Narrator: *You begin to awaken with a stir. Colors wash over you, blinding your senses with an abundance of information. As you slowly gather yourself and rise to your feet, countless questions and concerns burn within you. All numbed beneath the nauseating throbbing within your skull.* 

Kada:   Venture forth.

             [Perception] Study your surroundings.

             [Insight] Attempt to recall what brought you to this point.

Kada rolls a 16! SUCCESS

Narrator: *The events of the prior evening begin to return to you. A raucous party with your fellows. “Glory to the Absolute!” they cheered as they gorged themselves on plentiful food and drink.*

[Constitution] *You recall having more than a few yourself. Past a certain point your memories of the night fade into the abyss of your own inebriation. Though you have the distinct impression you were dabbling in matters you perhaps shouldn’t have.*

Kada:   Venture forth.

            [Perception] Study your surroundings.

Kada rolls a 8! SUCCESS

Narrator: *Your surroundings prove strange and unfamiliar to you. This is certainly not your camp. You don’t know where it is. At a glance it seems to be some sort of forest. Your companions are nowhere to be seen and despite the pain roaring in your skull, your thoughts remain eerily quiet.*

[Insight] *It is the voice of the Absolute, you realize. It is missing. For the first time in months your thoughts are your own. There isn’t a presence guiding your every action. No voice offering orders from on high.*

[Intelligence Check Failed]

*Unfortunately, your surroundings offer no further answers. Vibrant green trees tower high above you and block any attempts to see beyond their leafy husks.*

Kada:   Venture forth.

Narrator: *You find yourself wandering without purpose, blindly pushing forward in search of something familiar. You navigate your way through unnatural foliage. Twigs snap underfoot as you explore. A brisk morning breeze washes over you, offering the slightest relief to the dull aches of your mind.*

*The further you press on, the stranger the locale appears to you. These plants are unlike any you’ve seen before, and yet they also remain strangely familiar. Breaking past a wall of pliant greenery, you find your surroundings open up considerably and are met with civilization at long last.*

*Before you stands a camp. You readily identify several tents erected and furnished with the belongings of their respective occupants. Though you are also faced with a new revelation. These humble abodes are gigantic. Structures standing as high as Moonrise Towers and befitting the largest giants you will have ever seen.*

[Intelligence] *Though you realize they are not giant. You are simply small. Smaller than a rodent and lost in a thicket of grass.*

[Arcana] *Vague memories of dabbling in magic scrolls the night before rush to your thoughts. You have no clear recollection of attempting to actually cast them, but your current predicament would suggest otherwise.*

Kada:   [Investigation] Study the camp for further details. 

            [Elf] [Perception] Focus your senses. 

            Explore the Camp.

            Leave.

Kada rolls a 18! SUCCESS

Narrator: *You close your eyes and listen intently. It is subtle, but you detect the faintest traces of life in the distance. The intensified sounds of a giant going about their routine blissfully unaware of the world under them. Your world.*

*They might prove just the ally you need to solve your problem. Or the foe to worsen it.*

Kada:   [Investigation] Study the camp for further details. 

            Explore the Camp.

            Follow the noise to its source.

            Leave.

Kada rolls a 2! FAILURE

Narrator: *Nothing else in the camp catches your attention.*

Kada:   Explore the Camp.

            Follow the noise to its source.

            Leave.

Narrator: *Carefully, you step past your safe haven and emerge onto the open field of the strangers’ camp. Slowly, you follow the noises that caught your ear, growing louder the closer you come. Steadily evolving into what you eventually recognize as the rhythm of footsteps. They grow mightier. Thunderous. Powerful. A constant thrum that makes the very ground under your feet cower in fear.*

[Perception] *The noises are growing even faster now. The giant is approaching your direction. Faster than you had expected. The subtle sounds that first caught your ear have now evolved into an explosive assault on your senses.*

*The ground shudders once more as an enormous boot descends upon the ground a short distance away. It is larger than a caravan, gliding gracefully with its peer as the giant emerges from behind one of the camp tents. She appears even grander than you had envisioned, each step bringing you closer to a perilous encounter with the underside of her foot. It becomes rather obvious that she doesn’t even realize you’re there.*

Kada:   [Performance] Call out to get the giant’s attention. 

            [Dexterity] Flee before you are crushed.

            [Rogue] [Acrobatics] Attempt to latch onto the giant’s boot. 

            [Constitution] Brace yourself and endure the incoming stomp.

            Stand still and pray you don’t get crushed. 

Kada rolls a 4! FAILURE

Kada uses an Inspiration Point. 2 Points Remaining.

Kada rolls a 17! SUCCESS

Narrator: *You turn and run with a fervor and speed heretofore unknown to you. You rush through the tundra of earthy terrain faster than you have ever moved in your life; and yet your current size  reduces your speed to a mere fraction of what it could be.*

*Behind you, the giant’s steps remain at your heels. Every footfall crashes upon where you stood mere moments prior. A rush of wind constantly brushes against your back, growing stronger as every step threatens to be your last. Above, the giant stares ahead, her expression uninterested and her eyes searching anywhere that isn’t the ground before her.*

THOOM!

Narrator: *You leap with a vigorous cry as a final stomp crashes behind you. The blast throws you through the air. It sends you tumbling through the dirt. And yet, much to your surprise, you appear to have survived the ordeal unscathed.*

Shadowheart: What in Shar’s name…?

Narrator: *A sobering voice casts its thunderous might down upon you. Its booming echo grates against your ears as you lift your gaze…only to find a far larger one meeting it in turn.*

Kada:   Uhh….Hi.

            Praise the Absolute! You have to help me!

            [Perception] Assess this woman.

            Run away as fast as you can. 

Kada rolls a 10! SUCCESS!

Narrator: *A beautiful visage framed in ebony black hair lords above you. Beneath that curtain you spy the slightest tips of pointed ears. A Half-Elf. One who readily invoked Shar’s name at a moment’s notice and appears to be clad in the armor of a cleric.*

[Insight] *You realize this is one of the people your commander warned you about. One of the enemies of the Absolute. The cleric named Shadowheart.*

Kada:   Uhh….Hi.

            Thank the Absolute! You have to help me!

            You’re…You’re Shadowheart…

            Run away as fast as you can. 

Narrator: *You move with a sudden desperation that seems to take the giant by surprise. Though she readies herself the very next moment. With an annoyed gasp, her leg shifts far faster than you can react. Just as your escape begins it is intercepted by the weathered side of her foot.*

Shadowheart: What’s the rush? Hiding something are we?

Narrator: *Before you can answer an agony seizes your senses. It feels as though a lance has pierced your skull and ripped it from your neck. Your mind twists. You’re looking through a pair of unfamiliar eyes, journeying on a quest to find a cure for an affliction. Places and memories unknown to you play out before your very eyes. You feel a link between yourself and the giant. You see what she sees; and she does the same in kind.*

*You see yourself. A small, inconsequential thing cowering in the shadow of a boot that could end you with but a thought. And Shadowheart sees herself. A towering, almost divine presence unlike any other in Faerun. Greater than the mightiest beasts. Beyond even the likes of the strongest warriors.*

[Perception] *Through your connection you detect the slightest traces of satisfaction. The dilation in her pupils. The subtle hitch in her breath. The quirk along the edges of her lips betraying her stern expression. She likes this view of herself.*

*You try to hold the memory, but it fades.*

Shadowheart: Ngh… Just what I needed. Another of the Absolute’s faithful. Care to give me a reason why I shouldn’t end your life right now and spare myself the headache of your presence?

Kada:   B-Because I’m free of the Absolute’s influence now! I need help!

            I’m no threat to you, but I could be a boon.

            Please spare me and I shall leave you in peace!

            [Persuasion] Because who else then will be able to admire you in all your majesty?

            [Ilithid] [Wisdom] Attempt to control her through the link you shared.

Kada rolls a 8! FAILURE

Kada uses an Inspiration Point. 1 Points Remaining.

Kada rolls a 12! FAILURE

Kada uses an Inspiration Point. 0 Points Remaining.

Kada rolls a 17! FAILURE

Narrator: *Through the newfound link you shared, you reach deep into the recesses of Shadowheart’s mind. Your power is great, greater than you ever dreamt possible, but you find yourself little more than a droplet in an ocean. Shadowheart’s power proves overwhelming and her mind impenetrable. Such is the result when one attempts to dominate the mind of another being magnitudes larger and more powerful.*

*So inconsequential were your efforts that the giant doesn’t even seem to have noticed them*

Kada:   B-Because I’m free of the Absolute’s influence now! I need help!

            I’m no threat to you, but I could be a boon.

            Please spare me and I shall leave you in peace!

            [Persuasion] Because who else then will be able to admire you in all your majesty?

Kada rolls a 20! CRITICAL SUCCESS

Narrator: *You detect a glimmer of satisfaction in Shadowheart’s eyes as she hears your pleas. Her lips curl with thin pleasure as she allows you several long moments to throw yourself at her awaiting mercy.*

Shadowheart: Well you at least know quality when you see it, I’ll grant you that. And I suppose you are far from a threat at that size. Very well. I’ll play along then. How do you intend to ‘Admire’ me, as you say?

Narrator: *The giant kneels forward to get a better look at you. Her knees bend, groaning at the joints as she comes to loom over your minuscule frame. She regards you expectantly.*

Kada:   However you want! I am your humble servant to command!

            [Strength] I can see the toll your journey has taken on you. Perhaps I can help with that. 

            [Performance] By regaling you with endless praise and appreciation, of course!

            [Religion] By worshiping you as the Goddess you rightfully are!

            [Rogue] [Persuasion] By stealing your heart just as you’ve stolen mine.

            I don’t. Prepare to die Heretic! Praise the Absolute!

            Leave.

Kada rolls a 12! SUCCESS

Narrator: *A hint of amusement lights Shadowheart’s face at your answer. The look of a woman intrigued, but doubtful.*

Shadowheart: Is that so? I fail to see how you could do much at that size, but far be it for me to stop you.

Narrator: *Before you realize it, her hand descends upon you. A vast, looming shadow envelopes your body as her fingers spread, narrowing until your body is caught by fingers from all sides. Air rushes past you as she stands and journeys towards one of the sprawling tents across the camp. One decorated with simple comforts and the occasional monument to Shar.*

*The ground is a blur far beneath you, offering an unpleasant reminder of your precarious position. Though it is not long before you are released atop a cloth-covered barrel. Shadowheart pulls a seat from within her tent and joins you shortly thereafter.*

[Insight] *In her eyes you see endless possibility. A crippling breadth of choices that has left her momentarily uncertain. Followed by resolve as a decision is made.*

*Shadowheart briefly kneels forward, her actions unknown to you as she idles herself near the ground. They become apparent when she rises again, and the looming sole of her bare foot braces its heel against the very barrel you stand upon.*

Shadowheart: Well? Don’t disappoint me now.

Kada:   You can’t be serious.

            You know, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

            That’s a big foot.

            Are you insane? There’s no way I can do this!

            [Strength] Attempt to massage Shadowheart’s foot.

            Lick.

            Attack.

Shadowheart: Deadly serious.

Kada:  You know, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

            That’s a big foot.

            Are you insane? There’s no way I can do this!

            [Strength] Attempt to massage Shadowheart’s foot.

            Lick.

            Attack.

Shadowheart: I think I worked that out when you woke up smaller than my littlest finger. Now quit stalling.

Kada:  That’s a big foot.

            Are you insane? There’s no way I can do this!

            [Strength] Attempt to massage Shadowheart’s foot.

            Lick.

            Attack.

Kada rolls a 1! CRITICAL FAILURE

Narrator: *Shadowheart’s foot stands before you, tall and imposing. You see the toll her journey has had on her. The hints of weathering and fatigue that allude to the unseen plights of life on the road. Tanned, reddish flesh awaits your servile touch expectantly as her toes curl. It would seem there is nothing else to be done.*

*Her skin proves warm to your touch, unyielding as your hands sense a whole network of muscles and nerves just beneath the surface. Muscles that prove more firm than you could have ever imagined. Only now does the full weight of your dauntless task fall upon you, but beneath Shadowheart’s gaze you have no choice. You give it your all, even as the impossibility of the request only grows more apparent by the moment.*

Shadowheart: Is that all? Can’t say I’m impressed after all that bravado of yours.

Narrator: *You can hear the blend of disappointment and annoyance in her voice as reality fails to measure up to the fantasies she had envisioned. It was too great a demand, but in her eyes the failure lies not with her, but with you. An ominous sense of dread weighs upon you and spurns you to work harder, but it is no use. After a few more moments Shadowheart’s foot retreats and her annoyed countenance looms above you.*

Shadowheart: Forget it. I don’t know what I was expecting from some crazed little cultist.

Kada:  Hey, I tried my best!

            What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not the one out here making unreasonable demands!

            I’m sorry! I’ll do better next time!

Shadowheart: Next time? Hah. I don’t think so.

Narrator: *The giant’s hand reaches for you once again, this time far less kindly. Her finger curls back, allowing only a moment of stillness before flicking forward. Your entire body aches as you are flung far across the camp. The world is a blur of movement that comes to a sudden and painful stop.*

[Constitution Check Failed]

*You feel something break within you as you crash into the dirt below. Pain numbs your senses as you attempt to rise back to your feet. One of your legs feels sluggish and unresponsive. It is then that you feel the familiar tremors of footsteps. In the distance, the blurred figure of a crimson Tiefling is fast approaching, her gaze steadfast and focused only on what is ahead of her.*

[Dexterity Check Failed]

*Try as you might, your body fails to answer your call. Attempts to escape end only in you tumbling once more, and before you realize it a shadow has engulfed you. High above, the worn sandal of the infernal spawn looms for an instant. Then it descends.*

THOOM!!!

Kada is hit for 479 Blunt Damage! Kada is Dead!