{"id":175,"date":"2019-04-17T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T11:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/141.148.246.190\/index.php\/single-post\/the-giants-gamble-pt-13\/"},"modified":"2022-04-22T13:12:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T13:12:20","slug":"the-giants-gamble-pt-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/17\/the-giants-gamble-pt-13\/","title":{"rendered":"The Giant’s Gamble Pt. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chapter 13: Thatched Roof Journey<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhy have you come?\u201d the low but distinctly female voice of the ancient green dragon swept through the trees.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHello!\u201d Opal said happily, breaking the tension with her odd waving gesture. \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A discontented growl rumbled in the forest, and Thia spoke up next, showing empty hands, \u201cgreat and incredible ancient one, we have come to seek your favour. Zephyros sent us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Another growl. \u201cI don\u2019t know this Zephyros\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve got this,\u201d Roon whispered to his companions, interrupting Thia before she could tell the dragon about their giant friend. Thia\u2019s eyes widened and Kilian, who had planted himself firmly behind a tree, was shaking his head vigorously, but Roon ignored him. The gnome stepped onto a rock to add a few inches to his height, cleared his throat, puffed out his chest and spread his arms in greeting. \u201cGnawbone, I presume?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat is,\u201d the dragon heaved a sigh and lifted her head, and the half-eaten body of an orc fell from between her bloody jaws, \u201cone name for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are the mighty Team Giant Slayer, and we\u2019ve come to Crypt Garden to seek your help. We were told you might lead us to an oracle who could tell us how to defeat the giants. As you may know, the giants have been more active as of late.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cGiants,\u201d the dragon scoffed, \u201cI hate giants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cPrecisely,\u201d Roon said happily. \u201cWe all know how annoying giants are. So, can you help us?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHelp you?\u201d Gnawbone considered his tiny form, and she shifted, moving closer to them. As she stepped through the trees, the forest vegetation stretched and crawled out of her way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSo jealous,\u201d Opal whispered in awe.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The dragon only stopped once her face was a few feet from Roon\u2019s, but he forced the plastered smile on his face to remain despite noticing the dragon\u2019s one nostril was half his size. \u201cWhat, pray tell, do I get in return for this help?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAh, I\u2019m glad you asked,\u201d Roon said, leaping from the rock and shoving two hands into their bag of holding, pulling out two gemstones, each the size of his head. One shimmered with white, the other a dark crimson. He heaved them onto the ground before the great dragon, and they looked miniscule next to her wicked sharp claws. She bent and sniffed the gems, then hummed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI will accept your offering. You can find the oracle in the North, in the Valley of Kedrine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kilian piped up nervously from behind the tree. \u201cA-and do you know h-how exactly we\u2019re to find her?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWho speaks?\u201d the dragon growled, and Kilian slowly started to inch his way around the tree and into the dragon\u2019s view. She blew out a hot puff of air and said, \u201cthere is a frost giant who wears a helm made of the skull of a white dragon,\u201d she grumbled unhappily at this. \u201cHe will guide you to the oracle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cCan we trust him?\u201d Bran asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHmm, I don\u2019t know,\u201d the dragon said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd do you know how t-this oracle will help us?\u201d Kilian asked, clearing his throat nervously.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The dragon tilted its head and appraised their group. \u201cWithin, you will learn what must be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s extremely cryptic,\u201d Kilian muttered.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can leave now,\u201d Gnawbone said impatiently, and she shifted and picked up the gemstones in her teeth, being surprisingly delicate with them. The trees moved out of her way again as her wings burst from her sides and she leapt from the ground with her muscular legs and took flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWoah,\u201d Opal said admiringly. \u201cWhat about the tree person?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Roon shrugged. \u201cI\u2019m not willing to find out. Let\u2019s get out of here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Feeling grateful to have a reason to leave the creepy forest behind, the group quickly picked their way out of Crypt Garden and back onto the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat was rather unhelpful,\u201d Kilian sighed, watching Evelyn pass her giantslayer sword to Thia. The elf took the sword from her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evelyn said, \u201cI think you should use it. Giants are your sworn enemy. Plus, you\u2019re taller than me.\u201d Thia nodded and took the greatsword, which fit much better into her hands than in the white-haired girl\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAgreed,\u201d Roon shook his head in disappointment. \u201cMaybe I should send another message to Zephyros. Although,\u201d he paused, \u201cthat didn\u2019t help much the last time. Why would he send us there? This is turning into a thatched roof across the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThatched roof?\u201d Opal asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYeah, like, you know,\u201d he gesticulated to make his point, \u201cmessy, tangled, a bit of back-and-forth all over the place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIs that how roofs are made?\u201d the druid gasped.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kilian shook his head. \u201cLet\u2019s go back to the Harvest Inn for a night\u2019s rest. Maybe Dardron knows tales about the oracle, or where we can find the Valley of Kedrine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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They all agreed, and continued down the road until nightfall, where they stepped into the tiny cluster of lit buildings and headed for the inn. When inside, they were greeted again by Dardron. Thia asked the man for rooms and Kilian questioned him about legends of the valley. Meanwhile, Roon slipped a particularly interesting wooden statue from its pedestal into his bag, smirking as Evelyn glanced over at him. All they were able to glean from the halfling was another rumour, this one saying there were giants in Waterdeep, part of something called the Gray Force. Seeing there was nothing else to get from the man, they all had an early night.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Roon crawled onto his bed and began his nightly ritual. He pressed his forehead to the carving on his staff and whispered a prayer to Cloakshadow.<\/span><\/p>\n

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He felt the familiar warmth in his chest as the words poured out, but this time, he felt something else. A familiar presence. It was only for a moment, but the scent lingered. He looked up in surprise and turned his head, scanning the room quickly, but he only saw Kilian and Bran sitting in their respective beds. Kilian was reading, and Bran was carving something with a dagger. Taking a deep breath, Roon gently placed the staff against the wall next to him, curled up, and went to sleep. Behind closed eyes, he dreamt of Arden.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anyone they asked about the Valley of Kedrine or the frost giant wearing the dragon\u2019s skull were told it was common to see giants wearing dragon skulls, and the valley was unheard of. In the morning as they travelled, Roon sent a message to Zephyros, whose only clue was to try the Spine of the World. The Spine was a northerly mountain range where he suspected the valley would be. With a direction in mind, they travelled cross-country back to Yartar, Roon excited to find his tressym, whom he\u2019d left behind in their rush to escape the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

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On their second day of walking they encountered a group of bandits who ambushed them on the road and shot a volley of crossbow bolts into their midst, catching Roon with two bolts in some non-lethal places. The bandits ran in at them, but their group quickly dispatched the men, though Roon was surrounded by a few of them and was seriously injured from a horse\u2019s hoof in the chest. He couldn\u2019t remember much of the fight after that and woke several minutes later with a pounding headache and Opal standing over him, healing his wounds. \u201cW-what happened?\u201d He asked, sitting up and seeing the scattered bodies of bandits all over the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou were sort of, um, trampled,\u201d Kilian said. \u201cYou tried to use your blink spell to get out, but you went unconscious. You kept blinking out every six seconds or so and we couldn\u2019t heal you until the spell wore off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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It was starting to come back to him a bit and Kilian helped him to his feet. Evelyn had captured one of the bandit\u2019s horses, and they helped Roon onto its back in front of the girl, and he nodded off almost immediately as they continued to Yartar, his brain foggy and his chest sore.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As they approached the town, they took a rest and Thia disguised herself, Kilian, Opal and Evelyn. Roon used his disguise illusion spell to make himself look like the halfling owner of the Harvest Inn, and Bran donned his disguise hat, which shimmered and made his form into a light-skinned ginger male with bad acne. Kilian shaved his beard and looked ten years younger despite the streaks of silver at his temples. Roon hadn\u2019t realized the sailor had dimples.<\/span><\/p>\n

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They split off once they were allowed in the town gates, and Roon went straight to the Wink and Kiss Inn,<\/em> where he was able to coax Beatrice to come with him despite his disguised appearance. The tressym hissed, then followed once he threw her a scrap of meat. He took the flying cat to the transport circles in the upper part of town, where he met his companions and the mage sent them through, Evelyn and her new horse coming through on a second trip, Evelyn spewing a few choice liquids over the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

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When they looked around at their new surroundings, they were greeted by a dwarf wearing rough clothes and chewing on a piece of straw. \u201cWelcome to Mirabar,\u201d the dwarf said in a strange accent. Mirabar, the great dwarven city beneath the Spine of the World.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The transport circle was inside a stable, the smell becoming quickly apparent.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kilian spoke up first, \u201ccan you direct us to the Valley of Kedrine, or perhaps to a frost giant wearing the skull of a white dragon?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHm, well, it\u2019s quite common for a giant to wear a dragon\u2019s skull. The valley sounds familiar. Yes,\u201d he nodded thoughtfully, scratching his beard, \u201cyou can follow the river up through Mirabar to where it forks, then follow east. I\u2019ll warn you, though, there are no roads in those parts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThank you,\u201d Kilian said, and they all gathered their stuff, prepared to leave the stable.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cOh, and don\u2019t tell anyone abo ut the transport circles,\u201d the dwarf added. \u201cThey\u2019re a secret. That\u2019s why we keep them in the stables.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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They agreed and pushed through the doors, looking down at the awesome sight of the dwarven settlement with its thick stone buildings built partially underground into a hillside. \u201cI could use a rest,\u201d Thia said, and they all agreed and headed down into Mirabar to explore.<\/span><\/p>\n

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END OF PART ONE<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 13 of the adventures of a strange party of people as their journey takes them across Faerun, following the story from Dungeons & Dragons, the Storm King’s Thunder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[18,19,17,14,15,16,23,20],"series":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-giants-gamble-dungeons-and-dragons-series","tag-campaign","tag-cult-of-the-dragon","tag-dnd","tag-dungeons-and-dragons","tag-fantasy","tag-series","tag-the-giants-gamble","tag-wizards-of-the-coast"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Giants-Gamble-Blog-Photos10-copy-3.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.ca\/podcasts\/09c34bbc-b359-49af-a286-31830ed5634c\/short-stories","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_play":{"key":"google_play","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Play","class":"google_play","icon":"google-play.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0lcQCRs52MfYlKs35lVX4K","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/feed\/podcast\/default-podcast","embedCode":"

The Giant’s Gamble Pt. 13<\/a><\/blockquote>