The Ankh has been stolen from one of the gods. Stolen by a being who is not supposed to have possession of it, it has been hidden on the Plane of Shadow. Only seven Ankhs are in existence, period. The other possessors are Thoth, Ra, Bast... oh, it doesn't really matter. Suffice to say that the Adventurers are on an island on one of the Outer Planes. In the castle before them lives Circe, the Black Sorceress. The island has a large population of animals, of all kinds. There are far too many kinds to exist here naturally, and the beasts are all so tame, too. Curious.
Some of the animals became real in mind too, but there are those that still have human minds.
Circe will not be immediately hostile. She will be generally interested in hearing about the Adventurers' adventures, and will tell them information about the sea and surrounding lands. If she can, she'll lull them into accepting her invitation to spend the night and to use her boat in the morning, providing they leave it at one particular place on another island for her to retrieve.
But she has no intention of allowing them to last through the night.
If the sea around the island is examined carefully, a great reef will be found. Sharp, terrible rocks and coral, and the shattered skeletons of ships unlucky enough to be caught by the answered prayers of Circe to Poseidon.
She will try to lure them all into her basement, so as to catch them all at once, rather than sneaking around bedroom to bedroom.
The True Ankh was originally stolen by a group of Anti-paladins, for their evil lord god. After fleeing with it to the Plane of Limbo, they paused for a brief time on the Isle of Circe. She knew they had possession of something very powerful, and decided not to interfere with their journey. But it was not until the Adventurers appeared that she realized what the anti-paladin's cargo was. She decided to try to get her hand in the matter, and start by getting rid of some of the competition. Her first chance came with the Adventurers' arrival.
Meanwhile, the anti-paladins had sailed up to a great reef. They cruised up and down it for a while, looking for an opening to allow them to pass to where they believed help lay. Soon, they found a channel, fairly near a group of islands. But halfway across, they were ambushed.
The Cyclopes of the Islands had a long-standing deal with the people of the lands beyond to protect this one passage through the reef, through which a ship could pass to the interior of the city-state. One cyclops rose to challenge the strange ship, which immediately erupted in offensive fire. Using their knowledge of the waters, the cyclopes wrecked the ship, then managed to pick off the intruders. They found the cargo, and then one of them discovered its effects upon mortals.
They brought it to their lairs, and were mulling over what to do with it, when they were surprised. One lone human figure addressed them from a hilltop, demanding the return of the Ankh to its rightful owner, the lord Osiris. The cyclopes refused.
And the paladins launched their carefully timed attack. They had been closing in on the Ankh for several weeks now, and were hot on the trail of the anti-paladins when they fell prey to the giants. The cyclopes were not used to such a ferocious onslaught, and were quickly forced back from the Ankh. As soon as the paladins had it in their possession, they fled eastward, towards an island at the edge of the world.
The remaining cyclopes were furious at the chance they had blown, and sorrowful over their slain kin. The anti-paladin's bodies were thrown into a pit and buried with large rocks, and a huge pyre was built over them to hold the bodies of the dead cyclopes as they were cremated. As the smoke stained the sky, the cyclopes swore they would never be taken so easily again.
The paladins were in a celebratory mood when they arrived at the island of their god, and were perhaps a mite careless. Because some time within eighteen hours of their landing, the True Ankh vanished.
Far underneath Circe's home, in the ruins of another, far older structure, is a gate to the Plane of Shadow. In there, a Shade magic-user-thief had resided for ages, awaiting the chance which a power had long ago decreed. He has a sphere of annihilation, plus other nasty beasts around. A worshipper of Hecate, he had pledged himself to give his queen a gift of the Ankh. And while the paladins were congratulating each other, he stole the Ankh from under their very noses.
The paladins are in a nasty temper indeed, and will be ready to jump down anyone's throat who even smells suspicious.
This is the shape that this little corner of the Adventurer's universe is in. As the Adventurers travel west, they will see, far to the south, a ship travelling rapidly east: the paladin's ship. As they near the island, a large, greasy fire will be seen burning.
One anti-paladin managed to escape. He is on a raft, floating slowly across the reef.