Heroes of the Mist

Fortunately, it worked, and we soon had everyone back together. Krylar dropped us off shortly after the chasm, and we camped out for the night. In the morning he left, and we took off towards Akken with Veldrin as our guide. After a short while we came upon a temple of Ibrandul, the God of Caverns, amid the ruins of what appeared to be a once-thriving town. No one thought it was weird that Ibrandul had a temple on the surface instead of in an actual cave, but oh well. As we walked up to it to investigate, a large group of priests and crusaders came out of the temple and began casting protective spells. They completely ignored us. Then, as we turned around and saw several giant wolf-spider hybrids come into view, we kind of got a clue as to what was happening. We all immediately fled inside.

After a fight with a lone straggler wolf-spider, we continued to flee and made it to the roof. There we saw a woman halfling cleric finish off one of the creatures. She instructed us to guard her while she conjured up a means of escape. More of the wolf-spiders attacked us, and we fended them off as best we could. Taenya, the halfling woman, finally finished her animal summoning spell and several giant eagles came to take us away. Four of these majestic beasts fell prey to the webs of the wolf-spiders, but in the end we did manage to flee to safety.

Taenya led us north for a couple of hours until she saw something below that interested her. We landed next to two huge plants around 50 feet in length, one bright yellow, the other orange. The eagles took off, and as she approached the plants Taenya explained to us that should we concentrate on a specific scene, we might be able to see a vision from the past or future. She tried it herself, and amid the plant's pool of nectar she saw what appeared to be two great women dressed in black fighting each other. The light-skinned woman perished at the sword of the other, and Taenya was visibly distressed at this.

While this was going on I received another Sending from Krylar. He told me he had a friend of mine named Avielle, and asked whether it was okay to bring him to me. I agreed and soon after Krylar and Avielle teleported into view. Avielle explained he wanted to travel with us to Akken, and we decided to let him tag along. Shortly after, a man dropped out of the sky and landed roughly not twenty feet away of where we were standing. He was apparently as confused as we were. He could hardly even remember what he was last doing before mysteriously being dropped here. The human, who called himself Theris, asked if he too couldn't accompany us, and considering the circumstances we agreed (well, I agreed after I charmed him).

We continued north again for a while, and we came upon yet another series of ruins. In the middle of what appeared to be a small hamlet stood a huge claw-shaped rock outcropping. The stone work was actually concave, and at the bottom of the structure were several peices of gold, a ring, and a dagger. I asked the new guy Theris if he wouldn't mind investigating it for me, which of course he couldn't refuse. The ring turned out to be magical, but by this time Theris was already attached to it and wasn't willing to give it up. Fair enough, he had earned it.

I agreed to his demand, and I am now bound to serve him for 10 years and respect his wishes. I found out later what a bad deal I had made. After the spell, he told me he had several things he wished I do for him, including never telling others what had just happened, never divulging my previous identity, and never telling my friends about the armies that are likely to attack Akken soon. I was a little confused regarding the last part.

I was still trying to put everything together, and it was with some difficulty that I recalled what had happened up to now. After Theris had picked up the ring, we had continued North-West for a while until we camped for the night. During the night, we found a lone giant also setting up camp not to far from us. After a quick talk among ourselves, we decided to subdue it and interrogate him. Well that was the plan. As we approached the other campfire, three more hill giants somehow sneaked up on us. I soon found myself sparing against three of them. The Stoneskin spell only prolonged the inevitable, and the last thing I remember is being delt a vicious blow to the head.

Regardless, I am now Alannon's "pet" and have to play the part. In the last couple of days I've been allowed free reign of the city. The people of Akken, as well as many of the giants, have been put to work rebuilding the southern wall of the city. Apparently, the giants were recently driven out of the mountains by an alliance of deep dwarves and dark elves. A titan named Victor came down from Olympus and has led the refugee giants to Akken, where he's decided that they will make their last stand. I was curious as to why Victor chose Akken, but Alannon only mumbled something about "Dwarf's Bane" and made it clear he wasn't going to elaborate. I'm also a little unclear as to why Alannon decided to "help" me, but apparently he's been watching our little group of adventurers for some time now, and therefore I guess I must fit into his plans somehow.

Aerin showed up today. Or rather, I should say that Veldrin showed up today, for Aerin still appears to be disguising herself. She was understandably a little surprised to see my new form. She informed me that she's with the rest of the party and they're currently camping outside of town. Alannon has gratiously agreed to help them rid Akken of the titan, though it's obvious that Aerin doesn't trust him at all. Alannon suggested that should the party be able to distract Victor (the titan) briefly, he might be able to help us put Victor six feet under (or thirty feet under as the case may be). Aerin didn't agree to anything just yet, but promised to discuss it and return.

I rejoined the others, thanks to Aerin, with no difficulty. I was glad to see familiar faces again, though Feldon and the ranger Theris had already left to seek out help among the dwarves. Aerin told the others about the deal proposed by Alannon, and everyone relunctantly agreed that they didn't appear to have much choice. I informed them that Victor was looking for adventurers to hire, and that they could probably find suitable employement as scouts. It sounded like a reasonable idea to them, and they decided to give it a try in the morning. Meanwhile, I had to return to Akken and keep up the pretense of being Alannon's pet.

I learned later the next night how it went. Weylyn, Aerin, Aldar, and Avielle approached the East Gate, and they were initially almost attacked by the fire giants guarding it. Allannon just "happened" to be walking by the gate as they approached Akken, and he managed to calm things down. They were granted an audience with Victor, who agreed to hire them as long as they were willing to be Geased (apparently giants just love this spell). In one week's time they were to return and inform Victor of whatever they had seen or slain. Victor was very cocky, and it became clear that he did not consider our small group to be a threat to him (which is pretty accurate actually).

Feldon and Theris came back two days later. They mentioned something about working with deep dwarves, and it is then that I really wished I had never been Geased. I knew of course that the dwarves were responsible for driving the giants to Akken in the first place, but couldn't say a word about it. Instead I warned them they all was not as it seems, and even those words made me double over in pain. Naturally Aerin and Feldon picked up on this, but I couldn't say anymore about it. On the other hand I begged Feldon to tell me what he had been doing this past week. However, now that it was obvious that I wasn't telling them everything, they returned the favor and refused to tell me more.

Two days later Aerin approached me and told me she had just gotten word that Jackson would be arriving tonight at the head of small army. She asked me to open the East Gate at midnight and then let him into Akken. I was to rejoin Aerin and the others and we would confront Victor once and for all. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but in retrospect what the hell had I been smoking?