Day 113: Wealday the 9th, Abadius, 4708

I got woken up by Jonathan after my four hours of sleep, and he recommended that I get busy on getting prepped for another day. He already had a breakfast of rations and even some chilled mead ready for me. As I ate, I looked around the group and saw that we all had the same deep in thought appearances about our faces. I asked them all if they had a profoundly deific dream last night as well. Faunra and Jonathan both said that they did, and Dame Rebekah told us that we had been chosen to pursue our paths by our respective deities, and that we would need to fulfill certain requirements every day now, but that we would access to the divine powers that the deity can provide. She told us all to seek out inside ourselves what we were being called to do, and to take an hour to do so.

Jonathan went off into a corner to do gods know what, and Faunra opened up a star chart to try to recreate some constellations on the cave wall. What came to me was that I just needed to do another rune reading this morning. I did so, and spent some time going over the meanings. When I was done, I can come to feel that I had a further connection to the old One Eyed Bastard, and it was something that I could use to help us a little. I knew that his inspiration would be guiding me from here on. I decided that I should open up my tablet go over how I needed to bridge Science and Magic. I started to come to the realization that there was something that I was told decades ago, that was ringing true. I was told by an elder that magic and science did have a bridge, and that bridge was metaphysics.

It seemed like nonsense at the time, especially since the person who taught me that fell from the path and went to pursue some other life choices, but the realization was dawning on me that energy really was a constant, it was just that the flow paths can be modified. I don't have it all just yet, but it seems almost within my grasp. I found that I was learning more techniques and getting more abilities from this realization and I brought it up to Faunra. Faunra smiled and told me that she was glad that I had followed this path.

We packed up everything and Faunra offered up a spell to have Niddler explore the area. I asked Niddler and he seemed a bit fearful. I told her that it might be best to save it for now. Faunra nodded and we discussed what our next steps were. Jonathan perked up his head and told us that there were two giants approaching the cave. I asked how long we had, and he told us that they would be at the front in less than thirty seconds. Faunra asked if he could get close enough to ensure that they were evil.

I looked at them both oddly as he said that he could hide out within thirty feet of the mouth, and that we should hide just behind him. I cast my spell to armor us all up and we moved towards our hiding spots. We did our best to hide everyone and everything that was ours in the cave. The stone giants came up to the mouth of the cave and we waited for Jonathan's signal. The Giants stepped into the cave and I heard Jonathan say a single word. Spare. He lunged out from his hiding spot with a series of non-enhanced punches, viciously damaging the giant in front of him. Faunra let loose a series of five arrows into the other giant and heavily damaged him. I ran up to the one that Jonathan had wailed on and hacked at it with a machete, dropping it but not killing it. Dame Rebekah charged the other and did the same with her sword.

With both of our hunters incapacitated, Jonathan went forth and applied first aid quickly, to ensure that they would not pass through the veil. I helped him with it. When we were satisfied that they were stabilized, I asked him if he was certain that they were not evil. Jonathan noted that they did not radiate smell evil like the women at the first campsite did. I asked him what evil smells like, and he told me that to him evil smells like sugar combined with rotting gangrenous meat. I nodded and said that this sounds pretty evil. I asked him if he knew what good smells like to him. Jonathan thought for a second, sniffed heavily at me and then Dame Rebekah, and then Faunra, and told me cinnamon and peppermint.

We utilized a bit more healing knowhow to get one of the giants conscious enough to talk after we rolled them for anything that could be used to hurt us and manacled them. Those giantesses apparently had some large sized manacles that were picked up by our speedy evil sniffer. When the giant came to, he started swearing at us in his Giant tongue, and I understood him. Go figure. I stopped him and asked him for his name and tribe. He looked at me oddly and told me that his name was Dholjomhyte of the Crannoch tribe.

I nodded and told him that as long as he makes no false moves against us, that he and his companion would live to see another day. I asked him to nod if he understood me. Dholjomhyte nodded and I thanked him. I told him that there was a person waiting just behind him to ensure that he made no foolish attempts at attacking or yelling for help, but that we could dispense with that if he promised that he would answer our questions truthfully and not strike against us. Dholjomhyte said that he would do his best. I told him that this was all that we could really ask for and looked to Jonathan. Jonathan seemed to relax.

I asked Dholjomhyte if his tribe would continue the attack on Sandpoint if the individual organizing the attack was disposed of. Dholjomhyte laughed a little louder than I would have liked and asked how we expected to take out Mokmurian. I looked him dead in the eyes and told him that we were the group who visited ALL of the devastation upon the ogre and stone giant tribes the day before, and that we had done all of that within ten minutes of somewhat concentrated effort. Dholjomhyte seemed a bit worried at that. I told him that we really didn't want to have to kill EVERY last stone giant in this area, but that we would to prevent the damage to Sandpoint.

Dholjomhyte looked like he was weighing my words. I told him that we had already spared two giants from the raid, Jolfumus and Forsetta, and provided them with an occupation where they would be esteemed and not have to bend to the whims of someone else enslaving them. I added that all of this was based on mutually beneficial contracts, not on dictates or demands. Dholjomhyte looked like he recognized the names, or maybe he was confused with the other things I was telling him. I told him that we had given the two of them magical equipment and a contract with the city of Magnimar to their mutual enrichment. I added that we could act as go-betweens for future contracts with the City or the Town, as they would both be likely to need talented stoneworkers in the future.

Dholjomhyte said that he could make no promises, but that he could get his tribal chieftain, a hunter by not Mokmurian, to come talk to us. I told him that we could let him cautioned him that we would keep his compatriot here as a hostage, and that we would mark him such that we would be able to find him everywhere, if he decided to betray our trust. Dholjomhyte said that he would bring our proposal to Oriandian and Oriandian would make his own judgement. I told him that I could understand that. I had Jonathan heal him sufficiently to make the trek, and released him from his bonds. I told him that we would wait for two hours and then we would not be at this place, and that we would treat this as the Crannoch tribe making their intentions known.

Dholjomhyte fled down the mountain side at a solid clip, taking risks that us smaller folk could never do. He ran off towards the second from the end encampment and we retreated to the interior of the cave. I asked everyone what they thought that we should do if he actually betrays us. Dame Rebekah was personally beaming with my attempted rehabilitation of an enemy, but said that if he rallies a force to come after us, it will take more than two hours, and we can leave on our bikes and try a different avenue. Faunra added that we had enough capability between us to fight to escape any horde that came after us, and we could always secure ourselves in this cave for months, based on our supplies. Jonathan shrugged and noted that even if they find a way to collapse the entire cave and remove the air, he can provide for us for a period of time.

We go the other giant safe and secure, and healed him up some. Not to fully healed, but enough for him to not be in any danger. While we waited, we got our bikes prepped and ready to go while Jonathan took look out. After an hour and a half of waiting and prepping, Jonathan noted that he saw three stone giants coming back, and one of them was Dholjomhyte. The one of the other two had the look of a hunter about him. I expected him to be the leader. Jonathan kept watch as they came up the side of the mountain.

Dame Rebekah, Faunra, and I all set up a fair distance from the mouth of the cave. After we heard them clambering up the side of the mountain, Jonathan rushed back to our place and told us that they did not smell of evil. I noted that this was a good thing, and we waited for quartet to come in. Dholjomhyte introduced the two other giants to us, including his chieftain, Oriandian, and a wise woman named Conna. I motioned for them to be seated and opened up the conversation by introducing our group and telling them that the other giant had had his wounds treated and that he should survive without issue.

Conna spoke up and asked us what our goal here was. Dame Rebekah spoke up, saying that as a priestess of Iomedae, we were not here to slay all of the giants here, and that our main goal was in the defense of Sandpoint. Conna nodded and asked what we needed to do to do that. Faunra spoke up and said that we needed to take out the driving force behind the army that would be sent against the town. Oriandian spoke up and asked why we slew the ogres and the Maidens of Minderhal. I spoke up and told him that the ogres were slain because they were irredeemably evil, and we had just dealt with a group of ogres in the past few weeks. The Maidens, who I assumed were the giants that we had rampaged across, were evil and close to the ogres.

I added that we had not even given any consideration to not slaying more stone giants until we encountered Dholjomhyte and the other stone giant, who were not evil. Oriandian told us that the Maidens of Minderhal had attacked giants from his tribe when they strayed too close to them, and the came back mutilated sometimes. He added that it got so bad that he had to forbid his tribe from associating with them. Conna noted that there were some from her tribe who would also desire to leave from Mokmurian's bondage, but they were until recently led by a necromancer by the name of Barl Breakbones, in place of her husband.

Conna added that Barl had been sent to get the ogres of Hook Mountain in line, but she heard that he had been slain. Jonathan offered up immediately that is was by us, or rather, by me, pointing to me. The three stone giants looked at me wearily. Jonathan laughed and told them that the only reason why Dholjomhyte was alive was because he told me to spare them. Conna continued with saying that another appointee of Mokmurian, Drogart, was now the ruler of her tribe, and that if he and Mokmurian could be taken care of, the two tribes would leave the Valley and never return.

I waited for her to finish, and asked if they would prevent us from entering the fortification and take the fight directly to Mokmurian. Oriandian said that he could have most of his giants out on hunting duty, especially with the increased patrols that Mokmurian had demanded. Conna noted that she had no authority to order the giants of her tribe around, but that she did go to and from the keep, to check with her tribe from time to time, so she could try to keep us apprised to the circumstances and when the best time to go would be.

I realized that I had to ask the hard question. I looked at Oriandian and Conna, and asked them if the other giant tribes would give up on the plans to assault Sandpoint, or if they would have to be dealt with. Conna looked incredibly sad and Oriandian leaned over and hugged her. Oriandian spoke for them and said that he didn't seek the death of any of the giant tribes, but that The Jormunsir might be able to track us almost as well as his tribe can, and they were itching for loot. He added that the Hill Giants were seeking wealth and power at well, to take out a more peaceful stone giant tribe back at Lake Skotha. Conna spoke up and said that Valissgander were only minutes away from armed rebellion against their leader, but that they were an unknown after that.

I looked at the group and noted that we could perform a beeline towards the gate, but Conna noted that the gate is now locked at all times. She noted that the absolute destruction of the two tribes had worried Mokmurian greatly, so much that he went to go find the Harpies, who were found to be dead as well, along with his sentries. She looked at us and I nodded solemnly. Conna noted that the only reason why we were not tracked to the dragon's cave is because we did not leave actual tracks for most people to find. I thanked Jonathan silently.

I noted that I REALLY didn't want to grind my way through two tribes of Stone Giants and a tribe of Hill Giants, just to get into the keep. Conna asked if we got to the Crannoch Tribe's location, if we could get over of through the wall. Jonathan smiled and said that we could get over the wall with a big enough distraction. I smiled and said that we could do that, if we could make certain that the tribes nearest to us didn't rat us out. Conna said that she could send a missive to Drogart and have him come to capture us, and when we get rid of him, we could have free reign of this side of the castle.

I told them that we should think about it, and that they should come back in a few days to see if we can get some kind of schedule worked out. Conna nodded and Oriandian asked why it wouldn't be suspicious that he and Conna were heading out in to the wilds with another giant. I smiled and said that part of the deception could be best handled by them "pretending" to have a relationship. Conna looked ashamed for a minute, and I told her that her husband was brutally slain, of course she would be looking for some kind of compassion, and Oriandian could easily be making overtures towards her to better his standing among other tribes. They both nodded and went to get up to head out.

I stopped them and nodded to Jonathan. He went over to the unconscious giant and used his power (leached from the giant itself) to heal it as high as he could. We noted that the burn wounds that were healing could be given as evidence that the dragon was back and did not want to be disturbed. The giants all agreed to that, and we sent them on their way. After they left the line of sight and range of hearing, Jonathan asked if we were going to just do nothing and wait. I smiled and said that we would do no such thing, that he had said that there was a pair of caves to be investigated, and that we would be doing just that.

Faunra smiled and said that she had just the trick for that, and said that she would get us a good distance away from the cave, without anything being amiss. We got the bikes loaded up on the door that Jonathan had used previously, and we floated along at a slow six miles an hour. Faunra conjured up a camouflage screen between us and the camps, a good distance towards the camps. Jonathan floated us along the path that she designated and we ended up carefully dropping to the lowest cave, knowing that we were going to have get back up to the top level eventually anyway.

As we approached, Jonathan told us that he smelled a reptilian scent coming from the cave of the ledge he landed us on. Faunra's spell had long since elapsed, so we didn't have much of a chance at surprise, but it seemed like the three wyverns who were in the cave had been put to sleep by something. I took a step forward and a bone cracked. The three looked up and before I knew it, we were in another fight for our lives.

Faunra reacted violently to the snapping bone, launching five arrows, one of which had a bit of a chill about it, in addition to the shocking, and dropped one of the wyverns. I believed that it was still breathing, but only barely. I stepped up to where they were rousing and stabbed one in the chest, expecting it to drop fairly readily. It did not. Off to the side, Jonathan levitated something behind the third wyvern and smacked it in the back of the head so hard that it died instantly. Dame Rebekah charged up and hewed into the wyvern I had stabbed with her sword, but it was not good. The wyvern wasn't dead.

The wyvern then did something I had only had nightmares about. It tried to stab me with its glistening tail barb. I dodged forward, right into the strike zone of its teeth. It clamped down hard on my less protected thigh, drawing blood. It then wrapped itself around me as it buffeted me with a wing and ripped into my other thigh with its rear leg. Then I felt a stabbing pain from behind and I was panicking. It was like being stabbed with frozen lightning. Was this what the poison of a wyvern felt like? I thought that Savah would never let me live it down if I died to a wyvern like this. I reared back with my machete and did my best Jason impression, stabbing again and again, until the Wyvern stopped moving and stopped wrapping itself around me.

I extricated myself and asked if anyone could deal with the poison from the thing. Faunra was laughing quietly. Jonathan started laughing as well, and Dame Rebekah joined in. I asked them what was so funny, and Faunra apologized that it wasn't the wyvern that had stabbed me, it was her arrow. Jonathan got the arrow out and Dame Rebekah got to work using a wand of healing on me. It took four tries to get all of the wounds healed up, and while she did that, I used mending on all of the gear that this vicious rattlesnake of a dragon had torn up.

While Dame Rebekah and I were dealing with the gear, Faunra and Jonathan were rummaging through the debris of the cave and harvesting the choicest parts of the wyverns. The one that had stabbed at me had befouled its stinger, but the other two never got a chance to use their toxin. There was also the fact that wyvern meat is a lot like crocodile and ostrich combined, apparently.

When I was all back to good, and everything was loaded up, Jonathan got us back up onto the door and levitating up to the other cave entrance. It was two hundred feet above this one and a little way off. It would be even less likely that I could get away with gunfire here, so I kept my machete and shield at the ready. We entered into the cave and set down the door onto the floor of the cave. The door crushed the bugs that were a carpet in this cave. Jonathan looked up at the ceiling of the cave and told us that there were three large sickly spider looking things hiding and watching us.

We all acted like we hadn't noticed the monsters and carefully checked out the rest of the cave. When the spider things dropped from their crevices, we were ready. Faunra dropped one of the spider things in an instant, as nearly a half dozen new three-foot-long feathered limbs sprouted from thing's carapace. With that signal, Jonathan, stopped, focused his powers, and let loose a massive blast at another of the three. The final one had dropped to ground level and I charged at it. Unleashing a pair of vicious slashes. Dame Rebekah had only been a step behind me and finished it off with her final slash. It was kind of a pyrrhic victory, as some of the spiders that were inside the thing bit both Dame Rebekah and I.

Jonathan started lashing out with what looked like Sith Lightning at large swathes of the insects in the cave. After a little while, the chitinous horde was diminished. By this time, Dame Rebekah and I were both cleared of not being poisoned. Jonathan and Faunra noticed that there were items from former victims and gathered them up. Jonathan looked at the back wall and noted that there was a secret door in the back of the cave. I asked everyone if they thought that it would be a good idea to check it out. We all didn't think it was the worst idea, so we headed to the secret door and Jonathan opened it. Jonathan sniffed the air and looked inside.

We all looked in and we could tell that it was massive natural maze. I asked Jonathan if he thought that we had time to deal with this at the moment. Jonathan shook his head, saying that he had the feeling that it was a vicious maze that reeked of blood. Jonathan added that it wouldn't be wise to go into this maze if we didn't need to at the moment. I asked where we should head next, and Jonathan noted that we could try to get into the fortress for a look around. We all agreed and we went back to the door.

When we were all there, Jonathan lifted us up to the valley's base and Faunra tried to conceal us with another illusion. As we lifted up, we saw that we were spotted. There was a trio of stone giants who were on patrol and they flung rocks at us while yelling a warning. The boulders that they threw crashed into us, missing up but kitting the door, breaking large chunks off of it. Jonathan noted that he didn't think that the door would survive much more damage, and that he'd have to drop us down on the valley floor quickly.

We readied ourselves and Jonathan lowered us down. He spared a glance at the trio while he was doing so and launched a bolt of lightning at one of them. Faunra followed suit and took some shots at the another one of the three, a glob of mud flew off of the arrow and splashed in the eyes of that giant. Dame Rebekah's shots followed Jonathan's blast just a few seconds after and further damaged that giant. Dame Rebekah loudly said to me that surprise was lost. I threw one of the mist grenades into the giant's midst that I had had strapped to my chest. Two of them were concealed by the cloud, with the third, the one with mud in its eyes being just outside of it. I sheathed my machete and pulled forth my rifle, getting ready for the active portion of the assault.

We heard further roaring as the one who Jonathan had hit stumbled out of the fog cloud, recovering enough to throw a boulder at Jonathan. I blasted through the force shield that he had up and damaged him slightly. I was so shocked by this that I didn't even notice the boulder slamming into me, hitting me hard in the side. That pissed me off. Jonathan focused and launched one of his trademark caltrops at the giant who hit me, as this one was uninjured. Faunra fired her bow off at the one she had hit before who had just got done wiping the mud out of his eyes. She hit with three arrows before she messed up with her acid splash spell, burning her arrow string, and striking Dame Rebekah's at the same time, causing her plans to fail as well.

I shouldered my rifle and took aim, firing at the one who had hit me first. My mind focused as I fired off a round into the first one, and quickly swept over to the second one to drop it without even looking to see that I had finished the first one. I spared a glance back and noticed that the first victim had dropped instantly. The rest of the group had been inured to the sounds of gunfire by now, but even with it suppressed, the sound carried throughout the valley. I looked to the others and felt a bit worried. Dame Rebekah looked back and said that we might be able to get away. Then I heard the sound of the loudest damn eagle I had ever heard.

I looked at the rest of the group. They looked back at me. Then we heard a second. We looked up at a tall central spire in the middle of the keep. There were white streaks coming down the sides, and I saw the two giant birds emerging from a large chamber at the top. I was immediately reminded of the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights and the Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor. It was a pair of Rocs. Coming for us.

I looked to rest of them and panicked a bit. We only had a limited amount of time before they would be on us and our major ranged firepower was down by at least a third. I asked Faunra if she had a spare string and she shook her head. I rushed over and used my power to repair her string first, leaving her to string it. They were within distance for Jonathan to fire off a bolt of electricity at the lead, so he did so. The giant bird was greatly singed but strangely energized. It was within easy shot distance of me, but the spell was taking a while to complete.

Faunra reached past me to hit the second Roc with a conjured snowball. It seemed to be completely unprepared for this, and seemed a bit staggered against all odds. I looked over to Dame Rebekah as she yelled at me to forget her bow for now as she pulled out a Javelin and it turned into a lightning bolt that struck the same Roc that Faunra had hit with a Snowball. The spell ended and I whipped around to look at the two Rocs. I fired off at the first Roc, hitting it square in the head. I wheeled the gun around and fired off at the second one, wounding it.

The first Roc crashed into the ground in front of Jonathan. He didn't even flinch as he fired off a bolt of electricity at the second roc, channeling his power as he did. The second Roc dropped as it fried, landing just shy of the other. I asked Jonathan if he felt the need to butcher these two as well. Jonathan thought for a second and decided against it, saying that we didn't have the time for it. He told us to all get on the door again. We all did and I went over to Dame Rebekah's bow and started mending the bowstring.

Jonathan lifted us up and pushed us up even higher, until we were over five hundred feet up. Jonathan smiled and said that we can drop from height again. I noted that we had the bikes here, and he looked upset, before he told us that he could slowly lower the bikes after we dropped. I noted that this wouldn't be the best idea, as it would give them something to track us with. Dame Rebekah agreed with me and noted that we should just set down inside the fortress. Faunra agreed and noted that we could drop diversionary grenades and have her drop an illusion of a cloud around us.

I thought for a second and then smiled, before asking if anyone knew anything about shell games. The three of them shook their heads, and I told them that it was a kind of con game back where I was from where the conman would have three cups and a ball. They would

show you that the ball was under one cup and then slide them around on a flat board. They would mix them up and ask you to guess which one they were under. I asked them which one they thought that they were under usually. Jonathan guessed the center, Dame Rebekah guessed the left and Faunra guessed the right. I told them that it was neither, that the game was rigged so that the ball wasn't under any of them.

Dame Rebekah picked up what I was saying immediately. I told them that we could use up all three of my remaining mist grenades and even my two remaining explosive grenades to cause distractions all over the place, causing us to be ignored as we are invisibly dropping from the clouds. Dame Rebekah asked how we could be invisible. I told her that Faunra had a spell for it, and we had two scrolls, and Jonathan can make himself invisible. Faunra said that she could cast it three times, as she had used up one of her pearls of power to recover her Silent Image spell, but it wouldn't work on the bikes. I noted that this was what the scrolls were for.

With our plan decided, we got the bikes invisible, as the scrolls would last the longest. Then I had Jonathan fling the mist grenades in three different directions, and the two real grenades into the two camps where there were giants that were hostile to us, the hill giants and the other tracker, while I reloaded my magazine. We tied ourselves and the bikes close to each other and Jonathan wove a telekinetic basket under us before launching the door away. Faunra spent eighteen seconds making the three of us vanish while Jonathan did the same to himself. I spent a few moments to load up the kirlian photography app so that I could see everything that was invisible. When the last person was invisible, Jonathan dropped us quickly but safely down into the center of a courtyard in the compound without difficulty.

While we were looking around at our next avenue of raiding, we saw two rectangular buildings on either side of a large pit. Beyond the pit opposite us was the spire that the Rocs came from and a stone building. To our South was a tall black spire that had only a single door. While we were getting our bearings and determining our next moves, we heard a loud noise and looked to the rectangular building just south of the pit. A stone giant was making his way out of the building with a large mammoth. From what I could understand, the giant was yelling something about it being stupid to have to train the mammoth when he could be out hunting for the intruders.

We only had a few scant seconds left on the spell that Faunra had hit on me, which I was the first she had cast it on, so I didn't wait for Dame Rebekah or Jonathan to tell me if this person was evil. I got in a location where I could target the Giant and got ready to fire away as soon as I reappeared. I noticed Jonathan moving towards the Mammoth on the far side of the giant from me. I didn't see Faunra or Dame Rebekah, but that didn't mean much, I was focused in on the giant.

I reappeared and let loose a barrage of three shots, slamming into the giant's chest, each round a little higher, until the third and final one went right into the giant's neck, dropping it down and bleeding out. Dame Rebekah had just managed to drop a silence spell on something in the area, and the sound of the gunfire didn't echo out in the area. Jonathan's dagger sliced into the mammoth four times, each one faster than the last by far. The final strike reaching what can only be described at escape velocity, but the silence spell kept it from making a sound. The dagger didn't like it, and disintegrated on the last hit, that slammed deep into the Mammoth's skull, dropping it.

Jonathan looked like he sighed and pulled out another dagger. We went over to the building that the giant had come out of, and noticed that there were three mammoths in stalls there. Dame Rebekah went forward and used her skill with animals to calm them down. She insured that all of the mammoths were safe and secure before coming back out of the building. We all silently agreed that we could just go and leave them there for now. We left that building and rushed over to the other side of the pit. We opened the door to see a huge hall stocked with casks of ale, bread, and meat. A giant bear reared up as we entered and went to roar. When that failed, the bear charged.

Faunra dropped five! Arrows into it, with what felt like static and cold about them. Jonathan followed up with a massive ranged blast that destroyed the caltrop that he had used. He pulled out another one immediately from his little bag. The Bear dropped like a sack of potatoes. I wondered about wither we should pause here or move on, but the rest of the group indicated that we should move on. We went out and sneakily moved past the guano festooned spire to the building that had been opposite us.

Dame Rebekah boot-fucked the door and we looked in. A pair of pale blue skinned giants looked up from their drinking and reached for their massive axes. We were ready and had the drop on them however, Faunra seemed to curse silently to herself. Maybe she was doing it out loud, but the silence spell prevented it. Jonathan focused up and had the aether bleed from him again, shooting the tiny caltrop faster than I had ever seen it go before. It burrowed into the Frost Giant's skull and the speed caused the brain cavity to completely explode. I didn't think that there was any caltrop left to be checked even after that. He dropped another into his palm to wait.

I shouldered my rifle and took and fired at the Frost Giant that Faunra had shot. It really didn't seem to like my bullets, and they seemed to burn into him more than anything else I had hit with them. It died from the shock almost instantly. Jonathan started to roll the corpses for treasure quickly, and Faunra helped him. There was a fair amount of coinage and gems, but I didn't pay any attention to it. I was more interested in keeping an eye out for any dangers. We were burning our way through this facility but I didn't know how much further we would have to go before we cleared it out completely. I also took a few moments to refill my magazine.

When we were all loaded up and ready to go, Jonathan headed out in front of us, with Niddler on my shoulder. Dame Rebekah had indicated that he was the target of the silence spell, but we could still send thoughts back and forth. Niddler had found all of this exciting, but very scary, but was very okay with hiding behind me when trouble came out. This silence trick seemed to be a net benefit for us when it came to this invasion sweep. When we were out of the building, Jonathan pointed up at the towers, indicating that we should keep an eye out for them. We all did so while stealthily moving to the black tower.

We found the door easily and made our way inside. It was fucking frigid, and I'm used to the cold. It wasn't enough to cause any real harm, but damn it was bone chilling. We sent Niddler into one of our bags so that we could speak for a minute, and we decided that this was likely a location of great danger. We all decided to cast a spell apiece to get ready. I invoked haste for everyone and Faunra used a spell to make her arrows and my bullets burst into flame when they are fired. More Fire. Dame Rebekah enchanted her sword with what she called "Sun Metal", and Jonathan amped himself up after he spotted a trap door in the floor.

We opened up the trap door and jumped down, with Faunra utilizing her last Feather Fall to slow us down before we hit the ground. We landed in a crypt and saw that there was a bandaged mummy there. It held a scroll tube in its arm and had the other arm in a pose that was similar to a martial artist form. Jonathan told us that he would handle this, and let loose with his blast at the thing. That wasn't a problem for me, as I was mortified by seeing something from the Universal Monsterverse come to life.

Faunra looked like she was waiting for whatever it would throw at Jonathan to see if it actually cast a spell at us. It didn't cast a spell, but it did breathe some hideously noxious gas at all of us, that my filters seemed to help alleviate. I could tell that they had burned away to nothing from it though. Jonathan responded back with a blast that ripped into the thing, telling us that it had broken the compact of fights by attacking bystanders. Dame Rebekah looked to be frozen in place. Maybe her fears were like my own. Faunra didn't think twice, and launched a set of six arrows at the thing, missing three, but dropping it due to the addition of her flame effect.

I snapped out of it and went over to the cylinder that the thing was holding. I could read the runes that were on the adamantine cylinder. I puzzled over the runes which functioned like a kind of bicycle lock tumbler. It went fairly well considering that it would have been a pain in the ass to try to pick this lock, the movements were extremely precise. I gently pulled out a series of 18 rolled up scrolls. I pre-emptively cast mending on the lot of them before I touched one, and stripped off my exogloves to limit the damage that I might do to them.

I had Dame Rebekah and Faunra leaning over my shoulder as I did, and Jonathan conjured up a force field of woven mesh to hold the scrolls while I carefully pried them apart and set them on the invisible woven mesh. Each time I got a new one clear, I used mending repeatedly on the next one until it looked okay enough to try. We were burning through time, but I didn't really want to descend into the rest of the compound just yet. The first one that I came across was a scroll of greater restoration. The next one was a scroll of heroes' feast, which Dame Rebekah identified.

The third scroll was of a spell called order's wrath, and Faunra Identified that one. The fourth spell was of regenerate, and it almost disintegrated, but I was successful in keeping it safe with everyone's help. The fifth spell scroll was of resurrection and I was more careful with that than any scroll I had ever touched. This could bring back Katrine. The next scroll was of scrying, and I felt that Faunra would want to grab that to copy into her spellbook.

The next scroll was a symbol of stunning, and that was something that we could use to build up a safe house for all of us. The final scroll was something that I almost dropped when it was identified. It was a scroll of resurrection that was even stronger than the other scroll. It could bring back someone who's body was completely destroyed, with no chance of failure and no damage to the restored. This was a phenomenal trove of divine magic. There was one final scroll among the spell scrolls and it was in better condition than all of the others. My phone had no problems taking a picture of this, so I included it in my logs.

I had never heard of the Therassic Library, but I guess that this is the equivalent of a library card. I'll have to look out for bronze doors. There was a single heavily bound scroll left that radiated enough magical energy to blind Faunra. She cautioned me that this was definitely an artifact, and that we should be careful with it. I acknowledged that we should wait until we get back to Sandpoint before checking it out. We put all of the scrolls back into the cylinder, but I didn't lock it fully. Just one latch to keep it closed.

Jonathan lifted us up and out of the frigid tomb, and we got back to our bikes. All four of us got onto our positions and Jonathan readied himself for a fight, in the sidecar, and Dame Rebekah did the same in her sidecar. We cautiously started down the ramp into the pit, and Niddler popped back out of the bag he was in. His silence spell had elapsed, but was willing to be another candidate for it if it would help. Dame Rebekah cast it on him with the use of the rod, lengthening the duration. As we went down, we noticed a massive pile of broken bodies and bones.

As we rolled towards the bottom of the ramp, I saw that there was an opening immediately to the right. I motioned to the others and we all nodded. We slowed down at the base and pulled the hard right into the room. Right into the waiting cave bears. The looked up at us and went to roar, but no sound came out. Jonathan looked up at them and his eyes glowed like Raiden, as he let out a lightning bolt that jumped from one, to the next, to the next. The first bear dropped. The second bear looked very hurt, and the third still looked roughed up. I looked at him with worry, as I saw even more aether seeping from his body. He felt like he was bigger now though.

While I was momentarily confused, Faunra dropped a batch of arrows into the two remaining bears. I looked back and there were deceased. All three of them. I started to wonder again if I was really making a difference in the way that this group could just take out these fanciful monsters. We continued on down the path, with Jonathan looking fairly rough, past a couple of cave entrances that were empty of people or giants. We rode to an intersection where there were four giants actively waiting for us. They didn't hear us approach, but we didn't surprise them either.

Faunra and I were both ready. She dropped one of the two down one corridor with five arrows sticking out of its chest, and I dropped on of the two down the other corridor with three shots. Jonathan fired off yet another of his massive telekinetic blasts, dropping the third one. We looked to Dame Rebekah, who slashed out at the last remaining giant, three times, dropping it. I was exceptionally proud of us, but it was all for naught. Jonathan was badly spent. I could see it even though he'd never have said it. My pondering wasn't to last, as a boulder crashed into both Dame Rebekah and Jonathan. A third boulder just missed Faunra.

I tracked the path from where the boulder would have been sent, and I saw a giant trying to act like it couldn't be seen. I wasn't hit or anything, so I pivoted and fired off a trio of shots at the giant. It certainly wasn't prepared for my level of warfare, because the three bullets ripped into him, first in the chest, then in the collarbone, and then directly in the forehead. The giant dropped with the third hit, and we knew that it would only be a matter of time before it passed.

I looked at everyone else and they all gave me a silent thumb's up. I motioned to Faunra, and she started off to the North. I followed and we got to a four-way intersection. Faunra pulled on straight through and we followed a curving path into a room that had large doors with the sihedron carved into them. Dame Rebekah pushed open the doors for us without too much difficulty, and we rolled our bikes in. We got about three quarters of the way through, seeing the seven tree trunks that were decorated with stars and manacles. There were braziers next to each tree trunk, with a branding iron.

We were not prepared when a giant materialized out of the dirt and swung at us. With one swing, he knocked Jonathan and Dame Rebekah, damaging them both greatly. I thought to Niddler that he needed to get them some healing potions from my bag. Faunra was Johnny on the spot with another lethal barrage of arrows, giving this messed up hill giant another five oaken limbs. I wasn't anywhere near as articulate with it. I couldn't remember how many rounds my rifle still had in it, so I summoned my pistol into my hand and peppered the giant with three rounds. The giant was dead before it hit the ground.

Dame Rebekah and Jonathan both took swigs off of strongest health potions that we had, and then went back for another hit. The each took one of the lesser healing potions each as well. Jonathan was still sweating aether from his very pores, but he looked a little bit healthier. While they were doing that, I reloaded my rifle and my pistol. No sense in them not being full and ready for battle. I pulled out a chalkboard and wrote down a quick question about whether we should continue or head out for now. Jonathan, Dame Rebekah, and Faunra all wanted to continue, but noted that we should probably prepare a little better because the fights were getting more intense.

Niddler hopped back into the extradimensional bag and we got to casting. We had a few spells that would benefit us for extended durations, and shaving a few seconds off of the minute remaining would only help us. There was a bevy of spellcasting and potion drinking before Jonathan took the initiative to pull Niddler out of the saddlebag that he was in. Faunra rushed off ahead of me and we went back to the four-way intersection, where she turned left. We rode on until we came to a cave where there were two red dragons lounging. They looked like they were trying to roar, but Niddler stopped that.

Before they could even react, Faunra destroyed one of them with a series of six arrows, each one hitting. Jonathan leapt forward and destroyed the other one with another series of stabs with a dagger to various important organs in alphabetical order. I didn't even have time to think about what I should do in this circumstance. To maintain the element of surprise, we kept through to go to the next room. We roared into the room, thankful that it didn't include doors, and were confronted by a heady smell of incense. I immediately knew three things.

First was that this was a temple, or the closest thing I could see to one down here. Two, was that it was dedicated to Echidna, from the three eyed jackals. Three, that the two lioness centaur women with holy symbols of the same goddess, were not interested in our wellbeing. I popped my pistol up instantly and took aim at one of the two, hitting it with three rounds. It didn't seem to faze it too much, as it was till up and kicking when Dame Rebekah came in and hacked it with her blessed blade, which was glowing brightly with different energies and holy might.

Even all of that did not hold a candle to what Jonathan did. He launched a bolt of his Sith lightning and electrocuted the first one, dropping her dead on the spot. The Bolt arced over to the other one, and went right through both of the being's hearts, dropping it to be unconscious and dying, and then arcing off to the stone altar, damaging it, before arcing to other pictographs of Echidna's symbols. It was a total of nine arcs in all, destroying much of the religious iconography in the room. Jonathan telekinetically lifted up the scorched altar and flung it against the wall in a rage, revealing a secret area with some written material in it. Faunra squirreled that away.

We continued on and went further down the hallway and it branched off. We continued to the right and found ourselves in an area that looked like a sleeping area. It was currently devoid of anything, so we moved on quickly until we came to the end of the chamber, where there was a room off to the left. Jonathan signaled to me to head into that room and I did. We then came face to face with a pair of stone giants working the forges to repair weapons and armor. It was almost laughable at this point. Between Jonathan's arcing lighting and Faunra's barrage of arrows, we destroyed them before they could do anything. We didn't move on however, because Jonathan signaled to us to talk.

Niddler went back in the saddlebag and the sound came back. We heard the gruff voices of five prisoners coming from cages near the bellows. Jonathan gout out of the bike and walked over to each, ripping off the doors telekinetically and using his healing touch on them to alleviate some of their exhaustion. To my surprise, though they were all beardless, they were dwarves from Janderhoff. The dwarves asked us if we could help them escape and get home. Jonathan spoke for us and said that we were going to clear this place out, but that once it was safe, we would come back for them and guide them to our safe retreat. The dwarves started to be a bit offended by that, but Dame Rebekah noted that we would just be a few more minutes.

We left Niddler with them, since the silence spell had worn off, and we left for the next room. Jonathan didn't make any vagaries about not wanting to go into the next room, as there was a large amount of bad smells coming from it. There were a trio of ogres in the room who saw us, stood up, and cracked their knuckles. We looked at them like they were crazy, and we launched our attack. Faunra dropped one with her arrows shortly before Jonathan dropped a hellacious Sith Lightning on the two remaining ogres before I pulled out my pistol and finished off the last one.

We moved on to the next chamber and encountered a very vicious kobold. The Kobold was chewing on what we learned was gnome jerky. The picked up their short-spear when they saw us and seemed a bit confused at the bikes we were riding on. That was their downfall, as Faunra and I struck first. Faunra unleashed five arrows and shot it with a barrage of my own. The kobold died with my last round going through its head, destroying it completely. Jonathan hopped out of the sidecar and rolled the body for money and gear.

Jonathan hopped back into the bike and we continue on to the next room. It was a mess hall and it was fairly empty, until a stone giantess came out from the south, where a kitchen was located. She flung a cauldron of soup at Dame Rebekah. The cauldron splashed into her armor and didn't seem to do her any harm. Jonathan lashed out with an exceptionally powerful blast, dropping the giantess with the help of Faunra's arrows.

We looked at each other and Faunra claimed that we cleared out this level of the caverns. I asked how we might be able to get out. Faunra smiled and said that she had an idea, and that we could get the dwarves out as well, but it would cost us a little. I noted that I was okay with this if everyone else was. Dame Rebekah and Jonathan said that they were both good with it, so we went back to the room where we had left the dwarves. Faunra told us that she could summon a Lantern Archon to perform the same trick that the leader of Crying Leaf had done.

I asked her where the Archon would take us. Faunra shrugged and said that we needed to do some work on getting the dwarves back to somewhere safe while we arranged a way to store the bikes and unload all of our gear. One of the dwarves, by the name of Anton, told us that the Pallgreves clan would be willing to act as our sponsors within the town. I figured that this wouldn't be the worst solution, but I noted that we needed to be able to get the bikes and everything safe. Faunra smiled and noted that we had a solution, in the various bags of holding. I noted that the bikes wouldn't fit in our current bags of holding. Faunra said that she could go to Magnimar and get a bigger bag and come back. I shrugged again and said that we should probably head to a safer place. We decided to make a run for it, with the five dwarves being split up with one in my side car, one behind me, one in Faunra's side car and one behind her, and one on the back of Dame Rebekah's pegasi. Jonathan would have to fly/run.

We made our way up out from where we were and up the ramp. Anton held onto me for dear life as we went up the ramp at a whopping nineteen miles an hour, with Jonathan rushing ahead and Dame Rebekah rushing off while Faunra and I's bikes got up to speed. When we had made our way to the courtyard Jonathan had lifted off the massive bar that was in place at the door and shunting it into the distance before opening the doors telekinetically. We continued out and rushed towards the Storval Stairs shelter that we had commandeered. Jonathan had lashed out with his chain lightning at the Hill Giants as we passed, but none of them died. I'm thinking he was running on empty and couldn't spare the time or thought to gather in the aether that was around him to empower his attack.

We made our way back to that shack at the nineteen mile an hour pace and found our shelter and the dehydrating meat in okay condition. We pulled our bikes into the house and set them up in the quick escape room. We got the dwarves situated in one of the spare rooms and got them food and drink while we determined our next move. Faunra said that she could summon up a servant of her Goddess to help us with our travelling woes. Faunra went out to perform the calling while we gathered up everything that we would be taking to sell in Magnimar.

Jonathan, Dame Rebekah, and I all got the goods set up while Faunra was doing her summoning. After ten minutes, Faunra finished her spell and a tiny cloud of fireflies appeared. She talked to it in her native language and gave the fireflies the document that was in the Lamia's secret stash. They talked back and forth for a few seconds, Faunra gave the fireflies a few gems and the fireflies disappeared. Faunra walked back over to us and told us that the Pulura's Star-flies were going to go get us a bag of holding that was large enough carry a bike inside it but light enough for the Star-Flies to bring back.

I thanked her for the foresight and asked her how long we had the services of these Star-Flies. Faunra told us that we had them for twelve hours, and that once we had the bag of holding we could get the dwarves to Janderhoff. Then we could travel to whatever market we needed to find some things that we need. I asked what all we might need to pick up, and Faunra noted that we could get some items that we could use to transfer enchantments through her rituals. While we waited, we had a good meal, thanks to Jonathan.

After a half an hour, the Star-Flies came back with a large bag. When they came back, Faunra went to get Anton, who described what the Star-Flies would need to know, and a letter to deliver to the Pallgreves Clanhold. The Star-Flies went out and came back a minute later with a letter. Anton read it and told us that there would be someone available at the destination to help everyone out of the bag. Faunra smiled and the dwarves all came forward and two at a time were helped into the bag before the Star-Flies would teleport away. And then come back and repeated the process. Then Jonathan started loading up the dried bear meat, until we were left with only a few hundred pounds left here. Then Jonathan and Dame Rebekah jumped in, her having shrunk Bucepherous back down to a stone figurine.

The Star-Flies came back and Faunra and I jumped into the bag. After a few seconds in the dark of this bag's interior, within twelve seconds actually, the bag opened and a Dwarven hand reached down to help us out. We were surrounded by the Dwarven Pallgreves clan, and the most richly appointed one put forth his hand to give us a shake.

Quinton, as his name was, thanked us for bringing back the search party that had went out to find the Lost Crown. I smiled and told him that I had a surprise for him. I pulled out the crown and his jaw dropped. I told him that we discovered this on the far side of the Storval Stairs and that it should go back to his clan. He told us that there was a reward for this, and went forth to get gold and platinum. He came back with over ten thousand gold, and said that he would have gotten more, but that was the limit of the petty cash that the clan had on hand. I thanked him for this much, and asked him if his clan could provide an escort for us to head to their markets to offload a lot of the gear that we had acquired. Quinton said that of course he would, considering the service we had provided in returning the search party.

We set up the Rook and got the treasures out of it that had been stored. The Pallgreves clan leader was shocked by how much treasure we had gathered. He personally sent his exchequer to go with us to ensure that we got good prices on everything. The Star-Flies came with us and we went through a whirlwind of sellers, trying to find everything that we needed, and failing that, get information as to where we could find it if no one had it. The Dwarven exchequer told us that shield that we had found in the room of the one who had thrown boulders at us in the bottom of the ramp belonged to the Jeggare clan in Korvosa, and that they would be very happy to receive it. Apparently they are frequent enough traders to commiserate over lost family goods. As a thank you for all of this, we gave the clan exchequer the Dwarven beard rings that we had found.

Since we had a few hours left of the Star-Flies' utility, we asked if the exchequer it he would be willing to go to Korvosa with us and introduce us. The Exchequer, who now told us his name of Korbyn Pallgreves, said that as long as we got him back before nightfall, he wouldn't have any issues. We booked at room in an inn, the "Delvar Delvar Undor", and used that to get us all teleported to a safe place in Korvosa. We exited out of some holdings that the Pallgreves clan had in Korvosa, and we went straight to the Jeggare Household. Korbyn handled the transfer for us, and brought us back a fair amount of gold in return.

The day was getting longer and longer at this point. Faunra got help in getting the last bits and pieces of what she'd be doing for her transfer rituals. We were about an hour away from sunset when we wrapped everything in Korvosa up. We used the Star-Flies to get us all back to Janderhoff, and dropped off Korbyn. He thanked us as we got him a good meal at the Inn, and teleported back to the shack. We all thanked the Star-Flies, when Jonathan had a brilliant idea. He had us make a picture of what we had accomplished before, and then after using the Star-Flies to get back to the Dragon Cave, we sent the Star-Flies back to our loved ones in Sandpoint and the surroundings, to give them little gifts. I finished off my day with getting the remaining Rook set up (Dame Rebekah had gotten one for herself too). We set up dinner, sent off the Star-Flies with a thank you, and set about fortifying and retiring for the night.