If you recall the short giant, aptly named Sithik, was last heard from as he was making his way into the Lands of Undoing. You will be happy to learn that the advice he got from the villagers he first met served him well, and he found his way more or less safely through the perilous region. Hardly halfway through the magical wastes, Sithik had felt as though he could have filled out many reports for home entirely on the subject of wild magic, but the matter so confused him that he tried to keep his notes simple instead.
The next reliable information I was able to gather about his journey comes from the border regions of Port Enoth, where a couple of proselytizers had decided that a giant would be valuable to their church. Their robes had a unique sheen to their fur, and they wore matching medallions depicting what appeared to be a house-cat in a lab coat. While he did not shout Sithik was overheard telling them that he would in no uncertain terms allow his time to be taken up any longer. The zealous pair followed him North towards Bitura.
When Sithik arrived at a small hamlet in southern Bitura he decided to trade stories of his adventure to the locals in exchange for hospitality. After being fed, he stayed up with his hosts as they told him of things he could expect to find north of them – or at least some of the rumours they had heard as they had never left the kingdom themselves. The descriptions of magical creatures that lived in a haunted wood north of the capital piqued his interest greatly. While the warnings of wandering skeletons armies concerned him.
The next morning Sithik bade farewell to his new friends as he kept his eyes open to the wonders he had heard about. An afternoon of swift travel and the road he followed led him to a major trade route, where he stopped at a local watering hole to find a horse that could carry him. Although none of the horses could take his weight, an ox was attached to an empty wagon outside a postal building. Sithik not seeing a soul around sat in the wagon and waited.
After a cycle of waiting the ox turned its head to Sithik and asked if he was wanting to go somewhere. Sithik nearly fell out of the cart in surprise. Once he had checked the underside of his new ride to find the source of the loud crack when he jumped, Sithik graciously accepted the offer of transport asking what the ox would like in return. The details were quickly worked out, and our hero was happy to be getting a ride all the way to the capital, hopefully with plenty of time to enjoy the King’s Tin Cup Tournament, celebrating 10 years of a single ruler.
Their journey was, for the most part, uneventful. However, one evening, while setting up camp for the night, Sithik spotted a flying lizard approaching. He found himself looking a second time to be sure he’d actually seen it. Approaching was a magma dragon, with its wings aglow in the evening darkness, and molten rock dripping from crevasses in its scaly skin. The brave little giant quickly jumped off the cart, and sent the ox on ahead. On the first pass, the very young dragon sprayed a cone of fire along the road, bathing Sithik in a heat he hadn’t experienced in many moons.
Patting out the smoldering patches of his clothing Sithik laughed heartily and, with a sharp glint to his eye, declared the dragon to be powerless against him. The dragon wheeled, this time striking Sithik directly with a flame-red ray, and again Sithik laughed heartily and taunted the dragon. With a roar of frustration, the dragon swooped down towards the giant, lashing its tail back and forth in its irritation. To avoid being hit Sithik hastily stepped back and pulled his greatsword. “Awe man, I really don’t want to eat you dragon.”
“Eat me? I was going to eat your ox!” the young dragon said in disbelief. “You are the most frustrating human I’ve ever met!”
“There is no ox here, you common garden snake.” replied Sithik feeling quite offended.
The dragon burst into rib splitting laughter, jets of fire and magma coming from its nostrils. “I like you. I guess you can keep your animal. I’ll find my dinner elsewhere.”