::I share no connection with Noori as I did with Wormblod, it was he who received the ritualistic sacrament during his ascension. The relic is nothing to me, but to my people it is their connection to Uthgar...they will die, even foolishly, to prevent it from leaving this cavern.::
Illuvin maneuvers his floating disk beneath the massive shield. He then turns to the tribe, "I'm sure you all are not going to like this next part but we came here with a singular purpose and we will fulfill that purpose. Do not try to stop us. Your Great Worm has given us her blessing to take it and has informed us of your missing Noori. It would be a tragedy if we were to find her only for her to not have a tribe to return to. Let us take the relic and be on our way."
Illuvin turns back to his group, "Shall we cut this thing down then?"
The four teenage warriors bear arms against you. They line up, visibly shaken but with the heroism of true fighters, pointing their spear tips at you and grunting. The women and children huddle together, some running back to their shelter for safety, others covering the young ones eyes and ears for what they sense is coming...
Seeing his words have no effect, Illuvin sighs and strums his lute weaving magic into the music. A flash of color appears over the warriors, diapering as fast as it showed up.
Elaina sighs, and whacks one over the head with the flat edge of her Longsword
All but one succumb to the flittering images of Illuvin's magics...the lucky one left standing watches as Elain strides forth and smashes his face with her sword's blunt edge. He seems shocked as hot blood rolls down his arctic rat hide armor before passing out and falling over. Gasps and shrieks come from the women and children, but otherwise it would appear the relic is yours...
It takes only a few good slashes with your sword to cut the ropes, and it plops down onto the force disk with a dampened *bonnnng*.
"Well, that was easy as ruk. And no one got hurt." Urth was pleasantly surprised at the lack of blood and murder.
He helps push the giant relic to the airship.
Eliath will remove his weapons, and lay on hands one hit point
"If you were going to oppose us I had no choice, I'm sorry"
Thumps looks to the woman most hysterical about the unconscious boy. "He was brave and he will live."
Thumps says to the others guarding the beef types who are trying to carry the gong. "We need to get moving."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Molok stood to the back of the group, listening to them speak with the young warriors. He is greatly impressed with the four who, beyond all reason, attempt to stop the party from gaining the giant relic.
"Such bravery should be commended. These four warriors stood against a force they knew they could not defeat, but still bravely stood their ground."
The goliath removes one of the talisman's attached to his armor and steps towards the young warriors.
"Takes this as a sign of my respect. It was from a great cave bear that I defeated when I was much younger. The beast almost killed me, but I was lucky. Let it be a reminder to you of your bravery and conviction, but also of wisdom and knowing when to fight and when to talk."
Molok then moves to help secure the artifact and departs with the others.
Thumps smiles at Molok's honoring of the warriors.
"Perhaps the future of this tribe is brighter than its past."
"It better be, I'd hate to have to do that with the sharp blade of my sword and remove some heads"
The young man takes the talisman with trepidation from the stone-kin. He had been taught from a young age that giants were beyond despicable but here was a distant relative turning his world upside-down while maintaining honor. The others snicker and poke at him as they run back to their mothers who embrace them, just happy its over.
A few steps from the Neptune, a shriek cries out and you see the crew pointing upward to the huge gaping hole above...
A falling man?
Coming down fast and hard, right on top you...*splat*. Crashing into the ice its quite dead...but wait, something is very familiar about the corpse. It looks like one of the Great Worm barbarians you fought and killed back at the temple. Indeed, there's your weapon wounds clear as day.
Would any of us have had any time to try to catch him?
Thumps looks up trying to figure out where the person came from. "Well that's unsettling."
Urth would have cast Feather Fall if he had a chance. He would have assumed the falling man was crew.
Hey if there was a chance she would have took it
Urth catches the falling corpse with a spell just as Elain leaps forward to grab it.
Thumps, a few little snow and ice crystals have caught the air on the ledge far above...likely where this corpse last stepped, if corpses could step.
Urth investigates the body. "He isn't rukking crew. He looks like one of the Great Worm barbarians we fought and killed back at the temple. Except this puncture wound to the brain. Seems to be a fresher wound than the ones made by your weapons."
"The ledge up above. I think he was thrown from there. . . .doubt he was walking with that hole in his head."
Urth, as horrifying and unreal as it seems, your diagnosis leads to only one conclusion: the puncture was caused by the corpse's own finger being pushed through its skull like a dagger, evident from the lack of cut edges and presence of brain matter chunks on the right digit...
The Captain calls out looking up and over you all "What the hell was that?! We get what we came for?" she orders the men to help secure the relic with their beautiful silk ropes.
"By Volkur's Beard, this rukking corpse put it's own rukking finger through its own rukking skull. What the ruk could do that?" Urth concludes.
"Distasteful to be sure. Who would force a corpse's finger into it's own skull? Keep your eyes up Captain, there may be someone on the rim of the chasm!" Illuvin peers up at the opening to see if there are hints of others up there.
Illuvin, you don't manage to spot anything up there.
The work of lashing the relic to the airship goes relatively quick, and in less than an hour the lead engineer gives it a thumbs up. "Ready to proceed when you are..."
Urth ensures the corpse is burned before boarding the airship.
The corpse burns brightly, an odd ash angel there in the snow. On the way back up to the icy sky, you note only a single pair of tracks in the snow leading to the corpse's drop...
Dragging the shield relic back into the oracle's chamber is easy with another disk and of course Harshnag's frost giant strength. When placed within the circle, it is immediately consumed in a sonic explosion that vaporizes it instantly, and in its place a huge tablet with a bas-relief of a regal giant emerges from the floor, or perhaps some pocket dimension.
As the relic disappears, the oracle says in a booming voice, "You have done a great deed for all giants! A new path lies before you! Behold, Duke Zalto, lord of the fire giants. Travel east, o'er mountains and snow, to distant spires. There, on a cold mountainside, you'll find a village of yakfolk and below that, Ironslag — the forge of the fire giant duke. The conch you seek is in his quarters."
The words echo briefly in the frosty chambers.
Elain looks around at the others and says "Well let's go get it than" and raises her sword
Illuvin shakes his head from the sight of the shield disappearing. "Indeed, it seems our path lies before us. Shall we go pay this Duke Zalto a visit? Before we leave though, do we want to ask the oracle any more questions?"
"Some scouting will certainly be in order. Fire giants are going to be a fair bit more difficult to deal with than some teenagers. Maybe we should probably land a short distance away and then approach the yakfolk village first? Might be able to get some information before heading to Ironslag. We can always go back to airship if it would make the most sense to swoop in fast to get it. But I'd only want to do that after having a sneaky look first so we know what we are facing."
As you gaze upon the bas-relief, a magical seeing slowly assembles itself within each of your minds. You know the shortest, most direct path to the lord's lair.
Leaving Harshnag behind, the party sails across the sky to the forge of the fire giants...
After a few days travel, you approach the mountain from your vision: Mount Hammarhast of the Ice Spires. Even from far above, you can see the great staircase of twelve thousand steps winding its way around and through the rocky crag. At the summit is a large but primitive settlement which must be the yakfolk village, cleft in two halves by a broken bridge spanning across the double peaks. At the bottom of the stairs is a pair of glistening, perhaps adamantium, doors. Finally, you note a humongous waterwheel exploiting the flow of a river down the mountain, spilling forth far below.
The airship could perhaps land at the base of the mountain, inside the village, or any other location with enough clearance...
"I suggest we approach from the stairs. Let me Arcane Eye search the village. Then we land above the bottom stairs, so we don't scare or aggravate them. And we enter the village fully informed."
Thumps asks what Harshnag knows about Duke Zalto and the Fire Giants.
When walking back to the ship Thumps aimlessly mentions, "I think 'Duke Zalto and the Fire Giants' would be good name for a pub crawl act."
Thumps, back before you leave Harshnag recalls "It was said one of the great forges of Ostoria was hidden away in the Ice Spires, beyond the reach of the dwarves. Perhaps Zalto has discovered it...there have been whispers he consorts with the Ones Who Went Below...the Tel'Quissir called drow."
After landing, Pindleton looks up... up... and up at the rocky cliff. He says to the captain, "Unfortunately, we will be too far for me to send a magical message, so if any of you see me floating out over the edge waving my arms wildly, that means please bring the airship up there, we need to leave. Plus, knowing our history, we would likely need to leave quickly." He starts to walk away and then stops and turns back, "Oh, and if it's an obvious illusion of me... that's still me signalling. Well, not me but an illusion of me, but I should be the one who created it... never mind, you know what I mean. Thank you." With a bow, he turns and hurries off, trying to avoid further confusing the situation.
Molok, glad once again to be on solid ground, breaths a heavy sigh of relief. While his terror at flying was slightly less than the first trip, he still was most uncomfortable aboard the airship.
"Ah, fresh mountain air and the brisk cool winds. Almost like back home!"
The goliath is in a rather good mood, it would seem.
Thick, gray clouds and howling wind make it easy for the Slayers to approach the yakfolk village unseen and unheard. Neptune's Captain nods at Pindleton's curious instructions and calls for the engineer to lower altitude...
Starting with the crop fields, you notice some naked halflings toiling away in harvest, as an onlooking Yakfolk warrior lazily smokes a wooden pipe.
Turning to the village, it looks like a peaceful, idyllic hideaway perched atop a mountain cliff, with granite walls to keep the howling wind at bay. The eye hovers quickly over the wall into the arrangement of huts and barns. The barns with openings you can find contain mostly boar, yaks, and farming equipment like shovels, pitchforks, hoes, etc.
The yakfolk seem to rarely leave their huts which are simple with stone ovens and sleeping pallets, there is little art save beautiful landscape murals on the clay walls. There is much more craft, the doors are beaded strands.
The main building seems to be a 60 ft diameter hut in the middle of everything facing a large outdoor campfire. Inside is a large bronze gong ornately engraved. There is a collection of older yakfolk women sitting around arguing and laughing. You also spot 3 naked moon elves from your voyeuristic eye, awkwardly. They seem to be attending the women with food and drink.
You also find a dairy and a mill, and a still functioning bridge that connects to 2 main segments of the village. Some naked humans and halforc seem to be making cheese out of goat-milk at the dairy. More (yes) naked dwarves are grinding grain into flour and baking bread at the mill.
Also nearby is a pair of iron doors, impenetrable to the arcane eye. However, the eye is able to shift above the water wheel and enter a small crack that reveals some kind of elevator.
Your best estimate puts the population of the village somewhere between 30 and 50 yakfolk, not including the strange nudists, just based on what you've seen (and perhaps wish you hadn't).
Elain nakedly says "Should we nakedly approach, and if so nakedly hostile or nakedly friendly" and shivers nakedly