Raen unleashes her magicks on the outnumbered giants. First fire lashes, then ice binds.
A fireball explodes over both giants.
Then a crust of ice envelops the hill giant.
Still struggling to catch up, Vael hustles into the room. Fresh wounds open up as Doxon is slowly healed by the spiritual link between them.
Raen's fireball is immense. The explosion rocks a bunch of the chemicals on the floor, but it soaks into the wood before it can do any real harm to the heroes.
The fireball rocks the frost giant, who is barely alive afterwards. The hill giant is immediately frozen after the explosion, as the illusionist's ice is very very real.
Round 1:
Giants: ATK!
Whistle Pig: Go
Doxon: Hit
Raen: Magic!
Ushyle: Giant Crit Kill
Vael: Go
Hamilton: Go
Red: 40
Frost: 116
Vael moves to protect the mission while letting his shamanistic powers flow through him.
Round 1:
Giants: ATK!
Whistle Pig: Go
Doxon: Hit
Raen: Magic!
Ushyle: Giant Crit Kill
Vael: Shaman
Hamilton: Go
Red: 40
Frost: 116
Hamilton advances with a lunge and thrust of Heartspit:
Heartspit:, Damage on hit:
Heartspit #2:, Damage on hit:
Hamilton finishes what Doxon started. With a singular thrust to the chest, the frost giant is undone. With a crash of finality he drops to the ground.
Round 1:
Giants: ATK!
Doxon: Hit
Raen: Magic!
Ushyle: Giant Crit Kill
Vael: Shaman
Hamilton: Kill
Whistle Pig: Go
Red: 40
With the sole survivor encased in ice, it's a simple matter for time and magic to do the work.
"So... Was the plan to make this seem like an accidental fire? Or do we even bother and just toss them into the vats?"
Either way, Vael has a prepared Flame Strike if necessary.
"Accidental or not, a fire would ignite the fuse and thus the explosives on the roof of this structure," Raen replies. "Perhaps a more subtle sabotage is in order. Could we stage the deaths of these three giants as a tannery dispute? Let us see if any of them bear religious devotions."
Raen thoroughly searches all three bodies, as well as any workspaces in the room.
These giants lack any kind of identification, but there is one hint. During the search though, Raen uncovers some interesting treasure under a pile of hides an all tools vest, an ivory scrimshaw depiction of the frost giant god Thremyr striding into the Steaming Sea (worth 120 gp), a small keg of fine human-distilled rum (worth 50 gp), 15 pp, and 169 gp.
The hill giants each carry a pair of potions of Cure Light Wounds. The frost giant carried a note on crudely produced vellum. It reads
It looks like the chemicals in the vats are all they have. The party goes about executing the plan, though given the stench, it could be a while before it gets noticed.
"Alright, let's rest for the day. I suggest we go outside this camp. We'll nae be undetected for much longer methinks."
"Indeed," Raen mutters wistfully.
After a triumphant tour of sabotage, the party escapes Skirgaard for some rest. While the night passes uneventfully, the morning brings a visitor - Naximarra.
The red dragon is careful to move slowly and speak calmly; a twitch of a corded shoulder muscle can send a ripple of Dragonfear. "For humans and demi-humans you work well. There is a shift in the air. The giants a becoming disillusioned and frustrated. You could strike at their leader now. It may mean your death, but it may also mean victory. I also sense that you are close to breaking the will of the camp. I have my own matters to deal with. You'll not see me again for you'll either have succeeded or be dead when I next return."
Not waiting for conversation Naximarra takes to the skies. Indeed, this time the Dragonfear comes on powerfully, like a wind snapping a sail...
I'd love to ride that. Ham says, letting the fear slide off of him. It is strangely exhilarating.
|
WP eyes the rum with longing. " I have a bit of pipe weed that would go well with that..." WP signs and helps sabotage the tannery.
"I'd love to ride that." Ham says, letting the fear slide off of him. It is strangely exhilarating.
WP watches the dragon leave. and adds,"I want to collect his scales for me collection..."
The half-elf watches the crimson form fly off, a little wistful for the freedom the magnificent beast enjoys. He watches its form dwindle, eventually returning from his reverie. The time may be ripe to cut the serpent's head, Ushyle says, catching Ham's eye with a slight smile. Perhaps a straight fight, as opposed to sneaking around, no?
To Whistle Pig, he says, Slake your thirst with the blood of the frost giants. We'll have to shatter this orb somehow once we have claimed it from the Storm Tyrant's corpse. Even dragons deserve a better fate than enslavement.
I'm of a similar mind to Ushyle. I'm eager to end this.
Agreed, Ham says. What can we do about those worms? Aside from feeding them Ham, I mean.
"I understand that you tire of this place. We all do. But surely you recall that, just three days ago, we attempted exactly what you propose. We were forced to retreat immediately and Hamilton died." Raen shakes her head sadly. "No. I strongly recommend that we tip the scales further to our advantage before striking after the head of the snake. Let us collapse the mine."
"Aye, I tire of this place. But I ken that we'll need to prepare for that fight. And I have not prepared. My mind is with our wizard. Let's deal with the mine now, and make our strike tomorrow."
In the morning the party heads towards the mine. This hilly elevation on the plateau is hollowed out in the center, forming a dry basin. A series of sloped ledges wind around to the bottom, where the depression is flat and level. The curvature of the rock walls lends itself to the appearance of a natural arena. At the bottom, several large caves open into the northern rock wall. The ceiling and walls of the caves are supported by wooden beams, visible from the entrances. Across from the caves, on the southeast side, are a series of wooden target dummies. Small piles of round boulders are stacked around the basin’s rim.
The angle of the mine makes approach easy as the guard tower nearby was obviously built when the mine was shallower. There are a pair of stone giants near the entrance. They seem bored.
There are a LOT of dead and crushed bodies in the target range in the center of the area.
Perception:
They'll kill us with rocks before we can get to them, unless we sneak over there. We need to close distance. Dimensional... Gatedoor?
Looks like you could sneak in conventionally, but magic certainly works.
Vael sighs. "Aye, magic will help methinks. Either we need to be invisible or we should use teleportation. I defer to Raen here."
Whistle Pig scouts ahead, slipping past the giants and getting a look at the mine.
The mine looks very poorly constructed. The supports are extremely unstable looking. A single explosion in here would collapse the whole thing. [ooc]If you pass a DC 20 Disable Device check, read the spoiler below.
You're extremely confident that you could collapse the mine with just a little work. You're confident that you could rig it to fall the first time a giant walks in here even...
Raen whispers to the halfling. "The supports are very poorly built. Observe the finger joints on the cross-braces that are secured with a single nail. Looks rusted too."
Ushyle knows little about how mines are constructed, so sees nothing but a hole in the ground.
He does take careful note of the stone giants and considers tactical approaches to their demise.
Whistle Pig takes minutes to prepare a trap. With a little know how he very carefully walks away from the set up. The next time a giant does much of anything in the mine, it'll come crashing down...
Once the team is clear, Raen weaves an illusion:
A large, brown yak falls off a ledge above the mine entrance with a loud thump. Yakking loudly, it stumbles to its feet and staggers out of the cold and into the mine. It wanders deeper in and eventually out of sight... but its incessant yakking continues.
Raen finishes Whistle Pig's trap off with an illusion, which works like a charm.
The pair of stone giants wander into the mine. For a moment, no one so much as breathes. After the span of a few heartbeats, dust and smoke pour out of the mine's entrance. A split second later the sound of a tremendous crash echoes out into the giant-made caldera! Not even giants of rock and stone would survive such a cave in.
The fallout from the collapsed mine actually rocks the ground itself. For a few minutes, the entire settlement of Skirgaard is on high alert. It's clear to the hidden heroes though that the efficiency of the response has suffered, no doubt through their efforts.
With most giants headed to check it out, it's easy to sneak north to the Longhouse. The wooden longhouse, as large as a human palace, stands in a snowy clearing here. The building is windowless, but has three sets of double doors along its southern face. A plume of smoke rises from a stone chimney on the building’s eastern end....
"Not an atrocious beginning to a day." Raen allows herself the smallest of smiles. "Let us see how the svathurim's day is going, shall we?"
Raen spends a moment gazing up at the chimney. "Would anyone like to make a grand entrance?"
Ushyle frowns as he follows Raen's gaze. Ham is likely to think that's a terrif— The half-elf cannot even finish before Ham is next to the wizard, Heartspit in one hand and his other extended eagerly to accept an incantation.
Raen weaves an abjuration against heat and flame over the group. She then teleports Hamilton, Ushyle, and Doxon up to the chimney, and waits for Vael to arrive with the halfling. Once everyone is in place, she instructs to "take a deep breath," shoves the heavies into the chimney, casts feather fall on everyone, and flies down after them under her own power.
Vael grabs hold of the halfling. "Ye best hold on. I'm nae used to passengers so... this'll be awkward."
He then takes off into the sky. The journey is shaky at best, and if anyone watches they will see several moments where the two flying men dip and swerve unexpectedly.
Embolden by a wave of successes, the party uses abjuration to gird against an.... unconventional entrance. Ham, arriving extremely unexpectedly gets a bit forward.
It's not until Ushyle enters the room that they realize something is amiss!
Braziers illuminate either end of this chamber, along with a soft glow that emanates from a huge fire pit in the floor to the east wall. Two enormous tables line the walls on either side of this nook, bearing numerous tankards, platters, and kegs. A massive cauldron hangs by heavy chains above the fire. Double doors exit the room to the south and west. A pair of cyclops and a frost giant realize that there are intruders and move to attack!
High above, in the world unknown and abstracted, brooding secret, Gorum slept. Upon the descent, a wind buffeted his immortal visage. What ho in the mortal realm doth awaken he the Lord in Iron? Forsooth, it is the manly virtue of heroes who commeth by their weird.
Round 1:
Raen: Go
Vael: Go
Doxon: Go
Whistle Pig: Go
Hamilton: Go
Ushyle: Go
Sould abandoned by fate: TBD
Raen remains afloat near the ceiling. She channels the frost giant's wintry threads to conjure a wall of pure ice closing off exit to the west. Then, grasping her twisted iron rod, she gives everyone the gift of speed.
The party enters, causing all manner of mayhem. At the last, Ushyle silences the scene. Raen hasten's everyone's actions and blocks off reatreat. This will be a fight to the death!
Round 1:
Raen: Magic
Vael: Go
Doxon: Go
Whistle Pig: Go
Hamilton: Go
Ushyle: Silence
Sould abandoned by fate: TBD