Troubles on the Road

Miscellaneous

Though they have a map pointing the way, the journey north towards their goal is anything but simple. The group crosses paths with a Giant, discovers a terrible corruption, and makes a new ally at the site of a grisly massacre.

The first night after leaving town Rodrick notices a strange sight during the midnight watch. A large boulder lay on the opposite side of the road where previously there was nothing. Quickly and quietly alerting the team they approach the boulder only to discover it is one of the Lesser Giants, and they've just woken it up. Angry at having its rest disturbed the giant goes on the attack. Initially ready to face this challenge, the group quickly discovers that their weapons do nothing against the giant. In a last ditch effort to save themselves, Rodrick offers the giant information. He tells him where Mosshall is and that he's sure the town would be happy to feed the giant. Curiosity piqued, the giant takes one of the groups oxen, as well as the groups guide, and heads off towards the town. Shaken, but otherwise alright the group beds down again for the night.

The next day the group comes across a grisly sight. The aftermath of a hanging, with the hanged corpse disemboweled and hoisted just above the path. After cutting the body loose and pulling a sword from another corpse that had been impaled to the tree, the group discovered a path of footprints and a trail of blood leading into some long grass. Following the trail they discovered that the long grass was filling a strange crevasse, and the deeper they went into the the taller the grass was until it was nearly the height of trees. During the walk they were attacked by animated vine but were able to defeat them without much trouble. At the bottom of the crevasse the group found the source of the problem: a large, aberrant creature was festering at the bottom of a mudhole. The monster spoke no words but managed to drag two of the group into the pit before it was destroyed. From the middle of the beast the group pulled its heart, but so far it seems to not have very much special about it.


The end of the day brought them to a horrific scene. A large group of people had been gathered up and killed, their bodies placed on pikes in neat rows at the side of the road. Here they discovered a half-elf named Jurita, Priest of the Angels of Iron and a devotee of The Pilgrim. She explained that she was on her pilgrimage but stopped to give these poor souls a proper funeral. The group decided to help her and together they built pyres for the bodies. They spent the night camped across the road (and Rodrick spent the night with Jurita in her tent). The following day they asked Jurita to join them in their travels. She obliged when they mentioned they were hunting undead.