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.

Table of Contents