A Horse With No Name
c. 100 ADW
Guildmaster Thalin hand-picks a party and sends them west from Kingdom Grand to New Arcanum to investigate the caravan of strangely well-guarded stolen keepsakes tied to Cassius and, he suspects, to Biscuit's fate. Given a wagon, supplies, and an unnamed horse they are urged to name, the heroes must survive a week-long trek across the Western Wastes—rationing food and water, weathering a blinding sandstorm that forces desperate choices about what to save, and threading between unstable arcane crystals whose shattering warps magic and flesh. At a rare oasis they drive off a nest of burrowing Giant Scorpions besieging a merchant caravan, earning the gratitude of its leader Elanor Westwind, who escorts them the rest of the way in comfort. They arrive to be welcomed by Guildmaster Alyndor "Aly" Marvale, their business in the desert city still to come.
Referenced In
This module is referenced by the following lore entries:
Legendary Characters
- Alyndor "Aly" MarvaleA tiefling who serves as Guildmaster of New Arcanum's Adventurers Guild. Sharp-tongued, brilliant, and unshakably confident, she reads the weave with unsettling precision. She favors simple but elegant robes and a faint perfume, and is fond of small pranks and bad jokes. She stands with Master Thalin Fernstride, Guildmaster Teyla Coalmaker, and Elrin Veymar when the four great guilds unite against Holt and the Molokite. As Thalin's counterpart in the west, she agrees the string of caravan robberies "smells like trouble," and welcomes the agents he sends across the Western Wastes to investigate Aurelian's soul brokers.
- BiscuitA cheerful Dogekin member of Master Thalin Fernstride's Adventurers Guild who joined new recruits on jobs around Kingdom Grand. After suddenly striking it rich at the Industrial Market's Merchants Fair, he grew unnaturally tireless—never needing rest, never losing focus, and fighting through wounds that would fell anyone else. When a wave of sabotage and theft was traced back to the guild's own halls, the party discovered the awful truth: Biscuit had unknowingly sold his soul to the demigod Aurelian, becoming one of his mind-controlled thralls. Turned against his friends and beyond the reach of ordinary magic, he was hunted down across the city.
- CassiusAn arrogant but craven soul broker in the service of Aurelian, charged with escorting a caravan of stolen soul-contract collateral west from Kingdom Grand toward New Arcanum. Dressed in fine merchant's clothes and never without his ledger, he prizes keepsakes far above coin—"Sentiment is the only currency that appreciates"—and, quick to flee and quicker to haggle, would sooner bargain a Writ of Exchange than trade blows, taking up his whip and hand crossbow only when cornered. The keepsakes recovered from his broken-down caravan are what set the guild's agents on the road to New Arcanum.
- Elanor WestwindA weathered older human woman who leads a merchant caravan across the Western Wastes. When her caravan is besieged at a desert oasis by burrowing Giant Scorpions, guild agents bound for New Arcanum drive the creatures off and save her people. Genuine and grateful—"I'd say we owe you our lives"—she folds the party into her caravan for the remainder of the journey, sharing food and bedding in exchange for the safety of strong companions on a dangerous road.
- Master Thalin FernstrideA towering Firbolg who serves as the Guild Master of the Adventurer's Guild in the century following the Dead Wars. He has long black hair braided down his back, piercing blue eyes, and dark green fur, and wears a forest green and white Gi. His personality is calm and measured, and he is known for giving inspiring speeches that relate adventuring to baking. He expects discipline and creativity from his guild members. As Holt's treachery unfolds, Thalin grows weary but resolute, coordinating the four great guilds against the threat beneath Kingdom Grand. After the tremors from the Elderdungeon crack the city's streets, he opens a fresh recruitment drive to replace the guild members lost in the fighting, and later leads the hunt for a saboteur hiding inside his own guild. Troubled by a caravan of strangely well-guarded stolen keepsakes bound west, he hand-picks a party and dispatches them across the Western Wastes to New Arcanum to work with his counterpart Alyndor "Aly" Marvale, convinced the thefts are somehow tied to Biscuit's fate.
Locations
- Kingdom GrandAlso known as First City, New Kingdom Grand, or New Grand. Formerly the only major civilized city in the region as of ADW 0, it is now the bustling heart of a more interconnected world, linked to other nations via teleportation gates. Holds an annual Festival of Peace to celebrate Elina's sacrifice in Dead Wars I. The tremors from the battle beneath the city cracked streets and toppled buildings across Kingdom Grand, scattering loose magic and prompting a fresh wave of Adventurers Guild recruitment.
- New ArcanumA magical metropolis rising from the heart of the Western Wastes that, in the century after the Dead Wars, became the seat of power for the Arcane Registry and its nation. Perfectly circular, it is a city of towering spires and gravity-defying floating platforms, with airships passing overhead and a great floating black obelisk at its center. A shimmering protective dome cools the entire city, granting relief from the desert heat to travelers who reach its gates. It is connected to other major world powers via teleportation gates, and about a week's wagon travel from Kingdom Grand along a well-marked but perilous trade route. Its Adventurers Guild is led by Alyndor "Aly" Marvale, who joins the other guildmasters against Holt.
- Western WastesThe vast, scorching desert west of Kingdom Grand, with the arcane metropolis of New Arcanum rising at its heart. Most travelers avoid it, braving its heat, unpredictable weather, and unusual magical phenomena only to reach the city; the two are linked by a well-marked trade route that runs about a week by wagon. Sandstorms can swallow the horizon without warning, and the sands themselves grow crystals of solidified arcane power that warp magic around them—aging or teleporting those who pass, spoiling food, turning water to wine, and detonating for force damage when shattered. Life clusters at rare oases, where palms, figs, and desert grasses flourish around the larger crystal formations, and where burrowing predators such as Giant Scorpions lie in wait.
Military Units and Creatures
- Giant ScorpionA sixteen-foot-long desert beast that scrabbles forward with ferocious claws raised and its stingered tail arched over its back. It burrows beneath the sand to strike with hit-and-run tactics, grappling prey in its claws and dragging victims—civilians and adventurers alike—down into its tunnels. Groups of them, drawn by the heat of unstable arcane crystals, menace the oases of the Western Wastes.