Toilday, Erastus 1 … still

This has been a very full day. As I write this, I may finally say it is over, but the path here was dangerous and exhausting.

Conna, it turns out, had a map of this area that she was able to share with us, and this helped us immensely. She herself, she revealed, commands a small number of spells, including stone shape, stone tell, rock to mud, fly, blink, invisibility, scorching ray, charm person, identify, mage armor, obscuring mist, and shocking grasp. As we looked over the map, frequent questions were “what is here? what is this for?” And it was in that vein that we learned where Mokmurian’s feared assistant, Lokansir, held office, so to speak. He was responsible for “breaking in” new recruits.

She also mentioned that Mokmurian spent a lot of time downstairs in the library, and Lokansir was pretty much the only other one that was allowed down there. If we could take out Lokansir here, we wouldn’t have to worry about reinforcements coming (from this level anyway) when we finally attacked Mokmurian. Unfortunately, the group felt this was something we really needed to deal with now, while we had the element of surprise — and also before we could recharge any spells. I considered this risky and ill-advised, but was clearly in the minority. I just felt my options were so limited at that point in time, and for the first time in quite a while, I might need someone other than myself to protect me.

Or revive me.

When we arrived at the room that was Lokansir’s office, we were greeted by some massive stone doors. These looked hard to move, even for a giant, and we weren’t giants. Our plan was to enter thr room under cover of an obscuring mist. Additionally, Nolin and Avia were granted greater invisibility. I hasted everyone. Sabin cast heroism. And we heaved at the doors, and entered.

Invisible Avia entered first, and was greeted by an immense, carved hall. The walls were well worked, and sported what almost looked like giant ribs and placed as if they supported the ceiling overhead. Contrasting the stonework was a floor that appeared to be dirt, in which were 7 15′ tall tree trunks. Each had a set of manacles attached to them and smoldering coals and a branding iron with easy reach. There were runes all over. And Lokansir …

.. was staring at the door, waiting for us to come in. I didn’t believe he could see invisible, but he clearly had heared us opening the door and probably entering. And when the visible members entered, he did make some clever comment about puny humans. Y’know, every giant born thinks he’s the first one to think of that phrase but I’m getting kind of tired of it.

The plan worked pretty well. Within the first fifteen seconds of entering the room, Avia had gotten four solid blows on him. Nolin had gotten three, and Sabin had gotten one plus a good magic missile. I myself had attacked him twice with a ray of enfeeblement (from my wand) and there were arrows flying and muted cries of victory. And then something very unexpected happened. He started to sink into the earth. Not quite like quicksand, but also not quite like he had a secret hole in the ground. More like .. more like .. oh crap.

He was a hill giant, not a stone giant. The earthen floor was no coincidence. And I was willing to bet he was either escaping or regenerating by this action. Avia said the earth was evil, and we tried burning it and kicking it and lots of different types of attacks, but we just couldn’t damage him while he was in earth form. We did verify that the floor was stone beneath the earth, and the earth was something like 3 feet deep. Rarallo tried frying it with a fireball; no visible effect. Then again, how would we know if we managed to kill the earth??

We weren’t even sure what he could see or sense in his current form. Since we were paranoid about his suddenly rising up around us somehow, we nervously searched the room. Found no personal effects. Then things got worse.

The doors opened and two stone giants came in. There may have agaih been a tired remark about puny humans but in any case the battle was on. After all that had happened today already, having “only” two stone giants to mess with was almost a relief. I must say the eight of us have gotten it down to a science, and it took less than half a minute before they had gone to meet whatever deity they believed in. Nolin and Sabin took the brunt of their attack, but the healers made it so they barely felt it. In a stroke of genius, we decided to hang up the giants on the posts and anybody coming in would think they were not sentries that had discovered intruders, but rather miscreants who had needed punishment.

We weren’t sure how long our luck would hold, but so far almost nothing that had happened screamed that the hall had been breached. We were hoping to keep that streak going as long as possible! In the end, we decided to use a rope trick to rest and wait for Lokansir to reconstitute himself. We created a stone platform (15′ x 15′) in one corner of the room and put our rope trick there. (The thought was that the stone would stop him from rising underneath our rope and give us a decent chance of not simply jumping into his lap as we exited the rope.)

About 1pm, we entered the rope trick and tried to start some studying. But a mere half hour later, the ground rippled and the giant reappeared, rising from the earth. He looked at the giants manacled to the trunks, and he looked at the stone platform, and seemed to consider it all. He started heading for the doors and we suddenly realized that if he raised an alarm, our lives got a whole lot more coplicated. We dropped out of the trick, and attacked.

Although our magic was still diminished, we again mounted a successful and vicious attack. Not that he didn’t try the ‘sink-into-earth’ thing again, but this time we had enough people around him that that gave several of us a chance to get in one last blow, and we killed him before he could get back into the ground.

Now that he wasn’t trying to become one with the ground and we had more than fifteen seconds to interact with him, we noticed that the tattoos all over his body looked to be reminiscent of ancient runes … but they were not. Those of us who knew such things could see that they were wrong. It’s as if they were done from description rather than from knowledge.

As has become traditional in our group, I guess, the head was removed and Takkad added it to his collection. He was then dismembered and buried randomly throghout the room. We were a little worried that that might allow him to regenerate and revive, but we checked after about an hour and there seemed to be no healing happening.

He’d had a +3 great club, but no other magic on him.

At long last we returned to the rope trick and were able to rest and study. It took two rope tricks for everyone to get that benefit, but finally everyone had recovered their spells. By now it was late in the evening, so we retired to the ‘haven room’, again in a rope trick, to wait for Conna to show.

Wealday, Erastus 2

It was 2am before Conna came by, and she showed immediate relief when we told her the hill giant was dead. She mentioned it was safe for the moment. While security had been increased because of the recent events, nobody suspected it was the result of a human invasion. The rogue dragons had been found and killed, and the missing guards were replaced with new ones culled from the tribes above us.

Our luck still held. Now with the hill giant out of the way, we need not worry about a (serious) attack from the rear when we travelled to reach Mokmurian.

The last thing Conna revealed (almost in passing) was that she had a familiar, and it was a bat.

With that, we took off towards the library. As we headed south east, we discovered that the corridor was lined not by walls, but more by cloths and other cover behind which were three trolls, that poked hurtful things at us. They were fairly tough, but we put them down and moved on. Past them, the corridor went into a downward sprial, eventually losing about 800 feet in altitude before opening up into a junction for a east and south corridor.

We took the eastern corridor first and found the passage blocked just before a largish (10’x15′) room that didn’t yield anything valuable. Heading south, though, we ran into s strange room.

First, just looking around the room was very disorienting. The walls seemed to move … not the ones you looked at but those on the periphery of your vision. It made people feel ill.

Second, actually entering the room made some people shrink. Yes that’s right: Rigerl, Sabin and Takkad all shrank to Kane-size. I was able to enter the room without effect, but judging from my companions I guess I was lucky. I wonder if they will change back at some time.

Third, there was strange but dangeous looking giant here. His body was carved with scores of Thassilonian symbols and energy sprang between them. For some odd reason, he also appeared to have mo muscles than the average giant. Avia detected evil … and then the lights went out. A couple of our fighters have blind fighting, so they were standing by in case they could be of service.

It took several really good blows to take him out, and he gave as good as he took. But it cost us some spells, cost us some time, and I believe that was his real purpose.

Tollday, Erastus 1

“… the lightning seemed to hit someone or something, but then a screech and the more vulgar version of “What the heck?” was screamed in ogre. Hee hee.

But this initiated the battle of the ogres.”

Or so I had hastily written when I had a moment. But it may as well have been called the battle of the giants. Or the battle of the sisters. Or the prelude to the commencement of the beginning of the adventures leading to the beginning of the battle with Mokmurian.

It was a whole darn lot of fighting, and for the first time that I can remember, I find myself having exhausted almost all my offensive spells. I’ve a couple of flaming spheres in me if needed, I suppose, and I did save one 4th level spell for an emergency, but when I consider how many spells I normally am able to cast, I must say we have been through a lot.

As the ogre screamed, the battle truly began. Although ogres were a challenge for us a mere few weeks ago, battle experience is worth its weight in gold and we find them to be more of a dangerous annoyance these days than a serious threat. That’s not to say they couldn’t hurt us dearly if one of us were, say, held, or fell asleep, or attacked by three simultaneously. But in general, they are well within our capability to triumph.

In this room and the room beyond, we encountered ten ogres altogether, and several of my fireballs were used to weaken or kill them outright. These were not heavily armored or armed, and that helped considerably.

However, we also found giants, which are a bit more problematic. Again, none seemed heavily armored or armed (the basement of the tower would be an odd place to find a provisioned army) but giants are, in general, a bit heftier than ogres.

I cast greater invisibility on myself early, and while this made it a bit difficult for my party members to guess where I was, it made the resulting fireballs all the more mysterious as well.

I fireballed at least four ogres with my first one, killing them all outright.

My next one smacked three giants, much to their surprise.

As one tried to leave and (I presume) bring reinforcements, I tried to trip him (being invisible). I discovered that tripping a giant is a good way to simply get a nasty bruise on the shin. Humans just don’t trip giants very easily.

So I threw up a wall of fire to discourage him from going farther. And darned if more giants didn’t show up to the party anyway.

This time I gave Nolin some extra strength, and hasted everyone. I used more magic missiles than fireballs because I had a hunch that this wasn’t the end of it. And in conjunction with our healers, our hasted fighters were more than up to the task of dispatching the remaining giants. My magic missiles number five now, and more than once seemed particularly effective for a first level spell.

Upon defeating the six giants, Rigel discovered they had enslaved some dwarves to help run the forges, and felt compelled – I don’t know why, perhaps there was magic involved – to be their liberator. I don’t mean just, “hey, let’s cut those guys loose.” I mean crowing like a rooster that it was WRONG for these people to have been enslaved and we must RIGHT this wrong for these are a PROUD PEOPLE. I don’t speak Dwarvish so I don’t know how fluent she was in speaking with them, but judging from the looks they threw at each other I don’t think she had quite the necessary vocabulary. They seemed more amused than offended so I guess it all worked out.

But she made up for it in gestures and enthusiasm.

Takkad had seen a flash of Lamashtu priestess through the wall of flame (no, she didn’t “flash” him THAT way) so we knew more battle lay before us. We took a moment to see to the dwarves needs and catch our breath, however. We also asked the dwarves to “guard our backs” which was a little like telling a rescued castaway to climb a crow’s nest and keep an eye out. They were so weak that they probably couldn’t have truly held anything back but goblins, but they nodded gamely and we supplied them with a few excess weapons we’d picked up. Kane created some food and water for them, which they were MOST thankful for.

But she made up for it in gestures and enthusiasm.

A hasty search of the corpses yielded

a vine rope
[731] a small bag with 3 gems – one looked to be worth at least 1000gp and the others several hundred
a bag of giant teeth (don’t ask, don’t tell)
4 polished stones (giants are worse than blue jays in what they pick up)
[732] a potion of bull strength

We concluded that while the giant room had been a forge, the ogre room had been a tannery. And it was time to move on.

Moving through the northern corridor we quickly smelled burning incense. We heard faint music. I did a mirror image, because it all seemed like impending battle to me.

And sure enough. We walked into a room with visible smoke. There was a metallic tang from the lute music. Soft voices seemed strangely soothing. The room was painted on all sides, and there was images of 3-eyed jackals on one wall. And there appeared to be three of Lemashtu’s faithful here, although since they did not have snake bodies they did not seem to be matriarchs (thank goodness.)

“Sister, maybe they’re not here to convert to Lamashtu after all,” said one of the creatures.

Rarallo started the festivities with a lightning ball — like a fireball but with lightning instead of fire. I’d never seen anything like it. I again hasted everyone, since we were all too close together for a safe fireball. One of the creatures said “Blind” to Sabin and he suddenly cried he couldn’t see.

A dire lion appeared. I magic missiled one of the creatures. The fighters, even Sabin, engaged the creatures (having been hasted). But these creatures had six arms or legs and could attack with them all. Sabin took some damage but Avia lost some wisdom. She responded by making it bleed a lot. One suggested to Nolin that he should fight the greater threat – the dire lion – but his only comment was “Right, then” and he commenced to attack that creature.

Sabin suddenly felt less wise. I threw out a flaming sphere but they easily dodged. Even blind and less wise, Sabin managed to connect soundly and dispatched one. Gravely injured, one of the creatures touched her barely living sister, causing the sister to succumb while she herself looked more vital.

She drained her sister to save herself.

Rarallo was throwing lightning pretty consistently. I tried to recreate an image of the dire lion, but the creature ignored it. Instead it uttered some spell and then looked incredibly quiet and serene. And startled, when Nolin smacked it anyway.

Examining their bodies, we found that each had a +2 flail [733, 736, 737], a +2 ring of protection [735,740,741], and a +2 headband of inspired wisdom. These were quickly divided up among needy party members.

Kane then thought he heard a gravelly voice. He thought it resembled the voice of Longtooth. Someone who understood Draconic said the speakers were complaining of their servitude to Mokmurian. It seems we may be near the captured dragons Longtooth spoke of. If so, these were extremely young dragons. It might be possible to bluff or intimidate them.

We decided the person best suited for that was the half orc, Sabin. It didn’t hurt that he knew Draconic as well. After a brief session of shouting and posturing, the dragons agreed that having their scales “harvested” and used for who knows what was demeaning. When Sabin told them Longtooth said they’d passed the test and they no longer needed to stay with the giants, they seemed both surprised and relieved. We pointed at the ogre and giant corpses and offered them fresh food, which they graciously accepted.

In a completely impetuous action, I exhaled a cone of fire in a harmless direction as the dragons were ready to leave the room. They looked a little surprised, and one of them breathed a bigger and longer cone of fire and said (according to Sabin) “not bad, but here’s how it’s done.”

I really need to study Draconic I think.

Back in the room with the dead sisters, we realized the braziers that had occupied space near the altar were actually quite valuable in their own right due to the workmanship. So we grabbed them [742, 743]. Rigel noticed the altar had been pushed across the ground at some point, so with some help from the stronger members of the team, we found that the altar was hiding a small niche of interesting documents. While there was a [745] scroll of remove curse (divine), there was also a collection of beautifully illustrated tomes … on how to torture nearly every living creature you could think of.

Having finished munching on the sisters, the dragons had moved on to some of the giant bodies. It appears they hadn’t been well fed during their term of service .. or maybe they were just pleased to have an all-you-can-eat buffet service. The beauty of this is that all the mayhem we’ve created will be blamed on the dragons.

As we prepared to follow fresh air to the south, a subtle noise gained our attention. A stone giant … apparently an older one from her looks … was quietly trying to get our attention. How odd.

Conna, as she is called, gestured to follow her into a nearby room. When we did, a little uneasily, we were treated with an interesting story that confirmed some of our thinking.

It turns out that, as we suspected, Mokmurian was creating his forces mostly of disenchanted younger giants. They were headstrong rebels, more than anything, but their numbers were strong. The older giants would just prefer to return to “the old ways” and not engage the other people in the valley, nor expand into “their birthright territory” as Mokmurian had called it. Mokmurian was power hungry and she wasn’t quite sure what was driving him. The sisters, for instance (she was glad to hear we’d killed them) may have been masters as much as they were partners.

She knew all of this because she was in his clan. Mokmurian had killed the clan leader, her husband, when he objected to what Mokmurian was doing. She wished to avenge the death of her husband, even if (especially if) that meant the death of Mokmurian. She did not express this openly to other giants, of course, but she knew there were some who were sympathetic, and she would aid us as much as she could without revealing herself.

Mokmurian was cast out. His growing army includes no elders; only hot-headed youngsters. Yes, it was true he could work magic and that’s one reason he has a following. Some considered it a sign. Her husband’s spirit haunts this room, this place, which makes it something of a place of safety. This room was a shrine to him, so it was not considered unusual for her to be seen going to or from this room. Others rarely visit.

Mokmurian worships Karzub, not Lemashtu. Conna has seen Lucretia and Xaneesha both during her time here. She can provide maps of the levels and although she cannot battle Mokmurian directly, she can provide us aid in finding him and getting past or bypassing his defenses. She hinted she may have access to spells or potions that could help us too.

Note: I failed to note earlier that we had discovered more things in the area of the spiders and the wyverns. We’d also found a chest [729] which contained 1935 gold pieces and 2987 silver pieces, and a spell rod [730] which could be used to cast spells by expending charges. It has 7 charges left and can be used to cast

airwalk [cost: 2 charges]
control winds [cost: 2 charges]
gust of wind [cost: 1 charge]
spike stones [cost: 2 charges]
shape stone [cost: 1 charge]

== Moonday, Sarenith 30, 4708; Iron Peaks; evening ==

We had hoped the wyvern caverns led under Jorgenfist, but they dead ended some yards back.
But still they offered no small amount of protection and concealment, and we decided we
would use them as our base for the rest of the day — that is once we moved the large winged
lizard corpses out of the way.

And in moving the wyverns into a side tunnel we found, among the litter of skulls, bones and
hide, a chest filled with a number of interesting goodies.

[729] bag of coins, containing:

1435 gold pieces
2987 silver pieces

[730] magic staff with a small glowing orb at the top, filled with swirling clouds of black and grey (it looked like a stormy sky).

The staff contained an intriguing set of spells, any of which could be cast by expending a number of charges:

• Air Walk (uses 2 charges)
• Control Wind (uses 2 charges)
• Gust of Wind (uses 1 charge)
• Spike Stones (uses 2 charges)
• Stone Shape (uses 1 charge)

The staff had 7 charges remaining.

As we were stashing our new found loot, Rigel motioned for us all to be quit. “I hear something outside,” she whispered, “I think someone is singing!”

Sabin and I crept outside the cave, where we heard an eerie melody drifting down from a trio of flying beasts: harpies! And yet their focus was not on us, but rather on something or someone else on the plain several hundred feet above.

There was a sudden flash as flickering arcs of electricity shot out and struck the harpies, who suddenly swept in and pulled someone off the cliff directly overhead.

The figure plummeted for a moment before suddenly slowing its descent, settling on the lip of the cave next to us. Sabin had cast Featherfall on him, thus saving his life… but who was he?

The rest of the party had hastened out after hearing the crack of lightening, and Nolin held the stunned figure securely while Avia cast a critical eye upon him. “Well, he’s not evil.”

Indeed not, but then who was he, and what the hell was he doing wandering about Jorgenfist while cavorting with harpies?

He was an elf, or maybe half elf (I was never very good at spotting the differences) dressed in silk clothing traced with ornate lines and patterns over it, and a light weight cloak draped about his shoulders. He looked fragile, but perhaps that was only in contrast to Nolin, Avia and Sabin who were all standing next to him.

Clearly not a fighter then.

Our non evil not fighter introduced himself as Rarallo, a sorcerer of no modest abilities (at least according to him). He had been hired by the Rodderick’s Cove city council to investigate the recent rash of giant incursions, and to resolve the issue if possible, or report back if the problem was bigger than he could handle alone.

Up until now Rarallo had used stealth to sneak into the valley, and was sneaking up onto the fortress when the harpies spotted him and lured him to the cliff’s edge with their singing. He had broken from their enchantment just before falling, and sent a bolt of lightening toward them. But they had swooped in and toppled him over the edge before he could escape.

He was quite grateful to Sabin for breaking his fall, and to the rest of us for not pummeling him senseless once he had safely landed.

We briefly exchanged information about our two similar missions, and Rarallo eagerly accepted our proposal to join forces to take down Mokmurian.

I had been aware of a flurry of motion behind me as soon as Rarallo had said “sorcerer”, and turning around I saw Trask hopping from foot to foot, and madly fidgeting as if he were in desperate need of relieving himself.

As the rest of us gave our new ally a little space, Trask converged upon him and spent several hours in deep (mostly one sided) conversation about which spells he was able to cast, what spells he found to be most effective in particular situations, the latest style in component pouches (flaps or buttons?), and did he have trouble talking with girls too?

The rest of us turned our attention to planning our encounter with the dragon in the morning. We compiled a list of spells and tactics likely to be useful in fighting a large, winged, spell casting, fire breathing creature with an amazing intellect; and came away feeling we probably had a good chance of defeating the dragon with only minimal casualties (after we had liberally redefined minimal casualties to mean losing half the party).

Trask seemed somewhat conflicted in that his primary offensive contribution to our battles involved fire based spells, which were not likely to be very effective against a red dragon. While at the same time he was going to get to actually meet a red dragon, but then he was going to help try and kill it.

We settled in to our usual watches, with Rarallo and I taking the first shift, during which time we talked further about the morning’s encounter with a dragon and the possible outcomes.

We arose early the next day and quietly slipped out from the cavern, dropping down to the river bank using a combination of Fly and Air Walk. We walked along the Muschkal to where low peaks rose up to where the dragon had made his lair, and then took to the air again.

A hundred feet or so from the cave entrance we cast a number of defensive and protective spells (mostly against fire), and then crept into the gaping maw of the dragon’s abode.

We had hoped to catch him napping, or at least unaware, and to cast additional spells to aid us in combat, and possibly even surround him before he woke, getting in a few unanswered attacks.

We did none of those things.

Instead we drifted down a long, wide and tall hallway for nearly a hundred yards, when the cavern opened into an expansive chamber that stretched away into the darkness on all sides. Then a low, deep rumbling voice spoke out, “Well, this is a surprise. I haven’t smelled humans since Sandpoint.”

We had, in the early phase of our planning the day before, briefly discussed simply talking with the dragon, and came up with a number of stories to present to convince the dragon to help us defeat Mokmurian, or at least not hinder our efforts. But we didn’t really think that a red dragon would be willing to negotiate, or be a trustworthy ally, and so we did not spend much time fleshing out details on any of the potential back stories we could use.

Quickly Nolin launched into the first of these, saying Mokmurian had sent us to find out why the dragon had allowed himself to be driven away by the white dragon he encountered in the raid Sandpoint.

The dragon was more than a little skeptical, and it became obvious that the truth might aid us in gaining his confidence and assistance.

I asked if we might approach to talk with him, and he agreed. We brought our our magical torches and came forward… and gaped in wonder at the vast horde of gold, silver, platinum and gem stones upon which the dragon had made his bed.

The dragon said we could call him “Longtooth”, and up close we could see that while he was not an especially large red dragon, he was still especially large. He wore a ring on one claw, and a silver arm band on his foreleg. About his neck was hung an obsidian amulet. He smelled strongly of sulphur, and acrid vapors wafted out from his nostrils.

I stated that we were in fact here to kill Mokmurian, and had hoped to gain an ally in the dragon for this effort. I then relayed the attitude our (now deceased) giant guide had expressed that the dragon was a mere servant to the mighty Mokmurian, who had soundly thrashed him in combat. I then asked why one as mighty as he would stoop to serving a giant.

As luck would have it, we had hit a nerve.

Longtooth raged about how he and Mokmurian were equal partners, and yet Mokmurian and his ilk did not treat him with the proper respect. Indeed the giant had inflicted a great amount of physical pain and damage upon the dragon after he had returned from Sandpoint.

We were all surprised to hear a small voice from behind squeak, “I have a healing potion you can have.” And with that Rigel, legs shaking so hard we could hear her knees knocking together, came forward and offered Longtooth a potion. He sniffed the vial suspiciously before quaffing the contents in a single swig, sighing contentedly as it took affect.

Rigel then bowed low, and without as much as a single covetous look at the incredible treasure before her, crept slowly back to the party. This was so unlike Rigel that I wondered if she were under some sort of enchantment. Or perhaps she was simply so impressed with this creature and its great store of treasure that she was simply paying it homage in her own way.

But no matter, her action had put the dragon in a better frame of mind, at least towards us and our request. Longtooth agreed that if and when we attacked Mokmurian, he would turn a blind eye and remain here in his chamber.

He also offered some inside information about Mokmurian, the fortress, and the forces we could expect to encounter within.

With giants, magical abilities come naturally, and usually result in physical deformities as an individual’s magical powers increase. Mokmurian is different in that his magical abilities came from study — he has access to a rich source of information from over the centuries. Longtooth admitted that Mokmurian’s magical skill outmatched his own.

The black tower itself was feared by the giants, and some evil power kept all but the harpies away. The harpies were either immune to or worked in conjunction with that power, and had an arrangement with Mokmurian that they could remain (un-harassed by him) as long as they did not harm any giants. This courtesy, however, did not extend to the ogres in the camps.

While the fortress above ground looked impressive, the bulk of Mokmurian’s stronghold was below ground, and most of his special servants lived down there with him.

He had helped Mokmurian capture a pair of young red dragons (apparently there’s a bit of a “tough love” attitude among dragons, and if you let yourself be suckered in by one of your own, well that’s you’re own fault — maybe you won’t be so gullible next time) for some purpose of his own.

The wyverns (he was impressed we had slain them) did not serve the giants, and their cavern was isolated.

The insect caves, however, did lead into the underground complex, but it was guarded by an abomination of undead spider like creatures. If we could get past them, then this was our best way to enter Mokmurian’s lair undetected.

For his part in the defeat of Mokmurian, Longtooth expected a share of the treasure and items we found. We agreed to his terms (what choice did we have, really?) and thanked him for the information he had provided.

And so we returned to our old camp in the wyverns’ cave to prepare for an assault on the insect cave. It is still quite early in the day, but we had expended quite a few spells in preparation for what we thought would be a battle with a dragon, and we thought it best to enter the stronghold with every possible advantage.

Most of the day was spent going through our inventory and discussing what we had learned from Longtooth. We also took the fire opal we had found earlier, but were reluctant to touch.

[610] fire opal

Rarallo is getting along well with everyone, although I have noticed he tends to avoid engaging Trask in conversation. Night has finally fallen and he and I once again began the night watch.

== Toilday, Erastus 1, 4708; Mokmurian’s Underground Lair; late morning ==

We used our usual combination of spells to climb up from the wyvern cave to the bug cave. Insects and (mostly) arachnids of all shapes and varieties wriggled about in a living mat of disgusting crawling critters, covering the rocky surfaces from floor to ceiling.

A fireball, courtesy of Trask (when it comes to fire, who else would you call?), cleared the first forty feet of the cave, but from deeper within we could hear disturbingly loud clicking, clacking and squealing noises coming from something large and unhappy.

Peering in we saw a huge spider, with a massive swollen body filling most of the cavern in which it squatted. Its rotting, bloated sack like body had gaping holes in its exoskeleton, through which thousands of smaller spiders swarmed, brining with them the fetid, decayed stench of the undead. It darted forward on knobby jointed legs, with venomous spittle frothing at its mouth.

Trask sent forth another fireball at the same moment Rarallo launched an exploding ball of electrical fire, both severely scorching the spider and revealing another pair behind it.

Sabin finished off the lead monstrosity with his axe, and as it fell its spider swarm entourage dissipated into the gloom.

A large corpse spider rushed over, vomiting up a stream of shiny black spiders with vibrant red hour glass shapes on their bellies. Sabin was still floating from an Air Walk spell, and the spiders could not get at him, but the swarm climbed onto Rigel and began to bite her.

The other massive spider charged Nolin and Avia, biting and striking at them.

Our fighters continued to hack at them, while Rarallo sent multiple arcs of electrical current through the spiders, and Trask torched their back sides with fireballs.

The magical and physical onslaught proved too great, and the the horrid beasts soon fell, leaving a close woven net of webbing behind them.

Trask burned away the webs with a flaming sphere, and amidst the remains of hapless creatures that had wandered into the spiders’ cave over the years we found a number of useful items.

[611] +1 long sword
[612] +2 halberd
[613] staff of rusting grasp

Kane discovered a secret door at the back end of the cave, which opened onto a rough hewn, narrow passageway. The passage plunged straight back from the cliff face, branching a short distance in. In both directions we could see additional branches forking to the left and right off into the darkness.

Given the size of the passages, Kane was the best candidate for scouting on ahead, and so he set off to explore them alone. He took the right fork, and continued on, staying to the right through two more junctions before pausing momentarily at a three way fork. From behind he heard a tiny voice shout out, “Kill him!” as he felt something sharp stab him in the back of the leg.

Turning around he saw a par of red caps, those diminutive terrors of the deep, and as he raised his knife to attack, the pip squeaks saw his holy symbol and chirped, “Desna!” before running away down another narrow cavern.

Kane then returned to us before heading back out again, but this time sticking to the left. After twisting about for some distance this side simply forked once, with either way dead ending shortly thereafter.

These twisty passages made up a sort of maze that provided yet another level of defense for entering the fortress from below.

We decided to tackle the puzzle as a group so we could defend against any further red cap attacks (or worse). This time we started down the right hand passage, but stuck to the left forks.

Once again luck was with us, and after taking the left branch at the three way junction, the passage wound its way further in and around for quite some distance. And then, not far ahead we could see the dim glow of torch light, and heard the sound of steel against stone.

We did not much fancy engaging any opponent while in the narrow crack of a passageway, we opted for the element of surprise and charged up the tunnel and into the room from whence the light came.

There, in the center of a large chamber was a small kobold, holding a spear, which it was sharpening on a stone.

We looked at it and it looked at us. We hefted our weapons and it gave us an angry look before it began to shake violently and to foam at the mouth.

The little runt charged straight at Avia, who accommodated it by slashing at it. Nolin did the same, as did Sabin, and still the little rat was standing and jabbing away with its little spear.

Then from an opening to the east we heard in giant, “What’s going on down there?”

I attempted to squeak back in giant, doing the best kobold impersonation I could muster, “Rats!” But my performance was rather feeble, and I could hear the sounds of heavy footfalls coming towards us.

A kobold is one thing — even a barbarian kobold in mid rage borders on cute in a pathetic, grotesque sort of way — but a giant is something to take seriously. I turned back to my companions to see Rigel send an arrow through the little guy’s eye, permanently resolving its anger management issues, and signaled to them all that we had large scale incoming trouble.

But it wasn’t a giant that came trotting over, it was a squad of ogres. Rarallo deftly send a lightening bolt through two ogres and it continued on down the dark hallway beyond, from where we heard a loud interjection followed by, “What the hell!” in giant.

Trask vanished while Nolin, Sabin and Avia stepped up to prevent the ogres (and sundry) from storming into the chamber and overwhelming us. Rarallo sent another lightening bolt through the ogres and into the unseen giant, eliciting another string of profanities.

A fireball exploded somewhere behind the ogres, felling many, and letting us know that Trask was at work.

Just as the ogre force was dwindling, a squad of giants charged up and began to beat on our fighters, who ferociously fought back. Rarallo and Trask continued to make effective use of fire and electricity while Rigel peppered the giants with arrows. Kane and I, after each of us failed to stop a giant with a Hold Person spell, kept our fighters healed, and listened for any unexpected arrivals from the, thus far unexplored, north passage.

The squad of giants was whittled down to one, and Trask erected a wall of fire to keep it from escaping to the east, while the fighters closed with it. But it ran to a chamber to the south and yelled out for help.

While all of this was going on, I had been peering through the wall of fire, looking to see if any new threat should appear. And of course it did. A lamia (not a matriarch, thank goodness) peered into the room before retreating back into the darkness.

The southern room was a forge of some sort, and two giants had been working there when the fighting started. They picked rocks and began to hurl them at us, doing a great deal of damage. But our fighters pressed in close and hacked away at them until both of the stone chuckers as well as the captain dropped.

There were three forges in the southern chamber, with a large bellows for each. The bellows set up to be operated by slaves held in three cages in the room. Dwarves, without beards, were in the cages and looked at us warily.

At that moment Rigel arrived, and somewhere in her past she must have lived with a dwarf, or studied their ways because she could actually speak there language, and excitedly told them that we had rescued them and that they were safe.

We let them out of their cages, Kane created food and water for them, which they eagerly accepted. They could actually speak common, and told us that the giants had captured them in a raiding party months before, and had humiliated them by shaving off their beards and then forced them to work at the bellows here in the forge ever since.

Later I found out that Rigel’s grasp of the dwarven tongue was not quite as strong as she may think, and her exclamations and reassurances were more along the lines of, “Me big proud pants sitting you on free to go! Enjoy the flaccidity I bring to you of freedom.”

We gave the dwarves some weapons and directions for how to get out via the spider cave. We also gave them some gold and ropes so they could climb down to the river and make good their escape. Or, in the words of Rigel, “You go now with no clothing, with your lose bits hanging freely in the breeze.”

The dwarves were tired, and agreed to watch our backs in the kobold room while they rested.

The team then searched the giant and ogre bodies for anything that might be of use.

[731] bag of gems
[732] potion of Bull’s Strength

The kobold warrior was also searched, and his pint sized gear was also taken:

[???] necklace
[???] breast plate
[???] buckler
[???] bag on a belt

But we had been spotted by the fleeing lamia, and felt needed to act swiftly to prevent an alarm from being sounded. The wall of fire expired and we hurriedly made our way through a large long hall with walls streaked with glittering veins of mica, that had served as the barracks for the giants.

The passage narrowed and bent to the southeast, but another passageway branched off to the north, and from that direction wafted in the smell of incense and the soft sound of a lute. Recent tracks made in the dusty floor led north.

We went that way.

We followed the northern passage as it widened into a room that stretched eastward. Rarallo became invisible as we prepared for battle. From around a corner we could here someone chanting in Thassilonian, “Oh great is the mother of monsters, we who are your servants shall prepare your way.”

We peeked around the corner and say at the far eastern end of the room was an altar, and near the altar were three lamia. Their tawny lion bodies looked dangerous, but they also had the upper torsos of women, skilled in both combat and spells… and apparently music. The beast closest to the altar was playing the lute.

Incense was burning in a pair of braziers, one at either side of the altar, and the smoke had a metallic tang that lent a dream like air to the room.

The room itself was painted in swirling patterns of rich blues and purples, which were the tokens of Desna; but also present were statues of a three headed jackal and figures of monstrous bats, which was for Lamashtu.

From somewhere unseen Rarallo launched a blast of electricity, but we were dubious that it had much, or any effect, because the only response from our foes was, “Well, sisters, maybe they are not here to convert to Lamashtu after all, but they will make great sacrifices!”

With that two of the lamia moved forward to attack, while the lute player remained near the altar. These creatures were formidable foes, and their touch could (and did) drain will power. That plus their lion bodies gave them incredible speed and strength.

On top of this all three of them seemed blurred, making it difficult to focus on them.

Avia and Sabin engaged the first, while Nolin attacked on the second. Trask and Rarallo Trask using magic to strike at these two, while Rigel was shooting arrows at them.

The lute player began to chant, and suddenly a wave of cold washed over us, sapping our health and causing Sabin to go blind.

I summoned a dire lion to keep the lute player occupied, but it was caught in Rarallo’s friendly fire, making it easy prey to the lamia. Still, it was one less round during which she could cast a spell.

The battle was fierce, but one by one we dropped the mirror images of the lamia followed by the lamia themselves. Afterward we managed to restore the lost wisdom and health, and cure Sabin of his blindness.

We spent a few minutes looking over the bodies and room for anything useful, and discovered that the “girls” had been equally well equipped.

[733] +2 magic flail
[736] +2 magic flail
[737] +2 magic flail
[734] +2 headband of wisdom (Kane)
[738] +2 headband of wisdom (Avia)
[739] +2 headband of wisdom (Nolin)
[735] +2 ring of protection (Rigel)
[740] +2 ring of protection (Avia)
[741] +2 ring of protection (Sabin)

The influx of extra rings of protection also meant that I was now wearing a +1 ring of protection.

The braziers were exquisitely smithed silver laced with mithril, and quite valuable, so so after snuffing out the burning incense, we nabbed them as well.

[742] silver and mithril brazier
[742] silver and mithril brazier

Rigel discovered that the altar had been dragged against the wall, and when it was moved she found a small secret compartment full of papers. There was a magical scroll, but of more interest was a beautifully illustrated tome describing how to torture and kill virtually any creature — a rather grisly, although possibly useful discovery.

[744] illustrated tome on torture
[745] scroll of remove curse

There was an exit from this room to the north, and from there Kane heard a pair of low, gravelly voices speaking. We all listened, and Sabin recognized the language as draconic (which fortunately he speaks, although why I would like to hear — there must be an interesting story there).

“Remind me again why we let them do this to our scales? You don’t see anyone else with it.”

“You are wrong, you do see the star sign on their skin. And besides, the sisters said it was good.”

“Oh, that’s right, they would never let anything bad be done to us.”

We had found the two red dragonettes Longtooth had spoken of.

Cautiously Sabin, Kane and I entered the next chamber, with Sabin announcing in draconic that we were allies come to set them free. They seem quite confused by this, and when it was obvious they did not understand common I tried to reassure them in giant. Unfortunately they didn’t know giant either, and only associated it with their oppressors, and so my efforts only fueled their unease.

Sabin was able to convince them that neither the giants nor “the sisters”, as they called the lamia trio, were their friends, and that Longtooth had asked us to tell them that Mokmurian was no worthy for them to follow, and that they should escape.

At some point in time Trask breathed fire (there is definitely something odd going on with that boy), after which the dragonettes then had show how him how it properly done, and thus ensued a short round of one upmanship.

We sent them back the way we had come before realizing the dwarves were still standing guard in the kobold room, and so we rushed out, only to find the dragons relishing a meal of freshly killed lamia. We found the dwarves and sent them on their way to freedom (Rigel, “You go now, make swift pitter pat in trousers!”)

There was a tunnel leading from the dragons’ chamber, which they said lead “out”, and so seeking a place to recover from a morning filled with giant undead spiders, a berserker kobold, ogres, giants, and a trio of lamia, we followed the tunnel to the west.

The tunnel widened and branched in many directions. And there, at the junction, an elderly solitary giantess beckoned to us from an alcove. She did not appear to be hostile, and seemed to want to be as quiet as possible.

This we did not expect, and so we approached to see what she wanted.

Her name was Conna, and she and her husband were the elders of their giant tribe. Mokmurian’s tribe. Giants belong to tribes, and it is the village elders who curb the hot headed impetuous nature of youth, which allows giant kind to live in relative peace with other peoples. Traditionally the tribal elders were respected, and to cross an elder was a serious offense.

But Mokmurian had picked up strange ideas and magical abilities from unnatural sources. He did not believe in the traditions of his people, and when he began to gather an army of youngsters and to invade neighboring areas, her husband tried to stop him. But Mokmurian killed him. Killed an elder!

She was forced to serve Mokmurian, but she hated him. Hated him for killing her husband, and hated him for the harm she saw him doing to giant kind. She feared he was under the influence of an older power: one that he worshipped called Karzug.

At the mention of this name a chill ran down my spine. Was this not the name of one of the ancient rune lords?

And while Mokmurian may have been in over his head (Conna believed the lamia were not his servants, and were in fact keeping an eye on him), he still embraced these new immoral and evil ways. Giants who defy Mokmurian are brought to him, and are changed… changed such that they should no longer be alive.

Mokmurian now spends all of his time in this underground complex, and hardly ever goes above ground.

If we were seeking Mokmurian’s destruction, then she would aid us, both for vengeance of her husband, and here she stopped and looked around the room, which I realized was set up as a shrine him, and to fulfill her duty as Mokmurian’s tribal elder.

She thought that once Mokmurian was gone, the other giants in the camps above would eventually lose interest and wander back home to their own tribes.

Maps of the underground fortress she could provide, as well as advice, and some magical assistance (she had developed her magical powers the natural way). She could also provide us with an out of the way corner where we could camp. The other giants shunned this area because the spirit of her murdered husband lingered in this place.

Conna seemed like a kind and wise soul, even without considering she was a giant, and I felt like she could be trusted. We gratefully accepted her offer of assistance, and are even now deciding where best to use a Rope Trick for shelter, and what and how best Conna could aid us.

…made our own camp just outside the encampment of the army amassing around the tower. For several days we sat and we watched, as more giants arrived to join the amassing army.

Observation confirmed that which we had begun to suspect: those who were entering into Mokmurian’s service appeared to be young, perhaps the equivalent of the age at which most human adolescents begin to rebel. It makes a great deal of sense. They are strong, healthy, passionate, and…easily swayed and influenced, something they seem to have in common with human recruits and soldiers. (It’s funny that I do not think of myself as young anymore even though I am not much older than I was when joined the guard back home. A lot has changed since then.)

The more we watch Jorgenfist, the more concerned I become that we are in over our heads. We are isolated, far from home, and surrounded by hundreds of stone giant soldiers which are formidable even untrained. Harpies patrol the skies. A red dragon, quite possibly the same one that we encountered in Sandpoint– we certainly hope it is, for having two dragons in between us and Mokmurian is a very unpleasant thought– appears to live in a cave on the northern edge of the valley. And at night we have seen three more dragon-like beasts that our casters believe to be wyverns hunting for prey.

A frontal assault is obviously out of the question. Having had enough of this, and growing more concerned that we may be discovered the longer we stay at the edge of the valley, we are moving out tomorrow to the ravines east of the tower. It’s probably too much to ask that there be some sort of back entrance that is unguarded, but plenty of these hills have caves and that suggests that there could be a network of caverns underneath us. If we are lucky, that will turn out to be the case, and if we are luckier still one might…

Sunday, Sarenith 29

Even as it sits there lifeless, it taunts. It beckons, it calls, and it teases. While some
can discuss it objectively, there are those for whom it represents equity and fairness. If
the universe has any balance to it at all, then this represents the counterpoint to poison
tails and sharp teeth.

Several are suspicious that it can either harm us outright, or be used to locate us later
for greater harm. Despite all that, Rigel continues to be obsessed with the fire opal left
glinting in the sand after the wyverns were killed.

“It’s worth about 200 gp,” she said, with a bit of anxiety in her voice. “I don’t see any
traps, either. It’s just sitting there and it’s foolish to leave it here for someone else.”
Kane confirms there doesn’t seem to be any traps. Would a magically trapped object be
detectable by a mundane? muses a mage.

“Yes!” says Rigel impatiently. As the others ponder, she reaches forward and picks up the
stone.

There’s a slight intake of breath.

She puts it back down and releases it, looking triumphantly at the others. She helps search
the rest of the cavern, but keeps one eye on the opal. Sabin pushed away the sand where the
opal was, slightly raised. Nothing happens. Rigel grins again.

It is rare to see Rigel so … engaged. Noteworthy, and so I take note.

It seems there’s nothing else in the cavern. But Rigel pauses, cups an ear, and points up.
There is a faint … singing, I guess it would be. Music of some sort. It’s simply
resonating off the ceiling, but its origin lies outside in the canyon somewhere.

Perhaps from the ledge above us.

Peering cautiously, we see we have harpies nearby. About 300 ft or so away they appear to
be luring something on the cliff with their song. I have heard they can do this; despite
their grotesque appearance, their song, when directed to you, can be very attractive.
Something actually does take a step off the cliff before hastily firing a lightning bolt as
it fell, striking a hovering harpy squarely.

Making a snap decision, Sabin casts featherfall on the being, breaks his fall, drags him
into our safe cave and secures him. It appears to be Elvish and carries no armor.

He is Rarallo, sent by the mayor of Roderick’s Cove to investigate the increase in giant
raids. He had arrived in the valley recently but had just woken to the harpy’s songs and
had been charmed into walking into their arms. We told him he’d nailed one with a lightning
bolt as he fell and that evoked a grim smile.

Moonday, Sarenith 30

A long, intense discussion has finally concluded, although I fear it may not go as planned.
Several have offered the opinion that the red dragon represents air support that we do not
have to want to worry about. I suggested we might contact it as equals and see if we can
make it friendly towards us by freeing it from whatever link bonds it to Mokmurian. Others
believe negotiation with an evil creature like a red dragon is doomed to fail, and would
rather remove the threat by killing it. It is, after all, a rather young dragon as dragons
go. Spell, wand, and scroll capabilities were carefully considered in view of the planned
assault. It was decided that fighting it in its own lair would be better than fighting it
after it has taken flight (and on that front I do agree.) But there was so much about the
approach we could now know, and we didn’t want to risk sending scouts since it was clear we
would need a contribution from everyone to defeat the red dragon. We couldn’t afford to
lose even a single party member if this were to work.

The spells we will use will be Fly, Airwalk, Mage Armor, Enlarge Person, Prot from fire,
resist energy (fire) and prot from evil. Several of these have durations measured in tens
of seconds so many of these will not be cast until we gain the ledge before the dragon’s
lair.

Later …

Would we be able to gain and keep the element of surprise? Once we found ourselves on the
ledge outside the dragon’s cave it was kind of moot. We were committed.

The entrance chamber was 50′ across, and about 50′ high. As we enter, we realize it empties
into an even larger chamber. Rigel hears the faint clinking of coins.

“This is a surprise,” says a voice from the back of the larger cavern. “I have not smelled
humans since Sandpoint.”

So much for the element of surprise. Perhaps we can still get him to underestimate us. He
may still think we have a white dragon at our disposal. Unless he can read my mind. Can
he? Would I know? What does that feel like?

I think I’m overthinking this.

Meanwhile, Takkad has taken up the conversational gauntlet. “We are some of his followers.”

The dragon expressed skepticism that Mokmurian would have human followers. “Really?”
remarked Takkad. “There are ogres and giants and dragons working together. Who do you think
helped give him the information on how to best attack Sandpoint?” Nolin added, grumbling,
“But we’re tired of taking his orders. Why do you continue to?”

“I do not take orders from him,” thundered the dragon. “We … share goals. We are peers.”

“Really?” I asked. “He seems to send you places where you can get hurt while he stays
safely behind.”

“Worse,” the dragon responded. “I was wounded by him and he refused to heal me. If I was
certain I could defeat him I might dissolve our alliance myself. Not that I could not if I
truly wanted to,” he hastily added.

As people brought up their lanterns, it was easy to see that 50′ back was a tremendous pile
of coins (many golden) and shiny expensive looking trinkets. The dragon’s hoard. Of course
the dragon lay squarely between us and the hoard.

Rigel stepped forward and says, “It is wrong that he leaves you wounded. I offer you my
healing potion.” The dragon looked at it thoughtfully, sniffed it, and finally drank it.
With a visible sigh, he seemed to relax a bit and even appeared slightly bored.

“So you are unhappy with Mokmurian. It seems we do at least share that,” mused the dragon.

With a conspiratorial tone, Takkad half whispered, “I think we’re going to try to kill him.
With him dead, the army he is raising will simply go home and this will all be over.”

“Don’t be too sure of that, little one,” condescended the dragon. “I get the sense that
many of them are hear having burned bridges to get here. They may have nowhere to return to,
and simply select a new leader.”

In a relatively friendly state now that we’d healed him some, the dragon offered some more
interesting tidbits.

• The harpies pretty much live in the Black Tower, and their command of the air would
  make an aerial assault very risky.

• Mokmurian’s magic is stronger than the dragon’s, “although in a fair fight I would
  win.”

• Looking at Lucretia’s head, the dragon remarked, “there’s only a few of those around”.

• “If it is true you have defeated the wyverns, then you may indeed be able to handle
  the insects as well. There is an abomination that looks like a spider there. If you
  can defeat it, the passages lead to under the tower.”

• These harpies are different from those at the Stairs. These have a deal with
  Mokmurian. They occupy the tower with MM’s permission.

The dragon appeared to have a ring on one talon, a silver armband, and an obsidian amulet.
My concern about defeating him seemed valid, but fortunately we seem to now have abandoned
that strategy.

“If Mokmurian were to .. fall from power … you would benefit from that would you not?”
asked Takkad. “Yes, I could see certain benefit from that,” admitted the dragon. “But I’m
not prepared to battle him again.”

“What if,” proposed Takkad, “your role in this was to do … nothing. Suppose he did not die
at your hand nor at your bidding but that you did not stop it from happening if it were to
happen?”

The dragon thought for a bit. “I tire of Mokmurian and his constant assertion that he is
superior. If I had but to do nothing to make that stop, I would find that quite
acceptable.”

One of the last things we learned before leaving the cavern was that the dragon’s name was
Longtooth. Or so he called himself; probably not his true name.

Tollday, Erastus 1

Based on the dragon’s assertions and information, we were ready to take on the insect cave.
This was a job that simply screamed for fireballs to cleanse the arena before our arrival.

Using my fly spell, hovered in front of the cave and cast a fireball. Awful smell. Flying
in, careful not to touch the ground, walls, or ceiling, I could see the back part of the
cave was still crawling with spiders but I could also what appeared to be a large exo-
skeleton of an ex-spider. Countless small spiders appeared to be running in and out of it.
This must be the abomination that was foretold.

The other team members had arrived via fly, or airwalk, or spider climb, and they now
entered cautiously.

Boom, another fireball, and advance a little farther. I could see now there were apparently
three of these abominations, although they’d been fried pretty good and Rarallo shot some
lightning off as well. One “spider” bit it went Sabin threw his axe at it. In close
quarters now, I had time for one more fireball before we’d all be too close together. Boom.

The second spider died at the hands of Rarallo’s scorching ray. The third one did manage to
attack Nolin by disgorging dozens of spiders upon him, but another scorching ray killed it
and with the “host” dead, the other spiders either died or ran off.

I’d lit a flaming sphere to help with Spider 3, but now I used it to burn webs so we could
advance safely. We found a collection of other people’s belongings; seems we were not the
first to come and play in the spider’s den. Our inventory was:

<

p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>[610] fire opal (from the wyverns)
[611] +1 long sword (giant sized)
[612] +2 halberd
[613] spell staff, already containing rusting grasp

While we were doing that, Kane found a secret door. It opened to a passage 3-5 feet wide.

As he told us later, Kane scouted the tunnels, which seemed to be natural tunnels. He was
doing okay up until he felt a sharp point in the back of his leg. As he turned around he
saw blood, and red caps with knives and mean expressions, but then they looked at him and
screamed DESNA! and ran.

When Kane returned and told us, he led us back to where this had happened and we went
searching. We finally found a larger cavern in which a single ratcatcher was sharpening a
single spear. He looked like a kobold, but we approached cautiously.

Good thing we did.

The ratcatcher was not dispatched easily; for a small creature he had incredible stamina.
Rigel eventually got the killing blow, and made a quick inspection of his belongings before
we turned to a doorway into a room in which there appeared to be a number of ogres. Rarallo
fired off his lightning even though he’d only seen a glimpse of him. The lightning seemed
to hit someone or something, but then a screech and the more vulgar version of “What the
heck?” was screamed in ogre. Hee hee.

But this initiated the battle of the ogres.

Fireday, Sarenith 20

It was today, as we caught the barge heading upriver to the Storval Stairs, that we had a long discussion about the horses. It would cost money to bring them along on the barge, and to what end? They could not navigate the stairs without assistance, and would need to be fed and cared for (more money). In the end, we decided to send them back to Galduria, to be cared for there and retrieved upon our return. We will see when we return if our instructions were followed.

I must admit, it is a pleasant interlude that finds the most difficult decision to be whether to take horses or leave them behind. We expect the barge trip to be largely uneventful, although it may yet be informative depending on how talkative the barge crew and any other passengers are. The trip shall take 5 days total and cost 2gp/person. Weather and current willing, we should reach Ravenmoor in 2 days and the Stairs 3 days after that.

I’ve a mind to practice my illusions (say, a large serpent in the water or another dragon flying in from the sky) but I suspect all but me would find my practice to be … disturbingly distracting.

Sunday, Sarenith 22

The trip did indeed take about two days, and was quite peaceful. Although I did sleep a little uncomfortably, it is still better than sleeping in the wild. I sleep a little better and a little deeper knowing that there is small chance our camp will be disturbed. We still set watches because surprises still could happen, but the nights are quiet and with the barge always available as an escape route, guard duty is much more relaxed.

We are now approaching Ravenmoor, and we intend to stop here to release some cargo, pick up some cargo, and restock supplies. The bargemaster tells us we will cast off before dark. He said we can’t stay here, but it wasn’t clear if he meant there was no place to stay or if we weren’t welcome here.

Sunday, Sarenith 22, late

So I have the answer to my question. It is both. There is apparently no inn, nothing resembling a formal eatery, no place to visit, and no place to stay. There is a pub, and it offers some basic food, but it’s the only deal in town. The barkeep did offer that the stone giants have been more active and that there have been raiding parties and there’s not much they can do about them. Still, Kane told us quietly he sensed a protective evasiveness in the conversations whenever the topic of religion came up.

I asked if there was a wizard or two in town I could speak with and that turned a couple of heads. In hindsight, perhaps it was better asked as a quiet question but who knew? Anyway, there was, out on the outskirts of town, so I travelled out to visit. Perhaps he would be more friendly. I sensed the town was, at best, “tolerant”. The people here seemed to realize they needed to interact for trade, but visitors were still infrequent and I guess they’d just rather keep to themselves.

When I got to the wizard’s place, there was an attractive young lady outside. She said her grandfather was the “wizard” I’d been sent to meet but that he really didn’t do much magic anymore. She said she was something of a magic user too and what magic was needed, she usually provided now. I asked her what magic might be needed and she shut down like I’d asked her the location of the nearest winged demon. Got nothing more than skeptical looks and terse replies after that. I was going to impress her with the spells I know and see if she opened up, colleague to colleague, but not knowing what she was capable of, perhaps they wouldn’t be that impressive. In the end, I finished the uncomfortable conversation and returned to the pub.

As recommended, we left on the barge before nightfall. The bargemaster anxiously herded us onto the barge and shoved off. “Nobody stays here at night” he said, which made it sound more of a safety issue than an accommodation issue. Still, Avia had reported a fair number of (mildly) evil people in town, so although I’m curious, there’s no good reason to find out why one doesn’t stay overnight there.

Toilday, Sarenith 24

Today, we saw a small band of ogres on shore, and they followed us like they would attack. But they didn’t have any weapons of particularly good range so after we all took a pole to move the barge a bit faster, they fell behind and returned to their camp. The bargemaster said this was not that unusual.

Wealday, Sarenith 25

We have arrived at the Storval Stairs. Well, to be precise, at the barge landing closest to the Stairs; they are still about 10 miles away. Here we are within sight and easy walk of a great and beautiful falls, though, probably a thousand feet high. Although the land has been appearing increasingly rugged as we’ve gone upriver, here the spray of the fall and the river itself creates an oasis of green.

However, since the Stairs are our goal, we don’t really get to enjoy it. Unload, and start trekking. And now that we’re closer to actual Giant land than ever before, precautions must be taken. It is bright and sunny today, with no cover. We kept relatively close to the cliff formed by the edge of the plateau, as it afforded what little cover (and sometimes shade) that there was.

It didn’t take too terribly long to reach the Stairs. The cliff had been slowly losing height as we walked east and now we could see the top of the stairs was only about 400 feet higher than the base. Still, the steps themselves were two feet high each, easily, which meant this stairway couldn’t simply be walked.

With the sun near our backs, we figured it was safe for me to fly up and scout the top. Kane, he of negligible weight, came along for the right and an extra pair of eyes.

The stairs were flanked by two great statues (nearly as high as the stairs themselves) and the face looked familiar on these figures. We’d seen this face before, at Thistletop in the looping speech. As expected, there were some giants (three) guarding the top of the stairs, although they appeared bored and disinterested .. all the better.

In one section of the ruins, a couple of our party detected (by nose) what appeared to be a remains garbage pit. Don’t know if these were previous residents of these ruins, or creatures that wanted to cross to the top of the stairs and failed. But either way, it did remind us of the strength of a stone giant.

There were enough ruins in the side of the cliff itself that it appeared there may have once been a functional city here at the stairs in the distant past. Now, we decided, they would serve as good cover for our camp. Through a combination of fly and air walk and spider climb, the entire party wedged themselves into a not-too-ruined ruin and settled in for the night.

We settled in for the night.

Oathday, Sarenith 26

With the sun now rising in the morning, the optimal attack direction was from the east (with the sun at our back, blinding any opponents trying to look in our direction.) We again used a combination of air walk and fly to get everybody quietly to the top while escaping notice.

Or so we thought. One giant actually on the stairs this morning (what, doing stair drills to wake up??) called us out and the battle was on.

Here at the top there was a small amount of ruined buildings to hide among or in so we took cover from the blind rain of boulders coming from the giant who spotted us. None of them were hitting us, but they were large enough to be distracting anyway. Derel pulled his trick of running out into melee again … once too often. He got smacked hard by two separate giants and fell in a heap. No healers were close enough to help in time and his injuries were too great.

One giant looked down at his body, then picked it up and took it inside. We redoubled our efforts to reach him – who knows what atrocities they were about to do to his body – when the “chief” giant came out and asked “What are you doing here?”

Takkad came up with some quick thinking and convinced them we were on a mission for Mokmurian. Apparently, the seven-pointed star necklace that Derel had been wearing identified him as one of the faithful, so Takkad’s soliloquy convinced them maybe they’d made a big mistake. When one of the “lesser” giants said that if were dead, nobody would know of the mistake, both Takkad and I feigned contacting Mokmurian to let him know his instructions were not being followed.

Terrified, the remaining giants ran down the stairs and abandoned their posts.

Without the ability to resurrect Derel, we were left to disposing of his body and dividing up his goods. (He would have wanted it that way.)

• Sabin took the +4 belt of strength
• Sabin gave his old +2 belt to Avia
• Nolin took the +2 ring of protection
• Noling gave his old +1 ring of protection to Kane
• I took the +2 bracers of defense. They won’t stack with my magic armor, but they’ll be of great use for those times when I don’t have a chance to get it up first.

Inside the “guard area” we found filthy mattresses and a small amount of change: 37 gp, 200 sp, and 300 cp.

I flew straight up again to scout ahead. I could see a fairly obvious pass through the mountain in the distance — that was our goal.

We made a good distance before stopping for the night.

We held a memorial for Derel. Some expressed sadness, some stoicness, and others indifference. Myself .. well I bemoan the loss of one of the party. But Derel consistently would refuse to hold to the plan and jump into danger, putting not just himself but all of us into danger. While I think some are thinking “but for this” or “but for that” he’d still be alive, I think the man had a death wish and was destined to die sooner than later. I hope others don’t feel too responsible; the man was his own worst enemy.

Fireday, Sarenith 27

During watch last night, I thought I saw not one, not two, but three dragon-like figures cross the light of the moon on their way east. Three dragons? I find that hard to believe. I wonder if they were some dragon-like creature instead.

We reached our goal near evening. We are at the pass and can see a tall tower on the valley floor. It is surrounded by six or seven distinct camps of giants or giant allies.

As we were taking all this in, we saw a red dragon — it looked to me like the same dragon we’d seen in Sandpoint, but it’s hard to be sure — fly in from over the river, fly up to the side of one of the mountains and enter an apparent cave. We must be at the right place if the Welcome Wagon looks like a red dragon.

We were trying to decide whether we should do something about the dragon when we heard large footsteps approaching. We quickly took cover and >From their conversation it was apparent this was another clan or team joining the cause. With a loud blast from the watch tower in front of us, a group of giants came up and escorted the newcomers down. We decided we needed more information before staging an attack.

Not too long after sunset, one obviously female giant left the watchtower, declaring that rank had it’s privileges and headed down to the encampments, obviously to, uh, mingle freely.

Starday, Sarenith 28

About 5am the female giant staggered back, obviously having partied hearty. Over breakfast, Nolin and I mentioned we’d seen three dragonish figures again. We are coming around to the idea that these may be wyverns, although wild or working for Mokmurian we didn’t know. They seem to come out of the ravine formed by the river. Removing them might be doable.

A little observation and recon reveals that there appear to be five stone giant camps, one ogre camp, and one hill giant camp. Our earlier observation that the recruits tend to be young continues to be true, in general. Could this just be a teenage rebellion? We wondered if the elders would intervene to restore the order, or were being prevented from doing so.

Around the middle of the afternoon, the stone giants from one of the camps dragged another screaming to the big tower on the valley floor. Apparently he was guilty of some transgression, and he was admitted and his sounds stopped once the door was closed.

He did not return.

We will attempt to attack the wyverns tonight.

Sunday, Sarenit 29

Well okay, not last night. We did a little exploring of the caves around the area to be better prepared for both the wyverns and the dragon should he appear. There are some caves in the side of the river canyon that may lead underneath the valley tower. They may also be home for the wyverns.

We will attempt to attack the wyverns tonight.

Sunday, Sarenith 29, later

Since we were fighting in the caves and most of the battle would not be seen, fire was again an option.

Yes we found the wyverns.

Yes, they are vulnerable to fireballs. Two, if needed.

Yes, they have poison sting in their tails.

Yes, this poison affects people named Nolin. But …

People named Takkad have an awesome Heal spell better than any laying of hands, potion, or channeling. He was able to completely counteract the poison AND fully heal him.

There is a large fire opal sitting in the sand here, but whether reward or trap we do not yet know.

== Fireday, Sarenith 20, 4708; Lampblack River; evening ==

The sun has set and dinner finished as we are settled about the brightly burning camp fire discussing the journey ahead. Nearby, the Lampblack gurgles soft but incessantly on its languid approach to Ember Lake. There is the occasional bump of our barge against the tree stump to which it is moored, and the creaking of deck boards as the barge-man on watch shifts his weight.

We are one day’s journey north from Wolf’s Ear, where only this morning we had arranged for our horses to be taken to Galduria for long term boarding while we chartered a barge and crew to take us up the Lamplack River to the foot of the Storval Stairs.

Once underway we had little to do, other than offer a turn at the poles the barge-men use to move the vessel against the flow of the river. The day passed slowly in this way as the eastern border of the Churlwood slipped by on the left and a scrubby grassland opened up to our right.

We are about to prepare for our own watch and an evening of rest from a day of tedium.

== Starday, Sarenith 21, 4708; Lampblack River; evening ==

Another day on the river has passed much like the one before. By late afternoon the eves of the Churlwood on our left began to recede as the river turned eastward and a steep bank of bracken rose up in its place.

It is dark, and off in the distance we can see a camp fire flickering orange in the night. Our guides seem unconcerned, and say it is most likely just a band of Shoanti traders, with a glance in my direction.

We had entered the lands of my own people, the Shiikirri-Quah, or “Hawk Clan”, one of the seven clans of the Shoanti. And yet I have no recollections of this place, having left when I was but two.

My tribe are the great traders and diplomats for our race, keeping open the trade routes and relations between the Shoanti and the other Varisian peoples.

Our great caravans circle the continent of Varisia, with each circuit taking many years to complete. My parents’ caravan left these lands a quarter a century ago, and began the Long Trek. And they will not complete their journey until they have passed through the Velashu Uplands and then the Nolands to the far north. At last they will return to their home, and the responsibility of the following Trek will belong to the next generation, and so it goes in an endless cycle.

The last I heard from my family they had passed through Roderick’s Cove and were following the coast to Riddleport. There is at least some comfort in knowing they have passed from the these lands before the giant incursions began in earnest.

== Sunday, Sarenith 22, 4708; Lampblack River; evening ==

By mid morning we began to pass through a more civilized country, with tilled fields and vineyards on either side of the river. Simple farm houses and out buildings began to dot the landscape and by noon we had arrived at the village of Ravenmoor.

While about the same size of Wolf’s Ear, Ravenmoor has held up much better than its distant neighbor, which at first was a bit of a puzzle, considering its closer proximity to the giants’ homeland. There were only a few signs of recently damaged buildings, evidenced only by the new repair work that had already been completed.

The barge was tied up at a busy quay and our crew left a guard and disembarked to purchase provisions. We took advantage of landfall in civilization and went in search of food and drink. After that we planned to talk with the town elders to find from them the latest news about the giants in these parts, and to inform them of the recent events in Sandpoint.

Walking up the main thoroughfare from the river to the pub we saw traders, farmers, and merchants going about their daily business. They all had the look of hardy individuals who were used to fending for themselves in a rough land.

Ravenmoor’s single pub was well kept, and well patronized by locals and visitors alike. A group of Shiikirri-Quah traders were seated at a corner table and after looking over the party gave a curt nod to me. The pub also seemed to be a popular location from which to conduct business, which Nolin observed while discretely watching an unremarkable transaction.

The barkeep was a talkative fellow (perhaps related to Trask?) who spoke about the unusual nature of the current giant hostilities, and how odd it was for giants to work with ogres and trolls. He concluded that in the past the giants had been quite reasonable, and mostly stuck to their side of “the wall” (the locals’ name for the great escarpment jutting up to the Storval Plateau).

We asked about the local leaders, and in particular the local clerics, but oddly enough the locals, including our loquacious barkeep, always seemed to turn the conversation other topics when we strayed onto this path.

Kane then realized that he hadn’t seen any temples on the way up from the river, and after a moment of scanning the customers, Avia said that there seemed to be a lot more people here of the evil persuasion than usual.

Not the headache inducing, MUST KILL NOW level of evil we often encounter, but still enough to be noteworthy. We speculated that living here on the edge of the wild, caught between giants and brigands as they were, the locals picked up an every man for himself mind set as a survival instinct.

We did find out where the town elders met each day, and so Nolin, Avia and I went out to talk with them while the rest of our party remained at the pub.

(I later learned that Trask set out in search of other arcane magic users with which to talk shop, and met woman who took care of the community’s magical needs, but I gathered that the conversation did not go as well as Trask had hoped).

The elders (more evil than the regular citizenry, but still not alarmingly so) were polite and listened to our account of the giant’s attack on Sandpoint, and did take to heart our warning about worse troubles ahead. They also shared with us some additional information about giants in general and our destination in particular.

They were quite skeptical about the reported magical powers of Mokmurian, because it was rare, and in the past giants who have possessed these abilities were in some way deformed. I pulled out Barl Breakbones head and told them we had fought this giant in battle and had witnessed his use of magic first hand.

They were a little puzzled by this, because Barl’s head showed no obvious deformities (other than missing its body, for which we were responsible), but then one of them pointed out how Barl’s head was significantly smaller than the heads of most adult stone giants.

As for our destination, the Black Tower was an ancient Thassilonian ruin, and legend had it that the ancient magic was still present and active there. They recommended that we abandon or quest, if we wanted to live.

On the way back to the barge we noticed that in addition to temples, Ravenmoor was also lacking in hotels, inns (the pub offered no rooms) or any other place for overnight accommodation of visitors. We asked our guides about this and they said that only locals stayed overnight, and visitors made sure they were well away by nightfall. Interesting.

Back on the river we slowly pushed up stream and into the wild.

== Moonday, Sarenith 23, 4708; Lampblack River; evening ==

An uneventful day on the river. Around mid day we spied a long line of traders and their wagons off in the distance, but they were too far away to hail for information (or company).

We spent most of our time fishing, and for the first time since taking to the river were able to catch enough for all at dinner. Camp was a more festive occasion than it has been, with bottles of a fine white Ravenmoor wine brought out to help celebrate the bounty of the river.

== Toilday, Sarenith 24, 4708; Lampblack River; evening ==

Perhaps an hour after setting out this morning we passed a band of ogres who had been hiding in the scrub on the south bank. They watched us for a while, and some of them attempted to keep up with the barge as we all took to the poles to put some distance between us. After a while the ogres lost interest and turned back to whatever it was they were doing before we interrupted them.

I asked the barge-men about this reach of the river, and how often they came this way.

“There is regular trade between Wolf’s Ear and Ravenmoor, and so we often ply the lower stretch of the Lampblack, but there are always people who want to see the great fall and the Storval Stairs for themselves. Just last year a wealthy family from down south came up, children and all, just to gawk at the ruins around the stairs. The adults were telling their children the history of the place… although why they couldn’t tell them about it from the safety of their own homes rather than dragging them out here I can’t say. Anyway, the whole place was made in giant territory, by giant hands to be used by giants.

No fire tonight.

== Wealday, Sarenith 25, 4708; Storval Stairs; evening ==

We reached the water fall at mid day, and is was as breathtakingly beautiful as promised. Here the Lampblack rushed out over the abrupt end of the Storval Plateau and plunged down a thousand feet into the rocky pool at the base of the wall. It was a bright sunny day, but mists shrouded everything about the river for hundreds of feet.

The stairs were a good hike away, and so we bid our faithful crew farewell, telling them we would send a message when we were ready to be picked up. They seemed doubtful that they would ever see us again.

The cliff is a wall of red sandstone rising up in an almost vertical ascent to the heights above, but as we walked south it gradually dropped until we reached the stairs around mid afternoon.

Here hundreds of broad steps had been carved into the cliff, scaling up some four hundred feet in a couple hundred steps to the top. A pair of great statues had been erected on either side at the foot of the stairs, towering the full height of the cliff. They depicted the same image: a humanoid with a staff in one hand and a book with a sihedron rune on the cover in the other.

Ruins of an ancient giant city or fortress that had also been carved into the cliff were on the north and south side of the stairs, but those to the south bore the effects of time and the elements more severely than those to the north. The southern statue was also more damaged than its northern counterpart. With this in mind we thought the southern ruins might be patrolled less often or vigilantly than the north, and so would hold the best hiding place to camp.

Trask, with Kane clinging to his shoulders, flew up to the top of the stairs a hundred feet out and saw three giants standing guard (they looked bored), and a large building they were using as a fort. They then drifted over to the southern ruins and looked for a suitable place for us to spend the night.

Meanwhile Rigel and I explored the ruins near us, from which a horrid stench was wafting. We discovered a pile of troll and harpy bodies, all with their heads smashed in. No doubt these were the inhabitants the giants had displaced, and the relative freshness of the carnage indicated the giant guard had been recently established.

Using a combination of Fly, Spider Climb and Air Walk we scaled the southern cliff face to within a hundred feet of the top and set up camp for the night.

== Oathday, Sarenith 26, 4708; Storval Stairs; morning ==

The giants have been slain or have fled from the Storval Stairs, but Dereldon is dead.

It has been less than half an hour since we scaled to the top of the cliff and attacked the giants standing on guard. At first it went well, with one of the giants down the stairs wildly lobbing boulders towards us (hitting nobody and endangering his friends as much as us), and Avia and Nolin focused their attacks on one of the giants at the top of the stairs to good effect.

I cast Hold Person upon the nearest giant.

Derel then rushed over to keep the third giant busy when a fourth giant appeared next to him at the doorway to their fort. Before he could jump out of the way, or even call for help both giants had bashed him with their massive clubs, caving in the side of his head.

He was too far away for me to reach in time with Breath of Life, which would have saved him, and so he passed on while the battle raged around him. The giant standing in the doorway looked down at Derel, and I feared he would despoil his body on the spot, but instead he picked our fallen comrade up and carried him inside. Wild thoughts sprang to mind of what they could be doing — all of them unpleasant.

Just as I cast Hold Person upon a second giant, their leader ran out from the building and yelled “Halt!”, in giant, “These people may be working for us!”

“Who are you to be boldly wearing the token of Mokmurian?”, he demanded, indicating the amulet worn by Avia (Derel was wearing a similar device).

Thinking quickly, I answered back, “We are emissaries sent out by Mokmurian to spy on the human lands to the south. We were returning when we happened upon the raid of Sandpoint led by Taractynous, which ended disastrously with nearly of of the giants slain, no prisoners taken, and worse, no stones from the Old Light! We were making our way back to inform Mokmurian of Taractynous’ gross incompetence when we were attacked by these stupid imbeciles!”

I waved in the direction of the two held giants at the top of the stairs, both drooling uncontrollably, as the third made his way up from below.

The leader pondered for a moment before sullenly answering, “We will burn this body and you will not mention it to Mokmurian.”

“No, he is one of our comrades, and we must lay his body to rest following the proper rites. But we agree not to speak of this to Mokmurian.”

The other giant then stuck his poke in with, “If we kill them all, then Mokmurian will never know.”

I could see that the leader considered this the ideal solution to their problem, and so casting a Light spell on the boulder next to me I cried out, “Mokmurian, hear me! Your servants on the Storval Stairs have betrayed you!”

Trask had at the same time cast Burning Hands, which he used to make fire race up his arms as he chanted something obscure and obviously, to the giants, lethal.

A large dark stain appeared in the crotch of the leader’s leggings as he cried out, “They are all magic users, run way before they turn us into the same… or worse!”

And as quick as they could the three unrestrained giants ran down the stairs and off into the wilderness beyond.

Sabin and Rigel made sure the two remaining giants would pose no further threat (including the removal of their sihedron rune tattoos), while the rest of us gathered around Derel’s body.

We removed his possessions, and after carefully wrapping him in a cloak we placed his body in our bag of holding to keep it safe. We left the sihedron medallion hanging around his neck, which offered Gentle Repose protection until we could decide what to do with him.

I now have Derel’s haversack, which has considerably lessened the load I carry.

Searching the nearby building we found coins (37 gp, 200 sp, 300 cp), which we placed in the bag, but nothing else of interest. We came to realize that thus far all of the giants we had seen, from Barl down to this latest crew appeared to be young — as if Mokmurian’s appeal was limited to the sullen youth of his people.

Trask took to the air again and soared overhead several hundred feet to scout the lands to the east of us, where our path led. He reported that between us and the the Iron Peaks was a mostly flat and arid plane that climbed slowly to the foothills, and from there the pass through the mountains was obvious.

It is time to continue, eastward into the hazy hostile lands ahead, scorched by the sun and blurred by waves of ever mounting heat from the advancing day.

== Oathday, Sarenith 26, 4708; Foothills of the Iron Peaks; evening ==

Camp is a cold and quiet affair, with the risk of detection too great for a fire now that we are so near the Iron Peaks. We held a quiet memorial for Derel soon after sunset, with Kane and I performing the ceremony. Derel and I had joined the group at about the same time, but I feel that I never really got to know him, or what drove him in combat. He was always first in battle, often running out in front the rest of us to engage the enemy, trusting in his skill, or his deity, or fate… or us to back him up. In the end I feel that I let him down.

I still replay those moments of the battle over and over in my head. Had I been just a short distance closer or if I could move but a little faster Derel would still be alive and with us. It seems clear now that me being more fleet of foot would benefit us all, and I shall look into this at the next opportunity.

== Fireday, Sarenith 27, 4708; Iron Peaks; evening ==

Last night Trask reported seeing three dragon like creatures fly in front of the moon, heading east… towards our destination.

We marched hard all day long and finally reached the pass overlooking the valley of the dark tower. Although the sun has set we can make out a tall spire rising up from the valley floor. It is encircled by a wall set with five turrets, and within the ring are other buildings. Scattered about the circle are seven camps of giants — possibly holding upward of a hundred giants total.

Between us and the nearest camp is a tall watch tower, with a solitary giant standing guard.

The valley appears to end some distance beyond the walled ring and camps in a sheer drop — down into the Muschkal River, or so we assume. As we stared at the camp, thinking of ways to sneak in, we saw a red dragon fly in from over the river and land on a ledge high up on the far side of the valley, and then it entered a cave.

We discussed taking the fight to the dragon and sealing it in its cave so it could not escape when we heard the stomping of many heavy boots coming over the pass, and so we hid among the rocks. A band of about twenty young giants strode into view, and then marched on toward the tower, with shouts of “It’s about time!”, and, “It’s even more mighty than we were told!”

Obviously new recruits answering Mokmurian’s summons. There was a loud blast from the watch tower, and a group of giants came up from one of the camps and escorted the new comers down onto the valley floor.

Using Stone Shape I fashioned a natural looking rock blind to shelter us from the unfriendly eyes in the valley (and above), and we posted a constant watch.

Perhaps an hour after sunset the huge door to the watch tower opened, and a giantess walked out in the streaming yellow light, calling back, “Well boys, this is what rank is all about. You get to stay here for the night while I am off to have fun.” And then, with a purposeful stride, she set off down to the camps below.

== Starday, Sarenith 28, 4708; Iron Peaks; dusk ==

Once again last night Trask and Nolin saw three dragon like creatures flying about after dark. These “night dragons” seemed to be swooping down by the river and then soaring up overhead, hunting for whatever scant wildlife they can catch in these bleak, giant infested lands.

We discussed them at length this morning, coming to the conclusion (or hope) that they were in fact not dragons, but wyverns. Apparently these creatures are more like dumb beasts than their intelligent dragon cousins, and they do not breathe flames, or acid, or whatever it is that spouts from the nostrils of dragon kind. But they do have poisoned spikes on their tails.

Early this morning, just before sunrise, the giantess commander of the watch tower staggered back up from the camps. She looked as if she did indeed have a good time, and judging from the animal like grunting and squealing we heard overnight, morale among the troops was a little higher this morning.

We spent the daylight hours watching the valley, sketching the position of the black tower in relation to the other buildings, the ring wall and its towers, the watch tower, the surrounding peaks, the river, and the dragon cave. We saw no sign of the dragon itself.

The camps were segregated by races (and to to some extent sex). There was a hill giant camp, an ogre camp, an all female stone giant camp, an all male stone giant camp, and then three more stone giant camps, mostly male, but with some females among them.

Around noon we watched as some sort of punishment was carried out for a young giant who had violated some code. He was dragged, kicking and screaming, by a burly pair of giants up to the gate in the wall, where another pair of giants came out and took him. The original giant pair seemed relieved that their duties ended at the gate, and scampered back to camp quickly, while the shrieks of their charge intensified until the gate slammed shut.

Clouds are rolling in, and we have decided to move out from our current hideout to move further down the valley, but higher up in one of the caves that dot the surrounding mountains. We hope these caves are all interconnected, and will provide a means of moving around the valley unnoticed.

== Starday, Sarenith 28, 4708; Iron Peaks; night ==

The caves are just dead end holes, and so we moved on to a location near the edge of the cliff overlooking the Muschkal River. We can see the valley from here as well as the river. One thing we have noticed are a pair of dark holes peeping out from the cliff face at different points above the river. We are fairly sure the wyverns are using at least one of these as their home, but we think the caves might lead back up into a huge pit we saw near the base of the Black Tower.

== Sunday, Sarenith 29, 4708; Iron Peaks; late morning ==

After last night’s activities we plan to rest for most of today, keeping our usual watch for anything unusual. But other than the moving to and fro of the giants about the camps, thus far we have seen little of note, other than the presence of ettins in the watch tower.

Tonight we plan to enter the caves above the river.

== Sunday, Sarenith 29, 4708; Iron Peaks; dusk ==

We set out from our camp just at sunset, and using our usual combination of mobility spells made our way down to the first cave entrance, some 250 feet above the river. The smell was truly horrific, and the air was filled with a disturbing clicking sound. Sabin looked in and reported that the entire floor was carpeted with crawling and wriggling insects.

None of us wanted to go in, and so we moved down to the lower cave, which had a convenient ledge on which we could gather before moving inside. But we had barely entered when we heard the sound of scales over stone, and a wyvern crept out. It had a long snout, a pair of slender wings, and a sturdy set of back legs, but no fore limbs, like a dragon. It did, however have a nasty looking barbed tail.

It appeared unaware of us as two of its companions came up beside it, but that soon changed as Nolin, Sabin and Avia charged the creatures, while Trask set off a fireball on their back sides. I cast Prayer, and Kane stepped in with his usual wishing of luck and healing support, and Rigel stood on the ledge and shot arrow after arrow at the beasts.

Nolin lashed out and killed the first, but was rewarded with a prick from a poisoned tale, and he instantly began to feel sick.

Another fireball and another wyvern dropped dead, leaving Sabin and Avia to slay the last.

Nolin’s condition continued to worsen as we reviewed what healing abilities we had on hand to help. Unfortunately the spells used for directly combatting poison were of the same level as those we used to get us to the caves safely, and so they were not an option.

Instead I focused Pharasma’s energy into a powerful Heal spell, immediately removing all effects from the poison and bringing Nolin’s health completely back to normal.

Peering into the darkness, Sabin whispered that he saw a large fire opal partially buried in the sandy floor. Moving forward he could detect no magic, and Rigel could find no traps, but we are suspicious and have not yet dared touch the the beautiful shiny gem.

Oathday, Sarenith 19

The giants’ attack on Sandpoint was as bizarre as it was ferocious. As we have made our way across the plains towards Wolf’s Ear we have seen the signs of raiding and scouting parties– campsites, pillaged towns, even a makeshift grave– and heard many stories of the same, but none seemed as well coordinated as what we faced. Perhaps they were just more prepared since Sandpoint is large enough a city to have resources to defend itself, and such an assault cannot be done ad-hoc, but what we have learned suggests that it simply has the misfortune of having been built in an important place, one with ties to the Thassilonian age that is somehow important to a larger scheme. This makes Sandpoint special, and deserving of a level of attention that is sure to make life difficult there for the forseeable future.

The raid, as it was, seems to have served two purposes. The first was exactly what it appeared to be on the surface: attack the town and drag away valuables and people. The second, however, was an attempt to retrieve a piece of the old lighthouse, for purposes that are not yet clear. Our wizards tell us that there are spells for communing with stones, and they suggest that there is something that the artifact…witnessed?…that is of great importance.

It was through a combination of luck, skill, and trickery that we managed to stop them short of their goal. While we have fought a number of foes, we have not been in a position where we have had to defend so many fronts, and so many people, at one time since the goblin assault many months ago. Of course, this time the attackers were larger, stronger, and though fewer, much deadlier. Faced with only bad options, we split our party up into smaller teams to deal with each threat as it came, and some of us very nearly lost our lives for it. And as bad as each encounter seemed, with each new one the situation grew more dire.

I’ll admit to being frightened at the sight of, not one, but two dragons flying over the city. One red that breathed fire, and one white that I am told spread ice and frost. I later learned that the second dragon was, in fact, a clever and well-timed (if not poorly communicated) illusion from Trask, created to keep the real dragon at bay. In that, I can say that Trask was largely successful, as the dragon did little more than torch a few buildings, and only claimed a few lives. Yes, the damage was severe, but what was intended to be a vehicle of panic and fear was instead kept somewhat to the edges of the city, wary and mistrustful of its surroundings.

The giants and dire animals, in contrast, were very real. Fortunately, we were able to use our numbers and our knowledge of the city to gain the upper hand and quickly turn the tide. I am told the last giant was felled just a few hundred yards from the city walls.

From his interrogation we learned of Mokmurian, a sort of upstart, insurgent leader with ambitions of uniting all giants under his reign. His plan appears to be to whip up a frenzy with promises of retaking the human lands, and these widespread raids appear to be early rewards for his followers. While I do speak of it a little flippantly, I have no doubts that he is very dangerous and very capable, and he certainly has the mettle to make it happen. We are told that he has a great deal of magical talent, and was audacious enough to claim a taboo site in his homelands as his fortress. These are the signs of one who knows they have power, and knows how to use it to wrestle control from others.

Though we have so far been successful, sometimes comically so, in defeating the bands of giants as we come across them, I do worry about what is on the road ahead. After entering Jorgenfist, we will no longer be dealing with isolated raiding parties of overconfident and under-prepared adversaries. We will be quite literally surrounded by giants. Though our resources are numerous, they are not unlimited and even these small skirmishes have left us drained. And then, there is still the matter of the dragon, a creature that breathes fire and flies high where it is difficult to fight. I fear that we are neither prepared to defend against it– we can all be burned by fire as easily as we burn others– or to take meaningful combat to it.

I will raise this concern with the party in the morning. We need to think, and to plan.