Sunless Oasis

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"A remote part of the jungle overgrown with vegetation so thick it barely lets any sunlight through. Mua-Ta believe it to be afflicted by an ancient curse."

The **Sunless Oasis** is the fourth and final dungeon of the Main Questline, and serves as the most difficult part of the main storyline.

A dark, shadowy place filled with all manner of unpleasant inhabitants: dragonkin, corrupted cultists and the damned souls of the fallen, cursed to dwell in this dreaded tomb of antiquity. It is here that you will finally face down Sage Erideus, though you may not be prepared for just what awaits you here...

## Native Creatures

The Sunless Oasis is lacking in the naivete and innocence of the sun's light, and this is emphasised greatly in its inhabitatns. The mainland Mua-Ta have absolutely nothing on the populations in the oasis, wearing sickly metallic masks and wielding brand new abilities, speaking out with violence against your trespassing.

More and more undead can also be seen in many locations around the oasis, animated by a mysterious darkness surpassing even Adept Sonorius in terror.

A shady group of humans have also been seduced to this evil, resulting in the formation of a cult of darkness, fuelled by their belief in this destructive entity to ferociously guard the oasis.

Finally, beasts once again come for your skull, this time in the form of the mighty dragonkin, reptillian humanoid killers worshipping a powerful creature resting in the area.

## Initial Enemies

The weakest foes of the Sunless Oasis are no laughing matter, as every enemy can end your life easily. The dragonkin in particular are some of the most dangerous enemies here, as their great stats and synergising abilties can leave you dead or heavily injured.

Tier 4 Monsters

## Floor 13+

It is from here that the most powerful guardians of the oasis show themselves. Alongside more frequent tainted elemental encounters, a very special arcane being shows its face, patrolling the great obsidian temple containing the great evil...

Tier 5 Monsters

## **Bosses**

The final two boss fights of the main questline await you here. Your first test will be that of the penultimate battle: The **Ancient Dragon**, a mighty beast of legend that guards the way to the Obsidian Temple. If you can surmount it, you will then be able to advance and take on the final objective of your quest...Slay **Sage Erideus** in the dark heart of the temple, and claim your freedom! ...But at what cost...?

Bosses

## Minibosses

The minibosses in the Sunless Oasis are the strongest manifestations of the ever-present darkness, bound to cause devastation of your health. Face them with caution.

Noxious Ooze
The Crone
Mua-Ta Outcast

## Journal Entries

The Sunless Oasis is a dreary, aptly named place, full of shadows and dangers lurking around every corner. The thick canopy of overgrown tropical vegetation almost completely obscuresthe light of the day in most parts of the area, so you're forced to rely on torches and arcane light sources as you make your way through.
An especially aggressive and vicious Mua-Ta tribe dwells here, their masks made out of metal instead of wood. A word of occult dealings and strange occurrences in this remote place circulates the taverns of Farhaven, but if there are any signs of those rumors, you've yet to encounter them.
Even so, you proceed with caution - you're too close to your objective to take any unnecessary risks - all the while keeping the stories about the ancient curse that has befallen this place close at heart. You never know what you might encounter deeper into this dark, tropical paradise...

A strange sense of unease follow you as you reach deeper into the dark of the Oasis. You dismiss it at first, blaming it on fear and nervousness but, as the time goes by, you gradually become aware that it is more than that. It's almost as if some strange presence sits at the back of your skull, probing your thoughts and causing turmoil in your mind. You cannot really explain it... could it be connected with your mission and whatever it is that the renegade sages were trying to achieve?
As always, Asmodius offers scant advice on the matter. The Grand Sage seems wholly preoccupied by his own agenda, which drives him to further zeal and impatience the more you close in on your target. Whatever could he be up to?
Not counting the unusually ferocious Mua-Ta, this place seems to be teeming with crazy folk. You've been encountering men in imperial knight's armor, reduced to beasts and driven to murderous rage by some unknown force, and other lunatics besides. The latest of your worries are the fabled lizardfolk, or dragonkin, as those reptilian humanoids seem to refer to themselves. You hope it's just a name, and that there are no actual dragons lurking around...

After a few days of relentless marching, the winding way through the Oasis starts to climb, taking you on higher and higher ground with each passing mile. You are soon above the thick canopy of trees and can see the light of day for the first time in who knows how long. On one hand, it's refreshing, to say the least. On the other, the frequency and ferocity of dragonkin attacks are getting more and more cumbersome the higher you get, allowing you little time to savour the improved environment.
The road you're following leads towards a mountain pass - the only way to the other, uncharted side of the Oasis. You'll have to reach it on foot before you can determine a safe landing spot for your ship. You're not sure what to expect once you get there, but you suspect there must be good reason the area is so rarely visited and still mostly unknown to imperial explorers...

You make your way down the mountain slope and soon find yourself back in the gloomy shade of the Sunless Oasis. Its oppressive atmosphere reminds you of your dire situation, even before the vicious Mua-Ta and crazed cultists begin harassing you again. After a few more hours of trudging on foot, you find yourself before the ancient Mua-Ta temple Asmodius wanted you to locate, its obsidian surface as black as the night itself, making it impossible to mistake it for anything else. It is even larger than the last temple you visited, and probably much, much older.
The clearing before the temple is littered with the dead in their rotting multitudes - a battlefield of sorts? Charred bones and armor scorched with arcane fire suggests a confrontation with skilled arcane practitioners. Looks like there were others who tried to reach Erideus and his team before you, and it didn't bode well for them...
The entrance to the temple is laid open, the giant stone door guarding it apparently blasted away by powerful magic. Besides the darkness that looms from the inside, the all-pervasive sense of wrongness that permeates the entire Oasis seems to be emanating from the temple's interior. Whatever it is that awaits you inside, it's safe to say you've finally reached your destination...

Going by your latest findings, Asmodius has withheld quite a few things from you, just as you've always suspected. One does not rise to the top of the Empire's echelons of power without getting some dirt under one's fingernails first, it seems. As it turns out, Erideus' only crime was going against his headmaster's selfish wishes. You find yourself sympathizing with the renegade sage, not being stranger to false accusations yourself. Even so, you can't afford to second guess your choices now... not with your freedom standing on the balance.
Going deeper into the temple reveals more undead, even crazier cultists, and more abominable things besides. Creatures of nightmares, unlike anything you've seen before, stalk the dark, ruined halls, preying on anything that walks, be it friend or foe. Whatever malign power lies at the heart of the temple must be a terrible thing indeed - even elementals are completely tainted here, and even though they mean you harm, seeing them disfigured in that way fills you with revulsion and sorrow that transcends words - the idea of something pure and primordial being twisted into a dark reflection of itself is just plain wrong...

As you make your way towards the dark heart of the horror-infested old temple, you struggle to wrap your head around the last few journal entries you've found in this dark and ominous place. What in the name of all gods has been unleashed here? Asmodius is so intent on getting his hands on that accursed thing that he completely ignores all the madness that's evidently been happening around it, going against his own colleagues, no less...
After all his failed attempts, the Grand Sage has come to rely on you, a lowly prisoner, to see his obsession through. A desperate plan, if necessary, considering all the raised eyebrows it could raise if the whole truth was ever to reach the light of day...
Still, your path remains set, the ancient Mua-Ta wards that protect the artifact seem to be the only thing capable of erasing the warden's sigil from your flesh. What is a dispute among the high and mighty compared to your own freedom? You don't own your allegiance to anyone, least of all the Empire that condemned you, and if anyone can deal with this mess at all it's Asmodius and other sages. They can wallow in their own dirt, for all you care...

### Journals of Sage Erideus

The last six pages of the Journals of Sage Erideus can be found at floors 3, 8, 13, 16, 22 and 28 of the Sunless Oasis, obtained when you go over the dungeon exit even if it is locked.

We've finally made it across the treacherous mountain range that splits the Great Nuk in half, and, after some trouble with Dragonkin that dwell in the mountain passes, made our way to the Sunless Oasis. Our trusty Mua-Ta guide has abandoned us at this point, claiming the place was cursed, and I can't say I blame him - something about the gloomy atmosphere of this ancient part of the jungle feels... wrong. There's a palpable malevolence in the air, a strange sensation at the back of my skull that seems to be nagging at me, probing my innermost thoughts at all times. Others feel it too, and it is driving them insane... we best hurry to our destination point.
The Mua-Ta we encounter here seem to be of a different stock than those we've met before, their masks made not out of wood, but metal of sickly-green hue. Their language and general demeanour are strange, more aggressive and on the edge, and more than once Bartimeus had to scare them away with displays of fire magic. Despite the intrusions, slowly but steadily, we've made out way to the place I've seen in the memory stone: a grand temple sculpted entirely out of obsidian, black as the night itself. Its architecture unlike anything we've encountered before, suggesting it waws indeed built in the ages long gone, by the Mua-Ta who were much more advanced than their contemporary siblings. The enourmous door blocks the entrance to the temple, its inky-black surface etched with intricate protective wards. Powerful magic is at work here, but I don't doubt our knowledge of the arcane matches that of the Sun Court, after all, and it's just a matter of time before we crack this centuries-old puzzle...

My rest at the foot of the ancient Mua-Ta temple was plagued by nightmares, but at least I awoke to good news: Luxious and Sonorius managed to dissolve the wards guarding the temple door during the night, and a gaping black portal into the unknown greeted me as I vacated my tent. Instead of exhilaration, however, we all felt agitated and anxious for some reason, the strange sensation that's been following us ever since we arrived in this place suddenly redoubled. Even so, guided by sorcerous lights, we made our way into the dark interior in search of the nameless artifact of seemingly endless power...
The temple halls are not empty as we initially presumed - they are teeming with undead! And not just a few corpses, clumsily animated by foul necromantic arts, but frenzied hordes of ancient skeletons rushing for our blood. Bartimeus and Stormspeaker cleared most of the halls with relative ease, though - I thank all the gods for their combat training - and we've made our way to the central chamber of sorts, where the artifact is located. It seems to be protected by another layer of wards, even stronger this time, and we'll need more time to dissolve them before we can begin our research in earnest...
I've made contact with Asmodius while my colleagues work on the wards. He was ecstatic about our findings, and promised to petition the Emperor to dispatch a contingent of imperial knights and templars to our location, to act as support and protection wile we work. Sadly, I couldn't tell him where we are exactly -this place is off the maps - and only offered a general direction, so these troops might be a long time in reaching us...

Thanks to our efforts the wards surrounding the artifact are weakening, but I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of our endeavour. With each passing day this place takes a heavy toll on our psyche - sometimes I feel like my own thoughts are no longer my own, and some of my colleagues are displaying erratic and strange behaviour at times, especially Sonorius who seems to be obsessed with reaching the artifact. At first I thought it to be a natural occurrence, fear of the unknown and claustrophobia induced by the dark temple halls... but as the wards weaken, the effect seems to be getting stronger. What if the Mua-Ta shaman from my vision was not inherently mad, but driven insane by this very thing we're trying so hard to reach? I've ordered a pause in our efforts until we determine more about the matter.
Damn Sonorius and his youthful impatience! We found him tinkering with the artifact without my permission, and he seems to have triggered some kind of reaction... more undead are rising in the halls, and other things besides... obscene horrors beyond description. What have we gotten ourselves into? Sonorius has been detained, and I've asked Luxious to watch over him; the old sage is in dire need of some rest - as we all are, but we cannot afford it at this point...
Dear gods, Luxious is dead, most likely by Sonorius' hand. We were stirred from sleep by an incredible surge of power, alien and malevolent, unlike anything channeled from one of the known Arcane Realms. Rushing to see what's going on we found the old sage lying in a pool of his own blood, my apprentice nowhere to be seen. I can only assume that he fled to the jungle, driven to insanity by that cursed thing's influence. I must contact Asmodius at once! The Council of Twelve must be called to meeting and the proper course of action discussed. We should never have come here... this thing is too dangerous!

### Memory Stones

The last two memory stones can be found at floors 7 and 18 of the oasis. The final two are special in that it specifically details the artifact in the temple, as well as the old Shaman in charge of obtaining it.

... a blazing trail across the night sky bleeding fire, followed by a deafening crash somewhere in the jungle, not too far away from the village. Alarmed, you gaze at the thick plume of smoke rising in the distance as a strong shockwave of force, heat, and something else - you can't exactly put you finger on it, but it makes the fine hairs at the back of you neck stand straight - reaches all the way to your private chambers...Foolish doomsayers call it the wrath of Sky-Mother, sowing fear and panic on the streets... you decide it will not do: reaching for the authority bestowed upon you by the tribes, you summon your people to the Great Obsidian Temple. They gather in great numbers at your call, unease and confusion palpable behind their painted araths. You offer them calming words and reassurances, but they are restless, and bolder among them demand answers... the decision is made then and there: you will lead a scouting party into the jungle and get to the bottom of the incident. The gathered Mua-Ta cheer you on, volunteers step forward, and you are on your way before the first light of dawn...The jungle is ablaze... you can hardly breathe from all the smoke as you reach the rim of the crater. There, at the center of the smoldering ruin, you find a strange object, so small you almost overlooked it. It is a sphere, perfectly round and no larger than a child's fist, but the most striking thing about it is its color - a black so deep it is almost unreal, like the very void between the stars from which it came crashing down. As you approach, a wave of power washes over you, unlike anything you've felt before, and suddenly you feel the need to touch the thing, caution and fear melting away. Ignoring the warnings of the Mua-Ta, you reach out for the sphere and lay your hand on its glossy black surface... a dark, bottomless abyss greets you from the other side, and infinity of cold emptiness so vast it defies comprehension, and yet... amidst all that darkness, fine tendrils of infinite potential, the very fabric of creation ready to be woven into being, hungering to unleashed! the sensation is overwhelming, and you are forced to pull your hand back, you mind unequipped to deal with the immensity of the realization... for now. Smiling, you put the small black sphere into your pouch and order your men back to the village. Some of them shoot you puzzled glances, but they know better than to question the wisdom of their Shaman...