What do you think?
Rate this book
Intermediate #I5
Lost Tomb of Martek
Your sleek cloudskate skims across the Skysea. It is midnight. All day long the glass sea soaked up the scorching desert sunlight. Now, that heat lifts your ship a few inches off the glass and fills its sails. The only sound you hear is the soft swish of the diamond-edged rudder as it cuts a path across the Skysea.
One thousand years ago, the wizard Martek knew that you would come to find his sphere of power. Now, one of his glowing Star Gems shows you the way. The starlight, reflected in the glass benearth you, flickers peacefully.
Suddenly, the Skysea before you bursts up into a thousand shards of splintered glass, showering into the moonlight! A horrible creature is silhouetted against the moon. You strain against the rudder to keep your ship upright.
Too late! Your cloudskate tips onto one runner, and then tumbles over, skidding to a stop on the glass. As your companions struggle to right the ship, you turn to face the monster. You must hold the creature back to give them time. Without the ship, none of you can get off the glass before the sun rises in the morning.
Martek's prophecy spoke of heroes, tests and dangers. Are you the heroes? What are the tests? What dangers and riches lie ahead?
One thousand years ago, the wizard Martek knew that you would come to find his sphere of power. Now, one of his glowing Star Gems shows you the way. The starlight, reflected in the glass benearth you, flickers peacefully.
Suddenly, the Skysea before you bursts up into a thousand shards of splintered glass, showering into the moonlight! A horrible creature is silhouetted against the moon. You strain against the rudder to keep your ship upright.
Too late! Your cloudskate tips onto one runner, and then tumbles over, skidding to a stop on the glass. As your companions struggle to right the ship, you turn to face the monster. You must hold the creature back to give them time. Without the ship, none of you can get off the glass before the sun rises in the morning.
Martek's prophecy spoke of heroes, tests and dangers. Are you the heroes? What are the tests? What dangers and riches lie ahead?
32 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1983
44 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Hickman
454 books2,736 followersNYT Best-selling fantasy authors Tracy Hickman, with his wife Laura, began their journey across the 'Sea of Possibilities' as the creators of 'Dragonlance' and their voyage continues into new areas with the 'Drakis' trilogy, 'Wayne of Gotham', a Batman novel for DC Comics and his
'Dragon's Bard' collector's series
. Tracy has over fifty books currently in print in most languages around the world. A record of both Tracy and Laura's DNA currently orbits on the international space station and he is the writer and editor of the first science-fiction movie actually filmed in space. Follow us on
Facebook
or, of course, right here!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 9, 2025
The concluding part of the Deserts of Desolation series was written by Tracey Hickman whom I have great respect for, not least from Ravenloft and Dragonlance. Much in the mode of those, and I3 and I4 this is a heavily story-based module. Not a bad thing per se, but in the early 80s that equated with a fairly strong railroad and a very narrative conclusion to the whole series (that feels like a set scene in a video game where the PCs are observers).
Similar to the first two modules we begin with a wander across the desert to find the legendary lost tomb, hoping to gain the Sphere of Martek, the legendary wizard who originally imprisoned the efreeti Pasha released in I3 (or if they didn't he was released by some other dummies). They have three star gems from I3 and I4 which are the key to the Tomb (or the pcs start with them if you run this as a standalone).
The initial wilderness stage is pretty good fun, with a great concept in a sea of glass (Skysea as it mirrors the sky) atop which various craft skim along. Random encounters provide the main antagonists (as well as the cover). Theres a few more to be had in the surrounding desert, including some pillars that give clues, but it's the purple worm shattering through the glass, ships on skates, and undead pirates that really made this part fun.
Once the players find the magic pillars to access the magic tomb things get really surreal. It's a six mile diameter floating tomb hidden in a pocket realm that the characters beam up to. The initial dome is a sealed garden in which they find two rival inbred tribes, plus some NPC Tombrobbers who are designed to be the main antagonists, with the DM encouraged to star gem steal and make it a race/chase into the next stages.
Once they escape the garden along a 3 mile corridor, they enter a crystal prism chamber and up to a large crystal complex where they need three fetch quests to complete. Hickman has some great almost sci-fi ideas here that work to variable degrees. First is a set of rocks orbiting a maelstrom above the Abyss wherein space, time, magic, and reality get progressively distorted. The rules are tricky to read, and other than random monsters there's no antagonist here (I suspect you're supposed to contrive to have one of the NPCs here). so could be cool, needs work to make it so.
second is a time-locked palace where PCs have to work around scenery and occupants frozen in time and immune to effects until they can find the crystal minaret via using some magic items. I liked this bit, with the ghosts/undead thrown in and working outwith time also.
Third is a strange bit of desert and tomb mini-quest, with a frozen princess. Kept the desert theme in mind whilst in the tomb I suppose, but it was a bit underwhelming after the imagination of the last two bits.
Finally the PCs get to the actual Tomb which, as a finale for three modules, wasn't very impressive. They just sort of waltz in plug in the gems, get a reward, and activate the set scene. No BBEG, no real challenge, and then passive observers whilst the efreeti-djiini story arc is resolved.
Theres some great creativity in here, which felt almost like Dr Who in places! Yet the tonal shifts, the railroad, and the underwhelming finale let me down. As a structure for a finale to a good trilogy it could work if the DM put in lots of effort, perhaps adding NPCs (and even foreshadowing them in the prior module at the Oasis like Beloch and the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark), creating a time tension, and making a showdown in the Citadel of Martek perhaps as a battle royale? I'd also make the ending active not passive, perhaps with PCs boosted by Martek to fight the Pasha.
So 3 stars for me, and one I'd consider updating for 5e with a fair amount of work.
Similar to the first two modules we begin with a wander across the desert to find the legendary lost tomb, hoping to gain the Sphere of Martek, the legendary wizard who originally imprisoned the efreeti Pasha released in I3 (or if they didn't he was released by some other dummies). They have three star gems from I3 and I4 which are the key to the Tomb (or the pcs start with them if you run this as a standalone).
The initial wilderness stage is pretty good fun, with a great concept in a sea of glass (Skysea as it mirrors the sky) atop which various craft skim along. Random encounters provide the main antagonists (as well as the cover). Theres a few more to be had in the surrounding desert, including some pillars that give clues, but it's the purple worm shattering through the glass, ships on skates, and undead pirates that really made this part fun.
Once the players find the magic pillars to access the magic tomb things get really surreal. It's a six mile diameter floating tomb hidden in a pocket realm that the characters beam up to. The initial dome is a sealed garden in which they find two rival inbred tribes, plus some NPC Tombrobbers who are designed to be the main antagonists, with the DM encouraged to star gem steal and make it a race/chase into the next stages.
Once they escape the garden along a 3 mile corridor, they enter a crystal prism chamber and up to a large crystal complex where they need three fetch quests to complete. Hickman has some great almost sci-fi ideas here that work to variable degrees. First is a set of rocks orbiting a maelstrom above the Abyss wherein space, time, magic, and reality get progressively distorted. The rules are tricky to read, and other than random monsters there's no antagonist here (I suspect you're supposed to contrive to have one of the NPCs here). so could be cool, needs work to make it so.
second is a time-locked palace where PCs have to work around scenery and occupants frozen in time and immune to effects until they can find the crystal minaret via using some magic items. I liked this bit, with the ghosts/undead thrown in and working outwith time also.
Third is a strange bit of desert and tomb mini-quest, with a frozen princess. Kept the desert theme in mind whilst in the tomb I suppose, but it was a bit underwhelming after the imagination of the last two bits.
Finally the PCs get to the actual Tomb which, as a finale for three modules, wasn't very impressive. They just sort of waltz in plug in the gems, get a reward, and activate the set scene. No BBEG, no real challenge, and then passive observers whilst the efreeti-djiini story arc is resolved.
Theres some great creativity in here, which felt almost like Dr Who in places! Yet the tonal shifts, the railroad, and the underwhelming finale let me down. As a structure for a finale to a good trilogy it could work if the DM put in lots of effort, perhaps adding NPCs (and even foreshadowing them in the prior module at the Oasis like Beloch and the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark), creating a time tension, and making a showdown in the Citadel of Martek perhaps as a battle royale? I'd also make the ending active not passive, perhaps with PCs boosted by Martek to fight the Pasha.
So 3 stars for me, and one I'd consider updating for 5e with a fair amount of work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review