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Venture Captain Dennel Hamshanks ignores all pretense of pleasantries as he pounds into the meeting room in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. “Never time to do it right, is there? Gorum see us through this, then.” He grunts loudly levelling his glare at the entire room. “Ever been to Qadira? Religion is almost a fad down there, with new cults springing up like weeds and getting crushed just as quickly. It has been that way for centuries."
“But some make a mark—on Qadira or in the Chronicles. Three centuries ago, the archdevil Moloch, preaching surrender to the desert heat, suddenly became the rage. Qadirans walked into the desert just to die just as if the heat was their paradise. The most devout sought out the hidden Citadel of Flame, where a fearsome bull-headed idol of Moloch judged them and sent the worthy to Malebolge, the sixth layer of Hell. No surprise that Sarenrae’s priests launched a mighty crusade to demolish the citadel. After two weeks, a great sandstorm swallowed the expedition—and, it seemed, the citadel and its idol. Nothing more was heard from either."
“Until ten days ago, that is. Sandstorms regularly scour the Qadiran highlands, and this time they emptied an entire valley of dunes. Poking out of that valley, visible only to those soaring above—such as a flying Pathfinder wizard—was the lofty spire of a fortress: the Citadel of Flame, presumably."
“Hopefully we are the first to learn about its reappearance and we need to act fast. The Decemvirate doesn’t expect any trouble, so they’re sending you. But I do expect trouble—who knows what’s infesting that citadel? Get in there fast and find that idol—it could be the key to the entire cult. It’s likely statue-sized, maybe as big as me, and should have a bull’s head on it. And for Gorum’s sake be careful.”
Now, after a swift voyage to Sedeq and a tiring trek through the endless Qadiran dunes, the sun beats down on a maze of red slickstone, with delicate arches and towering columns called hoodoos dotting the landscape. Somewhere within this expanse lies the Citadel of Flame and within, the idol of Moloch.
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Tromos pauses at the crest of a dune to readjust his heavy pack. He dips two fingers into a small glass jar and scoops up another glob of chill cream, swathing the cooling poultice over his neck and forehead.
"It has been many months since I have felt the heavy press of the desert sun on the back of my neck," he opines, "not since my last days of study in Osirion. I have missed it, but the novelty has begun to erode."
Recapping the jar and stowing it in one pouch among many, he prepares to enter the ruins with his companions.
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Ket surveys the desert with a gleam in his eye. "I feel as if I had just got to the big city, and already I'm back in the desert. It's a funny place sometimes." The heat doesn't seem to bother the dark-skinned man much, although the tail poking out from under his desert robes makes the word "man" a bit of a stretch. Turning to the others, he introduces himself. "By the way, I'm Ket Han. Just joined up with the Society. Excited to get started. I've heard a great deal about these adventures we all go on."
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Rogar takes to the new assignment with somehow mixed feelings:"So we are to get inside the lands of our sworn enemies. I used to dream of this, leading the Taldan Host over the Jalrune river and deep into the lands the Quadiran had stolen so long ago. When I was younger I swore I'd see Quadira one day... seems I'll be fulfilling my oath although the circumstances will be quite different from what I expected..."
Rogar nods at Ket:"Nice to meet you, Ket. My name is Rogar. I'm sure you'll be a great help in dealing with whatever my dwell in these blasted sands!"
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Sedeq is a Qadiran slave-trading settlement located south of the Zho Mountains, and is known for its warm breezes and lush gardens.[1] The city offers much more than merely slaves, and the Qalli Spice Market alone is so large as to contain several smaller markets within it.
It is the eastern hub of the lucrative North Tack trading route, and countless goods make their way from the eastern empire of Kelesh through Sedeq to the Inner Sea.
Now, after a swift voyage to Sedeq and a tiring trek through the endless Qadiran dunes, the sun beats down on a maze of red slickstone, with delicate arches and towering columns called hoodoos dotting the landscape. Somewhere within this expanse lies the Citadel of Flame and within, the idol of Moloch. There is little comfort to be found in the hot sands of Qadira.
The path descends through a maze of cliffs, opening into a slot canyon of smooth red stone surrounded by towering hoodoos. At the far side, two hoodoos carved into enormous bull-headed men leer down on the canyon, while those nearby look like stylized flames. To either side, the canyon walls rise steeply in a series of rough ledges to the clifftops above. Brass doors on a massive wall of baked gray mud can be seen through an arch at the far side of the canyon.
As our heroes-to-be tread on the sands among the hoodoos, two masses of swirling flames erupt from the rocky slopes, and slowly converge on the travelers with the clear intent to char their bones and flesh!
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During their journey, Thovar seems quite pleased to be traveling through Qadira once more. "The sun makes the blond in my beard stand out, you know," he comments on more than one occasion--usually just after someone else complains about the heat.
When the party approaches the huge brass doors, he suddenly becomes more serious, but before he has time to study the door up close, the fire creatures attack!
"Be gone, spirits of the desert! Let us pass in peace, for we travel with Abadar's blessing!" he shouts, then steps back next to Rogar and draws his warhammer and shield.
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Tromos's throw goes wide of the mark and instead of striking the fire elemental shatters upon the ground between the creature and Thovar splashing both with freezing liquid! The creature's flames hiss and diminish as the cold strikes it.
With a keening both of the flame creatures swirl forward to attack, on going for Tromos, the other for Rogar. Tromos's armour easily deflects a glancing blow, while Rogar is struck with a fiery appendage, but manages to swiftly beat out the flames before they can take hold and set him afire.
The Taldan then cuts the flame creature cleanly in half with a single powerful slash.
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"Do remember to describe the sensation, Thovar," Tromos quips back. "It has only been of late that I moved the recipe from theory ro practice-"
He pauses to step back from the fray, unsling his bow, and drill an arrow towards the burning mass
"-but I was unable to draw any articulate feedback from the first round of test subjects."
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Hampered by cover and combat Tromos's arrow is still able to hit home and put paid to the flame creature which winks out as it crashes to the sand.
Glancing around the canyon everyone, save Alafair, notices two mummified bodies in an alcove near one of the great bull-headed statues that flank the stone arch. The bodies are ancient and dessicated, but were clearly victims of the desert rather than properly prepared bodies, they are still mostly covered in sand.
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Thovar glares at Tromos but his look betrays his grudging respect of the alchemist's skill with bow and bottle. "Well shot! And it really wasn't that cold.... just a stark contrast to the heat and all...."
The dwarf's wincing as he rubs warmth back into his shoulder says otherwise.
"What do you all make of this arch?"
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Ket Han to notices the partial removal of the ancient Kellish carvings. Removing some of the sand from the bodies reveals a number of intact items pressed in between them, and though most of their equipment is long since pitted and rendered useless, four arrows look new made and a number of small glass vials are still filled with liquid and tightly sealed.
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Thovar recognizes that the sunburst symbol upon the helm and repeated about the corpses armaments is the holy symbol of Sarenrae. These ancient bodies must presumably have been part of that lost long ago crusade against Moloch.
There are four vials of bless weapon in total, and the four strangely unmarred arrows.
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Beyond the arch, the red stone hoodoos open up to a massive citadel. The stronghold appears to have two parts: the nearest is a squat, square fortress covered in decaying plaster and topped by an enormous minaret from which a thin plume of smoke escapes. The plaster walls are richly decorated with intricate geometric carvings of dancing flames, and smaller minarets rise from the corners. At the east end of that building, the valley floor drops suddenly and a windowless second structure perches on a plateau beyond, rising gracefully from the void in a tangle of minarets and spires. Even though centuries of sand have scoured away most of the gold leaf that once decorated the structure, the sunlight reflecting off the deep red stone of the citadel makes the entire structure glow like a massive bonfire. A delicate, red, enclosed bridge links the first fortress with the second one beyond. A pair of massive brass doors covered in a flowing decorative script blocks access to the near fortress.
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After a few tries, the brass door give in and open with a deep, low creaking sound into a richly-decorated room. This entry hall is clearly meant to impress visitors. Many rows of stout pillars, carved to resemble writhing flames, surround the center of the room where a spiral staircase, devoid of rails or walls, leads up to the minaret above. A large bonfire burns in the middle of the staircase, casting illumination throughout the room. The walls are covered with glyphs carved in gold filigree, as well as stylized efreeti faces spaced every five feet. Apart from the upward staircase, two sets of double doors offer ways of venturing beyond this impressive room. Both are located in the eastern wall, one set in the northern section, the second in the southern section. The ground is covered with sand.
As the Pathfinders enter the entrance hall, Thovar, Tromos, and Ket spot faintly distinguishable footsteps in the sand leading towards the staircase. They also hear a rustling noise upstairs.
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Rogar gives a raucus laugh:"Mmmmh... singers in a place like this? I suppose a place like this could be ideal for some crazed opera entusiasts meeting..." then the warior's mien suddenly gets more serious as he points at the stairs:"I suppose we have better proceed upward and meet these singers... don't you agree?"
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"Before we go up there, shouldn't we check down here and make sure they can't get behind us?"
Ket melts into the shadows around the edge of the room and does what he can to check the other two doors. If they're currently closed, he'll listen, then signal to the others to be quiet as he opens them very carefully.
Ket hears nothing and sees nothing out of the ordinary upon either door. Opening the the northern room you see the walls are lined with weapons: crossed halberds, spears, and longswords, all decorated with flame motifs. Two shields with portraits of Moloch towering over the Citadel of Flame sit near the ceiling. A plain obsidian bench sits on the floor, with a skeleton splayed across it. The skeleton’s armor is bedecked in stylized flames, and its scimitar’s hilt is shaped like an idol of Moloch. The room is lit by two torches. Double doors identical to the ones Nicolae just opened are on the other side of the room.
As Ket opens the door he hears chanting coming from behind the wall between the two sets of doors. Then the skeleton upon the bench before him jerks into life rising up its head slowly turning to fix biurning eyes upon the tiefling!