The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

will never again return to forest. The absence of any
plant life for miles means that wandering monsters are
extremely rare. The desert cannot support life of any
kind, human or monstrous. The only places where
the Player Characters are likely to encounter anything
living are at the oases themselves.
Event: Tracking the Tyrant
The layout of the adventure assumes that the Player
Characters take the most obvious route, following the
destroyed oases until they reach the Plateau of Skulls
and discover that the villagers of Astercote have
awakened the Tyrant, then heading north to look for it,
since this is where the remaining oases are. Since it is
clearly interested in destroying the oases, the sensible
thing to do is to reach one that it has not yet ravaged,
and wait.
The Player Characters may, however, come up with
ingenious ways to cut straight to the chase without
going through the Plateau of Skulls, investigating
Devourer’s Mound or bothering with any of the other
(potentially rewarding) intervening sections. For
example, they might do this by using overland flight to
patrol the oases, or even scrying on the Tyrant by means
of the brass fragment found at the Oasis of the Trodden
Serpent
This is only a problem if they are in need of experience
or treasure. If they have been thorough so far then they
can cut right to the Tyrant if they want to, but if the
Games Master wants to prolong the action, the easiest
way to do this is to have them encounter the Tyrant as
it has just finished destroying one of the oases and is
stomping toward Astercote at the plateau. If this is
timed right, the Player Characters may be all that stand
between Astercote and the ravaging Tyrant; unless it is
stopped, the Tyrant will haul the village down from the
sky, clamber up onto it and burn the whole place down.
The sphinx, Heru Machos, is an ideal plot-straightening
device. He can lead the party straight to the Tyrant if the
Games Master wants and can also let them know about
locations they might have missed, such as Devourer’s
Mound.
Location: The Oases
This section gives brief information on the relevant
oases of the southern part of the Desert of Sharn.
1. Oasis of the Sleeping Stars: This oasis, the closest
one to the border, was once a lush island of vegetation
and animal life. The Sun King had it guarded by a
retinue of his Phoenix Legions so that it would not be
profaned, and built a shrine there to his deity. When the
Player Characters find it, it is burned completely to the
ground. The waters that flowed here are now a feeble
trickle that smells foul. The shrine is almost entirely
gone. Only a cracked marble stump remains where the
image of the Sun God once stood.
Ten simple graves have been dug around the oasis where
the guards were hastily buried. If the Player Characters
examine these (a morbid and blasphemous act by the
standards of the Topaz Dominions, but the graves may
hold clues), they find that the bodies seem to have been
simultaneously crushed and burned to death. What
remains is barely recognisable as human.
The dry sand outside the oasis is one of the worst
surfaces possible for holding tracks, but a Survival
check (DC 20) coupled with the Tracking feat ascertains
that the guards tried to flee to the south, so the threat
evidently came from the north – the direction in which
lies the Plateau of Skulls. Within the baked mud of
the oasis, a Search check (DC 20) locates several huge
footprints that were made by something like a heavy,
spiked boot.
2. Oasis of Pashtar: Much like the last site, this oasis
is completely burned and devastated. It was centred
upon a stone-lined pool around which ornamental
gardens had been set up. The plants have been scorched
as before but the water in the pool still appears fresh
and uncontaminated. The guards from this oasis lie
unburied, scattered black and twisted beneath the desert
sun.
When the Player Characters arrive at Pashtar, they find
a group of five human merchants desperately searching
for some sign of what has happened and watering their
camels at the pool. They are glad to see the Player
Characters and ask them what evil could have done this.
They were heading south, away from Jehannum, where
the drow have taken over.
They can supply the Player Characters with news of
Jehannum (see the sidebar). In return, they ask for
news of the desert to the south. On learning that the
oases have been destroyed, they bewail their terrible ill
fortune and determine to strictly ration their supplies
until they reach the southern border. Any help the
Player Characters can supply is received with heartfelt
gratitude. The merchants’ cargo consists of sixteen
hogsheads of Jehannese mead destined for the nobility.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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