Marav attempts to relay this to ink. 

// What concept are you trying to relay to Ink through Quill? //

"Quill, there is a fire giant over there." Marav frantically gestures and squaks. In the end all he gets across to Quill is "One Giant!"

You hear the fire giant stop in his gait, and then footsteps are made in the direction of Marav-the-owl.

<Sigmir?> the giant rumbles in his native language.  Then, another word or phrase in a language that you don’t recognize, which doesn’t sound at all like jotun. 

Ink tries to decipher the language being spoken by what he assumes is a giant... 21.

...

Ink figures the language is primordial - language of the elementals.

He points toward Marav's owl form and using message whispers, "He's speaking primordial - might be sending a scout. Do your best to act as an owl in case they see you, and maybe take the long way back to the ship. We can't let an elemental - much less a fire elemental - catch us in the cave."

Ink then runs as fast as he can, while still safely maintaining balance, back down to the cave. Quill trails behind as a rear guard, keeping an eye on anything coming down the stairs.

"Gotcha, check in periodically so I can report back." Marav flies up and lands far enough away and high enough to be out of range then watches. 

Perception: 24

The fire giant follows Marav-the-owl with his eyes. Marav finds an outcropping of rock a few hundred feet above the yakfolk village. The giant watches in interest for the span of half a minute, then proceeds towards the gate. 

Ink and Quill, by now long gone, catch a glimpse of the giant above, laying down the massive iron beams across the damaged bridge. He speaks louder, this time only in the strange language. 

From Marav's vantage point, he sees what looks like a dwarf—with hair and beard that look like they are physically on fire—coming towards the giant in response to his call. 

Meanwhile, back at the ship, Matrix and the others have managed to assemble the mobile weapons battery, leaving the airship without its forward harpoon launcher. The ballista is still intact at the airship's stern.

The 500-foot coil of rope and the winch have been detached from the harpoon gun, and are currently stored in the hold of the ship.

Mobile Harpoon Gun

Large object (ballista)
Armor Class: 15
Hit Points: 50

Damage Immunities: poison, psychic

A spring-loaded harpoon gun, fashioned from burnished bronze with iron fittings, is bolted to a small, sturdy dwarven cart. This weapon is capable of being pulled by an animal the size of a mule or larger, but could be pulled by two people instead. Ten steel-tipped harpoons (120 lbs each) are included with the gun, and fit alongside it on the cart. 

Before it can be fired, it must be loaded and aimed. It takes one action to load the weapon, one action to aim it, and one action to fire it. 

Bolt. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 120/480 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d10) piercing damage. When dealing damage on a hit, the harpoon also impales its target. While impaled, the target can’t take any action on its turn other than trying to free itself from the harpoon, which requires a successful DC 15 Strength check. If the check succeeds, the target takes 5 (1d10) piercing damage as the harpoon is pulled free and is no longer impaled.

As Marav watches, the flaming dwarf-like creature crawls across the thick metal trusses that the giant laid across the waterfall chasm. The fire giant unloads the rest of his supplies, and gestures towards the iron trusses.

With unbelievable speed, the little creature takes extra material from the fire giant. With a hammer in one hand, and some kind of...heat...in the other, he hammers and fuses the extra material to the iron beams. In a matter of minutes, the little creature has built a very solid-looking metal bridge that spans the gap between the two halves of the village, big enough for a fire giant to walk on.

The giant takes big metal spikes and drives them far down into the rock, as anchors, on both sides of the bridge. Meanwhile, the fiery dwarven creature trundles back towards the damaged watermill and enters the building there.

The fire giant glances up toward Marav-the-owl one more time before he also departs, and goes back to enter the portcullis. 

Ink makes it down to the cave and explains what he saw and heard, concluding, "I'm not sure what they're doing, but I think the fire giants are working with elementals."

Ink congratulates Matrix on the war wagon, then patiently waits for Marav's return with Quill on a ledge above the cave keeping watch. 

Marav flies back to the others after looking around the entire place. Making sure to fly in a different direction and taking the round about way to get back to about detection. 

He then explains what he saw after shifting back. 

"Building a bridge? Likely to get to the mill so that they can get the elevator working again," Ink muses. 

"Seems like the fire giants have azers working for them. That one azer in perhaps goes by the name "Sigmir." They're fire elementals, known for their amazing craftsmanship. Legends tell that they built the City of Brass. This clan of fire giants has the ability to summon elementals from their home plane - given the presence of the azers and the salamanders we saw a few days ago. And, of course, those magmins that nearly burned Triboar to the ground."

Ink then says off handedly, "Best not get to close... They likely burn anything they're near like most fire elementals."

After a pause, "So... How about we dig a hole and take a peek inside?"

Ink takes out his sketches from the survey trip and after discussion suggests a point to start a tunnel to the elevator shaft. 

"go ahead, i'm ready on my end" Matrix comments while patting the cart "just needs a name and to harness up Garyth."

"... say Ink, do you know much in the way of alchemy? never mind, save that for later."

Marav casts Stone Shape and begins to soften the area, and preparing it as planned for digging. "You're up Ink."

The stone in front of Marav responds to his magic, quaking for a moment and then giving way completely. Marav is able to instantaneously make a 5-foot wide, square tunnel directly into the stone of the mountain, in the direction of the fire giants' elevator shaft. Behind it is more hard stone, but if Ink's drawings are accurate, you shouldn't have to clear more than about 15-20 feet of stone before you hit the elevator shaft. 

// Also, just as a reminder, Flint left some excavation tools in the hold. You should find two pickaxes and four shovels there. In case you wanted to use them. //

Ink remembering the excavation tools grabs them from the hold as Marav performs his magic. Passing them out to everyone, but Ayaci. 

"Thanks, Marav," Ink says, "looks like we'll have to use a bit of hard work here on out."

Ink explains, "We want the tunnel to have a slight elevation up, so that if anyone slips they fall into the Chimera cavern, rather than into the elevator shaft."

Ink walks Ayaci to burgeoning tunnel and says, "Remember, dig slightly up and dig slowly... It's only fifteen to twenty feet to the elevator shaft. We don't want to announce our presence." Ink lightly touches her shoulder, casting polymorph. As he steps back, her form shifts into that of a cave badger... 

Ayaci the Badger begins to sniff around. 

She explores the immediate area, sniffing all the while, but stays well away from the sunlit entrance to the cave. She seems to be looking for a cool, dry place.

Ink takes a couple of hacks with his adamantine scimitar, hoping to put some cracks in the wall.

// Adamantine Scimitar 8, Auto Crit Damage 8.

After he and the crew takes a few hits with pick axes...

// Strength (Athletics) 8, less three if a straight strength roll.

... Ink gestures to Ayaci, smashing some rations into the broken wall to encourage her to dig... 

The adamantine edge of your swords cuts a small gash across the stone. A normal steel blade might produce sparks, but this blade only resounds with a sort of shimmering sound, and little tiny pieces of rock go flying. 

Ink has a sense that if he used a little finesse, he might be able to carve up some of the rock. It would be slow going, as the swords aren’t purpose built for mining like a pickaxe is, but the cutting power of an adamantine blade seems to at least make up for any inefficiencies of design. 

Marav uses a pickaxe with guidance...

Strength 19

Guidance 3

Strength 21

Guidance 4

Crownsguard will also assist!

Pickaxe: 10

Pickaxe: 14