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• Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
• Buppido Diinkarazan (Rock Gnome Cleric/Wizard)
• Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric)
• Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock) 
• Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)
• Korra (Air Genasi Rogue)

• Buppido points out that it may be best to just get this over with and see about taking down the Sand Giants; the longer they’re in the open sand, the greater the chance of a Sand Elemental appearing, cutting people up, and drawing in the Sand Sharks again
• With it being night, the party members who wear metal armor, don their armor and prepare for the idea of heading out into the wastelands to find these Sand Giants
• Korra points out that she’s only got one spell slot left, and Sephrenia, Ragnaroc and Buppido confirm they’re also low – so they form a plan to get near the Sand Giants and the cave they’re in – take a rest – and then attack them in the morning (assuming something in the desert, such as Sand Sharks or Sand Elementals aren’t drawn to the party)
• Knowing it will take two days; the party hopes to be able to get some rest in these treacherous sands
• The Leonin are thankful for the party’s acceptance and hand them a hand scribbled map of where they will need to go and what to look for – using the mountain itself as a beacon, since the sands change the landscape too frequently
• They party disconnect their mounts from the wagon and leave their wagon behind; knowing that bringing their wagon would drastically slow them down going over unpaved, large sand dunes
• Adrian summons Ms. Claws which he and Korra could ride
• Don has his own horse
• There’s two horses from the wagon, leaving someone to double up
• Buppido, being the smallest, offers to double up with someone
• The Captain of the Caravan explains, if the party goes mounted, they should be able to arrive at the caves within a day’s travel
• As the moons dance behind the distant mountains, the party knows daybreak isn’t far and that stopping during the day and making cover would be beneficial
• Adrian offers to take first watch and Korra offers to stay away with him to keep an eye on the treacherous sands
• Korra spots a caravan traveling through the dunes pulled by an animal she’s never seen before – they resemble horses – but have a large hump on their back

• It strikes her as unusual that a caravan would be traveling off the roads – that’s when she notices a number of religious symbols – or what appear to be religious symbols on these strange animals – as well as the caravan – most noticeably a woman emerging from the sand – which Korra believes is a part of a religious cult probably
• Since Adrian’s not able to clearly see them (Critical Fail), Korra describes what she sees on the side of the wagon; and both of them recall that there are supposedly a large assortment of cults that worship “ancient beings” (some say are angels, some say are demons, some say are elder gods, some say are dragons, some say… well, the stories vary depending on who you’re listening to, what the symbols is, and what bard has spun the best tale about the symbol) – but most commonly, there’s a legendary beast known to live in these Broken Lands called a Sphinx – which are said to possess great knowledge and great power – and these cultists often gather magical artifacts to bring to their chosen Sphinx
• But at the same time, there are some cults who worship other things – (such as demons, gods, angels, etc) who call for human sacrifices; the party decides to remain quiet and let the caravan which doesn’t seem to be paying them any attention moves on
• As their shift ends, Adrian and Korra awaken Sephrenia and Buppido to take over the next watch; and Korra and Adrian fill them on the unusual wagon that they’d seen going across the dunes
• As Sephrenia sets up against a small brush, trying to use as much of the shade as she can, her eyes catch something in the distance – something she is positive wasn’t there the night before; as she leans forward, placing her hands over her eyes to block the rising sun – she’s stunned to see what she sees somewhere behind several large dunes is the tip of a triangular structure

• Sephrenia points out that the pyramid is in the same direction that the caravan that Korra and Adrian had spotted, Buppido points out that they must have some effective and quick builders in the Broken Lands
• Buppido sends his owl familiar and spots that it’s an entire pyramid, which – from the owl’s view – it doesn’t appear to have an entrance – and he shares this with Sephrenia
• Buppido wakes up Korra and asks why she failed to point out the pyramid
• Korra is confused and gets out of her tent and looks – and she too – sees a pyramid there that was clearly not there before – especially since she’d been looking in that direction during the night when she spotted the caravan
• The party considers going there; but Buppido reigns them in to say one problem at a time
• Sephrenia points out that the pyramid came out of nowhere; when they make their way back, it may not be there
• Everyone ties the reigns of their horses to Don’s since his is the best trained and leave them behind while the party makes the rest of the way forward through the dunes
• Despite the nocturnal setting; the dunes are towering in size, causing each step to sink deep into the sand, making it progressively more difficult to move forward; causing Exhaustion for Sephrenia and Ragnaroc, whose body aches
• The party finally crests over a massive dune and see the cavern entrance in front of them; and they’re positive they’ve found the right location, because standing outside the entrance is a towering, bronze skinned giant – a sand giant
• The party decides that they want to try and get close to ambush; and Don helps with Pass Without Trace which grants everyone a bonus – allowing them to get within 60 feet without being noticed – and Sephrenia squints her eyes and takes notice that the sand giant seems to be sleeping!
• The party initially discusses sending Korra down there alone; but knowing there’s other giants, that might be a bad idea; after shuffling through some other ideas, they decide they’re better off all doing a surprise attack and keeping their distance – with the hope of drawing the Sand Giant’s blood and attracting the infamous Sand Sharks in their direction (Sephrenia fails to hear the change of plans – she Critical Fail on her Initiative round – this was done so each person could tell me, in order, what was being done so it wouldn’t be a chaotic mess of people telling me all at once what they were doing for the surprise round – the Critical Fail in Sephrenia’s roll is her waiting on Korra to go down – not realizing the plan had changed)
• Done fires two shots with his Starbow – both of which failed, Adrian hits with his Crossbow +1, Ragnaroc fires two Eldritch Blasts and misses, Buppido casts Faerie Fire which the sleeping Sand Giant automatically misses, and despite that Korra casts a Fire Bolt and misses
• The Sand Giant awakes – started – looking around (Critical Fail on Initiative)

• Don uses hunter’s mark and then fires – heating the Sand Giant, who now sees where his attackers are – and fires again, and hits again
• Ragnaroc fires two Eldritch Blasts and hits both time
• Seeing that the Sand Giant is wobbly (due to Critical Fail on Initiative) – Adrian decides to run up there and use his +1 Longsword – and hits both times as well
• Buppido can tell he’s bloodied and casts a Firebolt – which is enough to topple the Sand Giant, who falls forward – which Adrian is able to dodge out of the way of the dying Sand Giant; and from inside the cave Adrian hears voices – and hears weapons being drawn
• Adrian begins running back to the group and spots his crossbow – but what’s weird is – more than half of it was buried in the sand – as if the sand itself were devouring it
• Adrian looks over in the sand – and suddenly sees a fin surface in the sand

• Adrian decides to stay still and hope that the Sand Shark will go for the fallen Sand Giant
• Thankfully, Adrian – with his weapon gripped tight, shield ready – sees the Sand Shark veer its direction towards the fallen Sand Giant – and it begins slowly pulling the body beneath the sand, since Shark Sharks “drown” their victims in the sand (in the event they’re still alive)
• Buppido sends in his owl; which spots the other giants around the bend of the cave, weapons drawn; before one of the giants brings his weapon down, severing the tie between Buppido and the Owl
• But the Owl still managed to do what Buppido had hoped; to see where they were – and using Don’s Pass Without Trace – they’re able to get close enough that he could send a Fireball spell around the corner – and blast them – all of which, except one of them failed their Dexterity Save
• The Sand Giants come to the edge of the mouth – keeping the hard stone beneath their feet; and if the party has to get closer, they will need to deal with the Sand Shark as well – who is still currently trying to pull the first Sand Giant underground, while devouring him
• Don fails a perception check; but fires one shot with his Starbow and misses, but the second shot hits one of them
• Ragnaroc fires two Eldritch Blasts and hits both times
• The Sand Giant sees Don and grins and brings his scimitar down twice – cutting into Don twice – instantly bloodying him
• Buppido notices that none of the Sand Giants look as if they were impacted by the Fireball spells
• He then points to the dead Sand Giant being devoured by the Sand Shark and casts Command – and two of the three shrug off the command – but the third leaps to the deceased Sand Giant’s aid
• Buppido recalls (Natural 20) that the Broken Lands being infested with magic, generations and evolution, has made all Sand Giants resistant to magic since it courses through their body naturally; and any melee attack they make is considered to be a magical attack
• Buppido shouts, “Magic doesn’t work very well on these guys!”
• Korra looks to Don, and sees how bloody he is, and moves to him and hands him a Healing Potion (this is a bonus action – See House Rules) and for her action fires her crossbow – however, when she pulls the bolt back – the bolt slips, firing into her foot (Critical Fail)
• The Sand Giant swings – which Adrian manages to disadvantage (tearing down a Natural 20 to an 11, which misses Don) – the second swing, also misses Don
• Sephrenia casts Healing Word on Don
• On Don’s turn he uses a Bonus Action to Quaff a potion then as an Action Quaff another potion
• The third Sand Giant struggles to pull his dead companion out of the Sand Shark’s maw
• Adrian looks and sees the first Sand Giant is officially bloodied; and swings – his first attack hits, while the second misses
• Ragnaroc fires two Eldritch Blasts, one hits, one misses, on the same bloodied Sand Giant
• The bloodied Sand Giant seeing Sephrenia healing – decides he must take her down – and with his scimitar lands two massive blows, instantly bloodying her
• Buppido attempts Command again – but this time, all three pass their savings throw due to their Magic Resistance
• Korra fires her Crossbow – and hits the bloodied one – and with the sneak damage – it is enough to kill it – forcing Adrian to drive out of the way
• The second Sand Giant, seeing Adrian dive to the ground – swings twice – and once misses, and out of frustration swings harder – Critical Fail – damaging himself
• The Sand Shark finishes devouring the first Sand Giant and begins devouring the second Sand Giant
  • Note: Fun, because during combat the party asked how much can a Sand Shark eat, and out of jest – it was brought up that a Sand Shark’s gullet is what Bag of Holdings are made out of – and I decided to make that canon, which is why they’re so rarely found
• One of the Sand Giants sees Ragnaroc – having cast magic and proceeds to go for him – hitting twice – once with a Natural 20 Critical Strike which instantly bloodies Ragnaroc
• Don looks between the second and third giant, and sees the third giant seems a little worse off – and lands a Critical Hit (Natural 20!) and fires a second shot that hits him as well
• Adrian attacks the same giant – hits – and then expends a Divine Smite for additional damage, which kills that Sand Giant, leaving one remaining – which he attempts to attack, but misses
• Ragnaroc hits twice with his Eldritch Blasts
• Buppido casts Fire Bolt and quickly takes notice they’re resistant to fire damage
• Korra fires her crossbow, but misses
• The Sand Giant brings his scimitar down towards Buppido – but Adrian uses his reaction to Disadvantage, and misses; and it swings a second time, and Buppido uses his flash spell to disadvantage it, and it misses the second time
• Sephrenia casts Guilding Bolt and hits it for some solid damage
• They look over and see the Sand Shark is nearly done consuming the second Sand Giant
• Don fires two shots – first misses, but the follow up hits nicely – toppling the Sand Giant, forcing Adrian to quickly dive out of the way of the collapsing Sand Giant
• Don recalls – as he watches the Sand Shark eating the second Sand Giant, that the Leonin had asked for proof of the death of the Sand Giants
• While trying to sever the giant’s fingers, the party mangles it (failed Group Survival with some Critical Fails – that’s you Ragnaroc)
• However, their second attempt they manage to sever the giant’s hand and pull it into the cave; and decide to take shelter in the cave for the night, and allow the newly approaching Sand Sharks to devour the Sand Giants
• However, there’s the issue of the horses are still back at the camp
• The party waits for the Sand Sharks to depart; before going out and bringing the horses back to the caves, where the party plans to rest for the night; with the hard floor beneath them they’re safe from Sand Sharks, and they can replenish their water supply from somewhere in the cat that the Leonin had mentioned

TO BE CONTINUED.