The Dwarven Wedding Session 32

Session #30 of The Dwarven Wedding.

Date: July 9th, 2018

Character Level: 9th

Summary

The gang wakes up and begins to walk, south, south-west. Veiko had a vision in the night and is on the lookout for a white tree he saw in the vision.

Remnant begins to regain his memories and wonders why they aren’t in the Underdark.

Luana asks if Veiko can play any instruments. He does. He plays a piccolo.

Luana starts to play her drums REAL well. Verity joins in. Then Veiko. It’s pretty damn good music.

As they walk, the grassland becomes forest. As night falls, Remnant and Luana see a carving in a tree. Remnant translates it as saying "Stone's Cunning". Luana intuits that whoever is making these marks, they might be trying to form a border.

Remnant stays up watching and in the early hours of the morning he hears footsteps of giants in the distance. He sends out his familiar-bot to investigate. Remnant sees that the giants are looking for "someone" who is carving the "Stone’s Cunning" in the trees.

The two giants arrive at the camp -- Verity cast Leomund’s Tiny hut, so they’re hidden. Remnant is outside, watching. The giants (Gristle and Grisdle) investigate and are scared/confused by this talking statue. After a moment, the gang becomes visible and Verity dispels the hut.

They argue, but the Giants see Verity (naturally their leader... right?) as a cousin and agree to take them to see the king of their village. The gang calls him the Barbarian King, and the giants figure, "Well, he was a barbarian, now he’s king... I guess that makes sense."

The giants really want nothing to do with the "little people" aka non-Giants.

They meet the king, Gawkler the Terrible. After some poking and prodding (for a Giant, there is a lot of civility), Gawkler explains how he traded his prized Great Axe (Blood Drinker) and some magical components for this mask to a shifty fellow a few years ago. He walked out of the forest with two hell hounds. He was dressed nicely and had skin as red as blood. He did not give his name, but only wish to trade. He had but one item - this mask. (The mask looks like an upside down chest plate for a small-sized creature to everyone) Since then, his crops have flourished, he feels healthier and stronger, and once he was able to call to the skies for lightening.

They realize the "shifty fellow" described is none other than Red, the demon they freed on the road to Torunn.

Luana’s shield gets "excited" and forces her to bump into the king’s face (and the king’s face was forced to run into her by the mask on his face). They both see a desert of white sand on a backdrop of gorgeous purple starlight. Nothing is around. Just white sand. In the middle of this sand is a pitch black tree. After a moment, the tree breaks off two pieces that flash with bright light.

Luana and the King wake up on the ground. He trusts her if she has a connection to this mask.

The king explains that the giants only wish to protect themselves. Something dark is growing from the south and they believe it's coming from the petrified forest of Darkfold. All parties they have sent to Darkfold never return--specifically the daughter of this Giant king, a warrior priest by the name of Nirsar. She lead a party into the forest two weeks ago. If the gang asks about the mask, he is willing to trade for her safe return.

They agree to this. Luana needs to know more about this shield and this "mask" (the king is wearing a neck-piece for a small-sized creature on his face...

The king recommends they stay for the night and set out in the morning.

They leave the king's giant hut and begin to wander. Verity, seeing the eyes of the Goliaths in this village on her, decides to confront them... but none want anything to do with her. This hurts more than Verity admits. She’s welcomed everywhere. But not here?

Remnant walks off, seeking help about his “one-ness.” An old goliath man (Lydir) offers to help. He is a great shaman, training other shaman who follow him in a flock.

Meanwhile, Verity is called over by a crazed looking Goliath woman. She yells to be quick and quiet. She says, "Don't you know know what she looks like?" On her skin? Her markings? Doesn’t she know what she is? Verity bears the mark of the chosen people.

Meanwhile, Remnant follows Lydir to his hut as the man explains he can help Remnant with his broken self. They walk to Lydir's hut and he offers to start "the ritual." Remnant agrees. Lydir opens a portal to the astral plane where Remnant is no longer in the "body" of Remnant but lies in the place of.. his FAMILIAR-BOT. The ‘we’ returns. The Shaman explains that he is not one but many. That is who he is. His "one-ness" is a collective. If he is not something, he is many things in one. He has been separated from himself and a new him was born.

"If I rejoin my body, will the new me be okay? Will it hurt?"
"Your existence is combining many things, in this I think it will be okay. You are made for adapting. You create one from many."

Verity is having her own moment. The woman (Urdir) says to her: "A great old god named Baccob gave the Goliaths these markings when they first arrived on Turon. We don't have them any more, but you do."

She explains the history of the Giants and the Goliaths:

• When Bahamut and Mouradin squabbled over the dragons and the dwarves, a chunk of clay fell from the working table of the cosmos.
• Baccob, ever diligent to keep things neat and tidy, grabbed the clay and found it had become hard as it spun through the stars.
• Using his great magicks, he worked the clay into two even pieces, but a piece of stardust would not come out of the second piece. He had no choice but to remove a lump of clay and discard it. But it left a stripe down one side.
• Now, with two uneven pieces, Baccob set to work.
• The first piece, he made mighty and tall. Wide, loud, and triumphant. From this clay, he created the giants. When he set the giants out onto the world, he did not foresee their anger and rage and foolhardiness. A misstep on his part.
• In the second piece, he spent more care, more love, more refinement. Where there was anger, there was restraint. Where there was morose, there was enlightenment. With this second piece, he created the giant’s cousin, the Goliaths, and they, too were set upon the world, marked with a signature of the almighty.
• And from Goliath to Giant and back again, kinship is seen. They are of the same clay. They are of the same maker.

She must come from a special tribe. An old tribe, if she has these markings.

As Urdir finishes her explanation, a wave of magical energy hits the village, coming from Lydir's tent. Lydir's portal is overwhelmingly powerful. The group rushes to it. They all try to enter the portal, but Veiko and Verity fail. Luana bursts in and is transported to the Astral plane where she is her "full" self. The image she keeps of herself in her mind is fully realized--a full-bodied woman of medium-creature size. Despite that, she is a spec of dust in comparison to Lydir who is overwhelmingly huge. Remnant is a monstrous size as well. She witnesses their final exchange.

Lydir: I will not force my will on you, Remnant. But I can offer you the choice to rejoin your body. If you will it, it can be done."

"I will it."

And Remnant wakes up.

End of Session.

Notes

Travel information

Start - On the road south to the forest north of Darkfold

End - On the road south to the forest north of Darkfold