[ToM] Desert

It's a desert. Sand, cracked earth, sad grasses and hot sun. There's not much alive or decent in this place. The desert is one of the most straightforward ways to get to the temple; it just requires a very long trek through an inhospitable hellscape.

The desert is so dry and desolate that you must keep track of water and heat- things that the rest of the valley is still safe from- despite how arid it is. The desert is just that formidable. If you travel across this desert without camels or a way to conjure or create water, you will suffer the consequences. Traveling through the desert is its own minigame.

Travelling Thru the Desert
It takes three days to move through the desert if you have a guide (someone who has been to the temple before OR the member of a desert-dwelling race who can help). Otherwise, it takes five days total.

Each "Day" you can travel during the Daytime (in the heat) or the Night (in the cold). Each travel action counts as a "Day", but in universe your actual number of days travelling through the desert depends on how long you rest or if you chain them together (you could travel by day THEN by night without stopping, which would count as two "Days" traveled though only one day has passed- but naturally that would cause some serious exhaustion or other consequences!)

For each travel action, you suffer the consequences written in the square for that number of days travelled. These always ascend and are kept over the whole trip. So for example, if you travel by night the first day, then by day the second, and then day again the third, then you would have suffered the consequences in the first night box, then the first day box, then the second day box, in that order. If you have a large barrel of water (large enough for a man to bathe in), you can ignore the consequences of the first "By Day" result.

X	By Day	By Night
1	All of your horses die.	No effect.
2	Take 1d6 Con Damage	Random Encounter.
3	Save vs Death.	Everyone takes 1d2 Dex Damage from cold.
4	Permanent HP Max Reduction by 1d6 Points. Save vs Death.	Random Encounter. If you stop to rest after; roll another Random Encounter.
5	All of your camels die. Save vs Death.	All your horses die. Scorpions seek your warmth- save or take 2d6 damage.

In addition; this large flat area of land is where the Gnolls of the Gnoll Camp watch most closely for prey- and especially love caravans or adventurers weak and thirst-weary from a long trek through the sandy desert as their newest victims. If you travel the desert by day or under a bright moon, the Gnolls will see you coming and try to ambush you out on the plain beneath their camp. You can always flee back the way you came if you see their tents made of human skin- but then you'd have to trek back through the desert the exact same way back.