We are still in the mountains. The ship cannot land here to
pick us up. Reggie sees some smoke in the valley below. We have to walk down a treacherous
staircase carved in the mountain to get there. Old statues and alcoves line the
staircase on the way down. They are worn and decayed due to time and the
elements. It is cold. The crew is tired and weak. We haven’t rested in what
seems like days. Hours pass and we can see the tops of the forest below getting
closer. We continue down and old trees and branches have fallen over the stairs.
This has made the trip more difficult. Laird and Kendon are carrying the chest
of the spheres. They have to carry it over and under the fallen debris of the
forest so it has taken even more time. We decide to take a rest in the last
alcove at the bottom of the stairs once we finally get to the bottom. While we
are resting Leric and Guthar study their books while Reggie leans up against a
tree and prays to his god. After his praying is done, he starts a fire for us
and chills out. Kendon, Laird, Drit and I play some dice. I won of course.
After a couple games I send them out to hunt. After an hour or so Kendon
returns with a rabbit and Laird returns with a big ol fish. While Reggie and
the other prepare the food for consumption I see out in the trees across from
the creek two large figures. They are pushing their way through the trees to
the creek. One bends over to get a drink and wash his face. The other joins him
shortly after. They are huge, I would say about 9ft tall with gray skin. They
are dressed in fur loin cloths and boots. One gets up and smells the air. I
quickly tell the crew to hush. They might smell the food Reggie says. He gets up
to look at them and sees that they are some sort of hill giant. The giants walk
across the creek with ease. Guthar and Leric slept during this whole thing. The
giants moved towards the camp, smelling the air. They came to a stop. Listening
and smelling, they looked over where our camp was the moved in the entire opposite
direction. They must have been hunting for food Reggie says. We headed to the
village where we saw the smoke from early the next morning. We made it to the
village with no issues. The giants from the night before kind of made an easy
pass to get though. We were worried that they might have something to do with
this village. We came out of the forest at about mid-day. The gate to the
village was made out of parts from the forest, it had high walls that went all
the way around the entire village. It was almost as if the village itself was surrounded
by the forest. We knock at the gate. A funny little man at the top of the wall
poked his head over the side and yelled down to us. He seemed friendly enough.
After telling him our business he opened the gate and let us in. We asked to
see the mayor or someone who was in charge. Right away he told us he would take
us to Levi the village elder. He walked us to Levi’s house. The village was
small, with small houses and farm areas for living. We guessed the population
was about 50 people here. The little man, who learned was named Halfried showed
us around. We say a giant pool carved from stone with statues much like the staircase
have been faded by time. The pool was bubbling and steam was coming off of it.
A natural hot spring. The houses themselves looked like at one time made from
stone but now just patched together with wood from the forest to make the
places livable. Monkeys were seen over by the hot springs chilling eating food.
Halfried tells us the name of the village is Steamwild and is governed by a
small council. Most people take care of their own issues but sometime the
council needs to step in to help. Levi, head of this council lives at the end
of the village. His home is a bit nicer than the others. Halfied introduces us
and we enter Levi’s home. We tell him that we are travelers from the north exploring
this new world of magic and treasures. We ask him if had many visitors that
pass though Steamwild. He tells us a story of a red dragon that fought a flying
ship and crash landed not far from here. It seems the visitors from the wreck
passed though here as they were on their way to valley. The same place we came
from only we took the stair and they passed though the valley. Reggie notices a
giant sword hanging above Levi’s fireplace. Reggie tells Levi he is looking for
a sword like that. Levi tells him it that the sword was in his family for
years. It was found right under your feet in the cellar below. Levi thinks it
might have been a crypt at one point in time. I looked at the sword and could
see some sort of runes carved into the blade. Faiths Glass it was called. I
tell them what it says as you know I have better knowledge for written languages
than most. Reggie wants it, I can tell. He asks Leric to see if he can see
anything magical about it. Leric tells him it has some magic properties. REGGIE
WANTS!! He offers Levi 100gp from his own purse. He really wants that sward.
Levi tells Reggie that it is a family heirloom and it is really not for sale.
Reggie offers him his own sword and the 100gp. Levi looks at Reggie and tell
him that he would love to buy his daughter a home and send her to the
university. Get her out of Steamwild and make something of herself. Reggie
listens. Levi asked Reggie for 125gp to make it happen and he would give the sword.
Reggie offers him 160gp and Reggie would just keep both swords. Levi graciously
agrees. After that we ate some dinner and shared some stories. We sleep in one
room and decide to head out in the morning. We borrow a donkey and wagon from
Levi. He tells us to watch out for giants they don’t usually bother with the
village but once they are out of the safety of the walls its better to stay alert.
Reggie led the way on our new adventure to the wreckage. He was able to track
the party that came to village using some old tracking knowledge. We continue
on for a while. The way started to get rocky and we could not bring the wagon
with us anymore. We tipped it over and hid it in the brush. We continued on for
a bit more. As the crew came to a pass that had been cleared out the donkey
just stopped. Guthar talked to the donkey and leaned that donkey smelled danger
and sensed death. We tried negotiating with the donkey but he wouldn’t budge.
We ended up having to move a couple hundred yards forward then yelling an all
clear. Laird and Drit stayed with the donkey when we came to another clearing. We
called back for them to join us. This clearing was wide open. From higher up on
a hill we could see a giant crater and trees pushed all away from this giant
wooden wreckage. It was the ship, a giant looking barge of a ship. Also, a
large young red dragon who was dead wrapped up in the shipwreck. It seems the
stories Levi told us were true. It looked like the dragon and the ship got into
a fight in the air and they both went down. The dragon was impaled by the ships
mast right through the chest. I remember seeing dragons before but not this
small and young. Where did this come from? In front of the carnage were three
10x10 tents with small campfires in front of them. I figured I would to a
little recon and see if anyone was occupying those tents. I sneak up behind the
one tent and can hear 3 guys inside, one of them were snoring. Where are the
rest of the people from this barge? I figured I could smoke them out…literally.
I set fire to the tent. The three guys come running out of the tent. I jumped behind
the dead dragon for cover. I see 4 more guys. 2 from one tent 2 from another.
One dude had a nice red coat, riding pants and an amazing puffy shirt. Reggie
who is always quick to help out come rushing out of the forest with Guthar to
help. They tell the 7 men they can help with that fire. The man in the red coat
tells them to leave it alone and move along. Reggie and Guthar are too nice. Knowing
that I set the fire I really think they were trying to help. Good for them. As the
continued to move toward the men and fire the Red Coat dude waved his hands
around and in a flash the guys were dead. Yup, Dead. I tired; I want this record
to show that really did try to attack this red coat guy. I came out from hiding
spot and lunged in his direction but I tripped on a piece of the burning tent
and he just moved out of the way as I rolled into their small fire pit. I
looked over at my friends as I laid there in the dirt. I could see that Reggie
was moving. He was not dead after all. I found out later that our boy Leric was
able to set him free of some kind of curse. I looked at Guthar he was laying
there face down in the dirt. I was very angry at this point. Who was this guy?
Why did he attack my friends? I threw my dagger at him while he was fixated on
Reggie. I missed again. My emotions were getting the better of me. An arrow
come from the forest hitting one of the guys in the chest. 2 guys were on Reggie,
lifting him up. Reggie headbutted one guy and was able to get his sword free.
Now they were in trouble. Kendon, Drit and Laird came out from the forest to
the rescue. They fought with all their hearts. They took out some of the guys
while Reggie killed another. A bigger guy who I just called the bodyguard came
up to me and stabbed me. I laid there on the ground crying…or so he thought. He
couldn’t be bother with me so he went over to engage Reggie. I looked over at
the crew and the guy in the red coat. They were all fighting each other. Poor
Guthar was still paralyzed on the ground. This was my opportunity. I got p to my feet
and snuck up behind this red coat bastard. I put my dagger to his throat and
*snickt* I opened him up. He spun around to get me but I was to quick. He tried
to cut me down with his rapier but I jammed my dagger under his sword arm and
twisted it. He fell over in a lifeless clump. The bodyguard that Reggie was
fighting surrendered. Reggie let him go and he ran into the forest. Another one
of these campers also ran away in to the woods. Guthar finally was able to get
up. As soon as he stood, he saw a giant bat. He took a shot at it and it died.
We made our way to the wreckage of the ship. Before we went to check it out, I grabbed
the red coat of the guy I killed. It was soaked in blood. Good thing the coat
is red. I bet someone can get the stains out. I put it on and marched in to the
dead dude’s tent. I found a small chest. With an easy pick of the lock it
opened and inside was the following items:
- 2 bags of gold – 1 bag with 917 and the other with 971
- A bottle of rare perfume worth about 150gp
- A small bag with an Opal ring inside worth 1000Kgp
The guys went in to the ship and dug around in the wreckage.
They found a mirror that looks like it was under a spell. They told me it was
showing moving pictures. Very strange. They also found a spell book. Probably from
the Red Coat guy. They also found a brass Key. Not sure what it is for but it
was not for the chest I opened. We sent up a Leric Flare and waited for the
ship to come back. We dug around a bit more and found the Captains Journal.
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