Garland's Garrotes

Garland's Garrotes was a group of adventurers who banded together to fight off giants who were raiding in the wake of the Shattering of Orodeth. Though they only went on a few adventures together, they uncovered critical knowledge that eventually led to the end of the death curse and the destruction of Acererak.

Current members

 * Dawn Breeze - Female air genasi druid.
 * Garland - Non-binary half-orc rogue. Known as the Liberator after freeing hundreds of orcs enslaved by hill giants.
 * Grimhildr - Female storm giant. Rescued from captivity by frost giants.
 * Karriss Kellson - Male human fighter. Sergeant, Mercantile Alliance marines.
 * Ru Bae Ya - Female human wizard. A former member of Drake's Company hired to deal with the giants.
 * Sasha - Female cave bear. Former pet of the hill giant chieftain's mate, awakened by Dawn Breeze.

Former members

 * Valmyze - Female dragonborn fighter. Joined after her last adventuring company was slaughtered by frost giants.
 * Zook - Male gnome ranger. Despises giants, left when they allied with Grimhildr.

Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain
In 2966, following the Shattering of Orodeth, many of the giant tribes that had previously been kept under control by the Mercantile Alliance grew bolder and began openly raiding nearby towns. With Drake's Company and Kazak's Follies both disbanded, the leaders of Northeron sent word out for local heroes to band together and fight against the giants. Thus did Dawn Breeze, Garland and Zook join former Mercantile Alliance marine Karriss Kellson; and former wizard of Drake's Company Ru Bae Ya; in traveling to the fortress of the hill giant chieftain, Nosnra.

It was raining when they arrived, and Garland took advantage of the reduced visibility to quietly assassinate the hill giants standing guard outside. Entering through a side door, they snuck down a side passage, avoiding the main hall as they dispatched every hill giant they encountered. In one room they were attacked by a cave bear, but Dawn Breeze charmed it into following her. The druid continued to act kindly to the bear, hoping to entice it to continue following her once the enchantment wore off. In another room, they found a letter from a mysterious person named Eclavdra directing Nosnra on where to strike next. In the kitchens, Garland found a small army of orcish slaves forced to cook for the giants. Garland encouraged them towards rebellion, suggesting that the giants would not be in power for much longer.

Entering what they thought was a side room, though, they found themselves in the great hall where Chief Nosnra himself was in the midst of a feast, alongside his bear, his wife, several more hill giants, and a cloud giant. A massive battle erupted, during which Nosnra picked up a massive ballista mounted on the wall and fired large spears at the adventurers. Many of them were felled by the giants' blows, only to be revived by their comrades' healing magic, but when at last the final blow had been struck nearly all of the giants lay slain, along with Nosnra's pet bear, and all of the adventurers were badly wounded but nevertheless alive. The only surviving giant was the cloud giant, who had been polymorphed into a hamster by Ru Bae Ya; the party let it go outside before resting and bandaging their wounds. Sergeant Kariss also claimed the cloud giant's magical greatsword, which turned out to be an intelligent blade that called itself Waythe.

When the kitchen slaves arrived and found the adventurers among the dead giants, the language barrier between them resulted in the orcs initially thinking that Garland was the adventurers' prisoner, and the orcs demanded their release. After the misunderstanding was finally cleared up, Garland pledged to free the rest of the orcs enslaved in the fortress.

While the burgeoning orc rebellion took the upper floor, the adventurers descended down into the ancient ruins below, now mostly in use as a dungeon. They quickly dispatched the Keeper in charge of the slaves, as well as the bugbear guards employed by the giants, liberating all of the orcs they came across. When they found a pair of stone giants, the adventurers raised their weapons only for the giants to insist that they had no desire to fight, having simply been hired to help expand the dungeons, and with the chief dead they considered the job finished. The fire giant armorers were less inclined to depart, and were slain. In one corner room, they found an ancient-looking altar in a chamber engraved with disturbing runes that glowed with a sickly light; after backtracking up the hallway, they collapsed the tunnel to seal it off. Eventually, they found what seemed to be the giants' treasure hoard. In addition to all of the coins was a map showing the location of a frost giant stronghold, as well as a magical chain and instructions to use it to teleport there. Despite being unsure as to whether they could return, the adventurers used the chain to transport themselves to the frost giants' stronghold.

Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
The band arrived in the midst of a blizzard, and hurried to find shelter. In a nearby cave they discovered a dragonborn fighter named Valmyze, who was herself recovering after her entire party had been slain by the frost giants. When she asked who they were, they deliberated for a few minutes before deciding to call themselves Garland's Garrotes after all of the giants the half-orc had dispatched. While the party waited out the blizzard, Dawn Breeze cast a spell to awaken the cave bear she had charmed away from the hill giants. The bear agreed to continue as her companion, and said that her name was Sasha.

The next morning, with the blizzard abated, they descended into the frost giants' rift. They kept mostly to the side caverns rather than moving straight through the center, with Garland continuing to stealthily assassinate many of the giants they happened upon, until they found a tunnel descending down into a lower level. A wrong turn, however, took them into the lair of a pair of young white dragons, though they ultimately slew the creatures. As they tended to their wounds, Dawn Breeze skinned one of them to make a coat of dragonscale armor for Sasha. Changing direction, they found a large group of frost giants and a mysterious shai man who seemed to be familiar with Ru Bae Ya and wielded powerful magic. When the heroes slew the giants, the man promised he would see her again and teleported himself away.

Beyond, they found a cave that had been converted into a crude prison where the giants had captured a storm giant. She told them her name was Grimhildr, daughter of a powerful storm giant chieftain, and was sent by her father as an emissary but imprisoned when she did not agree to join them in their raids against Northeron. She offered to help them fight the frost giants, but when Garland moved to free her, Zook stopped him; having spent much of his life hunting giants of all kinds, he refused to work with one now, even against a mutual foe. When his companions stood unanimously in favor of accepting Grimhildr's aid, Zook angrily quit the party and announced he would find his own way out; Valmyze decided to join him.

Despite their departure, the others freed Grimhildr, and after arming herself from a slain frost giant the storm giant directed them straight to the frost giant jarl's cavern. They were in little mood for negotiation, and attacked as soon as they entered his cave. Despite the battle being joined by the jarl's wife, their two winter wolves, and a host of guards, Karriss slew the jarl with Waythe and Garland's Garrotes emerged triumphant. After plundering the frost giants' treasury, they discovered a map pointing to the fire giant fortress known as the Halls of Asar east of Orodeth. Though Karriss knew that their king had been slain many years ago, it seemed clear that a new ruler must be directing them now. Finding another magical item providing teleportation, they said a quick word of prayer for Zook and Valmyze before transporting themselves once more.

Hall of the Fire Giant King
After a brief rest to catch their breath and get their bearings, the adventurers charged straight in through the obsidian doors of the Halls of Asar, and directly into the throne room. There, upon the throne, they beheld a terrifying sight: the fire giant King Snurre himself, now reanimated as massive, flaming, skeletal death knight. The undead king was flanked by several fire giant guards and a pack of hell hounds, and the battle raged with both sides giving their all. Ultimately, however, Garland's Garrotes once again proved their might and defeated the giants. Snurre himself was struck down by Grimhildr, but as the last vestiges of life left his bones he warned of the coming of the drow goddess of undeath, Kiaransalee.

Taking only the briefest moment to tend to their wounds, the Garrotes rushed through the fortress and down to the next level below, where they found the giants' prison cells filled with a variety of beings, from elves and humans to centaurs and gnolls. They set all of the prisoners free, but discovered two very curious inmates. The first was a fire giant himself; he told them his name was Boldo, and that Snurre had been raised by a drow necromancer named Eclavdra, who intended to sacrifice the prisoners as part of a plan to summon Kiaranselee out of Doth'Mordun. Boldo spoke out against this, calling Snurre an unnatural abomination, and was imprisoned. The adventurers begrudgingly set him free when he told them where to find Eclavdra. In the cell at the end, they found an empyrean, a being from the upper planes whose sacrifice was central to Eclavdra's plans. He told them his name was Demitrius, and pledged to aid them in ending Eclavdra.

Following Boldo's directions, they found a foul temple, its previous focus stricken from the walls and reconsecrated to Kiaranselee. Amid the drow priests and mages, they found Eclavdra herself. Though a fearsome opponent, she was ultimately struck down by Demitrius. As she died, her body crumbled to dust; the other drow grabbed the jeweled necklace that was around her neck and fled into the caverns below. Realizing that Eclavdra was a lich, and reasoning that the necklace was her phylactery, they gave chase. Despite being waylaid by the red dragon whose lair the drow had passed through, the band finally caught up with the drow trying to cross a narrow bridge across a river of lava. Garland intercepted and slew the drow carrying Eclavdra's phylactery before hurling it directly into the lava. The remaining drow fled, and; the adventurers let most of them go.

With the giant threat eliminated, at least for the time being, Garland's Garrotes prepared to report back to Northeron. Grimhildr and Demitrius both departed, but pledged that they would answer the call if their aid was needed.

Return to the Tomb of Horrors
Two years later, resurrection magic began failing across Syra. Among the many scholars and wizards seeking answers as to its cause was Leardon Sunflare, whose divinations indicated that it was somehow related to the Tomb of Horrors. Though the Challengers of the Unspeakable had cleared the tomb and destroyed its creator, the demilich Acererak, years earlier, Leardon nonetheless tapped fellow Brightstone Hero Flynn Cupsigh to lead an expedition to investigate. Flynn called upon his old friend Jib, as well as Garland's Garrotes--who had so recently made a name for themselves battling the giants--and was joined by Garland, Ru Bae Ya, Dawn Breeze, and Sasha.

The group entered the tomb and discovered that, far from being empty, was once more filled with monsters and traps. One such trap caused Garland, Ru Bae Ya, and Flynn to invert their genders. While Ru Bae Ya was horrified at becoming a man and swore to find a way to reverse the change, Flynn accepted it and decided that she would simply share her sister's clothes from now on. Garland, meanwhile, barely noticed the change. Another such trap killed Dawn Breeze, who shifted into the form of a bird to escape a rolling juggernaut but was overcome by poisonous gas and fell unconscious in the juggernaut's path. Jib managed to raise her before her soul could be lost, and the party continued their exploration.

Deeper into the tomb, they found an efreet that had been bound by Acererak and freed it; in exchange, it granted them three wishes. In addition to healing and fully refreshing their powers, and protection against Acererak's magic, they also wished for the knowledge of how to permanently destroy the demilich. The efreet responded, "In the jaws of darkness, at the hour of ascension, only a great sacrifice of souls can forever destroy Acererak." Though the party did not fully understand its meaning, they knew that it was not something they could accomplish at the time. Even so, they continued into Acererak's vault and destroyed the demilich.

When they returned to Leardon, it was with the sorrowful news that Acererak had indeed returned. Yet despite this news, there was still reason to hope: having confirmed Acererak's return, Leardon could begin planning against the demilich. They also knew how to destroy the demilich for good. Though the meaning of the efreet's message was still unclear, knowing it meant be able to watch for the right time and, hopefully, the right means to end Acererak's evil forever.