Storm King’s Thunder. Session 26: The Eye of the All-Father

17^th -21^st Alturiak 1458DR

After another grueling three days of hiking through the brutal frozen peaks, they approached a rough cliff on top of a high plateau. Ahead of them they saw an opening: a large domed entrance supported by columns with an enormous pair of elaborate doors. As they approached the doors they saw something disturbing: a trail of several human-sized footprints in the snow leading into the door.

Opening the door they were immediately faced with what appeared to be a thick wall: 20 feet wide and 40 feet tall, but there seemed to be a small gap at the top. The tracks seemed to lead under the wall. Carlan’s imp flew upwards and found a window either side of them looking into where they were currently standing and a gap on top of the wall with enormous chains linked onto it. Through the gap the imp saw that past the wall there lay a long corridor, with a higher ledge either side 20 feet tall. It ended with a large ornate metal door that was lit by torches held by roughly-dressed humans who seemed to be camped in front of the door.

Flying through the small window on the left, it seemed to lead to a small observatory with a lever (that maybe operated a mechanism to raise the wall?). The imp pulled on the lever with all it’s might but was unable to move it. Amadeous walked up the wall with his Slippers of Spider Climbing. He pulled on the lever but by itself it did not seem to operate the mechanism. Looking across the other side, through the opposite window there seemed to be another lever on the other side. Fenris climbed up the wall and they timed themselves to pull the levers simultaneously. As they pulled the levers, there was a heavy clanking sound and the chains ground into life, lifting the wall up and retracting it into the ceiling.

Darius lead the way down the corridor and approached the figures in front of the door. They appeared similar to the Uthgardt they had camped with a few days previously. Darius called out to the leader, a brutal mountain of a man flanked by an enormous white wolf. Speaking with them. they were the Great Wyrm Tribe, who had come here looking for one of their number who was lost but could not get past the door. They menacingly told the Griffons that they had to leave, for outlanders were not welcome here and continuing their presence would result in violence. Knowing that they couldn’t leave, the Griffons continued with trying to persuade the barbarians to work with them but it lead to the drawing of swords. The skirmish was short but brutal and after a few moments the barbarians lay dead. Searching the bodies, on the leader they found an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location and a pouch of precious gems.

Examining the door they saw a vast door 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall, decorated with ancient carvings of various giants. In the middle was the stylized imprint of a giant hand with the following text in Jotun:

“The mark awaits the Children of the First,

The Gate recalls its Ancient Dawn,

Touch my palm and name the All-Father”

After a few minutes deliberation, the Griffons reckoned that a giant must touch the handprint and name the Father of the giants Annam. Harshnag placed his palm to the door and called out “Annam” and the door creaked into life, sinking downwards into the floor and opening the way. They saw that the doorway led into a vast hall.

Stepping through the doorway, they were shocked by the sight of enormous giant forms around them before realising that they were statues of giants. Stylised great stone statues 20 feet tall stood around them, each representing one of the giants representing one of Annam’s divine children: Grolantor for Hill Giants, Thrym for Frost Giants, Surtur for Fire Giants, Skoraeus for Stone Giants, Iallanis for Cloud Giants and Stronmaus for the Storm Giants. At the centre was one statue far taller than the others labelled “Annam”. The face was blank as the sculptor did not know Annam’s features and didn’t dare guess. There were doors to the north and south and on the far side a gateway, the entrance appeared as mist. Korrak poked his axe through the mist but found the dull thud of stone on the other side: it seemed to be some sort of inactive portal. Giant runes surrounded the gateway that the Griffons didn’t recognise. Harshnag recognised “Ise”, which apparently represented frost giants. There was an inscription in an ancient dialect of Jotun:

“Claim the weapon of your people and let it greet the rune that shares your soul”.

Looking at the statues, each was armed: Skoraeus with a boulder, Grolantor with a club and Surtur with a sword. However Thrym was empty-handed, his hands and arms posed as if holding a weapon. Darius reasoned that Harshnag needed to touch the weapon from the statue of Thrym to the “Ise” rune to activate the portal.

They went through the southern doors and found an enormous feasting hall, giant stone tables and chairs 10 feet tall lay scattered around the room. Around the room also lay human-sized skeletons bearing rusty weapons and armour clad in furs that were almost completely rotten. Across the far side of the room was a giant skeleton armed with a gigantic warhammer matching the style of the statues in the great hall. Sensing a trap, they asked Harshnag to retrieve the weapon. He strode boldly across the room to retrieve the warhammer and as he did the skeletons sprang into life, including the giant skeleton. As the giant skeleton and Harshnag traded blows Korrak reached into the power of his ancestry, enlarging himself to become 12 feet tall. He surged across the room, determined to use The Heldenhammer to smash down the undead. After a few bloody moments the undead had been put to rest forever. Searching the rest of the room they found stone tablets detailing ancient stories of the adventures of Diancastra, another of Annam’s children. It was a famous saga telling of how she reclaimed her divine ancestry through deeds of guile as well as strength. The Griffons had heard some of these when they learned Jotun but parts of these seemed new - maybe parts of the tale that had been lost to time? They put the tablets in the Bag of Holding and Harshnag picked up the giant warhammer.

They headed back to the hall but felt they should explore further before travelling through the portal. Heading north they ascended some stairs and passed an ancient sign that indicated that these were dormitories for ambassadors meeting at the Eye. Reaching the top of the stairs, they found a long corridor lined with rooms that appeared to have collapsed at the far end. Giant frosted webs lined the walls and crisscrossed the corridor further down. The nearest rooms were labelled “Priests” and contained rotten prayer scrolls, a prayer circle and a small pot from which grew some small plants. Suspecting danger, Fenris fired an arrow at it, which struck the plants unremarkably.

Before they head further Fenris noticed that the web appeared to quite specifically avoid one patch of floor tiles. From a safe distance Amadeous summoned his Mage Hand and pushed hard down on the tiles. They all heard a loud click and from the far side of the corridor a huge round boulder crashed from the ceiling and hurtled towards them. In the split seconds before the boulder struck most of the party managed to quickly dodge into the Priest’s rooms. Darius however was not quick enough and crouched, protecting himself with his shield. Somehow he managed to avoid the largest part of the boulder and avoid being scraped by it with his shield. Shaking and terrified, he avoided it unscathed. However Harshnag had been trailing behind the party a little bit and as he came up the stairs was alarmed to see a 25 foot boulder hurtling towards him and was too shocked to to react, taking the boulder fully to the chest.

Dusting Harshnag off they pressed forward and found 2 rooms labelled “Guards”. One was a decrepit sparring room, the weapons rusted almost to dust and the walls scarred with the marks from old weapons practice. The other appeared to be a bedroom, however the walls were further covered with ice webs and a rough tunnel 10 feet wide marked the far wall. Heading into the tunnel, the floor was icy and uneven. As they pressed on they heard clicking and chattering before reaching a small cavern. Gigantic blue and white spiders climbed around the room, some tending to clutches of blue eggs. In the centre was the form of a young woman dressed in crude furs. They quickly slew the spiders and smashed the eggs.

Darius cast Lay on Hands to heal the young woman, who quickly awoke. They found out her name was Noori and she was of the Great Wyrm tribe and had been ranging in the snow before being attacked. They told her that the Great Wyrm tribe were dead and they had slain them earlier that day. At this she became enraged and attacked with her bare hands. Korrak slapped her hard, rendering her unconscious again. They tied her up and woke her up again. They told her it was senseless to waste her life and they could help her. However she swore that she would spend the rest of her days seeking revenge on them, no matter the cost. Sensing that they should not leave a liability behind and she would probably die in any case, Fenris slew her.

Following the tunnel further they found that it exited the cliff outside around 20 feet above the ground. They prepared to travel through the portal and find out what lay on the other side.