(I can choose a breach in the north or east wall, my choice. I go with east.)
Drawing on your inner strength to quell your fears of what may lie ahead, you descend the ridge and approach the great, frowning bastions of Kaag. Through the swirling dust you see a pitted road which leads to the East Gate. Its storm-blown surface is littered with corpses, bleached bones, rusted weapons and armour. Crab-like scavengers scuttle among the debris, fighting for scraps to feed their young which nest in thousands of empty Giak skulls half-buried in the ground.
Shielded from detection by the storm and your Kai skills, you reach the breached east wall unobserved.
Swiftly you climb over the rubble, which is heaped between the huge cubes of marble that once comprised this section of Kaag's curtain-wall, and find yourself in a street lined with decaying halls and slum dwellings. A dun pall of choking smoke hovers above this quarter, which reeks of iron and sulphur. Moving among the ruins you see a ragged group of Giaks, led by a Gourgaz clad in a shirt of mail. They halt for a few moments, then the Gourgaz hisses an order and they continue at a lumbering pace, heading south. You notice that their tattered blue-green uniforms all bear the emblem of a broken skull.
(Follow them or head in the opposite direction. Opposite)
Expecting the unexpected, you enter a rubble-strewn alley which takes you deeper into the black heart of Kaag. A mile later you reach a broader street, partially submerged by brackish, ankle-deep slime. Beyond it, at a deserted square, you see a tangle of rusty iron pipes spilling out from a circular shaft in the ground. Jets of steam hiss skywards from a thousand tiny cracks in these corroded conduits. Nearby, in the ruins, a guttering fire casts an eerie yellow light over the area. Shadows play upon the surrounding walls, cast not only by the fire but also by the winged Kraan which swoop back and forth across this square, dousing themselves in the jets of scalding-hot steam.
You are watching the Kraan diving and twisting above the rooftops when suddenly your Magnakai sense of Divination alerts you to imminent danger. You can sense the approach of a hostile creature, one which is using its psychic power to scan the surrounding area.
(I can run or enter a building to hide. I choose building)
You climb across the shattered masonry and take cover near an empty window which overlooks the square. Minutes later you see a thin figure clad in red robes, accompanied by six grime-smeared Giaks, enter the square from an alley on the far side. At once you recognize the skeletal features of the robed one: it is a Vordak, an undead spawn of the Darklords.
The Vordak raises a bony hand and immediately its companions halt. Then, with a sweep of its arm, it slowly scans the ruins bordering the square.
I use Kai-Screen + Grand Guardian. It fails to find me. I choose to explore the ruins further. How, I find that the ground here is unsafe. A section gives way into an old basement. I roll a die and add Grand Huntmastery bonus. I get a 4, which becomes a 6, which just makes it. I lose two EP from timbers hitting my arm, but I manage to haul myself out of the cellar with ease. I see an area with a street battle fought recently, and over a dozen Giak corpses on the street. I choose to investigate a crypt...