Livre 2, Chapitre 1: Decade of Aggression
Escorting a fabled artifact, getting it stolen and getting it back to finally loose it to the patron who hired them in the first place.
Shafanivar are active once more in the Awhom Forest, and hope to dominate the nation, the island and eventually the world. As their power grows, they draw all manner of reptilian allies, from lizard men and dinosaurs to dragons and their spawn.
A merchant house, either on the mainland or Mezh-Vowmi, hires the PCs to escort a caravan bearing a valuable object from Zha-Nozhnahn (29º15’N, 8º40’W) to Rismish (29º25’N, 7º40’W). The object carried is, in fact, an ancient relic of the yuan-ti, stolen from the ruins of the forest. Yuan-ti scouts are desperate to retrieve the object and have infiltrated many of the population centers throughout the land to gather information as to the relic’s whereabouts. The yuan-ti scouts learn the merchant house has the object in its possession, and ambush the PCs to learn the merchant’s route. Their overwhelming force surely will defeat the PCs and steal the object, but if not, the PCs safely reach their destination only to find the relic has vanished.
With the relic missing, a merchant hires them to get the object back, offering double the initial payment (if necessary). Examining the clues left by the raiders (or marks left by an incredibly stealthy thief ), and listening for local rumors, the PCs determine the Awhom Forest should be their next port of call. The heroes track the thieves through the haunted forest, battling the horrors within until they come to ancient ruins.
Inside the city, the heroes explore a massive dungeon, facing innumerable dangers and horrors. They must use guile and wit to snatch the item from under leader Ssrith Ko’s nose.
When the heroes return with the relic, they find the merchant prince awaiting them at the forest’s edge. He takes the relic and pays the heroes before leaving. What the PCs soon learn is the merchant is Ssrith Ko’s rival, and he plans to use the relic to raise an army of undead and scour the land clean of Human infestation. This new development becomes evident when corpses rise out of the earth all over the region and these terrible armies sweep towards Rismish, and at their head is the merchant.
The PCs could confront them, taking the legions of dead head-on. They could return to Sizra to learn from Ssrith Ko the purpose of this relic and perhaps enlist his aid, for even his people are threatened. Regardless of how the PCs handle the threat is up to them...