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Ride the Giants
Once in every century, a crowd of ancient,
stoop-shouldered giants come down from the Star
Mountains and stride down the Sword Peninsula towards the Titans Reach,
where the Sea of Storms separates the Lands We Know from the nightmare Monster
Continent which lies beyond.
There, at the very point of the land, the Giants slow a
little, perhaps to gaze at the wild ocean before them. Then they walk off the
land, into the sea, and wade across the
Titans Reach, the sea covering them even to the neck, the mouth, the eyes. Without
slowing, they surge through the waves and, after four hours of wading, they
rise once again to the land, walking up the shore and making their way off into
the Monster Continent.
Where they go, or why, none know, nor how they return.
Perhaps they endlessly circle the world, for in roughly 100 years, the same
giants will return, again coming down from the Star Mountains, and again,
slowing, just a little, to gaze at the Sea of Storms before they plunge into it
and wade across the Titans Reach.
They do not speak or communicate in any way. They walk
through anything in their path, pushing down fortress walls like a man pushing
through weeds, but ignore anything beyond it.
A century ago observers with telescopes and trained birds
noted ruins on the giants backs, strange parasites in their rocky
skin, relics and remnants of unknown actions studded across them and what seem
to be mysterious temples built atop their bowed heads!
Now the Giants come again, but this time we are ready!
I am King Sleet and I have called adventurers from across
all realms. I have called you.
Not to stop the giants, for nothing can, and we fear their
wrath if we try, but to board them!
As the giants slow before the Titans Reach, they are just
slow enough that it becomes possible to climb onto their feet.
Board a giant. Climb it. If you are quick, it should be
possible to climb their legs as they wade into the ocean, staying just ahead of
the rising water. Investigate. For any Lore or Treasure you return, you will be
well paid.
My small navy waits at sea. They shall try to follow the
giants, as well they can. A few experimental Hot Air Balloons await. They are
hard to control but they will try to follow and assist.
You have FOUR HOURS (in real time) until the Giants walk
onto the Continent of Monsters. None who go there return!
They come! Prepare yourselves!
The Scene
As you look across the ranging fields you see spots of
colour; other groups of wild adventurers waiting with hooks, grapples, ladders,
horses and a crazy range of tool and tricks.
Far beyond the giants path, the King observes from his
pavilion, and lined around him, the people of the land, waiting to see the
Giants. Far out to sea, the Kings small navy prepares to attempt to follow the
giants and in the air, experimental but hard to control hot air balloons bob
about, hoping to observe and perhaps even offer rescue.
The brass horns are blowing! The ground is shaking! The
crowd roars!
The Giants
The Giants are proportioned like immensely strong but
very ancient men with stony skin. They walk bent over like hunchbacks, heads
tilted up so they can see.
From their perspective they are not walking very
fast, but their enormous size means that, to us, their feet thunder past. The
relative movement of their bodies is very slow, but for someone on the ground
as they step over, the gargantuan foot fairly flies past overhead.
The Giants heads are roughly 2,000 Feet in the
air.
Their skin is pitted and rocky. Where an ancient man
would have wrinkles and folds, they have cracks and crevices. Their surface
looks rough and fricative. Scrub plants have taken root in places. Some have
trees or heather, scrubland and maquis, even small trickling streams, on their
backs.
If a giant was static and still, an energetic
hiker could possibly climb one in an hour and a half.
The giants have something like hair. Perhaps it is vines
or growth of some kind mixed with ancient hair as thick as ropes or the
branches of trees. The hair hangs down around their heads and faces. On some,
hair speckles their forearms and thighs. The Giants have thick hanging crotch
and ass hair, which thankfully spares the modesty of those who look upon them,
and which might also prove useful to climbers.
The Giants Path
There are about a dozen Giants. They walk together in no
fixed formation. They sometimes stumble and brush up against one another. (It
might be possible to leap from one to another).
Over the Eons the Giants have worn a shallow valley in
the ground. Rivers and streams often weave and gather in this valley, so the
giants sometimes splash through them on their way.
Giant Layout – Labelled
The Climb
1. The Foot
A 50 foot cliff. Very rugged, not sheer, more like a
clamber. Race to the ankle. Need to climb up over and around the ankle to the
back of the lower leg. There are unlikely to be other life-forms or encounters
on the foot.
Though, as the most accessible place, there might be
small encampments of bandits, sigilites, monks or others who have mounted the
giant at some point during its great journey. Those who understand the ocean is
coming will either be about to jump off or, like you, be willing to risk a rapid
ascent to stay above the waters.
This would be a good place for a goatherds shack actually.
They could let their goats rove all over the giant. Maybe they are a monk. Will
they come with you as you climb or refuse to believe in their doom until the
sea washes over them.
The Ankle Cross
A traverse around a moving joint. Big possibility of
falling off here, it must be accomplished quickly before the giant takes too
many steps into the sea. Once on the rear of the calf the terrain becomes more
predictable and the angle of climb more advantageous.
Of course you could try climbing the overhand of the
shin, but that is madness..
If there are other teams or spoiling factors this would be
a good first spot to knock someone off, but does not guarantee their death….
2. The Lower Leg Climb
How far is this? About 150 feet. A hard scramble and
climb up the back of the calf, a moving surface which shifts from near vertical
to overhang in pulses as the giant walks.
This is probably the most important time-sensitive climb
as reaching the knee will keep you safe for most of the journey, only the
deepest part of the ocean at the two-hour mark will reach past this
The Knee Decision
As one reaches the knee another traverse is required,
followed by a decision. Should one continue to climb the frontal thigh, aiming
for the hips and lower back, or risk it all with a daring leap onto the giants
hand?
The hand swings very close to the knee over the giants
slow steps. It is certainly possible to try to jump onto a knuckle as it swings
near the kneecap. This might allow you to climb the arm and give you a time
advantage, avoiding whatever terrors occupy the back.. You can aim right for
the head! It’s a straight climb up past the shoulder,
3. The Upper Leg
The climb up the front of the thigh may be fatiguing but
is not technically difficult and it stands the best change of keeping your
party together. As you begin to reach the hip you are truly out of danger from
the rising sea level and can afford to take s short break to consider.
Will you attempt a traverse up and over the hip, aiming for
the side of the back? Or will you clamber into the giants dense ass hair? The
growth is thick and tangled, making the way seem relatively safe. You could
move through the crotch like a tick, work your way through the steaming jungle
of the taint and then haul your way up to the base of the spine via the ass
hair between the cheeks.
It sounds horrific, but isn’t just such an investigation
the reason you are here? And who knows who, or what you may discover in that
Dark Realm?
4. The Back
At last, the great tilted expanse of the Giants Back. Finally
you need no longer fear falling off. However this is a ready environment for
combat, either with other explorers or denizens of the Giants body. Its also a
good place for a Balloon to try to land, they could tie up here and wait for
you, assuming you have already made arrangements. Or Balloons could land rival
parties or pirates.
Will you explore the karst and moorland of the back or
head straight for the head and its mysteries? From here you can probably easily
make out the tailing naval forces. You may also be exposed to any flying monsters..
5. The Head
What is the mysterious structure atop the Giants head and
what secrets or treasures does it hold? Can you gain access to the Giants Thoughts
(and even PILOT the giant?)
This would be a good place for a Balloon to try to pick
you up from (if possible), but the Head may be haunted by Quetzacotolous or
other flying creatures, perhaps mountain lions or even super-monkeys making
their home in the dense forest of its hair.
Getting through that dense hair to the temple or fort on
the giants crown will be the hard part. One must risk diving or crawling
through the maquis of the scalp, risking attack by whatever lies beneath, or
attack from above, the whirl of strange flying parasites which circles above
the giants highest point, riding the thermals of its exertions.
From here you can easily see the head-tops of the other
giants. Which other adventurers have already reached their summits? Some may be
being picked up by balloons already, others may be rotating vast cannons or
lazer guns to blast at you! Or signalling more peaceful intentions, even requests
for aid…
This might be a good place to consider, will you risk leaping
to another giant? If you traverse down to the arm it might be possible as they
brush against each other…
Reaching the peak of the head would also give you a good
look at the advancing line of the Monster Continent, coming closer with each
mighty step….
6. The Arm Climb
The arm in general is a tough, vertical climb with less
hand holds and less safety. It may however be less populated than the thigh and
if one can manage it, it might bring you more directly to the neck, and thence
to the head, bypassing the great Karst of the back completely.
The Mysteries of the Hand!
Do the Giants have great rings upon those stony fingers?
If so can you read the cartouche of its symbols as you climb across its golden
surface? Or does the giant have something in its hand? How big is that something
and might it drop it? Is the giants ‘skin’ around its palm and fingertips
perhaps sensitive enough that it may detect the PCs climbing it? Here the
swinging force of the giants movements would be the greatest of all.
The Elbow Traverse
Like the Knee traverse but worse. The angles of the
giants arms are more vertical than their legs but its still much easier to
climb the upward diagonal of the rear of its upper arm than to risk the
overhang of the front of the upper arm. Cover is less, as the rocky ‘skin’ of
the giant is less chunky and dense.
Hair or Shoulders?
The giants armpit hair can provide a brief respite of
illusory safety but ultimately you are going to have to get up, out and over..
OR – if you are feeling truly radical, and if the giant
itself has long enough hair or a long enough beard, you could try another LEAP
into the giants beard and/or hair.
Climbing the Hair
The thick, foresty hair should be climbable by anyone thief-like
or elf-like. But the hair is dense, may contain even more bugs and monsters. Huge
flakes of dandruff, and is a vertical climb which, no matter the hand holds,
will be challenging. Though if you fall there is s good chance of grabbing
something on the way down. The beard (if
present) could provide a useful ‘off ramp’ for the last part of the
adventure.
If one wishes to make a quick exit on the return as the
giant is rising from the waves, it might be worth abseiling or clambering down
its beard and dropping from the tips, hoping to be picked up by following ships
before the weight of your treasure drowns you.
The Giants Face
Only by climbing the hair will you stand a chance of looking
deeply into the giants FACE
It can be seen from far off, but what strange sadness
does it hold when seem from close up?
What impossible and ancient emotions might it project?
The Great Shoulder Traverse
The tricky part is getting out of the armpit via the
overhang. But once this is done it’s a fatiguing but relatively simple scramble
across its shoulders, up to its neck. If you are quick you may well beat anyone
climbing from the legs.
The Schedule
How long to board the foot?
How long till you have to climb?
THE SPLASH POINT
The giants enter the sea! This should be a major deal! As
the giants foot slashes into the waves, from this point, the water is rising!
Two Hours In – The Mid Point
The Giants are as deep in the sea as they can be
Now would be the safest time to jump off
And if you are still alive it must be because you have
got pretty high
So why wouldn’t PCs jump off at this point?
Maybe the Giants only get up to their hips? So you have
two hours to get that high?
Then the rest of the time to get over the back and down?
Or maybe even to try your luck on another giant?
Three Hours In - race for the scalp
Four Hours In – The Turnaround
Design Questions
‘Encounters’ while climbing
Or just things you find or discover there..
These could be potential treasures, life forms, bits of
history
Maybe whole ship fragments
In the foot-to knee area (currently the part of the giant
where they are climbing quickly to escape the rising sea levels
When might you fall off?
Lets say with climbing limbs
You are in most danger of falling off *when the limb is
vertical*
And since the limb is moving in ‘real time’ you can use
that as the ‘pulse’ of the game
With some kind of real-time timer
So while climbing, each pulse of gaming would be a
scramble to secure yourself, or at least not be doing anything risky, before
the limb reaches vertical
What is the Procedure for falling off and getting back on?
I mean, if you fall from high enough, death is pretty
likely
Above a certain height water, even sea-foam, is like
concrete
But there should be some kind of possibility of getting
back on the giant
Bribing a ship captain with treasures or a balloon pilot
Spoiling factors..
A Naval war as ships from a rival king, or even from the
Monster Continent attack those following in the lee of the giants. A Trafalgar
attacks! You see the ships blasting at each other from above. No idea who will
win. Will you risk leaping into the sea, not knowing who may pick you up or how
long it may take? Will you try to intervene, perhaps firing from the giants
head or even attempting to manipulate a giant into crushing your foes?