Post by Bandgoat on Jul 12, 2013 7:32:26 GMT -6
Neth 30, 4707 – Late Evening
My Dearest Illya,
I am pleased to report that we have been met with a measure of success in our efforts, and that your cohorts were not quite as inept as you had led me to believe. A few days ago, we teleported to the small human farming community of Ravenmoor. The inhabitants were a little distrustful of outsiders, but Ryll was nonetheless able to gain some information (or at least rumors) about giants in the area. We heard various horror stories about people seeing them; or about friends and acquaintances going missing, presumably killed by rampaging giants. Finding little use of these rumors, we immediately set off toward the northeast, in the direction of the Storval Stairs.
Luckily, we had an uneventful journey. I was able to get to know some of my new companions, particularly Soril and Ryll, and re-acclimate myself to dwarf stench. Late this morning we arrived at the border of the plateau. I wish you had been here with me to see it. You had told me that the Storval Rise was one of the most infamous landmarks of Varisia, but I did not realize that such a sharply contrasting feature existed in nature. The change in terrain from the fertile lowlands to the rugged, stony scrublands of the plateau above marks the lands of giants and barbarians with an unmistakable boundary. So I am told, the rise itself often reaches a dizzying height of 1000 feet or more, but at our location known as the Storval Stairs, the cliffs are only about 400 feet high. The Stairs are literally a set of steps that run up the side of the cliffs that allow for foot transportation from the bottom to the top (or vice versa). There is also a cluster of ancient stone buildings and rubble at the top, as if it were one time a gateway community through which people passed. The stairs themselves are very large: they are two feet high, so they were not intended for elven or human traffic. They are flanked at the bottom on either side by a pair of immense statues. The statues were eroded enough that we could not make out who they were, but it appeared to be humanoid of some sort. Tolgun suggested that we use the buildings at the top as a lookout for when the giant raiding party arrives, so we climbed. The rugged terrain slowed our movement, but we made it to the top before the sun reached its zenith, so our climb was mainly shaded by the cliff.
As we approached the top of the stairs, we spotted a hill giant standing lookout on top of one of the buildings, and doing a poor job of it, too. It picked up a rock and threatened to throw it at us. I admit I hesitated a bit, having never faced a humanoid of such immense size before. Lai’Ki, on the other hand, quickly shot at it, hitting it squarely in the chest. We all then hurried up the remainder of the stairs while Soril and Lai’Ki provided covering fire. The giant’s reinforcements arrived and started hurtling down boulders at us. Luckily, the giants had arranged themselves in clumps, so I let fly with a blast of fire at one of the groups while Soril scorched the other. The giants had prepared large piles of rock they sent rolling down the stairs, but we managed to avoid any real damage. A group of giants hopped off their building to engage us in melee, but they were not the main threat: At the same time, a figure larger than I had ever seen strode out in front of us. Judging from its singular facial feature, I knew immediately it was a Cyclops. It looked fierce and powerful and it injured Ryll severely. After I sapped its strength and some of us hit it with ranged attacks, Ryll smote the Cyclops to the ground. It was then an easy task to finish off the other giants with bolts of lightning from Soril and me. Once the fight was over, Tolgun healed those of us who had been injured while I strode over the corpse of the Cyclops and imprinted a magical rune on its forehead reading “for Illya.” That will be just a taste of the vengeance I will bring upon those who threaten the safety of our homeland.
The giants and the Cyclops carried nothing of great value and it was too large for most of us to use anyway. However, searching the buildings at the top of the stairs, we found the giants’ living quarters and a respectable amount of treasure consisting of a bunch of silver pieces, some jewelry, some artwork (probably not done by the giants), a magical sword, a magical quiver, several magical arrows, and some potions. The jewelry included a crown Tolgun identified as a dwarven crown from the Pallgreve clan of Janderhoff. He thought they might pay as much as 10,000 gold pieces as a reward for its return. I, for one, am not above extorting money from the greedy dwarves, though I expect they will part with their money freely if the item is that important. After a brief discussion, we decided to occupy the ruined city on the top of the stairs, preparing defenses until the giant raiding party arrived, which we guess will be in about a week. We wanted to create some traps for them, but since none of us had the expertise to do so, we decided that we would be the trap. I suggested we narrow the passage at the top of the stairs so only one giant could pass at a time, allowing us to focus our attacks. Soril started creating some stone walls that could be used to provide cover for ranged attacks. I believe he plans to further develop these battlements in the next few days.
With any luck, we will have arrived in time to ambush the raiding party and rescue the captive people of Sandpoint.
- Love, E
Kuthona 4, 4707 – Late Evening
Dear Illya,
Our plan worked! This afternoon, Lai’Ki raised the alarm as a contingent of stone giants neared the Storval Stairs from the low country. We manned our battlements and prepared ourselves with defensive spells. When the giants entered our “kill zone,” we started shooting. Lai’Ki got the first attack – a splendid hit. I hit my mark as well. The lead giant attacked Tolgun and Ryll while the rest of us shot from cover. Soril created a wall of ice, cutting off the giants’ escape, making it easy to destroy the three giants at the head of their column. I have a deep feeling that I killed the giant that killed you, My Love. His head was also scored by my magical mark.
The battle continued until the trailing giants moved back a bit and retrieved their leather sacks of human captives. Nala, of all people, tried to negotiate with them, asking them to let the people go. They responded by telling us to go away and leave them alone or they would drop the hostages over the cliff. We then surrounded them and took up defensive positions. They bargained with us a bit more and we were able to get them to drop the sacks on the ground while we retreated back up the cliff. At that point, the encounter was over, with the eight captured Sandpointers safe. We decided to let the giants go, but we might want to keep an eye on them in case they lead us to the giant stronghold. Tolgun healed the citizens and Soril is preparing to teleport them back to Sandpoint tomorrow. Tolgun might interrogate one of the dead giants to find out more information about our adversary. I believe it is time to make our own fortress raid. To Jorgenfist! Now, if only we knew where to find it…
- E
My Dearest Illya,
I am pleased to report that we have been met with a measure of success in our efforts, and that your cohorts were not quite as inept as you had led me to believe. A few days ago, we teleported to the small human farming community of Ravenmoor. The inhabitants were a little distrustful of outsiders, but Ryll was nonetheless able to gain some information (or at least rumors) about giants in the area. We heard various horror stories about people seeing them; or about friends and acquaintances going missing, presumably killed by rampaging giants. Finding little use of these rumors, we immediately set off toward the northeast, in the direction of the Storval Stairs.
Luckily, we had an uneventful journey. I was able to get to know some of my new companions, particularly Soril and Ryll, and re-acclimate myself to dwarf stench. Late this morning we arrived at the border of the plateau. I wish you had been here with me to see it. You had told me that the Storval Rise was one of the most infamous landmarks of Varisia, but I did not realize that such a sharply contrasting feature existed in nature. The change in terrain from the fertile lowlands to the rugged, stony scrublands of the plateau above marks the lands of giants and barbarians with an unmistakable boundary. So I am told, the rise itself often reaches a dizzying height of 1000 feet or more, but at our location known as the Storval Stairs, the cliffs are only about 400 feet high. The Stairs are literally a set of steps that run up the side of the cliffs that allow for foot transportation from the bottom to the top (or vice versa). There is also a cluster of ancient stone buildings and rubble at the top, as if it were one time a gateway community through which people passed. The stairs themselves are very large: they are two feet high, so they were not intended for elven or human traffic. They are flanked at the bottom on either side by a pair of immense statues. The statues were eroded enough that we could not make out who they were, but it appeared to be humanoid of some sort. Tolgun suggested that we use the buildings at the top as a lookout for when the giant raiding party arrives, so we climbed. The rugged terrain slowed our movement, but we made it to the top before the sun reached its zenith, so our climb was mainly shaded by the cliff.
As we approached the top of the stairs, we spotted a hill giant standing lookout on top of one of the buildings, and doing a poor job of it, too. It picked up a rock and threatened to throw it at us. I admit I hesitated a bit, having never faced a humanoid of such immense size before. Lai’Ki, on the other hand, quickly shot at it, hitting it squarely in the chest. We all then hurried up the remainder of the stairs while Soril and Lai’Ki provided covering fire. The giant’s reinforcements arrived and started hurtling down boulders at us. Luckily, the giants had arranged themselves in clumps, so I let fly with a blast of fire at one of the groups while Soril scorched the other. The giants had prepared large piles of rock they sent rolling down the stairs, but we managed to avoid any real damage. A group of giants hopped off their building to engage us in melee, but they were not the main threat: At the same time, a figure larger than I had ever seen strode out in front of us. Judging from its singular facial feature, I knew immediately it was a Cyclops. It looked fierce and powerful and it injured Ryll severely. After I sapped its strength and some of us hit it with ranged attacks, Ryll smote the Cyclops to the ground. It was then an easy task to finish off the other giants with bolts of lightning from Soril and me. Once the fight was over, Tolgun healed those of us who had been injured while I strode over the corpse of the Cyclops and imprinted a magical rune on its forehead reading “for Illya.” That will be just a taste of the vengeance I will bring upon those who threaten the safety of our homeland.
The giants and the Cyclops carried nothing of great value and it was too large for most of us to use anyway. However, searching the buildings at the top of the stairs, we found the giants’ living quarters and a respectable amount of treasure consisting of a bunch of silver pieces, some jewelry, some artwork (probably not done by the giants), a magical sword, a magical quiver, several magical arrows, and some potions. The jewelry included a crown Tolgun identified as a dwarven crown from the Pallgreve clan of Janderhoff. He thought they might pay as much as 10,000 gold pieces as a reward for its return. I, for one, am not above extorting money from the greedy dwarves, though I expect they will part with their money freely if the item is that important. After a brief discussion, we decided to occupy the ruined city on the top of the stairs, preparing defenses until the giant raiding party arrived, which we guess will be in about a week. We wanted to create some traps for them, but since none of us had the expertise to do so, we decided that we would be the trap. I suggested we narrow the passage at the top of the stairs so only one giant could pass at a time, allowing us to focus our attacks. Soril started creating some stone walls that could be used to provide cover for ranged attacks. I believe he plans to further develop these battlements in the next few days.
With any luck, we will have arrived in time to ambush the raiding party and rescue the captive people of Sandpoint.
- Love, E
Kuthona 4, 4707 – Late Evening
Dear Illya,
Our plan worked! This afternoon, Lai’Ki raised the alarm as a contingent of stone giants neared the Storval Stairs from the low country. We manned our battlements and prepared ourselves with defensive spells. When the giants entered our “kill zone,” we started shooting. Lai’Ki got the first attack – a splendid hit. I hit my mark as well. The lead giant attacked Tolgun and Ryll while the rest of us shot from cover. Soril created a wall of ice, cutting off the giants’ escape, making it easy to destroy the three giants at the head of their column. I have a deep feeling that I killed the giant that killed you, My Love. His head was also scored by my magical mark.
The battle continued until the trailing giants moved back a bit and retrieved their leather sacks of human captives. Nala, of all people, tried to negotiate with them, asking them to let the people go. They responded by telling us to go away and leave them alone or they would drop the hostages over the cliff. We then surrounded them and took up defensive positions. They bargained with us a bit more and we were able to get them to drop the sacks on the ground while we retreated back up the cliff. At that point, the encounter was over, with the eight captured Sandpointers safe. We decided to let the giants go, but we might want to keep an eye on them in case they lead us to the giant stronghold. Tolgun healed the citizens and Soril is preparing to teleport them back to Sandpoint tomorrow. Tolgun might interrogate one of the dead giants to find out more information about our adversary. I believe it is time to make our own fortress raid. To Jorgenfist! Now, if only we knew where to find it…
- E