Garidan pauses for an instant, then swiftly turns on his heels and darts back up the stairs. Unfortunately, he's no quieter on the return than he was in the descent, and he curses under his breath with every patch of ice that his feet seem to find without fail. Rejoining the others, he explains what's below, and then sheepishly admits that he might have alerted them with his aborted exploration and subsequent retreat.
It semeed the giants had some connection to this place, caring much about its integrity - enough to sacrifice their vitality, even temporarily, to improve it. Gruskrob did not desire to have another scrape with them, but if push came to shove, he knew they could exploit their routines.
That was before Garidan returned.
"Great!.. Time to go. Their numbers are too great, and we can't surprise them as before."
He did set his trap to the penultimate step of the staircase's ascension the giants would need to make to reach them before waiting for Niyut.
Garidan scrambles up the stairs back to the group as Gruskorb lays out his trap. The two of them along with Truk'tosh and Malthazir wait anxiously as they listen for any sound coming up the stairs after Garidan. The ominous silence fills the air until you each become acutely aware of your own breathing. Tacal begins to shift in place, his nerve becoming the better of him, but Truk'tosh is able to soothe the beast, and he makes no sound.
After several long minutes, you cannot hear anything coming from the stairs that descend downward. Garidan seems to have not alerted the Ice Giants from what you can gather.
Niyut soon returns with her news of the exit to the frozen cavern and the icy lake that is fed by the waterfall and departs the cavern on the far side as a raging river.. she has found the headwaters of the Great River that flows to Haemil.
"We cannot flee. We do not have the option give up on this quest. Stay here if you must, but I am going deeper until I find the amber."
Concealed by her charm of invisibility, Niyut pulls out her mother's wand and with her dead grandmother whispering in her ears chants the incantation for Locate Object and begins dowsing for amber as she heads deeper into the structure.
As she stands with the group at the landing near the spiraling staircase from which they descended to their present location, the pull of arcane magic draws Niyut's eyes upward and through the solid stone of the mountain. That is the direction of the closest amber she feels.
Yet, she cannot pass through the solid granite that makes up this mountain range. Her eyes drift towards the stairs and downward as her grandmother's voice fills her mind. "Downward to go upward, my dear. The most direct route leads you down but other routes do exist." As the voice fades, you still feel the pull in both directions.
"I will return. I won't engage any of the giants."
Niyut retraces the path that Garidan previously took and notes that the steps, just as he said, are becoming increasingly coated with ice. After several turns around the underground tower, the stairs end in a narrow hallway coated with a thin sheet of ice. A soft hum and glow can be seen down the hall. Stealthing down the hallway, she approaches an arched entrance to a room. The bluish tinted glow comes from within.
Peering through the archway, Niyut sees a singular ice giant clothed in a long flowing white robe that shimmers like flowing water. The female giant sways back and forth with her left hand extended outward and her right hand raised towards the vaulted ceiling. Crackilng blue energy flows from her hand and across the ceiling, coalescing in the collapsed archway that once led out of this room. The ethereal energy swirls in the doorway, gaining speed until it comes together and elongates into a funnel cone and slips through the collapsed doorway and into the ether.
A portal. The oracle thinks to herself. Much like a dimensional doorway, yet the cast is able to keep it open with concentration?!? The oracle had not heard of such power, but she had no doubt as to what it was. She looked about the room for the other ice giant that Garidan had heard, but it was not to be found.
Niyut stayed in the shadows and crept ever closer to the caster. The female giant chanted in a low monotonous tone, her eyes rolled back in her head, oblivious to all that was around her.
While Niyut probes ahead for the object of their search, Garidan keeps a watchful eye--and ear too--out for the approach of foes. He intersperses this patrol with curious looks at Gruskorb's trap, eventually passing near to the hobgoblin and nodding at the fearsome device. "That's a nasty bit of work you've managed to put together there. But I don't think these giants will be terribly impressed or bothered by, if they even notice it. So why lay it out," he asks.
Niyut begins to delve into the recesses of her memories of her grandmother and the teachings the old woman has impressed upon her. Death magical would stop creatures from rising from the dead. However, as she relives the thoughts of the ice giant and it’s explosion of ice. She begins to think that the ice giant never died. It was never mortally wounded but it’s substance was mearly cracked before reforming. No, she thinks death magic will not stop these creatures.
Gruskorb gave Garidan a sideways look before expelling air from his nostrils.
"That thing has a personality of its own. There's a spirit, a hostile one tied to me with it. We have a bit of a deal. It gets to feed. I get to live." He turned his gaze to the metal contraption. "I'd been having visions, hallucinations for a while now. Guess it's better to have the source here in front of me than clawing at my neck when I'm asleep."
No sooner did Gruskorb finish his sentence than the trap rotated ever so slightly before becoming motionless again.
Niyut slips through the portal unnoticed by the ice giant mage. She feels her self pulled violently through the ether. An illusive feeling begins to well up inside of her. Searching for the answer in the recesses of her mind, she catches glimpses of a memory that terrifies her but she cannot fully recall. Ahead she sees a swirling light that disappears into a darkness where light doesn't escape. And the shock of the memory strikes her with such force that she loses her breath. Niyut opens her mouth to scream but no sound is emitted.
In the void, nothing escapes. Not even your soul. I was fortunate not to be lost to the void, but trapped inside of an unwanted host is likely just as damning... the feeble voice of Viosil echoes in her thoughts.
In a flash, she arrives. Catching her breath, Niyut looks about her. She stands in a hide hallway made of speckled granite. It is the same from the tower and the grand entry hallway that she just explored. Yet, this tone work looks nearly undisturbed. A lustrous shine is evident from the faint light that glistens down the hall. Ahead, nearly forty feet, an archway leads into a room. A portion of which cannot be seen. A flickering comes from the room, casting a dim light on the hall. The air is thin, and Niyut knows she must be high in the mountains again. She takes a few shallow breaths and tries to attune herself to the altitude. A yawn over takes her as she struggles to draw enough oxygen. As she does, her ears pop with a sudden burst. And the ringing of... battle can be heard coming from beyond the archway.
She spins and looks to the portal, remembering the reason for her journey. It is there. A swirling blue portal of ethereal energy beaconing for her return. She takes a step forward towards the portal, but the pull of her spell suggests that the amber lies in the direction of the sounds of battle.
She shakes her heads and keeps her breathing steady. She knows that rapid breaths could cause her to pass out. Her mother's wand, empowered by her grandmother's dowsing spell tugs on her hands and her curiosity and desire to return with the amber (in part so that she could give Gruskorb some smug looks) to the party tugs her feet forwards as surely as any spell.
Niyut cautiously approaches the room and slips through the archway. Peering around the corner, she sees the room extends to the east before going through another archway into a shorter hall with granite double doors pushed open into the next room. The echoes of the giants' voices rings through bringing a shiver to the oracle. She wraps her robe more tightly about her shoulders as she takes a closer look.
From the archway she can see a large sanctuary beyond the stone doors. The ceiling is vaulted forty feet high and supported by many granite columns down each side. Silver inlaid runes upon the doors give off a soft, cool light that filters towards the oracle. The sanctuary is lit quite well with a similar, brighter light that washes over the entire room. A raised platform emerges from the far wall with a stone, slab table upon it.
Two ice giants are locked in a battle with a quartet of elementals that Niyut recognizes from her elven companions arsenal, yet these are much larger. Two swirling vortexes of wind nearly fifteen feet in diameter attack one giant while two similarly sized flowing waves of water attack the other.
As the magic of her grandmother's spirit departs her, she hears the giants growl obscenities to their attackers.
Is there anything on the table?
After renewing her charms, she will continue her search.
Hearing Gruskorb's explanation, the swashbuckler shoots a doubtful look in the direction of the trap when it moves, entirely on its own and apparently in response to being the topic of discussion. "Right, I see," he eventually replies, eyes still fixed on the trap. "You have a possessed beartrap that's threatened to, what, eat you if you don't feed it something else instead." Considering the matter with pursed lips and a slight rocking on his feet, Garidan finally offers with a slightly amused tone of voice. "If you'd like, I can try my hand at making a muzzle for it the next time I'm able to use a forge. I suppose if it's going to act like an untamed animal, you'll have to treat it accordingly."
"A beast treated with cruelty returns cruelty to its master", Truk'tosh warns at the mention of binding the possessed trap. "That may work as a temporary measure but it would be better to understand this spirit and turn its hunger to our cause. Has the spirit spoken to you in these visions Gruskorb? Do you know anything about it other than its hunger?"
The mystical pull of the location spell directs Niyut through the room, directly at the in-progress fight and the altar beyond. Excitedly, the oracle looks all about from her vantage point, but does not see any amber in the room. Knowing that she is close, but not risking entering the fray, Niyut turns and passes down the hall and back through the portal.
This trip is less frightening knowing what to expect, but nonetheless she feels the stress of feeling herself helpless as she's pulled through the ether. Arriving back in the mage's room, Niyut sees that she continues to chant. She follows the winding stairs back to the group, nearly stepping upon the animated bear trap.
"It's more of a feeling than words." He eyed the device until he needed to blink. "Strange, like I know it personally. We only met recently though; maybe I'll know more of what exactly it wants later."
He responded to Truk'tosh first as he was able to feel the correct amount of revelation easier for him. Fortunately, the half-orc gave him the right way to phrase his response to Garidan.
"Truk's right. The damned thing almost killed me before. I don't think a leash will help. It might "talk" with feelings, but it's smarter than an animal. Quite clever, I'd guess."
He sighed. "This whole business with souls - the spirit within me, the one in the bear trap - is not something I know much about. Your sister's the most studied of us with that stuff, Truk, and even she seems not to know the way to separate us all."
Niyut returns and reports back on what she had seen. I considered trying to grab the amber myself during the confusion, but it was almost as if the cosmos itself told me that would fail. We should hurry through the portal before the elemental's fall."
Garidan's gaze shifts briefly between Truk'tosh, Gruskorb, and the trap before he shrugs. "Alright, it's your possessed trap, and you treat it how you feel best. But that offer still stands, if you ever decide otherwise." When the hobgoblin brings up the subject them sharing space--personally, or via objects--with souls not their own, the swashbuckler shifts uncomfortably for a moment, but eventually offers an opinion. "Don't see why separating is such an issue, as long as that other soul is friendly and willing to aid you. It's not as if we're overburdened with allies right now, that we can discard the ones we have."
He says little else after that until Niyut's return with the results of her scouting foray. "Mmmm, that caster holding the passage could be a real problem. She can feed fresh giant reinforcements in as she wills, or simply cut the connection and leave us trapped. But having the giants win that fight and claim what we're looking for, for I see no other reason for them to be there as well, would be far worse." With those thoughts voiced for the consideration of the party, Garidan gives his equipment a quick check and indicates his readiness to proceed.
The group proceeds down the stairs and makes their way into the room and towards the portal. The ice giant in the flowing white gown continues to sway before the mystical blue portal, murmuring as if she slept lightly in a disturbing dream. Stealthily the group passes past her one at a time. Truk'tosh stops briefly when Tacal begins to squirm at passing through the portal, but the druid calms the beast and they proceed.
Just as Niyut described, the sensation of moving through the portal was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As they arrived, Garidan and Malthazir both stumbled forward feeling a waive of exhaustion overcoming them. Niyut fared little better as she began to move down the corridor, she faltered and leaned heavily against the wall.
Niyut leads her companions down the hall to the fight. As she walks she invokes her ancestor's protection on her brother and Garidan.
She recommends that Malthazir has some fire elementals summoned before they arrive.
Stealth
Perception
Initiative
+8 with swashbuckler initiative
Domain power use.
The group gathers outside the ancient sanctum preparing to enter the fray. A quick peak inside suggests that the water elemental is close to death, but the air elemental appears e holding its own. A second glance brings the relevation that the ice giant fighting the air elemental does not appear to be dressed like the warrior you previously fought, but more like the mage that stood motionless outside the portal.
The voice of Morgrym fills Truk'tosh's head. What's your plan, boy!?! Can't go in without a plan! That ice giant nearly got the best of you last time... and now there's two!
This is a battle for mages, not warriors. We will strike the giants from afar. Malthazir's spirits are mightier than I am and their flames draw the giants' ire easily. Truk'tosh communicates to Morgrym.
After a swift and nervous passage to the room where the portal awaits, to say nothing of the incredibly unpleasant transition through the portal itself, Garidan has a spend a few moments getting himself back together. Mercifully, he has little trouble adapting to the sudden and unexpected change in elevation, though he notes Malthazir is having some problems and he keeps a watchful eye on the struggling elf. Arriving at the room describe by Niyut, the swashbuckler takes a quick look for himself at the fight's current status, and doesn't like what he sees. Thinking quickly, he turns to the others and offers a suggested plan of action. "I think Truk'tosh' Gruskorb, and myself would be better suited to engaging that giant lacking armor. I think it's a magic-wielder of some sort, like the one at the portal. Though it's still a giant, it should hopefully be less up to facing off with foes in a close fight. Niyut and Malthazir, however, are the ones most capable of managing that armored giant, so long as the elemental battling it can hold out." Turning back to examine the fight briefly, for little time is left before action becomes necessary, he adds over his shoulder. "And if anyone here is conversant in the speech of the elemental powers, I think letting those two know that we're here as allies would be a fine idea. I really don't want them mistaking us for anything else.
"But are we allies? We also seek what they guard."
"Remember that fire is their weakness."
Giving Niyut's question careful consideration, Garidan eventually replies. "Yes, I believe we are, or could be. The giants have done little to demonstrate that they consider us as anything more than prey, at best. The elementals, however, may be amenable to negotiation, especially if we make a point of the giants' available reinforcements and how the elementals will ultimately fall soon enough under their relentless attacks. And if nothing else, such a declaration might allow us to avoid having this become a three-sided fight."
"You don't need to convince me that the giants are our enemies, but we to are trespassers here. Look for no welcome from bound guardian spirits."
l
Garidan had the right train of thought; they needed to prevent this situation from becoming more of a triangle of death than it already was. But how do you talk to those things? Would they listen?
Gruskorb was decent at playing people against each other - or at least he had been before the tower beckoned - yet he wanted a clear target in the event their "diplomacy" fell through.
"They don't have to like us, just see the value in not biting off more than they can chew. You can talk to them, Niyut? We should at least pick one to strike first if none of them want to chat. How about the water one? It probably can't fly, right?"
"Such spirits are not unintelligent. They might take our assault on the giants in the way that you hope, but the most important thing now is to take out the giants."
"Right, well I guess that's as good a plan as we can come up with then," the swashbuckler mutters before taking a deep breath, releasing it, and sprinting past the oracle into the chamber at a rate of speed higher than usual. He unflinchingly rushes straight at unarmored giant and stabs his rapier deep into its left leg.