DM, im waiting to see what the others do, as I have a crazy plan if the door is not shut or the Ogres make it through. Id like to be the last to act, but before the round is up and the Giants alerted.
I am waiting to see if Oskar/Luthia can kill them because I am certain I won't and I thought I could try to close the door?
@ Malaki: Feel free to wait, within reason. Or, feel free to post actions spoilered with basic if/thens (If somebody kills the ogre, then I do xyz... etc)
@ Olden: Of the ogres who were headed for the great hall, one remains, having been pretty badly mistreated by Elwe already. You might be able to drop him. Or close the door.
EDIT:
Edit:
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Oskar moves in to help Elwë dispatch the ogres.
Luthia supports Oskar wailing on any remaining Ogres...
[Str, Prof., Bless]
[Str, Song]
If he can Olden will try to get the door closed.
Malaki dashes forward, activating his Hat of Disguise to take on the form of an Orc similar to the one he slayed. As he passes the others, he whispers a warning.
I will try to stall them. If this works, be prepared to attack in the confusion!
As he moves into the Feasting Hall in the Form of an Orc, he slams the door shut behind him and backs against it, as if attempting to hold it closed. He shouts out in Giant whilst pointing at the Ogres in the room.
Masters, Ogres betray us! Great battle in the halls, building and wolves burning! Ogres seek to turn Orcs against you, but I killed traitors! They are coming from the south door, many Ogres with nasty traitor Orcs! To the South!
He stands ready to use Cunning Action to flee or dive behind the nearest cover if the plan does not work.
If the Ogre has been slain, Malaki will move up to the door, using his Hat to take the form of an Orc, and close it casually, as if nothing is wrong and with no sudden movements to draw the feasting Giant's eyes.
Oskar takes down the last of the ogres running into the great hall, and Olden pulls the door closed as Luthia pummels one of the orcs fleeing to the southern corridor, causing it to whimper and run faster.
Malaki puts his head to the door to listen, but as best he can tell from the general uproar in the room, nobody noticed.
"Well that was a close thing!"
Luthia then engages in a quick search of the giantesses, ogres and any orcs killed for valuables.
.
" So what now " Oskar says as he cleans the blood off his axes and wipes his face with a rag. " Hide the weapons from the armoury? Explore some more? "
We need to slay the survivors, or take advantage of our surprise and strike at the Chieftain now. We cannot risk the alarm being raised and our foes rallying against us. Let us strike quick, and drown them in their life blood. My blades thirst for vengeance.
After glancing around for any further enemies, and finding none in sight, Elwë's breathing starts to calm. His work had been done for the time being, but he knew there was much to come.
"While I wish to see these giants dead as quickly as possible, the concept of making sure their weapons are well out of their reach and no further surprises await us when we join in combat does sound appealing."
Olden nods at the elf and dwarf, I understand your ah..."blades" thirst and I am all for that but I agree with these fellows that a more tactical approach is in order? Luck has been on our side but that won't hold forever. Sleeping guards, scullery maids and kitchen workers are quick work, but I saw no less than twelve? And were those stone giants? AND A CLOUD GIANT? I'm sorry sir but I won't blindly rush into that.
Olden furrows his brow then continues. Even if the alarm is raised they would likely break into teams. I think we need to draw them out little by little. Or kill the rest in the complex so we are sure that only the feat hall remains.
Luthia likewise calms herself and shakes the energy of combat out of her limbs, stretches her neck from side to side and drops to her haunches - her favorite thinking position.
At last. A sense of scale and perspective is achieved.
At some point the feasting revealers will come. There is no denying that. So far, the fire hasn't seemed to rouse them yet, nor our combat.""
Luthia pauses for a moment, idly toying with a bit of discarded bloodied cartilage from an ogre's misshapen head.
"Our best option is to winnow around them as much as possible and try to find a place to meet them on our terms. They have the home advantage here - up until now, we have little idea of the interior of the hall."
"They talk a bit o' sense lad. Maybe we can find some where to lie in wait while smaller groups search the fort. Surprise 'em, one group at a time." Oskar says to Malaki.
Indeed. I spoke in haste, and did not mean to imply we should charge in at this moment. I believe it would be most prudent to hunt down any survivors and slay them, so we do not have to fear any potential reinforcements. I also agree we should hide the weapons after having done so. I cannot quite recall if the Giants inside the hall are armed or not, but it cannot hurt our cause any.
With that said, Malaki begins stalking North, up the passageway to scout ahead and find out where the survivors fled to.
North, Malaki finds a pantry, full of giant-sized quantities of various foodstuffs. The larder seems a bit stripped, as it would in the midst of a huge feast. Two doors open to the south.
The rest of you are milling around in the corridor and the kitchen, when suddenly the noise of revelry in the great hall dies down. There is an ominous moment of near silence, and then....
"þak er á eldinn!!"* a voice cries.
"þak er á eldinn!!" other voices echo.
Followed by a tremendous tumult of chairs scraping across the stone floors and heavy footsteps. Almost lost in the noise is a lone voice, drunkenly yelling "Við þurfum ekki ekkert vatn, láta móðir helvíti brenna!"
Elwë would repeat what the giants were saying in the form of a question, "The roof is on fire?"
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Luthia smiles a wry grin.
"Ah. Yes, the fire. A little distraction we, ah, cooked up. Seems to have worked finally."
"I see, well this might be our chance to strike while their splitting into smaller groups. That or the fight might just come to us."
We should move on in haste or find a place for an ambush such as the tower. Regardless we should not stay here. When they exit the hall this bloodbath will surely be found. I fear they will release those wolfs outside to scour the place. We should hurry
Elwë lips would curl into a smile as he hears Olden's idea. "I surely would not mind standing my ground in that tower letting those damned giants come up one by one to face us."
" The only problem with the tower is that there's no where to fall back to if we need. That's probably going to be true of any room though... Let's move. " Oskar moves to the door and checks the hall for enemies.
Oskar clanks out into the hall, but for the moment, none of the giants have come out the door.
Malaki quickly checks both rooms, then moves back, silent as a shade, to the others. Emerging swiftly from the shadows he speaks to the group.
Two doors lie back that way. One appears to connect to the hall outside the kitchen here. Have the rest of you settled upon a plan? We can move back towards the southern exit and attempt to cut off any search parties emerging there, or continue north deeper into the compound. Either way, I shall scout ahead for danger and bloodshed.
"I think some of us might be be agreed upon the fact that it is time to choose a place to make our stand. I am fond of the tower so that we bottle neck them and take what height advantage we can."
When Malaki returns:
"Moving in further is inadvisable. We at least know that which we have explored - fighting in unexplored territory will only lead to... shortcomings of a bloody nature."
Luthia listens to Elwë.
"While the tower poses no threat to Malaki and I with our magical boots it makes retreat unattainable as Oskar mentioned. Yes it will give us a height advantage, and delimit the number of foes attacking at once; but if they decide to push it over, or worse, learn from our rather brash use of fire we could easily perish there."
Luthia thinks hard.
"Perhaps we should merely find and pick off outlying giants where possible, making sure our avenues of retreat are still open to us. In this emergency, there may be confusion and lack of organisation."
"No matter where we choose to go, we need to move quickly as they are already on the move."
Malaki moves to the door leading into the feasting hall, staying in the shadows. Puttting his ear to the door he attempts to hear if any giants are leaving the room, or how many may still be inside.
Well we haven't seen much. Unless we plan on getting in the pantry we may as well move deeper into the complex. The front door is surely no defense, and if the tower is a liability that forces us to go in not back the way we came.
Malaki: You hear a great deal of commotion, but it seems as if most of the giants are making their way out of the great hall.
Malaki moves back to the others.
It sounds as if most of the Giants are leaving the great hall. Either we move to cut them off, attack through this side door, or we must move deeper into the compound where we can be hunted on their terms as we attempt to pick them off. I favor a swift strike now that they are distracted. Choose quickly, we have no time to tarry!
Elwë would go silent. This conversation was getting them no where. Intead, he would move to the doorway Malaki had just been at and wait with his greatsword in hand.
Taking the Wood Elves movement as a decision, Malaki moves to the doorway as well, waiting for the others to make a decision.
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" Let's strike now in the confusion. We can make a quick strike and then retreat if necessary. "
Oskar moves to the door too.
Olden knock an arrow and nods, be it a little begrudgingly, as he whispers to himself, May Oeridian grant us her boon
You are gathered at the door, the noise seems to be dying down as more and more giants seem to be leaving.
Luthia chews her lip for a moment before nodding.
"Fine. Let us strike now. We wait for the last to leave then come upon them from behind. These creatures will use every advantage they have, and I recommend we do the same..."
When it sounds like most have left, Malaki will throw open the door and rush the Chieftain, or another of the more powerful giants if possible.