Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Everything started happening at once again. We started this morning with Ezekiel having a private talk with Aliana and Raven (something religious) while Mikael prepared to melt the boulder blocking the door, and I put on the sword of Lyons.

That tunnel system definitely felt like a main fortress. Outside the dragon room, the hallway opened up to either side, with bas-relief carvings on the walls of giants in battle or hunting. Baskets hung at intervals holding some kind of glowing beetles that gave distinction to the surroundings. I didn’t get to study them at length, though. Passages trailed away to our left and right, but we decided the boulder directly ahead looked like it was blocking something, so we started there. I think Ezekiel was worried that we’d taken too long clearing the guard posts up above, and that Jarl Grugnir might have prepared something especially nasty for us, or fled like Marquessa (I hear Heironians talk battle strategy over breakfast). Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

We keep finding strange things. We found and defeated a squad of ice toads loving in a cave…that could well be just part of the environment, meaning they have nothing to do with the giants…which means they probably aren’t technically a “squad,” but that makes me feel better than calling them a “family.” Their floor was coated with gnawed on bones, and they had a lump of amethyst sitting on a broken-off stalagmite that looked vaguely like a toad. (The stalagmite did not try to eat us.) Doesn’t look like there was anything of real importance in that cave, although Ezekiel said that toads totally have a god that they worship, which is sending me into difficulties. Lydia said that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything right now, but Heiron said it’s important to think about what you’re dealing with (even if you can’t understand it).

**

The toad cave led out onto the ledge that’s been circling this central ravine, and we got another look at the snow dome or something that’s down in the bottom. I can’t see an entrance from this side. Lydia says it makes her uncomfortable.

Ezekiel put a booby-trap glyph on another pile of prepped boulders, and we found the last cave system on the upper level of the ravine. This must be where the rest of the giants lived, as we found more sleeping hides, barrels of food, and a little gold hidden in the snow (plus a clerical scroll that might come in handy).

Hard to say if they were waiting for us to be distracted by the goods, or if they were out looking for us, and just returned at that moment, but the last frost giant sentries sicced their winter wolves on us, and put up a good fight. Lydia got to use stinking cloud again, like the old days…but this time, I didn’t gag on it.

Two of them fled at the last moment, and Ezekiel and Mikael pursued them while the rest of us were busy. Their legs are shorter than giants’, though, (even Mikael) and they lost them. Then the walls started shaking, and little ice fragments fell down from the ceiling.

Ezekiel told us to quickly grab anything the giants had (though they didn’t have anything on them – I guess it was all in this cave) and follow him before they collapsed the cave down on us. By the time we caught up with him and Mikael, they were considering a pile of ice debris where the giants had blocked us in (yet again; if I didn’t have claustrophobia before, I probably will now). The good news is the giants gave up trying to collapse the roof, so all we have to deal with is clearing the entrance.

Ezekiel proposed using his magical spinning blades to dice the barrier into fragments that can compact onto the floor and walls (and maybe the friction melts them a little, too)…so we’re trying that. It is kinda cool watching his disembodied blades whip back and forth, but there’s a serious amount of snow and ice to get through. He’s been at it nearly a half hour. I guess it’s good he’s having fun.

**

Oof. Five days of boredom, five minutes of terror…that’s the adventurer’s life.

We finished digging ourselves out of the giants’ cave, and found them not waiting in an ambush for us. Maybe they’re off getting friends or something. At any rate, the only thing left to explore was the floor of the ravine and the snow-covered dome, so we lowered ourselves down on ropes.

At first, all was quiet. There’s a hole in the southern end, surrounded by cliffs, that drops into a cave system underneath (made of actual rocks, this time). Not too far from that, though, is the huge dome of snow.

The snow must accumulate here after whipping back and forth up above trying to waylay arrows, and it’s a little hard to walk in. We were heading to explore the dome, and the girls were talking about a smell in the air. Lydia had caught a whiff earlier – like baking, she said – while Aliana said there was something spicy or cinnamony in the air. But before anyone else had a chance to sniff around, the Thing came for us.

Basically, it’s like an ankheg, but white…but of course you don’t look at an ankheg that’s rushing you, and say, “You’re just a big earthworm with horns!” No, you duck out of its way and try to decide in a split-second which part looks most vulnerable to the weapon you happen to be holding (I chose the underbelly – frequently vulnerable to blades). Ezekiel tried to throw light in its face, and then Lydia hurled lightening down the length of its body, and it jack-knifed and flopped to the snowy ground, shriveling like an earthworm in the sun.

Afterwards, Lydia told us that it’s called a “polar worm,” and the carapace on its back will melt weapons (Tressarian said, but he puts out fires! but I explained it doesn’t melt like that). It also likes to eat people and digest them in minutes, and the Barbarian word “rimorez” is what people called Lydia’s mother. She cut off one of its horns, and she wasn’t explaining things with the gusto she usually has about sharing knowledge, so I told Heiron to give her back-up while I went with Ezekiel to search the dome.

I think the worm has been hunting here for some time. Apparently it doesn’t digest bones, since we found plenty of those…human, dwarf, and goblinoid. Also a magic ring (silver with some engraving) and a sword we saw glowing under the ice. Mikael had to cut it out with a flame-blade, but when we freed it, the hilt had Old Oeridian writing that Ezekiel says means “for the slaying of giants.” Agnar thought that could be useful, but when he tried to pick it up, he says it “bit” him, so we gave it to Master Oaklock. I hope they will be happy together. (Ezekiel told Agnar that some weapons need to have a “kinship” with their wielders to work best, but I’m not sure how much he got out of it.) Tressarian went so far as to admit it would be nice to have a sort of “kindred spirit” sword with us – once he was sure I wasn’t going to swap him out.

There wasn’t much else in the ravine…which meant all we could do was attach ropes and climb down into the cavern underneath our feet. (I suppose the frost giants had another route to get down there, but we didn’t know where it was…and possibly we wouldn’t be able to climb it.)

Aliana was to go first, and Agnar was ready to climb down once she was clear of the rope. But plans are for boring people, I guess.

She couldn’t have been more than halfway down when we heard a roar, and saw a flash of something white down there (the hole is twelve feet across, so big enough to see a little) – and then we heard her trumpet-like challenge, and the rope went slack. Dragon versus paladin. No holds barred.

Agnar waited for nothing and no one – he leapt feet-first, sword-drawn, into the opening, yelling the whole way (it’s a wonder he had any breath left by the time he landed). He’d barely left the ledge when Ezekiel pounced on the rope, skimming down with his gauntlets of ogre strength, and Mikael just dove into the hole (transforming into a falcon by the time he disappeared below the level of the ground).

Raven took the rope next, while Lydia hopped into the hole and used her staff to lower herself at a gentle rate. In all the commotion, I kind of lost track of myself…I saw flashes of light, and felt blasts of freezing air as I climbed down the rope – but by the time I reached the floor of the cavern, we had two dead white dragons, and Ezekiel was on his knees “having a moment,” as Aunt Elaine might have said. Mikael was chanting away Aliana’s frostburn, and Agnar was grudgingly admitting that maybe his ankles didn’t appreciate falling over a hundred feet onto stone (I just pictured Tomlin’s reaction to hearing that sentence! Ha!).

Everything seemed wrapped up… These dragons were clearly stronger than the ones we fought in the Node with Master Elmo, but they still were no match for our teamwork (and Ezekiel’s spell, apparently, that’s he’s been muttering to himself about and whimpering, “What have I done?” sorts of things periodically).

We only found one obvious exit (aside from the roof, of course) – blocked with a giant boulder, just like Flame’s bedroom was. So we set up the instant fortress in front of it for Heiron and Master Oaklock to guard, and for Agnar to take a little rest, while Ezekiel and I gathered the dragons’ treasure into the portable hole.

Silver, electrum, and platinum pieces…silver boxes filled with ivory…various little non-magical carvings out of marble and alabaster…a pile of white gems…yes, these dragons liked getting treasure that matched their hides. Even among the weapons and armor (no surprise that dragons had some of those, right?) we found a suit of black chainmail painted silver. It’s magical, but we haven’t experimented to see how good it is. Ezekiel checked the corners of the nest for any eggs, but found none. I think that’s just as well – poor Keom and Ronhass have their hands plenty full.

Lydia has gone to Haven to drop off the treasure, and Master Oaklock asked her to take the new frostbrand sword and get it a sheath made. (Tressarian took the opportunity to mention he likes his special sheath that lets him glow and talk from inside it, so I’m glad. We don’t know if the new sword talks, though.)

Aliana suggested one of the statues might be a good wedding present for Prince Thrommel and the Lady Jolene. It does seem to be of a married couple, though I’m not sure it would be the kind of thing my mother had in her house. On the other hand, part of being nobility is just having a lot of treasures to hand out at necessary times…it’s the thought that counts more than the actual gift. They don’t have to like the item for itself. I feel like I once heard Archie explaining that to Alpheus, and Alpheus felt a gift should have more thought put into it, even if he acknowledged that a lord couldn’t put that much thought into every single thing he had to do. Which I suppose is why he needs an “Archie” person.

Ezekiel in deep meditation, and looking broody, which is not like him.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Lydia returned this morning and we ventured out of the fortress to find what the giants had been doing all night. The cavern has multiple connected rooms and multiple exit passages – but every time we tried to reach the outside, we found a pile of ice fragments, stacked above our heads and pressed together into a solid wall. The only exit we couldn’t confirm was blocked is the passage Mikael had filled with thorny brambles. We had a little discussion about removing the brambles, but Ezekiel and Lydia were both anxious not to start a massive fire inside an ice cavern.

The only passage not completely filled had a gap at the top of the barrier, just a few feet below the roof, where someone could crawl toward the outside on his knees. “Someone” being me, apparently, because I could be invisible with the sword. How do I get volunteered for these things?

Raven gave me a hand up, and I crawled across the top of the barrier. Sure enough, the ice is jammed into a solid piece, reaching across the entire entrance of the cavern. Outside, on the cliff above the ravine, five frost giants stood or lounged, waiting…for us.

I crawled back and gave the report. Ezekiel seemed to think I could take them all down by myself…I don’t think he understands about recovering your stance after a sword-thrust, and the time involved making a new swing. Sure, it’s only a couple seconds – but it does take time. I could get off more arrows in the same amount of time, but even if I could have drawn my bow crouching on that ice barrier, the wind is still whipping like a horse’s mane at full gallop, and I doubt I could land a single shot. Quite apart from the fact that frost giants are not orcs or hobgoblins…they have a lot of blood. Like, a lot of blood. Even striking their vital arteries only kills them so quickly, and I didn’t relish the idea of being the prime target of five of them all by myself (until Aliana, Agnar, and the others crawled out of the cave under the cover of my distraction). Well, anyway, I guess it’s nice to be considered competent, rather than “the little one” who needs help with everything and is a handy size to chuck places.

Back to the giants… I couldn’t really think of an alternate plan, so Raven gave me a hand again, and I concentrated on silencing my footfalls. Master Elmo and Lord Otis were right…if you practice enough, you can exert your will on the very physical world enough to mask even the condensation of your breathing. However, not enough to mask Tressarian’s glowing in freezing temperatures.

He was lowering me to the ground on the far side of the barrier – so I wouldn’t have a rope to give me away, and so I didn’t slip and fall face-first onto the cliff as might happen to certain unlucky individuals – but of course the giants had a guard watching the outlet for when we would come out, and they noticed Tressarian’s (undeniably cool) light aura. So the first one made a swipe at me, but fortunately whiffed it pretty badly.

Agnar heard the giant’s battle roar, and made it across the top of the barrier much faster than I had expected (is he shorter than I think of him?). Moments after he landed, Aliana launched straight from the top of the barrier into a giant, rebounding off him to land on her feet as he tumbled backward off the cliff. Tressarian hummed happily as we sliced into one of the others (not as good as evil fire things, but he still had fun).

Agnar was having a little too much fun, I think. He made such a vigorous attack that his sword flew out of his hand – and as he dove after it, they both slid off the cliff and into the mounds of snow below. So he missed out as Aliana, Heiron, and I mopped up the cliff-top, but he says he made sure the giant down there was dead. Also, the deep snow apparently cushioned his fall, so he seemed barely affected by having fallen off the cliff.

The giants had only weapons and clothes on them (makes sense – we were camped in their house) but we don’t know if they alerted the rest of the garrison yet. Agnar rejoined us via a path that winds down alongside the ridge, so we can safely explore the bottom of the ravine at some later time. But first we want to clear some of these other caves.

****

Oh, yes, there was something weird in one of the caves. First, we came upon some kind of symbol scratched on the ice of the floor. While Ezekiel and Lydia were wracking their brains for any rune or glyph it might resemble, Agnar said it looked like scribbling. Lydia finally cast a spell to read it, and said it just said, “Danger keep out.” It wasn’t even magical.

So for our next step, Ezekiel took Aliana with him into gaseous form and floated around the corner to scout. The walls and floor seemed covered with ivory and bones, seemingly just dropped at random. Ezekiel thought there were scratches like chewing on them, but Aliana thought that wasn’t quite the way she would describe it. Also, the passage got colder and colder as they went along, until Ezekiel says he almost felt frostbite through his heavy mountaineering gloves. There were no traps, and no concealed things, anywhere in the cave…except maybe a mysterious dark residue on the ground.

Finally, they returned to us, and after reporting their findings (while rubbing their hands together), Mikael said it reminded him of a breed of mold. The “brown mold” (I like names that get right to the point) doesn’t eat plant and animal flesh like a normal slime. Instead, it sucks energy from its surroundings – he said even bringing a torch into its room can make it grow. Lydia said, good thing then we didn’t walk in there with all our lit up shields. She did wonder if a cone of cold would hurt it, but not enough to feel like fighting it. Especially since it’s not working with the giants, we don’t really have a quarrel with it. Mikael didn’t have a sure-fire method for killing it, either, so we left it alone. And things got plenty exciting anyway.

First, we found an empty guard post with a couple sleep sacks and a pile of prepared boulders. Hard to tell if the guards were ones we fought, or if they left their post to warn some others. We didn’t have time to deal with the boulders, so we continued on.

Next, a squad of fire giants was camped near some kind of volcanic vent in a cave. Tressarian says it’s starting to make up for…whatever reason he’s feeling neglected this time.

They were a bit more civilized than the rest, with a brazier, table and chairs, and some coins and loot (including a silver statue of a bear with jewels; nothing magical, though). I was busy worrying that fire giants are working with frost giants…usually, they can’t stand each other. What kind of leader do they have, and what kind of tricks is he pulling to keep them all in line?

There must have been survivors of the earlier battle who prepared for us to escape the trap. Someone dug a pit and covered it with snow within the past day or so, and if it weren’t for Aliana’s sharp eyes, we’d be a lot wetter and colder than we already are (Raven made a rope bridge for us to cross by, but the pit wasn’t that deep when I fell into it. Just almost twisted my ankle and got snow in my boot).

Not far beyond that, we came to a fork in the path. Both choices were packed down ice, but I found more recent traces of giant footprints going more straight. We were hot on their tails, now, so we weren’t surprised when they tried to snipe us with boulders. It was a couple squads of frost giants, this time, but they were no match for our numbers.

These ones actually had bags of treasure with them, and gold armbands inset with an ivory and amber bear. I think it must be some kind of loyalty or membership badge. Aliana said she was not aware of the significance of a bear in frost giant culture.

Their cave led into a series of connected caves (thankfully out of the worst of the wind, now) where we discovered a company of ogres. I’m not sure why they didn’t rush to support the frost giants when they heard that battle…although they tried to get the jump on us by hiding under hides, our numbers and party composition is to our advantage. They might have had a better chance with the giants – but then again, maybe not. Mikael proved, once again, that druids are completely horrifying. While those of us with sharp metal weapons were doing our part, he conjured a wall of thorns over the top of a pack of ogres, and we heard their dying croaks through the tangle. Then, when we had checked the dead bodies in the open for gems or secret papers, and were ready to move through the next part of the cave, he pushed with his hand, and magically shoved the thicket against the wall. It embedded in the ice, dripping softly. As for the bodies of the ogres, they were diced in what Raven might call a “slushie” on the floor. I haven’t been hungry for three hours (although some of that might come from searching the ogres’ chests and barrels).

We found some jewelry and gems (plus two potions that look like they’re for inducing vomiting), but to find them we had to wade through a barrel of skulls and a couple chests of ears and teeth…all shapes and races. I know we sometimes hang dragon skins on our walls, but you gotta draw the line somewhere. Ogres and their kind are just the worst.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

16 Reaping

When Uncle Bern (or a traveling bard) used to tell us stories, Bartholomew always used to interrupt during interesting parts to ask stupid questions like, “Wait, who’s that speaking?” or “Why would he do that?” or “But what did they find?”

And Uncle Bern would have to say, “I’ll tell you,” and pick up just where he left off, and where the story would have explained itself if Bartholomew had only kept quiet for three seconds and listened. (Or, if he’d thought about it for half a moment instead of instantly giving up and asking, the story would have been obvious.)

Wonder why I thought of that while Ezekiel was giving the report to Sir Lashton. Anyway, if we have a traitor on our side, my money is on Sir Lashton. King’s agent or not, no one in such a high position could really be that dense and self-important. His first assignment of real importance would have revealed his incompetence and made him fall apart. Sir Lashton says he’s busy investigating the black dome, which means he has to delegate other things. So then why does he have such trouble actually delegating, and trusting people to accomplish things? Double agent.

Father always used to say, “You must respect a man for his position, not necessarily for his competence.” Especially right after receiving a message from Lord Torvald, he used to say that a lot.

All of that is really beside the point, I suppose. We gave the report, and left records in case we all die horribly and someone else needs to follow through on our mission. Ezekiel wrote up a report to leave with Dree, and I sent notes to Sirion and the others. Also, since the destination seems to be in the mountains, Ezekiel suggested we find where we put all the rings of warmth we have, and distribute them. We found two, which went to Mikael and Heiron. Someone thought we had a third one, but I’m not sure. If so, it’s probably buried in the vault with our racks of potions that we never use, either.

Oh, yes. Ezekiel also managed to get a few words with Master Algorthas. (Remembering that he asked him to investigate the “E” who keeps writing letters.) Master Algorthas says the wax used for the seal on one of the letters (I think the one that Klim had on him) is actually made from some kind of fungus. That would fit in with the Underdark…first, they can’t have regular bees down there, and also, they like fungus (or am I blurring them together with the Mushroom Queen’s people?). Ezekiel shared what he learned from the dead drow spy, so maybe that will help his investigations, too.

I think Lydia is glad we’re spending the night in actual beds, with a real roof over our heads. She’s been walking funny lately, and moving more slowly that usual. Heiron told me he’s a bit worried. But when Ezekiel tried to suggest she could back us up through the mirror like she used to with the Nodes, she gave him a “look.”

****

Mixed feelings.

The chain teleported us to a mountainside…high up, wind-whipped, covered with snow. Like Ezekiel described it, but even more so. I admit, it was a bit of a shock going from high summer to snow…but we managed. (Heiron gave Lydia his ring – of warmth…)

Well, a quick scout around didn’t tell us much. Giant footprints were everywhere, but didn’t give us much clue about where to go, and seeing into the distance was not an option. The wind comes whistling down and twists around the rocks so strangely that archery is impossible. The first time Heiron tried launching an arrow, it just disappeared into the whiteness in a completely wrong direction. I can’t explain how powerless that made me feel.

On the positives, though, Tressarian got to spend more time out and about – and it was cold, so he glowed with a pale white light. I was wearing the sword of Lyons at my belt, too, so we looked extra cool…just a blade of light, floating around in the air. Not so sneaky, but cool.

Anyway, we picked a direction, and followed what seemed to be a path down the mountainside, and eventually (after several hours) came to a ravine with paths along the tops of the cliffs all around it. The cliffside is also riddled with caves, and as we started to explore the first one, we came upon a squad of yetis, with a pair of snow leopards in a neighboring cave. I’m not sure what they ate up here – but the yetis had a pair of ivory tusks hidden under the snow in their cave, so maybe they eat mammoths. They also had a frostbrand sword, though, glowing in a corner, and we gave it to Oaklock…so that’s a happy turn of events for both of them (he says the sword hasn’t tried to talk to him).

Not too far from there, we found a pile of prepared boulders overlooking the rift below. While Mikael prepared to melt it into mud, Heiron and Master Oaklock heard noises ahead to the south, and Raven and I heard something coming from a cave to the north. The giants had heard our approach (no surprise there) and a squad tried to encircle us. Raven and I held them off pretty well – then just as reinforcements were coming up, Lydia threw a lightening bolt through their midst. Suddenly, Ezekiel had turned around and conjured a row of floating blades slicing and dicing just higher than our heads.

It wasn’t all one-sided, of course. The giants had plenty of boulders to choose from – whether stone or ice, I couldn’t tell…you don’t get a good look when something rams into you trying to break all your limbs. They must have dealt with the detachment to the south, as Ezekiel and Mikael came up behind to dish out healing. Ezekiel was saying something, too, but I didn’t quite hear him clearly – boulders still flew at us from deeper in the cave, so while Oaklock and Heiron took one branch, I followed Aliana down another to find the enemy.

The caves back there twist and connect with each other in a way that’s not immediately straightforward. Mikael stayed in the back long enough to notice a side passage, and he filled it with a massive jungle of thorns to keep the giants from escaping (and to control the battlefield).

Aliana had a small group of giants on one side, while Agnar and I had another group on the other side of the cave. Next thing you know, there’s a faintly white wall between us and them, encircling them. Apparently that was Raven’s doing, from his ring. When we went to help Aliana, she had a similar just-visible wall of light above her head – pinning one of the giants around his waist, so that all he could do was kick at her. His two companions must have seen Lydia waving her hands, and crouched down…but that put them at a disadvantage, of course, and the battle didn’t take too long after that.

Aliana and Agnar went back to Raven’s prisoners, and I helped Heiron explore the rest of this cave system. There’s a barracks full of sleeping hides, with a club and spear for each giant, and a larder full of meat…some of it looks disturbingly human-shaped, but I tried not to examine it closely.

When we got back to the others, the last giants were dead. I gather we didn’t do very well getting information out of them. Mikael, Ezekiel, and Aliana passed around healing, while we counted up the dead bodies.

Lydia went back to Haven to open up the portal, so Ezekiel and Raven could get some supplies…winter clothes, and what Ezekiel calls “mountaineering gear.” The rest of us set up the fortress in the back of the cave for a little shelter; on the plus side, there’s a freshwater spring right here, so that cheered up Mikael and me.

Aliana says a couple giants probably escaped, or weren’t here for the battle. There’s not much we can do until tomorrow, though, so we’ll have to take our chances and be vigilant.

****

Rumblings and clatterings in the cave last night. Nothing close enough to see, though, so we just sat tight and waited for the others to return. Thankfully the cavern has not collapsed on us.

Ezekiel and Raven returned with news – Ez got a letter from his sister (Leah), and a wedding invitation arrived from Prince Thrommel and the Lady Jolene. Very kind of them to think of us – and high time they made it official! Ezekiel says the wedding isn’t for a couple months yet, so we could have time to clear out these giants, hopefully. (And Lydia can take us all to Mitrik because she knows the city pretty well by now.)

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Ezekiel interrogated the drow’s head this morning. He says he was right – the drow was a spy against the giants, who then got trapped in the basement. The copper staff is the symbol of House Alservs, who are trying to break away from the Spider Queen in the Underdark. I guess the drow we found had one as part of his cover. Apparently he was very dismissive of the giants, and said they were just working for the Alservs, who are trying to uncover places of power. Places like the shrine – which makes Ezekiel believe the Alservs are following the Elder Elemental Gods (combined with the double triangle we keep finding). Finally, Ez asked about Eclavdra – and as far as our informant knew, she (he?) is part of House Alserv.

That’s the straightforward version, that Ezekiel pieced together from his notes (none of the rest of us could hear the drow’s spirit talking). It’s starting to make a bit more sense (although I’m still not convinced there’s not just one drow using multiple “E” names to play all sides against the middle. Eclavdra, Edralv… My parents came up with eleven unique names; how hard can it be for drow?). Anyway, Ezekiel says the chief here got orders by note, and we still haven’t found a bundle of notes, so Lydia suggested we keep looking.

So we spent the whole rest of today combing the above-ground part of the fortress, from the kitchen, to the feasting hall, to the armory, to the chief’s room, to my lady’s chamber, and all around back again. Ezekiel kept the gem of seeing to his eye nearly the whole time, and Mikael kept Schakka out, searching for secret doors, but no luck so far. We’re all kinda tired and discouraged, but at least we can be pretty confident we’re the only ones here (aside from the crowds in the under-basement) and Raven has cooked us a gourmet dinner to make up for it (I didn’t see how careful he was about where his meat came from…given where we are, I’m nervous).

****

Ezekiel prepared a spell today that let him summon a semi-transparent floaty spirit thing to serve him. He told it to find any messages to or from this place that we haven’t found yet. So off it went.

After an hour or two, Aliana gave him a look, and Ezekiel admitted that he hadn’t told the spirit to report back afterwards. Apparently the spirit he summoned wasn’t an over-achiever type.

So he’ll have to try again tomorrow. When he told everyone we could have the day off, Heiron sat on the floor to rub Lydia’s feet, which Agnar somehow finds very funny. Aliana and Raven asked him to go spar with them in the yard, I think to keep him out of trouble.

****

8 Reaping

This time, Ezekiel told the spirit to find any messages, and return, and lead him to where they were. So at length we ended up at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the manticor room – but at the back corner of the hallway, before you get to the room, facing a blank wall. Apparently the spirit can’t open doors for us, but it did everything we asked of it.

Raven found the secret door, and then Ezekiel found the false floor that drops into a pit – but kept himself from falling into the pit. After Raven jammed the floor shut, we could finally investigate the final room.

It’s got three broken boxes and a barrel, plus a yellow mold in the corner – but Ez’s gem told us the mold was an illusion. We found a quiver of magic arrows (don’t mind if I do), two magic swords, and a spear – all human-sized, so clearly loot rather than armory (for the giants). Also a map of the surrounding mountains, reaching all the way to something in the Crystalmysts, marked with an X.

Finally, we found an obsidian box containing a looped chain of black metal, and a parchment made of some skin that makes my neck-hairs stand up (Lydia handled it delicately, almost reverently, which is a big thing for her). According to the parchment, the chain will transport up to twelve people to Jarl Grugnir’s fortress, when it’s arranged on the ground in a certain way, and someone holding the map steps into the circle of the chain. Needless to say, this sounds way easier than hiking through the mountains, trying to find the spot marked on the map and hoping it really is the place we want.

All that remains to make sure the chain is in a secure place when we use it – in case it doesn’t come with us, we want it to be with allies – and to leave a report with the authorities (and to tell Mr. Trash-bags about all the giant bodies going to waste up here. Raven feels that’s important). We can’t get the horses into the chain – and Donna even less so – which is yet another reason to ride back to Istivin. I can try to make official directions for how to get here, with a map of the different giant outposts, so that if Sterich’s forces ever feel strong enough, they can take and hold this place against further incursions. That’s less of a concern after some of the things we’ve learned recently, but they should still have the option.

**

Raven says Donna says she’s hungry. I can only imagine what they’re going to do with her at Algorthas’ house.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Well, the report from Raven makes it sound a bit more exciting. As Ezekiel began pouring holy water onto the altar, at first it began to steam…then the water pooled on the top of the altar…then, finally, the water turned red. After seven vials, Ezekiel turned to prayer and declaring the tenets of his faith – which on the one hand, aren’t that extensive, since he (mostly) had to deduce them without divine revelation, but on the other hand, they are powerful in their simplicity:

Life is superior to death. Good is life. Good has a King, and that King is Good, and Worthy of being served.

Raven says it was that worthiness that first inspired him to ask Merikka to release his services so he could attach himself to Ao (that is the person Ezekiel called Ao for the longest time)…but I think he was also thrilled by the sense of mystery, of uncovering truths even the gods have forgotten. You can tell by that tone of voice he gets when explaining what happened. It’s sort of being Chaotic in the most Lawful way.

Anyway, after Ezekiel spent a good hour trying to exorcise whatever was living in the shrine, a winged shape appeared behind the three of them, glowing white in the underground darkness. Mikael just about choked on his teeth (yes, we were supposed to stay back, but after that long, who wouldn’t be peeking around the corner?).

The figure assured Ez that the darkness who had lived here was long gone – centuries gone, in fact – and the taint we felt was just a left-over from his (its?) being here. However, since Ezekiel was so focused and devoted to doing his best here, the “higher-ups” sent a messenger to ease his mind (and Aliana’s). And Raven was also there.

After the divine visitor left, Ezekiel felt more confident to explore the rest of the shrine – specifically a flight of stairs that led down. Before we could get properly nervous, however, the stairs ended in a pile of rubble…past an alcove with some kind of mirror, down about ten paces, then under a tumble of stones and debris that would take a while to clear. The walls display frescos and bas-relief that feel straight out of the Temple – twisting tentacles; ugly, almost-mushroom things; a skin-tingling sense of wrongness. I don’t know how some people think this is cool.

As anticlimactic as it was, the lingering energy of this place still gave us some…not exactly trouble, but a taste of what we missed. Ezekiel stared into the alcove a minute, and said some purple, pink, mauve, sickly pale kind of creature, or shape, waved its tentacles/fronds at him. He stepped back toward Aliana, and by the time he mentioned it, it was gone…or something. Raven says he saw something he can’t quite describe, but it made his hairs stand up – and if Raven is weirded out, you know it’s bad.

Ezekiel wasn’t satisfied until he put on the ring he got from Father Klim and tried whacking at the mirror a bit with his mace. He got a few flakes of some crystally, mica-looking stuff to shed off, but other than that he didn’t accomplish anything except flexing in front of his wife…and she’s a paladin.

Mikael took Shakka around, but didn’t find any secret passages or shifting stones. Ezekiel and Raven were just arguing about whether we really wanted to find what the giants were so eager to dig up, when someone pointed out we still hadn’t completely explored the orcs’ cavern.

So we went back to the passage outside the shrine and followed it down to a more natural-appearing cavern – full, as Raven and Agnar said before, with discarded blankets and ashes from cookfires. Aliana remembered that the orcs had an arrangement with the trogs – food for water – but the orcs obviously couldn’t reach the surface for food, or they would have escaped (unless they were staying for the sake of their imprisoned comrades, which seems improbable).

We finally found a sinkhole tucked away down one passage, where the ceiling of a cave below had given way. A heap of garbage sat at the bottom, and then a voice seemed to speak into our minds: “Food?”

We all looked around at each other…except Ezekiel and Mikael, who didn’t hear anything. Maybe the creature doesn’t talk to cleric-types. Anyway, Raven (ever generous) dropped a ration into the hole, and it disappeared into the garbage vat. The creature wasn’t satisfied until Ezekiel multiplied a ration several times over and dropped them down – then it called us “good friends” and Raven asked it about the orcs.

It said the orcs used to “drop food down,” and when it seemed chill with our presence, we lowered Raven down on a rope. He said there was another network of caves down there, so we filed down after him – avoiding stepping on the big blob of mouth and tentacles that Raven called “Mr. Trash-bags” (I think it was in a happy food coma, and kept mumbling cheerful, vague answers to Raven’s questions into our minds).

Sure enough, there’s an octopus of passages down there, trailing away from the neo-otyugh’s large cavern room (that’s what Lydia named it, since it’s like the thing from the Temple…only bigger, and better behaved). Orc tracks lead plainly down one tunnel, but Ezekiel wasn’t interested in finding what they had for food, but in the dark Evil that had them so scared – so that left basically two directions. One with a plethora of shuffling, trampling footprints from a creature I don’t recognize (but that made my neck-hairs stand up), and a tunnel that led to a worked stone corridor like the ones above – complete with supporting buttresses and tasteless bas-relief here and there. Mr. Trash-bags says many-legged insects sometimes come from there, and when the orcs killed them, he got to eat them. From the tracks (and from his licking his lips…although he doesn’t exactly have lips), they must be truly horrifying in size. So we went the other way first.

The finished passage led into a large room…with the double triangle from the Temple worked into the floor in green copper, probably longer than I am (though none of us risked stepping on it. Raven did toss a pebble onto it, but nothing happened).

A staircase leads up from this junction room, ending in a pile of rubble. According to the map, this should be the other side of the sanctuary we found, which answers some of our questions. So for once we picked the right direction right away.

Another passage out of the central chamber brought us to two other rooms…one of them had old cobwebs cluttering the door, and (once we got the door unstuck) a couple giant spiders inside. I suppose they were pretty hungry with how instantly they attacked us, but we killed them almost as quickly (Mikael was sad and sentimental after the fact, but he knows sometimes you have to put wild animals down. Plus he got to use his staff).

The second door on this hallway got us a little more. First off, we had to break down the door. Then, there was a cloud of “darkness” in the corner; and when Ezekiel went over to investigate it with his mace and light, a nimble figure with dark skin and elf ears stabbed at him.

Master Oaklock snapped something in Elvish that Aliana declined to translate, and dealt the killing blow. Then he said, no wonder the giants were so evil, if they’re mixed up with the Drow.

Ezekiel said, he wasn’t so sure – since the Drow was down here hiding. The Drow also didn’t seem to have anything on him that tied to the giants…although he had an odd pendant in the shape of a copper staff, that’s not a symbol I recognize. Ezekiel wants to question him, but it won’t be until tomorrow, since we’re…thorough.

In the meantime, we explored the rest of this paved area. One of the hallways is just bizarre. It tees off into two dead-ends…at one end, it’s noticeably warmer; at the other end, it’s almost cold, but not quite. Even Ezekiel, with the gem of seeing (wasn’t that the best birthday present ever?!), and Mikael, with Schakka, couldn’t find anything hidden or magical…it’s just Bizarre. I guess these ancient elemental types just enjoy random things.

Anyway, we got a bit more out of the last room. It lies opposite the room with the triangle, and is shaped like the inside of a ball – perfectly spherical. The whole surface is covered with mosaic pictures, and it’s sloped gently enough that dexterous people can walk around and look at them.

Lydia, Ezekiel, and Aliana spent a good hour walking around, pointing things out and piecing the narrative together. Lydia says it runs backwards in a counter-clockwise spiral (though Aliana said she started in a different place), and asked me if I wanted to copy it into my journal, but I don’t think I want these pictures anywhere near me.

Let’s see…tentacled creatures fought a spider, with the help of smaller followers (I didn’t get a clear definition of what race the followers were). A ram-headed figure and a dragon also fought against the tentacles, and Aliana and Ezekiel got all nerdy about which lord of the underworld they thought it was (Ez says his ram’s-headed mace is no relation). Finally, recognizable devil and demon figures hunted the tentacle beasts until the latter had to flee into the earth, while their ruler (the Tentacle Queen or something – I’m not totally clear) was imprisoned on a distant star (maybe the Astral Plain was involved? That’s hard to represent in a mosaic). The big spider swallowed the key to the ruler’s prison. Finally, the devils and the demons were free to rampage across the surface, while the tentacle beasts could only watch and glower (which is also hard to represent with mosaics).

Ez pointed out how remarkable it was that the devils and the demons were both fighting the tentacles…not that they necessarily teamed up, but they both considered it a threat. Lydia said, that didn’t make them friendly, just because they were fighting devils and demons. Aliana wondered how the giants fit in to all of this, since they clearly placed this fort above this old shrine for a reason, and drove the orcs to clear the rubble and repair the tunnels.

Someone reminded us they were still working at the smithy and the barracks when we interrupted them, but they didn’t put any kind of guard on the shrine to keep the “rebel” orcs from going there (of course, the shrine was the last place the rebel orcs would go; that was the whole source of their insubordination, anyway). Aliana said, maybe the altar in the shrine actually had held something – like a relic – but once the giants got it, they didn’t need the shrine anymore. And Raven wondered if that is connected with the sphere over Istivin.

I guess we can’t know for sure until we catch up with the giants’ leaders. In the meantime, Raven told Mr. Trash-bags that the orcs have left, so he might want to find some other place to find food…and Ezekiel and Aliana brought the Drow’s head so Ezekiel can perform his interrogation ritual in the morning (he said he dropped the dead body onto the copper triangle, but nothing happened. I guess Ezekiel is just a scientist at heart).

I admit I’m much happier to be spending the night outside the barracks, rather than down with all the giant insects. And Master Oaklock admits this side of the cells is much better than the other side.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

We found a quantity of gold pieces and some potions in the room where the hill giant stayed with his white apes. We also found an extra sword for Master Oaklock so he could help protect the rescued merchants until Lydia could prepare to take them to safety.

While searching for the rumored “treasure room,” we found a store room full of barrels – some with a seal of a death’s head stamped in black wax. They seemed to have some kind of liquid in them, but some of us were afraid to mess with them lest they explode or something. (It could be connected to the excavation work here; one of the dwarves pointed out the stonework beneath the rubble is nothing orcs or giants would do.) Another item to add to the notes.

We also found a cistern in the form of a circular chamber with steps leading down to the water. There’s an outlet at the bottom, so the water seems to stay pretty fresh (filtering in from small openings around the edge). Raven and Ezekiel examined the outlet with a light marble and that invisible stone they have that’s like a necklace of adaptation, but they couldn’t tell how far down it went. Might be just as well.

Thr final branch of that passage leads to a barracks for stone giants…and we found three at home. We started with a bit of a tense stand-off, but Ezekiel put his earnest sympathy to work, and convinced them that we had killed the hill giant chief and were enemies of Jarl Grugnir. The stone giant spokesman thought we were foolish, but he said they were here to help clear and rebuild the tunnels – but their contact was in the hall above (dead) so they were out of work now. They shouldered their baggage and we escorted them safely out. Glad their politics was neutral enough that they didn’t try to avenge anybody here.

When we returned from seeing them out, we decided to take the rescued prisoners upstairs so we all could spend the night more comfortably, and in the morning Lydia can get them to safety. On the way out, though, we investigated the room where the manticors came from more thoroughly…and besides finding levers to raise and lower all the portcullises, we found a room full of chests – seven to be exact.

Ezekiel and Raven got busy sniffing out traps on them. Raven removed the spring-loaded scythe blade from one, but he missed the poisoned needle in another – but Mikael was on the spot and neutralized the poison before it could leave lasting damage.

Most of what we found was copper – an entire chest of coins, plus a quantity of ingots – but there was also a sizable quantity of gems, and eleven ivory tusks. I don’t think they’re magical, but they are something different. So now we have another reason to portal back to Haven in the morning.

And after that, we get to look at this “darkness that eats your brains.” Huzzah. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Lydia returned this morning as Ezekiel was securing the external doors. Mikael summoned his earth elemental from the stone, and we headed down the stairs behind the secret door [marker on map]

The workmanship down here is markedly different. Agnar pointed out no orc could make something so sturdy, and Aliana agreed. Even in this “secret back way,” the ceilings are tall – the bottom of the passage opens through an arch like seventeen feet high, complete with buttresses. I guess you could say we’re much less worried it’s going to collapse down on our heads without warning.

The first room we came to, four manticors charged us (they have a human-ish head, but a long, spiked tail, and four legs kinda like a lion. Mem: draw Roland and Markus a picture).
They gave us a scuffle, but Lydia and Mikael charmed two of them…and then Lydia talked with hers, and said they were prisoners, kept to guard the way, and fed through a chute – though barely. We already knew it wouldn’t end well. Their kind and our kind don’t mix well. Continue reading →

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Raven and I went to scout as soon as it was light. As the sun’s light trickled over the peaks, it started to dispel the mist – but it was still pretty damp and hazy at the foot of the valley when we finally reached the fortress.

The fort is constructed of logs, each at least three feet across. I can’t imagine hill giants going to so much trouble on their own initiative, which makes me wonder who built this place and for whom. Raven took me onto the roof with the rope of climbing, and it’s a good thing we both had a firm grip on it, since the tiles were soaked. There were chimneys so much as gaps along the roof-line, where greasy smoke leaked out – mingled with booming laughter and harsh voices. So someone was up and about.

In the corner of the roof, a tower rose up to a sheltered platform. Raven slipped up the wall to check it out, and says there’s a guard with an alarm cymbal…but he happens to be asleep, so hopefully we can take him out without raising the alarm.

There’s a courtyard area at one end, but it’s hard to see anything because of the slope of the roof. Maybe Raven would have been more daring to climb over there if he wasn’t keeping me from falling off the roof. Anyway, there’s one main double-door entrance, and we rejoined the others on the ground near it.

Raven thinks the entrance is held by a bar or something like that, so he can’t just unlock it. Mikael has prepared to summon an earth elemental – plus the one he can summon with his magic stone – and Ezekiel suggested they go in through the main doors while a separate strike force take out the sentry in the tower and come down from there (Raven spotted the top of a staircase). I said that between Tressarian, Lydia’s staff, and Heiron’s new boots, the three of us could reach the roof easily, and Raven could tug us along with a rope so the only one in danger of slipping is the one with uncanny gecko feet. And, believe it or not, they went for my idea – so the four of us will be attacking from the rear while Aliana and the heavy-hitters break down the door and charge in.

And as far as we know, there are no prisoners, so maybe we can just kill everything without confusion.

**

For one of the few times we’ve busted down the front door, it’s gone pretty well. The four-person strike team snuck up to the watchtower without the sentry waking up…so now he is resting with whatever deity bothers to take the souls of hill giants. Heiron disabled the alarm cymbal, and Raven is so fast he made a pass for loot while the rest of us arranged ourselves and headed downstairs.

Somewhere about that time, the building vibrated as the front door crashed open, and when we reached the bottom of the stairs, the rest of the party had killed the guards napping by the entrance, and picked the biggest doorway leading deeper into the fortress to go through next. The two earth elementals removed the doors, and we stared down a long, wide corridor into a huge hall, swarming with giants.

Aliana charged, with the elementals stomping after her. Ezekiel dashed out to keep up with his wife, and Lydia snapped her fingers – sending a streak of white light stabbing through the enemies. I started spraying the group with arrows. Giants and ogres are big and tough, but that means their vital areas are also bigger.

How to describe it…I don’t think I’ve ever been in a battle before where chairs and oversized tankards flew around. Aliana fought a Cloud Giant, while standing on a table. There were also a couple Stone Giants in the crowd, so it seems not all of them refused to join forces like the ones we met on the road. We even killed a Hill Giant chief and chieftainess (judging from later study), but this set-up seems a little too elaborate to be all their doing. Someone is pulling the strings, as we confirmed later – but at the moment, of course, we were focused on killing giants.

The action finally moved so that I had to work my way down the entry corridor. Raven was taking a nap on the floor, and Lydia had a mug-shaped bruise on her face that Heiron was all worried about. When the excitement was over, Aliana spun around on the table (apparently part of being a cavalier is always making a production out of things…Theobaldus explained to Dree, and Dree tried to explain it to me) and jumped down to Ezekiel. The far walls of the dining hall (which is where we found ourselves) held plenty of doors, so I went to cover sone of the exits while others checked the bodies. (Mikael found a jewel-studded collar on the chief’s cave bear, which he says should fit Bearington. I wonder what Bearington thinks of that.)

Raven woke up, and found a ballista the chief was using like a crossbow. He was just explaining how it worked to Ezekiel when an orc poked his head in a side door. He poked it back out again immediately, but I whistled for Heiron to come join me (and Agnar came over, too) and we opened the door.

What should greet us but eleven ogres!

Heiron got the last one to surrender, so we left him to tie it up while Raven (who was feeling better now) helped me search the kitchen across the hall.

A pack of orcs cowered there, shielding themselves with serving platters and the like. Ezekiel and Aliana talked with them for a bit, and them we moved them over to the great hall for Heiron, Lydia, and Agnar to keep an eye on. Apparently they say the chief of this place was in the hall we just cleared, and there are more slaves who “escaped” to the basement level below. Ezekiel is doing his “God of all gods” thing and wants to send them on their way, but we all agreed we should clear this floor before we get more adventurous. There’s a stairway down in the pantry, and Raven blocked it so hopefully nothing can come up at our backs.

First, we found a bunkroom of some kind – with a magic sword concealed in a wall sconce that Aliana says claims to be for killing giants. Hope we can get it a good friend.

Next we found an armory full of giant-sized weapons. Two of the war-hammers are magical – and you’d think hammers would use the same muscle groups as axes, but I haven’t had the chance to experiment, and Tressarian points out I’m not exactly hurting for weapons anyway.

Schakka found us a secret door that led to some bedrooms. I tried to deal with the few sleeping giants before they woke up, but Aliana doesn’t agree with me (she says you should look your enemy in the eye and charge it head-on). We haven’t messed with treasure too much yet, since we want to clear out the hostiles, but there are plenty of furs and chests and jewelry for when we make another pass.

We also found a room full of giants whacking each other with sticks. From their proportions, I think they’re juveniles. We herded the prisoners into that room, so Heiron had only one door to watch (and we took away their sticks). Agnar grumbled a bit about being stuck on guard duty, but we assured him our sweep had been boring so far. The next bedroom got a bit more complicated. We startled a handful of giantesses, but once we killed the matron, Aliana said the surviving two had no heart to fight back. They must have been impressed by her (and Ezekiel) because one of them volunteered directions to the chief’s quarters and showed us where the giant matron had kept a couple potions in a chest (we let her keep the bangles in exchange).

The next room seems like some kind of sitting room or trophy room. All kinds of heads are mounted on the wall…including dwarf and human. Aliana thinks the shields have Keoish emblems, and that makes sense. It’s encouraging in as much as we’ve killed *some* of those responsible for attacking the people of Keoland. We inspected a skull on the mantle with the magic swords, but I think it’s just an ordinary skull (you can’t be too careful).

The chieftainess also had a cave bear, who was staying in her room, apparently. It did not want to listen to Mikael (which might be just as well, so Bearington doesn’t get jealous).

Finally, we found a door in the outer wall of the fortress that let us into that awkward place we couldn’t see very well from the roof. Turns out it’s a courtyard, and it used to be full of dire wolves…but Mikael threw around some Druid know-how and froze some of them, and the rest of us mopped them up (though not before one of them lunged and threw me off my feet. Tressarian isn’t going to let that go soon).

The chief’s council room is tucked around behind the dining hall…and sure enough, there’s a door hidden behind the manticor hide on the wall. We found some magical javelins in a closet, just Raven’s size – but he says he can’t have any more magical items right now (or it’ll be unfair to his enemies or something…monks have their own ideas). We found some scroll tubes hidden in a pile of firewood, and one of them contained a parchment with a symbol like from the Temple of Elemental Evil – that triangle with the three legs to make it look like the top of a pyramid or something. That feels like a lifetime ago, but Ezekiel says you’ll never truly rid the world of Evil because some people are just selfish, and they’ll always want power to just do whatever they want. We also found a map of this area, but it waits to be seen how accurate it is (drawn by giants, after all – or so we assume).

[sketched copy]

Another couple bunkrooms on the kitchen side…and a room with a bunch of female giants, with one male flexing for them. He made the mistake of flexing at Aliana, and she killed him… She insists she did it because she thought he was issuing challenge, not because she didn’t want Ezekiel to feel bad. We had a little awkwardness with the females, but Mikael talked to them in Hill Giant, and took them off to the other prisoners.

The courtyard contains two bunkhouses as well, which we checked out while Mikael made sure Heiron and the others were doing all right with the prisoners. I think one of his Earth Elementals had returned home by now, but the second had a longer connection to him, so it could follow along to back him up.

When we finally finished clearing this floor and opening all the doors, we reconvened to debate what to do with the prisoners. Raven wanted to hand them over to the Keoish authorities…but if you think about the state of that patrol we met, that’s laughable – well, maybe not laughable. But they definitely don’t have the facilities or the manpower to hold all these giants, juvenile or no. With the black sphere still encroaching on the city, they have enough to do with keeping the peace and keeping things running after so much evacuation, to say nothing of the continuing giant raids (which we hope to disrupt with our work here).

Ezekiel wanted to send the prisoners off into the mountains, and burn this fortress down so they can’t return. Raven pointed out that, just because the giants used it, we also could use it…specifically, Keoish forces could use it as a forward base in the mountains to support the counter-invasion. That also offers problems… Side note: while giants of some kind may have built this ground floor (especially given the size of the beams used and the rooms), there is evidence of some older work…especially the stairs to the basement. Be interesting to know the history of this place.

Aliana pointed out that reinforcements of any kind – either human, from Sterich, or giant, from the mountains – would take a while to get here…so we shouldn’t make that our chief worry. Mikael was concerned about the “freedom fighters” we heard were hiding in the basement, and wants to get them out and to safety. In the end, we decided the damage our prisoners could do (at least in the short term) is minimal…so we gave them a little “be good or we’ll have to come kill you” speech and escorted them to the door. (Agnar gave a much longer speech which Aliana declined to translate. I think he’s really hoping they come back for revenge so Ezekiel will tell him to go all out again.)

Six orcs and an ogre said the ones downstairs were part of their tribe, so they would stay and cook for us until the others are rescued from the basement. (Well, I think the ogre was just afraid to be off on his own…or maybe the orcs told him to work for them or they’d eat him.) So I guess there’s no getting around that. Ezekiel put a glyph on one of the basement doors, so no one could sneak up behind us, and Mikael and I fetched Donna and the horses from the cave. They’re not much interested in the “fodder” they had for the worgs, but we turned the kitchen upside down to find them something, and even a couple of the orcs helped out.

Meanwhile, the others made another sweep of the place, looking for treasure this time. We found piles and piles of jewelry, platinum pieces, and assorted things like a magic shield and a giant cape of otter skin. We also found…a whole barrel full of ears. Mostly dwarven and elven. I think Ezekiel plans to hold a little service over it later.

Lydia also found a note in Hill Giant that contains instructions for a raid in Sterich…a town that, according to our maps (and Aliana) is north of the Davish River. The note is signed by “Eclavdra.” At this point, I basically think all these “E” people are the same, just using different names to confuse pursuers or get plausible deniability or something. Or perhaps every Drow alive has a name starting with “E”. It does seem too much of a coincidence that all these evil masterminds are named similar things…and if they are the same person…what a reach she must have.

Lydia jumped back to Haven to send over the mirror-portal so we could send the loot through. (After all, the agent’s secretary said we could keep any treasure we found…and besides, we can niggle about money once it’s out of the mountains. This also gives us the chance to empty the portable hole, which we had full of money from a previous encounter.

In the morning, we head downstairs. Let’s hope this isn’t another maze of winding passages, all similar yet different, full of giant bugs and themed monsters.

Find the previous entry here.

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Against the Giants”

Later in the day, I spotted movement among the trees beside the path. Aliana and Agnar confirmed that (man-sized) warm bodies were moving back there (so, not undead) but we couldn’t tell more than that. Since Ezekiel said the angle of the sun would soon drop below the mountains anyway, we set up the fortress for the night. That way, if they want to contact us (like the wild men in the Pomarchj), they can find us…and if they want to attack us, we’ll have a defensible position.

I’ve swapped out for the ring of infravision, so I can help stand guard in the night (Ez took the light off the top of the fortress…it was a bit ostentatious for normal use).

**

Shortly before dawn, we heard a cacophony of yipping and howling, and right after Mikael came charging down from the top of the fortress, shouting and flapping his arms and calling to Donna. Raven and I dashed outside, but all we saw was the horses trying to break their bonds (and the new morning light really messes with infravision, by the way. I’m changing my mind about wanting to be an elf).
While Aliana calmed the horses, Mikael and I headed off in the direction the noises had come from (though not the direction Donna took off in), but all we found was Raven, who tried to flank the aggressors, whoever they were.

I took some time hunting for tracks, and found a veritable trampling of human-sized prints – shuffling behind bushes, creeping from cover to cover, that kind of thing. I think I spotted nearly a score of unique tracks, but there’s no sign of their owners now. (My current theory is they were were-hyenas, but that doesn’t tell us what they were doing. And I’m probably wrong anyway.)

Mikael flew off in bird form to find Donna, so that gave us plenty of time to make a plan. Ezekiel theorized there were two groups – one trying to contact us or steal our horses, and another group that scared them off. Raven thought they might be working with the giants – or at least might be like the pebble-planter in the Pomarchj, and could lead us to them.

Aliana agreed with me that our mission here is to fight giants, and our most direct lead is the ogre’s trail. Whether these interlopers are an oppressed neutral party, or third-party bandits preying on giants and adventurers alike, or something else, they seem to be a distraction from our main objective. If they’re really friendlies who want to meet us, they’ll figure it out.

In the meantime, the ogre’s trail isn’t getting fresher.

**

Mikael returned to us safe and sound, and he brought Donna. So all’s well.

**

Killed a band of orcs on the path. Apparently I need to practice fighting from horseback. They had a decent amount of electrum on them – were they also taking it back as tribute?\

****

Ezekiel and Mikael prepared spells for searching the surroundings. I guess they got tired of watching me crawl back and forth, scolding anyone who stepped in mud before I got there. Mikael says there’s no “civilization” within his radius of perception. Raven says Donna complained about always rushing past the nice, thick clumps of grass along our path.

****

Starday, 1 Reaping

Ezekiel says he has seen our path forward, and it leads due south. He scouted it in gaseous form this morning, and now we’ve been following it for a couple hours. He’s been telling Aliana mountaineering trivia, and she acts like she’s never heard such things from anyone before.

****

Today we reached the top of a pass, and found a stack of prepared boulders next to a small cave. Nobody was in the cave, but hill giants have left their mark, if you know what I mean. Must be some kind of guard post, though I don’t know why it’s not manned.

Mikael hadn’t prepared to melt rocks today, so Ezekiel put a “ward” on the top boulder that he says should deter anyone trying to use it as ammo.

Best news of all, there’s a heavily traveled path leading over the pass further south. Plenty of worn-down stones and giant impressions. We’ll see where it ends up.

****

The path descended until the mountains opened up to a long valley. The walls seem pock-marked with caves – the ones we’ve seen being small, without complications – while at the bottom of the path sits a wooden fortress. From here, we can’t see any windows…but we can definitely hear the booming voices and harsh laughter.

As night was falling, we found a cave that will just barely fit Donna. We’ll have a better chance of being small and unobserved if we leave the horses behind (and they and Donna won’t do so well inside a building, anyway). A mist is filling the valley, obscuring the fort and complicating the moonlight, so we won’t be able to scout until morning. The scouts will probably be Raven, and me (invisible).

Find the previous entry here.