10 Alturiak, 1502 D.R.

A relentless nightmare began with a charming letter, sent to the Syndicate by one Veradda Stoor. In this letter, she directed us to several caches of treasure belonging to ancient giants, purportedly abandoned, which we were to retrieve. Why, I do not know; she did not instruct us to bring the contents of these caches to her. Perhaps those who worked with her first would know more, but I do not. Nor did I see any purpose in questioning the matter.

Two separate caches did she identify. The first, at the summit of a high mountaintop. Myself, Gyaba, Sylthas, Chappo, and Kervae ascended the mountain and were summarily attacked by giant owls. We disposed of them handily enough, solved a minor riddle, and rang a great bell to dispel a wall of force that barred our entry into the mountainside. Within, we found several braziers, which we began to light, along with a great slab depicting a god of the giants of whom I know little. When one of our number laid hands upon that slab, several small winged creatures sprang forth from the braziers and assaulted us. Practically mindless sentinels they were, bereft of any thought but to protect their sacred site. We dealt with them as well, and, doing so, revealed four great golden plates. Gyaba immediately seized them, whereupon a mighty storm giant strode into the room to issue dire warnings upon us. Gyaba took no notice and fled with the plates, but the giant seemed scarcely to mind; and she let the rest of us go.

And go we did, to the next site: a hidden door leading into another mountain in the range. Misfortune plagued my every footfall, from the trap sprung by Kervae's carelessness to a pit trap sprung by my own. I blacked out there, impaled upon spikes and gnawed by rats, and there I surely would have perished if not for the intervention of friend Chappo -- a most agreeable fellow, I must say. He succeeded in leading off the remaining rats, as well, and deeper within the cavern we went. In the centermost chamber, a great magic diamond summoned forth several stinging blobs, which did their best to undo Chappo's work of stitching me back together again. Fortunately, the others were able to destroy the diamond -- and with it the blobs -- before they inflicted lethal harm upon me. There wasn't much left to gather up, but we took what we could and returned home.

I feel somehow heavier now, and not in a good way. My many wounds and bruised ego aside, I feel the worse off now than when I first began. The wealth we gained was small, and certainly no bards will sing of my deeds -- I performed none worth speaking, let alone singing. I question, now, the wisdom of taking on a mercenary's life. Perhaps it is not my best path forward, after all. Perhaps it is no path forward at all.

Time will tell. For now, I shall get very drunk and pray to forget the unending torrent of indignities and failures I have suffered this night.

-- Yashir adh Rumahr

I'm actually not clear on the context for this one. We got a letter from a scholar, I guess, who had two little leads on two hidden caches near-ish-by that they wanted us to find. Reasoning unknown - perhaps historical or cultural value...? Scholar shit. I don't know.

We found both. One was a giant shrine to Annam that had been desecrated by Dragon Cultists semi-recently. We were attacked by some steam and ice creatures and upon killing them the shrine rewarded us with four gold plates, which I helpfully carried on behalf of the party. Except that no one seemed to want them after, which I thought was weird, so they're just in my hoard now. Whatever. Anyway the other one was an I-don't-even-know-what in the side of a mountain face. Very icy. Very rats. Very haunted giant diamond that exploded into a diamond-dust-ghost that tried to get us to turn on each other, but we didn't, so HA.

The scholar who wrote us the letter to hire us did not pay us, but nor did they agree to beforehand, I guess. But we found the caches for them and in return for no payment promised, we took what wasn't nailed down, and I think that's fair.

End of report.

Chappo's Notes!

Friends who came with: Kervrae (Prefers Lady Nerym), Gyaba, Sylthas, Yashir and me!
When we went: 10 Alturiak, 1502 DR (Febuary 9th 2026)
Where we went: ...um, definitely a couple mountains. One was real tall and went up past the clouds and the other was one with a big green wall
Why'd we go?: Someone named Verada Stoor sent a weird letter with a couple riddles with locations and the promise of treasure and some of my friends like that kinda thing! So I came with to help em!

What happened?:
This was a fun adventure! A little more violent than I would have preferred but it happens. First we went to big tall mountain with a bell since the letter said the other might have curses so it just made sense! We met some real big owls. They weren't happy we were there, territorial and all that, so my friends decided to fight em off. I tried talkin to em but they seemed all priesty and not actual animals so I had a hard time there. Then we solved a riddle! Gyaba is real smart and got it in one try. Inside an invisible cave (or was the wall invisible and the cave was visible? I don't remember) that we saw cus of the bell there was a big stone with carvings and old paint! I cast a bit of light so we could see better and some security fire and ice people showed up. They didn't seem to be able to talk like normal people so everyone assured me they were magicy made people. Not proper ones so I'm sure it was fine. Some tablets showed up made of gold so Gyaba got real excited and grabbed em. But then a big giant person arrived and said the cave was important to their people so we agreed to give em the tablets back! ..later.. after some talk. It's fine! Oh yeah and the cave used to be held by dragons but the giant friend said "it's now the time of giants". Wonder what that was about?

The next cave was much less complicated. Just a hidden door, some rat friends who were hungry, and a cursed diamond that made me see stuff that wasn't real. I knew I could trust my friends! Still recovering from all that but turned out all right! My friends got treasure! I'm so happy for them! Oh speakin of Lady Nerym doesn't like being touched and seemed nervous about my healing, so make sure you speak with her about healing before you do it. Consent is important after all!
-From Chappo

Contractor: Verada Stor
Objective: Retrieve Treasures
Personal Account: The location of two different caches were sent to the Syndicate by letter. Representatives of the Syndicate went to the two different locations named to retrieve them. The first was found on a high mountain, covered in snow and aggressive beasts. It was discovered to be an ancient Giant shrine to one of their gods and had a unique defense system.
The Second was located within a cave system that doubled as a trapped maze. Within, rats and spikes littered the floor, guarding a large gem that seemed to be cursed.
Solution: We killed the beasts, triggered the defense mechanism, destroyed the summoned targets and Gyaba was able to run with the treasure as we confronted a Giant that warned of the consequences.
Solution (cont.): We traversed the maze and destroyed the gem - as it summoned dangerous conjurations that threatened the lives of the group.

Continuing to deal with the hoards. still not sure why we were doing this. I assure you, if I ever find stuff out about a hoard im not hiring people to go after it. ill go after it myself. I got to burn things again, some owls, some rats, some other things.