Right on.....
the next morning comes around.
Two of the huskarls lead you out to the dead stone giant's grave stone. It's a massive stone carved all over with runes, and before it, there's a pile of stones covering his body.
A fantastical roosterlike bird with flight worthy wings and a long reptilian tail lands atop the stone.
Altai give the bird a friendly nod, but does not approach it. "Greeting and salutations, cocatrice. Please step aside - magic is about to be wrought!"
It flies off....
"All right. Let's get to work." Altai directs the huskarls to remove some of the cairn stones. Once he can see the dead giant, he has everybody step back before he casts his spell.
They spend about 2 hours moving the stones.....finally he's revealed.
"This is it. Be ready, everyone, in case he comes back... changed." Altai leans forward and gently places a gemstone on the dead giant's brow. "Come back, Mysvær, son of Dravle! Abandon Helsheim's dreary halls and return to your steading! Your jarl has need of you, and for the great injustice against you to be righted, your presence is required! Spirit of life, enter this dead husk and restore it to health and vigor!"
This ought to be interesting.
The huskarls leave; they want no part of this.
The sky starts churning and clouds form; all the sky is turned red. A balesome wind that smells of sulfur blows. His body starts shining and twitching and shaking; he coughs.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
he sits bolt upright;
his head cocks at Altai......
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
and the wind howls.
"Welcome back to the lands of the living. Elgan, a healing spell - he was busted up pretty badly before he died."
Pip starts playing a soothing melody. Everyone who hears it feels better, calmer
Soothing melody:
He starts to feel a bit better.
Do we want to wait for Elgan; if so, it might be a while.
He casts it; the giant looks a lot better.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"First of all, I'd like to apologise for the initial wave of pain and nausea - your body was in a bad state. However, the body must be alive before its flesh can be regenerated. Still, it can't have been pleasant to wake up missing most of your lungs and ribcage. Here, have a sip of this - it'll dull theshock and cheer you up." Altai hands poor Mysvær a bootle of dwarven vodka. Stig won't miss this.
"To answer your question - we are adventurers from Oerth. I am Altai, and these are my fellow travelers. We employ trusty Gjetost, whom you know well. We were hoping to find some peace and quiet here, but Jarl Kavli told us about the problems with the Jacks-In-Irons. We might want to solve that problem. However, nobody knows where they dwell. That's where you come in - after the unfortunate incident you had, you know more about them than anyone else."
"And, seriously, nobody deserves to go that way. You deserve a second chance of life."
"....I....thanks, oerth man!"
he says.
"I don't know where they dwell either.....or, where they're camped. They did use to live up in the mountains though."
"Did they steal any of your stuff? Or, better yet, did they leave behind the knife or the scourge? Maybe the chains they tied you up with?"
"I don't know.....I was dead."
Pip hops up on one of the discarded cairn stones
"Mayhap you can bring us to where they attacked you and we can search from there"
"Yeah. Yeah. Huh....."
He leads you off to the north in the valley. Passing a over a stream, there's a small wooded rise. "They were there, in the woods. Stealing our good goats."
He leads you to the place of the scuffle.
"I should not have faced them alone...."
"How many were there? Do they have strange magic or are they straightforward bruisers?"
"It has been a few days, and none of us are accomplished trackers... Let's look around and see if anyone dropped anything. With an item of theirs I can get a good idea where the might be."
Pip scrambles up the side of the rise's rock faces using his Cloak of Arachnida to take the high ground
You don't see any giants, other than the ones in your party.
Definitely looks like there was a tussle around here; you find some leftover dead goat parts as well.
"This is where I fought them," says the Lazarus like giant.
"Did any of them give their name? None said he was Damp Bottom, son of Old Leaky?"
"One of them was Cherg."
There's some torn bits of wool here and there. Homespun.
"Good. Let's gather this up and go back home. I'll need to chat with the folks that buried you to see what was there and what was missing. Armed with that information, I might be able to magically spy on the Jacks."
You get back.
"whad you want to know?" a giant asks.
"Did the Jack-In-irons leave anything behind? Were there tracks leading in any particular direction? What is the air-speed velocity if an unladen swallow?"
"They led off into the woods; didn't track them.
They took all his stuff....."
"Yeah; they had him chained."
"Describe the stuff. Anything distinctive, like a locket with a picture of your mum?"
"I had a giant bag; it's gone. I had 3 rocks, and a teddy bear in there."
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"The teddy bear is the key."
Ha ha!
Oddgut's Cave.
"Oddgut's Cave? Is the drinking water there a little off?"
"Mayhap the owner's belly is a strange shape?"
Pip strums Lucile
"Odd your gut may be
Beulcered, or shaped like a knee
But once you draw a sword on us
Your gut will be filleted for free"
"It was a goat;.....long story."
"Anyway, that's where Cherg is located. I can, with a little preparation, magically spy on his location. If I could have a large bowl filled with water..."
They get you to a cauldron.
You scry the one known as Cherg.
There's a large cave. It's dark but illuminated by torches.
They look like this.
"Hmmmmm... Are these guys kytons? Asgardian chain devils?"
3. They're giants.
"Does anyone know if these guys are magic-users?" Altai peers intently into the scrying bowl, looking for things like wands, fetishes and spell components.
They're just in bed really.
Pip thinks they look thuggish though.
"Anyone who sleeps wrapped in chains gotta be a bit weird."
"OK. We hit them tomorrow. First, we rest up and prepare. Question - do we head up to the cave, or do we try to stage an ambush?"
"Trap dem in dere own cave. Hit dem when dey hed outside. Works fur bunnies, bears 'en mountain lions." Elgan ofers helpfully.
"Meeting someone in combat in the ground they know best gives them an advantage if they are smart enough to use it."
Yeah; and I think so.
Pip grimaces
"Somehow I don't think Moedin, Larridûr, and Shempdïr are tactical geniuses "