Post by Bandgoat on Dec 30, 2015 0:22:14 GMT -6
Rova 30, 4708 – Late Evening
Illya,
Our infiltration of Xin-Shalast seems to be going well. We have met with a great deal of success this day, thanks in no small part to Lai’Ki, our half-Human ranger extraordinaire. She has been instrumental in getting us so far so quickly.
Upon arriving at the outskirts of the city yesterday, we waited until the cover of nightfall to do anything, fearing a direct assault would be met with fierce resistance. Once darkness had descended, we kept careful watch on the black fortress and the city beyond, wanting to gather as much intelligence as possible. The ruined road branched just beyond our position, a narrow route leading around to the west, while the main thoroughfare passed through a looming stone wall flanked by glossy black towers. It seemed to be some sort of ancient gateway to the city proper. A dark mass of gritty, rocky ice pressed up against the fortress’s northern face. The ancient lava flow apparently stopped, but just barely, by the stone walls. There was some faint movement within the fortress gates, indicating that the defensive approach to the city was being manned. Lai’Ki also spotted movement farther into the city. We sent her in to take a closer look and reconnoiter the city approach using a technique she had learned from the Elven ranger Shalelu Andosana, something she called the “Mak’Tar Stealth Haze.” This seems to be an extraordinarily effective tool for moving undetected into enemy territory. I must remember to ask Lai’Ki if she would be willing to teach this technique to others, possibly at the training academy back home.
While Lai’Ki was gone on her reconnoiter of the ebon stronghold, the rest of us watched from our vantage point. We were able to see campfire lights where Lai’Ki had previously seen movement within the city. We also tried to keep a careful watch on Lai’Ki in case she encountered opposition, but she soon returned to give her report. The walls of the bastion were fifty feet thick and seventy-five feet high: nearly unbreachable despite the brittle volcanic glass from which it was formed. The towers extended hundreds of feet into the sky, offering a great vantage point from which to keep watch over the city and the road approaching it. The gate was closed, but appeared to be a hastily erected replacement of the original doors that apparently had fallen into disrepair. This presented a significant weakness into the citadel. Upon scaling the glass-like wall using an appropriate spell from Soril, Lai’Ki was able to report that the towers were mostly featureless. Within the walls, she saw a number of ramshackle dwellings and other tent buildings that one would expect to see in a camp of some sort. The whole back area of the courtyard was a poorly constructed pen for a herd of aurochs. She also saw a limited amount of activity by winged creatures that vaguely resemble carrion birds. They each had longbows and could fly for brief amounts of time. Some of them occasionally flew up, looked around, and landed again. The interior was not well lit and the aurochs pen was not well guarded. Strangely, there was no keep inside the walls, indicating that the purpose of the fortress was different from that of an authentic castle. Despite being asked to look at some specific items in the fortress such as the top of the towers or doorways into the tower interiors, Lai’Ki cut her reconnaissance short and came back to the party to make her report.
With the intelligence report from Lai’Ki in hand, we then debated at some length as to our next actions. Reaching no good conclusion, we decided to let Lai’Ki once again investigate on her own, this time to survey the campsites within the city and to tell if a way existed for our entire group to sneak past them. As she did so, a huge figure lumbered down the road toward her, forcing her to take cover. As the shadowy shape neared the black fortress, we were able to tell from our vantage point that it was a taiga giant but with strange rune-like figures covering its body. We knew it matched the description of a rune giant – a powerful creature from Thassilonian times with the ability to control other giants. It approached the fortress gate and knocked on the door. The door opened, an unintelligible conversation took place, and a couple of winged creatures dragged out an aurochs. The giant popped it on the head, slung it over its shoulder, and lumbered back to its camp. Lai’Ki hid from the giant again and was able to continue her mission. After about an hour, she returned for a new report. A round courtyard about a quarter mile in diameter had been cleared out of the middle of the city, forming a giant-sized refugee camp. There were dozens or perhaps hundreds of giants of different types; most, however, seemed to be suffering from altitude sickness, perhaps having not acclimated to their surroundings. This suggested that an army of giants from far and wide were heeding a call to rally under Karzoug’s banner. Getting a better look, Lai’Ki actually found about 500 giants in total. She then came back to make her report, even though she forgot to look for a possible route for the rest of us to travel around the encampment. With this news, we immediately knew that, even given their ailing state, it would be most difficult to fight our way through the throng of giants, especially if they were being controlled by a rune giant. Since the Dwarves in our party and Ryll are notoriously bad at sneaking anywhere, we debated some more at length about how to infiltrate the city most successfully. We finally agreed to sneak around the fortress and giant commune, using Lai’Ki as a guide to find the best paths to avoid being spotted or heard and using a specific spell selection to aid our clandestine incursion.
Soon after our discussions, five more giants arrived at the city. They approached the black gate as some bird-like creatures flew over the walls to meet them. Another unheard conversation took place and the new arrivals shuffled off toward the giant encampment. This strengthened our hypothesis that Karzoug was recruiting a giant army. We then rested what few hours remained of the night and prepared our spells according to our plans for the next day.
Just before dawn, we prepared to move. As we left our hiding spot, Soril put up an invisibility cloak around everyone except Lai’Ki, who stealthily scouted in front. We first slipped our way around the fortress with no incident. A little over halfway between the fortress and the giant encampment, Lai’Ki spied another rune giant moving toward us. She quickly communicated that information to us and ducked out of sight. Tolgun cast a spell to hide any noises we made and we moved to evade the creature, off into some ruined houses. The giant passed us by, and we kept going. As we approached the giant camp, Lai’Ki saw that fewer giants were there, but almost all of them looked fatigued. We were able to move around the encampment without notice, but just as we passed, our cloak of invisibility ended. Lai’Ki kept scouting ahead, though now at a slower pace. We made our way as best we could through the mostly empty and ruined city. At one point, we spied a very large domed structure in the center of the city. It was obviously a landmark building of some kind. Due to the lava encroachment from the east, the valley of the city narrowed at this point quite a bit. As we continued toward the north, we soon came to the northern extent of the ancient lava flow. The east side of the valley opened up, revealing some sort of dead or strange forested area with what at first appeared to be gray trees. Near the side of the road a few dozen yards ahead, though, Lai’Ki spied a few large figures. Getting closer, Soril was able to identify them as yetis, or abominable snowmen some call them. They seemed to occupy a spot near our proposed path, so we prepared to fight in case our stealth was not successful. As it turns out, Ryll’s shiny armor reflected the sun, alerting the yetis to our location. A brief fight ensued, but their primitive savagery was no match the Dwarves’ primitive savagery or the fighting styles of the other, more civilized members of our group. We tried to hide the yeti bodies to avoid tipping off anyone else. We quickly healed and moved on.
At that point, Lai’Ki moved to quickly investigate the large domed building directly to our west. It was an immense dome of stone rising at the end of an elevated road. The structure towered hundreds of feet in height and was capped by a smaller dome that brought its total height to an estimated 700 feet. Numerous arches and openings decorated the building’s sides, all allowing access to its cavernous interior. Through the arches, Lai’Ki saw that there was not much in the interior except a huge pile of stone rubble. There was some movement inside, which appeared to her to be more yetis sitting around doing mundane things. She returned and gave her report, but on her way back to the party, she spotted high above the valley a dragon flying towards Mhar Massif and the spired citadel. We moved on, noting that we would likely have to fight another dragon soon.
Thus, we continued our stealthy invasion of Xin-Shalast until we were close to the area we thought was a dead forest, but found that it was actually a fungal jungle – a huge area of very big mushrooms, tree sized and gray. Knowing that some types of fungi are dangerous, we avoided that area as best we could and did not investigate closely. We continued, starting to see the central road start to wind up the mountain. Next to the golden path stood a short rise, below the valley ridge. Upon the butte stood another fortress and we spotted a large sihedron-shaped colosseum-like building ahead of us. We used the ruined buildings opposite the fortress as cover to aid in hiding. We just passed the apex of the fortressed plateau when night started to descend upon the valley. After spending the entire day making great inroads toward the spired citadel that we hope houses our quarry, Karzoug, we decided to bunker down for the night and prepare for fights to come. I hope it does not come to this, but we must be mindful that a dragon is a dangerous opponent and many resources might be necessary to defeat it in battle, leaving us precious little power left to bring to bear against an awakening runelord. Who knows what other dangers we will find within this long-forgotten city and the bastion above?
- E
Illya,
Our infiltration of Xin-Shalast seems to be going well. We have met with a great deal of success this day, thanks in no small part to Lai’Ki, our half-Human ranger extraordinaire. She has been instrumental in getting us so far so quickly.
Upon arriving at the outskirts of the city yesterday, we waited until the cover of nightfall to do anything, fearing a direct assault would be met with fierce resistance. Once darkness had descended, we kept careful watch on the black fortress and the city beyond, wanting to gather as much intelligence as possible. The ruined road branched just beyond our position, a narrow route leading around to the west, while the main thoroughfare passed through a looming stone wall flanked by glossy black towers. It seemed to be some sort of ancient gateway to the city proper. A dark mass of gritty, rocky ice pressed up against the fortress’s northern face. The ancient lava flow apparently stopped, but just barely, by the stone walls. There was some faint movement within the fortress gates, indicating that the defensive approach to the city was being manned. Lai’Ki also spotted movement farther into the city. We sent her in to take a closer look and reconnoiter the city approach using a technique she had learned from the Elven ranger Shalelu Andosana, something she called the “Mak’Tar Stealth Haze.” This seems to be an extraordinarily effective tool for moving undetected into enemy territory. I must remember to ask Lai’Ki if she would be willing to teach this technique to others, possibly at the training academy back home.
While Lai’Ki was gone on her reconnoiter of the ebon stronghold, the rest of us watched from our vantage point. We were able to see campfire lights where Lai’Ki had previously seen movement within the city. We also tried to keep a careful watch on Lai’Ki in case she encountered opposition, but she soon returned to give her report. The walls of the bastion were fifty feet thick and seventy-five feet high: nearly unbreachable despite the brittle volcanic glass from which it was formed. The towers extended hundreds of feet into the sky, offering a great vantage point from which to keep watch over the city and the road approaching it. The gate was closed, but appeared to be a hastily erected replacement of the original doors that apparently had fallen into disrepair. This presented a significant weakness into the citadel. Upon scaling the glass-like wall using an appropriate spell from Soril, Lai’Ki was able to report that the towers were mostly featureless. Within the walls, she saw a number of ramshackle dwellings and other tent buildings that one would expect to see in a camp of some sort. The whole back area of the courtyard was a poorly constructed pen for a herd of aurochs. She also saw a limited amount of activity by winged creatures that vaguely resemble carrion birds. They each had longbows and could fly for brief amounts of time. Some of them occasionally flew up, looked around, and landed again. The interior was not well lit and the aurochs pen was not well guarded. Strangely, there was no keep inside the walls, indicating that the purpose of the fortress was different from that of an authentic castle. Despite being asked to look at some specific items in the fortress such as the top of the towers or doorways into the tower interiors, Lai’Ki cut her reconnaissance short and came back to the party to make her report.
With the intelligence report from Lai’Ki in hand, we then debated at some length as to our next actions. Reaching no good conclusion, we decided to let Lai’Ki once again investigate on her own, this time to survey the campsites within the city and to tell if a way existed for our entire group to sneak past them. As she did so, a huge figure lumbered down the road toward her, forcing her to take cover. As the shadowy shape neared the black fortress, we were able to tell from our vantage point that it was a taiga giant but with strange rune-like figures covering its body. We knew it matched the description of a rune giant – a powerful creature from Thassilonian times with the ability to control other giants. It approached the fortress gate and knocked on the door. The door opened, an unintelligible conversation took place, and a couple of winged creatures dragged out an aurochs. The giant popped it on the head, slung it over its shoulder, and lumbered back to its camp. Lai’Ki hid from the giant again and was able to continue her mission. After about an hour, she returned for a new report. A round courtyard about a quarter mile in diameter had been cleared out of the middle of the city, forming a giant-sized refugee camp. There were dozens or perhaps hundreds of giants of different types; most, however, seemed to be suffering from altitude sickness, perhaps having not acclimated to their surroundings. This suggested that an army of giants from far and wide were heeding a call to rally under Karzoug’s banner. Getting a better look, Lai’Ki actually found about 500 giants in total. She then came back to make her report, even though she forgot to look for a possible route for the rest of us to travel around the encampment. With this news, we immediately knew that, even given their ailing state, it would be most difficult to fight our way through the throng of giants, especially if they were being controlled by a rune giant. Since the Dwarves in our party and Ryll are notoriously bad at sneaking anywhere, we debated some more at length about how to infiltrate the city most successfully. We finally agreed to sneak around the fortress and giant commune, using Lai’Ki as a guide to find the best paths to avoid being spotted or heard and using a specific spell selection to aid our clandestine incursion.
Soon after our discussions, five more giants arrived at the city. They approached the black gate as some bird-like creatures flew over the walls to meet them. Another unheard conversation took place and the new arrivals shuffled off toward the giant encampment. This strengthened our hypothesis that Karzoug was recruiting a giant army. We then rested what few hours remained of the night and prepared our spells according to our plans for the next day.
Just before dawn, we prepared to move. As we left our hiding spot, Soril put up an invisibility cloak around everyone except Lai’Ki, who stealthily scouted in front. We first slipped our way around the fortress with no incident. A little over halfway between the fortress and the giant encampment, Lai’Ki spied another rune giant moving toward us. She quickly communicated that information to us and ducked out of sight. Tolgun cast a spell to hide any noises we made and we moved to evade the creature, off into some ruined houses. The giant passed us by, and we kept going. As we approached the giant camp, Lai’Ki saw that fewer giants were there, but almost all of them looked fatigued. We were able to move around the encampment without notice, but just as we passed, our cloak of invisibility ended. Lai’Ki kept scouting ahead, though now at a slower pace. We made our way as best we could through the mostly empty and ruined city. At one point, we spied a very large domed structure in the center of the city. It was obviously a landmark building of some kind. Due to the lava encroachment from the east, the valley of the city narrowed at this point quite a bit. As we continued toward the north, we soon came to the northern extent of the ancient lava flow. The east side of the valley opened up, revealing some sort of dead or strange forested area with what at first appeared to be gray trees. Near the side of the road a few dozen yards ahead, though, Lai’Ki spied a few large figures. Getting closer, Soril was able to identify them as yetis, or abominable snowmen some call them. They seemed to occupy a spot near our proposed path, so we prepared to fight in case our stealth was not successful. As it turns out, Ryll’s shiny armor reflected the sun, alerting the yetis to our location. A brief fight ensued, but their primitive savagery was no match the Dwarves’ primitive savagery or the fighting styles of the other, more civilized members of our group. We tried to hide the yeti bodies to avoid tipping off anyone else. We quickly healed and moved on.
At that point, Lai’Ki moved to quickly investigate the large domed building directly to our west. It was an immense dome of stone rising at the end of an elevated road. The structure towered hundreds of feet in height and was capped by a smaller dome that brought its total height to an estimated 700 feet. Numerous arches and openings decorated the building’s sides, all allowing access to its cavernous interior. Through the arches, Lai’Ki saw that there was not much in the interior except a huge pile of stone rubble. There was some movement inside, which appeared to her to be more yetis sitting around doing mundane things. She returned and gave her report, but on her way back to the party, she spotted high above the valley a dragon flying towards Mhar Massif and the spired citadel. We moved on, noting that we would likely have to fight another dragon soon.
Thus, we continued our stealthy invasion of Xin-Shalast until we were close to the area we thought was a dead forest, but found that it was actually a fungal jungle – a huge area of very big mushrooms, tree sized and gray. Knowing that some types of fungi are dangerous, we avoided that area as best we could and did not investigate closely. We continued, starting to see the central road start to wind up the mountain. Next to the golden path stood a short rise, below the valley ridge. Upon the butte stood another fortress and we spotted a large sihedron-shaped colosseum-like building ahead of us. We used the ruined buildings opposite the fortress as cover to aid in hiding. We just passed the apex of the fortressed plateau when night started to descend upon the valley. After spending the entire day making great inroads toward the spired citadel that we hope houses our quarry, Karzoug, we decided to bunker down for the night and prepare for fights to come. I hope it does not come to this, but we must be mindful that a dragon is a dangerous opponent and many resources might be necessary to defeat it in battle, leaving us precious little power left to bring to bear against an awakening runelord. Who knows what other dangers we will find within this long-forgotten city and the bastion above?
- E