Theorex Khai, “The Enumerator”

Defense

Offense

Statistics

Description

Male middle-aged human abjurer 7/loremaster 7

Before Combat: The Enumerator always casts the following spells every day (the effects of which are noted in his stat block): endure elements, mage armor, mage’s magnificent mansion, overland flight, and protection from arrows. If he anticipates combat, he casts lesser globe of invulnerability, true seeing, mirror image, protection from energy (usually against fire), and expeditious retreat (in that order). If the opportunity presents, he casts invisibility on himself and haste on himself and his cultist minions.

During Combat: The Enumerator likes to lead off by targeting an enemy spellcaster with disintegrate, and uses dispel magic or greater dispel magic to counter enemy spellcasting (relying on his ring of counterspells to protect him against similar tactics). He uses baleful polymorph against dangerous foes, dismissal against conjured creatures, and fireball on weak groups.

Morale: The Enumerator does not see the percentage in valor. Where the odds of victory are poor, he flies or teleports away, using cultists or black tentacles as cover. Once back at the Principium, he uses nightmare the next night to weaken his opponents for their next meeting, and observes them using scrying to learn their weaknesses and strengths, using nondetection to prevent them from doing the same to him.

Contingency If the Enumerator ever takes damage, he gains improved invisibility.

Permanent Spell The Enumerator has used permanency to give himself arcane sight.

Xin-Shalast Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion From within the mists emerges a tremendous fortress of black stone. Beyond, hundreds of colossal, ice-covered buildings rise skyward, piercing the heavens. The golden road continues, edging along the mountain face. Alongside the road, great structures cling at precarious heights, their roots nestled into the ruins of yet even older ruins, ice, and the mountain’s rocky soil. Xin-Shalast’s greatest irony is, of course, that even after the fall of the Runelord of Greed, the city pulses with a multitude of diverse factions all willing to kill each other over the treasures that remain.

— Brodert Quink, Thassilonian Scholar Xin-Shalast I t was not so long ago that Xin-Shalast was thought no more than a fable of a past age, an impossibility built on the exaggerations of poets, dreamers, and madmen. That an advanced and cosmopolitan city of such magnitude, with unimaginably vast stores of wealth, hid atop the highest peaks of the icy Kodar Mountains, seemed an utter impossibility. Only after the brief second coming of Xin-Shalast’s former ruler, Karzoug, Runelord of Greed, did Varisia suddenly tremble beneath its ominous shadows. Its rediscovery shocked scholars and common folk alike, and quickly attracted scores of eager, and often foolish, adventurers to plumb its frozen spires seeking to line their pockets with the promise of its gold-paved streets. Following Karzoug’s destruction in 4708 ar, Xin-Shalast transformed from myth into one of the most dangerous and violence-driven cities in the world. Monstrous lamias and towering rune giants gather their forces and battle to claim the remnants of the city as their own, while humanoids from the surrounding lowlands rush to the lure of infinite wealth. Life expectancy is short, and many come only to grab what treasures they can before fleeing. However, the temptations of endless wealth seem to seduce even the most cautious into prolonging their stays. To date, Xin-Shalast remains an anarchic warzone, with ever-changing fronts. Wards, districts, and strategic structures shift as various groups struggle for power.

Appearance Mhar Massif, the great mountain upon which Xin-Shalast rests, grimaces down upon the city, its stony face still carved with the leering countenance of the Runelord of Greed. In its ominous shadow rise hundreds of titanic towers gouged from the sheer-faced ledges that climb the sides of the mountain. Even from a distance, the city’s magnitude is astonishing; as one draws closer, its truly incredible proportions, with the largest of the cyclopean structures built to accommodate giants, become visible. Eerily, Xin-Shalast has suffered few of the ravages of time and weather. Its rooftops gleam with colorful metals, and its streets are leafed with gold.

History Xin-Shalast is but one of seven tremendous cities erected over 10,000 years ago, at the height of the Thassilonian empire. Each city honored one of the seven runelords, cruel dictators whose singular devotion to each of the seven sins allowed them to conquer much of northwestern Avistan. The kingdom of greed was known as Shalast, and at its heart stood the legendary pinnacle of Mhar Massif. Atop its highest peaks, the avaricious lord Karzoug built his throne. It was whispered that Mhar Massif was so tall it stabbed a rift into mysterious and potent otherworlds, which the runelord siphoned to attain his terrible powers. On the steppes below his spire throne, he raised a terrible city, built upon the backs of hundreds of thousands of slaves who answered to the sadistic will of his lamia servitors and giant enforcers. At its height, Xin-Shalast’s population soared above a quarter million, and the lure of its decadence drew all types beneath its gold-gleaming rooftops. But it was not to last.

The great cataclysm of Earthfall tore apart and scattered the Thassilonian empire as easily as a wind blows through a field of dandelions gone to seed. The runelords fled to safety, abandoning their cities and leaving them to fate. Xin-Shalast was shattered by avalanches and volcanic eruptions, which pelted large sections of the city with pyroclastic debris and bathed others in ash. Survivors fled into the ruins or darker places beneath the city for shelter. Some devolved into wild, primitive things, and struggled to keep their cultures alive along with the promise of Karzoug’s prophesied return. For 10 millennia after Shalast’s fall, its Runelord slept, dreaming in stasis in the dark and twisted demiplane known as the Plateau of Leng. But return he did, and his disciples flocked to him with righteous fervor. Soon after his return, however, Karzoug was besieged by a small group of adventurers, who defeated him before he could usher in his new age.

The second fall of Karzoug again tore Xin-Shalast apart. Those who’d dedicated their lives to the Runelord’s return felt betrayed and immediately vowed retribution. Throughout the city, violence erupted spontaneously. Dozens of would-be lords rose to claim the throne of Xin-Shalast, as if roused to some epic gladiatorial call. The resultant anarchic frenzy left hundreds dead, further dividing the city. Karzoug’s most devoted followers split into small, warring tribes, desperate to claim whatever resources and riches they could. Other survivors banded together by race, creed, and mutualism, creating violently defended territories and throwing the city into a tumultuous civil war—one that shows no immediate signs of stopping.

Most recently, after news spread confirming Xin-Shalast’s existence and its remarkable wealth, governments throughout the region quickly organized teams of explorers, soldiers, and colonists and then sent them to salvage what riches they can. Success in any of these projects may well tip the scales of power in Varisia. Spoiler Alert!

This chapter contains spoilers for “Spires of Xin-Shalast,” the final installment of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path. This book describes the city following events in the Adventure Path, and assumes both the rediscovery of the fabled lost city and the defeat of the runelord Karzoug. For information on the city as it exists during Rise of the Runelords, see Pathfinder Adventure Path #6.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion RISING DISTRICT RISING DISTRICT Xin-Shalast: Lower City Xin-Shalast: Lower City ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT TEMPLE ROW JOTUNBURG SLAVE DISTRICT SLAVE DISTRICT ARTISAN DISTRICT ARTISAN DISTRICT FACE OF MHAR MASSIF feet Xin-Shalast Residents Xin-Shalast’s populace is a menagerie of aberrant beast-things, occult horrors, and greed-stricken humanoids, all engaged in an anarchic dance for dominance. Shifting powers and duplicitous alliances prevent the territorial boundaries between various factions from remaining static. A single giant incursion can displace three or four settlements of lesser dwellers, in turn forcing them into the territories of other creatures, while the influx of otherworldly beings of the strange Plateau of Leng and the subterranean Hypogeum create further territorial shifts. The city’s mighty rune giants (Bestiary 2 130) dominate Xin-Shalast’s naturally established social hierarchy. Once acting to enforce Karzoug’s will, they’ve retired to Rising District, a lone region high in the Spires that looks down upon the entire city. Internal struggles keep them distracted, impeding their ability to maintain the totalitarian influence upon the lower city that is their ultimate goal.

The most prominent occupants of the lower city are the giants and the lamyros (lamia-kin). Both former servitors of the runelords, they have fractured beneath their own banners. The giants hold most of western Jotunburg, as well as a few structures in the Entertainment District, including the fortress Shahlaria. The lamyros are chiefly situated in the eastern Entertainment District.

Primitive and barbarous, the city’s yetis have little need or desire for Xin-Shalast’s treasures. Instead, predatory instincts draw them to the ruins in search of humanoid prey. After adventurers drove them from their lairs in the Artisan District, they scaled the glaciers above the Slave District and sculpted impregnable shelters deep within the ice and rock. From this location they launch ruthless raids into humanoid settlements, hunting down stray and straggling humans for food.

The volcanic eruptions that ushered the fall of Xin-Shalast drove the descendants of its slave populace beneath the surface. Hunted and fearful, they adapted to their conditions, transforming into pale, hairless creatures known as the Spared.

A growing number of humanoid colonists make up the remainder of the city’s inhabitants. All are recent arrivals, funded by the governments of Varisia’s most prominent city-states, hoping to claim Xin-Shalast’s fabulous treasures for their own gain. At present, the most notable colonial factions in Xin-Shalast are contingents from Janderhoff, Magnimar, and Riddleport.

Relations and Trade Despite its rediscovery, Xin-Shalast remains one of the most isolated locations in the world. Extreme conditions make the journey extremely difficult and casual visitation nearly impossible. Outside trade, at least in the traditional sense, is nonexistent. Even those merchants intrepid and lucky enough to reach the city quickly find themselves at the mercy of warring factions who simply seize what they desire rather than trade or barter for it. Instead, most imports are purchased in advance through merchants with contacts outside the city. Purchased goods then arrive with the next influx of new troops or colonists.

Food supplies are the most crucial resource. The near-arctic weather conditions make growing crops difficult, and getting livestock into the area is next to impossible given the city’s proximity to the demiplane of Leng. Scarce and sporadic supply shipments have created an extensive black market for food, controlled almost entirely by the Riddleport contingent, who rely on banditry to acquire the bulk of their supplies, supplement them with fish and fungus, and hunt frost drakes and yetis for meat. Trading between rival factions is negligible, particularly between the newer settlers and giants, lamias, and other denizens born from lineages whose ancestry traces back to the height of Thassilonian rule.

Many arrive under false assumptions that the city’s gold-lined streets make for simple salvage. And in fact, for most of the newcomers, looting remains the dominant means of earning a living. But despite the opulence of its architecture, the display is mostly ornamental and consists of leafing and facade work that uses a relatively small amount of actual wealth. Thassilonians were driven by greed, not decadence, and stored the bulk of their riches in well-guarded, heavily warded and trapped treasure vaults secreted away in the darkest depths of the Hypogeum. Still, Xin-Shalast’s hidden treasures are innumerable, and those willing to risk such delves reap the reward of unimaginable wealth. Ironically, however, there is little to do with one’s spoils, at least until one returns to civilization with an ample haul.

The Riddleport Contingent The Riddleport colonists are entirely funded by the city’s thieves’ guild under the guise of a formal government operation. Over all, they’re less intrusive than other operations, a deliberate tactic intended to get their competitors to overlook them. To gain ground, they lend support to some of the city’s darker residents, supplying them with food, arms, and other more esoteric or taboo supplies. They are interested in establishing lucrative trade operations to sell goods that elsewhere would only reach the black markets, as even black markets fail to reach the exorbitant profits attainable in the City of Greed. The contingent’s most recent endeavors involve supplying skulks with blood and feeder bodies. Those seeking shelter or aid from the Riddleport block should be wary, as outsiders often disappear, and are sold as slaves or sacrifices. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion Sites of Interest Lower Xin-Shalast is comprised of four main districts. The Artisan District serves as the city’s gateway, bridging the lower city to the gigantean structures of Jotunburg, the broad arenas of the Entertainment District, and the staggering temples of Temple Row. The rest of the lower city, once the Slave District, now lies buried beneath sheets of rock and glacial ice. Above the Lower City, the Rising District climbs the walls of the valley between the Entertainment District and the Pinnacle of Avarice at the top of Mhar Massif.

Artisan District: This is the southernmost of Xin-Shalast’s districts, and in the city’s heyday was home to Shalast’s most esteemed craftsmen and merchants. Countless shops and bazaars line the Golden Road here, culminating around Massif Square, where Magnimar’s ill-fated forces now hold fast in the surrounding ruins, desperately low on supplies and eagerly hoping for an alliance. Weakened after a yeti attack, they operate under the loose direction of Sadric Plemnt (LG male human cleric of Sarenrae 4).

The dwarven contingent from Janderhoff occupies a less vulnerable position within the fortress of Krak Naratha, whose sheer stone walls protect the dwarves from the dangers of the city.

Under the ambitious leadership of Nordin Stonehands (LN male dwarf fighter 8), they eagerly seek to reclaim wealth stolen from their ancestors in centuries past, which the dwarves blame on the murderous giants who controlled much of Varisia in the Age of Darkness, after the runelords’ fall.

Tunnels beneath the structure connect with the Shattered Cistern, where Riddleport’s agents have nestled themselves amid the labyrinthine network of sewers and subterranean aqueducts, which in turn lead to higher levels in the Rising District. Under the leadership of Fira Elmsran (LE female human fighter 6/rogue 4), the agents use the passages to traverse the city, though it’s only a matter of time before some horror living in the dark waters notices them.

Entertainment District: Once home to Xin-Shalast’s most extravagant displays of wealth, the Entertainment District remains one of the most exotic locales in the ruined city. Among the crumbling theaters, pleasure palaces, and galleries that originally gave the district its name, a number of monstrous factions vie for power. The Heptaric Lotus, a towering, 500-foot-tall domed arena, can seat upward of 90,000 spectators, and employs permanent daylight spells to support entertainment around the clock. Most recently held by a powerful ice devil, this prize now stands vacant for the taking. The district’s largest arena, known as Vomarck’s Circus, once treated 150,000 spectators to a steady stream of blood sport, but now, under the unyielding command of Aog Bloodspitter (CE male orc barbarian 10) and a brigade of several hundred battle-seasoned warriors of varying races, it puts on bloody performances for much smaller crowds, if any at all. Between these two temples to bloodsport lies the Spolarium, or House of Cinders, so named for the piles of ash left behind by the thousands of corpses burned within its furnaces. Eerymis (LE female lamia matriarch necromancer 8) mixes this ash with distilled fat to create an arcane unguent for her rune giant liege lord.

The ponderous fortress of Shahlaria formerly housed the city’s military. At present, a mixed colony of storm and cloud giants holds the fortress. Having broken away from the domination of Karzoug’s rune giants, they have undergone great pains to secure this block, more so against their former masters than the newer settlers.

In the Entertainment District’s western half, the aptly named Temple Row remains a heavily contested borough of the city. The House of Divine Consumption, Karzoug’s fabled temple of greed, is rumored to house endless treasures in its cellars, luring almost every faction to attempt to claim it. It remains an active and bloody war zone, and merely approaching the church provokes attack by rival treasure-seekers.

Jotunburg: The buildings of Jotunburg stand apart from those in the rest of the Lower City because of their colossal scale. Originally housing most of Xin-Shalast’s giant population, Jotunburg still serves as home to warring tribes of cloud, frost, stone, storm, and taiga giants. Among the cyclopean structures, a mass of monstrous plants and fungi known as the Tangle springs from a geothermal rift. Sentient plant-creatures subservient to a deific yellow musk creeper of epic proportion and otherworldly intelligence live here, some of the few non-giant residents of Jotunburg.

Perhaps the most notable single structure in Jotunburg is the Observatorium, a half-collapsed dome inside which the mad stone giant Agmaat Granitejaw (NE male stone giant druid 4) breeds frost drakes as war pets.

Rising District: The Rising District gets its name from the steep incline that dominates the district, causing the Xin-Shalast Golden Road to climb in great vertical tiers up the side of Mhar Massif. The great Rune Gates mark the entrance to the Rising District, separating it from Lower Shalast. Here lived the city’s nobility—its monstrous lamias, giants, and others with enough power and wealth to stand among them. Massive towers cling to the mountain’s sheer face, though unlike those of the Lower City, time has torn them apart, and they occasionally collapse and spill down the steep incline. Slave District: The most heavily damaged of the Xin-Shalast’s districts is the Slave District, where countless lives were lost when an avalanche of ash and pyroclastic flows from a nearby volcanic eruption buried the poor, overpopulated masses of the district in mere minutes. Today, the district is further marred by the Great Glacier, which pushes ever forward, slowly devouring the ruins in its path. The doleful descendents of the ancient Thassilonians known as the Spared make their homes in a miles-long network of snaking warrens carved into the ice and earth.

High atop the Great Glacier, hundreds of yetis inhabit Agrok Maol, a terrible stronghold carved into the living ice. Though barbaric, their recent raids display a great degree of calculation and strategy thanks to the commanding efforts of their new chieftain, a hulking yeti with elaborately braided fur known as Agrok. Though the yetis are unaware of it, their new chieftain, Gyukak (LE male ogre mage), is an impostor who now tries a new tactic for obtaining power after previously failing to stir the giants into uprising. The Xin-Shalast Campaign While many venture to the City of Greed seeking to snatch what riches they can before fleeing with their lives, Xin-Shalast’s scope is so extensive that a GM who desires to do so can easily construct an entire campaign around its exploration. Xin-Shalast holds unimaginable wealth, and those first to seize it can attain power beyond imagining. GMs who are preparing a Xin-Shalast campaign should first consider an overarching theme to tie their ideas together. The most obvious themes concern ways in which the PCs might shape Xin-Shalast’s enduring destiny. This may mean freeing Xin-Shalast from the supernatural influence of Leng, releasing some epic creature trapped within Mhar Massif, or simply working one’s way up the food chain to become Shalast’s new rulers. A GM may even develop a combination of these themes or introduce her own elements. In this manner, themes develop as characters advance and shift from those affected by the strange and mythical city to the ones affecting it. Xin-Shalast is not for the faint of heart. In fact, little prevents the city from being an all-out deathtrap. The journey alone, with its extreme altitude, avalanches, freezing temperatures, and blinding snowstorms, can kill even the most stalwart explorers even without a single encounter. Local fauna have adapted to these conditions, making them even more dangerous. The city is hemmed by sheer cliffs and glaciers, threatened by volcanic activity, and rests precariously upon miles of ancient ruins that threaten to collapse—or worse, release unimaginable monstrosities. The Rising District and upper spires above the city provide a home to giants, dragons, and similarly high-CR creatures, and lastly, the entire city is hedged by the maddening, occult energies of the Plateau of Leng. Low-Level Adventures Now free from the threat of its tyrannical runelord, the establishment of mainstream colonies within the lower city creates a demand for skilled and talented explorers willing to risk life and limb in the race to locate the city’s riches and bleed them dry. The campaign likely starts in the lowlands where PCs answer a call to serve as agents for one of several small colonies attempting to establish a foothold in the fabled city of greed. Initial adventures should probably take place outside the city and involve acquiring elements necessary to make the journey to Xin-Shalast a success, such as lost lore, copies of the infamous Vekker brothers’ journals, artifacts from Leng, or items that allow the PCs to survive in extreme climates. It’s probably a good idea to allow the PCs to build up to at least 3rd level before attempting the journey. At this point, they can take on a contract to help lead the expedition, or perhaps serve as expert guides and guardians to a party of colonists. It is important that the PCs enter Xin-Shalast with a solid foundation of contacts and a settlement to serve as a home base; otherwise, they will be without a safe place to rest and resupply.

Upon reaching Xin-Shalast, the PCs entrench themselves in the needs of their colony, for without the colony, it’s likely they too will perish. At this stage, adventures may concern fortifying the settlement or finding sources of water and other supplies to ensure self-Absent Korvosans Unlike the other Varisian city-states of Magnimar and Riddleport, Korvosa has yet to dispatch a full expedition to the newly discovered City of Greed. Entangled in internal political struggles, the city’s monarchy has formed a tenuous alliance with the Janderhoff Dwarves to represent them in Xin-Shalast’s exploration. To date, the dwarves seem primarily focused on their own interests, angering Korvosa’s lone representative, Elasias Tamberlin (LN male human conjurer 7), who has begun devoting his time and energy to convincing his city’s government that time is of the essence. Further delay in colonizing Xin-Shalast, he argues, could shut Korvosa out of the power struggle entirely.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion sufficiency. As the PCs advance, their sponsors contract them for increasingly risky missions. These can include plumbing the Hypogeum for treasures or clearing and seizing territory in the name of their patrons, engaging in subterfuge against rival settlements, defending against various creatures or forces of rival exploration operations, surviving destructive natural or supernatural forces, or warring with strange and ancient denizens now displaced and forced into the lower city by more powerful creatures. Still, try to limit the PCs’ activities to those territories surrounding their settlements in the Artisan District, and stress the horrors that lurk beyond. As they press toward the boundaries, they should spot patrols of giants striding through the ruins and frost drakes winging overhead. They might also witness the brutal savaging of neighboring encampments by a horde of yetis. Such tactics help GMs build a continually growing sense of the city’s dangers as well as of the challenges PCs might be expected to face. Use NPCs to contribute by pointing out and naming various iconic creatures, such as a hill giant living in a nearby territory or a tribe of Spared with whom they occasionally trade.

Medium-Level Adventures By mid-level, the PCs should develop a feel for the city and may decide how they hope to influence it. The PCs are now likely strong enough to withstand more trying adventures. To keep things varied, in addition to exploring more of the upper districts, adventures should make use of territories both outside and beneath the city. At this stage (if you haven’t done so already), begin introducing the minions and machinations of major villains to establish those campaign themes needed to pull the PCs together when they enter their high levels. The PCs should start exploring farther afield from the Artisan District, venturing into the northern districts, the glacier, and the Hypogeum, as well as the grueling wilderness that surrounds the city. One possible hook begins as the frost drake population makes a dramatic increase. The skies over the Lower City thrum with the beating wings of these great, degenerate dragons as they hunt indiscriminately, feasting on whatever prey they can find. The PCs must venture into Jotunburg to investigate Agmaat Granitejaw’s drake-breeding operation.

Alternatively, after a Janderhoff delver discovers an ancient shrine, he suddenly turns rogue, murders his allies, and absconds with an alchemical fire-gouter, which he uses to blast through the glacier, fleeing into the cellars of the Slave District. The PCs are contracted to hunt him down, retrieve the device, and determine the cause of his insanity. If you wish to lead the PCs closer to the Rising District, they may catch wind that one of their rivals has recently unearthed new information concerning the location of the Book of Ebidwar, a fabled text of ancient martial strategies said to lie in a dungeon beneath Shahlaria. The PCs’ rival has already assembled a strike team of able delvers to lead an expedition into the depths beneath the fortress to recover the text. The PCs must race them and seize the book before the opposing faction gains a potent advantage in their fight to control the City of Greed.

High-Level Adventures Once PCs reach 14th level, they should be capable of surviving every part of the city. This hardly guarantees them safety, however, as Xin-Shalast is geared for high-level adventuring. New areas of the city are now open to PC exploration. The PCs can even venture into the territories above the city, such as the Rising District or the dizzying spires of the Pinnacle of Avarice, where the remains of Karzoug’s fortress stand.

At this point, the objectives of the adventures should shift again, consolidating even more toward the climax of your campaign, and adventures might center on the iconic geography that defines Xin-Shalast.

If you wish to explore the mysteries of Mhar Massif in your campaign, the PCs may discover pre-Thassilonian runes hinting that Mhar Massif serves an even older, more cryptic purpose. The interpretations are deliberately misleading. Some hint that the mountain imprisons a supernatural entity, while others speculate it holds something else, like a powerful artifact or a supernatural Runescarred Template A group of renegade warriors who have broken with the traditions of their ancestors now serve as the Janderhoff dwarves’ primary offense against the giants of the upper spires. Calling themselves the Runescarred, these dwarves fight fire with fire, scarring their skin during taboo rituals to become much like the rune giants they seek to defeat. Runescarred is a simple template that can be added to any humanoid creature. The runescarred template hardens the base creature’s skin, granting it a +2 natural armor bonus and the rune spark special ability. Increase a runescarred creature’s base CR by +1.

Rune Spark (Su) 3 times per day, a runescarred creature can focus energy from its runes and discharge it through a metal weapon as a ranged touch attack. Upon a successful melee attack, the weapon releases a blast of arcane sparks that daze the target for 1 round and deal 1d6 points of damage (half fire and half electricity). The runescarred must declare that he is preparing his rune spark ability prior to the attack. If the attack misses, the rune spark is discharged and the creature must wait 1d4+1 rounds for his runic energies to build before attempting to use his rune spark ability again.

Xin-Shalast rune of unmaking capable of triggering vast entropy. The PCs must delve deep into the Hypogeum to recover further runes, but they soon discover a race of powerful supernatural beings whose sole purpose is to protect these runes. Once these beings awake, they set to work on their destiny, undoing cryptic seals and releasing what lies inside the mysterious mountain.

Similarly, you could focus a high-level campaign on the nearby Plateau of Leng. Twisted outsiders may attempt to steal Xin-Shalast in its entirety by sucking it into the demiplane. Alternatively, they could seek to perform the inverse, breeching the Material Plane in an attempt to extend the mysterious mists of Leng down the mountain to create a race of mindless servitor humans or turn thousands of innocents into chattel.

Random Encounters Low Level d% Result Average CR Source 1–7 1 ghoul (ancient Thassilonian) Bestiary 146 8–13 1 skulk Bestiary 2 248 14–18 1 cave fisher Bestiary 41 19–23 1 rat swarm Bestiary 232 24–29 1d4 yellow musk zombies Bestiary 285 30–34 2d3 dire rats Bestiary 232 35–40 1 ice mephit Bestiary 202 41–46 2d4 raiders (human rogue 2) — 47–51 2d3 stirges Bestiary 260 52–57 1 yeth hound Bestiary 286 58–62 1 decapus Bestiary 2 77 63–67 1d4 giant spiders Bestiary 258 68–72 1 ogre Bestiary 220 73–77 1 yeti Bestiary 287 78–81 1 Huge plague zombie Bestiary 288 82–87 Janderhoff miners* — 88–93 Avaricious colonists** — 94–100 1 polar bear (advanced grizzly bear) 5 Bestiary 31, 294 * 1 runescarred axeman (LN dwarf runescarred fighter 2) with 1d4 dwarf warriors 1.

** 1 NE human transmuter 3 with 2d3 warriors 1.

Medium Level d% Result Average CR Source 1–7 1 dire polar bear (dire bear) Bestiary 31 8–13 1 hill giant Bestiary 150 14–18 1 remorhaz Bestiary 233 19–23 1 crag spider (giant tarantula) Bestiary 2 256 24–29 1 denizen of Leng Bestiary 2 82 30–34 2d3 harpies Bestiary 172 35–40 2d4 Riddleport raiders* — 41–46 2 shambling mounds Bestiary 246 47–51 Avaricious colonists** — 52–57 3 xorns Bestiary 284 58–62 2d4 lamias Bestiary 186 63–67 1 roc Bestiary 236 68–72 3d4 ogres Bestiary 220 73–77 2 stone giants Bestiary 151 78–81 2d4 winter wolves Bestiary 280 82–87 3 frost drakes Bestiary 2 108 88–93 Skulk natives (N skulk cleric 5 and 2d6 skulks) 11 Bestiary 2 248 94–100 Yeti tribe*** Bestiary 287 * CN human rogues 4.

** NE human transmuter 6 with 2d3 fighters 3.

*** CE yeti barbarian 8 and 2d4 yetis.

High Level d% Result Average CR Source 1–7 2d3 frost giants Bestiary 149 8–13 2d3 crag spiders (giant tarantula) 12 Bestiary 2 256 14–18 2d4 denizens of Leng Bestiary 2 82 19–23 2 cloud giants Bestiary 147 24–29 2d6 hill giants Bestiary 150 30–35 1 storm giant Bestiary 152 36–41 2d4 stone giants Bestiary 151 42–47 1 lamia matriarch sorcerer 5 Bestiary 2 175 48–52 1 mountain roper (advanced roper) 14 Bestiary 237, 294 53–58 1 advanced ice devil Bestiary 77, 294 59–63 3d4 advanced frost drakes Bestiary 2 108, 292 64–69 1 ancient white dragon Bestiary 101 70–76 1d4 taiga giants Bestiary 2 131 77–82 1 rune giant Bestiary 2 130 83–86 1 ice linnorm Bestiary 191 87–92 1 wendigo Bestiary 2 281 93–100 Acolyte of Greed* — * CE human transmuter 19 The Plateau of Leng It is said that the path to Xin-Shalast rests at the head of the River Avah which winds high into the Kodar Mountains and up the terrible face of Mhar Massif.

Simply finding the Avah’s riverhead hardly guarantees locating the fabled Golden Road which leads to the City of Greed, however. The riverhead sits on the edge of a mystic realm of warped reality under the profound influence of the dark and twisted demiplane known as the Plateau of Leng. The runelords tapped Leng’s ominous power to protect the city, sheltering it from sight by tearing the fabric of existence.

To see the Golden Road, one must fast at the riverhead and wait until the full moon becomes properly aligned with Leng; only then do its alien effects become apparent. The precise nature of Leng’s effects remains immeasurable and unpredictable, yet they are immediate and often severe. As if the plane itself can sense sentience, those entering its Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lost Cities of Golarion slave-guides. Some of these individuals even seem innately drawn to the locale. Their handlers, many now serving as specialist guides, leash these unfortunates with ropes like wild dogs, and let the slaves lead them up the mountains. Those unwilling or unable to procure insane guides employ a foul, arcane toxin called nightmare tears, which when applied directly to the eyes induces blindness and mental derangement, enough so that the Golden Road becomes clear. While it is said that those using nightmare tears to find the Golden Road cannot avoid seeing its path, and are almost drawn into it, its use remains risky, as the negative effects can sometimes become permanent.

Nightmare Tears Aura faint divination; CL 5th Slot none; Price 250 gp; Weight — Description Nightmare tears are a toxic alchemical solution that, when applied to the eyes, allows the individual to see past certain supernatural effects, as the spell true seeing. These include reality-warping effects such as those caused by the Plateau of Leng and spells or supernatural powers that create phantasms such as weird, nightmare, and phantasmal killer. The effect of the tears lasts for 1 hour.

Nightmare tears have horrific side effects—users suffer both temporary blindness and insanity. Immediately after applying the tears, the user goes blind for 1d4 rounds and looses 1d4 points of Wisdom until the tears wear off. However, if the user fails a DC 11 Will save, both effects become permanent. Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, blindness, true seeing Cost 125 gp Lamyros During the golden age of Xin-Shalast, lamyros (or lamia-kin, as they are more often called) flocked to the City of Greed and quickly swore their allegiance to the runelords, embracing their values and transforming into noble lords and enforcers. In turn, the runelords used their extensive powers to modify these creatures, creating new aberrant and perverse monstrosities of great cunning, wisdom, and power. For more information on lamia-kin, see Pathfinder Adventure Path #6, available at paizo.com. Harridan: The most powerful of the lamyros are the gigantic harridans. Ambitious, capricious, and sadistic, these towering lamia-kin inspire dread even among their own kind, and often serve as the spiritual leaders of the lamyros’ dark faith.

Hungerer: Warped in Karzoug’s fleshlabs, these hideously deformed, bloated harridans believe the runelord bestowed upon them his special blessings. Among their many abilities, they are especially effective at terrorizing and disgusting those upon whom their forces descend. influence are filled with an unnatural dread. All living creatures perceive this influence as a strange, unsettling change they cannot quite identify. Those who succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom check experience flashes of insight, and understand that the uneasiness is caused by their unnatural proximity to the cold and foreboding realm of alien twilight. Not long after entering, all intelligent life begins to suffer from dire dreams of alien horrors and nightmares of being transformed into maggots or bled dry by great cephalopods. Similarly, animals immediately become shaken and attempt to flee, even attacking each other or their masters in the attempt to escape; no animal willingly travels into the region. The effect on animals does not apply to animal companions, familiars, or other creatures similarly compelled to the PCs’ service. At this time, those brave or foolhardy enough to walk the Golden Road may attempt to do so.

Those attempting the first step immediately fall victim to Leng’s influence. They must succeed on a DC 25 Will save or fall prey to disorienting delusions that cause the individual to stray from the road (protection from chaos grants a +2 bonus against this Will save). Days later, after the deluded individual finally wanders out of those regions under Leng’s reality-warping influence, she discovers herself to be at an unknown location—lost high in the Kodar Mountains. Leng’s strange influence also affects any attempts to mark one’s passage. The effect is so subtle that an explorer who fails the Will save simply emerges on the opposite slope of Mhar Massif without ever setting foot near Xin-Shalast. Those able to save against the effect may follow the road freely, though they remain susceptible to any of the realm’s other effects.

Certain magic can be employed to lessen Leng’s reality-warping effects. True seeing bypasses the effect entirely. The Golden Road becomes clear, but should the individual on which true seeing was cast attempt to stray from the road, she soon discovers the distortion works in reverse, and regardless of how the character proceeds, she always finds herself back on the Golden Road facing Leng. This effect may be broken with a DC 25 Will save. A character who attempts to teleport into this region from outside (or out from within) must make a DC 30 Caster Level check or the spell fails.

The corrupting influences of Leng interract strangely with the minds of those suffering from insanity. Similarly, creatures teetering on the brink of death due to age, starvation, or hypothermia may peer into the desolate realm as their minds flicker. Thus, insane or dying creatures may see the Golden Road as though under the effects of a true seeing spell.

Recently, seekers of the city have begun practicing a disturbing method of finding the Golden Road. Purchasing the insane from asylums, they force them to serve them as Xin-Shalast Kuchrima: These vile and filthy creatures most resemble vulture-headed harpies. They are notorious spreaders of disease and skilled archers.

Lamia Matriarch: Lamia matriarchs possess long, serpentine bodies, instead of the feline bodies of their lesser kin, and cast spells as sorcerers. They often take the form of ordinary humans, infiltrating society and manipulating weak souls to their wills. For more information, see page 175 of the Pathfinder Bestiarty 2.

Graithzog Ebonrunes Among the most powerful of Xin-Shalast’s rune giants, Graithzog Ebonrunes stands the best chance of filling the power void left after Karzoug’s defeat. Graithzog has had unparalleled success in forming alliances with the most influential lamyros in the city, and hopes to bring the many feuding tribes of lesser giants under his command as well. If approached by one of the competing exploratory contingents from lower Varisia with a reasonable offer, Graithzog could easily tip the balance of power among the warring city-states, though he is hardly a trustworthy ally.

Source: Lost Cities of Golarion, p. 53