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.