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Azalia keeps her eyes open for looting opportunities... or, you know, bad guys, just in case.
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Anneka pops out of the invisibility granted by her ring. ”Yea,” she says and signs, ”I’ve hardly had to lift a finger since we got here.”
Azalia spots several bags amongst the encampment that look to be filled with plunder but with so many giants around is not without risk. She also can't help but notice how valuable (and generally heavy) the building materials around here are. There are scraps of gold leaf and gems in parts of the architecture... if her group spent the day at it they could scrounge up about a hundred gold pieces from these parts alone.
An immense dome of stone rises at the end of an elevated road here. The structure towers five hundred feet in height and is capped by a smaller dome that brings its total height to nearly seven hundred feet in all. Numerous arches and openings decorate the building's sides, all allowing
access to its cavernous interior.
Drazh steps in something warm, soft, smelly and terribly fresh... clearly something has recently been in this area. Tracks in the snow shot it to be a humanoid bipedal creature about the size of a hill giant but bare foot with clawed toes.
Azalia scouts invisibly to see if there is anything especially worthy of theft, but otherwise she sticks with the group.
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Surely no one would notice this one ring would they...
Ring of Wizardry Type 1
Seeing a nice glittery magic ring, Azalia tries to palm it.
Azalia acquires the ring with little issue... and such a small thing amongst giants probably will lead to a search.
Azalia goes to find Marten.
Hey, found some magical ring in the Giant Camp. Want it?
She tosses it to him.
Marten spazzes out trying to catch the ring, either managing to pin it to his shoulder or chest before dropping it or juggling it into the air in an attempt to catch it again. This goes on for a comically long time, but when he finally manages the catch, his heavy breathing is the only indication of his struggle.
"Well, Azalia, I'm sure these giants like their little baubles, but you shouldn't expect to get excited over every bit of primitive magic that comes our--Oh!"
"Yes, well. This might be moderately useful. I'll hang onto it and think about it some more. Thank you."
Marten pockets the ring.
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"Fighting them now means fewer to face when the wizard reveals himself." She glances up at the enormous effigy of Karzoug. "Umm, in person, I mean."
The interior of this building is mostly open, creating a truly impressive enclosed area once used as a place for the most gifted stone giants of ancient Xin- Shalast to practice the art of monument construction. All that remains of their final project is a heap of rubble one hundred feet high in the center of the area.
Six figures wait on guard in this area and immediately start to react to your presence with hostility. These creature stands like a man, yet are half again the height of most men and covered with a coats of thick white fur.
Mysterious and rarely seen (save by victims), the yeti is a towering denizen of the loneliest and tallest mountain peaks. Those who dwell upon the lower reaches of such storied slopes whisper tales of “abominable snowmen” who come down from the heights to raid, taking livestock or even humans as prey and leaving behind only monstrous barefoot tracks in the bloodstained snow.
Although yeti stories are accurate in their portrayals of fierce, stealthy, and immensely strong creatures, they are not when it comes to ascribing the yeti’s temperament and source. They dwell in small tribes atop their distant mountains, where they are sheltered from contact with most other races. Those with violent or cruel natures are usually forced out of tribes to live lonely lives as exiles, and without the support of a tribe such yeti are often driven to raiding lowlander settlements, thus perpetuating the myth of the yeti as a demon made flesh.
The source of such cruel madness can often be traced to a singular source—proximity to strange, eldritch dimensions. The yetis’ mountain lairs rise high in places where the boundaries between this world and others rasp thin. It is unclear if the yeti are invaders from these dimensions or Material Plane natives influenced by otherworldly realms, but it seems certain that whatever their origins, the yeti are no friends to those who dwell beyond, and may even act as guardians against intrusions from such strange worlds into the Material Plane.
Ferocia
Azalia
Anneka
Drazh
Marten
Creydon
Monster
"Yetis," Anneka explains (probably redundantly) from the rear. She gestures, bestowing a blessing of fervor.
Azalia drops a fireball on them, placing it for maximum damage on the enemies and zero damage on her own party.
"They're already coming, Drazh," Marten explains in exasperation.
He casts lightning arc, but changes the energy type to fire. He'll try to target any yeti that Azalia's fireball spell didn't reach, but if their aren't any, he'll just try to get as many as possible.
Ferocia and Creydon move forward swiftly, working together they cut down one of the yetis.
Azalia drops a fireball on them, placing it for maximum damage on the enemies and zero damage on her own party. She places it expertly badly injuring three and lightly injuring a forth. The flames seem particularly effective.
"Yetis," Anneka explains (probably redundantly) from the rear. She gestures, bestowing a blessing of fervor.
Drazh walked in front of the group and planted his feet on the ground. Pointing his hammer at the yetis he bellowed "Come on then!"
The uninjured yeti peels off to attack Ferocia and Creydon while the other four injured ones move towards the offered dwarven prey but find him extremely difficult to land a solid blow on.
Ferocia
Azalia
Anneka
Drazh
Marten
Creydon
Monster x5 A -55, B -27, C -55, D -55
Monster x5 A -149, B -121, C -149, D -149, E -94
Azalia drops another fireball on them, making sure not to harm her own party.
Ferocia tears into the nearest yeti with a snarl!
Ferocia tears into the nearest yeti with a snarl!
Azalia drops another fireball on them, making sure not to harm her own party. Three yeti's collapse as they are flash fried.
While the yetis experienced difficulty breaking through Drazh's mithril armor, his hammer did not have any such problems breaking their bones. The last of the yeti's collapse.
Scattered among their lairs, the abominable snowmen have collected several pieces of treasure—all of which have been left behind by those unfortunate enough to be caught by the snowmen and eaten.
Mithral breastplate
Cobra-shaped platinum arm band with rubies for eyes worth 2,000 gp Ring of the ram with only 5 charges left
+2 vicious kukri that bears the unholy symbol of Lamashtu etched on its blade
Bronze griffon figurine of wondrous power
As you move towards your goal you see a district overgrown with a thick bramble of exotic and tropical plant life. A large swathe of the district is choked with the fauna. Thankfully it does not bar your path... as long as you get out in the next few centuries the way should be clear still.
As you proceed further through the ruined city you can see looming over the right side of the road a monstrously huge heptagonal building. It's sides rise straight for five hundred feet before arching into a doom which rises a further two hundred feet. At each corner there is a watchtower.
To the left you notice situated on a low rise overlooking the northern edge of Jotunburg is a ponderous fortress. From here you can spot the forms of disciplined giants on watch upon its walls in significant enough numbers that even Drazh has to contain his thirst for vengeance.
Anneka reads Drazh's lips, nodding. "If we can reach Karzoug without fighting them, we'll be stronger when we face him, or at least have fewer chances of dying," she adds. "Once he's defeated, his forces may yield to us, anyway."
Azalia's eyes get wide at seeing the loot, and she gathers it up carefully, making sure they don't miss any of it.
Yeah, I mean, going straight there is one idea, but it seems like we could also take our time and find some more nice items like this. No reason to visit the fabled city of greed and not come back loaded, right?
"If you can sniff out where Karzoug's treasures are kept, then by all means, let's use his own weapons against him. Otherwise, he is the main threat, here, and should be our primary target."
Oh, yeah, that sounds great... if we all survive. Whatever. Lead on. I'm right behind you.
As you press on towards your target you pass by another building that sticks out.
This mighty structure is walled off from the road by a row of corrugated towers ending in fluted prominences and onion-shaped domes. Multiple balconies open off of these towers and overlook the ruined compound below. Beyond gates of beaten bronze, a huge temple constructed upon a raised platform dominates the compound itself. Thassilonian runes and the seven-pointed Sihedron are prominent motifs engraved in the stone of the temple walls. Double pagodas, both of which are hollow and open onto the temple nave below, top the temple itself. One holds a massive statue of Karzoug rising from the floor of the temple, his head brushing the top of the pagoda. The other is empty, and the floor beneath is set with a gold engraving of the ever-present, clawed hand grasping a gem—the rune of greed.
Azalia casts Detect Magic to see if there is anything enchanted about the statue or the engraving.
The whole structure has a faint aura of transmutation... likely magically structurally reinforcing it.
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"Gonna take us an age to loot this place." Drazh said. "Bet we'll have to move about in sellin' what we find, so we don't oversaturate any markets." He ran his fingers through his beard as he looked at the statue. "Bet this fooker would approve of us lootin' the shyt out of his city. Anyways, let's move on, aye?"
Okay, but honestly, if we're just going all the way there then why are we walking in the first place? Why don't we just teleport, or fly, or whatever? I'm sick of walking past stuff and just hearing, move on move on. It's stupid to walk if we aren't stopping to loot or fight anyone.
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Undistracted you continue on towards the Pinnacle of Avarice. As you begin to trek towards the heart of the enemy a mystical field that radiates abjuration magic stands before you, you find that Azalia and Anneka can step through it without any issue the rest of your group can't get very far, being pulled back outside the field...
Hmm. I'm guessing it isn't that we're women, but rather that we are sporting enchanted sihedron jewelry. Perhaps we'd better fight more people in order to get enough for everyone?
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Or, hmm... since we're in such a hurry... wait here, let me go find you some jewelry.
She goes back to several places where they heard voices, casts invisibility and starts collecting things.
Here are six rolls for my 6 casts of invisibility (she'll use stealth in between at +25... let me know if you need me to roll anything in between "encounters." Or if she winds up in a place where she can steal more in one cast of invisibility, feel free to roll more for me.)
(invisibility)
(invisibility)
(invisibility)
(invisibility)
(invisibility)
(invisibility)
Let me know if I get caught, or if that gets us the jewelry we need (or something else). If not, we might have to do a normal battle.
Azalia manages to gather two medallions and three rings all enchanted with the Sihedron Rune... once she is finished and back with the others they can hear a signal alarm being raised... obviously at least one of the thefts was obvserved.
"An alarm?" Anneka asks. Nodding, she steps through the force field.
These structures of cut alabaster rise on squat bases to pyramidal peaks four hundred feet high. Their interiors are largely hollow, composed of a few cavernous chambers.
To the left is a path that leads to a series of structures, to the right are several towers.
"Aren't wizards supposed to live in towers?" Anneka asks Marten.
Azalia follows the others.
This triangular fortress comprises three slender towers rising eight hundred feet, each connected by thick walls to create a deep pit of a courtyard in the center. A single stair spirals within the south tower, connecting all of the levels, which consist of hall upon hall of cell blocks built within the thick fortress walls.
You find a stone path further up the mountain that leads towards the Pinnacle of Avarice. The true heart of the domain of Shalast, this massive ice-shrouded tower of white granite served as the seat of every Runelord of Greed up to and including Karzoug. The two thousand and two hundred-foot-tall tower tops out respectfully just below the carved face at the mountain’s peak, yet the pinnacle itself is mostly hollow. The inside of the immense structure soars like a cavernous silo, supported by an intricate internal architectural wonder of dozens of stone flying buttresses and arches.
The seemingly infinite stone ramp finally comes to an end here. A massive pair of golden double doors stands to the north, while a smaller golden door to the west allows an alternative route onward.
Intricate carvings on the walls evoke images of XinShalast in its heyday, accented with vibrant paint and inlaid gems here and there. The highly polished floor consists of a checkerboard pattern of gold and black tiles, while the entire place is brilliantly lit by
what appear to be dozens of bejeweled everburning torches in equally decadent sconces.
Four pale skinned giants that would tower above hill giants with handsome features stand guard and begin reaching for boulders to hurl at your unexpected group.
These are cloud giants, which have a more varied spread of alignment than lesser giants and are some of the easiest to have peaceful contact with. They have innate magical abilities. They are very exacting in their tastes though different tribes can vary wildly on their morale outlook. They have no immunities or resistances to types of attack
Drazh
Azalia
Giants
Ferocia
Marten
Anneka