Bigger Giant, Harder Fall

Over in the clearing Carmilla ran off to earlier is an eviscerated body, probably the remnants one of the wyverns more successful hunts. Off to one side can be heard some tiny, chittering and laughing little voices through a set of bushes, and to the other can be heard hissing and grunting from much larger creatures. Of course, we want to investigate the more threatening of the two sounds first.
 
On the other side of the bushes is an absolutely enormous troll, one of it's four green arms holding a green drake that, despite being big enough to swallow one of us whole is little more than a dog in comparison to it's master. There's another arch behind him, and he acts friendly at first, inviting us to check it out and he can show us how it works, but we're rightly suspicious and he soon throws a boulder trying to crush us.
 
I was in the back of the group, stunned for a moment looking up at the boulder that suddenly me cut off from the others, but quickly jumping atop it to join the fight. I see Gorm dodging and weaving, the big oaf unable to land a single blow on him, and his drake similarly ineffective. Svenya called up a wall of flame to surround the troll and although it ran from them, a few moments later it seems to summon a fire from inside itself, cauterizing its own wounds. Some people really just can't make up their minds... Fortunately, one of those weapons we got from the pirates was quite effective, the flames flickering and dying out as Mikkil plunges it into him. Without them the troll couldn't withhold much longer, its face soon beaten beyond recognition by a Jormund who almost lost his dog again.
 
It's strange that he seemed to firey magic, though it may have something to do with how he said he was "dragon blessed." Certainly a lot of talk about dragons recently, despite so few people having seen them. Anyhow, the troll had a big satchel with him with a few nice items, most importantly a gem that likely goes in the gate that the kobolds wanted open, as well as a large chunk of stone with the Giant runes "OD." Put that together with the ones on the first arch we came in under, and you get Odin - perhaps a password, a dedication, a destination? The arch in this clearing is fully intact, with another riddle in Celestial and no Giant at the top. This riddle is simply "What never gets wetter no matter how much it rains?" Yet despite having a crystal in it, it remains closed. It seems that the answer must be put in some other way, and the gem is only a part of the key. Since the other arch says Odin, perhaps this one is related to a god as well. Though we don't expect it to work, Svenya speaks aloud in Celestial several words for water with nothing happening, but when she tries the name Aegir, glowing runes in Giant start appearing, spelling out his name. I'm taking a closer look at them, wondering if I should use them as guides to go carve the runes in, when Carmilla says the name in Giant and they go carve themselves in, opening the gate with a tiny flash.
 
Though there's a bunch of plant matter piled in the way, after hacking through I can hear the kobolds again on the other side. We're leaving them for later though, as first we'd like to go see the source of that chittering Gorm heard before our fight. The voices resemble pixies, or at least something too small to be a likely threat, so we call out in Elvish and Common to announce our presence as we hack through the bushes. Once we're through though, the little clearing on the other side seems to be empty. The grass is worn and trampled away, with a half circle of bright red mushrooms on the side away from the entrance, but otherwise no signs of life. That is, until Carmilla goes to eat one of the mushrooms, and Svenya sees a little hatch on it fly open. She makes her put it down, and with her helmet is able to see an invisible little person inside. She calls Mikkil over to mend the new hole in their roof, and with that a little old man comes fluttering out, apparently the only resident that speaks Common.
 
After a few moments of a rather odd conversation which we could only hear one side of, they realize we killed the giants that had been terrorizing them, and suddenly come flooding out, finally visible now, literally dancing for joy! Though the old man is still the only one we can meaningfully speak to, they're all quite clearly friendly to us, offering whatever help they may be able to give us.
 
Of course, given there size there's not much physical help they can offer us, nor do they know much about these gates. They say that they're called Gates of Loki's, and may be usable as portals by the gods, though it hasn't happen for as long as any of them have been alive - but then, the old man says he's only four years. Perhaps the dwarves that said they set up the trap here could tell us something more about them, and if we do come back, perhaps some of us will take up their offer to teach us Sylvan - I only hope that their short life span doesn't take them before we get an opportunity.