"I have memorized a spell that allows me to keep watch all night with no ill effects. The rest of you can sleep, I will maintain a vigil."
"No problems here."
"Sounds good. I could use the rest." Tayanalla says.
Karkoran sits quietly during his overnight watch. It would be a good time to practice his maneuvers, but would disturb the others. Instead he reviews his formulae book, making notes about his recent tumor discovery. He detaches his tumor and observes it, he keeps it close and quiet, but works with it empathically through various scenarios.
Voice of Baphomet (Abyssal) "My son, why do you remain imprisoned like your master, break free, kill the dwarves, they are useless. Take their treasures and make yourself strong. Join my ranks again, I will lead you to your captured wizard."
Karkoran barely registered the dark voice, snuffing it out with carefully controlled willpower. He sighed and tried to meditate.
Bazzt continues to nibble on his fruit while grobly sleeps. The goblin will snore through the night. When Bazzt finishes his fruit, he will nap for a few hours before crawling out of Grobly's nest to snatch another large peace of fruit. Bazzt will then return to the pile of hay and clothing grobly has arranged and wrap his wings around the goblin, eating the fruit, dozing, and repeating until morning.
Grobly will awake early, not having to stand watch, and begin his morning devotions for his druidic spells. His prayers revolve around some handful of natural earth, burning it, then watering it, and then planting the 'blessed' earth in some area to help growth.
Druid 0:Create Water, Detect Magic, Spark, Stabalize
After done with his spells, Grobly will find a basin, fill it with water, and begin to bathe. After his is done, Grobly will look at the white clothing he has claimed for his bedding and tear it apart, keeping the sleeves and long back of the robe but little else.
Grobly will then head over to the food that had been provided the night before and eat his fill. Bazzt will eat another fruit.
The night passes uneventfully. Karkoran as you watch, you hear the guards outside change several times, but no one knocks or checks on you.
Some time passes, and you your spell ebb, which is really the only signal you have regarding how much time has passed, and the others begin to waken. I imagine the casters will take some time to prepare their spells for the day, and eat some of the food supplied or some of your own.
Day 3 - Morning
Several hours later, you hear some noise outside and a knock comes at the door. Perhaps assuming you moved the crates at some time, or even now move them, you hear keys unlocking the lock, and the door opens. Head Marshal Hawke steps into the room and greets the group with a nod.
"You are scheduled to meet with Thain Ironfist in one hour. I suppose you are about as presentable as you are going to be." He notes the barely used garments. "Unless you have any urgent need or questions, I will return in one hour. You will be lead to a specially prepared audience chamber. We will have to confiscate your weapons for that audience. I realize you are probably dangerous without them, but the medusa has a bow. Also, we will require her to be blindfolded. This may seem an affront, but the Thain's royal guard make these rules not me. If you wish to speak with him you have to follow their rules. At least I convinced them to not have you in shackles. It was frowned upon when your animals were mentioned. They will have to be left behind, despite any assurances that you can control them. They will be safe and secure. I shouldn't have to tell you to be respectful of the Thain and his advisors. The Dwarves are hard people, and the Thain is stubborn but reasonable. My understanding is that there will be linguistic magics used to facilitate communication. I have already advised the Council regarding the details of our meeting, your compliance and willingness to come this far. They have all the information they could need from me, and although I will be present, I will not be speaking other than to clarify a question addressed to me. I will give you a few minutes to relay this to your companions, and I await your questions."
Hawke patiently waits.
Grobly will look to the door when it opens, and gulp down the food in his mouth.
Ashe is ready to go. She slept solidly, memorized her spells for the day, and gobbles whatever good is available, eating a lot for her size. She ignores the clothes.
Karkoran stands, and speaks to Hawke in Celestial "I am ready. We are prepared to speak with your Thain. We have no malice or ulterior motives, other than to make a place in this world, to acquire knowledge and resources to rescue our master. Your council can apply all the divinations they like to determine that we speak the truth."
"Is he saying anything interesting? Why they want us here maybe?" Taya asks Lump and Karkoran.
Lump translates for the others, saying "So, we will meet the Thain in an hour. No weapons, no spare animals, and ... Tayanalla, they say they'll need to blindfold you." in adding the last part, Lump looks uneasy, like someone bearing bad news yet unsure how.
The group is led from the room leaving Bazzzt the bat and the two velociraptors behind.
Down multiple halls and through various winding corridors, some of them quite low or narrow, providing quite a challenge for Karkoran. Eventually you are brought through a small door which opens into some sort of antechamber. The door seems nearly invisible on the exiting side, and is part of an ornate mosaic on the wall.
This chamber has quite a few dwarven guards in it. As seems to be typical for the fortress, they wear heavy armor, and have hammers, picks and heavy shields.
In this room Karkoran and Tayanella are relieved of their weapons. It is also here that they intend to blindfold Tayanella before you enter the next room, presumably where the Thain and his council will meet you.
"Not happy about the blindfold, but I'm not surprised. Do they have tiny little blindfolds for all of the snakes on my head? That'd be fun to see...." Taya says.
She reaches out and rests her head on top of Lump's head.
"Don't steer me wrong"
After letting Tayanella blindfold herself (none of the guards wanted to get that close to her snake hair), and at a word from someone outside the door, Hawke nods to the group and they are ushered into the next chamber.
The room is plainly adorned and it is clear that this is not the regular audience chamber of the Thain, but perhaps has been set up specifically for this meeting. A large wooden table ornately carved sit in front of the Thain. A carved panel adorns the front side of the table as a sort of vanity panel. The carvings depict dwarves in typical dwarven activities of mining, smithing, battle, brewing, and stoneworking. It seems obvious who the Thain is, sitting in the center in a large high backed chair, wearing full battle armor. While in some manner it appears ceremonial, you would estimate it is fully functional if need be. The Thain has dark hair, somewhat graying, and wears a sour look on his face. Whether he is in a bad mood or this is his normal look isn't clear yet, but it isn't a good sign. His long thick beard is braided in four parts, each braid kept in a golden band with valuable jewels. His armor is silvery and highly ornate, etched and inlaid. His head is bare; with no crown or helm. He has some sort of vellum scroll in front of him. Next to him is another dwarf, shorter but portlier, and possibly even more glum, dour and cranky looking. This dwarf too wears armor, although it is clear this armor while excellently maintained has seen quite the number of battles. A large symbol of twin axes hangs from his neck. Four other dwarves, two per side flanking these two are dressed more plainly, in thick robes, but they do wear heavy and obviously valuable jewelry, rings, torcs, bracelets, and beard jewelry. Twenty or more guards encircle the room and stand at the table front and back. They are heavily armored and wield loaded heavy crossbows in addition to an arsenal of other weapons, axes, hammers, spears and picks. In the back behind you stands Hawke, and next to him an older human man, his hair white and thinning. He wears simple blue robes, and has a bemused look in his eye. You aren't sure if the man is perhaps slightly senile or if the look belies some sort of mischief. Given that they would not likely invite a senile old man to these proceedings, you guess the latter.
The Thain stands as does the Council. Speaking less out of genuine welcome, and more out of rote formality, the Thain speaks in perfect Common that you understand. "I Thain Yarvik Ironfirst IV welcome you to the Nordron Holdings, on behalf of King Karl Thunderforge." The formal greeting ended, he sits again as do the other dwarves. The rotund dwarf to his left, perhaps his principal advisor, glowers at you hostilely. Grobly in particular gets the most bitterly angry of looks, the mere presence of a goblin an affront to all that is dwarven. He also seems to be watching you closely, intensely concentrating, taking in all of you, searching up and down, and seeming to look within you even.
Thain Ironfist speaks again "Lets cut to the chase here. Head Marshal Hawke has given me his version of your story, at least what you told him. I want to hear it from you. Why are you here? Where do you people come from? We have information that there are more of you abominations somewhere to the north with the savage goat people. I need to know what exactly is going on here."
Tayanalla's head tracks on the dwarf king as he speaks .... as if she could see him through her blindfold.
Grobly enters the room with wide eyes. He had heard the stories of Dwarves form his kin, before the times of Goodwin. They looked too short to be longshins. The young goblin will take in all the architecture, displays, and craftsmanship with an intense curiosity, going so far as to almost ignore the others in the room. This is the wrong place to fight. Be nice, make them like you. Don't fight! Don't fight! Don't fight!
Grobly will let out a small snort at the term savage, but otherwise remain quiet, going so far as to cover his mouth with his hands to keep from speaking, knowing full well this is Lumps arena, not his.
Karkoran will try his best to present a pleasant demeanor despite the Dwarves being grumpy. He will wait for Lump to talk and warm the Dwarves up before opening his mouth.
"Greetings, great Thain. I am called Lump. To appeal to your admirable sense of straightforwardness, I will be concise, though your question and title demand a full answer. Where we are from, ourselves and the others you have reports of, there was some catastrophe unknown to us. Our teacher, Master Goodwin, had a contingency plan to send us to a temple where we could continue his teachings. We were an experiment in morality, where he taught us to forsake our more bestial ways and live with civility. Something happened, we don't know what, but it is apparent that a great deal of time has passed. Even the common language of our day has evolved beyond our comprehension into what your contemporaries speak. We don't know if the temple we seek has been lost in time, or if our Master's spell has taken us to the wrong place."
"In any event, we arrived here with naught but our bedclothes and each with an item we kept by our bedside. We were a large group, but we have no true leader among ourselves, so we split up in smaller groups. Without a Thain or the like to unify us, larger groups make decisions overly difficult. I had no knowledge that our contemporaries headed that direction, we thought it best to split up into groups to cover more ground. We do know a bit of the goat people, they attacked us under cover of darkness, thinking us to be nature spirits sent to test them in a coming-of-age ritual. We prevailed. Our small group before you sought your fortress in the hopes that your walls had preserved knowledge of history far enough back that we would recognize events and orient ourselves. We seek knowledge of your world and time, to see if our Master is known to civilizations of this era, to see if the temple we seek can be found. To that end, as we imagine there may be a great deal of travel involved, we also seek to earn the coin of your domain and provision ourselves better than we currently are."
The snakes on Tayanalla's head go back and forth, looking from Lump to the Thain, following the conversation.
The Thain seems to consider your words as do the other counsellors. He rubs his chin through his thick beard in contemplative thought. The entire time his brow is furrowed and scrunched. "Lump, a peculiar name. I must say I am impressed with your eloquence, I had not expected such from this group." The armored dwarf next to him whispers something in his hear and the two of them nod. "Your words ring true however, and as unbelievable as your story is, I have no further reason to doubt it at this point. You must understand my situation however. A horde of humanoids of dubious origin comes storming from the hills Hell bent on finding their lost master. These humanoids need food, clothing and equipment and are desperate to complete their task. How long before they begin taking what they need, and scare or intimidate the local populace of good people into giving them what they want. I need to maintain order and honestly I can't have goblins and minotaurs rampaging about the countryside looking for clues under every rock and log. It is only through good fortune and Head Marshal Hawke's decision to watch you rather than immediately shoot you, that you are still here. We do not know your histories, and despite my dislike for all of you and this situation, I would not have on my conscience the deaths of those who had perpetrated no wrong doing in these lands. Nor will I clap you in irons and toss you into the dungeons, even though that would be the easiest solution. Never let it be said that I take the easy way out." He pauses again and the others look at him expectantly.
"To be honest, I am indifferent to your plight, though I can understand the bond for master and kin. However, your request is simple, and I am inclined to assist. I am willing to offer aid ...in exchange for something. You may speak with Loremaster Cronin (at this he nods at the elder human in the back of the room) and access what knowledge, maps and history he is willing to provide. This is after you provide a service for the realm. We are troubled of course from the north by a variety of humanoids, beasts and other creatures. Head Marshal Hawke and his griffon riders as well as the Dwarven Guard are more than capable of removing most of these threats. Recently however a trio of giants has made their way into the lands from the hills and canyons to the west. While our people are bitter enemies of the giants, and willing to destroy this threat, this is a perfect opportunity for you to provide a service to us. Once complete, bring me their heads and we will provide you with the services you request. Consider this payment for the bounty on their loathsome hides. Any treasures you recover from them, as paltry as they may be, you may keep, but anything of note or that may be part of a crime or missing people we need to examine. Some loggers, trappers and other explorers have gone missing, probably at their hands. If you recover enough coin to purchase other services here, I believe we can facilitate appropriate trade, but I can't have you monsters walking through the market district. If you choose not to accept my proposal, I will have to have you escorted to our borders and cannot have you return. Do you have any questions?"
The dwarf seems stern, but you get the impression this was a significant move on his part, and one that perhaps the other counsellors don't necessarily agree with.
"Mighty Thain, if i may be so bold as to ask, could we ever find acceptance in a hold such as this, were our service to merit such? Additionally, we are not murderers. If we must defend ourselves from these giants, so be it. But if we find them to be peaceful, as silly as that might sound, would it be possible that we broker their ceasing of hostilities? I know this is unlikely, I'd just like to ensure we aren't needlessly killing sentient beings, especially if we uncover evidence of the missing loggers perpetuated by another creature. My third question would be if we could possibly get some meager armor of any sort before heading out. We can provision ourselves by living off the land, but have little to stop a club or an arrow. I know i ask much, and you have already granted much, i seek only to do this task correctly."
The Thain speaks again "We know for a fact that these giants are murderers, as is the norm for these hill based giants. But if by some magical twist of fate they are here to grow flowers and prance through the sun dappled meadows, by all means hug and snuggle it out." He almost scoffs at the idea, but then you know the dwarven prejudices and enmity for giants is deep rooted and for them a good giant is a dead giant. Whether you can find acceptance here is a bold question. Perhaps some may grow accustomed to your presence. A small frog man walking around with his lute, is of little consequence. A goblin in a dwarf hold? Not a day would pass without someone trying to bash in his skull. A medusa? People will flee in terror. How long before people get used to that? A minotaur? A....I'm not even sure what you are girl (referring to Asheranthi)Look at it from our perspective, most of the regular races have a hard time getting along within their own race. With effort some of the civilized races can get along, but could you really expect anything from society as monsters?"
You feel his words are overly harsh, possibly true, but they bite deep in some ways. You had always felt accepted among your kin and by Goodwin. You knew it would be an uphill battle to win over the civilized lands and through good fortune and masterful diplomacy you have gotten this far, but it almost felt like a slap in the face. The sting of rejection may affect each of you differently or perhaps not at all.
"Armor, well, we may be able to find some pieces to fit those of you human sized. I don't know what we have that would fit a tiny frog man, or a minotaur. Customizing or making it from scratch will take some time if you found an armorsmith willing to work on it. Perhaps some simpler armor of leather or quilted cloth could be adapted rapidly."
"I'm mostly human!" Ashe blurts out.
"Why don't ye cover yourself lass! Downright unseemly!" blurts out the rotund dwarf next to the Thain.
Undaunted in the face of the truthful comments, Lump seeks to interject himself before the comments devolve into a peanut gallery.
"You, sir," Lump says, nodding to the rotund dwarf, "Seem to have missed the part where we were sleeping one moment and in this world the next. Perhaps distracted by daydreams of vittles...? We seek proper clothes as much as you seek us to be in proper clothes, I assure you."
"Great Thain, your honesty and benevolence is more than I expected from one such as yourself to monsters such as we. I can tell that your kind have an enmity for the goblinkind, though I did think that your warrior culture would appreciate the martial puissance of a minotaur."
"With regards to your generous offer of armor, I offer my humble thanks. I understand that it would be foolish to assume you would have armor that would fit one the size of Karkoran here, though I thought perhaps a child's armor might fit me. In any event, you have my deepest thanks, and we will gladly accept what can be rapidly prepared for us. Finer armor I doubt we will find anywhere else, so perhaps when we return with success, we can see about getting fitted for more robust armor. If you ever have need of a song, I am your frog."
The other dwarf turns beet red and sputters angrily "Vittles?! Wha... why you....We provided clothing for you! I see that scant few of you have taken advantage of it!"
The Thain turns and whispers to the angry dwarf and basically quiets him, but the dwarf glowers and shoots fierce looks at the group.
"Do not worry about High Priest Stonehammer's concerns at the moment. I believe I will take that as agreement to our terms then, Head Marshal Hawke, see to the details, and then return to me for additional counsel. I now have pressing matters to attend to."
Thain Ironfist rises along with Priest Stonehammer, and the other dwarven counsellors, none of whom spoke to you, and they leave, surrounded by their elite guard. Remaining are your escort guards, Head Marshal Hawke and Loremaster Cronin.
"That went surprisingly well, you must have caught the Thain in one of his better moods. But I hope you know that tackling these three giants is a bit of a death sentence. Honestly you look like capable people, but these guys are no joke. If you can pull this off, you may get some respect in the eyes of the Thain and the others, perhaps myself included, but I still wouldn't expect a parade or warm clap on the back. In terms of armor, frog man, I might be able to have someone rework a small padded shirt in an hour or two, anything else will take longer, and I am sure the Thain wants you gone soon. Who else would require armor? I know we do not have any armor that will fit the minotaur, perhaps we could scare up something to fit the goblin. The women are human sized, I could get some leathers on short notice, but you will owe me big time. This stuff isn't free. We can provide you with other sundry items if you require a sack for their heads, should you actually win. What else would you require?"
"To get to the meat of the matter while you consider, as mentioned these giants are of the variety found in rugged hills. The are brutes, slow witted, but powerful. One hit from their club will turn a man to a bloody smear on the ground and they are quite skilled with their clubs. They can also hurl rocks at a very good range. I can give you a rough idea where they have been spotted. From there it should not be hard to track them down. Any final questions before we return you to your quarters and I return to the Thain and prepare for your exit.?"
"He warns that the giants will kill us in one hit, even with boulders they throw. But they are slow and dim. Also, he will get a padded shirt for me, possibly something for Grobly. Karkoran is outta luck. The womenfolk, he might be able to scare up leathers for, but says it wont be cheap. Hopefully we can find or earn some coin to pay him back. Any sundry items, besides sacks for the heads, that we need?"
"No metal armor... It itches." Grobly will get out from around the hands clamped over his mouth. Only then will Grobly realize he is still trying to hold his mouth closed and release his jaws. "They have griffons... Do they have a saddle for Bazzt? Bags would be good. Torches too. Maybe rope? Everyone says rope is important."
"I won't need any armor, it would interfere with my spellcasting." Tayanalla says.
"Shoes, boots, or sandals fit for a human would be appreciated. I'm growing tired of walking barefoot through the woods."
Day 3 Mid-Morning
"Very well, I will be back in about two to three hours."
The group is escorted back to their room, given their weapons back, Tayanella is unblindfolded and you are rejoined with your companions.
"We should plan how to kill three giants."
"We'll get our gear, have Hawke get us out of this fortress, and find them first." Taya says back to the big minotaur.
"Well, we need to know the terrain. Hide, distract, separate em if we can. Trap? Thinking out loud here. Shovels to dig pits?"
"we're probably not going to dig a deep enough hole to inconvenience a giant unless Ash's raptors dig like gophers." Taya says back to lump.
"But that's an idea, Ash, do you have a summon gopher spell?" she asks the mongrelfolk.
"maybe we won't be doing any killing. Maybe just ask the Giants to leave? Or teach them to chop wood! They could sell the wood to the dwarves for their fires! Gophers are small. We can summon badgers if we wanna dig. But still maybe too small. "
Head Marshal Hawke returns with some basic supplies for the group:
50' rope
sandals for Tayanella
5 large burlap sacks
20 arrows
4 torches
Lump sized padded armor
"This is basically what that you requested. We will now escort you from the fortress. It will be by boat via the same way you came in."
The group is led by a contingent of heavily armed guards back through the winding passages and locked doors to the underground dock. You are hidden under tarps again and concealed with crates and barrels and the boat exits via the same system of thick heavy gates and bars. Once again out on the lake, it is a bustle of activity. Logs from upstream and ore barges maneuver through the lake. Calls of the bargemen and the halfling log skippers ring out. Fishermen and ferrymen also ply their trade. The small boat moves swiftly to the fortified gap at he lake and river. Under the watchful eye of the guards and to the river. Poling and tacking against the current, the boat man manages to get you to the concealed area in the foliage. Hawke and his assistant pull away the tarps and have you exit the boat, with your animal companions. He hands you two maps. One shows the trails around your immediate area. One route it marked. He explained that by taking this route you will not be likely to run into anyone. The second map shows a rough area of the western lands where the giants have invaded. Major canyons are marked as well as several old mine shafts. He notes they may be homed in one of the canyons or mineshafts, but they forage and hunt in the forests bringing down deer or other prey with hurled boulders. Several canyons are marked as a likely place to track them indicating they are places he has seen them from his griffon. He indicates a meeting spot on the map that he will stop at every day at mid-day for a week, and then twice a week after that. Past that he assumes you are dead or left the lands and better not return. If successful meet there with the heads of the giants.
Hawke looks at the group solemnly for a few seconds. You aren't sure what to make of the look, but he turns an boards the boat again and motions forward without looking back.
"I don't think I can summon anything useful to burrow, and it would be too slow. I will memorize an extra shield of faith. Tayanella will you take mage armors for Grobly and Karkoran?"
"I cast spontaneously, so I can mage armor as many of us as I have power available." Taya says.
"I think I can follow this map, and I probably have the best eyes, so I can lead us to begin with. When we get closer, Grobly and Bazzt can scout from the air and find our quarry."
With that, she starts to lead the group up the trails.
Lump looks at the map, but lets one of the folks with more of a natural bent keep it. He will put on the padded armor, feeling it out and getting used to it.
Day 3 - Early Afternoon
Tayanella start reading the first map and without really any issue, is able to navigate the group through the narrow trails to the western edge of the forested hills that flank the river. After just several miles, the trees thin, the vegetation grows sparser and the hills a bit more rugged. You can see in the distance, the hills break up and you see evidence of ancient rivers and deep canyons. These days you suspect there are but tiny rivers and streams in these canyons that flow when it it rains or is wet. Most of them probably never make it to join the river you just left behind.
You put away the first map and pull out the second map. This is is less precise and will require more careful movement to make sure you are navigating to the correct points listed.
With Grobly scoutting on Bazzt and Asheranthi and Karkoran keeping track on the ground, the group travels efficiently without getting lost and avoiding any hazards or other problems. You have enough food and ability to create water so I assume you proceed to one of the possible spots marked on the map to look for tracks.
Grobly will enjoy scouting, flying high to avoid any boulders that might come his way. He will keep just as much eye on the sky however as the Griffonrider made him somewhat ancy about his aerial superiority.
Grobly will take the rope, tie one end around his waist, and the other around Bazzts waist. Just incase.
We can start tracking if any footprints become obvious. If successful I would like to determine their age that way we know how recent and possibly how far away the giants might be. We can try to be quiet as we go, although not necessarily using stealth. (We could try stealth, we are already moving slower for tracking)
Day 3 - Late-Afternoon
You make it to where you believe to be the first area where the giants had been seen.
Track/Perception DC=19
*
*
* trail is too old to use scent ability.
Everyone on the ground is able to see the passage of the giants, although the trail is quite old, possibly many days old. You easily find the footprints in areas where the ground is softer. You find signs of their wanton destruction, thrown rocks, bent over saplings, trees defaced of bark, piles of feces (yuck!) and signs of discarded bones or other food scraps.
Grobly and Bazzt remain alert and vigilant but see nothing from the air.
At one point the group finds the remains of what would be considered a campsite. It reminds you that you will need to find a location at some point and prepare for the evening.