One Giant Headache

The boys and I switched back to D&D after completing Blackstone Fortress, looking to move our Shattered Realm campaign forward prior to taking another hiatus when we begin Cursed City later this month.

When last we left our intrepid Shattered Realm heroes, they had just liberated that eponymous realm from the grip of hostile invaders from the Empire of Letavia. The heroes then worked with the disparate communities of the realm to forge a new, unified country -- hey, it's no longer a shattered realm! -- and Nathaniel's sagacious druid Vabaran was elected as one of the fledgling nation's leaders.

We picked up the storyline a year later (in game time) with the arrival of a Letavian ambassador requesting that the heroes come to their capital city and meet face-to-face with their new queen, the eight-year-old daughter of the king whom the heroes had defeated and captured the previous year. Although suspicious, the heroes journeyed to distant Letavia and negotiated a non-aggression treaty with young Queen Aveta, but they remained steadfast in their refusal to return her imprisoned father because of their concerns about the empire's warlike culture and bloody history. Among other things, they had learned that much of Letavia's wealth came from a civilization of giants whom the Letavians had annhilated centuries earlier. 

Despite lingering doubts about the long-term prospects for peace with imperialistic Letavia, Nathaniel was pleased that he had led these efforts to broker a pact between the two nations. Of course, since I'm the DM and I love a good plot twist, it can't be that easy. 

During a brief coda to the aforementioned adventure, the heroes visited a cloud giant to whom Matthew's rogue Sisen owed a debt for inadvertently damaging her cloudtop palace (it's a long story, and, yes, magic beans were involved). While paying off the debt, the heroes happened to mention that Letavia was now in a weakened state and ruled by a child. This cloud giant, old enough to remember the harm inflicted upon her people by Letavia ages ago, immediately vowed to rally her fellow giants and embark upon a war of revenge against Letavia.

What now? Will the heroes help their former (and possibly future) enemies, even if it means risking the wrath of the giants and putting their own young nation at risk?