Whispers in the Sand

Whispers in the Sand
Date	09/27/25
Storyteller	Dag
Tier	Any (Legendary)
Player Characters	Vara, Illiam Elro, Sahona, Melfyra
Rewards	10000pp, Box of Unspoiling (Type 1), Staff of Desert Winds (Major), Sandstorm Top, 4x Apricot of Bestial Might, Ichthyosis Mutagen, Hydra Mutagen, Pallesthetic Mutagen, Ommatophoric Mutagen
Result	Success
Author	Vara
Downtime	8

Log

For about 3 days now, the whole city has been having nightmares. It was supposedly hitting the more magically-inclined folks harder, and through the efforts Illiam and I went through, we figured out that the nightmares were being projected from a place called the Glass Desert. Supposedly, this was due to a certain creature who resided there, as the last team who went there were also plagued by nightmares - however, it only just now started affecting Onadbyr's population. We figured that the nightmares were being amplified out by a group in the desert.

We got a team together to investigate - Illiam and I went for our ability to traverse dreams, Sahona came out because his pet drake was having nightmares, and Melfyra came presumably also due to the nightmares. Thanks to Melfyra, we were able to take a form suited for long distance travel - a journey that would take nearly 2 weeks instead took only 3 days. Over the first night, Illiam and I attempted to prod deeper into the dreamscapes, we were able to catch the trail to the "amplifiers", and found that the creature afflicting nightmares was aware of us 'in' the dreamscape, seemingly wary of us. Illiam wants to approach it calmly and without aggression, while the rest of us think we should prepare to defend ourselves. Of note, the cluster of dreams we saw prior to this point was now smaller. After that, we spent the next half day getting to the edge of the desert, where we're attacked by a giant worm. If we weren't so powerful, that worm could have been dangerous. Thankfully, it being so powerful meant the area around was actually fairly safe, so Sahona and I spent the evening skinning the meat off of it.

As we get to the third day, we have entered the main body of the desert and, following the path through the dreams, we come across an outpost. The site of a slaughter. 3 creatures, mutated humanoids native to the region, seemed to be killed in their sleep. In the ravine below, a river of raw magic entices both Melfyra and Illiam, and that's where our trail proceeds. The people here were killed by some kind of large bestial claw, but we could not find any trail leading to or from this place.

Heading down the ravine we enter an underground reservoir of this magic, but where it was collecting, it turned into what seemed to be blood. Melfyra gets shocked a bit by the blood, but the trail continues onwards. Just outside of this area, another group of mutant humanoids - though they are still alive, they are clearly unwell. They aren't simply projecting the nightmares, they're being affected by them. We can't understand their language, but Melfyra helps us with a translation spell and we find ourselves still at an impasse, as the folks here are terrified of us, especially Sahona who is creeping on them. We're not getting anywhere, so we decide to ward their slumber with all of Illiam's dream magics. As we maintain watch over the dreams, the trail that connected us is severed.

In the morning, the mutants seem to be cautious still, but well-rested for the first time in a seemingly long time. They tell us that the cause was the blood in the "well", the reservoir we passed before. Melfyra asks the winds and she's informed the curse is already lifted - when we went back, the pool was back to the opalescent colors the rest of the raw magic looked like. We catch traces of illusion magic, but it's been lifted, for some reason. Perhaps it simply wore off, but it could have been dispelled by the original caster. But if it was an illusion, it shouldn't have been affecting people physically in that manner... I think there's still something wrong here, and the people here are in danger, and could project more nightmares down the line. We cast Sending to confirm that the nightmares in town have subsided, and we manage to convince these "fleshwarped" to return to Onadbyr with us, temporarily. They confirm that the creature is known as the Howl, and is the same that Sahona encountered here years ago.

We prepare to leave the cavern with our new friends in tow, and as we do, we encounter a strange skeletal man watching us leave. It appears to be hostile and Melfyra identifies it as a thanadaemon - one of the servants of the Horseman of Death. I immediately fly into action, teleporting to its position and preventing it from performing its own teleportation maneuver. Sahona and Illiam blast it with magic that finishes it off. It is extremely concerning that a servitor of Death is in this desert, so we immediately work on migrating back the city. The Howl is still a problem in the Glass Desert, and there's no telling if there's others who could act as nightmare amplifiers, so there's really only one solution I can see - we have to slay the Howl, and get to the bottom of why Death has a presence in the Glass Desert.