Jorgenfist

Midnight, Oathday, the 26th of Kuthona, 4707 AR

Taking advantage of his monstrous guise, troll-Aubrey briefly investigated some of the now vacant pit-level caverns. In so doing he discovered Galenmir’s collection of grisly war trophies; including dozens of humanoid scalps, a hundred dwarven beards and even a pickled frost giant jarl’s head in a jar. Further surveying the dozens of bloodied humanoid shields and breastplates, the spryte-turned-troll realized that he and the Sihedron had put their faith in the less-than-deserving giant army’s general.

Dispatching his host body, the now disembodied spryte was carried out of Jorgenfist valley by his folletti familiar towards the deserters’ temporary camp. Ainsel discreetly approached Galenmir just as he was finishing a conversation with the giantess Conna. Once she drew near enough Aubrey immediately possessed the general’s bulky body and casually walked out of the deserters’ camp back towards the valley. Giant-Aubrey hailed his companions when he approached the Watchtower in which he’d left them a few hours earlier. He quickly caught-up his companions on his recent activities as well as Galenmir’s newly discovered bloodthirsty nature. At Aubrey’s urging, Elshbeth examined the gemstone in which he’d trapped Galenmir’s soul and confirmed that the disembodied giant was indeed evil.

Having decided to next assault the quintet of singing harpies nesting within the castle’s keep, the Sihedron girded themselves for battle and joined hands as the srypte-turned-giant drew and invoked the power of the Cricket Harrow card. In the blink of an eye, the group found themselves upon a raised platform surrounded by the feathered monsters. Having caught the resting harpies off-guard with their sudden arrival and mystical silence, the battle was quickly won.

With little pause, giant-Aubrey motioned for his companions to draw near as he wove mystical wards against fire over each of them before whisking the entire Sihedron into the caverns below the castle. As they had a few moments earlier, the group appeared suddenly while shrouded in magical silence; this time in the unhallowed shrine of Lamashtu amidst the sleeping forms of the three lamia priestesses and their two red dragon guardians. Surprised, the monsters were unable to mount a proper defence; the dragons only succeeding in burning their lamia allies with their carelessly aimed breath. As before, the monsters were quickly overwhelmed and defeated by the Sihedron.

While Elshbeth and Ton set about rending the shrine’s stone altar to pieces, giant-Aubrey led Kivu, Treana and Ainsel through the winding caverns in search the kobold ratcatcher he’d noted earlier. Sneaking into her empty chamber, the quartet waited for the kobold known as Enga to emerge from the small tunnel where she’d taken refuge. Although the group’s surprise assault was as effective as ever, the lone kobold proved to be a surprisingly enduring combatant.

Regrouping, the Sihedron discussed the last remaining threat in Jorgenfist; the restless spirit of Conna’s murdered husband who haunted the giants’ ancestral shrine. In a bid to learn more about it, giant-Aubrey offered to venture alone into the shrine to confront the haunt. Once there, the shrine’s cave paintings appeared to animate; depicting giants hunting wild game and mercilessly crushing dwarven opponents underfoot. Then, the largest of the illustrated giants appeared to pull itself away from the wall to assault the spryte-turned-giant’s psyche. Allowing the spirit free reign, Aubrey found himself petrified with fear as the enraged spirit rent his borrowed body asunder.

Returning to his own body, the shaken faerie emerged from his stocking cap a few moments later. The Sihedron continued to discuss the grim matter for some time thereafter. Finally, knowing that the restless spirit, along with the grieving Conna, would only find peace once its murderer was slain in turn, the group finally reached a bleak consensus. Venturing down to the library, they retrieved Mokmurian’s torpid body from the mystical other-space in which they’d stowed it so that Aubrey could embody it. And so the spryte-turned-giant, in the murderer’s own body, returned to the ancestral shrine as his companions followed behind at a safe distance. Once more the cave-paintings animated and attacked. This time however the spirit seemed to recognize its son and murderer and took a perverse pleasure in flaying the diminutive stone giant’s body. Finally, its vengeance sated, the spirit found peace and moved on. And so it was that Aubrey suffered through his fifty-eight and final death of the night.

Touring the now deserted castle grounds, the Sihedron collected any weapons and foodstuffs left behind by the deserters or the slain giants; if only to deprive any returning deserters of them. Thereafter the group retired to the library to rest and recover from the night’s ordeals while Ainsel kept a discreet watch on the castle above. Aubrey didn’t dare sleep lest he be tormented by nightmares.

Morning, Oathday, the 26th of Kuthona, 4707 AR

Shortly after dawn, a motley group of giants returned to the valley from the deserters’ camp. Disturbed by the sight of the mass suicide of those giants who’d remained behind, the survivors quickly collected what remained of their belongings. Conna also returned alongside her tribemates; venturing down into the ancestral shrine below the castle. There she discovered the grisly remains of Mokmurian and Galenmir, but not the restless spirit of her dead husband. Conna’s tribemates led the distraught giantess back to the surface; pleading with her to return with them to lead what was left of their splintered tribe. Soon thereafter, just as it began to snow, the few remaining giants departed Jorgengist to begin the long trek home.

Midday, Oathday, the 26th of Kuthona, 4707 AR

The Sihedron awoke a few hours later and, with magic and mundane labor, set about moving all of the giant and monstrous bodies strewn throughout the caverns, castle and surrounding valley into the castle’s three vacant giant halls. When finally done, the Sihedron set the three mammoth buildings alight; fitting funeral pyres whose rising columns of smoke were intended to be plainly visible to all those giants trekking across the Storval Plateau. Then, using the magic acorn gifted to them by Lamatar, Aubrey contacted the faerie lord of Whitewillows to beseech him to open an eldritch gate between Jorgenfist and the group’s townhouse in Magnimar. Once so linked, the Sihedron used the shadowy pathway to instantly traverse the distance along with all of the loot they’d collected.