The column clears the pass and the plateau opens wide, grass bucking under the wind. Ahead, three Thruhhul giants stand on a ridge, their cloaks snapping like banners.
Bruk plants his feet and lifts one arm high, a steady signal for the war-band to hold. Druk steps forward beside him, black armor dark against the pale sky.
Hrokk
You come at dusk with steel and no charge. That is either wisdom, or a lie with good manners.
Bruk
It is a parley. Druk keeps his word, and the pass stays quiet unless you make it loud.
The giants do not advance. One lowers a long pole to the grass, and the others shift their weight, watching Druk as if measuring the cost of every breath.
Wind hisses over the ridge, and the first negotiation begins with everyone standing exactly where the earlier promise placed them.
“I remain calm and keep my arm slightly raised up in a fist so the troops stay as quite as possible”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -2)
Druk holds his fist a little higher, and the line behind him goes still. Leather creaks, boots settle, and even the nearest ogres clamp their jaws shut.
Bruk
Good. They watch the hand more than the hammer. That is what chiefs do.
Hrokk
He stands like a wall. Is that your war-bred calm, ogre, or only practice?
A gust runs over the ridge, flattening the grass between both sides. The chieftain’s pole tilts, then steadies again as his eyes stay on Druk.
Thruhhul Giant Left
He keeps his people tight. That matters. Loud men waste breath.
Thruhhul Giant Right
And quiet men hide knives. I want to hear which he is.
Bruk
Then listen. Druk came to speak first, not bleed first. That is rare among mountain lords.
The war-band stays hushed, but the silence now feels watched, not safe. The chieftain lifts his chin a fraction, waiting on Druk’s next move.
Quest Complete
Use Bruk as a guide
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb
“I let bruk negotiate”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled -2)
Druk lowers his raised fist and keeps his place at Bruk’s shoulder. The war-band behind him stays quiet, a dark wall of waiting bodies, while the ridge holds all eyes.
Bruk
Let me carry the words, then. The chieftain reads stillness as rank, and you have given him that much already.
Hrokk
He does not hide behind his guide. Good. Say what you came to say, Bruk, and let the ogre answer with his face.
Bruk turns more fully toward the ridge, one open palm lifted in peace. The chieftain’s pole stays planted, but his shoulders ease a fraction.
Bruk
I crossed your passes with Druk. He keeps his line tight, pays what he promises, and listens before he breaks things. That is why I bring him to your ridge.
Thruhhul Giant Left
A leader who listens is rare. A leader who pays is rarer. What does he want of our wind-road?
Bruk
He wants speech first, and a path that does not turn to blood. If you have grievance, speak it. If you have terms, name them.
Hrokk
Then we speak. Keep the ogres still, Bruk, and tell Druk to answer plainly when I ask what he offers.
Quest Complete
Negotiate with the wind-worshipping giants
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary
“I let bruk negotiate”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled +1)
Druk holds his silence, and it works like a banner. The ogres behind him stay planted. On the ridge, the chieftain lets out a low breath and shifts his grip, less a threat now than a man choosing his words.
Hrokk
Then I ask plain. Your guide says you keep faith with payment. Tell me, ogre, why should wind-born people trust a cave lord at all?
Bruk does not interrupt. He glances once at Druk, then back to the ridge, letting the answer belong to the ogre alone.
Druk
Druk answers with a short, hard promise of trade, fair passage, and no needless bloodshed.
Thruhhul Giant Left
That is not the answer of a fool. It is the answer of a ruler who counts his losses.
Hrokk
And of one who understands the wind changes. We have felt raiders at our edge, and we have answered them. Speak to us of your border, cave lord. What keeps your line from becoming ours?
The chieftain’s tone is not soft, but it is open. Bruk stands steady between them, his shoulders easing as the ridge accepts the parley in full.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a border agreement with the Thruhhul giants
“I say, we have better abilities to trade with the big cities and aquire things from afar, things that you would have hard access to by foot, if you relax your aggression we could at least be at trading terms and neutral and we will stsy far from your borders when not summoned to them.”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled -1)
Druk keeps his weight forward and lets the ridge hear the trade in his voice. The wind snaps at cloaks and braids while the ogres behind him remain still as cut stone.
Hrokk
Cities, then. Far roads, deep markets. You claim what a hill tribe cannot easily carry.
Bruk turns a little, watching the chieftain’s face as if reading weather. The two smaller giants trade a look, curious now instead of guarded.
Thruhhul Giant Left
If he means it, that is useful. Grain, iron, lamp oil, resin, news from the south.
Hrokk
Neutral ground means more than silence. It means your hunters stop crossing our gullies, and ours do not test your fence lines.
Druk
Druk says he will stay off their borders unless invited, and that his roads can bring what foot-paths cannot, from the towns and cities beyond the pass.
Thruhhul Giant Right
Then we speak terms, not threats. That is a better beginning than blood on the grass.
The chieftain lowers his pole a handspan and looks from Druk to Bruk, weighing the shape of the agreement. Bruk gives one small nod, steady and hopeful.
“I say, we bare gifts of truce, if you would accept them.”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled -2)
Druk lifts a hand, and one of the wrapped bundles at his belt comes free. A hush follows the gesture, not tense now, just expectant.
Druk
I say, we bare gifts of truce, if you would accept them.
He sets the gifts down between the lines, plain offerings for open hands. Bruk watches the giants, ready to translate any mistake into patience.
Hrokk
Then you bring more than words. That is worth listening to.
Thruhhul Giant Left
Show me the gifts. I want to know what kind of truce wears leather and iron.
The chieftain steps down one pace from the ridge stone, and the two brothers follow with him. Wind combs the grass flat around their feet as the line between them and Druk softens into a circle.
Bruk
He offers fair passage, trade, and no hunters crossing your gullies. He speaks like a chief who expects a chief.
“I say, we have an active forge, and supply of metal, we could forge you any gaint version of gear and weapons you ask for, within its ability.”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled -1)
The chieftain reaches down and unrolls one of the truce wraps with careful fingers. The cloth reveals a rough coil of mountain ore and a strip of worked hide, and his brows lift at the clean finish.
Hrokk
You do have a forge, then. Not a campfire and a hammer, a real forge.
Druk answers with a plain nod and a few deliberate words about his smiths, his stock of metal, and the kind of giant gear his people can shape if the measurements are right.
Thruhhul Giant Left
Big shields. Long spearheads. Boots that do not split on stone. If your iron can be trusted, we will see.
Thruhhul Giant Right
And if it can be custom made, then we are speaking the right language.
The chieftain taps the ore against his palm, then lowers it back onto the grass beside the gifts. His shoulders ease, and the circle between them feels less like a border and more like a bargain table.
Hrokk
Bring proof of this forge, and we will name what we need. Start with shield rims and climbing hooks, and we will talk trade as well as land.
“I give a nod to roggo, that we forge the gear they describe as proof”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled -3)
Druk gives Roggo a sharp nod across the wind. The signal is plain enough for every ogre in reach: the forge answer comes from Worr Croa.
Roggo
Then we start the iron tonight. I will send the smiths for shield rims and hooks.
Roggo turns and barks orders down the slope, his hand cutting toward the waiting packs. Two laborers hurry to gather the gifted ore and hide, careful not to jostle the truce circle.
Hrokk
Good. Bring back proof, and bring it soon.
Thruhhul Giant Left
Make the rims thick. Stone eats soft metal.
Thruhhul Giant Right
And the hooks. If they bite rock, we trade.
The chieftain sets the truce gift down flat on the grass, not as a claim, but as a token to be weighed later. The wind hisses through the circle while the bargain holds, taut and unfinished.
“I give a warleader gesture of placing my right fist over my chest and bow slightly and lift and ask them if there are any more terms”
SUCCESS (Superb Leadership, rolled +1)
Druk places his right fist over his chest and bows to the ridge, the gesture crisp despite the wind.
Druk
Are there any more terms?
Hrokk
Two. Keep your hunters off the western gullies, and we keep our watchfires clear of your grazing bowl.
Thruhhul Giant Left
And if your smiths shape the rims true, we speak your name as a fair breaker of ground.
Thruhhul Giant Right
We also want word sent before any tower work near the pass. No surprises in stone.
Bruk
That is simple enough. He speaks plain, and he means to keep it.
Hrokk
Then we have a bargain. Bring the proof, and we will meet at the cairn to mark the border.
Quest Complete
Secure a border agreement with the Thruhhul giants