The island of the Giants...

The slave wagon rocked to a halt and the sudden removal of motion woke those slaves that had been restlessly sleeping. The old ashik looked around the dark slave pens and said to no one in particular ‘their setting camp before the sun sets, we’ll be fed soon’. And so they were, and as the slaves started to eat the old man continued to tell his tale.

As the last Weezer drops to the floor dead Scar attempts to administer first aid to both herself and Kank, but she is not successful so they both take some Weezer honey to heal their wounds. Once their wounds start to heal Kank leads the Company forwards but discovers that the passage only leads to another shaft heading upwards. Balboa steps forwards and climbs up the shaft, he drops a rope back down and the rest of the Company follow him up. They realise that they are near the main entrance and decide that it is time to clear out the soldier Weezer from the hive entrance.

Kank charges into the entrance cavern, closely followed by Arthur. Kank swings with the iron greathammer taken from the spirits tomb and connects with a mighty blow smashing one of the soldier Weezer’s legs to a pulp. Arthur swings with his metal Troll maul and he too pulps the leg of one of the soldier Weezers guarding the hive entrance. Arthur hits a second time and kills his opponent, but Kank is struggling with his new and unfamiliar weapon. Arthur steps further into the cavern allowing Scar to step in behind him and join the fight, and with the three warriors swinging they quickly finish off the remaining Weezer. They pass through the hive entrance and head back down to the lower level seeking the queen.

They drop down into the lower levels of the hive and as the approach one of the larger caverns that they had avoided previously they can see six soldier Weezer ahead of them blocking the passageway. Kank and Arthur sling their weapons and opt to punch their way through due to the confines of the narrow corridor. Arthur quickly manages to knock one out of the air with a swift one, two combination but when Kank attempts to hit his target the soldier Weezer dodges out of the way of his clumsy strike. The Weezer then counter attacks and bites the big Mul in the face with it’s mandibles, in a rage Kank lashes out with his fist and smashes the beast out of the air.

Yet again the powerful Dwarf kills one of the soldier Weezer with a swift combination of punches but Kank seems mesmerised by the beat of the soldier Weezer wings, as he stands dumbfounded the Weezer bites his head once more and the big Mul collapses to the floor unconscious. Arthur hits another of the Weezer with a powerful blow to the thorax, killing it instantly. He quickly turns his attention to the pair of soldier Weezer that are attacking the prone Kank and again manages to kill one of them. As Balboa rushes to Kank’s aid, the big Dwarf kills the last of the guard insects. Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal Kank, and as the big Mul climbs back to his feet he looks very embarrassed.

The Company of the Cloaked Inix head back towards the largest of the rooms that they had avoided previously, all of the members cast protective spells from items or call upon their inner power or the power of the Gnomes of the earth to prepare for the coming battle. They then light torches and charge straight into the room. As soon as they enter Scar spots a passageway leading off from one side of the large, Weezer filled, chamber and so the Company make a bee line straight for it. The Weezer are reluctant to approach the torch wielding Company but some of them come at them from the walls and the ceiling, but many of the attacks deflect from the Company's armour and they are able to dispatch those Weezer that do attack.

The passageway leads to a second large chamber, but this one is dominated by the large distended body of the queen Weezer. The floor is littered with dead bodies, all of them bloated with implanted larvae. And guarding the queen are five soldier Weezer. Arthur and Kank charge straight for the queen while the others rush into the cavern to occupy the soldiers. Scar is first to attack but her target buzzes out of the way of the Sword of Kemalok, Arthur reaches the queen first and with a single swing of his mighty Troll maul he smashes her thorax and kills her in a single blow. Balboa hits his target with his iron banded mace, but the strike is deflected from the Weezer's armour.

While Balboa and Kank fail to hit anything, Arthur, Miloch and Scar make short work of the remaining Weezer in the chamber. While Kank takes guard at the entrance to the chamber, Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to make hand holds in the wall leading up to the hanging Weezer honey globes. Balboa then makes a hook from the ceiling and the others haul him up on a rope so that he can pick all of the globes, and he is very successful and manages to only break a few. By the end of his hard work Balboa looks down upon fifty eight globes, twenty one of which are honey, meaning that he has successfully gathered eighty four doses.

They agree that the only safe way to transport it is to transfer all of the honey into the water barrel on the back of their pack kank, and so while the other head off to get it Balboa and Kank remain in the chamber guarding the spoils of their victory. While they wait, Balboa teaches Kank the prayer to Gnoriath the Earth mother. And there, in that underground chamber, they pray together to a sleeping goddess.

With the Weezer honey packed on their kank the Company head back to South Ledopolus. On the journey both Kank and Scar attune to their newfound items. Scar discovers that her iron gauntlets are imbued with twin spells, one being strength and the other iron hand. Kank finds that the gifted greathammer has a spell matrix engraved into it that will allow him to cast bludgeon on the weapon. On the journey they also agree how they will distribute the Weezer honey, they all top themselves up so that they are each carrying four doses and agree to give their silt skimmer crew two doses each, leaving sixty doses for Sabertine. As the sun rise at the end of the second nights travel the Company of the Cloaked Inix make it back to South Ledopolus and take rooms at the Bearded Dwarf.

While the others rest, Kank takes the copy of the writing written on the tomb of the earth hero to the earth temple and asks one of the acolytes there to read it for him. The acolyte tells him that it is a name, Galaxyl of Myrr. Kank thanks her and then heads for a quiet corner of the temple where he once again says the prayer to Gnoriath the Earth mother and thanks her for the Greathammer of Galaxyl. He then heads back to the Bearded Dwarf and rests with the others through the day.

That evening, when the workers from the bridge finish their shift and head to the bar, the Company head down and seek out Sabertine. They tell her of their adventures in the Weezer hive, and she is very interested in the spirit of Galaxyl. She tells them that he was a champion of earth around the same time as Hrothgurtun and that they may have traveled together briefly. Balboa tells her of the location and Sabertine says that she may well journey to investigate the tomb. The Company hand over the sixty doses of Weezer honey and Sabertine pays them thirty pieces of silver for the extra ten doses. She then tells them where they will be able to find the tomb of Hrothgurtun on the island of Ledo, she tells them that they will need to search in an area called the Dreaming Caves on the eastern cliffs of the island.

Sabertine then produces three maps showing the area of interest to the Company, and inform s them that there are still Dwarves living under the mountains on Ledo. She says that the Dwarves are very insular and may not welcome the presence of the Company near the tombs. Kank asks Sabertine if she knows of anyone who could train him to fight with the greathammer and she tells him that in her youth she was a dab hand and agrees to spend a couple of days teaching him the basics. They thank Sabertine and head off to find Captain Hrodin Gart and his crew. Arthur gives Hrodin four hundred gold pieces and asks the Captain to make all of the necessary arrangements to set sail in three mornings time.

As the sun rises above the Estuary of the Forked Tongue the Company's newly purchased silt skimmer, The Tattered Gull, slowly trundles away from the wharf and out into the silt depths. Scar heads to the prow of the skimmer and stares out over the silt while Arthur inspects the vessels two heavy crossbows. The rest of the Company stow away all of their kit in the small cabin, leaving Scar White and the seven Dwarves on deck. Captain Gart tells Scar that they will keep moving all night and that his First Mate, Murgan, will take the night shift with one of the other sailors. Scar tells the Captain that the Company will set a watch during the night as well to assist.

As South Ledopolus very slowly disappears into the permanent dust cloud that hangs above the silt sea one of the crew calls the Company to one of the gunwales and points down at the silt. There the Company can see dark tentacles moving in the silt and the sailor says;

Black silt horrors! Nasty beasts, and the smallest of their kind.

The members of the Company nod sagely and move away from the edge of the skimmer. That night, as the blazing sun sets into the haze of dust, the crew notice that the atmosphere is charged, and after a short while a lightning storm crackles through the dust cloud. At one point the deck of the Tattered Gull is struck leaving a small burnt patch on deck. Balboa quickly stands where the lightning struck and smiles at his cleverness.

That night, during Kank's watch on deck, the big Mul sees something moving on deck out of the corner of his eye, when he looks he can only see a shadow sliding across the deck towards a Dwarven sailor. As he watches the shadow touches the Dwarf, and the sailor screams and drops to the deck unconscious. Kank leaps to attack, shouting a warning as he does so, but the shadow is quicker and dark tendrils strike out at Kank. The big Mul dodges the attack and swings back with the Greathammer of Galaxyl but the horror glides away from the blow. The battle on deck continues, and Kank continues to shout alarm but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Eventually, Balboa wakes from his deep slumber and hears Kank shouting, he quickly wakes the others and pushes Arthur out of the cabin towards the disturbance.

Finally, Kank manages to land an attack with the Greathammer of Galaxyl and the strike is powerful enough to drive the horror overboard and back into the silt. The others arrive and Scar administers first aid to the unconscious sailor while Kank describes the attacker to Captain Gart. Hrodin tells Kank that the creature was a Thrax, a vile beast that attacks by draining water out of it's victims, the Captain thanks Kank and says that his quick intervention probably saved the sailors life. The Company double the watch and patrol the deck with lanterns throughout the night.

By mid-morning the following day the Tattered Gull arrives at it's destination below the eastern cliffs of the island of Ledo. They stare up at the cliffs and gauge that it will be a two hundred foot climb up to the narrow pathway that winds up the cliff face. Arthur grabs as much rope as he can carry and studies the cliff face through the lens of his telescope, he then produces a gemstone from one of his pouches and throws it into the air. To the surprise of everyone watching, the gemstone starts to orbit around the big Dwarfs head, and the next second Arthur disappears.

Arthur reappears on the narrow pathway, it is only four feet across at its widest, and drops the rope. He produces a couple of pitons from his bag and hammers them into the cliff, he then lowers the rope back down towards the silt skimmer below. Scar spots the rope being lowered and one of the sailors snags the rope with a gaff-hook and pulls it onboard. Ferulah steps forwards and says that she will climb first;

If the rope will hold my weight it will hold the rest of you!

In no time at all she has clambered up the cliff and joined Arthur on the path two hundred foot above the silt. Balboa goes next, and the earth priest has no problem in reaching the pathway. As Scar is climbing she slips off of the rope, but her lightning reflexes allow her to grab the rope again before she plummets, and eventually she makes it to join the others. Miloch follows her up, and as Kank is about to climb Captain Gart says to him;

We will wait below the Dreaming Caves, if you are not back in three days we will leave!

The big Mul just nods and then hauls himself up the cliff. When he arrives at the top he finds the others staring out at a stunning view. The pathway is well above the dust cloud and the view goes on for miles with the sun striking beautiful hues as it caresses the dust in the air. Kank takes it all in and then heads off up the pathway climbing towards the Dreaming Caves. Having climbed some twelve hundred feet Kank believes that they are approaching the first set of caves marked on Sabertine's map. Kank creeps forwards and can hear muffled high pitched voices talking ahead. He drops back and tells the others and they all set of forwards as quietly as possible. But Arthur stumbles and starts to grumble loudly about;

Not being made for this sort of thing!

Kank looks into the first of the caves and can see two humanoid creatures carrying quarterstaffs standing behind a barrier constructed of debris and driftwood. Kank steps past the cave entrance and allows Balboa to step forwards. One of the humanoids asks who the Company are and what they are doing on the island. Balboa tells them that the Company wish no trouble and are just passing, Arthur then steps into the cave entrance and one of the humanoids quickly darts into a passage behind the barrier. The two humanoids are both wearing masks and Arthur asks why as there is no dust cloud this far above the silt sea.

Outside, Kank sees two more of the humanoids step out onto the pathway further up the cliff, as they step out Kank recognises what they are and immediately looks into the air away from the cliff. He sees another pair of them flying towards him and as he steadies himself one of them lands and says;

Well met Kank! Is Balboa with you?

It is Reechet the Kenku trader whom the Company helped months previously when Balboa healed his injured daughter. Reechet greets the others and then tells them that this is where the Kenku call home. He also tells the other Kanku that he vouches for the Company and shows them into the cave to talk. Balboa tells Reechet where the Company is heading and in return the Kanku tells the Company that in the ruins at the bottom of the pathway there are many Half-giants, he also says that there are at least fifteen giants on the island and that their leader is called Braddoc Tor, he also believes that the Giants are preparing to attack the bridge. Next Reechet says that there has been some odd activity on one of the smaller islands, Triptor, a silt skimmer docked there and a group of about twenty disembarked. With them were two incredibly fat humanoids. Balboa looks around at the others of the Company and then warns Reechet to avoid the obese man as they are disease carriers.

Reechet and some of the Kenku escort the Company to the next set of caves where they have some clean water, Arthur takes time to memorize the inside of the cave and then asks Reechet to deliver a message to the Dwarves of South Ledopolus. He wants to warn them that the Giants are preparing to attack!