likenesses of myself and mine companions

Darkwood:

Penerath:

and Ur:

Our quest complete we hurried back to the airship Penerath and Ur had found and freed. Thankfully the half-elven crew was still waiting, a trek on foot through miles and miles of jungle back to Stormreach would likely have been our demise. Our goblin captive was put in the brig and we made all haste back to Stormreach. Halfway to our destination Penerath discovered the loss of one of the air skiffs, one of the crew, and our goblin prisoner. Had the goblin killed the missing crew member or had we been betrayed? The question seemed irrelevant, they were gone and there was nothing to be done post fact.
Arriving in Stormreach Darkwood and I left the ship to find the Provost who had given us our map when we first arrived and pay his due. The dismantled warforged was set free, the Provost was paid and Darkwood and I were mere yards from the skiff that would return us to the airship which would return us to our home in Sharn. Alas.
Hired thugs attacked us and although we managed to kill all but one that one was enough. A highly skilled gnome wearing magics that allowed her to leap incredible distances eventually succeeded in knocking both Darkwood and I unconscious, though she was sorely injured herself.
We awoke in a cell.
It was explained to us that we would be tried by combat in a matter of days.
Shortly before our trial was to begin Penerath and Ur staged an ill conceived rescue and my half of the cell became my quarter of the cell.
Needless to say the four of us easily defeated the so called champions of Stormreach and our freedom was won.
We booked passage on a ship leaving that day and soon we returned to Sharn, city of towers.
Our homecoming was not the joyous event one might have expected however. The Ivory Mask had been incinerated. Burnt beyond recognition. Fell was missing, ir'Lazal was missing, Penerath's shop had been ransacked. Nefarious deeds had been enacted in our absence. Nefarious deeds...

Once rested we rose to examine the portal which barred our way and the way of Vuldorv before us. This portal was thirty feet high and to all appearances impassable. Our goblin captive, now psionically compelled to amiability, explained that the two humans Vuldorv had taken prisoner were historians and had been in the process of decoding access to the portal when their lives were so suddenly shortened the previous day. Using a minor cantrip I located a device on either side of the portal that generated magical auras. Once found it was the work of mere minutes for Ur to unlock the arcane door. A field of teleportatic energy burst into existence and my companions, our captive, and I made our way forth and through.

We made our way down a short hallway and into a large chamber where stood a warforged of prodigious proportion. Some fifteen tall the creature stood, not hunched and hand-less like the warforged titans I battled and repaired during the war, but a scale replica of the true warforged. Ur moved to the giant's flank with an arrow notched to his bow while Darkwood attempted communication.
"We mean you no harm! Brother, can you speak?"
The construct could speak but knew only the ancient language of the giants and his response fell on uncomprehending ears. Whatever it was saying soon became irrelevant as it raised it's huge machete to strike.
Ur released his arrow but the bolt snapped against the giant's metal skin.
Darkwood engaged the construct but still weakened from the previous battle he soon fell to the weighty blows of the 'forged.
Ur's ceaseless stream of arrows did little damage but managed to distract our foe while I cast a spell of reparation upon Darkwood. Darkwood rose, conscious again, but still on the brink of demise. The valiant fighter would have charged in to battle again, heedless of his injuries but i used the opportunity Ur's distraction had given us to cast a spell of invisibility upon him. With Ur, Pennerath, and myself keeping the juggernaut off balance with missiles psionic, arcanic, and mundane and with Darkwood hewing at it's legs from the cover of my obfuscating magic we were finally able to bring the giant down.
This room contained eight portals activated again by reciting the names of specific constellations. Six were broken leaving us with only the door we came in and one other. And so on we went. Through the portal. Into another realm of being. My study of the planes is minimal so i cannot say for certain where we were teleported but the sky was an ugly shade of purple and I felt as if the place resented my existence there. Across a bridge spanning an infinite nothing and up a winding trail to the apex of a three hundred foot spire we were confronted with a palpable wave of evil. Here floating above a puddle of darkness between three huge pointed teeth, each the length of my arm, was a lusterless black orb: the Grankari sphere. We stood and stared for a moment suddenly unsure of ourselves. Then Pennerath removed his bag of holding and using his crossbow scooped the sphere inside.

Following the two fleeing soldiers through another portal we found ourselves in a hallway hewn from rock. The temperature in this room was drastically higher than the previous chambers. Making our way down the hallway we soon found out why. The portals of teleportaion had led us into Khyber. Ahead of us the hallway turned into a stone bridge a hundred feet long spanning a river of molten lava. At the far end of the bridge, among a hand full of his cronies, stood Vuldorv, clad in his dark plate mail but curiously missing his spear, Calabrixis. How I wished that Priadin were here to lead us in a charge, riding his Planar warhorse, leveling his lance, with an oath to his gods upon his lips. Priadin was dead though, and it rested with the four of us to bring vengeance to the man who had him killed.
Darkwood, Pennerath, and Ur strode forward, I hung back out of sight and casting a spell from a scroll made myself invisible to the eyes of men. Curses were spoken by our side threats were leveled by their's but ultimately our curses had little impact while their curses gave us great pause. "Surrender or we cut open the throats of these two humans!" A man and a woman, the same woman who disappeared when we were ambushed at the great throne, were forced to their knees, looks of fear on their faces and a sword at their throats. Was this another trick? Would these two melt into shadow when cut or would they bleed and choke and die? We couldn't risk the death of two innocents but i was not about to kneel before our nemesis after coming so far. I made my way as stealthily as possible towards the half-orc who threatened to kill the prisoners.
"Throw down your weapons or yer all dead!" an ogre yelled.
"No," I heard Pennerath behind me. "you're dead."
Instantly all was chaos.
The ogre who threatened us silently leapt off the bridge into the fiery river.
The half-orc slit the throats of the two sobbing humans.
The fell spear, Calabrixis, appeared in Vuldorv's hand.
Mercenaries on all sides of us suddenly became visible and attacked.
Darkwood started swinging his two handed greatsword.
Ur darted in and out visibility his swords darted in and out of his foes.
Pennerath rained psionic death down upon our enemies.
My arcana summoned tentacles to slow and crush, fire to burn, and necromancies to steal the life of Vuldorv and his minions.
When the battle was ended Vuldorv the Pike lay at our feet his lieutenants lying lifeless beside him. Or so we thought.
A warforged cleric we thought dead suddenly reached out for Vuldorv and his warrior woman companion and with the words "We shall meet again." the three disappeared.

Still dripping blood from my wounds I turned upon Pennerath.
"How could you do this? How could you allow, no, how could you cause the death of Vuldorv's prisoners?"
"Their lives were forefeit no matter our actions, I was not about to sacrafice our lives for two already dead."
"Our victory here was to be a victory for Priadin you have sullied this thing with the blood of the innocents that stain your hands."
"What I did I did so we might live!"
"I will speak of it no more!"
The battle left us with two dead ogres, a dead half-orc, a dead goblin, a dead warforged, a dead gnoll, Vuldorv's spear; Calabrixis, the warrior woman's enchanted sword, and one goblin prisoner.
In no mood to waste time Ur began questioning the goblin. Once removed of two fingers the creature became forthcoming.
The warrior woman's name was Malfacian, an elf with a scarred face who never spoke and slept in her steel plate armour.
The spellcasting warforged was a cleric named Latch who ostensibly worshipped the Dark Six but the goblin said he'd seen him make his offerings to Demon Lords and claimed that the cleric knew Dark Words. I'd heard rumors of such things, the ancient language of demons, words charged with power and evil so great that to know more than a few was to drive a mortal mad. Most disturbing of all the goblin claimed that it was Latch who wielded true authority, that Vuldorv was merely a puppet following commands.
The goblin was bound and gagged. We threw the bodies of the slain into the lava and slept upon the bloodied stone.

While Darkwood set to work repairing the warforged mercenary I studied spells from my grimoire while Ur and Penerath rested. When my spells were prepared we looked over the equipment we had looted from our foes and from the giants who once owned the temple. From the orc wizard's pouch I had found components enough to identify three of our magical items. After the spells were cast we learned their abilities: a dispelling wand, a meta-rod, and most importantly I learned the crystal pane set in gold would translate a series of glyphs i had noticed earlier in the temple but had not been able to decode.
A short while later Darkwood finished his repairs and our captive warforged regained the ability to speak. Having fought warforged in the last war we all knew that most 'forged prisoners speak freely to their captors as their sense of loyalty seemingly applies mostly to friends and less to the countries or warlords who pay their wages. Thankfully this one was no exception, from him we learned that Vuldorv had traveled through the giant throne by means of magic. Furthermore an airship loaded with supplies was docked just a mile away. Sensing that Vuldorv was finally within our reach we were eager to follow him, however our own supplies, especially our healing magics had dwindled to nothing. In order to remedy the lack Ur and Penerath took one of the skiffs to the airship to resupply us. When they returned they brought food, a case of curative draughts, a tale of battle, and the rescue of the enslaved Lyrander ship crew.
Using the crystal pane i found a number of phrases written in arcane giantish.
The Monkey's Paw
The Unicorn's Hoof
Io's Twinkle
The Scorpion's Tail
The River's End
and Garrix' Eye.
I recognized one or two as archaic names of constellations and so we hurried back to the throne whereupon the daylight sky revealed all the stars in the heavens. I stood pondering the throne, studying the patterns of stars, and mulling everything i knew of teleportation, and came up no closer to a solution. Darkwood climbed upon the throne and stood beside me. "What are the names of the constellations?"
"The first is The Monkey's Paw." As the words left my mouth the named constellation seemed to suddenly glow brighter in the sky. "The second is The Unicorn's Hoof." Again another heavenly glow. "Io's Twinkle, The Scorpion's Tail." After each was named the sky lit up with arcane lights until the last constellation was named and suddenly we were no longer where once we were.
I barely had time to take in our surroundings, atop a ziggeraut inside a building or underground, when an infernal screech blasted through me. When the sound and the pain passed I realized what had happened. Darkwood and I activated the throne's power, teleporting us to the Ancestors know where. Vuldorv, knowing we were following him, had set an eldritch trap at the precise location we teleported to and of course, with no way of knowing it was there, Darkwood and I activated it. Thankfully it was a one time only trigger and when Ur and Penerath arrived moments later the room stayed blissfully quiet.
Down the steps of the ziggeraut and through a portal teleporting us again. Portal after portal until we could be anywhere in the realm or perhaps even further. Each room we pass through contains the bloody bodies of Vuldorv's hired men. Eventually we come to a large chamber where the light from Penerath and Darkwood's lanters fails to illuminate the far side, even with my elven vision. In this room we are set upon by more of the Pike's men. Obviously the sonic trap at the ziggeraut was coupled with an alarm, for we were obviously expected. Despite a powerfull reccuring lightning spell from a druid we slew six with two more fleeing injured through another portal.

Saving our frustration to unleash upon the true Vuldorv we gathered our things and ascended another staircase. These stairs were sized for elves, leading me to believe we were entering what once were the slave quarters. The hallways were many, maze-like. At one point we found a large room where we were set upon buy a spider with legs five paces long. Seeing no sign that anyone had been in the area in centuries we made our way back down to the throne room and climbed the stairs on the opposite side of the level.
Here we had more luck, an obvious path in the dust. We followed the trail to the bottom of a staircase and an ambush from Vuldorv's men. A fireball erupted in our midst and the four of dived to the ground to escape the heat. We made our way up the stairs, Darkwood charging ahead full speed, Ur moving quickly yet quietly, Pennerath and myself cautiously behind them. Up the stairs were seven mercenaries, one an orc wizard, and three air skiffs anchored to this, the roof of the giant temple. We cut most of the mercenaries down and the rest tried to flee. The wizard was dealt with before he could release his skiff but another mercenary cut the line of the second air ship and it began to float away. Pennerath, Ur, and a goblin just put under Pennerath's psionic control leaped into the third skiff and gave pursuit. Ur steered their skiff just above the other and Pennerath forced the goblin to drop into it and return it to the temple. The goblin, whether from the fall or injuries sustained during the battle, fell unconscious while at the helm and crashed the skiff into the wall of the temple. I do not flinch from seeing men cut down in battle and I care not what happens to undead horrors like Zulo, the Drowned elf, but I cringe when I watch a sentient creature sent to his death while robbed of his free will.
Nothing. We had found nothing. From the bottom of the staircase to the roof of the temple we had explored and neither Vuldorv nor the Grankari Sphere had we found. The only survivor of our battle was the goblin Pennerath had sent to his death.
I surveyed the room.
"Darkwood, the warforged mercenary lying at your feet, can he be repaired?" Darkwood examined the inert construct. "I think so."
"Good, get to work then"

Approaching the door Ur and Pennerath activated the first trap the room held, an angled razor-lined pit cut into the floor exitting on the outside wall of the temple some seventy-five feet above ground. Ur's quick reflexes allowed him to leap to safety as the floor crumbled beneath but Pennerath was not so nimble. Fortunately he was able to avoid most of the razors as he tumbled down and once again a feather fall token saved the life of one of our party. Pennerath made his way to the front of the ruin only to find eight mercenaries standing guard at the entrance. While Ur, Darkwood, and I waited at the window, ready to rain arrows and spells down on our enemies, Pennerath clouded the minds of soldiers and simply walked by them, up the stairs, and reunited with us without any of them being the wiser. Our crew once again together we stepped around the pit in the floor and into a room where stood a pedestal with a pane of crystal contained in a golden ring resting atop it. Ur examined the pedestal and then lightning fast pulled the artifact off the pedestal just before a column of fire burst up from the floor, burning hot enough to singe his clothes and skin even though he was outside the actual flame. What the purpose of this magical glass is i know not, but something so well guarded must be valuable.
Up the stairs to the next level. We find three mercenaries and their ogre companion who are quickly dealt with. Another sonic trap magicked upon a door injured Darkwood but the stalwart warforged simply shrugged and continued on. Inside a large room we were attacked by the animated skeleton of a giant. I smiled briefly as the destruction of undead is one of my most well liked activities. However, before i was able to send it fleeing with a necromantic spell, the skeleton swung his giant club striking Pennerath and hurtling him against a wall. The warforged, undaunted by the size of his foe rushed in and with a few mighty cuts from his greatsword brought the undead being down in a clatter of bone. Pennerath was revived with one of our few remaining healing elixers and we made our camp in a nearby room so he could recover. Finding nothing more of interest on this floor we climbed the stairs to the next.

Here we found an open air throne room.  Set up next to the giant stone and metal chair was a work desk covered in tools and papers, Standing at this desk absorbed in her work was a single human female.  Ur silently crept up behind her, grabbed her and held his sword to her throat.  The rest of us came forward but as Ur started to question her she dissolved into shadow-stuff.  On all sides of us there appeared mercenaries as the spell had kept them hidden suddenly ended.  Eight men with swords, knives, and crossbows ready stood in a circle around us and there, to the front, standing on the arm of the throne was a figure carrying a twelve foot spear and wearing a skullen mask.  Vuldorv the Pike. 
As my companions and I readied ourself for the battle I strode forward "Why Vuldorv?  What did you gain by the killing of Priadin?"  Vuldorv's only response was to leap down to the floor and order his minions to attack.
The battle was joined.
I cast a spell of invisibility upon Ur so he could attack unseen, Darkwood swung his greatsword, and Pennerath sent bolts of psionic pain and confusion into the minds of our enemies.  Vuldorv stepped forward and stabbed into my body with his stolen spear.  A wave of cold emenated from the weapon and I nearly fell, but then Ur was there, attacking unseen, and abruptly Vuldorv was down.  Why had he fallen so quickly?  Was he injured prior to the battle?  Was this an imposter?  Had this voyage across ocean and continent been for naught?  Then a warforged mercenary slipped around Darkwood's guard, struck me a blow upon the skull, and i knew no more. 
When my companions revived me the fight was all but over.  Our assailants had been overcome.  Darkwood went to inspect the body of "Vuldorv" which now looked shabby and not in the least like our nemesis.  Angered beyond words Darkwood slammed his metal fist in the helmet of the imposter, crushing it and the head beneath.  I sorely would have liked to question the man but neither I nor my companions could fault the warforged for his rage.  It was Priadin who gave Darkwood his name.  Priadin who first treated him like an equal.  Priadin was Darkwood's first and truest friend and he more than any of us deserves his revenge.

With Zulo, the newest (albeit eldritchly compelled) member of our party, trailing behind us we set off to explore the rest of complex.  Near the drow huts we found a door slightly ajar.  Littered near the entrance was food gathered from the nearby jungle set out almost as an offering.  But an offering to what?  We waited while Ur explored further, silently examining each adjoining room.  "Dead bodies, some of them mercenaries, and what appears to be an incredibly large scorpion" reported the ninja.  Not wanting to waste time and resources I simply commanded Zulo, the undead elf, into the room with orders to deal with the monster.  I didn't personally view the battle as i was rather uninterested in the minutiae but i'm sure it was very dramatic and exciting.  Regardless, when the noise of battle ended we entered the room to find the Drowned and the scorpion, some fifty feet in length, both expired.  I shed no tear for either combatant as my companions and I immediately set to work searching the room for treasure.  Ancient coins aplenty (surely a handfull will be more than enough to pay of the provost back in stormreach) and some type of rod engraved with a feathered serpent.  Likely the rod is some type of metamagic tool and i curse myself for not having brought pearls with which to cast an identify spell upon it.  For now it serves only as a pretty paper weight.  I have no way to unlock the magic within it.
Having explored the entirety of this floor we made our way to another set of stairs leading upwards.  At the top were two mercenary guards.  Ur quickly dealt with one and while the other ran off we prepared to deal with any reinforcements he was to bring.  We waited several minutes and when no new enemies presented themselves we followed the fleeing merc.  Five of Vuldorv's hired men fired their crossbows at us as we burst into the chamber and we immediately set upon them.  What would have been a quick and easy victory was suddenly complicated by the appearance of a troll wielding rudimenty sorcery.  Perhaps it was worth it however as when the battle was won Darkwood wore the spoil of victory, a magic cloak that tricks the eye making it's wearer more difficult to strike in combat.
We decided to rest at the top of the stair as we were none of us uninjured and my spells mostly issued.  From here we hoped to catch Vuldorv if he were to finish his nefariousness before we could catch up to him.  It was not the Pike we met that night however.  Five drow attempted to ambush us in our sleep.  Luckily the ever alert changeling, Ur, roused us and the dark elves were quickly dealt with.  Exploring the rest of the floor the next morning we found a room rank with smell of animal.  A garillion, a four armed ape, made his nest there and apparently was uninvited guests were unwelcome.  We just finished slaying the brute when a pack of dire apes started to make their way through the entry.  Darkwood and Ur slammed the giant door shut and I quickly sealed the door with arcana.  A pack of dire apes would be a challenge for even our stalwart party, but with the door held fast we were able to prepare spell, sword, and arrows and as soon as I dismissed the spell we set upon them.  Within the span of one breath a fireball erupted among them, a wall of electricity appeared in front of them, Ur's arrow flew into one of the brute's throats, and Darkwood's greatsword did it's grim job.  The whole thing lasted but a few moments.
Another room contained a door surrounded by glowing pieces of men.  The door was trapped with a sonic spell of great power.  Ur investigated but could see no sign of danger.  At Darkwood's command the rest of us stood back and the noble warforged opened the door.  An earsplitting wail ripped through the complex, the sound piercing enough to drop me to my knees.  However bad it was for me it must have been infinitely worse for Darkwood, positioned as he was directly in the path of spell.  The warforged merely shook his head a few times and then pulled open the door apparently no worse for wear.  Behind the door placed on a pedestal was a tooth.  A tooth once belonging to a giant.  Given that it was behind a door with such a powerfull enchantment I assume it to be magical but what it's purpose could be is beyond my ken.
After dispatching an undead grey render (hidden under a layer of dust inches thick, it must have been laying inert for centuries) we made our way to the single remaining room on this level.

As we approached the massive structure we saw the fallout of a battle between Drow and what we had to assume were Vuldorv’s mercenaries. Bodies stripped of their weapons littered the giant sized stairs feeding carrion birds and producing an awful stench. We made our way up the smaller stairs crafted for the elven slaves. Halfway up someone from the top of the stairs rolled a boulder down intending to crush us. We managed to throw ourselves to the side and thus avoid most of the damage but right behind the rock was a squad of drow. I cast a fireball in their midst and Penerath created a ring of electricity that surrounded several of them. Darkwood and Ur soon cut down the few warriors who survived our eldritch attacks.
Exhausted and injured from battle we sought refuge within the ruin. The first floor seemed devoid of life. The drow had made crude adobe huts against one edge of the floor and it was in there that we made camp. None of us felt secure in there but really we had no other choice. As we were clearing one of the rooms of debris we were set upon by a pack of dire rats. Pennerath and I were bit but no one was seriously injured.
The next day of exploring revealed a stairway (I tire of referring to the enormity of every structure we saw, so please remember from here on out that everything in this place was designed for giants) leading up. The sound of voices could be heard. A ghost sound spell in the form of a chittering rat drew down two of the mercenaries (for mercenaries they were) and using the formidable power of his psionics Pennerath charmed one of them. The charmed mercenary, an orc, sent his partner back up the stairs then came and at Pennerath’s command told us all he knew. They were in deed in the employ of the vicious Vuldorv who was at this moment exploring another section of the ruin. The mercenaries on the stair were using a winch to open a tightly sealed door. After sending the orc to his likely demise in the jungle the four of us made our way up the stairs with plans of ambush. Alas my breath comes short after so many stairs (an injury as an apprentice still haunts me) and I fear a gasp for air alerted the men above, and so our element of surprise was lost. It hardly mattered however as five hired thugs could hardly be a match for our band of war hardened adventurers.
The room clear of threat we used the winch to open the massive door.
An ocean of water poured out picking us up and throwing us violently down the stairs and onto the open-air gallery level below. Pennerath and I were able to find our footing but the warforged and the ninja were tossed off the edge. One does not live in the city of towers without purchasing magical accoutrements to prevent death by falling however and so the two simply floated to the ground and then quickly made their way back up.
Back up the stairs and through the door was a room swamped in two feet of water. We began to investigate a rune-covered ziggurat but were unable to determine its purpose. Suddenly I felt as if I were drowning. I knew I stood above the water and was breathing air but some arcana was filling my lungs with water. Darkwood shouted a warning and we spun to see an undead wretch known as a Drowned.

All this happened in a moment and then I fell to my knees with no breath left in my body. Ur again saved my life by pulling me bodily out of the creature’s range of influence. From my case I ripped forth a scroll and finished the spell inscribed there upon. The Drowned immediately stopped its attack but its cursed aura still took effect. The spell put the horror under my control and I commanded it to back away but it did not seem to understand my words. Pennerath and Ur fell to the floor clawing at their throats while I stood by helpless. Thankfully Darkwood’s magically crafted body requires no oxygen and so he was able to quickly grab up Ur and Penerath and drag them to safety.
Using Pennerath’s abilities I was able to psionically communicate with our attacker. He was speaking elven but an ancient elven from before the time my people fled to Aerenai. Eventually I was able to decipher it enough to understand him with out the aid of Pennerath’s psi crystal. The creature was once an elven slave in this tower. This room drew water from the elemental plane of water to provide for those that dwelled here. Something went wrong, a pipe burst and the room started to fill, the giants locked the door with Xulo, the elven slave, still within. He drowned here and came back to un-life as we saw him now. Zulo knew nothing of the Grankari sphere but my domination of him would last for a week and so I determined to bring him with us as added protection against Vuldorv and whatever other dangers resided in this ruin.

It began in Sharn, the city of towers, when a companion from the war showed up at my doorstep. The psion Pennerath whom we had not seen for years burst in with word of the death our friend, the paladin Priadin. We hurried to his house to validate Penerath's story and within we found our friend, his chest cut open and his heart removed. some rudimentary investigation told us that the murderer was an agent in employ of Vuldorv the Pike, the blackguard who has been our enemy since we began adventuring together some years ago. After a few dead ends and a thwarted ambush we learned that Vuldorv was no longer in Sharn (if indeed he ever had been) but was now leaving Aundair on an expedition to Xen'drik to steal an ancient giant artifact known as the Grankari sphere. Our benefactor ir'Lazal called in a number of favors and secured us passage on a house Deneith airship. With this most swift form of transport we would be able to reach the Grankari ruins before the Pike, thwart his plans, and exact our vengeance. We received a map (after gold and promises of treasure to come were exchanged) from a provost in Stormreach, the main port of the jungle continent, and immediately set out for the ruins.

From this point on things did not go as planned. Partway through the flight a giant winged scorpion nearly as large as our vessel attacked us. A fireball and a blast from the ship's cannon scared the beast away but not before it managed to critically damage the airship. Captain Marlow ordered an emergency landing in a clearing below us and the three crewmen immediately began repairs. With luck they would finish in a few minutes and we would be airborne once again. Then we saw the drow. Then the giant scorpion returned landing upon the aft deck. A spell of magic missiles and a blow from Darkwood's great sword ended the creature but with it's dying breath it grabbed the warforged with it's huge claws and all but ripped him apart. Then with a spasm it fell mid-ship warping the ring which bound the enslaved air elemental. The drow stormed the ship. Ur fell to the drow's swords while Pennerath pelted them with his psionic blasts. With my magic protecting me from projectiles I drew the fire of the javelin wielding drow on the starboard side. Alas my attempts to prevent the injury of my companions were in vain and the three crew members were pinioned to the ship by the missiles of the drow. Pennerath, captain Marlow, and I had just barely managed to slay the seven dark elves when the elemental burst from its bindings and made to attack. With the last of his remaining psionic power Pennerath turned the whirling creature and we found a few hours of peace. a few scrolls and potions were expended and we managed to revive Darkwood and the changeling ninja though none of us were free of damage. We rested for the remainder of the night and set out on foot for the ruin in the morning. An empty cave provided shelter the next evening but a few hours from dawn a tribe of lizard folk attacked us. The savages were no match for us however and we soon put them to flight. The next day as we followed a river marked on our map a boulder flew from the tree line and we all were forced to dive to the ground to avoid it. Darkwood charged into the tree line and I followed some thirty feet behind him. A great stinking hill giant strode out of the trees ignoring Darkwood’s attempts to intercept it and struck me with its tree trunk club. I felt my chest cave in and I blacked out. I awoke calling Priadin’s name, but Priadin was dead. Ur was pouring a healing salve down my throat, with out it I would have joined my ancestors, the countless elves who were killed by their giant slavers on this continent ages ago. Thankfully this giant was alone and my companions and I were able to topple it and perhaps bring some satisfaction to any spirits of the elven dead who haunted this place. Our third evening we spent in the shadow of a rock carved into the vague likeness of a hand, a landmark telling us we were but a few miles from Grankari ruin. During my watch my frog familiar spotted the stripes of a jungle cat and I quickly woke my companions alerting them to the danger. We attacked the tiger but it's mate sprung at us from behind tearing, rending, and killing captain Marlow. Thanks mostly to the swords of Darkwood and Ur we managed to bring the two beasts down. From the rocky crag we hiked towards our destination, two hours later we arrived. The Grankari ruin, a massive structure designed by and for the giants who lived there thousands upon thousands of years ago.