Volume 6, The Darkest Timeline 4 - Desert Travels

Part 10 - Travels to Fort al-Zali

Day 1:

• The party spots a group of Lizardfolk nomads migrating southwards for the mating season of their giant lizard mounts. They are told about a ruin that lies roughly in their path.
• The Thanes find the ruin and find it fluctuating in time. On heading in they see Professor Rosie Stone fighting over a book with some sort of time elemental. Once they disrupt the scene, pulling the figures out of their time loop the chronalmental attacks them as the temple switches between in tact and various stages of falling apart.
• Upon defeating the chronalmental and picking up the book, its pages explode outward, spiral round the Thanes and then disappear out into the desert and through time. The Thanes realise that the pages they have been finding come from this book, which must have scattered itself through their timeline.
• In the afternoon, Nieve spots some fresh tracks and hunts a herd of oryx alongside a lioness.
• Before setting up camp for the evening, the party spot a ruined caravan, securing what few valuables they can find. They work out that this was the work of gnolls and true enough Karnak spots them coming in. The party fight them off and set up camp for the night
• While the first half of the night passes peacefully, they party is attacked by desicated zombies in the night and have to tactically draw them away from their supplies.

Day 2:

• As they set off, changing their heading slightly to go around a large rock feature, the Thanes encounter an unusual stranger who seems to recognise them, although none of the party have ever met this person. Shin can't take his eyes off the stranger's staff, which is topped with cracked hourglass, identical to his own. The stranger mumbles about not being able to go forward and therefore having to go back, before wandering off away from the party.
• The Thanes head into a canyon and discover a tomb. Gamble and Jed investigate, inadvertently releasing a sarcophagus slime, which they soon kill. Jed tries to share his growing concerns about Petryan's behaviour but his message is somewhat lost as he is eating the remnants of the slime.
• In the sarcophagus, the party found a set of living halfplate armor, but determine that its downsides are too heavy a price. They store it in the bag of holding.
• Heading further down the canyon, Nieve hears the sound of water and tracks it down to an underwater spring that she uncovers, allowing the party to refill some of their supply.
• Before evening sets in, the party encounter a group of the same, worm-ridden undead they had seen in Milagon and destroy them before moving on.
• During the night, a meteor crashes in the far distance, but otherwise not much happens. Karnak however has terrible night terrors, where she is tormented by her memories of Atroz the Unstoppable, her mental wellbeing deteriorates.

Day 3:

• The first half of the morning goes without incident, but shortly before midday the party encounter a group of aggressive, large bugs.
• In the afternoon the party spy a fort in the desert which has an ochi olochi banner hanging from it. Gamble asks Serap who confirms this is a friendly group called the Knights of Hw. Zerath, the Thanes remember that one of the Frithgard was from this organization.
• The party are welcomed into the fort (Fort al-Zali) and exchange news about what is happening in the wider world. The party are able to take a long rest.
• Karnak asks Gamble what primeline Karnak is like, Shin resummons an owl familiar, Jed confronts Petryan about the maniacal way he disposed of some of the bugs, and a lot of people walk away from each other dramatically.

Part 11 - Sphinxes

Day 4:

• The party encounter the mysterious stranger who seems not to recognise them. Shin confronts them about the hourglass and the party, recognising this to be a time traveller, warns him about their prior conversation. The stranger decides to go back and not forwards and
• Shin's hourglass now fluctuates between being fixed and being cracked. The sand in the hourglass seems to be running, although it doesn't seem to diminish while being watched. Additionally the sand continues to run in the same direction, even if the hourglass is flipped upside down. Shin feels that this hourglass of paradox is counting down to something.
• Jed and Karnak head off from the trail to investigate a large rib cage jutting out of the desert, only to discover that it is a Sandwyrm, which attacks them with its spined tail. They manage to put it down with the help of their fellows and find a healing potion for their troubles.
• The party head towards a small sphinx statue and meet a gypsosphinx. It has the ability to see the manner in which a person will die just by looking at them and has grown despondent as it says everyone's deaths are now the same. The party demonstrate that they believe it and that they're trying to help change that and the sphinx looks upon them and gives the following fortelling:

"I see Ara, the same end, a different perspective, Light betrayed brings new life to fallen glory, Balance tips, a scale upended, Dark scythe through dark air, Wings and bones and pain and loss, For all but one... you (Gamble) I cannot see your fate"

The Gypsosphinx

• Convinced of their import, the sphinx provides Gamble with a cauldron of rebirth and sends them on their way.
• As they travel, Shin speaks with Jed and Karnak about how the race for the rings of power is all but lost and now the most important thing is getting Gamble back to the primeline, even if that means their deaths. They are all in agreement. Shin says he will speak to Nieve and Petryan separately, but asks for the two of them to be present when he speaks to Petryan given his odd behaviour of late.
• Gamble and Nieve investigate a group of cacti to see if they can extract some water from them. They are unable to find a suitable plant but are attacked by cactids for their troubles.
• Petryan and Karnak investigate a nearby temple that holds a large jackal-headed statue that starts to move towards them threateningly. Translating the hieroglyphs at the statue's base, Petryan is able just in time to realise that he needs to say "Friend" to the statue. The statue halts, and then opens a secret door to a chamber in which they find an Ioun Stone of Sustenance.
• During the evening/night, Shin speaks to Nieve about the importance of ensuring Gamble's success. He also tries to convince her to become Lavanel again. The Child of the Briar returns and tells Nieve that her outward apperance now matches her inner self. Nieve is torn but ultimately states that she will stay as she is.
• Karnak and Jed while on watch investigate the camels who seem disturbed by something. Two bulettes then pounce up from under Shin's tiny hut spell to attack the sleeping Thanes. Another bulette zeroes in on Jed. The party fight them off but Petryan scolds Jed and Karnak for their carelessness (although the others defend them given they can't see underground).
• The rest of the night passes without incident.

Day 5

• In the morning, Shin gathers Karnak and Jed and speaks to Petryan. Suspicious about his companion's recent behaviour, Shin carefully asks some trick questions, referring to Leonidas as "Lysander" and suggesting that Petryan was romantically entangled with his fallen friend.
• Upon realising that "Petryan" is unable to spot these obvious traps, Shin successfully outs Petryan as Sinan Thune who has been possessing the body of Petryan since Barada.
• The Thanes quickly subdue Sinan and have a lengthy debate about how best to deal with the situation. Ultimately they choose to kill Sinan and use the cauldron of rebirth to bring back the real Petryan to his body.
• Heading out across the desert, Nieve hunts down a salt flat so that the party can acquire the neccessary 200lbs of salt required for the spell. However as they're arriving a sandstorm hits and they travel blind for the rest of the day.
• While travelling they walk into a pocket of air protected from the sandstorm and soon find a large sphinx statue. Beneath it they meet two sphinxes, an Androsphinx named Banakts'vogh and a Gynosphinx named Khaghagharar.
• The sphinxes set a number of riddles and questions for the party in order to lead them to a secret they cannot speak but can reveal.
• The party learn that these sphinxes serve Lugh and Dianekt and were there are the forging of peace at the end of the war of balance.
• They also learn that mortals were first crafted from the "spawning stone", the calcified remains of the dead god Kek's mind, which formed the plane of limbo around itself.
• The Thanes learn that during the war of energies, the Gods used the spawning stone to create vast armies of celestials, beings that existing only for war could not accept peace and fell from grace after the war, becoming Devils (Belnias' followers) and Demons (Oloch's followers), continuing their war as the Blood War.
• Realising that they had come close to ending everything by reckless use of the spawning stone, the Gods raised up a mortal to become a God of Balance and placed within her the spawning stone, giving her dominion over life and death.
• The party press on and encounter some sinking sand which they are able to pull themselves out of with little trouble.
• Shin and Jed have a heartfelt chat with Gamble during the evening where they talk about past mistakes and the importance of the future. Gamble promises them that she has learnt alot from her past and intends to be much more careful in the future.
• Karnak and Nieve are surprised during their watch to discover a comfortable desert bower has appeared nearby. They are invited over by its fairy host, who invites them to partake of food and wine and share their stories. Ultimately the pair are highly suspicious of the fey, outright refusing to partake. Their host leaves offended, and they realise shortly after that some of their supplies of food and water have been sabotaged.
• The raise dead spell completes and a very dehydrated Petryan rejoins the party at dawn the next day.

Part 12 - The Last Wave of the First Sea

Day 6

• The party head out and the early part of the day passes without incident.
• Petryan and Shin investigate a ruined hall with a strange artificer's device. Working together, Petryan works out its basic construction, allowing Shin to prise it open with telekinesis. Petryan reaches inside and pulls out the chronolometer, the magic item powering this strange machine that provides him with access to some temporal magic.
• The party reach the "Sea of Glass" that they had heard about from the Knights of Hw. Zerath. A vast section of desert that has been turned to glass from heat exposure.
• Karnak investigates a dilapidated statue. There she encounters visions of the God of War, Narda. She is challenged to fight an echo of the last champion to fight in this arena and does so with gusto. However, part way into the fight she experiences a panic attack and is confronted by a vision of Atroz, she realises that if that vision were to touch her she would die.
• Narda ends the fight and speaks to Karnak about her condition, saying it affects many mortal soldiers after too long at war and is often referred to as Narda's Bane. He challenges her resolve in the face of her fears and questions her will and motives to fight. Hearing that she fights for others and to save people from the awful realities of this timeline he gifts her the champion's blade, Nardu's Steel, a khopesh sword with the power to revivify.
• The party head further into the Sea of Glass and see miles in the distance a towering, fiery elemental figure. They realise that this must be the Avatar of Fire considering they have seen Vendari summon an Avatar of Despair. Thinking back they realise that they have already seen an Avatar of Water when they were on the Howl and an Avatar of Earth when they were teleporting across Ara.
• The Thanes spy some smaller fire elementals and manage to stealth their way past them without incident.
• The party set up camp for the evening and while part of the night passes without incident, a swarm of manabane scarabs attack. The pesky pests feed on magic and are completely immune to its effects presenting a unique challenge.

Day 7

• The party travel through the Sea of Glass without further incident, although they do spot another meteor crashing down to earth miles away to the north.
• The Thanes enter a large crater, at the heart of which sits a six-sided temple. Upon arriving they find it seemingly deserted and press on inside.
• Travelling through a series of chambers, Nieve translates a series of inscriptions, which along with a set of murals depicts the events that lead to this place being called "Mercannon's Shame".
• The Thanes learn that in the early days of Ara, the elemental planes still flowed into Ara and the seas filled from a portal to the elemental plane of water. When this began to flood the land, people prayed to Mercannon to stem the tide but he did not listen to them.
• After praying to the other gods without success, the early settlers of Ara prayed to Belnias and Oloch who were at war. Belnias was able to evaporate the water with the sun's light, but Oloch surrounded her with darkness, causing water to dry up and crops, people and animals to die.
• The people of Ara soon split along the lines of light and darkness and the War of the Energies descended from the skies to the face of Ara. Once peace had been achieved, Mercannon sealed the rift to the plane of water and realised that his selfishness had caused catastrophes to befall Ara.
• At the centre of the temple, the party find Umberlee, stuck within a roiling ball of water.
• Gamble enters the Water (although is forced to leave her ring of mind shielding and a mirror behind). Within she encounters Umberlee who shows little remorse for what she has done and revels in probing Gamble's mind for memories of her encounter with a weakened Arawn.
• Gamble gets Umberlee to explain how to fix this mess. Umberlee tells her of a witch of the sands, a hag named Afreeyah who unwittingly holds the wish of a deal-breaker within her hoard.
• With this wish, Gamble should wish to return to when she first swore a pact to Umberlee so that they can amend the terms of their arrangement. Any other wish could have catastrophic consequences.
• Umberlee explains that Afreeyah resides in a long lost Asteramid of Kekian worship. After the balance a chaos cult attempted to destroy the world and rather than destroy their temple, the faithful of the Gods hid it so that it would never be found.
• Afreeyah chanced upon it and amended the magic so that the lost and the desperate could end up there. To find this place the Thanes must walk towards the centre of the Alagrian desert until their bellies ache from hunger, their mouths are dry as salt and their legs can go no further. Then they must travel for one more day. Only then will her dwelling appear.
• Umberlee was able to share that Afreeyah is part of a coven of hags and has a dragon as a pet. The item that they are looking for is a jewelled bottle. In it is a djinn who refused to honour a wish and was sealed within it as punishment. It was believed that it lost its ability to grant wishes, but Umberlee knows that it still holds onto its withheld wish from long ago.
• Outside of the watery conversation, the Thanes are distracted by the appearance of a second Jed. There is much confusion as they try to work out which is the real Jed.
• Jed makes the interesting choice to make out with his other self. A choice he soon regrets as, upon being discovered by Petryan's detect magic spell, the fake Jed refers to the real Jed as "mother" and morphs back into its true form, the blue slaad that had exploded out of the chest of Jed during the darkest timeline.
• The party are then attacked by a group of Obfuscati, who Shin holds at bay with a casting of ice wall. As the fight wears on, Nieve counteracts the Obfuscati's darkness abilities with a casting of daylight.
• Within the sphere of water, Umberlee gifts Gamble a rapier made from a narwhal's tusk bound to a spiked conch with sea weed. The rapier, Swash is a pact weapon that Gamble can use to leave the sealed portal and carry a fragment of Umberlee's magic with her.
• Gamble explodes out of the sphere with her new weapon and a clear goal to finally return the world to its rightful timeline.

Swash

Part 13 - Travels to the Asteramid of the Lost

Day 8

• The Thanes spent the night a safe distance away from the temple and pressed on through the sea of glass. Although the Avatar of Fire came relatively close, it did not spot them and they passed through without incident. Nieve witnessed the effects of a far off earthquake.
• Petryan attempted to use the Orb of Elreyna to reveal the location of the Asteramid of the Lost but no beam of light pointed the way.
• The Thanes left most of their food and water behind and freed their camels before heading due east to find the Asteramid of the Lost.
• During their travels, the Thanes happened upon an archaeological dig site, at the centre of which was an obelisk. Petryan discovered a mechanism at its base connected to a word puzzle etched onto the obelisk. Solving the puzzle provided him with a fragment of Ormad's knowledge, pointing him towards another location.
• The Thanes headed for the new location discovering a large obelisk surrounded by 12 smaller obelisks. Each of the surrounding obelisks had 3 Akhret depictions of the gods upon them. By pairing Gods against their opposites the Thanes created balance and solved the puzzle. The Thanes are gifted the ability to cast greater restoration once.
• During the night the party were shielded by Shin's Tiny Hut, protecting them from a dangerously close meteor strike. Later a curious Jackalwere came to investigate and poked around the Tiny Hut before being scared off by Gamble. Petryan was able to use the Orb of Elreyna to locate the centre of the desert.

Day 9

• The party headed out exhausted for another day of travel. During the day they discovered an Asteramid, guarded by more of the Jackalweres.
• Petryan was selected to meet the leader of this group, one Queen Prisanthei, who charmed him into agreeing to help retrieve the valuables hidden within its vaults.
• Petryan also identified this to be the Asteramid of Queen Alacra Karnalekh, queen of the short-lived middle kingdom. She is described in an hieroglyph as "mistress of twilight".
• The party head down into the vault chamber hidden beneath the throne room. There they encounter 3 challenges. Nieve and Karnak face down a test of the body: a trap room designed to stretch their strength, dexterity and constitution.
• Shin and Petryan take on a challenge of the mind. They escape a strange corridor with a false dead end and solve three riddles to cross a gridded floor covered in hieroglyphs.
• Gamble and Jed investigate a mirror that prompts them to "reflect the soul". Within they are faced with altered reflections of themselves in varying "ideal" states. The reflections present them with their own failings and Gamble correctly realises that she must own up to her failings to pass the test.
• With the puzzles solved, the party discover a scarab of protection and Hw. Zerath's nightfall pearl. Petryan realises that Queen Karnalekh and Hw. Zerath were romantically involved.
• While the finding is of great historical significance and may have been of use in the Primeline, the Thanes opt to give the valuables to Queen Prisanthei as per Petryan's agreement and leave with their 500gp reward.
• As the day draws to a close the party suffer another level of exhaustion and find themselves in a buildilng sandstorm. As they push on they exit the storm to find themselves in front of an ominous asteramid, hidden within a sandstorm dome. Draped across the asteramid is a dead blue dragon.