The party are led back to Harshnag’s camp, away from the frost giants they just faced. Trowa asks, uncertain about looking a gift horse in the mouth, why Harshnag was helping them and not attacking them like the others. Harshnag merely responded that they would do the same for him.
At the camp, they are introduced to Aroboe, the half-Giant daughter of Harshnag. Her and her father have been scouting the mountain wilderness to help defend the Ten Towns, a group of villages in the far north. The frost giants are assembling an army to attack. Harshnag has warned the Towns but is up here trying to pick off stragglers while he can to weaken the army before they attack.
Despite his attempts to get the party to go back and hole up in Mirabar, the party and Aroboe get Harshnag to talk. The giant explains that there is a temple called the Eye of the All Father which contains an oracle. This oracle knows all there is about the fate of the Giants and at this time would be the best place to find out what happened.
According to Harshnag, the ordning was shattered several months back, about the same time as the Wave Echo Cave explosion. While King Hekaton, ruler of the Storm Giants and the pinnacle of the Ordning when it existed kept the other Giant Lords in check for a time, something must have happened to him for the other giants to feel safe attacking the small folk. The other giants are looking to improve their standing in a new Ordning they expect their god Annam the All Father to create.
Harshnag explains that this made sense to the Giant Lords at the time because they thought Annam intentionally shattered the Ordning to rouse his ‘children’ from complacency, but now that Harshnag knows about what happened at Wave Echo Cave, he isn’t so sure.
The party learns the names of the other Giant Lords, besides King Hekaton of the Storm Giants, as Harshnag knows them. They are as follows:
- King Blagothkus – Leader of the Cloud Giants
- Duke Zalto – Leader of the Fire Giants
- Jarl Storvald – Leader of the Frost Giants
- Thane Kayalithica – Leader of the Stone Giants
- Chief Guh – Leader of the Hill Giants
Because of his worry about the Ten Towns, Aroboe offers to lead the party to the temple, so Harshnag can go stand with the Towns. While the journey and possible the temple itself will be dangerous, the all-out war in the north would be more, so he agrees. He gives her the greataxe he carries called Gurt’s Axe in a bag of holding, unsure if they’ll need it as an offering at the temple.
The group spend the night talking about their histories and trading stories, speculating on the nature of Bohdan’s condition, and listening to Alphonse tell 50/50 true stories about the Fey Wild. Bohdan gets the idea to warn Faint Drop about the battle that’s going to be happening at the Ten Towns and uses the sending stone she gave to contact her. Faint Drop responds that the towns are aware of the danger and asks them to “Thank Harshnag.” They realize Faint Drop is spying on them somehow, and Trowa uses detect magic to find a tiny summoned fey leaf that was the source of the scrying. Before they can do much, the leaf poofs out of existence. The party is less trustful of the Harpers now.
The following day, they set out to the temple and give their good byes to Harshnag. With their giant woman, Aroboe in tow, they start their trek over the mountains. Along the way, they find a Fire Giant searching for the red adamantine pieces of the Vonindod. Deciding he’s too dangerous to leave alone, they engage him in combat and take him down swiftly, the giant flipping the party off as he dies.
It’s another 5 days to the temple. Hopefully the journey is uneventful and they’re able to meet back up with Wynn.
