Chapter 5: The Iron Giant

When the PCs get back from Shadowfell Keep, Faren Markelhay expresses uncertainness of what to do next.

Four months have passed since you prevented the Orcus from being summoned into the world. The people of FallCrest and Winter Haven hail you as heroes and everyone is quite friendly towards you. One foggy morning, you are summoned to the Moonsong Temple in Fallcrest. When the PCs arrive…

A Female Halfling in a very ornate white robe with gold trimming invites you into the Church. “Please hurry, I have the most disturbing news and we must talk now.” You recognize the voice as that of High Priest Ressilmae, the leader of the Moonsong Temple. “Please come… There is someone you absolutely meet.” You follow Ressilmae into the church and praying at the extravagant golden moon Alter to Sehanine there is a woman wearing the same type of clothes as Ressilmae. You have never met this human woman before but you notice right away that she has the most troubling look on her face.

Ressilmae motions to you to sit at the pews before the alter. She points at the sobbing priestess. “This is Gwen, a priestess of Sehanine from RioGrand, a city by the silt sea.” You recognize the name Silt Sea from stories you’ve heard in your childhood. This is a sea of mud and silt a far distance away from here. In fact, it is so far away that Gwen is the first person you’ve ever met from there. Ressilmae continues, “Gwen has travelled a long way to warn us of something that could destroy all those that live here.”

The woman at the Alter turns and sits at the first pew. “I wish this wasn’t true, but there is something absolutely horrifying coming. I don’t even know how to start” she says. You can see her face in detail now and can tell that she is an emotional wreck. She goes on, “My mentor, Goldmoon Darklin, has gone mad! She is my best friend, but I can’t continue to let her do what she is doing. Goldmoon has become lost in the light of the moon and has been destroying people’s homes in the name of Sehanine. She believes she is doing people a favour, but instead she is only spreading heartache and death. You must stop her. She is coming here next from the South. She is about a week’s travel behind me, but when she gets here, be warned, no army can stop her. She travels in the shell of a 120 foot tall giant. This man is invincible to all but the most powerful weapons; however, it has one weakness. You can enter the Giant through a door on its right foot and kill the people running it. Goldmoon won’t expect anyone to enter the giant so once you are in you can incapacitate the crew and stop the Giant. Take Goldmoon alive. She is my friend, but I don’t want her to destroy your homes or kill your people.”

The PCs divised a way to board the giant and take out its crew. Goldmoon was killed, but her partner, Silver-Eye Managed to get away. Once the PCs got the Iron Giant, Stenian came to them with a proposition.

Stenian’s Proposition…

“The Iron Giant that you stopped is a relic from the Dwarf Empire’s past. With these Juggernauts my people were able to end the Dwarf-Elf war. In our history books we put that these machines were actually titans from another continent. In reality, they were our war-machines that we destroyed promptly after the war for everyone’s safety. With the ease that we brought down the Elf empire, we felt they were too powerful incase one of our enemies got their hands on it. The commander of this giant must have gone rouge and hidden the unit from destruction.

With the emergence of the Lunar Rains, this technology is more important than it has ever been. You see… Surface dwellers face two colossal problems. One, the sky is falling, and two, we have these huge non-terrestrial dragons killing anything that is not already killed by the meteors. We need to bring homes to surface dwellers that can move so they can retreat from the meteoroids. I’m not talking about the horse and wagons that the nomadic humans use on the plains, but rather something more substantial. Something that can stand up to the lunar dragons that lay siege and destroy the best of surface cities. To me, the answer is to bring back the war-machines of the past. They should be able to hold up to both the rains and the dragons.

I’ve already had a several small mechs constructed to help defend Duerok. Durgan-Lok is the first mech of my true vision. Durgan-Lok is a mech over Five times the size of the one that you just saved Fallcrest from. Imagine a confederacy of walking strongholds all dedicated to keeping the inhabitants of our world safe from the threats that the moon has brought us. That is my vision for the future.

We know these units work well because earlier and smaller version of Durgan-Lok was destroyed in a battle against a lunar dragon but it managed to kill the beast at the same time with a devastating blow from its gargantuan battle axe. After that exchange, the council of Duerok was completely willing to fund me and my colleague Parilus in our vision of a mechdom. Because of this, I am sure they will offer your entire community sanctuary if I back you and claim that you will help establish my confederacy on the surface world. I am willing to vouch for you in exchange for the “Iron Giant.” Please consider my offer and get back to me soon. I wish to leave for Duerok in three days.

Fallcrest’s aristocrats went to council and voted to take Stenian up on his offer. Now the city has gathered and its citizens plans to leave their homes forever.

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