Summary
Surprise Visitor
After recovering an ancient giant relic from the barbarians, the party returns to the Eye of the All Father temple to consult the oracle. Sir Conlan is very concerned about betrayal by the dragon cultists, so he asks everyone to spy on them and try to learn how to operate their airship. At the temple, they see tracks of some giant beast outside the entrance. Harshnag welcomes them back ,but knows nothing about anything coming to the temple. They take the shield relic to the oracle. The oracle accepts it and gives them directions to the frost giants' court. While they are discussing the frost giants with Harshnag, they hear something huge outside. Valfir scouts and sees a huge blue dragon entering the temple. They are trapped, but they could hide in the ice crevasse caves and possibly escape. Harshnag stays behind and Sir Conlan stays with him to parley with the dragon. Valfir waits nearby, hidden by his Ring of Invisibility. Skamos waits at the opening of the ice caves, ready to lead the party to safety. But when the temple doors open, the dragon is gone and a female storm giant enters. She questions Harshnag about the adventurers, then ignores them and enters the oracle chamber. The party decides to search for another relic, hoping to find either the court of weaker giants or friendlier ones who might assist the party. Sir Conan doesn't want to uses the dragon cultists any more than needed, Skamos convinces Sir Conlan that, for the moment, the cultist's interests lie in helping the adventurers to stop the giants' attacks. They decide to continue to use the cultists and instruct them to fly them to the site on Harshnag's map labelled Raven Rock.
Howls in the Night
The Raven Rock site is a plateau with a giant raven statue and stone menhirs that may be placed to mark astronomical events. Many stone cairns litter the plateau. However, there is also a flock of giant ravens roosting there. The party arrives near sunset and the ravens fly off. They travel to the plateau from the airship and find an altar. Examining the altar, they think the altar top can be removed and they uncover it to find an entrance into a chamber under the altar. Valfir immediately wants to enter and tosses a rope to Sir Conlan and swings over the edge. Annoyed by Valfir's continued reckless nature, Sir Conlan lets go and lets Valfir tumble to the floor. Sir Conlan pulls out a rope and secures it so the party can climb down. Inside the chamber the find the leather wrapped thigh bone of some gargantuan beast. They manage to get it into the Bag of Holding and depart after searching the chamber. As they are coming out, they are encircled by a pack of wolves. Sir Conlan casts Bless on himself, Alaric and Erza. Valfir uses the Ise Rune to cast Sleet Storm and Astrid hits some of the wolves with Fireball and Skamos casts Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon. Talak rages and attacks. Alaric duels two wolves, then uses his frost breath weapon. Erza snipes a wolf then hides from counterattack. As the party fights, Skamos' Spirit Guardians dart and attack wolves that approach. Some go down easy, but others are very strong and take multiple hits to kill. The first of the strong wolves is killed and changes into a human when killed. Werewolves! By the time the last are killed, everyone but Erza has been bitten. Skamos heals the party. With almost everyone bitten, they have a problem. They decide to search the area around the raven statue and find a magic source buried beneath it. They dig it up and find a giant sized ring made of congealed lava. Based on the behaviour of the giant breastplate found at the oracle, Sir Conlan puts a finger through it and squeezes with his other hand. It shrinks to fit his finger and fire glows from cracks in the surface.
Now they need to deal with the party members who were bitten. Astrid was the most severely wounded. They don't know if the tiefling and dragonborn are immune to curse, the paladin may be as well. Taking no chances, they return to the airship and order the cultists to fly to the city of Mirabar. Skamos prays for the power to remove curses and casts it on each of the wounded party members. For most, there is no reaction, but Astrid definitely feels better afterwards. In Mirabar, they go to the Harpers' teleportation circle and travel to Neverwinter. In Neverwinter, they go to the temple of Tyr and ask for help. One of the clerics examines the party and pronounces them all clear of the werewolves' curse. They decide to stock up on supplies, then return to Mirabar and the cultists ship.
When they return to the oracle, Harshnag is gone, but there are no signs of struggle. The giant statues' weapons are lined up against the wall, the party is able to move them to activate the portal and reenter the oracle chamber. The oracle accepts the second relic and gives them directions to the hill giants' lair in the south.
Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
Lee has upgraded his initiative markers with character pictures
Lee, to Michael "I couldn't find a dark skinned monk picture, so I whitewashed you"
Telling Callum what he missed while he was away at college
Lee "You were eaten by a remorhaz"
Jim "Fortunately it died in the same round"
Kevin "Probably because it ate you"
Waiting to face the blue dragon
Michael "If something happens… delete my browser history"
Discussing continuing to accept the dragon cultists' aid
Michael "Be prepared for their sudden and inevitable betrayal"
Sliding the Bag of Holding over one end of the bone relic, so it all fits in the bag
Lee "Its going in, its taking it all"
Jim "That's what she said"
Chmiel "We're boning her"
Callum is concerned about how many times he can go into rage
Kevin "We have never run out of rages"
Realizing the party has been bitten by werewolves
Jim "We have an issue here"
Chmiel "Dances with Wolves?"
The priest in Neverwinter pronounces the party is safe
Chmiel "I cry Tyrs of joy"
