Altar of the Primal Giants
The Veiled Vanguard battles a pack of vicious, bird-like lizards, learning firsthand how deadly yet fragile the creatures are. After the fight, they meet the eccentric druid Zorena, who offers them shelter inside a colossal skull and shares knowledge of four elemental "alphas" ruling this primeval land. Following her map, they discover an ancient altar once used by giants to infuse eggs with primal energy—just before the massive storm-bringing alpha Airon snatches Shasoth into the sky.
Academic Report from the journel of Emelyne Pyreweaver
Academic Report #35
I find myself with a few rare moments of quiet, and in them, I thought to document recent events to you. There’s much I need to process, and perhaps putting it to paper will help me make sense of everything. We’ve begun our journey to Draelwyrm, although the path there is… treacherous.
With the help of Cliff Hosend Benedict Flemming and his automated, walking house, we were able to stop in Nalthees to look for Shasoth, who would be able to guide us. We’ve met this man before, the last time we were fleeing the city. He had lost many friends… Luckily, we found him shortly after eating some underwhelming Xoraxian fish from a street stand. Shasoth made quite the impression: he was fresh off a brutal fight, still looming over the human he’d bested. This city is full of cheats and underhanded opportunists. But after a somewhat awkward reunion, he agreed to guide us; for a price: 600 gold total. He gave us two options: a slow, safe route, or a faster, deadlier one that would double the cost. We chose caution.
There was a catch, however. we had to leave our Schnoggles behind. Ro’Zaad made arrangements for his companion, Shelby, with someone he trusted. Before our planned departure at 15:00, we split to gather supplies: food, lanterns, anti-toxin. Ro’Zaad and Naoki sought a poisoner’s kit and tracked down Renaldo the Lizardfolk, who had some supplies, but Naoki’s persistence seemed to irritate him, and we didn’t buy more than 2 vials of poison resistance.
The rest of the group, including myself, and visited Jack’s Supply Shop.Though Jack himself was a bit of an odd-ball, we bought a lantern imbued with a light spell, and I purchased a canary in a cage (mostly to give Naoki a little companion through the mines), and Sanasha picked up a pickaxe. She seemed distracted… looking back on it, I should’ve been more aware.
Our next stop, Brightvein Company, didn’t go smoothly. We were ambushed on the road, surrounded by three would-be robbers. But before weapons were drawn, a boulder came hurling past, flattening their leader’s skull into mist. Behind it stood Brightvein and Big Jim, who invited us to lunch at a nearby diner. It was a strange break in the tension. He offered us six health potions, one for each of us, which we did buy, and then we departed with Shasoth into the wasteland and, soon thereafter, the caves.
We descended a spiraling stairwell slick with mist and waterfall spray. I asked Shasoth about his work. Really what he transported, but he gave little in return. He did tell us a disturbing tale: of a false “lottery” used by underground people as a cover for sacrifice. He once helped several escape. I can’t help but wonder how much of that story he told for our benefit—and how much he left out. Perhaps this is something that we have a record of within the Library?
Crossing a narrow bridge, Thalia and I nearly didn’t make it. We had to inch our way across like worms, but we made it to the other side and behind the waterfall where Shasoth had hidden a raft.
That night, we took watches.I turned in early, and awoke early, taking the final shift with Sanasha. I spoke to her about Valerie, about what she meant to me, and what it means to be someone who prepares the dead for rest but cannot keep those I love alive. She told me not to dwell in the past. She’s right, but it’s hard. We talked about the party’s moral leanings... and how skewed they’ve become. It bothers her. It bothers me, too, sometimes. I wonder if I’m ever forgetting who I truly am…
The next day, we set off down the river on the raft. Naoki turned into an alligator to help steer and take weight off the craft. Sanasha used her great axe to shove us off a rock as the raft hit white waters. Then a roper, looking just like a stalagmite, attacked! Thalia hit it twice with her bow, dissuading it from further attack and allowing us past. But then, we were swept toward a waterfall. Shasoth had called out the wrong direction.
We crashed.
I managed to cast Feather Fall, but I could only catch so many. Naoki and Shasoth went over unaided, vanishing into the water below. The rest of us were battered and tossed into darkness.
When we woke, we were in a strange, warm chamber filled with lush plant growth. But Naoki and Shasoth were gone. I cast a spell to try to find Shasoth’s hat, and then a terrible growl echoed through the cave.
Separated from Naoki and Shasoth, the Vanguard found themselves cornered near their wrecked boat by four avian-like reptiles (Archaeopteryx). The party dealt heavy damage with axe strikes and firebolts, but the beasts retaliated—biting Thalia's leg and striking Ro’Zaad with a tail whip. Renatus, Ro’Zaad, and Thalia quickly dispatched three of the deadly yet fragile dinosaurs before a terrifying, distant roar scared off the final predator. Reunited with the party shortly after, Shasoth helped Naoki awaken, while Sanasha butchered the fallen raptors for meat and harvested two vials of tail poison. A eccentric lizardfolk druid named Zorena emerged from the brush, casting healing magic on Ro’Zaad. Introducing herself and offering a place to rest, Zorena guided the party to her home—a massive prehistoric skull hidden behind giant ferns—where Emelyne scavenged curios, Sanasha cooked raptor steaks, and Naoki and Thalia sampled pungent, horseradish-like herbs. Spotting a gargantuan lightning-crackling pterosaur named Airon outside, the party learned from Zorena that four "Alphas" ruled the cavern: Airon, Reginald, Atlas, and Caitlin. She noted that while a high cave exit existed, it remained unreached, and warned them away from the skeleton-littered "Stone Place" beneath the sunstone.
Determined to find an escape, the party took a rough map from Zorena and set out stealthily toward the Stone Place—Emelyne sketching the gargantuan electrical pterosaur along the way. Ascending a staircase of five-foot-tall steps that left Emelyne and Naoki with a point of exhaustion, they discovered massive stone pillars, 15-foot giant skeletons, and an eight-foot-tall central altar. Lifting Emelyne atop the structure, Sanasha and the group cleared debris to reveal symbols for fire, earth, wind, and water surrounding a brass central divot aligned with the pillars.
Examining the altar's relief carvings, the Vanguard deduced that ancient giants once placed dinosaur eggs upon the altar, opening gateways to the elemental planes to infuse the eggs and create the four Alpha beasts—the plant-infused Triceratops, the electric Pterosaur, the mountain-sized stone Brachiosaurus, and a fiery Tyrannosaurus-like creature. Selecting a trek toward the mountain, the party was halted as Airon swooped overhead, generating swirling storm clouds and triggering a massive thunderstorm. As the party debated their next move in the tempest, Shasoth began to offer a suggestion—only to be silently snatched away into the sky by the Alpha's claws.