Rise of the Runelords

After getting up the next morning. having a nice breakfast and staving off whatever ill effects may have set in from Wolfgar's ailment you headed into town.  Your first stop was the giant camp area.  You were able to approach and saw an enormous giant tent encampment. There may have been over 100 tents.  From your vantage you saw no more than a score of giants so decided to move closer with thoughts of a glorious giant slaughter.  It wasn't until Balros noticed several other large groups of giants milling about that you decided 20 giants were killable, but 60 or more were likely not.  You moved on.

The next stop was the giant stone dome.  Inside you noticed a humongous pile of rubble.  You moved in to investigate.  Again, Balros noticed what others did not.  He held up his hand bringing the group to a stop.  It took some work, but the was able to point out a few well hidden creatures that were watching you. You spread out and approached when one of them yelled "Hrohdth!"  You looked at each other then all at D'Argo.  "It want's us to stop." D'Argo said translating with his helm.  It's speaking Giant.  "I understood that too." piped Wolfgar.  It turned out that all the creatures wanted was for you to leave.  You decided that with their terrain advantage that coming back another time would be fine.

Further into the city you encountered a patrol of hill giants.  They started to question you and Wolfgar took the conversation lead.  Many of you readied weapons figuring it only a matter of minutes before either Wolfgar or the giant said something to anger the other.  D'Argo soon mumbled, "Oh crap.  Wolfgar just said 'I heard giants taste like chicken.'"  The fight began.  It was over just as fast.  You moved on to not be associated with the killing of giants.  Golian and Balros had that prickly feeling that you were being watched, but could not see anything, even after looking hard.

Deeper into the city you were surprised by a well camouflaged group of stone giants out on patrol. This group turned out not to be hostile.  You learned that there were a number of giants that were not entirely enthralled with their life in Xin Shalast and that while you may not find allies amongst the large folk, there are some that won't get in your way as long as your path leads to to confront the powers that be of the city.  You also learned that the Rune Giants are the main leaders in town and that they descend from the spires periodically.  You also learned that the leader of the beasts in the stone dome is in league with the Rune Giants and while it no longer lives with the rest of them, it does return every few days for an hour or two before leaving again.  You said goodbye to the giants and moved on.

Balros had that feeling again but this time spotted something.  He let the group walk on to be sure you were being followed.  When he was convinced, he orchestrated the encounter.  The lone creature was not aggressive and seemed more curious about you.  After it realized it had been spotted, it said, "Dri ood wec piolsh siin?"  Everyone turned to D'Argo who was noding his head and said to you, "He wants to know if we are the chosen ones. I don't know what language that is."  After some pantomime and charades, you were confident that it meant you no harm and wanted you all to follow it.  It lead you back toward the southern part of the city and into some tunnels through and under the hardened lava flow.  It stopped in a store room where you tried again to communicate.  You decided to wait until the next morning when a tongues could be had.

You find out that this is Morgiv, one of a number of his kind that primarily lie in the tunnels in the city.  He is convinced you are 'The Chosen Ones' and relates a story that backs up his belief.  Not really knowing what he is talking about you gather that his people are under attack by some unknown creature.  Many have disappeared and are never seen again.  The story he relates indicate that his people were once slaves in the city and once freed would become slaves again.  When that happened, the 'Chosen Ones' would come and free them.  He even showed you some frescoes and mosaics to back up his interpretation.  They showed humanoids in battle with giants.  Could have been any number of 'humans' and giants, but he was convinced.  You agreed to help.  He explained that it was not until their tunneling had broken into one set of rooms that the trouble started.  They had barricaded the new tunnels, but people still kept vanishing.  He led you to one of the entry points and after making the way clear, you moved in.

After casing some protective spells and following the tunnel some hundreds of feet you came to the remains of a basement room that had survived the lava flow.  There were numerous columns around the perimeter and a dais with a man-sized throne in its center. On the throne still skeletal figure sat.  You spread out cautiously as Balros approached the figure.  It began to gesture and before Balros could manage a full swing it it, he dropped to floor dead.  "That can't be.  He was protected from death effects." yelled Edwin.  Still he did not move. Almost immediately several very well hidden figure appeared from the shadows around the columns and started attacking.  You quickly realized they were some form of powerful undead as D'Argo was drained of several levels from a few attacks.  The skeletal figure kept gesticulating.  You engaged the immediate enemy and Woflgar received an invisibility purge.  He headed into the room.  After battling his way past a few vampires he 'revealed' the larger threat.


Behind the throne hovered a large bulbous head with a maw full of wickedly sharp teeth and nearly a dozen long tentacles. Edwin was able to deal with the attacking vampires with two turns, but was unable to affect the main creature.  It was able to grapple foes as you moved in to engage it, attacking with all its tentacles and still being able to cast.  It cast some defensive spells like mirror image and displacement.  Pirozzi found it was also shielded so Malloric dealt with the images.  Others moved in the best you could to engage the beast in melee. Pirozzi and the beast took turns dispelling and reapplying displacement.  It would be a contest to see which had more third level spells.  Meanwhile those grappled by the creature were slowly being drained of levels.  A few times, the creature declined to attack or drain its foes, but instead attempted to control one of you. This had no effect thanks to the breakfast of champions.  Edwin was doing well keeping everyone cured and had plenty of reserves until he too was grappled.  D'Argo had started greasing everyone to help them avoid and escape the beasts tentacles.  Wolfgar, having been finally freed from its grasp cast a searing light.  A little surprised by the results, he fired off another now realizing that this too was an undead and vulnerable to sunlight.  The battle was over and Balros still lie dead on the floor in front of the still gesticulating skeleton.

From Morgiv you also learned more about the denizens of the city.  The locus, an ancient gladitorial arena, is haunted by the spirits of those killed there and is home to some powerful creature that even the giants leave alone.  There is also a blue dragon that calls the upper city home.  Morgiv was able to draw a circle on your map showing the rough area of its lair.

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After spending the night in the warmth provide by D'Argo's spell and wringing out much of your gear the next morning from the melted permafrost, you headed uphill the direction pointed to by Svevenka, the local nymph.  The way was so much easier than the weeks of hiking and trailblazing through the mountains.  So easy in fact that you actually started to walk on the remains of an old and very wide road.  Golian was the first to notice that the huge cobblestones look like they may once have been painted yellow.  A closer inspection showed that they may actually have been gilded once upon a time.

You first encountered some giants guarding the road.  They started the skirmish by chucking rocks from their cave some 60' up the cliff.  They soon levitated down to meet you and began tenderizing the lot of you with their gargantuan morningstars.  Some of the group took a pounding, but you quickly defeated them.  After chopping them into more manageable sized pieces you dragged the parts off and dumped them in the river flowing along one side of the road.  You searched their cave and took what loot was valuable. 

You next came to a vantage where you could see much of the fabled city of Xin Shalast.  You were amazed at its size - easily over a mile wide and several times that in length.  Much of the southern and eastern sections appeared to have been consumed by an ancient lava flow.  You lost sight of it several times as the road dipped and turned.  Once closer, you could finally appreciate the scale.  This was a city made for giants.  The buildings were dozens if not hundreds of feet tall with walls thick enough to support the massive weight.  You took the right path as Svevenka mentioned the left route went directly to a large area home to scores of giants.  You approached what looked like the older and original entrance to the city - a walled gate house.  When you were about 300' from the doors, several creatures started flying from the walls toward you.  You soon recognized them as the weird flying, harpy-like, arrow shooting beasts you had encountered many days earlier.  They seemed to prefer staying at range which worked for you.  You gathered around Henrik, whose shield attracted nearly all their bow shots and you returned fire with arrows and spells.  A couple of the creatures flew off to one side of the fight, but did not appear anywhere. Some of the beasts started to close for melee when some of you heard a rumbling in the direction of the two errant beasties.  As you were fighting, the sound became louder and louder.  Soon, from around a building not too far away came a stampeding herd of aurochs being whipped and steered from behind by the missing flyers. D'Argo acted quickly and cast a spell with no visible effect.  Less than 30 seconds later, the stampede plowed headlong into the invisible wall of force with a sickening sound of bones shattering, moos of pain and gallons of blood splattering everywhere.  You did your best to keep from wretching and finished off the remaining creatures.  You quickly moved into the immense gatehouse complex to search for more and to find a secure location to use as a base camp of sorts.

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