Considering the rarity of the frost giant, Asher was almost drooling thinking about the potential of it's power in his hands. The creature was known to be at least thirty feet tall on the small end of the scale. Asher took the job immediately and talked to Leah and Willow both. "This is a rare opportunity for us," he explained excitedly. "If we manage to finish this job, this could make us all rich. Giants love to hoard gold whenever they can. There could be a literal treasure trove waiting on us."
Willow replied, "Both of you can have the gold, I have heard tales of giants taking magical artifacts and holding on to them. That is all I want."
Asher nodded. "You can have a third of everything we claim. That includes artifacts. We'll all have an equal claim on the treasure, none of us are going to be left out. Sound fair?"
Willow huffed in response and Asher stated, "I'll take that as a yes. Now that we've gotten our agreements out of the way, we need a plan. Frost giants are hard to kill. They're also rare."
Leah piped up loudly, "And very intelligent. They have human level intelligence and the strength to stop a drake mid flight and rip the wings from it's back. We need to over prepare for this encounter. It's like nothing we've ever faced before."
Asher grunted his agreement. "I expect all of us to come back from this encounter, alive. As little as I care for most people, I also don't want to see anyone die due to my actions. We are going to be teamed up with several other adventurers, including one from the rank above us, Killian. Leah and I have met him once before this job, so we're at least acquainted."
Willow leered at Asher from afar, "How would you have met someone like that?"
"That is neither here nor there, we need to have each other's backs on this job, otherwise we will not survive. Can I be sure you have mine? If not, walk away now. I know Leah will always have my best interests in mind, she has proven that to me over and over again, you have not. Now is the time to show me what you're truly made of, or go crying back to your noble parents," Asher snapped sarcastically at Willow. Leah stifled a laugh and Asher shot her a serious look to tell her to be quiet.
Asher waited a moment before asking, "Are you with us or not? If not, leave now. This is your one and only chance before we begin planning for this job."
Willow shrugged and sighed heavily, "I'm in. What have we got?"
Asher smirked and explained, "Frost giants usually burrow into ice caves from the little bit I have read. They're mostly solitary creatures unless they have found a mate. There isn't much I have to go on beyond that yet. Killian and I are going to run the operation, meaning we are going to research and plan the best method of attack on the giant. I have already mentioned to him the possibility of a mate that is not yet discovered, we will be planning around that. The guild is not going to be supplying us with any more people than what has already been given to us. I have two people and Killian has two people. This giant is taking livestock from town, day by day. It's quickly becoming a nuisance. Once we have researched everything we need to know, we are to kill it, no matter what."
Asher waved them out and began to conduct his research at the same time as Killian. They were pouring over every bit of text, researching the giants carefully. Asher had discovered that they had skin as hard as steel, similar to the Minotaur's. At the same time, they were incredibly intelligent creatures, easily rivaling humans in that regard, setting traps and even being capable of magic and metallurgy. They were also hoarders, keeping magical artifacts and the like. Asher came to an interesting part of the manuscript after a while, the giants would usually form a labyrinth out of the icy tunnels they would dig out, with alarms set out everywhere.
Asher wasn't about to make the same mistake he had made with the Minotaur, he shared everything he had learned with Killian. In turn, Killian shared that oftentimes, the giants would create magical artifacts in various sizes and forms.
Asher knew he was due for some new equipment, whatever it may end up being. There was no way he would pass up the opportunity for a piece of equipment with magical abilities. He shook himself out of his thoughts quickly though, he had a mission to plan out.
He spoke extensively with Killian about the best approach, with both Asher and Leah being the first ones to go in to the tunnels. Once they were done disarming all the alarms, the rest of the group would go in. They couldn't afford to make a mistake with a monster as large and powerful as a giant.
Asher had decided he would continue to research as much as he could until the day they departed to kill the creature. Everyone else was preparing raw materials and gear with which to deal with the giant while Asher continued to pour through various tomes looking for any information at all that would give them a leg up. The guild's bestiary seemed to only be so much help. Asher pushed it aside, disgusted at the lack of anything helpful recorded from all the history of the guild. Thousands of adventurers had been through potentially millions of missions, with nothing to show for it on this one particular beast.
Leah came into his room to find him rubbing his temples. She asked him, "What's wrong, Asher?"
"There's barely anything. These things are rare, but they can't be THAT rare. Is it just that they killed so many adventurers? I can't imagine the guild wouldn't send higher rank members though at that point. It just doesn't make sense."
Leah nodded her agreement and replied, "I know this isn't likely to be welcome news, but the expedition is ready to go. There's no time to waste."
Asher sighed heavily. "I guess we'll just have to go in blind for now." He took one last look at the several tomes lying on his desk before he left the room, following Leah outside.
As soon as they got outside, Asher did a head count. There were six of them total. Asher didn't know Killian's people by name and he didn't care to. The moment they tried to greet themselves, Asher turned away.
"Let's get a move on, I want to get this job done and divide the spoils," Asher stated loudly.
"Agreed," Killian replied quickly. The two men under Killian tried to protest the treatment and he shot them down immediately. "Asher has worked tirelessly for the days following this job to find out the best approach to fighting a giant. Something tells me that it'd be best to follow his word religiously."
They advanced into the mountains of Winterhaven and found an arched doorway carved into the mountain itself. It was at least fifty feet tall. "Quite a large entryway," Asher remarked. "This isn't a young giant, be careful."
Leah followed Asher's lead as the rest of the group set up camp. Willow had not been happy about having to sit outside, but she understood that Asher and Leah had a better set of skills to disarm traps and the like.
Before they ever got past the entrance, Asher saw a flash of silver across the floor. "Clever," he said under his breath. He traced the wire back to it's origins and removed it from the trap that would have dropped a tree onto whoever tripped it.
Had they just blindly walked in, everyone in the group would likely be dead. Asher's years as a thief were coming into play with the fact that he had no issues spotting traps. He saw another flash of silver, by his guess it was to catch any stragglers who rushed forward after their group was killed.
Asher looked up to see a giant ballista aimed right at him. He gulped, seeing the size of the bolt pointed at him. It was a tree, shaved down to a point. Leah took care of the trap and she whispered to Asher, "This looks a little too sophisticated for any lone creature."
Asher nodded his agreement. "There has to be a mated pair here. By my guess, they likely already know we're here from us disarming their traps if they were able to set up in that way already." Asher saw the flicker of torches incoming and heard heavy footsteps.