Queen Guh

As I write this I am sitting in a castle on a cloud heading north to Bryn Shandar. No, I am not befuddled or crazy. Let me explain . . .

First, how do I explain my absence from this journal for so long? I can't, except to say we have been busy.

When I look back at where I stopped writing, I seem to have left you hanging on a bit of a cliff. Trella and Captain Niamh (Bennu's fae friends) had been able to get the remaining Nightstone captives out of Grudd Haug and was with them near the stream heading in our direction. As we stood watching, we heard movement in the bushes near us. It was Ilyndra's Tressym. Benu was able to speak with it.

Ilyndra is dead. The winged cat said Queen Guh ate her. I think this might have informed some of our decisions in the next few hours. I know it made my decision easy.

As the captives and Trella were making their way back down the river toward us we could hear alarms calling inside Grudd Haug. The long fight began.

Wyverns with riders came out and began to attack. A two headed giant lumbered toward us along with Hill Giants, Orcs and Hobgoblins.

Monster Note: Ettin: a two headed giant, strong but not very nimble - as you might imagine. This one came at us with a battleaxe.

Monster Note: Hill Giants: Again, strong, but slow and not very bright. They fought with clubs. Be careful, they will throw rocks when you least expect it.

The Nightstone captives were able to escape while we kept the giants and orcs and hobgoblins busy fighting. With one exception: a Wyvern picked up a child and dropped it from the sky. I conjured fireballs - as many as I could. And I slowed some of the creatures attacking. A Wyvern picked up Trella and took her back to Grudd Haug, a hostage. A horn blew and all the attackers disengaged and fell back to Grudd Haug.

As the sun was setting, we sent in Ilyndra's Tressim to see where Trella was being held. I sent David (my falcon familiar) in with a message: Give us Trella and we will bring you food in the morning. Surprisingly, Guh agreed. We had no intention of bringing her 'food', but it gave us much needed rest and time to plan.

Well, here's what we decided: Benu sent in Capt. Niamh. She and her fae were able to get Trella out, but not any of her gear.

We camped for the night 550 ft from Grudd Haug, still debating whether we should attack. I think Ilyndra and all the others we lost in Nightstone helped to sway our decision. We sent the remaining Nightstonians back to Nightstone. We slept the night to refresh ourselves and attacked in the morning.

At one point in the battle, Tyaa succeeded in persuading the Queen to a small cease fire - his arrow pointed at her head was very convincing. She told us information she knew about the Cloud Giants - the ones who had attacked Nightstone from the sky.

Here is what we learned (though this information did come from a Hill Giant whose life was on the line. We should treat the info with caution): The Storm Giants have always ruled over all the giants, but she has heard from the Stormhold that the great King Hecatan is no more. Now they must fight to determine the next ruler. The only method to travel to Stormhold is with a conch. (When Trella was in Grudd Haug earlier, she had seen a conch inside Queen Guh's giant bag beside her 'throne', so we understood what she was talking about. Also, Winter said she remembered this as well from her studies on giants. Every giant ruler has one.)

Guh continued. The Cloud Giants live in the sky. They have a Queen Sansuri. Her hall is called Lyn Armal. We will have to fly in order to reach it.

She allowed us to go, I think she truly believed we would bring her back food. That night we slept and once again we attacked in the morning.

The fight felt like it went on for days, but I think it only truly lasted for less than an hour. In the end we were all exhausted. But we were victorious! Queen Guh and her merry Hill Giants will no longer ransack the countryside looking for her next meal.

Items we found: 3500 gold, the Conch, a Javelin of Lightening, Potion of Cloud Giant Strength, Potion of Supreme Healing, and a pair of Goggles of Night.

Oh, and we used 8 barrels of black powder to blow up Grudd Haug. Good Riddance!

I know, patience, I'm getting to the cloud and castle . . . .

With Grudd Haug and Queen Guh destroyed, we travelled back to Nightstone. Ziraj and the Doom Raiders were there. They had come to help when they heard of the attack. Davil was with them. We pull them aside and inform them of Alice and Tashlyn coming for Davil's book. We investigate the book together and find nothing out of the ordinary with it. We also checked them for Intellect Devourers - nothing. So we designed some code phrases to use when next we meet, just in case.

They inform us that 7 days north and a few days to thw east is the crypt where the Doom Raiders had their last battle with Calaban.

I think I should mention here the Lich's Crown. We have to remember that we believe it to be the Crown of Obadai from the Spell Forge. A quote from a Short History of Wave Echo Cave follows: "This crown was commissioned by Grugaran the Stone Giant King, but shortly after he received it tales say he suffered great tragedy, including the death of his Queen and then himself."

It might be a coincidence that we are now heading into giant territory . . . . . but maybe not . . . .

In the morning, . . . .wait . . .for . . .it . . . . a cloud appears in the sky, hovering, with a castle and tower perched on top! Balanced on top of the tower is a conical hat with stars and moons adorning it. The cloud stops and from the edge stairs are formed. Well, the remaining people of Nightstone understandably went nuts! We not so gently carry Montgomery outside to make sure this is not the same cloud that came before. He concurs. So what do we do? We climb up the stairs.

Through large giant sized doors, we are greeted by a blue skinned, robed long white hair cloud giant carrying a huge staff. He introduces himself as Zathiros and tells us the attack on our town has to do with the Ordning.

He explains: The Ordning creates the laws of giants. Hecatan Olivark, king of all the giants has disappeared. His wife was killed and now he is missing. Anon, the All Father, has declared the Ordning is to be reorganized. This is why the giants are fighting, For power.

Zathiros will take us where we need to go. He said he is helping because it needs to be done.

He will get us to Brynn Shander in 20 days. He will meet us north of Waterdeep in 2 days and take us on our way.

We went to Waterdeep to equip ourselves for the cold weather up north. We informed Vajra of what we have learned.

Oh! And during that fight with Alice and Tashlyn? Trella had ripped Alice's heartstone off her neck. Vajra helped Skylar destroy it, lest Alice has been using it somehow to keep tabs on us.

We said our goodbyes to Stevie and the gang and we are now sitting on a cloud heading to Brynn Shander.