Hex Crawl 23 #110: The Colossess of Zigmunus

 Five hexes south, one southwest of Alakran.

 

She does not stand, does not bestride. She is not enthroned or crowned, holds no scepter or orb. She kneels, carved into the north face of this yellow outcrop at the northwestern corner of Zigmunus. Thirty feet tall even kneeling, she yet blends in so well that only from a few miles away, in the shimmering haze of the sand-blown desert, can she be clearly discerned as a human figure.

No inscriptions clarify her mystery. She is carved wearing the linen wrap of the simplest peasant mother. Her arms rest on her thighs, palms upward, ready to receive. Behind her a narrow but climbable path mounts upward, and when finally ascended after two miles or so, gives a breathtaking view of the rolling green scenery beyond, for the virtuous women who deserve Zigmunus. But surely any human male who ascends will suffer some terrible fate; that is the nature of the place. And surely the statue has been so enchanted to come to colossal life if an army should threaten the realm beyond; for in the Pod Caverns and in Nathrak, in the Tombs of the Serpent and in far- off Shasari's great temple, have not the magics of old been profusely deployed to bring artfully carved stone to the life it strives to depict?

Hex Crawl 23 #109: The Green Hills of Zigmunus

 Six hexes south of Alakran.

 

Here overspills the benign influence that makes the slopes and vales of Zigmunus a green splash in the pale vastness of the desert. Here, greenery crests the tops of warding hills. Here, too, three bold shepherdesses defy custom, and follow their lean black flocks where they will, even to the forbidden slopes that overlooks the desert.

Emeru, Kalthe, Hespalitar; the first a fled child-bride of Eryptos, the last two born here. Yes, a mystery is proclaimed -- the women of Zigmunus may conceive girl-children through some hidden art if they so wish it. If they spot any apparent human males among wanderers of the sands, they seek cover on the other side, and Emeru blows her horn. This summons a patrol of 12 Amazon warriors, each highly trained to level 4, with a level 8 leader, who ride bipedal lizards and are found ranging along the south edge of the hills d6-1 miles away.

Groups made up solely of human non-males and non-humans -- as the Band of Bronze, coincidentally, were -- will receive a more curious greeting, at first in the old dialect of the Wahatti language spoken in Zigmunus, and then Emeru will try the Trade Tongue that she knows. If they make a good impression, the party will have adventures that, sadly, lie to the south, and so are beyond the scope of this account to tell.