Giants! Return to Phandalin

From Wave Echo Cave
In the distance, you can make out rolling clouds unlike any other you’ve ever seen. You swear you can almost see a castle, battlements, on top of the cloud itself. And then you notice that the very ground beneath your feet seems to tremble. Rhythmically. The tell-tail smoke trails that rise from Phandalin’s inns seems absent. Curious.

You follow the trail back to to the town. The smell of moss and lichen heavy in the air.

You trek down-hill, careful where you place your feet as the cold early-winter air whips against your faces. Following Gundren as he trudges heavily through the muck, through narrow passes between old rocks, over wet pools and into passes that seem so low and crouched and shadowed from any sunlight your imagination spirals at the wild animals that must lurk in the corners, behind the large boulders or in the scattered pine trees above. The steeper crags give way to soft hills as you break through a copse of trees.

Glance up - the clouds seem to drift away. The rumble and tremor seems to cease and instead give way to the constant ringing peal of a bell.

Closer
Hours pass through this landscape, passing through crops of trees until you finally reach the familiar old wooden fence that leads north towards Alderleaf farm. The bell continues to ring incessantly. You don’t immediately see the small farmhouse where you were once greeted by the enticing smell of apple pie, and the boisterous voice of Carp... but as you get closer you see: the building is now partially collapsed. Crushed under a gigantic boulder of rock which has split the roof and caved a wall in.

[Look around. Pick through. No signs of life. No hints of blood either.]

Remains of Phandalin
As you turn west into the town, following the side track towards the town green the devastation around you becomes apperent. To your left and right, huge slabs and chunks of rock have shattered buildings and slammed craters into the roadway.

You come around the bend. To your right, the town hall seems to have avoided the brunt of the damage. The buildings around have not been so lucky. The inn has been completely wrecked. The roof caved in and both stories left in rubble. The Lionshield Coster on the west end of the square has, too, managed to avoid most of onslaught. A bolder appears to have caught the back end of the building and fallen just off to the side — leaving a gaping hole in the structure, but the building seems in tact aside.

In the middle of the square, a gigantic crater seems to have been dug up, leaving mounds of dirt ten feet high surrounding a pit that wasn’t there before. Obscuring your view of the far end of the town. At the north end, the Shrine of Luck where you first came across Sister Graelle has suffered a cruel twist of fate, destroyed entirely by a huge wedge of granite that seems to have been wrenched from a mountain side.

A smear of blood trails into the town hall.

The town hall:
 * The town master's hall has study stone walls, a pitched wooden roof, and a bell tower at the back. Posted on a board next to the front door is a single notice.
 * Notice reads: Danger! Orcs camped by Wyvern Tor attacking travellers. Brave sell-swords needed to drive this threat away for good. Very handsome reward. Apply to Townmaster Harbin Wester within.
 * INT: A main hall, doors off to the sides. The lofty table from which the Townmaster had previously conducted his affairs has been shoved back against a wall. Makeshift palette beds line the floor along each wall, bodies on each. Some have blood-soaked sheets pulled over the figures to preserve their dignity in death. A small crowd has formed around one particular bed.
 * In the far end of the chamber you recognize Harbin Wester, the townmaster, his arm in a sling nursing his head in his hands as he rocks back and forth on a chair... muttering to himself.
 * From the back, you recognize the familiar figure of Linene of the Lionshield Coster kneeling on the ground. Standing solemnly by her side is the figure of Daran Edermath, his eyes clouded and wet. Beside Linene kneels an unfamiliar figure -- a man from the looks of it, has a hand on Linene's shoulder. MITCH - introduce Hallazeal.

The Quest

 * Closer. You recognize the face of Sister Garaele. Pallid, the life seemingly pulled away from her. A shadow of the zealous, young elf, you first met in Phandalin. She appears to still be breathing and her eyes shift to you as you move closer. A tattered and bloodsoaked sheet covers her body. Her body has been crushed.
 * Linene is clasping Garaele's hand.
 * Garaele implores the adventurers to take the silver coin around her neck to Beldora in Bryn Shander in the north. Tell her what happened her. Tell her to be careful. Tell her she is sorry that she wasn't the student she deserved. Tell her sorry that she has failed in her mission. She needs to know. The fate of Faerun may rest upon getting this message to her in time. Linene helps Garaele take the necklace off and gives it to the party. It's a silver coin featuring Tymora's face surrounded by shamrocks.
 * Garaele dies.
 * What they know: A cloud giant castle passed over Phandalin and dropped large rocks on the settlement and its keep. Unable to defend themselves against the bombardment, villagers who weren’t killed in the attack fled into the foothills, taking refuge in some caves. After the assault, from hiding saw four cloud giants descending from the sky, uprooted a gigantic monolith from underneath the town square, and bore it back to their castle. The cloud castle then drifted away.