive magic item to sell to him, or via sponsorship by a well-respected figure in the city. Sultana Zanara Zin'Zara can give the PCs 5,000 gold if they convince her of the dagger's necessity in defending the city, and she will personally accompany them to the Gala. If the Veiled Syndicate pulls some strings, Lilith will give the party 5,000 gold and withdraw her two jackalwere agents from the pool of bidders.

The Gala itself traditionally rotates locations every year to make it difficult for information leaks to reveal it to outsiders, but during the adventure path it takes place at the Eternal Oasis Theater. The Theater has both obviously-armed and plainclothes guards on patrol, and a staff member acting as doorman pats people down for concealed weapons. There's a gambling hall where PCs might be able to win some money, and even talk one of the bidders (a dwarf by the name of Doragummir) into indulging in his gambling addiction and potentially losing up to 2,000 gold pieces. This tactic will make him able to bid less at the auction.

There's many guests at the auction, but only three are given significant writeups. Said guests all have their own spending limit of total gold pieces, preferred items they will bid more on than the others, and even tactics for the PCs nonviolently eliminating them as competition. The first bidder is the dwarven historian Doragummir Stonehall, who knows that the Knife of Topaz was crafted as part of a joint Anubian-Dwarvish project and thus wants to buy it as a means of restoring his family's honor. In addition to his gambling addiction, he can also be persuaded into bidding on the Two-Barreled Grimfire Pistol, and PCs who manage to get the dagger can then later sell it to Doragummir once the Anubian invasion is over.

The second bidder is Yasar-al-Fajr, the efreeti ambassador to Al'Kirat from the City of Brass. He is at the auction at the behest of that City's reigning Sultan to look for powerful items, and he has his eyes set on the Knife of Topaz. PCs can eliminate him as a bidder by convincing him that the Dagger is not as powerful as believed, in which case he doesn't want to risk the reputation loss of spending money on an "overpriced trinket." If Al'Kirat's Sultana is sponsoring the PCs, al-Fajr will not risk breaking diplomatic protocol by competing against her.

The last two bidders work together as a group: they're Steve and Marie, a pair of jackalweres in human form acting on behalf of the Veiled Syndicate. Lilith has an interest in the Knife after scrying upon it, discovering that it is a Divine Relic in the process. The jackalweres have the lowest budget of gold out of the bidders, meaning they are unlikely to win unless the PCs sabotage the two other bidders. They can be taken out of the equation via Lilith's sponsoring the party, or if the PCs exploit their lack of understanding human/tiefling social customs to cause them to attract too much attention and thus get them to leave out of fear of blowing their cover.

Every bidder has a write-up of what they plan to do with the Knife, and where they will transport it once it's in their possession. As can be expected, all of these options provide the opportunity for the PCs to buy/steal the Relic for themselves.

The Auction itself consists of three items plus as many others as the DM deems suitable. Each item is presented onstage one at a time, with Master Zakaro explaining its function, history, and value before setting a starting bid. Bidders must raise their hand and clearly state their bid, which must exceed the prior bid by at least 50 gold pieces. Once a price surpasses 1,000 gold, the minimum bid increases to 100 gold, and to 500 once it surpasses 5,000. At any time, Zakaro will countdown from 5 to 0 to finalize the sale.

The first item for sale is a Two-Barreled Grimfire Pistol. Also included with the purchase is a satchel of gunpowder and a private meeting with a dwarven gunslinger who will teach the buyer how to handle and reload it. The Grimfire Pistol can be shot twice before needing to be reloaded (also twice), and the gunslinger can grant proficiency to the buyer. The item starts at 500 gold before settling at 1,100, with the jackalweres going into a bidding war with the PCs if they intervene. Doragummir will win it if the PCs convince him to bid on it.

The second item is the Knife of Topaz, which is desired by all other bidders. There is no starting bid listed. Without interference from the PCs, it will be claimed by the efreeti for 12,000 gold pieces. But if the PCs sabotage all three other bidders and don't get it themselves, it will be sold for 4,500 gold pieces to a tiefling scholar who turns out to be a close associate of Rumbold Tomekeeper. So even if the PCs don't bid for it, they can still obtain it in a roundabout way as their diligence against the other bidders pays off in spades.

The final item is actually a creature, a battle-trained hippopotamus named Babi. It was originally owned by orcs from O'grila, who view such creatures as an exotic animal for pet-keeping. Babi can also follow commands in the Orcish language, and is trained to travel across arid environments such as the Wasteland. Her initial value is 150 gold pieces, with a maximum value of 750 gold before being bought by a tiefling dinosaur handler. Babi uses her own unique stat block rather than the default Hippo from the Monster Manual. She's a CR 2 creature who has advantage on saves versus fright, can't swim but avoids penalties to movement and attacks while in watery terrain if her feet can touch the ground, and her bite can grapple and restrain foes while her tackle can push back and knock prone targets.

The chapter wraps up with six sample magic items to add to the auction as well as brief suggestions for including ones of the DM's choice. Either way, these less-important bids can be summarized as opposed Deception/Persuasion checks to see whether the PCs "buy" the item at a 20% discount or increase.

As for the Knife of Topaz, it is a magic dagger that can be inserted into the heart of a willing, unconscious, or restrained creature. It doesn't harm them, but extracts hidden knowledge the target creature knows, but the Knife can only ever be used on that particular creature once. The Knife can also convert any fire damage of the attuned wielder's spells and abilities into radiant damage, or radiant damage into fire damage.

Thoughts So Far: Despite being the shortest of the adventure chapters, the Enchanted Gala provides a good set-up with multiple avenues for success. PCs interested in other items must balance their desires with ensuring that they have enough money to claim the Divine Relic. Exploiting the weaknesses of other bidders and using social connections to gain funds for the auction can help otherwise cash-strapped parties. I would've liked to see more detail on running the auction as a heist. There are writeups and stat blocks for security and various NPCs, but there isn't much more than that, like what would happen if a fight breaks out and how the other bidders will react. Breaking into the Gala is boiled down to a list of suggested skill checks and gold investments in one short paragraph. While there are writeups for what the NPC bidders plan on doing with the Knife, I can see a lot of groups deciding to try and get the item as soon as possible.

Join us next time as we fight a battalion of Anubian tomb raiders in Chapter 9: the Sunken City of Anan'Thul!