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The Riverian Chronicles

 

Chapter 9 - "Giants 'Cross the Land"


Against the Giants Again  to  Circus at Verwood

CALENDAR:

Leirn,  Scori,  Tari,  Prici,  Aqui,  Lequi,  Jera,   Aves,  Touri,  Jema,  Canne,  Verga,  Fieth
(fall) 
(winter)
(spring)
(summer)



44 Against the Giants Again (5-1-0;2), Scori 8-Tari 8 758, AL-MA 04

Background and summary:  Amid growing concern about the fate of the Zarim Dwarves, Throy from one direction and Munin-Serioge from the other independently try to investigate, reconnoiter, and bash a few Giants in the process.  All goes well for Munin and Serioge, but Throy dies; M+S ultimately have to go find and recover his corpse.  Meanwhile, loads of good information makes its way to the defenders, including confirmation that the Zarim Dwarves have essentially been wiped out.

Starting members (from Stairway To Heaven):  Throy(F-9), Munin(R-6), Serioge(R-7) 
                           (from alpha 5):  Thomasine(NtC-5)
               
Sco 8 758: Throy leaves Verwood for Zarim via broomstick, makes lots of stops en route.
Sco 11 Picks up a military strategist from Riverian army and overflies invasion area east of Zarim peaks, they come back with a dug-up skull of a Cloud Giant killed during Giants of the Misty Forest.
Sco 12 Throy meets up with Dwapal(P-6); they fly into mountains and go hunting Giants with some success.
At one point, Throy singlehandedly takes out a Frost Giant with two blows.
Riverians start Speak With Dead's on recovered skull.
Sco 13 To Melton in the Greenshire, spend day there debriefing Hobbits on developments.
Sco 14 Back into mountains; Throy and Dwapal take out a few more Giants, then retreat to Hobbit lands.
Sco 15 T+D return to scene of yesterday's victory and get ambushed; Dwapal and Throy killed.
Sco 18 Munin, Serioge, and Thomasine leave Verwood by carpet; fly around Zarim peaks via coast, then inland.
Sco 21 Arrive at Mytharia (main town of Misty Forest Elves), start gathering news.
Sco 23 Leave Elves; spend some time making carpet look like a bird from a distance.
Sco 24 Rescue 6 Dwarf prisoners and an Elf; the Elf is Frank Bland(R-5) not seen since Giants of the Misty Forest.
During this, Serioge does (52 + 104 =) 156 total points damage in one swing vs. Hill Giants.
Sco 25 Prisoners, and Frank, left with Elves.
Altheas, becoming worried as Throy is long overdue, contacts Diora for a Commune to find out where he is; Diora refuses until reminded how much loot Throy represents.  She learns he is dead, and the location of his corpse, and planeshifts south.  Unfortunately for her, others get there first...
Altheas tells Munin and Serioge the bad news and sends them in as a search party.
Thomasine leaves to take care of the rescued prisoners; she escorts them to Riveria, eventually.
Sco 26 Munin and Serioge head into mountains, spend a while searching for Throy corpse.
Sco 27 Find Throy-Dwapal corpses during day; fortunately, realize they are bait for an ambush, and ignore.
Sneak in that night and steal Throy corpse and parts of Dwapal.  Retreat, and fly to Rithetwood.
Sco 28 Arrive Rithetwood and meet Diora, about to mount her own loot-finding expedition.  She goes back to Luskan, disappointed.
Tar 3 Throy resurrected in Riveria.  M+S meanwhile pass loads of military info on to Richard's agents.
Tar 6 Dwapal parts left in Dashwood for later burial.  Throy retires, also in Dashwood.
Tar 8 To Verwood, spend next few weeks training and sorting out treasure.

Surviving members:  Throy(F-9), Munin(R-7), Serioge(R-8), Thomasine(NtC-5)
New members:  Dwapal
Casualties:  (Throy - resurrected), Dwapal (revived in Crown of Talarthane)
Retirees:  Throy (to Capture of Sylune, eventually); Thomasine (to Alpha 6)
Continuing party (to Temple of Pyrate):  Munin, Serioge


46 Valley of the Rainbow (a.k.a. Rainbow Vale) (8-6-2;0), Scori 14-26 758, MA-JN 04

Background and summary:  Nyseshi-ka learns of a potentially serious magical disruption in a small valley east of the Zarim mountains.  Even though she herself couldn't care less about magic, she knows a problem when she sees it, thus she heads for Verwood to look up some old friends and find some willing recruits.  But all she can find is Throg, so the two of them cobble together a party as best they can and head out.  What they find is a dangerous wild-magic zone spreading from a ruin once the home of a significant mage, that some see as a manifestation of one of numerous Gods of Magic.  After flirting with insanity due to the wild effects, they find and fix the real problem: a gate to the elemental plane of magic somehow inadvertently opened several hundred years later than intended.  Once this is closed, the problem soon dissipates…or so everyone thinks… 

A long-lost Dwarven shrine found during all this would prove significant later.

Starting members (from alpha series):  Throg(F-6)
                           (from Mystery at Neverwinter via long retirement):  Nyseshi-ka(R-6)

Sco 2 758: Nyseshi arrives at Verwood with an adventure in mind but can find nobody interested; all active Company characters are in the field. She waits.
Sco 5 Throg arrives at Verwood; Nyseshi grabs him, and they start trying to recruit.
A wandering Bard shows up looking for a job, so Taden(B-5) joins.
Sco 7 Unable to find anyone else here, this tiny 3-member party heads out.
Sco 10 Recruitment at Mithra: Thistle(MU-4/T-5), Taveuni the Brave(WrC-5), and Bonnie Dunne(NtC-4) join; Thistle hides her MU side for some time.
Sco 14 Leave Four Rivers.
Sco 17 Start encountering worshippers of Tseng (goddess of magic); realize they're getting close.
Find an insane woman in forest talking to a rock.  Nyseshi runs off to find the Tseng types met earlier, in hopes they can help, but rest of Party fix her up long before Nyseshi gets back: Fiari of Senwood(F-7) joins.  Party have to fit her out with spare gear as she has no possessions at all.
Get close to Vale; Taden sneakily scouts another campfire nearby, Thistle not-so-sneakily does the same and is lucky to get away.
Sco 18 Meet more Tseng followers (this the other campfire); on hearing what Party is up to they insist on sending a representative, so Studley(MU-2) joins.
Nyseshi finally makes it back by nightfall.
Sco 19 Into mind-bending hallucinogenic mist.  Only Thistle immune; she is a high-enough level MU to resist the wild magic, but nobody knows this and much confusion (and suspicion) results.
Find and enter a ruin, once home to Veridius the Mage.  Weirdness reduced once inside.
A Magic Elemental shows up and makes life very interesting; Party losing until a wild magic effect from the Elemental gates in a rather annoyed Angel that proceeds to pound it to pieces.
Another minor battle causes Thistle to reveal her MU class.
Sco 20 Find a very dangerous open gate to the elemental plane of magic and manage to null it (though not close it); Fiari and Thistle nearly killed in the process.
Nearby, find a significant shrine to the Dwarven goddess Berronar, long forgotten by all.
Party make to leave, but once outside Bonnie gets caught by carnivorous vines and loses a foot.
Back to the Berronar shrine; Bonnie drinks from its pool and gets her foot restored, at cost of all her possessions now and fulfillment of a quest (see Crown of Talarthane) later.
Sco 21 Head back to town after assuring Tseng types all is well.
Sco 26 Arrive Four Rivers, start treasury and training.
Tar 15 By now, Taveuni and Studley have retired.  Bonnie is at Mithra, researching her quest.  Throg leaves for no particular reason, and as Fiari wants to stay with him, Fiari leaves also.


Surviving members:  Throg(F-7), Nyseshi-ka(R-6), Taden(B-6), Thistle(MU-4/T-5), Taveuni(WrC-5), Bonnie(NtC-4), Fiari(F-7), Studley(MU-3)
New members:  Taden, Thistle, Taveuni, Bonnie, Fiari, Studley
Casualties:  none
Retirees:  Throg, Fiari (to t-series); Taveuni (to War of the Giants – West); Studley
Continuing party (to Crown of Talarthane):  Nyseshi-ka, Taden, Thistle, Bonnie


52 Crown of Talarthane (8-3-2;1), Aqui 15-Lequi 13 758, AL-JL 05

Background and summary:  Bonnie’s quest from Valley of the Rainbow sends her and her fractious Party right back there in search of the Crown of Talarthane, a legendary Dwarven artifact.  They find themselves in a race against Giants seeking the same item, and barely win.  Then, once back in town, a treasury argument shatters the Party.

Starting members (from Valley of the Rainbow):  Nyseshi-ka(R-6), Taden(B-6), Thistle(MU-4/T-5), Bonnie(NtC-4)
                           (from Danger at Drowsaptre):  Rohn(F-6)

Pri 24 758: Thistle, in Riveria to keep her thieving skills going, meets and recruits Rohn and Mnestros(Mk-5); all to Mithra.  (Rohn’s appearance has changed considerably since last seen, but none in current Party know this)
Aqu 4 All meet in Mithra; realize another Cleric would be useful, so Taden and Thistle go off recruiting.
Aqu 8 Meet a Cleric near Rithetwood, so Tazkar(WrC-5) joins.  Back to Mithra.
Aqu 12 Party leaves Mithra.
Aqu 23 Arrive Rainbow Vale after a dull trip, take out an animated plant.  Some Mites disrupt sleep that night.
Aqu 24 Dig out entry stairs; all to Dwarven shrine found on last visit.
Secret doors leading out of shrine have defenses; Mnestros barely survives, then shrine reduces incurable time from over a week to about 15 hours.
Aqu 25 Find and explore an amazingly colourful series of glittering caverns, and remove a few unwanted occupants.
Giants break through into glittering caves from other direction, Party easily defeat.
Find entry into Dwarven temple complex.  Thistle tries to enter, and defenses summon a Dwarven warrior to keep her out.  Tazkar leaps to her aid; between the warrior’s efforts and Thistle shooting him in the back, Tazkar hasn’t a chance: Tazkar killed.  Party then figure out how to get in without violence.
Aqu 26 Explore temple complex; Giants leave Party alone long enough to find some Crown pieces, but Mnestros still manages to get mangled again by more built-in defenses.
Tazkar’s corpse left on dais in main temple; it disappears within an hour. (though Party would never know it, the corpse goes to Tazkar’s home temple in Zarim city and is found later, during Zarim Infiltration)
Aqu 27 More exploring, more booty, including a very magical book.  Taden opens this, starts reading, and cannot stop; for all practical purposes, Taden leaves at this point.  He is led to the main temple, and left there.
A Giant and some Orcs arrive and die; Party take in their captive, so Stormson Cloud Chaser(R-5) joins.
A long battle against a bunch of very large Rats eventually produces a Crown piece.
Aqu 28 Lots of "discussion" over what to do with Taden.
A Frost Giant(WrC-5), 3 Ogres, and a couple of Orcs arrive and provide a good workout.  Rohn clobbered.
Find an exit to another glittering cavern; this one defended by a gigantic crystalline creature that morphs out of floor.  Party try their best but are turned back; they take out their frustration on some doors instead.
Leq 1 A more thorough search produces the last two Crown pieces.  With this, Party scoop up Taden and leave.
Leq 6 En route to Four Rivers, Party meet Azarakh – a minion of Clanggedon – who tells them the Crown must be given to Dwapal so he can lead Dwarves to glorious victory…or something like that.
Leq 15 Arrive Dashwood after a long dull trip, and learn that Dwapal is dead.  Party ask locals to please find him.
Leq 20 Arrive Verwood.  As Throy was Dwapal’s last known companion, Party ask him some questions.
Lots of paranoia takes root when some of Rohn’s old companions (Zakla, Fritter, etc.) see lots of Rohn’s expensive gear on someone who doesn’t look at all like (but is) Rohn.  Arguments follow.
Leq 21 Tapestry to where Dwapal’s corpse is, and recover it.  Dwapal resurrected by local Dwarves.
Leq 23 All arrive Dashwood.  Dwapal presented with Crown; he immediately becomes a mighty Dwarven leader, starts making grandiose plans to wipe out the Giants, etc., etc. (and elsewhere, the Giants become very concerned; see end of Zarim Infiltration for details)
Leq 27 Taden finally finishes the book, gains +1 Int.  A huge argument erupts over how much Taden should have to pay for this: Rohn and Thistle say all (normal value of such a book is about 30K g.p.), Nyseshi and Taden say none, others say part.  Eventually resolves as "part", but Party disbands due to this brawl.
Bonnie retiresMnestros leaves to train; reaches Nakki monastery just in time to head out to war.
Stormson, Nyseshi and Taden leave; each would separately end up fighting in War of the Giants – West.

Surviving members:  Nyseshi-ka(R-6), Taden(B-6), Thistle(MU-5/T-6), Bonnie(NtC-5), Rohn(F-7), Mnestros(Mk-6), Stormson(R-5)
New members:  Mnestros, Tazkar, Stormson
Casualties:  Tazkar (revived in Zarim Infiltration)
Retirees:  Bonnie
Continuing parties (to Volcano of the Giants):  Thistle, Rohn
                           (to War of the Giants – East):  Mnestros
                           (to War of the Giants – West, each independently):  Stormson, Taden, Nyseshi


Behind Giant Lines (mini) (3-0-0;0), Aqui 3-Touri 15 758, JN-JL 05

Background and summary:  Munin rounds up a few volunteers and continues espionage and scouting work in the Giant-held areas east of the Zarim peaks.

Starting members (from Assault on Verwood Keep):  Munin(R-7), Trilby(NtC-8), Simpson(MU-6)

Aqu 3 758: With Trilby and Simpson along to help, and lots of loaned gear from Serioge, Munin leaves Verwood.
Aqu 4 Arrive Misty Forest via flight, meet Elves at Mytharia.
Aqu 6 Meet Frank, a one-time Company member now flat broke.  Trilby gives him 100 g.p.
Meet with an Elf general, spend a few days discussing strategies.
Aqu 7 Meet with leaders of a few hundred Dwarves stuck here with no place to go.  Set wheels in motion to get them repatriated to Riveria; this happens, but takes a few months.
Aqu 8 First of many flights over Giant-held areas.  This time, get into odd forest around volcano and lose two days.
Aqu 10 Still thinking it is Aqui 8, scout Giant camps.
Aqu 11 Report to Elves, find out about time loss.  Spend several weeks scouting and reporting; notice Giants are expanding their territory to the southeast but nobody knows why.
Leq Meet Serioge who is returning to his home for a few years’ retirement.
Leq 25 By now, notice Giants are suddenly and quickly pulling back from southeast expansion, spend days scouting this but cannot explain it. (in fact, Giants have learned that what was the Crown of Talarthane adventure succeeded, and Dwarves in Riveria now hold the Crown; they spend the next few months preparing to invade Riveria to get it)
Leq 28 Shake off some rust by taking down two Shambling Mounds found in forest.
Jer 3 Two lost Hill Giants provide a morning workout.
Jer 7 Notice Giants are taking down their medical camp and moving it forward toward mountains but neither Party nor Elves can figure out what Giants are preparing for, or why.  Many more overflights reveal little.
Ave 15 Notice a group of very large, uniformed Giants moving from volcano to Zarim peaks; correctly guess this is Giant high command but do not know why they are moving.  Start watching road leading from volcano.
Ave 18 Finally conclude volcano is producing a slow but endless stream of new Giants who have no idea where they are.  Report to Elves, who throw Commune and verify this.  Also, somewhen around now realize Ancalidon(!) is in process of taking over leadership of the Elves.
Ave 19 Arrange a co-ordinated attack for mid-Jema.  Simpson leaves to recruit in Waterdeep, and to train (to MU-7).
Munin and Trilby to Riverian lands but not to Verwood – yet.
Ave 26 Meet Dwapal and try to talk him out of attacking until mid-Jema; he has the Crown of Talarthane and overconfidently wants to attack now if not sooner.
Ave 28 Arrive Riveria, spend days trying to get a meeting with King Richard.
Tou 4 Meet Richard, advise him of situation.  He knows nothing of the Crown’s true significance and as yet has no idea just how serious this all is, but agrees to help with co-ordinated attack anyway.
Tou 6 Return to Elves; spend a few days finding Serioge and setting him up there as a psyonic contact.
Tou 13 To Verwood at last, recruitment drive for Volcano adventure.

Surviving members:  Munin(R-7), Trilby(NtC-8), Simpson(MU-7)
New members:  none
Casualties:  none
Retirees:  none
Continuing parties  (to Volcano of the Giants):   Munin. Trilby
                            (to War of the Giants – East):  Simpson


T-Series T1-T3(minis) (2-0-0;1), Prici 7-Jera 18 758, JL 05

Background and summary:  Throg and Fiari look for adventure on their own.  Fiari doesn’t last very long.

Starting members (from Valley of the Rainbow):  Throg(F-7), Fiari(F-7)

Pri 7 758 Throg and Fiari meet and join an adventuring party in Four Rivers.
Pri 10 Start T1, somewhere west of Mirabar.
Pri 23 Fiari killed.  Throg doesn’t mourn the loss.
Pri 27 End T1, reasonably lucrative and successful.
Aqu 12 Start T2. (no idea what this entailed)
Aqu 25 End T2.
Leq 23 Start T3.  (again, no record of what this was)
Jer 18 End T3, and Throg now needs training to F-8, done by Aves 14 at Riveria.

Surviving members:  Throg(F-8)
New members:  none
Casualties:  Fiari
Retirees:  none
Continuing party  (to War of the Giants – West):  Throg


Alpha Series(Alpha 6-Alpha 8; minis)  (5-0-0;2), Aqui 2-Touri 9 758, JL 05

Background and summary:  Some people go out and do some useful things around the western continent.

Starting members (from various previous adventures):  Tylara(F-7), Eightfast(Cvr-5), Kairos(MU-4), Fritter(T-4), Thomasine(NtC-5)

Aqu 2 758 Accompanied by Lanthir(T-6), a long-time alpha-party type, Party leaves Verwood.
Leq 3 Start Alpha 6, taking on bandits at eastern edge of Misty Forest.
Leq 9 Eightfast killed.
Leq 12 Kairos killed.
Leq 20 End Alpha 6, or so Party thinks as they head for Waterdeep.
Leq 22 Start Alpha 6a, as the adventure fights back.
Leq 26 End Alpha 6a, Party once again head off for town.
Leq 28 Start Alpha 6b, the adventure that would not go away.
Jer 3 End Alpha 6b, and Party find themselves stinking rich.
Jer 21 Eightfast resurrected in Waterdeep; lots of training, but Party can’t find anything that needs doing.
Ave 13 Start Alpha 7, bashing Bugbears on Windward Isle.
Ave 25 End Alpha 7 after a productive foray.  Fritter leaves to train (to T-6).
Ave 28 Start Alpha 8, a continuation of Alpha 7.
Tou 9 End Alpha 8. Tylara now needs training (to F-8), done by Touri 23 in Riveria.

Surviving members:  Tylara(F-8), Eightfast(Cvr-6), Fritter(T-6), Thomasine(NtC-6)
New members:  none
Casualties:  Kairos, (Eightfast – revived)
Retirees:  none
Continuing parties  (to Zarim Infiltration):  Tylara
                            (to War of the Giants – West):  Eightfast, Fritter, Thomasine


53. Volcano of the Giants (13-3-1,5), Jema 1-22 758, AU 05-MR 06

Background and summary:  Scouting has revealed the Misty Forest volcano to be a slow but steady source of fresh Giants.  The Party go in to stem the flow; expecting a gate to another plane, they find instead a simple – but elegant – ferry system that has been bringing Giants in from all over the Riverian world.  By the time the Party are finished the ferry is theirs, the Giants are leaderless, and the tide of war is turned.

A long and very eventful break follows, as the Party take the summer off but are anything but idle.


Starting members (from Into the Abyss):  Mrikle(I-9), Leshendra(T-10), He’is(F-9)
                           (from Crown of Talarthane):  Thistle(MU-5/T-6), Rohn(F-7)
                           (from Behind Giant Lines):  Munin(R-7), Trilby(NtC-8)
                           (from Assault on Verwood):  Chiron(F-8), Chance(NtC-7)
                           (from Harmonizer):  Marlu(MU-8)

Tou 25 758: Party assembles at Verwood; use various long-range transport magics to get to coast road.
Tou 28 Arrive Mytharia; here meet Serioge who re-loans Munin lots of useful magic items.  Also meet Ancalidon, and try to enlist his help as a diversion; he agrees, but takes long enough to get going that he is ultimately of limited use. (see War of the Giants – East for details)
Jem 1 Leave Mytharia.
Jem 3 Party flex their muscles by easily taking down a group of 9 Hill Giants and a Cyclops.  After this, a toast is raised to celebrate the 10-year anniversary (real time) of the Riverian game.
Jem 5 Some Satyrs disturb sleeping Party and won’t take no for an answer – particularly once they see Chiron – but all are soon either run off or killed.
Jem 6 Psyonic contacts tell Party to stand down and wait for diversions elsewhere; they do, and spend several very soggy days observing a road through forest.
Jem 8 Figure out that cloudy weather means new Giant arrivals. (several previous scouting groups have missed this connection despite ample evidence; had this been known, many things would have been done much differently…)
Jem 11 Notice Giants in numbers leaving stronghold near base of volcano; Party sneaks in despite still having no covering diversions elsewhere.
Intentions of stealth abandoned within minutes as bashing Giants much more fun.  At one point, Rohn and Munin simultaneously fumble vs. the same Giant; Marlu fells it with a Magic Missile the same segment!
He’is puts 84 pts. damage into a Fire Giant in one swing; Party leave a trail of corpses, then sack out.
Jem 12 Another series of small battles.  Trilby charms "Longtooth", a gigantic dog, during one of these; meanwhile, Thistle charms "Krall", an Orcish kitchen slave, during another.
At some point along here, Party realize they have lost psyonic contact with the outside world.
Find Elf prisoners; rescue 4 of 8, the rest are killed by Giants.
Giants strike back when Party rests; Krall and Longtooth both killed but no other real harm done.
Jem 13 Giants stumble on Party before praying and studying completed; Marlu killed by a boulder; 2 of the Elves killed by another.  Find another place to finish praying.
Rescue another Elf.
A wall of tentacles attacks.  Leshendra to –11 (saved by Death’s Door), then while being carried out of danger by Chance Leshendra is dropped and goes to –11 again (another Death’s Door).  Everyone else survives, though some painfully.  Sack out.
Jem 14 Trilby and Chance each cast Commune, using magical level enhancement, and get lots of good information.
Start rescuing prisoners.  Carrine the Swift(T-11) joinsAtlas Terex(Titan) joins.  A pair of Centaurs are rescued; one is female, and this makes Chiron’s day. (and by weight, this is now by far the biggest party ever!)
Atlas proves his worth against a couple of Fire Giants.
Jem 15 Thistle scouts some Ettins and gets mashed.  Party then mashes the Ettins, and various other Giants as well.
A Giants’ tomb produces a giant-size Ghost, soon destroyed.  Trilby sacrifices a Drow gem found here and becomes ultra-powerful for a short time: Marlu resurrected, and Thistle and Atlas both healed.
Jem 16 Wade uphill through complex bashing Giants at every turn.
The Giants fight back: an ambush pushes Party to the limit, and Atlas killed.
Atlas raised by Trilby but cannot move (or be moved) from the main passage he fell in; battered Party have no choice but to stay put.
9 Giants blunder into Party; Thieves’ backstriking pathetic (3 swings total 8 points damage) and Thistle killed for her trouble, but Giants slain.
Jem 17 Spend day resting and curing, then set off.  A minor Giant ambush fails when Leshendra does 120 h.p. damage to its leader in one swing, slaying it.
Find a strongbox with an odd dagger inside; Marlu becomes War Cleric (Tapoketa) on picking this up (so now MU-8/WrC-1); she also becomes rather Evil, but covers well for now.
A band of Fire Giants doesn’t last long, but Party again in rough shape after.  Retreat a long way to rest.
Jem 18 Finally reach top of volcano; Krakatoa the Red Dragon lives here, and tries to parley with Party to better set up an ambush.  But Mrikle ambushes him instead; Chance killed, but Krakatoa soon slain.
Find Krakatoa’s immense hoard; celebration cut short when cloud islands arrive and dock.  Party sneak on to an island and sack out.
Jem 19 Take a small fortress by defeating 4 guardian Cloud Giants.  He’is becomes visible during this; people now realize an axe from dragon’s hoard has made him spectacularly ugly, smelly, etc. (Cha. = 0)
Other Giants cast fortress’ island adrift; invisible Party just fly to another one.
Fly various captives and rescuees to Krakatoa lair and leave them to fend for themselves.
Start scouting islands.  Find palace of Giant queen; Mrikle flies in and scouts, almost gets caught despite every possible precaution.
Explore, find Giant kids, leave alone for now.  Giant pets (2 Wyverns) don’t fare so well.  Islands cast off, recover the one cut loose earlier, and head northeast at high speed.
A well-planned strike kills Goroda, the Giant queen, along with several other Giants and a Human Wizard ally of theirs; Party retreats and hides in Wyvern lair.
Jem 20 Giants sweep into Riveria; Party informed of this via psyonics in a.m.; meanwhile, islands arrive and dock somewhere high in mountains east of Megrim and Goroda’s consort King Fellgjar comes aboard with a horde of attending Frost Giants.
Mrikle, Marlu, Trilby and Atlas fly off to scout; find this dock has a White Dragon guardian so paralyze it, it kills 2 Ogres when it falls on them.  Cause nearby Frost Giants to fight each other, and leave.
Bored Party sorties to take out 2 Cloud Giants, Carrine and Rohn fall in lust during flight there.
Second sortie turns Giants and Dragon against each other; Dragon dies, then one thing leads to another until Fellgjar slain along with various significant allies.
Atlas makes himself king; Giants go along with it for now, so Party moves into palace.
Jem 21 During night, a prisoner is rescued: Schurra(NtC-7) joins.
Trilby casts Commune to good effect, then finds a Medusa the hard way: Trilby petrified.  Medusa slain.
Atlas firms his command over Giants and orders islands to cast off; island holding the Frost Giants is soon cut loose and left behind to dissolve, a brief deadly shower of Frost Giants falls near Jaarvikshold later.
Jem 22 Arrive back at Volcano.  Marlu teleports to Verwood, returns with tapestry; rest of Party round up Elves and Centaurs left here a few days ago.  Elves and one Centaur tapestry home; the other Centaur – Alaika – remains and tags along as Chiron’s companion.
Carrine spends day trying to talk Rohn into robbing Party blind and fleeing to the Moonshaes; he balks.
All to Verwood via tapestry except Schurra, Alaika and Carrine for now.
Jem 23 Thistle and Chance resurrected by device at Verwood.  Marlu recovers those still on volcano.  Atlas retires, takes islands to his home on other side of world.
Jem 24 During night, Carrine takes about 65,000 g.p. worth of lightweight goods and uses tapestry to flee.  Restof Party follow later to Waterdeep, but she has taken ship for the Moonshaes.
Jem 25 Party puts to sea, psyonically call in a favour, and the "Mary Rose" shows up.  Catch and scout Carrine’s ship.
Jem 27 Arrive Elistrae, scout for a few days.
Can 4 Marlu teleports to Verwood with Stone To Flesh scroll, picks up Trilby statue, then finds Pearl.  Trilby restored to flesh form.  Marlu teleports to Elistrae with Trilby.
Can 8 Carrine’s ship arrives at Elistrae.
Party enter town that night, find Carrine with ridiculous ease, capture later and planeshift to Verwood.
Can 9 Throw Carrine in Verwood dungeon, start dividing a massive treasury.  Everybody trains.
Can 19 By now, He’is’ axe – the legendary Axe of the Dwarven Lords – has turned him into a Dwarf.
Can Sometime around now, Chiron retires to take up life with Alaika at Verwood.
Fie 2 He’is gives the Axe of the Dwarven Lords to Dwapal.
Fie 3 He’is wakes up Human again, with no ill effects.

Surviving members:  Mrikle(I-10), Leshendra(T-11), He’is(F-10), Thistle(MU-6/T-7), Rohn(F-8), Munin(R-8),
                  Trilby(NtC-9), Chiron(F-9), Chance(NtC-8), Marlu(MU-9/WrC-2), Carrine(T-11), Schurra(NtC-7), Atlas(Titan)
New members:  Carrine, Atlas, Schurra
Casualties:  (Trilby, Thistle, Chance, Marlu, Atlas – all revived)
Retirees:  Atlas, Chiron (both to Revenge of the Gith)
Continuing parties  (to Circus at Verwood):  Mrikle, Leshendra, He’is, Thistle, Rohn, Munin, Trilby, Chance, Marlu, Schurra
                            (to Capture of Sylune):  Carrine

War of the Giants – East (mini) (8-0-0;2), Jema 5-Canne 12 758, No 05-MR 06

Background and summary:  As a diversion to draw attention away from both the Dwarven invasion (see War of the Giants – West) and the party in Volcano of the Giants, hundreds of Elves, hundreds of Monks, and a few assorted others challenge the Giant holdings east of the Zarim Peaks.  The Monks sail through, the Elves get plastered, and the Giants’ hold on the land is badly shaken.

Starting members (from various places): with the Elves:  Ancalidon(P-7), Simpson(MU-7), Frank(R-5)
                                                        with the Monks:  Dharmastin(R-6), Tzoitchka(Mk-4), Mnestros(Mk-6), Veraska(Mk-6), Torvellian(Mk-7)

Jem 5 758: On request from Ancalidon via Veraska’s diplomacy, Dharmastin leads the Monks to war.
Jem 10 Monks and Elves meet up near north edge of Misty Forest. Simpson soon shows up with a bunch of recruited MUs.
Jem 12 Combined force of about 550 Elves, 600 Monks, and 50-odd MU’s attack and annihilate a Giant camp just outside east entrance of Zarim.  They also plug the entrance up with Wall of Force; this doesn’t last long, and the force of Elves left to guard it gets pretty much wiped out during the day.
Remaining units regroup with the 590 Elvish reserves.
A force of Giants seen a few days ago by the Volcano party arrive; another Wall of Force goes up just in time, and – though the Elves suffer yet more casualties – these Giants also fall.
Jem 14 Combined force attacks "center camp" with similar result to last one: camp is wiped out, Monks barely take a scratch while the Elves get hammered; all elites lost ("elites become deletes"), and Ancalidon killed.
During this battle, it becomes clear Giants are for some reason specifically trying to kill Elves.
Jem 15 A few dozen Elves stay with the Monks as night eyes, the rest retreat to Mytharia with Ancalidon parts. Simpson and the wizards leave as well.
Jem 16 Sneak past "steading" camp and along road to volcano; a band of Giants met en route prove tougher than expected, thus Monks suffer first significant losses.
Jem 17 Scout "volcano base" camp, then back off and hold road instead.
Jem 18 Ancalidon resurrected at Mytharia.
Jem 19 Road crew meet a few Giants; Tzoitchka in the thick of things, and lucky to survive.  These small battles continue for a few days.
Jem 23 Learn Volcano party have succeeded and no longer need diversions; Monks sneak out of forest and spend next few weeks observing Giant movements on plains and picking off strays.
Can 9 Monks see flashes in distant night sky, realize someone is blasting steading camp with magic; this is Simpson and a crew of wizards he recruited for this purpose, and they spend a few nights reducing steading to cinders.
Can 12 Simpson killed.  Giants retreating from Zarim meet Giants retreating from steading, center camp is now all they have, but is too tough for wizards to attack.  Wizards leave.  With things now largely under control, Monks also leave for Nakki-Nakk, and the remaining Giants are left to their own devices.
Fie Sometime during Fieth, Simpson declines resurrection.  By now, everyone else has retired.

Surviving members:  Ancalidon(P-7), Frank(R-5), Dharmastin(R-6), Tzoitchka(Mk-5), Mnestros(Mk-6), Veraska(Mk-6), Torvellian(Mk-7)
New members:  none
Casualties:  Simpson; (Ancalidon – revived)
Retirees:  all
Continuing party:  none


War of the Giants - West (minis)  (32-1-0;11), Jema 5-Can 4 758, NO 05-FE 06

Background and summary:  Dwapal and King Richard lead separate armies against Giants in Zarim.  Lots of characters help out in various ways; many die, yet the Giants still manage to invade and inflict massive damage on much of southern Riveria.  Eventually, almost by sheer luck, the Giants capture Richard; on this, they generally retreat – leaving wreckage and destruction across south Riveria that takes years to repair and rebuild.

Starting members (from Crown of Talarthane):  Nyseshi-Ka(R-6), Stormson(R-5), Taden(B-6), Dwapal(P-6)
                           (from Valley of the Rainbow):  Throg(F-8)(via T-series), Taveune(WrC-5)
                           (from alpha 8):  Eightfast(Cvr-6), Fritter(T-6), Thomasine(NtC-6)
                           (from Harmonizer):  Nigella(Cvr-7)
                           (from Into the Abyss):  Pearl(MU-9), Illyrah(R-7), Jane(MU-7), S’nel’be(WrC-10),  Darby (MU-6/NrC-0), Myra(B-8)
                           (from Assault on Verwood Keep):  Kermut(NrC-6), Khrodhar(NrC-7), Margarette(MU-6), Germanica(MU-6), Cnutkum(F-3)
                           (from various retirements):  Femira(T-6), Lars(NrC-7), Lusia(MU-6), Grogmac(WrC-5), Gorlim(F-6), Christophe(B-6),
                   
Scoria(F-6), Flasheart(T-6), Zakla(WrC-3), Serra(F-3), Sarra(MU-3)
 

Jem 5 758: King Richard calls Company to defense of the realm.  About 30 characters tapestry from Verwood to Imdulton in immediate response;    others arrive by various means over the next several days.
By now, Gorlim is already serving with the Dwarves under Dwapal; Grogmac soon arrives and joins.
Jem 6 Richard meets with as many EC’ers as he can.  Zarim Infiltration party is formed, and promptly left to its own devices.  Terrance(F-3) joins; a long-time beta-party member jumps to the big leagues.  All are informed of existence of Volcano party, and of co-ordination with Ancalidon and the Elves.
Kermut is sent to Dwapal as Richard’s spokesman; the Dwarves threw the last one out as they did not find him suitably warlike.
Kermut makes a much better impression on arrival the next day, so they keep him; but still do not listen to anything he says.
The wizard-types are assigned to join Riveria’s guild MUs to provide covering fire.  Rangers are sent out as scouts.  Lars is assigned to Richard’s personal guard, along with Femira.  Just about all other EC’ers with field experience are assigned to units within Richard’s parade-ground-ready army, to inform them what war is really like; this proves very useful.
S’nel’be planeshifts to Vanamore to round up some help from the Dwarves there.
Jem 7 Richard moves his base from Imdulton to a site about 8 miles west of Dashwood.
Jem 8 With absolutely no warning to anyone, Dwapal’s Dwarves stage a lightning strike into the Zarim mountains. Despite complete lack of    help from anyone else, they drive the Giants back into the peaks and slowly begin grinding their way toward Zarim city.
Kermut, now with nothing useful to do, returns to Richard and joins his personal guard under Sir Charles.
The wizard-types scramble to provide covering fire for the Dwarves but don’t help very much.
S’nel’be returns from Vanamore with some high-powered (and now, late) help for the Dwarves.
Too late to do much good, Richard begins moving his army to Dashwood.
Jem 11 Dwarves reach Zarim city and get bogged down.  By now, Richard’s troops are in good position to cover a retreat if needed; he is certain it will be, despite lots of Dwarvish braggadocio to the contrary.
Jem 12 S’nel’be to Mirabar; returns with Myra and Lusia.  Lusia joins the wizards.
Gorlim killed in one of countless small battles in the streets of Zarim.
Jem 15 By now starting to run out of warriors, Dwarves begin a grudging retreat from Zarim.
Though none who know her realize it, Flasheart arrives in the war zone and begins quietly looting and pilfering when opportunities arise.
Jem 16 Richard’s wizards are not much help in covering the Dwarvish retreat; their plans were for big blast spells into massed groups of Giants, but what they get are individual combats all over the mountains.
Jem 17 By now, having lost 2 out of every 3 warriors, the remaining Dwarves are back in Dashwood.  A few days of uneasy calm follow as everybody braces for the inevitable counterstrike.  Civilians start evacuating.
Jem 20 Giants invade southern Riveria on a hugely broad front, and meet virtually no opposition other than around Dashwood.  Massive scrambling among Richard’s forces and EC’ers to try and cover as much ground as possible, to little useful effect.
Scoria killed defending a farm near Dashwood.  Zakla killed in the village itself.
Jem 21 Richard continues to redeploy as best he can.  Nigella gets badly wounded while trying to evacuate villagers east of Imdulton; she survives, but cannot be cured.
Sir Charles leaves Richard’s camp and leads a foray into forest east of Imdulton; he has correctly guessed that Giants are using it as a staging area.
Jem 22 Richard’s base camp is overrun.  Femira, Lars and Kermut killed defending Richard, who flees into forest.
Charles, unaware of all this, sacrifices himself and his last two companions to take out 26 Giants.
Riverian defense, disorganized to begin with, becomes a complete shambles.  Over most of the south, the only real opposition the Giants encounter comes from roving wizards (EC and other), a few high-powered Clerics e.g. S’nel’be, and some heroic locals; otherwise, roaming bands of Giants bring death and destruction at every turn.
Jem 23 Eightfast killed near Slapton.  By now, the Rangers have met with some success in Leithorn, picking off small groups of invaders before melting back into forest.
Dwapal’s few remaining Dwarves take Dashwood for their own and hold it against all comers.
Richard’s troops, many concerned about their own homes and families, scatter into isolated groups and try to intercept Giants wherever they can; as fate would have it, this unintentional tactic proves more effective than anything they likely could have done as a large group.
Jem 24 The war’s nadir for Riveria, and turning point.  Richard captured by Giants, who take him to Zarim.  Giant commanders, realizing they too are facing significant attrition, call a general retreat at this point, but not all Giants get the message; and some that do, ignore it.
Some EC wizards get into a battle that goes wrong: Margarette and Lusia killed.  Pearl, who by now has become de facto leader of the wizard brigade, makes sure parts are recovered for later revival.
Somewhere close to Warburton, Throg and Flasheart meet but don’t realize they have associates in common.
Terrance killed defending Imdulton, in perhaps the largest battle on Riverian soil.  The town is not taken, but is horribly damaged regardless.
Giants reach south end of Sapentra High Bridge but local troops prevent crossing, so the Giants instead try to take the bridge down, causing significant damage over the next few days before being driven off.  Elsewhere, Extrickle town is flattened; the few survivors hide in the hills.
Jem 25 S’nel’be tries to find Richard but has no idea he has been captured; does well just to survive.
Nigella killed defending helpless villagers, having never recovered from the pounding she took some days ago.
Giant invasion breaks apart into isolated roving bands; some retreat, others stay and cause havoc.
Jem 26 Mopping-up operations commence.  Queen Catherine is informed Richard is missing, presumed dead; she assumes regency for Prince Albert.  Meanwhile, Dwapal is slowly bringing order to the chaos among Dwarf and Human troops alike, and starts an organized – but slow – scouring of the south.
Jem 28 Unknown to anyone in Riveria, Tylara rescues Richard from captivity in Zarim city; she and her party start heading for safety but dare not announce success just yet.
Can 4 We have your King, where would you like him?” message psyonically broadcast to many EC’ers; quickly passed on to Catherine, mourning turns to celebration on the spot, and general Riverian morale goes up by leaps and bounds as news spreads.
S’nel’be meets rescue party south of Imdulton, takes Richard to Riveria city; 80+ other rescuees proceed on foot, arrive Imdulton Canne 5.  (see Zarim Infiltration for details)
Can Rest of month is spent in various mopping-up operations and general rebuilding.  Lots of people retire (see below); a few train, and a few find other problems.  Pearl and Throg leave to Zarim Infiltration aftermath.

Surviving members:  Nyseshi-Ka(R-6), Stormson(R-5), Taden(B-6), Dwapal(P-6), Throg(F-8), Taveune(WrC-5), Fritter(T-6), Thomasine(NtC-6),
                 
Pearl(MU-9), Illyrah(R-7), Jane(MU-8), S’nel’be(WrC-10), Darby(MU-6/NrC-0), Myra(B-8), Khrodhar(NrC-7), Germanica(MU-6),
                 
Cnutkum(F-4), Grogmac(WrC-6), Christophe(B-6), Flasheart(T-6), Serra(F-3), Sarra(MU-3)
New members:  Terrance
Casualties:  Gorlim, Femira, Lars, Scoria, Zakla, Terrance, Kermut, Margarette, Lusia, Eightfast, Nigella
Retirees:  Christophe, S'nel'be, Illyrah(all to Revenge of the Gith); Serra, Sarra, Grogmac, Germanica, Khrodhar, Darby, Jane, Thomasine, Fritter,
                  Taveune, Dwapal, Cnutkum, Taden, Stormson, Nyseshi-ka
Continuing parties  (to Zarim Infiltration):  Pearl, Throg
                            (to Circus at Verwood, independently):  Myra, Flasheart


54. Zarim Peaks Infiltration (14-5-4;1), Jema 15-Canne 5 758, AU 05-JA 06

Background and summary:  The Dwarf Daneeza has escaped from Zarim and knows a secret way back in.  King Richard calls for volunteers to go in with her and cause as much disruption behind Giant lines as they can; this Party forms, but take so long getting started their efforts end up being far too late.  But they carry on anyway, killing such Giants as they do find (while rescuing various captives) and getting some fearsome infighting out of their systems in the meantime.  As fate would have it, one of the last rescuees is Richard himself; on losing him, the Giants start a full-scale retreat, and the Party return to Riveria to help with mopping-up.

A lengthy break follows, during which some Party members cause some havoc in Baldur’s Gate.


Starting members (from North Pole: The Leukaio Project):  Araglas(F-10), Akasha(I-9), Tovan(NrC-8), Fulvin(NrC-6/T-6)
                           (from alpha 8):  Tylara(F-8)
                           (from The Chronos Stone, via retirement):  Tamarrik(MU-6)

Jem 5 758 Lots of characters arrive at Imdulton in response to King Richard’s call.
Jem 6 Richard meets with various EC-ers and introduces Daneeza(WrC-6), who has found a secret way out of (and thus into) the Zarim Peaks.  He calls for volunteers to accompany her back in, and this Party forms. (reluctantly in some cases, e.g. Tamarrik: not the least bit interested in field adventuring, but by the time the Party realize they need an MU she’s the only one they can find, so she gets hauled along)
Daneeza introduces her bodyguard: Dogrib(F-6).  The Party needs a scout, so one is provided by Richard’s troops: Leodran(R-6). Both join.
Jem 7 Tylara, busy training, psyonically asks Party to wait for her.  They do, for days.
Jem 8 Dwarves invade Zarim without warning anyone.  Richard and various EC-ers scramble to help out (see War of the Giants – West for details) and this Party is largely forgotten.
Jem 14 Fulvin arrives, only just now getting here in response to Richard’s call.  Tylara also arrives, in evening.
Meanwhile, Dwarven invasion has stalled, in part because this Party’s diversions are not in place.
Jem 15 Leave Imdulton.
Jem 17 Enter hidden passage into mountains.  A pair of giant bats attack from a chasm; Dogrib fumbles on his first-ever combat swing.
Leodran dragged into chasm; Fulvin heroically dives after him, catches him, and Featherfalls him to the ground a few thousand feet below.  Some brief exploration here reveals this as a long-abandoned part of the Dwarven settlements; Party reunite above and carry on.
Jem 19 Meet and clobber a tough band of raiding Orcs.  At one point, Tylara puts 17+60+14 points into 3 of these in one swing; each had 3 h.p. left beforehand. (in other words, very messy overkill!)
Dogrib proves his worth during this battle, holding a very tough (F-10, AC -3, strong, lots of magic) Orc to a stalemate on a narrow path for enough time that help could arrive.
Sneak into Khazatza, avoid lots of Giants, scout. (there should have been lots more Giants, but all spare hands were at the front preparing to invade Riveria; what Party finds is a token guard-force, but they don’t know this and proceed as if they really are doing something useful)
Jem 20 Take out a few Giants.  Fulvin nearly killed by an Umber Hulk.
Riveria invaded on a broad front in a.m.; Party learns of this via psyonics and now realize they are far too late and far away to provide any distraction at all.  So they carry on regardless.
Find prison camp Daneeza originally escaped from, and clear it out; rescue about 15 prisoners.
A couple of rescuees prove useful: Sinjen(T-6) and Graax the Aaxe(F-10) both join.
Take on a small band of Orcs.  Fulvin takes one to -107 h.p.  Sinjen, still recovering after his rescue, gets clobbered into deep incurability; this would become his normal condition from here on.
Find an urn that teleports user to somewhere deep in a Zarim city warehouse.  Rescued prisoners left in this warehouse, for now.
Sinjen becomes obsessed with opening a Dwarvish bank vault; stays here for days, gets nowhere.
Jem 21 Take on another band of Orcs.  Tamarrik charms one: "Kung" (Int. 5, Wis. 3; i.e. utterly useless).
A bone on one causes Tovan to become possessed by Gruumsh; Daneeza fixes this.  Graax tries to break the bone; he does, but becomes a Gruumsh Cleric in the process!  This also gets fixed, somehow.
Jem 22 Away team of Tyl., Ara., Dog., Grx, Leo. roam around town breaking heads while others pray and study.
Fulvin scouts Khazatza offices looking for maps; finds Giants instead, goes and gets everyone else.
Mistmaster the Fog Giant (NtC-12) causes problems:
 o Araglas sneaks forward to take out another Giant, is noticed by Mistmaster, and cut off;
 o Mistmaster summons a couple of Air Elementals, and fogs up Party;
 o Akasha flies across chasm to Mistmaster, gets noticed by an Elemental, chased into fog;
 o Rest of Party meet other Elemental, meanwhile Mistmaster turns the roof above Araglas to mud and buries her; she manages to down a potion of Gaseous Form and is immensely lucky to become one big bubble instead of many small ones ( = instant death), she now completely stuck;
 o Fulvin dispels Elemental chasing Akasha but gets her too, luckily her flight effect survives;
 o Second Elemental and Mistmaster soon slain.
Much time and effort spent devising a straw to get Araglas out of mud, eventually successful.
Take out a few more Giants, then find what they were here guarding: a nursery containing 9 baby Giants.
Much discussion about what to do with these; Richard’s people outside think they might be useful for ransom but are not sure (and are busy getting slaughtered), Party told to hold for now.
Akasha turns Tylara mauve; she’s bored.
Jem 23 Try to contact Femira outside and get no response; same goes for Sir Charles. (unknown to Party, both are now dead)  Realizing they are on their own, and with no way of caring for the babies, Party decides to slay them; Graax does the honours.  With this, Khazatza now appears to be empty, so all to Zarim.
2 Fire Giants and a supporting Illusionist draw whole Party into battle; one of the Fire Giants Flreballs everyone, taking both Tylara and Fulvin to -11 (Death’s Door saves both) and Sinjen (again) and Tamarrik well below 0.   Kung killed; nobody cares.  Party barely wins, then looks for a safe place to hide. (and Tamarrik is painfully reminded why she so despises field adventuring)
Find local Ki-Piddli temple relatively undisturbed.  Explore, find a Dwarf corpse on an altar, sack out.
Jem 24 Tovan uses a scroll: Tazkar(WrC-6) raised and joins. (this the corpse found yesterday; see Crown of Talarthane for how it came to be here)
All kinds of Speak With Deads on various people produce conflicting information.
Leaving the incurables (Sin., Tam., Tyl., Ful., Taz.) behind, Party goes Giant-hunting with some success.
Tazkar tells Party where temple’s secret beer stash is kept; Party recovers and broaches.
Jem 25 Tazkar leads the drinking in a.m., then goes with healthies on another raid.  Group gets split up during a battle gone wrong; drunk Tazkar left wandering on his own while everyone else gets back to base.
Akasha tries to study spells but will not pass her telepathy crown off to Leodran while doing so.  Fulvin, by now quite drunk, noisily tries to steal it; Tamarrik takes it for safekeeping; Akasha notices nothing until Fulvin blunders into her.  She stops studying.
Fulvin goes wandering off to explore.  Akasha follows, summons a shadow-Vampire and sics it on him; Fulvin loses 4 levels (to NrC-4/T-5) before Vampire sent off.  Tamarrik sees all this and uses Crown to alert Party; Akasha soon subdued by Graax, and a big argument erupts.  Meanwhile, Tazkar arrives.
Tylara kills Akasha during argument; more mayhem.
Jem 26 Rest, argue, and test items all day.
Tamarrik uses Crown to tell many of Akasha’s death; becomes very annoyed when various Elves refuse to deal with her.  Crown given to Araglas.  Arguments go on until 2 a.m., then vote to put Akasha and Tylara to trial after adventure. (between one thing and another, this trial would never occur)
Jem 27 Tazkar restores ice to temple arena.
Leodran, then Tamarrik, scout the city; both are followed by sneaking Sinjen.  All are shocked to find King Richard is here as a captive of the Giants.  Lots of planning ensues, until late in evening.
Tylara uses Dimension Door device to join Richard in his cage, but Giants take Richard away shortly after.  Problem then becomes how to rescue Tylara.  Giants begin evacuating city, though Party does not realize this for some time.
Start quietly opening cages, until a Drow Cleric in one summons a Drider; Tovan saves several lives with timely Neutralize Poisons, and battered Party barely win.  Meanwhile, Graax figures out where Giants have gone, and Party rescue 48 Humans and 8 Dwarves from cages.  Nobody sleeps this night.
Jem 28 Tylara tries again to get to Richard and this time succeeds; Richard rescued.  All then to Khazatza via urn, and sack out here until forced to move on.
Can 1 Travel.  All Cleric spells used up by Create Food and Waters to feed Party of 82; as some of these are in rough shape, travel is very slow.  This goes on for several days.
Can 2 Tylara becomes curable for the first time since Jema 23.
Can 4 Finally get out of mountains.  Tylara psyonically broadcasts “We have your King, where would you like him?” message to all and sundry, setting off celebrations across the land.
S’nel’be and a few others planeshift in that evening to pick up Richard; S’nel’be has lots to say about the Akasha-Tylara-Fulvin situation but most ignore him for now, and it eventually gets (mostly) forgotten.
Can 5 Reach Imdulton, drop off remaining rescuees.
Can 6 Tazkar, Dogrib, Graax, and Tamarrik retire.  Fulvin and Sinjen start work on treasury and stay put. Throg(F-8) and Pearl(MU-9) join from War of the Giants – West; they and remaining Party head out for a round of Giant-hunting.
Can 7 Find enough Giants to bump Daneeza to WrC-7.  Daneeza retires.  Rest return to town.
Can 10 Sinjen arrives in Riveria, tries to sell some banking documents found by Party in Khazatza, gets nowhere.
Can 12 Fulvin and Throg arrive and try (and fail) to help Sinjen; Fulvin tries to interest Richard in documents but merely manages to get himself evicted from Richard’s throne room.  They give up.
Can 16 Araglas, Tovan, Tylara and Throg set off to find corpses of Charles, Kermut, Femira, etc., killed during War of the Giants – West. Just about everyone else is busy training, or soon will be.
Can 18 Find remains of Femira and Kermut, take parts.
Can 21 Fulvin restored in Riveria, and bumps to boot (so now NrC-6/T-7).
Can 26 After much searching and digging, recover part of Charles’ corpse.
Ver 2 Arrive Riveria, deposit corpse parts in relevant places.

That’s it for the adventure, but an eventful break follows:

Ver 4 Throg and Araglas leave for Waterdeep, intent on shopping.
Ver 5 Femira fails resurrection in Riveria.
Ver 15 Araglas looks to buy a Belt of Ogre Strength, tries it on, it’s cursed (Str = 2) and she collapses; seller takes off with her 6,000 g.p.
Alerted via psyonics, Throg finds her later and gets curse removed at a temple.
Ver 19 Araglas learns "seller" is headed for Baldur’s Gate; she follows.
Ver 25 Throg leaves Waterdeep.  Araglas arrives Baldur’s Gate.
Ver 26 Tylara tapestries from Verwood to Waterdeep, commissions upgrade on her +3 goupilla (to +4).
Ver 28 By now, Araglas knows her target works on a merchant ship; ship is leaving today so she books passage on it (back to Waterdeep), once aboard she cannot find her target though has proof he is here; all evidence points to one crewman but he looks much different than person who sold her the cursed belt.
Fie 10 Araglas arrives Waterdeep, links up with Tylara; together they capture suspicious crewman.
Tylara uses psyonics to charm crewman, soon finds he is the right target but has none of Araglas’ money left (he has gambled it all away).  At Tovan’s long-range urging, crewman is left with local Tymora temple as an eager new acolyte; Araglas etc. set sights on ship’s captain as ship is involved in smuggling.
Fie 15 By various means, Araglas, Tylara, Tovan and Sinjen have all arrived at Baldur’s Gate, where captain lives.
Fie 16 Find captain’s house; Sinjen tries to break in and gets poisoned, fortunately Tovan finds him.  Team then tries a more cautious approach.
Fie 17 Find chest up a tree in backyard, and loot.  Then break into house, find a bit more loot and a Guardian Cat that attacks Tovan only as he triggered it.  Kill Cat.  It comes back, bigger.  Throw it in a room and ignore.
Much argument on whether to take a large enchanted mirror and stand; Araglas finally agrees to carry.
Local Thieves interrupt, meanwhile Sinjen sets the house on fire, and everyone flees.  Araglas puts mirror in middle of road to confuse an attacker; it’s heavy and bulky, so she leaves it there and flees.
Lei 1 759 Arrive Waterdeep, meet Pearl who casts ID’s on loot for days, Party say little about where it came from.
Lei 5 Tovan attacked by Guardian Cat again (it died in fire, came back, tracked Tovan 400 miles); it’s bigger yet, and hurts him badly.  He hauls it to his temple; Clerics there dislodge and trap it.  They know it still has 7 lives to go and will come back bigger each time; they also pity Tovan.  He gets help.
Pearl polymorphs Cat to a slug; Tymora Clerics throw it in an oubliette, Araglas and Tylara take target practice until Cat has died all 9 times.
Lei Various people train and-or retire.

Surviving members:  Araglas(F-10), Tovan(NrC-9), Fulvin(NrC-6/T-7),Tylara(F-8), Tamarrik(MU-7), Leodran(R-8),
                 
Daneeza(WrC-7), Dogrib(F-7), Sinjen(T-7), Graax(F-10), Tazkar(WrC-6), Throg(F-8), Pearl(MU-9)
New members:  Dogrib, Leodran, Daneeza, Sinjen, Graax; Tazkar (from Crown of Talarthane)
Casualties:  Akasha
Retirees:  Tamarrik(to Revenge of the Gith); Dogrib, Graax, Tazkar, Daneeza
Continuing parties  (to Dragonspear Castle III):   Araglas, Tovan, Tylara, Sinjen, Leodran, Throg
                            (to Circus at Verwood):  Pearl
                            (to Capture of Sylune):  Fulvin


55. Dragonspear Castle III (7-1-1;2), Jema 5-Scori 20 758, FE 06

Background and summary:  Sinjen the archaeologist wants to poke around Dragonspear Castle.  Rest of Party can’t talk him out of it, so they go along as backup (also, so Tylara and Araglas can get a few ExP they need to bump).  But Sinjen dies as soon as they get there, so Party instead go hunting in the hills before returning home.

Starting members (from Zarim Infiltration):  Araglas(F-10), Tovan(NrC-9), Tylara(F-8), Leodran(R-8), Sinjen(T-7), Throg(F-8)

Lei 19 759: Tovan finishes training (to NrC-9).  Party have by now recruited a new MU: Jhal(MU-7) joins.
Lei 21 Sinjen hears about Dragonspear Castle; nobody can talk him out of exploring it so Party forms and goes along, also hoping to see what use Jhal might be.  Leave Waterdeep.
Sco 1 Arrive Dragonspear, explore grounds and outbuildings; only opponent is a Wraith, soon destroyed.
A voice tells Party to go away, Party start asking questions instead, so after several more go-aways a massive Lightning Bolt backs up the request.  Sinjen and Jhal killed.  (both voice and spell are Finetra’s, the reclusive wizard first met in Dragonspear Castle I).
A Jhal item blows up, resulting wild magic surge animates all dead in area including Sinjen and Jhal; Tovan destroys these via turning (so Sinjen and Jhal unrevivable, ever), and Party leaves.
Sco 4 Find a small family of 8 Hill Giants in nearby hills, observe for a few days.
Sco 6 2 Giants go off to hunt; Tylara and Araglas follow and slay once well clear of camp, then return
Whole Party takes out remaining 6, loots (these Giants are dirt poor) and leaves.
Sco 20 Arrive Waterdeep; Tylara and Araglas spend a few weeks training.

Surviving members:  Araglas(F-11), Tovan(NrC-9), Tylara(F-9), Leodran(R-8), Throg(F-8)
New members:  Jhal
Casualties:  Jhal, Sinjen
Retirees:  none
Continuing party (to Caves of Evil):  Araglas, Tovan, Tylara, Leodran, Throg


Circus at Verwood (mini)
(16-1-0;2), Scori 5-Tari  759, AL- 06

Background and summary:  The party returning from Volcano of the Giants have a huge treasury to divide.  This long process goes neither smoothly nor safely, and is interrupted by many things including a royal visit.

Starting members (from Volcano of the Giants)Mrikle(I-10), Leshendra(T-11), He’is(F-10), Thistle(MU-6/T-7), Rohn(F-8),
                  Munin(R-8), Trilby(NtC-9), Chance(NtC-8), Marlu(MU-9/WrC-2), Schurra(NtC-7)
                           (from War of the Giants – West):  Myra(B-8)
                           (from Zarim Infiltration):  Pearl(MU-9)
                           (from retirement):  Diora(WrC-9), Lanefan(F-9)

Ver 4 758 Trilby throws Commune to find out where various still-missing-in-action EC’ers are; determines Nigella, Zakla, Eightfast, and Terrance are all dead, with corpses either buried or lost.
Ver 16 The old Duke of Verwood dies; Enterprise Company inherit the duchy and have no idea what to do with it. Major Minor sends a message to Riveria asking direction, gets no reply.
Ver 18 A message arrives from Imdulton; someone in their jail claims to be an EC’er and will the EC please deal with it.  Munin and He’is    respond, and find Flasheart(T-7) being held for looting.  She ends up in Verwood dungeon with Carrine.
S’nel’be just about goes ballistic, starts talking about Company charters and rules again; few listen.
Ver 25 A monarchy official or functionary of some sort arrives at Verwood, spends over a week at castle asking all sorts of questions, mostly of Major Minor.  S’nel’be checks him out and his story holds up.  On being told of Carrine and Flasheart he suggests King Richard might be willing to try them later.
Fie 3 Monarchy official leaves Verwood, having given no useful advice about duchy inheritance.
Fie Sometime around now Mrikle and Marlu each buy a huge empty spellbook for the castle, and begin design of a full-scale wizardry lab to be built when labour resources allow. 
Lei 6 759 Word reaches Verwood of an impending full-ride royal visit; Major Minor’s workload skyrockets.
Lei Thistle spends the month thieving in Riveria city to little avail.
Sco 5 Up north, Diora casts Commune and learns the fate of the Highway to Hel party; she, Lanefan and Nanomi give up waiting and planeshift to Verwood.  A raft of old arguments resume.
Sco 12 Thistle, Leshendra and Marlu jointly purchase a Deck of Many Things and draw some cards.  Thistle killed when a card destroys all her magic and her Drow Gem falls out of her head.  Leshendra loses 3 Int. points from a card, but gains a treasure map.  Marlu does just fine.  Various to Waterdeep seeking wishes.
Sco 14 Someone shows up looking for Marlu: Ketall(F-4) joins as Marlu’s hench, summoned by a Deck card.
Sco 18 Rohn gets a wish cast and becomes massively psyonic.
Sco 21 Thistle revived via wish, partly paid for by Deck’s resale.
Sco 28 Richard, his family, a few nobles, and about 110 retainers arrive at Verwood.
Tar 1 Richard speaks to the Company:
 o Baron Boscombe has been stripped of lands, titles, etc., and his daughter Sylune is now outlaw;
 o Throy, Flasheart, and Carrine are sentenced to work together, hunting Sylune (Throy objects); see Capture of Sylune for results of this;
 o Nigella is posthumously knighted for bravery during the war;
 o Tylara is knighted in absentia for rescuing Richard from captivity (the messy business between she and Akasha is never mentioned; while some were hoping Richard would act as judge, he instead chooses to honour Tylara and sweep the other matter under the rug);
 o Pearl is given honourary life membership in the Riveria MU’s guild;
 o Major Ann Minor is made Duchess of Verwood. (so now Lady Ann; and the EC needs a new seneschal)
Tar 3 Richard leaves.
Tar 4 Thistle starts planting magic beans in a field behind castle:
 o a Blue Slaad sprouts from a bean and attacks Thistle, Thistle killed by her own fireball, Party mop up.
 o Leshendra grabs beans and keeps planting; a Succubus shows up, immobilizes Leshie, grabs Lanefan and disappears
 o Marlu summons a 16HD Earth Elemental to help in battle;
 o Succubus appears 200’ above Party and drops Lanefan, Marlu saves him with Featherfall but loses all control of her elemental;
 o Succubus power-dives at castle, gets darkness-ed, paralyzed, shot, and psyonic blasted all at once (i.e. utterly annihilated) en route;
 o Elemental charges at castle but Pearl polymorphs it into a 110 h.p. turtle; this becomes castle’s mascot.
Thistle raised by Diora.  Lanefan takes beans from still-stunned Leshendra "for safekeeping", and they are soon forgotten…for now…
Tar 5 Leshendra starts recruiting people to help her find the treasure on her map.
Tar Sometime here, Chance retires to build her own temple in or near Verwood Keep.

Surviving members:  Mrikle(I-10), Leshendra(T-11), He’is(F-10), Thistle(MU-6/T-7), Rohn(F-8), Munin(R-8), Trilby(NtC-9), Chance(NtC-8),
                             Marlu(MU-9/WrC-2), Schurra(NtC-7), Myra(B-8), Pearl(MU-9), Diora(WrC-9), Lanefan(F-9), Flasheart(T-7)
New members:  Ketall
Casualties:  (Thistle[twice] – revived each time)
Retirees:  Chance
Continuing parties (to Leshendra's Treasure Map):  Leshendra, Munin, Rohn, Marlu, Thistle, Trilby
                           (to Loki's Revenge):  Mrikle, He'is, Schurra, Pearl, Diora, Lanefan
                           (to Capture of Sylune):  Flasheart
                           (to Coldwood Menace):  Myra

So why were all these Giants here, and what were they doing?

                The war between Dwarf and Giant has gone on, in fits and starts, for as long as the two races have existed. Ages ago, a legendary device brought great battlefield success to first the Giants, then the Dwarves, then the Giants again as it changed hands time after time; this device was the Crown of Talarthane, and for the last thousand years or more it has lain, mostly forgotten, in pieces in an abandoned Dwarven complex north of Zarim.  Mostly forgotten, but not entirely; the Dwarves speak of it in legend, and the Giants dream of its return.

                Within the last century, a rather unusual pair of Giants – Fellgjar the Storm Giant and Goroda the Cloud Giant – have come to rule a large number of Giants of all types, calling themselves (somewhat correctly) overlords of all Giantkind.  Fellgjar and Goroda are unusual for three reasons: one, they are highly intelligent, organized and patient, and are willing to force these traits onto lesser of their kind; two, they have become steeped in Giant lore
and history and are determined to use this knowledge to finally put an end to Dwarves; and three, they are both extremely long-lived (each is already over 200 years old) for their race, mostly due to Fellgjar’s research into anti-aging magics, and thus know they will have plenty of time to bring their goals to fruition.

                Somewhere along the way, these two learn of the Crown of Talarthane, and quickly realize that if they can find and use it they could be unstoppable.  So, they spend years researching its history and probable whereabouts, finally determining its last known location to be somewhere in Khazatzarima, now known as Zarim.

                Armed with this knowledge, Fellgjar starts recruiting and training an army of Giants in the mountains northeast of Megrim.  Not all Giants respond (many prefer their more normal life of random violence and complete disorder) and some who do – including Verbrugge, the legendary Frost Giant – soon tire of Fellgjar’s ways and leave to set up strongholds of their own.  But Fellgjar is still able to build a significant militia over time, overseen by a strong force of capable and organized Cloud Giants.

               Meanwhile, Goroda uses the skills of her kind to design and build the Islands of Sakhut –  a solid-cloud flying fortress strong enough to carry Giants in large numbers at high speed to anywhere in the world.  She spends decades establishing seven docking stations around the world and bribing huge Dragons to guard each one; except that any Dragon she leaves guarding the dock at Kraikos (Greece) is invariably slain by the time she returns.  Eventually, in their first co-ordinated military action, the army under Fellgjar uses Goroda’s Islands to travel around the world to Kraikos and there capture mighty Atlas, the Titan near whose mountain their dock had been built (and the reason their Dragons had been faring so poorly).

                The key docking station is the one at Mythariaka, a towering and still-active volcano in the middle of an enchanted forest; already home to a thriving colony of Fire Giants and less than a hundred miles from Zarim. Fellgjar spends several years here overseeing the reconstruction of an old stronghold at the mountain’s base, while Goroda uses the Islands to ferry in Giants – Fellgjar’s recruits first, from the north, followed by any other Giants she can convince to come.  And come they do, first a few at a time, then later by the hundreds.  Meanwhile, Fellgjar leaves this all in Goroda’s charge, and returns to his realm to continue training warriors.

                The forest around the Mythariaka volcano proves problematic for the Giants, but they are eventually able to carve a safe path through it.  This path is completed in year 752; construction of a third base at its end takes another year while the Giants overrun a large tract of undefended land north of the Misty Forest, and by early 755 the Giants crash against the western mountains and Zarim finds itself at war.

                The Zarim Dwarves fight gamely, but inevitably lose the war of attrition over the next few years.  The only dent in the Giants’ armour comes in 756, when a party of adventurers strafe and almost destroy one of their main forward camps; this success is never followed up, and by early 758 there is little left of Zarim as a realm.

                But there is still no sign of the Crown of Talarthane.  During the spring of 758, divinations done by the Giants tell of the key moment being close, so almost frantically the Giants expand their search both south into the Elven lands (a large band erroneously confuses the Sheeramaliea legend with the Crown and wastes lots of time and resources here) and north into the uninhabited peaks east of the Greenshire.  But by sheer chance, a party of
adventurers with subtle guidance from Dwarven goddess Berronar find the Crown under these northern peaks just as the first of the Giants’ search parties reach its location; they put its pieces together, and take it to Riveria.  The Giants, and thus Goroda, quickly learn where it has gone. (Goroda’s original information was correct as far as it went; the Crown was last seen in Khazatzarima many centuries ago, but since that time the kingdom has shrunk
considerably to become today’s Zarim, and the Crown’s resting place is now part of no realm at all)

                This is a huge setback for Goroda, and – not wishing to incur Fellgjar’s wrath – she does her best to set things right.  Patiently, thinking the Humans would not know what they have and thus that she has time to plan, she recalls the Giants from their searches, moves the command camps forward, and sends as many troops as she can spare to invade Riveria and get the Crown back.  But a series of misjudgments doom her.  First, the Humans do know the Crown’s purpose, and waste no time in giving it to a suitable Dwarf.  Second, this Dwarf – the Paladin Dwapal – strikes at the Giants in an unexpected attack before the invasion can begin, and though the Dwarves are forced to retreat, they disrupt and delay the invasion a great deal.  And third, the area’s other inhabitants fight back: Elves attack the rear supply lines, while a party of adventurers go right through Mythariaka and strike at Goroda herself not long after she gives the order to invade Riveria.  Goroda dies.

                Without co-ordinated instructions coming from the now-dead Goroda, the much-more-ordinary field commanders in Riveria watch their invasion fall apart; by sheer luck they manage to capture the Humans’ king, and use this as an excuse to call a very disorganized retreat.  Meanwhile, Fellgjar goes to investigate Goroda’s death and is himself slain by the same party; this costs the Giants their long-range transport, and the Giants left in the field are now completely on their own.  And they no longer even have the king as a hostage; he was freed within a few days of his capture by yet another adventuring party inside Zarim city.  Before long, all the Giants hold is two large field camps, soon reduced to one after a powerful group of Waterdeep wizards burns the other to the ground.  With this, and knowing their greater cause is lost, the Giants slowly disperse and go back to their wandering ways.

 







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