Attendance was not particularly good: only Ray (Spearchucker), Tim (Laerynthe), Chris (Pawnbroker) and Mike (Messerbad) showed up. Doug appeared briefly, but then opted out due to exhaustion. Bob (Yordan) not only missed the session, but also left word that he would be absent for roughly the next month. The session also started fairly late.
The Giant's Path lies on the other side of Seitha from Hegger. The characters decided to take a boat to Paiden, then head to the Giant's Path through the Yodai Forest. The trip to the foot of the Giant's Path took fifteen days and cost 100 challock for all the characters except Pawnbroker, Laerynthe, and Messerbad (all of whom have free passage between Three Stones Ford and Riverside thanks to their arrangement with the Abbas and Veka Families). These characters spent only 50 challock.
The characters reached the foot of the Giant's Path on the fifteenth day of 856, in the High Cold Season. Additional gear brought by the characters included:
Total equipment cost is about 300 challock, split four ways.
The characters spend some time debating how best to climb the Giant's Path, until Messerbad remembers that he learned several spells particularly useful for reaching the Second Plateau during his stay at the College of Sorcery in Hegger, including Wallwalker.
The characters' plan was fairly straightforward: Messerbad cast Wallwalker on each of the characters (though this required several attempts for Laerynthe, considering his Magic Resistance). For each character, the spell cost 8 energy (4 energy per minute, for two minutes each - 300 meters @ move 4 = 75 seconds). It took about two hours for the group to get to the top.
Messerbad ran to the top of the cliffs before the other characters, to see if the Skin Adapoi are still watching, and if they were friendly. He found three Skin Adapoi watchers at the top. They threw several javelins at him, but stopped when he called out his name and asked to speak to Agopon.
One of the Skin Adapoi warned Messerbad that a flight of Folk of the Wall (winged creatures with feathers) had been seen nearby, and that he should be careful. During their trips to the top of the cliff, the other characters kept watch for anything that might be one of the Folk, but they saw nothing.
While the group was assembling at the top of the cliffs, Pawnbroker noticed a group of small furred animals sitting among the branches of a nearby tree. The creatures had large, dark eyes and wide, pointed ears. They were about ten centimeters long from snout to tail. One of them also cast a magical compulsion upon him to approach. He obeyed until Laerynthe (who ignored the creatures' effect) shook him free. A moment later, one of the other creatures cast the same effect upon a nearby bug, which crawled right up to where the beast could snatch it into it's mouth.
Noting their interest, one of the Skin Adapoi said, "They are called Touch-Me's." The adapoi then speared one of the three and ate it. The characters declined to partake.
The three Skin Adapoi took the characters to the Skin Adapoi Tribehome, where they were greeted by Agopon. She expressed some measure of happiness at seeing Messerbad again, and asked what had been happening on the First Plateau in the over two years since Messerbad had last been among the Skin Adapoi. Messerbad and the other characters talked about Vlad, and the Makers' dangerous expansionism.
Agopon agreed that the Makers had become much more of a danger recently, though not to the Skin Adapoi. She also mentioned that Makers had recently destroyed a nearby agaf outpost.
Agopon also had a fair amount of local news. Two of the Skin Adapoi had undergone the Rebirth of Abbatine and Ascended since the characters had been there, and several had been entrapped by a Celebrant festival. In retailiation, the Skin Adapoi hunted one of the Celebrants down and killed it: Agopon showed the characters the skull.
After staying with the Skin Adapoi for a day, the characters replenished their food stocks and headed towards the Great Lifter.
Progress through the jungles on the Second Plateau was slow going, with progress limited to about 10-15 km/day. Foraging would reduce this rate by half. The characters estimated that it would take about ten days to reach the Great Lifter, at 10 km/day.
Four days into their journey, the characters came upon a clearing in the forest that had evidently once been a field. It was dotted with blast craters left by Maker weapons (though it took the characters some time to realize that was what they were). In their initial investigations, Pawnbroker once again fell victim to the magical fauna of Abbatine: he was given a bout of induced sickness by a vomit bug, a creature like a 8 cm sow bug with two large eyes and a long, segmented tongue. The creature had been hiding under the shield of a dead agaf spearman. Pawnbroker was incapacitated by the magical sickness until Laerynthe chopped the creature in half.
Anxious to learn what had happened, Messerbad cast Summon Spirit on one of the dead agaf. The summoned agaf said, "The pale ones, they came with their bestial servants. Their fire-kegs sundered the walls and the phalanxes." The characters surmised that this was the agaf community Agopon had mentioned earlier.
By the time the characters finished interrogating the dead agaf, night was falling. Messerbad cast a Forest Warning around the campsite, and the group maintained a watch. The night was uneventful, but in the morning a lone demek passed near the camp. When the characters spotted it, the creature fled. Pawnbroker gave chase, then ordered it to "Stop!" in the Maker tongue. The creature mutely obeyed, and was led back to camp, where it ate all of the characters' stew. The characters debated what to do with it until Laerynthe (possibly acting under the influence of the Anklet of Pwir) slit it's throat and killed it.
Messerbad, again eager to exploit his necromatic skills, turned the demek's body into a zombie (ST 14, DX 10, IQ 6, HT 18/19, DR 1, Brawling-11, Ax/Mace-12).
Soon after breaking camp, the group found the remains of the agaf community. Most of the buildings had been destroyed. Char and new growth covered most surfaces.
The one building the characters found that was obviously intact was a bakery. Inside, they found several huge barrels full of flour, and a cold oven. They also found a single, small barrel placed in the center of the floor. The barrel was wrapped with notched wire, and had a small hole on the top. The characters knocked it over to learn what was inside, managing to spill viscous firewater over the floor and the sides of the barrel. Laerynthe then tried to cut the barrel open, but instead struck one of the wires, created a spark, and set the firewater aflame. Finally, Laerynthe ordered the demek zombie to spread flour upon the flaming barrel. As the demek went about it's orders, the characters realized what was going to happen and fled the building. The zombie was blown to pieces when the flour dust ignited and set off the firekeg. The explosion shattered the inside of the building.
After finding the first firekeg, the group searched the town to find another. In the process, they saw two or three other rogue demeks scuttling about. They ignored them. They finally managed to find a dead demek with a firekeg strapped to it's back. Messerbad transformed this demek into a zombie (same characteristics as the previous zombie), and the group left the destroyed town.
Pawnbroker, Messerbad, Laerynthe and Spearchucker each gained three experience points. All four of them are on the Second Plateau, in the jungles between the Skin Adapoi Tribehome and the head of the Great Lifter. Yordan, Mungo and Boromir are all still in Hegger.