Rise of the Runelords Recap # 108 [RPG]

[31 Pharast 4708 continued]

 

The adventurers endure a long night, painful night of tedium and rumbling bellies.  Morgiana uses some bits of metal and gearwork to craft a homemade beartrap!

 

[1 Gozran 4708]

 

Through Ava’s magic, the adventurers turn into gossamer figures lighter than the winds and hurl themselves further north until they reach a point labelled on a few sages’ maps as “The Fen of the Icemists.”  The partially-frozen wetland is constantly swathed in damp fog, with the ground a treacherous landscape of bogs obscured by thin icy crusts.  The group choose poorly on where to return to their normal corporeal forms, and crack through the crust, sinking into the freezing cold muddy waters!  Jinkatsyu and Erik are able to climb out quickly, while Kang’s mosquito wings allow him to shoot out like a Tien firework.  But Morgiana plummets helplessly deeper and deeper, and only with Ava’s quick thinking and amazing magicks that bend time and space do both escape.

 

Once the adventurers find solid ground, they set up camp and wait hour after hour, starving from their self-imposed fast.  Then, sometime near the witching hour, everyone except Jinkatsyu notices something strange under the light of the full moon: a faintly sparkling, nearly transparent image of the River Avah continuing north from the icy fens. The ghostly river provides the adventurers a path to follow, and they travel until well past dawn—keen to see where it leads and concerned that if they sleep or eat, it may just disappear.  Erik manages to assuage their concerns, however, with the clever use of a spell invented by a knightly order: it allows him to stay awake and alert for several more hours with no ill effects.

 

[2 Gozran 4708]

 

The ghostly river doesn’t disappear from sight, and the group’s magically-sped pace allows them to move through mountainous terrain faster than a horse-drawn chariot on the smoothest plain.  Soon the adventurers reach a point where the phantom Avah overlaps with an ancient road paved with flat stones that have a faint sheen of gold on them—the road is a strict 100 feet wide, and looks surprisingly intact given its antiquity.  The Heroes of Varisia continue hurtling along the wind until, just after dusk, they crest a bluff and look down upon their goal: the legendary city of Xin-Shalast!

The tableau defies belief: a glacial valley extends north and then turns to the west at the base of a vast mountain at the far end.  Filling the valley is an ice-capped city of enormous proportions.  The near end is mostly blocked by a huge fortress of smooth black stone, with multiple towers rising from its high walls.  Beyond the fortress, a massive causeway of gold dominates the city as it travels down the center of the vale.  Enormous towers and spires of many-colored stone pack both sides of the central thoroughfare, rising to prodigious heights, giving the illusion that the road itself is a valley.  The eastern slope of the valley has been partially subsumed by an ancient volcanic flow—nearly a quarter of the city has been buried, and that section is now little more than a great mass of ice, with the jagged angles and peaks of ruined structures poking through the topmost layer here and there.  But where the valley curves slightly to the west, the structures, if anything, grow even larger—becoming truly gigantic as they climb up and over the rocky spur.  At the far end of the valley, the city abuts the lower slope of a truly massive peak, but the great causeway merely elevates at a steep angle and continues to climb the incline at a nearly straight line, transforming into an immense stairway.  Additional buildings cling precariously to the mountain face alongside the causeway, growing even larger and more impressive as they ascend.  The gigantic buildings finally give way a few thousand feet above, but the mighty road continues to wend its treacherous way to just below the mountain’s peak.  There, a spired citadel looms, its size and proportions truly magnificent: yet it too, fails to summit the mountain.  Instead, its topmost spires end just below the dominant face of a stern man carved into the peak of the mountain and surveying the city below.

Jinkatsyu wistfully tells the others he wishes Brodert and Veznutt were with them to take in such a breathtaking sight, but then notes he’s glad they’re safely out of the enormous danger the group is about to face.  Discussion is had about whether to proceed down into the city immediately or wait until

Mhar Massif, as seen from the lower city.

morning, and the latter view wins out.  The group retreats some distance along the gold-paved road and Ava conjures a stone bunker to provide shelter from the icy cold winds that continue to howl.  Thanks to her magical prowess, the members of the group barely notice the thin air at the elevation they’ve reached.

But despite the shelter, the adventurers’ rest is not a peaceful one.  During his turn to stand watch, Kang picks up whiffs of a terrible stench carried on the wind.  Seconds later, he discerns the cause: a foursome of vaguely humanoid creatures that have a vulture’s head, wings for arms, and wield enormous bows in their taloned feat.  “Kuchrimas!” Kang shouts, recognizing the creatures as the lowest order of lamia-kin, rarely seen since the fall of Thassilon.  The kuchrimas let loose with a volley of arrows and Kang is nearly knocked down, but he responds by lighting up the night with his explosive alchemical bombs!  With the aid of the others in the adventuring party, the battle is over quickly.  With little choice, the adventurers return to slumber, hoping the battle didn’t draw unwanted attention.

Kuchrimas served as foot-soldiers and 

disposable scouts in the days of Thassilon.

[3 Gozran 4708]

 

The adventurers return to their earlier vantage point, this time closely observing the fortress that seems to guard the approach to Xin-Shalast.  They can see small black specks circling, and know that it will be difficult to sneak in undetected.  The decision is made to scout the city while using Ava’s wind-walking magic.  But although the magic turns them into cloud-like figures, it doesn’t make them invisible—and soon, the group is spotted.  Several kuchrimas give chase, with Morgiana barely able to escape and rejoin the others at their stone bunker.  A second furious battle takes place, with the kuchrimas using their bowcraft to fire devastating volleys at great range.  The battle is long, difficult, and loud, but once again the adventurers prevail.

 

The adventurers have reached legendary Xin-Shalast, and found it all too real.  But the hardest question lays before them: where in its cyclopean structures is Karzoug, and what does he have in store for intruders?

--------------------------------------------

Director's Commentary

I liked the AP's concept that starvation is the key to seeing the magical trail to Xin-Shalast.  It ties in nicely to several real-world spiritual traditions involving fasting as a method to gain insight.

Morgiana crafting beartraps was a bit of surprising fun.  Although extremely heavy, they actually did come in useful a time or two.

In the Fen of the Icemists, there's a nymph druid that can be a friend or foe.  But as written, she only appears if the PCs are being particularly loud or obnoxious or disrespecting her swamp, and that didn't happen.

I'm not sure if it's possible in an RPG to adequately describe the sheer wonder of seeing, for the first time, an enormous Shangri-La like lost city.  I used the AP's descriptive text, which is quite good, but it can't rise to the level of an immersive novel or poem.

The combat against the kuchrimas was a good challenge for the PCs.  It's actually relatively rare in published Pathfinder (and even Starfinder!) APs to have encounters where ranged weapons are crucial.  I always like it when tactics and builds that work fine in dungeon-crawling have to be reassessed in other encounters.