Callie’s Journal
I feel Munin trying to withdraw from my body. I could hold on, but I respect this spirit’s independence. Freki tries to ask how I am through the connection with Munin, and I try to indicate that I’m okay. My emotions feel less heightened as Munin withdraws, and the mental link to Freki breaks.
Cal is flying around in angry little circles, looking for more stuff to kill. Freki tries to talk him down through Hugin, but it doesn’t work.
Bec and I finish putting the soul larvae in the mouths of the recently killed giants. They crawl back out again as butterflies, then climb into the little bag that I brought the soul larvae in.
Kavaki places a hand on Cal and says, “I need your sword. Calm yourself.” She’s trying to get through to the Cal within.
“Sheepy can’t sword,” Bec murmurs.
Freki asks whether Hugin can help get Cal back into halfling form. Hugin conveys that he, Hugin, is the source of the anger. He’s trying to withdraw from Cal to remove the rage, but he can’t.
“Be at peace. Now is the time for strategy,” says Freki to Hugin.
Kavaki and Freki both try to help with the Hugin/Cal situation. With their help, he’s able to calm down.
“Good. I am glad you are not forever changed. We need his head,” says Kavaki, nodding at Rhyzophus. “The others will not be cowed without it.”
Cal is still a little dazed, but Kavaki understands that a rage like that takes some recovery time.
We start poking around, investigating the cave. Hey, there’s a desk! I love desks! So full of interesting information! This one is stuffed full of ritual stuff, for all kinds of purposes. It’s got an evil vibe, unsurprisingly. I see a lot of primordial and elemental symbolism, relating to the titans still walking the earth and shaping it. Bec finds a notebook filled with runes predating even giants. This stuff is proto-arcane, involving rewriting the very essence of things. One might be able to enhance parts of a person while leaving others intact. It could be used to enhance a person without corruption…or corrupt them utterly. I notice the symbol of Prometheus, who championed mortals standing up against godly power. The palace above was probably built for one of the titans, but this particular chamber may be linked to Prometheus, who worked cunningly in the shadows to shape mortals into something capable of challenging divine power. Rhyzophus used it to create slaves, but its power doesn’t have to be used that way. And here we are, standing in a place that was designed to elevate mortals to godhood!
Freki hears us talking and asks if we can take whatever we found, but no. Bec explains that the magic is ingrained in the entire place. But can the baddies get it? he wants to know. Not really, Rhyzophus surely must have spent weeks preparing in a very specific way. It’s not like a switch anyone could just flip on and get powerful. Bec thinks he’s probably been working on this for longer than any of us have been alive. [GM’s note: Rhyzophus has been working on this for a few months. But the structure, this chamber, and probably all the runes, seem to have been here for thousands of years…]
Kavaki picks up Skalfang’s enormous greatax, which it looks like is now her enormous greatax. Bec asks if there’s anything she shouldn’t touch. She wants to remove some of the more evil items. There’s plenty of lava right here, I’m just saying. Bec mage hands the corrupted eggs into the lava, so that nothing more evil than us gets ahold of them. Freki wants to take the good (relatively speaking) eggs back to the broodmother.
We stow the nice staves and the neutral eggs into our portable hole. As we do, it occurs to me that Vondal isn’t there anymore…and if we’re going to retrace our steps, how did we even get here? Thinking about it makes my head hurt, ow!
Kavaki points at the column of water and says that’s the way out. Is it, though? Freki starts sniffing around and we didn’t seem to leave a trail, which is pretty weird. We all climbed out of the portable hole, apparently, but how did that get in here? There aren’t even any damn doors!
Kavaki hands Cal the head and says, “You know what to do. Be fearsome.” Cal steps into the column of water and disappears, and Kavaki follows without hesitation. I flutter up to see whether it’s possible to get through the ceiling without getting in the water, but no, there’s no way.
We all get in and end up in the hot springs. It’s kind of relaxing, honestly. If there weren’t so many huge monsters here, it would be a nice place to soak away my muscle aches. Freki can stand up in the springs, but it’s a little deep for me. Anyway, we all get out of the hot springs. Before leaving the hot spring area, I heal some wounds.
Prayer of Healing at lvl 2
Heals everyone for 15
Cal leads us through the cavern, dragging Rhyzophus’s head along. We eventually end up in some huge cavern with floor-to-ceiling stone columns. There are four giants in here yelling abuse at a behir, which seems agitated. There are also two guards, watching. Cal takes the stairs up to a balcony overlooking the place. Bec and I are staying behind in the shadows. We don’t need to be targets. I mean, part of this giant fight. Kavaki follows, with the greatax.
Freki sneaks around to get a better vantage point to surreptitiously protect his allies. Cal and Kavaki see a goliath guarding the door to Rhyzophus’s room. Cal hoists the head at her and announces, “I have liberated this place.”
The goliath steps forward and is like, “…YOU? Really?” She looks at Kavaki. “Seems like you had help.”
“Do not underestimate me. I am son of Hyperion, Lord of the Realm!”
“He speaks the truth. It is over, Mira. The cult has been beheaded,” says Kavaki.
“How do I know this is not a trick?” says Mira, but quietly, not belligerently.
“Because Hyperion has sent me here to clean up this mess.” Cal rolls the head at the one called Mira and knocks her down.
“BOWLING FOR DOUCHEBAGS!” whisper-yells a voice from the shadows that sounds a lot like Freki.
“It looks real enough,” Mira admits. “But we outnumber you 10 to 1.”
“If you challenge me, you will not be the ones still standing,” says Cal confidently.
They’re both bluffing each other, I think. They stare at each other until Mira backs down. “What will you do?” she finally asks.
“You’re coming back to the fold,” says Cal.
“You would allow us to leave this place alive?” asks Mira.
Cal knows that he has to either kill them all or take them prisoner so they can face judgement. We can’t just let them go. Though, it’s not like they took attendance. We don’t know who all is here.
“For today, I will be judge, jury, and executioner,” says Cal. He crosses his arms and waits.
Mira unlocks Rhyzophus’s chambers and indicates that they should speak in there. I’m sick of waiting and I want to be in the loop, so I fly up to see what’s happening. I see Cal and Mira go through the door, and Freki stealthily sneak in. Bec trails behind me, attempting to sneak and not doing a great job.
Suddenly a hill giant calls, “HEY! WHO THAT!” Another one is like, “WE BUSY! YOU DEAL!”
The giants bicker a little about whose problem this is. Bec tries to make herself look big and lies that Rhyzophus made her look weird. The hill giants are confused. “FIX IT,” the guard demands. “I’ll go lie down!” says Bec. “Sleep it off!”
“Yes! Look normal later!” the guard agrees. The other guards are skeptical, but they don’t argue. That isn’t how giants roll.
As soon as the giants have gone back down the stairs, Bec slips through the door to Rhyzophus’s room.
“All of this was Rhyzophus’s plan. He wanted us to take over this place,” says Mira.
“Only this place?” asks Cal.
“This was just the first phase. He kept talking about how he would create monstrous creatures that would empower us to overthrow the giant hierarchy.”
She sounds almost proud of what they were doing. Cal asks her how many casualties of war she was responsible for. Mira claims she didn’t harm any storm giants, she just took care of the behirs.
Kavaki says Mira’s will was aligned with the cause and she would have committed violence.
“What would you expect me to do? Flee like a coward? Is that what you would do, Kavaki?”
Cal holds up a hand to prevent the two of them from really getting into it. “You could stand and fight.”
“Surely one of your stature agrees with our goals here. Do you not feel the weight of the Ordning every day? You know in your heart it’s not right.”
“What you were doing here is not right either,” says Cal.
Kavaki says that Rhyzophus didn’t care about the Ordning. Bec says Rhyzophus was trying to make himself a god and didn’t care how many of his follows he killed to do it. Mira knows nothing about any of this.
“Exactly. He only told you what he wanted you to know,” says Cal.
Mira doesn’t want to believe this, but it has a whiff of truth to it. Still, she’d like to see some proof. Or, like, any evidence at all.
Cal says if she’ll pledge her loyalty to Hyperion and fight on his behalf, it might redeem her honor.
Mira is swayed by the resolve in Cal’s eyes. After a long moment of consideration, she swears on her life and honor, pledging herself to the service of Cal and Hyperion.
Kavaki nods. “So be it.”
“Is there anything of concern in this room?” Cal asks Mira. Bec and I take our cue to investigate the room. There’s a huge, comfy looking bed. A desk with a diary filled with nothing interesting or incriminating. There aren’t any secret passages (lame) but there’s a window to the outside tundra.
Cal has a plan. He wants Mira to gather all the remaining giants and goliaths. He’s going to make an announcement about the new leadership. He asks Freki to bar the front gate. Nobody leaves. “Worst case, the behirs feast tonight,” says Cal meaningfully to Mira.
He and Mira confer on tactics for a bit, then she and Kavaki leave to go round up all the giants for a big announcement from “the Lord.” Once she’s gone, Cal turns to Freki and his icy demeanor melts. “What do you think?” Cal asks. Then he and Freki make some plans.
After scoping out the area, Cal tells us: “The Lord is…kind of a dick. He would have no trouble gathering all these guys and making them wait. Let’s go get our friends by the gate to block the way out, then come back in and take care of this situation. If any of them tries to come up the stairs to the balcony, we take him out and the rest will think twice.”
Bec casts invisibility on Cal. Mira opens the door and Cal slips out. Using thaumaturgy, I call out in a booming voice, “TELL THEM TO KEEP WAITING. THEY WILL WAIT AS LONG AS I DESIRE!”
Mira repeats the order. In the ranks of hill giants and goliaths, some are restlessly punching each other, but they aren’t disobeying… yet.
Cal glances over, noting that even though Rhyzophus was supposedly against the ranking of giants by size, he still had them line up that way. What a hypocrite. Then Cal continues to the front gate, where Jorik and Magna are waiting… with the elephant. Jorik is patting its head and dozing off.
Cal approaches them – not within arm’s reach – and says, “Jorik. Magna. It’s Callisto.”
Magna smacks Jorik. “Jorik! Did you hear something?”
Jorik wakes up confusedly while Magna tries to find Cal.
“Since when can you turn invisible?” says Magna.
“With a little help from my friends,” Cal explains. “Can I count on you two to bar the door and make sure no one leaves?”
They agree, and Jorik orders Jonas the elephant to stay there. Magna, Jorik, and Cal head back into the big audience chamber. There’s a loud boom as Jorik and Magna set the bar on the door.
Cal slips back into Rhyzophus’s chamber, glancing at the crowd as he does. They’re getting somewhat more restless, but still obedient. Cal grabs the head of Rhyzophus and punches the desk to break the invisibility.
I cast Bless at level 3, on Bec, Cal, Freki, and myself.
Cal’s plan is to go out there, announce the change in leadership, and if anyone seems rebellious, make an example out of them. But hopefully it won’t come to that, because honestly, I do not have a lot left in the tank.
Mira booms, “YOUR LORD APPROACHES. BEHOLD!”
Holding the head, Cal walks out and lets them all get a big, steamy look at it. “Behold. I have dealt with the lord of this place.”
“THAT RHYZOPHUS HEAD!” yells one of the hill giants.
“Correct. Rhyzophus is no more. And with it, this nonsense is no more.”
“It not nonsense!” calls a voice in the crowd.
“Rhyzophus has betrayed you all. This was merely a means to his own ends, and despite that, I have ended him. Your judgement day has arrived.” On “judgement day,” I use thaumaturgy again to create a rumble of thunder. Cal slips me a thumbs-up surreptitiously. Heh heh!
There’s an elderly goliath in the crowd with piercing blue eyes and draped in a polar bear skin, who looks neither angry nor frightened, just alert to see what will happen.
But it’s a different giant, with more courage than brains, who challenges Cal. “How you defeat us all, little man?”
“Do you think Hyperion would have sent me here alone?” says Cal.
“You definitely not kill the Lord alone. Too wimpy! Too shrimpy!” says Thok.
“I think you underestimate the power and the strength of Callisto, son of Hyperion.”
Cal’s eyes move back to the elderly goliath again, trying to place him. He encountered this man before, when he was traveling in the tundra years ago. This goliath fought in a calm, flowing way very unlike normal giants and goliaths. He spoke of nature and balance. And now, he seems to be waiting to see what Cal will do next.
Kavaki tries to get Thok to shut up, but he won’t be silenced.
“SILENCE! You think I’m shrimpy? I think your brain is shrimpy. No one told you to think!” Cal yells at Thok.
“NO ONE SAY THOK’S BRAIN SHRIMPY! NOW YOU DIE, LITTLE MAN! THOK WILL SHOW YOU WHOSE BRAIN IS SHRIMPY!” Thok runs up the stairs.
“I’ll kill you like I killed the lord!” Cal retorts, hucking the head at Thok.
Thok bats the head out of his way with his club. It’s in his way. Freki seizes the opening to attack, shooting Thok straight through the chest with a lightning arrow, then another one. Grievously wounded, Thok gasps and gurgles.
Since this is a big show of strength, Freki holds off on a third shot and lets Cal take it. Cal, in turn, lets Thok take a swing at him with the club. Dodging lightly to one side, Cal watches as Thok tries another hit and just trips over the stairs [GM’s note: nat 1, baby!].
Cal uses his awesome glowing sword to deliver the coup de grace, cleaving Thok’s head in two. The sword explodes in flames that engulf the top half of Thok’s body, not like he can feel it anymore. [GM’s note: nat 20 for the win!] Job done, Cal uses his whip to toss Thok’s body back down the stairs.
“My lord! How can I serve you?” yells a giant in the crowd. All the giants hastily bow. Cal shoots a wink and a grin at Freki.
“You will all return to your quarters. You will all be judged individually. Starting with you,” says Cal, pointing at Kavaki.
“There are not enough barracks for all of us. We would rotate. What would you have us do?” says the elderly goliath. The others, however, are already hustling off.
“The mess hall will suffice, along with the barracks. Why don’t you come up here, too,” Cal suggests.
The elderly goliath – Ulgrim Bearwalker – comes up the stairs. “You have done well. What would you have of me?”
Cal asks him why he’s here. Rhyzophus asked him to come. This goliath is against the Ordning as a violation of natural balance, so even if Rhyzophus was a madman, he wanted to see where this all led.
“This is but one step on a long path for giantkind to find a better way. If you wish to judge me for being here, then I accept that.”
Cal: “I cannot just wash my hands of this. What do you think would be a just punishment? I do not know of all your misdeeds here, yet I understand your root goal.”
Ulgrim says his only sin was the treason itself; he didn’t hurt anyone. He also says that is the case for many of them.
“Treason is a dishonorable path,” says Cal.
“Indeed. And it should be punishable by death, or at least a show of recompense. Perhaps some task that would lead to death except by an extraordinary stroke of luck or valor.”
Cal is struggling a bit with this, because he really gets the injustice here, and yet he can’t support treason as a way to create change. Ulgrim was interested in seeing the monsters that Rhyzophus promised, but Rhyzophus never delivered (and will not, now). Ulgrim wants to see the chamber that Cal spoke of, where Rhyzophus did his magic.
Thinking Ulgrim could be a good ally, Cal says he can go along with Freki and Bec to see the divine chamber. Meanwhile, I poke a soul larva down what’s left of Thok’s neck. It obediently crawls down there and comes back out, covered in blood and guts, and looking a lot beefier. Okay, then.
Cal asks Kavaki and Mira who else is worth saving. Mira says the hill giants should be executed, but the others are worth saving. They have “potential.” Kavaki says everyone has potential, even dummies. Mira thinks the hill giants are just plain evil, but Kavaki says they don’t have to be.
“Stupidity isn’t evil. It just takes away the ability to see who you’re following. And that can happen to smart people, too.” Cal looks pointedly at Mira.
Well, there are some options here. It’s up to Cal what to do with these guys. Choose wisely, buddy!