[Grugg!]

The cyclops awoke with a rough snort, rolling over and sitting at the edge of the bed. He rubbed his eye and yawned, somewhat confused about the internal voice until the previous day filtered back into his memory.

[Ah, so, first, good morning. This seemed like a good time to start the day. Secondly, I don't believe I know how to sleep in this form, so I spent all night just quietly looking at the wall. It was… agonizing.]

With a brief nod, Grugg paid no heed to the rambling of the wizard, instead just wrapping his fur shawl around his shoulders and lumbering up off his bed and over to his water basin. A splash of the cold water on his face did little to freshen him up, but with a scratch of his head around the brim of the hat, he was ready enough to face the day.

"Hat, can do any magic?" With apprehension, he wrinkled his nose up at the thought, but if he was stuck like this, then he'd better get used to the possibility of even more magic in his near future.

[No, at least, not yet? I tried during the night, but without components or a way to actually speak or mime the motions of a spell… it has proven out of my reach.]

"Okay then, Thud will be happy to do the hard work." Lifting the large club and resting it against his shoulder, he paused to consider what else he would need to take. Maybe an empty sack for loot?

[Oh, the club is called… you know, it saddens me to have my name reduced to just the object I currently inhabit. And even more so, greater respect is given to your oversized cudgel. I'm going to have an identity crisis down the road; I can feel it.]

"Don't worry, Hat, getting fancy bauble will make happy again." His response was earnest, but masked by a mischievous grin that the eye of the hat could not see. Then, grabbing one of the few sacks that did not have a hole all the way through and attaching it to his leather belt across his waist, he turned towards the cave exit. The wizard remained silent.

It was early morning, and the sun had just risen enough to shed illuminating rays down the mountain range like fingers reaching out down towards the valley. Thankfully, the sky had mostly cleared now, although the previous rain's dampness still clung desperately to the greenery of the slopes. The water clinging to his bare legs seemed to be more palatable than when it fell from above.

"First off, food! It'll be on th'way." Grugg began stomping off higher up the mountain, his thick-soled bare feet thudding against the sodden dirt. The air up here had a chill bite to it - he was acclimated to it rather well, and it didn't bother him; in fact, he preferred it to the heat of high summer when the rocks themselves would be scorching.

[Grugg, you said you had met the yeti before, correct?]

"Yup, couple hairy weaklin' scouts came round Grugg's cave. Not much meat on yeti, though." They were pretty gristly, not to mention he had gotten the hair everywhere and nearly choked to death on it.

[Oh… so not on the best terms then?]

"Thud went to temple and made an agreement with the boss there. Boss' name is Ruul."

[Then is there a chance we can do this diplomatically?]

"That means Grugg only kill some of them, yeah?" Grugg beamed, despite himself. With his more recent hunting attempts turning up dry, he hadn't gotten into any good fights in a while. There were almost two handfuls of yeti living at the temple, last he saw, and he was twice as certain that Ruul would give in to his demands after Thud had cracked a couple of skulls. Perhaps he had been too peaceful on his own, allowing the yeti to prosper where all that loot could be his.

[Well… try not to die; I don't think I could bear being sat upon a yeti.]

The cyclops chuckled to himself but said nothing. His mind was still elsewhere; thinking about before he had left his tribe. A black feathered bird flew overhead with a sharp caw, disturbed from their perch by his careless meandering gait, the sound snapping his concentration back to focusing on the environment.

"Oh, here it is." Breaching a small clearing, he pushed through a couple of low branches, the young wood creaking in opposition against his sheer mass. Before them stood a large fir-like tree; the dark greenish canopy hung low and cast a vast shadow. From the lower branches, there appeared to be a modest amount of seeds hanging down like uprooted carrots.

"Not super tasty, but gives energy for long time." The cyclops began picking the seeds, each about the size of one of his fingers, thick and covered in some manner of brown, rough bark.

O[h, these are a type of pine nut, generally said to be poisonous.]

Grugg popped one into his mouth with a brief crunch; a handful went into the bag. He prodded a stubby thumb at his chest, swallowing the morsel.

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"Don't worry, Grugg is tough." There was no doubt about it, not only because of his dietary choices, but just being able to live in this environment showed a lot of grit and natural hardiness. The eye of the cyclops radiated pride in himself. The elders of his tribe had told him he was a fool to go off and live alone, and on some of the more challenging days he would remind himself that he had to prove them wrong. And he had! It had been years, and he was doing well. Or at least surviving. He started wondering when exactly it was that he would get to rub that in their faces, but was promptly interrupted by the wizard.

[You know, I was never much of an outdoors person myself. I always seemed to get ill in the lousy weather, allergies from the good weather. So in the end it just drove me to stay inside and study more…]

Grugg grunted in acknowledgement. He couldn't relate, but it seemed reasonable the frail old man had always been skirting the grave. It was a surprise a particularly strong breeze hadn't snapped the man in two. As the lumbering giant began making his way higher up the mountainside, he again felt a little pity for the once-human. He had not known many, but they were all small compared to him, yet so determined to be something greater. Maybe not so different from Grugg after all.

"Tell me about Hat's home."

[Well, I am originally from quite far away from these parts. Across the Blind Sea, in fact; the nation of Digi. A modest homestead in the trading town of Threedwall, where I grew up with my parents before their passing.]

Grugg wasn't the best at geography, so most of this went over his head. He had seen a map once before and knew his mountain range was north of the landmass, known as Mubet. There were other nations to the east and west, but further north was an ocean, and he didn't recall any of those names. It never seemed pertinent to learn the names of things further than what he could see, especially if they might have no food and lots of rain. Still, if he were to start traveling…

"Grugg need to get a map."

[I did have one on my, uh, body. It was a bit more local though, and didn't have anything past northern Mubet; just this area was important, so I could find the temple. Not too many landmarks up a mountain to maintain direction, though - hah.]

"Perhaps after the temple, Grugg can find body." It was the least he could do. Disposing of the corpse down the mountain seemed like the best idea at the time, but now he kind of wanted to have a look at that map. The wizard might have had other interesting things, too. He could find the tribe's village on the map, and maybe even learn a few more tricks along the way to really show off and put it to them. Of course, to really impress them he would need to get stronger too, and he bet the wizard had some clever ideas of ways to do that. Maybe Hat was not the worst thing after all, he considered, another wide, toothy grin filling his face.

The two traveled in silence for a while as the cyclops continued to ascend and circle the mountain, the early morning sun pushing away the last of the clouds from yesterday. The chill breeze prevented it from feeling warm, but it was enough to start drying up the glistening leaves and flora. Gradually, as the morning drew longer and they traversed higher, the greenery began to give way - patchier as the mountaintop grew closer and rockier. Finally, Grugg paused to sling Thud to his back and turned to look behind him.

The rolling haze of now fading dark clouds was retreating toward the horizon; the contrast of colors meeting a multitude of differently hued agricultural farmland, acres of woods, and verdant green fields and pastures that stretched all the way to the base of the mountain range. Weaving between them all, a stream that started life as a spring from a nearby mountain reflected the sun, providing the necessary resources for life to bloom along it. Closer yet, the brownish clumps of the town structures at the bottom of the valley, grayish webs of roadway snaking out from the center and off into the distance.

It was an unbelievably magnificent sight from this vantage point and one that made Grugg contented to be part of the Giant hereditary family, who, for the most part, lived or descended from the various mountain ranges of the world. It was said they grew from the great stone mountain formed at the world's creation. Over time, the Giants would give life to the smaller mountain folk - ogres, cyclops, and yeti, among others. Grugg wasn't sure on all this. He certainly gave reverence to the Great Mountain when necessary, but he had never met a Giant - their numbers apparently fewer in this age.

He turned from the view and began climbing, using his wide grip to assist in clambering up some of the more challenging rocky terrain. It was not long before the chill breeze of the lower mountain became even cooler at the higher altitude, and the now bare gray stone that covered the landscape had the faintest dusting of snow. Unlike rain, snow was tolerable for Grugg. Lower down in the mountain where he lived, it only really got snow once it was deep into winter, but nearer the peak tended to have at least a dusting most of the year round. The yeti liked that kind of thing for some reason. After the next outcropping, they found themselves on a rough path that led underneath two large rock formations.

[I'll admit, I definitely would have struggled up here, unless heavily relying on my magic, of course. Naturally, I was pretty apt in most minor enchantments, so you know, my boots wouldn't slip on the ice, and I wouldn't suffer from the cold. Even with map, I probably would have gotten even more lost, however.]

"Can Hat make fireballs?"

[Well… no. I could do minor flame spells, but most of my practice did not involve combat-orientated casting. I could probably imbue Thud with flame, though-]

"What? Why would Hat burn Thud?" That didn't seem like something that would at all be helpful, and the metal part wouldn't even burn, Grugg reckoned. On account that he had tried before - to shape the metal cap into something pointy. But his cauldron fire hadn't been hot enough to do anything but char the already dark metal.

[No! It wouldn't damage your club - it's just… I'm not much for battling, really, I much prefer using magic to help me solve problems.]

Grugg stopped, now standing in a wide opening carved into the side of the mountain. He raised his finger and pointed to the temple standing before them. The ornately carved white building was covered with a dusting of snow, in contrast to the piles of detritus and crudely made wooden decorations sprouting like dead grass from the grounds of the building.

"Here then, Hat; solve problem."

Before them, now approaching them from in front of the temple, were five yeti. Each wearing loose makeshift armor and holding barbaric, jagged spears.

"Scout killer," the head yeti bellowed in rough Giant. "Turn back or die!"

The wizard would have gulped, had he the necessary biology to do so.