Over Crimson Dunes...

The Carnelian Desert (#10/30; #253/365)

"The dune sea: a vermilion wasteland of scarlet sands of rust, of red storms of dust, and crimson stretches of long and terrible dunes, where dark figures stalk and alien stars sparkle in the firmament above."

Vade Mecum Infernum by Aughm Lightchaser (p. 32) 

The Carnelian Desert is an immense expanse of rolling scarlet dunes extending in all directions across the horizon, a sea of sand upon a crimson world. Here and there may be a gravelly oasis of scraggly fungi and cacti, or a flat plain dotted with rocks and rubble. The sands are haunted by all sorts of creatures from Giant Sandworms to vicious Sand Demons. Occasionally one may spot a caravan of creatures, meandering across the dunes between one oasis to the next, invariably itinerant Vorpit tinkers, Fiend miners or the Qagdin, all mounted on blue-spotted WUDREFMIK beasts.

Sometimes there will be mining operations out there in the desert; great pits where Fiends and Vorpit labour to prise red jewels from beneath the dunes, extracting gemstone wealth while fending off hungry predators. Another danger are the patrols from the Oasis Cities of Qag and Kor, perpetually at war with one another and anyone else they happen to find crossing the desert without the right identification documents from whichever the city the patrol hails from (or neutral Thagwar, which is also accepted).

Off in a distant corner of the wasteland lies a region of petrified fungal trees; irregular columns of eroded stone rising from the desert-floor like a maze of pillars. Dwelling within this al fresco labyrinth is Rhadis of the Obsidian Blade (staring, paranoid), a Shrouded Wanderer gone mad, thinking themself a new Prophet of Rust, a Messiah of Decay, and accruing a retinue of motley followers, some undead, some demonic, and some local creatures.

What Moves Across the Desert Towards Me? (Part II)

3. a SAND DEMON

4. a herd of GUNDERWALS

5. GARGANTUS

6. DREAD DEMON

7. SAND DEVIL

8. SAND SQUID

9. a ZEYJUV

10. a patrol from (roll a die: 1-3 Qag (a WRAITH leading a pack of GHOULS), 4-6 Kor (a REVENANT leading a cohort of SKELETONS)

11. a MERCHANT CARAVAN (roll a die: 1-2 FIENDS, 3-4 VORPIT, 5-6 QAGDIN)

12. WHIRLWIND

13. SAND PIRANHAS

14. a SAND GOLEM

15. ACCURSED

16. SAND ELEMENTAL

17. SNAKESPAWN

18. a GIANT SANDWORM