Back to Fritzholm's notes for sessions 11-15
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We rode onward until I spotted a sign in the trail. I stopped and motioned to Sybil, who had now also seen the sign. I drew forth my distance lenses, and carefull to stay over 30 feet from the sign in case of magical traps, I read it. The sign blathered on some warning about going no further and appeared to be written in some substance that was supposed to look like blood. How childish. If this was the work of the supposedly intelligent giants we were after then someone had greatly over estimated their brain power. I dismounted and showed the sign to Sybil before pitching it off the trail. No need for it to scare other travellers or even the rest of our adventuring party.

A little further the trail narrowed and we had to lead our horses. As we walked our horses we spotted smoke coming over the hills. I climbed onto some high ground to examine the cause of this smoke. As I had feared it looked as though the village we were approaching was the source of the fire. By this time the rest of the party had gathered. We rushed to the village and sure enough it lay in ruins. The others looked for survivors as I went out in search of tracks.

Rockburg

What I found was very interesting. Giant tracks came as no surprise to me, but I also noticed quadraped tracks. More interestingly the back prints were hooved and the front prints were pawwed, possibly those of a lion. It was likely we were dealing with chimeras. Why was this interesting? Because it was barely less than a week ago that ran into the ambushers who used just these creatures to try and scare us off. My mind searched for the connection. Clearly Lord Krill had something to do with it, but exactly how he related to these giants eluded me. I began to follow the tracks when Ali came rushing out of town. He told me there were giants and chimera about and that it was not safe to travel without the rest of the party. Unsafe for him maybe. I had no intention of battling the monsters alone. I only want to follow them and keep tabs on their movement. I don't think he had a complete grasp on how important it is to follow tracks in a prompt fashion. He seemed frightened, though, so I told him I'd stay put. This relaxed him and he went back to town. As soon as he was out of sight I resumed my tracking, but shortly he was back imploring me to cease. I was nearing exhaspiration with our travelling companion at this point. He truely did think of himself as my gardian. With a sigh I agreed to give him and the party 20 minutes before I set off to track the beasts. Soon Sybil arrived. She was as anxious as I to follow the tracks. I told her I had given Ali 20 minutes and until then I'd have to just sit here. She helped me repack my equipment while the 20 minutes ticked by.

Shortly after we grouped back up and resumed our travels we were sneak attacked by 3 screaming chimera. I have no idea how they fell upon us so quickly without warning. I lept into the underbrush and braced my sword defensively but everything went dark. I heard Ivy scream and headed in her direction. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The Chimeras disappeared with no trace and the all-consuming darkness was gone. Ivy lay on the trail. She looked like she was in grave condition. Sybil knelt down at her side and said a quiet prayer. All I heard of it was something about returning the song to the singer, which seemed appropriate for Ivy. Miracle of Miracles, it worked! Ivy's eyes opened. Was Sybil some sort of priest? We gathered up the injured. Everyone looked like they'd be alright for the time, so I went out ahead to find out what happened to our attackers. I half expected to find nothing at all. With all the magic I had witnessed recently teleporting one-shot chimeras of darkness wouldn't really shock me too much. Instead I found a much more normal situation. Evidently the chimeras had surprised us from a specially created bowl in the terrain near our present location. They were now joined up with 4 giants, who looked to be maybe 12 to 15 feet tall. 4 giants and 3 chimera was probably a bit more than we could handle in our current state, so I searched the landscape for a good defensive position. I returned to the party and told them what our situation was. I suggested we retreat, build a fortification, and plan our next move. Eventually they agreed and under Aayan's guidance we built a defensable fort into the side of the mountain.

Not everyone was content to dig in and defend our ground. We were restless, and doubted our fortress' ability to survive if we let their sorceror cast another meteor shower down, this time in our direction. I decided to go scout our opponents again. Sybil, Rex, and Ayaan insisted on joining me even though I tried to impress upon them that I'd rather do this alone. I led them to the chimeras' artifical valley. As I climbed up to the very edge of the hill I heard some kind of goat noises. I crouched down and waved the others back. After a time I quietly snuck back down the hill. I told them that at least one, probably all 3, chimeras were in their valley. Rex wandered off to see this for himself. There was a roar and a burst of flame and Rex came running back to us, his armor still smoldering.

We returned to the fortress and settled on a plan to bypass the chimeras altogether. Rex would cast a dimensional portal that we could all pass through. It would take us right to the entrance of the giant's cave. We buckled down a steeled ourselves for the upcoming battle that evening.

I picked up the heavy anvil and carried it to above the cave entrance. I figured to drop the anvil on the noggin of any creature that might chase the party back out of the cave. They did return soon but they were not chased out. Evidently, their path had been blocked by an impenetrable wall of magical force. Ayaan noticed an elf's body in the underbrush near the cave. He was obviously dead. Sybil picked up the dead elf while Pip and I tied up the giant I had knocked out and carried him off. We departed from the scene.

I knew that we could not return to our fortress via the trail without running a very real risk of being attack by the chimeras. Instead I felt our best chance of eluding the giants for the night would be to head into the mountainous hills to the southeast. The terrain was very rough. Travel was difficult and it was nearly impossible to transport our prisoner once our enlargement spells wore off. This was where a long night of moral arguement began.

Our party was split about what we should do with our prisoner. Some wanted to kill him outright, others wanted to let him go, still other wanted to leave him tied up to a tree. It was madness. Even with all of my rope I did not expect merely being tied to a tree to hold a giant for long. I suggested the compromise that we cripple the giant to assure we wouldn't have to fight him again and that he wouldn't return to his pals any time soon. Alas, the bickering went on and on. Ali insisted that crippling the giant would be torture. Dvym suggested that we could drug the giant so he wouldn't feel it, but even that did not settle Ali's conscience. We finally settled the matter by vote. Even then there was a tie with some members suggesting we drug him and tie him up and others agreeing with me that we should do that in addition to crippling him. Sybil was so disgusted that few people saw fit to kill the giant outright that she stormed off. It was only when Pip changed her vote from killing the giant to drugging, tying, and crippling him was it finally desided. Rex gathered the herbs and concocted the seditive and then I used a thick branch of a tree to wrench the unconcious giant's ankle in such a way that he would be unable to walk on it for maybe a week or two. This all upset Ali so much that he wept and spent the night praying to his goddess. I hated to see the man so distraught, but it was the least that had to be done. It was strange that us killing giants in battle bothered him so much less than dissabling this giant for a week or two. This giant was being spared. Hopefully it would learn a lesson and change its ways. The night's bickering was not done yet. Ivy found Sybil trying to bury the dead elf equipment and all, so she ran to fetch me to handle this situation. I told Sybil we couldn't have her burying stuff like this that might lend aid to us in completing our quests. She argued that none of the elf's belongings were rightfully ours. Luckily I did not have to argue with her long as she stormed off once again. Dvym followed her to talk with her. In the mean time Ivy found some money and weapons on the elf as well as a crude map. I finished burying the elf.

We were lucky that everyone met back up that night. I found a site that was hidden away from view and reasonable to defend and we set up camp for the night.

Hours passed without a trace of anything noteworthy. A few minutes after sunrise I heard the sound of violin. Was it a signal from Ivy? Probably. I couldn't place the song. I thought that Pip and Sybil would hear it too. One of them would check it out. I felt it was better if I were to keep searching for Ayaan's tracks, since I was the most likely to find and be able to follow them. About half an hour after the violin song ended I heard a giant appoaching and ducked into cover. He strode by safely, but was headed vaguely in the direction of our camp. I thought maybe Ivy's music had alerted him to our location. Why had she played that song so loudly? I headed back to the camp in a round-about fashion to avoid the giant. When I got back the party was just finishing off a battle with the giant. They were all alarmed and questioned me all at once. I silenced them all, and told them about the whole situation. I found out that someone had taken my note and covered their tracks afterwards, which explained the party's confusion. By the time I had explained everything Sybil and Pip had returned. Pip had found a campsite of some sort and Sybil had seen a small humanoid creature which she could sense was evil.

Pip and Sybil took me out to show me their findings. Ali also came along. We went to the campsite first. There I found a tree with a long rectangle burnt into it about 6 feet up. This meant to me that the creatures were probably at least 6 feet tall. Pip showed me a little den where something had slept. I found no items in the area, but I did find evidence of the direction it departed. I tracked the creature nearly a mile, but evidentually lost the trail. Sybil was very interested in how I was following the creature. I explained to her what I was doing along the way, but when I came across an area littered with pine cones I couldn't resist playing a little joke. I pretended the pine cones were a great hint and speculated as to what they meant, knowing of course that they meant nothing at all. What fun. Next we went to the place were Sybil had seen the creature. There were no tracks there at all. This was a sneaky creature alright. We returned to camp almost exactly at the same time as Ayaan.

Ayaan told us that he had been kidnapped by something that called themselves the controlls. They put a sack over his head and spoke to him in Common. The controlls wanted us to stop killing the giants. They had a deal with the giants where the giants gave them food and the controlls gave the giants magic. Oh great, now we had three enemies - the giants, the chimeras, and the controlls. We were badly injured, we had no town to retreat to, and we were pressed for time. We spent most of the morning planning and decided we'd better switch to sleeping in the day so we'd be better able to defend against the nocturnal controlls. I had everyone pack up and moved our campsite a good 3 1/4 miles east. Some of us went to sleep while others merely bided our time.

Idlely, I remembered that Sybil still had my whistle, so I went over to retrieve it from her pack. Evidently, she not fallen soundly asleep in the hour she had lied there, for I woke her up accidentally. I tried patting her head soothingly and told her to go back to sleep, but she stirred anyhow. She was not totally alert. I told her I was just getting my whistle and she appologized for not returning it. I assured her that was alright and suggested she go back to sleep, but instead she began questioning me. First she asked me about my friends. I told her that my friends were a very competent lot. Then she asked me about my relationship with Ivy and relationships in general. I told her very quietly that I could not explain about Ivy and myself right now and that she should go back to sleep. She asked again about relationships between men and women. This seemed to me like a niave question for someone her age. More over it made me rather nervous and uneasy. I felt unprepared to explain for lack of the right words. This was the sort of question handled best by a mother or father, not by a ranger. Sybil must have sensed my uneasiness or seen me blushing for she gave up her questioning and rolled over to sleep. I was off the hook. I left to bide my time searching for edible plants in the area.

While in camp I discussed our options with Dvym, who was keen on the notion of sending a spy into the giants' caves to scout ahead, but uneasy with my stealth abilities. I'll grant him this, caves aren't really my element. There are just not enough places to hide and every sound echos. I'd have a difficult time of it indeed. Soon Ali woke up and began his prayers. Rex took this chance to catch himself some sleep. Why hadn't he slept during the day? Pip also stirred from her nap about the time that Sybil was waking. Ali gathered Pip and I together. We were both still badly injured from our battle with the giants. He cast his goddess' curing spells down upon us. I felt better, but I was still visably battered and somewhat slowed. When Sybil noticed my nagging injuries she offered to help. She said that she could return the song to my voice and heal me with her very touch. It sounded more beautifully poetic than practical, but I remembered her saving Ivy's life which assured me there was merit to what Sybil claimed. Surely enough her touch did revitalize me. My singing voice was not improved, I found, as I offered up a rendition of The March of Theus the Monk for those who would listen. Never-the-less I felt almost as good as new and my muscles no longer had that aching fatigue in them. I could leap and spring again. I thanked Ali and Sybil wholeheartedly.

My plan for the night was to wait on a rocky outcropping high on the face of the mountian to our south and scan the valleys for smoke or fire. However, before I could leave Sybil approached me asking if I could write a letter on her behalf. Oddly, she wanted it written to her father in Elvish. I checked her ears closely, trying to be subtle in my inspection. Was she a half-elf - being raised in the remote wilderness by an elf who thought she would have 70 years to learn everything a young woman should? It would explain her naiveties. Still, I saw no hint of elvish features. She dictated a short note assuring her father that she was alive and well and near to the object of her quest. The Elvish she spoke was thick with accent and at times used words I had never encountered. It confused me and I was forced to rephrase her statements twice, but I stayed true to the meaning and tone of the message as best as I could. Dvym found the whole matter of two humans writing in Elvish to a third ridiculous and amusing, but Ivy did not. She glared at me with sideways glances every time Sybil leaned in close to see my writing. This jealousy was even more unwarrented than that she bestowed upon Rose. I thought to myself that I'd better assure her of this fact soon. Sybil took her note. I had no idea how she intended to send it.

I hiked and climbed up the mountain. I wedged the light coin above my visor such that it illuminated my path. I cursed the lack of rope and a propper backpack. Another week of this equipment consuming adventuring and I'd be as ill-equipt as the others. At least my arms and legs were fresh for once and I was soon on my rocky pearch. I scanned the landscape for any trace of a fire. I felt that is what would give away the controlls location, since I knew the used fire as a tool. I did spot a fire. Quite a large one actually. It was near the mouth of the giants' cave. The giants were probably burning their dead. After all there'd be no place to bury such large bodies in this rocky terrain. We were very lucky to find a spot to bury that small elf. Even then I had to resort to digging with a mining pick. I sat back and watched the valleys and waited.

Soon there was an unnatural flicker of light. I readied my distances lenses and saw... was it Dvym flying? Yes, and he was signalling my with a piece of the Tower Master's(tm) indestructible mirror. I whipped the lenses around trying to find the cause of his alarm. Eventually, I gave this up and resorted to peering down the mountain unaided. My eyes fell upon a creature I knew must be a controll and he was heading directly towards me. I drew forth my bow and aimed it down at him, but he kept coming. I hesitated. Did I want to attack the creature? On one hand Sybil had sensed evil when she saw a controll. On the other hand their treatment of Ayaan had not been too malicous. I stepped back, set down my bow, and stood to receive the controll unarmed, but ready to draw Justice Bringer at a moment's notice. I patted the pouch of rose pedals inside my cloak. It would make a fine back-up plan.

The controll bounded onto the outcropping just before Dvym arrived. The controlls first action was to point at me and say "You are magic!" in a tone of voice that sounded accusing and playfull. I answered with an enthusiastic yes. And turned the question on him. "Are you magic?" To this he only answered maybe, but I teased at him, insisting that he was. Dvym scoffed. I relaxed. The controll was more childlike than evil. He talked to us in broken and only very simple common. He told us not to hurt the giants, his friends. He also told us that a bad man lived in the mountain. We tried to explain that we had come to destroy the bad man, but that the giants were in "bad man's house". The controll quivered in fear whenever I said that and no matter how I tried he just would not get past the fact that the giants were in league with this bad man. My patience wore thin with this hang-up and chased him off by merely repeating "bad man's house!" If all controlls are that dense how have they mastered any magic at all? Dvym chased after the frightened uncooperative controll and I walked back to camp.

Half way back to camp I was passed by Dvym, Ayaan and Sybil, all flying. I waved to them. I told them "You are magic!" in my best controll impersonation, but I don't think they heard me.

When I got back, Ivy was playing a song on her harp. She wrapped it up and called me to her. She put her violin under her chin and played a lovely song for me. It told all about our travels together. I don't know how she could manage to sing so clearly while pinning the instrument to her shoulder with her chin. The song and the music were beautiful and flattering. I sat. The song was very relaxing, but I tensed for a moment with the notion that this song was but a bard's spell. If it was a spell it was unlike anything I've learned of. I settled down. The last verse of the song was in Elvish. The words lilted off Ivy's lips lightly and perfectly. You know, I think it was a love song.