We have healed ourselves, but the goblins are still following. Occasionally one will duck out of hiding behind us and shoot an arrow as we move through the narrow tunnel. I take the lead to scout ahead and get about twenty yards in front of the group and hear wind. Morrigan flies forward and disappears out of sight. Moving forward carefully, I see there is sunlight streaming in ahead. After turning a corner, this exit comes out on a narrow ledge that overlooks a grand valley with a river running through it. Below the ledge on a rise across a deep chasm are a band of mounted goblins with bows. I back up and return to the party.

“Hope you guys have some long-range attacks,” I say, stepping out of the shadows. “Briar’s new friends are out there with bows ready to pick us off, while we walk a narrow ledge,” I wave with violent hand-gestures pointing down, “over a deep chasm!”

“I can try something,” Roll says.

“So can I,” FaydeOut says, pulling out his bow, “I want to give them back some arrows,"

I sit down, close my eyes, and focus on Morrigan as my consciousness shifts to her eyes. I can feel the wind blow against me, providing lift under my wings. I am a hundred feet above the goblins, with a slight twitch of a wing I can soar away. I inspect the goblins again and see that there are six of them and the Wargmother is approaching. Scanning around the area outside of the tunnel, I spot several goblins moving along an even more narrow path toward our tunnel opening. I assume these are to harry us from behind as well as from across the chasm.

With Morrigan’s eyes I watch FaydeOut poke out of the tunnel entrance and duck back in as arrows clatter against the stone. He reappears again with his bow drawn and holds for a second, then fires, hitting a goblin directly in the face and knocking it off its mount. I see it is bleeding and will die. From above, I can spot a pulsing reddish light in the tunnel. A being of flame and smoke shoots out from the tunnel, through the air, and across the chasm to the waiting goblins. The flame summon wildly swings around and catches the Worgs and riders on fire. Flaming goblins make for some comical chaos as two Worgs go howling into the chasm, dragging squealing riders with them. The Worgmother leaps on the Djinn summon, killing it instantly. The Djinn explodes and I can see the mini-boss Worg is injured in the detonation, the chieftain is nearly thrown from its back and then circles the others while barking at his remaining riders to retreat.

I return to myself within the cave and explain to the party about the ledge and the goblins along it. Roll drinks a mana potion and starts another summon. Again, he goes through the motions with the pen. With a flourish a Fay crashes down from the air and spins and floats in front of him. He speaks to the creature, giving it a brief series of instructions, and it whirls out of the tunnel. I move ahead just in time to see goblins flying from the leftward narrow path into the canyon, their pitiful yelps silenced with a thud. The Fay returns to keep rear guard for us as we take the path to the right, out of the tunnel and away from the nest of the goblins and their pets. From a safe distance, I can see the Worgmother and the chieftain watching us file out and climb precariously along the path.

After a short distance, about the length of several football fields, the path turns back into the mountain. I can see another opening farther down the chasm and a natural bridge across the divide. I see a very large-looking… man… on the bridge, who looks too big from this distance and who is not wearing a lot of clothes.

We enter the tunnel, which thankfully goes in only a short distance before turning left toward where we saw the bridge. It then gets to be a very narrow natural tunnel where we can only walk single-file. I take lead again and go ahead of the group, wrapped in the shadows of the cave. I step out of a slit in the wall, a large crack which opens into a boulder-strewn cave with a large fire in the center. There is what looks like an entire cow on a spit over the fire. At first I didn’t notice, but around the fire, there are four colossal figures, stone giants. On the other side of the fire area is a pit and I can hear music coming from it. It sounds like a man strumming a lute, and singing.

Inspecting the stone giants yields:

Stone Giant (Rockclaw clan)

Intelligent giants who live in mountain caves, they are keen to trade, although they are aggressive when confronted and will work as a team. The Rockclaw clan was driven many years ago from the lands of men over a misunderstanding about cooking horses.

-Rockclaw clan giants speak common.

Hit Points: 140

Attacks:

Fist: 19-39

Boulder-throw: 24-46

Club: 21-41

Stomp: 35-59

Immune to taunt, poison, blunt damage.

50% damage reduction for fire and piercing.

Okay, again this is not a fight we want. Something is off here—this game does not have portable music, so they must have someone in there actually singing. Maybe a bard?

I better hurry back before Briar busts in scratching his ass and pisses off a cave full of stone giants.

If they see where we come into their cave from they could smash the wall and we would be unable to get through. I now understand what Sauce meant about choices that leave you stuck.

Back with the party in the narrow tunnel, I explain what I found and what I think is going on. We have a long discussion, rehashing and taking into consideration that the stone giants could be working with the goblins and what giants like to eat. “Why would they have a bard?” Kian asks.

“Maybe it’s one of the missing adventurers we are supposed to find,” Roll offers.

“That is a good point and we want to get him out of there. One of us will need to go in there and see if we can talk with the stone giants,” I say as everyone continues looking at me

I stop, taking in their looks, “Oh, you guys want me to do this?”

“You got an entire clan of higher-level characters to join us,” Briar says, shifting to not press against a rock jutting out of the wall. “Besides, you are the clan leader so you’re the natural choice. And, you don’t look as dangerous as you are. The giants will just see a little girl.”

They have a point; I can use my perceived weakness to our advantage. It still feels like I am playing the damsel, but in this case, I am the one saving my party—these giants would crush us. I have a couple of really good escape options should things go badly—as they likely will. My teleport and transmutation could be advantageous. If anything, I can hide really well.

“W-well, here goes.” I say, feeling like I sound like I am walking to my death.

Moving into the cave, I decide I don’t want to sneak around and potentially get detected by smell or some animal they have. I make sure my Deck of Transmutation is handy and I walk out of the tunnel and into the stone giants’ den.

Step by step, I emerge out into the open area of the cave. I am a small girl walking into a cave full of terrors. I look up and the cave ceiling is charred black from years of fires, and there are piles of bones to my left near the cave entrance. The giants are back farther in the cave and to the right slightly. My initial thought was correct—one giant sniffs the air and looks up directly at me. His hairless skin is a grey tone, and he has the look of granite. He wears a leather skirt round his midsection, and he is at least three times my height.

“What have we here, my Stonekin?” says one of the stone giants, his voice a kind of rumble. Setting down his meal, he stands up and I can feel his weight like gravity. “It looks like the goblin hole has brought us another songbird.”

“Do you sing, little bird?” he asks in an impossibly deep voice; the others do not get up, but the do look over. “We enjoy singing and music, we have lived here for so long with so little.”

“I do not sing, I am sorry,” I say and I consider bowing, but it may be awkward to do that, so I give a sort of curtsy. “I am simply seeking peaceful passage for my friends and myself. My name is Nightflower. What, may I ask is yours?” I feel that I should speak formally with this immense being.

“You may call me Beryllighter Rockclaw. I go by many names, but that is the name the humans know me as. How many seek passage, little Nightflower?” he asks, looking over me.

“Well met, Beryllighter Rockclaw. We are not a large party and simply seek to pass; we are also seeking lost members of our community who someone has sent us after. I believe you may have one there,” I point to the pit, “and I imagine you may be interested in trading for his safety.”

“We may, though you have offered nothing for this person yet,” Beryllighter says, indicating the pit with a smile.

Thinking of the information screen on this clan of stone Giants, I take a gamble. “You are Rockclaw clan and have not been allowed in the lands of men. I am the master of a mountain fortress in the Yarrowlands. I would invite you and all your clan to live in my lands as long as you promise to help protect it.”

Beryllighters chin snaps up, but then he recovers his demeanor and sits down on a large boulder. His clan mates behind him stand at my offer, which gives me a flash of terror. He says in his low voice, “If you are what you say, then you can undo a great wrong done to us. I cannot promise you my entire clan for defense, but I can promise you two of our best fighters. If that is sufficient, we will leave you with your lost one and depart for your fortress now. If you are not what you say, you will be a songbird for us until you wither.” He holds up his hand, palm towards me, and I get the following pop-up.

Form NPC Alliance - Rockclaw Stone Giants

Beryllighter has promised you two of his best fighters. In return, you will allow the stone giants to live in your land* so they may regain their honor.

2x Stone Giant defenders, rank 3 fortress guardians.

* Your Yarrowland reputation decreased, related quests lines added and removed.

I quickly agree to the new alliance, not knowing if there will be repercussions from the decrease. I still haven’t fully explored my alliance and diplomacy interface.

Beryllighter’s face breaks in a huge smile and he says in his low rumble, “Very good. We will make our home in your lands and have our defenders report to your fortress. Thank you, little Nightflower, we will work to increase your honor as well as ours.”

I watch the stone giant turn and pick up a few belongings. He gathers his people, with more coming from back rooms, including women and children. They leave the cave without looking back once—they simply picked up what they could and walked as a people from their home. I can’t help but wonder if I have doomed these people to relocating to my area. If [Art of War] takes our fortress, what will happen to them? They will most likely be hunted down for the experience they can provide. I feel a presence behind me and turn to see my entire party watching the giants march down and across the valley.

“That was a good call,” Kian says to me. I nod, mainly because I don’t know what else to do.

“Can you guys get me out of here?” a voice from the pit rings out.

We walk over and look down in the pit to see a bard. I inspect him, and he is indeed one of the missing. He is a member of the lost adventuring party, a bard named Mistel Fansy. We pull him up from the pit and get an interface ding for progress on one part of the main quest.

Through the mountain (story) : Objectives 1/15

“Thank you all. I’ll be heading back, it has been quite the ordeal, and I am done with this place. Thank you for not killing the stone giants. The young ones and women were kind to me,” he says and turns to leave walking into the tunnel in the wall, presumably to go back to the tavern in the town of Bangor.

I decided to scout around the cave to see if our goblin friends are going to be visiting us. It will be nice to know if we have any other surprises in the area, all the things that would not bother stone giants, but might try taking a bite out of us. After I am satisfied we are not about to come under attack, I return to the cave.

“There is zero loot here,” Briar says after we look around for about an hour and scouted the area fully.

“There is some kind of a large crystal in the back here,” Roll says, leaving one of the side rooms.

I go to look. It’s a huge purple crystal with spikes. I can see swirling smoke-stuff inside of it, shapes snapping into focus only to fade away just as swiftly. It is far too large to carry, and my Identify skill simply identifies it as a Crystal Shard.

I leave it to the clerics to examine and try to figure out. Going out to the front of the cave, I watch Morrigan fly in and land on top of an obelisk standing near the bridge. She caws and pecks at the top of the obelisk. When I try to pass it, she caws again and dive-bombs me, then returns to the top of the obelisk. It looks like it once had words carved on it, but I cannot make any of them out.

What does this crazy bird want?

Morrigan seems determined that I look at this thing, and so I walk around the base. On the other side, with my back to the chasm, I can see a small bit of glowing silver writing. I squat down and brush away the dirt and rocks and see the words Shard Vigil Memorial written in the silver letters. This is the same kind of writing I saw inside the crates at the entrance to the starter dungeon, what feels like ages ago.

The Shard Vigil, in massively multi-player game history, can only be a reference to one game, Asheron’s Call. It was a special monument that the developers created for players who had defended the final shard—of six—in a large global quest chain. In the quest, the players were to destroy the crystal named The Shard of the Herald. Instead, they defended it around the clock for days: against the developers, all the other players, and even vast waves of spawned monsters. That group of players kept the game story from progressing for all that time. Every player on the game server could not continue the main quest chain until someone destroyed the shard.

Amazingly, instead of being punished or pulling dirty tricks, the developers of Asheron’s Call rewarded the audacity and tenacity. They created a permanent monument in the game that had a list of the names of all the defenders inscribed on it.

If this is a reference to that monument, then this tower is a clue about the crystal shard in that room in the cave. The one clue about how to solve this instance was here in plain sight the whole time. I wonder how many times Sauce killed these Stone Giants and walked right past this crumbling stone?

I think I know what we need to do.

But we need to sleep and pick this up in the morning.