"He sed he didint think thuh trolls wuz responsuble fer thuh dam bein' damaged," replies Pirknok thoughtfully. "But mebbe they know who is?"
"You wanna go chat them up?" Ventus says, leaning low in Beaks' saddle.
"It isn't the worst idea," Kaplan grunts. "We may be able to avoid conflict and find out who's directing them. Otherwise, we'll be right there when the fighting starts..."
Pirknok shrugs, then nods at the older dwarf's logic. "Wurth uh try," he agrees, moving for the next stair.
Kaplan follows behind the group, keeping an eye out for trouble.
Entering the caverns, Kaplan discovers huge piles of fresh offal and bits of bone but no trouble.
The trouble makes itself clear when the party turns the corner to see an enormous two-headed giant on guard. All four of its eyes grow wide with surprise and it hefts a pair of tree-trunk sized clubs.
"YOU NO BRIBE ME! I SMASH YOU FOR SKULLTAKERS!”
"So much for talking this out..."
Jessamy looks discontent as the group decides to go talk to the trolls, but she shrugs and goes along.
Who ever heard of talking to trolls?! These are the strangest dwarves ever. I always thought all they did was kill and drink and eat...
Her eyes grow wide as she sees the two-headed giant.
"Holy! It's a two-headed giant!"
Whipping out a pair of daggers in a blur, she sends them flying towards the creature before it can get with the smashing.
Jess's quick reflexes send a pair of daggers sailing through the air. They slam into the beast's exposed neck causing him to roar in pain.
Pirknok blinks a few times at the giant's first words. "Bribe ya? Wut?? Hey! No smashin'!"
Taking a deep breath, he draws his katana and waits for the giant to approach.
Ventus nods in understanding of the plan and holds his shield high.
The giant roars and lumbers forward, he rears back with one of those massive clubs…
Pirknok steps forward and swings his sword just as the giant rears back for its own attack.
The dwarf dodges the clumsy club-strike as it collides with the ground, then calls on his inner reserves and swings at the nasty creature again.
Diving between the creatures legs, Jessamy whips her sword free of its sheath as she slides beneath him on her back, lashing out at his vulnerable underbelly.
"Oh, god, it stinks!" she complains, as she sucks in a lungful of breath, her cheeks puffing out.
The heroic rogue’s handspring isn’t quite nimble enough and the giant swats at her as she darts by.
She plunges one of her blades into the beast’s side causing it to roar in pain. Pirknok and Ventus join her hacking and slashing at the two-headed giant.
Kaplan flings a bolt of flame at the ettin while Eli prepares a bomb.
Unable to withstand the fiery punishment, the ettin falls to the ground with a groan.
Pirknok glares at the dead giant for a moment, then takes a deep breath and lets it out. "If these trolls got giants werkin' fer them..." he trails off and shakes his head. "Keep yer eyes opin."
The upper walk of Skull’s Crossing is relatively clear of rubble, though a three-inch layer of water has pooled across much of its surface. Here and there, sections of the dam’s surface have crumbled away, although this damage appears relatively old. A tower of skull-shaped domes sits at the center of the dam’s walk. To the north surge the choppy waters of the Storval Deep, while to the south, the slope of the dam’s face drops away nearly three hundred feet to a muddy lake below.
A number of ogres are assembled here, busily tearing apart the dam with their crude picks. A couple of them notice the party’s approach and the giants attack!
Pirknok pauses for half a moment to take in the scene, then gives a bestial growl and charges forward, sword held high.
Jessamy whimpers as the newest wand appears to be barely effective in healing the wound from the ettin.
"I hope it's not cursed," she complains, not clearly indicating whether she means the wand or the wound.
Then, faced with more attackers, she screams incoherently in rage again flings her newly recovered daggers, targeting the closest giant.
... she screams incoherently in rage...
The ogre’s are caught completely off guard by the the Shoanti-dwarf’s ferocity. Pirknok opens the nearest ogre’s belly, nearly dropping him in one blow.
Jessamy's inhuman cry startles the ogre’s further. One seems especially shaken and promptly finds one of the rogue’s daggers buried in his thigh.
Ventus calls Beaks to his side and mounts up.
Eli draws a bead on the ogre battling Pirknok and prepares another bomb.
The fiery explosive finishes what the dwarf's mighty blow started. The ogre falls to the ground in burning bloody chunks.
Kaplan chants and calls out to the spirits. The already cloudy skies quickly grow dark with an anger to match the druid's.
The ogres clutch their hooks and close on the party.
The biggest ogre maintains his distance and reveals a set of crude tomahawks. With a vicious grin he tosses them at the leading dwarf.
The stocky dwarf growls as two tomahawks brush his shoulder, fixing his eye for a moment on the big ogre before deliberately turning his back and hacking away at the ogre nearest him.
With two swift and furious strokes, Pirknok removes the next ogre's leg at the thickest part of the femur. It teeters and falls to the ground before quickly bleeding to death.
"Ha! Gotta try harder than that!" Jessamy taunts the nearest ogre as she circles around him, lashing out with her blade in the same swift motion she uses to draw it from her sheath.
She curses as the fancy swordplay betrays her, the tip of her blade getting caught for a moment in the sheath and throwing off her aim.
Kaplan targets the furthest ogre , calling down a bolt of lightning.
;
Taking a vicious blow, Ventus whispered to Beaks, the sound barely noticeable over the sounds of combat. Moving as one, man and beast turned into a whirl of blade and claws.
Eli squints and aims another bomb at the two nearest Ogres, bowling it underhand.
In a flurry of feathers and blades, Ventus and Beaks systematically take apart another ogre while Eli’s explosive maims the other.
The big Ogre howls in pain as he’s painfully zapped by Kaplan’s summoned bolt of lightning. Realizing he’s not quite dead, he scowls at the stout druid and hurls several axes his way.
Scarcely has Pirknok finished the ogre in front of him before he turns at the sound of more hatchets flying through the air and points his sword at the originator. "NO!" he screams, charging forward with blade raised.
The big ogre hacks at Pirknok as he charges in.
Despite suffering a nasty wound, the ferocious dwarf delivers a mighty blow of his own. The big ogre reels but stays on his feet.
Seeing Ventus and Beaks occupying the one ogre, Jessamy nervous glances over her shoulder to find Pirknok alone against the other.
Taking a deep breath, she again races into action, trying to get behind the thing as she slashes out with her sword.
"Kapti ĝin inter ni," she calls.
"Catch it between us!"
Jess manages to cut the brute squaring off with Pirknok but it's only a superficial wound.
Kaplan lends his aid to Pirknok, once again sending a bolt of lightning at the big ogre.
Shunting aside the poorly swung hook with his shield, Ventus cocks his head at the next ogre and responds in kind.
Ventus finds that his new opponent is a bit better prepared than his last and, though still bloodied, fends off most of the flurry of attacks from man and beast
The big ogre is once again too slow to avoid Kaplan's conjured arc of lightning and is badly burned. The combination of wounds leaves him haggard and bloody but he still stands. With a roar he draws two more axes and hacks at the little people surrounding him.
Kaplan continues to focus on the big ogre.
"Ha, gotta be better than that!" Jess gleefully taunts the massive ogre, as she pulls her second sword and lays into her foe, finishing off with a particularly vicious thrust intended for his groin, though she merely catches the fleshy part of his leg.
Pirknok takes the hatchet in his chest, grunting softly from the increased pain. Grabbing the shaft between the crook of his arm, he prevents the ogre from defending itself while he hacks viciously at the monstrous torso.