Chronicles from Eberron--The Tale of Harrigan the Horrible (Chapter 5)

As Harrigan and his companions return from the tomb of Sharataz, the undead fire giant sorcerer, they come upon a strange sight--a massive ivory tower standing in the midst of the jungle. The lone inhabitant of this tower may well change their lives forever...

Aye, so we finally got ourselves out of the damned cavern of Sharataz--not the least bit fast enough for my taste. Ye know, I'm about as hands-on as ye get. I get in, get me hands dirty and get after whatever there be to get afterin'. However, this was one time where I'd have rather'a been back in Fairhaaven, readin' up on giants, rather than findin' them.

My legs were still sore from the lava last time, and I'll freely admit, I's a bit testy. But, when Jackie came back from scoutin' the path ahead, I didn't have so much patience with the fop.

He came out o' the clearin' up ahead sayin' something about a spiralin' white tower in the middle of the jungle. Well, the damned fool went back and checked, then started claimin' somethin' about warforged guarding it. Warforged. In the middle of the damned jungle. Even the damned gnome didn't believe him after that.

But, go figure--the fop was actually tellin' the truth for once. Given that, I didn't even want ta mess with the situation. I used me new staff and summoned up an earth elemental, then sent him after the damned 'forged.

I'll save ye the details o' the combat and get to the point--no force on or under earth can stand against pure elemental earth in bodily form. The elemental lit'rally crushed the damned creatures beneath its fists with no effort whatsoever. Yeah, yeah....the gnome and the others contributed with those damned drow boomerangs, and I even got to try out me new spell--a conjured, razor-sharp stalagmite--but the elemental did the heavy lifting.

As soon as we arrived outside and finished off the warforged, all of us could hear a weird combo o' sounds--something like a mechanical whirring, with murmuring underneath it. Immediately, Lil, Jackie and Khin started climbin' on into the tower, but I held back to look around with the gnome and Johnny.

I can't say what they saw inside, at least a' the beginnin'. But, outside, there was a huge crack in the earth. I could practically feel the ground screamin' beneath me. The gnome dropped one of his crazy devices in and lights flared down in the gorge--the bottom was covered in warforged components on an assembly line. Some damned fool was startin' to build new 'forged.

I couldn't stand fer that. I can't stand the House Cannith bastards, but the idea of makin' new warforged just smacks me the wrong way. I closed off the crevasse, crushing all of the components fer good.

It was that point that Lil dropped me a Message. Somethin' about a giant imprisoned in in some damned device inside. Grabbin' up Johnny and the gnome, I hurried on in.

The tower led up quite a piece, with only one door, which led back down into the depths of an unlit factory floor. We clambered down to see a hideous sight--a giant trapped in suspended animation, behind some crazy Cannith contraption.

I knew who it was immediately. I'd read about him back in Fairhaaven, then again in Sharataz's tomb. This giant was one that fought against the Quori, over 13,000 years prior, using one of the four Destiny Arms. Particularly, he used a glaive that channeled elemental earth and negative energy, severing the ability to for the Quori to possess their foes. Immediately, I had 'em start lookin' for a way to get the feller out.

That was my mistake. Jack-o and the gnome found a console of buttons, and immediately started pissin' around with 'em. With the lights blinkin' around us, and the factory half-comin' to life, I couldn't take it anymore. I shattered the damned console, and the entire factory went black.

Luckily, dwarven blood be hardier than that of piss-poor humans. The giant was freed, and we had ourselves a nice little conversation. It took a while to get him up to speed, but eventually he caught on.

If all that wasn't enough, apparently the Quori were usin' this damned facility for creatin' old-style warforged to continue their siege on Adar. Somehow, I didn't feel so bad anymore for destroyin' the whole place. The Quori had, as well, their own damned gateway outside, according to the giant.

Well, I figured that we damned well had better put a stop to that, as well. A casting of Stone-Shape later, and what once looked like a runic circle now looks like nothin' more than ground. Good riddance to the damned bastards.

Luckily, we also found the giant's glaive. Some damned fool, not knowin' what he had, dropped it in the well outside. Easily gotten, we gave that one back.

It was there that the giant and meself got into a bit of a tiff. As I said, me temper was not of the best that day. He wanted to take me staff, claimin' that the Quori'd after us to get it back--apparently, the giants used the four Destiny Arms to banish them in the first place and, if they were re-united, they could undo the magics. I told him, plain and simple, that the staff was mine, and it'd make more sense anyway to keep the Arms separated.

Right in the midst of the argument, we got a rude awakening. Some fella, with an iron dog-like thing and a chick, came up claimin' that the tower was his. Now, I'm no archmage, but I can see the writin' on the stone wall. If this fella thinks that the tower is his, and that he dows the work here....even if he's from Cannith, then he's also allied with the Quori and knew that the giant was prisoner. I didn't put up with that--I lit an Earthbolt into he and his buddies and was done with them.

I pried the info I wanted straight out of his brain. He was possessed by a Quori--a servant of our old friend Dhalia.

At any rate, I dinna think that he was too pleased by that logic, but he chose not to pry the staff from me dwarven fingers, so I think he's not too perturbed. He claimed to be headin' off to find a friend of his, to see if they were still alive and if they had their own Arm with them.

Right now, we're on our way via wind galley towards the Shadow Marches. They're the last place we need to head in order to get the Professor's shards.

Right now, I'm not sure what the hell I'm goin' to do. If we give the prof the shards, he could well mess up the whole damned Multiverse, pullin' planes out of alignment and movin' 'em around. Even if the Quori don't get a hold of it, all it takes is one mistake to bring down everything the SoulForger's e'er put down here.

I think I need to talk to Johnny. He seems to have a good hand on this.

One thing I do know is that Dhalia'll be gettin' what's comin' to her. If I have to cross the whole damned continent again, I'll see that she gets hers.