The Return of an Extinct Lineage
Grand Order of the Lion Field Report
General Summary
Location:
Rylan Woods, Highstone, Cave system nearby housing targets
Operation:
Though it is not my place to question the Lion Lords, I will beg a brief indulgence here and wonder what sway these new headmasters of the long abandoned Wagner Abbey had that their fantastical account could warrant even this small detachment to Rylan. Arion alone might have sufficed to quietly encroach upon that area without detection to find any sign of a cult, especially if they had any numbers of significance, or find out if the local loggers had seen any strange goings on. As it were, it seems my rather uncommon interest in Giant lore and history was deemed a safeguard against any chance, however small, that there was in fact one of the famed creatures of ancient Tairos about. I will ignore the possibility that my hobbies are being mocked and consider it my skill as knight that got me assigned this mission. For two weeks and through the tepid swamps around the lake, the two of us led our four eager recruits in what was largely a test of their martial and hunting skills. We encountered several packs of wolves that we thinned out, careful to remove only the ones most dangerous to nearby settlers and loggers. The scout initiates have all proven adept with their bows and blades, though they were barely men still in their teens. Tunley and Pepperwell had promising temperament, though Blaze was over-eager and Jeffery hesitant in the field due to strict adherence to dogma. Outside of that, early indications were that they would make fine scouts. Considering Panthera division’s unique makeup within the Order, the recent recruiting for soldiers with unique skill sets beyond our armored knights has been promising. On the fourteenth day of our mission, we approached the palisade gate of Highstone by road under a heavy storm. The youths had bared the elements admirably but this particularly nasty weather was starting to grate on them. Their grumbling was beginning to grow louder, and, not looking forward to having to reprimand them should we be forced to spend another night in the wild, I was looking forward to reaching the village and having lodging for a change. Highstone has seen better days. With Frial’s industry growing, they have been reduced to barely an outpost for woodsman, trappers, hunters and their paper processing mill. Arion and I, having been to the area within the last year, educated the scouts on this point. Hardly the exciting location they must have figured for such an odd mission detail. We expected to find barely sixty souls if that within its walls.
With Arion well suited to the darkness, I keep a low level of light from a lantern as we enter the caves. With the corporal’s knowledge of subterranean environs we are able to navigate through the caves without encountering any trouble. Eventually the tunnels end and we enter a large chamber with the ceiling rising above twenty-five feet above our heads. Light fills the chamber and the water from the swamp and storm flows through the chamber like a miniature waterfall. Down below us is about ten of these Seagravian cultists milling about in their blue and white robes. The chamber is well kept and surprisingly comfortable looking, with furniture and other luxuries set away from the water that is pooling from our tunnel. This appears to be their main quarters housing the majority of their group. There is room enough for many times the number of people currently occupying the chamber.
Considering the chamber and the passages that lead to and from the area, including ours, most would not allow a giant or giants, should one exist, to move through them. Only three were remotely tall enough to allow such a creature such as that Wendigo to come and go. Considering the traffic in the area as a few dozen cultists start filtering into the main chamber, we decide to backtrack and attempt to navigate our way through the caves to find a connecting tunnel to one of those three large passages. We do so quietly, until we hear a pair of footsteps coming in our direction during our trek.
Arion casts a small illusion to allow us to blend more into the dark shadows covering the walls as the pair approach us with their light source. We are able to overhear their conversation, largely concerning the trouble happening in Highstone with the search and the Hunger, who has eaten some of their members as we well know. They are seemingly on their way to report to Brom, the high Priest Ahtor told us about in the bakery. Remaining hidden, we watch as more people pass through the tunnel , always in pairs. Their system seems rooted in allowing anyone traveling the caves to navigate them with a partner so they will not become endangered or lost.
More speak on Brom’s anger over the current situation and the cultists concern over how to resolve this disaster. One of the cultists we overhear is particularly worried and refuses to be the one to tell him should they fail. His slight body shifts are indicating subtly one of the tunnels they pass by. This then must lead directly to Brom’s chambers. Signaling to Arion to continue the hunt, we set off again.
We eventually find our way to another good sized chamber well lit by many lamps, this one appointed like a library with several well stocked bookshelves lining the walls. A large, ornate desk rests in the center of the chamber. A tall man in a silver accented robe stood yelling at eight subordinate cultists, who were clearly cowed by this berating. We had found the High Priest Brom.
Signed and Sealed,
Rylan Woods, Highstone, Cave system nearby housing targets
Operation:
- Originally - Ascertain validity of reports or a cult worshipping a “giant”; evaluate four Grand Order of the Lion initiates for full membership
- By circumstance – Rescue Highstone residents from capture, assess risk of the Giant and her forces
- Knight-Captain Rioter Lockruckt – Mission leader, Officer, Specialist Division “Panthera”
- Corporal Arion Thistlewind – 2nd in command, Covert Operative & Scout, Specialist Division “Panthera”
- Order Initiate Tunley Doyle– Scout Cadet
- Order Initiate Blaze Copper – Scout Cadet
- Order Initiate Pepperwell Foley – Scout Cadet
- Order Initiate Jeffery Poplin – Scout Cadet
Provost Marshal …
As you are aware, based on intelligence passed along to us by the owners of the Orphanarium located in Bellhaven, Corporal Arion Thistlewind and I were assigned to scout the area around the Rylan Woods for any signs of this so-called Seagravia and her cult of giant worshipers. As Arion had been deeply involved in the last two months training and evaluating the four scouting recruits, it was decided that we would fold their trial run before official entry as full members of the Grand Order of the Lion into the mission parameters.Though it is not my place to question the Lion Lords, I will beg a brief indulgence here and wonder what sway these new headmasters of the long abandoned Wagner Abbey had that their fantastical account could warrant even this small detachment to Rylan. Arion alone might have sufficed to quietly encroach upon that area without detection to find any sign of a cult, especially if they had any numbers of significance, or find out if the local loggers had seen any strange goings on. As it were, it seems my rather uncommon interest in Giant lore and history was deemed a safeguard against any chance, however small, that there was in fact one of the famed creatures of ancient Tairos about. I will ignore the possibility that my hobbies are being mocked and consider it my skill as knight that got me assigned this mission. For two weeks and through the tepid swamps around the lake, the two of us led our four eager recruits in what was largely a test of their martial and hunting skills. We encountered several packs of wolves that we thinned out, careful to remove only the ones most dangerous to nearby settlers and loggers. The scout initiates have all proven adept with their bows and blades, though they were barely men still in their teens. Tunley and Pepperwell had promising temperament, though Blaze was over-eager and Jeffery hesitant in the field due to strict adherence to dogma. Outside of that, early indications were that they would make fine scouts. Considering Panthera division’s unique makeup within the Order, the recent recruiting for soldiers with unique skill sets beyond our armored knights has been promising. On the fourteenth day of our mission, we approached the palisade gate of Highstone by road under a heavy storm. The youths had bared the elements admirably but this particularly nasty weather was starting to grate on them. Their grumbling was beginning to grow louder, and, not looking forward to having to reprimand them should we be forced to spend another night in the wild, I was looking forward to reaching the village and having lodging for a change. Highstone has seen better days. With Frial’s industry growing, they have been reduced to barely an outpost for woodsman, trappers, hunters and their paper processing mill. Arion and I, having been to the area within the last year, educated the scouts on this point. Hardly the exciting location they must have figured for such an odd mission detail. We expected to find barely sixty souls if that within its walls.
“Chasing ghost stories as far as I’m concerned, Private Blaze. I bet we’ll be in and out before suppertime.”Within sight of the four watch towers, we notice quickly that there are no lights on as would be custom at this time. The bridge was also up and secured over this patch of flooded swampland.-Rioter, skeptical of the reports of giants
“Well Sarge, if you want to toss me across I’ll throw the rope back.”I proceeded to call to the closest guard tower but receive no answer but the continued pounding of the rain. Suspicion and alarm at the extreme stillness of Highstone prompted us to immediately formulate a plan to get over the palisade wall to investigate. We sent all four to, within sight of each other, search the perimeter wall. Improving with Arion’s two crowbars, we tied it off to a length of rope, threw it high and over the wall and used it to climbed up pass the flat stone to reach the top near the gate on the wall. The going was difficult with the makeshift climbing devices and the thick wooden palisade. I tie the rope off at the top of the wall and look over to spy Highstone keep nearby at the top of the outcropping. Similarly, no lights on any of the houses within. I lit a hooded lantern and raised it up, realizing with alarm that the buildings within the township had been damaged greatly by something that fell from the sky, large holes showing from their roofs. We saw no catapults in the area, and the disaster couldn’t have been natural as nothing was struck in this fashion outside these walls.
“We toss each other? Do we do that? Is that standard protocol?”
“Well we really don’t have much of an option. I didn’t bring a grappling hook, did you?”
“When you’re in the field there is no standard protocol. You just get the job done.-Arion’s suggestion is met by the first of Jeffery’s skeptical questioning, which Rioter dismisses
“Standard animal fare, it looks like. Wolves, obviously. Wolves everywhere here.”-Pepperwell reporting back on the lack of any activity in the perimeter.
“Oooh, protocol. Are we supposed to carry crowbars?”Taking Tunley, we ascend up to where one of two guard towers flanking the drawbridge to look for the mechanism that would allow us to open it. The other three remained with Arion. Tunley and I open the door to the tower and, getting some light inside, find the mechanism, realizing that the one on the opposite side tower would need to be operated for the drawbridge to drop. Tunley suggests he go to the other tower to get this going, but I caution that we needed to investigate the area first. While he stood watch, I combed the tower floor, finding a good sized hole in the roof as the rain pattered in. Oddly, though this matches what I found looking down into the township at the other damaged buildings, I could not find what had caused the hole. No artillery, stone, or anything of the like. Having ruled out natural phenomena due to the selective damage done to the buildings of Highstone, I started to suspect magic. My limited knowledge on the subject directed mostly at my archery skills, I could only imagine what could have pierced the solid rock of the tower. I send Tunley out to inform Arion and the others what we found, and what we DIDN’T find, inside the tower before heading to the other tower to simultaneously lower the drawbridge. He leaves, and it is not ten seconds.
“Again, when you’re in the field there is no protocol. Whatever gets the job done.”
“Well, when I was gearing up, I wasn’t in the field…Ok, all right…”-Jeffery again, with Rioter trying to restrain himself from failing him then and there
“Somebody came out but they’re gone.”Pepperwell spotted Tunley leaving the tower, but informed Arion immediately that he just vanished as if he had fallen over or snatched by something into the Highstone side of the palisade wall. Instinctively, Arion prepared his weapons. At that moment, I heard a clattering outside the door and, investigating, I discovered Tunley’s shortsword on the ground. Drawing a weapon, I retrieved and cursing my lapse in judgment, searched desperately for where he had gone. I spotted his lantern, the light having mostly gone out, also dropped on the ground at the bottom of the wall. Tunley had been taken.
“Where’d they go”
“I don’t know, there’s rain and it’s dark, it’s tough to make out but somebody came out and there just gone. Something grabbed them or they fell off the palisade, I dunno.”
-Pepperwell informing Arion on Tunley’s disappearance
“Let me up! I’m ready for whatever!”I call back down to where Arion and the other scouts waited and, Blaze climbing up the wall quickly with the rope I tied off while I covered him, instructed him to get into the tower Tunley and I searched carefully and on my signal, lower the drawbridge.-Blaze volunteering for tower duty
“Is that…is that Tunley’s sword?”I make my way over to the other tower, and similar to the first, found some wreckage caused by the pierced roof by the unknown force. Unlike the other tower, this one had a corpse smashed under the rubble caused by the masonry of the tower being destroyed, with a leg and arm all that remained of the poor soul. They died recently, the mechanism having not been touched in around a day. We get to work dropping the bridge. Arion prepared for the worse now that one of our own had been taken, applying deadly poison to his weapons designed only for emergencies such as the one we now found ourselves in.
“It is. Curse me for a fool, something snatched him when I told him to report back to you all.”
“He loved that sword, he was always looking at it. Probably didn’t see it coming.”
“He’ll get it back once we find him.”
-Jeffery and Rioter discussing Tunley’s kidnapping
“Is that standard issue?”The sturdy chains rattled steadily as we lowered the bridge. The others enter Highstone and we raise the bridge up partway to keep a ready exit but keep any wolves out. Arion assesses the town for the first time noting what I saw from ground level; smashed buildings and no evidence as to what caused this destruction. He retrieves Tunley’s lantern but observes no tracks, either his or his abductor.
“No. But you’re a scout, so you might learn to make this.”
“You make poison?”
“Yes.”
“Wow."
“Yeah”
“Ok”
“Keep an eye out. We’re already missing one person, watch your buddies.”
-Jeffery on Arion’s questionable methods
“Was he pulled into the sky?”
“We’ve seen stirges. They can carry a person away if there are a couple of them looking for somebody.”
-Pepperwell and Arion contemplating what could have taken Tunley
“What’s a stirge? I haven’t been here long”Arion suggests heading to the keep. I mull over the best way to track Tunley, as I had no intention of letting one of the initiates die on this mission.
“Gigantic mosquito. About the size of a bear?”
“Ooooh. We don’t have those in Ghal Pelor.”
“Well lucky you. This is swamp country, boy.”
“Starting to realize it’s nicer there.”
-Blaze revealing his ignorance of the creatures of the swamp. Arion and Rioter inform him.
“This doesn’t make any sense. If there was a catapult throwing rocks you’d have seen stone quarried around here. Why would you deploy a catapult and now destroy the wall of the palisade?”
“Nothing in here makes any sense.”
-Arion and Rioter confounded by this mystery
“If this is a giant, would a giant just…how tall is a giant, right?”Approaching the keep, we stay on high alert and as we approached one of the storefronts, the scouts point out a quickly moving figure nearby. While this is happening, I focused and manage to catch a glimpse of a flicker of some lights, though fleeting, within the keep, verifying that someone or something had taken residence there. Arion manages to discover some recent tracks that haven’t yet washed away. He traces it from one of the stores that the scouts had spotted the movement leading to the inn across the way. Pointing out to me that he had discovered a single set of footprints to verify the scouts sighting, I nod to the others and order them forward towards the inn.
“I’ve never seen one before but I’m sure taller than this palisade wall.”
“As far as the stories I’ve heard, they're as tall as the mountains, sirs, and their stride can take them across the land in maybe ten steps.”
“Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven’t seen signs of any giants yet and if there were giants here we would not do any good here.”
“It’s not giants, and there’s no way there were giants that big, Jeffery. There’s no such thing as giants.”
-Arion, Rioter. Jeffery and Pepperwell discuss giants. Only one of them is an expert on the subject.
“You think there’s something hot to eat there? We’ve nothing but road rations for a while. Maybe they got some of that new Frostmerite mead I’ve been hearing about coming out of the west?”I have Arion take Pepperwell and Jeffery circle around to the back entrance while Blaze and I enter through the front. They find, opening the backdoor, the inn in some ruin as they find another victim of the attack buried under debris, long passed. All three stories have been pierced by whatever befell the structure. Splintered wood and smashed furniture and fixtures were strewn about. They also find signs of some of the wine and foodstores having been rummaged through.
“We’ll see what they’ve got but we got to keep going. Tunley is still missing.”
“You can think about your stomachs and alcohol later. We don’t want any enemies at our backs.”
“Does Tunley want me to have warm bread and butter?”
“You can ask him yourself when we find him.”
-Blaze, Arion and Rioter on the comforts of home and oh right, their kidnapped companion
“I’m ready, I’m ready.”Blaze and I open the front door and enter, my bow at the ready. The bar further back frames the silhouettes of Arion and the others in the back. The staircase leading up to the second floor has been damaged halfway up, pierced by whatever fell from the sky and destroying a good portion of it. Holes from the damage go straight down to the larder. Much of it has been rummaged by someone recently; bags of barley tipped over, supply crates opened, etc. I search what I can from the mess. Whatever has been through the inn was in a hurry as they looted the food stores. I point towards the stairs, planning to search the second floor with Blaze. Arion meanwhile finds a second set of stairs the inn’s workers would have taken to the next floor from the kitchen. Waving over to us, Arion’s side begins ascending. Pepperwell wisely removes the light and allows Arion to lead given his darkvision. At the top, Arion spots a little bit of light coming from one of the rooms. Meanwhile, Blaze and I are forced to jump over the large hole in the damaged main staircase. I reach out to allow Blaze to grab hold to pull him over after jumping over first. Blaze ends up slipping on his attempt and, grazing my hand, plummets down the hole in the staircase, landing with a loud and heavy thud in the larder below. Fortunately, his quick reflexes saved him from the fall being fatal. Badly wounded, but with nothing broken, he lit his lantern. After confirming that he was injured but still able to move, I order him to remain in the larder and keep watch until we can retrieve him safely. The noise of the fall and Blaze’s yell alerted whoever was in the room on the second floor. Arion quickly notices the door close and the being locked in response to the ruckus. Arion rushes to the door with his lock picks. I beat him to the door as I raced up the stairs and pulling my own crowbar from my pack, wrench it open. The room within has clearly been lived in, and the window has been thrown open. We make it inside in time to see someone stepping out of it onto the roof of the inn. The other two scouts, startled at this turn of events, are a step being in joining us. Moving to the window, I spy a hooded figure with an overstuffed pack, likely the goods from the inn, navigating their way in an attempt to reach ground level. The heavy rain was impeding their progress. I wave Arion over and, nimble as always, he swings out onto the roof and, armed with his rapier and shortsword, stab and cut into the legs and side of the apparent thief. His poison is highly effective, and incapacitates his target immediately, screaming and tumbling from the roof.
“Keep your cool, Blaze!”
“I’m trying but we’ve been killing wolves and..I want a challenge, something I can tell people back at base I accomplished.”
“You’ll only be able to do that if you survive this. Whatever is out there, it ain’t no wolf.”
-Blaze and Rioter on the former’s over eagerness
“Nice.”The backpack spills open with the goods from the inn. Blood pooled from the wounds Arion inflicted. From our vantage point it seemed the figure was slight and likely a woman. Arion signs to investigate the would-be thief. I nod and take Jeffery with while Arion and Pepperwell check on Blaze’s wounds.-Blaze, having pulled himself from the larder and resting on the first floor watching the thief fall from the roof from his window.
“Shouldn’t we have tried to arrest them first or given them fair warning?”The wounds and poison weren’t fatal; Arion knew his craft. But the blood loss soon would be and, deciding we needed to interrogate whoever this was, I staunch her wounds with Jeffery’s assistance, administering a couple drops of anti-venom I carry when on mission with Arion to counter the snake venom. The woman is young, though older than the scouts, with a very conspicuous hair style split into pink coloring on one side and black on the other. Generally not something you’d find in a backwards township like Highstone. Among her possessions are a curious amulet that I couldn’t identify, several daggers, equipment suited to burglary and two pieces of Manacite. Wary of the possibility she was a spell caster, I removed her weapons and manacite. When I finished searching her and prepared to bring her into the inn, I hear a scream that was very unmistakably Tunley’s, crying for help, coming from across the street in one of the wrecked houses. It cuts off just as quickly.
“…”-Jeffery asking his dumbass questions to Rioter
“I did not expect that to happen”Jeffery carries the thief back to the inn, informing the others of Tunley’s call and alerting me to my advancement towards the sound. Arion orders Pepperwell and Jeffery to reinforce while he helps Blaze take his time to get back on his feet, then checking to make sure the thief was secured within the inn. I take stock of the building Tunley’s voice had come from; it served as a general store, though it too had been damaged similarly to the inn and the rest of Highstone. Arming myself, I burst through the door. On the counter rested a lantern, throwing light against what was actually making the noise that I had taken for Tunley. It was a giant wasp of some kind, like nothing I’ve seen before. It was the size of a prize hog, and its mandibles chattered and emitted Tunley’s voice. Unnerved, I raised my weapon as three small figures entered the room. As they stepped into the light I found myself confronted by goblins, armed and armored. There was a peculiar pattern of black bands that ran through their armor, as if mimicking the wasp’s carapace. I also then noticed what seemed to be barding on the horror. I offered them the opportunity to return Tunley peaceably.
“No, none of us did”
“What did you find?”
“There was a lady, she was trying to make off with some goods.”
“What’d you do?”
“Stab her.”
“Huh huh huh huh huuuhhhh! NICE!”-Blaze appreciating Arion’s work as he’s helped up
“You have one chance, and one chance only; return my man, or you’ll be filled with holes.”Two of the goblins launch clumsy strikes with their small scimitars and fail to land a blow, but their leader, considerably more skilled, dealt me some damage. Wary of the wasp’s movements as it prepared to fly at me to grapple and impale me with its wickedly large stinger, I doubled back from their reach and let loose an arrow, striking the counter behind them which burst in a wave of force, knocking them forward slightly. This didn’t detour the wasp from launching itself at me and grabbing me with its legs. It stabs me with its stinger, which on its own is extremely painful but it also injected some sort of numbing poison into me. I manage to overpower the paralysis that would have overtaken me had I not been prepared for it. After the wasp’s brutal attack, Pepperwell and Jeffery rushed into the general store to back me up. At the sight of my reinforcements, the three goblins disengage from the fight and make for the backdoor. Pepperwell and Jeffery take aim with their bows on the wasp and fill it with arrows, one of which nearly tearing one of its wings off and another puncturing his thorax dealing an ultimately mortal wound. The large insectoid crumples to the ground and I quickly pick up Tunley’s short sword and attempt to communicate with it to no avail. I put it out of its misery.
“You’ll see your friend soon enough. Don’t worry, he ain’t dead.”
“Then I’ll only need one of you alive.”-Negotiation failing between Rioter and goblin kidnapper
“Where is he (Tunley)!!”I order the two scouts to give chase and ready their bows to fire on the fleeing goblins. Kicking open the backdoor, we find them running through the streets in an attempt to disappear behind cover. I manage to get a shot off and bring one of the goblins to the ground. Without stopping to help their fallen comrade, they continue their flight. Pepperwell and Jeffery fire a volley of arrows that drop the other goblin grunt but only graze their leader. Clutching his injured shoulder he melts into the shadows before making his next move. I had him spotted however, and fired a bursting bolt at a barrel just ahead of him to knock him unconscious. Shouldering our weapons, we move cautiously forward to secure our prisoners if they yet lived.
“(In Tunley’s voice) HELP!”-Rioter finding out these things only parrot voices
“See to the other two goblins. I’ll handle their boss over there”On the lead goblin, I discover a bandoleer with several vials. A few of them, on close inspection, are revealed to be a resin generated by these giant wasps that harden very quickly when the vial is broken over something. It made for a highly effective shackle. I test one of the vials on the goblin, tying his hands to his feet. The syrupy yellow resin hardens within seconds, restraining him. It smells heavily of honey. Picking up our prisoners, we make for the tavern, meeting back up with Arion and Blaze, who is nursing his injury.
“When you say see to them, I assume we’re taking prisoners, right?”
“We take prisoners as needed, and we only need one to tell us where Tunley is.”
“Well I can kill one, if that’s what you mean, sir.”-Rioter, Jeffery and Pepperwell discussing the taking of prisoners
“We’re not here to glory hound, boys. Commendations for all on a job well done, but we still have a man out there in need of help.”Taking a quick breather to treat Blaze and gather ourselves up, we set our prisoners up in chairs, bound with rope. Once properly secured, I slap the group leader awake.
“There’s no glory hounding in the Grand Order of the Lion”
“Executed a prisoner, but ok”
“I didn’t see that. Did you, Pepperwell, see that?”
“No, I was trying to save the one.”
“A damn shame.”
“But he died from his wounds.”-Rioter, Arion, and Pepperwell gaslighting Jeffery on recent prisoner treatment
“You? Ah, I thought we had you dead to rights.”
“It was a good trick, I won’t deny that. But back to our earlier conversation. Where’s our man?”
“I’m one of the swarm speakers, I ain’t gonna give up information easy. Let us go and I’ll take you to him. I swear it.”
“These men went through basic training together. Tight as brothers they are, and I don’t think they take kindly that one of them was kidnapped.”
“We can work out a deal! We’re soldiers too, part of The Swarm! We’re all part of the swarm.”-Rioter interrogating the Swarm Speaker
“Is that what happened to Highstone? Did you attack it?”Arion nicks his Achilles with his dagger to get him to speak on Tunley faster. He quickly admits to having swooped in on the back of his wasp earlier when Tunley was crossing the walkway from one of the gate towers, kidnapping him. He deposited him to their boss, a goblin that is head of their scouting party, one they call Kraglin, the Swarm Master.
“You think us some sort of bandits? No, we came to investigate.”
“And why? Why do you care about this settlement?”
“Because we steal from it!”
“That...that isn’t a great answer”
“Why do you care, this isn’t your town”
“It’s on the edge of Frial’s domain, it’s ours.”
“Frial lays claim to everything, the world’s Frial’s if you ask Frial.”-Rioter, swarm speaker and Arion
“Kraglin will negotiate, Kraglin wants to know what happened here, we’re investigating too!”-The mystery of Highstone’s fate remains
“What do you know of giants?”Finishing up with the swarm speaker, and agreeing that an exchange for our prisoners for Tunley was the most likely course to get him back safely, we move to the thief we caught earlier. Waking her up, she immediately accuses Arion of stabbing her.
"Ghost stories out of legend”
“Giants? No such thing as giants, no no no”-Arion, Rioter and swarm speaker on giants
“Did you stab me?”After a short back and forth with the spirited thief, we reveal that we are Grand Order scouts, and she reluctantly explains that she was making her way to Frial from the west and had spent the night here during her journey.
“Yeah”
“Oh, your memory is good then, we can skip that part of the story"
“It happened real recent, it’s the last thing I seen before I toppled off a roof”
“Yeah that happened as well”
“It’s a bad place to be. Dangerous, real unsure footing in the rain”
“Oh, did you stab me up because I was standing somewhere I shouldn’t have been?”
“Well you have a pack full of looted goods so you want to explain that first?”-The thief accusing us of brutality. Our word against hers.
“Last night I woke up...it sounded like the sky was falling, crashes everywhere. I was staying in the inn and there was screaming and crashing and things falling, and I look out the window and it’s just pillars of ice tumbling out of the sky!”She recounts the events of the previous evening, waking up to loud crashes and screams as pillars of ice rained down on Highstone, crushing buildings and causing several casualties. We admit that her attempt to escape made us suspicious that she might have something to do with Tunley’s disappearance earlier, and, satisfied for now at her story about what happened in town after she tells us that the majority of the townspeople fled towards the keep while she hid to wait out the catastrophe, we untie her bonds. She introduces herself as Nika, hailing from the elven farmlands.-A nearly unbelievable account of what happened to Highstone last night
“We’re ranging out of Frial, so you’re welcome to come with us if you want.”Something about Nika is still very suspicious, not the least of which is the fact that she was found with thieving equipment and having not joined the other townspeople in their flight from Highstone’s center during the alleged ice storm. But for now, I decided to trust her just enough to arm herself though under our careful surveillance.
“That’s where I was heading, I’m hoping to make a life of things there and all this happened”
“It looks like the reports we’ve been getting aren’t entirely fabricated after all.”-Arion, Nika and Rioter on putting some pieces together
“It’s about to be contraband as well”
“Just be aware of that, there’s been some...issues of late with magic users in the city”
“I can’t go back the other way! Ugh, yeah I can take care of myself I’ve done alright up till now.”
“As long as you’re not committing any crimes we don’t have any issue with you.”
“Are you the police?”
“We’re the Grand order of the Lion.”
“We watch out for the city.”-Arion, Rioter and Nika on extracting a non-binding agreement of lawful behavior
“I’ve been living on cheese and beer for the last day and a half so.”Nika then goes on to describe several newcomers in Highstone after the ice storm abated, religious looking people in white robes moving through the streets and buildings, as if they were searching for something in the settlement.
“Better than how we’ve been eating.”
“We’ve got hard tack, want some of that?”
“Or, there’s a dead giant wasp over at the general store if you’ve got a hardy constitution."
“I don’t think wasps have meat”
“Oh, you’d be surprised what kind of protein you can get when you’re out in the wild.”
“We don’t eat the wasps, the swarm provides!”
“It’s two weeks back to Frial, so you’ll want to get used to something.”-Nika, Rioter, Arion and the swarm speaker on traveling provisions
“Well men, looks like I told a falsehood. Things are going to be more exciting than we figured.”Nika verifies spotting lights within the keep of Highstone. It was now a question of whether the cultists had taken the keep or if survivors were holed up there. Arion questions the swarm speaker on the location of their Swarm Master. Their party and wasps were at the Highstone stables, feeding their deadly mounts horseflesh. Jeffery and Pepperwell drag the chairs with the goblins secured to them through the streets as we make our way to the stables. Panicked neighing from the horses indicated our arrival at the stables. Several armed goblins patrolled outside. They spot us immediately as we show them the prisoners we have with us. One of the goblins comes out to greet us.
“YES!”-Rioter and the ever enthused Blaze
“Come, under banner of truce and peace. Come.”Arion volunteers to speak with this Swarm Master Kraglin as our representative. I give my approval and he approaches within ten feet of the stable door. There, he finds nine of those wasps feeding on the remains of the stabled horses, mimicking the noises that had recently come from them. Three other goblins come through the door, one of which in thick armor with a cape of black and yellow, wearing a crown of stingers. He indicates Tunley inside the stables, alive and secured by the hardened resin.
“We just want our man. No tricks and the two of them can go free in exchange.”
“Swarm will sacrifice our brother if need, what we want is information. Kraglin wants to speak to you.”-A swarm speaker and Rioter starting hostage negotiations
“I want to know what happened here”
“Based on what we discovered? We think the town was attacked by outside forces”
“We know these woods well. What could do that? My master will want to know what happened to one our greatest sources of supply”
“We only got what she told us, giant ice pillars”
“How bizarre”-Kraglin and Arion speculating on the events of the previous day
“What about her?”Kraglin was sent by whomever leads this swarm of what we discover are Torment Singer Hornets to discover what happened to Highstone as this was a significant center for raiding supplies for them. We exchange what we’ve discovered and when we say we plan on finding the Highstone residents and potentially taking them back to Frial, he offers to tell us what he knows about their possible whereabouts in exchange for Nika, as they believe her to be what some creature the call the wind that walks is searching for whatever reason. They wanted to use her as a negotiating tool. Arion refuses, and the Swarm Master agrees to leave Tunley with us and retreat from Highstone with the intelligence they have gathered so far. Kraglin provides a vial of solvent to dissolve the resin, and with his remaining force of seventeen goblins and nine wasps after we release our prisoners, mount up and disappear into the sky. Arion confides in me separately the suspicion that Nika is hiding something from us. Agreeing, we set careful watching in our party on her to make sure she doesn’t make any sudden moves or attempts to escape. She was hiding something from us. Freeing Tunley, we discover that he is injured with a stinger hole in the back which paralyzed him. We take some time to recover and let that run its course. We make plans to search for the Highstoners, and to possibly investigate the keep. Nika is eager to commandeer a boat to escape, but we refuse that course of action as long as the townspeople remain missing. A howl pierces the air as we are discussing this. Nika says that it is the Wendigo, which would align with the goblins claim of a wind that walks at night. She makes several overtures to leave Highstone and head back to Frial. Having not discovered whether the truth behind the intelligence received on giants or even where the Highstoners have gone, we refuse and prepare to continue our mission.
“She says she’s going to Frial. We already accepted her into our ranks”
“What if...she didn’t? We want her, she’s curious to us. The wind calls to her”
“We’re not normally giving up people for human sacrifice purposes”
“We won’t kill her, we want to trade her to the wind that walks”
“That walks?”
“By night, a creature comes. A storm steps across the streets and howls. We think it looks for her and other survivors”
“It’s not something I can agree to. Unfortunately I don’t think I can accept this offer”-Kraglin and Arion on wanting Nika as a bargaining chip for this Wind that Walks
“Now what’s going on here?”
“Wendigo”
“Sorry, could you speak up?”
“The what?”
“Wendigo”
“And that is?”
“Out to kill us”-Rioter, Nika and Arion on the unsettling howling
“We’re going to get killed if we keep looking around for people that have already been killed.”Searching the stables after the Swarm has left, we uncovered a bucket full of the honey-like discharge from the Singers that harden into that tough resin, as well as a few more vials of solvent besides. Gathering them up, we listen for the howling to subside some before heading out. Arion and I keep to ourselves the fact that Kraglin suspects that whatever this Wendigo is looking for is probably Nika herself. For the time being, keeping her by our sides was as much a priority as the rest of our mission as she is almost certainly involved in Highstone’s woes somehow. Trying to identify the howling, Arion can only describe it as a mixture of several different animal voices all mixed into one terrifying bellowing, but he cannot identify it and does not believe it to be natural.
“You’re familiar with our order, yes? I think coming here and leaving without helping anybody that may need helping isn’t in our job description. We have a duty to fulfill. You’re welcome to leave if you want, I recommend against it though. Wolves about. Lots of wolves. We should know, we came through a lot of them to get here.”-Nika and Rioter on duty vs. self preservation
“It doesn’t sound like any creature I’ve ever heard”Silently we move in formation, making our way through the streets of Highstone as carefully as we can, guided by Arion’s darkvision and our knowledge of the layout of the settlement. After several minutes of travel, we spy movement ahead of us; a few cloaked figures clad in blue silver trimmed robes inscribed with runes and lightly armed. They seemed to be searching for someone or something. A short moment of surveillance reveals that there are a few of these small groups, normally in threes, going through the damaged buildings in their search. We surmise that this is the cult of Seagravia that we came here to find evidence of. They also match the description Nika gave us earlier. We come very close to the raised mound that the town hall of Highstone is built on. The lights within are more evident the close we approach. Made of sturdy stone, even this structure was damaged somewhat from the alleged ice pillar shower Nika described. We come across an isolated search party and on my orders, maneuver to surround them so we can interrogate them quietly away from their other groups. As they search through the town bakery, we move in quickly, encircling their position. Once we have them boxed in, I called out a greeting. I give them a chance to explain themselves and their presence in Highstone.
“Are we equipped to handle that?”
“I’m equipped to handle whatever it is! Nothin’s immune to getting stabbed!”-Arion, Tunley and Blaze on the nature of whatever is out there
“A divine judgment fell on this city, one that it earned.”They claim that their goddess smote the town in retaliation for a theft that occurred, and that the residents were being punished even as they search for whatever was taken as well as the thief or thieves. Demanding to see the Highstoners, the cultist reveals that they are not in this immediate area. All three are wary of our sudden appearance, and clutch at their weapons threateningly. All three were human, and seemed to hail from the surrounding area given their accents and bearing. Their robes on closer inspection are extremely thick and seem well made for cold weather climates, which makes it definitely out of place here. By the way they held their weapons and their posturing, it was also clear that these particular cultists were not soldiers or warriors. Likely they were scholars of some kind.
“What do you mean? What divine judgment and by who’s hand?”
“By the goddess’s will of course! This town has scorned her. Struck her a terrible blow to her honor and they were punished for it. As will you be if you do not leave hastily. This belongs to her now.”
“This so-called goddess, what have they done to anger her?”
“The divine doesn’t need to justify its wrath to worms!”
“How did they dishonor her then?”
“They stole from her and they will be punished.”-A Seagravite, Rioter and Arion on their side of the story
“Well, this is technically an independent township that does happen to have some business alliances with Frial. This cultist, he knows his politics.”I threatened action against them if they didn’t reveal where the townspeople were being kept, as it became clear that these “Seagravites” had done something to them. Kowtowed by my words, one of them admitted that they were in her “manse”, voluntarily surrendering themselves for judgment. I took the final piece of that admission as a likely embellishment. The speaker also let slip that they were looking for a “girl”, the thief that they are searching for. Confirming Kraglin’s information about the cult searching for Nika with these accusations, Arion and I attempt to feign ignorance but they were undeterred in their belief that she had found her way to us.
“Thank you, Jeffery.”-Jeffery and Rioter on legal oversight of Highstone
“Why do you look for this person?”Arion gave the signal for the scouts to close the circle with weapons drawn during this cultist’s ranting. My continued refusal to reveal Nika and turn her over for whatever punishment they deemed necessary, considering the shambles they have left Highstone in as well as the still missing people, the three advance on me with their weapons. The hidden scouts and Arion leap at them, catching them off guard. I order that they be taken alive if possible. Arion slashes his poisoned rapier at the cultist that was addressing me, drawing a wound to the side of his neck. It quickly takes effect and he drops unconscious. The scouts spring forward and take the other two by surprise, driving them back with furious blows. Nika stays in the shadows, I imagine for fear of being recognized as the thief by the cultists. They bring their weapons up to defend, but Arion quickly follows up with a quick thrust to wound one while the scouts quickly overpower the second with a flurry of attacks with their shortswords. Having subdued them, we treat the wounds of the cultist the scouts knocked out and prepare to question him further.
“She’s the one who stole from us. It better we find her than Seagravia’s Hunger come across her and rips her to shreds. It stalks the streets even now.”
“She doesn’t sound like a merciful goddess.”
“Mercy? You want her to be merciful in the face of insult and thievery? No god would be so forgiving.”-Rioter and the cultist on what will happen to the thief
“Got you, asshole! YEAAAAAHH!”Their robes on closer inspection not only are perfect gear against cold climates but also think enough to double as padded armor. We confiscate them thinking they could come in handy. Before we wake the cultist to question him, we confront Nika on her role in Highstone’s woes. Arion brandished his sword menacingly at Nika.-Blaze enjoying his work
“You would stab an innocent citizen?”After some convincing, Nika hesitantly reveals what she had done that set the Seagravites on Highstone. She spins a tale of having snuck into this Seagravia’s abode and taken one of her “jewels.” She seems to have designs on infamy in order to continue her illicit activities with some of the more powerful criminal organizations. My personal assessment is that though she seems to have some experience and skills, as well as a probable magic user, she got extremely lucky and is now in over her head.
“Do you know why Arion isn’t higher than a corporal, miss?”
“Uh…no, he should be, he’s a great fighter.”
“He is. Very good. Very effective. He should be several ranks higher than he is now. But he’s hard to keep under control.”
“Ok, ok, ok, it’s fine, you don’t have to set your loose cannon ace of spades or whatever on me! It’s fine!”-Rioter just slightly embellishing Arion’s bloodlust to loosen Nika’s tongue
“I’m probably the best thief to live in centuries. I stole from what they think is a goddess, sure, I stole one of her jewels! Can you believe it? I’m the queen of thieves!”Nika has buried whatever she stole from the cult near the tavern where we first met her in order to keep it safe. Deciding to break our trek to the town hall for now and double back for this gem she hid in order to keep it with us in case we can broker a peace with ones searching for it, we force Nika to take us to it. Ignoring her offer to split the amount she will receive for fencing it in Frial, I wake the remaining cultist, who promptly spits blood in our direction from his earlier thrashing. Arion quietly orders Pepperwell to assess the cultist’s mannerisms and speech in case we need to disguise ourselves as one of them. The cultist, Ahtor, responds to our questions by claiming not to know what the stolen item is other than it is some sort of amber stone and that their high priest, a man named Brom, ordered that it be found and returned. Nika, on further prodding, explains that she was meeting a contact in Highstone to charter a boat to take her across the lake and thus to Frial much faster. Not long after arriving, the ice pillars dropped from the sky. Her inability to keep them from following her caused grievous harm to the people here. She goes on to say that this Seagravia and her cult reside in a system of caves not far north from Highstone and that is where she lifted the amber stone. Having discovered all we needed to know, and surmising that the town hall was possibly occupied currently by more cultists from the search party and not any surviving Highstoners due to their assertions that they had captured most of them and were holding them in their base of operations, we prepare to set out to mount a rescue. I promptly knock out Ahtor so he will not trouble us further. First, we needed to recover the stolen item.-Nika exaggerating her resume to the wrong people
“Listen, we don’t know exactly what this thing these people think is a goddess they’re worshipping actually is, I DO know that they’re dangerous now. I DO know that whatever is going on, they have access to powerful magic . I don’t care if it’s worth a million gold pieces, we’re going to get it back and we’re going to figure out how to save the people here.”Arion and the scouts hide the bodies in the ovens of the bakery so as not to attract attention, including the trussed up Ahtor. We then move stealthily back to the tavern.Though we are certain we are keeping out of sight of any of the other search parties, the howling has intensified, seemingly closer than ever. Once we reach the tavern, we, while hidden, can overhear rummaging and the clattering of furniture and other items from within.
“Do you think maybe you should ask your bosses if they want a million gold pieces, they might value that more than forty or fifty wackos that live on the outskirts of the swamp.”
“I don’t think you know my bosses very well.”
“I don’t. I’d love to meet them, you want to go?”
“Oh, you’ll meet them all right.”-Rioter providing his mission statement, as well as rejecting Nika’s alternative
“You’re really good at stacking. I didn’t think you could fit three people in there.”Communicating silently with Nika, Arion is told that she hid the stone under the wreck of the bar. The people currently searching through there now were closer than they realized to their quarry, as well as being in our way. Arion leads us inside and, moving quietly towards the bar, spies with his darkvision a terrifying sight. A tall, gaunt monster, surrounded by some sort of haze, feasting on the dismembered body of one of the cultists. He was likely unlucky enough to wander inside while searching for the stone while this thing, this supposed Wendigo, had come to the tavern. Arion signals the angler fish maneuver and leads us back the other way, stationing scouts along specified hiding spots to survey the dangerous creature’s movements. The Wendigo was preoccupied with keeping his prey alive while he devours the poor man. Arion then approaches towards the tavern window where he had spied another one of the search parties, likely the one the Wendigo’s victim was a part of, and finds them outside whispering to each other and praying. Arion takes up his shortbow and plants an arrow into the chest of one of the cultists. He goes down screaming, with one of his brothers bending down to help him. The third, curiously, continues his prayer almost as if he is compelled to. After being assured by our positioned scouts that the Hunger that is Wendigo is still feasting, Arion draws and fires another arrow at the praying cultist. Clutching at the wound he received, his prayer is stopped and the haze that surrounded the monster dissipates. It seemed it was keeping the noise suppressed somehow, and now his victims’ screams could be clearly heard, as well as the yells from the cultists that Arion had attacked. Perking his head up from his gruesome meal, he drags his half eaten victim along with as he lopes towards the newfound noises. Arion signals for someone to go with Nika to retrieve the stone now that the Wendigo and the cultists were distracted. He moved silently from his spot to another position to continue to keep the cultists from continuing their chant, as that seemed to be the only thing that was keeping the Wendigo from noticing them. The Hunger now was drawn to them, and the ensuing confrontation was the stuff of nightmares. We could not see the thing clearly, but Arion could and his descriptions were unsettling to say the least. That such a creature was commanded, at least in part, by these people was deeply troubling. Rejecting one last plea from Nika to profit from her thievery, she points out the spot she has hidden the stone, and Blaze digs at the spot and withdraws a warmly glowing amber colored stone the size of a coconut. Its cut is immaculate, its surface perfectly smooth as I judge such things, and where it is touched the light intensifies further. Clearly magic was at play with whatever this was. Blaze hands it off to me and I study it briefly, but my limited knowledge of the arcane cannot ascertain what it draws power from. It is pleasant to the touch, however. It is clear from this inspection that it was crafted to fit into something, like stone set for a piece of jewelry. The size, however, of such a piece would be enormous. I stow it carefully in my pack and tell Blaze to signal Arion that it was time to leave.
“Big ovens, you know.”-Nika marveling at Arion’s packing prowess
“We would be so rich, and you guys would actually make really good thieves, too!”Arion keeps watch at the building where the three cultists are trying to get their chant started again, but between their wounds only one of them is able to even attempt it and to no avail. The Wendigo towers over the man, and he is grabbed and his head torn from his shoulders with frightening ease by this demon. Arion leaves that post on Blaze’s signal and we meet back up. Reporting that the Hunger will not be kept busy forever eating the cultists it found, we leave the area and head to the northern end of the settlement. As we again moved in a stealth formation, we passed the Highstone town hall. Now that we are within a dozen paces of the building, we can see the lit interior through the windows. Several armed guards patrol the outside, largely preoccupied with the screaming of the Hunger coming from the direction we just came from. These were likely the town watchmen. I weighed stopping to interrogate them but decided that we would be better off making haste to where the Highstoners were being kept. If the constables were fortified here, they could hold this spot until we returned with the others. In any case it seemed they were not intent or had not the knowledge to mount a rescue attempt. At the outskirts of Highstone, we followed the muddy tracks that remained of the cultists and, presumably, the townspeople that lead us directly to the caves Nika claims they are ensconced. Tunley voices concern for the wellbeing of the Highstoners, and Arion assures him that if the Swarm Lord Kraglin’s information as correct, they were alive when they entered the cave system. We make our way through the partially flooded swamp, and find the cave entrance behind several scraggly trees and tall patches grass. Whether through terrible happenstance or having been herded here by the invading cultists with their ice magic, the townspeople had likely thought these previously abandoned caves would provide shelter. As to the force strength of the Seagravites within, we would soon discover.
“If you’re as good a thief as you say you are, then it wouldn’t take long to make up for the loss today, would it?”
“Is that supposed to be inspirational, because you’re really shit at it.”
“I’m not in the business of inspiring thieves, Nika.”-Rioter’s sarcasm might have snuck by Nika
“I don’t normally come back to the scene of…I don’t want to call it a crime, but the crime.”
“You guys want me to punch her? I’ll punch her right in the mouth!”
“That won’t be necessary for now.”
“Yes sir, just willing.”-Nika, Blaze and Rioter
“Not that I don’t want to make sure these people are ok or anything, but if they fled to here, I feel like there’s a pretty good chance they may have been captured already, or dead? I just don’t want to get the scouts killed here for what was supposed to be reconnaissance.”
“I agree, on the other hand we have to find out what happened to them one way or another. We could leave them here to watch Nika.”
“Yeah, I would feel better about that.”-Arion and Rioter on dangers the scouts may not be prepared for
“It’s our responsibility to make sure those people are safe or if they’re not find out what happened to them. But it was YOUR responsibility to come out and do reconnaissance which you’ve done admirably. Your responsibility ends here.”Arion and I decide to order the scouts to remain outside the cave and watch Nika, and should we not return within the allotted time, to make their way back to Frial to report to the Order what occurred. All four have preformed their stated duties well, and we did not want to put them in danger they would not be ready for as initiates to the Order of the Lion. The corporal and I were to proceed alone into the caves.-Rioter on instructions to the scouts
“Oh you’re not free to go, you’re to stay with the scouts.”
“Ho, Ok, I will.”-Rioter and Nika, right before binding her hands with the Torment Singer resin
“I hope you die in there.”
“Oh I’m sure you don’t mean that. Because if we do, you’ll have less of a chance of making it back to Frial alive.”
“These guys are real idiots though…ooohhh.”
“One more insult out of your mouth and I’m going to hit it. With my fist.”-Rioter, Nika and Blaze. Who may be displaying a troubling pattern
“We must find the seed! We need it immediately! We set loose the Hunger, and we thought it could sniff it out but it’s not working so we need more men up there.”The high priest reveals during his tirade that he is the one that loosed the Hunger on Highstone and is shockingly unconcerned over the deaths of several of his men in their attempt to find the stone, what he calls the “seed.” As we surmised, the chanting was in effect a silence spell to keep the Hunger from detecting their presence when they were near it. After his gruesome instructions to send more cultists above to search in spite of the fact that this creature poses a severe risks to their own ranks, most file out with two remaining with the high priest. On Arion’s suggesting, we follow stealthily in the wake of the six departing cultists. We break off from the group at the first side tunnel that will take us back to the main chamber, having mapped out a considerable portion of the tunnel system at this point in the mission. As we return, we spy a large group departing for the surface to continue the search, with several of the group we were following earlier reassuring the around a quarter of their men remaining in the chamber that the Hunger had been caged and that it was safe. It seems trust is at a premium in this organization. We estimate roughly thirty cultists leaving to help with the search. Thus far we would estimate their present numbers to be well over a few hundred if this chamber’s size is any indication, with some in their ranks capable of magic besides. The nature of the Wendigo under the tenuous control would be even more concerning if they had more control over it. With more of them having left, I decide that Arion and I needed to don the robes we took earlier from the cultists we defeated and make our way through the caves to find the Highstoners once and for all. Even supposing the reports of giants turned out to be utterly false, we were badly outnumbered so subterfuge was my call as the best course of action. We are able to make our way through the small crowds without drawing any attention due to their all cosnuming distress over the theft of the seed. From the main chamber, we find that the three huge passages are clearly labeled with directions, indicating the way back to the surface, one of them “Seagravia’s Temple” and the last of them as “Seagravia’s Chamber”. Taking a gamble as to where the Highstoners are being kept, we make our way to this temple, hoping that it leads to another large area. Sneaking down there without any trouble, we find indeed a wide area with thick columns set throughout the cave, which is heavy with stalagmites and stalactites both. There is a raised area in the stone that houses an altar of sorts covered by powder blue clothes and symbols that are chiseled into the rock of the wall. It all looks relatively recently fabricated. Below the raised area, we see a pit that we begin to approach. As Arion gets nearer, he hears heavy breathing and static electricity in the air. He backs off, figuring rightly that the people are not in this chamber and desiring not at all to find out what creature the breathing is coming from. Observing the chamber while Arion scouts, I surmise that this area is a congregation center of sorts, with the altar meant for holding large objects, or even for sacrifice. The amateurish and slapdash nature of this area suggests that the cultists were in a hurry or did have the knowledge or expertise to make a more elaborate “temple” to their goddess as it were. They had not been here more than a few months if the construction here is anything to judge by. I notice no texts beyond certain symbols and runes carved into the walls that were spotted when we entered. I carefully scoured the runes, noticing that they were not random engravings but were in fact in the ancient language of the Giant race. You will forgive my insolence, Knight Marshal, if I take a moment from the seriousness of this recounting to formally put forward that my selection for this reconnaissance mission first crossed my mind as some sort of jest. My knowledge of the arcane is well known in the Order, but much less is my proficiency in ancient Giantish, despite these people being long extinct save for the abominations that now plague the north. Few would scarcely believe that any true Giants exist anymore in Tairos, and their knowledge and history are scant and exceedingly rare. My information, you can be assured, is accurate to the sources, scarce as they are, that I am learned in. The runes carved in the Temple venerate a clan of Giants known as Gelt. The House of Gelt was one of the most prominent of the Giant rulers back before Melanthris was even a dream. Their society was divided into these ruling factions, each with their own territories and feudal systems over the smaller races that lived within their considerable reach. I understand the Gelt and other houses like them resided largely in the north, so what any would be doing this far south remains a mystery up till now. Ancient Giant politics kept any one power from ruling all of their kind, but House Gelt was one of the more prominent and powerful clans to exist. Furthermore, Giant nobles such as the Gelt were said to reside in mansions in the clouds, while their subjects and lesser houses worked their lands on the continent. Respectfully, I will keep the nature and reasons for my knowledge to myself, but as it happens, my…expertise is at the Order’s disposal as these cultists could not have come across such intricate runes and history all on their own so easily. One other thing, to my admittedly best hypothesis, the Giants of old were powerful in arms and magic, but were hardly deities and the other races did not venerate them as such nor did giants force them into such worship. Brom was playing some kind of dangerous game, and this mission had revealed at least that much with his deliberate magical assault on Highstone and the subsequent release of the Hunger upon it. Many of the cultists we have interacted with seem to be true believers in their Giant patron, which made them dangerous in their own right. Enclosed in this mission report is a transcription of as much of the runes in the temple that I could make out, and its translation. It could come in handy down the line in dealing with this group.
“But it’s eating some of us!”
“Not everyone, it can only eat a few at a time! The rest can be looking for the seed.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to break that to the rest of them!”
“Tell them that it’s under control’. Only the ones that are eaten will be the ones who know that it isn’t. And keep the silence spells up, that is how we are protected. It can hear your heartbeats.”-Brom and a Seagravite with his bullshit management detector on discussing the high turnover rate
“We need to get out of here and warn Frial at this point. The claims are legitimized.”Backtracking towards the main chamber away from the Temple, Arion investigates the other passages outside of the ones leading to the surface and to Seagravia’s chamber, desperately trying to locate where the Highstoners are being held. He finally notices one of the side passages leading to a chamber entrance (normal sized) covered by a black cloth tarp, standing out as none of the others were similarly covered. We make our way over to that chamber, though the cultists had calmed down noticeably from their earlier panic and thus were more alert. Arion was spotted while I clung to the shadows and called out to by two of the cultists walking together. They question the corporal about the whereabouts of his partner. The rules on traveling in pairs or greater to avoid the dangers of this cave system were ironclad, demonstrating a great level of discipline in this respect.
“That much is true.”-Arion and Rioter discovering this wasn’t a prank
“Where’s your partner?”Arion manages to convince them that it was a minor mix-up and scurries off before they have a chance to realize something was off. We meet back up and approach the black tarp. Immediately we feel the intense cold beyond the thin covering. The cave system in general is brisk but this chamber was truly frigid. We thankfully had on the robes of the Seagravites to ward it off. A pale blue light leads the way through the short tunnel exiting into a circular chamber covered in ice from ground to ceiling and across the walls. In the middle of the chamber is crowded roughly fifty figures seemingly carved from ice. These, we surmise, were the Highstone residents and survivors sans the town constables, somehow frozen solid by powerful magic. In the middle of the crowd is a pillar of ice that rises from the ground five feet, holding a pulsing blue sphere. Its light bathed the townspeople and, we theorize, keeping them frozen. The chamber was crowded with the people stored here, and I resolve to inspect the sphere and begin advancing the twenty feet into the room to reach it. The temperature plunges as I close in on it, and is low enough that even the robes cannot fully protect me and painfully, I handle the sphere. Arion remains back to watch the entrance. Our early suspicions were confirmed; the sphere was some kind of magic device and the energy it was putting out was not only keeping the prisoners frozen, but was also what was used to put them in this state in the first place. The sphere seemed to be chiseled from sapphire, but I could not figure out how to reverse the magic coming from it. I pull a hammer and piton from my pack to gently rap it against the sphere. My error in judgment caused the stone to pulsate briefly, releasing a wave of cold that struck me to my core as well as resonate with the frozen townspeople. One of their legs shattered under the force and it toppled over, thankfully not shattering completely as he struck the ground. I turn to inquire if Arion has any ideas but he comes running towards me in the center of the chamber, fighting through the wave of chill, warning about the cultists that he had eluded earlier coming here looking for him when he didn’t emerge from the tunnel. We hide among the densely packed townspeople and Arion casts an illusion to mask our presence. Spotting the townsperson that fell over, they move to examine him. Arion’s sharp ears pick up some of their conversation, and to his surprise, the cultist refer to the fact that this Seagravia, their avowed object of worship, does not know about the people in this chamber. The internal politics within this cult was starting to become muddled. Was Brom making a play for more power? Or was he simply concerned as to what their master would do if the theft was revealed and they had not resolved the situation? Nixing Arion’s suggestion to permanently silence them and preferring to take prisoners as leverage and to question besides, we come out from hiding and launch several quick strikes to subdue the pair. Arion fires his bow at the cultist while I grapple the other easily, warning him not to struggle. Arion threatens the one he attacked while drawing his weapon, demanding his surrender. The cultist obliges. Knowing that the noise could carry to the other tunnels, we ask how to turn off the freezing effect from the sphere, but they claim not to know, saying that Brom was the one to activate it to start and that some of the other higher ranked members of their order might know as well. They were only here looking for Arion.
“By her will, uh…”
“You will get lost down here or worse, tumble into the pit! No one goes alone!”-Seagravite and Arion on the dangers of traveling without your buddy
“Seagravia doesn’t know about these people at the high priest’s urgings.”Arion reveals that he heard them speaking and they reveal what has been happening to this point. The thief, Nika, had snuck in and stolen the stone, or seed, from Seagravia while she slept. Brom promised her he would find the item and the thief. His methods, seemingly unbeknownst to the giant he claims to be the high priest for, included attacking the city with ice magic, loosing a Wendigo into the town, then capturing and freezing the bulk of the Highstoners and placing them here until he can interrogate the contact that was supposed to meet Nika on her whereabouts. Somehow, they know that none of these people were the culprit. This raised all sorts of questions about Seagravia if her followers were committing these heinous actions without their matron’s “blessing.”
“Brom wants to get the stone back! He promised he would get it back.”
“She doesn’t know the stone is missing either then.”
“Oh no, she knows the stone is missing.”
“So he’s looking to cover up his fuckups. He hasn’t found it.”
“It was stolen while she was asleep.”-Arion and the Seagravite on what has been happening under their goddess’s nose
“This Seagravia you worship, what is she like?”Arion forces the unrestrained cultist to attempt to shut down the magic from the sphere, and he yelps as his face is forced onto the burning cold gem. The unfortunate truth is that these two in fact did not know how to use this magical device, and the intense cold is too much as his head is frozen solid and he slumps to the ground, dead. As Arion goes to collect his dropped bow, the tarp moves aside and another pair of cultists enter, calling out to the pair that entered earlier. Shocked at the scene before them, they advance, but I hold them off with the cultist that is still in my grip. I demand that the townspeople of Highstone be freed.
“She is the winter’s glory, the rose of the north! She is our star, our moon, our goddess! She is benevolent and loving.”
“And she summoned ice to smash Highstone?”
“Uhhhh, well, we needed to find that seed right away.”-Rioter and Seagravite on their goddess’s nature
“We want the Highstoners freed.”They initially hold steadfast to the belief in their High Priest Brom that the captured people know where the seed is, to which we retort that he has unleashed the Wendigo/Hunger on the town, and it has indiscriminately slaughtered several of their members. Arion prods for the one we captured moment ago to admit to these two that they know that their Seagravia did not want the Hunger unleashed, and it was Brom circumventing her wishes in this manner.
“No, they know where it is!”
“How do you know that?”
”Brom said so!”
“What assurances does this High Priest have?!”
“He also said that he has the Wendigo under control, and he has lied to you about that.”
“You know how many of your own the Hunger has devoured? At least a few, because we’ve seen it.”
“For Seagravia, right? If it chooses to eat one of us, we are one with her, yes?”-Rioter, a recently entered Seagravite and Arion argue over the Highstoners’s release and their faith
“These people will be freed.”The cultists insist they know not the ritual to release the townspeople from the power of the sapphire stone generating the freezing magic, claiming that perhaps Seagravia’s Chamberlain might be able to do so other than Brom himself. With Arion remaining with the earlier captured cultist to watch over the frozen Highstoners, I put my handcrossbow, hidden by the folds of my robe, to the back of one of the newly arrived Seagravites and order them to take me to see the Chamberlain in Seagravia’s chambers without alerting the others in the caves. They reluctantly do so, though they attempt to signal to their friends in the tunnels which I catch on to early enough to thwart with increased threats to their wellbeing. We eventually arrive at the entrance to Seagravia’s chamber. They inform me that their goddess spends most of her time here, and the Chamberlain and her assistants also are frequently within as well. I order them to lead me inside.
“We don’t know how!”
“Who else other than the High Priest knows how?”
“Um, Seagravia, or her Chamberlain…um, maybe Bohnannan? I don’t know!”-Rioter’s demands from the cultist are met with a shifting of responsibility
“It’ll open up into her chamber. It’s big, it’s very nice. We gave her the nicest one.”The chamber is as large as the central one that houses the majority of their order, and nearly as cold as the one the townspeople are frozen in. Many people in those same blue silver robes are working here. A natural waterfall cascades down and sends fresh water through this cave into a large pool. An enormous canopy covered bed, one made for someone four times the size of a large man rests in the chamber, its make fine. Similarly sized furniture, a desk, chairs, table, are arranged around the chamber. Atop the table, a couple assistants attempt to carefully pour a decanter filled with some kind of liquid, likely cider according to conversations overheard by our captured cultists, into a goblet big enough to be a bath for a human. Several others fold clothes that are clearly made for giant sized wearers. These curiosities are made inconsequential to the figure that emerges from the pool, water splashing about the stone floor. I will admit, though I succeeded in the end, that it was difficult to keep from getting to distracted from the fact that before me was indeed a giant of legend. Presuming I was not under a spell or hallucinogen, I observed as the powerfully built woman, which I estimated to be twenty feet tall, washed herself at the waterfall. Her hair is long and silver, and her features striking and beautiful. It is easy to see why some might venerate her on her physical presence alone. The scant information I have at my disposal does indeed identify her as a cloud giant of House Gelt. Giant subtypes are not my specialty if such a thing could be anyone’s, but giantkin are said to be very distinctive in their physical differences among their kind (a totally different coloring of the skin and hair for instance from), and so it would seem the reality of those histories have been revealed.
“You’re going in first.”
“Oh, I didn’t…uh, do we have to?”
Pulls out second handcrossbow
“I’ve got one for each of you.”-Pressured Cultist being convinced by Rioter gives him the tour
“Oh my sweet Sandor.”As she steps out from under the waterfall, attendants come to hand her a robe that could have been mistaken for the curtains from a castle. One young woman, whom I take to be the Chamberlain, speaks to Seagravia and appears to be the only one to do so directly. I overhear her telling the giantess that her stone has not yet been recovered though is assured by Brom that it is being handled. Seagravia seems to place great value in the stone as she asserts that nothing is more important than its safe recovery.-Rioter whispering upon seeing Seagravia fully
“Brom assures me he is on top of everything.”The direct attendants and the Chamberlain seem to come and go as they please without needing a partner, though it is not immediately obvious how one would tell them apart from the normal cultists we have come across, other than the fact that they are all women. As the Chamberlain passes by me and my captives to leave the chamber, I begin speaking with her.
“He better be. I…He better find it, there’s nothing more important in here, you know that.”-Chamberlain Addison and Seagravia on the theft
“You are the Chamberlain?”
“Who are you? I don’t recognize you.”
“You recognize everyone that joins your cult then?”
“Yes, who are you?”-Rioter and Addison
“I want the Highstoners that are trapped here freed.”I tell her that I have come to see the townspeople released, and she seems genuinely surprised when I reveal that Highstone was attacked by a storm of ice and its people kept frozen not several tunnels away. She counters that Brom has agents in the town searching for the stone, but she is unaware that the Wendigo has also been let loose.
“Is this an invasion?”
“An invasion? No, what’s an invasion is what happened to Highstone.”-Rioter explaining to Addison what has been happening
“I don’t know what manner of creatures your Seagravia keeps as pets but a beast has been stalking Highstone, screaming and devouring humans.”The Chamberlain suggests going to Brom to straighten this whole thing out, but I warn that if he’s been acting without their “goddess’s” consent, he would only deny it. She goes on to say that Brom is a part of their long term plans to reclaim what Seagravia considers to be her territory, or at least what would have been Gelt lands eons ago. Knowing for certain now what this organization’s ultimate goal was, I tread even more carefully.
“She only has one pet, Hrodigeir. What are you talking about? Wendigo the spirit is not a pet it’s in the soul cage. It’s not to be let out, it’s supposed to be a weapon.”
“A weapon that has been unleashed against your own and the people of Highstone if there were any still left in town.”-Rioter discovering from Addison what the Wendigo is to them and the existence of at least one more large creature
“Men are not supposed to be in here, this is her private chamber.”The two captives I have with deny my words through I offer to take her there myself to show them the people that are being held in ice. Arion at this moment was being accused by the remaining cultist we had captured of trying to prevent a goddess from bringing magic back to the land. Catching the corporal off guard, he lunges with an icicle he picked up off the ground, but miss striking anything vital. Using his stealth and his ability to see in darkness to his advantage, Arion circles around and holds his weapon threatening to his side when he reappears beside him.
“Am I committing some sort of blasphemy for standing in this chamber then?”
“Well, no, but we don’t want any perverts in here…”-Addison and Rioter on trespassing in her private chamber
“Listen, the end of this, really depends on you. Do you believe that Seagravia will take care of you in the afterlife?”Addison suggests speaking to Seagravia to make my case. I instead reiterate my case to take her to see the frozen people, to which she agrees to on the condition that I leave my weapons here. Obliging that request with laying them all down save for a hidden knife, I mention that she should make sure the two that are here with me do not leave to warn Brom.
“Of course!”
“Do you want to test that theory? Your friend has already done that now.”-Arion’s reasoning is beyond reproach
“The goddess commands it. Stay here and avert your eyes! It’s her chamber.”When she pushes back the tarp and enters the chamber, she breathes an audible gasp at finding all the frozen townsfolk within. I first apologized for the death of one of the cultists that attempted to deactivate the sphere, albeit due to our threatening him beforehand. She admits the wrongdoing and approaches the sphere, speaking in giantish the activation words “Glory to House Gelt” to end its cold resonance. The people at this point begin noticeably thawing, though it would be some time before they would return to normal.-Addison and her strict no peeking rules
“So you claim this High Priest Brom acted against Seagravia’s will?”
“If he did this then yes…”
“My compatriots and I certainly didn’t.”
“Seagravia wouldn’t have said to destroy that town, she wants her property but she doesn’t want to spill blood if she doesn’t have to.”-Rioter and Addison speak on the orders that led to this whole incident
“Explain to your chamberlain what happened!”While Addison sorts out what had happened in Highstone, we make mention of the Wendigo, rebuffed once again by our description of the Hunger as her pet. Apparently Seagravia has a Behir, a hunting serpent that she keeps as an actual animal companion. The Hunger, meanwhile, is a fearsome spirit she keeps as a lethal weapon only.
“We didn’t want the goddess to be upset so we took every measure to retrieve her property in her name…uh in her glory…”
“Including unleashing her fearsome pet, the Hunger?”
“That is not her pet, it is a weapon. Hrodigeir is her pet!”
“I fail to see the difference.”
“Semantics.”-Arion, Seagravite, Addison and Rioter learning the difference between a pet and a weapon
“What do we do from here, are we enemies?”I attempt to offer a solution to our problem; release the townsfolk back to Highstone and we can speak further on what they are attempting here. She asks if I know where the stone and thief are, but I ask to know what it is Seagravia is so desperately looking for before I answer. Addison informs us that they will thaw completely within an hour and offers to take my back to Seagravia’s chambers to speak with her.
“I…we were sent by the Order of the Lion to investigate you Seagravians, or whatever you wish to be called, because we have received reports about you and to discern the true nature of what was happening in the area. It’s a lot more complicated than I would have even expected.”-Addison and Rioter on opening communications
“What exactly is this thing she’s looking for?”Insisting that we both come with her, we follow her back to the giant’s chamber. Her position here must be higher than even Brom’s considering the respect granted to her and the relationship she has with Seagravia. When we enter, we find the giantess on her bed dressed in a silvery robe drinking from her goblet. The two earlier prisoners are nowhere to be found. Rearming myself, I warn the Chamberlain that if the two were more loyal to Brom than Seagravia, there could be some nasty business coming. Noting Seagravia’s persistent fanning of herself, I realize that the swampy climate of this area was not palatable to her. The Chamberlain introduces us to Seagravia, and gives me leave to speak. I cautiously approach where she is sitting, realizing that she would be up and upon me in one shift motion no matter where I would stand. I attempt greeting her in giantish, but are rebuffed by Seagravia for speaking their tongue. It would seem that giants find it offensive when someone not of their kind uses their words. I apologize and continue with my message, explaining our mission and what we found when we arrived in Highstone.
“She would have to explain it to you.”
“I wish to hear it.”-Rioter and Addison
“As your Chamberlain said, we indeed come from Frial, sent to scout the area on reports of activity here. Activity that we could not imagine would have been the cause of all this. She tells me you’re looking for something, and that’s why Highstone was attacked by your High Priest?”Seagravia is at first incredulous at the idea of the Highstone people even being imprisoned here, and claims to only want the item stolen returned. Seagravia speaks at length of the land surrounding Frial to have been Gelt property, and remembers when the land was cooler instead of the dank swamp much of it is now, as well as when magic still was easily accessible. The way she speaks suggests that she has been time displaced, a theory that I only vaguely understood to be impossible without vast magics, for she speaks of a time far removed from the Rebuke, farther than even the founding of Melanthris.
“High Priest Brom has his best agents out looking for the seed.”
“And among these best agents is the Wendigo, this Hunger that has been unleashed upon it?”
“No, that is locked within the soul cage.”
“You may want to check your soul cage then. Last we saw, it was devouring one of the brothers that pay homage to you.”-Rioter and Seagravia on conflicting field reports and improper use of operational assets
“I played as a child in these caves when this land was crisp and cool and beautiful, and now it is muck, ankle deep everywhere. It is warm, and sweltering and awful and your land is dying and magic is withering and I am going to fix these things. Because it seems no one else can. But I will do it from my throne.”
“You will restore the corrupt leylines?”
“I will.”
“You promise grand things, Seagravia.”
“It won’t be easy but I will have my family’s kingdom restored, and that means magic as well.”-Seagravia and Rioter on the devastation of Tairos
“If you claim them to be your people then you have to prove it to them. And right now you are working at a deficit because of what supposedly the High Priest has ordered.”
“I am the heir of House Gelt and seemingly the last of my kind in this entire benighted world. I do not need to prove anything to you, but I will certainly enforce my right with my cult, once I straighten them out, and my armies. If I need to grind Frial to dust, I will do it. I would take no pleasure in it and I will spare every life I can but I will sit on the throne that my father promised me.”
“I am no ambassador, I am merely a soldier. But if it’s war with Frial you desire then so be it, because it will not give up its claim to its land. There is still the possibility of a diplomatic channel though.”-Rioter and Seagravia on the impossibility of getting over entitled property claims
“I need it to bring my people back”
“To bring more of your kind? More giants, here?”
“I only know that it’s the key to doing it. My father gave me…well, there are instructions he gave me. That stone is vital, as is our looking glass. In the vault, beneath my throne.”-Seagravia informing Rioter what the seed is theoretically capable of
“What is your name?”Over several minutes and frank conversation, Seagravia reiterates her intent at retaking what she claims to be her family’s land, Frial and its surrounding areas for what seems to be a hundred miles or more. She does not seem to be inherently violent, as she wishes to take it back as non-violently as possible. Brom’s actions were not from her order, and I am inclined to believe that having read their reactions. She could have easily subdued Arion and I without much effort, so our gamble that this was the case paid off. When I inquire as to the nature of the stone or seed, as she calls it, she explains that her father left her this item as a means of operating some sort of looking glass underneath her throne in what is now Frial to potentially bring her kind across. I set aside the fantastical nature of such a claim for the time being. She eventually stands and bade me to come with her. She wished to show me something. I follow, with Arion staying behind with the Chamberlain.
“I am Captain Rioter, of the Order of the Lion.”
“You speak so boldly, Captain, for someone, well, in the position you are speaking to someone like myself.”
“I’ve seen much.”
“I respect it. Come with me, I want to show you what I promised.”-Seagravia and Rioter’s continued parley
“What’s going to happen?”Seagravia gestures to the top of the temple, which I take several more steps than her single one to get atop of, to show me a wide open area peaking beyond the chamber we are in. Below, I catch sight of what must be her pet Behir, Hrodigeir. He is a great serpent that puts even the Wendigo to shame, and around its coils are hundreds of ice sculptures, carved in the likenesses of soldiers, archers, mounted warriors, and even some ferocious creatures. I recognize manticores, owlbears among their ranks, all so finely detailed as to be mistaken for the real thing if not for their bodies of ice.
“I don’t know. She’s usually not one to be sarcastic.”-Arion and Addison
“That is my army. As a child I played down there with them, gave them names, played many games. Never did I imagine I would have to unleash it but I will. That is my promise and I would like you to carry it back to your people and end this war before it starts.”Seagravia bade take this message back to Frial. The Order of the Lion is now its representatives as the first armed contact she has had in this area. She promises to use her army, which she claims she can animate, to bring ruin to Frial should war break out. I count several hundred soldiers and dozens of large, menacing creatures among this army of ice. But the Behir alone would be formidable enough. I had no doubt that, given the power behind even High Priest Brom’s acolytes being capable of damaging Highstone to the extent that they did with their magic, Seagravia’s abilities must dwarf theirs significantly, so I do not take this as an idle boast.-Seagravia’s message to Frial
“You have my word as a member of the Grand Order of the Lion, your words will be delivered and given the due consideration they are owed.”-Rioter’s promise to deliver the message
“They came in here in the night and swiped it from my necklace.”Seagravia will free the townspeople to go where they wish as long as I deliver her message, which I promise to do on my honor. I hold the information on Nika back for the time being, and ask that if Brom was behind the attacks on Highstone without her leave, that he be punished for his transgression.
“Bold indeed. Very bold.”
“Incredibly bold, she cackled like a fiend and I assume on purpose to wake me up and let me know it was done as she was leaving.”-Seagravia relating to Rioter on how Nika conducted the heist
“I would ask a boon, Lady Seagravia. This High Priest Brom of yours, if he had acted against your will, I would see him punished. I trust in your words and convictions, but I would not trust someone such as he that would unleash such horror upon innocent people.”She considers this and beckons me to follow her back to her chamber. Once at her seat, she bellows for Brom to appear. After a moment, he meekly comes from his own chamber with the two cultists that we had left here when I took Addison to see the frozen Highstoners. In a moment of weakness, I strike one of them for his falsehood earlier. I apologize to the Chamberlain for this.
“All the things that you could ask for, and that’s what you want?”
“Yes, only the safety of the people.”-Rioter and Seagravia on how to deal with this Brom fellow
“My apologies.”Seagravia questions Brom as to whether our claims were true. Faced with the thawing people a few tunnels away, he has no choice but to admit to his guilt, saying that he had done so to not worry her.
“We try now to punch people as a punishment.”
“I can appreciate that, but military discipline dictates that such things happen on occasion.”
“We’re a priestly order!”
“And I’m sure as a priestly order one of your tenets is to not tell a falsehood.”
“Yes, we hold the truth above many things.”-Rioter and Addison on lying rats and what to do with them
“Is it true? Is all of it true?”The giantess, at this, reaches down and picks him up, casually flinging him against the wall. The man dies instantly, his body crumpling to the floor. As you are aware, I have fought in many battles in the northern realms of Frostmere. The creatures that reside there could hardly be considered giants compared to the specimen Seagravia represented, but I was very familiar with the power behind their throws. Seagravia did not lack for physical strength even by that measure if there was any doubt.
“Yes, but we were trying to, um, to take care of it for you so that this burden wouldn’t weigh upon our goddess.”-Seagravia allowing Brom to sign his death sentence
“There you go.”After giving my approval for the execution of one who has caused much death and destruction in Highstone, I ask again what she needed besides the seed. The looking glass, she explains, was the second piece and is supposed to be in one of her father’s underground vaults underneath Frial. Knight Marshal, I will now ask for forgiveness from the Lion Lords if my instinct is proven wrong, and will accept any punishment that would come with it. I made the difficult decision to offer up the seed, which I had with me since Nika revealed its hiding place. I did not sense any falsehood from Seagravia’s words in our short time together, and though it had been my original intention to bring it back to Frial for safekeeping when I discovered that it could be key to some sort of pathway for more giants to enter, I also trusted her convictions towards tending to non-violence. I believe there to be a peaceful resolution to this, and this act of trust could be a catalyst for that. Certainly Seagravia, wherever and whenever she came from, was assured in her kind’s superiority and ownership over the land formally held by House Gelt, and a level of entitled arrogance crept into what would have been a lifetime of fostering that feeling, but I sensed that she is despondent and desperate to recapture something lost long before we other races rose up here. I believe her to be ultimately not to be an evil force, though she could be a dangerous one. If I have made the wrong decision here, then may I be damned for it, but my gut tells me otherwise. Seagravia is delighted in the return of her heirloom, this seed, and I could sense that it gained us a level of respect that we may be able to foster into non-violent encounters in the future.-Seagravia passing judgment swifter than any court
“I ask only one thing, that the thief’s punishment be left to us , and that also, when the time comes, we find a diplomatic solution. Nobody wants anyone to die (looks at Brom’s body), not anymore anyway. Even if the words of your kind sound mangled coming from my mouth, I do have a great respect for their power. And I do believe that magic should be returned to this land.”I thank the Chamberlain for her trust in us in allowing us to prove our case, and recommend that she look into any of Brom’s followers to be sure that they will not follow in his misguided and callous footsteps.
“Pacts are deeply important to my people and I would not agree to something that I didn’t intend to do. I can agree to give you the thief, as long as you promise that she gets some sort of punishment.”
“She endangered the lives of Highstone. She won’t get off with just a slap on the wrist. We were afraid that High Priest Brom’s punishment for the thief would have been less merciful.”
“Considering the Hunger’s involvement.”
“I will put that back in its cage.”-Rioter, Seagravia and Arion on what can and can’t be promised
“This is the closest I have to family. Thank you.”Some of the first thawed out Highstoners approach Seagravia’s chamber. Taking stock that they are in good health, relatively speaking, I ask if any of them is the leader of the garrison. The woman in that position, Wilhemina, was not among the captured. We also discovered that she had ordered the gates closed when the ice started to fall, refusing to let anyone still outside the walls in. She and the other nine members of the town militia had holed up in city hall, explaining the lights we had seen passing through. Our guess was accurate, but not the cowardice they seemed to have displayed in this disaster. With Seagravia’s leave, we take the fifty or so townspeople and lead them outside the tunnels. Reconnecting with the scouts and Nika, we take back Highstone and arrest Wilhelmina and her men. We decided to leave them imprisoned in Highstone for the time being, with the agreement that they would get a fair trial, pending Kreastos involvement. Some of the Highstoners decide to make to Frial under my recommendation that it might be safer, but most stay here, liking their isolation and independence from the city. A few even are talking about joining Seagravia, which is not hard to understand considering how impressive and power a being she is. Nika, in the meantime, was bound to Frial with us; I intended to keep my promise to Seagravia that she punished in some fashion for the role she played here, though what form that would take, I did not know. My initial recommendation would be some measure of incarceration or public works. She is a magic user of some kind, and there is a need for such skills now. After taking a day to rest and restock our supplies, we leave Highstone to return to Frial. The storm that had been affecting the area has caused us to divert our path back to the city. It is here that I conclude the mission report, with our reconnaissance, evaluation of the scouts and the safe return of the Highstoners a success.-Seagravia taking the seed back
Signed and Sealed,
Knight-Captain Rioter Lockruckt
Missions/Quests Completed
Operational Outcomes:
Confirmation of Reports of Cultists and Giant Activity: Verified
Evaluation of Scout Recruits: Satisfactory, recommend all as full Order members
- Tunley Doyle– Solid, reliable, steadfast
- Blaze Copper – Overeager, aggressive, but ultimately follows orders without complaint
- Pepperwell Foley – Creative, problem solver, calm. Recommend leadership role
- Jeffery Poplin – Intelligent but rigid. Needs more flexibility
- Cultists, mostly amateur combatants at best, numbering in the mid hundreds. Some are magic users capable of potent spells. Origin of magic is unknown, but likely granted or taught by Seagravia
- Relics of power capable of freezing and holding an unknown amount of people. Potentially others
- Hrodigeir, a huge Behir, serpent of legend
- The Hunger, Wendigo, near giant sized itself and immensely powerful and monstrous
- Army of ice statues, unknown capabilities, and monsters numbered amongst the soldiers. Numbering in the low hundreds
- Seagravia herself, Cloud giant, great strength, unknown magical prowess
“I don’t know what languages you know.”
“I know…common, dwarvish and for some reason giant.”
“I told you, it is because you’re the man they sent on this.”
“I get why they would send me, I don’t know why I would know giantish.”-Chris, Chris and Kyle on Rioter’s seeming giant stanning
“You could try a history to know. You can at least read the language, but what do you know about this long vanished people.”
-Rolls a 20-
“Did you roll it? He got it, he did it, he did it, he did it!”
“I am the chosen one!”
“He was sent for a reason!”
“Are you a giant?”
“He was polymorphed into a human.”-Chris, Kyle and Chris on Rioter’s dark secret, which no one must know
Timeframe: Nisaba’s Guile 3rd to 17th
This report covers two sessions
Report Date
09 Dec 2021
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
