Upon seeing the hill giant, Setsuna activates her Ring of Invisibility; Olympus and the Eagles probably will not look out of place, but she certainly will.
The Oracle contemplates just flying onward, but she then remembers how easily one lone giant tore apart several semi-trained militiamen and several trained soldiers.Her inky wings and cloak of shadows promptly spawn, and the invisible Oracle begins to call upon a Celestial Ankylosaurus (once again taking two standard actions to avoid flight issues).
She places her summoned creature behind the brute. If not possible, she places him on closest stair. Upon completing her spell, Setsuna's intentions immediately bleed into the Celestial Ankylosaurus, who literally shows up SMITING EVIL and planting his tail club against the giant's thick head.
::Oh, Setsu's fighting another giant. Keep an eye on Mory, please,:: she tells the other two eagles as she dives down to assist.
She begins summoning as well, and after the dinosaur appears stirges burst forth from the First World.
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Morythine as eagle scans the ground intently, hoping the ruckus below might flush a hare or game bird.
Zoli notices the giant, but (assuming her companions' summons will be more effective than her beak and claws) her eagle eyes focus on the statues instead.
Karzoug again. I guess it makes sense: old ruins will have his likeness since he ruled Old Shalast, and if memory serves this whole area would've been part of his domain. Still, it makes me wonder...there was that speaking image of him under Thistletop...and everyone since then keeps talking about harvesting greed...I wonder if he left some teaching or legend about Greed Magic...maybe something that someone just rediscovered or decided to try out...?
The giant reels from the dinosaur's attack, and all four stirred latch on firmly!
__________
Setsuna casts Blessing of Fervor on herself, Rilee, and her summon.
The celestial ankylosaurus uses the buff to take two swings of his tail against the giant; at least one of them lands solidly against the giant's head.
Rilee circles overhead, watching for other threats as the dinosaur and her stirges brutalize the giant.
The giant falls to the continued assault without so much as even swinging his club or making a battle cry!
...That's it? Just one giant? ...Not buying it.
Setsuna casts Ironskin on her summon and takes a quick look about for any more trouble.
Compelled by workings of the summoning spell, the Celestial Ankylosaurus also looks about for more enemies.
Rilee banks towards the ziggurat, calling out in the language of eagles, ::Zoli! Eugeni! Something's in the tower!::
Then she begins the process of being able to call lightning from the sky.
:: I hear it, beyond those stairs! Should you return us to our normal forms? I can't be too much help as a bird, and if that ziggurat is filled with giants you'll need help! ::
Eugeni croaks from his hiding place, waiting for someone to turn him back into a man.
::Let's see what's inside. We may still have a long way to go to Jorgenfist::
Rilee flies around the structure to get an idea of what's making the sound within, also trying to stay inconspicuous.
Setsuna's pointed ears twitch with all the Eagle cries.
...They must hear something.
Since nothing seems to happen immediately, the invisible Setsuna decides to solidify the front line. As she casts Summon Monster V, she reaches into the Elemental Plane of Earth to call forth a champion of rock. While not quite as devastating as a buffed Celestial Ankylosaurus, an Earth Elemental is somewhat more combat ready from the start.
The eagles either find perches atop the ziggurat or perform a series of circles around the building, attempting to determine what might reside within, though are unable to gain any more insight on the occupants from the outside.
Setsuna calls forth an elemental of similar size as the giants, and the thing looks about expectantly as it pries itself up from the earth itself. After several moments pass with no immediate threat in sight, however, the summoned combatants look to the one that called them for further instruction.
After spending Round 1 summoning, Setsuna casts Tongues on herself one the second round and recasts Bless of Fervor on herself and her closest allies this current round.
"Balboa, go inside," the invisible Setsuna orders the Earth Elemental. Despite speaking in gibberish, her words are easily understood by all.
"Affirmative," Balboa grunts in Terran as he uses his newly enhanced speed to boldly stride into the ruins.
As she flies after her the elemental, Setsuna pokes her Celestial Ankylosaurus to follow. While not intelligent like Balboa, he is compelled by the summoning spell to seek out and attack his caller's enemies, and there are clearly no enemies in his current location. As such, the dinosaur trots after the Earth Elemental.
Rilee flaps and keens to get her stirges' attention and to coax them into the ziggurat for their next meal after they drained the giant.
Eugeni cries in the language of the eagles, "Are we there yet? What is this place?"
Lurking inside the large structure are five more hill giants, sitting around a treasure horde, picking through it. The elemental advances through the stone of the mountain unseen, while the dinosaur makes quite the distracting entrance.
The giants all immediately grab clubs and engage the heavenly ankylosaurus, who manages to clobber one with its massive tail. As the remaining four charge forward, one is tackled from behind by the elemental, slamming him to the earth with a ground shaking thud. One giant pauses to help his friend, while the other two continue towards the dinosaur, hammering it's armored hide with their large clubs.
The stirges slip in unnoticed, and latch onto one of the nearer giants, immediately sucking blood from it with haste. Meanwhile, the two giants manage to batter the elemental into rubble, but not before being seriously wounded themselves.
The dinosaur, outnumbered, also begins to waver, but several lightning bolts from Rilee quickly evens the score and drops a giant in a smoldering heap. Another giant falls to a knee as the stirges finally get their fill and fly off, placing its head unfortunately close to the dinosaur's tail, which cracks his skull like a melon.
The last remaining giants muster as much strength they can after thwarting the elemental, and charge forward with deep, thundering war cries. One is eliminated immediately by the dinosaur, but the second manages to finish off the heavenly beast. But it is of no avail, as another of Rilee's lightning bolts manages to end the fight completely.
__________
Setsuna tosses all the spoilers of war into the group bag of holding. She then gathers the Eagles; well, in Mory's case, she asks Rilee to collect him.
"Solid haul," the Oracle remarks as she climbs onto Olympus' back. "Anyway, I'm inclined to think that we're almost to Jorgenfist; these Stairs/Steps were on the list of landmarks. Now we just look for a fortress near a river inside of a valley presumably surrounded by a few hundred giants. Once Rilee finds us a safe vantage point to settle on, I'll turn you back to normal. I'm used to being solitaire, but I imagine that it must be tiring not being able to fight properly."
With that said, Setsuna has Olympus take off and follow Rilee as she navigates.
Eugeni cries out approvingly.
Rilee shifts out of eagle form in order to assist Setsuna in compiling the gear, but only after checking first on Mory. Seeing that he's contentedly tearing into a rock quail, she returns to the ziggurat.
"Once we see the signs of the valley, we'll need to split up a bit. This number of eagles flying in a close group is unusual, and may draw attention. Word has probably reached Jorgenfist that we've got a roc. Setsu, have Olympus fly as high as you're able to breathe. He's built for high altitude, so he'll be fine if you are. That way, his size will be harder to gauge and the fact that he's carrying a rider," she tells her.
She looks at the two eagles and smiles. "You are so beautiful," she tells them, knowing they won't be eagles for much longer. "First one that sees what could be Jorgenfist, give a cry. If you spot what looks like a good, secure place to hide while we turn you back, let me know that too. I'll get Mory and Setsu to join us. I'll do a few high circles of the fortress once it's spotted, since I've got the magic to get really tiny, and, well, if worse comes to worse I'll be back in a day."
She waits to see if anyone has any objections to the plan, then shifts back into the tawny eagle to hear them. Assuming it's generally agreed-upon, she flies off to collect Morythine and coax him to keep flying.
Zoli finds herself nervous, waiting outside the ziggurat without the ability to join the fight...but soon it's over and Setsuna and Rilee are piling up the treasure.
When she sees the haul Zoli pecks at the crown, turning it around in the sunlight, feeling like there's something familiar about it that she can't quite place.
::OK Rilee, let's get going then. Flying's still REALLY cool...but not being able to talk, or to help in a fight, not so much.::
Meanwhile, Morythine . . .
After a few days of searching the mountain range, the mountains give way to a wide valley perched on the upper edge of a cliff overlooking the Muschkal River. At the western edge of the valley entrance, a lone watchtower stands upon a low hill, but this structure is overshadowed by the larger one that looms in the valley proper. Here stands a ring-shaped stone wall, fifty feet in height and surrounding several buildings, the most impressive of which is a looming black tower with bladelike crenelations that overlooks the river gorge. Within the ring, a one-hundred-fifty-foot-tall stone spire rises, surrounded by three low buildings. Apart from the black tower, five smaller towers are built into the fortress wall. One of these towers is wider than the others and seems to be the only gateway into the courtyard within. Surrounding the fortress itself are seven camps of giants flying various tribal banners.
Once the group lands and sets up a base camp, Setsuna easily Dispels Rilee's magic; she seems surprised about how she effortless it was on her part.
"Is everyone still with us?" the Oracle asks as she wraps herself around Eugeni's big, muscly arm.
While scouting the fortress as a small bird, leaving the other avians roosted in trees in the mountain range to the west, with Setsuna hiding in the foliage below, Rilee is able to make a several observations.
Firstly, the area is heavily patrolled, spotting several bands of hunting parties consisting of stone giants and dire bears roaming about gathering food and game for the army below. Secondly, there are a pair of caves along the cliff face below the fortress and above the river. Finally, another cliff resides in the mountains to the west, looking over the fortress and camps itself.
After returning to the group and reporting her findings, Zoli and Setsuna immediately agree with her that the cave to the west, if uninhabited, is likely the best place to make camp and prepare. Traveling one at a time to remain inconspicuous to the giants below, the group eventually makes their way to the cave in question, first Zoli, then Eugeni, then Setsuna astride Olympus (albeit at much higher elevation), and finally Rilee trying to coax bird-minded Morythine along properly. It would seem that, in their flight across the valley, they manage to do so without drawing attention to themselves...
The cave entrance is difficult to reach except from the air. The entrance is 450 feet up the side of a near-vertical mountain face. Shattered skeletons of dozens of animals, wyverns, and even a few rocs litter the ground far below the cave entrance. Once all are present and accounted for, Setsuna dispels the magic binding Morythine, Eugeni, and Zoli to their eagle forms, returning them to their natural state for the first time in days!
Rilee shifts back once she sees that Setsu's magic is undoing her own. She has Olympus guarding the interior of the cave, to give a squawk in case something comes out to greet them.
Then she turns to Morythine while Setsuna and Eugeni are reunited and Zoli is occupied. She looks deeply contrite. She doesn't say anything at first, just standing with her guard down. Whatever he chooses to do, she accepts it.
Setsuna kisses Eugeni on the cheek and then vanishes from sight.
"Since I can see in the dark, I'm going to take a look inside. If I'm not back in ten minutes... come get my corpse!" the Oracle's disembodied voice says somewhat jokingly as it fades into the depths of the cave.
The experience of being back in her own body after days as a bird is profoundly odd. At first, even walking doesn't seem quite right, and the usually agile halfling stumbles over a small rock on the cave floor.
"Is everyone still with us?" the Oracle asks as she wraps herself around Eugeni's big, muscly arm.
Zoli nods, and then glances away from the affectionate couple. She turns to look down the drop she just flew over. At first the chasm of open air feels tempting...and suddenly she remembers she can't fly anymore, and a spark of cautious fear runs up her spine.
Turning back, she looks over at Morythine and Rilee. "How are you, Mory? You really became an eagle, didn't you?"
If he doesn't pull away, she moves to put her hand on his back.
Eugeni hugs Setsuna back, giving her a non-deadly peck on the cheek. "Nice to be me again. There's a lot of giants down there," Eugeni says, whistling low. "This gonna be a job of work if I ever seen one."
Eugeni smiles at that news, and wanders into the cave. The darkness poses no obstacle to him, and neither do any physical barriers as he nimbly leaps or climbs over them. When he sees the haul he lets out a low whistle. "This must be the horde from that dragon we killed in Sandpoint!"
Rilee’s dispel crashes into the eagle; its avian shriek warping steadily into a more, yet not quite, human cry as Morythine regains his dhampir form and his connection with the positively aligned world of life and light is wrenched away.
He reflexively, and almost comically, flaps his arms in a vain attempt to take flight, to escape from the assault, before overbalancing and crumpling to the ground.
He lays there, doubled over, gulping down great strangling sobs and shivering. He doesn’t acknowledge Zoli’s hand on his back, he doesn’t seem to realise her hand is there at all.
Suddenly his head snaps up to glare at Rilee with hate-filled, bloodshot eyes. “What did you to me?” he hisses.
As softly and gently as she can, Rilee says, "Exactly what I said. You became an eagle. A beautiful, wild and free eagle. The shock of the transformation was too much, and your mind changed just as your body. But you're back now, no different than before. The days of travel are over and we are here at Jorgenfist."
She swallows hard, concerned for his distress. "I do not fault you for blaming me or being angry."
Although he vaguely recalls the honest warning Rilee gave back in Sandpoint, Morythine can’t think rationally as the grim reality of life as a half-dead dhampir crushes him. “You can’t control your magic. Look what you did to Shalelu. I should have followed my instincts and never trusted you. You’ve always been plotting against me.”
Rilee recoils as if she'd been physically struck. She shakes her head in confused protest. "Plotting? No! Were friends, aren't we? I-- I'm sorry, Morythine, but this is nature's magic. I'm never meant to control it fully."
She reaches out, tentatively, to try to soothe him. "Just take a moment, please, and let your mind adjust. You're back. There should be no ill effects."
Zoli flinches at Morythine's hiss but keeps her hand steady on his back. "Mory, I don't know what it must've been like--to completely become an eagle and then come back--but you are back now. And you're with friends.
"What can we do to help?"
Eugeni wanders back out of the cave clutching hand fulls of gold. "Look y'all, we're rich!" He pauses for a moment and adds, "Again...."
Then he notices the knife-thick tension in the air. "Uhh....everything okay?"
Gasping, his fangs bared, Morythine tries to maintain his anger at Rilee, but her obvious shock and confusion at his accusal manages to seep past his wretchedness. He slumps.
“No, no, you don’t understand. I am back. Back in this body that cuts me off from the pulse of the world.” He looks to Zoli, his oldest friend in the group. “I’d never felt life. My existence was a torment, and I bore it because I did not believe there was an alternative” He tries a characteristic bitter laugh, but it only sounds as a sob. “The last few days. Simple wants. Simple needs. Probably the happiest I’ve ever known.”
He reaches out, tapping the Sihedron medallion around Zoli’s neck briefly before looking back at the druid. “Perhaps we all dabble with evil things from time to time, but I’ve gone too far. Do you remember Riley? The curse of my dhampir heritage. Only the most wicked god of the spheres will deign to heal my body. I’ve become his servant, but I don’t want to walk towards him any longer.”
He takes off his tricorn and places it tenderly on Zoli’s head. “Turn me back Rilee. I don’t want to be a dhampir anymore. Turn me back.”