Chapter 1: Shunet El Zebib

Music

Dawn comes during Jana's shift. To her alarm, she finds all the raiders' bodies have disappeared! Faint drag marks, almost completely erased by the sandstorm, mean the bodies were taken early in the night. Whatever took them came and went without any of you the wiser.

You prepare to push on towards Shunet El Zebib. This is the deep desert; the caravans do not venture here. Creatures roam these sands that even the druids have never seen before, as well as vengeful ghosts from Hiptos' past. Those explorers - brave, foolish, or both - who have come here in search of treasure have never been heard from again.

In the pink of dawn, you collect precious dew to moisten your lips before quickly breaking your fast, and setting off across the wastes with Jana as your guide. It's not long before you are tailed by a pack of jackals, answering the question of what stole the bodies in the night. The cowardly beasts hound you for miles, but give up the chase as the sun climbs and begins hammering down on the anvil that is the deep desert.

In the night your camp is visited by apparitions of strange creatures that Akh explains are called "fish." The wizard shares something he read, theorizing that all this is ancient seabed. These specters may have been haunting these wastes since the dawn of time.On the second day, the rolling dunes give way to soft sand beds that stretch as far as the eye can see. Heat waves dance across the shimmering expanse, occasionally swept by hot, dust-laden wind. You come upon a field dotted with sand funnels, each a dozen feet across, and almost as deep. Soro warns that such pits are dug by huge, voracious, insectile beasts called myrmeleons, that wait for unsuspecting prey to stumble into their traps. The ranger points out an armored head, armed with a pair of fearsome mandibles, half hidden in the sand, lying in wait.

What do you do?

Jana knows that one must walk without rhythm so as not to attract the creature. And of course, don't fall into the pit! If only you could all fly!

What do you do?

The myrmeleon field is vast, though there is probably a way around. Perhaps Jana's idea to survey it from the sky is a good one. There is also enough space in between funnels for two or sometimes even three to walk abreast, but you're unsure if that would be safe to do.