Drifting over the dunes on the travelling sand boat tavern dubbed the Last Call is usually a serene affair, however a wildlife attack necessitating repairs to the foil and a fast approaching storm mean the adventurers need to move fast or be caught.
In this session the adventurer’s transport is damaged by sand sharks, creating the need to scavenge for materials. The vessel is caught on rocks which reveal the opening to a hidden temple which the adventurers explore, finding the materials needed and awakening a giant sand worm that threatens to swallow them whole1.
Setting:
This narrative takes place in the Walker Desert, a vast desert full of life well adapted to a parched existence in a harsh climate. The adventurers are travelling on the sand boat, the Last Call, which uses adapted hydrofoils to skim across the surface of the sand. During the session, the vessel wrecks on an outcrop of rocks, housing the entrance to an underground temple.
It is late morning, near the middle of the day. On the horizon there is a storm gathering, which is sending the local wildlife into a panic.
Story Beats:
Waylaid by Carpenter’s Hammerhead Sharks
Caught on the temple
Shaitan awakens
Waylaid by Carpenters Hammerhead Sharks:
We start with a gentle cruise over the desert sands, with the Last Call guided steadily by Captain Shannan. They’re an older seafaring type, with two missing fingers which they lost to sandworms (Tiny creatures, the size of earthworms), and have proven themselves to be a reliable character.
During this multi-day journey, the adventurers have been welcomed to sit back and relax while the small crew take care of the day to day operations. At this point, if the characters don’t already know each other, then a suggested opening is them all being separate passengers, who can then come up with their own explanation as to why they’re voyaging.
Soon however, Captain Shannan announces to all that the sands are agitated and they need to slow down. Glancing over the side of the boat, the adventurers can see shark fins rising and falling through the sand. Quickly this advances to probing glances against the side of the vessel, before they escalate to outright latch onto the underside.
With the boat quaking beneath them, the adventurers are directed into the hull to try and repel the boarders. Here they may attempt to fight off the sand sharks who are currently attempting to eat the ship beneath them.
However, this is a futile task as the sharks soon eat through one of the foil supports which tears off sending the vessel out of control careening through the dunes.
Caught on the temple:
Quickly recovering from the crash, everything that wasn’t secured has been strewn about as if a giant has given everything a good shake. Captain Shannan and the crew are thankfully also (relatively) unharmed and have begun assessing the damage from outside the boat near the stump of the torn foil.
On seeing the adventurers approach, Shannan explains how they don’t have a replacement for the torn foil directly on hand. Under normal circumstances they would be able to make repairs with the damaged materials, however they’ve been scattered in the shark infested deep sand. They might be able to jury-rig a solution, however on eyeing a storm on the horizon they also suggest the adventurers explore the local area and see if there’s anything else that may help as none of them want to be drowned by a water storm in the desert.
The Last Call has come to rest on an outcrop of rocks upon which several supply crates from the boat have been scattered. Upon investigation, the adventurers can find that some of these have fallen down into a medium-sized cave entrance with a torch sconce embedded in one wall.
Following this tunnel there is no further lighting aside from what little there is in the entrance tunnel. The adventurers soon find themselves in a small circular antechamber, with 3 exits: one right, one left, and a locked door straight ahead.
The door straight ahead is locked, and is decorated with an intricate mural depicting all of the lifeforms of the desert. There is a empty circular space in the middle where the key (assembled from the other rooms) may be inserted.
The door to the left takes the adventurers into a room which at first glance appears to be covered in leathery snake tails. On closer inspection, some of the tails begin to writhe as dozens of sandworms in the room awaken from their slumber. Any attempt to remove a tail will be met with swarming bites, although it can be figured out that the worms fear large quantities of water. While there are dozens of scaly snake tails, there is only one proper leathery worm tail.
The door to the right opens into a room filled with shelf upon shelf of worm heads, and a small basin in front of which with an inscription that reads: Use thine head to paint me red, within thee resides thy key2. The adventurers need to make a tribute of blood into the basin, which will then reveal the correct worm head.
Combining both the worm head and tail will create an ouroboros ring that may be inserted into the door to open the main chamber.
Shaitan awakens:
Within the main chamber the first thing the adventurers see is a single shaft of sunlight drifting down onto a golden sheet of metal depicting scenes from a religion long forgotten that is about the right size and shape what they need; along with other valuable ritual materials.
The second is the floor shifting in the chamber. While the same colour as the sand the adventurers have grown used to, this is a tough leathery skin that sheds waves of sand as a giant sand worm awakens in the chamber, far larger than any the party have seen yet.
Disturbed by the adventurers entering the chamber, and feeling the damp of the approaching storm it thrashes into a frenzy. Unlike the smaller sandworm varieties, the party does not carry enough water to drown this one. They will need to take care of this the traditional adventuring way before the sandworm collapses the temple in on itself (in 1D6 + 3 turns), or before the storm arrives and floods the chamber sealing it away forever with the adventurers still inside.
Defeating, or circumventing, Shaitan (the giant sandworm) yields the golden sheet to repair the Last Call. Captain Shannan is grateful for the adventurer’s assistance and quickly rigs the sheet to the boat. The storm would have wrecked the vessel even further, and being stuck in the desert days away from civilization would have meant certain death for them all.
As they once again set out over the sands barely in front of the storm, the adventurers can just make out other dunes in the distance collapsing as something massive moves underneath them for the first time in millennia.
What did you think? Any ideas, feedback, or do you intend to use this in a session? Let me know!
This session was originally written with D&D in mind, and the original prompt for this session was the song Last Call by Doomtree [Link].
Cowritten/Edited with the assistance of Alsanna.
It’s a fiction story set in a desert, of course there’s a giant sand worm.