Journey to Jorgenfist, Part 2 (Sunday-Monday, Abadius (I) 12th-13th, 4708 AR)

The giants did their best to prevent any heroes from fleeing into the plateau itself, but failed. They tried to escape, but failed that as well. The heroes captured and interrogated one hill giant, after which they let him go.

The stone giant fortress of Jorgenfist was located in the middle of the Iron Peaks, almost in the center of the entire region that encompassed Varisia and the Storval Plateau. Mokmurian had gathered several tribes of giants - mostly stone giants, but also some tribes of hill giants and groups of ogres. And as these tribes gathered in the valley surrounding the fortress itself, thoughts turned increasingly to the promise of war.

Until recently, harpies and trolls dwelt in the Storval Stairs, but Mokmurian intended to use the stairs as a convenient invasion point, marching his army down into Varisia when he was ready. To prepare for this time, he sent one tribe of hill giants here to "clean it out". The remaining hill giants kept the harpies, trolls, and other undesirables from returning and complicating Mokmurian's plans for the stairs.

The giants had gathered a fairly respectable stash of treasure for themselves, mostly taken from the harpies and trolls they defeated over the past month. They kept this treasure in a mound in the back of their temporary home, and one giant was always on guard except when they were defending the stairs. The treasure consisted of 3,306 sp, a carved mammoth bone statuette of a much smaller mammoth worth 700 gp, an eye patch with a mock eye of black star sapphire and moonstone worth 900 gp, a mithral anklet worth 1,000 gp, a jeweled gold crown worth 4,000 gp, a +2 defending bladed scarf, a leather pouch containing seven potion of cure moderate wounds and a potion of remove disease, and an efficient quiver containing 16 +1 undead bane arrows and one greater monstrous humanoid slaying arrow.

Tsela revealed that the crown was in fact the Lost Crown of the Pallgreves clan, one of the oldest noble families of Janderhoff. The dwarves would gladly pay 10,000 gp for its return.

Once the heroes reached the top of the stairs, they headed directly east into the Iron Peaks. The journey was through low hills and broken mountains.

The Iron Peaks. Although the farms in the valleys along the southwestern edge benefit from the heavy rains that break on the western side of the mountains, the Iron Peaks are renowned as the domain of easily irritated ogres, hill giants, and stone giants. Wherever possible, locals avoid venturing beyond the range's foothills, and advise travelers to do the same.

Storval Plateau. The land of Varisia is split in half by the Storval Rise, a thousand-foot-tall cliff sculpted for much of its length into ancient weatherworn statues, cliff fortresses, and strange portals into eldritch depths. The Rise separates the lush, fertile lowlands from the harsh, arid lands of the eastern plateau. Here, giants and tribes of hard-edged Shoanti hold sway, scraping an existence from the plateau hardpan or chasing herds of thundering aurochs across the sparse grasslands.

Iron Peak Patrols

Once the heroes entered the Iron Peaks, they encountered a party of stone giants. The party consisted of two stone giants and three trained dire bears. The giants ordered the bears to fight the heroes and then tried to flee after briefly fighting the heroes. The heroes killed or incapacitated them all.

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