Court of the Giants

(Callum is away at school still, MC and Chmiel couldn't make it)

Summary
The Tough go Shopping
After defeating the hill giants, the party orders the surrendered giants to gather up what they want and head east away from Beliad and leave the town alone. When the giants are gone, they take Gahk's head and ears from the dead giants and ogres, burn down the building and return to Beliad to claim the bounty from the town. From there, they order the dragon cultists to take them to Yartar. In Yartar, they are able to use the Harpers' teleportation circles to travel to Waterdeep to go shopping. The party sells loot from the hill giants and cashes in coinage. They buy an assortment of magic weapons and potions of healing. Sir Conlan takes some time to visit the Harpers and bring them up to date on recent events. They return to Yartar and have the dragon cultists fly them back to visit the giants' oracle at the Eye of the All Father temple and again consult the oracle.

Question and Answer
Returning to the oracle, Harshnag is still missing. They consider spending a question about his whereabouts, but press on. How should they present themselves at court? The oracle tells them to present themselves strongly and ask to see the reigning monarch. Who is the reigning monarch? King Hekaton's youngest daughter Serissa. She favors the counsel of small people and has a clue to her father's disappearance. Who benefits from the king's disappearance? The king's other daughters, Mirran and Nym. They were indirectly involved in the king's disappearance and have their own plans. Who was the last person to see the king alive? Tholz Daggerdark. The party discusses that, none of them have heard that name before. Is King Hekaton still alive? The oracle replies that it cannot see him now, but he was alive the last time he was visible to the oracle. What can the oracle tell them about Tholz Daggerdark? He is a wizard and captain of the ship Morkoth which sails the Trackless Sea. He is a member of the Kraken Society which has dealt with the king's other daughters. The party has heard of the Kraken society, spies, smugglers, slavers and assassins, their leader is an unknown seafarer.

A Day in Court
The party decides its time to take the plunge and Skamos blows through the conch shell and the party teleports into a giant sized room. They are standing on a glyph carved in the floor. There is a large pool of water in the center of the room and a spiral staircase climbs to the floor above. There are two side passages that lead to giant sized wooden doors. The pool is salt water and there are puddles on the floor with small marine life. Down from upstairs comes the sound of a female voice singing accompanied by a pipe organ. After some exploring, the party heads upstairs. The stairs lead to a vast audience chamber. A crystal window lets in shifting blue tinted light, they appear to be deep under the sea! There is a raised balcony running along the curve of the wall, two female storm giants stand before the window, one singing, the other playing a bizarre crab shaped pipe organ. There are two storm giant guards and a group of giant nobles: fire, frost, stone and cloud. Alaric steps forward to speak for the party, but they are not well received. His request to speak with Serissa is denied. The storm giant females order the party be taken to rooms prepared for them, the party is unsure if they mean guest quarters or a prison. Unwilling to fight this many giants unless absolutely necessary, the party agrees and the guards take them downstairs to one of the side passages. Beyond are what appear to be actual guest rooms with human sized furniture. Suspicious of the giants, Valfir walks in and moves out of sight of the guards, then turns invisible and dashes out the door before the guards can close it. Once the door shuts and they realize Valfir has successfully escaped, Sir Conlan pushes on the door to see if is locked. The door opens and they talk to the guards for a moment, trying to see Serissa. Valfir touches Sir Conlan's hand to let him know he is free. They ask for food and one of the guards goes to get them something, giving Valfir a chance to follow him.
Valfir heads back upstairs and sees one of the female storm giants is talking to the other giant lords. He explores further and follows the other female storm giant past a pair of hill giant guards and into a throne room. A young, female storm giant sits in a floating throne with an older male storm giant and a female storm giant on either side. The other female from the audience chamber is speaking to the young one in the center throne. Valfir sheds his invisiblity and pours out a somewhat hectic explanation and plea for a chance to explain in detail.
Back in the guest quarters, the rest of the party has been served some food, but are then summoned out. The giant lords and the female storm giant are waiting and she orders them to slay the adventurers. The giant lords draw weapons but are not eager to engage. The adventurers are not either. Desperate and seeing the lords don't instantly obey, they try again to get permission to speak to Serissa. Skamos uses his thaumaturgy to make ominous thundering noises and Sir Conlan and Alaric again try to convince the lords to let them pass. They manage to convince the lords enough to get them to hold their attack. The lords decide to take the party to Serissa.
The giant lords escort the party to the throne room where Valfir is winding down. Sir Conlan tells the party to follow his lead. He leads them before the throne and kneels and bows his head. Serissa orders that the "small folk" be allowed to talk and Sir Conlan tells how they were set on their path by the cloud giant Zephyros who prophesied they could help and by the frost giant Harshnag who helped them visit the oracle. They explain about returning giant relics to prove their worth and the words of the oracle. The two female storm giants are Serissa's older sisters, Mirran and Nym. They accuse the adventurers of being assassins like the small folk who killed their mother and father, but the oracle's words say the king may be alive. They relay the' oracles description of the wizard who last saw the king and the involvement of the Kraken Society. The female storm giant advisor seems concerned about the party's tale. Serissa orders her sisters to be taken away while they continue to talk. Sir Conlan slowly draws his sword and holds it out to Serissa on his palms and swears an oath that the party will assist her in finding King Hekaton. They bring up that Serissa's adviser had visited the oracle and now the storm giants' attention is on her. Serissa calls her "Iymrith" and asks about her visit to the oracle. She turns on Serissa and Valfir prepares to cast Silence in case she attacks with magic. Iymrith begins speaking in Draconic and snatches the key Serissa wears on a chain around her neck. Valfir attacks Iymrith, but she teleports away with the key she has stolen before anyone can stop her.
Once order is restored, Serissa and the adventurers compare notes in more detail. Her sisters are involved with the Kraken Society and Iymrith was a blue dragon imposter. The key she stole controls the powers of her enchanted throne. Serissa's mother was killed by human sized weapons and her body was found on some islands known as the Red Rocks. A wooden disk twice the size of a human coin was found with her, it bears a golden goose symbol. The party explains that they are being helped by dragon cultists serving a red dragon named Klauth. They have been helpful, but the party feels they will turn on the party when they decide it is their master's interest. Serissa agrees to help the adventurers investigate the king's disappearance and accepts them as her agents. She can use the symbol in the chamber where they appeared to send them wherever they want. They will return to the entrance to the oracle's temple and then begin their investigation into Tholz Daggerdark, the Kraken Society and the golden goose coin.

Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
Before the game, Jim asked the party what they wanted to do next which started a series of incredibly NSFW raunchy texts

Talking about hill giants not being smart
Lee "Not being the sharpest tack in… Whatever you keep tacks in"

Lee "You murdered the only hill giant who could tell you that"
Jim "Oops"
Mike "Did we do that?"

One of the scrolls has Nystul's Magic Aura
Michael "Good old Nystul. He was a pedophile. So was Bigby"
Jim "What do you think he was doing with his hand?"

Valfir uses his Ring of Invisibility
Kevin "Its the One Ring, you've got to watch out for it"

The monk is spying, but is hampered by his average intelligence
Kevin "We sent our best man on this job"