The creaking of a wooden door opening, and all at once Grukk’s nose was assaulted with bizarre smells. He tried to speak through the coughing. “Hello? I-I’m looking for a wizard named Edwin?” The half-orc’s voice was scratchier than usual from whatever was in the air. Ten feet before him, stood a gangly fellow. His slant features and slightly pointed ears betrayed that he was a half elf, most likely in his fifties. He wore flat shoes and pants which were stained multiple colors, with a black doublet and leather gloves. “Not now! Not now! I am in the middle of a very important experiment!” Grukk waited within the doorway, watching this man work. He saw a set of bubbling tubes and beakers. Glasses filled with liquids of several colors, and a small flame lit on a candle whose wax did not melt. Around the room were scattered notes and documents, and a lock-box upon a high shelf filled with books. A loud popping sound gave both half orc and half elf a real start. The latter letting out a defeated sigh over broken glass. A small broom and rag flew towards the mess, moving on their own to clean it up. “Right then. How may I assist you today?”
Grukk hurriedly produced the rune stone. It’s writing still glowing that strange glow. “I-I discussed with Lady Rennard that you might be able to assist me with this.”
Edwin looked over the rune stone. Taking it from Grukk’s hand to carefully examine it. “Fascinating. Clearly it is magical, but I am unsure as to the nature of it.”
“Can you read the rune?” Grukk’s heart pounded in his chest, the thought of what this could be! “It’s written in Giant Speak.”
“Jötunn. That is the language of the giants. And yes, I can read it. But there is not much to read. This is the character for, ‘fire’.” The half-elf paused to think, then tossed the rune stone to Grukk. As the half orc, startled, caught the flying stone, he witnessed the wizard digging around through those scattered notes and books. “Let me…see here…Gnacker…Ghouls…Giant anatomy…aha! The lost legends of the Giants!” Taking the book from the shelf, and moving swiftly through the pages, Edwing moved close to the fighter. “Look here; “The Giants were possessed of many skills. One of these was to pour their own unique magics into objects. Making them much more powerful. Such a practice was called ‘Runecarving’ or “Runesmithing”. According to legends, any who could master such a craft became ‘Rune-Knights’ and were said to become as large and mighty as the giants themselves.” He closed the book, Grukk had a look of almost child-like wonder on his face. “You are very lucky, my friend. The giants are rare, and their lost works even more so. However, if you are to be able to use this rune, you’ll need to be able to read their language.” The wizard pulled out a pinch of salt and soot from his pocket. A magic scroll. “This contains the ‘Comprehend Languages’ spell. It will grant you complete understanding of Jötunn. And this book has a handy guide to their alphabet. If you work through the night, and with my assistance, you will be fluent in the language of giants by morning! I’ll also send for some smithing tools so you can inscribe this rune into your equipment. However, it will cost you. 80 gold! For the scroll, the tools, and for my time.”
“Of course! Uh, my friend in the hall has that money for you. I promise to get it in the morning.” Grukk was too excited. Too eager to learn to leave now. Luckily, Edwin seemed a patient man. “Very good then. Let’s get to work. Open the scroll and the book and be prepared to write!”

Within the throne room, the rest of the party looked at each other with the same question in their eyes. Do we take Lady Rennard’s job, or not? Alydrezea and Boris both looked as if they could take it or leave it. Kara, on the other hand, needed the money. “We’ll take the job. But first, can we spend the night? We were traveling all day yesterday and we would like to rest first.” The amber-skinned woman requested in as polite a tone as she could muster.
The Duchess gave a kindly nod. “Indeed you may. Servants!” She clapped her hands. “See to it that a room is prepare for all four of our guests tonight. And give each of them a set of night gowns to wear. I will send their current clothing to the laundress for cleaning.”
The drow and minotaur both frowned at that. “No.” They both said in unison.
“I beg your pardon?” The duchess was confused, and seemed a bit offended at the flat refusal of her show of hospitality. Thank the gods, Kara was there with them.
“M-my Lady! Hehe...f-forgive them. These two are uh, a druid and a wild man respectively. They don’t mind having matted or dirty clothing. But they will gladly accept a room for the night.” That final sentence was said through clenched teeth, directed at Boris and Alydrezea. Almost like a warning or command. The minotaur nodded and drow smiled. “Okay!”
“Very good.” Lady Rennard got up from the table. “Then our business for the night is concluded.” She gave each of them a polite bow, her red dress flowing as she did so. “If you will all excuse me.” As she left the throne room, escorted by a guard, Kara threw a fork at Boris. It didn’t hurt, but it did grab his attention.

“Are your brains as thick as your horns?! We have a great opportunity here, and I can’t let the two of you wild cards mess it up!” The thief spoke with a low hiss, glaring daggers at her teammates. Alydrezea pouted, putting her hood up. “Fine.” Boris, for his part, gave a nod. “I understand.”
“Thank you! Ugh…I’m going to my room. Enjoy some fresh clothes and a bath. Take my advice, enjoy the luxury while its here.” For the remainder of the evening, each member of the party enjoyed what was given to them. Boris and Alydrezea enjoyed drink in their room, being the first ones to fall asleep. Kara relaxed with a hot bath a comfortable bed. Grukk stayed up all night, learning the language of the giants with Edwin. Going through a small mountain of paper and ink to do so. When morning came, Lady Rennard saw each of them off with a wish of good luck. Kara took a quick stock of inventory, “Wait a minute, where’s Grukk?” On que, the half orc came running from his room. Sword on his hip, and shield on his back. “I’m here! I’m here! Kara! I need 80 gold.”
“What?! Why?” Kara really didn’t like being asked for money, especially this early in the morning.
“It’s important. Edwin taught me how to use the runestone. It will be more than worth it!” Grukk begged, and the pickpocket rolled her hazel eyes, handing him the coin. It was given to a guard, for delivery to Red Wake’s wizard. “You’re lucky this job is paying so much. Lets move before the rest of you start buying things.” The party quickly made their way out of the castle, and out of Red Wake. Heading North up the same road the came on. Kara held a map in her hand. “According to the map Lady Rennard gave us, the goblin raid on her delivery happened on the road about half a day’s travel from Red Wake.” Boris smiled, “Good. It wont be long before I get to crush the little bastards.”
“That’s the spirit, big guy!” The druid flexed with her arms, smiling at the minotaur from under her deep purple hood.

As the sun climbed in the sky, Kara stopped in her tracks. Alydrezea bumped into her. “Hey! Watch where you’re-“ The thief put up a hand, and the drow stopped talking. Kara was looking at the ground. Five dead men. All wearing the armor and uniform of the Iroas Military. Boris looked over the bodies, smelling them. “Goblins. Their stench is all over the bodies. The blood has dried, and the corpses have been picked at by scavengers. They’ve been dead for a while.”
Grukk noticed something odd. “Their weapons are missing. The Goblins must have taken them, along with the shrine they stole. Are there any tracks?”
“I see some.” Alydrezea pointed at the ground, where the dirt of the road met the grass just before the forest. The tracks were back and forth and scattered about. But the majority followed West, towards the sparse woodlands. “There are lots of them. Goblins, humans, and some kind of beast? I can’t tell what kind, there are too many prints. They’re going west.”
“That leads into the forest.” Kara said, thinking out loud.
“It’s a very small woodland. Not sure I’d call it a ‘forest’. The trees are all pretty small, and the woods are thin. But if you go past them, you’ll see more grassland and get to the coast of the sea before long.” Having a druid in your party was showing to be a big help out in the Wilds. Still, Kara Marsh was not the type to go charging off into any forest of any kind. “You want to lead the way, beef-brain?” She gave a light smile to her minotaur ally. Boris grunted and was the first to head into the thin oak woods. Followed closely by Alydrezea and Grukk. Kara took up the rear. The woods were filled with soft sounds of bugs and birds. It was a thin forest, with ample space between clutches of oak and aspen trees. Sunlight shown just fine in these woods, but it wasn’t long before Boris found something. Alerting the party to a few trees that has been cut down with axes, and others that were marked. Some with white and red paint, leaving several small handprints on a few trees. And other trees had tears in them. From something with long, sharp claws. “We’re getting close.” Boris stated, observing the marked and felled trees.
“Ya think?” Kara quipped. “I think I smell something…”
“The ocean.” The minotaur finished Kara’s thought for her. “The goblins must be in a seaside cave.” With a quick moment to ready themselves, the party left the thin forest, being met with the sandy beaches, and the rhythmic sound of the waves of the western sea. As forest gave way to sand, they spotted two goblins standing guard near a cave entrance roughly fifty feet away. The goblins were humanoid in shape. Barefooted, with short but toned bodies. They stood between three and four feet tall, with long pointed ears that swept out to the sides of their large heads. Their long noses were concave, with the tips covering their upper lips. With skin color a sickly yellow, and eyes a light shade of red, they had an unnerving appearance. More unnerving, was the simple leather armor and shortbows they were brandishing.

“Okay.” Kara’s voice changed to a more serious tone; her hazel eyes looked over the rest of the party carefully. But her gaze was more trusting than it was back in prison. “Anybody got any ideas?”