By Beth Griese

Date:  January 3, 1998

Quote of the Day:
"I'm sorry to say that my written message is: 'ribnif'." -- Stu Collins

To Garen Thundersson, cleric of Mielikki. From your faithful friend, Jade.

I was last telling you about the giants that were throwing rocks at our castle and grounds when I had to stop writing. When the hail of stones began, my friends had been scattered across the grounds. I was in the main dining hall, and after the first impacts, ran upstairs to get my weapons. I have to remember to keep those near the door from now on; I’ve never lived in a place before that was big enough that retrieving a bow could take so long.

Lorivar had already taken off up the hillside the giants were on; he ran like a deer all the way up. I leapt onto horseback, and saw Telaran doing the same, as more boulders landed around us. People were screaming madly around us, and some of the workers were dashing around in near panic as one of the main towers, that our workers had been repairing all these past months, was almost ready to crumble again. The sooner we could bring these giants down - or the sooner they ran out of boulders - the fewer people in our little village would come to harm or death.

I took that horse as fast as I could throw the undergrowth of the slope, and as I neared the top, I was able to begin firing arrows. Telaran settled his spear like a lance and charged one of the giants, while Lorivar was using a rope to tie up another giant’s feet and bring it crashing to the ground. I was shocked for a moment when the one I drew sword on suddenly clawed at his face, which had lit up like the sun itself was reflecting off of it. It took me a moment to realize that Verence must have joined the battle with his spells. With all of us in the fight, the giants didn’t stand much chance. One got a serious blow on Telaran, but other than that, we stood well when two giant bodies lay around us and a third lay trussed up courtesy of Lorivar.

I spoke to our prisoner, who told us his name was Runt - a frightening name for a man who stood taller than the walls of our castle. Runt and his friends had been sent to attack us by his chieftain, a man named Nasra the Mighty who lived three days walk (a giant’s walk, we all quickly noted) to the west. Nasra, it seemed, had entertained some drow visitors, and had immediately afterwards sent them to us. The moment he mentioned the dark elves, I knew that I would be traveling to this giants’ village. Verence tried briefly to use his merchant… penchant for persuasion… to tell Runt that we wanted to see his chieftain to discuss his attack. I refused to lie to the giant; I told him that talking was not high on my list of chores, although I wouldn’t mind finding out more from Nasra about why the drow had wanted us attacked. Runt struck a deal with us; he would show us the way to the chieftain, in return for letting him go free into the uninhabited mountains to the north. To my surprise, he made the agreement with us in honor, and when we untied him and began to settle in to camp over the ridge for the night (bringing Runt into the midst of the village he had just helped to attack didn’t seem like a wise plan), he talked with us with intelligence and peace. He wasn’t at all like the brutish thugs that I had heard giants could be.

Runt was true to his word; he led us to the valley where Nasra ruled, and then left us for the northlands. Nasra lived in a huge wooden complex that was mostly one monstrous building, with a few outbuildings attached to the main lodge by a wooden fence. From the crest of the valley, everything looked like a normal outpost for a sizable garrison. As Nory and I snuck down to investigate, the walls passed normal height and kept climbing. It was just as if someone had taken normal buildings and doubled them in height. A garrison full of giants that made Runt look like… well, a runt. I could heard and smelled dire wolves on the other side of the fence in addition to the giants we expected. Nory used his spells to turn invisible and fly to check things out from above, and reported that the guards at the gates were all asleep with kegs nearby. It looked like an incredible stroke of luck; we had arrived during a party. I stayed put at the wall while Nory flew back over the crest to tell the others and bring them down quickly. The time to strike was on us before we had realized it.

I must wait until my next letter to tell you about the attack, Garen; duty calls me away at the moment. Until then, I remain,

Faithfully yours,

--Jade

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