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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 7850964" data-attributes="member: 6776411">Spires of Xin Shalast, Week 3 / Part 1Sore from their battle with the ice demons, the heroes opt to rest before heading into the fen. While the rest of the party gather fuel for the campfire, Silas collects stones to raise a cairn atop his brother's body. His voice cracks as he sings an old dwarven mining shanty, whilst splashing a bottle of Sternhammer Special across the makeshift grave.As the dirge ends, a ghostly figure coalesces from the icy mist."I'm sorry, brother." Silas says, tears falling down his smooth, beardless cheek, "I was scared. If I had stayed... If I had fought... Maybe....""Hear me, Silas." intones the spectre, "I bear you no ill will. Though the beating of a prideful heart stilled my living tongue, know that I loved you. You found your courage, in the end. My death is avenged."My story ends here, but you have yet to forge your own legend. Travel with these friends of yours. They will have need of your newfound strength before the end."Take a stone from my cairn and carry it with you, to remember me and to find yourself."The ghost fades back into the fog. Reverently, Silas kneels beside his brother's grave and slips a smooth, round stone into his pocket."Hey! Was that your dead brother?" Aeleana cries, crashing into Silas' grief like a car full of clowns ram-raiding a funeral home, "How can I also benefit from your personal tragedy? What was that he gave you? A magic rock? I want one too! Gimme!!""Get your thieving paws of my brother's grave!!"---A red sun rises over the Kodar mountains, imbuing the icy mist with a baleful, bloody hue. The heroes break camp and head into the swamp. They need no compass, the golden spires of Xin Shalast are their beacon, yet the way ahead is still perilous. Geothermal vents beneath the mire cause the fen's icy crust to thaw and re-freeze almost instantaneously. Asha leads the party, confident her fire magic will melt through the thick ice, should anyone get stuck on the wrong side. Unfortunately, her survival skills are not as strong as her faith in Sarenrae and she leads the expedition into the hunting grounds of a giant rimewyrm.The heroes scatter as the gargantuan serpent smashes up through the ice. Over one hundred feet long from teeth to tale, the beast towers above the party. Scaly armour - as thick as a bank vault - covers its body, impenetrable to all but the heaviest of weapons.The situation looks grim! The heroes face a foe they cannot best and the treacherous ice prevents escape! Suddenly, figures appear from the mist; a half-dozen pale, beautiful women, stark naked despite the cold. In voices clear and cold as fresh snowmelt, the ice dryads weave a song to distract the monstrous wyrm."Quickly! We can only be holding it for a little time!" cries one of the dryads, "You will be coming with us, ja? We are knowing a safe place!"The party must decide whether to trust these odd, wintry women - and soon. Already, the rimewyrm is shaking off the hypnotic effect of their song."Alright. Lead the way!" Karack says.</blockquote>

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