As the sun dipped halfway into the horizon, mist began to materialize along the ground. It was as if a cloud had settled around the nearest peak and began drifting around the forest. Visibility dropped sharply for Deacon as the Dwellers he rendered unconscious snored away in their pile. He decided now would be a suitable time to go through the things at their camp site.

He hoped up onto the rock and began digging through their belongings. There were three backpacks complete with bedrolls and some water skins. Inside the first one he found a few rolled up notes and a silver dagger in an ornate leather sheath. Deacon ignored the dagger and pulled out the paperwork. The first was note from with sparse bullet point like details about where the hunting party would be going and how many were in their group. The second was a letter signed by Venita Hascavir of all people. It detailed how she wanted House Tuskaxe distracted for an upcoming event. The best way to do that was with a hunt. Especially if said hunt involved the first or second born of the house. She seemed to want the hunting party chasing their own tails and finally having the twins expelled from the ladder of sovereignty. Deacon assumed that was how the Deep Dwellers determined who was next to lead their houses. He made a mental note to ask Typhus about that someday.

A sharp horn was blown in the distance, and it startled Deacon from his thoughts. He wasn’t exactly sure which direction it came from. Process of elimination told him it didn’t come from the direction of the shattered islands. He quickly unrolled the last piece of paper and grinned. It was a full map of the valleys in this mountain range as far as two weeks north of the islands. His slate map updated, adding the map info to his. The migratory patterns of the giants were laid out in swooping lines along the map. Having that information gave him hope of finding the hunting party sooner rather than later. With that he stood up shoving the other backpacks into his bag along with the cook pot that was hanging over the fire. Deacon kicked out the smoldering embers and turned to the north. He hopped off the rock and noticed the three sleeping Dwellers all had their sleeves tied together in a pretzel of flesh and clothes. Deacon didn’t remember doing that.

‘I did that. Just a little auric prank to leave them confused when they wake up,’ commented Sun Wu.

“Hold on a second, you can interact with my aura now?” Deacon asked out loud as he jogged into the trees.

‘It took me longer than I’d hoped but once you gave me permission to switch your source of power back in the graveyard fight, I’ve had a modicum of control over your aura. Don’t worry, the last thing I want is for you to expel me. I thought you’d think was it was funny,’ replied Sun Wu.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s friggin hilarious. I’d like to keep as much control over this body as possible. What is your endgame by the way? I know you don’t expect to ride shotgun with me forever,” asked Deacon as he slipped through a tight knot of trees.

‘Sigh. You haven’t figured that out yet? Must be the reptile blood. Eventually you’ll be able to transcend dimensions with your Dimensional Viaduct ability. At that point, you can just send me home. I’m done traveling the cosmos,’ replied Sun Wu.

“Earth isn’t what you remember. Technology has taken the place of ancient mysticism. You might not like what you find,” said Deacon, as he slid down a verdant embankment. His body slipping through most bushes and shrubs.

‘I’ve been reviewing these… movies in your mind. I would like to know what happens next to John McClane, Neo, and the man who never leaves his hat behind,’ explained Sun Wu.

“Is that why I’ve been humming that theme song? Well, you’re in for no small amount of disappointment,” quipped Deacon as he stopped listening for more horns.

Deacon looked around before checking his slate map. His map detailed a stream should be nearby and the details of the hunting party said they’d be following the stream north. He decided that was as good as any place to start looking. Turning in the direction indicated by his map, Deacon paused looking down. There was an enormous hole in the ground about a three feet deep. It was mostly round with stubby toe marks on one side facing a perpendicular direction from his. The problem wasn’t really the depth, it was the width. You could fit a luxury Winnebago inside of this footprint. Deacon wondered if this was a giants print and why the Deep Dwellers hunt them. Looking up at the canopy high above him, he could see that the sky was fully visible through a very obvious track through the forest. It stretched out for miles and Deacon face palmed himself for not noticing it until now. The toes from the print suggested the giant was traveling toward the same stream diagonally. That was when Deacon heard the horns again. This time much closer and in a definite directions. He started sprinting.

The sounds of combat made it to Deacon’s ears as he got closer. Wham! The ground shook as something heavy hit the earth nearby. Deacon stumbled out of the tree line to see a massive 30 yard tall grey humanoid wearing a loincloth. Its hands were huge and gripped around an uprooted tree. At its feet were several Deep Dwellers diving out of the way of a long sweep of the tree. Two of them had large crossbows with the bolts and large thick loops of ropes. They were going to tie it up from the ground. Out in front of the beast Deacon could see the twins, both wielding axes. One of them had a limp left arm but he was still chopping at the thing’s legs. Now that Deacon had gotten closer, he could finally see the giants face. It had big floppy grey ears and a long nose it used to reach down and grab at one of the Dwellers that was wielding a spear. He dodged out of the way and stuck the spear into the prehensile appendage. On either side of the nose were two ivory tusks that jutted out before it.

“Giants are humanoid elephants? I didn’t expect that. Actually, I don’t know what I expected. This world is weird,” Deacon commented.

‘Well, if you don’t do something fast the twins are going to get crushed,” added Sun Wu.

Deacon slowed his pace and backed up against a tree. He was close enough he could send the twins a party invite. That should help the one with the damaged left arm as well count as helping them without killing the monster himself. The giant seemed to be slow enough that a little effort on the Dwellers part would more than likely bring it down. Deacon wondered to himself why this was so hard for the twins to do in the past.

“Was it just because House Hascavir was working against them? At this point it seemed petty. What was the real goal?” Deacon asked himself, before noticing the twins look at each other quick before their life bars and status showed up in his hud.

Corrin Tuskaxe was down to half his health. He, being the one with the busted arm. Borrin was doing slightly better. He was only down to seventy five out of a hundred health. The other hunters with them must only be there for support. As one was just standing further back writing things in a ledger. There was a huge monster right there and he was calmly sitting in a chair writing things down. Then, the crossbows were ready. Two bolts flew up and over the giant crisscrossing at its chest. The large bolts slammed into trees behind the giant and the bowmen both fist pumped their arms in the air. The twins went at the legs with their axes, a red glow suffusing the blades. They chopped into the section above its calves with reckless abandon now. So much so the dweller writing in the notebook dropped it and started screaming at them.

“No, you idiots, slash and step back! Don’t give it a chance to step on you!” yelled the watcher.

“We’ve got this uncle!” yelled Borrin.

“The prize is ours this time!” yelled Corrin.

Deacon found some new respect for the boys. They saw an opportunity and they took it. Speaking of which, Deacon so an opportunity to use inspect since he was partied with the twins.

Giant, Mountain- Giants are mostly found in mountainous regions of the world. They have keen hearing but their tremendous size reduces their speed attribute, but at that size you only need to hit once. Elemental variants can be found in places of deep mana as well and are exponentially more dangerous. Higher level giants may have special attacks as well. Level 20/ Adolescent Giant.

“Wait, adolescent. They get bigger?” Deacon asked no one in particular.

It took another hour into dusk before they brought the beast down. Between being tied in place and the enchanted weapons being used to carve its legs up, the giant was eventually brought down. Then the rest of the hunters set upon. It was brutal at first before their uncle came over and showed the twins the weak spots on its neck. There were a few trumpets of pain before the enormous creature went silent and slack. Corin’s left arm was back to functioning which meant it wasn’t broken, just injured.

The twins went over to the head and began to extract the tusks and long trunk. That took another twenty minutes before Deacon jogged up to the hunters waiving.

“No poaching. We brought this one down fair and square. You alone?” asked the uncle closing his notebook pull his axe free. His axe was finely crafted with an empty space between the blade and metal attached to the haft. It even had the house Tuskaxe symbol emblazoned on the pommel.

“I come in peace. I’m a friend of the boys and I have some information that might interest house Tuskaxe,” Deacon replied.

“Corin, Borrin, is what this man says true. You know this beardless human?” asked their uncle.

“Yes, it’s the Champion of Chimera, uncle. The one that single handedly smashed the goblin blockade on the trade road. Deacon why are you here?” asked Corrin extending his left hand in greeting.

Deacon picked up on the subtle show of gratitude and just nodded his head at him. Over the next several minutes Deacon explained what he found in the woods on the way here and handed over the note signed by Venita. The boys uncle quickly put that letter in his bag while the twins peppered him with questions about what was going on.

“Did you show this letter to anyone else?” asked the uncle.

“I didn’t have time to. After I read it, I heard your horns in the distance and came running,” answered Deacon, confusion plastered across his face.

“We need to head back to the walls fast. Everyone pack it up. We have enough material for their axes with the tusks. We need to move now,” said the uncle, before grabbing anything nearby stuffing it in a bag.

“Uncle Jared, what’s wrong? Aren’t’ we supposed to celebrate with tankards of ale until morning?” asked Corrin just as confused as Deacon was.

“No, you… I’m sorry but the situation has changed. I can vouch for your completion of the hunt. We can celebrate another time. But it takes more than five scoundrels to kite giants away from established locations. It would take a small army. This information is important to your father, and we must get it to him fast. Therefore, there is more to be afraid of out here than just monsters,” explained Uncle Jared.

The ground began to rumble as soon as he said that, and everyone checked their surroundings. The entire forest was quiet. No insect song or scurrying through the underbrush. Just silence, until a reverberating trumpeting sound came from the north. It sounded like another giant but this one was orders of magnitude louder. Then the ground rumbled again before they saw it.

Another giant stood up over the trees. It was easily the size of a skyscraper; the only real difference was its skin was a dull gold color and it had four tusk. Two on either side. One arching up and one down. The behemoth stretched like it had just woken up from a nap. It scanned over the area until its eyes landed on the prone form of the giant the hunting team just killed. The below from its mouth knocked trees over in all directions as its eyebrows scrunched in fury. It was huge but it wasn’t upon them yet.

“Run for your lives. It’s The Mastodon!” screamed Uncle Jared before sprinting into the tree line.