Sylphie's Heart
Hired to return a canopic jar to the newly found tomb of Lerryn Sylphie, the party is introduced to each other and to the setting.
Structure
Exposition
You have come to the town of Darra to explore, and to see the sights, and you have not been disappointed! The vistas and skylines surrounding the capital city are all breathtaking. The food is savory, and generously spiced with various curries. The three and four storey buildings are cool, thanks to the adobe mud of their construction and the wind catchers on all of their roofs. Wells dot the city in optimal locations.
Darra provides all residents with two gallons of water per day, and a pound of salt per month. Housing is provided by the city based upon need, with travelers such as yourselves being put up at an Inn called the Stippled Gander. Various market days are sponsored by the well-off city, as well, and festival evenings such as tonight are usually boisterous affairs. It is a very quiet day today, however, as the city observes ritual silence before The Night of the Burning Moon on midsummer. Only the bleating of goats and braying of camels can be heard, punctuating the heat and stillness of the daytime with startling clarity.
As the game starts off, evening has fallen on Midsummer's Day. The characters are already acquainted with one another, and are staying at the Stippled Gander, which is an inn and tea shop in the desert city of Darra. Tea is very important, in the Sunrathe Desert, as an icebreaker and overall social lubricant. There are ceremonies revolving around it, and everyone has their favorite strain. Additives like cinnamon, bergamot, and lavendar are common enhancements, each with their own benefits.
The characters are all sitting together, drinking tea and chatting. Buying tea here, for two copper coins, entitles one to a bowl of the house stew, which is made with desert tubers and root vegetables, and thickened with arrowroot flour. It is spiced with a mineral found in the desert nearby, called Tazrim, and dished out generously in large crocks made of acacia wood. It is a safe and cozy environment, and they will find themselves relaxing in the homey ambience.
Tea is a very special thing in the desert, and really good teas have some interesting effects when consumed, detailed in the table below.
This is a good time for the players to introduce themselves and their characters to each other. Ask them for a brief description of their character, and a cursory overview of its personality. How do the characters know each other? Did they meet here in Darra, or did they know each other beforehand? Is anyone traveling together? Tidbits like these help to flesh out the story in everyone's minds.
The party has been approached by Marak, the owner of the Stippled Gander, with a piece of parchment that has a job offer on it: Explorers wanted for exciting opportunity at newly discovered archeological site. Must be self sufficient. Straight forward job, good pay, good perks. Looking for team players with some audacity. See Professor Nafezz at the Stippled Gander. Free lunch for qualified candidates. Serious inquiries only.
Marak points his chin at a nearby table, indicating a lone noble who is busy scribbling something on a piece of paper. "That's Nafazz, that is." The noble pauses, noticing the attention, and carefully puts down his quill. Blotting the wet ink with a sprinkling of fine sand, he folds the paper up and slips it into an envelope. With a quick, practiced movement, he melts the end of a stick of parafin, dripping it onto the envelope and sealing it, pressing his signet into the wax for a moment as it cools.
"How can I help you gentlefolk? Praytell, are you perhaps adventurers?" He looks hopeful as he returns your gaze. "A great reward awaits those who complete this simple task!" He taps a map on the table before him. "Are you interested?"
Lord Nafazz has not had any luck finding someone to undertake his task. He is getting desperate, and is willing to pay up to one hundred gold coins...a small fortune. He is afraid that he will have to return to his Fahseer, Lord Aaryn, empty handed, and he fears what will happen should he fail.
The party's interest in taking up the task really improves Professor Nafazz's mood, and he will offer to Share Tea with them while giving them the details of the adventure.
Nafazz is an incredibly intelligent, somewhat scattered Professor of Antiquities, who has very recently been hired by Aaryn Zephyrian to be the new Minister of Artifacts. The old Minister of Artifacts had to retire after getting very sick. He is affable and kind, but he is also adamant that the party start first thing tomorrow night.
- What Nafazz Shares
- He wishes the party to transport a package to an archaeological site just outside of a small beach town called Heaton Bluffs
- He has secured them the services of a local guide named Owsley to take them safely through the desert
- When they get there, they will locate Professor Enberry, who will pay them once they deliver the package to him
- Once that is done, Nafazz has secured a three-day, all-expense-paid surfing vacation for the party at Heaton Bluffs
- What Nafazz does not share
- The former Minister of Antiquities got very sick after handling the artifact inside the package
- Both he and the Fahseer are afraid it is cursed.
- The market vendor who was selling it died, the old Minister of Antiquities has gotten deathly ill, and a series of bad luck has befallen anyone who has had possession of it
- Professor Enberry is supposed to put the canopic jar back in its original place in the tomb to break the curse
The next phase of the adventure is desert travel. If the players wish to acquire anything special or specific before leaving for Heaton Bluffs, now is the time. There are various shops that sell goods of all sorts in Darra. Perhaps a player wants a head scarf, or extra water bags. Maybe they want marshmallows, or to secure their own rations. Whatever they wish to do with their night in Darra, the next evening they will be leaving at dusk.
Rising Action
Finding the Road
Travel through the desert can be rough. As the ancient philospher Sylphie once said, "The sun forgives nothing, and the sand asks not before reshaping you." It is essential that one knows what one is doing, or a quick and painful death awaits. Most people hire guides, experts in desert travel and survival. These are usually members of the nomadic tribes that roam the Sunrathe Wastes.Travel in the desert happens at night, after the sun has set and the land is allowed to breath for a time. This is when the sands come alive with insects, and the animals that make their home in the dunes and rocky crags of the desert landscape. Your guide, Owsley, is impressively oblivious to your grumbled complaints and private conversations alike, and his bushcraft is even more inspiring. You have all been struggling with your camels, but Owsley calms and nudges them along with ease, and despite yourselves you have been making decent time. You have also been eating fresh caught desert fare, saving greatly on your rations, and apparently, if you know where to look, there actually is water in the Sunrathe Wastes.
Dust and sand get everywhere as you travel, kicked up by the camels and your own feet when you get sick of riding on the back of a dromedary. You realize the Sunrathe Wastes has a distinctive taste, and smell. Your pace seems slow, yet you eat away at the miles in a such a steady fashion that you are pleasantly surprised every time you check your progress on the map.
For each night of travel, have someone in the party roll 1d6 ; each time a 1 is rolled, there is a random encounter. Maybe the wind exposed a long covered temple to some ancient god, or perhaps predators stalk the dunes. A giant snake might erupt from the sand. Roll 1d20 , and consult the table at right to build a random encounter. Below is a carousel of battlemaps that can be used for random encounters.
DESERT camp 1
DESERT oasis 1
DESERT ravine
DESERT ravine bridge
DESERT ravine portal
Desert Road 1
DESERT road 1
DESERT road 2
DESERT ruins temple
As a general rule, people need a gallon of water and at least two thousand calories per day while traveling in the desert. This is a bare minimum of sustenance, but will keep one alive until they get to the next village. The camels walk at about three miles per hour.
The party's guide, Owsley, will point out interesting land features, and curious flora and fauna, as they travel throughout the bright desert nighttime. The moon will light their way just fine.
While the party is traveling through the desert with the canopic jar, they will experience nightmares and extreme thirst. This is meant as atmosphere and flavor; there will be no practical effects for the characters, unless you feel like an added challenge would spice things up, or is necessary. It would be easy to add a couple of levels of exaustion to the gameplay, here, if you so desire, adding Disadvantage to the characters' ability checks and other rolls.
Finding Heaton Bluffs
Arriving at Heaton Bluffs will bring the party to level two. Allow the players some time to level up.
The party's welcome to Heaton Bluffs will be somewhat anticlimactic, as there is no one there to greet them. The town seems completely empty, and that is because most of the people have been scared away by goblins who have been posing as ghosts and spirits. The few folks that do remain live down by the shoreline in little huts usually reserved for simple overnight surfing expeditions. Several goblins have abandoned their old ways, and have taken up surfing and philosophy, and live alongside the open-minded villagers with ease.
You approach Heaton Bluffs just as the moon rises and illuminates the scene with a brilliant radiance that outlines everything in stark white light and angular moonshadows. No lights glimmer in any window. No sounds meet your ears. You smell no cook fires and see neglected laundry hanging awry on lines strung between buildings. Suddenly, an ear splitting howl of pain and longing ruptures the night air. Birds, startled from their roosts, take off in squawking clouds of indignation. The mournful wail draws to an end, and complete silence settles over the world. A tense moment later, a cat interrupts the quiet with a defiant meow! And that is all...nothing moves in Heaton Bluffs.
The characters will be able to pretty easily determine that the town has been abandoned, and in a hurry, at that. Meals have been left on tables, closets and drawers have been flung open and garments ruffled through by goblins. Goblins and animals have gotten at the rotting food, and strewn it all over the floors, where the insects have since found it. The smell is terrible, and the absolute mess of things is spectacular in scale.
Characters will be able to establish that the buildings were searched and disheveled after they were abandoned with a DC10 Investigation check, and with a 12 or higher on the dice roll will be able to determine that the buildings were all abandoned within a very short time of one another, if not simultaneously.
While the party investigates the abandoned village, have them roll a Perception check. On a score of 10 or better, they will see a ghostly woman in a white dress run away from them, silently sobbing and crying. If more than one party member gets higher than a 10, several women are seen, all running in different directions. If the characters give chase, the women disappear into sudden mists. These are all goblins, one riding on another's shoulders, in makeup and wearing dresses. There are two Goblin Hexers conjuring mists, using thaumaturgy to cause random gasps of horror and ghostly wails throughout town, and generally keeping the other goblins in line with constant threats of low-level violence.
Once the party has explored the "empty" town for a short time, if they have not already brought up the shacks lining the shore, have the characters roll DC12 Perception checks. On a success, the party will recognize that there is activity on the beachfront, and upon investigation will discover that many of the villagers have gone there to surf and wait out whatever it is that is going on in town.
The village, situated as it is atop tall clay bluffs, overlooks an idyllic beachfront that is replete with tiki huts and grass shacks that have been built along the shore for the ever-present tourist crowd. Heaton Bluff's biggest tourism attractions are its beaches, after all, and the locals want the visitors to feel welcome enough to spend their coin before they leave. But, in contrast to the seemingly empty town of Heaton Bluffs, the shoreline seems to have some activity going on. It is hard to tell, from here, but it looks to you as if there are people milling about on the beach, and even surfing!
The party could have someone lower them down using the winch, or with a DC10 Investigation check they could find the ladder leading down the hundred foot cliffs.
Falling in D&D:If one slips and falls, one immediately falls five hundred feet, taking 1d6 points of damage for every ten feet fallen before hitting an object. For instance, if a character falls a hundred feet, roll 10d6 for damage.
Finding the Villagers
Along the beach are built tiki huts and one room grass shacks that usually serve as temporary housing for the surfing community of Heaton Bluffs. Since the trouble started, back up at the village, more and more people have come to just stay here in their grass abodes, preferring to "wait out the wierdness". There are Humans and Elves, as always in Djinndarra, but there is a spattering of Tortles and more than a few Sea Elves, as well, down by the waterline. The interesting thing, is that there are five goblins living amongst them peaceably. They have learned to surf, and roast their food in pits they dig in the beach sand. These goblins have quickly become part of the fabric of the beachside society, sharing their food as well as their music and irrepressible senses of humor.
Asking around down at the beach will lead the party right to Professor Enberry, but not without a little confusion. The beachgoers only know the venerated academic as a respected surfer and philosopher, calling him by his first name, "Boyce". Boyce is one of the leaders of the little group, and was instrumental in making the goblins feel welcome.
Have the players roleplay their characters with the NPCs on the beach, using their characters' Charisma scores as guidance if the player is having a little trouble interacting. For instance, it is perfectly acceptable for a player to say "I am going to approach him, and be witty". The player does not necessarily have to be the one being witty; the character is doing that for them. If, for some reason, a roll is needed, use the character's Charisma score as a modifier on the d20.
These beachgoers are philosophers, focusing on the inner peace they receive while catching waves. They are mindfully egalitarian, focusing on people's strengths and accomodating their challenges as best they can. They know darn well that this situation on the beach is only temporary. The villagers living in these simple huts are looking at the disturbances in the town as an excuse to take an extended break...in colder climates, these would be called "snow days".
Finding Professor Enberry
After asking around and interacting with the beach goers for a short while, you are directed to Professor Enberry, who is sitting on a surf board out in the water. Ignoring any attempt at communication, at first, he catches a mid-sized wave and rides it expertly in to the shallows, skimming across the water in a beatific trance. Hopping off of his longboard, he scoops it up and jogs over to you, his athleticism belying his age. "Hi, friends!" He sticks the back of the surfboard into the sand, standing it up on the end with the fins. He is relaxed, and there is a youthful gleam in his green eyes as he asks, "What can I do for you?"
Professor Boyce Enberry is a brilliant scholar who works for the College of Antiquities in Darra. He secretly reports directly to Aaryn Zephyrian; as a seeker of forbidden knowledge, Professor Enberry is considered the best. He is from the area of Heaton Bluffs, so the discovery of Lerryn Sylphie's tomb is a tremendous feather in his cap. It was also he who verified the tomb as authentic, and translated the inscriptions on the walls within. It was Professor Enberry's corrupt assistant that took the canopic jar that started all the trouble in the first place. Boyce is laid back, articulate, and accepting.
If the party Charms, or otherwise forces Boyce to accept the canopic jar, the artifact will shatter, and the Mummy of Lerryn Sylphie will casually step out of a blinding whirl of dust and debris. It will attack immediately, summoning an Insect Swarm before wading into battle.
The Professor will draw the party a map, and explain how to get to the dig site. As he is speaking, one of the beach goblins, a fellow by the name of Gigglefarth, will join the gathered crowd, and reveal that his brethren, the Newtnibbler Goblins, have been digging over there by the Sylphie gravesite, looking for the Magister King's grave. He does not know whether they have found it yet or not-he has been living on the beach for a week now-but he does know that his King, Gackhacker, is quite certain that he has discovered the location of the grave.
The surfer goblin Gigglefarth is a newly enlightened peacenik with an easy smile, bright, clear eyes, and a penchant for talking in surfer slang. Words like "dude", and "cowabunga", pepper his vocabulary joyfully. He has found a place that accepts him, and he loves them for it.
- What Gigglefarth knows
- The Newtnibbler Goblins are looking for a religious artifact in the tomb of an ancient ruler called the Magister King. He was known for bringing disparate tribes of humans and elves together for mutual support.
- Half a dozen goblins have been dressing up as ghosts, and using magic, to scare away the villagers in Heaton Bluffs so that the Newtnibblers can dig and explore in peace
- Bad luck and accidents have befallen many of the dig crew already, and many of the Goblins believe the tomb is cursed
- What Professor Enberry knows
- His assistant, Tamerlaine Jobbaskew, was the original thief of the canopic jar. As far as Boyce knows, Tamerlaine got very ill and is laying low after selling the jar off to a vendor in Darra
- There were warnings and curses, inscribed on the walls of the tomb, meant to punish defilers and grave robbers. These curses seem to be coming true, as they all spoke of illness and death by mishap. Tamerlain got sick, the market vendor died when a piano fell on him, the Fahseer's antiquities dealer has been deathly ill. Even the party of characters has been haunted by nightmares
- Replacing the canopic jar in its original spot will break the curse
- The canopic jar holds the heart of Lerryn Sylphie
Climax
Finding the Goblins
Six goblins will return to town just before sunup, while it is still safe to travel to and from the dig site that they have now found. It is connected to the grave complex with Lerryn Sylphie's newly discovered resting place, although they have not found the Magister King's sarcophagus quite yet; nor his Rod of the Magister-which is what the Goblin King has been after the whole time.
The goblins will be celebrating the finding of the grave site, and the festivities will not be quiet. Many of the goblins' compatriots have gotten sick, a few have died due to freak accidents, and this part of the desert tastes funny to them. They want to let off some steam.
From the beach, it will sound like the ghosts are having a raucous hootenanny.
Investigating the noise will find the goblins having a party in one of the town squares, several of them dressed up as ghosts, while one plays a drum and another a guitar. They are eating roast mutton, drinking cactus juice, and dancing a complicated Goblin jig that apparently involves a lot of tripping, shouting, and falling.
There are many ways the characters can handle this, but the two most likely are either "talking it out", or "fighting it out". Ostensibly, the Goblins are there to scare everybody away, but they have failed at that task as of this moment, and they know it. They will react very differently, depending upon how they are approached.
The Goblins are happy to talk about the dig site and their work on it, and how they are certain they will enter the Magister King's tomb the next day.
- What the Goblins know
- They have found the tomb of the Magister King, and have called in experts, who are checking the entryway for traps and triggers
- They have been hindered by ghosts and spectral visions. All of the workers have been having nightmares
- Their King is due to arrive in two days time to personally search the tomb. There is a religious artifact, that he wants, said to be in the tomb of the Magister King
The Goblins are creatures of chaos, and are just as happy to fight as they are to talk. If they are attacked, they will whoop, holler, and jump into battle.
Goblins fight using Pack Tactics, meaning that as long as there is an ally within five feet of their target, the Goblins have advantage on their attack rolls.
If a player decides to simply have their character join the party and go dance with the Goblins, they will have all of the information that the Goblins know simply offered to them, without having to ask for it. In addition, that character will receive an Inspiration die.
An Inspiration Die is a d20 that can be used to reroll any Attack Roll, Saving Throw, Initiative Roll, or Skill Check. Additionally, it can be used to make the GM reroll one of the same.
The Goblins will explain to the characters how to get to the tomb and dig site; which, lo and behold! Are the same directions as those given to them by Professor Enberry. The Magister King's tomb is in the same grave complex as Lerryn Sylphie's.
The tomb complex is only an hour away on a decent camel, and Owsley keeps their camels in tip top condition.
Finding the tomb
As you crest the final dune, the dig site comes suddenly into view, sheltered almost coyly in the trough between two massive ridges of stone that had been covered for millenia by the bone-dry sand. The visible entrance has recently been dug into the tomb complex, leading down and to the right, into a tunnel with walls dug right out of the sandstone and granite of the area. Unlit torches are mounted at intervals along the walls. The area is lit, instead, by newer lanterns on wooden frames.
Rounding the serpentine corners of the hallway, you find yourselves before the open door to a good sized stone chapel, with stone pews and a stone altar to the north. There are four doors leading off of the room in each of the cardinal directions, presumably to burial chambers. It smells musty, still, even though it has been open for weeks, now. A testament to how long this grave site had gone undisturbed, prior to its discovery.
Upon the altar sits a gold and silver reliquary, with crystal clear glass sides revealing a chalice ensconced within. It is filled with a red liquid that looks cool and refreshing. By the door, there is a stone font with a gold plated lid, that is filled with a oily, amber liquid that smells as if it has been infused with frankincence. On the floor in front of the altar are four dead goblins; two more goblin bodies are visible near the western door.
Sudden swirls of dust and sand erupt from several urns positioned around the room, and skeletal warriors wielding ancient, sickle-shaped swords called khopeshes emerge, brandishing their weapons. The Goblin treasure hunters have, tragically, died fighting the tomb's guardians. Until the canopic jar is replaced, the skeletons will see the party as their targets. If there are any skeletons left when the canopic jar is replaced, they swirl insto dust and flow into their respective urns.
Skeletons do not attack in any sort of organized manner. They will attack the closest enemy, and continue to attack that enemy until either that foe falls, or they do. If the skeletons fall, they will be able to reanimate in 1d4 days. There will be one skeleton per player character.
Once either the skeletons fall, or the canopic jar is replaced, the Mummy of Lerryn Sylphie will appear out of a blinding swirl of dust.
Dust and sand swirl around throughout the entire complex, blinding you for a moment, and when you can safely open your eyes again, a linen-swathed mummy stands before you. Tiny, flowing script covers the bandages, as if the mummy is wrapped entirely in a single scroll of esoteric knowledge. In a voice like sand flowing down the side of a dune, it says "Myn herte..."
If the canopic jar has been replaced, or if the characters hurry up and replace it, the mummy will nod at them, and they will each receive a beautiful scarab Ring of Protection when a brilliant, scintillating beetle scuttles down their arm onto their finger, solidifying into the ring. The mummy disappears with a sigh of wind blown sand.
It would be very easy for the mummy to take the entire party down. It is fine if one or two characters go unconscious, but a TPK is highly inadvisable. Rather, if the mummy does drop all of the characters, they will awaken wearing ancient desert garb, with a Mummy's Geas upon them. This leads to the side quest called The Mournshade Mines.
If the characters decide, instead, to fight the mummy, it will first summon an Insect Swarm, then wade in to attack with it's fists and mummy rot. The mummy is intelligent, and will go after the healer first, then the other spellcasters. It will fight until either it dies, or the canopic jar is replaced in its original spot.
If the mummy is defeated before the canopic jar is replaced, the entire underground complex will start to collapse, and the party will have 1d6 minutes to flee the building. Running for the door elicits a DC15 Dexterity Saving Throw, or take 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage from falling debris, or half as much on a successful one.
When the mummy falls, the characters will have achieved level three. Allow the players some time to level up.
Falling Action
The walls swing open, revealing a hidden passageway that winds its way even deeper into the hill. Rounding the corner, magical torches flare to life, revealing a room stocked with treasure chests, reliquaries, artifacts, and the requisite pile of gold coins on the floor. As you enter, a mist spills from a lamp on a pedestal, and a ghostly djinni appears. With the cross-armed torso of a massive, mustachioed man wearing a red head wrap, and the lower half of a giant snake made of smoke and mist, it is an imposing sight to behold. As he speaks, his voice seems impossibly deep; "Threefold the square of a forge-born five, then fifteen times the sum in coin. Count the sum, and take no more—or be entombed beneath this floor."
The answer is as follows: 5² = 25 → 25 × 3 = 75 → 75 × 15 = 1,125. This is the number of gold pieces the party will be allowed to take before the floor collapses, causing 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage as they fall ten feet. One minute later, the building also starts to collapse upon them, doing another 2d6 bludgeoning damage, or half as much on a successful DC12 Dexterity Saving Throw.
If the party dallies in the treasury, or tries to find an artifact to remove, have the characters roll Initiative, and give the room an Initiative of 20. The room will do 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage on each of its turns, or half as much on a successful Dexterity Saving Throw.
You head back to Heaton Bluffs, first along the rough pathway, but that that leads to a paved road, which in quick succession leads to town. Since you have been gone, many of the beach-goers have moved back to town. The situation with the goblins was tense, at first, but then Boyce showed up, to do his laundry, and smoothed everything over with his signature brand of chill energy and an offer of surfing lessons.
The Goblin "ghosts" have reasoned that they cannot beat the villagers, so have instead decided to join them in their surfing philosophy, and are quickly becoming a cherished part of the village.
Resolution
Boyce approaches you with a smile on his face and a set of keys in his hand. "Hello, friends! In my capacity as the duly elected mayor of Heaton Bluffs, I would like to present to you not only the Key to the City, but the keys to a house we have set aside for you. It is furnished, but that's about it. It is relatively new, very sturdy, and all yours. Now, what shall I call your group for my ledgers?
If anyone is inflicted with Mummy Rot, the village healer, Sister Travis of Lathander, will see to them, casting Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration as necessary. Her assistant, Acolyte Clara, will cast Cure Wounds at second level, healing people for 2d8+5 Hit Points. She will use a Scroll of Regenerate if a limb needs to be regrown, etc. Revivify is available if needed, as well.
The villagers will welcome the adventurers back with open arms, and give them free Surfing lessons to boot.
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