5e: Eye of the Alfather and a Big Blue Dragon!!

I had to miss the session of game, so this is the write up by our bard.

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We picked up where we left off after fighting the Rhemoraz (and discovered a mysterious guest Warlock friend for the week). The party returned to the main room where they attempted to finally solve the puzzle of the magic archway. After some experimentation, it appeared we needed to touch the associated giant weapons to their runes in the right order. Using what we had already deduced, we managed to clear the first four or so runes without issue, but as we closed in on the final runes, we accidentally guessed the wrong order, triggering a nasty trap. The doors to the chamber sealed and a mighty thunderstorm deafened the party. Despite the fact that no one could hear each other speak, with the use of some creative utility magic and good old fashioned hand gestures, we managed to guide Harshnag to the correct solution before the acid rain and lightning strikes decimated the party.

With the puzzle solved, the trap faded away and the archway turned into a magical portal. Our more magically inclined members deduced that the portal would only stay open for an hour, so without any rest, we ventured forth... to discover a large vaulted chamber. Along the walls at equidistant spaces were six statues representing each of the various giant races holding a glowing lantern aloft. In the center of the room was a runic circle, and at the center of the circle was the corpse of a cloud giant on top of the 'King' rune. The runic circle contained mundane giant language inviting us to ask questions, and seeing no obvious traps, Joda approached the center of the circle, whereupon the spirit of the spirit of the slain cloud giant materialized before us.

Fortunately, the spirit was the friendly sort, and after some conversation, we discovered that the poor soul was betrayed by his own father and a Blue Dragon. The giant's time of death appeared to be from relatively recently, but before the troubles surrounding the giants started (the slain cloud giant said the currently missing giant king was the ruler when he was slain). His father had come to this room to ask the oracle questions, and the oracle revealed that there would be trouble among the giants, but that the father was not destined to claim the throne, but suggested that the son should 'step out of his father's shadow'. Enraged, the father turned on his son and then a blue dragon appeared and slew the son. The spirit of the son desired vengeance, and entrusted us with his valuables (a magic breastplate that adjusts in size to the wearer and an opal inscribed with the fire giant rune) as well as offering advice about how the oracle worked (we got six questions).

Then we asked the oracle some questions (some others have detailed notes of this):

--The blue dragon is named Irmith and has a lair in the desert.
--We should seek out the Storm King's daughter at Maelstrom.
--To get to the Maelstrom we need a Giant King's Conch, which are possessed by the leaders of each giant race.

The spirit suggested that if we had an artifact with a giant rune, we could use it to determine the location of one of the leaders. Although Bran suggested we already knew where the Hill Giant leader was, the party decided to try one of the items to see what happens. We offered up the newly discovered fire opal and discovered the location of the Fire Giant Duke, but it seems to have drained a portion of the artifact's power, so we decided not to offer any more just yet.

As the archway was starting to become unstable and we had used our six questions, the party decided to leave (since we could come back the next day for more questions), but as we left the oracle room, we were greeted by a massive blue dragon. Harshnag ordered the party to flee, as he smashed the statue of Aman, causing the entire mountain to begin to collapse on our heads. Hilde bravely tried to save the giant by throwing herself into battle but was forced back by the collapsing caverns, and the party ended up escaping just as the mountains caved in upon us.

Making our way down towards our base camp, we were greeted by a curious sight--a ship flying in the air suspended by a giant balloon. The ship's human crew greeted us and welcomed us on board. It turns out they were sent to help us by an ancient red dragon named Clout, who wants to meet us (although he said he was in no hurry and we could finish any business we had first). After retrieving our companions and hippogryphs from our base camp, we had a party with our new friends (and then ended the session).