The Thrice-Blessed IC

[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. "OkayIreallyneedtogoitwasverylovelymeetingyoutwove rysorryaboutwhathappenedpleasecomeseemeokaybye!" 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?"

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: Diplomacy

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(1d20+6)[25]. 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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.