"Well, spriggans aren't technically fey. They're more like gnomes gone wrong. They're mean and malicious, but probably not suicidal. You can try talking to them," Cirieo says.
The stinking cloud dissipates, but the web remains. The spriggans will be able to respond soon.
"You have a chance to return to you homes," Wulfram added. "Do not waste it. We prefer to live peacefully with those who are peaceful towards us. We have the strength to deal swiftly with those who are not."
"We was just looking to get drunk and party! We will go and not come back!" says the giant spriggan.
"Yeah, you won't never see us again! Can you get us outta this web?" the small one pleads. They seem sincere.
The giant spriggan shrinks back down to just a few feet tall. The two humanoids holds their hands up in a non-threatening manner. Assuming you give the space to do so, they walk past you slowly before quickly scurrying down the stairs and out of sight.
Wulfram examined the magic items to determine their properties.
He gave Karla his remaining potion of cure light wounds to heal Niko some more.
Eustoma taps Nik'o one more time with the wand.
"That's some nice equipment he had. I don't think I want the club though. I like my hair. I have a shirt that's just as good, and that one stinks." Eustoma curls up her nose at the smell.
"Shall we go find the brother that stitches things together?" Eustoma asks.
"You'd have to grow your hair well down below your waist to use that club!", Wulfram replied with a laugh. "You'd be practically sweeping the floor!
"Yes, that Bristle Billie needs to be stopped! Let's check the top of the keep, although I think the guard I overheard earlier made it sound like he's in one of the towers."
When everyone was ready, Wulfram climbed the next flight of stairs.
There is a door leading into the southeast tower, but it appears to have been sealed into the walls and does not open. Wulfram leads the group upstairs to the top floor of the keep.
A heavy wooden table—scarred with fire and cracked in half—occupies the center of this chamber. A wide balcony to the west provides a commanding view of the courtyard, and several wooden doors are set into the walls.
A brutish, one-eyed giant stands in this room. He carries a large, well-made axe and wears a simple tunic. He has a head of shaggy hair, and the lower half of his face is obscured by a bristly, dark beard.
The giant roars and hefts his axe!
He quickly stomps over to Wulfram and attacks, his blade clanging against the shaman's armor.
Rogar summons a mass of earth from the surrounding air, forming it into a deadly javelin, and throws it at the giant in front of them!
"He's interesting. He's called an ohancanu, a brutal creature that delights in destruction. He is resistant to weapons not made of cold iron and his essence is tied to several long white hairs in his beard. Plucking them can drain his life energy. We'd have to steal them from his beard."
She fires two cold iron arrows into him.
Sia bounds up and gives him a bite on his knee, and misses.
Wulfram wasn't familiar with this type of giant, so he accepted her characterization of it. "That's not very friendly!", he cried, as the creature tried to slash him. "You're not going to make friends behaving that way!" He dropped his spear, pulled out his mace, stepped forward and swung two-handed at the brute.
Karla coats the ohacanu in glitterdust, but it resists being blinded.
Eustoma fires a pair of arrows, hitting the fey once. As Sia rushes in, the giant slices her with his axe, leaving a painful wound that throws off the wolf's aim.
Wulfram draws his mace and steps forward, bashing the giant's knee and bruising it.
Rogar hurls a javelin of stone that shatters harmlessly against the fey's tough hide.
Cirieo hobbles into the room and shoots Karla's crossbow, but the bolt narrowly misses his target!
The ohancanu turns back to Wulfram and cuts up the shaman good!
"Ungh!", grunted Wulfram, as ohancanu cut him. "You'll pay for that — in a moment." Entreating the spirits, he mended his wounds.
"Surrender? Har, har! If Halk's dead, then I don't need an invitation to join the party! Think I'll kill you then drink myself silly!" the one-eyed giant bellows.
Rogar prepares another attack, and sends a block of stone flying at the giant's eye. Unfortunately, it blinks (or did it wink?) and Rogar misses.
Sia stays her ground and bites at the creature again. The pain makes her miss.
Eustoma fires two more cold iron arrows at the giant.
Karla blasts the giant with a magic missile, burning a small hole into his chest.
Eustoma scores another hit with an arrow, while Sia fails to hit again.
Wulfram takes a moment to heal the vicious wound the ohancanu dealt him.
Rogar hurls more stone, but the hulking fey dodges his blast once more.
Cirieo tries to shoot the giant again, but once more the aim is off. "Dang it! I gotta find a crossbow my size!" he laments.
The ohancanu keeps the pressure up, bringing his axe down towards Wulfram again. The shaman's defensive spells keep him safe from the deadly weapon.
After attending to his own injuries, Wulfram bolstered Sia, to keep her in the fight.
"Boo! That's terrible!" the giant groans and rolls his one eye, resisting Karla's spell.
Rogar tries a different tactic, focusing all of his power into a single boulder, crushing its size to an impossibly small pebble. He shoots it at the giant with incredible speed, whizzing across the room at the giant's eye.
Eustoma fires two more cold iron arrows at the giant.
Sia bites at the giant.
Eustoma drives two more arrows into the ohancanu's chest, while Sia manages a good bite, ripping at the muscles of the giant's leg.
As it roars in pain, Rogar hurls a pebble with incredible speed and force. This time his aim is true, the blast tearing through the fey's eye and lodging deep within its brain. The giant groans, wobbles, then topples to the floor with a terrific crash!
When you get the chance to look around the top floor of the keep, most of the rooms appear to be quarters for the Rangers. Each contains a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, but the furnishings have been vandalized by the fey. One of the wardrobes though is intact and locked, and there are several magical auras coming from within.
The doors to the west are open and lead out onto the balcony overlooking the fort's courtyard. There seems to be something heavy on the other side of the door to the south blocking it from opening.
Wulfram took a moment to catch his breath after the giant fell. "Do you have more healing potions in your haversack, Karla?", he asked.
Wulfram searched the various room in the top floor of the keep. When he found the intact wardrobe, he spent some time examining it and trying to open it.
Wulfram and Rogar work together to examine and pry open the locked wardrobe. It takes a few minutes, but eventually they are able to get it open. Inside is a lot of equipment that seems to have been taken from the Rangers--including several pieces sized for a halfling.
"Excellent! Here's my kit!" Cirieo says, reclaiming his gear. He returns Karla's crossbow and Eustoma's sling staff before strapping his studded leather armor. He frowns at the extra greave and boot that he no longer needs due to his missing leg.
Cirieo loops his left pant leg up through his leather belt to keep it out of the way.
"Well, I'd rather be a proper ranger than an improper one. Guess I'd better mind my manners to keep up the facade," he says wryly.
Wulfram used a scroll to cure his remaining wounds, and then examined the magic items (although he didn't learn much).
Wulfram is unable to identify the items at this time.
"What a handsome hafling you are in your uniform." Eustoma blushes as she complements Ciciero.
"Don't forget I have that wand Wulfram if you want to make use of it." She taps Sia with it a couple of times. "Wulfram you would look good in that bandoleer.
Let me see the items. She takes a look at the cloak and the weapon.
The items are a cloak of elvenkind and a +1 falchion. The sword's warmth just seems to be a strange quirk of its enchantment.
Wulfram tried on the bandoleer and struck a heroic pose. "What do you think, Pele? Does it suit me?"
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Pele circled around to look at her master. *It seems to be making your head swell.*
"Nice items, and you look very brave in that bandoleer." She eyese the cloak, but doesn't say anything about wanting it.
"Aye, we're all a bunch of dashing adventurers," Cirieo says. "We can strut our stuff once we're done here. Shall we move on? Do you want to force this door open, or head back downstairs?"
"Bristle Billie might well be in that tower!", Wulfram declared. "What do think, Rogar? How quickly could you blast through the door? It might be faster than forcing it open using muscle power."
"Aye, ah think ah can do somethin' wi' tha. Everyone ready? 'Ere we go."
Rogar spins, gathering elemental earth as he whips around and sends a mass of stone flying at the door.
The door shatters into splinters, and the force of the blast knocks over the heavy cabinet that was blocking the other side. Arrow slits in the western, southern, and eastern walls look over the surrounding forest. A descending staircase in the northeastern corner ends suddenly, sealed over with stone a few steps down, and a large trap door in the ceiling is open. Several circular targets have been painted
on the walls in vivid blue paint, but the room contains only a few chairs, a small desk piled with empty wine cups, and four large braziers.
Four creatures squeak in surprise at your violent entry: miniscule, green-skinned humanoids that wield needle-thin rapiers. A pair of dragonfly wings holds each of the wee creatures aloft.
"Knaves!" one of them shouts, boldly brandishing her tiny blade. "You are guilty of most vile trespass upon our chambers! I challenge you to duel to prove your honor!"