16th of the Month of HexDec in the Imperial Year of 1023
The Cloud Island of Sazor, Somewhere Above Hermetus
To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,
The captain of the bugbear forces fortifying this cloud island, Captain Tirrann, was quite congenial for a hairy, brutish monster, as he led his men to escort us to "the Palace."
Although obscured by clouds, the Palace is an imposing sight indeed. Its highest points towered over three hundred feet further into the air, and once I confirmed it was scaled for 20 foot cloud giants to live in it, the prospect of the building was even more terrifying.
After some confusion with his master, Captain Tirrann left us in the audience of the great wizard Sazor. He was dressed exactly how a wizard would to be as a mocked character in a play. Long, worn robe. Large, pointy hat with a brim. If we were not so close to Hermetus, or if I had seen any giants beyond the hill denizen manning the gates by the docks, I may have made a joke. I believe I was lucky I didn't.
Sazor was quite congenial and tried to allay all of our friends with an earnest story of what had occurred.
He had been accidentally kidnapped by a raiding party from the cloud island, organized my its former masters, the Cloud Giants, King Jorgin and Queen Marija. His limited skills amused the large people, and he was kept on, instead of eaten as an appetizer, part royal wizard, part court jester. It was largely humiliating, although the few times the bugbears and gnolls found magic items, Jorgin gifted them to him, sight-unseen.
For years this progressed, a few ships of cloud giants or bugbears gathering supplies in civilized and uncivilized areas, and Sazor occasionally helping repel the random air elemental or wind spirit inadvertently attracted to the island. It wasn't glamorous, but he had been fed well and grown to ignore the teasing and mocking by the giants. It was much better than getting turned into a tasty morsel.
But at some point, the navigational maps were misread, and they ended up right above a larger group of mankind than we should have. The raids continued as planned, with great success, but the humans sent their own in retaliation for the supposed attacks.
Talanth Blackash.
Jorgin befriended that group, and they all exchanged gift and pleasantries while they negotiated the damages for the raids that affected whatever country complained.
It was quite civil, but in his personal discussions with them, it was apparent that they grew tired of negotiating, and slaying all of them was a growing option.
As that judgement day drew closer, Sazor escaped into the ether wilderness off the roads on this cloud and waited out the attack.
When the smoke literally cleared, Blackash's crew had killed all of the cloud giants, most of their humanoid henchman, and ransacked the palace before leaving on one of the cloudship. Sazor, rounded up the survivors, ensured the cloud island was floating and able to be manipulated, and tried to keep things together.
It took a few weeks, but things had improved. He had hired hobgoblins to fill in the roles of guards and lackeys, which was much cheaper, and easier to feed.
With no outward threat, Sazor was simply working the day to day operations, scheduling supply raids, disposing of trash thousands of feet from the sky, over and over. If there was a raid, he apologized for the damages but if there was a lone body of a giant, it wasn't them, unless some unaccounted for giant wandered away from the palace with a mortal wound. The bodies were disposed off somewhere north of the halfling lands of Stronghome, right around the time he recruited the new hobgoblins.
He stated that if we wished no ill will on him or his crew, he would be happy to avoid raids in this area, drop them off somewhere nearby to civilization, and travel back into the plains of Galamar.
We agreed and were given palatial rooms for each of us. Sazor extended hospitality to us that I never experienced on land, and soon we were given free reign to explore the island, hunt the giant cloud frogs, and enjoy ourselves.
For many days, we wandered over the many acres of floating island. Not all of the cloud was solid. Some portions were like quicksand, some simply mist. We hunted the native cloud frogs with some success, although we had a few close calls with the quicksand clouds or mere vapor. After awhile, a keen and careful eye could sometimes tell the difference.
While travelling across the open fields of mist around twilight, we thought we were hunting something larger than the usual cloud frogs. We eventually cornered it and discovered it to be a very tall teenage girl with blue skin.
Blackash didn't get all of the Cloud Giants.... At least one was alive, and it would affect the stories provided earlier.
Sir Elsderth Greyhawk, Lord of Greywahwk
Sage of the The Order of Merit,
Sellsword - Extraordinaire
Wielder of the Legendary Betrayer.
Defilier of the Temple of Tiamat.
Freigraff of the Totenlinden of Amberstoll.
DM Notes: Surprise! Things aren't what they seem. I will follow up with more DM Notes and backstory in part three. .
Next: #44 - Sazor the Wizard
The Cloud Island of Sazor, Somewhere Above Hermetus
To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,
The captain of the bugbear forces fortifying this cloud island, Captain Tirrann, was quite congenial for a hairy, brutish monster, as he led his men to escort us to "the Palace."
Although obscured by clouds, the Palace is an imposing sight indeed. Its highest points towered over three hundred feet further into the air, and once I confirmed it was scaled for 20 foot cloud giants to live in it, the prospect of the building was even more terrifying.
After some confusion with his master, Captain Tirrann left us in the audience of the great wizard Sazor. He was dressed exactly how a wizard would to be as a mocked character in a play. Long, worn robe. Large, pointy hat with a brim. If we were not so close to Hermetus, or if I had seen any giants beyond the hill denizen manning the gates by the docks, I may have made a joke. I believe I was lucky I didn't.
Sazor was quite congenial and tried to allay all of our friends with an earnest story of what had occurred.
He had been accidentally kidnapped by a raiding party from the cloud island, organized my its former masters, the Cloud Giants, King Jorgin and Queen Marija. His limited skills amused the large people, and he was kept on, instead of eaten as an appetizer, part royal wizard, part court jester. It was largely humiliating, although the few times the bugbears and gnolls found magic items, Jorgin gifted them to him, sight-unseen.
For years this progressed, a few ships of cloud giants or bugbears gathering supplies in civilized and uncivilized areas, and Sazor occasionally helping repel the random air elemental or wind spirit inadvertently attracted to the island. It wasn't glamorous, but he had been fed well and grown to ignore the teasing and mocking by the giants. It was much better than getting turned into a tasty morsel.
But at some point, the navigational maps were misread, and they ended up right above a larger group of mankind than we should have. The raids continued as planned, with great success, but the humans sent their own in retaliation for the supposed attacks.
Talanth Blackash.
Jorgin befriended that group, and they all exchanged gift and pleasantries while they negotiated the damages for the raids that affected whatever country complained.
It was quite civil, but in his personal discussions with them, it was apparent that they grew tired of negotiating, and slaying all of them was a growing option.
As that judgement day drew closer, Sazor escaped into the ether wilderness off the roads on this cloud and waited out the attack.
 |
| When the Drunken Warrior is conducting diplomacy, there's a sneaky plan afoot. |
It took a few weeks, but things had improved. He had hired hobgoblins to fill in the roles of guards and lackeys, which was much cheaper, and easier to feed.
With no outward threat, Sazor was simply working the day to day operations, scheduling supply raids, disposing of trash thousands of feet from the sky, over and over. If there was a raid, he apologized for the damages but if there was a lone body of a giant, it wasn't them, unless some unaccounted for giant wandered away from the palace with a mortal wound. The bodies were disposed off somewhere north of the halfling lands of Stronghome, right around the time he recruited the new hobgoblins.
He stated that if we wished no ill will on him or his crew, he would be happy to avoid raids in this area, drop them off somewhere nearby to civilization, and travel back into the plains of Galamar.
We agreed and were given palatial rooms for each of us. Sazor extended hospitality to us that I never experienced on land, and soon we were given free reign to explore the island, hunt the giant cloud frogs, and enjoy ourselves.
For many days, we wandered over the many acres of floating island. Not all of the cloud was solid. Some portions were like quicksand, some simply mist. We hunted the native cloud frogs with some success, although we had a few close calls with the quicksand clouds or mere vapor. After awhile, a keen and careful eye could sometimes tell the difference.
While travelling across the open fields of mist around twilight, we thought we were hunting something larger than the usual cloud frogs. We eventually cornered it and discovered it to be a very tall teenage girl with blue skin.
Blackash didn't get all of the Cloud Giants.... At least one was alive, and it would affect the stories provided earlier.
Yours in Service,
Sage of the The Order of Merit,
Sellsword - Extraordinaire
Wielder of the Legendary Betrayer.
Defilier of the Temple of Tiamat.
Freigraff of the Totenlinden of Amberstoll.
Next: #44 - Sazor the Wizard
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