## The Setup ##### [[5. Campaign Five - Lightning in the Desert]] A party of adventurers reconvenes in the desert city of [[Thalios]], drawn together at the Pricklepot Inn and Distillery over shared concerns about the mysteriously emptied city of Korum. Their first night together turns violent when undead — skeletons and zombies — storm the inn in pursuit of a boastful genasi named Traeshi, who promises to reveal everything about his master if they save him. They fight to buy time, but a mummy appears from the dust and executes Traeshi before he can say a word, declaring the will of Ash'Kagra fulfilled. The party destroys the mummy, but a carriage escapes into the night trailing a glimmer of blue. They take refuge in the Temple of the Sun and Moon, where a Tabaxi priest named Alton welcomes them. In the night his eyes roll back and he delivers a chilling prophecy — speaking of a serpent in the mountains seeking his birthright, a witch who desires a daughter for her mistress, a cursed half-man half-beast carrying the burden of Korum, and a reckoning of blood for blood. ## Gathering Threads The following days are spent gathering information across Thalios. At the Temple they encounter Narang, a young woman burned by sunlight as punishment for theft by the city's ruler, the Kahn. A suspicious pipe-smoking man tails them before being shaken off by the party's mage. A contact named Shara — recommended as a finder — agrees to guide them south to ancient ruins where a Sphinx supposedly holds answers. The journey through the desert is brutal, and on arrival they are tested by the creature. The party falls one by one to the Sphinx's challenge — all except Corithan, who alone passes the trial. What the others witness, however, is not a Sphinx at all but a Lamia — a cursed creature with a lion's body and a woman's torso. Corithan, unable to be warned, allows the Lamia to take Shara. Whatever information he gained, it came at a cost. Back in the city, they learn that a gnome named Kipper — the one who sent them to the ruins — had genuinely believed the journey was in Shara's best interest. The party is left to untangle what the creature revealed. ## Two Lines of Inquiry The party splits their investigation. Kairo and Varrelt pursue the Bricklayer's Guild and their secret Sandsky Diamonds, learning that Narang had attempted to steal them and that Traeshi had been involved in that plot — explaining why he had been hiding at the Pricklepot Inn. The diamonds can grant visions, and Kairo lets his guard down to receive one. He finds himself in the Hyperean Mountains, feeling the pull of Ash'Kagra and seeing the face of a blue dragon — later identified as Sizz'vaka by the Yuan-ti mystic Sil Praxiton. Meanwhile Xav and Corithan travel to the cursed ruins of Korum. The place is soaked in a deeply unsettling aura. At Bhaaz's home they find signs of a struggle, an automated spellcasting ritual circle, and a letter from a figure named Reddlepop of Stone Cairn Vale that sheds significant light on the nature of the Sandsky Diamonds. Cultists had abducted Bhaaz before Korum's curse fell. A ghost or apparition attacks them before they can leave, but they survive. Back in Thalios, Kairo and Varrelt capture a spy named Garrig, who admits he was watching the party on behalf of the Kahn, whose full name is Temujin. ## The Kahn and the Curse of Korum A visit to Sil Praxiton yields two prophecies. The first concerns Korum directly — a father betrayed by his own blood, his curse left upon the living to repair, a son to be deposed. Kairo is asked to deliver a vial to Zaya, the Yuan-ti ward of Alton and Khulan, in exchange for a palace ledger. He warns Zaya as best he can about the vial's origins. Armed with enough knowledge, the party moves against Temujin. The strike goes badly at first — Corithan, pushed to the brink of death, loses control of his magic and unleashes it wildly, killing several of their own attackers and setting the pavilion ablaze. Narang nearly dies in the fire. The mission succeeds, but it leaves its mark. In the aftermath, Vilitharius arrives and tries to ease Corithan's guilt with knowledge of the Kahn's many crimes. Sil Praxiton performs a ritual that draws forth the spirit of the Lamia — revealed to be Temujin's own mother — who breaks the curse herself and drags his spirit down to the hells. The curse on Korum lifts. Shara is named the new Kahn. Rain falls on the parched city and the Temple's ancient oases bloom again. But the celebration is short-lived — lightning splits the sky as Sizz'vaka stirs with agitation. Vilitharius takes flight to battle the dragon above the city as the party turns their eyes toward Mount Hyperean. ## The Mountain of Ash'Kagra Mount Hyperean rises out of the desert like a crooked finger — a lonely, weathered peak with a gaping cave mouth at its base. Before they can enter, a hunched old hermit named Pallick bars the way. A gatekeeper for the Cult of the Azure Scale, he offers protection — a bell that can force a save once per hour — in exchange for blood. The party pays and descends. The mountain is wrong from the moment they enter. Rather than climbing, they descend. The air grows heavy with the weight of death, and the deeper they go the more it presses on them — a creeping death curse that mounts with every passing hour, demanding harder and harder saves to resist. Those who fall will not simply die. They will rise again as mummies in Ash'Kagra's service. The first chamber they reach is an initiation room — a natural cavern strewn with thorns and stone, dominated by a blood-stained altar and two massive cages filled with bones. This is where the cult brings its initiates, caging them until they die and transform. Ash'Kagra himself is here, hovering above the battle and hurling party members into the cages with lair actions while animating undead beasts against them. The party fights their way through. Deeper still they find Sizz'vaka's hoard — a vast domed chamber dazzling with gold, gems, and chests beyond counting. The great blue dragon sits atop it all, appraising them coldly. The confrontation is brief before the ceiling is torn open by fire and lightning as Vilitharius crashes back into the fight from above, resuming his battle with the dragon. Ash'Kagra's ghost dives into the golden hoard and possesses a body to fight alongside two rising mummies. The party battles through it all — dragon, ghost, and undead — and Sizz'vaka is defeated. With the dragon slain and Ash'Kagra destroyed, the death curse shatters. The lost souls of Korum are freed, and the city is at last truly liberated. --- A desert city saved, a cursed ruler toppled, an ancient dragon cult destroyed, and the dead finally laid to rest — though the letter from Reddlepop, the fate of Bhaaz, and the full mystery of the Sandsky Diamonds suggest the story is far from over.