Gifts and Dreamwalkers
Greetings and much love oh heavenly matriarch
The companions and I find ourselves taking a moment amongst some standing stones on a balding peak here in the south of the Spartan mountains. When last I wrote, we the companions and the dragon known as Ozen had done battle with the Titan of destruction, Persus. We had held a brief funeral for the brave and stalwart kobold Gecky and retired with a mixture of exhaustion, elation, and trepidation. The following morning dawned cold, but we were warm enough in the undercroft of Ozen’s sanctuary. We all woke at different times, with Lady Alexandra and Silenos rising before I did. The space next to the fire was very relaxing and it is a difficult thing sometimes to give up. When I started to wander about, I could see different companions in conversation with others or engaged in personal activities. Lady Alexandra was reading some volume, which is in keeping with her wont; Ouroboros was in conversation with Thisbe and Silenos was conversing with Ozen. I’d decided the night before that I would ask to see if there were any navigational maps that might be in Ozen’s collection. She had come from Italy with her retinue, so it was possible she had something. Given that she was busy I went in search of her aide decamp Alga.
When I presented the request to Alga, she was very thoughtful for several moments. She assured me that “The Lady” probably did have such a thing and was typically very happy to share. She also indicated that we should go and ask directly. With that we walked arm in arm, well hand in arm given the height differences, making our wat to Ozen. Ozen seemed somewhat bemused this morning, apparently, she had been fielding requests, chit chat, and other discussions for a couple of hours as we all came to consciousness. She indicated that she did indeed have some navigational maps and would be willing to trade in exchange for some personal trinkets belonging to the Demi-Thots. I said that was something do able and set about my task.
Deciding on my own was easy. My first sword, the bronze Kopis that I took from the pirate off the isle of Crete. Since father lead me to the hiding place of Pare Dose, Give and Take to you and I, it wasn’t seeing much use. Given that I found the pair just before joining with the companions in Athens, it seemed a good marker for the start of this journey, though I suspect many of the errands father has had me running had import well beyond the tasks I was performing. Next, I thought of perhaps lifting a quill from Lady Alexandra, as she is a scholar. Sadly, there was nothing save the barrowed blankets from the kobolds in her space. She must keep them on her, I’ll have to ask when next she is free. Given that Silenos was busy with Ozen, I decided to help myself to one of the cast of feathers of his companion Perseus. I was careful to select the least of the small collection. I felt this was fitting as Perseus is goddess touched by Artemis. Next, I went to Ouroboros’s resting place, there I sought for his strigil. I’ve witnessed several Greeks, and indeed some Cretans, oil themselves and wipe it themselves clear with such devices before bathing. Given his stature and physique, something that personal and intimate seemed an excellent token for Ozen’s collection. The last sleeping chamber I visited was that of Nicolos, there I selected a nearly new, but far from unique hammer. This too speaks to his connection with his patron and something of intimate use for my Minotaurian companion. I was thinking on what would make a good token of lady Thalia when one of the kobolds summoned me, and the others to breakfast.
Ozen put on a spread of delicacies from many places along with an exotically spiced stew. All of it was very good. While we talked over the meal, Ozen told us the story about the birth of the dragons, their interactions with both the titans and the gods. There was a good deal of lore available in the story and I listened carefully, but wonder how much I’ll recall as the days pass. I suspect Lady Alexandra will recall more and will likely put quill to parchment soon enough. During that story it dawns on me what an excellent token for Lady Thalia would be. When Ozen finished, I first asked Alexandra if it would be possible to have a quill and a bit of parchment. Both she was more than happy to part with. Next, I asked Alga if they might have a pomegranate, but sadly they did not. Thankfully the ever-useful Thisbe did have a slightly worse for wear one in her ration stash. She unfortunately knew nothing about the next step in my plan, which had me turn to Silenos. He however was familiar with poultices and ointments. He was able to fashion the sort of lip ointment that isn’t uncommon in some parts of Egypt. With the balm in hand, I sought out lady Thalia and asked if she would paint her lips, and then kiss the page. She was somewhat perplexed but agreed once I mentioned it was a gift for someone. With the tokens in hand I returned to Ozen. I explain the origin and meaning of each of the items, and she seemed very pleased. We spent several moments looking over an impressive collection of charts. I was able to add some nice maps of the eastern Mediterranean from Italy to points east of Crete. I’m sure these will be a boon in the days to come.
When Ozen and I return to the breakfast, many of the companions are still there in conversations. We discuss making way and tracking down the giants that are among the peaks. Ozen offers to allow us the privilege of letting us ride her back for a time to help us on our way. The companions are rightfully very grateful, though it seems overly bold of Ouroboros to ask if there would be enough space for us all to cling there. Ozen seemed to grin over much as Ouroboros stuttered somewhat, eventually she replied there would be ample room. The companions head to pack our kits and say goodbyes to the kobolds, while Ozen heads out to the courtyard. It takes a few minutes, while we make our way outside, I arrive just as Ozen finishes exhaling on the scale shield belonging to Silenos. He seemes a mix of honored, entertained, and chagrinned. I wish I’d gotten there sooner; I’m betting that was more interesting than making up my bed roll. Once we are all in the courtyard, we climb onto Ozen’s back and she takes wing. Ozen clearly wanted to give us a bit of a thrill, after a few beats of her wings, she noses down slope along the mountain’s face. The rush of air as we gather speed was truly impressive. More impressive was the strength evidenced when she pulled herself up soaring upwards. The strain on us was impressive, she seemed to take it in stride without effort. Several hours of flight later we made our way back to where Silenos and Thisbe noted the giant tracks. We bid good travels to Ozen as she then winged away.
We travel though the mountains for much of the day. Silenos and Thisbe find more and more tracks leading us up and deeper into the peaks. As we stop to make camp that night there is some strangeness at sunset. What looks like a streaking star rolls west across the sky, dipping lower and lower and then at the last-minute it rolls toward the setting sun. In a blink we are in darkness, in another blink the moon has risen. We all are perplexed, except Lady Thalia. She is alarmed, she is blinded. Unsure of what happened many of us are lost in conjecture, but not Nicolos. He places his hands over Thalia’s eyes, with a murmured prayer, restores her vision. We sleep in one of Lady Alexandra’s arcane shelters. None of us sleep well, but sleep we do. The sun dawns in the morning pale and somewhat more subdued, but perhaps that’s because of the altitude and cold. As the morning unfolds, we draw ever closer to the giants by the looks of their tracks. It occurs to Silenos that the skyborn rock also must have fallen near here. It seems beyond happenstance that the sky rocks and giants aren’t to appear together. After midday we come on a balding steep sided hill top. We can see it is adored with tall standing stones and can hear the low rumble of giant tongue from just beyond our site. In preparation Thalia casts a spell that makes my limbs feel loose and rangy. Silenos sends Perseus to fly over the bald cap of the peak, the bird returns quickly. He indicates that there are indeed giants over the top, after a few moments of apparently speaking in bird, he indicates there are three, one of which has stuff growing out of it. Not but a few moments later the giant who indeed had items growing out of his flesh, from a mast and a cottage window to part of a split door hove into view. Ouroboros and they had a brief conversation in giant. The giant ended on what sounded like some sort of slur calling Ouroboros “zordros”. Not sure what that meant, but immediately there after Ouroboros surged forward toward the giant.
Lady Alexandra walks a few feet up the extremely steep slope and with a gesture from her staff causes a pale purple whip of energy to form striking one of the more normal giants in the head, where a band of energy continued to pulse slowly. I race up the slope without impediment and cloak myself in darkness behind that same giant. Silenos moves up the slope shooting twice with his bow. He misses once, but the second shot is more robust and wounds the fractured giant. The lumbering fractured giant grabs a boulder and moves to hurl it at Thalia as it moves closer to Ouroboros. Lady Alexandra raises her staff and with a staccato shout causes the boulder hurling giant to flicker. It is there and not there in slow motion repeat, the boulder un-thrown. With a growl the third, yet unseen, giant rushes to the lip of the bald hilltop and hurls a boulder at lady Alexandra. Alexandra is a stalwart and confident standing her ground as her arcane armor surrounds her forcing the boulder up and over her diminutive form. The somewhat stunned giant peers over my surrounding darkness, retrieves a nearby hunk of stone and pitches it underhand aiming to smash into both Perseus and Ouroboros. Perseus manages to pull above the rock, but Ouroboros is knocked flat. Thisbe charges up the hill, throwing an alchemical flask at the boulder rolling giant while aiming her spear at the other.
Ouroboros increases in size, now coming up to about half the height of the giants, while moving closer to the recently appearing giant. Alexandra edges closer to the pair of giants on the hill and again summons a mental whip to assault her previous target. Lady Thalia’s dark purple sash flashes with a pale blue light and the arcane whip becomes two ended lashing out in turn against the other giant on the hill. Both giants are left with wreaths of psionic energy surrounding their heads. With the giant above me stunned, I leap from ground to knee, to waist, to shoulder, and plant my blade directly into his left eye. The giant topples dead as I ride him to the ground. Silenos adjust himself to stand atop a fallen pillar, takes aim and shoots twice again. The first shot hits, but the second misses, nearly hitting his swooping avian companion. Something happens with Thalia, for a moment she has a far-off look, then she blinks her eyes and with a look of defiance, hurls a seed of flame which blossoms into a huge ball of fire encompassing both the fractured giant and his remaining companion. The companion drops to their knees before toppling, smoke leaking skyward from the corpse. Thisbe charges the fractured giant, first throwing an alchemical flask, and then lancing it with a spear. Ouroboros’s head swivels to stare hatefully at Silenos and with a grim look charges him. Thalia launches a spark of silver energy striking Ouroboros and distracting his blow at the last moment, narrowly missing Silenos. Sadly, that didn’t work for Ouroboros’s second swing which connected with force. Lady Alexandra looks at the fractured giant a moment, then a second before her eyes blink and with a shake of her head she presents her staff. A beam of grey radiance leaps from the head of the staff, striking a quill sized point on the giant’s chest. A moment later the flesh of the giant seems to crumble inward on that point, skin, muscle, and bone vanishing into a gaping wound.
I find myself on the deck of a ship with many soldiers rowing, propelling us forward over the waves. Father is at the tiller of the ship. He smiles at me, saying it is time. A wave parts and a rank of giants look back imploring me to help them in return for their service. Father nods, and so I act. I move under cover of darkness behind the giant killing dwarf Thisbe. I strike her mightily, but she doesn’t fall as I return to the darkness. Silenos the miscreant goat vanishes in mist to appear atop a boulder not far off. He shoots at my friend the fractured giant, thankfully missing. He then fires at my companion Ouroboros and sinks an arrow into his body, wounding my friend. Our friend the fractured giant begs Ouroboros to deal with the blonde woman who’s injured him so severely, and then moves to the other fiend on the field crushing the miscreant Thalia with two broad strokes of their great club. Sadly, the second blow misses the killing blow on that wretched woman. It is then the wretch casts something arcane, I’m not close enough to tell what it was. She implores Ouroboros with honesty and knowledge of extended family. She implores me with the simple fact she and the others are part of the same crew. With that the dream fades and realization washes over me.
Lady Thalia then moves to get away from the deadly club of the dreaming giant. It takes advantage of the opportunity to strike her and connects, but as it does several spectral giants appear, absorbing some of the blow, allowing her to escape. Howling yet louder Ouroboros picks up the pillar Silenos recently vanished from. He wields it like a man with the bole of a tree, he smashes the dreaming giant twice, staggering it. Ouroboros flexes mightily and with a visible surge of power swings again. This time as the pillar strikes the dreamer seems to have vanished moved a short distance away, with Ouroboros swirling to the ground, panting from the exertion. As I begin to close on the dreaming giant, two motes of power rise from the soil and latch on to myself and Ouroboros. I’m not sure what effect it was meant to have, for a moment I feel a stiffness in my joints before the ward lady Thalia placed on me tears the effect away, allowing me to leap with flight enhanced boots, and drive my blade into the dreaming giant’s right eye. I ride this giant down to the ground as well.
We all look at one another wide eyed for a moment before turning our attention to the aftermath. I will write again soon. Please know that I love you and will see you as soon as I can.
Your son
Gyasi