Rise of the Runelords Recap # 66 [RPG]

[24 Abadius 4708 continued]

The surprise attack by the stone giant watch post has been repulsed quickly, and now the intrepid travellers have a prisoner to deal with.  The giant, Syvariak, collapses to his knees muttering that he knew Mokmurian’s foolish crusade would lead to the downfall of the Plateau People.  With his life in their hands, Syvariak doesn’t hesitate to tell his captors what he knows about Mokmurian and Jorgenfist.  He says that Mokmurian was an exiled runt of the Kavarvatti tribe, the same one that Syvariak himself belongs to.  One day, Mokmurian returned to the tribe brimming with arcane power somehow discovered by his blasphemous venture into the Black Tower—a structure dating to the time of the magelords of legend!  Mokmurian slew the tribe’s male elder, Vandarrec, forcing the tribe’s female elder, Conna, to submit the tribe to his new leadership.  Mokmurian then had the Kavarvatti begin construction of a massive walled fortress around the Black Tower while he began rallying other tribes to his banner; though most refused, six other tribes of stone giants and giant-kin settled around Jorgenfist.  When asked, Syvariak says there is no way the adventurers (whom he assumes are advanced scouts of a Magnimarian army) will ever reach Jorgenfist through the treacherous wintery mountainscape and patrols, and that even if they somehow did, the hundreds of Plateau People camped around the fortress (not to mention the rocs and harpies!) would make short work of intruders.  Nonetheless, the adventurers seem determined to continue their quest, and ask Syvariak about whether Conna might be able to aid them.  Syvariak explains that Conna is usually found in the caverns underneath the fortress, and confirms she has a burning hatred of Mokmurian but is powerless to do anything about it.

The adventurers discuss what to do with Syvariak.  Given his candor and obvious sense of honour, they decide to let him go.  He accepts their decision stoically, and explains that he must do his duty by maintaining his watch post after the adventurers leave.  He wistfully remarks that he hopes as many of the Plateau People as possible survive the war to come.

[25 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers discuss plans to contact Conna magically.  Ava prepares a sending spell before realizing it won’t work because she doesn’t know Conna.  Salma tries scrying, but the attempt fails.  Preparing themselves for another day’s marching through the harsh terrain, the adventurers continue north.  Their progress continues to be slow, impeded this day by the necessity of making their way carefully down one side of a steep valley wall and up the other side.  That night, as they camp, Kang uncharacteristically gives Jinkatsyu some food when the latter expresses concern he’s running low on rations.

[26 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, Salma again tries to scry on Conna, but with no result.  The adventurers begin moving, and even continue to press on when a blizzard starts a few hours into their journey!  The zealous travellers push forward, barely able to see around them, slowly trudging on and covering about half a mile an hour until finally they decide to set up camp in the magical shelter provided by Salma’s spellcraft.

[27 Abadius 4708]

Just before dawn, Kang is already awake when he hears the sound of stone giant voices nearby, carried on the strong winds that continue to swirl snow all around them.  The tiefling alerts the others, and the adventurers who can speak Giant realize that the patrol’s dire bears have caught the adventurers’ scent and is slowly approaching the obscured campsite!  Salma lets loose with a massive fireball once one of the bears pokes its nose into the magical dome, alerting the giants that powerful foes are nearby.  They shout to each other and leave the bears to fight while running away to alert further watch posts.  The battle against the bears is over quickly as the adventurers have gained, sometimes the hard way, knowledge of how to withstand their might.  The adventurers quickly discuss whether to chase after the fleeing giants but, given the heavy snowfall that makes seeing and tracking impossible, they decide it would be futile.

The adventurers rest for a few more hours until the blizzard finally loses strength.  Another day’s slow travel through deep snowdrifts and jagged terrain is uneventful and the adventurers set camp, frustrated at their rate of progress through the forbidding terrain.  Late that night, resting comfortably again in Salma’s conjured dome, some of the slumbering warriors hear a low moaning sound carried on the wind.  Nerissa, relishing her new role as the party scout, stealthily approaches the source of the sound.  She spies a human male half-frozen in the snow, clearly suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite.  She drags the man back into the magical hut, where Ava is able to revive him. 

Veridian is one of the hardy mountainmen paid well
by Magnimar to alert the city to threats from central Varisia.

 The man is cagey at first, especially when he catches Kang lying about themselves being “simple travellers.”  After a lot of back and forth, the party manage to persuade him that they really have Varisia’s best interests at heart and he opens up.  He says his name is Veridian, and that he’s a scout for Magnimar’s military.  He says he had been sent to the Iron Peaks when rumors started to come of a new stone giant leader trying to unify the tribes.  Veridian explains that he managed to find a vantage point to spy on Jorgenfist and that, once he realized preparations were seriously under way for an imminent invasion of southwest Varisia, he started to make his way back to civilization to warn his superiors.  However, he got caught in the recent blizzard and couldn’t get to shelter in time.  Salma picks up on Veridian’s mention of having sketched a map of Jorgenfist, and barters with him: in exchange for a look at the map, she’ll teleport the man back to Magnimar and save him weeks of arduous travel!  It’s an offer even the distrustful scout can’t resist, and he shares the map—it details a handful of structures within the walls of Jorgenfist, as well as the location of the different tribal campsites and a pair of caves in the cliffside below the fortress.

While Veridian rests, the adventurers discuss strategies for what they should do once they reach the fortress.  Ideas include trying to sneak into the caves in the hope that they lead somewhere under the fortress or trying to provoke a fight between the tribes.  At last a consensus is reached to start with the caves and establish a staging area for further expeditions into the fortress.

[28 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers ask Veridian if he can ask specifically for the army to prepare a defense of Sandpoint.  The grizzled scout is sceptical, saying the town is of little ultimate strategic value and that Magnimar’s army is small, having rarely had to deal with a threat of this magnitude before.  Salma is as good as her word and teleports the man back to Magnimar, and then returns to where the others are.  They continue their journey north, and when the wind and swirling snow brings promise of another blizzard, they decide to press on.

A pair of fortunate events—the capture of a stone giant dissatisfied with Mokmurian’s ascension to power, and the rescue of a scout able to provide a map of Jorgenfist—have provided the adventurers with a major advantage in their quest to stop the stone giants from invading Varisia and bringing untold havoc and death.  But their journey through the Iron Peaks is slow, and time is running out.  Will they make it there in time?

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Director's Commentary (21/4/19)

This session showed how useful random encounters can be.  The interrogation of the stone giant prisoner gave the party extensive information on the situation in Jorgenfist, including the presence of a potential ally (Conna the Wise).  The encounter with Varidian (which I think officially on the table was "mountain man" or "scout" or something) was cleverly used by the PCs to obtain a rough map of the area.  For my part, I liked it because it helped show that Magnimar was doing something about all this threat of giant invasions of Varisia (it can come across as far-fetched when only the PCs seem to notice something that everyone should care about).