The Badlands

Directly south to Puerto Dorado, nestled between the mountains on the west and the hills on the east, lays a desert with sand as white as snow. Dunes of pristine white reflect the sunlight, almost blinding those who walk upon them.

However, the brightness is the least of travelers' worries. If one steps foot inside the Badlands, half-rotten humanoids crawl out. They resemble the crawlers from the Dead Forest, but instead of only using their hands, they are entirely above the ground. A single white stone is embedded in their foreheads, which they can use to do laserbeam-like attacks that turn the sand into quicksand. Otherwise, they attack through biting and scratching.

The sand crawlers will attack anyone they can, trying to tear them apart or drown them in the sand. They fight without fear, without self-preservation, until they are destroyed themselves. The only way to truly kill them is to destroy the white gem; otherwise, the body will keep reassembling itself to fight. It seems like these aren't undead or creatures that have risen on their own. Someone or something has made them and put the gem in them to animate them, programming them with simple commands.

If one makes it past the constructed guardians, they will find themselves wandering in the scorching desert. Few creatures manage to survive here, since there is no water to be found. However, one might come across the rare inhabitant of the Badlands, such as a hedgehog man named Brillo, or the giant centipedes rumoured to come out at dusk.

If one walks far enough into the desert, they will be blinded by the sunlight reflecting on a golden skull. The artefact rests atop of a dune, luring anyone who can see it closer with the promise of gold. A single white gem is imbedded in its forehead, like a third eye. Twelve smaller gems decorate the rest of the skull.

If touched, white light appears in the skull's eye sockets, and it levitates into the sky. It attacks anyone nearby, either by firing various kinds of laserbeams from its 'eye', or by summoning more sand crawlers. It can also fly around and knock people over.

Only after destroying the twelve smaller gems can the main stone be obliterated. After that, it collapses and goes inanimate, and the relative peace returns to the Badlands.

Like the crawlers, it's likely that the skull is man-made. However, its creator never left any hints to who they might be, nor have they ever revealed themselves. It's one of the many mysteries that the white sands of the Badlands might never give away.