DM:
Calmseeker
CHARACTERS:
Cade (me)
Tenfoll’at (our illustrious Leader)
Murdrum (our quiet Cartographer)
Glanfath (who spent his time guarding the ZHT portal while we explored)
Bardy (he who made sure we stayed on the right path and ensured we didn’t miss anything important)
Patrick Star (Cade’s flashy side kick)
Honkers (Bardy’s companion; the goose that would not be cooked)
Tiny Servants (Murdrum’s rock slinging helpers)
Coco (Tenfoll’at’s trusty owl)
And last but not least Gargot (our giant, mostly monosyllabic adrenaline junky, whose raspy, chain-smoker voice most often spoke of food)
In my efforts to locate a proper place to build an observatory, I joined a group headed to the newly cleared portal designated as ZHT. I also figured my knowledge of Astronomy might be helpful in trying to find the actual location of this isolated portal….. We were told it would be cold and mountainous, and there may be giants!
In the LAS portal area we designated Gargot (and his cart) to be the bearer of portal stones. I think our explanation of how portals work got through to him, because he did take good care of those stones throughout our journey. We passed from the LAS portal to the ZHT portal with no issues.
We moved East from the ZHT portal…. Spotted a pack of wolves in the distance. Gargot, towing his cart through the countryside was quite the scene.….I think he wanted to hunt the wolves? Tenfoll’at bribed him with a cookie, and we were able to move on to the Northeast. We spotted something lying on the ground partially covered in branches…a Scourge Asimar…still alive and breathing; badly wounded….face covered. His name was Derell. Apparently he was another lost soul wandering the island, attacked by wolves, and didn’t really know where he was. He joined us…What else was he going to do? We traveled further NE…mountains in the distance; it definitely got colder. Derell told us that the frost giants of Jotunheim live in those mountains. High mountains are great spots for an observatory; maybe a deal with the giants can be made to help construct one? My Patron would be happy….
We camped at the base of the mountains. Good grief! Gargot is always hungry….Bardy went hunting and foraged for some grubs….he fed most of us….he also found some large animal tracks (moose or elk or something like that). It was too cloudy that night for me to get any bearing on the stars…. The next morning, Derell seemed to know the area around the mountains better and he directed us North. He tried to draw a map from memory…the only thing of note was a forest 2-3 days journey North and he called it home…The Small Wood? It definitely got warmer as we moved into the wooded area.
As we headed further North, we spotted some sort of fanged beast eating a dead elk…..Gargot approached the beast……it had a dark brown coat, steely eyes….I was told it was a Saber Toothed Tiger…. Gargot tried to entice the tiger with a ration…..they growled at each other for a bit…..Gargot tossed him another ration and they parted ways…. Apparently Gargot was speaking with the tiger….he learned that a Chiwera(?) has been hunting to the west? Gargot seemed very pleased with himself after this encounter. Derell explained that a Chiwera is a Cimera that has fed upon too many werebeasts….
The further North we went, the more Derell recognized; eventually leaving the party for his hermit abode. Before he left he told us of a town to the Northeast about 2-3 days journey. Apparently he was mistaken or untruthful, because we later found out that the town was to our West….. We never did make it to the town….
Bardy discovered some large humanoid. shoe-clad tracks…Finally giants! We followed the tracks until we were stopped by a snow storm, and we were forced to huddle up in Tenfoll’at’s nice warm hut. As the storm receded, war horns were heard nearby. About 5 large humanoids were approaching; they appeared to be harvesting anything that got buried in the snow….meatcicles….
Gargot really wanted to meet them so he tried to sneak up on them. He failed miserably…. He spoke with them; even offered them one of his precious cookies. They laughed and said they would prefer his skull. Since he is part giant, they allowed Gargot a chance to prove himself. They challenged him to some sort of competition…a drinking contest? Three giants against Gargot. Good god, they can drink a lot! Gargot ended up outdrinking 2 of the 3 giants before neither could drink more. The giants were impressed enough and leave Gargot alone. However, they could not speak for the attacking trolls… From what I heard, 5 trolls had decided to try to impress Lowfir (the frost giant leader) by killing and eating our party…..
Murdrum incapacitated 3 of them with a glittery light show, but they were smart enough to remove it from each other. A few fireballs by Bardy, and Gargot in mammoth and then bear forms, and we eventually took the 3 ice trolls and 2 frost trolls down for good, but not before Murdrum’s tiny servant had been bashed to pieces…. A much tougher fight due to their regenerative abilities. Note to future travelers; the Ice Trolls seemed vulnerable to fire. We found a bunch of stolen goods on the trolls…..
We continued to the Northeast; entering onto a broad plain where we spent the night. During the night, the stars finally came out. I have taken many stellar observations during my time on the island; around and in WMC, RO, and PM. That night, with Bardy’s assistance, I was able to determine our position to be approximately 360 miles SW of RO. I cannot attest 100% to the accuracy of this measurement, but I have been quite successful in the past when my party blindly teleported, and set out to find some sort of Forge.
We decided to take this knowledge back to RO while exploring a much as possible. Strangely, in the middle of the forest, we came across a well. Bardy was able to determine that consuming the water would cause you to be enshrouded in darkness. While traveling through the snowy forest we were accosted by several strange beings from both the ground and sky; 1 being what could only be the thing Derell had described as a Chiwera was attended by a couple yeti and a troll, while from the sky came a manticore. They offered to let us pass by in exchange for allowing them to eat Honkers…. That certainly was not going to happen, so a battle ensued…..
All of their attacks seemed to focus on Honkers…..the Chiwera was one tough character! It seemed to be able to continuously attack, and it had a breath weapon…. It could only be damaged by magic….. Honkers, Tiny Servants, and Patrick held its attention while the rest of the party whittled down the Chiwera’s allies. Murdrum, who was rather quiet throughout our previous battle with the trolls, came alive, inflicting massive damage to the Chiwera until it dropped. All that was left was the manticore, and a timely spell caused it to drop from the sky where we could finish it off.
After the battle, we continued South towards the portal. We found a pillar with markings indicating that this is the territory of Lowfir the frost giant. Since the frost giants seemed to value strength, with the right negotiations, maybe they could be persuaded to become allies? I don’t know the nature of frost giants, so I could be completely wrong. We probably should honor their territory though. We pushed through to the portal, applied the LAS stones, and as the last party member went through the portal they took the stones with them. We arrived in RO exhausted, but alive and happy with the results of our efforts.