Notes on the interrogation of the attackers of the Abbey of St Ursula by Cantor Magdalene, Cantor and Chief Librarian of the Abbey of St Ursula, 4th day of SummerWaxing, IY 1245.
Four creatures were captured after they attempted to raid the Abbey of St Ursula on the 3rd day of HighSummer, IY902 at approximately eight bells in the evening. These creatures were imprisoned in separate rooms in the The Undercroft of the Abbey, where they were interrogated individually by the bard Fantastic Freddy, with myself assisting and taking notes.
Freddy feels confident that, between his natural skills with persuasion, and the magical spells he put the subjects under, that he managed to extract reliable information. I must concur, Freddy is an extremely skilled and thorough interrogator and his abilities to earn the subjects trust and lead them to confide in him was nothing short of astounding.
In addition, the key information of each individual testimony was cross referenced and born out by the others and also with other accounts in the library of the nature and properties of the residence of Gianthome .
The Goliath's
The captured creatures are humanoid in appearance and could pass as humans if it wasn't for their unusual size. The smallest of them is almost seven feet tall and the tallest is over seven and a half feet. They are heavily built and muscled and seem to be prodigiously strong.
The refer to themselves as "Goliath" and come from Gianthome, an extremely large island in the far west of the Reach that is dominated by giantkind. Reportedly there are multiple different types of giants that exist on this island. These breeds of giants vary in size and strength and exist in a strict social hierarchy, the bigger and more powerful giants are higher in the hierarchy then the smaller ones.
The Goliaths are the smallest of the giant blooded and are near the bottom of the hierarchy, above humans and other non giant sentients but below all the other giants. The Goliaths claim that this is because "Our human blood makes us weak an' puny, though we are still stronger then you lot."
The Sea Giants
The other giant that was present on the battlefield is of a breed called "Sea Giants", the most common breed of true giant on the island and generally the top of the food chain. The Sea Giants are approximately 17 feet tall, tremendously strong and skilled sailors. They are also known to be tremendous swimmers, capable of covering leagues of sea by swimming alone and diving deep beneath its surface. "They none too bright though" was generally agreed upon by the Goliaths, Sea Giants seem to be below average in intelligence, though possessing of a low cunning.
These giants are organized socially in clans, or small kingdoms, of which there seem to be many in Gianthome. Up until recently these kingdoms constantly feuded with one another and possessed little in the way of advanced metallurgy or shipbuilding skills.
However something seems to have changed relatively recently. All interrogation subjects made note of a "New High King" that has conquered a majority of the island, if not the entirety of it. "He brought the knowledge with him from over the sea, of the fire powder, and the new ships, the working of metal, so the giants became strong, strong enough to crush the punies beneath our feet and take their gold and women.".
This High King is evidentially some different breed of giant then the Sea Giants, though none of the subjects have ever seen him or know much in the way of details here, other then he is larger and more powerful then the Sea Giants. It is also clear that the goliaths are deathly afraid of this "High King.
CrabTalker
The name of the giant that attacked the abbey is "Crabtalker". He is captain of a ship called "HumieLoota" along with a crew of approximately thirty goliaths. He had originally considering joining BigTime's horde, but after waiting around for the pirate armada to "get its shit together" he became impatient and struck out on his own.
His intention was to kidnap Abbess Angelique and ransom her back to the Abbey for "a pile o gold and jewels, like", failing that to just sack and loot the place.
Praise be to Mithra and our new protectors that he was not able to carry out his plans.
When questioned about the giant crab mount, the prisoners revealed that the ability of "Shellspeaking" was somewhat uncommon among the giants but not terribly so. There was one other Shellspeaker as part of Bigtime's horde.
The prisoners also spoke in some awe of Crabtalker's mighty cannon, such giant sized weapons seeming still at least somewhat rare among the giants (praise Mithras).
The Bigtime
Bigtime himself, and his wife Gerta are two extremely powerful and feared giants that have made a name for themselves raiding up and down the The Northern Reach. They are in the process of assembling a small horde or armada of giants, goliaths and evidentially some human pirates as well. They are currently gathering off a small island about a hundred leagues to the north of Puerto Lejos. They intend to raid deeply into the Reach, pillaging and killing all in their path. Freddy was able to extract relatively good directions to this island.
From the accounts of the interrogation subjects, this fleet assembly is not going perfectly. The giants are by nature fractious and not keen on taking orders, so enforcing discipline and a common agenda has been a struggle. BigTime himself has had to kill two would be challengers to his leadership over the last month and has been unable to gain the consensus of the remaining captains enough to set sail for a common target. Instead they endless argue and squabble and go nowhere.
The subjects seem to have different opinions on the eventual outcome of this situation. Two believe that it will fizzle out (as other hordes have before), the captains will be unable to cooperate and eventually will go their separate ways. One believes BigTime will eventually "Crack enaf 'eads to make the sorry bastards do 'is will". The fourth has the most concerning opinion. He believes that "Once the great shaman Za-dak comes to join, together him and BigTime will get 'em inline and then sail and burn all the human lands down". When question as to when this shaman was expected to arrive, the subject had no details and seemed to think "It'd be awhile yet I reckon"
SeaGiants are not known for their magical ability but occasionally one is born with the Gift, and such a creature is fearsome indeed.
Order of Battle
According to the prisoners the exact composition of BigTime's fleet varies daily as ships join and leave, but when last they saw it, there were five ships in BigTime's flotilla. Most of them are the typical longships the giants are known for (much bigger and more seaworthy then human longships), but there is at least one of them is one of the "newfangled bigsail ships", BigTime's personal vessel, the The Headstomper.
Manpower wise there are somewhere around 5-10 Sea Giants, and 100 goliaths and humans.
Some good news, BigTime seems to be still somewhat short of gunpowder weapons. In addition to at least two of the huge giant sized cannon there are another dozen more human sized ones, and a smattering of personal firearms. However most of the horde is still armed with traditional bows, crossbows and melee weapons. Though Giant sized crossbows and melee weapons are nothing to discount.
BigTime doesn't really seem to expect much resistance, at least at sea, but has indicated that if they run into hostile ships, the plan is to board them. Giant crewed longships are reputably capable of tremendous speeds in the sprint, and can completely ignore the windgauge, though such speeds cannot be maintained for long periods of time.