Barmo continues to get the meal ready, a low him comes forth as he adds a few bits of spices and herbs. He understood the warning but he did not want to startle anything watching them, his sling is close at hand.
„But it‘ll still be living there in the morning,“ Eikis replies. „Maybe we should try to befriend it, or at least ask permission to pass through the pass.“
Sitting next to Barmo, Eikis takes out her tinkering tooks and begins to tinker. Gathering some loose small rocks, twigs, and a bit of string from her pocket, she casts Guidance on herself and surreptitiously looks over her shoulder, taking the time to cobble together a miniature toy stone giant, one hand holding a club. It makes a dashing action figure, if she says so herself.
(will insert roll if needed to see if that‘s true, my guess is tinker tool roll? int + proficiency?)
“What do you think?“ she asks the others. „I could have my unseen servant bring it over to it with some of Barmo‘s food.“
Esmee continues packing her gear away even though the others aren't yet. She's worried that Eikis' natural curiosity and naivety are going to get her friends hurt and Esmee feels like it's her responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen.
"How are you going to ask it anything, do you speak Rock Giant? All it's going to know is that you're coming too close to it. We're not staying here tonight, pack up, we'll find another place to sleep farther away."
Ed will say to the others: "If you want me to I can wildshape into something small and try to get a closer look at the giant and try to see what he is doing. Maybe a centipede or scorpion?"
Frowning, Barmo looks to the nervous Esmee and heaves a heavy sigh. Although it looks like he is saddened at having to give up his creation he nods in understanding. "I am going to go with Esmee on this. Best not to trifle with things or people we don't understand."
He plucks a few of the salvageable potatoes and carrots from his stew that can be used later and dumps the rest of the uncooked meal out before very efficiently packing his cooking gear.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Eikis making her doll: 22
While you are all discussing what to do and going back and forth between setting up and taking down camp while trying to be as discreet as possible you see an arm seeming to materialize out of the rock. It lifts up with a finger pointing upward as if to say "One sec"
Another arm comes up from the boulder and tosses a small red rock into the air. The rock starts orbiting the giants head. You hear a low rumbling sound and realize it's the giant clearing it's throat. Then in a voice that has undertones of an avalanche the giant says in common "No need to run off little ones and the doll is a very fine representation! I would love to take it home to my daughter if you'd allow me?" The giant stays where it is, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible "I'm sorry if I startled you. I was hoping to go unnoticed until I was sure of who you were. You are the student of Hickorydale are you not?"
((Pedantic nitpick: one never makes "stew" when one is camping, it's in the nature of the words (the phrase 'stew in your own juices!') - it's a dish which requires slow cooking, taking a minimum of 2 hours if not significantly more to cook up! You could make a soup on the road very easily, but a stew is something only inns do to soften up cheap or bad cuts of meat into something palatable for their customers by cooking the hell out of it for several hours.))
Eikis holds out her hand. "B-but, but, the doll, and the soup--" She lets out a squeak of dismay as Barmo's delicious meal gets dumped. She's about to let out a wail of despair - it was Barmo's soup, after all! - but is stopped by the intrusion of the apparently well-spoken stone giant.
"Y-yeah, sure," Eikis says tremblingly, still in shock from the loss of the soup. She quickly recovers, though, realizing the giant might take it the wrong way --damn it, that was Barmo's soup! -- and eagerly offers up the little doll. "I hope she likes it," she adds with a cheerful grin. "And yes, we're fresh out of Hickorydale! I've never met a stone giant before, so this is really exciting for all of us! What's your name, anyway? I'm Eikis, and the badger over their is my pet companion, Vicious. It's nice to meet you!"
He shifts and the with rocks and boulders falling around him stands and stretches "Ohhh, that feels good! I've been waiting for a while and although I've heard you call us rock giants I can tell you rocks don't make comfortable chairs!" Letting out another groan he squats down to be closer to your level. He very gingerly plucks the doll from EIkis's hand. "Thank you! Brilda will enjoy this." He tucks the doll into a pouch on his belt. "Your teachers call me Torg. I was hoping to see them. If you're here then i guess they are not in Hockorydale then?"
Esmee stares dumbfounded at the giant as he speaks so familiarly of them and their mentors while tent canvas slips from her fingers, forgotten, to the ground. Her teacher had never spoken of a creature like Torg before, why would he keep that from her?
She blurts out without thinking, nearly interrupting, "How do you know us?!"
He chuckles at Esmee's bluntness "I wouldn't say I know you. This is our first time meeting after all but I'm aware of you through your teachers. We have an understanding. I provide them with news of the mountains and they provide me with news of the valleys. While my kind is typically reclusive we've a long history of wars that maybe could have been avoided if we'd known more of the outside world. I've taken on that task. That is why I am looking for your teachers. I have news for them."
Holding the pot, and similar to Esmee, Barmo's hands slowly loose their grip on the handles and it falls heavily on to his toes. He gives a low deep squeak but holds it in so as to not bring attention to himself. He simply stares awkwardly at the giant, barely comprehending what is happening.
He seems to shake out of it a little and says," Well, um, well since we are here maybe we can come to a similar arrangement? Such as, just yesterday, there seems to be a lot of broken boats and dead tall folk coming down from up river. Quite a stir has been made."
Eikis nods enthusiastically in agreement with Barmo. „We were sent by our Council, in fact, to find out what the heck‘s going on! We were gonna try Wayport first, and travel to Brassport next if we couldn‘t get any news from there. Something bad is going on upstream, and bodies and ship wreckages have been floating down the bend to prove it.“
Torg listens making noises of assent as you both speak "We've seen the glow of fire on the river. Dead bodies you say in the ships? Hmm. That is disturbing but I don't know if it's related to why I'm here. Wayport to Brassport is a good plan. Perhaps you will run into your teachers on your way and you tell them what we discuss." He pauses for a moment as if deciding how much to tell you. "Have you noticed any animals behaving strangely? In this past week we have been having trouble withmany animals in the mountains behaving strangely. They are attacking each other and some of the larger ones are even attacking my kind. What's most troubling is they don't run off when injured. They will fight to the death. It is very unusual behavior."
Ed will speak up and say: "Aye friend we have experienced the same. Last night we were attacked by a giant snake that would not run even though my friends had delivered mortal wounds to it."
"I'm pretty sure it was diseased, and my mentor taught me of several diseases that could cause animal madness, but this snake didn't show any signs of those diseases," Esmee offers.
"Nor magical coercion... at least not after we'd killed it," Eikis pipes in. "I didn't see anything nearby in the forest that could have been controlling it magically, either."
Nodding along to everything that's said he replies "Yes, that's been our experience as well. They show signs of disease but it's nothing we're familiar with. We've also not been able to link it to any known magics. It's very troubling and it seems it's spreading, or at least more widespread than we thought. This does not bode well for your travels. You'll have to be very careful!" He starts making himself more comfortable. "I think it's best that I stay here with you tonight but I must report back to my people in the morning. I hope your teachers are still in Wayport. I know they travel in by ship when they come to visit you, so maybe they are still there. I would like to know what they think of all this"
Eikis nods solemnly. "Thank you for helping us out tonight. You know, I've heard there's a sharp drop on the other side of the pass... kind of hard for little people like us to climb down from because we're so short. Do you think there's some way you could help us scale that cliff to get to Wayport safely?"
As Torg settles down with the group, Eikis nudges Vicious over. "This is my pet badger, Vicious. I built him myself, just like that doll you have! Vicious is a little more complicated, though... it takes time and tools and just a little spark of magic to make something that will automate and be self-aware!"
As Eikis speaks, she thinks about the few tips her mentor had to give her while she was stumblingly learning her way on this brand new path. Tinkering with magics and metals and gears weren't things most halflings were inclined to do by nature, after all, but her curiosity was a spark that just refused to be extinguished. She's glad, at the least, that her mentor was so understanding.
(request to insert a DM-provided flashback about Eikis's mentor, so she knows who he or she was... ;-) )
Vicious will remain alert and help Torg keep watch tonight.
Barmo continues to get the meal ready, a low him comes forth as he adds a few bits of spices and herbs. He understood the warning but he did not want to startle anything watching them, his sling is close at hand.
„But it‘ll still be living there in the morning,“ Eikis replies. „Maybe we should try to befriend it, or at least ask permission to pass through the pass.“
Sitting next to Barmo, Eikis takes out her tinkering tooks and begins to tinker. Gathering some loose small rocks, twigs, and a bit of string from her pocket, she casts Guidance on herself and surreptitiously looks over her shoulder, taking the time to cobble together a miniature toy stone giant, one hand holding a club. It makes a dashing action figure, if she says so herself.
(will insert roll if needed to see if that‘s true, my guess is tinker tool roll? int + proficiency?)
“What do you think?“ she asks the others. „I could have my unseen servant bring it over to it with some of Barmo‘s food.“
Esmee continues packing her gear away even though the others aren't yet. She's worried that Eikis' natural curiosity and naivety are going to get her friends hurt and Esmee feels like it's her responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen.
"How are you going to ask it anything, do you speak Rock Giant? All it's going to know is that you're coming too close to it. We're not staying here tonight, pack up, we'll find another place to sleep farther away."
Ed will say to the others: "If you want me to I can wildshape into something small and try to get a closer look at the giant and try to see what he is doing. Maybe a centipede or scorpion?"
Frowning, Barmo looks to the nervous Esmee and heaves a heavy sigh. Although it looks like he is saddened at having to give up his creation he nods in understanding. "I am going to go with Esmee on this. Best not to trifle with things or people we don't understand."
He plucks a few of the salvageable potatoes and carrots from his stew that can be used later and dumps the rest of the uncooked meal out before very efficiently packing his cooking gear.
Eikis making her doll: 22
While you are all discussing what to do and going back and forth between setting up and taking down camp while trying to be as discreet as possible you see an arm seeming to materialize out of the rock. It lifts up with a finger pointing upward as if to say "One sec"
Another arm comes up from the boulder and tosses a small red rock into the air. The rock starts orbiting the giants head. You hear a low rumbling sound and realize it's the giant clearing it's throat. Then in a voice that has undertones of an avalanche the giant says in common "No need to run off little ones and the doll is a very fine representation! I would love to take it home to my daughter if you'd allow me?" The giant stays where it is, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible "I'm sorry if I startled you. I was hoping to go unnoticed until I was sure of who you were. You are the student of Hickorydale are you not?"
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
((Pedantic nitpick: one never makes "stew" when one is camping, it's in the nature of the words (the phrase 'stew in your own juices!') - it's a dish which requires slow cooking, taking a minimum of 2 hours if not significantly more to cook up! You could make a soup on the road very easily, but a stew is something only inns do to soften up cheap or bad cuts of meat into something palatable for their customers by cooking the hell out of it for several hours.))
Eikis holds out her hand. "B-but, but, the doll, and the soup--" She lets out a squeak of dismay as Barmo's delicious meal gets dumped. She's about to let out a wail of despair - it was Barmo's soup, after all! - but is stopped by the intrusion of the apparently well-spoken stone giant.
"Y-yeah, sure," Eikis says tremblingly, still in shock from the loss of the soup. She quickly recovers, though, realizing the giant might take it the wrong way -- damn it, that was Barmo's soup! -- and eagerly offers up the little doll. "I hope she likes it," she adds with a cheerful grin. "And yes, we're fresh out of Hickorydale! I've never met a stone giant before, so this is really exciting for all of us! What's your name, anyway? I'm Eikis, and the badger over their is my pet companion, Vicious. It's nice to meet you!"
He shifts and the with rocks and boulders falling around him stands and stretches "Ohhh, that feels good! I've been waiting for a while and although I've heard you call us rock giants I can tell you rocks don't make comfortable chairs!" Letting out another groan he squats down to be closer to your level. He very gingerly plucks the doll from EIkis's hand. "Thank you! Brilda will enjoy this." He tucks the doll into a pouch on his belt. "Your teachers call me Torg. I was hoping to see them. If you're here then i guess they are not in Hockorydale then?"
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Esmee stares dumbfounded at the giant as he speaks so familiarly of them and their mentors while tent canvas slips from her fingers, forgotten, to the ground. Her teacher had never spoken of a creature like Torg before, why would he keep that from her?
She blurts out without thinking, nearly interrupting, "How do you know us?!"
He chuckles at Esmee's bluntness "I wouldn't say I know you. This is our first time meeting after all but I'm aware of you through your teachers. We have an understanding. I provide them with news of the mountains and they provide me with news of the valleys. While my kind is typically reclusive we've a long history of wars that maybe could have been avoided if we'd known more of the outside world. I've taken on that task. That is why I am looking for your teachers. I have news for them."
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Ed is awed at the size of this giant. He will creep up and listen to the conversation.
Holding the pot, and similar to Esmee, Barmo's hands slowly loose their grip on the handles and it falls heavily on to his toes. He gives a low deep squeak but holds it in so as to not bring attention to himself. He simply stares awkwardly at the giant, barely comprehending what is happening.
He seems to shake out of it a little and says," Well, um, well since we are here maybe we can come to a similar arrangement? Such as, just yesterday, there seems to be a lot of broken boats and dead tall folk coming down from up river. Quite a stir has been made."
Eikis nods enthusiastically in agreement with Barmo. „We were sent by our Council, in fact, to find out what the heck‘s going on! We were gonna try Wayport first, and travel to Brassport next if we couldn‘t get any news from there. Something bad is going on upstream, and bodies and ship wreckages have been floating down the bend to prove it.“
Torg listens making noises of assent as you both speak "We've seen the glow of fire on the river. Dead bodies you say in the ships? Hmm. That is disturbing but I don't know if it's related to why I'm here. Wayport to Brassport is a good plan. Perhaps you will run into your teachers on your way and you tell them what we discuss." He pauses for a moment as if deciding how much to tell you. "Have you noticed any animals behaving strangely? In this past week we have been having trouble with many animals in the mountains behaving strangely. They are attacking each other and some of the larger ones are even attacking my kind. What's most troubling is they don't run off when injured. They will fight to the death. It is very unusual behavior."
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Ed will speak up and say: "Aye friend we have experienced the same. Last night we were attacked by a giant snake that would not run even though my friends had delivered mortal wounds to it."
"I'm pretty sure it was diseased, and my mentor taught me of several diseases that could cause animal madness, but this snake didn't show any signs of those diseases," Esmee offers.
"Nor magical coercion... at least not after we'd killed it," Eikis pipes in. "I didn't see anything nearby in the forest that could have been controlling it magically, either."
Nodding along to everything that's said he replies "Yes, that's been our experience as well. They show signs of disease but it's nothing we're familiar with. We've also not been able to link it to any known magics. It's very troubling and it seems it's spreading, or at least more widespread than we thought. This does not bode well for your travels. You'll have to be very careful!" He starts making himself more comfortable. "I think it's best that I stay here with you tonight but I must report back to my people in the morning. I hope your teachers are still in Wayport. I know they travel in by ship when they come to visit you, so maybe they are still there. I would like to know what they think of all this"
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
Eikis nods solemnly. "Thank you for helping us out tonight. You know, I've heard there's a sharp drop on the other side of the pass... kind of hard for little people like us to climb down from because we're so short. Do you think there's some way you could help us scale that cliff to get to Wayport safely?"
As Torg settles down with the group, Eikis nudges Vicious over. "This is my pet badger, Vicious. I built him myself, just like that doll you have! Vicious is a little more complicated, though... it takes time and tools and just a little spark of magic to make something that will automate and be self-aware!"
As Eikis speaks, she thinks about the few tips her mentor had to give her while she was stumblingly learning her way on this brand new path. Tinkering with magics and metals and gears weren't things most halflings were inclined to do by nature, after all, but her curiosity was a spark that just refused to be extinguished. She's glad, at the least, that her mentor was so understanding.
(request to insert a DM-provided flashback about Eikis's mentor, so she knows who he or she was... ;-) )
Vicious will remain alert and help Torg keep watch tonight.
Ed will ask Barmo: "Is there any chance of maybe putting that delicious soup back on the fire? I am a little hungry"
Ed will them take 10 minutes and ritual cast speak with animals he will then look for any animal that he could talk to. perception:7 investigation: 17