Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far

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This page is the campaign synopsis as told by the DMs. To read more intimate retellings of the PCs' adventures told in their own words (and those of their players), see Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps

Book 1

Session 1: Kickoff Megagame, part 1 (9/6/25)

Trading Route Troubles

DM: Amanda

PCs: Pryderi (she/they), Chanterelle (she/her), Koro (he/him), Silgr (he/him), Rhogar (he/him), Davin (he/him), Rimsa (he/him)

NPCs: Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin, Tradesman Kareek (and his monitor lizard Stanley)

Seven brave souls took the Duke’s job to escort a trade caravan across the Badlands. They traveled with the caravan, meeting the traders and the leader of this specific caravan, the Lord Pavan and his bodyguard Krispin. They also met a peculiar lizardfolk trader named Kareek, and his semi-tamed monitor lizard Stanley, who were pulling a covered wagon filled with mysterious cargo.

Roughly halfway to their destination, the party spotted a group of shadowy figures on the horizon. Together, they used the wagons and trade goods to form a barrier surrounding the people and animals. They were beset by several flesh hounds and an abyssal hound. However, despite the hard battle, the demons were killed and the caravan protected. Most of the pack animals ran away in the midst of the battle, but minimal life was lost and only a few trade goods were destroyed.

After they'd successfully defended the caravan, a flare shot high into the air from the Arboretum. Lord Pavan urged everyone into one of the remaining wagons and rushed to their aid.

Out of the Pot

DM: Chris

PCs: Syl (they/them), Gobbo (they/them), Sixsplitter (he/him)

NPCs: Ter, Garret, Brandran

The crew received orders from Ter to go investigate a nearby Shend camp. They met up with a caravan on its way to HQ. They made it a point on the trade route where they split and went into the uncharted Badlands. They easily found Vinaash Oasis. They looked around the oasis and found an unguarded cave. They noticed strange black ichor splattered about and Shend and prisoners massacred. The only prisoner alive could only convey to watch out for the bugs and bats. The party's curiosity got the best of them and they delved in too deep and discovered a hidden storage room where they were ambushed. As they escaped with their newfound friend Brandran, they looked back towards the Arboretum as they noticed the signal for help.

Grind Sparkburn, Smash, & Cleave

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Stix (they/them), Razzadrog (he/him), Himo (he/him), Delaia (she/her), Demir (he/him), Caesana (she/her), Jynx (she/her)

NPCs: Raegina, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

Raegina called for victims volunteers to come and try out her cohorts newest set of scrap golems. The seven volunteers prepared themselves and handily destroyed the bots in record time, earning Raegina’s three goons looks of derision. Raegina offered to teach those adventurers who beat up the golems how to scrap and then rebuild the bots, each player adding an infusion of their own power. With bigger and better golems and a betting pool in place, the two teams of adventurers and the team of Raegina’s henchgals battled their golems until only the noble Sparkburn remained, earning their team a prize of 66 gold. The call for aid then came from the Arboretum and Raegina loaded up the adventurers (and Sparkburn) into her war rig to answer the call.

Quasits Can't Hurt Ya

DM: Guest DM Caleb

PCs: Leonard, Avel, Kex, Larry, Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock, Ollie Ollivine, Diana Belkacem

NPCs: Unknown

Engagement not documented.

The Sheriff and the Storm

DM: Cat

PCs: Ozmir (he/him), Grymos (he/him), Pearl (she/her), Voscaera (she/her), Dallas (she/her), Lyrina (she/her)

NPCs: Gnash, Gooey

The Arboretum -- a remote trading hub sheltered within a petrified, stadium-sized tree that towered above the Pteris wastes -- was missing its sheriff. The plasmoid public servant, named Inguza ("Gooey", they/them), had gone out to investigate the latest and closest in a string of peculiar sandstorms.

"Inguza's in trouble," the no-nonsense, half-orc warrior Gnash said to no one in particular, "Follow me." She was heading for the northeast exit, a quarter-mile passage that had been dug through one of the tree's great, petrified roots. A rescue party mustered in her wake and hurried to catch up.

The group soon reached the unnaturally sharp edge of the half-mile-wide tempest, where Gnash located a crooked staff protruding from the sand and announced, "They entered here." She touched a large ring of bone to the staff and plunged into the storm, leaving the party to hustle after her again.

The wind inside whined unsettlingly; flying sand restricted everyone's vision and lashed their skin. But they all searched systematically until an angry bellow audible above the wind guided them to a two-headed tentacle demon, which they battled and slew. Behind it they spotted the barely conscious Gooey, who had absorbed a devastating amount of sand into their amorphous body. The companions tended to them briefly before carrying their semi-solid form back to the Arboretum's infirmary.

Some of the party had sustained minor lacerations from the storm's slashing sand, and while the injuries themselves appeared insignificant, the curious gold flecks that had appeared in their eyes afterward brought a nagging sliver of apprehension.

Session 2: Kickoff Megagame, part 2 (9/6/25)

Aggression from Above

DM: Amanda

PCs*: Pryderi, Chanterelle, Koro, Silgr, Rhogar, Davin, Demir (he/him); *Reinforcements: Toots (he/him), Pearl, Larry (he/him)

NPCs: Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin

Rushing towards the Arboretum, everyone was greeted by a desperate scene. Demons everywhere, being fought off by people from every faction. Lord Pavan lead the seven brave souls through one of the root entrances and up to the top of the Arboretum. The open roof was being swarmed by hordes of flying demons bent on taking out the ballistas on the top of the battlements. A fight began.

They fought back the demons, saving all but one of the ballistas. The battle was harsh, knocking out several fighters before it was won.

And into the Fire

DM: Chris

PCs: Syl, Sixsplitter, Caesanna, Jynx, Lyrina, Dallas, Gobbo

NPCs: Ter, Brandran

As the party returned safely to the Arboretum, they were met by the others and Ter. He tasked them with an operation for espionage. He turned tail with Gobbo and Brandran (the prisoner from the Shend camp). The party spotted a moving caravan of creatures with two ballistas. They easily wiped the creatures out and dismantled the ballista.

Addressing the Oliphaunt in the Rig

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Stix, Razzadrog, Himo, Delaia, Leonard

NPCs: Raegina, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

As they sped forward, approaching one of the entrance roots, a large undead oliphaunt t-boned the war rig, completely turning it over and destroying both vehicles in the process. An infuriated Raegina beheaded the oliphaunt and commanded the adventurers to stand and destroy the demons in their path to clear the way into the arboretum.

Facing Pustuloids, Capra demons, Incultis and Lesser Rage demons, the party worked diligently to keep each other safe and get the demons out of the way. They pushed the oliphaunt off the entranceway and watched in awe as Raegina flipped the war rig off of Baftzmyr who had been pinned underneath. After harvesting from the demons, the adventurers heard the loud boom of the Conservatory’s destruction and after facing a wave of wild magic, faced a final wave of fleeing demons as well, but claimed another victory!

Hold the Line

DM: Guest DM Caleb

PCs: Avel, Kex, Ollie Ollivine, Diana Belkacem

NPCs: Unknown

Engagement not documented.

Wait.. Kobolds?

DM: Cat

PCs: Ozmir, Grymos, Pearl, Voscaera, Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock, Larry

NPCs: Sir Anthony

Just west of the Arboretum, the party hurried into position to wait uneasily for the inevitable demon incursion. What eventually came was kobolds. Dozens of light-blue clad kobolds scampered forward, several yards in advance of a single goat-like fiend, which they seemed very leery of. They made non-lethal attacks and spoke in Common, some invoking the name of the deity Kurtulmak, some issuing orders, and some asking for permission to use lethal force once they saw the party felling their allies left and right. The last one alive tossed down her dagger and cried "Sanctuary!" before being unceremoniously dispatched.

The goat demon's very presence rotted the flesh. Its sting immediately raised boils and took off patches of skin. It gave Ozmir a coughing fit that somehow produced a swarm of flies, for which he repaid the fiend with a blade through the throat.

While Grymos looted corpses, Pearl, Toots, and Larry rushed up to the tree's battlements to help defend against airborne threats. The enemy withdrew in the end, but not before staining the sand on all sides of the Arboretum with the blood of the allied forces of the Badlands.

Session 3: The Tower That Wasn't (9/21/25)

DM: Cat

PCs: Mezzi (they/them), Diana (she/her), Davin (he/him), Dallas (she/her), Himo (he/him), Polvo (she/her)

NPCs: Sir Anthony, Jerbo, Dapple, The Osteomancer

In the partially rebuilt Omnichapel, Sir Anthony, the bugbear paladin of Pelor who was now the formal leader the Arboretum, memorialized the recently fallen. Afterward, Jerbo, the gnome arcanist who once managed the magical Conservatory, told the adventures he hoped a loxodon known as the Osteomancer could explain why kobolds had joined the demons, so the group rented horses from the satyr stable keeper, Dapple, and rode to her hidden bunker.

The Osteomancer required them first to visit a "'negative tower' made not of stone but of Absence, a sealed wound in reality visible only in reflections," to re-seal the tear before its influence eroded meaning in the nearby area. "The longer something is exposed to it, the more it forgets what it is," she told them. When Davin asked about protection, she showed them a seven-foot, rune-inlaid, humanoid skull that allowed them to share memories to anchor one another in reality.

Near the "tower" all was still. The inside was a photonegative of itself. Himo began using the loxodon's magic to reseal the wound. White shadows drained the party members' senses of identity, bringing them closer to catatonia with each touch, while a faceless Custodian tried to erase them from reality entirely. They battled until the spell took hold, and they escaped the shadowy structure before it faded away.

In payment, the Osteomancer explained that in dragon-worshipping Swikedom, "the divine Blood Law relegates kobolds to the Thrall caste, below all save Warmbloods like us," but that kobolds who revere Kurtulmak above Tiamat may try to escape their thralldom, denying that the Blood Law is divinely ordained. "One such group," she revealed, "led by Snizz the Fortunate, used the demons as a way out of bondage, but their freedom -- such as it was -- ended when your comrades cut them down."

And she issued a warning, purportedly from a vision of a fire-scarred mesa: "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free."

Session 4: Werevultures by Night (9/24/25)

DM: Chris

PCs: Dee, Delaiah, Stix, Davin, Razzadrog, Leonard

NPCs: Sukki, Brandran, Hektor

Asked by Sukki, the head of the casino, to deliver a recently rescued Shend prisoner to HQ. They began their 7 day secret journey along which they were spotted and attacked by these strange shapeshifting vultures. During the battle that ensued, the maddened deep gnome Brandran became cursed and began to flee. The group captured the two werevultures and Brandran and delivered them to Hektor at HQ.

Session 5: Bombs (and how not to make them) 101 (9/27/25)

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Syl, Ollie, Gloria, Koro, Mizuka, Avel

NPCs: Cilvdyzwutca, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Raegina

Keywords: Demons, Junkyard, Crafting, Scrapping

Invited by flyers hung in the Arboretum, our adventurers headed the three hour trek across the desert to the Junkyard to help clear it out of the left over demons that had been hiding in their after the siege. Cilvdyzwutca (Cilvdy) was put in charge of these recruits to have them help her build bombs to draw the demons out and then exterminate. Half of the party arrived already exhausted, but prepared to do their best on Cilvdy's patent-pending origami bomb assembly line.

Syl and Koro folded the paper frogs, Ollie and Avel filled those frogs with black powder, then they were fitted with the fuse and dipped in wax by Gloria and Mizuka. This went about as well as you would think it would, several of the bombs blowing up during the wax dipping process from exposure to the heat, causing panic and quite a bit of damage to Gloria and Mizuka.

Eventually Syl and Koro switched around their roles on the assembly line to ensure Gloria didn't die. Of the 12 bombs assigned, 7 were successfully made. Cilvdy tried to keep up her best encouragement while the other two of Raegina's minions just teased. From a distance, Koro noticed Raegina herself watching over them from her watchtower.

They then headed deeper into the Junkyard where they both found and were found by a horde of abyssal chickens and leeches. The adventurers had plenty of leech wounds by the time they managed to slaughter everything, but they all survived and none of them had any eggs laid inside their wounds! They then scrapped the demonic creatures for biological parts and were paid for their service!

Session 6: Find those Animals! (9/30/25)

DM: Amanda

PCs: Leonard, Rhogar, Avel, Mezzi, Demir, and Razzadrog

NPCs: Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Dapple]|Dapple], Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Kareek|Kareek]] (and Stanley)

Upon seeing a new job hung in the central marketplace, the adventurers gathered together around one liaison to hear the details of the job. They were tasked to bring back the missing pack animals (or whatever animals they could find and bring back) that were lost during the demon attack on the arboretum. They were directed to one Dapple, keeper of the stables. together, they rented out one horse and cart from the stables and headed into the desert to search for the runaway animals.

It took a total of 3 days, but the party managed to find some animals. They managed to find and capture one wild dustrunner, rescue one camel beset by dust mephits, and one horse caught in the bottom of a giant ant lion pit. They fought off a demon possessed horse and managed to find one of the traders lost from the demon attack. Kareek and his monitor lizard Stanley were found on the side of a cliff, trapped beneath a broken cart and unable to move. However, as the adventurers descended to rescue them, a monstrosity made of half giant snake, half giant spider appeared from the gorge and attacked!

They defeated the spidersnake, saved Kareek and Stanley, and safely transported them and all the animals found back to the Arboretum. They were paid by the man who had offered the job and received a bonus for each animal returned.

Session 7: Tracking Demons 102 (10/13/2025)

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Steady (Dee) Wind, Ozmir, Himo Nilo, Razzadrog, Stix, Koro

NPCs: Baftzmyr

Baftzmyr put out a call for adventurers to assist her in tracking and taking down a very large demon that was under the sand.

She tells of how it sends out smaller creatures to aid it or search for something, so they must work with stealth and caution as she worries the creature under the sand is too large for any one of them to handle.

Baftzmyr leads the party and Sparkburn out into the desert and has them prove their worth at tracking down the demons, waiting until they find one of the small ones and waiting for someone to pick up it’s trail. Ozmir had eyes on the moving mound of sand first, leading the party into the desert even further east from the junkyard when they realized it was going to suddenly pop out of the ground. Recognizing this, Ozmir warned the party and they were able to prepare for the creature emerging. They found a strange looking Dretch, seemingly mutated in some way and with ease. It only took two party members to slay it. Would that mean the task ahead would be simple?

They continued forward into the desert and realized more dretch-sign was visible! Stix led the group now, tracking down 3-4 different sand mounds until they got to a large divot in the sand that was moving slightly, as if something very large was struggling beneath.

Stix took a very large bomb made from a origami pig by Cilvdyzwutca and put it in the center of the divot, quickly running away because Baftzmyr had already lit the fuse, and then the whole party watched as the explosion pushed all the sand away and revealed a huge demon in armor with a large lantern in it’s chest, struggling to get it’s legs out of the sand.

Having to balance to keep from falling in the pit of sand that kept pulling into the giant’s struggle, the adventurer’s did their best to slay the demon, but found mutated dretches at their sides to antagonize them. Himo, Koro, Steady Wind, and Razzadrog all found themselves down in the sand pit by the end, too close to the demon who pummeled them at every opportunity and the sand pulling them down underneath where sight and breath was impossible. Koro and Steady Wind kept finding themselves victim to the demon’s massive claws, losing consciousness over and over, leaving the others to call on Baftzmyr for aid.

Stix and Ozmir fought from above and did what they could to keep the dretches busy.

Razzadrog got the final blow, aiming for the lantern and then its eyes, but at that the lantern began to pulse with an abyssal light. The fight wasn’t quite over yet.

Himo attempted to free himself from the sand but couldn’t manage, and as the lantern finally blew, the fight ended with Koro and Steady Wind left in the sand, bleeding out. Thankfully Razzadrog was able to heal Steady Wind, Stix stabilizing Koro and then healing him so he could take part in scrapping the massive creature.

What was left of the creature was drug back to the scrapyard by Baftzmyr and her horse, and she received an earful from Raegina for not preserving the lantern, but the adventurers had slain it and were paid for their work.

Session 8: The Righteous and the Rootless (10/14/2025)

DM: Cat

PCs: Avel, Razzadrog, Leonard, Himo Nilo, The Scarlet Shadow, Mezzi

NPCs: Gnash, Jerbo, Kaelen, Velza

The half-orc ex-mercenary Gnash was worried again. Scouts 100 miles east of the Arboretum had lost the trail of a large group of unknown humanoids with peculiar footprints who had been moving toward the tree. At her request (and with some difficulty), the gnome arcanist Jerbo used a Wind Walk scroll to expedite the party's investigation. Their landmarks for navigation included the rotting carcass of a giant worm as well as the distant Mount Toi'Viral -- named for the renegade demon whose Wish had essentially ended the Holy War against the dragons more than a century earlier.

In the hamlet of Drywater just beyond the great salt flat, the party met the vulpine druid Kaelen, through whom they would be able to relay any time-sensitive messages back to the Arboretum. At the end of the trip east, aerial scouting easily identified their destination, where the the Scarlet Shadow deduced that the mysterious tracks were those of dozens of insectoid thri-kreen who had burrowed into the sand where the tracks ended. The adventurers pursued four thri-kreen who had continued west toward the crumbling Fort Thurirlak. A brief parley failed, the alien humanoids attacked, and the party dispatched them before proceeding to the fort.

Among the ruins were two dead Federation personnel, apparently slain by the group of people who were occupying the chamber beneath the structure and trying to repair an unstable Infernal power core in order to operate a miniature war rig. This time the party shot first. When only the group's tiefling leader remained alive, she set the unstable core to explode, and fell to Mezzi's Sleep spell while attempting to flee. They bound her, recovered useful parts from the destroyed rig, then cast Detect Thoughts and interrogated the captive.

The adventurers learned that the tiefling was an ex-scrapper called Velza who'd wanted to power the rig to defend a local tribe against demon incursions, and who'd repeatedly locked horns with Raegina about prioritizing projects like this over the mission. They traveled back west to hand the captive over to Raegina and to report their findings to Gnash.

Session 9: Corruption Runs Deep (10/15/25)

DM: Chris

PCs: Rhogar, Delaiah, Stix, CB, Grymos, Ollie

NPCs: Sha'Kon

A new face from the federation, a thri-kreen named Sha’Kon had tasked a simple plan to set up a new Federation outpost in the Vaneesh Oasis. While there, the party killed many shapeshifted creatures. They followed the secret path deep under the oasis, setting up a safe passage down. At the bottom of a seemingly endless passage, they found an open entrance to a dark and damp tunnel system. In this web-covered tunnel, they encountered a wolf-spider and some prey. After killing the spider and disarming a hobgoblin prisoner, the group collapsed the entrance using some bombs and scurried away back to the Arboretum.

Session 10: Problems in the Port Town (10/21/2025)

PCs: Lenore, Syl, Lyrina Moonshadow, Bob Celestio, Voscaera, Delaiah

NPCs: Krispin, Bright Patch, Kardyl Starkmark, Chrisanthemum (chrissy), Brior Windward

A team of brave adventurers turned investigators were sent to the port city of Arrafell to investigate a series of disappearances. People and trade goods had gone missing over the past two months. Lord Pavan, on behalf of the duke, sent for help in the form of the team from the Arboretum.

Upon arrival to the port city, Krisipin, Lord Pavan's swordmaster, met with them. He informed them of the situation and pointed them to different locations they could investigate.

First they traveled to the Tradesman's guild. There they spoke with a number of tradespeople and with the head of the guild, Bright Patch. They learned more about what had been happening and who could potentially be responsible.

Then the party split.

Lenore and Syl went to the craftsman's guild, hoping to find a hinted at thieves guild somewhere within it's walls. They didn't find anything, but Lenore became a member of the craftsman's guild.

Delaiah and Bob went to the tavern; the Bubbling Well, and spoke with the barkeep, Kardyl Starkmark. She spoke about new ships coming in and people disappearing, goods vanishing, and who could be behind it.

Lyrina and Voscaera went to the warehouse where the trade goods were being stored. They attempted to break in, but were caught by the guards and taken to the barracks to speak with the captain of the guard, Brior Windward.

The team reconvened at the guardhouse after things were sorted out and Lyrina and Voscaera were released. Everyone then went back to the warehouse for further investigation.

Session 11: The Ballad of Sandra Sanderson (10/22/2025)

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Ollie Ollivine, Razzadrog, Stix, Delaiah, Himo Nilo, Ozmir, Leonard

NPCs: Sandra Sanderson, Cilvdyzwucta, Jitcwal, The Shabby Scales

A yuan-ti textile worker named Sandra Sanderson requests the aid of local heroes to help drive out a Gnoll and its pack of hyenas from her tent!

The adventurers headed out to the west and found themselves at Sandra’s tent, currently inhabited by a gnoll warrior, four hyenas and two giant hyenas. They killed one of the hyenas immediately and it simply disappeared. The work of a conjugation spell. No matter! The party made quick work of the hyenas and the gnoll, which then, against Sandra’s protest, they skinned and gave her the skin for her textile work.

While the others took a short rest from their fight, Himo Nilo and Ozmir did a quick look around, finding a smuggler’s stash nearby and, inside, all of Sandra’s textiles.

She gave each of the adventurers a gift of a piece of clothing she’d made, but something seemed very fishy to Ozmir. He warned the others that he though they needed to get back to the Arboretum as soon as possible.

Leonard and Himo stayed behind in the smuggler’s cache to watch Sandra carefully, as she had invited Stix to be her guest for the weekend.

The others got to the Arboretum and discovered Sandra set them up! While they were away, a band of “gnolls” had attacked the Scrappers’ cart, and Cilvdy and Jitcwal were taken! With a closer look, the tracks left behind seemed more like lizardfolk and yuan-ti than gnolls.

Back at Sandra’s, Himo and Leonard watched as the Shabby Scales wagon pulled up, packed up Sandra’s things and Stix, and took off to the west.

Session 12: The Vulpine, the Doll and the Corpse Girl (11/8/2025)

DM: Mercedes

PC: Steady (Dee) Wind, Koro, Gobbo, Rhazzdrog, Diana, Demir

NPCs: The Shabby Scales Posse, Sandra Sanderson, Leiloni, Cilvdzwucta, Jitvwal, Stix

Using valuable information gleaned from Koro, Syl and Himo's downtimess, our adventurers set out on a pack of horses sent to them by the Scrappers, all bearing the Scrapper brand. They left for a rendezvous point where the Shabby Scales would apparently be trading over Stix, Cilvdy and Jitcwal to a party representing the Baroness of Filth, who in her anger of losing her husband, the Baron, had put out a reward for the handing over of any scrappers or anyone who had been there when her husband was killed.

The party arrived at the meet up place, Triton's Terrace, a small oasis to the East of the Arboretum by a few days. They scoped out and found a single body guard standing out front, Farrier, a large snakefolk. Deciding not to waste time, a fight ensued, soon enough Slim, Tim and Jim, a trio of lizardfolk joined as well as several demons. Steady Wind, Gobbo, and Demir struggled to stay up as the fight continued, but just as a demon was about to change Steady Wind's body into a new abyssal being, Froggy defended him and saved him from a terrible fate. Seeing Koro had the Abyssal Lantern of Filth, Sandra attempted to take it back, but missed and after being thoroughly beaten, Dimension Door-ed away, as did her companion, Leiloni.

When the sand cleared, only our heroes stood tall. Koro quickly abandoned the Lantern of Filth, as it had been echoing in his mind and causing him disadvantage against fighting demons. Froggy attempted to lift it, but found itself blown up in the process. They left the lantern outside with Leo to watch it, but when they emerged from the cave later, it was gone. Inside a booby-trapped cave, the adventurers were able to find our trio of missing friends as well as contracts and bounties between the Baroness of Filth and the Shabby Scales. Now all that was left was to face the Baroness in her lair!

Session 13: Give Jewelspar the Weapon (Or: A Prophecy Deferred)(11/9/2025)

DM: Cat

PCs: Ozmir, Grymos, Avel, Stix, Ollie, Polvo

NPCs: Erland Nimz (he/him), Lirezel (she/her), Alinar (he/him), Sir Anthony

A few hours after two enormous, colorful sails in the distance caught people's attention, a simple, elegant sand ship sailed up to the Arboretum. The three nobly clad elves disembarked: Erland Nimz of Jewelspar, his right hand, Lirizel, and his guardian, Alinar. Nimz told Sir Anthony he required volunteers to help retrieve a powerful weapon, long safeguarded in the desert, which he would wield against the demons in defense of his city.

With the promise of a reward, a party soon boarded the elven sandrunner Shimmerwing, which carried them north for a day and a night using both wind and magic. Nimz cloaked the ship in an illusion, saying "Now everyone remember where we parked," before leading them up to a hidden entrance on the side of a tall mesa and through its maze of tunnels, which he appeared to navigate with ease.

After eliminating a group of guardian constructs, the team reached a giant stone door with an inscription in Elven indicating that whoever removed the weapon from the vault beyond would gain a mark of an unknown nature. Avel used a Knock spell to release the door lock, and a group effort wrenched it open. Beyond, a metal hallway led to a room that was shrouded in darkness -- to all but Stix, who was immediately blinded by the light of a Prismatic Sphere.

Nimz tried beginning the slow work of destroying the abjuration, only to discover the devastating truth -- that it lay nested inside an Antimagic Field -- a turn of events for which he was entirely unprepared. He cursed and consulted his Globe of Legend Lore for several minutes. "Nothing," he lamented. "We won't be releasing the weapon today."

Upon exiting the mesa, the group was confronted by a Draegloth -- a type of demon created by drow elves. "How dare she?!" Nimz exclaimed. The demon responded, "I do as I please. Now relinquish your prize!" Nimz laughed dryly, and the demon attacked. But Lirizel was able to Banish it before it seriously harmed anyone.

True to his word despite his failure, Nimz compensated each member of the group for their efforts with a small magic item and some coin.