Three of Whistle Pig's stones slam home. The little halfling packs a big punch. The final hit from the hoopak is enough to fell the mighty svathrurim!
Round 2:
Raen: Go
Whistle Pig: Kill
Ushyle: Go
Vael: Go
Hamilton: Go
Doxon: Go
Svathurim: TBD
Blue: 27
Raen finds her way to a corner and casts an extended glitterdust spell over the living svathurim's eyes.
The strong willed svathurim resists the illusionist's spell!
Round 2:
Raen: GD
Whistle Pig: Kill
Ushyle: Go
Vael: Go
Hamilton: Go
Doxon: Go
Svathurim: TBD
Blue: 27
The half-elf absorbs the blow, and is doubly grateful that he took the charge rather than the halfling as the svathurim falls to Whistle Pig's sling.
Sucking in air to try and catch his breath, he offers a short prayer to Milani and calls on her grace , a rose-red sheen covering him as he races to the other side of the huge monstrous humanoid, his form a crimson blur and too quick to provoke.
The divine fervor from Doxon electrifies Ham, improving his skill in battle. (the +2 to hit and dodge option)
Ham dances around the creatures strikes, taking advantage of his smaller size.
That all you got, Ugly?
Ham strikes out with Heartspit... hitting for , and again , but the second strikes misses as the giant shifts his torso in a way that looks uncomfortable but effective.
Vael completes his summoning spell just as his life force leaves his body to heal Hamilton and Ushyle.
In a burst of feathers appears a griffon, flapping its wings several feet off the ground and beside the remaining svathurim. The shaman points at it, and the magical beast begins attacking with beak and claw!
The shaman then moves closer, calling upon the heavens to manifest stardust around the last svathurim. It's vision is hampered by the swirling particles.
Doxon calls on Torag's aid and rushes in to swing Agrimmosh at the svathurim.
The party converges quickly. Ushyle's massive hit is followed by hits from Hamitlon and Vael's summoned aid. The final blow from Doxon would ahve felled a healthy hill giant!
And the bodies.
This building is sadly devoid of anything of note. The dead have just their lances and mundane armor. This place looks like little more than a barn. Even after searching, the party has little to show for their efforts (beyond reducing the martial might of Skirgaard.
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Ushyle takes careful steps to remove the monstrous heads from the giant centaur beasts and deliberately plants each lance in the ground just inside the entry, artfully placing each massive head on the end of its respective lance. A little present for the next folk who come calling, he thinks to himself.
After Ushyle's gruesome message is complete, the party steps outside the long house. It's only been a few short days, but the sabotaging campaign has obviously born fruit. The air smells different; industry has largely stopped. The din of civilization is muted; the dead cannot be denied. The confidence of the living has been shaken; the red snow shows their fear.
Everyone realizes that with the slightest of pushes, the military training camp of the Storm Tyrant will implode...
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WP notices Ushyle's work and approves. " they would do worse to us if they had the chance."
As the group settles down for another night at their camp Pig broaches a subject that has been avoided for a while. "We are running out of things to destroy. The body has been hit. It's time to strike at this camps head. We must find it's leader and remove it."
I don't think we need to search very long. Can we deface or destroy the wickerman and then head into the caves? Now that we know what to expect from those worms, I should be able to survive. Though I want to bring AJ along. The giant corridors make it easy to ride.
Whistle Pig knows that there are two kinds of wickerman. Typically they're massive effigies used to make sacrifices. Typically you put the sacrifice in the chest and set it aflame. Legend has it powerful clerics had the ability to animate them in order to terrify those judged unworthy. Whistle Pig has no idea which is at play here...
Raen smiles at the halfling's book-learning, appreciating his efforts to expand his knowledge of the world. Of course, she has her own to rely on.
If it's a construct and not a traditional religious warning:
"It's a sad day when barbarism meets barbarism. But I'll nae say more on this." Vael look to Hamilton. "I'm with ye. Another strike to deal with the dark effigy that is the wickerman, and then we end this once and for all."
Normal plan to move through the village? (Invisibility 10' Radius?)
Raen notes the key points of animated wickerman constructs. "...and do not fight with flame, as fire breeds strength in a wickerman."
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"no more magic?"WP shrugs"I can get us through this as long as you do exactly what I say when I say it" Pig let's his eye rest of the Illusionist during the last of his statement. He knows Raen always thinks she knows best.
WP takes his time and works his way towards the scarecrow. stopping several times to let haggard looking giants pass. Two of them seemed like they were carrying large sacks on their back and heading towards the gates. Could they be leaving?
Ham's clanking armor is like an alarm bell for the giants...
Whistle Pig moves the party towards the wickerman, hoping for a final psychological blow. About 400 yards out, Hamilton and AJ step into the sun and Desna snickers. The cold light of the mountain sun reflects off the man's armor and the flash shines directly on the guard tower before the tomb of Skirkatla. Immediately a signal horn sounds.
The party prepares for the worst.
Instead of a patrol of trolls and giants, the anemic settlement stays quiet in the seconds after the horn. Everyone looks around in the strange silence. The silence isn't long though, as the death-scream of a burning troll echoes throughout Skirgaard.
Everyone turns to look west for the source. That's when you see the wickerman burning. They're sacrificing a troll!.
You realize what this means just as the wickerman takes its first step.
Round 1:
Raen: Go
Hamilton: Go
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Raen watches Hamilton rush forward and calls out to Doxon and Ushyle in Dwarven. "Wait to charge in. I will transport you."
With that, the Varisian flies into the air and mutters in her arcane tongue. She weaves bolts of force to hurl at the immense Wickerman.
Raen sends a quintet of magic missiles into the wickerman, and while the illusionist knows they did their job, she can see no actual effect.
Hamilton spurs AJ forward and prepares to meet the colossal construct. The wickerman advances, but stops short as the missiles slam into it. He responds by hurling a flaming branch at Raen.
for . The burning brand slams into her and Raen's robes begin to smolder
Round 1:
Raen: MM
Hamilton: Advance
Wickerman: ATK
Whistle Pig: Go
Ushyle: Go
Vael: Go
Doxon: Go
Round 2:
Raen: Go
Hamilton: Go
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Wickerman: 12
Raen notes that her cloak is aflame and makes a small noise of annoyance. The burns are painful, but not so severe yet that she must alter her battle plans. A remedy must wait and she must endure.
Raen first grasps her rod of power to cast quickened invisibility over herself, disappearing from view. She flies down to the group, and Doxon and Ushyle each feel a hand on their shoulders. Then a portal opens and, instantaneously, they find themselves at the heels of the towering Wickerman.
Raen watches Hamilton rush forward and calls out to Doxon and Ushyle in Dwarven. "Wait to charge in. I will transport you."
With that, the Varisian flies into the air and mutters in her arcane tongue. She weaves bolts of force to hurl at the immense Wickerman.
[dice=Magic Missile]5d4+5
Raen, be sure to leave Applejack and I plenty of room!
Raen, despite the flames, manages the spell to get Doxon and Ushyle into position. Hamilton yells just as the trio steps through dimensions.
Round 1:
Whistle Pig: Go
Vael: Go
Round 2:
Raen: DD
Doxon: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: Go
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
DM:
Wickerman: 12
Vael pulls out a wand from his belt. He quickly notes the lightning shapes on the oaken stick before speaking the command word. The power to call lightning fills him, and with an upward thrust of his hand a bolt arcs through the wickerman and into the sky!
the massive, flaming construct twists away form the jolt, and what does hit it seems to have little effect.
Round 1:
Whistle Pig: Go
Round 2:
Raen: DD
Doxon: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: Go
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Wickerman: 15
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That thing is quite large and on fire... Might be one of the oddest things he has ever seen. Pig sends Cleo and commands her to guard the dwarf.
"The bigger they are..."the small halfling mutters with a grunt as he flings three stones at the burning pile of twigs.
Rapid shot, deadly aim, clustered, precise, large target
1st attack
2nd attack
3rd attack
Whistle Pig hurls a series of stones at the colossal creature. Two of them hit home, one particularly well! It's shocking how well the hoopak fares against the construct!
Round 2:
Raen: DD
Doxon: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: Go
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Wickerman: 82
Hamilton lowers his lance and spurs Applejack forward. Her hooves thunder across the ground.
Power Attack Charge:
Damage on Hit:
The wickerman takes a swing at the roughrider as he passes, but Hamilton never gives the monstrous bonfire an opening. He drives his lance between the logs of its legs. As AJ jumps the rock, Hamilton drives the lance sideways, torquing the attack to break the leg apart!
Round 2:
Raen: DD
Doxon: Go
Ushyle: Go
Hamilton: Hit!
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Wickerman: 129
Ushyle pops back into this dimension nearly adjacent to the wickerman. He whispers for aid from Milani, takes a deep breath, and moves in for the assault.
Ushyle connects with enough force once to bust through the wickerman's defenses.
Round 2:
Raen: DD
Doxon: Go
Ushyle: Hit!
Hamilton: Hit!
Wickerman: TBD
Whistle Pig: TBD
Ushyle: TBD
Vael: TBD
Doxon: TBD
Wickerman: 151
Doxon silently thanks Raen, then Torag, and then follows Ushyle's example, swinging hammer and pick at the burning man.
[ooc]Fervor to swift cast Divine Favor[/dice]
Doxon, just before Hamilton spurs his mount and Ushyle lays in smashes and cracks the logs which make up the wickerman.
As Hamilton passes through the charge, the logs snap, and the ever burning wood starts to char. In a few moments the massive pile of burning wood collapses upon itself.
With a final crash the wickerman is undone.
Looking about the field, the party can see scores of giants and trolls. Still outnumbered many many times over, the party stands resolute. The army-in-training understands the import of such a scene.
A singular, massive charge would overwhelm the party. But their spirit is broken. The Giants turn and walk away from the scene. Skirgaard has had its heart cut out.
Overhead a massive roar cuts the air as Naximarra blasts a triumph!
Northwest of the village, a wide set of carved stone steps ascends to massive stone double doors set into the mountain itself. Two platforms to either side of the doors hold statues depicting a fierce and proud frost giant woman. Runic writing decorates the carved stonework above the doors...
Raen advises that the Giantslayers make camp in the abandoned drake caves. After they have settled, she begins to discuss magical preparations for the inevitable frost worm ambush with Vael.
In the morning, Raen makes her preparations. She casts overland flight, mage armor, and false life () on herself, as well as extended see invisibility and, once the heroes are about to depart down the tunnel, extended mirror image ().
With Skirgaard rapidly turning into a ghost town, the party makes their way deep into the tunnels.
Before long they come across a red splotch of frozen snow. It's Hamilton's blood, and a lot of it. All eyes turn to the roughrider to see his reaction, but Hamilton's visage is resolute.
(Darkvision 60')
---> (Darkvision)
(Darkvision 60')
Beyond the blood the party pushes past where the worms were the last time, only to find nothing. Just as the dwarves begin to mutter that the tomb itself must be just up ahead the ground begins to rumble!
In a large widening of the tunnel, the rumble becomes an earthquake! The White Worms erupt from the ice.
Everyone instantly sees the wounds, not yet fully healed, on the one that slew Hamilton
The Hamilton-slayer immediately opens with the cone of death! It washes over everyone in the party. Even with magical wards, the blast is devastating.
The other worm begins a strange and hypnotic trilling noise!
Round 1:
Worms: ATK!
Raen: Go
Whistle Pig: Go
Vael: Go
Hamilton: Go
Ushyle: Go
Doxon: Go
Blue: (Breath Used)