Letter to Wesloke - the initial raid into King Snurre's lair

General Summary

My Lord Wesloke,
I write this letter not in the expectation that you will receive it before the full account of the outcome of our mission here, but so that I have the events set down before time and recurrent head wounds fog my memory. As you will see at the end, there is also a chance that we may be able to send a missive to the outside world before we complete this mission.
At the end of my last letter, we were stood before the mighty gates of what we had been informed was the lair of Snurre, king of the fire giants. Pausing to sort out our equipment, and in my case, resummon Florence as a tiger, being more suitable, I thought, to underground exploration, we decided that rather than trying to force the vast doors, we would use one of Griff’s incantations to create a small tunnel through the wall to one side of the gate, and enter through this. Although the passageway this would create is large to us, we hoped that it would be small enough to be less noticeable to the fire giants, especially if the room or hallway beyond was in darkness.
Having created our own passageway, Drogon and myself, protected by invisibility, ventured in. We found a hallway, hung with tapestries, stretched into the mountain, lit by great guttering torches. At the far end, it opened out into some great intersection, but stationed at that intersection were two of the two-headed hill giants we had previously encountered - their four heads constantly scanning in all directions. As we stealthily approached, we carefully looked behind the tapestries, and discovered that the one nearest the great door held a niche behind it, where was stationed an alert fire-giant sentry. We surmised that this was a trap for intruders, who were expected to rush down the passageway to fall upon the two-headed giant sentries, and would then in turn be attacked from the rear by the fire giant. We therefore resolved to set a trap for their trap.
I advanced towards the ettins, while Drogon crept into the niche. At a telepathic signal, I created a zone of magical silence across the end of the passageway where the junction and ettins were, while Drogon struck at the fire giant. Simultaneously the rest of the party charged in down the passageway, and engaged with the fire giant, while I hit the two-headed hill giants with blasts of psychic energy and set them to fighting one another. The fight was brief, although hard, and we were rapidly victorious. Advancing to recover and hide the bodies of the hill giants, we realised that the junction was actually the end of a truly vast hall - almost as long I would say as the imperial throne room in Ranke. At the far end we could see five fire giants, one of whom wore a crown and sat on a great stone throne, a humanoid figure and two huge hounds. The king and the humanoid were conferring, so I crept down the hall, using the columns and tapestries as cover, to see if I could hear what they were conferring about. Unfortunately the hounds must have caught my scent, for they leapt to their feet. I rapidly retreated, not before having noticed the humanoid figure slip into the darkness behind the throne, followed by the two hounds, who breathed flaming breath on Thorg and Kurog. Hot on their heels was one of the fire giant guards.
The fight was intense indeed, for the first guard was joined by two more, after which Griff interposed a wall of impenetrable force between the three giants fighting us, and King Snurre and his remaining giant guard. We did kill the three giant bodyguards though, even if we were sore wounded in the process. Kurog especially stood toe to toe with them, as I have celebrated in verse:
Proud Kurog, strong in power and might Stood firm in spite of gathering darkness Shone bright and clear with burning light
Vast foes approached, colossae of night Firm stood he, no sign shown of weakness Proud Kurog, strong in power and might
Mind willing, blood heated, ready for the fight His mighty axe, blade stroked with fondness Shone bright and clear with burning light
Small seemed he, ‘gainst foes’ great height But no fear gripped him, ever dauntless Proud Kurog, strong in power and might
Sore wounded he, but bore as only slight Three foe he slew, his axe most ruthless Shone bright and clear with burning light
Giants panicked, loss for them no delight King Snurre fled, fear made him mindless Proud Kurog strong in power and might Shone bright and clear with burning light
As my poem alludes (and I know you love a good poem, and at least tolerate mine), King Snurre and his remaining guard, having discovered that their missiles could not penetrate the wall of force that Griff had created around us, turned tail and fled.
We too were sorely wounded though, and considered retreat ourselves, but were much concerned at how we could re-enter such a fortress if the guards were fully prepared, so we plunged further into the complex, sending Drogon to find a hiding place for us. He located a store-room, and Griff used his magic to fashion hiding places for us in the bases of half-full barrels. We rested a night there, and then emerged refreshed to continue our investigation. We discovered that the store room was visited by dog headed humanoids that seemed to be kitchen servants, so I used my illusory powers to give us all the form of similar humanoids, in the hope that any giant seeing us would think we were servants from the kitchen.
Drogon had a good look around while invisible, while I keep my invisible eyes on two fire giants who were guarding an impressive looking door in the corridor just up from where we had rested. There was a crown over the door, so we assumed it was probably the king or queen’s quarters. Drogon discovered that the giants had erected barricades across key corridors and even mounted a ballista aimed down one of the long hallways. A frontal assault on this place now would have been a bloody affair. While we were considering whether to attack the king/queen’s chamber, the guard on the door was changed. Reasoning that another change wouldn’t be for several hours, we resolved to strike rapidly, but subtly. While Jude started a long casting of a spell that would create a zone of silence around the giants, the rest of us got into position. Just as she created the zone of silence, I manipulated the mind of one of the two giants on guard, making him see all other creatures as his enemies. He turned and struck his fellow guard, in complete silence of course, and they traded blows, although he rapidly felled his companion. Thorg and Kurog then quickly dispatched him. We entered the room, and discovered that it was a council chamber, rather than living quarters. We dragged the dead giants in, and investigated.
A huge table dominated the centre of the room, with many giant chairs and one tall humanoid sized chair. We found a library of message scrolls, and amongst them, another letter from the Eclavdra that we seek, congratulating the fire giants for their raid on Trustor, and on the numbers of captives. I fear that unless the other elves caught up with them, the fate of the captives is grim indeed. There is much lore that the elves do not share of the time of the Sundering, but I have heard whispers that are told as stories to frighten children, and think that there is more behind those that they would not share with an outcast like me. It also named Caelkotha as her ambassador to King Snurre, and spoke of her Master, without any further details. We also found a chest full of herald’s wands belonging to King Snurre, unfortunately of giant size, and also a chest of rocks the opening of which caused Jude to be somewhat wounded by a spray of arrows.
In the north wall, there was a small door, sized for us, behind which we could hear more of the dog-headed humanoids arguing over a game. We opened it and went in, and discovered eight of them gaming. They reacted hostilely to us, saying that slaves like us weren’t allowed in their quarters. We showed them faerie gold and asked to join the game, and then fell upon them. I charmed one into defending me, and the others found bravely, but succumbed to our superior might. While we were fighting them though, Thorg was suddenly struck from behind, by a dwarf that appeared out of nowhere. We were confused as to why a dwarf would be fighting on the giant side, so after whacking him a few times, we bludgeoned him into unconsciousness and tied him up.
While he was unconscious, Griff determined by magical means that he wore a magical ring, and also magical armour. We also found two other rooms that seemed to be his office and chamber, and in his office we found a plan for the recent defensive changes to the tunnels here. We waited for him to come round, and then cross-examined him, starting with some confusion as we all looked like dog-headed humanoids to him. We assured him that we were actually humans, come to raid King Snurre. He said that his name was Ombi, and he was Prince of the dwarves - this matched what the dwarves we had stayed with had said, which is that their prince, called Ombi had been captured a century ago by the giants. The humanoids we had killed had been his guards - not in the sense of guarding him it seemed, but more as an honour guard. It seemed that he had been serving King Snurre as a military advisor all these years in order, he said, to stay alive. It seemed that he had been doing so more willingly and more comfortably than we might have expected from the tales that his people had told us of their relationships with the giants, and he was at a loss to explain why he had not used his ring, which could make him invisible, to just escape. We sensed that he might be identifying with his captors rather more than with his own people possibly. I suppose a century is a long time to be held captive, although I have heard of longer, and similar occasions where captives can become as their captors. We are certainly suspicious of his motives. To make sure of his loyalty, Jude has placed a compulsion on him to act as if he was one of our party and on our side. Still we need to be careful of him, and get to the bottom of this. If he is truly a captive, then mayhap the dwarves will be pleased to have him restored. If he has betrayed them, then I think I would not want to be in his shoes if we hand him over to them. In the meantime, I can use an illusion to make us look like his bodyguard, which may help us penetrate deeper into the lair more easily with him.
Your ever loyal servant
Seedra

Report Date

18 Apr 2024

Primary Location

Ash Plateau

Related Characters

• Drogon
• Griff
• Jude Ellstar
• Kurog the Destroyer
• Seedra Willowflax
• Thorg