Landing on Elusha

As the heroes approach closer, they notice a wind vortex that swirls around the top of the island. The wind further complicates landing (see "Landing" below). 

Elusha is a dense, urban environment of bare stone. Treacherous winds make the prospect of landing even more dangerous. 

Climbing down. Heroes can use ropes (or magic) to climb down onto the island, leaving their aircraft in the sky—provided a pilot remains onboard. There are two places to do this safely: 

• The rooftop of the Tall Building (1), which projects out beyond the wind vortex

• The Ziggurat Entrance (6), which is below the wind vortex

Climbing down anywhere else on the island is a risky prospect. The strange wind flings the aircraft this way and that. Unless a hero has some means of floating, they must succeed on a 4|8 Climb challenge, taking -1 stamina on a struggle and suffering a hard fall from 2 heights on a failure.

Landing an aircraft. The Dry Canal (4) is the only safe-looking place for a balloon or skyreme to land—though danger lurks below its stones. Make sure to describe the canal's slimy appearance as the heroes approach. 

Heroes may try to land on the relatively broad flank of the ziggurat. However, Zephiram's wind makes this impossible. The wind simply flings the aircraft away. Heroes briefly hear Zephiram's voice on the wind if they do this. 

Landing anywhere else on the island inevitably damages the aircraft enough to disable it. There's simply too much uneven, rock-hard rubble. 

Most locations in Elusha share these features.

Acrid dust. A film of biege dust covers all exterior surfaces. The dry canal is an exception—it's covered in slime.

This dusty film has no mechanical effect, but it smells caustic. The film's origin is the substance of the Sea of Death itself. Elusha had been submerged in the Sea's caustic, condensed liquid for centuries. When Elusha rose above the clouds, the sun evaporated this liquid, leaving behind this nasty film. 

Elegant ruins. No buildings still stand in Elusha in their original form, but heroes can catch glimpses of the city's once-grand architectural style. Most buildings were three stories high, made of fired brick, some of which are covered in faded blue paint. 

Rooftops were flat and open with steplike crenelations surrounding them. Many rooftops contained gardens, which are now dust.

Remnants of fountains are everywhere—at street intersections, within the courtyards of private residences, built into the sides of walls—now all dry and dusty. 

Strange wind. No matter where the heroes land, they notice a vortex swirling close above the city and through the Ziggurat's gates (5). 

Heroes can find citizens of Elusha in areas 1, 2, and 3. These Shinarians are inert statues, frozen in various states of benign domestic activity. The interactions here apply to all Elushan dreamers on the island. 

Sleepwalking Dreamers

If characters speak any language around the statues, they come to a kind of "sleepwalking" half-life. They go about their daily lives, completely ignoring the heroes. If the heroes try to talk or interact with the Elushans, it's clear that the Elushans are simply not aware of them. 

If the heroes cease talking, after a few moments, the sleepwalking Shinarians stop moving. Remaining quiet near these Shinarians keeps them inert. 

If heroes attack or are abusive to a sleepwalking Elushan, they become inert.

Once the Company arrives (see below), any sleepwalking Elushans seem perturbed. They ask each other (in Shinarian), “what is that horrible screaming noise?" and point at the Company's skyreme. 

Waking a Dreamer

The calamity that befell Shinar left these Elushans without an animating spirit to their souls. Spoken language functions as a kind of wind-up impulse, but it's not enough to jar the Elushans' souls into a truly wakeful state. 

An Arbiter who successfully casts the Commune spell on a sleepwalking Elushan can take -1 spirit to temporarily supply the Elushan with an animating spirit. The Elushan wakes up, becomes cognizant of their surroundings, and can understand and interact with other characters. 

However, an Elushan awoken this way has no memories. Also, this awakened state only lasts about an hour. These Shinarians are not great fighters and will shy from combat unless coaxed. 

Permanently Waking a Dreamer

A character with the Code of the Clay King lore can spend a rest activity carving forms into the body of an Elushan dreamer, attempting to permanently wake them up. This character makes a Maneuver challenge. If they're also an Arbiter, they have compel advantage on this roll.