Return to Garan's Workshop

I accompanied another party back to Garan’s workshop in the mountains to the Northeast. Once again we did not encounter any Duergar patrols on our travels. I wonder if they might be massing in another location. If so that may be bad news for Scardona.
 
The Duergar who were controlling the workshop had turned off the slow-fall glyphs in the main shaft and set several different traps in the rooms we had previously visited. We were able to avoid them, but one was a large teleportation glyph that we wondered about where it might send the unwary.
 
We found the stone giant and got a look at him ourselves. He did seem dim – and ready to fight. We left him alone while we explored further. In a room higher above him we found the quartermaster who had been spoken of by Garan. He was a large glutton, eating fistfuls of food directly from the storage barrels. With his immense size it looked like he may burst from his skin. After he demanded that we give him our stuff and surrender we attacked. After a few blows he did actually burst, revealing a living skeleton. This had to have been caused by over-exposure to prima materia.
 
Even so, our greater numbers were able to defeat the abomination with little trouble. Looking through the stores we did find several items of value just stuffed in various boxes, some even in with the food. One item was an oblong stone with dwarven runes carved into it. The party surmised that the writing was not dwarven but possibly giant. When I read it I found it dealt with memory. Holding the stone for any length of time it showed the life’s memories of a giant.
 
The stone giant’s room was accessible from the store room, so we went down and gave it to him, restoring his memories. His name is Rock. The Duergar had told him the stone would take away his pain, but it actually took all of his memories. His family had been killed battling the dragon Airva. He was very grateful and knew the current Jarl of the giants (Ragnar, a frost giant) when he was a child. Rock is eager to rejoin the other giants at Lindfold.
 
After escorting Rock to the surface we went looking for the Commandant, and found him along with some guards. The guards were no trouble, but the Commandant summoned a huge slime-like thing that engulfed him and was quite formidable. I was able to banish the abomination, thinking it was fiendish in origin. But no, it was actually a “gift” of the prima materia. I was able to keep him away long enough for the rest of the party to search his belongings and find some treasures. By the time he returned from his banishment we were ready and made short work of him before he could react.
 
As the commandant died we could hear the mutated slaves in the mines below go crazy and start to make their way up. We left rapidly and took or leave of the mountain. The mutants will now wander free in the Duergar territory in the mountains. Hopefully they can cause some damage to their plans.
Aside from some magic items we recovered several mithral ingots and about 2,200 gp value of gold, gems, and jewelry. Between the seven of us that about 315 gp each. Westen will give his share to Rock to help him restart his life.