Preface

Hadarac, a small town in the vast desert, the Burning Dunes. A busy society, it exists around the entrance of a towering valley and mountain range beyond. The heart of the town resides in the cliff face, where a grouping of stores, houses, and community spaces make up town square of sorts. Beyond this, towards the dunes, are springs that provide the town with fresh water. They are small in surface area, but they run very deep into the sand.   The people of Hadarac are resilient, embracing the sun and the grit that are accompanied by settling in the desert. They boast a strong mercantile business in the town, with multiple stalls and stores carrying shipments in and out of the desert each day. They are, however, a suspicious group of people. As they live in such a remote location, they do not often see outsiders, and many inhabitants can go their whole lives without straying beyond the horizon. Due to this, they are strict in their dogma, and follow their religion without question. They maintain a shrine in the mouth of the valley, carved into the siding, extending far into the darkness beyond (though done ever venture beyond that). They worship a being known as Eriandil, a temperamental creature whom they believe controls the prosperity of their village. Only few claim to have seen the being, but they all describe the same thing: a massive serpent, with the head of a beautiful woman.   Hadarac has been suffering over the past few years, their trade routes being overrun by bandits, consistent tornadoes and dust storms, food scarcity, etc. Many of the townspeople believe that Eriandil is furious with them, after a terrible night, in the year their troubles began.   A child, no more than 12, was wandering out of their parents house one night. This was not uncommon for people to do, as the town was quite safe then. The child was curious, meandering closer and closer to the mouth of the valley. They had often heard stories of the benevolent snake woman who blessed their town and gave them safety and wanted to see if the rumors were true. Upon reaching the shrine’s entrance, the child began walking deeper and deeper into the valley, the walls climbing and pathway shrinking. The child continued to walk, moving further into the darkness, until they began to hear a low growl from beyond them. Deep green eyes shone out towards the child, paralyzing them. The child struggled to move, praying that the eyes would stop inching closer and closer to their face, praying that they could move their legs and escape, praying that someone would help them. Then the eyes disappeared. The child was engulfed in darkness again. They dashed back the way they had come as soon as they could move again, hoping that they were closing in on safety. As they began to see the light of the village come into view, they felt a strong grip on their ankle and slammed into the ground. Unconscious, the child was dragged back to the den of Eriandil, furious that she had been disturbed in her home. The townspeople would not know the fate of the child until the next morning, when their bag was left on the shrine, bloodied and torn. The valley had been known as “the Blood Gulch” ever since.   This began a series of misfortunes that befell the town of Hadarac, year after year, only increasing with intensity and severity. Last night, a man in the town kidnapped a child, similar in age to the one lost to Eriandil those years ago, in an attempt to placate the monster. Your players arrive in this town, unaware of these happenings, and their future adventure begins.