Adam stared at his level up screen, realising just how much experience he truly had. He had enough experience to level twice, and almost twice in one of his two main classes. Wizard or Warrior, that was the question on his mind. He could take a single level in each class, allowing him to gain access to spells of the fourth gate as well as a small bonus to his Rapport ability.

A level into Wizard at least. Though Warrior was fine, he could level into Wizard, gain greater spells, and then he'd be close to the next level up. He was sure that it wouldn't take much more experience to level Wizard again, which would give him access to more third and fourth gate spells.

Level up!

XP (23,470) -> (13,470)

Level (22) -> Level (23)

Wizard (6) -> Wizard (7)

HP (230) -> HP (238)

Mana (40) -> Mana (44)

Morning was a sweet mistress. His entire body had melted away into the ground, and the warm blankets of the frost giants, thick wools which had been weaved together for their guests, had swallowed him whole.

There was an excitement which filled him, feeling it within his finger tips. He stared down at his hands, which were twitching with the romance of adventure, the eagerness to explore the snow lands he had heard about. He had travelled through the snow with Elowen and her party, but this was different. No longer were they going to find those dangerous to man, but those dangerous to giant.

"Good morning," Elowen said, looking towards the other half-elf, who was still toasting inside his blanket. Her eyes scanned his body and the corners of her lips twitched upwards. "Excited?"

"A little. Is it that obvious?" Adam asked.

"You have woken up with your teeth bared," Elowen replied. A soft smile warmed her face. "It's good to see you're ready to tackle your task. Though I will warn you to be careful again."

Adam nodded. The giddiness was pouring away from him, like milk into tea. He had finally earned fourth gate spells, and at this point he was ready for Bandlor to give him a quest.

A moment passed before he realised his folly. Bandlor was no longer here. He looked up to the black owl, which stared at him with black eyes. There was life in those eyes, but they weren't the life he was looking for. With all that was going on, he had very little time to think about the missing god. He wondered if perhaps the foolish god had returned to his divine abode, but he wasn't naive enough to think that was the case.

He stepped out of the building and wrapped his yellow cloak around himself. During his observations of the frost giants, he noticed that they too enjoyed a nice hot bath. The frost giants seemed to be decent fellows, Adam surmised. He trekked through the snow towards the base of the mountain, nodding his head to greet the various frost giants he met on the way.

The entrance into the mountain was unguarded and seeped further inside into total darkness. Luckily for Adam, he had the ability to see in the darkness. The walls were etched with runes, not unlike the runes of the buildings all around. He followed the path straight ahead until he could feel the heat splashing across his skin. It beckoned him forward, coaxing him towards it.

The low glow peeked through as he approached the hot springs in the ground. There were a few vague figures, which began to clear to reveal several frost giants. Each were submerged towards the end of the spring, the four muscular forms relaxed. Joti opened an eye to see Adam approach, and then closed his eye.

Adam stripped out of his clothes, knowing that the frost giants spent their time in the hot springs with their mind wandering away. He had walked in towards the hot spring before, and only a handful of frost giants peeked at him to see who it was, and then returned back to their thoughts.

Adam first rinsed himself with some water from a nearby stream, the water fairly hot, before he then soaped himself up, and washed. He then slipped into the hot water, letting it shoot the warmth through his body. He sighed, quickly trying to stop his sigh, before then sitting down on the step near the edge of the bath. Almost his entire body started to tense up from the heat, before he then finally relaxed. He breathed in deeply, the sounds of the hot running water and the breaths of everyone around them. It was like a gentle tone, something he had tried to decipher for a short time before.

Smart

D20 + 4 = 24 (20)

The low humming and thrumming, his own breath harmonising very quickly with the giants. The noises formed together into a beat, and Adam realised that the sounds were becoming something which he had heard before.

This was Joti’s humming. He had heard Joti hum in a particular way and the humming was the same. Was this where frost giants found their power? Did they hum together in the mountains and then form the magic from the song?

Adam had no idea if he was a genius for figuring it out, or an utter moron. Either way, he’d need to ask Joti about it, and to see if he could find out more about the origin of the song magic, as well as if the other races had found the ability in a similar way.

Though Adam wanted to relax more, he could see the giants were ready to leave, and decided to leave with them. Joti was with them, so he assumed the other three giants were part of the party.

“Wait,” Joti said as Adam was about to put on his clothes. Adam looked up at him confused. Joti grabbed onto a sack and then retrieved out a small bundle. Adam stared up at the small bundle as it unfurled into a set of white furs, thick like porridge strewn together. Adam reached out to it, taking it in his hands, gently rubbing along it with his fingers. The fur was soft, unearthly so, as though it was made from the a mother’s embrace.

“Is this for me?” Adam asked, brushing his fingers through the fur.

“It is,” he said. “For the journey ahead. It will do best to wear these on our journey. They will assist the cloak in keeping away the cold. The snow lands are harsher than our city.”

He slipped into the furs, which fit him like a second skin. How the giants know his size was beyond him, but his thoughts quickly focused on just how comfortable it was wearing the white furs. Some of the giants wore furs, but

"Thank you," Adam said politely.

"There are more supplies we must carry," Joti said. "You will need to leave most of yours behind."

"Leave behind my stuff?" Adam asked. "Do I have to?" He thought about all the money he had.

"They will be kept safe. We must only take with us the minimum gear, otherwise we will be slowed down. We shall provide you with the pack required heading into the snow lands.”

Adam nodded slowly, realising that he should probably leave it to the hands of the frost giants, those who have lived within the north for their entire lives as their expertise was in such matters.

Adam returned back to the friendhearth and then checked all his items. He would need to carry some items with him in order to cast his spells, but otherwise he could leave most things behind. He’d take his dwarven shortsword with him, obviously, in case he needed a back up blade. He’d use the axe from the frost giants too, and he assumed that was all he’d need to bring along.

“You’re about to leave, aren’t you?” Elowen asked, looking over to him.

“Soon, hopefully. They said I should leave my items behind, though I’ll be taking the trusty dwarven shortsword with me.” He pat the hilt of the blade at his side.

Redboulder bowed his head and his moustache twitched in what Adam could only presume to be delight. “Take good care a’ her.”

“I’ll do my best, master dwarf.”

“Good luck to ya.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t die so young,” Ylra said.

“Not until you gain fifth gate spells,” Rojer said.

Adam smiled to Ylra, but his eyes darted to Rojer. For a moment he panicked, thinking that the older man may have known that he had levelled up to gain access to fourth gate spell, but that would be near impossible. Near impossible, but not impossible. Perhaps Rojer did know, but Adam hoped the older man kept it to himself. He nodded to Rojer and then looked to Elowen.

“I wish you the best of luck. I’ll try and get back quickly so we can chat some more and drink some tea together.”

“Please do,” Elowen said, reaching out a hand. They shook hands and with that, Adam left. He stepped out into the cold, wrapping his yellow cloak around himself. It didn’t do much to keep away the heat anymore, since his fur clothing did more than enough to alleviate the burden of the cold.

Quick Save

D20 = 14 (14)

Adam almost stepped into a giant figure, stumbling aside as he looked up to see Joti. “Nice to see you again,” Adam said.

Joti extended a hand up and revealed a longsword. It was obviously giant’s made, being thicker and slightly longer than other longsword he had seen. The handle was fairly bland, made of the white wood he had seen on some of the axe handles before. The bottom of it held a rune of some kind, it was definitely dwarven inspired, but he couldn’t make it out at a quick glance. He pulled the blade out of the simple fur belt, revealing the rest of the blade made of ice, though it wasn’t too cool to the touch. There were no runes on the blade, and it was fairly simple.

He looked up at the giant. “What’s this?”

“A blade,” he said. “We were to make you an axe, but you are to dedicate the fight to Arya, isn’t that correct?”

“It is,” Adam said, nodding his head. “What does that have to do with anything.”

“It would not be good to devote your winnings to the goddess of the sword with an axe.”

Adam stared up at the frost giant, blinking several times. A feeling took to him, one which he was familiar with. It was the feeling of a fool, a man with high intelligence but low wisdom. Yet, even though his abilities were fairly decent in both abilities, he was still a fool.

“There are times when…” Adam said, swallowing. “There are times when I understand that the world is a large place.”

“This is one of those times?”

“This is one of those times.”

“We will leave soon. The items have been gathered.” Joti then led Adam away, towards the centre of the city. There weren’t many people around, a few frost giants and the Iyrmen. There were also some packs on the ground, most of them larger backpacks, though there was one that seemed as though it was meant for a giant’s child. It took a moment for Adam to realise it was probably meant for him. Upon the packs were two small wooden blocks, each made of white. Both were plain.

Joti grabbed his pack and then both the wooden blocks. He began to chip into the wooden block. “Please mark your blocks the same way,” he said.

“Alright?” Adam replied, grabbing onto his blocks. Joti offered him a knife to carve into the block. Adam took it. “What should I carve?”

“Whatever you wish, as long as they are the same,” Joti replied. He seemed to be carving something intricate.

Adam stared down at the tiny wood, which was fairly hefty for its size. He then made four marks into it, two deep marks and two lighter marks. He did the same for the other.

“What do the marks represent?” Joti asked.

“I believe in two of my abilities more than the others.” Adam replied, thinking about his levels.

“Your ability to Fireball?” Joti asked, staring at Adam with his cold look.

“You know, Joti, it’s hard to know when you’re joking.”

“We frost giants are known for our icy exteriors.” Joti then took a wooden block and then tied it to his side. “I am the leader. It is my responsibility to make sure all are safe and return. I must hold all the blocks, as is my role. If you are lost within the snow, I will be able to use it to track you. If we find you dead, or our ancestors find you dead, the block will confirm who you are.” Joti turned and then revealed the blocks to a few other giants, who scanned them keenly.

“Are they going to write down our symbols?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” came the reply, softly, from one of the other giants. She was tall and built like an ox, wearing no furs at all. She was covered in runes and tattoos. “If you die, we will use it to identify you, even when generations pass us by. It is the way we have done it for centuries.”

“How do you remember?”

“We speak of it to one another, pass on the markings to the next generation. There are very few we recall, as most have been found already.”

“How many are missing?”

“Thirty,” she replied almost instantly, and with how quickly she responded, Adam was sure she was telling the truth.

“Let’s not make it any higher,” Adam said, looking out to Joti.

Joti bowed his head as the group grabbed their packs. Adam looked out to the Iyrmen, spotting Nirot waiting. Nirot smiled at Adam in that terrifying way. Adam nodded his head towards her, returning a nervous smile at her.

“Are you ready to leave?” Joti asked, staring down at Adam. He handed Adam a white cloak. “To blend into the snow as we walk,” he said.

“As long as there’s food in this pack, I think I’m good.” Adam swapped the yellow cloak for the white cloak, Joti handing it over to one of the civilian giants nearby.

“There are some provisions within the pack. Rope, pitons, food, all you would expect for such a journey.”

“What about luck?”

“We will have to make our own,” he said.

“We do not need luck,” a giant said. It was an older giant, no doubt one of the oldest here, with a long white beard and a bald head. He was covered head to toe in tattoos and engravings, and he carried over his shoulder a giant greatsword, one which put even Joti’s to shame. It was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough. It was more like a large hunk of ice. “We have the boy,” he said.

‘Now that’s a big boy,’ Adam thought. The blade was thicker than the giant’s arm, and larger than any weapon Adam had yet seen.

He felt a tug at his cloak and turned to see a little child. They handed Adam a small button and Adam looked at the child, a sleepy girl, with a curious look.

“Come back to help,” she said.