Journal #23 - The Sunken Summits

We journeyed far. Orlando remained on his own, and the goliath leader led the rest of us. We passed, after some time, into a giant underground city with many warrens. People walk in lines, it does not appear to be slavery, but certainly organized labor.
 
Orlando was chased by wolves, and ultimately had to choose between revealing himself, and being attacked. He chose the former, and tried to appeal to the goliath. He claimed to be the member of our party who fell to the beast, not actually dead and able to escape. The goliath didn’t say much, and he was accepted in. The goliath said we were about to enter Dhuraam for appraisal, and that he would use Orlando as tribute to bring honor to the clan.
 
It was a magical scene, being back in my homeland. Luminescent mushrooms and rocks, the scent of the minerals and brimstone in the air. And above all, the Sunbrace. It rose above Zuranda, the capital city of the Sunken Summits. Colossal in scope, it was made and the source of primal Alghada of fire. It is like the sun, underground. It directly reflects the position of the moon from outside. It is encompassed within the ceiling of the gigantic caverns of the Sunken Summits, and rests within the very bedrock, emerging into the daylight above, housed within one of the sunken mountain craters. It does not rise far enough above ground to be seen from outside the mountain range - it is beneath the mountain peaks, in a crater inaccessible from the surface. There is focuses the light of the surface down into the land underneath. A giant gemstone, a sun beneath ground.
 
We pass deep into the city, which was militantly organized. As we reach Dhuraam, we pass armored trolls. Domino, Tanabraya, Sunay and some others are split apart from us, later we are informed they spoke to a one-eyed seer, bearing a Shard of Terrinoth. The rest of us go into the fortress.
 
We are presented before a chieftain, told to speak when spoken to, and we were appraised. Our chains were ignited, knocking us to the ground. Then the woman clapped once more, and it ceased. She said, this is what it means to be free. We were stripped.
 
The woman, the as yet unnamed Merrys, yelled in Giant - “Grandfather, I’ve arrived with prizes!.” She seemed to be related to the chieftain. She spoke to the tallest goliath I had ever seen, who stood up at her call. His cloak was an inch thick, with a fur mantle. He had a powerful presence, a long white beard and massive stature. Old, yet strong. His face was tattooed across every inch, which I knew to be a display of his experience and achievements. The goliath who brought us here, seemed a younger version of him. His face was notably tattooed, but not nearly so much. The woman had but the first tracings. It seemed there was a family bond between the three.
 
I introduced myself, also speaking Giant. He broke my chains, and said no Bonebreaker would wear chains under his roof. He did so barehanded, and said my people fought bravely during the Red Crusade. He asked me what my companions were good for, and we discussed them for a time. Ultimately, he asked me if we are workers, or warriors. Without much hesitation, I said the latter. He said he would have to see it to believe it, and we were taken away.
 
We were to be appraised further. The goliath who led us here, the as yet unintroduced Valos, told us that if we win respect, he may heed our counsel. He told us to sleep underground, beneath the city wall. There were cells there, that stood open. A prison, and yet open.
 
An old man we’d seen earlier was there, some sort of jailkeeper named Slag. Also an inmate there, going by Elias, he seemed to be a rat keeper. We sleep there, in a cell - made from a refurbished barracks.
 
In the morning, Orlando was led off without explanation. First, the woman who led him off lectured me about putting him in danger by choosing the path of the warrior, as if Orlando could not take care of himself. Ha! The rest of us prepare.
 
Our first morning in the Sunken Summits, we are led to what they called the Aqueducts. It seemed to be an arena of sorts, with standing water on the floor. We were naked and weaponless, told we could earn arms and armor by taking it from foes, to be re-used in future combats. It was a tournament of sorts. If we win here, I would be on a name-to-name basis with Father (the goliath who we first met, the woman was apparently his Daughter, and the old chieftain his father in turn, the Grandfather).
 
We would fight for the entertainment of the Lieutenant of the Black Legion, Prince Loval; he reports directly to the Goblin King. We entered the arena, and greeted Domino and the others (I should say, Mortana as he is now known). We would apparently fight together.
 
We needed a team name, and took on the moniker The Bonebreakers. We fought the Iron Gullet. They fought valiantly, but they were no match for us. When only a few of them were left standing, the pitmaster unleashed a beast to liven things up - an electric serpent, and the water level began to rise. We were victorious.
 
We were greeted downstairs by Orlando, who’d apparently been watching in the stands. The goliath father approached, and introduced himself as Chief Balos, his daughter is Merrys. He is chieftain of the Volric tribe, which owes fealty to the Dhuraam tribe, of which his own father is Chieftan - the man with the long beard we were presented before earlier.
 
We ate dinner in celebration, and were approached by an orc who seemed to think we should remember him - his name was Renny, and he represented the Black Quartz. I wondered if he might know who has Mar’s ring, but we didn’t broach the subject. It was likely still Mabel. We retreated to our chambers to lick our wounds. We had another job in the morning.
 
Meanwhile, I was later told Orlando was back to his old ways of package delivery, this time on special assignment from Merrys and her family, behind enemy lines. He found his way across the city, evading loyalists of the Red Witch, Hyena-men patrols, and eventually reaching the Chieftan of Clan Orem, sister-tribe of Volric, fellow sub-tribe of Dhuraam. The chieftain was apparently having an affair with a deep elf woman, Matron Xianna - that is the person Emberana was to be offered to. Anyway, long story short, it seems the tribes were uniting, for a long awaited uprising. The winter games would decide who sits at the Red Witch’s table, and who her cupbearer is. Xianna rambled that we were all prisoners (the orcs, goliaths, deep elves etc.), and the chieftain admonished her for not using the term Red Lady instead of Red Witch. The package seemed to be something important, the chief muttered something about having all eight. He told Orlando, “Return to my brother, tell him I accept his terms.”