Dugen, Vigdis and I went back out into the Creekwood again. This time, Cassick came with us, and we had a new guy named Cardinal. Cardinal is a big green dragonborn who plays songs and stuff. He’s pretty cool, but he’s apparently never been on an adventure before! So Dugen and I told him all about our adventures so he knew what to expect. Although I guess I haven’t really been on many adventures either, so maybe I’m not really the best person to claim I know all that much myself.
The guild asked us to get the details on the statues in the lake, cuz apparently they’re important. So we went out to go straight there, and on the way we found a ring of mushrooms in a clearing. Apparently it’s called a faerie circle, and they can be super dangerous if you go inside them. So we chose not to risk it. Also, I noticed something weird, it seems like all the special stuff are always in their own little clearings... I don’t know if that’s important, or just a coincidence or what, but I think its odd. Like maybe the trees know something is up, and don’t wanna be near them? I don’t know, the woods are a weird place. There’s like singing rocks and stuff, so it could really be anything.
Back to the adventure though. We camped out nearby, and Dugen said that in the middle of the night, the circle glowed with an odd light. They were normal again by the time he woke me up, so I don’t really know too much about that. While travelling the next day, we found a giant Weeping Willow tree, with some really colorful berries. Vigdis stood up on Wolfy’s back and grabbed a bunch of them so we could send them back to the guild. Dugan said it was probably dangerous to eat them, and that makes sense, cuz we were told not to eat stuff from Creekwood anyway.
After that we made it to the lake ruins again, and there were these weird looking fish people everywhere. I remembered what Yelcha said, and said we shouldn’t assume they’re bad just because they’re weird fish people in a lake in Creekwood. So Dugan said he’d try to talk to them, and I don’t know if he said something bad or what, cuz they got really angry and we had to fight them all. Vigdis says they were chumps. I don’t really know what that means exactly, but she seems really sure about it so I guess they’re called chumps. We fought against all the chumps, there were a couple on the ruins and like 3 of them in the lake. Vigdis and Wolfy just jumped right into the water and took them on head on, while Dugen and Cardinal fought the one on the ruins. I just kinda stood back on shore and tried to help with Cassick.
It went pretty well, but I got really scared at one part, cuz Vigdis was out in the water with just Wolfy, and there were a lot of chumps, and she was getting really hurt. I was trying to get out to help her, but I really don’t swim well, so that was really scary! But of course, Vigdis was totally fine. Oh, and Vigdis is reminding me that Cardinal got really sick afterwards. I totally get that, I feel the same way when fighting starts sometimes, I’m always really worried some big monster is gonna hurt me or one of my friends!
After we got rid of all the chumps, we looked at the statues, and they had a bunch of weird symbols on them. We took notes for the guild, so they could study them. They didn’t really mean anything to me. We camped out near the lake, since it was getting dark. Nothing really happened, but we did almost get run into by some really big thing again. It was my turn to watch too! Again! I swear, the big guys know I’m little and are trying to scare me. Stupid big monsters.
It took us another day to travel back along the river towards the statue with the waterfall again, and nothing really happened for a little while. When we got to the statue, it was night, so we camped out nearby. During the night, Vigdis saw something try and cross the bridge, and I guess the statue moved and scared the thing off. So the next day we spent a long time investigating the bridge. There’s a weird barrier thing that makes it hard to cross, and when you walk into it, the statue starts moving, and he goes faster if you try to go fast. We tried all kinds of stuff, but the statue wouldn’t let us cross. I even tried asking him nicely, but that didn’t work. Vigdis also wants to note that he got really mad when we tried to throw the squirrel across.
I hid Ash better after that.
Anyway, nothing really worked, they even tried crossing the river instead of the bridge, and Cassick climbed up the statue, to try going over. It goes to stop you either way, and we didn’t really wanna get smacked by a big statue so we left, and kept going west along the river. We traveled for a few days, and didn’t really find anything until the mountains. There was an old house at one point, but it was really old and empty so we just left it alone.
Once we got to the mountains though, we found a bunch of funny looking hills and weird broken trees. We found a big giant skeleton with some big old swords and armor, and I guess that's what all the weird hills were. We were in a big giant graveyard! Vigdis really wants one of the giant swords, but I think those are a bit too big, even for her. She’s still yelling that she wants one though. In the skeleton, there were some big lizards and lizard people, and we fought them. Vigdis ran right up and jumped off the cliff with Wolfy, and Cassick and I shot some really strong magic at them, so they died really really fast.
After we beat the lizards, we looked around and found some stuff hidden in the giant’s eye hole. There was a potion of healing, and some gold and silver. But that was all that we could find. So we kept going, and we found a door carved right into the mountain, with a riddle on it. "Halo of water, tongue of wood, skin of stone and long I’ve stood. My fingers short reach to the sky, inside my heart men live and die." We were stumped for a bit, and didn’t know what to do. But then I remembered the castle back home, and how it has a big round water moat and a big wooden drawbridge to let people in, and it's made of stone, and people live there. So I thought the answer was castle, and Vigdis said something in giant and then the door opened! She calls me riddle master now sometimes. I’m trying to think of a good way to turn that into a virtue name, but all I can think of is Riddler, and I don’t like that.
Inside the door was another door. This one was locked the old fashioned way. We used our new tools we bought, and I was able to crack open the door. That’s the first time I’ve had to do that since I became an adventurer! I’m really grateful that Old Nan taught me how to do that. When we went inside, there was a big ramp in the middle of the room, and a key near the low side. There was a big metal guy walking around the room, and he chased us. I was kinda worried so I went outside, but he was harmless, he just didn’t want us to get the key. Cassick and Wolfy held him down, so Vigdis and Dugan could lower the high part of the ramp and I could grab the key.
Then we realised we had to use the key on the metal guy, and I was a little unsure about that. Because he didn’t really hurt us or anything, so I didn’t really wanna do anything to him. But we had to, and then he opened up and we got another key that unlocked the door. There was a funny magic aura on the door, and when we went through we couldn’t go back, and all our stuff was gone. There was a big pit, and a ledge on the other side. In the pit were some really mad wolves, that were even bigger than Wolfy! I didn’t even know wolves got that big.
Dugen said we should grab some rope and a rod that were there, and we could use the rod to swing on, cuz it was an Immovable Rod. So Vigdis jumped out real far, and put the rod in place, then tied the rope so we could swing across. We all did it, but Cassick almost got eaten. Wolfy couldn’t swing across, so we had to leave him for a little bit. When we got to the other side, we got our gear back.
Then there was this really long dark tunnel that seems to go on forever, but Vigdis had the idea to walk backwards, and that worked, so we were okay. Then we got into a big room with a big box in the middle, and some giant buttons with writing on them that said we should push them. So we tried, but they were really big and really high up. So I took a look around and found a thing we could push on to open a secret chamber, but that made another thing open behind us. I was worried about the other thing, so we all hid behind the big box, and Vigdis pushed on the wall and found a hidden box. But the other thing opened up, and a huge giant walked out!
At first I was super scared, but it turns out he’s blind, so he just kinda stumbled and stomped around. We tried to get him to push a button, Cassick used magic to make sound and lure him, but the button didn’t work when you pressed just one. So we looked in the box, and it was really weird. We were in the box, but also on the ceiling? Like there was a little room in the box, and we were in the little room, but also looking at the box? It made me really confused, and a little dizzy. It reminds me of when I saw the Light, but not as warm.
Anyway, Vigdis realized she could reach in, and the big Vigdis in the ceiling did the same thing. We were gonna press the buttons, but then I got an idea. I didn’t know if we could take the giant out, with the box, cuz he was still stomping around and kinda had me worried. So Vigdis grabbed him, and pulled a tiny giant out of the box! We decided to keep him and send him to the guild, but Vigdis really wants him back. She says his name is Stompy, cuz he likes to stomp around. That makes sense, that’s kinda all he does.
She made Big Vigdis press the buttons, and then the box in the middle of the room opened. Inside was a note that said “Great Job!” in Giant. That’s what Vigdis said anyway, I don’t know Giant yet. Then we realised the box had a fake bottom, and inside that was a potion of Hill Giant strength, and a sword called a Sword of Sharpness. I guess it's a super strong magic sword, and we decided to give it to Dugen for now, cuz he and Vigdis are the only ones who use swords. They played a game and Dugen won, so it's his. But we also decided to let people borrow it if they need it. But it's Dugen’s technically.
After that, we went and went back to Wolfy and left to go home. On the way we saw some big roots that were like a cave, but we were pretty tired and just wanted to get back home so we left it alone for now. We made it home safe after that though.
Oh also, while we were travelling, I spent some time to try and make friends with Wolfy. He always seems really mad, but he and Vigdis really get along and he likes her alot, so I figured there’s gotta be some way to be friends, right? I may not be as awesome as Vigdis, but if she can do it, I can try at least. I got him to play some games, and I think he doesn’t totally hate me? But he still looks kinda mad all the time, whenever he’s looking at anyone who isn’t Vigdis, so I don’t really know.
Vigdis says she wants to party, cuz we were out for a whole week, which is a new expedition record. She’s really yelling that I should stop writing and go party, so I guess that’s it for now. Thanks Orla!
Oh, and I really liked your letter you sent for us, but I don’t think Vigdis likes tea. And I’m really happy you think I’m brave, I try to be, but adventures can be super scary! I’m sure you're very very brave too, it sounds like it gets scary at the guild too sometimes.