Meeting the Giants

Renee crossed the streets at a speed fast enough to surprise anyone. Some children saw her running and excitedly told their parents later about a "Superheroine" who wore armor, had fiery hair, and ran faster than a car. They didn't believe them.

Renee arrived at the location and found a middle-aged man who seemed to be closing his shop when he was surprised by a young woman who, from his point of view, appeared out of nowhere with a "whoosh" sound.

"Gahhh!" the man exclaimed in fright.

"Don't worry! Uh... Good evening. You're Ron's father, right?"

The man took a moment to recover from the shock.

"Yes, I am. Did something happen to my son?"

"No, nothing happened," said the redhead. "I'm a classmate of his from school. He told me about a tool you found. A pickaxe."

Moradin and Renee could feel it. She was incredibly close. But moving. Both were expecting a not very pleasant response.

"Well, I... I told Ron not to talk about it. But since I already sold it, I think it's okay."

"Okay, for Orel, right? How long ago? Where did he go?"

"Listen, why should I... look, you know what? You seem very flustered about this, why don't you go to some teenage Halloween party instead of worrying about adult business?"

Renee placed her hands on the man's shoulders and stared deeply into his eyes. He didn't blink, partly frightened by what was happening, and didn't notice when Moradin read one of his memories, identifying the car's license plate and model. Renee finally let go of the man's shoulders and left, pulling out her cell phone that she had hidden in one of her boots, giving Moradin the means to search and track the car's license plate. Luckily for them, that plate had recently been ticketed near one of the few hotels in the vicinity, which is where Renee went. She approached at a considerable speed, providing a few more opportunities for conversation among the children who ventured from house to house. She approached the hotel, identifying the car in question in the parking lot. The redhead now needed to identify which room Orel was in. This wouldn't be too difficult for Moradin, so they preferred a more discreet, albeit more laborious, approach to avoid any of the staff informing Orel of their presence as a matter of protocol. With the help of one or two low-level spells (basically Minor Invisibility and Silent Image), Renee managed to infiltrate the hotel and take one of the servants' uniforms, wearing it, albeit somewhat uncomfortably and looking rather disheveled, over her own uniform. Moradin feared that the presence of magic would be detected near Orel's room, so the disguise would have to be done the old-fashioned way. Now dressed in a men's suit in a burgundy color and with her hair tied in a bun, Renee cautiously walked up the floors to the tenth floor, where her patron felt the presence of her weapon very intensely, as well as a large number of ice giants.

"What if someone sees us on the cameras?" Renee said.

"I took care of that when I arrived, the cameras won't register us," the patron replied.

"Okay, so the plan is..." the redhead said.

"We pretend to be room service, we go in, locate the pickaxe and grab it at high speed."

"A genius strategist, I wonder how you lost it in the first place."

"Okay, any better ideas?"

"Well, what if we..."

"Renee"

"What is it?" "I feel the pickaxe being activated."

Renee froze... She somehow felt it too.

"What are they doing?" At that moment, both were running.

"They're opening a portal, I can feel it," Moradin said as they reached the room at the end of the corridor. Renee kicked the door, smashing it open in the process.

Inside the room were eight tall men, in expensive suits and pale skin. A human had just interrupted them at a crucial moment. A small portal opened, and from there Moradin saw water... lots of water.

"Okay, I understand their plan," Moradin said to Renee.

Renee swallowed hard; deep down, she had realized what was at stake.

They had only seconds to react before the Brutal Pick was used to bring back the great storm that Moradin had once imprisoned. And they were facing the most powerful ice giant and seven of his best men, all disguised in humanoid forms.