Session 28 - The Thief of Opportunity

34/05/5-10

The dwarf helmsman began steering the barge downriver. Attached to the side of the barge were sturdy 10ft poles, used to push away from the riverbank, if it got too close. Blazh and Zbignev were assigned to manning those. Valeyo approached the helmsman and told him that they have some cargo that might shock him, but his silence would be rewarded. The man agreed wearily and Valeyo tossed him a coin. At one point during the first day, the barge had a near miss with some rocks, but the helmsman managed to save it. Towards the end of day, the helmsman brought the barge close to the riverbank and leaped to shore with a rope to steady it for the night's rest.

Nothing happened in the night.

35/05/5-10

A clear morning greeted the party and they packed up the camp, before boarding the barge. A few hours later, Shiek heard a weird sound coming from his backpack. A gagging sound followed, by something throwing up. Opening the bag he noticed that the Hungry Twin had regurgitated a piece of paper. Shiek saw it read "I hope you know how to swim.". His eyes went wide and he shouted for the captain to get us to land. The captain was confused, but Milivoj screamed at him to just do it.

Valeyo took the paper in his pocket and warned Nikoletta, Eletheria and Vincent to hide. Eletheria said they would get in the cart, but Vincent refused to be inside with Nikoletta, until Valeyo pointed out that she is the only thing around here that could fly. As then climbed in the boat lurched and a pair of eyes rose above the water.

It started attacking the party, pulling Milivoj with its tentacle after swallowing Shiek. A barrage of arrows from Sapphira had it regurgitate the rogue, but it did so in the water. With the boat moving, Shiek was left behind, with Otto soon jumping in after him and Milivoj jumping to attack the monster. As it swallowed Shiek for the second time, Milivoj dealt the killing blow. Before swimming back to the barge Shiek cut off an eye from it, which he then sent back using the hungry twin.

The rest of the day was uneventful and the party slept soundly.

01/06/5-10

The boat ride continued until a few miles north of Dragomir where Nikoletta and Eletheria were to disembark. After thinking about it, the group decided that it might be best for all of them to leave. They paid the helmsman and prepare for their journey west.

02/06/5-10 - 03/06/5-10

The journey was smooth,  with the party taking in the views of the tall mountain ranges to the north and the forests to the south. The large valley was impressive, standing as the last of the city states to fall to Dragomir's Conquest. It had impressive walls protecting it from all directions, which took a long time to siege down.

04/06/5-10

At this day, the environment began to change and enter the region of Stendolin proper, as they passed what remained of the old wall. Spreading as far as the eye can see north and south, mostly rubble remained. An old gatehouse still stood, one of the towers in disarray. The remains of a horse crushed by a giant boulder were around 150 ft away from the gatehouse. Valeyo asked about the treaty with the Giants and if they would be allowed to just hunt animals here. Shiek went closer to inspect the horse and saw that it was saddled and a man's shoe poked under the rock. From what Shiek could tell this was at most a couple days old.

Valeyo asked Ysomir about the king's treaty with the giants. Ysomir explained about the Orduning and the fact that in the south, the Fire Giants are the top of the chain. The treaty is to cooperate with each other and keep the other giant's in line. Shiek asked if the fire giant's roam a lot. Ysomir said they have a large settlement where they live and periodically send messages and trade, but mostly to Dragomir. He added that a Dragomir citizen being killed by a giant would be bad news and if the Dragomir forces didn't deal with it, they would request that the giant officials do.

Looking around for tracks, Shiek could see that the rock came from the direction of the wall. The party kept travelling towards the wall and saw the silhouette of about 16-18ft height move behind the tower. As the group discussed how to handle this, Sapphira noticed another large silhouette with a hand on its brow looking in the party's direction. Valeyo was proposing they avoid the road, as the giants are likely to be looking for the missing girl. Before he could continue a voice rang out saying "Pay the toll or get the boulder.". To this the party decided to turn around and head to the forest. As they turned a boulder was thrown hitting Ysomir and killing him. Valeyo screamed out rushing to Ysomir and trying to heal him to no avail.

Shiek hopped on Sapphira's horse and shouted at her to ride towards the giants and try to speak before another boulder is thrown. Milivoj was in shock, he face twisting in anger. An unnatural darkness surrounded his eyes, before he charged at the giants.