[5 Gozran
4708 continued]
Following
the utter destruction of the Hidden Beast and its minions, the Spared’s
reverence for Kang grows even more. “The
Chosen One has fulfilled the prophecy!” shouts Morgiv. Now utterly devoted to serving the
adventurers in any way they can, the Spared eagerly agree when asked to guide
the group to the northern sections of the city through underground tunnels.
Night and
day have little meaning while underground, but the sun is at its peak when the
Heroes of Varisia and the Spared emerge from the tunnels. This section of the city is largely covered
by a dark mass of gritty ice to form a landscape of blasted terrain and
occasional ruins projecting up at odd angles.
When asked, Morgiv says he knows little of this area or the more intact
sections of the city to the north and west.
On his rare expeditions here, however, he claims to have seen a blue
dragon and white-furred “two-leggeds” that the group infer are probably yeti. Morgiv even points out an immense dome he says
the yeti reside in. The cyclopean
architecture of the area around it seems fitting considering the dozens of
giants that are in full view on the streets!
Many of the giants seem to be travelling between a fortress of glossy
black volcanic glass and a crude camp with oversized tents and shelters. With Morgiv’s aid, the adventurers stay out
of sight as they travel narrow backstreets full of rubble to survey more of the
area. One massive landmark seems to have
been an arena of some sort, but its sheer size and crystal towers make it the
perhaps the greatest architectural feat in all of Xin-Shalast. Less impressive, only in comparison, is a
massive open-air hippodrome of some sort—but much of the southeastern portion
of this structure has fallen into ruin and is covered by dense undergrowth.
The sun
begins to set following this initial exploration and a decision is made to camp
for the night in one of many abandoned buildings. Kang tells the Spared that
it’s too dangerous for them to stay with him and the other adventurers, but
they refuse to leave—they want to stay and help the Chosen One! Eventually, a compromise is reached and all
but a handful of the Spared return to their underground homes while the remainder
scatter themselves nearby on the surface to help watch for approaching
dangers.
[6 Gozran 4708]
Just
a few scant hours after midnight, loud hooting and howling awakens the
adventurers—the Spared have spotted a patrol of hill giants approaching the
campsite! The guttural voice of a giant
can be heard shouting to his friends: “There they are, the ones we’ve been
looking for! Get ‘em!” The giants burst into the building and,
although they present no real risk to the experienced adventurers, Kang
realises he’s being scryed during the battle.
While dispatching a hill giant with his rapier, Jinkatsyu suddenly says,
bizarrely, “Now let us see if you are ready to face the least of my
apprentice’s underlings.” A towering
insectile monstrosity teleports in to take advantage of the adventurers’
distraction. But Kang reacts quickly,
identifying it as an ice devil and hurling a force bomb to knock the thing to
the ground. Jinkatasyu springs in to
attack, but something about the devil is too much for the kitsune’s frail
mind—he runs away, terrified! With
crucial seconds to recover, the ice devil gets to its feet and tries to open a
portal to Hell to call forth devilish allies, but none come to its aid. More of Kang’s bombs arrive in
quick
succession, devastating the ice devil and leaving it a blasted corpse on the
ground. As the remaining hill giants are
quickly defeated, Jinkatsyu recovers from his fright. Ava notices something strange, however—the
ice devil’s ruined corpse seems to be repairing itself! She calls down divine fire from Sinashakti to
incinerate the corpse completely.
But the adventurers’ penchant for showy displays of
power—gunshots, explosive bombs, and column of divine fire, among other
things—cannot go unnoticed even in a sparsely-populated city the size of
Xin-Shalast. Barely an hour after the
fight against the hill giants and the ice devil assassin, more giants
arrive. But these giants are
different—almost eighteen feet tall with powder-blue skin, their
finely-chiseled faces show no expression as they arrive floating in the
air! With utter dispassion, one of them
announces “Intruders. You have arrived
without permission. You must return with
us to Shalaria for interrogation” The
adventurers try to negotiate with the cloud giants but receive only impassive
stares in response. The adventurers
aren’t eager for another fight, especially with creatures that Erik can discern
aren’t evil. Through secret signals, the
adventurers decide to scatter and reunite at the hippodrome they spied
earlier. The plan appears to work, as
the cloud giants are nowhere to be seen an hour later when the group set up
another camp near the dense vegetation that has overtaken the ruined
structure. But luck is far from the
adventurers’ side, as they quickly realise: the vegetation is moving to envelop
them!
------------------------------------Director's Commentary
I think I've mentioned in previous commentaries how challenging it was to run Xin-Shalast given how enormous the city was but how little detail is provided about many locations. I improvised where I could, but didn't have the energy to populate the areas with tons of foes or detail.
The hill giants were a random encounter, but the ice devil assassin was a scripted event (it's supposed to attack when the PCs are occupied fighting other foes). But apart showcasing Jinks' low Will save, the devil went down like a punk and really showed just how tough the group was at this stage in the campaign. Still, more proof that the PCs were being scryed upon by Karzoug, who was taking the opportunity to study their weapons and tactics.
I'm not sure where I got the idea to role-play the cloud giants as dispassionate creatures, but at least it was something different.
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