The Thrice-Blessed IC

[Ridai]

Everything's a blur in Shiver's head. She vaguely remembers leaving Svardborg on an important mission given to her by her clan's Jarl, Storvald. A glimpse of reaching the mainland... somewhere. Travelling with a destination in mind, searching for a... stone? Meeting someone. Then nothing. Missing time.

Senses only slowly return. An instinctive check reveals she is still feeling all her limbs and fingers. No pain of injury. No bindings. That's good. More feeling and wakefulness slip back into her body. Feeling quite warm, wrapped in blankets. The presence of someone else. Soft light. Muffled light wind.

Finally opening her eyes, her eyelids feel heavy, vision slowly steadying. Thirst hits her hard. Head aching. Her body is wracked by what at first feels like the aftereffects of a night that overdid it on alcohol, wrestling, and pleasures, like some mornings after particularly successful raids, but it feels way worse and lacks the memory of fun that was had to make it worth it. No, above all, Shiver feels weak. Her strength, her health, even some of her confidence, for the lack of a better word, diminished. Gaps in her mental and physical memory that she knows once contained much of her skill and presence.

"Oh! Oh gods!" Shiver hears a pleasant, youthful, feminine voice, full of surprise. Someone scoots over to her, a beautiful human face with nearly radiant green eyes and full blonde mane appearing against the backdrop of the tent's ceiling, looking down at Shiver first with searching worry, then relief. "Finally awake! Knew things would work out if I kept at it!" she cheerfully says, most likely to herself, before quickly becoming visibly flustered as she remembers Shiver can actually hear her now. "Oh, uh, gods, you must be thirsty, hold on-" Reaching over for something, Shiver sees the rest of the young woman. Not an athletic warrior like the giantess, far from it. But exceptionally beautiful nonetheless, blessed with full curves clad in what appears to be a translucent blue dress (seemingly made from the ethereal stuff of magic), with a simple black shirt and skirt beneath.

The woman grabs a waterskin, shakes it, finds it sounds empty, and snips her fingers, causing a stream of water to appear just above the opening, gliding smoothly into the waterskin until it is full. "Here, drink, please," she offers to Shiver, placing the opening of the waterskin at her lips while lifting her head a little. A soothing feeling spreads from the hand holding her, making her head hurt less and less. With a blush on her face and seemingly having trouble looking at Shiver for too long, she also quietly adds. "Also, uhm, don't be alarmed about your clothes. I had to clean them because they were soaked and I had to check you for injuries. Th-they're over there."

And unless humans have learned to become quite big, it appears Shiver is stuck at human size, something that has not happened since her adolescent life. And either this woman is a marvelous actor who recognized Shiver as a frost giantess and decided to not mention it, or she is utterly oblivious to her true nature.

Link to the OOC (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634788-The-Thrice-Blessed-OOC)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver tries to press herself up to at least her elbows but the spinning and pain make her rethink the idea.
Where am I and how did you find me?
And who are you?
Keeping the woman talking should cover Shiver's attempts to shift her body back to its proper size as she surreptitously goes through the routines that always work

[Ridai]

Shiver trying to suddenly sit up takes the woman by surprise, same with the blanket slipping a little lower, deepening her blush.

"We're by the road leading to the town of Nightstone," she answers, then after a beat adding "Between Deepwater and Daggerford." because many people probably do not know a small town off the beaten path like that.

"You were lying by the side of the road when I came by, all cold and pale. I couldn't just leave you there, so I put up my tent and have been trying to warm you up and, well..." She gestures with a glowing hand, while also looking for the right words. "trying to cure you of whatever knocked you unconscious. Honestly, I was getting worried I might not be able to do anything for you, since it has been a full day."

Remembering that she had not introduced herself, the woman slaps her forehead. "Where are my manners. I go be Sìle," (she pronounces it as Shee-leh) "though people reading my name also call me See-le or Sile." (the latter sounding like it rhymes with file) Sìle shrugs. "You are free to pick whatever, I don't mind. I travel around, helping out. I've been a maid, a mage apprentice, I helped out adventurers, Sune and Sharess' priestesses had me dabbling as a matchmaker and courtesan," Sìle coughs a little sheepishly, leading to a beat of awkward silence.

"So... what's your name? And how are you feeling?" Shiver is having an effect on Sìle, but she seems genuinely interested in/concerned about her wellbeing.

As Sìle tries to answer the questions and rattles through her bout of nervousness, Shiver draws on her gift. She can still feel it, however... nothing happens. Her size does not increase at all, like her being cannot support it in her weakened state. While her strength does not seem to want to return, Sìle tending to Shiver at least is making the world not spin around Shiver and her head no longer feeling three sizes too large anymore.

[MikelaC1]

My name is Slissht, in the language of my...people, it means Shiver, most people find that easier to say.

She pauses

what you doing is helping...a bit...but my strength is still not there.

She checks to see if her sword and gold are still there

there was no indication of who attacked me

[Ridai]

Shiver's weapon and gold are close-by (in easy reach of Shiver), along with her clothes, which have been neatly folded. Shiver gets the feeling all of her belongings received a round of cleaning and mending, all of them also arranged in such a way that is quite visually satisfying.

"That's a very pretty name," Sìle answers, unable to suppress a smile. Hearing Shiver talk about her condition, the young woman reaches out (pausing briefly to check if Shiver allows it) and places her hand on Shiver's chest, just below the neck, seemingly looking for something through her touch. Her brow furrows from a combination of concentration and what she finds.

"You are good to go, but... I am afraid I can't make your strength return. Whoever did this and whatever they did to you... what was there is just... gone. I'm sorry." If Shiver allows, Sìle places a hand on her shoulder.

"Still, bodies, minds, and souls can be surprisingly resilient. They often still remember what was once there, and they just might be able to return to it in time. Perhaps even quicker than before."

Smiling encouragingly, she adds "Would you like to accompany me to Nightstone? It is the closest settlement and I've been on the way there anyway. A hearty tankard and a good night's sleep in a proper bed might do wonders to get your bearings."

Hearing about Nightstone, something in Shiver's memories stirs about the place. Something about the namesake of the village.

[MikelaC1]

Ale and a bed often help things although Shiver has found that in her smaller capacity her appetite for beverage is not diminished but her tolerance is and something about the name stirs a memory, hopefully seeing it will do more. Lead on
Shiver dresses and buckles up

[Ridai]

Sìle grins at the mention of memory stirring. "All the more reason."

She gives Shiver space as she dresses, heading out of the warm tent and waiting there. Once stepping outside, Shiver feels a cool breeze on her skin, seeing the grass and trees of the warmer parts of the Savage Frontier near the coast. A simple dirt road, if one well-travelled, winds itself from west to east. Sìle turns to Shiver, a deep blush quickly returning to her face as she needs to look up at her newfound companion, as the warrior woman stands nearly a foot taller. Shiver knows the look, having been desired by many in her life, especially among the small folk (from the perspective of giants), awe-struck by the giantess' beauty, presence, and physicality. To Sìle's credit, Shiver sees neither the lecherous look many men direct towards her, nor that of intense envy many women regarded her with. Composing herself quickly, Sìle clears her throat as she stops herself from staring, and instead kicks one of the tent pegs, causing the tent to collapse into a small, nicely rolled up pack for Sìle to pick up. Other than the tent, her clothes (including her ethereal blue dress), and a simple carrying bag, Sìle doesn't appear to carry any notable belongings that stand out to an experienced raider, such as jewelry or magic items. She seemingly doesn't mind the cool air, despite not being dressed for the weather.

Now that she thinks about it, Shiver is pretty sure the tent was smaller on the outside than the inside suggested.

"Anyway, it's not far, just down the road," Sìle says, pointing down the road to the east, which winds itself through a copse. "I hear the inn is renowned for its food and guest rooms. Somethign about being a popular nobles' retreat."

------------------------

It is an undisturbed walk to Nightstone, no one passing them, no beasts bothering them. The sun is approaching noontime as they come across an unusual sight as they pass through the copse. In a bend of the road, a waggon lies tipped over against an incline beside the road. One side of the waggon looks like it has been crushed, part of the waggon's wall and two of its wheels either caved in or practically ripped out. The contents of the waggon strewn about. Some ripped open or emptied, some just discarded. Shiver sees signs of combat. Blood splashes on the waggon's side, many footprints on the ground, but no bodies. By her estimation, this happened perhaps a day or two ago. Either the owners of the waggon escaped or they were dragged away. The attack doesn't look very organized or disciplined to her. Goblins are a likely suspect. Backed up by an ogre, perhaps.

"What happened here?" Sìle wonders, approaching the waggon, doing a brief sweep of the site. She quickly confirms Shiver's suspicions as she examines the tracks, which apparently lead roughly the way they are going (if not exactly walking down the road, rather heading through the trees), but the tracks are hard to make out any further due to a recent rainfall and all the undergrowth.

"Huh," Sìle says, retrieving something from the scattered wares. A small bundle, its contents just some herbs, but that is not what she draws Shiver's attention to. On the bundle is a familiar symbol of a winged serpent pointing downwards, its maw opened toward a sphere. "I heard rumors the Zhentarim are up to something in the region. But what are they doing here?" She furrows her brow as she looks at the bundle again, before tossing it away. Nothing much she can do about the waggon.

Shiver remembers the Zhentarim, also known as the Black Network. A widespread network of mercenaries, often in the business of protecting caravans, establishments, people, you name it. Publically, they have a reputation of being dependable, good-natured helpers. Shiver vaguely remembers one of them having come to Svardborg, speaking with the jarl. If that is not evidence towards a more nefarious true nature of the ominously nicknamed Black Network, she does not know what is.

As they want to continue, Sìle seems to wind up for a sneeze. When it finally comes, there is a brief blur about the young woman... and in the next moment, a very handsome young man with flowing hair is standing there, wearing a loose black shirt and skirt, if with an ethereal blue vest instead of a dress now. "Ah, this again," Sìle notes with evident familiarity and some annoyance, his voice as pleasant as his previous female one. Glancing to Shiver, he feels the need to explain. "Stars were feeling especially spicy when I was born, so I got wild magic in my blood. It's mostly harmless to others, don't worry, but, well," he gestures to himself. "this happens from time to time. Might change back soon, maybe not, maybe partially." It sounds like he can't do much about it. Male Sìle seems to try avoiding staring at Shiver even more than in his female form.

---------------------

It does not take long to arrive at Nightstone. Shiver hears the distant, unceasing ringing of a temple bell and spots a motte-and-bailey castle standing in a river (which also conveniently serves as a natural moat), the drawbridge leading into the bailey currently down. The bailey is surrounded by a palisade wall, a temple bell tower peeks up from behind it. So far, so normal. However, something is wrong.

"There it is. Nightstone." Sìle introduces the town as they approach with a sweeping gesture, but he too notes something being off. The bridge leading from the bailey up to the castle on the motte seems to be lacking its middle section, having been broken by something. The castle shows signs of damage, one corner looking like it has been crushed, though most of the structure is still standing. As they reach the drawbridge, they see a chaos of old footprints in front of it. Seemingly mostly human feet coming out of the town and running somewhere north. Looking across the drawbridge and into the town, they see large boulders, easily a meter in diameter, having buried themselves into the dirt streets, one house having been partially crushed by one of them.

"What in the hells happened here?" Sìle asks no one in particular.

The bell of the temple right beside the town gate still rings ceaselessly.

Feel free to interject at any point of the above.

[MikelaC1]

Being used to such transformations for her own part, the change of Sile doesnt put Shiver off like it would someone else. Hard to say something when in the next 10 minutes it could happen to her....and since she has the power, it only makes sense that someone else would too.

The city has clearly been attacked, and the perpetrators may still be inside. Being careful, Shiver draws her sword, and then looks to the drawbridge to see if enough of the middle is still intact to venture across with ease...and if so, she moves into the city.

[Ridai]

Shiver is neither better or worse at reading others than most people, however she still recognizes Sìle stopping for a brief moment when she (or rather, he, currently) notices Shiver treating the transformation as nothing negative. If she had to guess, this does not happen often, and consequently, Sìle seems more at ease around the (incognito) giantess. She catches part of a grateful smile as he turns away to lead the way, and to his credit, it is something that would make the hearts of a fair share of women beat faster.

---------------------

The drawbridge of the town of Nightstone is still intact, the heavy chains leading up to the twin watchtowers on each side. Sìle follows right beside Shiver. To her left (north) as she steps through the gate is the temple, ceaselessly ringing its bell, the noise so loud that it could potentially even cover the noise of combat, at least in its close vicinity. Shiver sees depictions of deities in the designs of the stained glass windows, and while her knowledge of the deities of the small folk is limited, the motifs of dawn in one window and forests in the other most likely point to good deities. Glimpses of a cemetary are seen behind the temple.

To her right (south and southeast), Shiver sees simple town residences constructed from wood, with steeped, shingled roofs. Part of one of the nearby residences has been crushed by one of the boulders, more having embedded themselves in the bordering garden where wheat is growing. Beyond the nearby residences, Shiver sees a windmill on a small hill, a few more homes (some of them seemingly also damaged by boulders) and a gap in the palisade in the far south leading to the bridge up to the castle.

Ahead of her (east), boulders have embedded themselves in the mud road, and just past the temple is the town square. As they approach, Shiver sees more boulders, but curiously also a large hole in the middle of the town square, like something large once stood there and was simply ripped from the ground (her foggy memory stirs a little at this). On the northern edge of the town square is a two-storey building with a sign identifying it as the Nightstone Inn, with the distant back corner visible from where Shiver is standing having been crushed open by a boulder. On the eastern far side of the square is a simple stable house with a large hole in its roof.

As she moves carefully with Sìle at her side, Shiver notices something peculiar. Ever since Sìle has been leading her to Nightstone, her senses seem... sharper, picking up on more things than usual. This leads to two discoveries:

1) Having first-hand experience in being able to throw boulders normally fit for large-scale siege engines of the small folk, she notices something odd about the boulders. Or rather, their impact sites. If they were thrown by a large creature of a siege engine, she would expect them to impact at an angle, and here or there carve a short path through the mud or strike further into a building. But all boulders seem to have slammed straight down, like they were dropped from on high.

2) Not yet having stepped onto the town square, Shiver spots two swolen looking canines tearing open the corpse of a dog in the northeastern corner of the town square. With a certain distaste, she identifies them as worgs. Creatures usually kept by goblinoids such as orcs and, well, goblins, who in turn often serve hill giants out of fear of a very large stick (or being sat on. Or eaten). And lo and behold, due to her sharpened senses and Sìle quietly drawing her attention to it as well, Shiver spots two goblins chasing chickens in a backyard beyond the northeastern corner of the town square. By her combat intuition, Shiver feels it would be unlikely for the goblins to notice a fight in the town square due to the bell's noise, their distraction, and the obstructed view.

The worgs have not discovered the pair yet, too busy hungrily feeding on the dog's carcass. A good 60 feet of distance lies between Shiver and the worgs. Sìle looks to Shiver, wordlessly checking how she wishes to proceed. He is unarmed, but his arms are raised, ready. Either he is confident in his hand-to-hand abilities, or his weapon of choice is magic of some form.

Here is an overhead map (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/50/27/61/502761b36bba2821ce1577c1542a1333.jpg) of the place. Shiver and Sìle are currently just to the west of the town square with the hole in the middle.

The sharpened senses that Shiver is experiencing are a special ability of Sìle. While she is within 15ft of Shiver, Sìle can share the ranks of one skill with Shiver. Currently this is done with Spot, and Shiver currently effectively has six ranks of Spot. Sìle can freely change what skill she/he wants to share, but she needs a full-round action to change it, and must remain within 15ft of Shiver for it to remain in effect.

[MikelaC1]

Normally a charge from Shiver would include a whoop and holler, but in this case she is aiming for as much stealth as possible. She charges out with blade drawn, aiming to decapitate a worg

not sure if I get an attack on that distance, so added just in case
attack & [roll]2-12+6 damage

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] damage

[Ridai]

Running across the town square, Shiver carves into the nearest worg, drawing blood and doing grievous harm to the red-eyed beast, but it remains standing. A globe of acid slams into the other beast, courtesy of Sìle who is trailing behind the charging Shiver. The giantess is able to hear the growls, but even at her distance they are muffled by the endless bell ringing, which is starting to beg the question who keeps ringing it and why. The beasts snatch at Shiver, both catching flesh for a total of 13 damage, and much to Shiver's surprise and Sìle's horror, they pull the warrior woman to the ground. Not long ago, a measly worg being a threat to Shiver would have been inconceivable, even her mere skin too tough for such creatures, to say nothing of their chance of success to trip the giantess, or their chance to survive even a single strike of the giantess.

In the distance, the goblins remain oblivious, still chasing chicken, and the chicken appear to be feisty.

(Shiver was able to charge at the worgs. It is now Shiver's turn, and she has 38/51 HP. She is prone. Worgs are flanking her. Sìle is now 30ft away.)

(Also, I am as surprised as you most likely are that the two worgs hit, and also managed to trip Shiver)

[MikelaC1]

Enraged that a mere worg was able to pull her down, Shiver stands with a bellow and strikes again.

(my understanding is that standing is a move equivalent, and so I ca still take a strike)

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

The worgs, having tasted blood, snatch at Shiver as she rises, biting deeper and dealing a total of 13 damage, but not pulling her down the ground again. The swing at one of the worgs is shaky, Shiver can tell, seeing the creature react to it. However, the next instant is a flurry of activity, as silvery streaks race through the air, one unerringly striking the worg behind Shiver, one the one in front of her, courtesy of Sìle. Pinpricks for these angry piles of muscle and sinew, Shiver knows, but they serve a different purpose than attempting to bring down the beasts. Having crossed the distance, Sìle puts the beast in front of Shiver into a pincer situation, the worg whipping around to snatch at the young human, who is doing motions as if to cast another bit of attack magic.

The reorientation and the threat of another attack by this other human leaves the worg so wide open that Shiver is able to cease the opportunity and, using her immense strength, cleave the beast in half.

The other worg tries to bite Shiver once more, but her natural grace and finally finding her feet in her weakened state allow her to easily step around the attack. The beast growls at her, but her display of violence and her sudden agility are putting fear into it as she towers over it with blood on her blade.

In a split-second, Shiver's combat intuition tell her a normal flanking maneuver would not have been enough to connect with the worg, and the second spellcasting attempt after the silvery missiles by Sìle was a fake-out. There are mighty warriors like her who possess immense strength and prowess to fell their foes. And then there are those who excel at creating opportunities for warriors like Shiver to capitalize on. Sìle falls into the latter category and Shiver is sure she never met someone as able to rip open someone's defense as her companion.

Sìle himself seems to be entirely occupied by simply trying to help Shiver, increasingly alarmed by the harm done to her, then astounded by her ability to fell the worg adn weather what would have felled many a man and woman, then impressed by her simply avoiding the remaining wounded beast. Clearly, he has never witnessed anyone like Shiver.

(Shiver is at 25/51 HP. Shiver's turn. One wounded worg next to her. Sìle is 10ft away from Shiver, on the opposite of the giantess compared to the worg.)

Yes, standing up is a move action, which also provokes AoOs. The worgs failed their strength checks when they hit Shiver with them. The regular attack of the remaining dog missed by a lot.

Having shown the gamut of Sìle's abilities, he/she is a gestalt character, with Sorcerer on one side, and a skillful class with bard-like divine casting on the other. Sìle flanked the worg and used a limited resource to Aid Another Shiver on her attack against the worg as a swift action. Due to another class feature, whenever Sìle flanks an enemy with Shiver, both gain +4 to attacks from the flanking, and Sìle's Aid Another gives a +4 bonus, pushing Shiver's attack roll past the worg's AC with the total +8 bonus.

[MikelaC1]

Beginning to find her feet but still not entirely satisfied with her performance, Shiver brings her massive blade down in a huge chop to end the remaining worg.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage
assuming the bonuses of the last post still apply

[Ridai]

Sìle is unable to cross the distance to get all the way around to flank the worg, but is soon by Shiver's side, providing a distraction for the mighty warrior to capitalize on. But even without it, the beast's fate would have been sealed, as it is caved in by the enchanted sword.

The threat of the worgs is gone. No goblins appear to have noticed the fight, the bell still ringing.

Without further ado, Sìle puts his hands on Shiver's forearm. Pain slowly begins to receed as the giantess feels her wounds close. It takes a minute or two until Shiver has fully recovered, her body suffused by a pleasant feeling. Once done, Sìle has to take a few deep breaths, looking like what he did took a fair bit out of him.

"Those should be the only worgs here. I did not see any more tracks, outside of goblin ones. And we might be dealing with a dozen of them, scattered through the town." He speaks up just enough to be heard by Shiver right next to him. Two worgs in her current state were a challenge (much to her chagrin), but goblins surely are less so, unless encountered in sufficient numbers. Cowardly creatures, they may just run once a fight does not go in their favor... and get backup.

(Out of combat. Shiver has been fully healed. So far, they have not been discovered.)

[MikelaC1]

Do you have some way, through your magic, to either get us up to that bell to see whats going on...or at least see the bell room?

[Ridai]

Sìle shakes his head. "My magic has not developed that far. I had not met the right person yet to go that far." Shiver's understanding of magic is lacking, but if this is true, then Sìle has a particular and rare talent for healing.

Shiver's companion looks to the every-ringing belltower of the temple. "Climbing is an option. Or we could simply enter the temple. I did not see anyone in the main hall through the windows." The front door is facing them and appears slightly ajar. Looking at the tower, Shiver judges it a challenging climb, but hardly an impossible one, and it would most likely earn her a greater element of surprise.

[MikelaC1]

Once again, Shiver wishes she was in her giantess form, that would render the climb a joke, handholds impossible for a human to use in combo would be a cinch for her. But even without, she is still a pretty good climber and suddenly coming over the ramparts would be a horrible surprise for her foes.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

"Good fortunes," Sìle wishes as Shiver begins her climb. Having neither Shiver's vertical reach nor her strength, he stays on the ground. Indeed it is a non-trivial climb, but the miniaturized giantess quickly pulls herself up the side of the temple and onto the roof, from there heading over to the belltower and climbing up there. The sound of the bell is defining now that she is right beside it, though thankfully it isn't large enough to cause damage to her hearing immediately. Climbing into the tower, she gets a look down and sees two goblins swinging on the rope of the bell, seeming to have quite a bit of fun. What little she sees of the room beyond the steeple they are in looks like they rummaged through everything and probably emptied at least one mattress' contents onto the floor.

(If Shiver wants to make an action entrance by sliding down the rope and attacking, she can.)

[MikelaC1]

It would be even more terrifying if she were giant-sized, but Shiver is still bigger than any puny goblin and makes quite an appearance as she slides half the way on the rope, only to let go and make a huge sweep with her blade, aiming to bisect one goblin

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

In this case, her smaller size is a boon to Shiver, as she fits into the narrow tower this way. There is a sudden loud and harsh ring as Shiver's added weight locks the bell to one side. Rushing down the rope, Shiver sees the goblins lose their grip on the rope from the sudden downward motion combined with the surprise of someone attacking them from above, spilling the small creatures to the steeple's floor. With her usual grace, Shiver lands and swipes, adjusting just enough to cleave through one of the goblins and into the other, ending both of them.

Finally, the bell falls silent, though the ringing in Shiver's ears may stick around for a moment.

Looking around, the backroom is a mess, as the goblins rummaged through everything and emptied out the mattress of the bed in the corner of the room. Chests for holding clothes had their contents thrown on the ground, littering it with priestly vestment and various personal belongings of the local priest. In the steeple are two bags, seemingly what the goblins looted from the village thus far, a cursory check revealing blocks of incense, a silver holy symbol of Mielikki shaped like a unicorn's head, empty vials, a wooden "poor box" with a collection of copper and silver coins in it, and various knick-knacks.

Soon, Sìle enters the backroom, seeing Shiver's handywork and her total lack of injury, once again driving home this is no ordinary warrior. "They never saw it coming, did they?" he comments, unable to suppress a smile. "Temple hall's clear. I saw the goblins start converging on the temple once the bell clanged and stopped. They'll be here any moment now."

With the ringing in her ears slowly growing quieter, Shiver soon begins to hear muffled voices of the crude goblin tongue, slowly coming closer to the temple. Sìle considers for a moment, then places his hands on Shiver's forearm. That wonderful warm feeling returns, but this time not knitting close wounds, but rather wreathing her in a protective aura. Something rarely felt, the last time by one of the rare frost giant priestesses of Hiatea, one of the three female giant deities next to the All-Father and the gods of each kind of giant. Hiatea is the greatest of the three, as a goddess of nature, hunting, and giant women and children, with her younger sisters Iallanis (lesser goddess of love, mercy, and beauty) and Diancastra (demigoddess of trickery, mischief, and fertility) lesser in power and barely worshipped amongst most frost giants due to their violent, might-makes-right society.

"I... thought it might help. You are powerful, but they are many. And they... go for beautiful women first." Sìle looks and sounds like he has seen this happen in the past. Shiver has no trouble sensing her companion does not doubt her ability to fight and win at all. But if he can still help in some small way, he very much wants to.

(Shiver can ready herself for the goblins entering the temple wherever and however she wants, meet them outside, or do something else entirely. Sìle cast shield of faith on her for +2 deflection AC.)

So, the attack roll looks bad. However, as they are swinging, they are not wearing their shields. They are surprised, and Shiver sliding down the rope knocks them prone, so her attack just barely manages to hit. Also, what Shiver attempted was awesome, and I support awesome.

As for why both goblins died, it is something I might do from time to time, especially when encountering many weak creatures. Shiver did so much damage that enough was left over after reducing the first goblin to 0 HP that she could kill the second, so the leftover damage was applied to it. One reason is to help her deal with larger groups, and to underline just how freaking powerful Shiver is, especially once she gets bigger again (where it would feel very silly for the giantess with her huge sword having to pick off one little goblin at a time instead of sweeping through them). In a solo game, I have no problem with doing this. Should Shiver pick up the Cleave feats at some point, those will also work with this.

[MikelaC1]

There may be many, that just means more of them to fall. But make sure to try and take one of them alive so we can get some answers. With that, Shiver grabs her blade double handed, flexes as best she, and starts to move towards the sounds

[Ridai]

Sìle chuckles, acknowledging with a two finger salute. "That's the spirit."

Striding out of the temple, Sìle close behind, Shiver once more steps out onto the town square. A haphazard mob of a dozen goblins is closing in on the building, with most coming from the southeast. The reaction is immediate, seeing Shiver with her bloodied weapon, she does not need to understand their crude tongue to know what they are shouting is equally aggressive and lecherous, at least from the male majority of the group. The women mostly grin with malice towards her. If she had to guess, the currently male Sìle is promised a violent death as well.

From the north, out of sight of the other goblins, comes a female goblin, apparently having stopped dragging a bag that looks much too heavy for her (still lying at the caved-in back corner of the inn), and when she sees the two, her eyes go wide, followed by a grin, which seems to be soured by what the other goblins are screaming at them. From the corner of her eye, Shiver sees the goblin beckon towards them. Or, at the very least, Sìle. "Queeck, here come, preetty man," she, for the lack of a better word, practically stage-whispers with a heavy accent. Sìle seems to be able to roll with the bizarre situation and stark contrast between that one goblin and the bloodthirsty rest, wordlessly letting Shiver know who the one survivor most likely will be.

(Shiver's turn. Most of the goblins are in one group with no clear leader, with 2-3 scattered a bit to the sides. The female goblin is within a move action and not anywhere near the others, and seems to make no attempt to join in what they are planning. The main group can be reached with a move action, the outliers can be charged at. I treat Shiver and Sìle as pretty much acting in grouped initiative, so Sìle's turn may happen before or after Shiver's turn, depending on what is more beneficial/fun, and as an abstraction of their sense of teamwork.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver is not normally a religious person, paying only minimal service to the gods but in a case like this, she really wishes one of them would choose to suddenly reverse her affliction...becoming a giant right in front of them would be a sight to see. But for now, she settles for a huge roar and a big swinging strike, hopefully taking out more than one or at least bisecting a few in spectacular and demoralizing fashion

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[MikelaC1]

confirmation
[roll0] & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Shiver is faintly aware of Sìle answering the lone goblin, who seems to become positively giddy. But such things are far from her mind right now, as she storms into battle before the overconfident horde can act. The mighty shout takes them aback. Sìle's melodious voice chants a spell, creating a shimmer on the muddy ground below some of the creatures, causing them to slip. The very next moment, Shiver is amidst the goblins, forward foot stopping her motion dead, transferring all her speed and weight into her arms, and with a mighty swing, the giantess carves through the ranks in front of her. Five goblins have their bodies torn apart, remains sent scattered to the floor in a short-lived wave.

Their numbers suddenly halved, the goblins begin to realize they made a terrible mistake, looking in terror towards Shiver and her blood-and-gore-dripping giant blade, while Sìle is awestruck as he positions himself to make the feeble goblin attempts to surround the mighty warrior fruitless. Three of the remaining six goblins desperately try to crawl away, but keep slipping on the magically slickened mud, making a mess of themselves. The remaining three are the outliers, who are still processing, feebly throwing their crude javelins at the giantess, but all of them fail to hit her or penetrate her skin even a little bit. They are too dumbstruck to also run away at this moment.

The gods may not have given her back her giantess form, but somewhere, Hiatea is smiling down at the impressive display.

(Shiver's turn. Sìle casts grease and literally all four targeted goblins failed their saves, falling prone. One of them was at the front and between that and being caught flatfooted from having lost initiative, it was enough to just confirm Shiver's crit, once again landing on the exact number needed. This is, once again, without me fudging any numbers, so I am honestly pretty happy with Sìle as Shiver's support. The confirmed crit dealt enough damage to kill five goblins at once, which were all that could reasonably be in Shiver's melee range. And I greatly enjoyed said crit and decisive action, especially in this very moment.)

(Three goblins are within 5-10ft of her, prone on the floor due to the grease spell. The other three are within a move action of Shiver, two on one side, one on the opposite.)

[MikelaC1]

Mewling toads, prepare to meet your goblin god In another world, Shiver would be taking a golf swing at 3 heads on the floor, all thats missing is the shout of fore. Her rage is now plain for all to see. She counts on Sile to keep the goblin woman occupied

[roll0] attack & [roll]2d6+8{/roll] damage

[MikelaC1]

confirm
[roll0] confirm
[roll1] damage which didnt roll
[roll2] crit damage

[Ridai]

Shiver cleaves a curved line through the muddy, slickened ground and cuts the cries short with one stroke. Off with their heads. Finally, this seems to be enough to finally send the remaining goblins into a screaming panic, dropping their held weapons and running away out the open town gate. For the first time, the town of Nightstone is silent, except for the occasional breeze.

Heading over to Sìle, Shiver sees the goblin woman cackle gleefully at the misfortune of the other goblins. Having stomped her share of the creatures as a giant, most of the time, scattered survivors either fled in panic, tried to beg for their lives, or acted like rabid cornered animals. This one seems to be defective in regards to how she does not seem to care at all about the rest of her tribe, and the peculiar fact that this one looks like a freak of nature in the rare positive way. The goblin woman when examined more closely more resembles a halfling with red eyes and floppy ears (well, the teeth are still looking rather pointy), rather than the ugly, beady-eyed creatures lying dead in the mud.

"Best day theez eez!" the goblin shouts, tiny fists raised high and laughing. Sìle, looking to Shiver, clearly cannot claim to understand what is going on right now, but he seems to get the gist of it and, well, might as well enjoy it for now, chuckling.

"Amazing work. To be honest, that was more one-sided than I expected, but I am glad I was proven wrong." Once again, Sìle can't hide just being impressed with the giantess.

"Yes-yes! You deedz heear them call you, yes?" the goblin grins up to Shiver who is towering over her, even without her giant size. "Murder Mare!" making it sound like a genuinely scary and ominous title despite the choice of words. She laughs again (at the dead and fleeing goblins, not Shiver).

"I guess some things get lost in translation, but it is the thought that counts?" Clearly not the only one new to this particular cultural exchange, but Sìle seems bemused by the general situation.


As the adrenaline subsides in Shiver, a new clarity comes to her for a moment, feeling like she has cast off some of the tiredness and weakness that have been hounding her. The glorious feel of battle, even if she just stomped a few goblins, is making forgotten things stir. It is like there is a voice, just beyond the edge of hearing. Memories about this place and why she came here trying to emerge once more, but not managing it yet, the haze in her head and body still too suffocating. But there is a rush. And with it, new strength. Peculiarly, in this moment, she feels Sìle's presence, and this rush extending to him as well, feeling a connection of sorts, much to his surprise as well.

"What just-" he wonders as the rush disappears as soon as it came. He looks confused for a moment, then looks at his hand, producing a momentary glow. "The wild magic is stirring. Hm." He looks back to Shiver and she could swear she sees a momentary blush when he does so. Come to think of it, he seems a little more attractive as well.

Looking back and forth between them, the goblin woman chimes in. "No-no! Murder Mare took gobber heads already! Preetty man's Teeka's!" And she wraps her arms around Sìle's thigh for further emphasis, defiantly looking up at Shiver.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver strides up to the goblin woman, looking both impressive and angry.
[roll0]
EXPLAIN yourself. I slaughter your group and you're happy about it? And why where you here in the first place

[Ridai]

"Gobbers looteen," Teeka answers, almost matter-of-factly. "Hells weeth gobbers! Ugly, nasty, call Teeka ugly, heet Teeka, speet on Teeka! AND gobbers eat preetty beeg ones!" Teeka stamps a foot in anger, but still doesn't want to let go of Sìle's leg. "Beeg ones came to cave, gobbers and oggers heet them, put een bat cave. Dumb greedy boss say go loot thees morneeng. Teeka try sneak tastee theengs to beeg ones!"

"Between the tracks and what Teeka is saying, whatever made the villagers fled must have happened a few days ago," Sìle notes. Teeka grins up to Sìle, adding "Preetty man so beeg and smart!" And she caresses his leg with bedroom eyes. Sìle still is honestly not sure what to make of the current situation, but Teeka at least seems helpful so far.

The goblin points to the castle with the broken bridge. "Gobbers no get to beeg stone house. Gobbers lookeeng for beeg weemen and shinies. Fall een reever dumb rocks like!" Teeka cackles once more. "Teeka no tell gobbers how use rope!" Teeka laughs even louder.

Sìle follows her pointing finger, making a mental note, and smiles down at the goblin. "Teeka, honey." Judging by her reaction, the goblin likes this treatment. "Would you be willing to tell us where the rest of the goblins are?"

Teeka seems alarmed at this, squeezing tighter on Sìle's leg. "No-no, no place for preetty beeg ones!" Shiver seems to be included in her beauty assessment. It appears her intimidation attempt did not go far. The gears start turning in the little goblin's head, though, a toothy grin spreading on her face as she looks to Shiver. "Eef beeg, scary Murder Mare go to stomp uglee gobbers and oggers, Teeka weell show way! But preetty man geeve Teeka reeward after!" It seems like Teeka thinks herself a cunning negotiator right in this moment.

Sìle looks to Shiver. "Perhaps there still are survivors in the castle that need help, along with the villagers captured by the goblins. You are hardly obligated to do so, but can I ask you for your help to save them? I doubt I could accomplish this without your might."

[MikelaC1]

And now not being a giant works in Shiver's favour, as a towering frost giantess would hardly be trusted. She strides to where the actual gate in would be located, iumps across the bridge and bellows in her loudest voice.

The goblin/worg threat has been ended. You are free to rebuild or bury your dead. This goblin is going to lead us to the rest of the band, which we will deal with

[Ridai]

Shiver walks south through the town to the bridge, Sìle and Teeka following, the latter insistent on holding onto the former's hand with the biggest grin. Passing by the various houses, some are still intact, some having been demolished by the boulders, including one of the southern watch towers. From under some of the boulders, Shiver can see an arm or a leg, the rest having been crushed and buried. At least they did not need to suffer. The wind mill looms near motionlessly as she passes.

Most of the bridge leading up to the castle is still intact, with the exception of one hole torn by another boulder. For the vast majority of people, crossing this hole is near impossible without extensive help from tools, construction scaffolds and whatnot. Not only is it a long jump, it also goes uphill, and the edges left by the boulder impact are precarious. It would be easy to fall short and plummet into the river, hit the jagged edge and get significantly injured, or (coming from the other direction) make the jump, but slip, crash on the bridge and maybe fall off to boot.

Shiver simply makes one prodigious leap and lands on the other side.

Sìle and Teeka watch this from the other side, both with raised eyebrows, both deciding to clap in recognition (Sìle more refined, Teeka overhead). "We will wait here," Sìle calls over, with Teeka adding "Flyeeng Murder Mare!"

Walking to the gate and making her proclamation, Shiver receives no answer, but she finds the gate unlocked. Entering the courtyard, she sees more boulders that rammed into the ground and crushed part of the wall and castle. The front door is closed, but remembering the view from outside town, she rounds the building and finds one side torn open from top to bottom, leaving a sea of stone and debris. Inside, she finds the main hall of the castle, where four guards stand, two women, two men. They look tired, distraught, and on edge, seemingly discussing what to do. As they spot Shiver, they briefly raise their weapons, but seeing she is seemingly neither a bandit nor a goblin, they slowly lower them. None of them look especially formidable to Shiver. Fit for town guard duty, sure, but hardly seasoned warriors, especially not in their current states.

"Is... is it true? The goblins are dead?" one of the women asks, looking like she is in her early twenties, eyes both red and with dark circles under them.
"I-it's been three days since, since th-the cloud castle came," one of the men, hardly more than a boy really, adds.
"Couldn't get out. Wager you saw the bridge. Hoped the villagers would be fine in the caves with the other guards. Goblins came today. Couldn't do more than try to do our duty," the other woman says, older than the rest, built sturdily, but also rather tired.

Further back in the room, in a rounded corner, Shiver spots a large table, upon which lies the body of a noblewoman lies, the face covered in a small blanket. It does not take much to guess she used to be the lady of Nightstone, and judging by the guards in front of the giantess, she was held in high regard. Enough to at least attempt to hold the castle and keep her remains from being desecrated, had the goblins been tenacious enough to get to either.

[MikelaC1]

Cloud castle? She didnt mention that. And how do we get word to the caves?

[Ridai]

The guard that last spoke decides to handle the talking.

"Go there, I guess. The caves're a couple hours to the north. 's where people're supposed to go in case of emergency. Normally would've been back by now, but maybe they're too scared still or something happened." General concern crosses the faces of the guards. "Don't think the goblins know 'bout the cloud castle. Only came by today to loot, from the looks of it. No one's in town to stop 'em. Free pickings," she says. "An' yeah, cloud castle. Showed up three days ago, started dropping boulders on our town. People fled. Saw four giants come on down, ripped the Nightstone right out the town square, flew back up with it and left. Hells know what they want with a big rock."

[MikelaC1]

So the castle and the goblins werent together? Are there any legends about magic and the rock, it has to be special to name a town after it. This might be more important than a bunch of goblins. She picks one of the guards at random. You, head to the caves and bring the people home. Sile, see if there are any archives with records about the stone. Shiver doesnt point out that the reason she assigns this to Sile is because she cant read.
Seeing as these people had a female lord before, she should be able to get them all pointed in the same direction
[roll0] guess she doesnt have any "ranks", because its not fully "intimidate"

[Ridai]

(Sìle is not there, he is waiting with Teeka on the other side of the bridge, because neither of them can jump across the gap.)

In regards to goblins and giants: "The giants had no goblins with them."

In regards to the Nightstone: "Well, it was a big, impressive stone. Some magicky scholars came by once, called it a monolith and there's some magic in it, but otherwise seemed to be just a stone." The guard shrugs. "You got villages called Riverside because they're built beside a river."

In regards to going to the cave: "How did you get across the bridge?"

[MikelaC1]

Its just a jump. No big deal. Or if you have a board to lay across?

[Ridai]

When they hear the gap being "just a jump" and "no big deal", the guards give each other dim looks, but do not comment on the matter. The woman speaking for them rubs her forehead with a gloved hand, looking to one of the men and the other woman. "See if you can find enough rope to make it down into the river, and something to grab onto." Both nod and make their way around.

A short time later, they return, looking rather worried. "We, we met, uh, Lady Shiver's?" The young woman glances to Shiver as if to check the name is indeed correct. "uhm, 'retinue' on the other side of the bridge."

The young man continues. "They helped us make a rope bridge. The one called Sìle asked us where we were headed and once we told him, the captured...? goblin with him said the caves are where the goblin tribe is."

The news brings an uncomfortable silence to the hall, the two guards that brought the news looking extremely nervous, the other two as shocked as they were no doubt moments before.

Sìle and Teeka arrive soon after. The goblin still appears to be in the best of moods, holding Sìle's hand as she merrily skips across the debris.

"I took the liberty of dissuading this fine lady and gentleman from heading to the caves for their own safety, not that I doubt their bravery," Sìle adds, to break the awkward silence.
"Yes-yes! No want oggers eat beeg man and geerl!" Teeka feels to explain, still grinning, seemingly oblivious of how that makes the guards feel (namely, staring rather irately at the goblin). Sìle looks down to her, saying "Teeka. Please." In confusion, the goblin looks up at Sìle, then the guards, then Shiver, back to Sìle, back to the guards. Wheels turn in the goblin's head, and a lightbulb seems to switch on. "Teeka... sorry?"

"It may be best to head to the caves right away. However, it is up to you, Shiver. I do not think anyone here even begins to compare to your prowess in battle."

The guards all look to the guards Shiver. The one who had not spoken as of yet says "Please. Please save our people."

[MikelaC1]

Shiver considers...but she has nothing pressing on her plate at the moment and she cant return to her people right now, they always take advantage of her when she is in her "condition". If you are willing to follow my instructions and leadership, I will help

[Ridai]

The four tired guards look at each other, all of them running on too little sleep, some of them looking back at the body of their late lady, but they all nod in return.

[MikelaC1]

None of the guards look like they would be worth much in a fight, but perhaps the magic Sile wields can help. Is there anythinhg you can do for them?......are there any others in the castle?

[Ridai]

Sìle glances to the four guards, then back to Shiver. "A little, but it would stretch my magic energies thin. I am better at supporting one, perhaps two people, or altering the conditions of the battlefield."

In regards to the question, the tired guards answer "It is just us now. The rest either went with the villagers or died."

[MikelaC1]

You arent going to be any help in battle. Get some sleep so that when we return, you can help the refugees. Sile, Teeka and I will go and free them

[Ridai]

The guards salute and respond with a "Yes, ma'am", visibly relieved that help has arrived.

Returning to the bridge, they cross the improvised rope bridge. As they step back into the town section of Nightstone, they see seven people clad in dark leather ride into town across the drawbridge. They seem to stop on the town square, oen of them, apparently the leader, call towards the inn. It is hard to make out, but Shiver hears the name "Kella".

"Zhentarim," Sìle comments. "Whatever they are here for, I doubt it is good."

Teeka glances up to Sìle. "Zhents?"

"Bad people, Teeka."

"Ohhh!"

(Shiver and gang are at the south of the town, the Zhentarim are to the north on the town square. They do not appear to be aware of the group. One of them is going to the guard towers around the drawbridge.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver is strong and maybe in frost giantess form she could take 7 Zhents but not as she is now. But its not going to do her rescue mission any good if she leaves the remaining townspeople to be massacred by them. She stays out of sight but starts to move to the guard tower as well, maybe she can catch the one breaking off from the group out of sight of the rest and silence him quickly.

[Ridai]

Truth be told, while it is certainly easier to go unnoticed at human size, Shiver has never been that good at going unnoticed. Sìle does not know exactly what the warrior is planning, but following her gaze to the top of the guard towers, he can figure well enough, moving with her. And as he does, Shiver feels she can move stealthily much more easily. Teeka seems to catch on to the sneaky shenanigans after a little while, as this is more her wheelhouse. She grins devilishly halfway to the guard towers and splits off the small group, heading towards the town square, but staying out of sight.

Together, Shiver and Sìle make their way in a long curve closer to the town palisade, until they reach the gate. This is the most precarious part, as they need to cross a short distance in plain view of the town square, where the Zhentarim are dismounting and discussing. Right on cue, two startled chicken run across the distant side of the square, the Zhentarim looking at the animals, giving Shiver and Sìle the needed window to get up the tower as the draw bridge is getting closed. Creeping up the stairs, they reach the open trapdoor leading up to the top of the tower, where one of the Zhents is grunting in exertion as she rotates the chain wheel on her own.

(Shiver and Sìle rolled well enough to get to the top of the tower unnoticed. Teeka is on distraction shenanigans duty somewhere down in the town. One Zhent on the open air tower top, turning the wheel, unaware of the two new arrivals.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver summons all of her strength and swings her blade in a huge arc, aiming to separate head from body in one shot

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Shiver moves in and swings, cleaving head from body, the latter collapsing against the battlements pointing towards the fields and forests outside of Nightstone. The drawbridge is lifted only halfway, currently pointing into the sky at an angle. It does not look like the Zhentarim on the town square noticed the murder of one of their own. Near the guard tower and a bit below is the slanted shingled roof of the temple.

Sìle carefully keeps an eye on the Zhentarim with a small mirror while he crouches behind the battlements.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver instructs Sile to keep an eye on any of the Zhents approaching the drawbridge and to let her know the moment 2 or more wander too close to where it would come down...the moment they do, she will pull the lever loose and create the worlds first Zhentarium pancake.

[MikelaC1]

We need to split them up so I can pick them off one or two at a time. Does your magic have anything that might help in that regard?

[Ridai]

Sìle considers for a moment. He retrieves a small vial with an opague surface, pouring out a nice-smelling liquid (Shiver would guess some sort of perfume?), takes a tiny piece of stone, and holds it against the inside of the glass with one finger while keeping the cap ready with his thumb.

"This will be a gamble, so get ready to act, and fast," Sìle says, then makes an incantation. Immediately after, he lets the stone drop into the vial and seals it. Taking the big crossbow of the dead Zhentarim, he ties the vial to a bolt, loads it, and peeks across the battlements. A shot, a shout of pain, and at the same time, a big globe of utter darkness engulfs the town square, leading to many shouts about what is going on, that they are under attack, not knowing where this came from.

"We should get out of here," he says, promptly running back out of the guard tower and into the cover of the nearby temple. Whether Shiver stays in the guard tower or moves down, she hears commands to sweep the area, the Zhents spreading out while the leader seems to remain at the inn. The darkness globe remains, making it impossible to have line of sight through the town square. Two Zhents can be seen moving towards the still half-raised gate, their shouts directed at a "Miranda", most likely the dead Zhent upstairs.

Teeka also arrives down beside the temple, surprisingly fast and silent. And evidently having the time of her life.

[MikelaC1]

(If she can see a Zhent)
Shiver hustles her way to the nearest enemy opponent
(and if she has time to swing)
Her sword moves in a huge arc, once again aiming for a decapitation
& [roll]2d6=6

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] damage

[Ridai]

Halfway between the town square and the gate, the two Zhentarim suddenly find a very tall and very angry woman charging at them, one of them watching as the other is easily decapitated. The remaining Zhent's shout turns into brief screaming as an orb of acid ends him.

The four remaining Zhents start to converge on Shiver's position. The leader and a woman emerge from the darkness, weapons ready, while two others come around from the south, shooting their heavy crossbows at Shiver, but missing her.

(Shiver's turn. All four Zhents in charge distance, in two groups of two. Both groups are spread out enough that you can only get in melee with one enemy at a time.)

[MikelaC1]

Knowing that Zhentarium are bullies under a strong leader but cowards without one, Shiver aims to take out the leader first. She covers the distance to him in a charge, ending with her characteristic double handed swing

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Leaving Sìle far, far behind her, Shiver charges right at the leader, but she finds her strike parried with ease by the half-elf.

"Get this bitch!" he shouts, as he retaliates with his scimitar and short sword, scoring a hit for 10 damage. The Zhent beside him moves to flank and attack Shiver, but suddenly hears a laughing shout from above ("Bree-yark!") as Teeka jumps from the temple roof (how fast is she that she got up there?) down on the black-clad woman and viciously stabs her in the neck repeatedly, all the way down to the ground as the woman collapses. Sìle runs down the street to catch back up to the action, ending up next to Shiver, providing a timely distraction.

The two other distant Zhents drop their crossbows, draw their swords and charge into the fray, but they simply cannot get a solid hit on Shiver, one simply glancing off her extremely tough skin.

(Shiver's turn. 58/68 HP. She is engaged by the leader and two Zhents, and receives a +4 circumstance bonus against the leader on her next attack thanks to Sìle. Sìle is engaging the leader. Teeka is close to the meleé.)

[MikelaC1]

Taking a bit more time for a more measured shot, Shiver aims to pay back the bitch comment in blood

1b20+12 attack & [roll0] damage

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] attack[

[Ridai]

The leader tries to parry, evidently a quite able combatant, but Shiver's strike batters the blade aside, drawing blood, but the half-elf looks like he can still take a fair bit of punishment. He grits his teeth and promptly retaliates, Shiver guarding two of his strikes, but one short sword stab slips past, dealing 7 damage.

As one of the Zhents is right next to Sìle, Teeka does not take kindly to someone threatening her preetty man, grasping her bloody dagger (herself also soaked in the blood of her victim) and immediately launching herself at the Zhent's back. It is ultimately a sloppy attack due to all the chaos that is going on and still needing to properly regain her balance from the jump, but with Sìle's ability to distract and outmaneuver, the strike just connects, leading to very literal backstabs and another black-clad man falling.

Sìle moves to flank the leader for Shiver, attempting to strike the other remaining Zhent with his bare fist, but the blow is avoided. The Zhent meanwhile attacks Shiver and even scores a lucky hit, but only deals 3 damage.

(Shiver's turn. 48/68 HP. Shiver receives +8 on her next attack against the leader due to Sìle's enhancing flanking and aid another. One other Zhent beside the leader still alive and unharmed.)

[MikelaC1]

Only the best members of her clan can strike 3 times in a round, and Shiver momentarily thinks she might be overmatched in this fight. But she summons up her barbaric rage and puts everything she can into her next strike

[roll]d20=16]/roll] attack & [roll0] damage

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

(Checked your sheet. Your normal attack bonus should be +10, due to +5 Str, +4 BAB, and +1 weapon. With rage, you are up to +12.)

Putting all her rage behind her strikes, Shiver batters right through his defenses, hacking into him. But he still stands, if bloodied. Driven into a fight for his life, he retaliates prompty with his two blades, and what a retaliation it is. Another flurry of strikes, all of which connect due to Shiver abandoning defense in favor of brutal offense, dealing a total of 26 damage.

Teeka attempts to get the last remaining minion, but her assault is battered back. However, the Zhent's attack on Shiver is thrown off as well, failing miserably.

Sìle is increasingly alarmed by the harm done to Shiver, but also not wanting to cease distracting the leader, he begins casting a spell, fire gathering in his palm. He thrusts his hand forward, barely evading the retaliation of the Zhentarim leader, fire washing over him, burning the half-elf. Still, the leader remains standing, though he is struggling to do so.


(30/76 HP. Shiver's turn. Once again, she receives +8 on her next attack against the leader, as Sìle is burning through his daily support uses and is flanking. The leader rolled two natural 20s and confirmed on one of them, then another very high roll on the third attack. Fortunately, he rolled low damage on most attacks. The leader is at roughly 1/3 of his HP. One Zhentarim minion left.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver spins in a graceful dance of death, a strange duality in contrast to the rage that also fuels her strikes. Once again, her greatsword falls on the leader Zhent like a hammer

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Once more, the blade falls, once more, it bites deep. This time, the leader falls, finally. The remaining Zhent is shocked to see him fall, quickly ended himself by Teeka going for his neck.

A hard-fought victory, standing amongst her fallen enemies, Shiver feels a rush of resurfacing memories and power once more. Her body feels stronger, as if shaken awake just a little more, and she is so very close to finally regaining part of her giant form. A born warrior, battle is what drives the weakness inflicted upon her away. In her mind's eye, she glimpses a snowbound town, but can't quite make it out, but feels she arrived there at the start of her journey south. The silhouette of another frost giantess, a familiar one, on the way to that town as well, but memory escapes her.

Adrenaline subsides, and brief fatigue washes over Shiver, clearing her mind of these brief sights. Sìle lays both hands on her forearm, channeling healing magics closing her wounds, as bloodsplattered Teeka jumps and cheers ("Murder Mare! Murder Mare! Beegest and strongest, haha!"). "That was formidable. At this rate, I doubt the goblins and ogres in the cave stand much of a chance."

Sìle searches the bodies, but finds little beyond Zhentarim insignia and a diary saying their plan was to turn Nightstone into a secret Zhentarim outpost. Sìle holds the leader's weapons and armbands to Shiver. "I believe the spoils belong to you."

Shiver finds the armbands even further enhance her strength, and something curious happens. Her greatsword seems to absorb the magic in the two swords, rendering them inert, but strengthening itself in the process.

Shiver levels up, reaching level 5. As per the houserules, she gains a new feat. The armbands are arm slot items granting a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength while worn. Shiver's +1 greatsword becomes a +2 greatsword.

With her new total strength, BAB, and levels, she now has an attack bonus with her greatsword of +14, dealing 2d6+12 damage (+16 to-hit and +15 damage during rage).

[MikelaC1]

Shiver pockets the diary as well, sometimes its best to have more evidence against the real enemy to convince people of your own good intentions.
Yes, I should be able to overcome them, unless they come at us in a huge wave...numbers can overwhelm skill She turns to Teeka Lead on

[Ridai]

Teeka gleefully leads on towards the north, first across the open grassy area around Nightstone, then into the woods towards a hill. On the way, Sìle asks Shiver and Teeka if they would like him to take care of the blood and sweat accumulated in battle. Teeka first waves it off, though with a suggestive look to Sìle, claiming "eet no time yet", before Sìle explains he is using magic for that. Curious and a little excited, Teeka agrees and is promptly cleaned by a prestidigitation, much to her marveling surprise.

"Can preetty Sheele make Teeka smell like peechees?" Sìle indulges her with another prestidigitation, followed by Teeka sniffing the air, giggling, then taking a deep breath from her now peach-scented clean armpit before laughing in joyful excitement as she leads on. Sìle glances to Shiver, shrugging with an amused grin like "I don't know either, but at least she's happy?"

It does not take long to reach the goal, only needing to travel about a mile or two, until Teeka points out an opening in the hillside.

"Gobber home. Beeg folk een bat cave behind beeg cave. Stupeed ugly ogger mates een beeg cave, shooty shouty watchy gobbers uplike een beeg cave," Teeka shares, then points up the hill. "Sneakylike way een uplike on heell, but close to gobber boss Hark," Teeka makes a grimace like she just tasted something truly awful. "and steell go through beeg cave. Sneakylike way there," the unusual-looking goblin points towards the east. "gobber-eater water monsters there, beeg bad. And steell go through beeg cave." Teeka shrugs, arms raised.

"Sounds like there is no way around this central cave, but we have different approaches for it. I can provide attack magic, and various ways of crowd-control, be it a cloud of mist, a sphere of absolute darkness, or blinding foes without obscuring your our view. In addition to my usual assistance, of course. How do you wish to play this?" Sìle asks. Teeka rolls back and forth on her feet, dextrously playing with her crude dagger now caked with dried Zhent blood.

[MikelaC1]

I have little experience with water, if it were an ice field I'd be all in, climbing sounds much better and if we meet this Hark, so be it

[Ridai]

Teeka leads up the hill, until they find a natural chimney, roughly five feet wide. There are many natural hand- and footholds, making it an easy climb. Still, Sìle retrieves a rope to effectively trivialize the descent, which goes by quickly. Shiver arrives in the small side cave first, the ceiling seven feet high. She promptly spots the female goblin who is also in there, at first looking like she wants to flee, but then stops. Shiver can practically see the wheels in her head turning and a grin forms on her face.

"No fighty, beeg folk! Want beeg folk, yes-yes? Stupeed boss Hark fighty-fighty beeg folk, smart Snigbat no fighty-fighty beeg folk! Beeg folk keell oggers, then keell stupeed Hark, Snigbat be boss. Let beeg folk take other beeg folk out cave!" The goblin, Snigbat, seems mighty pleased with herself over her offer. Sìle and Teeka descend into the side cave as well, making it a little cramped. Snigbat sees Teeka and makes a face like she smelled something particularly foul. "Beeg folk take ugly mutt," Snigbat adds with a pointed look to Teeka, who responds with a prompt extraordinarily rude gesture. Seeing both goblins at once, the difference is stark. Snigbat is how Shiver expects goblins to look: small ugly snouted creatures, perpetually hunched. Teeka, meanwhile, has more in common with a halfling, to the point of being easy on the eyes (!) and making it hard to believe they are the same race.

Sìle listens to the sounds outside the side cave, whispering his findings. "Laughing goblins and feeding sounds nearby, most likely hounds of some sort." He gestures for Shiver to keep her voice low. If she wishes to go undetected for now, that is.

[MikelaC1]

Doing things quietly is usually a problem for the boisterous Shiver, but she does her best as she follows the path Teeka and Sile map out

[roll0]

[MikelaC1]

All right, we have a deal, we take out the ogres and Hark, and you get be the new boss. But you dont insult Teeka, who happens to be better looking than you anyway and you certainly dont pats her sword for emphasis backstab us

[Ridai]

Snigbat looks at Shiver with a bit of disgust when she says Teeka has the superior looks. Teeka looks rather pleased, as clearly, the tall folk have much better judgment than stupid ugly Snigbat. "Teeka will neckystabby hag eef hag beeg stupeed and try backystabby Murder Mare and preetty Sheele," Teeka says quietly with a big toothy grin. Snigbat casts another venomous look to Teeka (who again responds with a rude gesture), but then grins to Shiver. "Deel!" Snigbat responds to the giantess.

The treacherous goblin waddles past the group, leading them down the right corridor. Once again, Shiver finds it much easier to move silently despite her much more direct inclination, Sìle's presence making it much easier. Teeka, naturally, moves basically without a sound, despite looking like she is going for a walk. The tunnel is very narrow and hardly lit, only through indirect light and a very small one Sìle quietly creates, tall Shiver having to watch her head in one or two places, but they don't need to walk far to see the outline of a large cave with a small copse of stalagmites in the middle. It is faintly illuminated by the sunlight bouncing in from the cave entrance to the far right. Snigbat gestures for them to stop, going ahead by herself. Shiver hears her say something in the goblin tongue, several other goblins responding. A bit of back and forth, then also a much deeper, louder voice in Common "Gobbers too talky!", before various goblins scamper on down from ledges and leave with Snigbat into a tunnel to Shiver's right. Teeka looks and sounds like she has to keep herself from bursting out laughing (and rolling on the floor), but does not elaborate.

With the goblins having left, only two ogres remain ("That's all oggers!", Teeka explains quietly). One, a male, is bathing within charge distance of Shiver in a hole filled with what seems to be steaming mud, with a giant club resting within arm's reach, while ahead of them (within move action distance) is a female ogre amidst the many stalagmites in the middle of the cave, where the two ogres seem to have their cots and belongings (including several large javelins). Both are unaware of the party.

Sìle makes gestures, preparing to cast a spell. "Tell me who you are going to engage, and I shall blind the other one to keep them out of the fight." Teeka looks up to Sìle, smiling, and if Shiver had to guess, she is pleased at this magical way of fighting dirty. The goblin herself draws her crude, bloodcaked dagger and goes into a prowling stance, ready to sprint at and stab whoever Shiver wishes to engage.

(Shiver's turn. The party has a surprise turn, but I am giving Shiver and friends a full turn instead of one action, as the latter is just way too awkward. The female ogre can be reached with a move action and for a big creature like an ogre, getting in and out of the stalagmite enclosement, while not difficult, is slow. The stalagmites provide partial cover against ranged attacks from the outside. The male ogre is in the mud hole within charge distance. Sìle and Teeka will take their actions according to what Shiver does.)

[MikelaC1]

The male ogre represents a bigger threat, at least in Shiver's mind, than the female, and taking him out could cause her morale to crack. Shiver bounds across the room as her blade rises, connecting with the surprised monster as she arrives

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Shiver guns it for the male ogre, Teeka zipping past her in just the last moment, ramming her knife deep into the bulging muscle and fat of the ogre's neck. Bellowing in pain and surprise, he rises, and a moment later, Shiver simply removes head from shoulders, falling into the steaming mud bath. Behind her, Shiver hears shouting in crude giant and heavy impacts after Sìle's incantation. Turning around, Shiver sees the female ogre cursing and flailing between the stalagmites, heavy limbs smashing about due to a lack of vision induced by an explosion of golden glitter.

(Shiver's turn. She is in move distance of the female ogre.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver rushes for the female ogre, now engaging her rage as well, hoping to deal with both giants as fast as possible

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

[Ridai]

Shiver and Teeka rush in on the remaining ogre, Sìle moving in as well, the three of them quickly felling the creature. No enemies remain in the main cave.

Teeka uses the opportunity to point at the ogre ("Ha!"), kick the body, and blow on some of the glitter around, delighting in how it moves through the air before disappearing. She points to the various tunnels going off the main cave, starting to the north and going clockwise.

North: "Deep hole een ground. Very scary, gobbers no go there."
Northeast: "Bat cave, veellage tall folk there."
Quick aside between those two: "No dreenk water. Water bad. Make gobbers sick."
East: "Good water. And water monster eet gobbers."
South: "Out."
Southwest: "No looksee-out gobbers leeve there. Week from water, no fighty."
Northwest (where they came from): "Stupeed Hark."

[MikelaC1]

At some point when Teeka and Snigbat are out of hearing range, Shiver whispers to Sile...can you control that form shifting of yours?

[Ridai]

Sìle looks confused for a moment, before answering: "Not on my own, but someone I serve can wish for me to change. Right now, that would be you, if you want me to serve you. Why?"

[MikelaC1]

I think the goblins would be less of a threat with Teeka as their boss, she would guide them to a less vicious path. I change you back to female in sight of her, showing her that a relationship between her and you really has no future. Then we backstab Snigbat, kill Hark and install Teeka as new boss

[MikelaC1]

She smirks...unless you enjoy her fawning

[Ridai]

"Well, truth be told, I do enjoy her company. She has a spiteful violent side, but I also feel she doesn't know any better yet." Sìle makes a small gesture to the cave in general. "I also don't know why this particular goblin would be interested in a human. If it is your wish, we will do as you say, though Teeka has indicated she does not want much of anything to do with this tribe and that they mistreated her. Snigbat seems to have the other goblins under her thumb when the boss isn't around, but she seems as hate-filled as most goblins appear to be."

[MikelaC1]

Shiver searches the ogres for possessions and then says, if northeast leads to Hark, we go that way and keep our end of the bargain, killing Hark and putting you in charge.

[Ridai]

Teeka, done playing with the glitter, squints over to Shiver and Sìle. "What you wheespy-wheespy about? Murder Mare no steely preetty Sheele from Teeka!"

The ogres do not have anything of interest, their possessions crude. Teeka looks up at Shiver in confusion. "Why Teeka een charge?"

Returning through the tunnel, past the side cave they arrived in in the first place, Sìle goes "Hm." He touches the stone of the wall. "This is a boulder, crudely made to look like part of the wall."

Teeka's eyebrows go up. "So that where stupeed Hark keep goodees!"

Going further, it only takes a short time until they curve around into a lit small cave. A male goblin, by all his decorations probably Hark, is flanked by two female goblins, most likely a mixture of bodyguard and concubine, all three laughing at the sight of seven giant rats devouring the corpse of a middle-aged human man. Also in the cave is an alcove, where many simple weapons made for humans have been thrown.

Shiver's frame blocks most of the entrance, making it impossible for any creature to get past her (unless they are particularly nimble like Teeka). The boss sees the tall woman and shouts in his foul tongue, to sic his bodyguards and the rats on her. Shiver feels Sìle against her back. "Excuse me," he says, before reaching around Shiver and letting more glitter explode in the cave, promptly covering and blinding every single goblin and rat in the cave. "Their deaths are a foregone conclusion, may as well make them go quickly."

Teeka, seeing Hark, is still for a moment, then before Shiver can even act, she darts forward, between Shiver's legs, going straight for Hark, caution be damned. She stabs him viciously, even biting out his throat, making him sputter and gurgle, while other goblins, Snigbat included, seem to be on their way to their boss' cave. The bodyguards and rats flail around blindly, alarmed by the death throes of their boss, but also... intimidated.

(After the previous goblin fights, and the ogre fight, it's pretty clear even the kind of stronger goblin boss would have been no challenge at all. Shiver's "turn". The two goblin bodyguards and the rats are easy kills for Shiver, if she decides to. Shiver's plan of installing Teeka is still possible, with the right approach, and if Shiver can convince Teeka.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver takes her blade in both hands and makes a huge, rage empowered, roundhouse "swing for the fences" blow with it, aiming at the bodyygaurds, and if Snigbat happens to "accidentally" be in its path, then thats her fault, not Shivers.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage

Note that Shiver is not aiming for Snigbat but not, not aiming for her either, its pure luck (good or bad) if she happens to be in the way, trying to get at the bodyguard...your ruling.

[Ridai]

(No dice to get Snigbat, but the display helps in other ways.)

Charging into the cave, Sìle follows. A path is cleared for the first few goblins, among them Snigbat, to see Shiver make a huge swing and not only cleave the two bodyguards apart, but continue right through and mulch several of the large rats. Sìle does his part to destroy the last few critters, more a little cleanup than anything else compared to what Shiver did. Teeka still thoroughly savages Hark, now covered in his blood.

Arriving at the scene of the massacre, the goblins are hesitant to get anywhere near Shiver, the giantess hearing the same goblin term over and over. It is not hard to guess it is what Teeka jovially translated as "Murder Mare". She also gets the sense that it sounds less amusing in their crude tongue.

Snigbat, meanwhile, swaggers to the front, grinning because of her easy victory. She says something to the goblins while making a discarding gesture towards the dead goblins' bodies, the still living goblin briefly protesting, before getting smacked by Snigbat and seemingly put in his place, the rest cowed just as much.

"Snigbat now beeg boss! You go now, ugly beeg one, take other beeg ones and run away!" Snigbat says to Shiver with a shooing gesture, extremely full of herself as the new queen of this tribe. Sìle, meanwhile, discovered a small back room, and guides an anxious young human woman out of it (if Shiver had to guess, she was part of the retinue of Nightstone's deceased lady), apparently a captive, perhaps the next meal for the rats.

However, Snigbat discovers something that rankles her. And rankle her it does a lot. The other goblins seem fearful of the blood-covered Teeka as well, who stands up with blood-dripping dagger in hand, all of them seeing the gory result of what she did to Hark. Teeka is leaving a greater impression than Snigbat, and this will not do. As Teeka spits and wipes her mouth once, beginning to walk over to Shiver and Sìle, Snigbat hypocritically shouts "Ugly monster keell gobbers! Snigbat say monster die! Go keell monster, cowards!"

The other goblins do not seem... enthused about the idea of getting closer to the unusual goblin girl who just tore their former boss' throat out with her teeth, but they also fear Snigbat, but they also fear Teeka etc. Shiver, Sìle, and the young woman seem to be entirely ignored. The goblins won't bother them anymore. Over on Teeka's side of things, the girl is shaking with barely contained rage, fixed on Snigbat. Evidently, this is hardly the first time she got backstabbed by the new boss, a lot of old wounds boiling under the surface. But she does not lunge for Snigbat. Instead, she looks up to Shiver and Sìle, perhaps the only people who treated her with any sort of decency in recent times, wordlessly asking them to go, get the villagers, and leave.

Shiver sees the situation clearly. Her show of strength puts her above all goblins present (whether or not that was ever in doubt), so she is safe, and in a position of power. But she also sees a tipping point for the tribe. Leave, Teeka sacrificing herself so the deal stands and they can leave. Take Teeka with her, and batter down any protests Snigbat may attempt. Or... give Teeka that one push needed to have the tribe see who comes out on top. The self-proclaimed, power-hungry, shouting boss Snigbat, or Teeka covered in the former boss' blood.

[MikelaC1]

Shouting and roaring, Shiver can be intimidating, but the low soft voice, filled with menace and steel is somehow even moreso, combined with the fact that her blade is still not put away.
We will leave when WE feel like leaving, as your orders mean nothing to me. However, we do have a problem here. I just heard you order the rest of your tribe to kill Teeka. That, in my view, violates the deal we had. And you seem to be claiming all the glory for this win, even though it was Teeka that killed Hark. That as well is an issue. Maybe the two of you should have it out over who the new boss should be Her cold gaze sweeps over the rest of the tribe. I dont think anyone else will interfere either her finger tracing the blade still dripping with goblin blood meaningfully.

[Ridai]

Snigbat's mood receives another hit, irritated, but also not wanting to anger the huge warrior woman. Looking to the other goblins, Snigbat bares her teeth, seeing them cowed by Shiver. Defiantly, she draws a scimitar, shouting to them "Snigbat gut monster! Then Snigbat puneesh all cowa-"

There is no fight. Snigbat is already gurgling, as Teeka is already stabbing her to the ground, using her moment of having turned her back until Snigbat stops moving. Rising again, Teeka looks to the other goblins, who, seemingly fearing they are next, immediately prostrate themselves, shouting "Boss Teeka! Boss Teeka!"

Teeka looks surprised and uncertain at this, though she keeps her guard up towards the goblins. She looks to Shiver. "Why do this? Deal was keell Hark, then Murder Mare, preetty Sheele, and Teeka leave weeth tall folk, yes?"

[MikelaC1]

Shiver speaks gently to Teeka. Because it had to be done. Snigbat wasnt going to let us leave, she had already broken her deal b by tryng to kill you, next she would have tried to keep or kill the villagers, or Sile, or me. Of course she would have failed, but she thought she was on top of the world and some of the people would have died. Now you have a choice to make and its this
One, you can stay here and be the big boss, you can run things your way, maybe even make trade deals with the villagers and give the goblins a better life or
Two, you come with us Im on a mission but someone cursed me that I dont remember what it is and I'm sure it will be lot more dangerous.
Your choice.

[Ridai]

(I'll cover a bit more ground here, feel free to chime in on any of this)

"You leave?" Teeka asks sadly. The invitation of traveling with Shiver and Sìle tempts her. It tempts her oh so dearly. "Whatever you choose, choose what feels right to you, Teeka, and you alone. Do not let yourself live with regret. Please," Sìle says. Those words would be lost on most goblins, but not this one.

Teeka looks to the rescued young woman who still is not sure what to make of what is happening, and still clearly frightened by the goblins (and trying not to look at the poor villager's corpse the rats were feasting on). Teeka looks back at the goblins, her expression hardening, the goblins recoiling just a little.

After a while, she says "Teeka stay..." There is some sadness in her voice, but she has made up her mind. "Teeka look out for poor beeg folk, let no gobbers hurt them or steal theengs. Teeka make sure." She casts another glare at the other goblins. Shiver has little doubt that Teeka will be a harsh mistress to them, at least given how they are now. But a hard mistress keeping them in line. She speaks to her tribe in her language, all of them quickly nodding. Looking back to Shiver, Sìle, and the young woman, wiping her face as clean as it can be given the circumstances: "Tell beeg folk Teeka friend and fight for beeg folk, yes?" If agreed to (Sìle nods, the young woman does as well, calming down a little), she shows a big trademark grin. Sìle casts a prestidigitation, cleaning Teeka of all dirt and blood, and she is able to giggle and find joy in the simple pleasure.

Teeka leads them back to the big cave, with a short detour to the false wall Sìle had discovered. Shiver easily pushes it aside, revealing Hark's hidden stash and what amounts to a bedroom. In a chest with a pathetic rusted lock, they find a pile of loose coins, the total hardly worth mentioning compared to Shiver's wealth. Sweeping that aside, they find several things: assorted valuables (again, not much for the likes of Shiver) that were stolen from the villagers (the young woman, Daphne Featherstone, revealed to having been the late Lady Velrosa Nandar's lady-in-waiting, identifies them as such), an elegant brooch of unknown origin which Sìle identifies as magical, and a fancy knife in a matching scabbard, also identified as a basic magic weapon. The valuables are returned to the villagers, Teeka offers the brooch to Shiver as a gift, and the knife to Sìle. Sìle smiles, kneeling on one knee before her, and closes Teeka's hands around the item. "I want you to have this." And in responds, Teeka smiles... and steals herself a quick cheeky kiss alongside the sudden gift.

---------------

The villagers are carefully removed from the bat cave, Teeka ordering several goblins to help. It has to be done quietly, or the many, many bats living below the cave where the villagers are held would be whipped up in an angry storm. Led out of the cave, the villagers are confused that the goblins would let them go, but thank Shiver and Sìle over and over for saving them. The situation is explained, the dwarf who runs the inn and has become sort of the impromptu leader of the villagers, Morak Ur'gray, is unsure what to think of Teeka at first, but with what he is told, he is willing to give Teeka (and right now, only Teeka) a chance, shown with a handshake.

It is time to say goodbye for now. As the villagers leave for Nightstone, Teeka tells Shiver and Sìle "Teeka veeseet beeg folk town a lot now! Murder Mare and preetty Sheele come veeseet, too! And stay while!" Waving, Teeka stays behind at the cave, watching them disappear into the woods.

Finally, this whole situation seems to be wrapped up, for the most part. Yet fate throws Shiver one final curve ball in this particular task. Crossing the grassland around Nightstone with the villagers, the town is soon in view. But they hear shouts. Closing in is what looks like a warband of orcs. Twenty creatures, led by one fiercer looking orc. Shiver even spots a shaman. And also injuries on the boss and several of the orcs. But she knows such things hardly quench their bloodlust. Fear and desperation spread through the villagers as the orcs spot them and begin barreling towards them.

For Shiver, orcs are pathetic warriors, but they have numbers. This could become a brutal fight, even with Sìle at her side, even with Morak doing his best to direct the crowd of villagers away. But she still feels the echoes of recent combat. She has torn ogres apart with brutal swiftness. The battlecries and stomps of the orcs fill the air, but Shiver feels something within. Something awakening, finally, if not completely.

In the purest form of the giants' tongue, within her very being, Shiver hears and feels in a triple voice Awaken, our champion, and take back your destiny.

With a flash and a booming wave, Shiver feels a rush of strength, feels greatness return to her, as she suddenly towers over everyone else. Not yet her true giant size, but now unmistakably a frost giantess, no longer confined to just a human frame.

Shiver gains a cloak of resistance +2 in the form of the brooch Teeka gifts her, and she levels up to level 6.

With this, she unlocks her ability to assume Large size, making her as big as frost giantesses normally are in D&D 3.5, but not as big as they are in this campaign (Huge size). Please write down your attack bonuses and damage dice for both Medium and Large size, for quick reference. Medium should be +16/+11 attack and 2d6+12 damage, Large should be +15/+10 attack and 3d6+12 damage. Note that she does not gain a feat this level, due to the Pathfinder progression.

Shiver is free to act and handle the situation as she likes, as absolutely no one is prepared for the appearance of a frost giantess. If she wishes to attack the orcs, she can move into range and still do a full attack in this situation.

[MikelaC1]

The orcs probably thought they were about to hit easy prey. They were in for a nasty surprise. Swelling to her proper size and roaring with rage that these pathetic creatures would challenge her and those under her protection, Shiver bounded into their midst with her greatsword swinging in its customary huge arc. now two swings per round, given her advanced skill. She aims to take out the chief and if he is right beside him, the shaman as well

[roll]1d20+17[/[roll] & [roll0] attack
[roll1] & [roll]3d6+14[roll] damage
rage engaged

As she comes to the end of her second blow and orc guts splatter everywhere, she yells out a challenge

The rest of you louts have one second to either flee or surrender...or die at my blade

[roll2]

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] attack correction
[roll1] damage correction

EDIT: So #1 attack roll is 31 for 23 damage and attack #2 of 23 for 27 damage

[Ridai]

The moment Shiver assumes the size of a small giant and now unmistakably a frost giantess, the bloodthirsty orcs shout "Another giant!" with no shortage of distress. Looks like they were not raiding, but rather fleeing and seeing an opportunity. The next moment, the ground shakes, Shiver towering above them all. Their chieftain is wounded, but clearly still much tougher than the rest. It does not matter. His body is shredded apart, the remains sent flying over the orc pack.

Shiver's words are underlined as the shaking shaman tries to weave some sort of spell, only to be drowned in a fireball, courtesy of the now flying (and once again female) Sile. The shaman is incinerated, along with several orcs. Faced with a frost giantess who obliterated their chieftain in an instant, and a mage who did the same to their shaman (nowhere near as tough as their chieftain, but still above the average orc warriors), the remaining orcs scream in utter mortal fear, turning tail and running as fast as they can into the woods. Sìle laughs and cheers, hands incandescent with magical fire, only snuffing it out once the orcs have run a fair bit.

The villagers are confused and frightened. They see another giant, the fear of the attack on their village still deep in their bones, but she is also the woman who saved them, who was human-sized just moments before. The giantess defeated the orcs, protecting them. Daphne, the young lady-in-waiting, does her best to calm the villagers down. As Shiver walks back and Sìle is back on the ground (her now being female only adds to the general confusion), Daphne walks towards them. She would be lying if she said she did not feel uncertainty and perhaps some fear.

"You... you are a giantess, Lady Shiver?" she asks, having a hard time understanding what is going on. She looks to Sìle, asking "Sir... Lady Sìle?"

Sìle simply smiles and nods in return. "A little quirk of mine," she says on the matter in her melodic voice, before directing what little attention she got back to Shiver. Shiver can see, somehow even feel, Sìle's surprise, yet it does not seem like it is surprise that Shiver is a giantess, more... wonder at all Shiver turned out to be, still taking all of her in.

[MikelaC1]

Yes, I am a giantess....but unlike any giantess you have ever met...if you have met one, that is. I am on a mission right now, one that I am not at liberty to reveal. Saving your town and your people may or may not be a part of that, time will tell. If it would make you feel more comfortable, I can go back to my human size for the rest of the trip

[Ridai]

It is a strange time for the villagers, having ad so much suffering done to them by giants from the sky, only to be saved and protected by a snow-skinned giantess. Sìle, meanwhile, remains perfectly supportive, not giving a single indication of knowing any more about Shiver's mission than she says right now (granted, she does not know much more, but still, it is a matter of principle). Standing beside and a little behind Shiver, like a perfect attendant, Sìle acts as a bridge of sorts between Shiver and the villagers, the giantess' already powerful presence and words given additional weight.

There is fear in the villagers, but Shiver watches them be swayed by her, first talking amongst themselves, before Daphne speaks for them. "The attack is still fresh in our minds and hearts, but I would appreciate it if you remained in your... natural state, I presume? After what just happened, it would make us feel safer to have you watching over us. Thank you, Lady Shiver." There are supporting nods and murmurs from the villagers.

The trip back to Nightstone is otherwise uneventful. As Shiver watches over the villagers as they enter Nightstone across the drawbridge, each and everyone of them thanks Shiver (Sìle accepts thanks as well, but subtly directs most of it towards Shiver). The giantess sees several human families, one halfling family, even a tiefling midwife and her son. Almost all of them lost family members, and seeing the state of their village does not help, but there is a sense of taking time to grief, but also to pick up the pieces.

Daphne, while only a lady-in-waiting, feels like she has a responsibility to the people as the only nobility present. Her and the villagers learning Lady Velrosa Nandar not having survived the attack strikes them deep, as the lady was held in high esteem by them. So Daphne as well as the dwarven innkeep, Morik, try to organize the efforts to see what can be salvaged and to start rebuilding. Sìle uses her magic to hand out free healing. People marvel at Shiver, every now and then bringing her food and drink, trying to talk to her. None of them have ever seen a woman, let alone a giantess like her.

After a quick survey of the town (the four guards that looked over Lady Nandar's body also come to thank Shiver), Daphne comes back to Shiver and Sìle. "Once again, I cannot thank you enough. I will send word to the Nandar family to inform them of the Lady's fate, a plea for aid, and of course a thorough accounts of your heroic deeds. We gathered what we could to reward you, even if it is not much. I beg for your forgiveness that I cannot give you anything of Lady Nandar's possessions, though I know she would have wanted to see you rewarded, as it is... not my place to hand them to anyone but her family." Shiver hears Daphne's words are genuine, with her hesitation towards the end pointing both towards not wishing to potentially anger the Nandar family, and the Lady's belongings perhaps also having sentimental value. Shiver is offered two rubies (each worth a hundred gold), studded rings and earrings and a gem necklace (Shiver notes those have been worn by Daphne until recently), and another 25 gold in coin.

"To be honest, we hope you will stay in Nightstone, at least for the night. It would make everyone feel much more at ease, knowing a powerful hero such as yourself is watching over them. The inn still has two undamaged rooms for you to choose from, though I would like to ask you to share one, if it is alright with you, so we can house more people while they rebuild. If you would prefer, you can also instead have the castle's master bedroom."

[MikelaC1]

Shiver accepts the two rubies but returns the jewelry and coins Put this to use in the rebuild of your city, Im sure Teeka would welcome a trade of goods and services from some of them.
She turns to Sile for for confirmation on her next statement We will take the master, thank you, the Inn rooms are needed for the refugees

[Ridai]

Daphne bows. "You are too kind, Lady Shiver. The new goblin chieftain, yes? If the both of you consider her a friend, I will do so as well. Teeka seemed very... adamant in her favor towards 'big folk'."

Sìle nods. "That, she certainly is. A bit of fairness as well as kindness will go a long way with her. Nightstone could gain a valuable ally, and its people a cheerful friend."

In regards to Shiver wanting to master bedroom, Sìle smiles and agrees as well. "A most generous offer I will gladly take." Shiver has the feeling this was not just directed at Daphne. The lady-in-waiting, and now impromptu leader of Nightstone, answers "You will find it on the top floor of the keep. I will let the guards know. Should you need anything, please do not hesitate to tell me or the guards."

------------------------

(Soft skip, feel free to have Shiver engage in any activities she likes in town beforehand)

As the day is winding down, the people burying and mourning their dead, as well as coming together to make sure everyone in need has food and shelter. Sìle's healing helps cover what the still rattled (and latently cowardly) local priest cannot, and Shiver's companion turns out to be an excellent cook, as proven in what she whips up as dinner for the town. There is no real celebratory mood, but people sharing a meal together and just finally getting to unwind for a moment does help.

Once they retire for the evening, Shiver and Sìle head over the makeshift bridge to the keep. While the keep has high ceilings, it is nonetheless built for humans, so navigating the doors and stairs is decidedly easier for Shiver in her human-sized form. They find the master bedroom, the only bed chamber to survive the boulder attack on the keep. Oil lamps and lavish tapestries line the walls, wolfskin rugs cover the floor. The large bed is the centerpiece of the room, its ornate headboard sculpted with images of foxes and roses. Otherwise, there are several wardrobes. Should Shiver wish to, the bed is just large enough for her giant form.

"What a day!" Sìle exhales, yawning once as she stretches. She places the bundle that seems too small for the tent it contains which in turn is too small for the space within it next to the chest in front of the bed and sits on the edge of said bed, smiling up at Shiver. "Prevented a Zhentarim takeover, routed goblins, made a new friend, saved an entire town. All thanks to you."

Sìle pauses briefly. "Seems I did guess right about who your people are when you told me your name, even thought I hardly believed it at the time. Slissht." Sìle speaks Shiver's giant name like a giant would, pointing towards being able to speak her language, and possibly having had a native speaker teach her. She shakes her head as she chuckles. "I never would have expected a shapeshifting giantess, though, even if it is 'just' the size. Do you prefer Slissht, or should I stick with Shiver?" She looks at Shiver, just quietly taking her in for a moment.

"How are you feeling? Did any memories return to you? It seemed like your strength has started to recover, as tremendous as it already seemed from just your stride after you woke up. I could feel it. And when I feel it, when my heart beats faster and I feel the rush carry me along, I know I have found my new mistress." Sìle smiles up to Shiver, a deeply contented, even serene expression.

[MikelaC1]

Slissht moves through the house in human shape because of its size (and partly for the sake of not terrifying the humans) but when its just her and Sile, she changes back to giant, its like a butterfly bursting forth from its cocoon to take its proper form.
Since you seem able to pronounce it correctly, you can choose whichever you want, the normal clumsy human tongue adds an extra i in a most unpleasant fashion. She stretches out on the bed. My story is a pretty simple one, among my people I was miles ahead of the other women, hells, I was ahead of everyone except those in Storvald's inner circle and himself. They tried to keep me down, even marry me off to an incompetent but I would have none of it, and eventually they realized that was the way it would be.
I still cant remember the mission or who sent me on it, my memories of the past are strong, I know I was much stronger than I am now and I am am pretty sure the person who robbed me of my recent memories is one in the same with who sent me on this mission and when I track him down, I plan to tear him apart.

[Ridai]

Frost giant society is not exactly known for its luxury, a hardy people living in the snowy reaches of the Spine of the World and its surroundings, infused with its chilling cold. Compared to that, the cool night air feels warm to the giantess, the bed a heavenly comfort. Sìle is sitting close beside Shiver, still taking her in, so very different now than she seems like in her human form. She chuckles when the trouble with Slissht's name comes up.

"It took a long winter to learn your tongue and its subtleties. But it was a wonderful winter," Sìle comments wistfully, smiling fondly without realizing, momentarily lost in memory. "I will keep to Slissht in private, Shiver in public. It would be cruel to make others stumble into butchering your name."

Listening to Shiver's story, Sìle appears to be making plenty of mental notes, gears in her head turning. "This Storvald, is he your, ah, clan's jarl?" she asks, recalling what she knows of frost giant society. Not that it is much, but whoever taught her to speak like a giantess most likely also imparted a bit of knowledge around it. "A powerful woman, unbending to the pressure of even her jarl. Sad is it is, I would not be surprised if you made enemies. Those who burn brightly, so to speak, tend to cast long shadows. I think we can safely disregard you having fallen victim to a random creature or similar happenstance. The lands around Nightstone do not hold such dangers, at least to my knowledge."

A brief pause, before Sìle lays her much smaller hand on Shiver's arm, incredible power hidden beneath immaculate skin. The touch is wonderfully warm, the sensation spreading, as Sìle seems to be using her healing magic, perhaps to once again take stock of Shiver's current state and what happened to her. "Which leaves us with your mystery. Your essence has been drained, which is the work of powerful magic. Yet not all has been taken away, and you were left in the middle of nowhere. If we assume whoever did this wanted you gone, it feels like the deed was left unfinished for whatever reason, unless some sort of twisted hubris led to the current state of affairs. Curious."

Sìle is lost in thought for another moment. "Perhaps a good night's sleep will stir new memories. Perhaps a lead to then retrace your steps from, either towards whoever gave you this mission, or the path you took on said mission to see if the journey makes you remember more." Sìle smiles. "Either way, I would like to come with you. For one, I see a great injustice has been done to you and that needs to be corrected. And I wish to see you restored. You saved a whole village, prevented the machinations of Zhentarim, goblins, and orcs, spared and showed kindness to Teeka, and you saved my life. I have much to repay."

A brief pause. "Though... I would be lying if I did not have other reasons as well. This sudden attack by cloud giants, and the orcs speaking of other giants this close to human civilization as well... something is going on, and I want to know what that is. Having you by my side would make this a much less harrowing undertaking. And... well, how should I put it. My powers are... strange. The priestesses of Sune and Sharess like to say I have been born with a bittersweet blessing. Sometimes they call me a Promised Soul, sometimes they say I bear the Mark of the Companion, or such. The long and short of it is that I drift from place to place, until I meet someone I just know I am meant to go with. They all seek something, and as their power grows, so does mine. I am devoted to them, body, mind, and soul, until they find what the seek and their heart tells them to let me go. So I drift across the lands once more, my power waning, until I meet another remarkable soul. And I feel you might be one of those souls. Perhaps the most brilliant of all. Not all wish for me to be at their side. Do you, Slissht?" Sìle sounds... hopeful? This offer means a lot to her, her melodic voice reflecting joys and sorrows, but overwhelmingly, that this is what she wants, with a clarity Shiver has rarely encountered in anyone. No pressure is applied. Whether Shiver wishes Sìle by her side or not, either way is meant to be.

[MikelaC1]

I would be happy to have you at my side. I too have felt the unrest in the Realms and clearly whoever did this to me once can do it again and it seems s I cannot defeat him alone

[Ridai]

In that moment, Shiver feels a bond form, one that will only be severed if the giantess truly wishes to. Shiver feels Sìle's presence. Instinctively, she realizes she will always know where Sìle is (and vice versa, if Shiver wishes), and while there is no true telepathy, any wish (or command) can be felt by the curious human. Many talents are revealed, all for the giantess to command and draw upon, and both the bond and Sìle herself feels... malleable. It does not feel like time passes, but Shiver feels her mind's eye envision many things. Sìle as a perfect maid (and/or courtesan) to a queen among giants, anticipating her every desire and serving devoutly. A squire or sister-in-arms, fighting alongside Shiver and wildly celebrating their victories on the path to glory. A lively bardess, singing her mistress' praises and stories, charming hearts and minds to join her in her views. A fierce bodyguard, ever watching over her charge without fear or hesitation. A devoted lover, staying with Shiver through thick and thin, making hardships that much easier to bear, and the good times that much sweeter. Shiver gets the sensation Sìle has been all of these things, in one shape or another, and hardly limited to any of these, shaped by the one she serves.

Shiver's mind returns to the present, Sìle simply smiling radiantly, making it a good thing indeed that the giantess is already lying down, given how her knees are feeling right now.

"Thank you, Slissht," Sìle says, meaning every word, speaking the giantess' name in a most beautiful fashion, like it is precious and wonderful. As the moment passes, she does show a little smirk. "A question, though. Do you prefer me as a woman? A man? A little more exotic? No need to be shy, embrace your tastes." She chuckles. "You can change your mind and my body any time, I don't mind. All forms of me are still me, after all." She glances to Shiver's giant form. "Honestly, I would not be surprised if you in particular could make me bigger as well, if you'd prefer the company of someone of your size." Sìle is all ears. It is an exciting phase for her.

"And if you would like, as my first service, I could care for those tired muscles of yours for a much better night of sleep than when you woke up today. I'd imagine frost giant culture is not very big on personal care of this kind."

[MikelaC1]

I would like that, yes. And I think, in private, you should be closer to my size. Any time I've been with a human man, it ends up almost dominatrix like. which Im really not into. And maybe a mix of man and woman....

[Ridai]

Sìle chuckles. "Ah, the best of all worlds. You really do not wish to go easy on me, do you?" True to Shiver's wishes, Sìle begins to grow, until she is just a foot below Shiver in height, as she was when both were human-sized. The giantess knows her requested changes were made, and Sìle's attentions allow Shiver to relax and sleep in a way that would only invite danger among frost giants.

Sleep brings dreams with it. Her past, naturally, but also other things, less easily determined. A voyage in a small boat, made for humans, through a sea that is a maze of water and ice. Coming ashore in a land of endless snow covering the ground, the great pine trees, the vast mountains. Walking for several days through the snow, towards a great hill, and finally, in human guise, entering the human town atop it, doing its best to survive from winter to winter.

A name resurfaces from the depths of memory. Bryn Shander, one of the Ten-Towns of the Icewind Dale. The place where Shiver began her journey towards her mission. And where her memory might stir once more.

The dream shifts. Days pass rapidly as Shiver's view rises from the town, directed by a flaming spear in the sky, back towards the cold sea. Somewhere in the vast expanse, a dragonboat of frost giants. Mighty oars drive the ship through the waves, ever towards its target. Their faces are vague, but Shiver feels she recognizes them. Men and women who at one point or another lost to Shiver in combat, as many have. At the bow stands a snow-haired giantess Shiver clearly recognizes. Drufi, her informal right hand, the woman of her clan that has always been second to Shiver in all things. Around her neck a chain-necklace with a diamond, on its inside blood in the shape of the giant rune of blod (blood). Drufi looks out onto the waters, as Shiver's gaze shifts to follow Drufi's. Space bends as it can only in dreams, making the leader of this crew of giants look up at Bryn Shander in the distance. What they seek is there, and if they will not be given what they seek, there will be death and destruction.

Shiver's view shifts, being beside Drufi's face, turning towards her, as Drufi glances towards Shiver, both briefly looking at each other. And beneath the steely veneer, Shiver sees a woman cursing what she might soon be forced to do.


---------------------

Shiver awakens to morning light seeping into the bedroom. Sìle, still in giant size, is beside her, already awake. "Good morning," she says softly. "I had the strangest dream. The both of us visiting your homeland on a chariot of clouds." Sìle smiles. "But I should keep talk like this until after I made us breakfast."

Suddenly, a knock on the door. It sounds urgent. "Lady Shiver? Are you awake yet? Please come outside into the courtyard at your earliest convenience, something has arrived above the town." Shiver recognizes the voice of one of the guards who had been looking after the body of their deceased lady.

"No day off for the heroine, is there?"

Shiver finds her clothes and equipment cleaned and in easy reach. Someone has been busy. Sìle returns to human size and decides to not even bother with her physical clothes even more, simply shaping the blue magic around her into a dress.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver buckles her sword on, along with her other magic items and heads out. Its harder to move around in giant size but she wants to create that impression when she arrives on the scene, rather than go through the whole transformation thing. She strides out with an air of importance.

[Ridai]

As Shiver goes, Sìle following at human size behind her, the guards of the castle visibly draw strength from her presence.

Shiver is led to the roof of the castle. From there, the other guards can see her, as well as the townspeople looking up at the castle in worry, causing an impromptu cheer. The heroine of Nightstone is here. Things will be alright.

The giantess looks up at what has the people so worried. A large cloud, upon which a giant-sized tower rests, hangs motionlessly in the sky above the town. Daphne soon joins them, protected by several guards, now very much looking the part of a noble leader. In a way, Shiver sees a kindred soul, a woman who stands out to meet whatever has come to her town, and to give hope to her people. Though with Shiver there, it is perhaps easy to overlook her. Daphne does not seem to mind, she is just happy to see the giantess.

"It has been like this since it arrived minutes ago," Daphne tells Shiver and Sìle. "No attacks, no communication."

Shiver can easily tell that this is a cloud giant tower. For one because it is quite evident to her given its size and appearance and what happened recently in Nightstone, but also because she has seen these towers very rarely in the sky above her homelands. Not much was done in that regards. Cloud giants rank above frost giants in the Ordning, after all, and the cloud giants did not bother them.

"Do you want me to fly up to see-" Sìle begins, but the next moment, the cloud shifts, leading to everyone assuming ready position, not knowing what will come next. The cloud seems to sprout an extension that winds further and further down, until it is revealed to be a grandiose staircase fit for a giant (of Shiver's size, not that of full-size giants, interestingly enough), made of solidified cloud. And it ends right in front of Shiver. No one appears to come down the stairs, so Sìle observes "Looks like an invitation to me."

[MikelaC1]

I do not trust it. Cloud giants very rarely have any dealings with frost giants and almost never with humans. They are only concerned with petty power squabbles with storm giants. Do you have any sort of access to divine magic, the kind that can give at least short premonitions of future dangers? I am loath to climb those stairs

[Ridai]

(Shiver knows that direct power squabbles between storm giants and cloud giants normally are not possible due to the Ordning creating a strict order of giants, though many cloud giants still attempt to gain favor with various storm giants and such for political gain and prestige over other cloud giants, much like a society of nobles. At the same time, Shiver as a frost giantess giving cloud giants crap, deservedly or not, when they are not around, also seems perfectly fine.)

"I can attempt such a thing, but only ever in regards to your safety, well-being, or happiness. Their priestesses told me the goddesses of love grant me insight, but they might not always answer, distant as the gods are in this age." Sìle steps before Shiver, holding up her hands. "Please give me your hand. It will not take long."

If Shiver agrees, Sìle directs Shiver's hand to be held close to her. Shiver has perhaps seen auguries before, tossing bones, or reading innards of an animal, or listening to winds and waves, or communing with spirits. Sìle appears to gently hold and examine Shiver's hand, tracing the lines and contours. The giantess gets the feeling it is less her attempting to glean insight from her body, and more using it as a focus. A moment of closeness is created, Sìle almost entranced, losing herself in Shiver. Finally, she kisses the giantess' palm, a gesture filled with absolute trust and devotion, coming out of the minute-long trance. The much larger and stronger hand serves another purpose, namely for Sìle to hold onto as she steadies herself, the process having taken a toll.

"I felt no danger from the tower, and saw signs of an uncertain future it might convey you towards. Omens of woe, but as stepping stones towards omens of weal." Sìle tells her beloved, then needing to take another deep breath. "I am not strong enough yet to have clearer or farther visions. I'm sorry." She only reluctantly lets go of Shiver's hand. "I would be happy to fly and scout ahead, if you wish it."

[MikelaC1]

They would blow you off the path before you took two steps. 90% of cloud giants are not to be trusted. We will go together, at least your spell says they are not going to poison me the moment we get inside
She turns to the crowd
Fear not people. For now, they want to talk and not kill. I will see what they wish to talk about. I will return to you.

[Ridai]

"Oh dear," Sìle says, a little taken aback. "Well, I defer to your superior judgment in this matter."

Shiver's giant voice carries easily, and it is met with another wave of cheers.

The giantess begins to climb the cloud stairs. It takes a little moment to get used to this, as Shiver's mind expects to perhaps sink into the cloud matter or just step through it, but instead it seems quite content to hold firm and carry her weight. It is quite the trek, needing to ascend roughly a thousand feet of staircase, though for someone with Shiver's inhuman stamina, this perhaps more qualifies as a decent morning exercise. Sìle seems to skip up the, for her size, massive stairs, as gravity seems to have mostly given up on trying to inconvenience her, but she always stays right with the giantess.

Once finally having reached the top, having worked up a decent burn in her legs, Shiver and her personal maid find themselves on top of the large cloud, upon which the tower rises further into the sky. It is a rather large edifice from Shiver's perspective, made for the natural size of giants, and truly humongous for Sìle. The tower appears to have three floors, the top one seemingly open like a platform with a view, covered by an incredibly ornate, pointy roof. Curiously, no one is there to meet them, the huge entrance just standing open, with only an equally large curtain of very fine make blocking the view.

Stepping inside, they find a hexagonal chamber of 100 feet width, with very nicely and flatteringly sculpted statues of cloud giants (wearing their favored mood masks, as cloud giants are wont to) lining the walls. Crystal orbs suspended from the ceiling with chains shed warm magical light on the impeccable masonry, a huge oaken desk, and an empty elaborate stone chair. A knotted silken rope guides their eyes up to the ceiling 100 feet above them, hanging from a wide hole in said ceiling. They have the impression that no one seems to be in this tower.

A letter on the table catches Shiver's eye. Picking it up, it is written in something unusual for her: elegant giant calligraphy, making the harsh runes a delight to look upon. The letter says:

To my dearest Slissht,

in light of your recent unfair misfortune, I felt you could do with a little pick-me-up.

This tower will bring you to whatever place you desire and are able to clearly picture, as the bird flies, without needing to deal with endless days of trudging along the surface, being pestered by beasts and foolish bandits, or the at times hateful weather in these parts. Simply focus on the floating orb on the floor above you. To help you pass the time, a few choice amenities have been added to the second floor, and the entrances to said floor have been shielded to keep the weather and birds out, things that apparently do not bother the average cloud giant when constructing their floating home. I believe you will quite enjoy the sheets.

Once you reach your destination, the tower will simply float back to its after you reached the ground. Do not worry, the cloud giant I borrowed it from will not know who was brought where. As such, I invite you to leave the place as much of a mess as you like without outright destroying the tower (as it could be useful in the future, and tearing it down would rob me of a delightful reaction).

If you would rather walk, you are free to do so. If you do, I can only imagine a well-disguised fear of heights or a voracious appetite for personal fitness must be the cause. The tower will take its leave in that case.

I am sure we will meet again soon, hopefully under better circumstances. I will be watching.

Longingly yours,
a loving friend.

P.S.: Please excuse there only being ropes to get from one floor to another. Installing staircases or finding a large and sturdy enough ladder proved outside any reasonable timetable, and cloud giants evidently do not believe in accomodating non-flying "peasantry", the pompous bastards.

The letter also shows a crimson lipstick mark, and when Shiver's finger touches it, she feels like her subconscious half-remembers something, making a wave of pleasure roll over her body.

[MikelaC1]

Do you have some sort of magic that would let me speak to all of the people, I would like to say good bye rather than just sail off into the sunrise
Shiver also explores the castle to see if there is some sort of treasure store house as the funds would be useful to the city to rebuild.

[Ridai]

Sìle shakes her head in regards to the magic question.

Shiver climbs up to the second floor, finding it as described. A magical sphere hovers in an alcove lined with giant windows, and Shiver finds that (with a little help from her maid), she can mentally tell the tower to wait where it is for a while before heading off to where Shiver desires to go. The rest of the room is lavishly furnished, with a literally giant-sized bed (and the aforementioned sheets that do look inviting indeed), a seemingly magic-infused bath, a trove of food and drink, a massive trunk, a fully-stocked vanity, shelves of gigantic books, and many many pillows scattered everywhere. There are also lavish tapestries, and Shiver gets the feeling they all depict the owner of the tower, a cloud giant woman, as flatteringly as humanly (giantly?) possible.

With Shiver looking for treasure, Sìle offers "Would you like me to open that?" pointing to the trunk. If Shiver agrees, Sìle gets to work on the lock, which apparently has magic reinforcements on top of it, leading to Sìle having to help herself with a spell. But soon enough, the lock pops open, and Shiver finds several things inside: a giant spellbook, a gem-encrusted electrum comb, assorted jewelry, finest dresses, robes, and lingerie, as well as a collection of the usual cloud giant mood masks. In the vanity, Shiver finds bottles of perfume, as well as various supplies for make-up. All Shiver finds is oversized compared to her current size, but much of what she finds in the trunk and vanity are easily worth hundreds, if not possibly thousands of gold pieces. Sìle surveys the huge books and they appear to be research of ancient history, geography, and legends, bound in remarkable material, so each could be worth a fair bit to the right scholars, though each tome easily weighs a hundred pounds.

The third and final floor is akin to an outlook or impromptu patio, open to all sides, the roof held up by great pillars.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver puts the jewelry in one bag and an assortment of cosmetics and perfume, along with two bottles of wine in another and tells Sile to wait where she is. She then descends the stairs to speak to Daphne.
There is no danger here, the cloud is empty, it is a gift for me from an old friend, I can use it for travel purposes. There are evil doings in the Realms and it falls to me to see what I can do to aid about it. I must leave Nightstone for a while to put things right, but never fear, I will return. She turns to the crowd below and repeats as loudly as she can I will return once my destiny is fulfilled
She turns back Daphne, handing her the bag of jewelry This is to aid in rebuilding Nightstone, spend it well in trading. She hands her the other bag And this is just a little gift from me to you, you will be working hard to rebuild your city and will deserve some rewards for your downtime.
Then with one more wave to "her" city, Shiver climbs back into the cloud.

[Ridai]

"Thank you so much. I hope you will find what you seek and return to us soon," Daphne says with a brilliant smile. "Perhaps you will already find Nightstone in a much more scenic state and meet its new ruler." The bag with the jewelry is far too large and heavy for Daphne to carry, the contents giant-sized, so a few of the guards come to lift from the knees and safely put it away, each nodding to the giantess. The smaller and thankfully lighter bag is received with as much gratitude, and a spot of amusement, seeing how the perfume bottle is as big as the wine bottles and the cosmetics will likely last her a long, long time, drawing a hearty chuckle from the former lady-in-waiting.

Down below, the crowd cheers and waves, wishing Shiver well.

Up above once more, the cloud stairs retract behind her, Sìle waiting next to the navigation sphere on the second floor.

"So, where is our intrepid heroine off to?"

[MikelaC1]

Bryn Shandar was where I first arrived in these lands and where my memories were ripped from me. If the person who did this isnt still there, he will have left a trail...and I will find it.

Shiver steps into the navigation sphere and concentrates on Bryn Shandar

[Ridai]

The floating orb glows as Shiver pictures the snow-bound human settlement, and just a moment later, she feels the tower beginning to move smoothly towards the north.

"And we're off," Sìle comments, climbing up to the outlook. If Shiver follows, she sees the young woman peering down to the distant ground and the horizon.

"Hundreds of miles to the Icewind Dale from here. On foot, I'd have said a good month or so of travel. The rate we are going at and the tower never taking breaks, I'd say a bit more than a week. If this person is indeed there, this might be prime time to prepare. Or kick back. Whatever you prefer."

[MikelaC1]

I would spar with you, but no denigration intended, I would probably toss you around like a rag doll. Unless you cheated and used magic on me. But I am more than interested in trying out that bed and that bath, just to see what sort of magic it has. Along with some of the wine and food. A pity that none of the clothes fit me and probably by the time I have come into my full growth, the tower will have been returned to its proper owner. I would keep one or two of the outfits, but that sort of material cant be just rolled up and stuffed into a backpack.

[Ridai]

"Hm. Fair," Sìle answers in regards to sparring. "And honestly, if these are anything to judge by," she does a circling motion with her finger at the various tapestries depicting the presumed owner of this tower. "one has to wonder if she moonlights as a particularly expensive court jester. Should I find a ruby-studded nose, I will inform you immediately."

The bath is able to conjure and make disappear water of a wide range of temperatures and scents, with two additional buttons reading "bubbles" and "even more bubbles". The bed is not, in fact, magical, but it may as well be given how much it makes Shiver's desire to get out of it vanish, the much vaunted sheets feeling amazing on the skin and deliciously decadent.

With the many amenities and Sìle at her beck and call, time flies. Whatever Shiver needs, Sìle provides, at times without Shiver even needing to say anything, and without any other demands on her magic, the young woman is happy to use it to display the full range and heights of her capabilities. Every day, the giantess experiences what she may imagine a queen's life to be like in the absence of all the annoying politics and bickering high society, dining on the finest meals, receiving thorough care and baths whenever she likes, having access to a heavenly musician and courtesan, never needing to bother herself with any chores, only what she wishes to do, or simply helping her pass the time. In short, if Shiver wishes to, Sìle spoils her rotten. It is all a labor of love for her, and fulfilling the giantess fulfills her as well. The young woman simply cannot help herself but smile whenever she looks to Shiver, and takes particular delight in surprising her, such as on the third day when she finds Sìle has managed to sculpt cloud matter into a life-sized (fully giant sized, that is) "statue" of Shiver, and she seems to be deadset on making it eclipse the tower's statues a little more each day.

Still, Shiver is a warrior, and Sìle can't provide a decent sparring partner, much more apt at fighting alongside her or aiding her personal training, rather than fight her.

Four blissful days fly by. On the fifth, Shiver awakens uncharacteristically without Sìle next to her and breakfast closeby, the maid quietly going about her daily work with her uncanny ability to know when Shiver usually wakes up. The sound that roused Shiver is that if birds. Very large birds. Most definitely griffons, and several of them at that. They have seen the occasional avian pass by, but never anything of this size. Sìle notices as well, stopping her greeting for Shiver to do so. Soon after, they see mist drift from the hole leading to the ground floor up into their extended bed chamber floor, coalescing into half a dozen very much real and heavily armored dwarven warriors. Shiver actually recognizes the patterns of the very well-made armor as belonging to the soldiers of the heavily fortified dwarven city of Mirabar, not far from the mountain range known as the Spine of the World which ends in the Icewind Dale.

Everyone is rather surprised. The dwarves did not expect to find a human maid working on breakfast. Or a frost giantess in bed yet no cloud giant anywhere in sight. Shiver and Sìle are hardly expecting a sudden attack squad of dwarven soldiers in their bedroom.

The moment passes. "Men, bring down this accursed cloud giant fortress! Good woman, flee down to the griffons, we will hold the giant at bay!" the leader bellows, everyone brandishing weapons as most of them begin to slam them against the navigation sphere, while others move into defensive positions against the distant Shiver.

"Good sirs, I think there must be a misundersta-" Sìle begins, clearly perplexed and still with a sizzling frying pan in hand, heated by her own magic, but the dwarves seem quite determined in their perceived duty. She looks quite alarmed because of the navigation sphere towards Shiver, but also clearly unsure how she wants to handle the situation.

(Shiver's turn. Can do social or combat actions, as you like. Her weapon can be equipped as a free action here, same for standing up in this instance. Magic items are already equipped. If Shiver wishes to fight, she is free to decide whether she wants to try and kill the dwarves or just knock some sense into them. Shiver is also free to issue commands to Sìle, whether directly, or by having her realize what Shiver wishes.)

[MikelaC1]

HOLD ON HERE!
[roll0]
Brandishing the letter as proof, This tower is on loan to me, I am perfectly within my rights to be here. Tell your men to stand down or its going to be a long fall to the ground for them.

[Ridai]

Sìle blinks. "I don't think that is what they mea-"

"On loan?!" the dwarf bellows incredulously as the too small giant in the bed holds up the letter that looks very tiny in her hand. As such, there is only one possible conclusion to be had! "The frost giants have joined the cloud giants in their bombardment of cities!" It is the wrong conclusion, but it is a conclusion. The dwarven men and women keep slamming on the sphere, which is starting to show cracks.

"Sir, it's not-" Sìle tries once again to get a word in edgewise, but it goes under in the fervor of the dwarves' quest to defend the lands below. Since dwarves are a very determined and thickheaded bunch, their focus on exactly two things at the moment, namely destroying the orb and trying to ward off the giant, Sìle looks to Shiver once again.

(The dwarves rolled higher on the opposing roll, and this isn't an "oi, you got a loicense for this tower?" situation, so that particular line of argumentation (while amusing) failed. Since Shiver has tried to talk things out, Sìle is sharing her 9 ranks in Diplomacy and Bluff with Shiver now, in case she wants to try and go about things with those.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver closes the ground to the nearest dwarf in the navigation tower, grabbing at him
[roll0] melee attack
[roll1] grapple check
If she wins the grapple check, she hoists the struggling dwarf over her head and tosses him out the window to fall to the surface far, far below with a comment of Time to take out the trash.

[Ridai]

In a tremendous display of luck skill, Shiver rushes out of bed, avoids the strike of the dwarven leader, and simply lifts him in the air.

"Unhand meeeeeee" is heard as a miracle occurs and the dwarf gains the ability of flight, if in a rather parabolic fashion, and through a distant window pane with a crash. The other dwarves briefly stop to see their captain soar, before a glitterbomb explodes in their midst, leaving most of them rubbing their eyes. Between most of the dwarves and Shiver now stands a single female dwarf, looking up at the frost giantess in her bedwear.

"Would you now kindly cease what you are doing before anyone else receives impromptu flight lessons?" Sìle asks with a slight degree of exasperation, all the while still preparing breakfast on a sizeable plate.

Given the chaotic mess of the main group, the lone advance dwarf feels... more than a little perplexed at how quickly the tables turned, in what manner, and how Shiver and Sìle seem to react in general. None of this was anything they were expecting. And she seems rather torn on what to do.

[MikelaC1]

Your dwarves rolled up while we were minding our own business, and by the way, Im legally in possession of this cloud, investigating the evil that is infesting the realms. They started breaking things and if they dont stop, more are going to go out the window. And by more, I mean all.

[Ridai]

The female dwarf side-eyes at nothing in particular, along with a good amount of blinking, looking over her shoulder at the gold glitterbombed squad pawing at their eyes.

"So, uh..." she begins. "you are not dropping boulders on towns...?" her pitch slowly rising with every word as if trying to verbally tiptoe a little more with each. Sìle turns to look at her and gives her kind of a smile combined with pressing her lips into a line, shaking her head. There is a lot of dwarven swearing in the background.

[MikelaC1]

Dropping boulders on towns? Hells no, we were the ones who saved Nightstone from an incursion by goblins and Zhentarim. We dont even have any boulders on board to drop...if your crew had even stopped to look at that fact.

[Ridai]

"Oh." Awkward silence follows. Sìle gives the assembled dwarves a look like she has been trying to tell them. "Well, uh... we'll get out of here then." The dwarves still in the process of unblinding themselves start protesting, which makes the female dwarf visibly nervous. "I said, we are leaving the tower where no boulders are dropped from." It takes a moment, but finally, things seem to click in their heads. Shiver and Sìle watch the squad awkwardly shuffle to the hole in the floor and climb down the rope one by one, armor clattering and mumbling apologies.

"So, um, I'm very sorry about... all this. Cloud giants attacked settlements around Mirabar, so the city sent out patrols to bring down cloud towers and castles before they can do any more damage. Didn't know this one was, uh, on loan by such heroic, gorgeous, amazingly generous and merciful women like you, haha." That nervous laugh in the end is a testament to the young dwarf woman trying to smooth things over as much as she can, not wanting to sail out of that window, and very much feeling bad for what happened (whether or not the captain was in command of all this). Clearly, Shiver's and Sìle's charms are also not lost to her, given the litany of compliments. So when she is the last to leave, she adds "So, uh, if you ever come to Mirabar, m-maybe I could make it up to you? I-I know some nice places, and I make a mean stew! J-just ask at the Axe of Mirabar HQ for Silvi!" Her face is burning up. From outside, there are calls for said Silvi. Apparently, they found the captain, stuck head first in the surrounding cloud of the tower. The captain seems to want to leave as well. "OkayIreallyneedtogoitwasverylovelymeetingyoutwover ysorryaboutwhathappenedpleasecomeseemeokaybye!" And the dwarf quickly climbs down the rope before her head catches fire from all the heat radiating from it.

Soon, the griffons take off once again. Sìle sighs and becomes Shiver-size again. Walking over to the window, she casts a spell to fix it to stop the wind howling into the room through the shattered glass.

"Well that was unexpected. Do you have much experience defenestrating the law?" Sìle asks, half out of curiosity, half to lighten the mood a little. "Anyway, breakfast is ready. Plenty of bacon this time around. Would you like to eat in bed or during a bath? Or would you like to destress first?" There is that smile again, Sìle leaving the incident behind her to focus back on the frost giantess's rudely interrupted morning.

[MikelaC1]

Before she can leave, Shiver puts a hand on her, wanting to talk. Tell me about the cloud giants and Mirabar. Is that something new? It might tie in with what I am looking into?

[Ridai]

Silvi jumps as the hand lands on her, but given she now has Shiver's full attention (without a risk of flying out the window, that is), a sheepish grin now appears in her beet-red face. Sìle walking up behind her only helps matters. "Oh! Yeah, definitely new! It started maybe a month or two ago, hard to say. Cloud giants attacking settlements, sometimes taking things with them. We have no idea what has gotten into them all of a sudden. We have also heard about more fire giant and hill giant sightings, roughly starting around the same time, at least in our general area up north, that is. It doesn't look like they are working together or anything, but it still has people worried the giants might just in general have become bolder, so we're trying to keep an eye on things and beat the giants back if they threaten settlements." There is a short pause. "Err... no offense, I hope?" Silvi clearly has never spoken to a giant, so she is not very certain how a frost giantess reacts to the dwarves of Mirabar battling things out with other giants.

"Say, um, between you having saved a town, your lovely companion, and being such a gorge- I mean, genero-, I mean benevolent giantess, are you helping us, err, how do your people put it, 'small folk'? Does that mean frost giants are helping people? Are you, like, frost giant royalty?" Silvi's mind is going a mile a minute, happily jumping to conclusions, but this time asking if those conclusions are actually the case.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver files the information away for future reference.
No, the rest of the frost giants are not helping, not like me anyways and I am not royalty. I would still not trust most cloud giants, and none of the lesser giants either. Shivers comment continues to rank fire giants below frost giants, if there is one thing she is going to do in life, its get that hierarchy set right.
After Silvi leaves, they return to their course to Bryn.

[Ridai]

"Oh. I thought you were a queen or... something. Well, uh, I'll tell people about the other giants. Have a nice trip pleasecomevisit!" And with that, Silvi leaves, face burning red when Sìle plants a little kiss on her cheek for good measure.

The remaining days go by quick, the weather outside getting colder as they fly further and further north. No further incidents disrupt the journey. The closer they get to Bryn Shander, the more frequently Shiver has the dream about arriving there, as well as Drufi sailing towards it. The confrontation with the dwarves, while brief, stirred something in Shiver, combat (however short) rousing the warrior spirit, and not even needing to raise a hand against the rest as well as taking charge in Nightstone awakening her presence. Alone, it is not enough for another breakthrough that the fights in and around Nightstone brought about. However, the giantess getting to spend the journey in her giant form, simply resting and enjoying herself, appears to have an effect. Sìle's attentions, while they could be disregarded as mere infatuations or duty due to her alleged blessing by the love goddesses, bring it all together, using all her skills and magic to slowly, ever so slowly chip away at what was done to Shiver.

Thus, when Shiver arrives above Bryn Shander, she emerges from the tower stronger, overlooking the snowbound town on its hill far below, the biting-cold winds and falling snow giving a familiar feeling. None of the town's inhabitants knew Shiver to be a giantess, having walked among them in human size before. Memories of the place emerged during the travel, remembering its layout and people. A temple to three of the humans' deities, a marketplace defying the bitter cold, a tavern called Kelvin's Comfort right beside the marketplace where Shiver may or may not have impressed people time and again, the town hall and the town's current young elected speaker Duvessa Shane who has heard of Shiver's prowess in fighting monsters and bandits. There are shops and smithies, a small choice of inns to stay it (either the rowdy adventurer hotspot that is The Northlook, or the somewhat lackluster in furnishings Geldenstag's Rest). Since she is looking for information, the tavern may be a good place to start, or seeking out Beldora, a lively human woman who is seemingly homeless, but between Shiver's charms and her many deeds, Beldora has confided in Shiver that she is actually a Harper agent, keeping an eye on things in Bryn Shander to be on the lookout for the machinations of evil. Beldora usually loiters about around the fires of the marketplace.


For now, the tower comes to a halt, extending its winding cloud stairs down to the ground outside of Bryn Shander's southwestern gate. Sìle is beside Shiver up on the cloud, not minding the cold despite her revealing dress (having decided to only wear her supernatural blue dress seemingly made out of energy of some sort).

"Here we are. Bryn Shander, the main of the Icewind Dale's Ten-Towns," Sìle introduces. After a short pause, she says "Where do we want to start looking for clues?" A beat, then glancing over to the intricate Shiver statue she has shaped out of cloud matter with much dedication and effort. "And do you want me to leave this here for the owner to find, or destroy it?"

Shiver, between taking charge in Nightstone, dealing with the dwarves, and Sìle's dedicated efforts during the whole journey, has leveled up to level 7.

I have established some things Shiver knows about Bryn Shander, some bits of reputation she may have here, and that the people do not know yet that she is a giantess (this is a human town and has no accomodations fit for a giant). I'll mention whenever something comes up that Shiver knows about, but feel free to decide whether Shiver wants to reveal herself as a giantess, and what she may have done in or around Bryn Shander when she was at her full power. I am generally assuming that people there know Shiver and hold her in high regards at the moment.

[MikelaC1]

We'll leave it...maybe we will get this cloud back at some point.

Shiver casually tosses what is left of the food and drink around, making it look like a huge giant drunkest just happened

I had to wait until my last day or you would have tried to clean up. Its what was expected of us

Shiver shifts back to human sized, no need to have the locals run screaming in terror from her, instead of trying to help an old, established friend .

I have a contact here named Beldora, maybe she can give me some clues or heard of someone boasting about the "number" he did on a giantess

[Ridai]

In regards to cleaning up: "Fair. I don't like living amidst booze-damp carpets and rotting leftovers if I can help it."

In regards to leaving the statue: "Wish I could see the actual owner get back here and turn green with envy. If the statue remains, I'll actually be impressed."

As they step off the cloud stairway, it retracts back into the cloud and the tower begins to drift away, roughly towards the southeast. Through all the snow, it is incredibly difficult to see it in the first place.

"Sounds good. I kind of hope the culprit is as much of an idiot as to brag about draining you. It would make finding them rather easy."


They walk the rest of the way to the southwestern gate of Bryn Shander, the 30ft high stone wall with two round towers flanking the sturdy wooden gate defying the ever harsh weather. Shiver knows the town to be mostly populated by humans, with a smattering of shield dwarves, half-orcs, and others. There are two guards at the gate, one human male and a dwarven female, clad in heavy winter gear and appropriate armor. Seeing the two approach draws their attention.

"Hey Shiver!" the dwarven woman calls through the snowfall with a big grin, the other guard also echoes the sentiment, along with a briefly raises hand in greeting. Shiver recognizes her as Augrek Brighthelm, who spends many of her shifts at this very gate. "Welcome back! Friend of yours?" she points to Sìle briefly before tucking her arm back in. "You lucky girls and your cold-defying magics," Augrek comments with a quick laugh. Newcomers are usually greeted with a thoroughly rehearsed and recitated long spiel by Augrek directing them to the local shops and taverns, while telling them to not cause trouble, in all its eyerolling-causing charm, but Shiver being a known quantity seems to spare her this time. Shiver doesn't know much about the other guard, but he's a decent enough bloke. Decent enough that he tries to keep his wandering gaze from the other side of the road in check, which is more than many human men faced with a woman like Shiver can say of themselves.

[MikelaC1]

Her name is Sile and yes, she is with me. I assume there is no toll for entry or has that changed? We're actually here looking for information, specifically something unpleasant that was done to me. My memories have been tampered with, to the point where I can barely remember you, along with other things that are completely gone. Beldora is my best guess for hearing people bragging of the accomplishment, is she around?

[Ridai]

Sìle raises a hand in greeting along with a smile as she is introduced, the two guards nodding and smiling in return.

"Wow. That's messed up," Augrek comments, needing a moment to process what apparently has been done to Shiver.

"Hope you catch the bastard. Didn't hear any bragging of the sort myself, though if the low-life did that here, I'd reckon he'd have to eat a whole lot of knuckle sandwiches from people here," the other guard says, rubbing his hands and balling fists.

"Yeah, same here. Didn't see you leave town, we weren't on duty at the time, I think?" Augrek looks over to her colleague, who has to think back for a moment, then nods. "So uh, Beldora? The bum, you mean? Prob'ly 'round the marketplace, I guess. Trying to get coin by tending campfires or something, or whatever she's up to. At least she stays outta trouble." The dwarf doesn't seem very familiar with Beldora beyond generalities. "I'll ask the other guys if they heard anything on their shifts."

"Same," Augrek's colleague chimes in.

"Might wanna try the tavern if you're looking for braggards." And to lighten the mood, a cheeky grin starts to sneak onto Augrek's face. "Aaand maybe you can warm yourself up with a fire brandy there~" Her colleague groans. Shiver recognizes said beverage from her usual greeting speech. One has to wonder whether the dwarf is a fan or gets paid for advertisement.

"Please be careful if you should run into the culprit. There most likely was a degree of life energy draining involved in what happened to Shiver, so assume this person is quite dangerous. Thank you for your help," Sìle adds, to which the guards nod, acknowledging.

Augrek calls up to the towers, and the gate into the city opens.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver decides to have a little fun, favoring the human guard with a saucy wink and a little hip sway as she sashays her way into town.
Once inside, she speaks to Sile Very few people know that Beldora is actually a Harper agent, her cover as a bum that doesnt cause trouble makes her virtually invisible. Good to know I still have a good reputation here so we wont be looking for someone who did a number on Shiver, we will be looking for someone bragging about doing a number on a frost giantess. Again, few people here know about that part of me.

[Ridai]

The guard flushes deep red and Shiver can feel his gaze can't help but follow her as she goes. Few women can claim to be as beautiful as Shiver, even fewer also have her physique, presence, and local status on top, and his composure just can't keep up with what attention she gave. Behind her, she can quietly hear an impish Augrek go "Yer staring", with the answer being "Respectfully. Also so are you." Needless to say, the guard is left with warm thoughts to see his shift through.

Sìle looks impressed as they walk. "Friends with an undercover Harper? You really left an impression here. They're spellcasters and spies working against the abuse of power and evil threats, they take their work seriously, so this Beldora letting you in on her secret is no small amount of trust. Guess she keeps tabs on the Ten-Towns and news of any threats out in the Dale for the Harpers."

They walk along the main road leading from the gate towards the center of town, passing the wooden buildings with roofs too steep for snow to settle on them, smoke perpetually rising from their chimneys. People passing by recognize Shiver, greeting her warmly like a hometown hero. Where she goes, she is turning heads effortlessly, many wishing they could be where Sìle is. They pass the local temple, dedicated to Tyr, the god of justice; Torm, the god of courage and self-sacrifice; and Ilmater, the god of endurance in the face of suffering. Sirac, a heavyset young man, is busy unloading crates meant for his friend (the local priest of Torm) from a cart. Shiver doesn't know much about him, as he was a relatively new arrival when she was last in town, and they didn't have much interaction with each other.

Reaching the center of town, Shiver and Sìle step onto the marketplace, roughly circle-shaped, where traders from the town and elsewhere do their business amidst their tents and covered wagons. Around the place, Shiver can see Kelvin's Comfort (the aforementioned tavern), the town hall, the local armory, Blackiron Blades (a shop and smithy offering adventuring wares and cheap weapons of matching quality), Rendaril's Emporium (the largest tradehouse in Bryn Shander), and The Hooked Knucklehead (the more rough-and-tumble of the two local inns). People huddle around the various campfires on the marketplace, tents and wagons hardly enough to keep the cold away. A few guards here and there, a knightly looking man on a horse in conversation with a few people, residents of the town passing through.

Letting her gaze sweep across the marketplace (once again feeling Sìle's quiet support, her senses feeling sharper than normally), Shiver sees a heavily bundled up figure loitering around one of the campfires, wearing boots a few sizes too big for her and walrus hide gloves. Underneath all those thick layers of clothes is the haggard young human woman Shiver knows as Beldora, warming herself at the campfire along with a few traders who are chatting amongst themselves.

[MikelaC1]

It would not be seemly for Shiver to be friends with a "broken down bum" like Beldora, so she heads over to where she is, doing a fake menacing act. Begone with you, trying to steal the coin and heat from honest men If Beldora takes the cue, she "pursues" her into a back alley.
Beldora, my friend, how go things in Bryn Shandar?

[Ridai]

"Ain't botherin' no one, ma'am," Beldora in her role says nervously, first scooting away from the powerful Shiver, then quickly shuffling away. Casting a glance over her shoulder, and going faster when Shiver follows. There is even a stumble or two, selling the whole thing. People watch what is going on, but since Shiver is on the case, well, she will probably handle whatever is going on and will probably have a good reason, so they turn back to what they were doing. The homeless woman guides flees from Shiver into a narrow alley without surrounding windows, a good bit away from the main roads and the marketplace. She hurriedly looks around, as if looking for another avenue to escape, and when no observers are found by the keen spy's eyes, the motions turn into a momentary stretch, turning around with that devils-may-care smile full of confidence.

"Now now, I know you can hardly contain your fiery passion for my roguish charms, but do have a heart for poor, homeless Beldora. Any more and you may set her alight enough for people to stomp her out," Spy-Beldora greets Shiver with mock-concern. Upon Shiver's greeting and question, Beldora pats some snow off her many layers of clothes as she talks. "Oh, you know. Tavern brawl about who pulled the biggest knucklehead out of the pond, Ten-Towners reporting distant sightings of yetis and frost giants, me having a scandalous affair with young Speaker Duvessa Shane, town drunk raving about an ice chariot in the sky out in the Dale. The usual." She adds a perfect innocent grin. Shiver remembers Spy-Beldora's cheerful demeanor, with a few cheeky lines occasionally thrown in to surprise her opposite, or keep them guessing.

"So how did the south treat you? You had an awfully quick trip, I see. And you brought the second most gorgeous woman in the Dale as of right now!" Beldora smiles to Sìle, who returns the favor. There is a secret look to Shiver, asking her whether Sìle is fully in the know about Beldora and whether she can be trusted. "What brings you to little ol' me? If you are looking to rig the beauty contest, I must decline that third place. The jury is not ready for my style of perfectly average destitution."

[MikelaC1]

Shiver puts a hand on Sile's shoulder to show Beldora that she can be trusted. I had a bad experience and I think it might have happened here. Some sniveling mage tampered with my memories, I cant recall a lot of things from my past and my powers are muchly diminished. I need your ears in all those places you can get into, to see if some knucklehead is bragging about what he did. Likely, he wont be bragging about what he did to Shiver except in places where my rep isnt good but he might be bragging about what he did to a frost giantess, which would probably be greeted with high fives and rounds on the house.

[Ridai]

(Did Shiver let Beldora in on that she is a frost giantess, or is this just speaking hypotheticals that the culprit would use "frost giantess" as a cover?)

Hearing what happened to Shiver does manage to put a dent in Beldora's cheery demeanor. "Damn. Haven't heard any idiot bragging like that, but I can have a look around. If he's here, I'll find him. When you left town after I gave you the map, you still seemed to be, you know, fine. Could have happened just out of town, though. Less witnesses." A beat. "You still remember the map? You needed directions down to Daggerford and I drew a decent route there."

[MikelaC1]

(Yes, Beldora knows she is a frost giantess....she shared her truth, so Shiver would reciprocate)

I dont remember any map, and I dont have one anymore

[Ridai]

"Bastard really did a number on you, big girl," Beldora says, and it pains her to hear about just how much Shiver has been wronged.

"I found Shiver unconscious outside Nightstone, near Deepwater. Hard to say if what was done to her happened around those parts or if the culprit just... dumped her somewhere in the wilds after it happened around these parts. Them having teleportation magic or the like is not out of the question," Sìle adds.

"Hard to say right now. Slippery bastard, whoever did this." Beldora looks to Sìle. "You cared for Shiver? What's your name?"

"I did, and I have devoted myself to serving her in every way I can," the maid answers.

Beldora searches Sìle's expression for a bit, before smiling again, as if being convinced she does mean what she said. "You keep that up, our Shiver's like no other." To which Sìle nods, smiling likewise.

Beldora claps her hands. "So! While I would love to slip away with you to somewhere warmer to catch up and be jealous of Sìle here, I should go and snoop around-" She stops, head perking up. Shiver notices it as well, as does Sìle. Something like the atmosphere of the town having shifted. They walk to the end of the valley, seeing people hurriedly return to their homes, guards marching towards the southwestern gate.

"Something's going down," Beldora begins.


Moments later, they hear a voice boom across the town, coming from the southwest, louder and carrying farther than any human voice could. Only that of a giantess could.

"Surrender Artus Cimber or die!"

Shiver knows the voice. It belongs to Drufi.

[MikelaC1]

Drufi will not respect Shiver in her human form, but Shiver is loath to reveal to the residents of Bryn Shandar that she is indeed a frost giantess. Well, it cant be helped now, and she will just have to patch things up once this situation is resolved. She walks to the southwestern gate, motioning for the guards to stay behind her. Just before she gets into visual range, she begins to swell in size, so that both Drufi and the human gaurdsmen see the transformation. She stops in front of her friend.
You are terrifying the city inhabitants and theres going to be a whole lot of useless bloodshed. Lets see if we can come to some sort of equitable arrangement. First of all, who is this Artus Cimber and what has he done? Of course, if he is some sort of criminal, we will be glad to turn him over.

[roll0]. This isnt exactly Shiver's forte, but she has a good raw start with her CHA and Sile seems to be able to "help" her do things

[Ridai]

Shiver heads to the gate, Sìle and Beldora in tow. As she does, she sees the guard ready on and behind the wall, and hears the voice of Duvessa Shane, the Speaker of Bryn Shander, up from the battlements.

"I have told you, Artus Cimber is not here, nor have I ever heard any news of him being sighted in any of the Ten-Towns!" she shouts from the wall, not out of anger or fear, but rather for volume. She is the youngest Speaker in the history of the town, so in addition to being a woman in a line of mostly male Speakers, Duvessa always faced a lot of scrutiny. Shiver frequently saw her with a hard, serious expression, dealing with matters in a no-nonsense fashion. Thus far, she has proven herself capable. Still, facing off with a frost giantess is a much different matter than handling local disputes, coordinating Ten-Towns efforts, or dealing with particularly conniving merchants. To her credit, she is keeping her composure thus far, trying to reason with Drufi.

The guards let Shiver through into one of the guard towers without any resistance, same with Sìle and Beldora (the latter draws some confused looks, but she is Shiver's entourage right now, for whatever reason), the warrior woman hearing a few "Thank the gods you are here" as she heads up the winding staircase to the battlements. As they go, Drufi's answer has no difficulty reaching Shiver's ears inside the tower.

"The blod stone traced his blood to this town. We know he is here. Whether you are lying or do not know does not matter. We will make him come out, or catch him running." Drufi's voice is impressive, even for a giantess. Shiver knows her well enough to know she does not enjoy these measures, but when you grow up and rise to be a powerful woman in a clan like theirs, one learns to establish dominance and strength.

Shiver arrives on the battlements. From the 30ft tall wall, she has a good view of the situation before the walls, and elsewhere. The town is surrounded by a loose ring of about a dozen frost giants, recognizing the patterns and colors of her clan. Drufi herself stands a fair distance from the wall, 22 feet of frost giantess, braided pure-snow-colored hair flowing down to her athletic frame (a bit more obviously muscled than Shiver, but in a way still aesthetically pleasing to Shiver) clad in the usual patchwork armor favored by most frost giants, holding her massive axe. Her steely gaze is felt on the entire wall, adding an oppressive atmosphere. Behind Drufi are two frost giant men (both of which were beaten in combat by Shiver as well as Drufi in the past, placing them below them in the pecking order of the clan). Two massive winter wolves, tamed by the clan (Drufi seemed to always have a way with beasts), are ready beside Drufi.

On the wall itself are Duvessa and Augrek (the latter looking very nervous), but also the guard captain (Markham), the knight she briefly saw on the marketplace, and also curiously Sirac (also looking nervous). Duvessa shouts back "If you absolutely know, let us put together a search party to find him! No one gains anything through an attack on our town!"

Duvessa spots Shiver, her hard expression showing some relief. "Good to have you here, Shiver. We need your help," she says, skipping right past anything non-essential or whether it would later make her look "weak". Things are too dire for this. "Wait, what are you-"

Shiver simply steps off the wall, growing on the way down, landing softly in the snow, her powerful body absorbing the remainder of the impact. A series of gasps is heard atop the battlements, first due to her jumping, then her transformation. Sìle and Beldora stay on top of the wall.

Shiver knows what tactics will be employed here. After all, she knows her clan, and she knows Drufi even better. A bombardment of boulders while Drufi's team breaches the gate and enters the town to begin her search and crush any remaining resistance. The giants are as surprised to suddenly see Shiver, regardless of her not being able to reach full frost giant size.

"Slissht, what are you doing here? Why are you this small?" Drufi asks in the tongue of giants, lowering the war horn she was about to raise to give the signal for the attack. Behind Shiver, she heards bewildered exclamations about Shiver being a giantess, while the two male frost giants are just as surprised to see the most powerful woman of the clan just appear out of the city. Still, no hasty moves are made, all attention on Shiver. Whatever she will do will likely make or break the situation now.

To Shiver's questions, Drufi regains some of her composure, answering in the common tongue "Jarl Storvald wants the human Artus Cimber found. I have been told the small folk see him as a hero, but that does not matter. What matters is that he has the Ring of Winter. Leaving because the small folk claims he is not here will not be tolerated by the jarl, and you know it." Drufi makes it sound like Shiver is supposed to know what the Ring of Winter is. Tales of an evil artifact ring possessing an unending craving for destruction, holding tremendous wintery powers.

With Sìle's support (letting Shiver use her 10 ranks of Diplomacy and giving her a +6 aid bonus on top), Shiver just delivered a cool 41 Diplomacy in a very critical moment. Due to that, Shiver has not only outright prevented (for now) the outbreak of violence, but also established such a powerful presence that the other giants will not try to interfere in the talks despite Shiver trying to prevent their attack on the town and not yet being Huge size (as that makes her look physically weaker and might makes right in frost giant culture). Shiver has just too much charisma for them to raise a hand unless Drufi commands it (this will also apply to all other frost giants around the town). Shiver can also attempt to wrest command over them from Drufi instead of trying to convince Drufi, given she is above Drufi in the order of the clan, but this will not be easy due to Drufi carrying out the jarl's commands and this will decimate Drufi's respect and authority within the clan.

And because Shiver managed to exceed DC 40, as long as Shiver does what she can to protect Bryn Shander, she has laid the groundwork for the town's people to still see her in a positive light despite being revealed as a frost giantess. She singlehandedly managed to preserve her reputation as a local heroine, potentially even adding to it as a rare example of a frost giantess genuinely helping the "small folk".


Right now, Shiver knows Drufi very much respects her and her diplomacy check has made Drufi open to what Shiver is saying, regardless of the jarl's orders, but Shiver will still need to convince Drufi to not go through with her orders, given what they are looking for and what repercussions disobedience might carry with it. She knows Drufi has a personal weakness for Shiver that can be leveraged if Shiver wants to, if she wants to take a more personal approach.

[MikelaC1]

I know your dedication to your duty. But there are better ways to do it. He may be using powerful magic to hide himself, magic that these little people have that we do not. A sign of good faith would be for your troops to lower their weapons. Im not asking you to sheath, just lower from the readied state. If you would do that, I can call down the Speaker and she will get her most powerful wizard and cleric to cast their divinations to find him. And then I personally, along with you and whichever of your troops you choose will go and capture him and the little folk will not be a party to that mission, save my assistant, of course.

[Ridai]

Drufi shakes her head. "The ring hides itself and its wearer from all magics, only the blod stone can find Artus Cimber." She gestures to a metal box tied to her belt. "I will not give it to the small folk. You say you can make them open the gates if we lower our weapons, without them trying to resist? Make it so, and we will be done here soon enough." Drufi turns her axe, planting the head in the snow. The two other giants hesitate for a moment, then lower their weapons. Shiver can see the tendency of the average frost giant to prefer direct action and combat over talks like these in the two men, and while Drufi is ranked higher, theirs is not a rigid chain of command where insubordination is out of the question, so whatever Shiver does, she should go about it in a swift manner.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver turns to the tower and calls up. The frost giants are willing to be reasonable. Cimber has an artifact of great evil and their box can find it. The giants have agreed to a peaceful resolution, their box can find this Cimber and the ring. Please open the gates so they can conduct their search. She gestures for Sile to come down, if possible, to join her.

[Ridai]

Atop the gate wall, Duvessa considers her options. Sìle, as indicated, flies down to Shiver. Eventually, Duvessa answers "Can you guarantee that the giants will not bring any harm to the Ten-Towns and their people? Will you vouch for them? Will they and their clan never return to the Ten-Towns after they are done?" Clearly, trust is in short supply when it comes to frost giants. On the giant side, Drufi holds her cards close to her chest, but Shiver can see how the men are irritated by the small folk having demands, that there are negotiations.

"Artus Cimber has kept the Ring of Winter out of the wrong hands. What does a frost giant jarl intend to do with it?" Sìle asks Shiver.

[MikelaC1]

If these frost giants do not see some level of co-operation from us, they will simply bombard the place with boulders, come in and slaughter everyone and then search the rubble for what they want. We need to prevent that from happening. When the two of us join on the recovery mission, we need to make it look like the ring was destroyed by accident.

Shiver turns to Drufi Can we start with the situation as proposed by Speaker Duvessa?

[Ridai]

Drufi looks at Shiver for a moment, glances up at the humans on the wall, then back. "...Yes."

Shiver feels Duvessa's gaze, letting her know that if the giants start to rampage in town, the blood is on the revealed giantess' hands.

Things are awfully quiet except for the wind and the mechanical sounds as the gates are opened. The humans on top of the wall nervously watch the giants as they come closer, needing to duck through the gate. The town barely offers enough space for them to move along the main roads, the giants rising above the roofs. Drufi takes the box and opens it, touching a diamond with a crimson center and an inscription of the blod rune located inside. A few moments pass as she closes the box again. Then whips around, snatching Sirac off the wall, leading to surprised yells, weapons being brandished by the guards, the guard captain putting himself between the frost giants and Duvessa.

"Surrender the ring, Artus Cimber," Drufi says, looking at Sirac struggling in her iron grip.

"I-I'm not him! You have the wrong man!" Sirac hastily answers, struggling for breath and trying to keep his composure. He winces as the grip gets tighter, Drufi narrowing her eyes.

"The blod stone does not lie. It knows your blood and it finds your blood."

"I am not Artus Cimber! He is my father, but I never met him or my mother!"

"Where is the ring."

"I don't know!" Sirac groans as the grip gets ever tighter.

"He is telling the truth!" Sìle interjects. The giants look to her.

"How do you know."

"If I have learned anything, it is that most giants are terrible at reading others. I am not. I do not know this man. I am not lying to protect him. I serve Slissht and only Slissht, who you evidently know very well. This man is telling the truth, whether you like it or not. Your blod stone found Artus' son. His blood," Sìle shoots back, staring up at the frost giantess, not breaking eye contact.

"Search him." Drufi sets Sirac down onto the ground, leaving him gasping for air. Sìle does a thorough search, taking several minutes, coming up empty.

"No ring. Not even other magic items. I have checked."

Drufi is silent for a while, then looks to Shiver. "This human needs to die. The blod stone can't find Cimber until he does. His days are counted now anyway."

"This was not the deal. This is not Artus Cimber, this is a man of the Ten-Towns," Duvessa calls over, having left the wall and having walked down to the ground where the situation is unfolding, unwilling to let the giants do as they please.

Shiver can see the frost giants bristling at this interjection.

[MikelaC1]

No, he doesnt die. There are spells that would shield him from divinations. Cast one of them on him and take him out of the equation. And when the new target is revealed, I offer my aid to find him as well.

[Ridai]

Drufi blinks. "Slissht. The stone pierces magic like that. Cimber is shielded like that. That is why we need the stone in the first place," she reiterates. Her brow furrows, like something isn't adding up. "You should know this."

[MikelaC1]

Then there must be a range on it. We arrange for this man to be teleported to some spot far away, iike Waterdeep or some such, and track again. Theres no point in just killing him, especially if we still dont get a reading because we cant undo that death.

[Ridai]

Drufi looks at Shiver for a while in silence, then turns to the giant men. "Take the others, return to the boat, and wait for me there."

The men start to protest, but a look from Drufi shuts them up quick. "No fighting happening, just talks. I am handling this." When that does not seem to be enough, she steps a bit closer, speaking in Giant: "Do you remember each and everyone of you I took with me challenging me? Do you also remember me breaking everyone of you over my knee? I do. You did your part. Now move it." That appears to be enough, and the frost giant men move back out of town, as Drufi repeats her orders for the surrounding giants to hear. Minutes pass as the frost giants withdraw from the town's area, heading towards the distant coast.

In the meantime, Duvessa chimes in. "We do not have mages like that in the Ten-Towns. At most, you may find them in the larger cities."

When the frost giants are no longer visible and have been gone for a while, Drufi looks to Sirac. "Stay here. Huddle in the towers if you must. Do not try to run." Then to Shiver and Sìle. "You are coming with me." Drufi ducks out of the gate, and leads Shiver and Sìle away from the town and the main road, in the opposite direction the other giants went. Once the town is out of view due to the heavy falling snow, Drufi turns around, axe slung on her back. She holds her palm towards Shiver.

"Punch. Hard as you can."

[MikelaC1]

Much of my power, as well as my memories have been stolen from me. By a mage, I am attempting to find out who. I need the support of the little people to do that.
Nevertheless, Shiver favors Drufi with her hardest possible punch, which is considerably less than what she is used to.

[Ridai]

Drufi barely reacts to the punch. She takes in what is said and done, before sitting on a nearby rock outcropping, thinking. After a short while, she looks at Shiver.

"I take it you don't want Storvald to get the Ring of Winter?"

[MikelaC1]

I would have never done anything to discredit you. My plan was that when we searching for the ring, you and I would be in separate groups. Hopefully, I would find the ring and then I would kill the giant with me, smash the ring and put the pieces in his hand. When you showed up, I would tell you that he tried to seize the ring for himself but could not control the magic and he and it blew apart. If you had found it, I would have to improvise, but the same basic idea.

[Ridai]

"It is good things happened the way they did then, because there would not have been split search parties, and the Ring of Winter is an indestructible artifact. Otherwise Cimber would have destroyed it a century ago." A pause. "Look. You don't want Storvald getting the ring. I don't want that either. You're not getting around them finding that son of Cimber as long as he's alive. If I take him, he's going to die today. Apart from that, you show up out of nowhere, small, weak, can't remember your mission. You told me you got sent to some small folk town called Daggerford to meet someone allied with us who knows about some stone of power Storvald wants. Something's going on, and I don't like it."

Another, longer pause, Drufi looking grim. "The Ordning's gone. Shattered, from one day to the other. No one knows why. Long and short of it, there's no rules anymore. No ladder with storm giants at the top and hill giants at the bottom. All giant leaders jockeying for position. Haven't heard anything from the storm giants. Storvald wants frost giants to rule other all others. I'd be okay with that. Not okay with him ruling over me or our clan." The Ordning being gone is like saying gravity has ceased to exist. It is something that had always been there, utterly irrefutable and unchanging, marking this as a change that is nothing short of divine intervention. There has never been a time without it. Shiver does not need to think especially hard to realize what sort of chaos this means for giants and everyone around them.

"Our clan needs you to take over. But the old you, not the weak you right now. Can't see anyone else bringing Storvald down and getting accepted as the new jarl without tons of useless deaths gutting the clan. But if you go at him right now, you're gonna get slaughtered. Storvald gets the ring, you don't stand a chance even at full power. Gonna need to make you strong again, buy time, find out what happened to you, what Storvald is up to, and kill him. We're never getting a chance like this again. Are you with me or not?"

[MikelaC1]

Im glad to see you dont want Storvald taking over either. I have no cause or desire to fight you, we have enough with jerks like Thomasson trying to usurp our commands random name for the giant who challenged her As for getting my power and memories back, they are coming. But slowly. Sile is helping in that regard....and someone even more powerful than Storvald remembers me, and sent that cloud castle for us to travel in. So I'm with you. What do you propose and how to we deal with those knuckledraggers back on the boat, expecting you to bring back Son of Cimber?

[Ridai]

"Cloud castle?" Drufi asks. Sìle, having remained quiet, briefly steps in. "More a tower than a castle. A letter also made it sound like this mysterious benefactor has a cloud giant under her sway, but is not a giant herself. We know little more at the time."

Drufi "hm"s at the information, thinking for a moment, then continues. "As for the others, they don't expect the human on the boat. Mission is to bring back the ring. With the son throwing off tracking, all they expect to happen is for him to be killed. Bringing someone back was never the plan. I will go to them, tell them the human is dead and that I will be going with you to find the stone you were looking for, and give them the box. Once they are gone, we take the human, put him on a ship, and have him travel down the Sword Coast. By the time our people are back and can tell Storvald what happened, it will look like Cimber is somewhere else and fleeing, and they'll need to spend a long time trying to chase after him. Storvald will probably think something's off about what I am doing and hearing you were up here, but it doesn't matter. We'll have bought ourselves time and distance to get you strong again and find the wretch who did this to you. Sound good to you?"

Sorry it is taking so long recently. Have been pretty scatterbrained and sleeping is a bit of an issue.

[MikelaC1]

That sounds good to me, does it sound like a plan to you (last part at Sile) Shiver knows that Sile will probably agree to virtually anything she says, but she is not going to treat her like a slave, because she isnt, and maybe showing such behavior to Drufi will rub off.

[Ridai]

"I expected heroics when I swore myself to you, and you just managed to eclipse all the ones I was involved in before. As such, I rate this plan as suitably daring, and I can... probably provide us with a faster means of travel than walking," Sìle comments. She looks to Drufi. "One problem, though. What are we doing about your size? It would be better if we stick together, and having a giantess, pretty as she may be, loiter outside of any given town or enter it might cause problems. It might also make us easier to find."

Drufi rises from her seated position. She seems to once again examine Sìle and Shiver, especially what their relationship seems to be like. Shiver's seems to trust the human, so Sìle receives a degree of courtesy from Drufi. "...I might have something for that." Drufi walks over to Shiver, retrieving what looks to be a necklace for a giantess from a pouch. Shiver finds the design striking, especially since it is unusually... pretty for what most frost giants opt for. A silvery metallic thin (for a giantess) chain, from which a finely crafted pendant hangs, in the design of flowers seamlessly transitioning into a flaming spear tip. There is a very faint greenish shimmer to the metal for a moment from a particular angle.

"Hold onto this for me. I'll be back in the early morning. Meet me in front of the town then. You'll know when." Drufi places the necklace in Shiver's hand, and despite being meant for a full-sized giant, it still feels incredibly light in her hand. Drufi closes Shiver's hand around it, giving it a light squeeze. Looks like the necklace will let Shiver know, even though she can't really wear it. "You go and get the son ready to leave by then."

Unless Shiver has more to discuss, Drufi nods to her, and takes her leave. "I will see you take your throne." It is not much, but Shiver knows Drufi. None among the frost giants respects and trusts Shiver like Drufi. More remarkably, however, Shiver's current weakened state has not changed this. Most frost giants would take advantage of this, establishing dominance in the new pecking order. Not Drufi, if perhaps only towards Shiver, marking the giantess as an unusual member of her kind.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver wraps the necklace around her wrist so that she can feel its warning warming. She turns to Sile Lets go see Cimber's son and see if we can save his life.

[Ridai]

Heading back to Bryn Shander, the gate is opened for Shiver and Sìle. Duvessa returns from the town center shortly after Shiver's arrival, looking like an isle of stoic calm amidst the worried guards and people, having done her part to keep matters under control. Sirac also comes out of one of the guard towers, looking understandably gloomy, but not looking like he is looking for an opportunity to run away either. Beldora is loitering nearby, little attention coming her way given the circumstances, but she is sure not to miss any developments and how her friend is dealing with the situation.

"You're back," Duvessa says simply. Shiver sees her noting the absence of Drufi, and the presence of the necklace. "I take it you have come to an agreement, judging by the lack of blood?"

Sirac quietly chimes in. "I was not born and raised here, but Bryn Shander is still my home. I-if giving my life means the town is safe, I will give it." Unlike many making boisterous claims of not being afraid of death, few are actually able to face it with their full composure. Sirac's voice trembles, but the will behind it is true.

[MikelaC1]

You are not going to die today or tomorrow, at least not at the hand of a frost giant. However, we do need to get you on a boat and send you down the Sword Coast, for a time. The giants will be reporting back to their jarl that the human is dead but the box will show the ring fleeing to some other location and they wont know how to deal with that, especially since Drufi wont be with them....and news of the smaller version of me will have them in a tizzy to figure that one out.
In the meantime, Drufi and I are going to find where the ring really is and deal with it, and if things go as planned, relations between humans and frost giants are going to change, I will see to it.

[Ridai]

Duvessa nods, and looks to Sirac. He says "If this is what is needed to keep the town safe, I'll gladly do it. I'm no stranger to traveling." Duvessa looks to him with the unspoken question whether he is sure, to which Sirac responds with a nod. She places a hand on his shoulder. "You are a good man, Sirac. And I hope you will come back to us once this is over."

Shiver remembers most of the coastal cities. The best bet to get Sirac onto a fast ship is Luskan, the so-called City of Sails, frequently romanticized, but what Shiver has seen in the past before going on her mission, the reputation really paints the wrong picture for that hive of scoundrels and sailors with questionable ethics. Still, it is the northernmost major port of the Sword Coast, and they are bound to find a decent ship there, if they have enough money. People might not even ask questions with the right amount. Plus, it is on the way to Daggerford.

"I will let the people know that the threat is over, at least for the time being. Whatever you end up doing, I hope your victory will come swiftly. You saved a lot of lives today. You have my thanks and that of Bryn Shander once again," Duvessa says, with a nod, then has to excuse herself, needing to go and calm down the highly anxious population of the town.

Sìle lets Sirac know they will leave in the morning and that he should get ready for then, to which he simply nods.

News of Shiver's heroics today spread quickly and the giantess now has some free time on her hands until the morning. Beldora also looks like she wants to grab Shiver's attention, loitering in a nearby alley.

[MikelaC1]

Why are you still here, theres not going to be any dead bodies to pick coins from, get along with you now. Again, Shiver moves toward Beldora like she is going to run off the beggar. She also turns to Sile, telling her to spread the word that Shiver plans to take on any and all comers at Kelvin's Comfort in an hour

[Ridai]

"Jus' curious 'bout what's goin' on, ain't harming no one," in-character-Beldora mumbles as she backs off into the alley. Away from the public eye (which increasingly believes Shiver to have a personal vendetta against bums), Beldora greets her with a grin.

"Singlehandedly saved a bunch of lives and a town to boot, all without a single sword slash. All in a day's work, eh?" Beldora's clearly a fan, even moreso than before. "Too bad you need to go so soon, would have loved to do some catching up with my big girl, step out of bum Beldora for a bit in a cozy corner, and give some proper personal thanks for saving my hide. I'll get you a new map to Daggerford first thing in the morning, and a little extra. The rest of the Harpers will hear about what you did here, maybe they can help out."

A short pause, returning to her impish grin. "Well, shouldn't keep the woman of the hour. I hear you are off to drinking half the town under the table and drowning in strapping young lads and buxom lasses. A heroine's work's never done, ain't it?"

[MikelaC1]

Im sure your good work here is being noted and a promotion will be coming sooner rather than later. And dont worry, after this is all taken care of, I will be back. But heres a little tidbit you can report back to your superiors. The Ordning is gone, shattered. No one has heard from the storm giants about it, and all the others are jockeying for position, hills versus stones, frost versus fire and clouds thinking this is their chance to be #1. My jarl, Storvald, has even bigger designs than moving past fires and thats why he wants that ring.

Shiver stretches and gets ready to head back out of the alley this might be more of a challenge than usual...but even in this state, I have a better consumption than any human

[Ridai]

"Will do. They ain't promoting me anywhere, though. Someone's gotta keep an eye on the Dale, and there's no way I'm accepting a job attending balls. You do keep that promise, though. Ain't accepting singlehandedly saving the North as an excuse." As for Shiver musing about her chances, Beldora just grins and says "Just don't drink all of the guard under the table and leave some reserves for the rest of town."

Heading back out of the alley, people are quickly flocking to Shiver, a mixture of thanks, wonder, asking how things went down, if she really is a giantess. People already held Shiver in high regard, but her saving the whole town without a single casualty or damaged building does wonders even for her already great reputation. Some are still unsure about the whole hidden giantess thing and what that means, some go "Well always knew there was more to her!" which is met with snickering and "Yeah sure"s. It actually takes a fair while to even reach the town center, and once there, Sìle performs her most impressive feat yet: slipping through the large crowd of admirers not minding the bitter cold.

"You will have no shortage of challengers. And if you have to pay even a single copper today, the Hells are likely to freeze over tomorrow."

[MikelaC1]

Shiver bursts into the tavern back in human form and waits if there is applause and banging of mugs. She then takes the most central table there is, and booms out....okay the rules are simple. Everyone who wants to take a try needs to sit down now, no waiting until we've all done 5 rounds and trying to sneak in. Its shot for shot, fire brandy and no cooling drinks in between either. She plops a huge bag of 500 gold on the table. and just to make things interesting, I'll put this up if anyone beats me. That, and all the side betting going on should make for a rocking time in the tavern tonight.

(Note, no one has to put up anything to get into the game, Shiver is just sweetening the pot to get even more in)

[Ridai]

Shiver is greeted by a cacophony of cheers, applause, and stomps. Her announcement is greeted by a great many challengers (some even adding to the pot in the middle!), and once the thunk of the heavy bag of gold is added, oh boy, there's even more. The place is packed. What challengers can't squeeze themselves in at the table get to one nearby, people dragging some tables and chairs and benches closer. On top of that is a large audience. Ogden, the dwarven proprietor of the tavern, has gotten plenty of the firebrandy ready, especially since he knows just how much Shiver can put away and the hour warning he got delivered by Sìle. The alcohol reserves of Kelvin's Comfort are quaking in fear as we speak.

And after the reveal of Shiver, the secret frost giantess, as well as the saving of Bryn Shander, the Great Firebrandy Flood of Kelvin's Comfort, 1491 DR, begins.

Now, this isn't a kiddie pool event with ale. The Firebrandy is hardly the best tasting thing Shiver's had in her life (curious, really, given the dwarven owner and him specifically advertising it), but what it excels at is getting you hammered right quick. And this isn't with teensy shot glasses or nonsense like that either. We're talking more like wooden cups (which may or may not have something do to with Ogden doing damage control of his property). So much so that a few are weeded out right by the first drink. Not that they keeled over, mind you, they are not that lightweight. More coughing and hacking as the drink goes down like fire, realizing what they got themselves into, and gracefully tapping out to join the audience and hoping mead will make the burning sensation go away. Well, that's not entirely true. One elven girl, bless her heart, decided to enter, downed the whole thing, suddenly sat entirely upright, before just falling over backwards, much to the bemusement of the tavern.

Three drinks in, most of the casuals are weeded out, removing more than half the challengers, some needing to be lifted from their seat, though most just tapping out. Each round is started with a cheer to Shiver, and when someone more notable gets eliminated, there is a mixture of cheers and the distinct sound of lost bets in the air. The barmaids are very busy supplying not just Shiver and the challengers with their drinks, but also the audience. Sìle decided against competing, instead moving through the crowd, talking, sometimes dispensing a bit of magic to refresh the barmaids or ensure people stumbling out the door will make it home.

Six drinks in, the field has thinned out indeed. Shiver has just about had enough to reach the limit of how much drink she can take without any problems whatsoever (at human size, since any form of giant size would have made this a laughable farce of a contest). A male dwarven mercenary is still faring relatively well, though not as well as a female dwarven caravan leader. Apart from them, three humans are still in the running. The guard from the the southwestern gate who is struggling mightily at this point, but is clearly not willing to give up (Shiver has also noticed plenty of glances cast at her). A wiry man in his late 20s in simple traveling clothes with notably fluid motions, fond of lifting his cup with just his finger tips and just quietly enjoying the booze. And a bardess who seems very excited, has been overtly casting looks to Shiver (and trying to chat with her), and is showing no signs of being affected by the alcohol whatsoever despite being neither tall nor heavy-set.

As the seventh round arrives, the bardess picks up her cup before Sìle taps her on the shoulder, her smiling face appearing next to that of the bardess.
"Hey, are you interested in a magic trick?"
"Sure!" the bardess answers, with a big grin.
"Dispel Magic."
The bardess looks confused, but Shiver can practically watch her nose turning red, eyes beginning to drop, smile turning rather goofy. "Thash a good un-" And the next thing is a bonk as her forehead hits the table, immediately followed by snoring, along with audience noises like "Are you serious?!" "Ha, I knew it!"

Sìle professionally hooks her arms around the now very unconscious bardess, dragging her away to where she can sleep off the half dozen Firebrandies. "I'll be right back, no one else delay poison while I'm away!" she cheerfully says, the bardess adding her unintelligible sleep babbling. "Yes, yes, very good, lass."

People seem to take the incident with humor, given how it ended. The dwarves give a snort and a "typical bard", the wiry man is having a good-natured cackle (triggered by the bonk-snore combo) as he swirls his cup, the guard is too busy focusing on keeping it together.

The seventh round begins!

I figured Shiver could down drinks equal to her Con modifier without issue, +1 from being a (small) giantess. Not even the dwarves got that many for free. Now, we get to the area where Con checks become necessary. Shiver receives a +2 bonus on that check, simply because of being a giantess and an experienced drinker.

Beside the drinking, Shiver can also do other stuff in addition, be it commanding/signaling Sìle, entertaining the crowd etc.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver downs her 7th shot without even breaking a sweat, wiping her mouth and looking around after. Hottest fire brandy Ive tasted in a long time, thats for sure. Lets see how many more honest men and dwarves can take. She favors the guardsman with a saucy grin as well.

[Ridai]

The seventh round is done! The female dwarf seems to be holding on relatively well, while the male dwarf decides to call it quits, causing a flurry of bets being resolved. The wiry human happily downs his drink, making it unsure whether he is fine or drunk judging by his motions. The guardsman has been struggling, but between Shiver's effortless display and her attention, the need to hold on and maybe even impress her is powerful indeed, allowing him to go on another round.

By now, Sìle returns, mingling with the audience once more, though she also picks up on what Shiver is doing in regards to the guardsman. Wordlessly, she asks whether she should also add "encouragement".

(Round 8! The Con DC is now 18!)

[MikelaC1]

nope, no cheating on your part at least, if i cant beat them fair and square, so be it. but make sure there are no more shenanigans going on with te remaining ones

Another round then and with that, Shiver downs her 8th round, only the tiniest bit of sweat on her brow

[Ridai]

Everyone slams down their drinks. Shiver, as expected, just nails it, people cheering and chanting, given she keeps elevating her status as the local heroine. Wherever she looks, people marvel at and admire her (and there is no shortage of money riding on her winning, too).

The dwarf woman who has been doing fine thus far and even attracted herself a boy toy a young human admirer massaging her shoulders puts her drink away, looks like she is fine. Until she suddenly begins to sway and fall backwards against her admirer's chest. A few slurred words, and she is escorted out the tavern to her room, while people are going crazy, bets thrown into chaos since she seemed fine just a moment ago. Sìle confirms there was no cheating involved, just tough luck.

The wiry human seems to be in an increasingly good mood, clearly more than a tipsy, but that doesn't seem to stop him. Whether he ends up winning or not, he is becoming a bit of a crowd favorite (far behind Shiver, of course).

The guardsman, bless his soul, is still hanging on by a thread. He has no business hanging with the competition here, even the now absent dwarves had much better chances, the wiry human just drinking like a demon, and Shiver being Shiver. And yet, he seems to simply refuse being eliminated from the competition, third place while punching far above his weight evidently not enough, not with Shiver watching. Taking a deep breath, he downs his drink, sways... and slams his cup down, still in the game. No one knows what is currently even going on, all sorts of bets just thrown off.

Round 9! The new DC is 20 with all the alcohol now in Shiver's system. The DC is the same for everyone else as well.

If she succeeds, she is still pretty much fine.
With the current DC, if she rolls 15 to 19, she gains one level of drunkenness (tipsy).
10 to 14 is two levels (drunk).
Less than 10 is three levels (completely hammered).
If she rolls a natural 1, she's straight up taken out.

Shiver is also taken out if she accumulates four levels of drunkenness throughout the contest, so since she is at 0 right now, the only way she can lose is with a natural 1. If she succeeds by more than 5 or even rolls a natural 20, some other things might also happen. In round 7, her good check gave the guardsman a bonus so he had a slightly better chance of sticking around when he has no business even getting that far (but his bonus is still nowhere near Shiver's massive +7, to say nothing of her being fine) to add some amusement to the contest.

So, I roll for the other contestants behind the scenes as well. The dwarf woman has so far been doing fine, but she rolled a natural 1. Meanwhile, the guardsman is basically perpetually in sudden death mode where he needs to succeed on every check to not be taken out, but he keeps lucking out. The wiry human is clearly drunk, but it is uncertain how close or far he is to being taken out.

[MikelaC1]

HA, who said dwarves could hold their liquor Its said with partially a joking tone, but as well, Shiver is a giant and you know how it is between giants and dwarves. And with that, she bangs down a 9th shot, playing to the crowd by not even showing the merest hesitation.

See if that wiry guy is using magic, he should be having a harder time than that, given his body size.

[Ridai]

Shiver is just completely no-selling the enormous amount of spirits she has put away, and people love it. Meanwhile, there is a slight hold-up for the wiry guy's drink, and when the barmaid makes her way there, he is already leaning absolutely dangerously far back on his chair. Top of his toes hooked under the table to keep him from falling, while simultaneous reaching far behind himself, plucking the cup from the barmaid's tablet with a chaotic, yet sure motion. "Thanks!" And as he rights himself back to a normal sitting position, he chugs the whole drink on the way, now in an even better mood, barely able to stay on his seat as the happiest drunk alive.

As unlikely as it sounds, there is no magic foulplay or sleight of hand involved as far as I can tell. I am as surprised as you are, Sìle whispers in Shiver's ear. The wiry guy appears to be a traveller passing through, from what she learned.

Meanwhile, while the majority of cheers are directed to Shiver, and laughs at the happy drunk's antics, there is a small but growing contingent is chanting "Connor! Connor!" as the guardsman downs his drink, and somehow manages to neither fall over, pass out, or puke. To be clear here, no one really expects him to win, he is up against Shiver, for gods' sakes! But he has come almost unreasonably far and they went to see if he can last through the 10th round.

The absolute stinking luck of Connor, the regular guardsman, right now. Wow. This was meant as a little callback and fun addition, but I guess Connor really wants to prove himself to Shiver. Who is also still being completely fine.

Here we go, round 10, DC 23. Fail by 5 or less = 1 level of drunkenness. 6-10 = 2 levels. 11-15 = 3 levels. 16+ or natural 1 = out!

At this point, if this lone guardsman still makes it through, this guy is a secret luck dragon with a liver of adamantine.

[MikelaC1]

The alcohol is finally beginning to catch up to Shiver, but only a tiny bit (failed by one) and she slams the shot glass back on the table. Thats carrying a mighty fine punch, I must say

[Ridai]

The crowd watches Shiver make it a full ten cups, by now an absolutely absurd number, and still is hardly showing any difficulties! She has proven her prowess in the past, but people still have a hard time comprehending what they are seeing.

The wiry guy slams back his drink. There is a pause, he goes "Hic!"... and suddenly jumps out of his chair. "Wooo! Fin'ly juished up good! Tha' hidsh th' spot, hahaha!" He appears to be standing and swaying very precariously, yet somehow managing not to even remotely fall over despite it all. "Wash fun, mebbe we'll drrrrink again shometime! Have fun now!" With many, many, many hand flourishes, he bows deeper and deeper until his face basically touches his shins, then just... snakes his way through the crowd and out the tavern with no real difficulty, sometimes kind of winding around people, once even just ducking/sliding between someone's legs, all without breaking strike. Coins are snipped into the air, most of them landing in a cup next to Ogden, one in a barmaid's cleavage. The barmaids just look to each other and Sìle, just shrugging and raising her hands in confusion. A gesture Sìle pretty much mirrors. The crowd is similarly half confused and half trying to make sense of the betting chaos resulting from this.

And so we arrive at Connor, the Regular Guardsman. Suddenly finding himself as the last remaining opponent of Shiver herself, and through him generally trying to keep it together, it is plain to see he is just baffled by this development. He takes the tenth (tenth!) cup, people cheering him on. He downs it, needing a moment to empty it. The empty cup is put on the table, haphazardly, leaning on an elbow, holding his head. It's been emptied, but Connor takes a labored breath. He his trying to clear his head, shaking it... and slips, falling forward onto the table. The outcome is clear. But, to Connor's credit, he is still able to raise a hand to signal "Can't no more, am done".

Loud cheers erupt in the tavern, celebrating Shiver's victory. Bryn Shander isn't a rich town, but the 500 gold Shiver put into the middle of the table got joined by a collection of coins increasing the reward by another 200 gold. People are flocking to Shiver, raising mugs. Connor does his best to pick himself up off the table's surface to clap for the victor (a difficult process in his current state), and fumbles for his coins to try (emphasis on try) to pay for his drinks while he can still remember how many he's had.

And that's it. The wiry guy was basically a timer, leaving after round 10. He was a Drunken Master, basically looking for a place to load up on booze for adventuring, and drinking with others is more fun. He could have tried to drink more, but that would have meant not doing what he set out to do afterwards, because there still is a state of being too drunk to adventure.

Connor's luck, meanwhile, ran out. He gave his best, but he did not get the needed natural 19 or 20 he needed in this situation.

Shiver is now a net 200 gold richer, and has added even more fame to her name.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver wasnt in it for the money and by dint of tips to barmaids, tips to her supporters and even a bit for the bar who hosted the event (even paying for Connor's drinks), the 200 extra gold goes back into the pockets of people in the bar, just not the same people that put it up.

[Ridai]

(I'm moving this forward to the next morning. Feel free to add if Shiver does anything else after the drinking contest)

Early next morning, Shiver, Sìle, and Sirac wait in front of the south-western Bryn Shander gate, Shiver having felt the necklace she was given by Drufi activating. Beldora hands them a map on the way out of the town, depicting what path Shiver likely took when she made her first journey, going along the Sword Coast past Neverwinter, then going further inland to Triboar, and from there heading down to Waterdeep and finally Daggerford. Going to Triboar is a bit of a detour compared to just staying along the coast, but Beldora mentions the road between Neverwinter and Deepwater is currently facing troubles, especially around the Mere of Dead Men and the Sword Mountains, and circumventing those might mean an ultimately less problematic and faster trek.

Beldora also passes a note to Shiver, describing the location of a raised crypt in the Waterdeep cemetary, along with the means to enter it via a codeword. Inside, they will find a girl called Thestryl, who is part of the Harpers. Beldora knows her, so Thestryl will help them get the Harpers' assistance. She says she doesn't want to spoil the surprise.

As the group leaves the town, out into the icy cold (Sirac standing out as the only one who actually has to dress for the weather), Sìle discreetly asks Shiver "Since you know Drufi and she will be accompanying us, do you wish me to serve her much as I serve you?"

Shortly after, Sìle begins a long incantation, stretching into the minutes. Drufi arrives during it.

"The others are now on the way back. We should leave soon. Give me the necklace." Assuming Shiver gives it to Drufi, Drufi puts it on. There is a strange feeling of connection between the giantesses. Shiver feels power flowing into her, and a moment later, Drufi shrinks down to Shiver's size. "Not what I wanted that thing for originally, but it'll do. It weakened me, but it will let you recover faster. And it lets me tap into your size changing. Can't take it off anytime soon, but that shouldn't matter." Drufi hides the necklace under her clothes and patchwork armor. She looks to the chanting Sìle. "What's she doing?"

A few moments later, the question is answered when misty shapes akin to horses spring into being, four of them, sized for humans. "Our transportation. They cannot take a hit, but require no riding training and will get us to where we want to go much faster."

Shiver levels up to level 8.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver whispers back to Sile Yes, please, but let her set the pace, she has a dominate personality

Shiver regards the ghostly horses dubiously, Giants dont ride horses, especially ghost ones. But she trusts in what Sile does with her magic and mounts up on one. We are going along the Sword Coast past Neverwinter, then going further inland to Triboar, and from there heading down to Waterdeep and finally Daggerford. Going to Triboar is a bit of a detour compared to just staying along the coast but I want to duplicate my original route in hopes of finding who did this to me. Once in Waterdeep, I know of a raised crypt in the Waterdeep cemetary, and I have the means to enter it via a codeword. Inside, we will find a girl called Thestryl, who can aid us leaving out the Harper connection because of Drufi's presence. Lets ride

[Ridai]

"I am sorry. Horses are a popular shorthand for travel manifestations such as these, especially since most magic was formulated by races that tend to ride horses for travel. If it helps, these are not actually animals," Sìle says.

Drufi, meanwhile, seems as sceptical about the "horses" as Shiver does, perhaps moreso. Shiver has indicated Sìle is to be trusted, but Drufi can be a bit slow to do so, unsurprisingly for someone from a cutthroat clan as she is, without the privilege of the undisputed number one of all clanswomen. As such, she examines this creature she is supposed to ride with a critical eye.

"Tell me how reliable these things are." Drufi's voice is commanding.

"Quite so, mistress. They will not bolt, they will follow your commands without fail, and only allow us as their riders. Once you mount up and take the reins, you will find it very intuitive to steer them, even if you have not ridden a horse or similar before." Sìle patiently, respectfully answers Drufi's question.

"Now how fit for combat they are."

"They do not react to combat any different than to any other situation, thus they remain in your full control. They do not attack either. They are about as durable as the average horse, but not as much as a warhorse. Opponents, however, do tend to find it somewhat harder to connect blows with them."

"Show me how fast they are."

"Of course, mistress." Sìle mounts up on the mount meant for her, possessing a streak of blue similar to her semi-ephemeral dress. First, she shows the speed of a good riding horse for the sake of comparison, followed by the travel speed of these mounts, which is about thrice as fast, and bothered much less by somewhat treacherous ground. Sirac, having remained quiet so far, clearly mostly dealing with mentally preparing for the journey, watches with wonder, clearly never having gotten the opportunity to travel like this. "Did you find the demonstration satisfactory?"

Drufi is still skeptical about these mounts, but Shiver sees even she has to acknowledge their speed. "It will do." A beat. "Tell me why you call me mistress. I have not claimed you." Claiming refering to a part of frost giant culture. The stronger tend to claim weaker giants as their mates, or sometimes claim particularly weak creatures as their servants. The latter can even extend to other giants, if they are thoroughly beaten in duels several times over, or are otherwise particularly humiliated. Might makes right. Slavery is not that widespread a practice for frost giants, though. At times, they claim, say, human barbarian tribesmen as workers, but it is more an opportune thing (partially because of being way too unorganized as a whole) rather than a standard, organized practice like it is for fire giants, who are infamous for being especially cruel slavers in a big, bad way.

"I have sworn myself to Shiver to serve her faithfully in whatever way she desires. As you appear to share a history with my mistress, wish to restore her to her former glory at great personal risk, and have gone out of your way to spare Bryn Shander as well as Sirac, I wished to extend the same service to you, with permission by my mistress. With the caveat that Shiver's word remains the highest authority I answer to, due to my oath. I hope you understand."

Drufi looks like she is not sure what to make of this. She looks to Shiver for a moment. Her interaction with small folk has been limited, at least on friendly terms, let alone a woman who could be equal parts sorceress and courtesan. Specifically Shiver's sorceress and courtesan. If Shiver had to guess, Sìle's lack of fear underneath the open respect seems to catch Drufi off-guard.

"Does this displease you?" Sìle asks.

"No... no, it doesn't." Drufi answers, still unsure, but trying to maintain an air of authority.

Sìle smiles. "Then please do not hesitate to let me know how I may serve you." The human woman looks happy, Drufi nodding once, then turning away. Shiver gets the feeling Drufi wanted to check if this human is actually on the level. She seems satisfied for now, though clearly has been left with questions, the situation not having played out remotely like anything she expected.



With this settled, the party begins their journey. They all mount up, Shiver determining the course. The road ahead feels familiar, memory returning. She walked the last time, though perhaps riding in a wagon at times when she pleased. A long journey of nearly a thousand miles, but a relatively discreet one, as far as giants go, given her human guise. An unusual thing. A secret mission issued to a frost giantess, the only one perhaps up for such a thing.

Shiver finds she just knows how to control her mount, and as soon as she makes it go forward, it moves easily four times as fast as she would move in her giant form. The ride is stunningly smooth, the riding rhythm quite pleasant, the soundless hooves nearly gliding across the ground. Drufi, Sìle, and Sirac are with her, their mounts following hers.

The passing scenery, the feeling of being on the road, and her returning power stir old memories. The journey to Luskan had taken almost a week from Bryn Shander on foot. Time was not tight for her mission, its purpose having a timeframe of months to be fulfilled within. Success was more important than trying to do it as quickly as possible, as befits the longer (theoretical) lifespan of the frost giants, at least those few with a slightly longer perspective. Now, with these mounts, the town of Hundelstone is passed in a few mere hours, even making it to and past the crossing leading the main trade road east towards Luskan. At this rate, by the time they would make camp, they would be already halfway to the City of Sails.

At one point in the early evening sun, Drufi rides up closer to Shiver. The smooth and synchronous maneuvering and stride of the horses allows for the riders to be closer than would normally be possible (or advisable) than with regular mounts. Sìle and Sirac are riding a bit further behind, currently chatting. Sirac has been understandably nervous, given the purpose of his journey, and clearly intimidated by Drufi, so he looks glad to be able to speak to another human for a while, Sìle soothing his nerves. Perhaps it is a small mercy that being surrounded by three exceptionally beautiful women is a touch distracting for him, something he seems a bit shy about, but at least takes his mind off of his grim duty.

"How do you deal with this tiny form?" Drufi asks Shiver in their native language, moving her fingers. "Not all my strength is there anymore, and it feels only worse when I am this small. It feels... strange to talk to humans like this. At eye level. Always wondered what you got out of it."

[MikelaC1]

You dont get anything out of it. That's the whole point. You see things from their point of view. Things that you might not have understood before. You dont give into everything they say, but you understand why they say it. And you can get your point across to them as an equal, rather than someone who could bash their brains out with a single swing.

[Ridai]

As is Drufi's way, she is silent for a moment. She has plenty passion and aggression when such things are needed, but she can be surprisingly introspective at times. Much of her current views are shaped by her life in their clan, but Shiver has always had an influence on her. So while she would not just agree with Shiver right away, she has a surprisingly rare gift among frost giants: a willingness to learn.

"What sort of things did they make you understand?" Drufi asks. After a moment, she adds "That human town. They listened to you. Looked to you when we came. Even opened the gates when you told them to. But it didn't look like you claimed them. Did you gain power over them in some way in exchange for protection?"

After a moment of consideration, there is another thing Drufi does not quite understand. "Your servant." A slight head motion towards Sìle. "Did you claim her? Didn't know humans wanted to be claimed by us. Or that you wanted a sorceress to serve you."

[MikelaC1]

I do not have power over them, I have protected them in the past and they regard me as a hero and respect my words. When I presented an option of a peaceful solution to the outright slaughter that a party of frost giants would most certainly cause, they were willing to take. it.

As for Sile, when I regained consciousness after whatever was done to me to rob my memories, Sile was there. She chose to serve me willingly, from what I understand, it is in her nature to behave in such a manner. She is not claimed, she serves of her own free will. I do not fully understand it either, but she is quite skilled at what she does.

[Ridai]

Drufi does her usual "Hm." in regards to Bryn Shander, processing the behavior of the small folk, but the bit about Sìle has her give a disbelieving look, like she was told something utterly alien.

"In her nature to serve- what?" Drufi looks back to Sìle briefly, who is still chatting with Sirac, then back to Shiver. "That's insane. I know most small folk can't put up a real fight, but is she cursed?" Drufi looks like she was just told someone suffered permanent brain damage, the notion just utterly alien to the frost giantess for whom submission has to be earned through victory, and the right for it repeatedly reaffirmed so no weakling leads those stronger than them. Not just... freedom given up without a fight or need, with access to sorcerous power no less.

Feeling she has had quite enough in regards to making inquiries about the ass-backwards world of the small folk, Drufi continues the ride in relative silence.


As the sun begins to set and the duration of their mounts is approaching its end, they find a decent spot to make camp a bit away from the road. There is no convenient inn nearby, but that is hardly a hindrance. As Shiver dismounts, she hears some chatter about their travel means (Sirac, excitedly: "It is like riding the wind! We could already be in Luskan by tomorrow!". Sìle: "It is a personal favorite. No risk of saddle sores makes traveling so much nicer." Drufi: "It wasn't... bad."). She quickly locates a suitable camp location under an overhang, Sìle setting up her tent with practiced (and magically assisted) speed.

"There we are! Please enter in human size, mistresses," Sìle announces, standing beside the tent that looks like it would be cozy for two people. Drufi looks skeptical. "Are you sleeping outside?" To which Sìle cheerfully responds with "Oh, of course not, there is more than enough room for all of us. I'll make a fire and prepare dinner soon."

Clearly not satisfied with the answer, Drufi enters the tent, coming out a few moments later, followed by looking at the outside of the tent in confusion. Sìle is the very picture of understanding, so as to not bruise her second mistress' ego as she learns about extra-dimensional spaces, while Sirac does his best to appear sagely and pretend he clearly knows what that tent is (while trying to suppress a furious blush at the notion of sharing a tent with the three of them).

Shiver discovers the inside of the tent is a little bigger than she remembers, perhaps growing with Sìle's power, perhaps adjusting to its guests. Once through the human-sized tent flap, she has just enough headroom and space to stand up in her current giant form as well as lie down on one of the two giant-sized "beds" of cushions (luring Shiver with their comforts). Shiver would not call it spacious, but not cramped either. Just enough to be comfortable. A small "fireplace" of sorts is there, cloth dividers between the beds if a little more privacy is desired, two human-sized cots off to the side, the tent softly illuminated by various colorful spheres hanging from the ceiling, connected by flower garlands, like an artistic facsimile of the nightsky.

As people settle in, Drufi announces "I'll go out hunting. Too much sitting around on ghost horses, and I want meat for dinner." She expects to hunt alone, but there is always the unspoken invitation for Shiver to join her if she wants to. Sadly, she doesn't get to take many steps outside before Shiver sees a large boulder slamming into the ground outside. Looking around, Drufi spots something, and sighs, mostly in irritation. "We got hill giants," she says, with no shortage of derision in her voice.

Outside (Sìle asks Sirac to stay inside for now), Shiver sees four hill giant men about 100ft away. Ugly, with filthy loincloths under massive pot bellies, carrying the tree trunks they use as clubs, laughing at whatever game they just made up involving throwing rocks at a tent. She hears "You bad, har har har!" and "Think food there?" in the hill giants' usual butchering of the giant language. Perhaps irritatingly, when at their current max size, Shiver and Drufi are still just a foot shy of the 16 feet tall full-size hill giants, whose eyes grow very big indeed at the sight. "Womans!" One of them shouts with obvious lecherous tones, given the two giantesses are smaller than them. And spotting the "tiny" Sìle, another one says "Snacks!"

Joyful laughter from the hill giants, raising their clubs, sure this will be a great evening for them. Drufi's hand tightens around the shaft of her axe. Sìle looks up to Shiver, wordlessly asking whether she should open fire or enhance Shiver in any way. Both are waiting for Shiver's course of action.

(The four hill giants are currently distracted by cheering, ogling, and hunger. Whatever Shiver plans to do, she probably has a handful of rounds or so to make it happen. Attacking will, naturally, begin the fight. Shiver is just shy of charge distance at this very moment, but moving closer non-threateningly would easily put her there.)

[MikelaC1]

In response, Shiver picks up a rock, and fires back at the giants.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] (if STR applies to rock throws)

[Ridai]

Shiver throws the rock, but it misses the mark, slamming into the ground near the hill giants. As Sìle is not close to the target, she is unable to assist. The hill giants start laughing, beginning to hurl back insults at them, making Drufi grit her teeth and get ready to charge, but evidently, the words directed at Shiver stung Sìle more. Her blue energy dress glows as her body flows forward, thrusting her fist towards the hill giants, sending a blue fireball into their midst, where it erupts violently, burning the offending creatures. None truly escape the flames, but through literal dumb luck, two of them are less burned than their brethren. However, even with the magical fury inflicted upon them, they are still giants. None of them have yet reached the halfway point of their endurance. Another spell is intoned as Sìle begins to fly up and forward, and suddenly, Shiver and Drufi feel like bodies move and react much faster. Sìle stumbles, Shiver instinctively feeling through their bond her love for the giantess(es?) allowed her to achieve new heights of magical power, but she also is not yet used to bringing this much to bear.

In response, the hill giants shout, with the two more burned ones and one of the luckier ones charging towards them, but naturally not reaching them, blinded with anger due to their charred hides. All of them are more or less next to each other, but one goes for Shiver, one for Drufi, and one for Sìle. The remaining "lucky" one shouts obscenities at Sìle before throwing another boulder, aimed straight at her in blind retaliation. Fortunately, for all their strength, hill giants are lousy shots, so the gigantic piece of stone plucked straight from the ground does not connect with the still very much human-sized Sìle.

Drufi, meanwhile, moves to engage, intercepting the hill giants coming for Shiver and her (the one going for Sìle is on the opposite side), bringing her axe down onto the one going after Shiver, hacking deep, making the hill giant howl in anger and pain.

Please be advised that Shiver's damage with her greatsword should be +16 (8 x 1.5 Str + 2 greatsword + Weapon Specialization). Also two of those slow-ass giants rolled some remarkable Reflex saves, damn.

Shiver's turn. Sìle hasted the party. Three hill giants are 40ft away from Shiver, the last one is 100ft away throwing boulders. Shiver can move to engage either the left and center hill giant [going after Sìle and Shiver, respectively], or center and right [Shiver and Drufi].

Enemy status: left hill giant [vs Sìle] is lightly wounded, center [vs Shiver] is heavily wounded, right [vs Drufi] is moderately wounded. Throwing giant is lightly wounded.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver moves into battle against the central giant, hoping to eliminate a target and show Drufi she can still take care of herself. She flies into her characteristic barbarian rage as she does so, trying to make sure the target does down.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage
[roll2] attack & [roll3] damage
[roll4] attack & [roll5] damage

Edit: Forgot to add increased STR to attack rolls so those attack numbers are each 2 higher. Damage rolls are correct

[Ridai]

Shiver may have missed with the throw before, but now she moves into the fray and shows why she is the best. The hill giant can't even react to the fury of her first strike carving into him before she just outright splits him open with a shower of blood. And at that point, she is not even done, her blade carrying through and carving into the hill giant going for Sìle. With the size of the combatants, for a human, it looks like just waves of blood splash the ground. Drufi had moved to protect Shiver given her importance, but Shiver's message has been received loud and clear. Not only that, but Shiver, for a brief moment, sees that familiar expression on her face whenever they fought in battle side by side, or when Shiver ultimately beat Drufi in every single of their sparring matches (whether the fight was close or not). In this moment, drenched in the blood of her enemies in the heat of battle, driven by unparalleled fury, Shiver is (in Drufi's eyes) the ideal all other frost giantesses wish they could achieve. A smile plays around the corners of Drufi's mouth, seeing even in her weakened state, Shiver's still got it.

Not to be outdone (entirely), Drufi attacks her own target with vicious strikes, proving why she firmly claimed and defended the second place among their clan's women. People like to think of axes as big lumbering weapons, but Drufi makes her gigantic weapon look frighteningly quick, especially while under Sìle's spell, opening her enemy's defenses up with sudden strikes, footwork, and surprise jabs and tackles. In the end, the hill giant still stands, unable to finish it off and keep going like Shiver did, but the creature is left a bloody mess.

Knowing the warrior's pride of the giantesses, Sìle focuses her attention on the more distant giant to draw his fire. Weaving her hands in the air, she shapes two sizzling green orbs out of nothingness and has them spiral towards the giant, causing him to scream as they easily connect with his massive frame, eating into him.

Retaliation follows swiftly. The distant giant throws a boulder at the flying woman to get rid of the annoying gnat, but has no chance of actually hitting her. However, Sìle does not want to take the risk of the severely badly aimed projectile to hit Shiver, Drufi, or the tent, so she draws on her magic to intercept the boulder, summoning a momentary invisible field it shatters against. Meanwhile, the giants in melee range are driven into mindless fury, the one who originally went after Sìle instead going for Shiver. The wild swings are laughable for her, easily blocking both with her swordplay. On Drufi's side of things, one whack connects, and while it may have turned the average human villager into fine paste or put a decent dent into Sìle, Drufi tanks it and keeps going, narrowly stepping around the second strike thanks to the edge granted by the haste spell.

Shiver's turn. Drufi is only superficially injured compared to her maximum HP. The center hill giant is dead. The left hill giant is heavily wounded. The right hill giant is near death. The distant hill giant is moderately wounded. Due to her space and reach, Shiver can engage the right giant before or during her action with a 5ft step, if she wants to.

[MikelaC1]

Just as Drufi respected Shiver's warrior pride, Shiver will do the same and not attack the one giant she was dealing with, moving on to engage the last one who approached them. Her rage is still active and her blade falls with methodical precision

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage
[roll2] attack & [roll3] damage
[roll4] attack & [roll5] damage

[Ridai]

Even before Drufi can finish off her almost dead target, Shiver dissects hers with swift strikes. Seeing his friends getting decimated by the women, the distant hill giant seems to start reconsidering his life choices (slowgoing as that is for his kind), allowing Sìle to pour a lot of magic into finishing him just barely. Shiver gets the impression that one was the runt of the pack.

"Hill giants this far out. Didn't think they'd dare to get this close to frost giant territory," Drufi notes as she offers a fist bump to Shiver. "Dire times. Or endless stupidity. Anyway, I'll go hunt us dinner." Though Shiver just demonstrated her utter dominance in battle, Drufi does have one area of expertise where she can claim to exceed Shiver: hunting, be it on land or for whales. Not that it matters much in frost giant society. Unless one hunts big game, it is just a pastime or menial task, true glory lying in battle, raids, and victory. And being a woman in her particular clan, there is little respect gained for her prowess in the matter, at least from males.

"A moment, please, mistress," Sìle asks Drufi, landing as light as a feather on the ground before the giantess. "Could I see your hand for a moment?" Drufi frowns for a moment, but holds her hand down to the comparatively small woman. Gently, Sìle grasps it and kisses the palm. Shiver watches Drufi's few wounds mend, along with a surprised expression from the giantess.

"That wasn't necessary. And I didn't ask for it," Drufi answers, with a hint of sharpness in her voice. Shiver knows that reaction. The feeling of being underestimated, treated as frail. "My apologies, mistress. But you allowed me to serve you as I serve Shiver. And it is my duty to see to your wellbeing, no matter how serious or small the matter. It is the least I could do for women without compare such as yourselves." Sìle's smile is positively disarming. Drufi opens her mouth, but closes it again, looking down at Sìle.

"I'm going hunting," Drufi says again, moving past them to the nearby copse. "Of course. I will make dinner preparations in the meantime," Sìle answers, with a bow towards Drufi as she passes. Turning to Shiver, Sìle looks ever radiant, if perhaps a little tired from the expenditure of magic.

"I admit, I was a little worried, facing four of giantkind, even though it is my understanding they are the lowest among them. But once again, my expectations were thoroughly shattered. You were amazing." She smiles up to the giantess. "Would you like a quick magical cleaning, or do you prefer a bath?" Sìle asks, motioning towards the blood Shiver is covered in. Plenty of baths were had during the leisurely voyage in the tower, enhanced by Sìle's flawless service, but she prefers asking how things look like on the road. "If you could let me know Drufi's preference, as well as perhaps help me drag the corpses together as a pile so I can burn them, I would be most thankful. Digging graves would take awfully long, and leaving such large carcasses to rot by the road would be unfortunate."

[MikelaC1]

Hill giants barely qualify as giants, more like overgrown ogres. Shiver has little more than contempt for their assailants. She spends the few minutes needed to drag the corpses together to let Sile do her thing. I think that for the moment, we should stick to magical cleanings. Drufi and I have a complicated relationship and I dont want make things awkward until I sort out exactly where we stand
After the giant corpses are moved, Shiver waits for Drufi to return with her prizes, knowing her prowess in hunting. When she spots the giantess, she helps her bring the meat into camp, helping her to skin and prep the carcasses for Sile to cook. As they work, she talks to Drufi. Sile did not mean anything by using her healing on you, as I said, its what she does. I dont even notice it anymore when she heals me. And its not an admission of weakness or frailty, on the contrary, it just makes us ready for more battles. Theres nothing worse than being forced to retreat from a battle to overwhelming grievous wounds from old fights....except for being an idiot like Shhalt and keep on fighting with half your body ripped open and wondering why you fall moments later.

[Ridai]

Sìle chuckles at the comment on the hill giants. "A certain similarity is undeniable." As Shiver drags the bodies onto a pile and Sìle incinerates them to ashes, she looks up to the giantess as Shiver's relationship with Drufi is mentioned. "Would you like to talk about it, and how you feel about her?"


Returning to the tent, Sìle lets Sirac know everything is alrightm the man visibly reliefed, if a little ashamed he could not help, clearly outclassed. Sìle makes the cooking station swell in size, given a dinner for giantesses is to be prepared, heating water and gathering ingredients for a hearty stew. Drufi soon returns, a deer under each arm. More than enough to eat well. "It'll do," she simply comments what she got.

Using a relatively flat and wide rock as their "table" to prep the meat (Sìle dutifully cleans the surface with magic beforehand), since while the tent has room, two giants and someone else going through all sorts of kitchen production is probably a bit much, Shiver and Drufi go to work, having little trouble. Drufi has knives for this sort of thing ready as well. "First time for everything, huh?" she says. In regards to having the meat cooked. The overwhelming majority of frost giants deem a fresh kill more than warm and ready enough to eat and the most cooking that is done is thawing thoroughly frozen meat (if even that), but Shiver has told her about the, ah, cuisine of the small folk before (and possibly having developed a taste for it. Bacon may or may not be involved?).

Drufi briefly stops as Shiver explains the healing. She doesn't meet Shiver's gaze before continuing her work. "Sorry. Old habits." Someone needing a healer, in many cases, is often seen as a weakling (for not being able to walk it off) or coward (for being afraid of death), regardless of it making sense to get one or not. There is some degree of hypocrisy in the matter when you get into the higher echelons, but asking someone if they need a healer after a duel or sparring is asking for a bloody nose at the least in many cases. "Reminded me of the women back home that bought into the status quo. They can't help but assume a wounded woman must require healing." Thus turning themselves into unwitting dispensers of shame, reinforcing the jarl's "values", continuing the cycle. Something Shiver rarely ever experienced herself, given her combat dominance.

Drufi sighs. It's wisdom coming from Shiver. It's not easily brushed off for her. "I'll try to be better about it." A beat. "Shhalt'd been a lost cause, though. Won a duel against him once by holding my axe out and having him run into it because he thought I'd pull it back or flinch in the face of his manly charge. Then wanted a rematch, got blood in his eyes, stumbled, fell on his sword." Drufi snickers. "An inspiration to us all."

I see Shhalt/Shake is also around. What is Shiver's relation to her in this game, and what is she generally up to/like in Thrice-Blessed?

Misunderstanding cleared up

[MikelaC1]

Ha, ha, ha. Or the time he challenged me, ran at me at full tilt, I just sidestepped him and tripped him with my sword as he went by, he crashed so hard he knocked himself out...HA...how can anyone meet his end on a hill giants club. What a turd.

[Ridai]

"Heh." Drufi raises a faux-reprimanding hand, speaking in solemn tones. "But now now, we shouldn't call him names. After all, he heroically defeated the greatest danger to our clan at the cost of his life."

A beat.

"Himself. May his soul forever enjoy its place in Thrym's halls for his great deed. Right inside the divine latrine." Drufi remains straightfaced for about two seconds before cracking up.

Preparing the meat goes by quick as they trade stories. Inside, Sìle has the large pot going, Sirac helping prepare ingredients as directed by the maid. "Ah, immaculate timing. Please put the meat bowl over there." Much of the meat is cut into decently sized chunks, briefly putting them into a large pan to give some color on the sides before they go in the stew. "Is all that really necessary?" Drufi still not sold about the whole cooking thing, but she promised to try and be better, so she bites her tongue from then on out.

A bit later, the stew is declared ready. Since Sìle had some magic left for the day, she used it on making dinner, and thus, it is simply divine. Drufi eyes the stew a bit suspiciously at first, tastes it a few times. "...Okay, gotta admit. I'm coming around to cooked meals." It took a bit of doing, but she got there. And she is taking seconds. As far as Sìle is concerned, she just enjoys her mistresses and her guest enjoying her handiwork. She and Sirac just stick to human portions, leaving the vast majority to the giantesses.

---------------

The next day, the ride continues, after Drufi had a quick sparring warm-up with Shiver in the morning, feeling like she is getting pampered too much and needs something to balance that (naturally, she loses the bout, then gets pampered more when she has the sweat she had going on magically cleaned to get her ready for travel). The weather is overcast, but progress is made quickly, as the surrounding landscape whips by them, even passing the occasional travelers. In the afternoon, they arrive at Luskan, northernmost major port of the Sword Coast. As grandiose as the title of "City of Sails" sounds, it is anything but, closer to a filthy dive full of scum and villainy. Shiver remembers the squat buildings, the ramshackle port, and the only very thin polite illusion of pirates acting like "traders". But it is the right place to get a ship without any questions, if you have the gold. Over the general stench and the fog hanging over the city right now, the tower of the Arcane Brotherhood reaches towards the sky. When she was first here, Shiver almost mistook it for a giant leafless tree with how it expands into several thinner spires towards the top.

"Sirac, please always stay close to us. Mistress Drufi, please do not assume giant size while in a small folk settlement or within viewing distance of it, unless it absolutely becomes necessary, of course. People tend to be jumpy at the sudden appearance of a giant in town, and here in Luskan, it would be best to avoid the gaze of the Arcane Brotherhood."

Something else also rises into the sky, however. The unmistakable sight of smoke from a big fire, situated where Shiver remembers the port.

Feel free to continue the scene with Drufi if you'd like. Also, does Shiver tell Sìle anything in regards to Sìle's question from last post?

[MikelaC1]

Shiver eyes the smoke suspiciously. We've got problems, hopefully it doesnt delay your departure. Shiver leads the way to see if they can aid in fire suppression.

[Ridai]

Heading to the port, Shiver sees a mixture of some activity because of what appears to be happening at the port, but just as many do not seem to care particularly much. The group draws a lot of eyes, Drufi and Sìle already being remarkably beautiful women, but Shiver being phenomenally so, meaning a lot of men and women ogle her, with a few particularly brave people whistling or cat calling (from what they deem a safe distance). A loose group of people, growing and dwindling, follows them part of the way, showering them (but particularly Shiver) with plentiful compliments in the hopes of buying them drinks, or invite them to various establishments ranging from relatively mundane to brothels.

When they reach the port, they are greeted by the aftermath of a lot of destruction, at the center of it being a burning and frost giant greatship. There are several mostly sunken or still sinking shipwrecks, looking like the massive greatship simply rammed them on the way to the harbor, in some cases just shattering them. Charred frost giant corpses float in the frigid water around the greatship, and are scattered across the blasted deck. On the port, several people are standing and sitting, just watching the ship burn. Shiver overhears mention of waiting for the fire to die down to loot what is left on the ship. What little is left of the sails shows the colors and rune of Storvald's clan. Elsewhere in the port, there are still a few longboats that look like they managed to escape the carnage caused by the giants.

Drufi sees the clan colors. "Storvald absorbed many of our surrounding clans once you were gone. Snowballed right over them before they knew what was going on, dueled and either killed or enslaved the other jarls. I knew we're strong, but didn't expect that working out. Had help by human mages too. Guess he let some of our raiders cut loose."

"Educated guess says they ran into a wall of fireballs and weren't prepared for magic," Sìle says, subtle motion towards the Arcane Brotherhood tower overlooking the port.

Shiver knows her clan wasn't exactly small to begin with, but if what Drufi says is true, a rough estimation of the strength of the various clans around them in the Icewind Dale, the Spine of the World, and the Sea of Moving Ice, their clan is now massive, easily the dominant frost giant force of the Savage Frontier, and it would not be particularly close. Losing these raiders would have been unfortunate before, but this group would just be one of many now.

[MikelaC1]

More important than ever that we get you out of town, and as soon as possible. Shiver leads the way into the dock area, trying to steer away from the people gawking at the carnage and towards those who might still have a viable ship.

[Ridai]

Making their way over to where the more intact ships are, the carnage thankfully provides enough distractions to move about without much of a following this time around. There are a few longboats that could fit the bill (well, if they are heading south, that is), and taking a look at what is available and asking around, they find a relatively sizeable ship called the Midnight Gale. From the looks of it, the captain runs a tight ship, so Shiver is fairly certain that with the right price, they could put Sirac on there and secure his way at least a good bit south. The price, however, may or may not turn out to be sizeable, and the captain has a reputation for being a hard negotiator.

As they are looking around, Shiver suddenly hears a whistle. Looking around, she spots a flamboyant tiefling woman looking down at them, horns curling under her wide-brimmed and feathered hat. She stands on the bridge of a ship called the Red Siren's Call, smaller and less robust than the Midnight Gale, but sleek in its design. "You ladies look like you're ready for a wild night in town, braving storms and bashing heads out on the sea, or both. Either way, Nisha can provide," she says, leaning her chin on a hand, giving an easy smirk. "I'll even let you bring your little tag-along. You'd love that, hm, sweety?" The last bit is directed at Sirac, Nisha giving him quite the look and miming a quick kiss, successfully making him blush. Nisha's tail lazily moves behind her as she awaits an answer.

(As always, you can also ask Drufi and Sìle for their input on the matter, or if you want them to do something for Shiver.)

[MikelaC1]

Before starting to negotiate with either captain, Shiver turns to Sirac, whispering The tieflling is likely to be cheaper than the other boat, but are you okay with riding with a tiefling?

[Ridai]

Sirac thinks about it for a moment. "I mean, I haven't met many of them, but they aren't all bad, are they?" he asks, glancing to Nisha who wiggles her fingers at them. "She seems, uh, not averse to trouble, either, and pretty interested in you, so maybe that's better than someone just taking this on as a job that might get too dangerous for them?" He shrugs. It's a gamble, but he looks like he feels both sides are a gamble, just... different ones.

[MikelaC1]

Remember I wont be going with you

[Ridai]

"I know, but... maybe you are convincing enough to have her see this through? Pirate's honor, if that is actually a thing? I am not much good in negotiations, sadly."

[MikelaC1]

Captain NIsha, myself and my friend pointing to Drufi will be staying here in Luskan, but my other friend, Sirac, needs safe transport as far south as you are able to provide, hopefully arriving in one piece. Can you provide that, and what would the price be?

[Ridai]

Nisha grins. "Ooh, getting out of dodge, eh? Come to my cabin and we'll hash out how much it'll be for taking your little friend away."

Assuming Shiver and friends agree, they get onto the ship and into the captain's cabin, filled with what Shiver identifies as trophies from several adventures, as well as a few luxuries. The place looks like Nisha loves living her best life.

In her armchair behind her desk, Nisha awaits them, boots on the desk, framed by the light of the rear windows. The blood-red orbs that are her eyes examine all of them closely, clearly liking what she sees as they enter. Nisha herself is on the wilder side of the swashbuckling captain ideal. There is a sense of danger to her, yet mixed with effortless charm.

"Make yourselves comfortable. Drinks?" Nisha says, making a wide gesture to the chairs near her desk and the collection of bottles towards one side. If Shiver seats herself, Sìle remains standing to the side and a step behind her. Drufi takes another seat, but sits with her elbows on her knees, ever ready for action at a moment's notice. Sirac takes a third chair, squirming a little bit as Nisha thoroughly examines him with bemused intrigue.

"So," she begins, looking to Shiver. "let's get to the juicy bits. How much trouble is our sweetheart here in, hm?" This... seems a bit unusual, directly asking a question like that, however it is followed by "I hope it's spicy!"

[MikelaC1]

Shiver looks over the collection of alcohol, selecting the one that seems the most potent, and pours herself a drink, which she downs in one shot. If it has enough potency for her palette, she brings it with her to the chair, and sits herself. The frost giant horde think our friend is someone he isnt, and want to kill him for something he doesnt have. We have to get him as far south as possible to misdirect them so we can work unobstructed in the north and get what they think he does have. She pours herself a second shot and downs it.

[Ridai]

Nisha quirks a bemused eyebrow. "Really now? And here I thought I'd get the usual fare of affairs with some official's daughter or having shanked someone important. Now you got my attention. The price just went down." She was about to reach for a bottle, but instead she sits up, elbows on the desk. Drufi is unsure what to make of this tiefling, Sìle appears at ease.

"So, I'll have the North's frost giants on my tail? What's got all of them this worked up that all of them want it?" Nisha looks straight at Shiver, unwaveringly, like she is about to get the choicest bit about this whole endeavor.

[MikelaC1]

A third shot. You wont have them on your tail for some time. The horde ran into him in Bryn Shandar so they have to go home from there, have an disorganized brawl to determine order of precedence about who is in charge of the next mission and then start moving. What they are looking for is the Ring of Winter. You just got an example of how strong Storvald has gotten and what forces he can just toss away for nothing, imagine him getting a hold of that little trinket.

[Ridai]

Nisha is quiet for a moment. Before cracking up in roaring laughter, falling back into her armchair during the whole thing. Sirac is confused, Sìle appears at ease, Drufi grits her teeth at the perceived affront. Just when the latter is about to snap at the tiefling, Nisha manages to compose herself again, grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright, I'm in. That's right up my alley." Drufi, consequently, looks just as confused as Sirac. "Since you've been refreshingly frank with your side of things, let me be with mine: normally, no offense, there would be no way you could pay what I'm worth. I sail where I please for my amusement, and my crew's with me because they know I where to find the thrills, sights, and booty they want. Fortunately for you, you looked like a good time, and indeed you turned out to be! I have, let's say, my differences with the Zhentarim, and nowadays they seem rather invested in working with the frost giants. Plus, the frost giants, while usually a sour bunch of pricks out on their raids, have been making an especial nuisance out of themselves recently, and I guess this Storvald is the one to blame. Sunk a friend's ship two weeks ago, too. So getting to screw them over so much that all their little plans crumble to dust before their eyes is just fine with me." In a remarkable bit of restraint, Drufi lets the insult to frost giants slide, on account of said insult befitting most men of her clan. She does seem to perk up a bit about the whole Zhentarim helping Storvald thing.

Nisha pours herself a bit of drink before continuing. "So here's the deal: I'll not just take our sweetheart here a few hundred miles south for as long as we are headed in that direction and then send him his merry way once I feel like going somewhere else, I'm making this my next trip, starting tomorrow. Giving those giants a nice and confusing path to follow, with perhaps one or thirteen unfortunate reefs in their way. Our sweetheart will be watched over by me and have a long, pleasant trip with accomodations in this very cabin." She looks over to Sirac, the poor guy once again unable to keep himself from blushing. "500 gold. Standard rate, if there's anything like that, for a run-of-the-mill crew getting Sirac down to the Sea of Swords, with some risk of them just throwing him overboard once out of sight of the port, is about 150 gold. Here, you are getting a dedicated trip for this very purpose. A steal, and one I trust you will keep to yourselves, lest I get swamped with even more attention than I already do. And should you manage to topple this Storvald of yours and bathe in glory, riches, and suitors, send me a message to deliver our sweetheart home and for me to receive my modest cut. Call it an investment. What my cut looks like, we can discuss then. Nothing that'll break the bank, I'm not that greedy."

With a sudden motion, Nisha slides across her desk, and in the same maneuver gracefully ends up leaning against the edge of the desk facing Shiver. "And if you are free for an amazing evening and night of drinks and mutual pleasure, I'll even lower the price of admission. One, two, or all three of you, it's all good to me. Our sweetheart doesn't count. I'll have him all for myself in the coming weeks anyway." Sirac manages to blush even harder at this. Drufi snarls "Don't push your luck." Sìle simply looks to Shiver as if this was a relatively normal request for her. Would you like me to provide?

Whether or not any of them agree to the last bit, Nisha extends a frilly gloved hand to Shiver. "Do we have a deal?" She smiles.

[MikelaC1]

I cant ask you to do something like that

Your offer is intriguing but I have so many other things to take care of in town, including finding out if anyone has seen a person who assaulted me some months ago. She pulls out 500 coins. Payment, as agreed If it were anyone else, Shiver might be inclined to add a warming about harm coming to him but the pirate knows that there could be a much bigger payoff if Shiver topples Storvald.

[Ridai]

"Ah well," Nisha says with an easy shrug, taking the gold. "Swing by tomorrow, crack of dawn, and I'll take our sweetheart on our merry adventure. Enjoy your night out on the town!"

After they have left the ship, Drufi mentions "I think the small folk mages that helped Storvald called themselves Zhentarim. Who are they?"

Sìle quickly catches Drufi up on them being a widespread mercenary group putting up a friendly face, but having usually sinister intentions. Drufi isn't particularly enthused by that description. "No idea why they are helping Storvald. Didn't hear anything about their dealings."

Sìle looks to Shiver. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

[MikelaC1]

The reason they are helping Storvald is the same reason he is helping them....they both wait for an exposed blindside and then stab them in the back. Neither can be trusted, except to know they will eventually betray you.
As for here, lets poke around and see if we can find any further clues about what happened to me. My rep isnt as high in this port of villainy so someone might be more inclined to boast.

[Ridai]

The group heads into the hive of scum and villainy, looking for someone foolish enough to cross Shiver, getting away with it, and then being foolish enough to brag about it. It is quite the journey through busy streets, narrow alleys, and all sorts of seedy territory. Shiver is recognized several times, learning she singlehandedly drank several pirate crews under the table and out of their riches in one night, having become the stuff of local legends, the Snow White Drinking Demon. This also leads her on a trail of bar fights that seemed to overlap with one another, one transitioning into the other, interspersed with more drink, or sometimes drinking and brawling at the same time.

Signs of repairs having been made can occasionally be found, some people see Shiver and quickly walk the other way, some cheer to her, and a few crews seek vengeance, but their efforts are futile between Shiver effortlessly staring the rabble down, or Drufi just driving someone face first into the muddy ground and the rest subsequently remembering they have other places to be. It does seem familiar, but now seen with sober eyes, it is quite the outrageous series of events that did take place, punctuated by the sight of a table having been impaled on the now crooked pointy tip of a small tower, presumably having been thrown up there. Presumably by Shiver. Sìle looks quite impressed and amused by what they uncover, encouraging to follow this escalating thread further because she wants to see what happened next. Drufi makes a face like "this seems kind of irrelevant, but must have been a good night". Sirac appears to have given up and just accepts whatever is coming their way.

The good news is that by following an ever more confusing and obscured thread of sightings and recollections, she does discover someone bragging about having gotten the better of Shiver!
The bad news is that it does not appear to involve anything like level drains.
The... other good news (?) is that she finds herself on the second floor of a three floor smoky establishment filled with booze, drugs, and rowdy people, the haunt of a particularly rambunctious gang calling themselves the Night Fists, with their leader a flamboyant yuan-ti pureblood with the most rings and necklaces and armlets and other jewelry Shiver has ever seen on the same person, making her look like a garishly sparkling figure.

And Shiver and her companions enter, standing near the railing of the central hollow of this place, allowing her to look down onto the first floor and its many tables and chairs and clientel, and up to the third floor and the kind of grimy but also colorfully illuminated skylights. Makeshift ladders and ropes connect the various floors and also leading from one side of the same floor to the other, the stairs at the edges of the three floors evidently not enough for some and their thirst for needlessly dangerous maneuvers.

Up on the third floor, the aggressively sparkling leader recounts of the end of the Snow White Drinking Demon's tour through Luskan. Shiver hears how she was challenged to "ze drinking duel", where the yuan-ti feigned overconfidence and got Shiver to bet her circlet to spice things up. Two rounds later, the yuan-ti "lozt toh ze Demon'z might", making a big pathetic show out of it, Shiver taking her winnings and leaving for Port Llast. A pause. "But ze rube didn't zee ze magic zirclet she took vas just a fake! Juzt like ze 'gold' coins! Thankz for ze kind donation, Pale Boozing Damsel!" And roaring laughter erupts in the tavern. Shiver looks up to the yuan-ti, and sees the circlet she is wearing. The magic circlet. The very valuable magic circlet. Sìle looks up to Shiver's adornment, going "Well. Yours isn't magic. That one up there is."

In that moment, the yuan-ti looks down to the second floor. And spots a very familiar woman. With a similar snow-haired woman casting a mighty dark stare up at her, the sound of her cracking knuckles quite deep indeed. And a smaller human woman giving her a smile like "this is the moment where you should quickly drop on your hands and knees and make amends". An awkward silence falls over the place.

[MikelaC1]

How the hell do we get up there before she has the chance to run like a rabbit? Drufi and I would have no issue climbing but she would be in the next county by the time we get up

[Ridai]

"Well the exit is on the ground floor, unless she dives through a window. But with how blinged out she is, I doubt she will take a tumble through glass and out into the cluttered alley, or swing her butt down a rope, so you have a staircase as funnel point. And you could negotiate, or intimidate, or challenge her, or insults her to rouse her ego, or throw something at her, or just charge up there, or block the way down, or start a tavern fight, or destroy columns, or-" Sìle lists, before Drufi interjects.

"Punch or hack?" she asks, basically wanting to know whether Shiver wants to brawl this out or let the blades do the talking.

As for the Yuan-Ti, she says "Ve appear to have zurprise fizitors. Boys and girls, why don't you-" she begins. Shiver still has a moment to begin enacting whatever plan she has before the surrounding people have a chance to do whatever it is they are about to be commanded to, with some people starting to rise, some kind of just drawing away like the tavern wenches.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver suddenly swells to her frost giant size...ALL OF YOU HAVE ONE CHOICE TO STAY OUT OF THIS, ITS BETWEEN HER AND ME
[roll0]
Unless you are too much of a coward to face me, seeing as you beat me so easily last time
[roll1]

[Ridai]

The yuan-ti slams her hands on the railing, all the bling jingling and jangling and glittering. "OH YEAH?! Vy don't you come up here and zay zat to my faze?! GET ZEM!" Around Shiver and friends, chairs and benches get pushed back, even a table or two, innocent of any wrongdoing, are needlessly flipped.

And with that, the tavern brawl begins.

Behind Shiver, the big open area with its many ropes and ladders and whatnot. In front of Shiver, she sees the stairs up and down on the far wall. Between her and the stairs, as well as to the sides, a gaggle of people looking to scrap.

So given Shiver is a big ol' frost giantess, even though she currently isn't giant-sized, I feel like she should be good at hitting people. For tavern brawls like this, she has a 1d6 damage die unarmed and doesn't provoke AoOs from attacking unarmed (no penalty or AoOs on using improvised weapons either). I am also not going to enforce grapple rules and all that nonsense, because they aren't fun, so if Shiver is up to various shenanigans involving grabbing, throwing, dragging people across bars and whatnot, declare what you intend to do alongside your rolls, and give me a grapple check alongside an attack check to see if she can do things beyond the initial hit. You can attempt a grapple check with every attack check.

Please do not just write your intent into the fluff like you do with when you turn on rage, that is nearly impossible for me to decipher.

Of course, if you are using weapons, the above is mostly moot.

[MikelaC1]

For now, Shiver does not draw her sword, not wanting to have to deal with whatever passes for the police, even in this town, breaking a jaw is a lot different than loping off a head. She makes a bead for the stairs that lead up, roaring a challenge for anyone still on her level to stay out of her way.

Basically, the choices for her rolls are
A) no one gets in her way and she starts ascending
B) one or two people try to get in her way and she cracks skulls
C) more than two people try to accost her and depending on how strong they look, she has to draw.

[Ridai]

Since Shiver's threat to the surrounding people was not very effective and the leader up above is present, it does not look like they have much inclination to stay out of this. But they do look like they are treating this as a bar fight instead of trying to draw steel and murder Shiver and friends. Thus about half a dozen people are directly between Shiver and the stairs, with more to the sides and slowly closing in. Some people from below seem to be moving up, either by stairs or by ropes. Drufi and Sìle are likewise ready to defend themselves. On the current level, no one looks remotely like they could go 1v1 against Shiver or Drufi.

(I'm not really running this as a normal fight, as "I punch" round after round sounds like the most boring possible way to run a bar fight. I'm more interested in Shiver's general approach to figure out what happens. Feel free to use the environment or other combatants, I'll ask for checks if they become necessary.)

[MikelaC1]

Shiver grabs the first person to get too close to her, bodily picks him up and tosses him into the nearest mass of people approaching her to totally confuse their approach

[roll0] attack
[roll1] grapple

[Ridai]

A rough and tumble woman with wild hair and scarred, tanned skin closes in on Shiver. "C'mere, missy, I'll put yer ass on the flooOOOOOOO-" And the next moment, she finds she can actually fly! For a moment, that is, before she collides, arms waving wildly, with a mob of wide-eyed thugs, bowling them all over into a tangled pile of limbs on the floor. (a muffled "who brought a ballista to the fist fight ow" is heard from somewhere inside the pile)

Drufi and Sìle quickly adjust to Shiver's approach, the former from all her extensive, extensive experience (the amount of drunken brawls happening in the average week in frost giant settlements and their ships if they do happen to have booze is not to be underestimated, and not for the faint of heart), the latter due to her connection to Shiver. The front-most thug from the right side charges at Sìle, but is met by a very agile combatant suddenly tripping him, ending up behind him, and giving him a good shove, leading to him crashing into the people on the left side, the gaggle stumbling back into a table and flipping it, half-filled mugs and bowls sent flying. Another one tries to come after Sìle, only to be intercepted by a headbutt from Shiver, leading to a very audible crunch of a nose, the guy getting kicked to the floor, then grabbed by the miniature frost giantess by the leg and used like a flail against the right side's combatants. Some are hit, some stumble over furniture or slipped on spilled beer, and one tries to dive out of the way, only to fall over the railing to the floor below (a crash of a table is heard soon after, as well as a lot of swearing).

Sirac manages to punch a nearby thug distracted by what the three women are achieving, and while the thug doesn't go down, he is just... so confused right now. So confused.

With Shiver having paved the way (literally; the group steps over the bowled over people on the floor, to many voices of protests and groaning), they make good progress to the stairs, Drufi and Sìle guardian the rear and sides (and keeping Sirac kind of in the middle). Close to the stairs now, Shiver hears then sees more thugs run up from the ground floor, putting up fists or wielding (unbroken) bottles or whatever else kinda-sorta hard they could get their hands on (is that one woman in the back swinging a sausage?).

With people trying to close in on Shiver, she suddenly feels an impact, as a scraggly thug hits her over the head with a chair from the table nearby for 10 nonlethal damage. To his surprise, the chair just... shatters into pieces, leaving him with two broken chair legs in his hands, looking at them, then the taller Shiver who seems barely bothered by the hit, followed by questioning his life choices. The two front most thugs who came up the stairs are able to swing at Shiver, but either they are unable to get through her defense, or her sheer brawn just lets her shrug off the hit (in the latter case, someone hit her chin, followed by the thug holding the hand she hit Shiver with, wondering if her chin is made of adamantine).

Drufi and Sìle also fend off incoming attackers, taking a bruise or two in the process, but they do good work in keeping them more or less off of Shiver's back (and thrown things away from her and Sirac), people trying to not get hit by Drufi's arms of steel or her swinging a bench, while Sìle does her best to confuse any approach through misdirection and lightning-fast jabs to play the thugs against each other on accident.

From somewhere above, Shiver hears the yuan-ti laugh haughtily in between commanding her "troops".

Shiver's turn. 10 nonlethal damage so far.

The main clusters of thugs are currently in front of Shiver, coming up the stairs, while so far no one seems to be coming down the stairs from the third floor. More people might try to come up via the stairs in future "rounds". Otherwise, there are the clusters to Shiver's back-left and back-right, currently dealt with by Drufi and Sìle, respectively, each having some light nonlethal damage. If Shiver doesn't command them to do something else (like help push the front or something else), they will mostly try to keep them out of Shiver's way.

Nearby furniture of note: a round table with three chairs around it (the fourth just got broken), decorative rigging hanging from the ceiling, a stuffed spearfish on the wall, a bench, and various mugs and glasses with varying contents.

The thugs are only slowly realizing just how tough Shiver and by extension her friends are, so their efforts will intensify as time goes on. Nonlethally, mind you, outside of, say, getting a bottle broken over your head might mean some minor lethal damage in addition to the main nonlethal damage, so basically incidental stuff.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver grabs the two table legs and proceeds to bash the thug in the head with both of them and when he (presumably) lets go of them, she uses them to bash people in front of her. If she gets close enough to a mug of ale, she proceeds to down the contents and then bring it down on the head of the nearest person

[roll0] attack (chair)
[roll1] grapple (chair)
[roll2] mug

No matter what she does, Shivers main aim is to progress towards the stairs.

[Ridai]

(Well, a crit just happened in my silly little bar fight scene. Here we go.)

The guy does not get to finish his thoughts on the choices that got him to this point as the chair legs are grabbed and thwacked into his head. As little faerie dragons circle his head, he just keels over backwards. The other poor saps nursing their knuckles they freshly bruised on Shiver's immaculate jawline seem to emit a simultaneous "oh no" when they see their opponent arming up.

And the air is filled with the sound of the Great Thwackening, and the groans of the fools driven before Shiver.

Let me frame this for a moment. Drufi is not the type to get easily surprised in a fight, and Sìle is pretty good at just going with the flow on top of being a filthy cheater by having a mental connection to Shiver. As Drufi deals with one woman in a headlock and two other thugs hanging off her other arm, Sìle is batting away limbs and bottles with quick and fluid motions, and Sirac is hitting the same guy on the jaw again (who now looks even more confused), they do a quick check on Shiver, and find her missing. Drufi and Sìle have to double-take as they (and a lot of the thugs) watch Shiver send flailing people flying or tumble to the ground with a mighty storm of akimbo swings, not so much inching towards the stairs as doing a power walk towards them. Subsequently, Drufi and Sìle glance at each other, quickly knock thug heads and hurry Sirac (and, let's be honest, themselves as well) after Shiver, walking in the trench lined by swathes of groaning ne'er-do-wells. The mass of thugs appears a tad hesitant to follow as quickly as before, though some more people are also climbing up over the railing from below.

Forcing her way onwards, Shiver is at the stairs rather alarmingly quickly, the eyes of the thugs still coming up rather wide as they get knocked into walls or over stair railing. Amidst the storm is one tattooed man with an eye patch who looks like he just wanted to enjoy his drink, leaning against the railing of the section between the stairs down and stairs up before getting caught in the chaos. Shiver standing before him, her chair leg weapons having been shattered thoroughly on the fools coming at her, he side-eyes as she grabs his ale, slams it back, and drives it down onto the skull of the last guy on the stairs down, completing the pile of bodies clogging that particular set of stairs before heading up, leaving the perplexed guy to watch Sirac, Drufi, and Sìle run past him as well.

Having advanced this fast, Shiver is facing the wave of thugs on the top floor at the top of the stairs, rather than on it, much to everyone's surprise. And some cheeky bastard, also much to everyone's surprise, throws a bucket at Shiver, hitting her in the head for 12 nonlethal damage.

"Vy iz she already up here?! You idiotz had one job!" the yuan-ti shouts in the back, on the other side of the opening in the middle, her bling rattling garishly as she slams her fist on her table.

Shiver's turn. 22 nonlethal damage so far. Which is very little for how far she has come and how many people she already took out.

Well, there was a stair fight planned, but Shiver just obliterated enough people with her crit that she just blocked the stairs leading down and kind of skipped the whole thing. Due to that, Drufi and Sìle did not really have time to take out people in the crowd following them, since they were busy keeping up and getting Sirac there, but Shiver managed to block a reinforcement path, so... it's still a net positive.

Nearby furniture and items of note: more decorative rigging, but also some flags, several barrels, an anchor, and a large paddle under a sign saying it will be used to enforce the house rules.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver grabs the nearest barrel and goes bowling for thugs, rolling the barrel right towards the yuan-ti to clear herself a path
not sure whether its an attack or grapple so I will give both
[roll0] attack
[roll1] grapple
And then just to be dramatic, she grabs the rigging to swing over and covering the distance quicker than she expected.
not sure whether its an attack or grapple so I will give both
[roll2] attack
[roll3] grapple

[Ridai]

With the chaos wrought downstairs and the yuan-ti's more capable underlings on this floor, Shiver faces stiffer opposition. The barrel bowls over a few thugs, but is stopped shortly after, one or two even jumping over the thing. They are coming at Shiver harder, making progress around the hollow in the middle of the room slow and difficult. A few punches actually land, a bottle or two is broken over Shiver's head, causing a total of 19 nonlethal damage and 5 lethal damage.

However, the thugs did not expect Shiver choosing the direct path. Drufi and Sìle seem to notice what she is planning. Sìle greases the stairs as Drufi basically crashes into the sea of thugs like a battering ram, forcing herself deeper into it towards the railing around the opening in the middle. Sìle comes dashing in as well to part some of the crowd, allowing Shiver to break through. With most thugs wanting to keep her away from the sides, she finds she has space to get a running start, now or never. She leaps, grabs rigging, and swings through the air, far above the ground floor deep below. The yuan-ti's eyes grow wider at the sight, people on all three floors watching what is going on with no shortage of surprise. Shiver sees people climbing up ropes and ladders, trying to get up. Coming down, Shiver just clears the railing on the opposite side. The yuan-ti gets out of the way as Shiver lands on and smashes a table, wood and cups and coins and plates and chairs getting scattered to the floor.

The yuan-ti's entourage reacts immediately, the parts more meant for the leader's entertainment making space, but at the same time apparently looking forward to a spectacle. The combatant parts begin moving in, only for the yuan-ti to wave them off. "Vell vell vell, no pushover, are we? Time to end zis little game, perzonally." Spreading her arms, a thug takes off her lavish overcoat, revealing close-fitting leathery clothes on a sinewy body beneath. Raising her bejeweled hands, the yuan-ti puts up fists. "Better make zis quick, your friends look like zey are ztruggling." And waving her fingers for Shiver to make her move, as Drufi and Sìle fight off thugs on the other side of the chasm, back to back.

Shiver's turn. She is at a total of 41 nonlethal and 5 lethal damage. Drufi and Sìle took a beating getting Shiver to the railing and are now under heavy attack.

[MikelaC1]

We can do this the hard way or the easy way. As much as it would please me to pound your face in, I have bigger issues to deal with. Just give me back my circlet and I leave peacefully, no hard feelings. Force me to fight you and you will regret the condition I leave you in.

[roll0] its more diplomacy than intimidate but there is an implied threat there so.

[Ridai]

"Oh, coming in here and ztart trouble, and now you vant to talk? Sure, ve can talk."

A beringed fist snaps forward and clogs Shiver in the jaw for 12 nonlethal damage. Weaving back out of immediately arm's reach again, the yuan-ti grins as her entourage cheers for her and mocks Shiver, the leader spreading her arms in the usual gesture of "come at me if you're 'ard enough".

On the other side, Drufi and Sìle are leading a hard fight, taking their fair share of bruises while dishing out and crowd controlling as much as they can. The leader's display is thus underlined by Drufi picking up a brawny lady and ramming her through the crowd and the railing, causing a couple of thugs to tumble downwards, getting themselves entangled in the thicket of ropes and knocking some climbers down.

(Shiver's turn)

[MikelaC1]

The yuan-ti has miscalculated, jumping out of the reach out of a human, but Shiver is a giantess with reach as well. She slugs the yuan-ti twice to make a point, while looking around for anything that would make for a good improvised weapon

[roll0] punch & [roll1] damage
[roll2] punch & [roll3] damage

[Ridai]

(You still add your Strength bonus to your damage, so that is 22 damage)

After the cheapshot of the leader, Shiver's fists connecting wipes the smile off the yuan-ti's face as she stumbles back and into a table, causing mugs to spill and plates to clatter. No one expected this sort of force, so there is surprise in the crowd, but also sentiments to the effect of "get her!". Already, the beginnings of a black eye are forming as the yuan-ti collects herself again, grabbing a mug and drinking from it, before suddenly splashing the contents in Shiver's face, followed by throwing the mug at her head, followed by kicking Shiver in the stomach for 14 nonlethal damage before ducking and weaving back further, now knowing Shiver's reach. The crowd cheers, the yuan-ti seems more on-guard now.

On the other side of the tavern, there is a small heap of prone people, but with all the thugs around, Drufi and Sìle are still busy just keeping their small zone of control, the latter trying to misdirect attacks aimed at Drufi's back, while the giantess at one point pulls a guy of Sìle's back and throws him into the crowd. Both have next to no space left, right up against the railing, having to fend off attackers from below as well.

(Shiver's turn. If you need some ideas for environmental objects nearby, there are tables, chairs, mugs, coins, plates, knives, forks, spoons, other people, parts of the railing... a champion's belt?)

[MikelaC1]

Without warning, Shiver snatches up a table, holding by the legs and charging forward with the table top in front of her, using it as both a shield and a battering ram/bash weapon. HERE COMES THE BULLDOZER!!!

(No idea of what to roll here)

[Ridai]

We jump an undefined amount of time into the future. Once all the chaos has been cleaned up, there is a place meant only for the hardest of the hardest. To go there is to tempt fate. A place of legend, a legend spoken of in hushed voices.

The Table of the Bulldozer, with the imprint of a yuan-ti's face.

Back in the present, people get a first-hand experience with just how fast a frost giantess in human guise and a table can be. Eyes and mouths open wide everywhere, the yuan-ti thought herself ready, but she knew nothing. Nothing!

The table connects solidly with her face and she is bodily launched through the air with a nice, wonderful spin, crashing into another table, a couple of people, a chair or two, everything clattering and breaking and whatnot. As collateral damage, a few thugs are sent down into the tangle of ropes. The leader is out cold, on a bed of wreckage and underlings.

The brawl ends almost in an instant as people realize what just happened. This single moment really drives home for everyone present that they are way, way out of their league. Thugs also retreat away from Drufi and Sìle (Drufi gives good push for good measure). Shiver can take her prize, her circlet. And if she wants, the yuan-ti has some fancy magically resizing boots!

Some of the leader's entertainment don't miss a beat, Shiver finding herself flanked by buxom company. "You are sooo powerful, so much more powerful than that bitch." "How about your very own gang? And all the perks that come with it..."

Man. The timeliest of crits. Bravo!

And thus, Shiver retrieves her circlet. It is a Circlet of Charima +2, combined with a Circlet of Persuasion.

And if she wants them, Shiver can also get Boots of Striding and Springing.

[MikelaC1]

Shiver gently disengages herself from the entertainment While your offer is intriguing, I have a mission that will take up all of my time. I just came back to claim what is mine. Why dont you take charge of the gang? I can cow the rest of the group off the bat if you want.

She carefully puts the circlet on her head, hoping that some more of her memories return, but even if they dont, glad that she has her precious semi-crown back.

She motions to Sile and the yuan-ti. Can you heal her up to consciousness? If she can, she bends over the beast and says You should have taken the easy way. Now you lose not only the circlet, but also your boots and your gang, seeing as no one is going to respect you any more.

She looks up at the assorted thugs. Wendy is in charge now, any objections? [roll0] I didnt think so

She sets her impromptu bulldozer table in the middle of the room. This stays here, from now on, its the table of honor for the highest paying guests. She looks to Drufi, Sile and Sirac Take whatever coinage you want.

[Ridai]

"Huh?!" goes Wendy, and "Hey, what about me?!" goes Sandy.

Putting on the circlet, Shiver immediately feels more sure of herself, all of her following words flowing more easily still and shaped just that little bit better. Everyone around her immediately notices the change as Shiver becomes even more of a presence, with her beauty also easily in the supernatural reaches by now. A few memories re-emerge, recognizing the road south, past Neverwinter. She consults a map, the one Beldora gave her, checking her route to Daggerford again, where she would meet her friend, Morwen. The one who likely sent her the flying tower more recently. She is the destination of her quest. The last bit of resurfaced memory is that Shiver reaches a crossing and begins to head east onto the Triboar Trail.

Sìle makes her way to Shiver, clearly winded and with her share of bruises, but nonetheless maintaining her countenance in the face of her mistresses. Shiver notes a change in Drufi's behavior as she pushes a thug or two away if she deems they are getting too close to Sìle.

Sìle nods to Shiver's request and restores consciousness to the yuan-ti, though it takes a moment or two, given how much of a wallop she just suffered. The yuan-ti, her everything aching, grumbles under her breath, not wanting to meet Shiver's breath, and the whole gang not wanting to oppose the secret giantess when Wendy (freaking Wendy!) is named new leader just rubs salt in the wound, the snake lady slinking away with shame.

As the gang does their very best to make a big show out of accepting Wendy as the new leader, she is held high, with impromptu cheers and such breaking out, Wendy still very confused (if in a positive way?) and Sandy still very salty but trying to hide it. Sìle declines taking coinage, Sirac seems unsure about doing so, whereas Drufi sees this, picks a table, snips away any nonvaluables, puts a sack on one end, and then just dumps everything on that table into the sack. It's not a tremendous amount, but it is certainly a bit of weight in the bag.

No one even thinks about possible opposing Shiver, and the non-gang-members in the establishment got their entertainment out of it, raising mugs, but many eyes just glued to her in disbelief at her beauty.

"Let's get out of here," Drufi says, still doing her part to make sure no one gets any funny ideas about getting too close to Sìle, who seems grateful. Drufi has never been a fan of acknowledging bruises and wounds in front of a crowd unless it marks a great deed. Let them think they are as close to invincible as one can be.

Do you have any other things you want to do in Luskan, or would you like to skip to the next morning? Sìle will heal all wounds suffered.

[MikelaC1]

Sandy, you're her #1 lieutenant and second in command That ought to smooth things over.

Yes we are done here

[Ridai]

"Damn right I am!" Sandy says, dramatically crossing her arms and raising her chin as the gang pivots to include her in the cheering.

Leaving the tavern, the group gets food, gets patched up by Sìle, and call it a day.

At the crack of dawn, they arrive at the dock the next day, where Nisha is already waiting for them, leaning against the ship's railing.

"There you are? Had a fun night out on the town, I heard?" she says, grinning. "We'll get going right away, so now's the time for tearful goodbyes!"

Sirac turns to the group. "Thank you for, you know, saving my life. I'll do my best to keep the frost giants on the wrong trail as long as I can." He looks to Shiver. "I hope you will find who you are looking for."

Sìle gives Sirac a quick hug, telling him to keep his chin up. Drufi just gives him a heavy-looking pouch without further comment.

"I'll take good care of our sweetheart. Give me a call when you become the queen of the frost giants!" Nisha cheerfully adds.

Still got business in Luskan or does Shiver move on?

[MikelaC1]

I was hoping to get a few more answers here, but at least we have Sirac on the seas. Lets move on

[Ridai]

The group makes their way further south on the ethereal mounts (which Sìle offers to style however the giantesses see fit, as long as they are still roughly horse-sized and quadrupedal. The ride is a bit livelier than before, Drufi and Sìle getting along better, so the three of them chat freely as the landscape whips past them. They make good time, the journey just so much faster and easier than the first time around. The road is not that far from the seaside cliffs, high above the rocky shore below. Shiver knows the next notable town on the way, Port Llast. When she was last there, she heard how the lone port between Neverwinter and Luskan has a violent history, having been subjected to many hardships, from being plundered by pirates, enslaved by vile cults, set fire to, overrun by sahuagin, even raided by drow. But each time, it bounced back eventually, and when Shiver was there, it showed a new prosperity, its people a hardy one. So by the late afternoon, the road very gently, very slowly begins to dip lower, as it leads to the place where the cliffside has a deep gap leading to a sandy beach, where Port Llast has been built.

A thick fog has rolled in this time of day, drastically reducing visibility. However, even with the low sun and the hindered view, from their higher vantage point, they can vaguely make out the silhouettes of the harbor town, as well as the sign of fire. Abnormally placed fire. They hear faint, distant shouts in the giant tongue. And in the harbor, the silhouette of a massive ship. A frost giant dragonboat.

"Raid," Drufi notes, more for Sìle's benefit, since she knows Shiver knows this as well. There is no formal size for a raid party, it consists out of however many decide to go raid or that are sent out by the jarl. The bad news is that there could be anything between ten to twenty frost giants in Port Llast. The good news is the terrible visibility and lack of coordination on the frost giant side could mean it is unlikely to encounter more than one or two giants at a time. Just as it is unlikely any of the giants know the three of them are near the town.

[MikelaC1]

Are you good at guerilla tactics? We need to pick them off, one or two at a time and be quiet about doing it. Sile, can you aid us with ways to keep quiet?

[Ridai]

"I can help with ambushes, but not with keeping a fight quiet. However, if the giants are spread out, with everything that is going on, the sound might not carry that far, and we could be gone again before anyone comes to check."

"How do you want to tackle this? Can pick where we enter the town. Sweep to take 'em out? Make for the ship?" Drufi asks.

(Due to the fog, everything beyond 60ft has total concealment once you are in town.)

[MikelaC1]

We go in and try to be quiet, take them out one or two at a time, to make sure we dont get overwhelmed by numbers. Hopefully we have enough of them dropped before they realize whats going on to mount a resistance. The ship would allow them to send a bunch of them at us at once and Im not even sure its a useful target for us. We're only doing this to enhance the legend of the two good frost giantesses with their human partner after all.

[MikelaC1]

With that said, Shiver assumes her giantess size, draws her sword and starts to move into the fog.

[Ridai]

Drufi nods, changing her size and drawing her axe. Sìle flies up a little, asking "Mistress Drufi, may I share your stealth talents with Mistress Slissht and myself?" Drufi looks a little confused at this. She knows some of Sìle's peculiar talents by now, but not this one. "You can do that?" Sìle simply nods, to which Drufi motions for the human to go ahead.

Shiver soon after experiences what it feels like for Drufi to stalk through fields of snow and icy forests, unhindered by her massive size, with smooth, even motions evoking the feeling of feline grace. Drufi is surprised to see the effects so obviously and immediately on Shiver, but she soon gets going to get on with their task at hand. Sìle also infuses the giantesses with magic, shielding them from harm.

It is an easy task to clamber over the wall under the cover of the fog. No one seems to man the walls anymore, and inside Port Llast, the damage the giants wrought is obvious. Bodies of citizens squashed and cloven on the street, waggons smashed and overturned, some homes torn open and ransacked. They spot no non-giants on the streets, the survivors likely hiding in their homes or wherever they could.

It does not take long to find their first targets. The frost giants do not care even a little about keeping quiet, so their heavy steps and their voices allow the silent huntresses to close in on them with ease. Still in the rough vicinity of the gate, two male frost giants are collecting abandoned barrels, presumably filled with drink or other supplies, human-sized corpses strewn about. Shiver and Drufi managed to get close, within move-and-attack distance. Drufi tenses for the upcoming fight, knowing they will need to push their advantage against the frost giants' superior reach and strength, whether or not they themselves are formidable as well.

In accordance with Shiver's wishes, Sìle does not draw on her more destructive spells, instead doing a quick incantation, causing a burst of golden glitter between the giants, both of them soon pawing at their eyes while swearing.

(Shiver's turn. Due to Sìle's magic, both Shiver's and Drufi's armor bonus to AC increases by +2, while also receiving a +3 deflection bonus to AC for the length of their operation in Port Llast. Both giants are blind and thus can't make attacks of opportunity for Shiver getting into attack range. I will use this fight to extrapolate a few more encounters after this, since it would take a long while to run every single encounter and a lot of them going down more or less the same, instead focusing on the more different ones ahead. If this fight goes well, the ones after this will do as well.)

[MikelaC1]

For now, Shiver holds off on activating her rage, knowing that it leaves her in a weakened state when it wears off. Instead. she relies on speed and power, attacking quickly with her greatsword twice before the males are even aware she is there.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage
[roll2] attack & [roll3] damage

[Ridai]

The frost giantesses rush the males in unison. There is a time for each warrior claiming their own targets and kills, but Drufi judges this to not be one of those times, so she goes for the same giant as Shiver, while Sìle intuitively follows their lead. Sìle sends a small orb of fire, searing the male, before he is viciously cut down by the giantesses. They might be diminished in height and strength from their prime, but evidently, even their current state is more than enough to fell one of their own. The remaining male flails his sword in Shiver's and Drufi's direction, but fails miserably at even remotely hitting either.

Shiver's turn. The remaining male just completely failed his miss chances and attack rolls. Holy moly the damage output of Shiver and Drufi. Shiver did almost half of the frost giant's HP in damage, Drufi was not far behind. Sìle basically only had to contribute the last sliver to finish the giant off. I honestly wasn't too sure how facing frost giants at this point would pan out, but evidently, it is working out great.

Also, question: if Shiver encounters a female raider in Port Llast, does this change anything for her in terms of how she deals with her?

[MikelaC1]

As far as Shiver is concerned, any female in the raiding party has thrown in their lot with Storvald and is the enemy. Unless they do something to show a different allegiance and not just when faced with Shiver's blade.

Shiver keeps going, once again her blade swings twice, aiming to take down a second giant before he can raise an alarm

attack & [roll1] damage
1d20+13 attack & [roll2] damage

[MikelaC1]

[roll0]ten characters

[Ridai]

Sword and axe swing, Drufi putting extra power behind her strikes. Where one may have left openings, the other steps right in, causing a barrage of attacks as oppressive as catching a target in a pincer maneuver. Shiver and Drufi know each other's fighting style in and out from the many, many sparring duels together, Drufi perhaps the only woman of the clan who almost managed to beat Shiver on occasion. Facing Shiver in single combat was already a big ask, often more a rite of passage to get demolished by her, or to set someone's head straight. Facing Shiver and Drufi was downright terrifying, and at the height of their power, hardly anyone dared to. Not since they thoroughly dominated in the last inter-clan melee.

As such, the blinded frost giant stands no chance, soon collapsing in a pile of gore. What valuables the males had is quickly taken, and under Drufi's and Sìle's guidance, they disappear back into the fog. A human girl watched the scene from her hideout, her eyes wide and full of hope as the giantesses and their human companion swept in deliver swift retribution on the raiders, only to head back into the mists to stalk new prey, like beautiful avenging angels.

Please give me a Move Silently check. You effectively have Drufi's 11 ranks, and also receive a +4 from Sìle aiding, so a total modifier of +16. This will determine how many of the less remarkable raiders the group is able to take out before things will get loud.

Shiver notices that as long as a target is threatened by her and Drufi at the same time, the target counts as flanked.

Well, I given how easily Shiver and Drufi are able to tear apart frost giants, it seems like Shiver will grow her glory faster than anticipated. And what a wrecking machine she will be at full strength and beyond.

[MikelaC1]

Just to let you know, with the Ordnng down, not only do I have intention of upending Storvald's reign, I would like to see frost giants in general supplant fire giants as third in rank and if we get really lucky, maybe even the clouds

With that said, Shiver leads the way, just as silent and deadly as Drufi

[roll0]