[Boss, we have received word of a strange event on the Northern Continent. A giant raiding party showed up out of nowhere, then just took a handful of Gnomes from a warehouse and left. There were no reported damages and they didn't bother any of the other Gnomes in town, or injure anyone.] Nila reported when word reached the other Wave Rider Captains offshore.
[Could they be looking to rebuild their council? Or maybe they think the Gnomes know what happened?] Cain had been watching on the Ley Line device when the event happened, so he knew that the Gnomes were involved already, even if he didn't know all the details.
[The other Captains think they blame the Gnomes for what happened. There have been other reports of them becoming enraged when they see Gnomes, but what they are blaming them for remains unclear. It would be a pretty big leap for the dimwitted Giants to make between the changes in the world and some new Gnomish technology.] Nila pointed out.
[We should find the time to talk to some Giants then. Maybe we can find out what is going on without a full-scale war against the Western Continent.] Cain decided.
At the very least, they might find out why the Demon Kingdom was being targeted as well as the Northern Continent.
[Talk to the others. I think we should head for the West, if we can talk to the Giants we might find out what is going on there and report it back to the Wave Rider Council. Depending on what the answer is it might make a huge difference to their plans for war.]
That logic was hard to argue against. The Wave Riders were Pirates, not a military force. They only engaged in battles that posed a serious risk to their own lives in the most desperate of circumstances. It was also possible that the Giants didn't realize that their attacks on trading ports had angered the Elves and triggered defensive treaties.
Without half their leaders, they might not even realize that they were causing much more trouble for themselves than a wave of scattered attacks would normally call for.
[The others agree and are ready to set out whenever you are.] Nila informed Cain once the short conversation was over.
[We set out immediately then. Wave goodbye to the Demons and let's get going before the Giants send any more raiders out.
While the demons waved a happy farewell back at them, the Wave Rider fleet hoisted sails and turned to race for a large city on the coast of the Western Continent. They would need all day to get there, so the Council was informed of their actions and current intentions.
The response was that they were still mired in the battle planning since the only part that hadn't been contentious so far was the separation of the warzone into regions. Everything after that was a mess, from the placement of ships, the chain of command, and the allocation of loot. The standard allocation for a Pirate raid relied on the target having something worth taking, and that seemed unlikely in the event of a battle against the Giants.
They rarely traveled with anything of value on them, so attacking them wasn't worth the Wave Riders' time. That led to the two groups having relatively good relations most of the time, so the sudden attacks from the Western Continent against their fleet didn't make much sense to most of the Elves.
One thing that everyone wanted to know was why, and why now, so the Council was quick to approve a reward for finding information on the reasoning behind the attacks, even going as far as sending out a few more ships during the meeting to gather more intelligence.
The first group that tried to scout the Western Continent for military strength was finding all sorts of random information, but so far they hadn't managed to get a reason why other than that the boss told them to do it. No matter how far up the power structure they asked, the answer was the same, and the Wave Riders didn't have access to the senior Giant forces.
"Do you actually think that we can do better?" Mythryll asked once they were underway, coming up onto the deck while underway for the first time in days. Nila was very protective of her little wife, though she was quite capable of defending herself, so where there was a chance of combat she found multiple excuses to keep her below where it was safer.
"If nothing else, I'll transform into a Frost Giant and challenge the local leadership until we get our answers." Cain shrugged.
In most places, just showing up as an Ancient was enough to get people to do what he wanted, but the Giants might just attack. They were just as fond of battle as the Demons, but not quite as smart. That was normally a good time for Cain, but today they needed answers, and the evidence they had wasn't adding up to anything that made sense unless the Giants really thought they could take over the other continents.
Fortunately, there was no news of further attacks while they traveled through the day and night to reach a city that the other scouting team hadn't visited yet. The idea was that the others would stay offshore, while Cain went alone in Ancient form first to ask the questions that needed answering. If he didn't have any luck, they would try somewhere else by infiltration.
[Boss, the city of Hygaar is just over the horizon, straight south of us. It's best if we remain this far out so that they don't see you disembark and they don't attack us.] Nila informed Cain, who was styling Cyrene's hair for the morning.
Once she was ready and presentable in a frilly red dress that matched his tie, Cain transformed into his smaller, three-meter-tall Ancient form and wrapped Cyrene back around his waist. Then he took to the air and flew towards the green stone walls of the Western Continent stronghold.
"Stop there. The city isn't accepting visitors that this time." The guard on the wall announced as Cain approached.
"I need to speak to your leaders. Someone from this area has been launching attacks against Humans, Dragons, and Demons. If we can't get answers it is likely going to turn into a war against the Giant Clans for betraying their agreements." Cain informed him and the Hill Giant looked enraged.
"No Giant would betray his word. Come with me, the Morrow Hill Clan's new Chieftain is here in the city." The guard announced, then yelled for someone to come and cover his station.
Cain was in luck, the Hill Giants were known to be more cunning than average, so they might actually be able to give him a proper answer to the questions he had if he could coax them out of the guard or his boss.
"When did the Clan get a new Chieftain? I have been traveling the Southern Continent and we didn't get any news about a change of leadership." Cain coaxed, and the giant's anger at accusations of betrayal turned even more furious.
"Those accursed evil beings, the Gnomes killed all our Chieftains a few months ago. They lured them all to the North and then burned them to death." The Hill Giant snarled, stomping through the city.
The Gnomes killed all the leaders of the Giant Clans? Forget how they managed that, Cain was somewhat familiar with the links that formed to the Fire Elemental plane, but how did they get all the Giants' leaders in one place, even if it was a trap? That didn't seem like the sort of thing that you could just ask a stranger though.
"The new leader is Schmidt. Make sure you pronounce his name correctly, he is a very proud Hill Giant warrior. If anyone here knows why there have been attacks on the not Gnomish species, he should." The guard informed Cain, then pounded on the door to a large office with no sign.
"This had better be important, I am busy." Someone roared from the other side of the door.
"Chief, there is an Ancient here to see you. He says Giants have been attacking Demons and stuff and they're pretty mad." The Guard explained.
"Crap, I heard about that, send him in." The boss called, then someone opened the door from the inside.
It was a young adult Hill Giant woman in a disheveled dress, who left as soon as the door opened. It seemed that the boss wasn't joking, he really was busy. That also meant that he wouldn't be in a good mood to be giving Cain extra information, so they would have to start with the business of the attack on the Central Continent.
"Greetings Clan Chieftain Schmidt. I am the Ancient, Cain. I have an alliance, on behalf of my forces in the Central and Southern Continents, with the Demon King Aggramor. He wants answers as to why his personal guard was attacked by a raiding fleet while he was at the beach, but none of the Giants we captured were willing to talk." Cain explained.
"You took Giant prisoners?" The chief asked suspiciously.
"No, we killed them when they wouldn't talk, but we did give them the option." Cain shrugged and the Giant nodded happily.
The Giants never betrayed their word. This meant that outsiders would never learn who launched an attack by capturing soldiers, they had all sworn not to betray their Clan and their Chiefs.
"What sort of Giants were they?" Chief Schmidt asked, wondering which Clan would be put on punishment for this mistake. Meeting this Ancient would definitely give him an advantage with the big boss Drakon. Boss said he didn't want war with Demons, he wanted to punish the Gnomes, so if Schmidt did this right he was sure he would be rewarded.
