1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
 39
 40
 41
 42
 43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
 51
 52
 53
 54
 55
 56
 57
 58
 59
 60
 61
 62
 63
 64
 65
 66
 67
 68
 69
 70
 71
 72
 73
 74
 75
 76
 77
 78
 79
 80
 81
 82
 83
 84
 85
 86
 87
 88
 89
 90
 91
 92
 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131

# Plot

- [x] Sandstorms have begun to appear more frequently out in the desert, and there has been talk of unnatural lightning and flashes of blue scales in the tempest. 
- [x] A nearby village has requested assistance from Lord Veleth, there have been a sharp uptick in grisly murders.
- [x] A bounty has been placed in all the local taverns for a herd of Catoblepas that has been seen outside the village and causing the entire slum district to be abandoned because of the smell.

Party killed the catoblepas.

Traveled to Deseret (1 desert encounter with some scorpions during a sandstorm)

Approaching Deseret, Howalyn gets them all in trouble and he is sent to the prison. The rest of the part apologizes and makes amends.

Explored the shops and met several characters, like **Gail**!

Discovered Howalyn has escaped prison and was resting in a room at the tavern.
He was found and kicked out of the tavern, leaving the group roomless.

Discovered the well was poisoned by some thugs leaving scorpion carcasses in the river upstream.

Defeated the thugs and released [[Beryl]] from the giant crocodile's stomach.
A townsperson offered their guesthouse for the party to stay in for the night.

More investigating led the party to Maggie's cellar.

Revealed that Maggie is the most recent victim and current maurezhi.

Maurezhi was in the process of eating [[Howalyn]], part-way through its transformation when the party entered.

Maurezhi cries out for a "Lady Weslocke" as it dies.

The party received a charcoal portrait of Howalyn with the words "Howalyn, my love" scratched out and replaced with "Kill" on the back, signed by a "Weslocke Marigold".

Traveling to the swamps, the party is assailed by a sandstorm and takes a detour into a nearby cave accented by streaks of glass around the mouth.

The party meets a band of kobolds, all but one of which are blue scaled. The last one, of frosty white scales, takes an immediate shine to Lia after she casts an ice storm on them.

The party meets Szaraxis (the Tyrant, Master of the Endless Sands), a blue dragon, who makes them a deal.
In return for eliminating a wyvern that has encroached on his turf _and_ making a blood pact contract, the dragon will give them one of his scales.


# NPCs

## Deseret

### Derren
Human Male / Sullen

A local merchant whose partner **Alicks** was killed by the maurezhi.

### Gail
Halfling Female / Bubbly Wine Mom

Merchant storage clerk

Gossipy murder mystery lover

### Brett
Human Male / Easygoing Lower Voice

Sandwich shop

Married to Gail

### Garet
Human Male / Gruff but Kind

Butcher

Brother was killed by the maurezhi

Likes Lili because she showed an interest in butchering

### Maggie
Half-elf Woman / Sullen, quiet

Orphan girl (woman)

**Tragic** backstory, parents both dead

Turned out to be the maurezhi

Ate [[Howalyn]]

### Jaython
Human Male / Lisp

Barkeep in Deseret

### Elias
Human Male / Dignified

Merchant in the blue dragon cave. Stranded there in the last sandstorm along with his dwarf partner **Josef**.


## Unused

### Eiridan
Human Male / Shifty

### Kierna
Halfling Female / Brooding

### Mafar
Half-orc Male / Does not talk, only growls/grunts

### Dask
Dragonborn Male / Sly robinhood

### Kelsea
Half-elf Female / Self-righteous

### Tuk
Tiefling Male / Chivalrous NiceGuy

### Durza
High-elf Female / Shady priest

### Venmeri
Dark-elf Female / Gruff/Butch

### Elik
High-elf Male / Wit/Hoid

### Khurgokha
Dwarf Female / Skeptical

## Cordelia
Human Female / Knightly

## Zile
Gnome Male / Shaggy (Scooby Doo)