Don't Feed the Giants

## Introduction

*Wayfinders, your next assignment will take you to the far away continent of Xen'drik, the land of mystery. You're to meet with Urik ir'Thessarn, one of the Society's contacts. He's got information on a site of particular interest to himself, and is willing to make a substantial donation to us should we help him find the site. You're to proceed to the Orien enclave and get transportation to the Stormreach enclave tomorrow.*

*Best of luck.*

This was the note given to you by the innkeeper at the Boar and Trail in Passage upon your arrival this morning.

## Expedition Summary

After a brief stay in Passage, where a few supplies are bought and research done, the Wayfinders head into Journey's Home, the primary Orien enclave in all of Khorvaire. There, they are met by Hamen d'Orien, who posses a greater mark of Passage. He teleports them to the Orien enclave in Stormreach, moving them thousands of miles in the blink of an eye.

They head off to the Drunken Swan, where their patron for this adventure, Urik ir'Thessarn, awaits them. They arrive, and the bartender summons Urik from his rented room upstairs, and the noble is quite hungover. After a few minutes to wake up (and a little hair of the dog), he tells them everything that he knows. His father had explored the place twenty years before, but he had left a family heirloom, a sword, behind. He provides them with a map and description of the site, but Cade and Cyprian, clearly unused to dealing with prickly old-money nobles, manage to insult the young man. He storms off, but not before telling them where he will be, but that they shouldn't expect any help except the bare minimum. Relic and Amranth wheel on the two, and in no uncertain terms, tell them to go apologize to the old money noble. Cade volunteers for the task, and manages to charm his way back into Urik's tolerance. Amranth spends a few minutes drilling into Cade's head the importance of swallowing his pride when it came to fussy nobles with deep pockets.

they meet in front of the Aundairan consulate the next morning, and Urik is sober and more than willing to get going. They head off to the Lyrandar enclave to catch the airship that the noble had chartered for this expedition.

Three days pass on the ship as it slowly makes its way over the Xen'drik jungles. They arrive at the edge of a desert, one of the most recognizable of the features in his father's map. He lets them off there, and informs them that he'll wait a week for them. If they haven't gotten back, he'll assume that they've fallen prey to the dangers of Xen'drik. He does, however, give them a *bag of holding* with *eternal rations* and some colored flares in it.

They head off through the desert, though they don't get very far before encountering a trio of natives, giant ashworms that swim through the sand itself and have deadly, poisonous stingers at the tips of their bodies. The massive, purple scaled beasts provide a tough challenge for the party, but they eventually triumph over them. They continue on their way after a short rest, only to encounter another ashworm. This one, however, has a slim female humanoid as its' rider. Relic thankfully speaks the local language, and she takes them to a shelter for the night. Beneath the shelter of a Giant obelisk, they find that they can all understand one another, and she tells them tales of her people, the asherati. Her name is Taweret, and she warns them of some of the dangers of this corner of the desert. She also gives them a name to the site they seek, Ørkenvollen, and warns that it is a cursed place in the histories of her people, and that no one who explores it returns. She requests help on a task of her own, if they want her to guide them there. She's out in the wilds searching for wild ashworms to add to her tribe's breeding stock. They agree to detour out of their way for a map, best as she can make it, and take her back to the site of their battle the day before. She finds sign of where the killed ashworms had separated from their larger cluster, before taking them back to the obelisk for the night.

the next morning, she takes them to the jungle and the ruins, and Relic casts a *sending* to their employer, askign for more information on the heirloom. It's revealed to be a Cannith sword, easily identifiable in the wilds of Xen'drik even to an amateur explorer, which Relic and Amranth are not.

The ruins are spectacular: covering a few squares miles of jungle floor, the Wayfinder see hundreds of archways, both fallen and intact, covering the site. They quickly manage to find the building spoken of in Taweret's tales and Urik's map. Cade impetuously sticks his head through the door, and only manages to keep it because of his quick reflexes as a sheet of arcane force repels him. They eventually find a broken inscription in stone above the door, which Relic manages to repair and they are met with a riddle: *Honest humility is the key to entering the Sanctuary*. Relic realizes that prostrating yourself in front of the door must be the solution, and as they do so, the sheet of arcane force dissipates, leaving the entrance open. It leads into a massive set of stairs heading down under the ruins, softly lit by an ambient light source with no apparent origin.

They eventually come to a large chamber with a massive altar in it, which they quickly realize was meant for the purpose of sacrificing elven slaves. They explore a set of slave tunnels, passageways that were designed to keep the elves from being trodden underfoot, and find something curious - a small alcove dug out in the wall. Inside is a long-dead, desiccated body belonging to Deluk d'Tharashk, with papers dating his departure from Sharn 23 years previous, all but confirming him to be a deceased member of the Thessarn party. They find five sets of footprints leading farther down the tunnel, but only two sets leaving. They continue down the passage, only to find a hidden door in the wall. Beyond the secret door, there is a much rougher-cut hallway than the smooth brickwork of the giants. A short passageway leads to another door, which opens into a grand room, 80 feet in diameter. Dominating the center of the chamber is a statue in the middle of the room, a wave of skeletal undead supporting an elf with a ceremonial dagger plunging it into the chest of a willing sacrifice. They move to investigate, and the doors slam shut behind them as the ceremonial dagger of the statue glows a nauseating violet and a pulse of necrotic energy floods the chamber. They try to unlock the door, but Relic silently cries an imaginary tear as he destroys the statue with a *cause damage* spell. The necrotic energy filling the room slowly dissipates as the dust settles. They discover another body of the Thessarn party slumped against the back side of the statue. Through the door on the far side of the chamber, they discover a short hallway filled with living quarters before heading into a meeting chamber of sorts, with tiered seating around a central table with a small model of the ruins above. Relic spots an unusual column on the diorama that wasn't present above ground, and the table twists up, revealing a narrow staircase built below it, heading deeper underground.

Relic casts *locate object* and confirms that the sword that they are seeking is indeed down the stairs. at the base of the stairs, they find a heavy stone door propped open with a Cannith-made crowbar. The spell confirms that the sword is indeed further along, so they continue. Through the door is another circular room, with a stone pedestal mounted in the center that has a mummified head of a medium humanoid on it. The room itself looks like it had once been a vault, but now all of the shelves have been cleared off. Some initial investigation of the head was made before Cyprian grabbed it with *mage hand* and it started screaming nonstop. Thney quickly wrap it in a towel and shove it into their *bag of holding.* They make their way to the next chamber, where they find a headless body shambling around for it's missing head, and beyond that they see the door to the chamber in which Relic senses the Cannith blade.

The small room is only perhaps 20 feet across, and against the far wall is a mummified man slumped over, with a large skeletal jaguar resting beside him. Clenched in the man's hand is the Cannith blade. The party is convinced that the corpse will rise up if they touch the blade, so they preemptively smash the body. Relic grabs for the blade, but a spectral hand grabs their arm and politely asks them to release his blade. The warforged complies, and the ghostly spirit introduces himself as Lord Alaric ir'Thessarn. They quickly realize that Alaric had been the rightful heir, and he had been murdered in this tomb. They put together that he was mostly likely assassinated by Hallorn ir'Thessarn, father of their current employer, Urik. Alaric eventually relents and allows them to take his blade, and they all leave the ruins.

They briefly entertain the idea of storming the airship when it arrives, but calmer heads prevail. The ship finally arrives, and the Wayfinders find Urik supported by his half-orc bodyguard, as he is quite drunk. They decide to reconvene for dinnertime, when Urik isn't quite as 'tired', and the Wayfinders decide that it's as good as time as any to study the blade some more. Which is good, because it turns out that Alaric and Aerdrie, the skeletal jaguar, are bound to the blade, not their bodies. He requests they remain silent on his spirit for now, so he can observe the new Lord ir'Thessarn covertly.

Cade weaves an epic tale at dinner of their bravery, and the dangers that they faced, before he dramatically brings the blade into the forefront. Urik takes the blade, and cannot draw it forth, and the more observant among the group spots flickers of blue flame at the boundary of sheath and blade. Cade asks Lord ir'Thessarn is something's the matter, and after Urik replies that the blade must just be stuck, Cade smirks and lets him know that he wasn't talking to him. Urik is indignant, but before anything else can happen, the halfling hops off of the table and grabs the blade, unsheathing it in one smooth motion as the ghostly figure of Alaric ir'Thessarn looms over him.

There is some initial confusion before Urik realizes who Alaric is in relation to himself. The full family history is revealed, in which Alaric was an explorer of some repute, but he was out of favor with his parents, who much preferred his younger brother Hallorn, Urik's father. The elder Thessarns had never liked Alaric's choice of wife, either, despising her for her common roots despite her arcane prowess. Alaric claims that the Thessarn estate rightfully belongs to Liara and Emily, his wife and daughter. Urik claims to have known nothing of this, that the version of family history said that Alaric was the younger brother, who had gone off on a foolhardy quest to Xen'drik and never returned.

The Wayfinders try to convince Urik to step down for the rightful heir, but he refuses, claiming that he's been the one maintaining the family lands, that he deserves it. Alaric demands a private conversation with Urik, but Relic refuses to budge, claiming that he is staying there for both of their safety. Urik eventually takes the sword and leaves, much to Relic's despair.

The next evening, Amranth takes Cade aside and explains some more of the political ramifications of what had happened the previous evening, including what this could mean moving forward for the Wayfinders.

## Epilogue

*Lord ir’Thessarn tends to stay in his cabin, but he does join you everyday for dinner, though he does seem subdued and drinks heavily. If pressed, he’ll mention that his.. talks with Alaric have been draining, and he’s just trying to get a few hours to himself, can they not talk about it?*

*The day is bright as the* Pride of Enorra *sails through the sky and docks with the Lyrandar station in Sharn on its way back to Aundair. Lord Urik ir’Thessarn watches the Wayfinders as they depart, laughing amongst themselves. Relic catches his eyes for a second, but he just smiles reassuringly at them and waves a bottle of wine as they go, prompting a laugh from Cade. He turns back around and heads to his cabin. There, sitting sheathed on his desk, is Spiritweaver. Lying next to his desk, the glowing stare of Aerdrie burning a hole in him. He grabs the blade and belts it to his waist. He instantly relaxes, and seems much more confident.* “Come, Aerdrie, it’s time you saw the world that *I* grew up in.”

*He passes by a mirror, and he can see his reflection banging on the glass, tears streaming down his face as he shouts.* “Calm down, boy”. *Lord Urik ir’Thessarn’s body scolds the mirror.* “Balinor’s Blazes, I’m a man of my word. Once I find my daughter, I’ll release you and you can exorcise me or whatever you intend to do with Spiritweaver.” *He strokes Aerdrie’s head and walks out of the room, humming a tune that was popular in Fairhaven nearly 25 years ago as the reflection of Urik pounds noiselessly on the mirror.*

## In-Character Transcript

Ping @chae in Discord when adventure is complete and she'll export & upload transcript here.