== Moonday, Sarenith 16, 4708; The Devil’s Platter; noon ==

We took the time to identify the handful of magical items taken from the fallen giant leader, and immediately put one of these to use.

[604] +2 giant hide shirt
[605] +1 heavy dwarf bane pick
[606] +1 light pick
[607] +1 ring of protection (Sabin)

I found Mayor Devlin and asked her about her abducted cousin, the paladin Gavin. She said he and his brother, Brak, had settled in Sandpoint and opened the Two Knights Brewery forty years ago. Sadly, Brak was killed in the “late unpleasantness” some years back.

This was startling news, because that earlier disturbance in the town appeared (now) to have been related to the Rune Lords, as is (apparently) our latest problem with giants. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Meanwhile Trask and Avia were dealing with the survivors of the Scarnetti family, whom Trask managed to rescue by lobbing a fireball at a trio of giants that had been hauling them away.

After a little healing from Avia they all looked like they’d live, and the old woman found hiding in the ruins of the manor turned out to be the matriarch of family. She suggested that we hang around to help the family rebuild, but when Avia said we needed to pursue the giants, she pulled out a box and opened it. Within was a large and heavy translucent red gem, which she handed to Avia with a, “We Scarnettis always remember those who help us.”

[609] large, translucent red gem (ruby?) ~1500 gp

We were anxious to follow after the giants, but I thought it best if we gather additional information if possible. The slain leader would require a Speak with Dead spell, which none of us had memorized, and so we settled for talking with the living giant we had captured.

Sabin and I entered his cell, looking as conspiratorial as we could, and tried approaching him as an agent of Mokmurian ready to help. But the giant was far too suspicious, and so I quickly changed tactics. He was obviously very much enthralled by Mokmurian, and I was able to play off his obsession.

We found that the name of the invading giant leader was Taractynous, and blame was placed squarely at his feet for the failure of the assault, what with only puny little humans standing in the giants’ way.

On Mokmurian himself our giant gushed enthusiastically. Long ago great and immensely powerful lords of magic ruled the world, subjugating even the mighty giants. Most of the great ruins found about Varisia were built by the giants (the “sons of stone”). Occasionally a giant was born with the ability to use the same powers as their masters — even long after these overlords were overthrown and their empire reduced to dust. Mokmurian was one such giant who was born with the ability to wield this ancient power.

Mokmurian could turn his enemies to stone, while making his own skin into hard as granite armor. He could even make the very ground reject his foes, flinging them into the air.

He was so great that he defeated a mighty red dragon in power, and forced it to do his will. This was in fact the same dragon that had brought fiery ruin upon Sandpoint.

He had united all giants, ogres, trolls and ettins to a single cause of taking the lowlands from the puny scum that infested them.

Mokmurian had entered the forbidden Valley of the Black Tower (a place of ill omen in giant history) and claimed it for his own. Only one such as mighty as he dared to tempt fate. And there he built a magnificent fortress, which he called Jorgenfist after the entryway to the giant’s land of the dead. Truly a blasphemous act, but so powerful is Mokmurian that he need not fear the repercussions of his actions.

As far as the stones from the Old Light, Mokmurian had commanded that they be brought to him. The stones themselves would reveal great secrets that he would find useful in his plan to reclaim all the lowlands for the giants.

If memory serves correct, in one of Olithar’s journal entries he had mentioned that the local Sandpoint arcane expert and historian, Quink, had a theory that the Old Light may have been used as a mighty weapon in ancient times. Perhaps the secret of such a weapon is what Mokmurian wished to find.

I continued to question the giant about Mokmurian, and stated that I greatly desired to see this great Lord of the giants, and to visit his mighty fortress from which he controlled all of giant kind.

From a “Read Thoughts” spell Sabin was using, I later learned that the idea of what Mokmurian would do to us tickled the giant’s fancy, and so he proposed a deal. If we would take him to the Devil’s Platter, a hard scrabble of barren rocks to the south east of Sandpoint, and released him, he would tell us how to find Jorgenfist.

I stated that this might be an acceptable agreement, if we could arrange the details with the city officials. Sabin left at this point to confer with the rest of our group. It was my intent that they would set off ahead of us and set up an ambush at the Devil’s Platter, taking down the giant after he had given us directions.

Mayor Devlin had no objections to our taking the giant out from Sandpoint and doing away with it.

And so I agreed to the giant’s terms. Sabin and I would take him to the Devil’s Platter, unharmed, and there we would release him. Neither Sabin nor I would harm him or attempt to track him down afterward.

We returned in an hour’s time and left town with the giant. The large fellow was still in chains, because the townsfolk would have been enraged to see him walking freely out of Sandpoint.

As it was there were a few knots of people standing along the way to the gate, and they shouted insults and threw stones at the giant as we passed.

Soon we were a good distance from Sandpoint and we removed the giant’s chains, and continued on to the Devil’s Platter. Along the way I continued to question the giant about Mokmurian, both to glean additional information and to make sure we could be heard from far away.

I discovered that Mokmurian was regularly sending out scouting and raiding parties, which came down the Storval Stairs and fanned out into the lowlands to the south and west.

We reached the first round top of our rocky destination, and standing in the old campsite that the invading force of giants used on the way in we stopped and the giant looked around in all directions, and then waved eastward.

“There, in the very middle of the the Iron Peaks, you will find the Valley of the Black Tower, where Jorgenfist sits in all its splendor. Head east, and climb the Storval Stairs, that great and ancient work of giant kind, and continue east. Scale the mighty heights of the Iron Peaks and find the Muschkal River. Follow that river and it will lead you to the Valley and to Jorgenfist.”

We asked if the giant was heading back now, but he said no, he could better serve Mokmurian by spying out the lands for a while longer before returning.

At this point Sabin said, rather loudly, “Well then, we are off to Jorgenfist!”

And with that the other members of our party quickly sprang out from the surrounding scrubby brush and quickly killed the giant.

Interestingly Nolin had picked up a new skill and charged in on his horse, skewering the giant like a pig on a spit.

For our part, Sabin and I kept our words and simply walked away.

After the killing was done, and the giant dead, I searched the body thoroughly and found a sihedron rune tattoo on his right shoulder. It was the same tattoo we saw on citizens of Turtleback Ferry who were regular customers of Lucretia.

What could it mean? I have no idea, but I removed the patch of skin with a knife and am keeping it with Barl’s head.

== Moonday, Sarenith 16, 4708; Road from Windsong Abbey to Galduria; evening ==

The Storval Stairs is a well known landmark, though none of us had seen it. My home is on the vast Storval Plateau, and I have been at the northern most feet of the Iron Peaks, and of course Hook Mountain, where we had slain Barl Breakbones, is the southern most outlier of that range. I knew that the Muschkal River flowed out from the mountains and feeds into the Storval Deep, but I had never seen that river, and have only seen the northern and southern extremes of the Deep itself.

We decided to head down to the Lost Coast Road and try to pick up the trail of the fleeing giants. We suspected they were making for the Storval Stairs, and aimed to overtake them before they reached it.

Our path would lead us over to the town of Galduria, some three days distant, and then up to the settlement of Wolf’s Ear. We had already planned to visit these villages as part of our original mission from Magnimar, and so this way we could kill two birds with one stone.

We found the trail of the giants we were pursuing, which mostly followed the road to Galduria, and so we set off at a good pace.

Just before stopping for camp we came across the grizzly sight of a merchants’ caravan that had been waylaid by the giants, as they had made their way to Sandpoint some days before. The pulped bodies of the victims lay about, and we took the time to bury the remains.

== Toilday, Sarenith 17, 4708; Road from Windsong Abbey to Galduria; evening ==

The weather has held steady and if it weren’t for the urgency to overtake the giants before us I would have enjoyed the ride through the bright green undulating countryside. All trees, thickets and shrubs have given way to a rich grassland stretching away as far as you can see in wave upon wave of gentle rolling hills.

Just after lunch we spotted the lumbering forms of half a dozen or more giants up ahead, perhaps a mile away. We picked up our pace a little and debated our options for engaging the enemy.

I suggested we act like drunken and unwary travelers and entice the giants to come to us. We began to sing and laugh loudly, and sure enough, the giants — there were eight: a few with bags of loot, and two others holding onto ropes binding a string of half a dozen human prisoners — stopped and watched us as we approached. Four giants came rushing towards us, and so we all dismounted, except for Nolin, and made ready for combat, singing and laughing and calling out for the giants to join us.

They did not know what to make of us, and no doubt thought that four giants were more than enough to handle the eight of us.

Avia, Sabin and Derel all waded in against one, with weapons and fists flying, while Nolin charged another on his steed. Trask used magical attacks (involving plenty of fire, which was quite effective) while Rigel was peppering them with arrows. Kane and I provided healing as needed, and the occasional supportive spell, such as Prayer, or Kane’s special lucky touch.

One of the giants realized we were a little bit tougher than anticipated, and he called over to two of his companions that had remained behind and they came trotting over just as the first giant dropped. A second dropped before they backup pair arrived, which stopped them in their tracks with mouths gaping and drool puddling at their feet.

We were still singing and calling out to them in the friendliest of terms as the two remaining giants were being slaughtered. The third fell, and just as the fourth was thinking he might want to retreat I used Hold Person to keep him still while Avia finished him off.

Meanwhile one of the pair of reinforcements began to run, but was blocked by a wall of fire that sprang up courtesy of Trask. In the meanwhile Derel, who had earlier been made invisible, ran over to the two giants standing guard and began to cut the prisoners free.

Nolin charged the fleeing giant, while Sabin, Trask and Rigel swarmed another, turned and tried to join his companion by the wall of fire.

Concerned that the guard giants might slay the prisoners in desperation, Kane charged them, screaming wildly like a madman. Keep in mind that Kane is a halfling, and the giants were, well, giants.

A look of confusion and utter bewilderment crossed both of their faces as one turned to the other as if to say, “What fuck, Bob?”

They decided to flee, but yanking on their ropes they found that they were no longer tied to their prisoners. Derel tripped one of the giants as Avia showed up and chopped it into pieces and Derel pummeled it into giant juice. Likewise his companion only managed to flee a short distance before he too succumbed to the onslaught of the “crazy little people.”

Eight giants dead in about a minute’s time.

The prisoners looked to be in rough shape, and after Kane channeled some healing energy their way I called out asking if Gavin Devlin was among them.

He was, but he had no idea why he was abducted, nor any notion why his devotion to Abadar would single him out for special giant attention.

We surmised that since Abadar was the patron deity for merchants, and the invaders had explicitly demanded that the town surrender them or face destruction, that whatever was uniting the giants had a special need for or hatred of the sort of people who excel at this line of work.

Devlin was keen to lead the other five freed townsfolk back to Sandpoint, via Windsong Abbey, which he thought they could reach by nightfall if they left right away. And so we equipped him with some leather armor and a quality longs word, as well as handing out simple weapons to the others, and waved them off.

We would be relying entirely upon Kane and my spells for creating food until we reach Galduria because we sent them off with all of our travel rations.

I have confidence that they will make it back to Sandpoint unhindered. It seems that all wild creatures or robbers have been driven away from the road by the passage of the giants.

We encountered more rotting remains from the giant incursion by late afternoon, and one of the giants’ allies, an ogre, was among the victims. It too had a sihedron tattoo on its right shoulder, and I sliced it off and burned it later.

We rode until past dark, and set up camp next to the road. If we ride all day tomorrow we should just reach Galduria before sunset.

== Wealday, Sarenith 18, 4708; Galduria; evening ==

We started early and traveled hard throughout the day. By mid afternoon the tips of the distant Malgorian Mountains could be seen peeping above the eastern horizon. An hour later and we were making our way through the outlying farm lands and hamlets on the outskirts of Galduria.

Talk about the depredation of giants and their kind was found anywhere you lent a sympathetic ear. A farmer who had lost his son was lamenting the fact that if his boy had not been off gambling with his friends he’d still be around to muck out the pig sty. I wondered if young master Gregor had really been taken or if he had simply walked off, but the old man’s words gambling convinced me he was just the sort the giants were after.

We reached Galduria before nightfall, and hastily arranged for a meeting with the mayor. The town itself had been spared from all but a few raids, and these were simple loot and pillage affairs. Indeed the mayor took the issue rather lightly until we told him of Sandpoint’s recent encounter. But Galduria was even less defensible than its distant neighbor to the west, and so we advised that they set up alarms for early warning in case the giants decided to visit en masse.

Galduria is a nice town, somewhat larger than Sandpoint, and perched upon the western shore of Ember Lake. We watched the sun sink behind the mountains on the far eastern shore as we made our way to a comfortable inn just off the main street near the center of town.

The town has a reasonable sized garrison, and the watch seems alert and able, but we have still set our usual watch.

== Oathday, Sarenith 19, 4708; Wolf’s Ear; evening ==

As we rode northward on the way to Wolf’s Ear the land to the west became wilder and wilder. By early morning we met the first few stragglers of trees from the Churlwood to the north, and be mid afternoon the road had plunged into the forest itself, providing only glimpses of Ember Lake to our right.

Maybe half an hour from the town itself was a cairn by the road. It was giant sized, and pushing away some of the stones I saw a giant’s face stuck with spines like a pin cushion. “Manticore,” I heard someone behind me say. Moving a few more stones I discovered he too had a tattoo on his right shoulder. Yet another scrap of skin for the fire.

Wolf’s Ear would have been a quaint trading village on the edge of the wild had much of it not been burned out, torn down, or deserted. We found a village elder who claimed that the giants regularly passed through the town from the northeast on their way to parts south and west.

The worst of the traffic started up about a month earlier, and at first the giants would make a point of stopping in Wolf’s Ear to knock down a building, eat someone’s livestock, or snatch someone out from their house. But now everyone in the town kept an eye and ear open for them, and whenever anything larger than the blacksmith approached, the citizens ran off into the woods and waited for them to pass.

We were given an abandoned house in which to stay for the night, and we are on high alert. The towns folk confirmed that manticores and a host of other deadly creatures lurked in the Churlwood, but they mostly kept to themselves if you did not go out of your way looking for trouble.

Tomorrow morning we will begin our journey following the Lampblack River to the outpost of Ravenmoor, several days to the northeast. We then continue on even further still to the distant Storval Rise, and there, not far from where the river drops down in a thundering cataract from the plateau above, are the Storval Stairs.

It has been more than a year since I came down from my home lands on the Storval Plateau, but I have never ventured to the western ends of that high place. My family’s trade routes extend mostly to the east and south. And yet we share tales around camp fires about the horrors of the Gnashers, and what really lies beneath Chorak’s Tomb upon frigid Lake Skotha.

But our goal lies in the Iron Peaks to the south, and already I have cast my gaze too far ahead. There are many long leagues between us and the Valley of the Black Tower, where Mokmurian holds his sinister court.