Those who found themselves in the Istari Tower last night may have seen William Fredrickson in the tower common room, speaking with one of the mages. Passersby and listeners would have heard thus -
“It was chaotic. A gigantic, bloody battle that one could hardly imagine…”
William was sitting casually on one of the stone benches on the main floor of the tower, his back against the wall and his heavy falchion laying at his side in its sheath next to him. He fretted with his hat as he spoke, trying to shove a frayed feather back into place. A young mage at the bench next to him was entranced by his tale.
“There were six of us… Elite Magus Elias Goodmane, Vindex Validus, Kayoto Ashalden, Lilly Snyder and a tiefling of some sort who’s name I can’t recall with all the blows to my head I suffered that day…”
William rubbed a bruise on his brow as he spoke, and the mage winced at the sight of the mark. “Still painful?”
William shook his head and continued. “Chance had brought us together on the road north of Beregost, and under Elias’s suggestion, we decided to head southwards towards the ruined town of Nashkel with the goal of pushing back the raiding giants in the area.”
“Giants?” asked the young mage, wide eyed.
William chuckled. “Aye, Giants. Big brutes, and damn strong warriors too. Why, I’ve seen one pick up a tree and use it as a club!”
“By Mystra!” exclaimed the mage. “Do go on!”
“Well,” William continued, taking a long drink from a flask that had been holding. “It all started well enough, the lot of us bantering and joking, having a really fine time. I remember someone made a comment about Wyvren poop.” This comment provoked a laugh from the mage.
William continued. “The spell casters among us enchanted us with stone skin spells so the whole lot of us looked like traveling statues.”
“Aye, that’s a useful spell,” commented the mage.
William nodded. “Indeed it is. We found it quite useful as we neared the foothills south of Nashkel.”
“Is it true that the entire village there is deserted?”
“Aye it’s a smoking ruin, and not a soul in sight… Except for the giants that is…”
“How did you fare?” The mage’s gaze drifted down to William’s sword lying on the bench. The blade was badly bent, and barely fit into its scabbard.
William sighed. “Initially, very well. Working in unison, the warriors of our group, myself, Vindex, and the tiefling, were able to cut down dozens of the creatures. They can be rather clumsy at times. The spell casters backed us up considerably.” He smiled. “It was quite the light show. You should have seen it.”
The mage chuckled. “I would have liked to! I’ve head of the abilities of Sir Goodmane and Sir Ashalden, and Miss Snyder as well.”
William nodded solemnly. “Aye, I was impressed by their magic. It felled many of the brutes. Saved my skin quite a few times.”
“Did they use that one spell… Isaac’s Missile Storm?” questioned the mage curiously. “I’ve heard that’s a favorite of theirs…”
William scratched his beard. “Is that the one where they send of all those blue rays of light?”
The mage nodded.
William grinned. “Aye, they sure did. Damned effective too.” He took another drink from his flask. “Vidnex did quite well himself. He’s really improved. I was glad to have his blade at my side.” He nodded sternly. “Good fellow there.”
“So what else happened?” prodded the mage after a while.
“Oh, well… after a few hours of trudging along through the foothills, slaughtered as many of the dastardly giants as we could, we ran across a larger party. A whole squadron of them. It seemed a bit odd, for all the other opposition we had faced had been mostly single individuals.”
The mage nodded and motioned for William to continue. He took another sip from his flask and wiped his lips with a sigh. “Vindex and I thought something was up, so we thought to flank them, but Elias stepped up and began casting and bombarded them with several giant flaming stones. It was fantastic! Downed them right and left! Vindex and I charged in and cleaned up the rest of them easily. We rested after that and discussed our next move and the mages recast their enchantments.”
The mage smiled. “Well done!”
William laughed. “Oh, aye, we thought so. But turns out we stirred up a hornets nest, for a few minutes later, attracted by all of the commotion no doubt, a horde of Frost Giants came pouring down from the mountains to assist their lesser brethrens.”
“Frost Giants?” queried the mage, puzzled.
William nodded slowly. “Twice as big as a hill giant, and they use wickedly large axes that could slice a galleon in half. They swarmed down on us, along with several hill giants and we had to fight for our very lives.”
William’s face darkened with the memory. “Took us completely by surprise. We hadn’t expected a counter attack of any sort… they did us some terrible damage… We fought desperately, for several long minutes.”
A few other listeners had flocked near William by now, and all were listening intently to his tale. “The mages blasted them with all the spells they had, while myself, Vindex and the tiefling slashed and cut and hacked with all the speed and strength we could muster.”
His shook his head, remembering the chaotic events. “Somehow, we all managed to survive the assault… it was almost as if Mystra herself was aiding us. It really felt like she was giving us strength.”
His audience listened, enraptured.
“Somehow, against the odds, we remained standing, bloody and beaten. I had a horrible gash across my stomach myself, which would have done me in had I not gulped down several healing potions.”
William paused for a moment, taking a breath. “We thought we had seen the worst of it, but as we regrouped and rested, a larger swarm of giants began to rush down from the mountains, and it our dire condition all we could do was retreat. We headed back down to the road, past the town, managing to outrun them. Nearly spent, we all collapsed on the road, breathing heavily.”
He took another sip from his flask and a look of disappointment crossed his face. It was empty. With a shrug he continued. “We barely had enough time for a few minutes rest before we heard the sounds of pursuit. But it was more than just a few angry giants giving us a final fight. It was an entire bloody army, or rather, just a vanguard most likely. Whatever it was, it was up to the six of us to prevent them from continuing northward and ravaging through Beregost. Determined and tired, we turned to face our foes.”
William sighed and leaned back against the wall. “It was one of the most challenging fights I’ve ever faced,” he continued, “and I fought against those damned Thayans those many months ago, so that should give you some idea just what we were up against.”
“The fighting raged for hours, though I admit I may have lost track of time.” He looked up at his audience and chuckled softly. “It’s like that sometimes, in the bloody furry of battle… you lose all track of time. Minutes can seem like hours and hours like mere seconds. Regardless, we bested them, though barely. I praise Mystra that we made it through. I really believe she was aiding us herself. I can only imagine what would have happened it they had reached Beregost.”
William suddenly let out a yawn. He was tired, horribly tired and needed a good night’s rest. Most of his listeners noticed his fatigue and politely excused themselves to attend to their duties. The young mage remained and William wearily picked up his sword and placed his hat back on his head.
“Do you think that’s the last we’ll see of those giants for a while?” He asked as William began to walk towards the stairs to head to his quarters.
William smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think so, lad. Those giants seem to spawn like rabbits… I can only guess as to how long it is before they launch another raid.”
The mage nodded thoughtfully as William walked up the stairs. The Weave Guardian called back over his shoulder one last time though. “But we’ll be ready when they do!”
///Forgive the typos, I’m sure there are some! Thanks for sending in those giants for us, Cephas =]