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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 609166" data-attributes="member: 1674">Serpent in the fold- part 1As the spider went after her relentlessly, Tears of Her Enemies grew anxious. Behind the spider which had been a harmless halfling just a few minutes ago, she saw that Spineback, her companion both in battle and under her blanket was fighting a losing battle against the Barbazu and her other followers, who had intended to open the vault, were being defeated by the followers of gods who had found them up here, in spite of all their precautions.She felt the spider's poison weakening her, and swearing revenge, she left her friends and followers, and touching the ring Hielaa had given to her, she wished herself to the base of the mountain.Suddenly, she was out of the damp cavern and away from the battle, and she fell from a height of ten feet into brushes under her. She brushed herself off, and looking around she saw that it was only noon outside. Only a few hours ago, everything looked as if she would hold the tome in her hand any minute now, and now this: Defeat.Tears of Her Enemies sat down, and while she was massaging her hurt limbs and her tail was twitching as if it had a will of her own, she contemplated her option. There was no point in returning to her superiors empty-handed- she would end as a sacrifice to the Witch Queen at best, and even though she was a devoted follower of Mormo, her will to live was still strong. It was all Amra's fault, she thought, slamming a fist into the ground. While she, Tears of Her Enemies, the red witch, was endangering her life here in the field, the Lady of Serpents was playing it safe among the other humans.The red Witch spit out. They shouldn't have relied on humans in the first place. No matter where they pledged their allegiance, they were just too unreliable. Amra had promised that none of the groups the Vigilantes sent out would achieve anything. And yet here she was, last survivor of her troop, and the godspeople up there were probably holding the tome in their hands already.But not all was lost just yet, Tears of Her Enemies told herself. After all, she had been given the command over the troop because she was flexible and creative. Think! She told herself. There must still be a way to get hold of the document.It was then that the Slitheren took the time to look around. Above her, in the west, she saw the towering mass of Mount Croiganne and ahead of her, down some slopes, there was the Blood Basin, laying calmly like a gigantic mirror in the sun. She shaded her eyes with her hand and looked down to the lake, searching for anything that could be an advantage for her, until she spotted a small cluster of houses at the point where the northern branch of the Hornswythe River was running into the Blood Basin.If her enemies wanted to travel back to Lave either on horseback or on boat, they would have to go to that village. There was no other settlement nearby, and there were many dangers for the divine folks in this region, so that they would most likely prefer to leave these ragged hills behind and return to Vesh.Tears of her Enemies was still in pain and feeling sluggish because of the poison, but at least she knew what she had to do now. When she had scaled the mountain, she had noticed signs and hints that indicated many titanspawn living here in the hills and mountains. If she could find some of them and convince them to help her, she would have a chance. Of course there was no guarantee that who or whatever she would find wouldn't kill her right away. But she was ready to take the chance.She spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a cave to sleep in, and on the next morning, she took two potions, which restored her health and weakened the poison, so that she had at lest the strength to go searching for possible allies.Meanwhile, the heroes were descending from the mountain. They had had a good night's sleep and were no coming back the way they had come up. This didn't make it easier, though. In fact, some of the steeper parts of the climb looked even more daunting when you were looking down, seeing the next plateau far, far below you than when you were looking up.Still, they got down, slowly but surely, and on the second evening of their descent, they were already happily talking of sleeping in a bed in the village down below on the next night. By the time it took them to reach the little pinewood that seperated the last slope from the village, the sun was already setting to the west, Mount Croiganne's mighty shadow covering everything in darkness. Jan was the first to notice that something seemed wrong. In the low hanging clouds above them, he saw the hint of an orange glow. Yet, the clouds were too low for the sun to be reflected in them, so apparently there was a source of light somewhere else. He told his friends and now that they stood still and looked up, they caught the scent of smoke mixed with the smell of the pinetrees around them.Their view was still blocked by the trees around them, so they decided that one of them would have to climb up. "I would like to go up," Torn said "but I doubt that the trees would carry my weight if I went up to the top".Ben looked at the trees, and seeing that they were really rather thin, he unstrapped his backpack and dropped it on the moss- and needle-covered forest floor. Focusing on his memories of his life as a spider, he climbed up with the slow and exact movements of a spider. Up there, he saw the source of the fire. The forest ended after a few hundred yards, and beyond that, maybe two miles from where they were, he saw two bonfires burning side by side. He hardly saw anything else, but from what he remembered, he was rather certain that the fires were burning in the village where he had caught up with his friends after the storm.He climbed down and told his friends, who started to speculate right away. Maybe the village was under attack? Maybe some Mormo-worshippers were laying a trap for them, or maybe the villagers were simply celebrating a local holiday? But all speculation got them nowwhere, and so they proceeded to the edge of the forest.There, they could all see the two fires now. Between them and the village there were only a few fields, and they had a good view. Squinting his eyes, Trepat said:" I think I can see two humanoids in front of the fires... If I am right though, those must be giants: they are larger than the huts there.´""Maybe Torn and me should scout ahead", Niklas said.The others agreed, and soon the monk and the rogue were using haystacks and other obstacles as cover to get nearer to the city. As they got closer, they were able to confirm what the elf had said. There were indeed two giants standing in front of the bonfire in the village square, and each of them had the height of a two story house. When they had almost reached the perimeter of the village and the animal pens, they got a good view on the giants.They were massive humanoids with bulging, distorted musculatures which were constantly spasming and twitching, seemingly causing the giants pain. They looked like they had much more muscles than their bodies had been originally designed for, and their right arms were ending in a completely oversized fist, making it look like a huge battering ram.The giants were standing in what looked like a pen, surrounded by a wooden fence. In the pen, with the giants, there were many smaller humanoids. Niklas stood up to get a better look, and now he saw that the smaller humanoids were indeed the women and children of the village who were fearfully pushing against the wooden fence, trying to keep as far away from the giants as possible.</blockquote>

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