With great excitement, the group kicked off the start of the final chapter of the Rise of the Runelords campaign, the Spires of Xin-Shalast. Having successfully escaped Runeforge last time with a collection of Domineering weapons, they are finally prepared for the quest to find Mhar Massif and the fabled city of greed, Xin-Shalast itself. There, they hope to put an end to the threat of Karzoug, the reborn Runelord of Greed, and wrap up this campaign which is now approaching the end of a 3 year gaming group.
As is our typical pattern, I advanced the characters to the next level, but this time I gave the group the option themselves to pick and choose their magical gear. Normally, due to the number of players, and the relative lack of experiences in gaming, I do both advancement and gear picking (we re-balance gear to starting character levels at the start of each chapter). But this time, since I no longer consider the group novices, I gave them the option. Everyone came thru with choices, and in many cases surprised me with their preferences. I can certainly see the value in each tactic – it is clear where each character is going, but it is nice that the players finally made the choices themselves.
And this translated into a lot of excitement at the start of the game, not only “unwrapping” their new toys, but boasting and bragging about their new found abilities. Time will tell just how powerful the combinations end up, but for now, everyone is thrilled.
The chapter opened up with the group using Teleport to travel to the far-off Kodar mountain range, in search of a pair of dwarven brothers who long ago had claimed to have found the lost city, but in turn had disappeared in the mountain range. Accused of stealing a large amount of investments, the family had been dishonored, and the brothers never heard from again. However, clues as to their mining claims and outpost were enough to send the group in the correct direction – perhaps if they could find the brothers or discover their fate, a clue could be found as to the way into Xin-Shalast.
Unfortunately, travelling deep in the mountains, although they found the mining camp, the group was quickly set upon by the blizzard conditions of the mountains, forcing them to take shelter. Worse, it appeared that the miners long ago, trapped in the mountains and perhaps driven mad, had resorted to cannibalism, leaving an evil presence within the outpost. Despite some initial threats though, the group was able to make peaceful contact with the ghost of one of the dwarves, who begged them to retrieve the body of his brother, so that they could both be put to rest. Complicating matters however, the group’s presence had attracted the attention of a Wendigo, who in the night started its mental attacks against the group, and had been stalking them thru the mountains.
