As originally planned by the First Freehold Council and Hrrlak, the exchange of "ambassadors" arranged between the two communities during the original mine expedition prompted a visit on 25 Nightal, 1373DR. Acting in his official capacity, Councilor Nitis Nochan was accompanied to the factions' meeting by Adoward Beastfriend and his companion Shedim Kun, Samuel Fisher, and archmage Vashiir il Luereth das Ferevan, as well as Farwen Athscar and Uletna Darkroot.

Teleported near their destination by Councilor Shara Graye, the party set off to visit the greenskin folk, but quickly found evidence of heavy fighting in the area. On guard, they made their way to the iron mines and found the place dark and quiet. Not far inside, they encountered a few remaining orcs and ogres who looked as though they had seen battle. Provoked by Adoward's casting of a translation spell, following his stated refusal to "stand in these caves with all this gibbering and no idea what's being said," as on his previous visit, the on-edge greenskins attacked what seemed to be new intruders. Thankfully, quick work by Nitis, Vashiir, and Skardeg managed to halt the altercation before it could get out of hand.

Turok, the de facto leader of the beleaguered defenders, imparted that their people had been attacked by hill giants from the mountains, nearby, who claimed they sought vengeance against Hrrlak because the ogre was "friends with little'uns that kill bigguns. Bigguns not want to be driven out by little'uns trying to take land, so they kill and smash." Unable to answer, for the moment, Vashiir's question of who actually stirred the confrontation between hill folk and cave-dweller, the group resolved to set out and locate the giants' steading, where they would attempt to save those few who were taken alive during the attack, leaving Skardeg behind to keep command of his kin.

Having come prepared for diplomacy rather than infiltration and rescue, the group was left with few good options while making a plan of attack. After some argument, it was determined that Adoward, Farwen, and Uletna would remain hidden outside, to create a distraction if necessary or to otherwise assist in an escape. The remaining three Freeholders ventured inside via a chimney discovered to have a loose grate, and immediately discovered that the hill giants were apparently throwing some kind of party. While the initial assumption was that their merriment commemorated the successful assault on the mines, further intrusion into the steading revealed that the hill giants' chieftain, Nosnra, was actually entertaining a cloud giant guest, along with attendant stone giant servitors. The trio snuck through the feasthall using the cover of noise and Nitis's magical invisibility, eventually finding their way into the cellars of the compound.

There, four ogre guards kept watch over the various storage chambers and prison cells; fortunately, they were bored with their duty and easily fooled by a cunning telepathic bluff from Vashiir, who tricked them into convincing one another that their time would be better spent getting drunk on Nosnra's good liquor. Once they had departed, the Freeholders located the giants' goal, and Nitis used his magic to reshape the stone around the heavy door, enabling them to open it without need for a key. Inside, they swiftly overcame two more bugbear watchmen and reunited with Hrrlak and Mircea na Heliogabala, as well as the ogre shaman Khleg and a helpful, unidentified fourth prisoner, who warned that Nosnra's chief guard was a particularly cruel and vile hill giant wont to lording over his subordinates by making rounds to keep them from slacking off.

With appropriately ill timing, the giant in question happened by before the captives could be freed from their cells, and a short, ugly battle ensued wherein Samuel worked to dispatch their enemy's vicious pet wolves, while Nitis and Vashiir combined an aqueous orb and a spiked pit to make quick work of the giant. The cells were opened and the party was greatly enlarged by the addition of the rescuees, including the elf Caladhuen. Another human man was found behind the final door, but he had been driven mad by the torments he had endured, and with no way to reasonably incapacitate or carry him in such a way that the burden would not imperil their own escape, the Freeholders made the heavy and unenviable decision to put him out of his misery. Samuel stayed somewhat behind the others to carry out the loathsome task, cutting the nameless fellow's throat cleanly, for which the unfortunate soul seemed almost relieved.

Having armed Hrrlak with his gaoler's armor and magical axe, the group searched for a way out, and while hurriedly wetting parched throats at the giants' well found a drain at its bottom. Determining that the human-sized passage must come out somewhere downhill to explain why the spring didn't flood the cellars, the Freeholders and their allies chose to gamble with their limited resources. Caladhuen was able to endow everyone with the ability to breathe water, for a short time, while Khleg shrank himself and his fellow ogre to a more manageable size. Grimly, they swam the little tunnel, passing through a subterranean cavern and, eventually, to the outer layer of rock in the hillside below the steading. Nitis used his magic to widen the opening and create an exit, spilling everyone into the daylight.

There was little time to dry off before the party had to make their move, reuniting with Adoward and the others and hightailing it toward the iron mines. They made good time, under the circumstances, but shortly after nightfall they were caught up by the pursuit they had worried would follow them. Four more giants, two ogres, and a quartet of wolves clashed with the fleeing Freeholders and their friends, who gave a good accounting of themselves and slaughtered their attackers to the last...but not before both Uletna and Farwen fell to hurled boulders. Perhaps almost as great a tragedy was that their bodies had to be left behind, buried without ceremony on the plains not far from the scene of battle, as those left alive had little strength or room to carry the literal dead weight.

The return trip was thankfully without further incident, though the victorious rescue was sullied by the loss of two compatriots. Nitis did what he could to shape the stone of the mines into fortifications before all among their number collapsed to rest and recover from the ordeal. In light of all that had occurred, Hrrlak agreed to formalize his folk's tentative alliance with Freehold, promising to sell the village iron ore at a fair price, so long as someone taught his people how to mine it properly and supplied them with the means to defend themselves against future incursions. Troubled by the deaths of strangers who gave their lives to help her, Caladhuen likewise offered to help the burgeoning settlement, pledging her service to their cause for a year and a day from the party's return to Freehold on 4 Hammer, 1374DR.