Sages claim that traveling the Ghost River of Varnasu was a sacred rite for the proud and long gone inhabitants of the Purple Planet. Its pilgrims were the old, infirm, dishonored, or ashamed who believed that the tribulations of mortal life would be assuaged by the holy journey. To "go with the river" was to transition into amaranthine honor and life.Â
The Ghost River of Varnasu is now but a legend among the great houses. It appears only during torrential lightning storms, and never in the same place. A coursing river, crashing with whitecaps, appears where previously there was none, rushing uphill from the wastes to the Ancestor Peaks, where it races up the high crags and into the sky.
Kith that have seen the river report seeing slain comrades awash in the current, calling for the living to join them. If any have dared to enter the waters, none returned to tell the tale.
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Lo! A great zephyr from the storm-wracked sky grabs you and flings you into the crashing waters. The water swiftly moves towards the Ancestor Peaks. As you struggle against the mighty rapids, you wonder if the legendary deluge will truly grant everlasting life or is it just a – River of Lies!?

The Ghost River of Varnasu Lays Claim to a Kith (image by Doug Kovacs)
River of Lies is a 3rd level adventure designed for use with the Purple Planet setting by Goodman Games. The Purple Planet is rich with inspiration from the Appendix N authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, space operas like Lensman and Flash Gordon, and 2nd edition D&D's post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy setting, Dark Sun.
River of Lies utilizes the Purple Planet's Ghost River of Varnasu and the Ancestor Peaks to present a dangerous meeting with house of Thero’Agarst, leaders of a lost religious cult of the Ascended Masters. Literary inspirations include
The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Death's Master by Tannith Lee, and
The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe.