A giant? You mean, an actual giant, and not just a really big guy? Yikes! I've never faced one of them before."
"Not much ta know about them critters. Other than mah pappy tellin' me the only good'un was a dead'un." Kreig shrugs. "I tustled with one or two on a outing fer the Rockjaws fore we was in the outs. Ifn we got it sleepin', best thing'd ifn we fight it is ta get in a few licks while he's nappin'."
He crosses his arms across his barrel chest. "Good ol' fashioned wake up call...but we poke the giant, we poke the bear too. There enough space to keep the big boy contained in his room?"
He looks to the magic-users. "Any over you razzle-dazzles got some flim-flam we can throw in the bear ta keep him sleepin'?"
Therena shakes her head.
"Just my smile," Misha replies, demonstrating for effect. "But sadly that magic has only proven to work on humans."
Giant, Hill – Large Humanoid (Giant)
DC 10 – Hill Giants have overlong arms, stooped
shoulders, low foreheads, and thick, powerful limbs
DC 15 – Hill Giants are selfish, cunning brutes who survive
through raiding and pillaging
"Anyway, as for the giant---hill giants are usually raiders. They can be more cunning than they look and are only out for themselves. My guess is that cave is probably full of ill gotten gains. Telman, in your hunt for the trolls, did you hear anything about giant attacks? I doubt this guy'd be sticking around here, with his furry body guard, unless it was a useful hunting ground.
"Anyway, we should probably take care of him at some point... maybe there's a way to lure him out---perhaps into one of Josef's magic pits?"
"First thing he's going to do is order that bear to attack us," Tgerena says. "Rikar, could you lead it away first?"
"Nothing in our hunt screamed 'giant'. Fairly certain the rangers would have been able to tell if the thing leading the trolls was something that....obvious...."
Telman gazes a the bear, in agreement with Therena's assessment. "How secure is that thing? He'd need to release it before it could attack us, right?"
”All right,” Rikar says, ”sounds like our giant’s not the type we’ll have much luck making friends with. But I’d like to avoid killing the bear if we can. Maybe we can get past the bear and into the giant’s cave, and fight the big guy while the bear’s still chained? Of course, if the bear gets loose, we’ll be between the bear and the giant as we fight.”
”’Course, at that point Misha could just flash the old enchanting smile, get us out of trouble right there,” he adds with a chuckle.
and a contained bear should be less of a threat than a loose giant....one would think.
Kreig nods in agreement, none too eager to engage both near and giant. He pulls his shortbow and moves passed the bear as Rikar soothes away its violent tendencies.
Good beastie, nice boy... no tender viddles fer ya here...jus' us sneaky types lookin' ta give yer master the long sleep...
The dwarf creeps into the chamber and into position... As he goes, he gestures to the others using hand signs to point out potentially noisy spots along the way.
Therena tries to emulate the soundless dwarf as she slips past the bear.
She readies her enlarge person wand to use on folks.
Rikar sends Latys ahead with Kreig, instructing her to help the dwarf in the fight. He then stands by the bear, endeavoring to keep the huge creature as disinterested as possible in the parade of brave adventurers stumbling past. Man and cat both keep their senses alert for any noise from the giant.
Misha steps back a moment, quietly casts alter self to turn herself into a goblin--making sure the party can see her and knows what she's doing--and then follows behind in her smaller form.
Everyone manages to creep past the now almost asleep bear, and into the cave beyond where there is a giant at the southern end of the cave, laying on and covered in furs and looking fast asleep. As Therena moves into the room corridor to the room, she kicks a rock and the noise seems to annoy the giant as it turns and rubs the sleep from it's eyes and looks at the group.
Are some of them still in range of the bear?
Thinking quickly, Therena casts silence on a rock 5-feet behind the bear, so that the giant will be unable to give any verbal commands to the bear, but they'll be able to cast spells once they get in there.
Once his friends have made it past the bear, Rikar slips through them and enters the giant's cave, ending up at Latys' side. Blade in hand but held low, he greets the giant, "We don't need to kill you, but we can. You can die or leave the mountain. Your choice."
He then gives the party a quick glance and the slightest of shrugs, as if to say, Kind of winged that one, how'd I do?
"Lookee here, bunkie," Kreig holds his position, arrow knocked. "...we done kilt us them trolls over yonder, even put a case o' the deads on that ugly hag. Cleared out the gobbers...put a few spears into that there fish monster n' kilt it too." Kreig tips his bow up, making a show of eying the tip of the broadhead, then tips it back down. "Thing is, bunkie, I'd be happy ta see ya surrender n' leave outta this mountain with yer furry beastie back there. But I got this new fangled poison here that I'd love ta try out. Feller I learnt it from, he says it gives giants like yerself all sorts o' conditions..." He starts counting off on his fingers. "Heavin' blood, eyes turnin' black, brains leakin'..." He shakes his head and chuckles. "...boy it sure sounds like fun fer me... 'course that means ol' bear back there ain't gotta pappy...he'll be all by his onesies..."
"Or like the man here said, ya can get outta here n' take yer bear wid ya." He winks up at the giant and motions with the bow for a decision. "So what'll it be, bunkie? Ya gonna surrender? Or does ol' Kreig get ta plug ya?"
...convince the giant he'll die by poison or worse...or he can surrender and live.
Misha, still in her goblin form, laughs wickedly. "I hopes it fights! Stumpy poison makes its eyes melt, its sack shrink, its blood spicy and tasty!" She claps and licks her lips.
Telman stays silent, his bow drawn and ready to fire. They've managed to get it talking, no reason to mess that up yet.
"We don't want to fight you," Rikar says forcefully, "and you probably don't want to die. So you can leave this place, or tell me why we should let you stay. This Eannha wasn't nice to us, killed one of our friends. So you'd better start moving or start explaining."
Kreig pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head in exasperation. Finally he says, "Lookee here, big fella, there's a differnce 'tween bein' nice n' makin' a big fella like yourself stay in small space like this here cave. Ya gotta whole world outside ta rustle up some trouble in. Mebbe find ya a lady giant ta get cozy wid." Kreig wags his bow a bit and then points upwards. "So which is it? Am I gonna plug ya? Or do ya wanna go free n' start a new life wid fuzzy bear?"
The giant listens to the words, and scratches its head in a bit of confusion, however he still seems taken in by the aggressive bluff. "Me and Utha go. Find new friend outside, like Eannha." He picks up a bag from the corner, slings it over his shoulder and moves to the bear. While leaving the collar on, he rips the chain link off and he and the bear move slowly towards the entrance that will take them thru the mines and out. Once out of the silence, "You come. Rock and Water creature not happy with Bungh and Utha, but I get us out."
"Think he means we need to tell Ground he's alright."
"Well, if it'll get him out of here, that's fine by me."
Kreig keeps his bow knocked but gestures acceptance. "Reckon if Bungh here's gonna not raise a fuss, least we can do is walk 'im n' his pal out."
As they walk, Kreig asks, "Lookee here, Bungh. We're gonna be headin' deeper inta this here mountain. What sorta folk r' callin' this place home now?" The dwarf points off in the direction of the tunnels leading deeper. "Ya ever head down that a ways before?"
Bold.....not just avoiding the needless battle but actually trying to get info from the beast.........
Confident that the group has the situation in hand Telman adds nothing to the conversation but does not yet relax his drawstring.
Therena picks up the silence rock but sticks it in her pouch to block its effects. She keeps her hand on it, ready to pull it out if the giant starts acting hostile.
"Well Eannha say Saitara her friend. But keep away ugly Serella, and cat woman Asaerpe. replies Bungh, as he heads for the tunnel that will take you up to the dwarven mines. "We need quiet so Rock and Water not hear us." he says as he pulls a really large club out of the bag that holds his possessions.
"Gonna needs ta be more colorful than that, Bungh." Kreig considers how to ask the right questions, thinking in his the hill giant's lack of smarts could lose a lot in the translation. "What's this Saitara like anyhow? Is she like Eannha? Or she somethin' else?" Guess I'll start there 'fore I scramble his eggs with too many questions.
Silence blankets the group for just a second as the giant pulls the club out, and the jumpy aasimar takes out her ssshhh stone. She quickly stuffs it back in her pouch and hopes nobody noticed.
Rikar is on his guard as they escort the giant out of the mountain. A part of him is weary of all the time underground, but he's also come to feel somewhat at home inside this strange place, and he's curious to see what other surprises it holds.