"I doubt if they have one at all, Kitheras. Like so many of these rural towns, these are essentially freebooters.  Eager to plow land they can call their own, with never a mind as to why the land was unoccupied to begin with."

Corym seems decidedly bored.  No wizards, no ruins, no architecture or ancient secrets. Hasty humans getting killed by gore-soaked giants. He cut a strange figure beside Kitheras, in odd clothes of a decidedly dwarven make, silky black gloves, and a leather harness for climbing that he had just remembered he was still wearing and began to slip out of.

Still, he was a friend to Kali and she had saved his life more than once. This seemed important to her, so it would be important to him.

Tosta nods. "If you mean overlord, like Azoun in Cormyr, there isn't one from here to the ocean. And with Tethyr the mess that it is, none to the south til you reach Amn. Just cities and towns holding what they can at the end of a blade, and miles of grass between them."

Taking everything in, the devastation, the still standing walls and the people. Acknowledging each person in turn as he listens to the report from the Lady Tosta and these others that attend her, his smile cheery yet concerned, he grabs his Ioun Stone from a pouch and holds it out to the Lady.

"Lady Toska, I am Krackor, Lord Protector and Barakor of Gorm, Protector of the Dreams of the Ancients Adventuring Company whom Kitheras is the current Captain. If I may be so bald, take this Magical Ioun Stone that will regenerate your wounded legs in no time, although the pain management may feel like it has much to be desired." He offers Toska the Rhomboid, pearly crystal of Regeneration.

"Please take care of this crystal, The Vigilant Host, The Bronze Mask." at which point he pats the Blazen Eye on his Shield.

He didn't talk much, as though waiting for something major to be said, he also looks around for any actions being taken.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:09, Sun 23 July 2023.

Tosta stares at Krackor. "Thank you?" Her eyes are losing a bit of focus, and it's clear she isn't really certain what Krackor just said. She leans back in her bed, exhausted.

Kitheras presents himself to Yngvar and Elion.

"Fortune has placed us in one another's path.  Shall we work together to save this Mayor?"

"He is but one of twelve, but yes, we shall work together, and pray we are strong enough against so many! Giants are a brutal and dangerous foe."

In reply to DM (msg # 26):

Krackor helps Tosta hold the stone and helps her as he casts 2 Cure Light Wounds (I'd not updated spell list, my bad, never mind). He also casts Cure Disease, just in case of infection. He encourages Tosta to focus on the stone.

Tosta sighs in relief as Krackor's magic takes hold. Her eyes close, and she sags bonelessly into her bedding as sleep tackles her. Her breathing is slow but steady, and Krackor's ioun stone orbits her head in graceful arcs.

With Yngvar offering some of Silvanus's blessings in the form of a nap spell, the group hunkers down in the warehouse. It's not remotely the most comfortable place you've ever taken a nap, but it's not the worst, either. And with the village settling down and tending to their own, you're relatively assured that you can spend a bell in enchanted sleep without anyone bothering you.

And that is precisely what happens. All of you drop off to sleep, and then, seemingly just a moment later, you all wake up again. Full night has fallen outside. You are rested and ready to go, the side effects of two days of forced marching wiped clean by your sleep.

Tosta, not included in the nap, is still sleeping. There's a bit more color in her face, and some of the stress lines have faded. The ioun stone continues to make its slow circles around her head.

((ooc: All spellcasters can memorize/change out their full set of spells. Everyone is at full hp; please update your bio lines. You can leave Triel when ready.

Krackor, are you leaving your ioun stone with Tosta, or taking it with you?))

Ministering to Tosta, Krackor forgets how tired he really is until the Nap Spell takes hold and he wakes in the morning feeling better than he has in 5 days, since arriving in Myth Drannor.

Calling to the Bronze Mask, Old Fire Eyes, the Priest asks for aid in their mission and spells to match.  He also will leave the Ioun Stone with Tosta so it can fix her broken legs quicker, a day or two instead or a few weeks, but with no scarring.

He trusts Kali's judgement of the lady, since she doesn't seem to trust many, so this lady must have done something really good.

Corym wakes from his restful nap, and sets about memorizing his spells.

"While the wizards are preparing their Art, lets see how many horses we can round up. Similarly, I'd like to conduct a quick investigation of the Mayor's office to see if there's any hints as to the origins on this situation. Kali, perhaps you could accompany me on that note?"

Yngvar packed what needed packed to get ready to go, then he prayed to Silvanus for his spells.

Just before memorising his new spells, Torvek asks for a bit of advice. "What do we need for travelling?  I can summon up to five horses and could also summon phantom horses.  Corym, are you planning to summon some horse too?"

Triel is ruled by Elvar the Grainlord from a sizeable central building that is almost entirely given over to granaries, deep storage cellars, and tall stacks of crates and barrels. His staff consists entirely of a single person, an older man name Calland who has a perpetually-harried look that the last half-ride has done nothing to improve. He appears at the door when you knock in a long robe with well-patched sleeves, a club made from what looks like the leg of a chair raised. "Eh, what? Are we under attack again?"

Kitheras considers the vast agricultural wealth of Triel and the comparably non-existent defenses. It doesn't take a prophet to see this coming.

"I'm Kitheras Sunblade.  I'll be riding to recover Mayor Elvar, but I want to have a look around.  Hill Giants can be hired as easily as soldiers, and I need information before I place my people in harms way. Can you tell me anything?"

While Calland gives answer, Kitheras looks over the granaries to see how many and which of them had been pillaged.

Yngvar quietly listens for now, looking around. He wasn't real comfortable here in Triel, preferring the forest!

"I believe you were introduced to me as Yngvar. You're a druid?  I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure--a bit of a cosmopolitan myself. Are you familiar with these giants?"

"Not really, they appear to be a more recent threat I think. They seem to have come out of the north, not sure if it was their idea, or they were driven by something stronger. I was sent here to investigate what is behind this."

"You must be very familiar with the woods and hills here.  Do you know of any ruins nearby? Such places are normally good lairs for such raiders.  I also have a professional interest.  I'm a dealer in antiquities--objects of great beauty. Ensuring that such items are recovered ethically should help preserve your wildlands from adventurers tromping about and helps preserve the dreams of the ancients for future generations."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:01, Wed 26 July 2023.

"We already trailed them to their lair, we followed them, remember? There are many ruins about." He replies to Corym.

"Can you break down the lair for me? What is the land like that approaches it?"

"The trail led about a day and a half into the Trielta hills, bypassing the areas settled by small groups of gnomes and halflings before entering a steep ravine. We had just caught sight of a doorway heading into one of the hills when we were set upon by ogres. The battle was brief; the ogres were not expecting people of our skill and quickly retreated, but before they did, Tosta was knocked from the trail and fell a great distance. She survived, but broke both her legs. We managed to stabilize her, but it was clear she would need treatment, and the two of us were uncertain of our ability to take whatever was under the ground by ourselves. We carried her home."

In reply to Yngvar the Mad (msg # 44):

He had been listening and didn't want to seem Blazey, so introduced himself, he had heard of these people from Tosta but was busy when the Druid introduced himself, hearing him but not responding, which he felt was wrong of himself, he hadn't heard the other introduce himself, so assumed he was the other one.

"You would be Elion and Yngvar", speaking to each in turn, ending with the druid. "I am Krackor, Lord Protector and Barakor of Gorm, Protector of the Dreams of the Ancients Adventuring Company and Warden of Oakhaven.

What you say sounds perplexing, if so many Ogres had been there, how many of your force and theirs died, they always have a watch by their camps. Maybe someone was in collusion with their leader as they rarely group without one.

Kitheras, Captain, I will prepare a Scrying but I need a map, a good one with the ravine, a goblet of Mead and a Sandwich.  I don't need a bowl but the water needs to be near a body of water or a pool within running water, if there is one around here, it has to be Natural.

He finished with such a cheery smile that it would be hard to chide him for such conditions being stated almost as a command, but they, or at least the company, knew that when Krackor spoke such long sentences, he meant serious business.

Waiting for the information and the map, Krackor will make plans for his casting of the Reflecting Pool, and how he can purchase another horse or pony.
"Did someone say they had a Mount spell ready?
Corym, I still have that Marching spell saved in the Ioun Stone, ready for you to access and write into your scrolls or spell book, which ever it is." He wasn't sure now if he'd changed his storage method for travel spells.

Kitheras

Calland shakes his head. "No. Never had trouble with giants. Bandits. Wolves in the winter. Orcs lost out of the High Moor. Never giants."

As you look around, you don't really see anything much in the way of looting inside the walls. One building was burned, but that was from balls of fired pitch lobbed over the walls by the giants. And they also knocked down a section of wall with boulders. But the smashing and grabbing was mostly isolated to the caravans outside the walls.