Citadel of the Sun-King – Session 3: The Windswept Ruins

Citadel of the Sun-King Campaign Diary

Session 3: The Windswept Ruins

The Party

Hasoom (Thief 1→3) – Finds the door, picks the lock, takes the prize. Played by Ryan.

Idrusa (Magic-User 1→2) – Always ready to blind the nastiest thing in the room. Played by Ben.

Kheperkare (Fighter 1→2) – A menace with a halberd. Played by Zi.

Ramu (Ranger 1→2) – Talks like a fool, shoots like a legend. Played by Todd.

Also present:

Mafik (0-level mercenary)

Qas (porter)

Fayzid (porter)

Entering the Ruin

The party began this session just outside a partially buried ancient ruin, eyeing a sand-choked stairwell descending into the earth. Leaving Fayzid and Mafik behind with the pack animals (the purchased camel and two acquired horses), the party descended, bringing Qas along to assist.

The first chamber was a sandstone hall, lit dimly by sunlight filtering from above. Four fluted pillars supported the ceiling. A dry fountain rested along the eastern wall, and beneath nearby rubble, a nest of sand vipers hissed a warning. Ramu responded by firing an arrow into one, scaring the others back into hiding.

The fountain water was cloudy and green with algae, but otherwise unremarkable. The group continued.

Ganwar the Hermit

A northward passage ended in a T-junction. Taking the west branch, the group entered a room with a threadbare tent pitched beside a fire pit. Seated calmly was Ganwar, a slightly bestial-looking man roasting a desert lizard.

Though startled by their arrival, Ganwar was not hostile. In exchange for an iron ration and the snake Ramu had shot, he explained that he lived in the ruin and believed it to be mostly empty. He also shared a peculiar story:

“There’s a ship stuck on a cliff far to the west of here. Like some sea-ghost smashed it upon the rock. Hull black as pitch. Gulls flocked there as if brought with it from the sea.”

During the conversation, he conspicuously shoved something further into his tent, prompting suspicion from the party, who were convinced Ganwar was hiding a corpse (possibly his next meal). With no proof and nothing more to gain, the group left him alone.

The Mosaic and the Mural

Continuing east, the party found a collapsed chamber with a crude rope ladder hanging from a hole in the ceiling—an alternate entrance they’d missed. Windblown sand covered the floor. Beneath the grit, Kheperkare noticed signs of a hidden mosaic, but they left it for later.

Further south, the group entered a large chamber with a carved relief mural on the western wall. It depicted a story in three parts:

1. Insectoid creatures cowering before a tall, horned cyclops

2. A winged bull with a bearded human face striking down the cyclops

3. The cyclops chained inside a black ziggurat

The party connected the man-bull to the shrine in Najad, but the cyclops and bug-men remained a mystery.

The Archive

Choosing not to descend the short stair eastward, the party went south and entered an ancient archive lined with scroll racks. Two slumped corpses were inside, one clutching a pack.

Kheperkare tried to hook the pack with his halberd, but the corpse suddenly grabbed the pack and stood up... zombie! The second zombie also rose.

Combat ensued. Things looked dicey for Hasoom, who had been at the door to search for traps, but the zombie that shambled toward him missed its attack, otherwise that could have been the end of the thief. The other zombie missed Kheperkare with a natural 1. The party was able to dispatch both zombies in the next round of combat with a mix of spear, sword and halberd attacks.

They then looted the room, recovering:

• A scroll of cure light wounds (no divine caster, unfortunately)
• A pack with 400 ep, a small topaz, and a leather journal.
  • Final entry: "There's a Darhani ruin buried a day's journey into the Sea of Stone. We'll head there next, once Jihar finds what he's after."

• 2x ruined leather armor, a mace, and a sword

Tools and Treasure

After discovering that the ruin's passages looped together, the group opened the last unopened door, an old storage chamber. Inside they found a 30' length of rusty chain, a sealed jar of pitch-resin, and a bent bronze ear trumpet (+1 to Hear Noise / Listen at Doors).

They then returned to the collapsed chamber and cleared the sand, revealing a mosaic of a radiant sun above a towering citadel. A crowned figure pointed to the sun. With the upper level fully explored, the party descended the stairs they had found previously.

The Statue Room

The lower floor began with a door leading into a 40x30-foot antechamber housing a statue of a four-armed insectoid sun god, mounted on a plinth. Grooves ran around the plinth’s base. One hand pointed toward the entrance. On the far side, a grand bronze door was marked with a radiant eye.

Kheperkare found a crushed corpse in front of the statue—its back punctured by spikes, holding a damaged golden tablet. Hasoom determined the statue could rotate.

The party, sensing a trap, spiked the door open. They began to leave the chamber, but three party members stepped on pressure plates causing spikes to protrude from the ceiling, then the ceiling itself began to descend. The door attempted to shut, but the iron spike held.

The ceiling took five rounds to lower, remained down for a full turn, then reset. The players noted that the trap felt brutal and slow.

Once it reset, the party re-entered and turned the statue to so that it pointed towards the bronze door, which caused the bronze door to slide open.

The Relic Vault

The final room was a relic vault, with a dais and semi-circular alcove filled with ceremonial treasures. Coiled atop the dais was a skeletal serpent—a necrophidius, guardian of the now-missing tablet.

The creature watched silently but took no action.

Hasoom decided to test the situation. He skirted the room along the wall, then attempted to Move Silently up to the treasure pile. He rolled a 1 on his Move Silently, only having a 1-in-6 chance. Unnoticed, he grabbed all the treasure while the necrophidius kept its gaze fixed on the rest of the party.

Loot in hand, the party left immediately, retraced their steps out of the ruin, and returned to Najad. There were no encounters during their return trip and they crossed the Ford of Shoseb without incident.

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Back in Najad

Level-Ups & Upgrades

Upon returning to town, the players earned XP for the adventure and everyone leveled up! Hasoom, being a thief, actually hit 3rd level*. They decided to rent a full apartment in town (300 gp per month) and bought the only available hishral from the caravansai for 3,000gp. They now have a HD 4 pack beast.

*I know OSE only allows 1 level up per session. I view this as a mechanic to prevent high level parties from "power leveling" a new character. If players in my game have reasonably earned advancement through play, such as in this case, I have no problem with them gaining multiple levels in a session.

Downtime: Two Weeks Later…

During downtime, Idrusa began researching the sleep spell. One evening, a letter appeared under the door, addressed to Hasoom. It claimed there was a cache of confiscated contraband hidden near the Stillhouse barracks. The party assumed this was a trap or sting by local authorities and chose not to investigate. Instead, they hired a new retainer: Ardamin, a 1st-level Elf.

Visiting Xethu the Untethered

Kheperkare and Ramu traveled south of Najad to visit the enigmatic sorcerer Xethu, whose tower is a bizarre wind-spun monolith set with color-shifting glass and eerie, faceless statues.

A sign read:

INQUIRIES BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.
Arcane Services (Rates Non-Negotiable)
Detection of magical aura: 25 gp per item.
Translation or deciphering of texts: 25 gp per page of text or inscription.
Identification of cursed or enchanted objects: 1,000 gp per item.
Deposit required in full—no exceptions.

They paid 1,000 gp to identify the serpent ring found in Session 1.

Just your typical, everyday floating wizard.

Xethu revealed it was a Ring of Slithering, from the ancient, Chaos-worshipping snake-man empire of Tsa-Khul. It allows the user to transform into a mundane snake (HD 2) for 2d4 turns, returning to normal only when the duration ends. If slain in snake form, the user reverts to normal with 1 hp. Upon returning to Najad, Kheperkare gave the ring to Idrusa, granting him an escape or new utility beyond his daily spell slots.

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Campaign Notes

• Total Loot: ~7,900 gp in coins, gems and jewelry.
• New NPCs:
  • Ganwar (lizard-roasting ruin hermit, who was actually a Jackalwere thief!)
  • Xethu the Untethered (floating sorcerer)
  • Ardamin (Elf retainer, 1st level)

GM Thoughts

This session had everything: tension, investigation, player paranoia, and some standout moments of unexpected success. Hasoom’s silent heist, the party’s complete evasion of the trap despite triggering it, and the encounter with Ganwar all added up to a dungeon crawl that had almost no combat. The delve took almost 3 hours of in-game time and I failed to roll a single wandering monster encounter, which fed into that sense of emptiness.

The necrophidius moment was a great test of party discipline: no one got greedy, and Hasoom’s lucky silent roll was memorable. The necrophidius was only set to guard the tablet, which Jahir (the dead thief) had already stolen, so as long as the PCs didn't attempt to approach the pedastal, they didn't have to fight the snake-thing anyway.

They’re starting to build a name for themselves, and now with a hishral and a home, they feel like a real adventuring company. I have no idea what they are going to get up to next session. I plan to get them a few new rumors during their downtime, and we might have some going on in town before they set off. I have a feeling they are going to check out this weird ship they keep hearing about.