[ Somnus cannot be found this night among the festivities. Instead, there is a post up on the network by the username 000000, and it reads the following: ]
i require the expertise of a bloodmage and an alchemist. they needn't be the same person. meet me at the westernmost warehouse.

[ Since he's abysmal at typing on the network or using any such technology, replies will be slow to those that respond. For those who simply head for the warehouse indicated, Somnus will be standing, his back against the warehouse and arms crossed until you arrive. When he sees you, he straightens and beckons you over, his expression as grim, entirely unsuited for the festivities... the din of which can still be heard echoing off the empty alleyways between buildings. ]

[ He is familiar with riding horseback, and so when he's offered the animal, he wastes no time breaking off to give chase. The animal is suited to him, as well as battle: tall, strong, muscular, and brave, for the horse doesn't shirk from the Giant's lengthy strides and the boulders kicked up by its heels. His spirit guardian is the silhouette of an armored dragon, its wings made from what looks to blades.

To anyone watching, it's obvious that he's apt this sort of combat. Unfortunately, the giant seems to be absorbing the souls meant for the equinox's dead-guidance rituals.

There's no time to think, though, not really. Should a boulder tossed up by the giant's steps fall from high, he'll be using his sword, kinetically, to slice clean through it so that it doesn't strike you. The bisected pieces create a heavy shockwave upon the soft ground, but the resulting jostle is nothing compared to the Stone Giant's heavy footfalls ahead. They are making some progress, but will it be enough? ]

[ While not immediately known to those who ride after the goliath, the Stone Giant eventually makes its rest in the middle of the Forest of the Felled, letting out one final cry before it turns immobile, inert, and immovable. The small force that had set out to stop this ancient being have failed.

Somnus stands a few meters from the creature, his robes, cloak, and hair in disarray from the exhausting ride it had taken to chase the giant. Thick mud lines the hem of his robes and cakes the soles of his boots. He is injured, but only slightly: a cut upon his forearm, shallow but bright with some blood, and that same arm being nursed by his other as if it had been struck by something heavy (a wayward boulder as kicked up by the Giant, if anyone was near him with the chase). Somnus' greatsword and spear hover behind him, but they're readily dropped, their pointed ends plunging to the ground as he releases the kinetic magic he holds upon them, allowing their blades to be sheathed by the earth. Wordlessly, Somnus approaches the Giant, and he lifts up a calloused hand to its face, his expression momentarily showing something other than its usual, severe grimness. Dejection, perhaps? Or peace.

The moment passes. Silently, his fingers slip from the stone facet, and he turns his back to it.

A: Find him in this reflective moment. Or...

B: ...Find him after a few hours pass, and he's made a small campsite and fire beneath one of the trees, his cloak bundled around his shoulders and his new horse grazing nearby. Somnus gnaws on a piece of dried jerky, quiet, but should you be there and in need of a fire, he'll gesture towards it to share its warmth with you. ]

[ As soon as he returns to Camelot, he sets out on horseback in an attempt to assess the damage done. It turns out there's nothing much to see-- not anymore. Ashes cake the streets, smoke rises from dying fires beneath the rubble. A few stragglers walk among piles of debris in hopes of finding any lost trinket that survived their home.

Somnus leans down to pick up a doll-- with his good hand, mind you, for the other is in a bandage. Stitched from cornsilk and stuffed with beads, it is a meager toy, but the wear upon its pale strings for hair and patchwork dress show that not all damage done to it was only by the attack.

His thumb brushes over one of its button eyes, dusting soot from it, and then he turns, cloak rippling behind him. Should you be nearby, he'll ask: ] The refugees... Those who survived are housed in Camelot, no?

[ Find him here among the refugees:
a) He's just returned the doll as mentioned above to its owner.
b) Somnus is brushing out his new horse, somewhere just outside of Camelot.
c) He sits at the edge of a fountain, stretching his injured arm and wrist so as to test its versatility after a round of someone's healing.
d) He can converse with you about how news of the giant's purpose, that it is an being more ancient than the gods. "The fae say any soul it takes is no more. Have you heard of such a thing before?" He has, but. He doesn't mention this. ]

[ Have an idea in mind for Somnus? Wildcard me here, PM this account, PP drinksteapots or reach me at Jade294#6977 ! ]