As the party clears the bodies from the deck of the serpent prowed, they are greeted by a once again breathless Cian. He is just back after letting Cinn Oir, Lance know that they will be by to pick them as soon as possible. He screeches at them and gets some help harvesting some key components from their fallen foes (See the new rules and record sheet for more information.) Dierdre meanwhile, tries her hand at the helm. She studies the strange serpent clasped globe projecting from the upper deck.

Liam goes below deck to check out the hold. There he finds several necessary supplies: extra rigging, sail repair, and thankfully, extra oars. He hooks up as many as he can to the starboard side of the ship which had lost most of its oars in the collision. He then recalls a blessing from his goddess, that of "Mending". Liam spends the rest of his time recovering as many oar fragments from the ocean surface as possible with the intent of mending them in the morning.

Bebe searches the upper deck and cabins. She finds a supply room loaded with food and water. The food, a collection of quite large beetles, is hardly four star fare. She also finds that the statue (other than Archu) which was previously on the ship is still moored in its cabin, along with a large chest. Prying the chest open with her axe, she finds it is literally stuffed to the brim with coins: silver gold and some platinum. Each is double size (giant size) and displays a profile of a cruel looking man surrounded by the symbol of the Manterlaug.

After a half an hour of careful inspection, Dierdre decides to try to get the ship to move. To her surprise, as she places her hands on it, she gets a mental image of a slimy scaled serpent, she tries to clear the thought from her mind and command the item to do her bidding. The boat stays still. She tries again, this time holding the serpentine image in mind: studying it, trying to "get inside" of it. This time the boat sets off with a lurch to the south, just as she directed it.

They travel for several hours and near nightfall spot an enormous man fishing from the beach. He looks at them quizzically (a seemingly natural look for this blunt fore-headed fellow) and returns to his fishing. With a few minor course adjustments by Dierdre, they manage to stay safely off shore and are soon in the vicinity of where Cinn Oir, Lance and the animals were camped. After an interesting encounter between several horses, a bear and a crago net, they manage to get everyone on board and set sail south again. They plan to try to catch up with the poor merchant and his ship and try to offer some sort of assistance. Then they plan to head North and sail around the northernmost tip of Eyru, collecting intel on giants along the way.

Just before nightfall, they soon find the merchant and his men on shore. They have pulled their ship aground and tried their best to disguise it (a prudent idea since no Eyrian has come this far north in centuries.) Dierdre and Liam go ashore taking a chest full of the coins (enough to cover any losses the merchant may have suffered). A sailor stops them as the proceed to the camoflauged longship, and sword in hand he fearfully asks "who goes there". When he recognizes Dierdre, he races away toward the longship with shouts of alarm.

Dierdre approaches the ship, and the captain yells out for her to leave him and his men alone (apparently he has had enough of their excitement). He then rants on about seeing ghosts, as Dierdre and anyone that boarded that ship of death must surely be dead. Dierdre casts Light on her shortsword and draws it forth. Gasps and cries of horror can be heard from the dark shapes hunched over in the longship. The captain yells out "Leave us be enchantress, demon, witch, whatever you may be!" Dierdre refuses and Liam steps forward (DM’s Note: At this point the players suddenly stop and say "Oh, yeah, Liam’s disguise must have worn off with all the swimming and what-not" to which I just smile knowingly and nod.) As the Liam, little green man, enters the light from Dierdre’s sword, more cries of terror can be heard.

The little green man sets down the chest of gold and opens it for all to see. There is a pause from those hiding in the longship. The silence is interrupted by the captain who again demands the party leave and to take their cursed leprechaun gold with them! Dierdre and Liam sigh in exasperation and leave, hauling the gold back out to their ship. The party anchors the ship and overnight decides to once again visit the captain in the morning. Liam is keen to try to heal any injured sailors that may have survived the fireball, and the party is also still interested in paying their "debts".

The next morning, they hatch an interesting plan. They also note that apparently the sailors have now seen their ship off shore and are franticly trying to load up their own and flee. Dierdre casts Bull’s Strength on Cian. Cian then casts Invisibility on Liam. They tie a couple of ropes around the small chest of gold coins and Cian hefts it up in his talons and takes flight. Liam then dives overboard, swimming for shore.

The party then sails North (after a bit of cursing from Dierdre and a close call with the shoreline.) Their journey is not uneventful though they thankfully have no direct encounters. The party travels north for many days. The wastes to their east rise up into the green foothills which are soon replaced by the dizzying heights of the Giant’s Stair, rising straight up from the water. Rocks fall from high cliffs into the sea and danger fills the air. Dierdre steers the boat farther out to sea, though they never seem far from the towering cliffs.

Cian takes to wing during the day, surveying the coast and a little ways into the interior as they go. The Giant’s Stair mountain range looms before them on the horizon. A spectacular site, this massive range jutting up out of the sea. The foothills at its base show evidence of settlement and Cian notes several of these larger hills are indeed inhabited. Smoke rises from large, rough chimneys rising from the hills and every now and then Cian sees a large figure emerge.

From the air Cian also notes an enormous bird in the distance. At first it seems to be a vulture which is just a few hundred yards away. As it dips through the rocky cliffs of the mountain range however, Cian gets a true perspective. It is enormous. Not wanting to seem to be a snack, Cian heads back for the boat. As he heads back, Cian spots a channel through the cliffs at the water's edge and flies in to investigate.

The channel definitely has a "man" made feel to it. The slopes are sheer and broken in small chunks as if chiseled out of the face of the mountains. Not far in he spots two ledges flanking the channel and on one sits a giant with a large collection of rocks beside him. The giant is lazily rolling a club in his hands and looks completely bored. Cian, not wanting to give the giant any ideas for entertainment, flies a bit higher, staying out of his immediate sight.

Following the channel inland, Cian sees that it opens up into a good-sized lake. A winding footpath leads down from the watcher’s ledge to a village on the far shore of the lake. Four giant sized structures are visible and one rests on a cliff overlooking the entire hamlet. Some large figures move about the city. There is also a makeshift dock and Cian notes the dock is not built to the scale of the rest of the city. It is in fact quite normal in size. Having seen enough, Cian heads back for the ship.

At the ship, Cian relays his information while the party tells him of an equally disconcerting event. The ship was visited while he was gone. Bumped by an enormous shark which Cinn Oir estimates was as long as the ship itself. It only passed briefly though the jolt severely tossed the ship. They keep a close eye on the waters from here on.

Along their trip around the northern tip of Eyru they also want to stop to investigate the ancient location of the last known Fomorian palace in Eyru. Cian recalls through his knowledge of Eyrian Lore that it was situated on the northeastern coast built directly alongside the cliffs, if legend is correct. As it was presumably abandoned centuries ago, they don’t suspect not much more than an archaeological dig of sorts, though one can never say.

Several more days of sailing and they reach the tip of Eyru where the great Giant’s Stair mountains plummet into the sea. The rocky terrain is hardly at a complete end however. Cian, from his bird’s eye view can sea that a deadly, jagged reef extends further north from the cliffs of the Giant’s Stair far out to sea. Cian also notes a storm brewing on the horizon and pushing it’s way inland. The decision is made to try and race the storm, rounding the reef before it hits.

As the approach the reef Dierdre orders the boat to make a hard northerly turn. Stubbornly, the ship fails to respond. Dierdre grabs the globe perched within the wooden serpent’s mouth and repeats her command. The ship responds this time, but not to her liking. The oars begin to beat furiously and the ship surges forward toward the deadly reef. (DM's Note: DM's just love those failed skill checks at just the right time :)

The deck clears as Cian begins shouting orders and everyone able rushes below deck. Liam, Lance and Bebe begin wrestling with the wildly moving oars, struggling to pull them from their hinged braces. Cian calls out orders trying to help as best he can with his sailing knowledge. Dierdre meanwhile on deck, staring intensely into the control globe, trying to force it to do her will. Sweat ladens her brow as she concentrates, but the stubborn vehicle refuses to heed.

Cian watches as the oars beat furiously. Bebe curses as she absorbs blow after blow from the oar handles while Liam tries to loosen the mechanism. Lance tries to wrestle several free on his own and while he is successful, several cracks from the wooden oars can be heard as he pries them loose. Noting their difficult progress, Cian flies up on deck and decides to weigh the anchor to at least slow the ship. He throws the release and the anchor drops heavily into the sea, dragging behind the speeding ship.

The entire ship jolts as the anchor drags along the rocky bottom until finally it catches. There is a tremendous jerk as the anchor line pulls and nearly everyone is thrown to the deck. The heavy rope line strains, contracting beneath invisible forces. Cian dives off to the side as several strands of rope rocket up from the surface of the water with a heavy "twang". The group below deck continues to work until all oars are removed just as Dierdre finally gets the oars to stop, smoke rising from several of the metal oar hinges.

The group breathes a sigh of relief and the session ends as the storm clouds build on the horizon. Liam Mends the anchor line and they decide to ride the storm out anchored here about a mile off shore and only several hundred feet from the reef…..