Citadel of the Sun-Kings Campaign Diary
Session 9: The Long Way Around
The Party
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What Happened
The players set out from Najad across the desert, determined to follow the trail of Cassim the Thief-King. Their first stop was the Ford of Shoseb, where they once again encountered the ever-helpful drunk priest. In exchange for a wineskin, he performed his river-calming ritual. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough to prevent Idrusa from falling into the water and losing his tinderbox to the river Yalga. A humbling moment for a 3rd-level wizard.
After crossing, the party spotted a small band of nomads, but something was off. As they approached, they noticed the nomads were covered in strange fungal growths and moved with eerie, halting motions. Deciding that “plague mushrooms” were not worth engaging, the party veered wide and avoided all contact.
The Pillars of Marnak
Entering the mist-shrouded canyons of the Pillars of Marnak, the group relied on Hasoom to guide them through the labyrinth. The thief spotted glyphs along the canyon walls which turned out to be symbols written in Thieves’ Cant. Following the path, the party eventually reached a dead-end ravine where eight black pillars rose in two rows. Each was carved with a lion’s face, its tongue protruding. Hasoom noticed that one of the tongues was marked with a palm glyph, the only one not warning of danger.
Pressing the glyph caused the illusion at the back of the ravine to vanish, revealing a stone courtyard littered with the bones of dozens of warriors. As the party stepped in, all the skeletons began to rise. With no cleric to turn them, the party noped out fast. Forty skeletons is a lot. The “thieves” had clearly defended this place in death as fiercely as they had in life.
Undecided on how to breach the hideout, the party debated retrieving the Sword of Cassim from Madala. Kheperkare had previously noted that the sword’s lion pommel matched the motifs surrounding the Thief-King. Perhaps it would allow them to pass?
Fungus Pilgrims and Dragon Fears
Rather than return to Najad, the group chose to continue east, visiting other locations they had seen in the ancient map projection beneath the city. Along the caravan road, they encountered a bizarre procession: mushroom-covered pilgrims marching westward, chanting “Yoth-Hul, lord of decay and rebirth.” No one in the party liked that. At all. They quickly moved past, but made a mental note to remember that name.
Their next stop was a mausoleum nestled in the foothills. Outside, they found three scorched corpses with bone and metal fused by intense heat. Inside, black scorch marks marred the walls and ancient resin-sealed tombs had melted and fused shut. In the second chamber, they found a 20’ wide tunnel, clawed and burrowed, leading into a crystal cavern below. They descended on a rope and found stunning iridescent crystals, but also heard voices. One was deep and commanding. The other, raspy and thin.
Realizing they were almost certainly eavesdropping on a conversation involving the blue dragon, the party scrambled back up and out before things got dicey.
Oasis and the Pale Mirror
After a rest at a beautiful, palm-shaped desert oasis, they pressed further east to the Pale Mirror. The salt flats stretched for miles, its mirror smooth surface blurring the line between earth and sky. Blackened trees jutted from the surface like the ribs of dead gods. While they watched, the ground cracked open, and something emerged.
A titanic, salt-crusted creature (30' long, 5' thick) burst from beneath the flats. It had a skeletal crocodile skull for a face, coral growths along its body, and a mane of crystalline salt-spikes. The Beast of Kul-Mazaak. The players had no intention of fighting it. They turned their mounts and fled at full gallop back to the west.
The Enemy of My Enemy
En route to Najad, the group came across a skirmish in the dunes: Spireguard soldiers mounted on camels were fighting a small force of Black Dagger thieves. Hoping to gain favor with Madala, the group sided with the thieves. They attacked the Spireguard and made sure none survived. No witnesses. The grateful thieves promised to inform Madala of their assistance, and also noted that they’d be labeled as enemies of Bulat, the ruler of Najad. Oops?
Returning to Najad, the party was accosted by a member of the new “Civil Harmony Committee.” The committee, a network of regime informants, was offering 20 gp per name of any “suspicious” individuals. Kheperkare politely claimed that the group only consorted with trustworthy folk like the Keepers, the priestess, and the apothecary. The man jotted it all down, thanked the party for thier contribution and left.
Hasoom, not trusting the committee stooge, followed him into an alley and slit his throat. No witnesses.
Decay on the Wind
The next morning, the bazaar was filled with the mushroom pilgrims, now openly moving through the city and chanting the name of Yoth-Hul. That was the last straw. Hasoom declared that the adventure was over. “That's it, adventure over! We're done here. This place is coming apart.”
He may not be wrong.
Referee’s Notes
This session turned into a whirlwind tour of the eastern half of the Red Wastes. We went from hideout hunting, to a dragon's lair, an oasis, a salt flat, a three-way skirmish, and then a cold-blooded murder. Now we're reaching the inevitable unraveling of Najad’s fragile stability. Add to that the party choosing to side with the Black Daggers and murder a government snitch, and it’s safe to say we’ve left the realm of “maybe things will stabilize.”
Next session, the Portent track is due to hit some of the final events in the adventure, and things are about to move quickly now. This was the party’s last quiet before the storm. From here on out, everything gets messy.
I have been enjoying all these reports tremendously. Was there some sort of timer for these mushroom pilgrims, or was it triggered by the players in some way? Do you have other published modules, where can I find them?
ReplyDeleteHey, so there are actually a few events (11 in total) that occur in a sort of preset order, though I'd encourage the referee to do do whatever seems to be their players' interest. 6 on the "Najad Track" and 5 on the "Blooming Rot" track. The pilgrims are the 4th event on the Rot track. The way that's triggered is that as the PCs travel across the wastes, they get regular encounters on a 1-2 (OSE desert wilderness encounters rate) and get a track event on a 3-4. On a 5-6 nothing happens that day.
DeleteI actually do not have any published adventures! This is my first foray into publishing something I've written. Earlier this year I challenged myself to turn my usual "table ready" adventures into a publication quality product. It's with an editor right now, so I'm not sure exactly how long until it's ready to be out for a wider audience. Probably later this year or early 2026. Just a guess.