To Warm Sands

To Warm Sands is the eighth adventure in the Heroes of Axminster series, ran by the player of Mindryl and Linhart. In it, the White Wyrm of the Wyrmclaw tries to assassinate the party and steal Enslucis, prompting a journey to Adrymalag, Krosstone.

To Warm Sands
Sylvin, mourning the loss of So, holds a funeral for him, then Jax and Sylvin travel to their land to hold another funeral for Zephiel. There, they discover Okt living secretly in Jax’s house, leading to an argument almost ending in Okt’s demise, but Sylvin convinces Jax to let him join. They head back to Durnovala, where Lilly and Linhart are upset at them leaving without informing them, and where they also hire Gruff, the building manager. Jax and Sylvin kill a stone giant in the Arena. Then, when heading back to their land, the party is ambushed by the White Wyrm, an assassin and current leader of the Wyrmclaw, who tries to kill the party and steal Enslucis and Halani’s journal, but fails.

The party heads to Adrymalag, Krosstone, where the White Wyrm said her client resides. They manage to convince Mairwen, Gruff’s daughter, to take them to Tuvaru, Krosstone by ship, where they have to sneak in since the town is hunting for a changeling thief. They find the Jester’s Puzzle Box in the sands of Krosstone, but solve it with ease, obtaining the Link Rings.

On the way to Sylnsig the party stumble into an underground oasis - a pit of water underground that the ground collapsed into, finding ancient cave paintings depicting archaic forms of gods, and skeletal remains. In Sylnsig, Jax and Sylvin harass some fisherman while invisible, but Sylvin donates fishing gear to an orphanage. Sylvin meets Daemit in an alley, who's stealing to survive. Sylvin offers to take him with him, though Jax doesn't like that. Sylvin knights Daemit into Daemitry, and has him carry his shield, though never finds out anything on Daemit's history.

Adrymalag
Linhart Reid offers some advice for getting into Adrymalag, then leaves. Jax, Lilly, and Okt manage to enter the city, but Sylvin is stopped at the gates as he is commanded to speak to the queen immediately. He is dragged to the castle, and as the other three try to avoid capture, Jax is found out and dragged to the castle as well. Queen Gaia introduces herself kindly, and apologizes for the guards' behavior, offering Sylvin and his friends a lavish lifestyle as one of her generals - along with Tarkim Zal and the White Wyrm - thanks to him holding Enslucis. He asks for a day to think about it.

The members of the party (including Okt and Lilly, who snuck back into the castle) are treated to fancy rooms and allowed to wander through the castle. Jax talks to the White Wyrm, and asks her who sent her, and she laughs and says she threw the fight to lure them to Adrymalag. Tarkim Zal tries to fight Sylvin with the Fryne Val, his honour hurt (though pleased to hear that Zephiel, the earth genasi, had died), though he is stopped quickly by the White Wyrm. She says she still wants to kill the party, but the queen won't allow it - that wouldn't stop her for Linhart, though.

Jax requests a private audience with the queen. He sees through her answering several tough questions with lies - she says she's never dealt with demons, before answering that she used to, and that she didn't know where his mother was. When he kept asking she sent him to the dungeon. Okt, upon hearing he had been sent there, used the Link Ring to swap places with him, freeing Jax but resulting in him being captured. Jax goes through an entire adventure in his mind, but upon being returned him Sylvin, and Daemit are captured.

In the Adrymalag Catacombs, Jax, Okt, Sylvin, and Daemitry try to escape, but are unable to. Lilly follows the group down and uses the link ring with Linhart, letting him break them out, then sneaks back to the group as a fly. The party turns invisible and follow Linhart out of the catacombs, while he retrieves their goods. The party reconvene with Odis on their way out, who was locked in the dungeon, and break him out and take him with them. After leaving the city, they run across a Vomostin scout, and they ask the party to come with them and help them wage war on Adrymalag.

The Battle for Adrymalag
The party holds council with the now-king Nag'Ile of Vomostin. In addition, they reconvene with Nino, Miguel, Sakenitexochitl, Mindryl, and Ariadne. They come up with a plan. Linhart primes explosives at the bottom of a guard tower, distracting the guards as they march the army through, and Nag'Ile, some scouts, and the now 12-large party sneak into the catacombs.

Linhart, Ariadne, Jax, Okt, Odis, and Nino continued navigating the caverns, dispatching some guards that came their way. Eventually, they ran into the White Wyrm. She threatened them, but Linhart wounded her, so she reacted by drying to collapse the catacombs down on them. Rushing, they plowed further into the cavern, locating the source of magical energy that Krosstone was using to hypnotize prisoners. Jax and Okt stayed there while the rest escaped, and they detonated the antimagic bomb, teleporting to the surface moments before it went off. On the surface, they saw the horror of the Vomostin army being torn apart by Krosstone and the Gaia's green dragon, but the Krosstone army was newly crippled thanks to the connection being severed.

Meanwhile, Lilly, Sylvin, Mindryl, Sakenitexochitl, Daemitry, Nag'Ile, and Miguel went above ground to the castle to confront Gaia herself. Some harsh words were exchanged, where she claims she recovered the Kahbyune herself 58 years ago. They attack her, but are barely able to do anything, and she wounds all of them easily. However, she takes on a new tactic when she senses the hypnosis breaking, and tries to blow them all up with lightning. Miguel, Lilly, and Sylvin are able to stall long enough that everyone can escape, besides Sylvin - however, he escapes harmed, but alive.

The dragon appears to have rescued Gaia from the rubble, as it swooped down before disappearing, and neither her nor Kahbyune were found in the wreckage. Nag'Ile thanked the party for their help, giving them 8000 gold and naming all of them as thanes of Vomostin. In addition, he recovered Jax's mother from the wreckage, but she was only semi-conscious; they offered to heal her then send her to Nyriss. Linhart, Miguel, and Sakenite left, but Mindryl joined the party.

Characters
PCs: Guests in the Battle for Adrymalag: NPCs:
 * Sylvin Fawl
 * Jax Poer
 * Lilly Ixewa
 * Okt
 * Nino Fezim
 * Odis
 * Miguel
 * Sakenitexochitl Sigrid
 * Mindryl Everhana
 * Ariadne
 * Linhart Reid
 * Queen Gaia
 * White Wyrm
 * Tarkim Zal
 * Daemit
 * Nag'Ile
 * Gruff
 * Mairwen
 * Friendly Jester
 * Xavul Arroway