The Djurum

102. SIRUUL CAMP

The Siruul, a nomadic tribe of desert elves, maintains a secret camp here to rear and train their prized silver camels. 2d20 silky, pale-haired calves and their mothers range the flat scrubland under 40 elves' vigilant eyes. Anything that threatens the camels is met with swift, unforgiving violence. The rest of the 120 wandering elves, led by Nuariel Siruul, return here regularly with supplies.

106. FORTRESS RUINS

The shell of a once-mighty sandstone fortress lists in the dunes like a sunken ship. Blast marks mar its walls, and shards of blue-tinged glass pepper the sand around it. Twenty ghosts of its former guards materialize inside its broken halls each full moon, whispering curses upon a beast called The Scourge (1401). Only The Scourge's skull will bring them rest; they gift its bearer the Scimitar of the Ash Moon (Shadowdark Core). The Djurum Hex Key

109. WORM TRENCH

3d6 purple worms flock to these spawning grounds once every month. Four mothers remain to protect the webby nests filled with hatchling eggs (3d12) inside the 30' deep, 100' long trench. Scattered within the webs are a giant ruby (400 gp), a ragged Flying Carpet, and a +2 razor chain called Skinlasher whose wielder is immune to poison. The Ras-Godai (1203) view Skinlasher as a holy relic and would trade nearly anything for its return.

304. SHAR OASIS

The most plentiful pond of fresh springwater in The Djurum is a fragrant, palm-ringed hub bustling with travelers, merchant caravans, mercenaries, and outlaws. Its 60 permanent residents look to steely-eyed Rameer the Lion, a 50-year old former gladiator, for unofficial leadership. The famed Thraxis Arena (pg. 24) draws rowdy crowds each night to bet, drink sweet palm wine, and fight.

310. SALTSTONE TOWER

A lonely, salt-encrusted tower of grey stone thrusts like a needle out of the empty mineral flats. A grizzled, sharp-toothed archmage called The Wolf of Yarin (N) inhabits its drafty halls, digging endless, meandering tunnels beneath it with his trained purple worm, Tajora. The Wolf claims to hunt for a fissure that leads to the burning heart of the earth itself; after 50 years, he has found many strange things, but not that.

407. THE BONES

The bleached bones and skull of a titanic, prehistoric beast lie in the sand. Travelers sometimes take shelter under its towering ribs, stretching colorful cloths across the gaps to block the sun. At night, the wind humming through its skull seems to form soft words. The bones mark the halfway point on the caravan route between the Shar Oasis (304) and the city-state of Alkesh (709). Travelers who dare to journey north of the bones risk being spotted by the Hawk Bandits (505) in the southwestern Gilzai Mountains.

502. THE PYRE

The Pyre is a round, elevated altar of crimson marble engraved with dancing flames and set with ten fist-sized rubies (250 gp each). Each solstice, the nomadic Siruul elves (102) pile it with magnificent jewelry, art, and food in symbolic rejection of material goods. At midnight, the phoenix (702) erupts from the Gilzai Mountains and swoops down over the valley, touching The Pyre with its tail and turning all upon it into charcoal. The Siruul tenaciously hunt anyone who tampers with The Pyre.

505. HAWK BANDITS

Forty bandits dwell in a network of caves high in the southern Gilzai ridges. Their leader, a principled and magnetic young man named Kadim (N thief), has trained a dozen hawks to keep watch over the stretch of desert between the Shar Oasis (304) and Alkesh (709). The hawks signal the bandits when travelers stray into their reach. 3:6 chance 2d20 bandits guide their horses down hidden mountain passes to intercept anyone in an adjacent sand hex.

511. HAMAD CAMP

A tribe of 200 human desert- dwellers called the Hamad live near a natural spring at the edge of the salt flats. There, they hunt and tame wild scrag lizards; they're the only folk in The Djurum who do so. They hate and fear the sorcerer in Saltstone Tower (310), believing he is the source of recent bad luck causing foul water, illness, and stillbirth (the real source is a disguised rakshasa living among them). The tribe's leaders, twin sisters Murjana and Delila, are at odds about whether to attack the sorcerer or offer him a tribute tax. Murjana's eldest son, Omid, went missing in the salt flats a few weeks ago; she's certain the wizard is to blame.

702. PHOENIX

A phoenix roosts in the highest peak of the western mountains. It makes a flight over the desert at midnight on each solstice. During this breathtaking display, its nest is unguarded for an hour; within it are 2,000 gp, a Ring of Fireballs, three phoenix eggs, and a Genie Lamp. A blaze of fiery death awaits a caught thief.

706. HOWLING CAVES

Wind blows over the craggy faces of the Howling Caves, filling the silent desert with thrumming, hypnotic tones. Legend holds that a mad prince's treasure lies buried inside the caves, along with him.

709. ALKESH

The gleam of Alkesh's white walls and brass-plated domes can be seen for leagues. Natural springs and clever aqueducts feed its magnificent hanging gardens and orange trees. Young Shar Yasmila (and her scheming court) rule this city- state of 70,000 souls. Anything can be bought and sold here, and any throat cut for a price. The City of Red Sands has seven districts: The Alabaster Citadel (castle), The Spires (temple), The Gardens (high), The Suq (market), Silver Street (artisan), The Forgotten Quarter (low), and The Old Quarter (slum). The Jewel of Borak. A tavern in the twisting back alleys of The Forgotten Quarter. Melted candles flicker in alcoves, and adventurers fill the cool air with spiced smoke and wild rumors.

1110. MAGANI OASIS

Bull frogs croak in the reeds of the Magani Oasis, a blue-green pool 20 feet across. A mean hippopotamus called The Boss attacks anyone who enters the water. At the bottom of the pond, a +1 scimitar named Sunscorch lies half-buried in the sand. Once per day, it can emit a flash of white-hot light that blinds all who see it for 1 round. Despite the oasis's humble size, there are always 2d12 travelers coming or going from Alkesh (709). There's a 3:6 chance some of these travelers have just been robbed and beaten by Wadim's Thieves (1208) and are recuperating from injury. They offer a cut of their cargo if the characters help them recover it.

804. CANYON MAZE

Within The Echoes canyonlands, a network of narrow ravines and gulches forms a disorienting maze. A navigator must pass a DC 18 Intelligence check to find an exit to the hex. Nomads tell tales of a flesh-eating efreeti who stalks the maze, tearing travelers apart in nighttime attacks. In truth, the creature haunting the maze is a vengeful canyon ape named Gori-Mannu who a long-dead sorcerer cursed with dim intelligence and the lifespan of ten men. Gori-Mannu has a cumulative 1:6 chance each day of finding creatures lost in the maze. He waits until night to attack, green eyes flashing like a mountain lion in the darkness.

907. RING OF GLASS MEN

Eight statues of humans made of blue-white glass stand in a circle with their arms thrown up protectively. They are a long-lost adventuring party called the The Flying Tigers, turned to glass by an ill-worded wish to a djinn. The restoration spell returns them to flesh. They gift their saviors an Alabaster Destrier and a golden key (see The Doors, 1509).

1203. THE RAS-GODAI

Behind a secret door deep within The Echoes, a hidden monastery lurks in a sheltered ravine. Its tiered roofs of black wood are bathed in the dim glow of red paper lanterns. Six Ras-Godai watch the ravine from spy holes; they each carry blowguns with three nuzule oil darts (see Poisons, pg. 27). Inside the monastery, 80 Ras- Godai assassins train from childhood under the half-demon Manazusa and his circle of five loyal oni. Aspirants are tested for many years in brutal trials of pain and self-mastery. Survivors earn the right to eat a single petal of the legendary black lotus flower that grows within the belly of the complex. Ras- Godai who endure the lotus's wracking magic earn the right to leave the monastery, but they must return yearly with an offering (or when called upon). Once a decade, the monastery travels for a night to another plane so the cyclical black lotus can bathe in the light of the blood moon from its origin world. On this night, it grants one wish when its petals open.

1205. MANTICORE NEST

A pride of six adult manticores and three kits dwell in a high mountain cave. Creatures who enter an adjacent hex have a 3:6 chance of being noticed during the day. 1d4 adults attack anything that look like a meal. In their nest, the bodies of runaway Omid (511), his bride Zaina (an Alkeshi dancer), and his loyal war scrag have found their final rest. Omid wears a silver ring — a cursed band that causes the wearer's WIS to drop 1d8 points, removable only by restoration. His shredded bag contains a dowry of 80 gp.

1208. WADIM'S THIEVES

An upstart group of 20 thugs. They're led by a thief named Wadim the Crooked who is on the run after betraying the Thieves' Guild in Alkesh (709). The thugs are unused to harsh desert life, and Wadim's lieutenant, Malchor, is planning a mutiny. They have broken the banditry code of honor by robbing everyone, including lone travelers; 2d8 thugs assail anyone in an adjacent hex. Everyone wants them gone.

1401. THE SCOURGE

An ancient desert dragon (pg. 43) makes its lair in the most desolate crag of the Gilzai. An unknown calamity corrupted its soul, and now it is a wicked force of chaos and destruction. It wings out over the desert at unpredictable intervals, throwing down lightning bolts at creatures it passes. Caravan trains would rather see all the bandits in The Djurum charging at them than spot The Scourge on the horizon. At the bottom of its labyrinthine lair, The Staff of Ord juts from a hill of 3,000 gp.

1409. VALE OF THE MOON

A still, hushed valley of pale sand nestles between a narrow range of scarlet peaks called the Silent Mountains. Not even the wind disturbs this barren place. The moon is always brightly visible, even at midday. The valley has a warping effect on time; one day of travel within is actually a week on the outside. All dunefiends in The Djurum originate here, slipping into the world between the gaps in reality. A random encounter has a 3:6 chance of being with 2d12 dunefiends.

1506. BURIED PYRAMID

A crumbling triangle of cut granite reaches five feet above the sand; the rest of the 80-foot tall pyramid looms beneath the surface. During sandstorms, the entire pyramid emerges in a nimbus of lacerating grit, and a pair of heavy, snake- inscribed doors in its side become accessible. As soon as the sandstorm abates, the desert once again swallows the pyramid beneath tons of earth.

1509. THE DOORS

Where the Vale of the Moon (1409) meets the Silent Mountains, a pair of towering doors 60 feet high rests in the rock, framed by a row of cyclopean pillars. A keyhole sits in the portal at chest height, but the lock won't open by any means other than the golden key last held by a long-lost adventuring party called The Flying Tigers (907). Rumors claim a mighty citadel where sorcerers and djinn walked the streets lies beyond The Doors, but nobody in The Djurum has passed through the silent gateway in a thousand years.