Main Story 2: 12/15/18

**Previous: Main Story 1: Intro.doc**

**Next: Main Story 3: Sided with Valhurst**

Cutscene: Shawarma wakes up sitting in a chair in a large stone hall with familiar banners lining the walls. The doors behind him open and he turns to see Zuko escorting Tobias into the room. He instructs Tobias to sit in the chair next to Shawarma. As the two lock eyes and turn forward, a previously empty throne, constructed of a smooth, solid onyx, is now inhabited by a silver-skinned drow woman. As they face forward, looking upwards towards the figure on her elevated pedestal, they notice standing in the shadows behind her beasts of sinew and bone, massively elongated and arms ending in bone-rending claws. As for the figure herself, heavily adorned in silver, with the exception of her right hand, barren except for skin, and her left hand harboring several silver rings.

“I’ve heard of your disruptions in Shellyn, and my lookouts have tracked your progress quite a ways. Once we noticed you enter the Forest of Novelty, I figured we should scope out the prospects, after all it’s quite the feat to send someone to Limbo, much more so a massive group of adventurers. And prospective you all were. Interesting. Powerful. And especially intrusive. I don’t keep war prisoners. Even a citizen’s punishment for arson would be death, let alone the hundreds of people that died in your raid. But nevertheless, as much as I mourn for my people, I am impressed at your aptitude. Not many defeat my royal guard.”

---- She raises a hand with her palm open upwards, signaling to the boneclaws standing sentinel, still behind the woman. ----

“As for you two,” ---- she lowers her hand back to the arm of the throne----

“I see great potential, potential that would go to waste if I simply killed you for opposing me.”

“I would like to propose two options. Either

You join me and my people in freeing the citizenry of Redwyn from their mental shackles, helping enlighten thousands of men, women, and children who believe themselves safe under an oppressive regime and hive-mind;

OR,

You leave this place under your false pretensions of what is good and right, what is evil and wrong, and you face my people who survived your slaughter. You help them rebuild, reconcile, and recover, and you leave, never to step foot on MY lands again.”

Narration: Shawarma has been taken by a Boneclaw, who ran off into the Val Mountains with him impaled on one of its claws. The party finds themselves at dawn outside the cave the Redwyn scouts used as a camp outside Shellyn, with smoke rising from within the unwalled city. By familiarity with the scene at Torvas and the color of the smoke, it’s obvious the smoke originates from funeral pyres around the city in the wake of the previous night’s attack.

The party will most likely attempt to follow the boneclaw, which left a heavy set of tracks until it reached the more stony hills. However, they can determine that it was heading directly towards the largest mountain in the distance. As they follow the tracks they hear a cry for help just off the path.

As they attempt to investigate, they see a human male (James Windstorm) run towards them while being chased by a squad of 5 Ogres. Roll initiative.

On initiative count 20, one of the ogres screams “NOW OGGA’S CHANCE” and takes a swing at another ogre.

WHAT OGGA KNOW

* BIG GIANT TOWN SOMEWHERE NEAR. OGGA FIND AND BE GIANT TOO.
* HUNGRY
* “Ogga has a shiny rock. others want it.
* Ogga try to break, no understand. but cannot break dumb rock.
* The others made fun of Ogga because can’t break small thing.
* The others had to pay” Maybe ogga turns on them in the battle by screaming “NOW OGGA’S CHANCE”

And he is very mean and vengeful against them (i like it)

Ogga gives them a platinum piece then runs away

Or

They find a platinum piece on Ogga’s body if he died

After defeating the Ogres, the party continues up into the mountains following the path of the boneclaw towards the mountain. Soon after the encounter they hit a road leading northwest slightly left of the mountain. The road leads through a small hamlet Hillden. Citizens are very rattled by a giant monster that passed in the night carrying a dead man. There is a tracker in town they can hire to help ( does not reveal nCornelius Hulius,ame)

To generate town: Hamlet, Normalized DMG

[www.kassoon.com/dnd/town-generator   ; seed: 549744]

With the assistance the party gains from Cornelius Hulius, the party spends the remainder of the day and next day following tracks. At a point along the trail, they reach the base of a ridge where several tracks converge, making it difficult to determine the correct tracks.

Dc 16 survival (and adv with CH) to remain on trail, may redo check every 2 hours. At night of second day, count of successes and failures.

If at any point there are 2 more failures than successes, they stumble upon a troll den with 2 trolls.

If at the end of the second night, they have more failures, they find a well traveled road leading directly to the base of the largest mountain, with the corpse of a hill giant lying dead, (Medicine dc 12)with two puncture wounds through its chest and a decaying section of flesh around its throat. (Investigation 10: find a small silver hand hanging as a trinket on the side of the giant) The road leads around the mountain to the front gates.

If they succeed, they reach the same road at dusk, where they see a hill giant(Glorn Stormfoot) standing watch, bored. As the party approaches, his interest peaks, and he addresses them, asking their business. If they say they're heading towards the city, he will ask for their identification. A perception check dc 12 will notice a small silver trinket hanging from the hip of the giant, in the shape of a hand.

If they lie and fail a deception check versus the giants passive investigation, the giant warns them to leave the way they came or he will be forced to make them do so, under orders of the queen.

THE GIANT

* Glorn is under the employ of the Revenancer and fears her greatly.
* He is willing to guide the players to the gates if they agree to implore the guard to increase the watch at the position, as there has been an abundance of trespasser in the area.
* His job is to root out spies and kill aggressive creatures, he instructs travelers stopping by the city to inform the city watch at the walls that they seek lodgings as adventurers.(The watch will let them through the gates, where undead guards will bring the citizens towards the lower sanctum city center, to give them tourist identification.)

NARRATION OF THE CITY

It seems impossible that such a massive city could have been untouched and unseen in war for so long, but seeing how treacherous the mountains have been thus far, it's understandable. Scaling the mountain's entire face is a tiered city with 2 levels seemingly suspended by nothing hovering above the first.

Solid black stone

Ohmoren Vysoren

Advent in Hilldale

Male

Week

Kristiana Vysoren

Advent in Hillsdale

Female

Week

Nausica

Torkel in Torkel

Female

Week

James Windstorm

Corden in Torkel

Male

Week

Siegfried

Region: Belhaven

Male

Week

THE PARTY INFORMED THE GUARD TO BRING GLORN REINFORCEMENTS

Shawarma accepted

PERMANENT HOUSING FOR SHAWARMA

ZUKO PERMANENT HOUSING IN LOWER SANCTUM

BEZELBUBS BALLS

WHERE SLEEPING HEADS LIE

THE REALLY BIG HAT- WIZARD SHOP

RUN BY A SKELETAL WIZARD

OHMORHREN SIGNS UP FOR HIGH STAKES TOURNAMENT AND PUTS NAME IN RAFFEL

**Next: Main Story 3: Sided with Valhurst**