They Come From Dust - Snark's Dungeon Master Fantasy Stash
(This scenario is designed to serve as a plot hook for an adventure.)
Built in a valley where trade roads converge and cross, Fallholt would surely be the jewel of the Eastlands - if only it was not razed to rubble every 19 years.
It always happens in the late summer, when the winds blow from the south, bringing with them dust clouds from the dead canyons and wastes.
They come from dust, a warband of silent men, clad in armor and atop dark horses. They pillage, kill, and steal, and are blown to dust again, not to be seen for another 19 years.
19 years is a long time, of course, and Fallholt's location too important for the local traders. As soon as the raiders' dust settles, new settlers are always ready to pick its bones clean and rebuild, hoping to be rich and gone by the time calamity strikes again.
Nobody knows how long the Dust Men have been coming to Fallholt, but there are bards' songs and stories of them from at least a hundred years back.
This time, however, Mayor Hanneman swears things are going to be different.
As another cycle of 19 years is almost at its end, traders, merchants, and caravans are rushing away from Fallholt, terrified of the stories.
Not overly eager of losing his town, position, and privileges, Mayor Hanneman is offering a small fortune to anyone who can uncover who these Dust Men are and how they can be stopped from once again razing Fallholt.
That's where our heroes come in.
How is anyone to find out anything about a host of ghosts, however - especially when Fallholt has been destroyed and rebuilt a dozen times and more?
Besides the ramblings of an old man who talks of dust specters wearing armor adorned in an ancient sun insignia, there's not really much for our heroes to get started.
Perplexed, but determined to solve the mystery, they ride towards the canyon where the dust storms come from.
What they'll find there - well, that's for you to decide!
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