== 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.