ADVENTURES ⟩ THE LOST CITY OF ELUSHA
Zephiram’s proposed plan to possess the holy rowers offers a win for both the wizard and the heroes, who will likely want the skyreme as a prize. Lacking Zephiram’s propulsion, the island will continue to coast on its momentum and then begin falling back into the Sea of Death. The heroes will have just enough time to organize their evacuation.
They heroes might also choose to maroon Zephiram on Elusha. In this case, the wizard brings Elusha closer and closer to Kananite islands, unnerving locals, who eventually send a party to destroy the Gates and sink the island. You can also have Jethro destroy one of the Gates with his hammer to force the situation.
If heroes loot the island, many of the treasures only yield credit value in a functioning market. Heroes will probably need to undertake a downtime endeavor to develop such a market.
The Company must be defeated or otherwise neutralized before the heroes (and Zephiram) can take control of the Lord’s Fortune. They’re fanatics, and Jethro in particular won’t give up on his mission without a fight. But the company men won’t fight to death, and the soldiers are just mercenaries who give up as soon as it’s clear they’re losing.
The Lord’s Fortune. If the heroes gain control of the ship, encourage them to rename it to their liking. If they’re so inclined, they can bring all the Elushan dreamers on the island onto the skyreme as passengers.
Lore. Zephiram doesn’t know Navigation or Skyremes. With the rowers, he can move the ship and even propel it to the heroes’ nearby home island, but he can’t figure out how to get anywhere distant in the Skysea, nor can he land the skyreme safely in a skyharbor.
Heroes can gain this lore from the Company—Trademaster Abimelku knows Navigation and all the company men know Skyremes. If things don’t work out between the heroes and the Company that way, the heroes might also find a Book of Glyphs in Abimelku’s cabin with these lore references.
Jethro’s Horn of the Lord is inscribed with patterns that magically link it to the holy rowers and the wraith of Adod. It requires both the Song and Lord Adod lore to use. As a rest activity, a hero with the horn, and these two lore types, can make a 3|6 compel challenge roll to figure out how to summon the wraith. On a struggle, the hero ends their rest with -1 spirit and can try again later. On a failure, the horn’s magic is permanently dispelled.
On any outcome, a hero understands with disturbing clarity how the wraith was created from human sacrifices on Syre—not unlike the process of transferring souls into Shinarian vessels with a tophet. But instead of a single soul transferred into a clay body, the wraith is composed of multiple souls mixed horrifically together.
The wraith can only exist permanently within the holy rowers, so if Zephiram has taken its place, the wraith inevitably dissipates and the horn is useless. But studying the horn points the heroes to a greater awareness of the disturbing magic that’s now sanctioned in the holy capital of Tel-Kanan.
Fears about the curse of old Shinar are not unfounded. Amurah, the Clay King, oversaw a regime that forcibly immolated people alive to transfer their souls into statues—some of which Amurah could control directly.
The true reasons for Shinar’s fall are outside the scope of this adventure. But surviving Elushans, if awakened, may recover memories about the nature of their kingdom’s collapse—and perhaps uncover clues about the fate of its insane and immortal ruler.