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Balmir listens as Etena relates the history of the forge. Questions swirl in his mind and he looks at the hammer. "But nothing of what you said requires this hammer. Getting some clay, some rocks, a bit of dragon's fire and some water?" Balmir scoffs and slams the hammer back into the belt loop that holds it. "And besides, everything I've ever heard of Minderhal says he's evil and certainly not someone who I'd want to raise to glory."
sorry for my slow response here. Work is crazy right now but I think we're almost done (at work). Also, I have to figure out how Balmir is going to react to a giant being nice.
Balmir holds Agrimmosh up with two hands firmly grasping the haft. "Is this what you wanted to see giant?" In the face of yet another hated giant he manages to keep his voice to a low growl.
"Yeah, what's in it for you? And why would we want to restart this forge thing?" Balmir glowers at the giant.
Balmir grunts. "Yeah. What's it to you?"
"You hear something there?" Balmir checks with Mouser as he indicates the north east door. "Well, let's go then." He moves to the door and waits for his companions to be ready for him to open it.
Tested positive for COVID. Been symptomatic for a couple days. This thing really zaps your energy but I'll try to keep up.
Balmir tries to dodge out of the way as the giant rumbles through but instead he gets knocked down. He rolls a couple times then clambers to his feet. He takes a short step forward and again tries to smash the giant.
Balmir lines his hammer up for a swing at the giant in the center and takes a couple mighty swings.
Balmir steps forward and raises his axe for a mighty swing against the giant in front of him.
"Ha. And stay down." Blamir glowers at the unconscious creature then moves towards the next while holding his hammer menacingly.
Balmir growls at the giant. He grips his hammer and swings at the giant.
Balmir rushes the door and slams it open then turns to charge directly at the giants.
"I bet there are giants in there. I'm ready to smash them all!" Balmir takes a tight grip on the war hammer and gets himself ready to storm in.
Balmir holds back as Mouser sneaks ahead but his patience runs thin. "What is it? What do you see? I hear a lot of noise from that room."
"I'm not sure. I know my hammer here will become more powerful and that will allow me to kill more giants. So it can't be all bad." Balmir scowls at the forge.
Balmir reels as the clang reverberates throughout the chamber. He immediately grabs his head as images and knowledge flood into it. After a few moments the surge seems to stop and his mind stops spinning. "As I said, this is some forge!" He turns to the others who are looking at him. "This is a magical forge, you may have guess. But it's also evil." Balmir relates all the new information that he received.
"Somehow we need to activate this forge. I'm not sure how.
"Secret door? I guess we should check it out but first, my hammer wants to touch the anvil. Everyone be ready. I'm going to do it." Balmir walks to the anvil and directly slams the hammer onto the top of the anvil.
"Ok. Now let's go look at the anvil. It's still tugging at the hammer." Balmir moves to the stairs to the left of the dais.
Balmir glances at the cut on his arm only for a moment before he swings the hammer at both of the troll's heads.
Balmir moves with unnatural speed up to the troll and strikes with the hammer.
Balmir's eyes turn red in anger as the ogres move towards him. He grabs Agrimmosh by the haft and steps forward and swings the hammer.
Balmir looks at the others and seeing no one trying to stop him, he moves cautiously towards the dais at the rear of the room.
Balmir's jaw drops and his heart races at the awe inspiring sight before him. "Now that's a forge! And that anvil!" Distant memories, flash in his mind as he imagines a forge aflame. The radiating heat in sweltering waves, the ringing clang of hammers striking anvils, the pungent smell of molten ore, all revive memories of his home. The same home destroyed by these giants. Blood boils in his veins and he grabs his hammer. The instant his fist wraps around the shaft he feels that something has changed in the hammer. The hammer itself pulls towards the forge on the platform. There's a connection there. Balmir looks quizzically at the hammer then at the forge. Is it possible that this hammer was forged here. The hammer urges. It wants to touch the forge. "My friends, this may sound strange, but this hammer of mine, it seems to be connected to that forge somehow. I can feel it. It's pulling me there."
Balmir watches Mouser struggle with the door for a bit then steps up to help. "Here, let me." He pushes on the door.
"Thanks for checking that out Mouser. Now let's get in there and find some giants to smash."
"I think we should look into those tents first." Balmir speaks in a low voice to his companions. He hopes they can hear him while they are all still buried in the cart. "I think we can get out of here and sneak over there. Especially with Tam's magic."
Balmir feels the cart come to a stop. After waiting about a minute, he shuffles around and tries to get a peek to see if they are alone.
Just checking to see if I understood everything correctly. We are now behind the palisade and in front of a gigantic cathedral carved into the face of the mountain. This is high above the valley floor where there are lots of giants camped in tents. There was a description of stairs leading from the valley floor up to the gates but I assume there is also a ramp or the cart carrying us would have had a hard time get up there. Also, there is a large cave in the cliffs on the western side of the valley floor and that is different than the cathedral where we're at. Do I have it right?
Balmir does his best to not think about what he's doing.
Balmir looks as if he's about to object again but the looks from the others, especially Mouser, make it clear that if he didn't climb in with everyone else, he'd be left alone. "I don't like this. Not one bit. But I will keep telling myself it is the means to the end."
"The smell I can handle. I'm just not willing to bury myself beneath a pile." Balmir grumbles. "Tam, how long will that invisibility last?"
"No way!" Balmir nearly shouts but manages to keep his voice low. "There is no way I'm hiding in there."
"Yes, let's check them for valuables and then I'm inclined to just leave them here to rot. As for propping them up, I don't think that the giants down there are clever enough to notice if these guys are missing or not. Doesn't seem worth the effort."
Balmir gazes across the camp of giants. He wants to jump down to the ground level and just start attacking as many as he can before he is overcome. The muscles in his shoulders bulge and knot as the tension mounts. But he knows that taking on all the giants at once would be a foolhardy venture, at best. He turns away from the camps when Mouser speaks. "Yes, you're right my little friend. Maybe a little wisdom is best."
Balmir snarls at the giant and swings his hammer.
"Yep. Looks like an army to me too. Not sure how we would stop that." Balmir pulls at his beard as he gazes out over the campfires. "Someone wanna murder these guys... ?" Balmir scrunches his eyes and frowns. "I'm just as keen as the next guy to kill some giants but that's way too many for me." Then he realizes that Tam is talking about the giant and ettin on the top of the gates -- right next to them. "Oh. Yeah." he chuckles then unslings his hammer. Walking up behind the giant, he takes a massive swing at it.
Balmir's mouth drops open at the sight of all the giants. On the one hand, he desires nothing more than to jump into the middle of them and slay as many as he can before they stop him. But on the other hand, he knows the futility of that course of action. "I don't know what to do. I'm not the one in our group with the brains."
"I don't know much about magic but if that's what you've got, then go for it."
Seeing Mouser scamper up the wall and tie off the rope, Balmir turns to Tam. "So, do you think you could do something to distract those giants while the rest of us climb up?"
"Do you think you could climb the wall and tie off a rope without being seen? If so, then once you've done that, we can all charge in and try to climb. Maybe Tamxander can provide some mind illusions or something to keep the giants distracted while we climb up."
"Given enough time it could but I don't think it would be quick."
"Organized? I doubt it. They're just giants. They just like to smash things. I like the idea of attacking now. But I don't know how we'll get up on top of the gates."
"Well that wasn't all that hard. But I think that those giants noticed. If we're lucky, they'll come down here and fight us." Balmir raises a fist holding Agrimmosh and shakes it at the giants. "Come down here you foul filth. Let's see if you're brave enough to meet your doom." he shouts towards the wall but he's not certain if the giants are close enough to hear. |
