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The Mothers discussed their options and decided to help the Cormyrians with the giant problem in the Stonelands. Fonesca, Jito and Levi studied and prayed to prepare what spells they thought might be effective in their mission. Two days later the Mothers returned to the palace in Arabel to meet with the Lord High Seneschal and his ranger. The ranger told them that a group of giants of various types had been raiding in the north east of Cormyr, along the border with the Stonelands area, unclaimed by any kingdom. A number of noble families whose lands abutted this region were appealing for action as they could not protect their own subjects. The caravans of trade goods to Tilverton had also been attacked. The ranger described a great timber fortress where the chief of these giants, a hill giant named Nosnra, lived. Nosnra was known to be a grossly fat and thoroughly despicable creature, who was sly and vicious, loving ambush and suffering. But it was not supposed that he had the influence alone to group the variety of giant-kin together for long. Another motivational power was suspected. The Mothers were given horses and directions to a cave that the ranger had been using as a hideout near the steading of the hill giant chief. They were also instructed to keep all loot found with the giants and to bring back any evidence that they found of a motivational force behind the alliance. It took the Mothers a few days travel north from Arabel, stopping at Castle Crag on the way, to reach the hideout that the ranger had mentioned. They left their horses there and went out to scout the great wooden hall. When they got within sight of the hall, Jito cast an Invisibility 10' radius on Gaspode so that he could scout out the area. Gaspode noticed that there were no guards outside the building. He could also hear some sounds of merriment from within. He went around the outside and discovered two other gates, besides the door underneath the main watch tower. No one seemed to be on sentry duty up there either. Gaspode crept up to the front door underneath the tower. He listened intently for any sound of a guard, but heard only snoring. He opened the door and stepped inside. Two snoring giants lay slumped against the wall under a row of cloaks and bags suspended from wooden pegs. An empty barrel of ale lay between them. Moving on, Gaspode spied a set of double doors behind which much merriment was being had. Stairs led up to the tower to his left and two other, smaller doors led off to the right. He crept lightly up the stairs and saw that the guard there had decided on mead as his soporific. This was lucky as there was a simple alarm system consisting of an iron bar and hoop overhead. Descending again, Gaspode found that one of the doors below lead into a series of corridors, one of which revealed some ogre serving staff bringing food through another set of double-doors. The other door also opened into a corridor. Here Gaspode entered a room and found a huge bed covered in furs. There was also a locked chest and a high shelf, which he left for the moment. He returned to the others and they decided that the fates were with them and it was time for an assault. The whole group gingerly gathered in the hall while Gaspode ascended the tower again to dispatch the giant there. This done, he and Guthranka dealt similarly with the two below while Levi laid a glyph of warding in front of the double-doors. Fonesca coated herself and Jito with dust of disappearance and stood opposite the doors. Gaspode called on Imp to give him strength. When he had finished the glyph, Levi prayed that the group would complement each other in battle. Then he and Guthranka pulled open the doors. A long gloomy passage extended from the doors for about eighty feet before it reached a feast-hall with a large central fire-pit, over which roasted sheep, pigs and calves. Trestle tables had been set up to seat about thirty giants and ogres. Jito and Fonesca did not wait to count them. Jito raised his wand and loosed a fireball just to the left of the fire-pit. Fonesca mirrored his actions, but her fireball was shot from her hands and was directed slightly to the right. As soon as they could, they repeated this action, but not before a spear had shot out of the haze and smoke and buried itself in one of the cloaks behind Fonesca. None of the creatures stumbled out of the smoke towards the Mothers, so the loosed a final volley of flame and then shut the doors again and considered what to do next. Gaspode directed them back to the bedroom that he thought might be used for a leader of the giants. There they found that the bed covers had been thrown back and someone had left recently. The bed was still warm. The chest held gold, silver and copper coinage and the shelf had a silver comb, a copper mirror and a golden hair-pin that were all giant-sized. The room was beginning to smell distinctly of smoke, so the Mothers were thinking quickly as to what their next move should be.

The Mothers decided to leave the burning building. To ensure that they would not be ambushed, Gaspode and Fonesca went out first, as they were invisible. Jito, who was also still cloaked in Dust of Disappearance, levitated upwards from the entrance to see if he could get a few over the open areas of the Steading. They heard the enemy coming before they saw anything; yowls and yelps of what could only be wolves echoed around the valley followed by the crack of a whip. Gaspode reached the corner vantage point, only to see fourteen large wolves being driven on by a group of ogres and giants. Gaspode retreated to the defensible doorway where Levi and Guthranka remained, so that they would not be surrounded. Jito launched a fireball from his wand, aiming it at the on-rushing group. Fonesca, who had been heading in a different direction, turned at the sound of the wolves and cast a cone of cold, trying to catch as many ogres and wolves as possible. Both of these attacks thinned the numbers of foes somewhat, but there were still too many foes for them all to attack at once. Guthranka used her wand of fear to send two wolves away in a fright before some ogres and giants engaged herself and Levi in the doorway. Gaspode had noticed that one giant was hanging back and wielding a whip, which it was using to control the wolves. So he headed in that direction, slipping past the on-rushing ogres to get behind the beast-master. Fonesca was trapped on the ground, and the remaining wolves were directed towards her. As they came towards her, she transformed herself into an eagle. Although she did get bitten, she managed to escape and rose towards the tower as a safe vantage point, where she resumed human form and healed herself slightly. Jito also spotted the beast master and loosed two fireballs at him in quick succession, unknowingly catching Gaspode in their blast each time. The giant responded by sending a huge rock hurtling through the air, hitting Jito and forcing him back beyond the tower and out of range. Gaspode then managed to finish off the beast master with a back stab, hoping that this would stop the gnome lobbing more destruction his way. As the beast master fell and the enemy forces seemed in disarray, Fonesca, Levi and Guthranka were all surprised by attacks from a new direction: behind them. Stone giants had appeared from within the building, one scaling the tower to come upon Fonesca from behind and two others, attacking the Tyr worshipers in the doorway. Fonesca痴 position was given away as she lobbed some spells towards where Jito had swooped down to on his broom to engage the wolves. The axe blow drove her forward and she decided to climb over the ledge and lower herself onto the roof of the hall to escape the giant, luckily she rolled to the safer side of the pitched roof and ended in the gutter rather than falling further onto the ground. The giant sent a few boulders careering her way, when he thought he could detect her position. Meanwhile, Guthranka and Levi had managed to kill the hill giants in front of them, just as the stone giants arrived from behind. So they were still beset by many enemies when another force arrived, this one of ogres and one huge hill giant carrying a ballista in his hands like a crossbow. The ogres engaged Jito and also in the melee at the doorway, while the huge giant, Nosnra directed them from the rear. Gaspode rushed over to help the gnome, getting Imp to heal him as he entered combat with the ogres. Jito used his boots again to free himself of the local combat, rising into the air, still invisible to his opponents, although the stone giant in the tower was throwing the occasional rock his way, squashing the odd unfortunate wolf. When he was high enough he launched a fireball at Nosnra, which seemed to affect him slightly. But the chieftain took umbrage at this affront and sent a spear hurtling to the place from whence the spark of flame emerged. Jito was skewered, landing fifty feet further back from combat, unconscious. Luckily the two in the doorway were more successful, ogres and giants eventually falling under their blows. Fonesca thought that she could succeed in bringing down the chief with more magic, but he took aim at her when another ball of flame surrounded him briefly and he emerged undaunted. This shot also flew true and Fonesca collapsed in the gutter bleeding. As another stone giant fell in the hallway, he was replaced by the stone giant from the tower. The priest and the paladin traded blows with the ogres and the remaining giant, thinning their numbers. Gaspode fought free of the ogres and through the wolves; killing some and driving the rest off, before finding Jito痴 invisible body with the help of Imp and staunching his wounds. He then turned to Nosnra and fought him alone while worrying as to where Fonesca had got to. He eventually, he prevailed and went searching the rooftop for Fonesca again using his short sword. Levi痴 broadsword kept answering any successful stroke from an ogre or giant and Guthranka痴 blade leapt to her defence whenever it seemed that she would fall, finally the last enemy was vanquished. Gaspode called for help and they gently lowered Fonesca from the roof and brought her to where Jito still lay. Levi prayed over them and soon they were well enough to stand, if not for much else.

Levi and Guthranka used the remainder of their curing magic to heal the group. Fonesca also used all of the healing herb preparations that she had brought with her to assist in this. Gaspode then searched a number of the fallen giants for treasure, finding some jewellery and gold. The Mothers then re-entered the building, discovering that the golden items on the high shelf in the bedroom had been removed. They progressed cautiously through the eastern side of the steading, passing through a dormitory for giant children; an opulent (for giants) bed chamber; a trophy room with many heads on the walls and finally, another bedroom, which had a mysterious chain attached to the wall that the Mothers concluded had been for holding some beast at bay. After some searching of each of these areas the Mothers approached a set of double doors. When they opened these, they discovered that they lead to an open yard between the buildings of the steading. They also realised that all of the resistance to their arrival had not been dealt with. A large female hill giant and twelve young giants were ranged evenly before them, together with a very cantankerous looking cave bear. After a heavy melee, the creatures were defeated, although one of the youngsters had escaped through the courtyard gates to the rear. The Mothers barred this gate and made sure that the other one was also secure. Before returning to the main building or searching the out-buildings that they had found, Fonesca used the wand that they had obtained from the insides of the snake creature to heal Levi and Gaspode as much as she could. It ceased working after five successes. The Mothers then went into the outbuildings, which turned out to be two barracks and a guardroom. The guardroom had a large horn on the table and shields and spears ready for use. The barracks were empty of things of interest apart from a sack of boots hanging in an officer's alcove. This also contained some hidden gems and coin.