Sleeping Giants Game 17

Intro

Ana's Warning

Stretching before you is a great plain of brown and dark green, ringed all around it in a circular cavern. The area is larger than any city you’ve ever seen, like a massive bowl placed upside-down over the land.

Below the opening, reaching up from the muddy ground to the window above it, is the largest church you have ever seen. From this distance it gleams white with what you believe to be marble, and is accented with gold and silver that, even this far away, you can clearly discern. Four massive steeples rise from each corner of the structure, and in the center of the roof rises a great golden hammer, itself the mass of a building. The stray rays of sunlight above it reflect from the gold and silver accents and stream to all parts of the cavern wall, dancing and playing in the darkness.

Almost as if cued by your thoughts, Jordan speaks up. “And Thalos emerged from Abaddon carrying with him hope for the world of men. There he built a cathedral of golden sunlight and mortared it with the blood of demons, and he promised to guard her from the mouth of Hell for all of time.”

He looks around at all of you. “Skyhammer stands before us. Mind your manners and follow my lead.”

And then the focus shifts, to Ana. As the group continues their march toward Skyhammer, a great explosion erupts from the towering cathedral. It is no ordinary explosion, but one of chaos and darkness. It begins expanding outward in all directions, rapidly covering the world in shadow. An ordinary being would be terrified, but you feel a certain welcoming warmth accompanying the shadow.

It is not long before the explosion has engulfed the entire expanse of land. You look around, and where there once were tall grasses and wiry weeds, there are now flowing strands of shadow jutting from the ground, like seaweed on a seabed. You glance back at the cavernous ring behind you, which has now become dark and translucent. You can just barely make out the shapes of dozens – no – hundreds of creatures moving about within. Some of them seem to float rather than walk along the ground.

And where the cathedral once stood, where the explosion originated, there are now gigantic beams of pure white light. Dozens of them, hundreds of feet wide, circle the perimeter of Skyhammer. They reach high into the sky, and where the bowl-like cavern almost comes to a close, so do they.

“It’s beautiful, is it not, Athanatos?” you hear an echoing, familiar voice. “Beautiful in a… blinding sort of way.” You turn to the voice, and for the first time in far too long you experience the physical presence of The Shadow.

“I came here to give you a warning, Athanatos. Your kind… our kind… is not welcome here. Those who would protect you have journeyed elsewhere. Be wary in these walls.”

A sudden flash of bright light emits from the Shadow, forcing you to shield your eyes. When you are finally able to see again, you are back on the Material Plane, and Skyhammer remains looming in the distance.