Surviving the Wandering 1/1/25-1/21/25

The Fortune and Favor Society has unearthed a lost sacred site in the desert and is offering a chance to those who prove themselves during The Wandering to be the first to delve into it. They will, of course, take their customary 40% of any valuables discovered. Nebet stumbles upon a nest of sand vipers the first day while heading deep into the desert and barely escapes death thanks to the intervention of Khepri. They decide to band together.

On the second day, Aneksi comes upon three gnolls feasting on the remains of a young boy. Patxi rolls into the fight and buries their macuahuitl in the side of one of the gnolls. Nebet and Khepri hear the fight and join in. Aneksi speaks words of power and instantly slays a gnoll. Nebet tries to make a gnoll erupt into hideous laughter, which accidentally causes her voice to boom like thunder. Patxi skewers the second gnoll as it turns to run and then snaps the neck of the third.

The gnolls have a sealed letter and a dagger that isn't gnoll-made. Khepri takes them, and Nebet reads it that night. It's a letter of encouragement to the dead boy. Fihr finds a pair of adolescent dwarves beset by sand-bound elemental guardians who guard tombs but may be freed if the tomb is robbed or desecrated.

Anubians--Sand spirits, also called sand-bound. They are attacking a pair of dwarven adolescent twins (brother and sister). Reklah, the brother, snaps his sling just as the rest of the party arrives. Breklah, the sister, cleaves through the neck of the first Anubian, dissolving it into the sand, and two of the other ones tear her apart. Patxi soon avenges her on one of them, striking it with their acid-etched sword. Nebet strikes down the other with a perfectly placed mote of light. Fihr whispers, "Slay the kith-killer," and dispatches a fleeing Anubian with an arrow. After the combat and a prayer to Dumathoin, he finds it has been turned into an elemental bane arrow.

A flurry of ranged attacks slays the final Anubian as it surfaces from beneath the sand. At camp, Rekla reveals that his uncle, Elgar, is trying to take over the family's bookbinding business and kick Reklah and Brecklah out. The next day, Khepri and Fihr consider stealing camels from a family of sand giants but decide against it. With Recklah in tow, the Party has decided to hunt a Sand Wyrm that is rumored to be in the area. Patxi finds some faint tracks and begins leading the party towards the creature. On the fifth night, as they close on the lair of the Sandwyrm, they are awakened by the sound of a running battle between a pack of jackals and a Giant Scorpion.

The party faces the giant scorpion. It strikes Fihr with its tail before they finish it off. Patxi and others take a few souvenirs. Specifically a pair of claws and the tail stinger.

The party finds the sandworm's lair; it is nestled into a set of small sandstone cliffs. Fihr heads inside and finds a paralyzed woman just as the sandworm attacks the rest of the party. Aneksi and Nebet are nearly killed by the initial strike and retreat as Patxi harpoons the worm. Fihr puts an arrow through the worm's eye, and it stabs him through the chest in retaliation. The worm spears Khepri with its tail, killing her. Her spirit is led off into the desert by the vestiges, possibly to become one. Fihr takes down the worm with a final shot from his bow, and Aneksi runs into the worm's lair to help the paralyzed woman. Aneksi restores the paralyzed woman, who is instantly covered from head to foot in armor. The now armored woman finds her large spark rifle and looks to fight the worm, but it's already slain.

Nebet searches Khepri's body for items of personal significance but doesn't find anything. Patxi begins dismantling the sandworm and ends up covered in sandworm poison, poisoning them. 300 gp worth of raw loot (gold, silver, copper, about 11 gems) Several broken trade goods/caravans (rugs made into nesting material, etc.) Large rib bone of a huge creature (dunewinder, sandworm?) covered in small runes carved into a javelin. (Evocation, Javelin of Lightning) Quiver made of dunewineder leather covered in symbols that look like a godlike thing. (Conjuration, Quiver of Haku) Segmented armored gloves with pictures of a sand ogre. (Transmutation, Gauntlets of Ogre Power) Slightly cracked large clay pot with a rune in the bottom. (Transmutation, Pot of Awakening) Aneksi focuses her inner reserves of magic to restore Patxi. The woman's name is Ipwet. She can conjure fire. She was one of six companions who were eaten by the sandworm. The party settles in for the night in the sandworm's lair. Nebet tells the story but tells it a little too long. The party gives the sandworm eggs as one of the trophies to compensate. The party waits in the rain as the Fortune and Favor society decides who to give the contract to.