Sand Women are Nothing but Trouble

03/31/13

    Yes, we played Dark Sun on Easter. Only one player decided to spend time with his family, instead of play.
    The characters woke up and immediately began memorizing spells, while Ren photosynthesized. Afterward, they set out to find water. Cyrus created water for those who failed. They packed up their camp and set out into the rocky badlands.

    Two hours into their walk, the players felt a rumbling. Roan and Kaza were surprised, while the others prepared themselves for some sort of attack. A bulette burst up from the ground and bit Kaza. Kaza was trapped, half in the bulettes mouth, legs dangling out. He fell unconscious. The party attacked the bulette and it fled into it's tunnel, with Kaza in its mouth. The party gave chase.
    Kaza was bleeding out and the party was having a difficult time harming the armored creature. Cyrus teleported onto the creatures face and grabbed Kazas foot. The creature clawed Ren and wounded him badly. Cyrus teleported Kaza and himself to safety. The party continued to harass the bulette, with magic missile and arrows, and drove it away.
    The group found a nice, large, solid boulder to sit on. They rested and recuperated. Cyrus took a nap.

   Afterward, Yaotl decided to go hunting. While hunting, he was jumped by a small group of slavers. They beat him with clubs, but a show of magical might sent the slavers running.
    “He's a defiler! Run!” They shouted.
    Then the party found some shade, to wait out high sun.
    After high sun, the characters marched on for a couple hours. Roan noticed a shift in the weather.
    “A sandstorm is coming, we need to find shelter, now!” He stressed.
    Ren and Aziza hurried to find shelter from the coming storm. Aziza found a rock formation they could hide in. Shortly afterward, the sandstorm hit, funneled down the canyon, it was extremely powerful. The group huddled together, seeing no alternative, except to wait it out. Cyrus took a nap.
    The storm ragged on into the night, so the characters laid down to sleep. Ren stayed up to watch. Four hours later, Ren heard someone calling his name. He could make out a heat silhouette in the storm, it was a woman. She called him again.

Admit it, you'd make the same mistake.

    Ren was captivated and invited her into their sheltered area. He offered her water, but she walked over to Ren and started caressing his muscled body. Ren stuttered and the back of his mind was screaming that something was wrong, but her soft skin and feminine touch soon overcame his willpower. They began to kiss.
    Sand flooded into his mouth and he found himself surrounded by it. It's coarseness grinding into his body. He tried to scream, but his mouth was flooded with even more sand. He flailed as much as possible, but he couldn't make much noise, as he was pinned and choking.
    Aziza woke up, hearing the struggling Ren, and screamed that they were under attack. She struck at the sand monster, but her blades passed right through it's body. With Ren still pinned, Cyrus grabbed his wrist and phased them both. The sand that was not in direct contact with Ren's body fell through him. He was able to cough up most of the sand, which unphased as he did so. Ren felt extremely weak.
    Yaotl attacked the creature, but his blade passed through it. Kaza attempted to build up a static discharge, but failed. The creature attacked Yaotl and scraped some flesh from his arm. Suddenly, Yaotl felt incredibly weak.
    “Attack it's mind!” Aziza shouted, as she began her mental assault.
    Roan joined Aziza and began striking the creature in the mindscape. The creature fought back, striking Aziza with it's mind. Roan and Aziza did their best, but Aziza was soon overwhelmed. The creature forced her out of the mindscape. Aziza collapsed, unable to move or speak.
    Ren recovered enough and began battling the creature with his mind. Cyrus released phase and Yaotl rushed to heal Ren. Kaza, again, attempted to build a static charge and failed.
    Ren and Roan continued to attack the creatures mind and smashed through it's defenses. Ren stunned it and it fled into the sandstorm. The characters were unable to follow and it quickly moved out of mental range.
    Ren was traumatized after the encounter and sat down. He wouldn't speak to anyone, or drink water. Cyrus went back to sleep and, after healing Ren, Yaotl laid down as well. Kaza stayed up for a few minutes longer, but, he too, went back to sleep. Aziza stayed up and fed Ren water. She kept telling him that he was okay. That the thing was gone, but she didn't fully understand what had happened to him. An hour before sunrise, she passed out.

A real threat on Athas.

    After prayers and a quick breakfast, the characters set out again. They walked in silence, except for Cyrus' complaints about his feet hurting. Finally, they came to an upturned wagon, with goods and bits of goods scattered around the area. They drew weapons and approached cautiously.
    There was no sign of animals. Cyrus began looking through the scattered bits for a bow string. Yaotl found a human man, a few feet away, whose flesh had been scoured off on the left side. It appeared he had tried to find shelter from the sandstorm, but failed.
    “Come see this!” He shouted to the others.

    Yaotl pulled out his scimitar and poked the body, making sure it wasn't going to get up and attack. The rest of the group walked up to the dead man.
    “Poor guy.” Kaza whispered.
    “What a horrible was to die.” Cyrus remarked.
    Yaotl reached up and rolled the body away from the shallow shelter he had attempted to hide in. Behind him, he saw, what looked like, a bundle of hair. The hair moved and they saw the face of a small human girl.
    Ren surmised, “He died protecting her.”