My lord Wesloke,
As requested, I will be sending you periodic accounts of my investigations into giant activity in the Northlands, as ordered by General Vordenheim. I successfully located Lord Kurog, Thorg, Drogon, Griff and Aquilla despite them having vanished from Runsinane on some mad quest in the mountains, and escorted them to Harken as instructed by General Vordenheim in your letter. I was also able to communicate with Shadow, but she claimed to be on some sort of critical mission which had the potential to reveal secrets of great power, and refused to say where she was or join me. I recommend some sort of suitably severe punsihment when you do get your hands on her, possibly forfeiture of all her treasure and equipment to a more suitably loyal employee.
I met General Vordenheim and his troops at Harken, or rather the remains of Harken – I’m afraid the giants have made a bit of a mess of the town and most of the castle there. He was his usual charming self, and ordered us to leave as soon as possible to investigate the reports of a hill giant fort in White Wolf Pass. It may interest you to know that Lord Quarl was also at Harken in person – it looks like he left Ranke not long after I did, no doubt fleeing the plague. I kept well out of his way. Tangard, was also supposed to be there and leading a force against the eastern giants, but had not arrived by the time that we had to leave. Probably drunk in some brothel instead. I did see that Vordeck, his master of assassins, arrived just as we were leaving though, which never bodes well.
The journey past the Stone Tooth and into White Wolf Pass was uneventful – we borrowed a scout called Verdelain from Vordenheim who knew the lay of the land, but he left us after the first day. Something about obeying orders. As we entered the pass, I discovered giant tracks on the northern bank of the river – not hard, as they had made no effort to cover or disguise themselves at all. We decided to scout for a cave to leave the horses in amongst the foothills of the northern peaks, but in the process found a valley where a battle between some orcs and giants was taking place. At first the orcs seemed to be on the verge of destruction, but suddenly a second force of orcs, bearing an eye symbol and riding great wolves, appeared and fell upon the giants from the rear. They were led by a great orc riding upon a wyvern. The giants beat a rapid retreat, and the first tribe of orcs, whose symbol appeared to be a toothed maw, seemed to give alleigance to the newer tribe of orcs. From this I surmise that there is a hierarchy of power amongst the orc tribes of the area, and that there is an emnity between the orcs and the giants.
Travelling onwards, we finally sighted a mighty steading upon a low hill by the river, made of great tree trunks and at least eighty or ninety feet in height, like a vast longhouse. On one side was a watchtower, and great doors, and at the rear a walled pen or yard, from where the howling of many wolves came. The only method of ingress that we could see was the great doors at the front, and as we watched a giant went in through that route. I suggested that Drogon and I have a look inside on our own, without the less stealthy members of the group. Hastily, Griff cast a spell of invisibility on Drogon, and I on myself, and we, being the stealthiest and boldest of the party crept forward and through the crack in the incompletely closed great doors.
Within, we found a vast hall, lined with many cloaks and packs of giant size. We were fortunate, for, although there were two giant guards upon the door, they were both asleep in a drunken stupor. In the far corner were great steps up to the tower, which we climbed with much effort, especially Drogon. Indeed I pretty much had to carry him. At the top we found a further watchman, or watchgiant rather, also asleep. I latched his shoes together, and cast the beater for the warning gong over the side of the tower, to slow him down a bit if he wanted to ring it. If he leapt up and fell down stairs with his feet tied together in his alarm, then that would have been a bonus, but we were so stealthy that I think no alarm was raised, and so this cunning ruse went unused.
Returning to the entrance hall, we tried both the side doors with no success, for the latches were high up almost above our reach, and our strength was insufficent to move them. But, as we waited, a giant opened the central double doors. A wave of noisy merriment bellowed forth, so we slipped in through the closing door. Within was an even greater hall, lit by a vast fire, and with a ceiling supported on mighty wooden pillars that rose beyond our sight into the smoke. Fully two dozen or more crude giants were making merry there, alongside some other even taller giants – two with grey and smooth skin, two with fiery red hair, and skin as black as coals, and one, the tallest of all, in fine robes, and seemingly distainful of the riotous scenes before us. Indeed, I crept under his table and used magic to understand their speech, and learned that indeed the giant that ruled the festivities was Nosra, lord of these crude hill-dwelling giants, and that the tall and fair giant indeed found this crude merrimaking beneath his contempt.
There was little more that we could learn in this hall, for most of the giants were deep in their cups by now, and fights were breaking out between them. Fearing to be caught in such violence, even unseen, we crept through an open arch in the left hand wall, and into a great corridor. On the far side we discovered a great kitchen, staffed by not just giants, but also ogres in a menial role. Off an unused part of this kitchen, we found a giant pantry, and steps descending into the ground. Venturing below, for we had not realised that this dwelling had a cellar, we found three rooms guarded by bugbears and holding many orcish prisoners, no doubt captured in raids similar to the one that we had witnessed the previous day.
Ignoring these for the moment, we found a chamber with a well, and then also a forge underground, manned by two of the red-haired and black skinned giants, who seemed impervious to the heat of their great fire, as they worked iron into great cuirasses and mighty swords, we assumed for the giants above. Alas, before we could explore further, our shrouding spells expired, and I grabbed Fuzzyfeet and teleported us both out of the dungeon before we could be seen, so that there was no chance of them getting suspicious or raising the alarm.
Obviously this is an as-yet incomplete account but venture to suggest that the presence of many kinds of giants hints at a wider conspiracy. I shall investigate further.
Sentinel