Adventure Hooks (CBN)

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After one visit to Sahu, a timid party of adventurers may want leave and never return. This is only natural. Some would call such heroes intelligent or, at the very least, discreet for cutting their losses so early. In fact, if the adventurers are frightened of Sahu, you, as the DM, have been doing your job right! Here are a few more strategies that you can use to lure a reluctant party of heroes back to the island. Additionally, they can also serve as independent adventure hooks for a background even distantly related to the tale of the Necromancer Kings.
==The Pirate Necromancers==
While on the mainland, the party hears rumors of increased pirate activity in the waters near Sahu. The heroes might be hired by a wealthy merchant to protect his caravel on its voyage past the dangerous island, or they could be enlisted by a nervous town council to perform a reconnaissance of the island and search for the “secret” pirate base.
The adventure itself can be relatively straightforward, with the party first encountering the pirate ship Scrofula (see Sarzec's NPC sheet) near the island. During the battle, one of the zombies' eyes begins to glow with a red light as Vermissa begins to watch the engagement from the distant Garden of Eternity. Before the party hacks the zombie apart, the adventurers hear her speak through the undead's mouth. Although Vermissa does not reveal her identity, her cold voice is clearly female: “Welcome to the Isle of Serenity, you fools. You will all be feeding my servants ere long!” The malevolent laughter only ends when they hack the zombie apart.
Note that the DM can make this simple encounter much more difficult for an experienced group of heroes by placing Pizentios among the crew. Of course, Pizentios will teleport to safety if the battle looks hopeless, taking Sarzec with him. A search of the ship after the battle reveals a sea chest filled with minor booty taken from the Scrofula's latest victims, Sarzec's spellbook, and a rutter (a navigational aid) that will help the PCs locate Pizentios's tower once they decipher its codes (requiring comprehend languages and several days to decrypt).
However, while the party is pondering its course of action, a powerful storm rolls across the sea toward them, driving them inexorably towards the reefs in the Horn of Sahu. The storm has been conjured by Vermissa, and she intends to dash their ship to pieces. Unless the party can dispel her unnatural weather, this will likely be their fate. Although the heroes manage somehow to survive the shipwreck, they are now marooned on the northern tip of Sahu.
==Bhakau's Return==
Pizentios's first master, Nebt Bhakau, was the Court Astrologer in Afyal, a wealthy island kingdom near Sahu, quietly manipulating events according to the wishes of Vermissa in the distant Garden of Eternity. But Bhakau's role was eventually uncovered, and the Astrologer was captured by a small group of wizards who blocked his contingencies and prevented him from fleeing. In captivity, Bhakau is said to have written the Book of Shadows with the help of minor familiars who had not deserted him. The necromancer was tortured and finally killed, his body divided into six pieces, each individually burned and buried separately in distant parts of the island. The Astrologer's tower in the royal palace was razed, and records of his very existence were obliterated.
For any regular necromancer, Bhakau's demise would have been final. But the evil god Thasmudyan had granted Bhakau a Dark Gift: the ability to regenerate (one reason why the wizard could survive countless torturing sessions and dictate a book after his tongue had been cut out). This power would have enabled the necromancer to rise up from his ashes, were they not sealed in individual containers and buried separately.
Back on Sahu, Vermissa has decided that enough time (almost 30 years!) has passed, and she can safely attempt to restore one of her favorite dead servants back to life without arousing undue suspicion in Afyal. Note that, without major access to the sphere of Divination, Vermissa must rely heavily on allies and spies for information.
The necromancer was a valuable ally, an excellent field agent for her Cult of Worms, and prophesied in the Nycoptic Manuscripts to be instrumental in her release (see below). She instructs Pizentios to sail to Afyal (on the Scrofula or a suitable replacement procured in Misbahd), where he breaks into the cemetery and steals some burial remains of a known accomplice in Bhakau's execution. The necromancer conveys the ashes back to Vermissa, who interrogates the executioner's spirit, learning the locations of the six urns.
Vermissa has no desire to send Pizentios away on a lengthy quest of this kind, so she arranges for living cult members on the mainland to hire various groups of mercenaries and adventurers to discreetly find the six urns for her. The urns are all located in inhospitable places (like at the bottom of the sea, buried at the base of a scorpion-filled ravine, or entrusted in the care of a neutral dragon, genie, or guardian daemon). Here is an opportunity for the adventurers to actually work for the Cult of Worms, though the cultists are far from sincere about the real purpose of the party's mission.
The cultists pose as members of the Brotherhood of Sorrow. The ashes, they claim, are the sacred relics of a martyred saint. The cultists pay very well, well enough that the party should not ask too many questions. If the party simply does as they are told and recovers the ashes, they are amply rewarded, and the adventure ends there. On the other hand, if they start probing around for hidden secrets, perhaps casting divinations on the urn or its contents, they may find themselves confronted with new mysteries, all of which point directly to deadly adventure on the Isle of Sahu.
==The Scourge of Thasmudyan==
The Nycoptic Manuscripts foretold many plagues and portents, but none are more terrible than the Opening, when the Ninth Seal in the Garden of Eternity will be broken, releasing Vermissa from her magical prison. The first portent of her release, alluded to in the Manuscripts, is the spread of disease across the land as the “cold breath of Thasmudyan heralds the return of His chosen.”
Rampant plague is an excellent backdrop for a campaign of necromancers and death priests. It should descend on a setting slowly, with vague rumors of unexplained deaths filtering to the adventurers before the massive epidemic breaks out, slaying as much as a third of the local population. This plague is at least partly magical in nature, since clerical magic is much less effective against it. Cure disease has only a 50% chance of success (the spell only works once per victim), and only heal is 100% effective in eradicating the infection.
Before long, the Brotherhood of Sorrow arrives, and the Flagellants try their best to mediate the local pain and suffering. One of the Master Flagellants approaches the heroes, asking their help to stop the disease. The learned priest has heard of the Nycoptic Manuscripts, which describe magical plagues of this sort and might contain suggestions of a cure. He begs the party sail to Sahu and search for a copy, which may greatly help alleviate the suffering.
The prophetic manuscripts can indeed be found in Sahu, either in the Colossus of Uruk or perhaps in the Tower of Pizentios (or the Garden of Eternity itself). A perusal of the scroll does reveal a cure for the disease (eating one raw scarab beetle a day), but it also suggests the cause of the plague: “the release of Thasmudyan's chosen.” (Vermissa is not named specifically).
There are two other prophesies in the manuscripts that are directly related to Vermissa: “The Sundered Man shall be made whole by the Chosen, who will release Her” (this refers to the restoration of Nebt Bhakau, mentioned previously) and “The Chosen shall Emerge when the Colossus walks in Nycopolis” (this can be taken to mean that the Colossus of Uruk will come to life in some way, but it really alludes to the fact that Bhakau and Pizentios, working together, will create a huge, flesh golem (a Colossus of sorts) and use the monster to physically destroy Vermissa's prison). All of this will happen exactly as was predicted, unless, of course, the necromancers' evil plans are thwarted by the intrepid adventurers after they bring back the knowledge of how to cure the plague!
==Lich Hunting==
It is highly probable that the heroes may not survive a direct, violent confrontation with Vermissa. If the DM wishes to stage one anyway, in a truly epic style, feel free to introduce the party to King Talib, lich-hunter, as an individual who can provide them with some much-needed aid. Introducing Talib helps muddy the situation even further, given his past involvement with Kazerabet and her secret intention to become a lich herself. Naturally, Talib does not reveal that he is still Kazerabet's husband, and he does not know that his wife is currently on Sahu in the Summer Palace.
Once Talib learns that the adventurers have visited Sahu, he will approach them (in a corpse host) to learn about their adventures. He will offer money, magical items, or even his services as a lich-hunter in exchange for all they know about the island. He has long suspected that Sahu might be the haven for (at least) one lich and has researched its history quite thoroughly. He has reason to believe that Vermissa and Uruk made the transformation centuries ago. Talib confides all these secrets to the heroes, hoping to sway them to his side. Later, when he gets to know the party better, he may even reveal the personal reason for his crusade against liches.
Talib is respectfully cautious, particularly where liches are concerned. He has completed some discreet magical reconnaissance of the island and uncovered the existence of the Cult of Worms in Misbahd and Jinutt. He now feels ready to visit the island, albeit disguised in a corpse host. He needs the adventurers because of their familiarity with the island, and he would appreciate their company during the visit. He promises them the wealth of the Necromancer Kings if they seem uncertain (and are motivated by greed); he also warns of the danger to the surrounding world when Vermissa finally earns her freedom.
Talib's relationship with Kazerabet adds another convolution to the exploration of Sahu. If the party has already encountered her and informs Talib of this, his first goal will be to track down his wife, determine her motives for staying on Sahu, and try to convince her to join him on his lich-hunt. If the party hasn't met her before, he will insist on exploring the ruins of Nycopolis, where they will find the “back door” into the Summer Palace and there encounter Kazerabet. The melodramatic reunion between husband and wife gets off to a shaky start (Talib is, after all, disguised in a corpse host). Kazerabet angrily sets her wards blazing when she sees the party, threatening to wipe them out for disturbing her research one too many times. Then Talib calls her by her true name (Inanna) to get her attention, and he reveals his true identity. She calls his corpse host a “neat trick,” and he praises her radiant beauty and asks her to come back to him. “You finished your precious book,” Talib notes casually. “I enjoyed reading it enormously,” he adds, complimenting her further (he knows too well how to butter her up).
Kazerabet still loves her husband, but she tries very hard not to show it. She refuses to join him and the party against Vermissa (that would be contrary to her personal code of honor), but she will allow him (along with the adventurers) to use the gate in her basement to quickly reach the Garden. She says as little as possible about her involvement with the lich, except that she was studying Vermissa for a new book. Her interest in Sahu, she claims, was purely academic.
Aided by Talib, the adventurers may now be able to defeat Vermissa. Before her destruction, however, at a climactic moment in the battle, Vermissa reveals the true reason Kazerabet was helping her, and suggests that Talib's wife has already made the transformation into a lich. Before Vermissa dies, she wishes Talib joy in hunting his wife down and slaying her.
Make sure to arrange for Talib's corpse host to die a grisly death before the climactic scene, leaving the final dirty work in the battle, and the destruction of Vermissa's phylactery, up to the heroes alone. After her death, presuming that the adventurers emerge from the battle victorious, the party hears a distant roar, and Thasmudyan informs them of his displeasure. He curses the heroes with any malediction the DM finds appropriate (save vs. spells at –4). The curse can only be removed by a 20th level or higher priest.
Afterward, confirming Vermissa's allegations, the PCs will find the Summer Palace completely empty should they return there via the gate, with no trace of Kazerabet's former occupancy. Talib teleports there in person to congratulate the adventurers, and he searches the palace for any clues to Kazerabet's current whereabouts. She has indeed left a clue, a small vase on a neglected mantle. A legend lore cast on the vase will reveal the distant location of its manufacture, another renowned center of magical learning. Kazerabet might be found somewhere near that vicinity, but perhaps the vase is nothing more than a red herring, planted there to throw a persistent husband off her trail.