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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9766561" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/g9cz2x0.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 537px" />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.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/IIf0JcL.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 600px" />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.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/b0Q7Ibn.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 618px" />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.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/Rn1Xdyq.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 511px" />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.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/RaZ0Jpl.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 514px" />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!</blockquote>

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