The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

History of the Desert
This history is accessible to any character who
succeeds on a Knowledge (history) or Bardic Lore
check (DC 20) or who researches the subject in a
library.
The Desert of Sharn was originally equatorial forest
stretching from the borders of the Topaz Dominions
to Jehannum, with the ocean to the west. It was one
of the outposts of elven civilisation and provided a
retreat for fugitives from the bordering kingdoms. In
the centre of the forest was the Plateau of Peace, a
raised zone above the tree-line, where the majority
of the elven settlements were located.
The elves finally abandoned their domains before
the last Equinox of the Heroes and retreated back
to Xoth Sarandi, hoping to opt out of the coming
war and leave the other races to fight it. Finding the
forest uninhabited but for a few die-hard elves who
refused to leave, the drow went on a mad orgy of
destruction. They swore that the forest would never
again shelter either man or elf.
How the forest was destroyed so swiftly, nobody
knows. Dragons are definitely believed to have
devastated part of it, but accounts also tell of
something else: a huge glowing figure that breathed
out spumes of flame the size of cornfields, turning
the ancient trees to ash. Whatever it was that worked
the destruction, it was thorough. Within ten years
Sharn was a desert of sand and ash, with only a few
struggling patches of green life left. The Plateau of
Peace was renamed the Plateau of Skulls, after the
charred skeletons that were found there in abundance.
It quickly acquired the reputation of being a haunted
place. Travellers who ventured there did not return.
Games Master’s Note: The glowing being that
destroyed the forest was a construct called the Tyrant
of Brass, an artefact retrieved from the Elemental
Plane of Fire. During the last war, the drow set it
loose, ordering it to destroy all of the green growing
things from Jehannum to the Topaz Dominions. They
were unsure whether it could, in fact, do this; their
doubts soon vanished. The Tyrant devastated mile
after mile of forest, until the scale of the destruction
troubled even the drow, who wondered if it would
actually stop as it had been told to do. They were
quietly relieved when, once the forest had been
devastated, the entity vanished altogether.
Any obvious spellcasters in the party can be told: The
people look at you with wide eyes as you pass, smiling
and nudging one another. They seem pleased that magicworkers
from other lands have visited them here.
Wizards, sorcerers and clerics – even those who follow
other deities than the Sun God – find that they are
waited on hand and foot while in the Topaz Dominions.
Nobody ever asks them to pay for anything. If they
need to buy any item more valuable than a good meal
or a drink in an inn, they are given a 40% discount (not
including magic items, since these can only be had from
fellow spellcasters). However, they are also expected to
perform their magic for free, as and when needed.
Non-spellcasters are treated as if they were retainers.
A native of the Topaz Dominions who sees a group of
adventurers automatically assumes that the fighters and
rogues are the wizards’ and sorcerers’ bodyguards or
pack bearers.
Location: The Palace of the Sun King
You stand before the Sun King’s palace, where Ata
Huara has led you. There is no possible room for
doubt that the sun is a sacred symbol to these people,
as they seem to plaster it over every available surface.
The larger and more golden the better. The domed
golden roof of the palace before you is topped by a
stylised sun-disc that shines blindingly bright in the
rays of the actual sun above. Gilded sun-faces glow
from the lintels of the archway at the palace’s entrance
and a vast solar mosaic spreads across the floor of the
echoing entrance hall. All of the palace staff wear sun
medallions, like gold coins on chains. Every room that
you pass features a sun-shrine in the corner, many of
which are wet with blood from recent sacrifices. This
kingdom is powerful and strongly lawful but it does not
seem entirely benevolent. Although the ruler of this
realm has promised his assistance, you cannot help but
wonder whether his actions are not motivated by an
expansionist ambition.
Without warning you hear a flare of trumpets, and a
shrill voice from a balcony above – doubtless that of
a eunuch – announces that ‘The Earth-Born Presence
of the Lord is among us!’ With that, a powerfully built
man strides in through the archway at the end of the
room, bared to the waist, dressed in a white kilt and a
simple golden headband. His eyes are amber, his face
sombre and thoughtful.
‘Welcome to my Father’s blessed land,’ he says in
flawless Common. ‘I have gifts for you. First you must
present the gifts you have brought for me.’
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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