The final giant vainly flings yet more rocks, but over the next few seconds he is swiftly put down by Haldern's lance and Bladud's bardiche, supported by Alleria's keen sling.
After a moment or two, a great dirty white towel is thrust from the cave by an unknown giant hand. "...Parly? Parlee? Pearlee?"
Bladud stomps the rest of the way towards the cave mouth, taking up a defensive position fifteen feet clear of the rag-holder's reach.
"THE BODIES OF THE FALLEN ARE OUR SPOILS!" he yells imperiously as he begins to shrink back to his own size, and he gives a wink to his teammates ... his bearing returning to the Bladud you first met. "And it's your call on the parley, Haldern. You seem the sort that cares about that."
He gestures to the bodies on the ground, "Senna, will you search the triplets' bodies while I watch the cave?"
"We are certainly willing to parley. We tried to avoid this whole fight. Please, come out so that we can talk. You will not be harmed so long as the parley lasts"
A cyclops with a large purple-stone necklace steps out, the great white towel wrapped around him again as a toga. In a large voice, he booms. "I, Ramma-Seer, greet you! Chief Grunf say you shown strength, valor! Grunf willing to meet, share respect! Food! Come, warriors!" In a much quieter voice, he mutters to Bladud "Chief grunf surrender totally utterly please no kill hurt destroy please please come in talk tell you everything give everything please..."
Bladud senses nervousness and fear, primarily directed at the party. He senses no deceit.
Bladud nods, but looks to Haldern. ”Your call, chief. I don’t like [i]parley[i]-in’ in a possible threat’s home turf—much less a cramped space with gods-know-what defenses and traps in place—but Ramma-Seer here seems genuine enough.”
Bladud lets the point of his bardiche fall and—sensing no immediate threat—helps Senna finish up her search of the three fallen giants.
"If course we will come in and meet your chief. As long as he negotiates in good faith everything will be fine. But I hope that you are all aware that treachery will be met with death"
So, we head in. But we're looking for trouble, for an ambush, etc.
Hopefully Senna can cast message on us before going in.
After searching the bodies, Bladud follows Haldern in, keeping his eyes and ears open for trouble. "So, Ramma-Seer, are these caves your home? Or are these a temporary digs?"
The cyclops beckons you in. "The Jurn tribe is nomadic, roam free, take many homes. We 'dig' where we can."
Moving into the cave system, you pass by three caves.
In the entrance to an unlit cave, six trolls stand around a large tarp of stained, crudely stitched hide. One holds a large spool of thick thread, and two others sharpen big bone needles with their teeth, while another attempts to thread a similar needle with little luck.
This small, unlit cave is empty except for a large chest of wood and iron, fitted with a hefty padlock. Painted sloppily on the wall behind it are a skull symbol in red and some crude writing.
This is a simple, little cave with a bed made of woven wooden strips and a pile of rags as a pillow. The walls are covered in crudely fashioned paintings, but the subject matter is strange and surprisingly complex, involving movements of the planets and the events that they seem to inspire. A large burlap sack lies on the floor.
A flickering pair of torches lights this cave. Furs and skins hang on the walls, and the skulls of beasts and humans are displayed like trophies. More furs lay across the floor, around a bed of still more furs piled high. One giant stands in this cave. A hill giant, he bears a large scar from a wound that appears to have torn away one of his ears long ago. He wears a short red cloak of some scaly hide, as well as a large glittering earring in his remaining ear.
He shoots an extremely nervous glance at each of you. "Greetings. Enforcers, defeated by you. Take whatever you want, I tell whatever you want, leave, pelase please please. Will give gold!"
"And what has your Jurn tribe been up to lately? Sieged any castles?"
He looks curiously down the cave at the three trolls. "What are they doin'?"
"Who is behind the attack on the floating castle? Why did they attack?"
Bladud recognizes the crude graphs and tools of astronomical survey, particularly astrology.
"Jurn tribe roams, fights great fights, respect fear by many!"
"Lady, Queen-Storms, promised rewards, gold weapons if attack mountain castle, captured giant there. She sent pretty lady, on really big bird, with gifts. Gave magic sword! Gave to leader of castle-attack warriors."
Bladud considers the astrology, but clearly isn’t sure why it’s important.
”Might want to reconsider your arrangement,” he responds to the giant leader, and he indicates Haldern and Senna, ”I think they wiped out your castle-attack warriors. This Lady Queen-Storms, what she look like? Who is she? Why does she want you to destroy the castle?”
"Umm, she very tall. Didn't say."
"Is she a giant? If so, what type? If not, what race?
And please tell us more about the pretty lady? Giant? Human? the bird, bigger even than Jensal?
What other promises did she make? Who else did she recruit?"
"Yeah she's a giant."
"Yeah she was that one. Bird was bigger."
"Asked finest soldiers."
"Yer a real chatterbox, aint'cha?" mutters Bladud. "You want to keep your tribe alive to fight another day, be our friend. Friends help friends, big guy. This Storm-Queen. Where is she? What can you tell us to swing the advantage to our side when we meet her?"
"Err, less than four days walk to sun."
"Err... she storm-queen, throw earth at her?"
Bladud nods, "Well, your contract with her is over. You go kickin' at the tower again, we're gonna take it like you're kickin' at us." He looks up at the giant, a wicked grin on his ugly face, "Best if you steer clear of the tower altogether, big guy."
He looks over at Haldern, "Anything else we need to do here? Other than gather our spoils?"
Haldern turns to the giants
"go home. Do NOT raid human settlements ever again. This time we are showing you mercy, hoping that you will learn from your mistakes. If we catch you up to mischief again there will be no mercy, only a final and full reckoning."
Chief Grunf nods fervantly. "Yes, knight-sir."
Bladud senses mild deception from the chief when speaking of the Storm Queen's race; less out of a desire to deceive, more out of a desire to hide the fact that he knows nothing.
As Bladud and Haldern interrogate Grunf, Alleria and Senna set to talking. It starts with Senna recounting the group's defense of the castle and resulting encounters; the conversation gets quieter and more animated as one of them- it's hard to tell which- proffers a beginning of the idea, which the other fleshes out, then the other fleshes out a little more. They keep speaking in hushed tones as the interrogation concludes.
I'm good. Take the loot they offered :-)
As the discussions with Grunf wrap up, and they move on to collect their spoils, Bladud looks at the two women. "Were we borin' you back there? What are you two cookin' up?"
They stop, look at each other, then back at you. "We... while sharing what we've fought through over these past few days, we realized we had an... opportunity. A rare one, one we don't think we can pass on."
"Bladud, Haldern... have you any objection to 'two wrongs make a right'? Particularly where those wrongs are so slight, the right so good?"
Regardless of your answer, the two of them leave you with the giant's gear and ready to set off towards Zoarth's castle. "I don't think we'll meet for a time, at least not until this 'Storm Queen' is downed. I promise we won't interfere with you in any way. Good bye."
Bladud shrugs, "Sometimes you gotta crack some eggs, right?" He's curious to know more, but the women seem so intent to leave quickly, so the big man helps as he can and simply waves as they go.
"Don't be strangers," he calls out, the the looks over at Haldern. "So ... a half-orc, a holy man, and a flyin' horse. This could be a good story to tell." He gives his usual ugly, enthusiastic grin, "Think we're up to takin' on this Storms-Queen?"
"Let us hope that we can take down the Storm Queen. If not, hopefully we will be able to at least disrupt her plans long enough that somebody else can take her down"
Bladud claps Haldern on the back, "That's the spirit ... splatter her or die tryin'!"
The group splits into its pairs; one flies east towards the Storm Queen, one towards a very different destiny.
Deciding to track her down, you followed rumors and directions to her room in town, in time to spot a carrier pigeon clutching a message leaving her window. Capturing it and her, you discover the message- 'I am discovered, and his stooges may return. Send your minions to intercept them, to break them on the ground; send them into Jol to cause chaos if need be.' You also discover the Storm Queen, a cloud giant with vengeful eyes set upon the cloud giant wizard Zoarth.
For your various reasons, you decided to step in. You confronted and defeated her minions- two spirit nagas and two jurn hill giants- and waited outside Jol for its heroes to return. All you could discover from interrogating the nagas is that the Queen's abode is high in the sky in a storm cloud above a particular point.
A mile or so outside of Jol, Bladud and Haldern spot a pair waving.
Haldern calls out "Greetings. I am Sir Haldern, servant of The Inheritor. This is my companion Bladud. How may we be of assistance?"
At three feet in height, the floating figure of the duo is much smaller than her companion. Based on her facial features, she has clear Tien and Elven heritage. Her grab also reflects this heritage; the Half-Elf is adorned in a obsidian-colored oriental robe with dark green patterns decorating it. She is also covered by several layers of winter great and a heavy black cloak. Her pointed ears perk up and her piercing silver eyes lighten as Sir Haldern hails them.
"Excellent! We were just looking for you two," the flying individual says as she slowly drifts closer to Sir Haldern and Bladud and gives them a polite bow.
"My name is Kenjakana. There was something urgent that we were hoping to discuss with your group. You two were present at the Battle of Jol, correct? From what I have gathered, several people say that you are the city's saviors. Knowing that, by any chance, does the name Storm Queen mean anything to you?"
Qot approaches underneath Kenjakana. A half-elf too himself, they couldn't look more different - he's bald, tanned skin and monastic, and dresses in fairly old and ragged clothes - which are almost unnoticeable being him entirely covered by a shadowy figure.
The figure is still medium, but on the very tall side. It has immense bat-like wings on its back, and it's claws carry a longbow. The shadowy figure looks like a sort of translucent armor that goes around the entire body of the half-elf, whose movements are perfectly matched by the other entity.
In the forehead of both an arcane rune shines in bright green. The half-elf seems to be in control, as he smiles peacefully and nods in agreement as his companion speaks.
"Yes, it does. She is a Giantess responsible for several raids on the lowlands and also for an attack on a Cloud Giant. In fact, we are currently trying to find her so as to deal with her threat.
What is your relationship to her?"
[ooc]Haldern is going to be closely watching them as they answer that last question[ooc]
"We... Oh, how to phrase this...?"
Kenjakana slips into some foreign tongue as she mumbles quietly to herself.
"As outlandish as my words might sound, we had a run in with some of her minions," the small Half-Elf says carefully after the pause. "Sorry, Common is not my native tongue; I get my words mixed up if I talk too quickly."
That said, she does a decent job of mimicking the tongue's standard accent.
"Anyway, the Storm Queen had some minions looking for you; I think that she believes that you're stooges for some giant named Zoarth. Rest assure, though. We dealt with her minions before they did any harm. I cannot speak for Qot La'Jal, but I do not care for petty tyrants. Anyone opposing a Paladin of the Inheritor is likely very rotten."
She makes a gesture toward her fellow Half-Elf companion when uttering the name of "Qot La'Jal" and gives him a nod.
"And I'm glad to hear that you're looking for her; it just so happens that we have a lead. The Storm Queen apparently lurks in some abode high up in a storm cloud above a particular point. That is all we got out of her agents. I'm... not entire sure how to proceed from here, but telling you seemed like the best first course of action."
Sir Haldern can tell that Kenjakana is speaking the truth. The small Half-Elf also seems actively disgusted by what she knows about the evils of the Storm Queen.
"Thank you for that information and for taking care of the minions. Perhaps you would be willing to help us deal with her? I'm afraid that we cannot offer more reward than an equal share of any treasure that we find. We are not ourselves receiving any monetary reward, the Cloud Giant is just helping us on an unrelated matter. In my opinion he would also owe you some kind of favour or reward and I will tell him so but I cannot make any promises on his behalf"
Kenjakana takes a moment to think things over.
"I will help you," she finally says, her voice filled with resolve. "Call me a bleeding heart, but I don't care much for bullies like the Storm Queen. One of her lackeys specifically asked that the minions 'cause chaos' in Jol to lure you out. Seems like her liege happily followed the advice. The wannabe raiding party consisted of two nagas and two hill giants, so they could have done some real damage if given the chance."
She looks over at Qot La'Jal and adds, "Having you along would be nice. I've never met anyone better with a bow."
Kenjakana turns back to Sir Haldern and explains, "I should tell you a bit about my... expertise. My gauntlet is mostly just for a show. Given my small size, I'm not going to be fighting alongside you in battle. However, my summons will; you see, I am a... competent sorceress. I'm also pretty good with disabling traps, traversing the wilds, and providing exposition on a number of topics. Finally, when I don't want to be seen, you'll probably never find me."
Qot humbly smiles at Kenjakana, and finally speaks towards the Haldern.
I am, too, in agreement with the terms. You honor me with your companion, holy man. - the monk says, bowing to the present.
I thank you not to be alarmed by my appearance. My life and dedication to Erastil allowed me to know my way with the bow and arrows, but my blood and arcane inheritance drove me to a journey of self-discovery and now, through a ritual, I'm fortunate to have the merged companion of my friend Aqqlahonah, from the Plane of Shadows. We couldn't be more different and more alike at the same time.
Bladud remains quiet through the discussions, his adamantine bardiche resting casually across one broad shoulder as he picks his teeth with a splinter, watching first Kenjakana then Qot.
Finally, the thick, heavily-armored half-orc shrugs at Haldern’s offer. ”Hey, if Halderns’ game, so am I.” He offers a scarred and meaty hand for a shake, then offers a similarly scarred and ugly smile. ”You two have got to be the strangest-lookin’ pair of elf-bloods I ever met.” He shrugs, his friendly demeanor taking any sting from the comment, ”No offense meant, really. I think you’d be hard-pressed to sort out just what kinda mutt I am. I consider it a gift.”
”Right. Seems we got ourselves a proper wreckin’ crew.” He grins, ”Now we just need a party to crash.”
Kenjakana smiles and gladly shakes Bladud's hand. His practically swallows hers.
"None taken, Bladud. Qot and I both have magic to thank for our... current appearances. Without it, we would probably look more... like other Half-Elves you've met."
The Sage Sorceress looks at the sky and thinks.
"I suppose how quickly we move is up to you two. I can get us to that point easily enough. Well, if the cloud hasn't drifted elsewhere."
[b]"If you can get us all there quickly that would be good["/b]
"I meant pinpoint the spot and navigate us there. If you mean Teleportation, then I can only take four human-sized creatures with me per trip," Kenjakana explains. "And we haven't actually been to the supposed location itself, so I couldn't warp us there if I wanted."
The Tien Half-Elf looks at the mounts.
"Also, we may be fighting in the clouds. Your Griffon is certainly viable at those heightens, but Bladud's horse... might not function well. Maybe stash him in Jol for now?"
Bladud looks sideways at his iron-gray heavy horse, "You mean he'll have to spend a few days sittin' his fat a$$ in a stall chewin' feed? I'm sure he'll hate every second."
Not sure if Bladud is being sarcastic, Kenjakana shrugs and says, "Merely a suggestion. Regardless, Qot and I can us to this supposed point now if you wish. I've already pinpoint the approximate area. Factoring in- I have a good idea of where to go."
Glad that she managed to avoid sliding into a mindless monologue, the Sage Sorceress nonetheless giggles to herself.
"Should I take Aerial patrol (200 feet or so and usually a bit ahead of the party) or not? I can likely see danger before it approaches. Unfortunately, I am about as visible as you'd expect a paladin flying a Griffon to be :-("
"It's worked so far," he points to one of the two newcomers, "Elves have good eyes, right? Take one of them with ya up there, if Jensal will allow."
"Good idea. Qot and I can fly under our own power, though not as fast as a griffon. That said, between the two of us, he'd probably be better; unless I load up on magic, his senses are much better than mine."