The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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The Destriers of Heaven
The Sun King’s most prized possessions are his white
silver-maned horses, the tetzillim or heavenly destriers,
which he firmly believes are descended from the steed
of the Sun God himself. Since they are the descendants
of half-celestial winged horses, the line was certainly
sired by a good outsider at some point in the past.
Tetzillim: Large outsider (native); HD 3d8+9; hp 22;
Init +1; Spd 60 ft.; AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 13;
Base Atk +3; Grp +10; Atk +5 melee (1d4+3, hoof);
Full Atk +5 melee (1d4+3, 2 hooves) and +0 melee
(1d3+1, bite); Space/Reach 10 ft./5 ft.; SA daylight;
SQ darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, resistance to
acid 5, cold 5, and electrical 5, scent; AL NG; SV Fort
+6, Ref +4, Will +5; Str 16, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 4, Wis
15, Cha 8.
Skills & Feats: Listen +7, Jump +6, Spot +7; Endurance,
Run.
to fight. My spies tell me that the dark ones have made
pacts with pirate tribes, who would have the advantage
if we met at sea. I believe we should keep to the land,
where we are invulnerable.’
Why not just have clerics provide food and water for
the legions? Why depend on the oases? ‘The priests
of my Father can, indeed, keep the soldiers fed; but to do
so would require too many. We would need one priest
for every three men. We have many priests, as you have
seen! Yet I cannot spare that many. Also, outlanders,
know that the oases are the gift of my Father. It is my
duty as monarch to preserve them.’
Location: The Camp of the Phoenix
Legions
The tents massed here on the border of the desert are
made from white silk, rippling in the light breeze. The
men of the Phoenix Legions move among them, swarthy
and confident, their golden armour shining like the sun
they venerate. Seeing you approach, they greet you with
salutes; their expressions show deep respect.
Looking at the thousands of gold-clad warriors before
you, each one ready to die in the fight to drive the drow
back from Crom Calamar, you know that the odds have
changed since you left that darkened city. There is much
left to do, but with allies like this, you know that you at
least have a fighting chance.
The overall commander of the expeditionary force,
General Mashoul Wassim (Ftr 12/Rgr 5), comes out
to welcome the Player Characters to the camp and
provides them with dates and sherbet. He is a strong
man in the prime of life, eager to move against the drow
and frustrated at the delays that have arisen.
Over lunch, General Wassim tells the Player Characters
that there have been strange phenomena in the sky. One
man claims to have seen a floating island, while another
saw a plume of black smoke that moved across the
horizon. Shortly afterwards, nomads riding in from the
desert reported that two of the oases to the south of the
Plateau of Skulls had been destroyed, namely the Oasis
of the Sleeping Stars and the Oasis of Pashtar. He is
deeply saddened at the loss of the former; ‘the Sun King
himself set up a shrine there’.
General Wassim can provide the Player Characters
with a rudimentary map of the desert showing where
the oases and the Plateau of Skulls lie. He cautions
them not to rely on compasses because the ‘spirits of
the desert play tricks.’ They should navigate by the
stars, or they will be misled (in fact, massive lodestone
deposits under the sand are what confuse compasses).
He recommends that they investigate the burned oases
first, to see if any clues remain.
Event: Into the Desert
The border of the desert can hardly be plainer. On one
side the cultivated terraces of the Topaz Dominions
stretch away into the distance. White sheep and goats
feast on the lush grasses and fishermen pole their boats
down the coast spearing fat gleaming fish. On the other
side lies a baked, sandy plain simmering under the sun,
the sand an unhealthy grey colour like the flaking skin
of a leper. The very land seems dead. It is no wonder
that travellers do not like to cross the desert; it looks as
though it would parch the life out of the soul as well as
the body.
Strange though it seems, there is green life out there
(or so you have been told), and it is being destroyed.
You have a new appreciation for the value of any water
source or green shady place in a lifeless zone like this.
You understand now why the Sun King is so troubled.
Even if he did not have an army to bring across the
desert, no monarch can allow some unknown force to
destroy even one oasis upon which so many different
lives depend, let alone all of them.
The Desert of Sharn is not natural. It was created by the
devastating magical fire of the Tyrant, aided by gouts
of fire and acid from the dragon allies of the drow. It
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