Reaching Xin-Shalast

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Episode no.	Episode 100
Date	2010
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
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File:Xin-Shalast.png

The city of Xin-Shalast.

We continued on up the last slopes of the mountain. We headed for a small valley near the top. When we got closer we noted a ledge some fifty feet up the cliff side. I told everyone to keep low and try to hide. I could see giants moving up to the edge looking down the mountainside. They had seen something but I didn't think they knew where we were. Four of the giants were bigger than any I had seen before. The others told me that they were storm giants. There was also a smaller strange looking giant that was covered by runes. Honeypot cast a ritual and as soon as she was finished we sneaked a little closer.

Then when I was thinking we should attack Honeypot suddenly cherub wings grew out of our backs and before I could stop her, she made us all fly up to the giants. I still hated flying. As the fight started Honeypot said that we all should keep close to her too keep flying. I immediately threw my dagger into three of the four storm giants I could see, but missed the rune giant and moved away from Honeypot to hide among some boulders near the mountainside. The giants hardly noticed my attacks. Velicia teleported into the middle of them and threw burst of magic at them pushing them away and making them fall over. Honeypot used her magic in someway to suppress the rune giant's magic while Nathaniel hit it forcing it towards me among the boulders. Then the storm giants thundered with magical might. I was far enough away from the first to avoid any damage, but another burst caught me. Pelor's might, working through my sun symbol, protected us from the damage. A third storm giant whirled its sword around and hit me. It was a glancing blow, not causing too much pain, but it angered me. I announced that the rune giant was an enemy to Pelor and that I was going to fight it. I moved up to it and stabbed it hard with my dagger. It cut deep into its flesh, causing massive damage. Velicia followed up with a quick attack felling it.

Honeypot started talking to the storm giants telling them that we didn't want to kill them and she persuaded them to cease fighting. Nathaniel made sure that the rune giant was dead by striking the laying body, almost cutting off its head. The storm giants took off with a warning;
"Fear the Harridans" they said and flew away down the mountain.
I remembered that at Jorgenfist the giants wanted to go home, but had been gathered there by Mokmurian. Perhaps it was the same in Xin-Shalast. The giants were kept there by those rune giant but if freed they would return home. Velicia said that the rune giant was some kind of fire giant that had been transformed through strange rituals into a rune giant.

We went the few steps needed too look into the valley where the city of Xin-Shalast lay. It was an enormous city. I could see gold glittering on decorations all over the town.

lichen covered glacier coming from right into the town

a big camp with giants in open space not far from where we came in to town

Nathaniel looked through his spyglass He saw hippodrome far far away. Hippo? Hippopotamus? What's that?

look closer at the giants camp

hundreds of giants

rune giants keep the stone giants in line

very few rune giants

Rumors

File:Skulk.png

The skulk.

I decided we should sneak into town. We all did and we could sneak passed the giants and on through the city but then I thought we ought to get some rumors from the giants camp. It could be important to know if they were up to something we should know of. I sent Nathaniel to scout out the first part of the enormous city while Honeypot and I sneaked into the giant tent camp. I could hear that the giants were talking, but I didn't understand giantish. Honeypot, who knew giantish, wasn't as good at sneaking close as me. Instead we decided Honeypot would disguise herself as a giant using the ring I told her to get. We sneaked into a tent where we heard snores from. She stood next to a sleeping stone giant and her appearance turned into a copy of it. She left the tent and started walk around among all the giants. I followed in the shadows, always keeping close to her. She overheard some conversations and talked to some other stone giants. From that we quickly learned that the giants didn't like the harridans but liked to build things with stone. That might be useful. Perhaps I could convince some of them to come back to Turtleback Ferry and repair Skull's Crossing, improve Fort Rannik and even build some new things in town. Then we heard of an organized resistance. It was very low key and not many giants talked about it or even knew that it existed. We met patrols while walking the camp. They were usually made up of a rune giant and a handful of storm giants or a harridan, about twenty lamias and several vrocks that looked like some kind of harpy.

We were returning to Velicia to discuss what to do when Nathaniel told us using the telepathy that there was a whole underground city too. He had seen many entrances that he thought were connected. We discussed and decided to try to find the resistance leader. We all went this time but when we met giants all but Honeypot, who was still looking like a stone giant, hid. She found out that the leader was called Eyukak. She was even led there and we others followed stealthily. Eyukak was a stone giant but had a guard of storm giants. Honeypot asked to be allowed to talk to him alone and that her friends would be allowed to meet him. Eyukak agreed and they went into his tent while the guards stood outside. We sneaked in the back bypassing the guards without them noticing. Eyukak turned out to be from the other side of the mountains. There an old civilization ruled that was thousands of years old, but not as old as the Tassalonians. They were some kind of monk giants. They wanted to return to their land and to be able to escape they wanted some big distraction.

I told the others to tell him that we could arrange that. He just wanted to know about it a little before it happened so they could use it. We agreed to make sure he would know. He then told us about the city.

A big round dome building - Yeti abominable snowmen lead by Vorgor

The tangle Further away the lichen covered glacier was a fungus jungle - Very dangerous Rotting heaps of compost

The arena - heptagonal building with a big seven pointed star A devil keeps court

Vomax Circus (the hippodrome) next to the arena

Then crematoriums in the undertaker part of town

Last part of golden road called temple row. Several temples along the road where bad gods were worshiped Mostly lamias there.

In big brown temple worship lamashtu

Blue dragon live cave in mountain side above temples

There was also a keep where giants who are warrior and not workers live

Legends of Turengate. He wrote a book that if you read it you become the worlds best general as he was

Harridans create rune giants from fire giants.

While he had been talking I had noted things that made me think he wasn't really a stone giant, but in disguise. Honeypot agreed. She had seen it too. She changed back to herself and said that suggested that he should take his true form too. After some consideration he agreed and changed to an Oni. It was some kind of ogre mage. He continued to tell us about the occlusion field around the highest part just outside of town, where Karzoug lived. He told us that everyone need an amulet to get through the barrier, but if you do wear one every guard would know everything about you. We thanked Eyukak and returned out into the ruins.

When we walked through the ruins Nathaniel stopped to take a leak. Then a strange man appeared and asked Nathaniel to follow him. Nathaniel told him of his companions, us, and that we could be trusted by him. We all retreated into a ruin and started talking. He was of a race called skulks. They were pale, fat and living underground. He told us of a prophecy telling of our coming to save his people. They had been enslaved a long time, but Mesmina had led them to freedom. Now he thought we were the new saviors that would come and save his people from the hidden beast. It was some unseen monster that preyed on them and the victims could be seen again, but were then changed. From his description we guessed that it was the work of a vampire.