"Don't have much of a choice, Theron," Lathan says. "The giants have apparently been killing the locals and we've been tasked with stopping them.

"The giants apparently live in the Shrieken Mire, but so far we've only seen lizardmen, who have done their best to avoid a confrontation with us.

"I'm fine with the all of you joining us. We're going to need all the help we can get to deal with these giants."

Lucien raises an eyebrow at Theron's last name, but whether it is a sign of recognition or not is hard to say. I'm afraid that's true: we must deal with the giants. However, in order to do that, we've got to get more information than we have right now. I suggest we take the evening and venture out again tomorrow. All of you are welcome to come along if you like." This last is addressed to all three of the newcomers.

Arixos sat silently, listening to the others deliberate. He had made up his mind already however. ”You have my blade. This is why I started out on my own.” He told the others round the table. ”Giants vs villagers doesn’t sound like a fair fight to me, how about we even the odds a little.” He said with a grin. ”And having Giantslayer added onto your name doesn’t sound to bad either! When he got back to his clan, having conquered giants and saved villagers from a gruesome fate, he would be famous amongst them. Lots of great tales to tell, should he live through it all.

"Killing the locals? That sounds terrible! We have to do something about this," Viola exclaimed, turning to Arixos.

"I may not be all that good at fighting, but I'll help in any way I can!"

"I... suppose there is no other choice if giants are the bandits wrecking havoc amongst the people", he proclaims, though the beading sweat that makes a reappearance on his forehead could reveal to a perceptive eye that he is, indeed, not thrilled about the notion of tackling giants.

After ascertaining where and when they should meet to venture out, he excuses himself.
 "Well then. Let us meet each other again on the morrow, good folk. I need to... Meditate before our enterprise together truly begins." The man nods his head deeply in a polite manner, then turns and walks away. They can see him approach the bar, and soon he is surrounded by more food and drink which he digs into ravenously, reminiscent of a dog worried about getting his treat stolen away.

"Fresh blood for the grinder," Karon replies to the new people with what to him is a mischievous grin, not that most people can read that from this particular expression on the face of a half-orc. "Glad to have you with us, I've never killed a giant before, they sound like nasty business."

"Great. We'll meet down here in the morning, at sunrise, then head back into the Shrieken Mire." Lathan stands and nods at the newcomers, then retires for the evening. "Have a good night."

Lathan is up early in the morning, cleaning and inspecting his gear just outside of the inn.

Before turning in for the evening, Lucien gathers some spell components: a good deal of charcoal, a brass brazier, herbs, and incense. With occasional references to some notes made with Seirye, he lights a fire in the brazier and casts a spell to summon a familiar. From out of the smoke, an owl appears and flies about the common room of the inn before settling on Lucien's shoulder. With that task complete, he sets the owl to guard him and enters his meditation during the deepest hours of the night.

Lucien is also up early, he takes the opportunity to wander about town and see if anyone has any old or sickly livestock that they might be willing to sell. In particular, he looks for a horse or other large animal.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:42, Thu 28 Dec 2017.

The first rays of sunshine have already gently stroked the rooftops of the town's buildings, and the party may have started to wonder if the cleric they met the previous day has gotten cold feet; just then, he clambers out of the inn in full garb, with his chainmail on, his weapons at his sides, a heavy backpack strapped to his back along with a dark blue heater shield, emblazoned with an image of a silver gauntlet matching the one on his right hand almost perfectly. His apparent battle-readiness is juxtaposed by the large loaf of bread, already bitten into, held in his left, bare hand.

He clears his throat as he approaches the gathered adventurers. "Forgive my tardiness, I wanted to take my time praying for our good fortune in this endeavor. With Torm on our side, our enemies would be wise to stay away from our blades and magicks!"

No one in Thurmaster has any livestock that they are willing to part with, but a couple of the locals suggest that Count Parlfray might.

Karon stares while Lucien casts his ritual, taking care not to interrupt the two elves as they work, but at the same time paying close attention. When the spell is cast and an owl is summoned, the half-orc is visibly impressed. When Lucien is clearly done working his magic, the bulky warrior approaches him with a grin on his face. "I had no idea you were a wizard. Now I know how you managed to win that dice game when we first met," he says, winking.

Like the others, Karon is up early. Planning has never been his strong suit, but heading back into the swamp without a plan sounds like an exercise in futility. "I'm not sure trekking through the swamp with no particular clue as to where to go is the way forward here. Perhaps we should see if that Parlfray boy feels like sharing the location he was talking to, now that his father has made it abundantly clear he doesn't want his heir traipsing around the countryside with the likes of us? Perhaps the lad could draw us a map if someone persuasive were to approach him, eh, Lucien?" he says suggestively.

"I believe the location you speak of was not in the Shrieken Mire, Karon," Lathan says, slinging his pack over his shoulder. "No one seems to know much about what is in the Mire or how to traverse it; most locals just stay away from it. A map of the area would definitely be useful but I doubt anyone here has one.

"We'll need that boy to tell us the location of the ruins or whatever at some point, but we need to get on his father's good side first if we expect to get close to the boy again, especially after what happened with him already. Stopping the giants and the dragon is probably our best bet to do that.

"This kind of work tends to take some time. I know many of you might not particularly like traipsing about in the swamp, but we'll need to do that until we can catch a break.

"I'm a decent enough tracker. Anyone here good at drawing maps?"

"Sorry I'm late!"

Viola's voice emerges from inside the inn. She appears, wearing a suit of leather armor and with a sheathed rapier tucked into her belt sash.

Arixos strolls out of the inn shortly after Viola, carrying a backpack full of useful stuff for the upcoming journey. He was wearing his chainmail armour, along with a longsword on his back and a shortsword and crossbow at his belt. He patted all his weapons to make sure they were there, and then nodded to himself. "I am ready to head off. What's the plan?" He asked, knowing they were off to hunt giants but not much else.

Lucien shoots an eye at the resident wizard. "I don't suppose mapmaking is one of your talents? If not I can give it a try. I think Lathan is right, unless we would like to go ask the Count if he'd like to donate some livestock to our search. No one in town had anything they were willing to sell." He does not look like the thought of wandering the swamp is very appealing.

As the discussion continues, Lucien guides the group to a general store where he looks for the basics required to make a map.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Wed 03 Jan 2018.

After the party picks up the map-making supplies, Lathan begins leading everyone to the Shrieken Mire. "We'll want to go about this very methodically," he says. "It'll take time, but we're going to need to get a better idea of the layout of the Mire."

Before their early morning shopping excursion even began, Theron had already made his first purchase of the day; a bottle of the finest wine the inn he was staying at had in store. It was carefully tucked away in his backpack until he noticed a few hardened leather and steel flasks at the common goods store where the party ended up purchasing their mapping supplies. He bought a couple and asked for a block of sealing wax almost as an afterthought. Passing by the marketplace, he thought it prudent to take some more rations with him, and a tent, for his own comfort.

At the same stall as the rations, he made the purchase of some more wine, this time of a lower quality. Stepping away from everyone for a moment, he uncorked his newly acquired flasks and poured the contents of the wine bottle into two of them, filling the bottle with the cheaper wine instead. The first use of his sealing wax is to seal the cork back in place, so the bottle looks pristine and new. Who knows, perhaps a bottle of 'expensive' wine will come in handy. Or maybe not. His mind wandered, and he imagined a giant grabbing the bottle between its ginormous fingers and accidentally crushing it before long. Shivers ran up his spine, and, after packing all of his rations into the sack he got along with the new supplies, he hurried to follow the mostly-elven group he's attached himself to.

---

Now that they are out of the town, he looks to the other adventurers. Clearing his throat,
 he begins, "Speaking of which, may I inquire as to... what exactly are we doing? All I know is that there may be giant bandits involved, along with a swamp of some kind. What... is our task with the swamp, other than...", he gestures to the current location of the parchment and ink, "Mapping it out?"

"A couple days ago, some local fishermen were found dead on the outskirts of the Shrieken Mire, apparently killed by giants," Lathan explains to Theron. "A local lord has asked us to look into it and stop the giants from killing more people. Further, a dragon was spotted flying over the Mire recently.

"Unfortunately, we don't know much about navigating the Mire, so we don't know where the giants might be in it. That's why we're trying to map it out, in order to get a better idea of the lay of the land."

Theron's step slows visibly at the mention of the great flying scaled monster, and he falls behind a few steps as the explanation continues. He was... well, not really ready for the giants, but he had enough time to process that news and hoped dearly that it was some commoner's exaggerated description of a large man, or maybe, maybe a troll of some kind, even though that option was still not hugely encouraging in his eyes.

But a dragon? A large flying snake and another exaggeration, must be! Telling himself that, he trots back up to his previous walking position, fixing the tabard that slid ever so slightly to the side on top of his chain mail, in an attempt to look somewhat dignified. "Yes. In that case, trying to get a better lay of the land seems like the best course of action. Once there, should we perhaps split into a line, each person within, say, twenty feet of another, and comb through the area, making reports as necessary? That way, everyone would have at least one person to help them in case trouble was afoot, and certainly we would cover the ground more accurately, more quickly." Or at least that's how the priests had the acolytes mop the floors of the cathedral; it seemed a sensible tactic to the cleric of Torm.

At the general store Lucien also buys some additional food stores for himself as well as two stout looking fishing nets. He thinks back to the werebear and decides that he'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them. He has doubts about their usefulness against either dragons or Giants though. Rejoining the group, he nods his silent agreement with Lathan as they progress towards the Mire.

Lucien raises an eyebrow at Theron's suggestion of how to search the Mire. "That's an interesting idea, though perhaps those who are likely to draw attention to themselves should stay together at the center. I've no doubt we'll run into trouble, but an apparently alone target might draw more actual trouble than a group moving together." He looks at Lathan to see what he thinks of the idea of spreading out a little.

Lathan nods. "Aye, that's not a bad idea."

"Dragons? You mean dragonkind, like wyverns or dragon turtles, not Dragons with a capital D, right?"

There is a tinge of nervousness in Viola's voice.

"A local kid said he saw a dragon," Lathan replies. "Whether or not that is indeed what he saw remains to be seen. Either way, I have no intention of fighting a dragon."

"You people worry too much," Karon says as the group is about to leave town again. "If we see a dragon, we'll deal with a dragon. But most likely it was a big bat or something and the kid  got scared."