Session 115

Heroes (lvl 15): Deet, Horgin, Rhys, Nura, Hassan, Ryel

676 MR - Summer

The Heroes enter the Necropolitan Frontier, where the desert abruptly gives way to a borderland that refuses to decay. Bones lie exposed but unrotted, bleached clean yet unnervingly intact. Dust storms rise and collapse in silence. The land feels held in suspension, waiting for a command that never comes. As the Heroes advance, skeletal guardians shamble from half-buried ruins, animated not by life but by a cold, ritual stillness. They cut through the patrols and press deeper toward the Magian’s domain.

They soon reach the Ossuary-River, a wide channel of drifting bone fragments flowing like water, carried by magic rather than current. To cross, the Heroes must navigate shifting barges of fused ribs and shattered skulls while skeletal remnants rise from the churning mass to pull them under. The crossing becomes a brutal struggle against the dead and the river itself, but the Heroes force their way through and climb the far bank as the bone-tide roars behind them.

Beyond the river lies the Failed Ascension Pit—an enormous crater surrounded by broken pillars carved with failed incantations. In its center stands a ritual cage, the remnants of an abandoned attempt at immortality. The Magian’s lesser experiments, twisted undead that never achieved form or will, crawl from the walls and attack with desperate hunger. The Heroes fight through the malformed horrors, finally silencing the last of the failed creations.

With the pit cleared, the path to the Magian’s true sanctum opens beneath a cracked slab of obsidian. The Heroes descend into darkness, leaving the Necropolitan Frontier behind as they prepare to confront the architect of this frozen, deathless land.

Session 114

Heroes (lvl 15): Deet, Horgin, Rhys, Nura, Hassan, Ryel

676 MR - Summer

The Heroes push deeper into the ruin and enter the Hall of Echoes, where whispered fragments of their past lives swirl around them—memories twisted, rearranged, or spoken by voices not their own. They steady themselves and continue forward, refusing the illusions’ pull.

Ahead waits the Bridge of Paradox, a grand stone span that does not truly exist. Recognizing the deception, the Heroes step off the false path and walk across the empty air on an invisible bridge revealed only through their certainty.

They reach a door that is not a door, a frame opening onto nothing. Understanding the nature of the trial, they close their eyes and walk forward, trusting the unseen. The temple shifts, accepting them, and they pass through unharmed.

In the Court of Sands, the Sphinx finally reveals herself—vast, ancient, and hostile. Her riddles give way to violence, and the chamber becomes a storm of claws, magic, and swirling golden dust. After a brutal battle, the Heroes bring the Beast of Paradox down. As her body collapses, the Sunfire Ankh, a relic formed from her very skeleton, emerges from the remains.

But the victory is brief. The temple begins to fill with cascading sand as the ancient structure unravels. The Heroes flee through collapsing corridors, escaping into the desert light with the third genie relic secured. Only one remains.

Session 113

Heroes (lvl 15): Deet, Horgin, Rhys, Nura, Hassan, Ryel

676 MR - Summer

The Heroes cross the burning desert on their way to the forgotten temple-city of Khemetra, the domain of the Sphinx who guards the third genie relic. Along the way they meet a band of sun-marked hermits, pilgrims who warn them that the ruins are alive with trials of wisdom, truth, and humility. With their guidance and a gifted amber charm, the party presses on into the shifting sands.

Khemetra rises from the dunes like a mirage of gold and stone. Inside, sun-bleached corridors twist and loop on themselves, and ancient warding glyphs still pulse with divine magic. The Heroes navigate the illusions and traps until they stand before the sealed Gate of Suns. There, the Sphinx’s unseen voice challenges them with three riddles. Each answer unlocks a portion of the gate, while wrong answers burn their minds with psychic force.

When the final riddle is spoken, the last seal trembles. The gate shudders open—and the temple awakens its ancient defenders. Two Sunforged Guardian steps from their alcoves, eyes blazing with molten light. The chamber erupts into chaos as the constructs swing their radiant fists and flood the room with blistering brilliance. After a brutal fight, the guardians collapses into a dying sun-spark, leaving the stairs to the inner sanctum exposed.

As the dust settles, the Sphinx’s voice echoes through the golden hall, calm and resonant:

“You have passed the questions of stone. Now face the questioner.”

The party descends, knowing the true trial lies ahead.

The Sphinx (dead)

Awnshegh

The Sphinx has ruled its own domain for hundreds of years. Early on, it lived as a marauding beast, preying on local villagers and passing caravans. Over the last century or so, the Sphinx has chosen to expand its domain and become a true regent. A longtime menace to trade, the Sphinx craves territory and power above all else.

Session 114 - Killed by Ryel

The Lamia (dead)

Awnshegh

Once an itinerant dancer named Keta Pechaya who traveled the Shining Coast of Khinasi, the Lamia revelled in a life of petty theft and drama. An encounter with a minor awnshegh which slew most of her troop resulted in her slaying and usurping the beast, twisting into form of the Lamia shortly afterwards. 

Later captured by the soldiers of Besaïam, the King ordered her brought before him so that he might win prestige by slaying one of the divinely maimed. The Lamia proved more than his match and has ruled Besaïam since.

Session 112 - Killed by Horgin

Session 112

Heroes (lvl 14): Deet, Horgin, Rhys, Nura

676 MR - Spring

The Heroes cast aside their disguises and announce themselves openly, revealing their true names and purpose. Word spreads quickly through Cravengate’s perfumed streets, and before long, the Lamia’s envoys arrive — elegant, masked courtiers who extend an invitation to the grand masquerade ball in her palace. They bring with them silks, jewels, and ornate costumes, ensuring the guests of honor look suitably magnificent for the night ahead.

The ball unfolds in a haze of music and incense. Beneath golden chandeliers, nobles sway and laugh, their eyes glassy under the Lamia’s spell. The air itself hums with enchantment, every note of the orchestra and every breath of perfume tightening her hold on the revelers. When the Lamia finally appears, radiant and terrible, she commands the room without a word. Her gaze finds the Heroes, and with a smile, she invites them to her private sanctuary to “discuss alliance.”

Within her opulent sanctum, illusion gives way to truth. The Lamia’s beauty twists into monstrosity — lion’s body, claws gleaming like polished bronze, eyes burning with hunger. Her offer is no alliance, but enslavement. When the Heroes resist, her children descend from the shadows, snarling and shrieking.

The battle is vicious and desperate. The Lamia bends light and mind alike, weaving illusions around the party while her children tear through the marble halls. Yet one by one, her glamours falter, and her perfume turns to ash. When silence finally falls, the throne room is littered with broken masks and shattered mirrors.

The Lamia lies slain. Freed from her enchantment, Cravengate stirs from its long dream — its people uncertain, its beauty hollow. In her treasury, the Heroes find riches beyond measure and, among them, the Perfumed Veil, the second relic needed to unseal the Palace of the Suncrown.

LEVEL UP!

Session 111

Heroes (lvl 14): Deet, Hassan, Horgin, Rhys, Nura

676 MR - Spring

The Heroes reach the oasis city of Cravengate, jewel of the desert and seat of the Lamia’s power. They know that she holds one of the four relics needed to break the genie seals — the Perfumed Veil — and decide to infiltrate the city under the guise of wealthy merchants.

Within the walls, they find a place steeped in decadence. Golden-masked guards patrol perfumed streets, ensuring that nobles remain drunk on vice and illusion. Slavery flourishes openly. The rich lounge in silk-draped pavilions while the poor and disfigured are herded into shadowed alleys, unseen and unwanted. Servants drift through the streets offering mulled wine and spreading incense, both laced with subtle alchemical compounds that leave minds pliant to the Lamia’s magic.

The Heroes make contact with the underground resistance, a desperate network of beggars and outcasts clinging to scraps of freedom. From them, they learn the truth: the Lamia wears the Perfumed Veil herself, never parting with it, a constant source of her power.

When night falls, the masquerade ends. The streets empty as lanterns dim, and those foolish or desperate enough to linger are set upon by the Lamia’s children—creatures of lion’s haunch and woman’s face that prowl the darkness, devouring stragglers. The city breathes like a living thing, its beauty a thin skin stretched over rot.