Post by Bandgoat on Jul 26, 2013 12:46:44 GMT -6
Kuthona 13, 4707 – Late Evening
My Dear Husband,
It has been nine days since our successful rescue at the Storval Stairs; nine days spent mostly traveling. Though Winter’s Eve is just around the corner, the weather on the Plateau has been pleasantly cool and calm. This comparatively barren landscape holds some starkly beautiful scenery, but I would feel more comfortable seeing the occasional copse of trees rather than the all-too-common scrub and scree of these highlands.
As I had mentioned previously, the task ahead of us was to find the fortress of Jorgenfist, to stop the approaching giant invasion of Varisia. Not knowing the precise location or direction of that citadel, I suggested we use Lai’Ki’s tracking abilities to follow the giants who have traveled through the Stairs. I was quickly overruled by the rest of the party who thought it would be a better idea to ask a bunch of dwarves where it could be found, while returning their missing crown that we had found. After Soril safely returned the Sandpointers to their homes, he, Ryll, and Tolgun took our recently acquired assets to Magnimar. There, they hired a mage to transport them to the dwarven stronghold of Janderhoff. A day later, they returned to our hiding place at the top of the Storval Stairs, having offloaded the crown, much to Tolgun’s glee. They had received instructions from the Great and Powerful, All-Knowing dwarven sages on how best to find Jorgenfist: They suggested we track the giants to Jorgenfist from the Storval Stairs. Now, everyone in the party thought that was a good idea. Bosh’tets, I believe you would call them.
The next six days were spent following Lai’Ki through the Storval Plateau and into the Iron Peaks as she (sometimes) showed great skill in her ability to track her prey. Occasionally, we lost sight of a clear route through the winding and splitting valleys, but we were able to pick up the trail again. On the night of the sixth day of our trek through the wilderness, the rugged foothills gave way to a wide valley containing a large stone fortress perched on the upper edge of a cliff overlooking a river. At the western edge of the valley entrance, a lone watch tower stood upon a low hillock, but the structure was overshadowed by the larger one that loomed in the valley proper. Here stood a ring-shaped stone wall, at least fifty feet in height and surrounding several buildings, the most impressive of which was a looming black tower with blade-like crenellations that overlooked the river gorge. Within the ring, an enormous stone spire stood surrounded by three low buildings. Apart from the black tower, five smaller towers stood sentinel around the fortress wall. One of these smaller towers was considerably wider than the others and appeared to guard the only entrance into or out of the courtyard within. On the opposite side of the valley from us was a large mountain with smoke emanating from a cave on one side.
Again, the other party members decided to bypass our primary objective in order to take a look at the smoking mountain. Knowing that most giants can see clearly even on the darkest nights, we rejected the idea to sneak across the valley under cover of darkness. Instead, we decided to get to the river and follow it past the valley, using the steep cliff as cover, possibly finding an alternative entrance into the fortress in the process. We trekked our way down to the river, which lay at the bottom of a canyon, about forty feet below the point where we came upon it. There were dry banks on either side of the flowing water, indicating that the river level was rather low: a detail Lai’Ki thought odd considering the heavy early winter rains near Hook Mountain just to the south. We climbed down a knotted rope and began our exploration of the river gorge on our way to the other side of the valley. Several hours later, Ryll and Nala noticed some caves on the side of the rocky cliff, which at this point was considerably higher than where we descended. Since we were ultimately wanting to reach the fortress, we decided to investigate the caves for a secret entrance.
At the first one, a musky smell lingered near the cave entrance, a thick almost-reptilian stink. The floor was littered with bones of some ruminant creature like an aurochs. As we explored further, we rounded a corner and heard an ear-splitting screech. We found wyverns: Three of them. We killed them. Ryll was feeling poor after a wyvern poisoned her, but after powering through and receiving some healing from Tolgun, she was right as rain. Searching the cavern, we found mainly aurochs and humanoid bones as well as a fire opal and a locked chest in which was found many gold and silver coins. Behind the chest was found a magical staff that Soril eyed greedily.
Exploring the second cave, we noticed that this cave crawled. Countless bloated and many-legged insects crunched beneath our feet as they carpeted the floor and covered the walls, creating a susurrus of a million clicking bug legs. The deepest part of the cave seemed to be unnaturally thick with darkness and fallen webs. As we moved further along, we saw that the place was covered with webs and several large, disgusting-looking spiders crawled out to attack us. These were no ordinary spiders: They were in fact undead. We killed them as well. As their bodies took damage, more spiders and insects poured forth from their wounds. It was a truly nauseating scene. After that adventure, we healed up and looked around, torching the remaining webs and bugs. We found several magical items and things of value. We then decided to rest in the wyvern cave for the remainder of the night.
This morning, we continued on our trip to the far side of the valley. We climbed back up the cliff and, thanks to Soril, flew to the mouth of the smoke-billowing cave. The entrance was about fifty feet around and several hundred feet off the ground. There were some party members uncomfortable with the height, but we ignored those concerns and moved ahead. We entered the cave under an invisibility effect, again thanks to Soril. As we moved into the cave, the smoke got quite thick with a hint of incense in the air. As the smoke grew thicker, I magically tried to dissipate it so we could see. As we entered the center of the cavern, we found a few coins haphazardly strewn on the floor and braziers burning violently. We then spotted movement along the walls and prepared to defend ourselves from the red dragons protecting their hoard. As I am told, these particular specimens were less fierce than the one that attacked Sandpoint. We killed them surprisingly easily and claimed their very nice treasure. After several hours of cataloguing them, we came up with some nice useful items and enough money to keep us equipped for quite some time. I believe we will reequip ourselves one more time before assaulting the fortress in the next day or two. I believe we have arrived early enough to preemptively strike them before their attack on Varisia and the element of surprise is on our side. With any luck, we can slip in quietly and end this uprising before it starts.
- Your Loving and Wealthy Widow, E
My Dear Husband,
It has been nine days since our successful rescue at the Storval Stairs; nine days spent mostly traveling. Though Winter’s Eve is just around the corner, the weather on the Plateau has been pleasantly cool and calm. This comparatively barren landscape holds some starkly beautiful scenery, but I would feel more comfortable seeing the occasional copse of trees rather than the all-too-common scrub and scree of these highlands.
As I had mentioned previously, the task ahead of us was to find the fortress of Jorgenfist, to stop the approaching giant invasion of Varisia. Not knowing the precise location or direction of that citadel, I suggested we use Lai’Ki’s tracking abilities to follow the giants who have traveled through the Stairs. I was quickly overruled by the rest of the party who thought it would be a better idea to ask a bunch of dwarves where it could be found, while returning their missing crown that we had found. After Soril safely returned the Sandpointers to their homes, he, Ryll, and Tolgun took our recently acquired assets to Magnimar. There, they hired a mage to transport them to the dwarven stronghold of Janderhoff. A day later, they returned to our hiding place at the top of the Storval Stairs, having offloaded the crown, much to Tolgun’s glee. They had received instructions from the Great and Powerful, All-Knowing dwarven sages on how best to find Jorgenfist: They suggested we track the giants to Jorgenfist from the Storval Stairs. Now, everyone in the party thought that was a good idea. Bosh’tets, I believe you would call them.
The next six days were spent following Lai’Ki through the Storval Plateau and into the Iron Peaks as she (sometimes) showed great skill in her ability to track her prey. Occasionally, we lost sight of a clear route through the winding and splitting valleys, but we were able to pick up the trail again. On the night of the sixth day of our trek through the wilderness, the rugged foothills gave way to a wide valley containing a large stone fortress perched on the upper edge of a cliff overlooking a river. At the western edge of the valley entrance, a lone watch tower stood upon a low hillock, but the structure was overshadowed by the larger one that loomed in the valley proper. Here stood a ring-shaped stone wall, at least fifty feet in height and surrounding several buildings, the most impressive of which was a looming black tower with blade-like crenellations that overlooked the river gorge. Within the ring, an enormous stone spire stood surrounded by three low buildings. Apart from the black tower, five smaller towers stood sentinel around the fortress wall. One of these smaller towers was considerably wider than the others and appeared to guard the only entrance into or out of the courtyard within. On the opposite side of the valley from us was a large mountain with smoke emanating from a cave on one side.
Again, the other party members decided to bypass our primary objective in order to take a look at the smoking mountain. Knowing that most giants can see clearly even on the darkest nights, we rejected the idea to sneak across the valley under cover of darkness. Instead, we decided to get to the river and follow it past the valley, using the steep cliff as cover, possibly finding an alternative entrance into the fortress in the process. We trekked our way down to the river, which lay at the bottom of a canyon, about forty feet below the point where we came upon it. There were dry banks on either side of the flowing water, indicating that the river level was rather low: a detail Lai’Ki thought odd considering the heavy early winter rains near Hook Mountain just to the south. We climbed down a knotted rope and began our exploration of the river gorge on our way to the other side of the valley. Several hours later, Ryll and Nala noticed some caves on the side of the rocky cliff, which at this point was considerably higher than where we descended. Since we were ultimately wanting to reach the fortress, we decided to investigate the caves for a secret entrance.
At the first one, a musky smell lingered near the cave entrance, a thick almost-reptilian stink. The floor was littered with bones of some ruminant creature like an aurochs. As we explored further, we rounded a corner and heard an ear-splitting screech. We found wyverns: Three of them. We killed them. Ryll was feeling poor after a wyvern poisoned her, but after powering through and receiving some healing from Tolgun, she was right as rain. Searching the cavern, we found mainly aurochs and humanoid bones as well as a fire opal and a locked chest in which was found many gold and silver coins. Behind the chest was found a magical staff that Soril eyed greedily.
Exploring the second cave, we noticed that this cave crawled. Countless bloated and many-legged insects crunched beneath our feet as they carpeted the floor and covered the walls, creating a susurrus of a million clicking bug legs. The deepest part of the cave seemed to be unnaturally thick with darkness and fallen webs. As we moved further along, we saw that the place was covered with webs and several large, disgusting-looking spiders crawled out to attack us. These were no ordinary spiders: They were in fact undead. We killed them as well. As their bodies took damage, more spiders and insects poured forth from their wounds. It was a truly nauseating scene. After that adventure, we healed up and looked around, torching the remaining webs and bugs. We found several magical items and things of value. We then decided to rest in the wyvern cave for the remainder of the night.
This morning, we continued on our trip to the far side of the valley. We climbed back up the cliff and, thanks to Soril, flew to the mouth of the smoke-billowing cave. The entrance was about fifty feet around and several hundred feet off the ground. There were some party members uncomfortable with the height, but we ignored those concerns and moved ahead. We entered the cave under an invisibility effect, again thanks to Soril. As we moved into the cave, the smoke got quite thick with a hint of incense in the air. As the smoke grew thicker, I magically tried to dissipate it so we could see. As we entered the center of the cavern, we found a few coins haphazardly strewn on the floor and braziers burning violently. We then spotted movement along the walls and prepared to defend ourselves from the red dragons protecting their hoard. As I am told, these particular specimens were less fierce than the one that attacked Sandpoint. We killed them surprisingly easily and claimed their very nice treasure. After several hours of cataloguing them, we came up with some nice useful items and enough money to keep us equipped for quite some time. I believe we will reequip ourselves one more time before assaulting the fortress in the next day or two. I believe we have arrived early enough to preemptively strike them before their attack on Varisia and the element of surprise is on our side. With any luck, we can slip in quietly and end this uprising before it starts.
- Your Loving and Wealthy Widow, E