Reaching Xin-Shalast

“Reaching Xin-Shalast”
Rise of the Runelords episode
Episode no.	Episode 100
Date	2010
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Ascent" "Xin-Shalast 101"
Rise of the Runelords chapter list

In this chapter the heroes encounter a guard post before arriving at the city of greed, Xin-Shalast.

Reaching Xin-Shalast

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. There was a long road going through it all, often raised above the ground, and from the right a strange lichen covered glacier covered the outskirts of the town. It looked like it had been coming down the slopes pouring into the town, but had been frozen in place. There was a tent camp in an open square a few blocks into town. Lots of giants walked around in the camp. Apparently giants were gathering here too. Nathaniel used his spyglass to look closer at the town. He told us he saw a hippodrome far far away. I asked what it was. I had heard of hippogriffs and asked if it was a drome for hippogriffs and if a drome was anything like a dome. He laughed and said that it was a stretched, round racing arena. He also took a closer look at the tent camp. He saw hundreds of stone giants but only a few rune giants and storm giants. We guessed that they were there to keep the stone giants in line.