Otherplaces – Gavarol, the Great Gibbet of (A to Z Challenge, G)

The tale goes that a band of brave venturers, noble, righteous and lucky captured a giant that had terrorized the district for many years.  Being good and noble, they brought the giant back -on two wagons cobbled together- to the local assizes.  There the giant was tried, judged and sentenced to death by hanging, as was the legal punishment for bandits in that time and place.

The giant laughed and laughed.  “Where will you find a tree tall enough and strong enough to hang me?”

the Great Gibbet of Gavarol

Gibbet for Giants

It towers over the crossroad it was constructed next to, a massive piece of reinforced wood, made by skilled woodsmen aided by a magi and a wise woman, it took a team of sixteen oxen and two weeks to drag it to the execution site.  The gallows were hoisted into place by dozen of locals aided by the oxen.   The rope that was used was as think as a man’s leg and took three strong men to fashion into a noose.  Only men were used to pull the rope taunt and raise the giant just high enough to strangle to death.

The giant was left to rot, a feast for crow and ravens who came in their hundreds to tear at the rotting flesh and gore themselves.  It was only as bones fell from the corpse that they were carted away for various uses around the region, from building supports to carved decorations in church, hardly a town, village or lord’s hall within twenty-five miles does not have some momento mori made the giant’s bone.

Review – the Genius Guide to: the Time Warden

The Time Warden is an interesting take on characters who can manipulate time, while not for every campaign if you have considered using time travelers in a magic setting, this will provide a wealth of ideas and tools for such.

The Genius Guide to: the Time Warden is a 15-page PDF (14 pages if you remove the credits/OGL page) for the Pathfinder RPG written by Owen K. C. Stephens and published by Super Genius Games.  This is part of Super Genius Games’ Genius Guide line.