Harenaopolis
Overview
A supernatural sandstorm has locked down the wealthy desert city-state of Harenaopolis for four days and counting. The players enter as caravan guards escorting aid supplies through the last open mountain pass — hired muscle arriving at the moment the crisis tips from inconvenient to catastrophic.
The storm is not natural. Beneath Harenaopolis lie the ruins of an ancient civilization, and four seals on those ruins are eroding. A Greater Demon has been quietly engineering this collapse through a grieving shopkeeper who was promised the impossible. As the seals weaken, the sandstorm worsens — and something imprisoned beneath the city grows closer to free. Levels 1–7.
Premise
The party arrives as part of a merchant caravan approaching a mountain pass not yet swallowed by the storm. Harenaopolis is visible in the distance, dust-choked and desperate. The city's rulers are offering payment to anyone who can identify the source of the storm and stop it. The players' introduction to the crisis comes through ground level — missing persons, strange sand, a city that feels like it's holding its breath.
The full picture emerges in layers: the shopkeeper whose grief made him a tool, the ancient seals and what they contain, the demon manipulating events from the shadows, and finally the cursed dragon beneath it all.
Region(s)
- Lauegrorumian Theocracy — Harenaopolis is the Theocracy's primary city
Players & Characters
See Characters
Major Events
(As play progresses, log canon-altering events here. On campaign completion, promote relevant entries to Historical Events.)
Outcome
(Filled in once the campaign ends. This becomes world canon.)
Session Log
DM Notes
Setting
Harenaopolis is a wealthy desert city-state enclosed by the Harena Mountains. It is a major trade hub built atop the ruins of an ancient and advanced civilization, fed by a natural underground spring that powers both a sewer system beneath the streets and sustains a vital oasis at its center.
- The mountains shelter the city from the worst of the sandstorm, but the crisis has strangled trade and aid for nearly a week
- The sewer system contains hidden rooms and ruins from the civilization the city was built over
- The city has been experiencing unexplained disappearances, written off as people fleeing the crisis
Atmosphere: The city feels desperate but functional — not ruined, just strangled. Grief is a recurring theme across Aldren, the city's suffering, and the dragon's own curse. The ancient civilization beneath should feel wrong — more advanced than it should have been, and abandoned suddenly. The demon works through manipulation and promises it never intends to keep.
Key NPCs
The King & Queen Rulers of Harenaopolis. Will offer payment to anyone who can save the city. Possess a ring that displays the energy of the sandstorm curse, showing which seals are weakening and how fast. Consider: does one of them know more about the ancient civilization beneath the city than they let on?
Aldren Voss — The Shopkeeper A respected, quiet fixture of the city. Runs a reputable shop and is known by locals. His wife and child died in childbirth. Consumed by grief, he was contacted by the Greater Demon, who promised to reunite him with his family in exchange for sacrifices. He has been kidnapping people from around the city for months, sacrificing them to the demon in a hidden basement beneath his shop — connected to the sewer system. The disappearances have been written off as people fleeing the struggling city.
The demon cannot and never intended to reunite him with his family.
Key dramatic moment: the players may be able to confront Aldren with this truth. Is he too far gone, or can he be saved?
Breadcrumbs pointing to Aldren:
- Missing persons notices around the city
- Suspiciously knowledgeable about the ruins when asked
- Hidden basement entrance to the sewers beneath his shop
- Corrupted necrotic sand found near sacrifice sites, matching the dragon's essence
The Greater Demon Has been manipulating Aldren's grief to fuel the ritual erosion of the four seals. Each sacrifice weakens the seals further, intensifying the sandstorm. Has a vested interest in freeing the dragon — possibly bound to it, or poised to gain from the chaos of its release. May be operating entirely from the shadows or have a physical presence for a mid/late campaign confrontation.
The Four Ruins
Four ruins encircle the kingdom, each housing part of the ancient curse sealing the dragon. The demon's ritual has been targeting these seals through Aldren's sacrifices.
Each ruin contains:
- A puzzle to solve
- Hard combat encounters
- Lore tied to the ancient civilization beneath the city
Solving each ruin stabilizes part of the seal, slows the storm, and reduces the power flowing to the demon.
Design note: Give each ruin a distinct identity — directional (N/S/E/W), elemental, or themed around the old civilization's gods or history.
Under the City
The Sewer System Powered by the natural underground spring that also feeds the oasis. Contains hidden rooms and ruins from the ancient civilization. Aldren's shop connects via a hidden basement. Necrotic sand and corruption from the dragon seep through cracks the deeper you go.
The Dragon An ancient dragon cursed with immortality, sealed beneath the city. The curse has transformed it — its body is composed of black necrotic sand. Weakening the curse (by clearing the ruins) paradoxically weakens its seal, making it more dangerous as the campaign progresses.
As seals break, signs manifest in the city: tremors, corrupted spring water, necrotic sand seeping through sewer cracks, dying plant life around the oasis.
Campaign Structure
Target level range: 1–7
Suggested arc:
- Arrival & investigation — the storm, the missing people, first contact with the city
- Discovery — Aldren, the sewer system, the first ruin
- Escalation — the demon's involvement becomes clear, multiple ruins, signs of the dragon
- Confrontation — the demon, Aldren's resolution, the dragon beneath the city