Crystal Waste

The ground trembled across the empire when the crystal erupted from the desert sands. The wastes, once home to burgeoning cities in the sand were altered in an instant to an inhospitable nightmare. While some research has been done into the phenomena, the crystals have proven too dangerous to allow for much understanding. A strange energy emits from the protrusions, and that energy has had an odd effect on the area. The fauna of the wastes has changed significantly; hulking scorpion-like creatures with crystal carapace and vultures with razor sharp talons and beaks made of stone. Touched exposed to the crystals do not fare as well. The energy seems to bind the movement of members of the Touched, locking their muscles in place. Crystal forms slowly but the person is dead of starvation long before they are encased in crystal.

Still, adventurers, foolish or brave, find themselves in the wastes frequently. Stories of treasure in the ruins of the cities of the sand or the allure of finding the fabled lost city of Vedis are too great for treasure hunters to ignore. Very few ever return from the waste, but those who do speak of something even more terrifying than the monsters and the crystals. A creeping shadow that claims the waste for their own. The Shadow of the Waste may be little more than a myth, but it is one more mystery claimed by the sand and crystal.