Sadresh

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A sweltering heat rises from the white sands of the desert, as the occasional ship passes overhead, riding on the tide of thermal current that ascends from below. In the distance, a vast spire of stone and metal twists up from the earthSpire Prison, the tomb of a thousand souls unable to die and too dangerous to live. Overhead float the glass-plated cities of the Ascendant, wonders of architectural design. Beneath the desert, the many tunnels of the Sand Wraiths connect the far corners of the realm to Gitrach, the city they have hewn from the heart of the earth to make their home.

As the sun sets, the ancient evil of Sadresh, the Adat-Nol, rise from the sandsa black, greasy oil that moves within sinister malevolence, snatching away travelers and drowning them in the sands below the desert. Against this tide of darkness, a single light shines from the ancient lighthouse formed of glass that stands upon the realms southern border, guiding those wayward travelers to safety.

Sadresh is a realm of harsh conflict and rugged danger. Though the cities of Shaleb and Gitrach are relatively peaceful, the wastelands are wild and untamed, and also filled with treasuresboth in the form of wrecked ships and hidden ruins. Sadresh is a realm haunted by the Adat-Nol, a sinister black ooze that rises from the desert sands at night and whisks away unwary travelers into a sandy tomb beneath the surface of the desert. Until this menace is put to rest, Sadresh will remain a dangerous and harsh wasteland.

Sadresh is an excellent realm for combat-oriented games. The constantly warring factions, as well as the aggressive nature of monsters and dungeons, provide a continuous sequence of confrontational encounters.

Realm Balance Fire *****

Light ***

Electricity **

Water *

Stone ****

Darkness ****

Air **

Terrain: Desert. The vast majority of the realm is comprised of a shifting desert that makes navigation and travel difficult.

Technology: Primitive. Aside from metalworking, glassblowing, sailing, and ritual medicine, there is little in the way of technology within Sadresh. Most of their sciences are capable of producing materials with unique properties and then applying those properties, rather than creating precisely-tuned machines or scientific wonders.

Government: Monarchy. Both the Wraiths and the Ascendant are ruled by perennial leaders who defer a good deal of their power. Unlike the Ascendant kings, you retire or die eventually, the Witch Queen Gahlla of the Wraiths has ruled for countless centuries.

Wildlife: Aberrant. The mysterious Adat-Nol patrol the deserts at night and abduct wanderers who stray from the light of their camps.

Culture: Trading / Honorable. The Ascendant have a culture primarily built around exchange of goods and ideas with neighboring races and cities. The Wraiths have a culture based around rigid morality and service to their warlords.

Society: Exploitative. Settlements spring up overnight around the hotly contested red dunes, and disappear overnight when those dunes are exhausted.

Creed: Shamanic. Sadresh is filled with spirits and mystical power, but only the Sand Wraith shamans are able to transcend into this alternate world and tap into its powers.

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Nascent Tribes Two tribes of Nascent, the Ascendant and the

Sand Wraiths, inhabit the desert of Sadresh. These two races have been divided for countless centuries, and have a tense rivalry with one another that is just short of all-out war. Remon, the heavy gas that rises from the desert and redglass, a kind of plate glass that floats atop Remon, are the tools that power the ships and lifestyles of the majority of the deserts inhabitants.

Ascendant These Nascent are closely tied to the element of

air, and are fragile and lightweight. They primarily follow intellectual and trade pursuits, using domesticated beasts to mine their raw materials and provide food. The Ascendant first built the Remon Ships, pioneered glassmaking, and created an impressive government and culture.

The Ascendant city of Shaleb is the center of commerce in Sadresh, and is built upon a large disc of Redglass.

The Ascendant are able to fly by growing feathery wings from their backs. The colors of their feathers are a sign of caste, with the red-feathered tribes being warriors; black feathers being tradesman; and white feathers being priests, teachers, and philosophers. All ascendants must master some form of art or another as part of their schooling. There is no caste for arts in their society, and culture is something that all castes share responsibility for.

Ascendant festivals feature a dazzling display of arts. Enormous glasswares are paraded through the air on highly concentrated redglass discs that will float above the city. These are lit like lamps, and give off dazzling light in the night. Dances which arrange the ascendant by their feather colors are common, and many ascendants will paint their wings and bodies with exotic designs that bear religious and spiritual meaning.

The ascendant have little technology, with their primary science being chemistry, specifically in the realm of glassblowing. They create most structures out of glass or cactuswood, a chemically treated organic stone that they create from cacti harvested from the forest in northern Sadresh.

Sand Wraiths The Wraiths are tough Nascent that are closely

tied to the sand. They can be found all across the desert, but primarily in their capital of Gitrach, which is hidden deep within the Cactus forest in Northern Sadresh.

The wraiths have thick skin and are strong for their size. They have a spiritual warrior culture which highly values honor, pride, and wisdom. Young Wraiths are trained as warriors and hunters, and they scour the deserts in search of food, treasure, and adventure.

Wraiths have a rite of elderhood that they aspire to at a certain age. After reaching elderhood, the Wraith abandons hunting and turns to more meditative pursuits, such as philosophy, magic, and religion.

The Wraiths have a strong mystical tradition, closely tied to their worship of Brigantin, that gives them the power to manipulate sand in many ways. Records attribute to them the power to rearrange the dunes, to create soldiers and monsters from animated sand, and even control the flow of time to some degree.

While tough and resilient to the harsh desert conditions, the Wraiths see no need to suffer those conditions unduly when hunting and adventuring. Over the centuries, they have developed a network of great stone platforms that are sprinkled across the desert. The Wraiths know secret rituals which allow them to move between these panels in seconds, just like the sand upon the desert wind.

Within the culture of the wraiths, all art must be religiously inspired or reveal some truth about the nature of their world. Their society only allows art for the purpose of instruction.

Librarium Omnibus The Librarium is primarily concerned with the

mysteries of Sadresh's sands, and how they can be used to further understanding of the world. Blueglass temperings have shown some promising properties that may make them useful against the tide of Aether, and the Librarium is heavily funding this research, as well as sponsoring the intellectual Ascendant as a whole.

Order of the Seven Heroes The Order is interested in Sadresh's security,

especially the management of Spire Prison. Remarl, warden of the prison, is a personal favorite of the order for his sterling record and devotion to duty.

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Utopian Society The Utopian Society is extremely interested in

researching the medicinal and spiritual techniques of the Sand Wraiths, but have yet to gain their trust via envoys and gifts. The society controls an outpost at the edge of the Cactus Forest, and has a secondary objective of healing the rifts that exist between the Wraiths and Ascendants.

Brilliant Dawn The mission of exploration that Brilliant Dawn

pursues is very much in line with both the trading society of the Ascendant and the adventurous nature of the Wraiths. They see no need to choose between these two, sending merchants to ingratiate themselves with the cloud-dwellers and their finest warriors to impress the Wraiths. Their efforts are just beginning in Sadresh, so time will tell how successful they are at exploring all the mysteries the desert holds.

Servants of Balance The servants of Balance have set up a

terraforming project called 'Oasis Green' in the center of the desert. While they claim that the effort is to create more sources of water throughout the desert, making a more stable environment, their true goals may be to explore Mekat-nol and eliminate the Aether-like Adat-nol for good. Because of the still little-understood relationship between the Adat-nol and the red dunes, it is speculated that destroying them for good could have disastrous consequences on the way of life in Sadresh.

The Ascendant Kingdom The Ascendant kingdom is interested in peace

and prosperous trade with neighboring countries. They mine great amounts of red sand from the shifting desert dunes in order to produce redglass for ships and cities, and this competition for resources is the main source of their conflict with the Wraiths. King Dontremarl is interested in diplomatic relations with their neighbors, but the majority of the Ascendant harbor a bitterness against the Wraiths born from lost profits, abducted family members, and a pervasive fear.

The Wraith Kingdom The Sand Wraiths are an introverted race

primarily concerned with spiritual affairs and religious transcendence. Their beliefs keep them from interacting with the Ascendant and their rigid code of honor makes them more prone to war than diplomacy. The Wraiths maintain that they are the

inheritors of the desert from ancient times, and that its resources belong exclusively to them. They do not hesitate to attack Ascendant settlements in order to pillage the red sand they require for their shamanic rituals.

Shadow Courts Due to their wandering nature and typical lack

of citizenship in any one realm, it is difficult to pin an Eidolon down and try him for specific crimes. The shadow courts are a band of Eidolons with ties to Spire Prison. They travel the lands undercover, searching for the most dangerous of their kind, which they arrest and carry off to secret tribunals. Those found guilty are typically placed into Spire Prison for an eternal sentence.

Cult of Adat-Nol Many Wraiths become lost in the tunnels

beneath the desert, and they return as changed individuals. Fused with the darkness of the Adat-Nol, they are weakened in the light, but they prowl the darkness, searching for more victims for their masters.

Places Gitrach

Beneath the Cactus Forest in the northern part of Sadresh is a vast network of caverns. These all lead to the great city of Gitrach, carved from the stone heart of the realm. Gitrachs tunnels connect it to Mekrat-Nol, the Shadow Aquifer, and so sentinels constantly guard the tunnels against invasion from the deadly black ooze that seeps up from that accursed place.

The Wraiths make their home in the carved city of Gitrach, and it is here that the Witch Queen Gahlla carries out her strange experiments in search of enlightenment and ascendance for her people.

Spire Prison Erected in time immemorial by the spirit

Brigantin himself, Spire Prison is built into the heart of a great stone mountain that towers above the desert. The spire is a great column of natural stone, and is the size of a city. With no way into or out of the prison except by the Remon ships that dock at the tip of the spire, escape from this complex is a dire proposition indeed.

As Eidolons are immortal, Spire Prison serves as a holding area for those who are too dangerous to ever be released again into the world outside. This

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prison, which is specifically designed to hold them, is built with Aetherlite cells and shackles, ensuring that Eidolons will neither develop nor use any traits which might grant them freedom.

An execution chamber is nestled within the heart of the prison complex, and functions by injecting Eidolons with a lethal dose of gaseous Aether. Since prisoners are more valuable as live miners than dead, this chamber is used very little.

Shaleb The desert of Sadresh lets off a heavy gas called

Remon that floats above a certain density of air. The gas pools into a thin, oily layer just above the cloud-line, and is heavy enough that ships with hulls forged of a certain type of red glass are able to sail on top of it.

Because of the harsh ground conditions in Sadresh, the Ascendant natives have built their largest city, Shaleb, and several small satellite towns and outposts upon great discs of this red glass.

Ships sail between the cities, settling down to the desert below to pick up supplies and trade goods, then rising again on Remon updrafts that carry them back to the cloud layer.

Mekrat-nol Mekrat-nol, the shadow aquifer, is a vast,

underground reservoir that appears to be full of the same substance that makes up the bodies of the Adat-nol, but in a dormant state. Could this is be source of the Adat-nol infestation?

During the night, the shadows in this place recedepresumably to hunt on the surfaceallowing adventurers to journey within its winding, cavernous depths. None who have braved this adventure have yet returned to tell the tales of what lies within, and Mekrat-nol is regarded as a haunted and forbidden place.

Cactus Forest In northern Sadresh, there is an underground

reservoir that saturates the sand with water. A rare kind of subterranean cactus grows from beneath the earth here, eventually breaking the surface. The proliferation of these cacti has caused the northern area to become much like a forest.

The various kinds of cacti in this forest have many strange poisons and properties. Many of the cactus blossoms and needles in the area can be collected and sold at a hefty sum, by those knowledgable enough to find them and hardy enough to survive within the forest.

Strange creatures inhabit the cactus forest. Mice and insects are the most common sight, but larger predators, and even carnivorous plants are not unknown to exist within this area.

Glass Lighthouse The monolithic lighthouse in Eastern Sadresh is

a guiding light for Remon ships that sail in the night over the desert.

The lighthouse is, as its name implies, completely built from glass cast from the desert sands. When it is lit at night, the light refracts within the glass and gives off a prismatic glow that can be seen from anywhere in the realm. Neither the ascendant nor the sand wraiths claim this landmark as territory, and it is regarded as neutral ground and a safe haven for all who visit.

The glass lighthouse is tended by Alveric, a Sage.

Blue Dunes The red dunes are a rare sight, but blue dunes are

even rarer. The Ascendant have developed a technology that allows them to forge blueglassan interesting but largely useless self-regenerating glass, while the Wraiths use it to concoct Vision Dusta powerful tincture of sand and cactus venom that allows a shaman to leave his body for a time.

The relationship between red and blue dunes is not currently understood. However, red dunes are usually found near blue dunes, shortly after the blue dunes vanish in the desert wind.

Red Dunes Across the desert of Sadresh, red dunes are built

up and destroyed by the desert winds. The red dunes are built up of a curious red sand mixed with the yellow. This red sand is used by the Ascendant to fashion Redglass, the most important component of their floating ships and cities. The Sand Wraiths use it to fashion ritual implements, most notably those that allow them to move quickly across the desert by mysterious means.

The red dunes are usually claimed by one race or the other as soon as they are discovered. The ascendant harvest heavily from the dunes, and while the wraiths take only a little of this natural resource for themselves, they believe that the dunes are sacred, and attempt to drive out the ascendant whenever possible.

Their fears may be justified. The number of red dunes in Sadresh has been sharply decreasing in recent years.

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Adat-nol, or living shadows, are often found around the red dunes, making them dangerous places during daylight hours. For this reason, most mining of these dunes takes place at night, when the Adat-nol are not active.

Important People Dontremarl, King of the Ascendant

The young king looked out optimistically over his city, the sunlight glistening off of his white-feathered wings. His robes were adorned with all manner of medals and merits, collected from across the world.

Dontremarl, the King of the Ascendant, has traveled far across Empyrean and seen its many cultures and peoples. His goal is to bring that world culture to the people of his realm, as well as to improve their lifestyles through inter-realm trade.

He would like nothing more than to make peace with the Sand Wraiths, and has sent several ambassadors to Gahlla with this mission in mind. Unfortunately, she seems less interested in the prospect, refusing to even allow outsiders into her subterranean city of Gitrach.

Traits:

Windborne (Capricious)

Banneret (Brave)

Unihorned (Pure)

Creed:

1. Other Eidolons views are no less valid than my own.

2. Peace the best means to an end.

3. Cultural exchange is the key to prosperity.

Remarl, Warden of Spire Prison He was more monster than mana towering wall of

metal and flesh twisted together and bound with weapons and death.

The cruel Remarl does not harbor any delusions about the redeemability of his prisoners. He takes his role in the rebirth of the world seriouslyto keep Eidolons too dangerous to live in the world from ever reemerging into it. Remarl answers only to Alveric when it comes to releasing prisoners, but he will accept new inmates from Gahlla, Dontremarl, or the leaders of the various factions in Empyrean.

Traits:

Touch of Dust (Cruelty)

Living Weapon (Bloodthirsty)

Clockwork (Meticulous)

Creed:

1. Any means necessary will be used to carry out my ends.

2. There are no inherent rights or privileges.

3. Once a criminal, always a criminal.

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Gahlla, Witch Queen of the Wraiths

There was something both terrifying and mystifying in her solid grey eyes and the bulbs of flickering light that followed her.

Gahlla, the Witch Queen of the Wraiths, is perhaps the oldest creature in Sadresh. She studies alchemy and mysticism constantly, and leaves the governing of her people to the tribal warlords, while she focuses exclusively on achieving spiritual transcendence for herself and the members of her tribe.

Traits:

Artificially Sustained (Obsessive)

Radiant (Vain)

Frozen Heart (Solitary)

Creed:

1. Transcendence is the ultimate goal of existence.

2. Others are to be accommodated, so long as they prove useful.

3. My people are more important than others.

Alveric, Keeper of the Lights The ancient sage had stood in the glow of that

beacon so long that he had become a brighter light than any mortal flame could attain. There was only the light, given form by his empty robes.

Alveric, Sadresh's resident sage, has tended the glass lighthouse since time immemorial. The lighthouse existed even before the Ascendant migrated to the skies, or the Sand Wraiths descended below the earth. It contains timeless mysteries of Old Empyrean, and Alveric acts as their keeper.

A guide and guardian by nature, Alveric's light searches the desert for lost and imperiled travelers, and brings them to the safety of his lighthouse. From there, they are usually given to the care of the Wraiths or the Ascendant, whoever is willing to take them in. More recently, travelers have been directed to the Utopian Society's outpost hospital.

Alveric himself is a man of average height, who glows with brilliant light. He himself is the source of power that illuminates the lighthouse at night. Alveric is able to create phantom servants to do his bidding in Sadresh, and can see as far as the edge of the realm from atop his tower. He has a sharp memory and eye for detail, and understands many mysteries of the desert.

Traits:

Lantern (Demagogue)

Simulacrum (Reputed)

Third Eye (Curious)

Creed:

1. Peace between the people of Sadresh supersedes any other goal.

2. The Adat-Nol must be destroyed.

3. The lighthouse must not fall at any cost.

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Technology The two cultures of Sadresh have developed

vastly different technologies, but both are based around artisan crafts rather than scientific breakthroughs. The Ascendant have mastered glassblowing, and use the unique properties of the desert sands to create glass devices with diverse propertiessuch as floating upon the buoyant gas that rises from the desert, emitting natural light, or providing energy for daily life. The wraiths have built their advances around chemistry, particularly in the field of tranquilizers, opiates, and stimulants. They use these in their shamanic rituals as well as to heighten their combat prowess to fight off the Ascendant and the constant threat of the Adat-Nol.

Some Technologies that are used daily in Sadresh:

Sailing - Ships made from redglass traverse the air above Sadresh, steered by skilled Ascendant navigators.

Medicine - The wraiths are able to treat a diverse range of wounds, poisons, and even curses with their mystical and chemical creations.

Trade Goods Sadresh trades extensively in glassware.

Sadreshans are able to forge all kinds of amazing glassware and glass goods using their unique natural resources and hundreds of years of cultural research and trade secrets. Many Sadreshan landmarks and wonders feature glass as a prominent material.

Redglass Redglass is made from the especially lightweight sands of the red dunes, which can be found commonly around Sadresh. Redglass floats on top of Remon Gas, enabling Sadreshan sand ships and cities to float in the air. The more pure redglass is forged, the higher it is able to float on the desert gas.

Blueglass Blueglass is forged from the heavy blue sands, which can be harvested from the rare, moving blue dunes in Sadresh. Blue glass shatters easily, but regenerates. This property has little practical use at present, but research is ongoing.

Cactuswood Fossilized cactus is used as a substitute for stone or wood in Sadresh. This off-green substance has the weight of wood and the strength of granite, though it is somewhat brittle.

Acupuncture The sand wraiths who live deep within the cactus forest are said to possess a secret technique whereby they can heal wounds to an

Eidolon's heart using the venom of a rare cactus flower and its tiny needles.

Wildlife & Monsters Adat-nol

Adat-nol, or the living shadows, are the greatest enemy of the Sand Wraiths. This creature appears as a living black oil that skitters across the surface of the desert and devours anything it encounters. Adat-nol are not uncommon sights in Sadresh, though large ones are rare.

It is not known if Adat-nol are sentientthey do not speak, but hunt creatures with a relentless intelligence. It could be that they are part of a larger hive-mind, and not individual entities at all.

The Adat-nol appear to lose their power in the presence of light. In the light of the sun or of Alverics Glass Lighthouse, they dissolve beneath the surface of the sands. Because of this, they are only active at night.

Adatrach Adatrach is the hive mind of the Adat-Nol, who

perhaps was once a being himself. No one knows the shape, motives, or powers of this creature, but due to the collective intelligence that the Adat-Nol display, it is clear that they are being directed by someone or something.

Alurane Deep within the cactus forest, a legendary

creature is said to live. The alurane emits an intoxicating pheromone which confuses and dizzies its victims, leading them to its lair. There, this monstrous plant devours them for sustenance. The Alurane is thought to be some kind of mutant cacti with extremely potent poisons, though there are no confirmed reports of encounters with it.

Corpseweed This cactus takes root in the rotting corpses of

the dead, and rapidly grows inside of them. A creature infected by corpseweed will return to life as a half-living abomination. The corpseweed's only instinct is to proliferate by creating more corpses to infect. Corpseweed-zombies have all the abilities of their natural selves, and additionally feel no pain, can grow poisonous spines, and can only be destroyed by totally destroying their bodies (usually with fire).

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Sand Devils The Sand Wraiths measure very carefully the

concoctions they produce. Overdosing on these substances can cause permanent psychological damage, at the same time as granting terrible psionic powers. Nevertheless accidents happen, and those unfortunate enough to lose all humanity become the Sand Devils, pure incarnations of psychic power that discard their bodies and terrorize the desert as elemental simulacra of sand and light.

Element Place or Dungeon Group or Person Monster or

Creature Item or

Technology Culture or Event

Spire Prison Remarl, Warden of

Spire Prison Pirates Stimulant Border Skirmish

Glass

Lighthouse Alveric, Keeper of the

Light Corpseweed Acupuncture

Needles Ascendant Chemistry

Fair

Red Dunes Gahlla, Witch Queen

of the Wraiths Sand Devils Redglass Sandstorms

Cactus Forest Dontremarl, King of

the Ascendant Alurane Cactuswood Wraith Cactus

Festival

Gitrach The Wraith Kingdom The Sand Wraiths Blueglass

Wraith Coming-of-Age Day

Mekrat-Nol Adatrach Adat-Nol Shamans Tincture Shadow Courts

Shaleb The Ascendant

Kingdom The

Ascendant Airship Ascendant

Storytelling Festival

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Desert Dungeon Challenges Wandering the vast desert of Sadresh is a

dangerous proposition for any travelers, even a band of Eidolons. If you have to get somewhere on foot in

Sadresh, these encounters can add some danger and excitement to the journey. The shifting sands reveal many wonders and horrors that have been hidden since ancient times.

The sand beneath your feet begins to give way rapidly, sliding you down into a pit. A large, insect-like creature bursts forth from the sand and claws at you furiously, as you slide ever closer to its

maw.

An iron golem of some type, perhaps a remnant left from a civilization long past, lies half buried and deactivated in the desert sand, probably revealed by the shifting tides of the dunes.

The sky overhead darkens, and airships begin to circle around you, each bearing a pirate crest.

A group of ghostly beings, the Sand Devils you have heard tales of, seem to rise from the earth around you, their bodies formed of the desert itself, lit only by glowing red motes in their eyes.

As night falls, you see the black shadows of the Adat-Nol well up from the sand, taking form and advancing upon you.

You discover a series of what appear to be marker stones in the midst of the desert. Nearby, you hear a group of Wraith priests approaching the area, with a captured Ascendant victim in their

hands.

Dust rises in the distance, and as the cloud approaches you can see a group of heavily armed Wraiths fast-approaching you on ships that said along the desert sand.

You see a huge skull peeking up from the sands, disturbed by a recent storm. The skull has strange markings on it, as though it was used in some ritual or ceremony.

Caught in a minor sandstorm, after a few minutes of blackened sky and battering wind, the landscape around you is totally changed. You have no idea where you are going or where you have

come from.

While walking through the desert, a heavy wind picks up, and begins blowing away the very sand beneath your feet. As the sand disappears, you realize that the earth beneath is covered with spiny,

poisonous cacti, which could potentially paralyze you if you fall into them.

You find evidence of a recently buried shipwreck that is rapidly sinking below the sands of the desert.

You come upon a blue dune as dusk approaches, and the dune glows eerily in the evening light. There seems to be some strange activity taking place beneath the surface of the dune.

Your foot smashes into something as you cross a dune, and you quickly discover a sealed chest that was buried long ago by the sandstorms.

You find the salvageable remains of an airship lying ruined in the desert. If you fixed it, it might make your journey much easier.

In the distance, at the top of a far off dune, you catch a glimpse of a rare, red-skinned cactus whose bloom is said to have wondrous properties.

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Traveling across the desert, you come to a large valley with a curious dark spot in the center. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a hole in the middle of the sanda deep, cylindrical chute that is

slowly draining the grains from the desert with no sign of filling.

Beneath your feet, the sand begins to give, sucking you rapidly down beneath the desert.

A little ways in the distance, you see a ship go down into the desert at a dangerous speed.

Overnight, a towering cactus seems to have risen recently from the desert, and it blooms with dark flowers and has a sickly color to it.

A sandstorm whips up out of nowhere, and you have little time to find shelter before it reaches you.

The sand has shifted in the desert to reveal the remains of an ancient, blasted tree. Despite its withered appearance and burial, it still seems alive, and radiates a sinister aura.

You spot an oasis in the distance, but no matter how quickly you approach, it always seems to be just a bit further away.

A sandstorm has created a deep valley within the desert, and in this valley you see what appears to be the entrance to an ancient tomb of some kind.

As dusk falls, a stone obelisk you have discovered in the desert begins to glow. Skeletons formed of sand and stone rise up from the land, advancing on you with menace.

Traveling across the desert, you come across a caravan of merchants. Their ship has broken down, forcing them to make the rest of the journey on foot, but they have become lost, and are fearful for

their safety.

A sandstorm rises up around you and spins the dust around into a solid wall of scything death. Though you wait, the storm seems to show no sign of stopping or moving. Perhaps something else

is powering it.

The parting sands reveal the opening to a tunnelpart of the Sand Wraiths travel network beneath the desert. All but the Wraiths are forbidden to use these tunnels, but it might take you

more quickly and safely to your destination if you do follow it.

You come across a group of wanderers with broken shackles, wearing prison garb. They seem to be prisoners who escaped in transit to Spire Prison.

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Spire Prison Dungeon Challenges Spire Prison is a legendary dungeon built to hold

Eidolons too dangerous to wander the world. The dungeon encounters here are built for Eidolons wandering the halls of Spire Prisonperhaps to free

a friend or to try and escape themselves. Spire Prison is filled with devious traps, highly trained and resilient guards, and the most dangerous Eidolons Empyrean has to offer, driven mad by centuries of confinement and despair.

A mad Eidolon inmate, wandering free from his cell, attacks you without warning.

As you walk into this room, the doors seal shut, and a particularly deadly looking apparatus in the rooms center begins counting down from fifteen seconds.

As you walk down a long, narrow hallway, a ballista boltnearly a meter long and large enough to pin a grown man against a wallflies down the hall, narrowly missing your head. Apparently an

automatic ballista of some sort is firing through the mist further down the hall.

You hear growling and snarling from behind you, as a pack of slavering, feral hounds round the cornereach dog is the size of a small pony, bound with spiked harnesses and stained with blood.

You enter a room with a grated floor and solid steel walls, piled high with refuse and rubbish of all sorts. As you enter, the doors close shut on either end, and beneath, a massive fire roars to life. You

only have a few moments before the incinerator cooks you to a crisp.

As you head down an increasingly narrow hallway, you hear a crash behind you. Looking back, you see that the heavy stone blocks in the ceiling are slamming down, mounted on mechanical pistons. The wave of crushing stones is rapidly reaching you, and the hallway is becoming rather cramped.

Stepping into a cavernous room like a courtyard, you find a group of inmates engaged in an ongoing fight with the wardens.

You enter way must be some kind of chute or elevator shaft, completely empty and with smoothed walls. At the top of the shaft, which is more more than a meter wide at any point, you see a light.

You enter a hallway with a bright light overhead. The floor is pockmarked with holes, and small mechanical spears are set into those holes, just below the solid metal. Whenever a shadow from the

light overhead falls upon the grated floor, these mechanical spears shoot up to the ceiling with incredible speed beneath the shadow.

A black bird begins following you through the halls, crowing loudly and alerting nearby guards to your presence. It perches along the walls and ceiling, staying well outside of your reach at all times.

You come to another room, with a large door at the far end. This room is filled with statues of solid stone, all frozen in fear and surprise. Above the door, a single red eye is set into the stone. As you

enter the room, it blinks to life and attempts to fix on you.

The hallway up ahead is crowded with guards, each armed to the teeth with tranquilizers and heavy, armor-piercing mechanical weaponry. A head on fight would be suicidal, but they dont

appear to be actively looking for you.

As you enter the room, a horrible siren begins to blare. The sound seems to trigger something in your mind, causing your movements to become rigid and clumsy. Its difficult to stand, much less

to escape.

The hallway ahead seems ordinary enough for a moment, but a second later, hundreds of vicious looking blades slice through it at different angles and speeds, blacking out the end of the hall with

the reflections of steel and dried blood.

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You find yourselves standing at the top of a downward-sloped room. Slick oil runs from a duct at the top of the room, sliding over the sloped floor, which is covered with jagged scrap metal and

what appear to be shards of broken glass.

The ground below you gives way just in time for you to jump back. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the hallway crumble away and down to reveal four massive cylinders of spiked metal, screeching

hideously together as they grind the loose stone to dust. The only hallway remaining ahead of you is a spinning, grinding deathtrap of spikes and oiled steel.

Up ahead in the narrow hallway, you smell a toxic stench. Corrosive acid pours down from an overhead grate, burning away flesh and eating through bone of anything is comes into contact

with, before draining down a grating in the floor.

The hallway up ahead is filled with slits in the upper walls, behind which you can catch a glimpse of ready archers, waiting to pelt you with poison-coated arrows as soon as you step into the hall.

The ground beneath you gives way, dropping you into a pit filled with angry scorpions.

As soon as you step into the center of this room, the doors seal themselves shut, and a toxic green gas begins being pumped into the room with you. As the gas seeps through your skin, you find

yourselves becoming more and more drowsy.

A trapdoor collapses beneath you, sending you and your allies tumbling down into a pit of thick, choking tar. The slick walls of the pit provide no purchase, and you find yourselves rapidly sinking

beneath the ooze.

You enter what appears to be some kind of conservatory, blocked with thick foliage. The plants in the room are a sickly purple, and give off a smell similar to the tranquilizers used by the guards.

Though they have negligible effects on the Nascent, these plants seem to cause severe reactions in Eidolons, and it may be unwise to push through them without aid.

The path ahead is blocked by an impressively massive door of wrought steel and mechanical engineering. No amount of force seems to move it, but perhaps it is operated by some kind of

machine.

You find yourselves standing before a weapons locker that has been left unattended. The locker is filled with potent tranquilizers, weapons, armor, and even guard uniforms. However, some of the

less-savory inmates could utilize this gear just as easily as you could, if it is left open.

You creak open the door to enter a room which must be the bunk room for the guards. The lights are low, and the sounds of snoring fill the air.

You enter a room that is apparently some kind of cold storage. The air is freezing. Walking through, you see stalagmites of ice that have Eidolons frozen inside of them. Water is flowing into

the room at random intervals from vents above into pits below. If you are caught in the freezing downpour, you could end up with the same fate.

You stumble into what might be the guards breakroomapparently some sort of party is happening today, and no one has noticed you yet. That said, it will be difficult to make it to the

other side of the room and exit without raising an alarm.

The hall ahead ends in a heavily defended checkpoint, not unlike a fortress. Guards look through glass panes several feet thick, while mechanical sentries stand guard below and each prisoner to

pass through is carefully scrutinized and screened.

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Mekrat-Nol Dungeon Challenges Mekrat-Nol is an extensive network of

underground caverns and lakes, interspersed with ruins of Wraith architecture and underground outposts. Whole ships that have sunken beneath the sands have found their final rest in this darkened

tomb. The Adat-Nol are capable of corrupting lifeforms, controlling their minds, and turning them against themselves. Within the Shadow Reservoir, Eidolons may need to turn upon their own allies to save them.

As you walk down the dark corridors of Mekrat-Nol, you realize that the ground beneath your feet has become slimy, and that the walls are undulating slowly. The path behind you is closedyou

realize that you have inadvertently walked straight into the belly of some gigantic creature.

An indecipherable script on the walls glows red with warning. As you approach, the writing leaps off of the walls and takes the form of a corporeal sentry, blocking your path forwards.

A group of corpses in the tunnels appear to be past victims of the caverns. However, as you begin to walk through, shadows of the Adat-Nol squirm and slide along the cavern walls, filling the

armor and rags, and reanimating the remains to fight against you.

You come across a figure that appears human, but is utterly saturated with darknessperhaps a cultist so ancient that his whole body has rotted away.

Before your eyes, the ground collapses beneath one of your allies, plunging him into a pit of swirling, thick shadows. A few moments later, he climbs up from the pit, shadows writing around

his body and a malevolent aura emanating from his presence.

You enter a chamber that appears to be a massive atrium of some kind. In the center of the place, a lake of oily black slime sits, and from this rises a colossal creature of monstrous size and intent,

formed entirely of pulsing shadow creatures.

You come across a group of Wraiths in the tunnels, their eyes blackened over with oily slime. Without warning, they step forward and attempt to subdue you, fighting with weapons

empowered by darkness.

You mind a chamber with what appears to be several marker stones. All are thrown over or broken, possibly in order to nullify some barrier that was once in place.

Deep beneath the surface, you come upon a chamber filled with twisted, blackened metal. Upon closer inspection, you believe that the wreckage is some kind of ancient war machine from a time

predating both the Wraiths and Ascendant. It might still have some functional weapons or parts, if you can salvage them.

The tunnel ahead opens into a sheet drop down a cylindrical shaft. You hear a mechanical noise, and notice that a number of chains are slowly grinding up and down through the shaft at different

anglespossibly part of some ancient well system that miraculously still functions.

In the rocks around you, there seems to be an inscription of some type. Whether it is scrawled as a protection or a warningor perhaps even as a trapis impossible to say without further scrutiny.

You stumble upon a glowing, hive-like structure that pulses with strange energy. The purpose and function of the hive, as well as what built it, is not certain without further observation.

You come upon a group of lost explorers who claim that they have recently escaped from a sinkhole and are trying to get back to the surface. They seem weak, hungry, and deliriousbut

could they also be in the first stages of transformation into Cultists of the Adat-Nol?

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A chamber with a high roof houses a cloud of spinning sand. The sand is moving so quickly that it generates thunderbolts and flays your skin as you try to walk through.

The way forward is up a rocky, cylindrical tunnel. However, as you begin to climb, a pool of black ooze rises from the sand beneath and begins slithering up towards you. You will need more than

simple quick climbing to escape from it.

The rocks at the top of the runnel begin to crack. You must brace the roof quickly, or be ground to dust under tons of solid stone.

A glowing orange stone the size of a boulder melts the flesh of any who come close to it. You are asked by the miners to remove this obstacle.

A series of cave-ins force you to evacuate the mines in a rush. The miners are also trying to escape, creating a bustling crowd that is difficult to move through.

Breaking through a cavern wall, you discover an underground lake filled with eerie bleach-white plants and fish unlike anything youve seen before. An ancient thaumic device rests at the center of the lake, apparently the source of this fantastic menagerie.

A boulder weighing several thousand tons has collapsed over a mine shaft, trapping a group of miners below. It must be moved in order to get them free.

You enter a sealed off cavern to find a vast underground lake, with a sleeping leviathan visible beneath the waters clear surface. As you enter, it opens a great eye to stare at you.

A cave in has sealed a group of miners in a cavern deep in the mines. There is only a limited time to reach them before they suffocate.

In a sudden rumbling, the tunnel overhead collapses, trapping the party in a tomb of stone and rubble.

A vent in the mines spews forth molten lava, and has flooded the lower mines with fiery rock. The miners ask you to seal off the area before the entire mine is lost.

The miners have spoken to you of a treasure that was recently found in the mines, but lost beneath a cave in before it could be extracted.

The mines begin to twist and wrap in labyrinthine shapes, getting you hopelessly lost. You fear that some force is clouding your senses and attempting to trap you here forever.

A ghostly miner asks you to recover his bones, which were buried in a cave in, and return them to his family.

The mines have dug into a Downcaste village, and the villagers are violently resisting the expansion of the mines further.

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Treasures The two major civilizations of Sadresh produce

vastly different goods. Many of the relics from precursor civilizations can also be found in and under the desert, or within the halls of the ancient Spire Prison.

Shaleb Treasures Treasure Power

A hand cannon Unleashes a destructive barrage of glass shards.

A glass pendant Casts a sphere of protective light.

A bottle of sand Turns objects bright red.

A silk shirt Repels fire and heat.

A glass orb Can selectively attract or repel metal.

A feathered shirt Glides on the wind.

A skyship Enables the owner to fly.

A book of stories Returns you to an important location instantly.

A scrap of parchment Can never be discarded.

Gitrach Treasures Treasure Power

A glass sword Significantly weakens enemies.

A shuttered lantern Reveals the intentions of another.

A green potion Transcends the user to another plane.

A dried flower Regenerates the owner's flesh.

A cactuswood shield Returns on command.

A shroud Creates illusory clones of the owner.

A vial of tincture Allows the user to control sand with his mind.

A black crystal Unseals mystical locks.

A silver emblem Influences the actions of another.

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Mekrat-Nol Treasures Treasure Power

A rusted sword Can create a phantom servant.

A rune-etched stone Leads the way to safety.

A jeweled pendant Terrifies monsters.

A bundle of rags Causes others to ignore you.

A blackened stone Repels liquids.

A jar of oily liquid Grants sinister strength.

A ring Allows communication over a distance.

A vial of tincture Slays an enemy on contact.

A bleached skull Attracts monsters.

Spire Prison Treasures Treasure Power

A quarterstaff Grants incredible strength.

A lantern Stops time for a few moments.

A rope Binds an enemy with chains of light.

A mushroom Grants incredible speed

A control panel Manipulates traps.

A dart Paralyzes an enemy.

A megaphone Stun enemies.

A key Grants invisibility

A set of manacles Sounds an alarm

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Sadresh Adventure Hooks

A Red Dune is contested by the Sand Wraiths and Ascendant, and their conflict has broken out into an all-out battle.

While traveling to Shaleb, the partys airship is boarded by pirates.

Bandits have stolen away the Ascendant Royal Crest and hidden it away in a secret desert hideout.

A great scorpionperhaps driven mad by some unknown force, attacks the party without warning.

A Sand Wraith warlord wishes to claim the Glass Lighthouse as his own, in order to solidify his power over the other Wraiths.

A convicted criminal has escaped custody. Its up to you to apprehend him and deliver him to Spire Prison.

An ascendant foreman is extracting sand from a dune and has been attacked by Wraith Brigands repeatedly. He asks you to put an end to the problem.

The philosophers guild of Shaleb asks you to transport an important letter to Alveric, crossing the harsh desert in a single day.

A remon airship crashes in the desert just off in the distance. If there are any survivors, they will be dead by nightfall.

You discover an old, crashed cargo ship which is loaded with red sand. The sand would trade for a fortune to either the Wraiths or Ascendant, if you can transport it to either one.

A party member resembles closely a local criminal, and is spirited away in the night to Spire Prison by the authorities.

You have heard legends of a lost treasure in the desert. Unfortunately, the only person who knows the truth of its location is locked away in the maximum security wing of Spire Prison.

Alveric asks you to investigate the blue dunes in the desert and their connection to the Adat-Nol, as well as to bring him back some sand from the dune for study.

The party has come across a raceway in the desert where an Ascendant inventor is trying to popularize his new racing sport. He asks the party to help, and offers them a race car to easily cross

the desert with if they succeed.

A crack has been discovered in the principal plate of Shaleb, and unless it is repaired quickly, the whole city may fall.

While wandering the desert, a sinkhole plunges the party into Mekrat-Nol, from which they must escape before nightfall.

A researcher is studying the Adat-Nol, and asks you to trap one and bring it to him.

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The party comes upon a group of lost explorers who are near to dying in the desert. They have apparently returned from pillaging a lost desert city, and are loaded with treasures.

It is said that a mystical flower blooms in a hidden grove within the Cactus Forest each night, and that finding it confers many secrets and powers to the one who does.

Rumors abound of a secret oasis city that is cut off from the rest of the realm by mystical power.

As night falls in the desert, the party are surrounded by the Adat-Nol. They must find a way to outlast the onslaught and survive the night.

The party has stumbled upon an oasis in the desert. As you approach, you overhear a group of Wraith Brigands discussing a rare and mystical treasures, and where it might be found.

A sandstorm reveals a ruined and ancient city built before the Ascendant and Wraiths came to Sadresh.

Falsely accused of a crime, the party has been imprisoned for eternity within the Spire Prison.

The party has stumbled upon a contested dune, and have a chance to mediate before the conflict erupts into all-out war.

Citizens have been found dead recently outside of Spire Prison. The warden asks you to investigate the mystery.

The city of Shaleb is on high alert because a Wraith assassin has supposedly infiltrated the city and is attempting to kill the king.

King Dontremarl invites the party members to participate in the citys storytelling festival, with a grand prize going to the one who tells the most interesting story.

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Adventure Tracks In addition to general adventures, the players

may choose one of these adventure tracks that they wish to follow. These tracks give the Scenario Owner a set of fixed encounter contexts which they can use to create a running narrative in the city.

Tending the Lighthouse

This adventure path puts the party under the supervision of Alveric, who requires their help to battle the Adat-Nol and keep peace between the tribes in Sadresh. This adventure focuses on diplomacy and exploration more than combat.

1. Alveric enlists the party to help him rescue an Ascendant ship that is downed and stranded in the desert.

2. Alveric asks the party to travel to Sadresh and acquire new mirrors. Alverics mirror designs are complicated and expensiveonly with a royal decree will they be able to gather enough workers to complete the task.

3. Alveric asks the party to travel to Gitrach and acquire kindling blessed by Gahlla the Witch Queen. Only this kindling will enable the light from the lighthouse to push back the Adat-Nol.

4. Alveric asks the party to tend the lighthouse for him while he travels for a night. While he is away, the Adat-Nol lay siege to the lighthouse, and the party must keep the beacon lit at all costs as they fight off the menace.

5. Alveric has, with the help of Gahlla and Dontremarl, forged a lantern which he believes will be able to purify the desert once and for all. He asks the party to travel into Mekrat-Nol and shatter the lantern in the heart of the Shadow Aquifer.

In the Service of Gitrach Witch Queen Gahlla maintains that her people

are the true inheritors of the desert, and that the usurpers are interfering with the quest of her people to attain transcendence. She desires aid in her quest to obtain spiritual enlightenment for herself and her people, and to drive the Ascendant away from Sadresh.

1. Gahlla sends the players to reclaim a red dune that was wrested from her by Ascendant warriors.

2. Gahlla asks the party to deliver a package to Shaleb. Upon arrival, it becomes apparent that the artifact is a device intended to destroy the floating city. (The party can switch tracks to In the Service of Shaleb at this point if they decide they do not want to be

a part of Gahllas plans).

3. With the city of Shaleb grounded in ruins, Gahlla asks the party to enter the heart of Mekrat-Nol and bring her the Nol Stonethe heart of the Adat-Nol and their sustaining force.

4. After great preparation, Gahlla takes the Nol Stone into her own heart and becomes the embodiment of all darkness within the realm of Sadresh. She instructs the party to kill her in a final, climactic battle, sealing away the darkness that plagues the realm forever.

Possible Ending: As Gahlla dies, a wave of destruction sweeps through the city of Gitrach, killing all of the Wraiths. With everyone in the realm dead, it seems that the Adat-Nol were destroyed at too great a cost. However, when the party finally returns to the surface, they discover that a new race of Nascent has appeared, living in the now grounded city of Shaleb. These individuals claim to be a fusion of the souls of the Ascendant and Wraiths, healed of the division that separated them long ago and gave form to the darkness in their hearts. Grass carpets what was once desert, and the once-dead realm of Sadresh is transformed into a paradise.

In the Service of Shaleb Dontremarl, King of the Ascendant, is searching

for emissaries and diplomats who can aid him in bringing peace and unity to Sadresh, as well as driving out the sinister Mekrat-Nol.

1. Dontremarl has sent a group of emissaries to Gitrach, but has not heard any news from them for quite some time. He asks the party to visit the city and find out what fate has befallen them.

2. The city of Shaleb has been sabotaged by Wraith agents, and will collapse into the desert unless its plates can be repaired in short order. To accomplish this, the players must find a red dune, reclaim it from the Wraiths, and ship several loads of red sand up to the city for immediate processing.

3. Dontremarl decides that Gahlla is too dangerous to lead the Wraiths, and that if she is removed from power, they will decentralize and eventually be peacefully absorbed into the Ascendant civilization. He asks you to subdue Gahlla, and deliver her to Spire Prison.

4. With Gahlla removed and no barrier remaining underground to halt their expansion, the Adat-Nol grow rapidly to saturate the desert. That night, they rise in the form of a colossal titan too powerful for even Alverics light to ward off.

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Possible Ending: With the Adat-Nol vanquished, their corpses wither and fuse to the desert, coating the whole of the realm in the red and blue sands which were once warred over. The Wraiths are able to reclaim the underground of Sadresh and set up a Kritarchy (a government run by legal courts). The task still remains of creating lasting peace between the two races, but the barriers which stood between them are much lower than before.