Hundreds of years ago, the efreeti Prince Jhavhul sought to impress Ymeri, Elemental Queen of the Inferno, and offered himself as her consort. She rebuffed him with hardly a thought, observing how he was a simple prince with no army and but a fragile genie’s body to offer her. Humiliated and enraged, but more determined than ever to win Ymeri’s favor, Jhavhul decided to raise an army and become the monster she wanted as a lover.
Jhavhul traveled to the Material Plane in order to impress his cruel mistress, but once there he was swiftly captured and imprisoned by a wizard-priest named Ezer Hazzebaim. With Jhavhul’s forced assistance, the human mystic and his army of slaves and servitor spirits scoured the northern deserts in search of the corpse of Xotani the Firebleeder, one of the monstrous Spawn of Rovagug. The discoverer of the Firebleeder’s grave, legend said, could reincarnate himself in the form of that great, devastating beast. All it would take was 1000 wishes, less than a year’s work for an enslaved genie like Jhavhul.
Before the ancient wizard-priest discovered Xotani’s final resting place, however, his control over Jhavhul slipped. Ezer narrowly survived the resulting battle, abandoning his plans and army by escaping to the Plane of Fire. Jhavhul led his newfound army on a bloody crusade across the northern deserts to celebrate his victory, and continued his former master’s search for the Firebleeder’s corpse, for if he could take on Xotani’s traits, surely he would be irresistible to Ymeri. Building on Ezer’s research, Jhavhul located the Firebleeder’s immense remains in a large cavern deep beneath the Brazen Peaks.
In order to infuse himself with the power of the Firebleeder, Jhavhul needed to expend 1,000 wishes to ready the transformation. This he could not accomplish alone. Jhavhul knew he must put his own wishes in the mouths of mortals. So he settled in to become the ruler of a temple devoted to Rovagug, a place that came to be known as the House of the Beast. Over the course of a single season, weird castles appeared in the Brazen Peaks, men transformed into legendary creatures, and others swam in piles of coins that appeared out of thin air. Some gained immortality while others reunited with never-were sweethearts or old lovers miraculously returned to life. In each case, Jhavhul’s wishes nudged the multiverse, smudging destiny and reweaving fate.
Genies wise in the way of wishcraft learn to sense the ripples of fate, hearing in their flow an ethereal symphony. To a trained ear, Jhavhul’s blunt manipulations of reality resounded like an orchestra playing furiously out of tune. The cacophony drew the attention of Nefeshti, a djinni princess whose own wishmastery had gained her a force to rival Jhavhul’s, led by a quintet of powerful terrestrial genies called the Templars of the Five Winds. According to an ancient wish put into play by Nefeshti, her templars would live forever so long as they retained her favor.
But even immortality couldn’t hold back the sheer outlandish grandeur of an army of self-created supermen, each with its own imaginative, unique gift of fate. After a series of battles in which Nefeshti’s forces grew fewer and fewer in number, the Templars of the Five Winds set upon a desperate strategy. Using an artifact known as the Scroll of Kakishon, Nefeshti’s human lover, a wizard named Andrathi, trapped Jhavhul and his forces in a forgotten demiplane by sacrificing himself to the cause.
Before Nefeshti could reclaim the scroll—and those trapped within it—from the field of battle, the ancient parchment fell into the hands of one of Jhavhul’s lowest assistants, a craven gnoll cleric named Shirak. She knew that if she kept the map safe, someday she or one of her ancestors could release the efreeti prince and be greatly rewarded. When Nefeshti arrived on the scene, Shirak had long since fled back to the depths of the House of the Beast to hide the Scroll of Kakishon, and ever since, the Templars of the Five Winds have kept vigil for even the slightest hint of their old enemy’s return.
Pathfinder #19, Levels 1–4
The PCs join Merchant Prince Almah Roveshki in a noble quest to reclaim the ruined village of Kelmarane from the savage gnolls who have claimed it as their own. During the adventure, the PCs discover the gnolls are led by a corrupted janni—a fallen member of an ancient order known as the Templars of the Five Winds. When one of their own becomes the unwitting host for a second fallen member of the same mysterious order, the PCs become caught up in a series of events that will come to be known as the Legacy of Fire.
Pathfinder #20, Levels 5–6
Tipped off by a mysterious traveler named Zayifid (in truth a disguised and disgraced Templar of the Five Winds), the PCs travel up the slopes of Pale Mountain and to the House of the Beast to confront the Carrion King himself. Yet deep inside the ruins, the PCs learn that there is more hidden within the ruined temple than a ruler of gnolls—for in the House’s deepest level lies the Scroll of Kakishon, the artifact used to imprison Jhavhul so long ago. Yet can the PCs secure the scroll for themselves before the treacherous Zayifid can claim it for his own dark purposes?
Pathfinder #21, Levels 7–8
The PCs own the Scroll of Kakishon, but they are not the only ones who seek to control the potent artifact. In order to find a scholar with the knowledge and resources to unravel the scroll’s mysteries (and perhaps find a buyer for the great treasure it holds), the PCs travel to the bustling city of Katapesh, only to run afoul of one of that city’s most notorious criminals, a man named Father Jackal. When Father Jackal’s agents steal the scroll and abduct the PC’s ally, a sage named Rayhan, they must track down the perpetrators before they can learn its secrets.
Pathfinder #22, Levels 9–10
The secrets of the Scroll of Kakishon are revealed! Yet when the PCs attempt to open the portal to the world held within the map, something unforeseen occurs. Instead of a gentle portal into paradise, a violent explosion of magic transports the PCs into Kakashon and strands them on a remote isle in the mystic realm—at the same time releasing Jhavhul and much of his army into the city of Katapesh! The PCs must find their way out of the demiplane within the map—but can they survive the wrath of the ragtag remnants of Jhavhul’s army and at the same time face the malevolent protean guardians of the End of Eternity?
Pathfinder #23, Levels 11–12
The PCs finally escape Kakishon—only to emerge into a mysterious dungeon. Soon the PCs learn that they have become trapped in Jhavhul’s own estate in the legendary City of Brass, and that Jhavhul has taken up his old quest to awaken and become the new Firebleeder! As they search for escape, the PCs learn much of Jhavhul’s plans and weaknesses by exploring his home—and even encounter the efreeti’s old enemy and master, Ezer Hazzebaim, who in his attempt to find revenge against Jhavhul has become a prisoner as well. The key to freedom lies in a magical mirror stolen long ago from the Sultan of the City of Brass called the Impossible Eye, a device hidden somewhere within Jhavhul’s palace. Yet as the PCs finally recover the Impossible Eye, the sultan himself sends a dragon minion to reclaim the prize!
Pathfinder #24, Levels 13–14
The PCs return to Katapesh to find that Jhavhul has traveled to Pale Mountain and claimed the village of Kelmarane as his own. After liberating the village once again (although this time from an army of wish-fueled genies and warriors), the PCs discover that Jhavhul is dangerously close to the final wish—the one that will awaken the spirit of Xotani the Firebleeder and transform the efreeti into a new spawn of Rovagug. That this act could cause Pale Mountain to transform into a devastating volcano and spells doom for Kelmarane. There’s also no telling what a titanic transformed Jhavhul could do to Katapesh in order to prove his love for Ymiri. The PCs must delve deep into the fiery chambers hidden deep below Pale Mountain to confront Jhavhul at Xotani’s Grave in order to prevent the advent of a terrible new elemental war!