The Real Giant King

Day 31: As we completed the job of cleaning up the body of the giant, Rodor was distracted and kept staring off into the middle distance. Eventually, he explained that the information we had recently gained about the connections between the Chancellor and the Sahedrin had stirred up old memories from his time in the armies of the Mark. He went on to tell how after his arrest at the time of his wife's unfortunate death, a vampire in the service of the Chancellor had been used to drain his very soul, removing from him the memories and experiences of his time as an elite soldier. He also explained how many of his former colleagues wore the same tattoos. This revelation is not encouraging. If the man behind this campaign already has such a large corps of men already marked with the foul symbol, that could allow him impressive power.

As we contemplated these unpleasant thoughts, we also understood we had to move on from the dead giant. Quintle scouted ahead, and discovered a large chamber with many exits. One of these contained dire bears. Savannah tried to use the body of the dead giant to tempt them out and allow us to pass, but she ultimately failed. Apparently these bears weren't in the mood to cooperate; and so we had to fight them. They were not guarding anything of interest, however.More interestingly, we met a giant who did not immediately attack us. She was apparently a shaman of some prominence within the tribe, and she persuaded us to talk to her. We agreed, despite our past experiences with double-crossing evil creatures, because we needed information if we were to have any chance of making our way through the caverns to Makmorian. Unlike so many of the deceptive creatures we had met before, she did not attempt to attack us. Indeed, she explained that Makmorian was not as popular among the giants as we had believed, and that many would quietly cheer his defeat. In addition, she gave us some directions for finding the way through the caverns to the library.

We decided to use her information and head right downstairs, as we were concerned about being too badly worn down if we faced any more fights while exploring the upper levels of the citadel. Therefore, we headed back through the caverns we'd fought through earlier, and ventured down toward the library. We found, as the shaman had predicted, a number of tunnels, scattered with cave-ins. We followed the shaman's directions, and found ourselves outside a room filled with hypnotic swirling colors. Within the room was a single giant, its body decorated by runes that obviously gave it considerable power. After some minutes of indecision, we began to enter the room. Immediately, those who entered the room found themselves shrunk to half normal size, and nauseated by the intensity of the spinning colors. Predictably, the giant charged. Fortunately, we were able to defeat it without significant loss, as our wand of enlarge person countered the shrinking effects of the room. Nonetheless, we got out of the room as quickly as possible.

The next significant discovery was a room with a stone golem guarding a gigantic cauldron. We were able to overwhelm the golem without taking much damage, but did not learn much about the cauldron. The liquid bubbling within it is obviously necromantic, and a very potent mixture. The next room was filled with corpses of giants; if the goal of the liquid was to raise them all, that would have formed a very powerful army indeed. This liquid must be studied further.

Next, we discovered a room containing a pair of hellcats. Tempted as I was by this opportunity to study devils I had not yet had the chance to see first hand, I knew we had to get through them without taking further damage. Frick and Frack were able to convince them that the entire party was allied with them, and use that as proof of their might. Thanks to this ruse, they let us pass without a fight.

From there, we entered the library. We were greeted by a huge cloud of solid fog that separated us from the giant king. We found ways to get around it, and launched our assault. We discovered that the giant was every bit as powerful a sorcerer as a lieutenant of the Chancellor would be expected to be. He cast a number of spells that are well beyond myself or Janus, and we had to work hard to defeat him. Eventually, however, we were able to make our superior numbers count. The fact that we had successfully conserved our major resources for this fight was critical; by the end of it, we had nothing left.
except for janus~savannah

As the evil giant was destroyed, the spirit within it left. Evidently, we have not seen the last of this particular threat. Despite that, the fact that we were now in the library was enough to allow me to forget that. This library is truly impressive. It even has an automated librarian to locate and retrieve books. There is no doubt we must head to the Mark soon to catch up with the new followers of the Runelords; from what we have learned so far, the release of Sahedrin power that would follow the deaths of potentially thousands of the Chancellor's tattooed soldiers in the war with Amador that seems imminent could allow the tyrant to achieve impossible feats of magic. Nevertheless, we must stay here for a while. It is not often one gets to see such a concentration of knowledge on so many topics.

Surely, there will be information to help me understand the various planes, and how I may use their various strengths to further the goals of the One. Surely, there will be some knowledge stored here concerning portals such as the ones we have already encountered. If so, I must read it; I need to learn more if I am to implement my plan to use the portals for commerce and to spread the word of the One True God. Perhaps we could even spread His Holy Truth to the other planes….

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