Achelis Hill

### A Buried Giant

Achelis Hill is the local name of the ruin of an ancient stone giant buried southeast of Orvain. The eponymous \_hill\_ is the \_heel\_ of the giant jutting out from the serene fields amongst the rock outcropping of the region.

Severed parts of other limbs are to be found strewn nearby, like the sideways right foot and the top of the gian'ts skull. But rest of it's body has been chipped away by local villagers for hundreds of years as an easy source of construction material.

### The Legend

There are many versions of the legend of the giant and his fall. Almost every part of Loorou has a local song, poem or ballad. The most famous (and possibly the most accurate) is sung in \*The Ballad of Fall of Achelis The Giant by the Bolt of Dod the Gnome\*. In this version, the giant wandered far down south from its natural home beyond Praxiam terrorizing the local fauna and inhabitants. Many tried but failed at stalling its progress down south, till it came near a village south of Orvain, where dwelt the young Gnome artificer Dod. Small though she might have been in stature, but was far cunning than common folk. Dod designed a set of magical bolts, the "Bolts of Sundering". She strode out to challenge the giant, riding her daring goat "Pearl". Dod shot 5 bolts through the giant's heel, shattering the stone and toppling him. The giant fell with great force on top of the sharp rocky outcroppings that are prevalent in the meadows south of Orvain, and crushed itself under its enormous weight. Out-limbed and out-maneauvered, the giant lay there slowly dying for fifty more years as the villagers celebrated Dod and her glorious victory over the seemingly-insurmountable gigantic threat.

Dod herself though, took pity on the giant on his deathbed and would visit him till the end of his days. While she did nothing to stall the spread of her renown, since she did earn it; Dod secretly lamented to have had to be the killer of a rare specimen of stone giant, who also came to be her friend in a way there in its great death-bed of Achelis Hill.

### The Secret Lament

In his dying years, Achelis the Giant spoke to Dod, his slayer. Dod maintained a scroll on their conversations, which was kept secret by her family for long. In there, Dod went onto narrate Achelis' version of the events and his lament for his homeland in Tenebris beyond the mountains.

Achelis was indeed a very young giant, he got separated from his family somewhere near the Mountain hold of Praxium as they were migrating in the winter. Soon, they were beset by the armies of Praxiam who took the giants to be a threat, killing and scattering the small family.

Achelis wondered down the Loorou valley in search of food and his family. Finding the former in abundance around the scared villages of Elphindale, but never the later. No trace of his family could he find. This is how Achelis arrived near Dod's village; scared, tormented and hungry till he met his match in Dod.

Achelis died a frightened young giant in search of his lost family, slain in the hands of a Gnome. Dod regretted every bit of the youthful bravado that made her go up against Achelis, thinking of him as some great threat, and she lamented that they should have spoken sooner. Things could have been so different then.

### The Lay of Dod the Brave

Another version of the legend is a drinking song commonly heard in Orvain and the areas surrounding it. This version of the story is a straightforward good-vs-evil tale.

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> *Then came he down with frightful mien*
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> *From verdant plains and clear blue sky*
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> *In his great fists a rod of pain*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *Before him stood the noble gnome*
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> *Dod the brave, with gimlet eye*
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> *Yet sorrow-filled - t'was not her will*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *To reave the lands, plunder their wealth*
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> *Bedlam and chaos drawing nigh*
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> *His martial gaze surveyed the field*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *Strode forth the gnome, heroic Dod*
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> *Her flag of peace she hoisted high*
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> *Ignored was she, her efforts vain*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *Forth rushed the giant, foolish knave*
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> *Flew from his lips a savage cry*
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> *His wicked staff he swung aloft*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *Stood she unmoved, fair Dod the calm*
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> *In perfect time her bolt did fly*
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> *Not wanting death, she shot his heel*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *For all her good here came the twist*
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> *The noblest plans still bent awry*
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> *For fell Achelis on his staff*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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> *Now lies he there, dread Loorou-bane*
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> *A barrow-mound to testify*
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> *And show the lands where one dark day*
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> *Achelis came to fight and die*
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> .
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