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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9771338" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/fH6BTuK.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 646px" />Chapter 4 Note: Thanks to a helpful person on the Sands of Doom playtest Discord, I noticed that the earlier text about the Ankh of Life not being capable of resurrecting Aru or those with their divine blood is a bit of a plot hole. For as Lord Ammu also bears that blood, the Ankh shouldn't have worked on him.As such, this brings to question why Lord Ammu was revived by the Ankh, but the Divine Child was not. Personally, I believe that this is an unintentional artifact of an earlier draft, as the current adventure as its stands makes it clear that the splitting up of the Divine Child's aspects (body, soul in the Onyxian Jar, divine essence in the Golden Spear) makes her unable to be revived. Still, it is worth bringing up as it is an important plot point of the campaign.Now, on with the review!The Roaming Treasury of Sekhmet is a legendary demiplane contained within the heart of a perpetual sandstorm. Its guardian is a gigantic lionlike Aru named Sekhmet that judges who is truly worthy to enter. Containing unimaginable wealth from many realities, the Roaming Treasury holds more than a few magic items and artifacts that can be helpful in the party's quest to defeat the Anubian army.If the PCs are on the Path of Erudition, Malicia will contact the party, revealing her fears of Lord Ammu's corruption by the Will of the Sands. She also discusses her research into a goddess known as Sekhmet, who is said to guard a vault of riches and wonders that must surely have something capable of countering the Will's corruption. Malicia also knows that two halves of a scarab trinket are necessary for finding the vault, and that an outlaw band known as the Black Company is hunting for them.If the PCs are on the Path of Devotion or Benevolence, then Prophecy will contact the party in their dreams, revealing that the Roaming Treasury holds a Divine Relic known as the Sapphire Ring. Additionally, she will reveal that the demiplane also holds the Rite of the Solar Throne if the Path of Benevolence was picked. She'll instruct the party to head to the Oasis of Zarai and seek out the druid Eli Elaia to find one half of the scarab key.The perpetual sandstorm circles the Wasteland in a loop, with its position based on whether the campaign is using experience points or milestone for leveling. The storm is overall very slow in moving only six miles per day. In addition to its dangerous winds, the sandstorm bears powerful immunities against divination magic, meaning that one requires the aid of an Animated Scarab Key to reliably traverse it. This key is separated into two halves, one in the possession of a dryad, the other half in the possession of either Malicia or Souk depending upon the party's Path of Fate. Said character being one who is not an ally.This chapter features a recurring villainous organization known as the Black Company. Hewing closely to Old West tropes, these marauding bands of human outlaws used the gathering of adventurers at Kunaten Keep to establish a cover story, and they chose not to embark on the doomed expedition to the Great Pyramid. They were quickly stranded in the Wasteland, saved from starving by either Malicia or Souk as above in order to employ them in searching for the Roaming Treasury. The Company is made up of 90 individuals, using a variety of low-CR warrior-style stat blocks. Twenty of them are armed with Grimfire Pistols and satchels that hold 10 shots each, which makes fighting them very risky given how much damage they can potentially dish out. The Black Company's leader is Garret Thorne, a psychopathic man afflicted with leprosy that resists magical healing, causing many to believe that the sickness is a curse from the gods.There's shorter writeups for an outline of their hideout, which serves as an Oasis and holds quite a bit of treasure that's very heavy to transport but is worth 1,200 gold collectively. There's also a writeup for ideal spots to introduce the Company in the adventure as well as foreshadow their presence.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/MpAUxP2.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 350px" />Finding the Left-Side Scarab takes the PCs to the Oasis of Zarai. In the Path of Erudition, it may be by happenstance the next time the party passes through, as Malicia's instructions are much vaguer than Prophecy's. The scarab half was originally found by Eli Elaia, a druid adventurer who visited Zarai to look into strange behavior by the local wildlife. He hasn't been seen since, but the villagers don't find this cause for alarm as Eli is known to take extended trips into the desert. In reality, he is being held hostage in the grove of Ashae, a dryad who made an alliance with perytons to reduce the influence of the Will of the Sands. By using still-beating hearts taken from living creatures, the perytons can then bury five hearts beneath the ground in the Wasteland which will create a vibrant spring functioning as an Oasis. As long as the hearts remain buried, the plant life emerging from the Oasis can survive despite the surrounding climate. The hearts are contained in amniotic sacs to preserve them, as consuming a preserved heart ensures healthy births in peryton mothers.Ashae is a sheltered girl, being about 12 to 13 years old in dryad years, and while aware that her actions are violations of the natural order, she believes that it is a necessary evil to weaken the Will of the Sands. Eli Elaia has been enchanted by Ashae to agree with her line of thinking, and the dryad doesn't fully comprehend that other beings are going along with her plan out of magical compulsion and not out of seeing the merit in her methods.By the time the PCs visit Zarai, four members of the Black Company are staying here in a low profile, waiting for Eli's return to capture him and find the scarab key's location. At a moment the DM deems appropriate, the Oasis comes under attack by a massive flock of perytons who begin attacking townsfolk, ripping out their hearts and flying away with them. If the PCs intervene, seven perytons will attack them. When a peryton removes a heart in this fashion, the heartless creature still lives, but with an open chest cavity. While they initially appear healthy, the heartless are living on borrowed time until a still-beating heart is reinserted into their chest. Said heart doesn't have to be their original one.Content Warning: Suicide[spoiler]Over the course of a week, a creature who remains heartless gradually loses the will to live, finding difficulty in committing to even simple tasks, with most eventually attempting suicide.[/spoiler]The townsfolk will eagerly hire the PCs to track down the stolen hearts, promising 500 gold as a reward. Old Tusk, the resident boar, can be used to track Eli's location as he recognizes the druid's scent on the perytons. Two of the Black Company bandits lost their hearts during the attack, and one of them by the name of John will offer to accompany the PCs to save himself and his buddies. He won't reveal the fact that he's a bandit, is looking for the druid to steal the scarab piece, or that he intends on betraying the party at an opportune time. John will have a "change of heart" if he is given another person's heart, which turns out to belong to a more moral individual that causes the bandit to rethink his place in life. In such a case, John will ally with the party against the Black Company if a confrontation happens.The perytons can be tracked over the desert to Ashae's Grove, following patches of oddly-fertile vegetation and even an encounter with waves of charmed animals that attack the party. Communicating with the animals reveals that they seek to save the land "for the greater good." Eventually, Ashe will send an Animal Messenger to tell the PCs to stop interfering, and that she needs to restore the desert. Along the way, PCs can find amniotic sacs partially buried beneath the fertile ground, containing still-beating hearts. The sacs require DC 15 Dexterity (Medicine) check to safely extract without rupturing them. Inside the sac, a heart can survive indefinitely, but once exposed to the elements the hearts die in one hour.The grove is home to Eli, Ashae, a pair of basilisks, a pair of awakened trees, and various mundane (yet still dangerous) animals. Five of the still-beating hearts from Zarai's villagers are being held in a secret hollow in Ashae's bonded tree. The dryad will be afraid of the PCs, knowing that they have the power to defeat her, and attempt to justify her actions while begging for her life. She is capable of being convinced that stealing the hearts is wrong, and will seek alternatives to experiments with living beings. The module has three potential alternatives: one is using crushed Heka amber to grow an Oasis; hearts of monstrous creatures can be used, with Gorgororth's heart being potent enough to spawn a 2 mile radius of rainforest; or convincing the perytons to steal the hearts from Anubians instead.Eli bears great guilt for his aid of Ashae, even though he knows he was being mentally compelled. He is willing to let the PCs be the judge of what to do with the dryad, but is against any decision that would let her continue her current experiments. He will give the PCs the scarab key if asked for, along with treasure in the form of precious jewels. The scarab half has a map on it which leads to the peak of the Eastspire Mountains, which unbeknownst to the druid is the location of the other scarab's other half.Members of the Black Company might be waiting for Eli to return, meaning that they might obtain the scarab piece if the PCs don't already have it. In such a case, they can be followed to the Eastspire Mountains.Thoughts: I like this for being a kind of moral dilemma. Even should the PCs seek to return the stolen hearts, the fact that they can redirect the perytons to fight the Anubians or use the hearts of monsters can still result in characters pursuing "unnatural" means of mitigating the Will of the Sands' power. Also, the ability to grow a new Oasis overnight is an extremely beneficial power. I like the use of the Black Company as a wild card, both for being a secondary antagonist and even for John as an unexpected ally if the PCs play their cards right.The Lunar Shrine is a much shorter and more straightforward event, involving a 3-day journey with skill challenges and possible random encounters with basilisks and fang dragons on the way there. The Shrine serves as an Oasis, with a fight waiting for them depending upon their Path of Fate. The Path of Devotion pits the PCs against Malicia, who wants the other half of the Scarab Key and threatens the PC's lives while multiple members of the Black Company are lying in wait hidden among the ruins. If the PCs are on the Path of Benevolence, they will instead fight Gorgoroth, and Malicia might appear at the end of the battle to buy the Scarab half off the party in exchange for diamonds, but will relent if they refuse. If the PCs are on the Path of Erudition, then Souk and Prophecy will be waiting there, intending to violently dissuade the party from pursuing the Roaming Treasury. They won't fight to the death, as they will want the PCs to participate in the Siege of Al'Kirat.If for some reason any of the above participants have been killed earlier on in the campaign before the PCs come here, the party will instead fight an adult fang dragon. Fang dragons are a unique species of true dragon whose bodies reject all forms of magic. While they lack the elemental breath weapons common to their kind, their fangs can dispel ongoing magical effects, and their scales can reflect spell attacks. They can also cast Detect Magic and Dispel Magic, and their tails have scythe-like blades that leave deep wounds that deal damage via bleeding every turn.Thoughts: I don't have much to say, although Malicia's demanding threat is explained rather poorly. The adventure says that normally the dragon would bargain with the PCs, but knows that the Black Company doesn't care about their survival and thus hopes that the party acquiesces to her demand in order to save them. She doesn't wish to side against the Black Company due to her unique sense of honor in not violating a contract. Given that the PCs are known to be the types of people willing to challenge an army of gnolls and maybe even fight a resurrected snake-god taking the form of a hydra, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6o1GIEsQE" target="_blank">this very much smacks of the blackmailing Batman attempt from the Dark Knight film,</a> and I feel that Malicia would know this.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/FWezYP2.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 595px" />Sekhmet's Storm is a wilderness hazard-based event with the potential for combat. The storm imposes a bunch of penalties to those inside, ranging from reduced visibility to ongoing damage from the sands. Combining the two halves of the Scarab Key animates it to fly ahead, leading the PCs to the heart of the storm and is easily viewable. PCs can also follow the Black Company this way if the bandits have an intact Scarab Key. Both ways take 2d4 minutes, but locating the Treasury without the Key takes 40 minutes with Survival checks to reduce the duration based on the result of the check. A bad enough failure on Survival causes the party to end up lost and outside the storm. As PCs take 1d4 damage each minute and the storm ruins any cloth or leather items that take 10 or more total points of damage, this can end up punishing PCs who don't use heavy armor for protection. Lastly, PCs must maintain concentration as if on a spell to avoid breathing in grit, and losing concentration causes them to suffocate.The Black Company and its leader Garret Thorne may or may not meet their end here. The bandits are arranged into six convoys, and during one of the fights a bulette may suddenly burrow up from underground as a hostile third party. If Garret Thorne has one half of the Scarab Key, he will throw it in the opposite direction he's running to get the PCs off his tail after two fights. But PCs who seek to continue chasing him will find him willing to go down in a desperate last stand.Content Warning: Suicide[spoiler]Thorne has a dangerous amount of grimfire powder satchels strapped to him with a trigger in hand. He can press it as a bonus action, and PCs need a Passive Perception of 15 or higher to see the trigger. The explosion is 20 feet in radius, dealing 30d6 fire damage to those caught within the blast radius.[/spoiler]At the Eye of the Storm, the PCs come face to face with a giant lion formed out of sand glowing with a radiant light. She loudly introduces herself as Sekhmet, demanding the PCs to state their purpose clearly and warning them that she can tell what lies in their heart should they seek to lie. She uses the stats of an Empyrean, which puts her well out of range of the PCs having a fair chance of winning a fight with her. Even so, the adventure still has a list of what happens if she hits 0 Hit Points: the sandstorm ends, but the PCs have only 1 hour to enter the treasury and leave before it collapses. Sekhmet also only permanently dies if slain with the Golden Spear, which will cause rainstorms to gather and fall up to 1,000 miles from her place of death, lasting for 3 days.The Roaming Treasury is entered via Sekhmet's throat, and PCs can earn the right to enter via several methods. Uniting the Scarab Key is enough to qualify, but other deeds of great merit (quests determined by DM discretion) can also be used. Alternatively, the PCs can pay her in the form of a bargaining tribute with a valuable item worth at least 5,000 gold to trade for treasure within the demiplane. Lastly, she can administer a Test of Purity if a character explicitly seeks the Sapphire Ring. This involves a character demonstrating that they are pure of heart, and is judged by four open-ended deeds where the PC must tell of at least one time each they demonstrated this virtue during the adventure path. This takes the form of a DC 25 Charisma check, with a +5 bonus for each successful moral deed.Sekhmet will not let the PCs loot her Roaming Treasury willy-nilly. The characters will be saddled with restrictions on what they can take depending on how they proved their worth to her, along with a listed reasoning for why. For instance, the Test of Purity lets them claim only the Sapphire Ring, but using a valuable item as a bargaining chip lets the PCs exchange it with an amount of treasure commensurate with the offered item's value. Entering by merit has PCs state precisely what they require and nothing more. Violating this social contract will result in a unique event, where the Treasury starts to collapse in a shower of molten metal and lava, and the PCs have 1 minute to escape. This event is even complete with a hazard-strewn map and 3 possible enemies seeking to rob the treasury (and the PCs): Malicia, the Black Company, or even the return of the Coiled Whisper cultists!The Roaming Treasury has no map, for it is vast beyond measure as it connects to countless planes of existence through which visitors can add to its vaults. PCs can spend hours searching for a particular item depending on its rarity, although they only have 24 hours before the Treasury collapses and they can never enter it again. But if they're searching for an item that they explicitly told Sekhmet they sought upon being granted passage, she will instinctively guide the item to them.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/Hv2RVxR.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 319px" />There are 10 Fabled Treasures to find here on top of the Sapphire Ring and Rite of the Solar Throne, rolled randomly from a table until a number has been encountered up to the amount of PCs in the party. They can all be identified via DC 15 skill checks (almost always History) which reveals the item's backstory. They are all unique items and include such things as the Babr- E Bayan (three-layered armor that makes the wearer immune to the effects of Wish spells as well as immunity to fire damage and can walk on molten rock), Feather of the Simurgh (+2 to ability checks and saves when held in a free hand, can be used to resurrect a dead creature by laying in on the corpse, but permanently destroys it), an intelligent Carpet of Flying named Gomorrah (it, along with the Enchanted Horse, can leave the Treasury of their own volition as an exception to Sekhmet's rules, but the Aru doesn't tell the party this), Gulnar's Flower (a magic flower that only blooms once every thousand years in a heavenly plane of existence, cures a creature of all curses, diseases, poisons, harmful genetic abnormalities, and dispels and unattunes all magic items and effects when eaten; it can even overcome effects from the Wish spell, artifacts, and the gods), and the Magic Lamp (acts as an Iron Flask but only works on genies, can hold up to 4 genies at a time, and can be used to transfer a genie from a different prison). In the Magic Lamp's case, Malicia the black dragon is seeking it in order to obtain the wishes from the imprisoned genies in Kirat. The Lamp already contains one genie, an ifrit efreeti known as Ziba.Aside from the Fabled Treasures, the Sapphire Ring is here as a Divine Relic, granted to Sekhmet for safekeeping. Its magical power is such that it cannot be transferred to other planes of existence and thus cannot be as easily hidden by Sekhmet as the other treasures here. Thus, PCs will have an easy time finding it if they know it's in the Treasury. The ring is guarded by arcs of lighting and is surrounded by a moat of lava, and these hazards can be safely bypassed if that character is granted permission by Sekhmet to take the ring. The Sapphire Ring grants immunity to natural hazards to the attuned wielder, and they cannot be moved against their will by such hazards. They are not immune to hazards that come from living beings, such as disease-causing bacteria and thorny plants.PCs who are on the Path of Benevolence can find the Rite of the Solar Throne here. It takes the form of a scroll resting upon a throne, with twelve golden steps flanked by lion sculptures leading up to it. The scroll details the ritual necessary to enact the law of succession for the Anubian Empire's Pharaoh, which involves passing on the divine authority from the current monarch to their firstborn. Its primary purpose in the adventure path is to forcibly unattune Lord Ammu from the Ankh of Life, but has some pretty strict requirements. It must be read for 1 minute by an Aru, both the Divine Child and Pharaoh must be within 300 feet at all times, and that 5 High Priests are present to act as witnesses. In this last case, the definition of High Priest is broad enough to include anyone attuned to a Divine Relic. If all five "priests" approve of the transfer, then the Divine Child attunes to the Ankh of Life and becomes the new Pharaoh.As for the Black Company, if Garret Thorne is dead and the fairweather ally had a literal change of heart, it's possible for the outlaws to be reformed and gain a pardon from Al'Kirat in exchange for fighting the Anubian army during the siege. In such a case, they will set up camp southwest of the city, making great use of grimfire pistols against the gnolls. The survivors will abandon their life of banditry and turn to living off the land as hunters. If Garret Thorne survives, he will make his way to Al'Kirat and make a deal with the devils at the Temple of the Five-Pointed Star. He will be reborn as a tiefling capable of casting Fireball three times a day, and will seek to kill the PCs during a convenient time during the Siege of Al'Kirat. Garret is not allied with the gnolls, rather being a lone wolf acting on his own.Thoughts: The final part of the chapter has a cool potential fight with the Black Company, and I really like the Disney's Aladdin vibes I get from the Roaming Treasury. I also like how PCs can defy Sekhmet's offer and possibly abscond with more loot than they bargained for, albeit at the cost of a potential TPK.Thoughts So Far: While overall a well-structured chapter, I do feel that some of the encounters can be deadlier than usual. One, the Black Company's arsenal of grimfire pistols makes them glass cannons. They're otherwise easy for Tier 2 PCs to take out, but a concentrated barrage can greatly injure characters and might even KO a few party members. Additionally, the 30d6 damage from Garret Thorne's last stand feels a bit excessive, even if it's potentially avoidable. On the other hand, the treasures in this chapter number among some of the most potent that aren't Divine Relics, so I also feel that the stakes are appropriately higher.Join us next time as we cover the adventure path's climax in Chapter 11: the Siege of Al'Kirat!</blockquote>

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