The Footprints in the Dust
Dust / Consumption
The Footprints in the Dust — picture this, right: A massive cavern, vast as one of those Underdark cities, tucked away in a nook of the Plane of Dust. This ain’t your typical dark, dank cave; it’s an elemental bubble, huge and filled with air, but with no berk calling it home.
Now, you’d think such a place would be prime real estate for some enterprising sod looking to set up a new burg. But here’s the dark of it: the whole cavern’s got an eerie vibe, like it’s haunted by spirits, and not just any spirits—big ones, the kind that make your skin crawl and your heart skip a beat.
In this cavern, there’s a sort of gravity at work, a slow, relentless pull that drags dust from the ceiling down to the floor. Anyone who sticks around too long finds themselves covered in a fine layer of silt. And the roof of the cavern, it seems to be growing upwards, which is a queer thing, ’cause the hollow’s not getting any smaller.
Now, the real reason bashers don’t stick around is the footprints. We’re talking big, I mean really big. Clawed, webbed, toed, and all sorts of odd shapes, each print dozens of feet across. These prints, they fill up with silt quick, but new ones always show up. And here’s the rub: no one’s ever seen what’s making these prints. Those that might have, well, they’re not around to spin the tale.
The size and depth of these footprints, they hint at creatures of immense size, hundreds of feet long, and heavy as mountains. It’s enough to give even a hardened blood pause. So, most folks who sumble across this place, they take one look at these gargantuan footprints, and they decide they’d rather not stick around to find out what’s making them. It’s one of those mysteries of the planes, a tale to chill the blood and spark the imagination. Who knows what lurks in the dusty shadows of that cavern? Now that’s a mystery that’s yet to be solved, and maybe it’s best it stays that way.
Adventure Hooks:
- The Vanishing Caravan: A merchant caravan, laden with rare and valuable artifacts from across the planes, has vanished without a trace in the vicinity of the cavern. The players are hired to find out what happened. Clues lead them to the cavern, where they must navigate the treacherous terrain and uncover the truth behind the disappearance, all while avoiding the unseen behemoth leaving the footprints.
- Echoes of the Past: An eccentric scholar believes that the creature making the footprints is a long-lost species, thought to be extinct or mythical. The scholar hires the players to gather evidence of the creature’s existence. This task involves setting up observation posts, collecting samples, and maybe even encountering the creature itself.
- The Ritual of Binding: A group of cultists believes that the creature in the cavern is a god-like entity that needs to be awakened and controlled. The players learn of a ritual the cultists are planning to perform in the cavern and must stop them before they unleash an unimaginable threat upon the planes.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
