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Valley of Dust and Fire
Valley of Dust and Fire
by L. Richard Baker III
Credits
Design: L. Richard Baker III
Editing: Allen Varney with Timothy B. Brown
Cover Art: Brom
Interior Art: Tom Baxa
Cartography: Diesel & Steve Beck
Typography: Tracey Zamagne
Production: Paul Hanchette
TSR, Inc.
POB 756
Lake Geneva
WI 53147
U.S.A.
TSR Ltd.
120 Church End
Cherry Hinton
Cambridge CBI 3LB
United Kingdom
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Copyright © 1992 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
2413
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Permission granted to photocopy or
print this product for personal use.
 
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter One: THE SEA OF SILT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Silt ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wind and Weather . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Denizens of the Silt Sea . . . ... ... ... ... ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Terrain of the Silt Sea . . . . . . . . . .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I0
Movement in the Silt .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I3
Encounters in the Sea of Silt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 6
Places of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 7
Chapter Two: THE VALLEY OF DUST AND FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Great Ash Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Denizens of the Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... ... ... .... . . . . . . . . . . 30
Terrain of the Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .. ... .. . . . . . . 3 I
Movement in the Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Places of Interest ................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Outlanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chapter Three: THE RING OF FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The Lava . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4I
Weather Over the Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4I
Denizens of the Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3
Terrain of the Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Movement and Magic in the Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Locations in the Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter Four: THE CITY OF DOOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 I
Entering Ur Draxa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5I
The Plan of the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3
The History of Ur Draxa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Draxan Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Draxan Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Movement in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Encounters in Ur Draxa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0
Places of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6I
The Dragons Sanctum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter Five: CAMPAIGNING IN THE VALLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Campaign Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The Native Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 0
NEW MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Golem, Magma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Jhakar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Kaisharga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4
Men (Draxans) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Men (KaArdani) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Silt Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Silt Horror, Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9
Appendix: Encounter Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
2
The Valley of Dust and Fire, an accessory for the
DARK SUN campaign setting, describes the
most terrible, most dangerous spot in the entire Tyr
Region of Athas—the realm of the Dragon King.
No other place in that warped landscape rivals the
sheer grandeur or the stark evil of Ur Draxa, the
City of Doom.
You need the DARK SUN boxed set and The
Complete Psionics Handbook to use The Valley of
Dust and Fire. It expands your DARK SUN cam-
paign with new locations in the vast Sea of Silt, east
of the Tyr region; new rules for traveling and surviv-
ing in the silt; detailed description of the greatest
and deadliest of secrets: the Valley of Dust and Fire;
and lastly, new monsters of the deep silt and the Val-
ley itself.
Use this information cautiously; some of the old-
est mysteries of the DARK SUN campaign world
permeate these pages. If you are ready to face the
greatest secrets of the world of Athas, then hesitate
no longer. The Valley of Dust and Fire awaits you.
Yet another, darker tale is sometimes whispered
about caravan campfires, or shuddered at by
scholars in the golden palaces of the sorcerer-kings.
Some people believe nothing but death and mad-
ness lie in the Sea. Scattered hermits and wandering
traders claim to have seen the Dragon racing ashore
from the very depths of the Sea, breaking on the
shores like a dust-storm. Those who have collated
these scattered accounts claim that the paradise in
the center of the Sea is the Dragons home-death
to any so foolish as to venture there.
Perhaps the strongest evidence that this is true
lies in the tattered journal of Galek Sandstrider, a
famed traveler and adventurer who lived nearly 100
years ago. The journal was lost for many years after
the death of Galek, but turned up in Tyr recently,
sold by a renegade elf to a nobleman of that city. No
one knows how Galek met his death; some say the
Dragon came upon him in the wastes and devoured
him because of his dangerous knowledge.
From Galeks Journal
The Legend
Who has not heard of the mystical city of the
silt, the green and fair realm in the heart of the
choking dust? Too many people have seen it for
such a place to not exist; of that we can be certain.
But what is it? How does life exist in the depths of
the Sea of Silt? And why is it that none who have
sought the wonderful city have ever returned?
I am Galek, who once on this ruined world
would have been called mage. In these bitter times I
am an outlaw and a renegade. I have dedicated my
life to answering questions, leaving the wars and
squabbles of slaves and sorcerer-kings for other
men. Now I grow old, and the scant knowledge I
have gathered must be recorded or lost again.
I know that this was once a green world, a world
of seas and forests. I know that this cruel and tor-
mented world in which we live was shaped by our
own hands. Sorcery, dark and evil, made Athas
what it is today.
But of all the things I have learned of all the
It is said that in the heart of the Sea of Silt there is
a city among the sands, a lush and verdant paradise
where people live in ease and wealth. There is no
want and no thirst, no slaves and no masters. There
the image of Athas as it might once have been is
preserved in these dying days.
Once in a lifetime a man standing at the shores of
the Sea of Silt may be granted a glimpse of this
place, a sweeping mirage of rich fields and pleasant
fountains, hovering beyond the endless silt. One
traveler claims to have seen the city from the road
that goes from Draj to Ket; another traveler claims
she saw it while standing in the shadow of the Bleak
Tower; and yet another swears it lies beyond the isle
of Waverly. Great heroes and powerful warriors
have sought the city in all these places. Most likely
they met their deaths in the suffocating dust, or at
the hands of hostile giants. Few ever return from
such a quest.
3
riddles I have answered, the greatest and darkest de-
fies me still. I have seen the city in the Silt, that won-
derful and magical place that dances before the eyes
of men dying of thirst. I have been there.
And I tell you this: it is stark hell.
In the very center of the Sea of Silt is a valley, a
wound in the very earth itself. A furnace wind
screams endlessly through this devastated realm,
carrying away the silt in an eternal pall of choking
dust, scouring the earth to bare rock. I passed into
this valley, and I found fire and death. The earth is
warped and barren, devoid of life. The sun is hid-
den behind the endless clouds of blowing dust. And
at the heart of this tortured place a ring of burning
rock encircles a city so large my eye could not en-
compass it in one glance.
I could not pass beyond the sea of molten rock;
my companions were dead, and I was at the end of
my strength. But before I turned away I studied the
city long and hard; though you may think me a
madman to say it, I know that city was a hundred
times greater than any I have ever seen-and I have
visited every one of the cities of Tyr, from far Balic to
ancient Raam.
It was at that nameless city in the sea of molten
rock that I saw the Dragon.
It came as I turned to retrace my steps through
that shattered land. I heard a horrid cry and saw the
beast, flying away from the city, arrowing straight
for me. Its scales glowed red with the heat of the
naked magma, and the clouds gathered beneath its
wings like a storm of fire. I threw myself to the hard
ground, averting my eyes; my doom was at hand.
Yet the creature missed me (or did not deign to trou-
ble over one insignificant human), and I lived to tell
this tale. The Dragon vanished in the winds and the
dust, and I saw it no more.
To this day I do not know who built that terrible
city or why. I cannot even say whether the place is
still inhabited or simply the greatest of ruins; but it
is there, in the center of the Sea of Silt, and so is the
Dragon.
Is it his city, his kingdom? I cannot answer. I can
only say it is true. I have seen it.
The story of the green city in the heart of the dust
is nothing more than a daydream, a tale retold be-
cause people want to believe it. The darker tale, of a
terrible death in the heart of the silt, is the truth.
Galek Sandstrider is the only known traveler who
has seen the Valley of Dust and Fire and returned to
record his journey.
The search for the mystical city makes a fantastic
adventure. The heroes face enormous challenges-
dreadful monsters, scathing storms, and, most sig-
nificantly, the vast Sea of Silt itself. The sway of the
sorcerer-kings halts at its border; characters of the
city-states find a world unlike any they have ever
known.
Considering the risks of the search, why go?
First, the characters could mistakenly believe that
the Valley is the utopian city of legend. Seeking out
a land of wealth and ease has sent many an explorer
off to adventure-just look at Marco Polo and
Christopher Columbus. The wild tales of the Ori-
ent they heard helped inspire their journeys. Player
characters could decide all by themselves to seek out
the hidden city.
Characters ready to accept great risk in the hope
of rich reward might come across Galek Sandstri-
ders account and read of his journeys. Any
AD&D
4
®
game player worth his or her salt should
jump at the chance to explore what might be the
greatest treasury of knowledge and power in the en-
tire DARK SUN campaign world.
Lastly, very powerful characters might decide to
take a shot at the Dragon. Their research should
show that it frequently travels the silt, implying that
it maintains a lair in the wastes. Of course, destroy-
ing the Dragon in its own demesne is a herculean
and probably doomed task—but your players can
find that out the hard way.

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