All right, but I'd stand back as I open it. Cast your spell.
With the spell cast, Zelkin grabs the red hot handle and opens the door to the smelting room. It doesn't look like there's much here, though
An explosion rocks the room back at the entrance near Whitestripe (see red explsion on map).
The machinery grinds to a halt.
In a baritone voice, thickly accented with the wide vowels of Giantish, a voice from outside fills your ears,
Bill sighs. "I suppose that peons is us?" he asks to his team as he turns to looks towards the explosion, expecting a giant to stand amongst its midst.
Zelkin will make his way back toward the source of all of the commotion, looking for its source. Wouldn't you think so, Bill?
Aiuda shrugs. "Peons or no, we're not leaving." She tries casting a spell so that she can see invisibility.
Sven casts again gravity bow and aspect of the falcon on himself.
Zelkin will cast Magic Circle vs Evil, centered on himself. We'll throw down, but it will be with weapons armed and ready.
FACE ME COWARDS!"
The voice is coming from the courtyard...
With buffs measured in rounds coming out, we'll switch to initiative. It seems like the voice is in the area outside by the waterfall.
Round 1:
Bill: Go
Sven: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Bill flies through the room towards the conveyor belt leading to the waterfall and scans the area outside. "Are you even able to count to five, rock brains?" he bellows.
The gnolls are all eyes on you, with weapons trained, though they didn't seem to know EXACTLY where you would emerge from, so they're not "ready".
What's REALLY in the courtyard of concern is the massive giant. It's some kind of mutated Hill giant with a canon for a right arm. He's aiming it to and fro like he's just waiting for somethign to blow up. His skin looks like the bark of an oak tree and he's moving supernaturally fast.
Bill draws from the primal magic of the area and tries to conjure forth a blast of hot air in the area to slow down the giant before him.
The bell charm attached to his waist jingles as he concentrates, giving him the extra edge to conjure from the depths of pure magic as a Sirocco appears around the giant.
Bill smiles as the fiery wind beats down on the giant.
Zelkin will double move to the area near where Bill is flying. He then activate his judgments of protection and resiliency, having it surge to a power greater than normal.
Aiuda follows quickly behind.
Followed by Whitestripe, Sven follows his comrades not without calling the strength of the bull and the dexterity of the tiger to his help.
The party rushes to the courtyard.
The spell bursts through the giant's resistance, but nevertheless, he's not a simple gnoll grunt:
The gnolls, guns drawn either make a run for it, or hold ready. The giant moves towards the edge of the sirocco. He can't escape it though, and seems confident that he can beat the spell.
He takes aim at Bill with his arm canon. This close, it's an easy shot (Versus Touch AC) for .
His roar is half laugh, half fury.
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Sven: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Black:
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 17
Zelkin will use Dimensional Hop to reach the enemy and take a swing! He'll try to add to his effectiveness by using
for
for
Zelkin is there in the blink of an eye with a solid hit, though not as telling as he had hoped. Still, the hit is a good one, and wounds bleed as they're made.
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Sven: Go
Zelkin: ATK!
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Black:
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 67
Sven casts bloody claws on his friend and moves with Withestripe to have a good view on their ennemy.
Sven prepares for the big fight!
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Sven: Buff
Zelkin: ATK!
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Black:
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 67
As the gnolls start coming in from the side Aiuda tries to take them out.
It takes quite a few arrows, but Aiuda takes the gnoll down. Her last arrow right through the forehead.
Round 2:
Bill: Go
Sven: Buff
Zelkin: ATK!
Aiuda: ATK
Baddies: TBD
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 67
The fiery winds slam into the cannon-armed gnoll as the projectile breaks a few of Bill's ribs. "Not a wise move..." the man remarks as he groans in pain.
"Let's burn off some more flesh..." he says grumpily as three rays of flame burst from the tip of his staff and aim for the exhausted gnoll boss.
As Bill spells continue to thrash the gnoll, he seeks cover from the cannon and flies south.
The winds continue to beat down on the hill giant. (The leader is a hige hill giant, not a gnoll.)
. Still he takes the fiery wind without issue. The wizard adds another bit of fire to the mix, striking twice!
The gnolls, now with targets, take a more directed action:
Two step over their fallen comrade as if he were naught more than slag from the forge. They both take aim and fire at Aiuda (Touch AC):
Yellow barrels towards the archer, dropping his gun and holdin a longspear.
Two more spit, and use their grit to take pot shots at Zelkin:
The remaining three run across the wall, looking to come in around inside.
The giant has death for Zelkin in his eyes. He slams the canon into the warrior's head while beating him mercilessly with the club held in the other hand: (Yes, he's evil)
MISS
MISS
MISS
Round 3:
Bill: Go
Sven: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Red:
Orange:
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 112
Aiuda curses under her breath as she is injured but she keeps her form straight and continues to fire at the gnolls.
Zelkin elects to go toe-to-toe with the giant, making the creature his Bane!
for
for
This time Aiuda can't finish off her foe quickly, and the gnoll takes a pair of arrows without dropping.
Zelkin bravely stands his ground, answering the giant's barrage with a single slice of his own. The power and magic of the slice makes the wound deeper than expected.
Round 3:
Bill: Go
Sven: ATK
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: ATK
Baddies: TBD
Red:
Orange: 34
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 144
Sven casts named bullet and commands Whitestripe to attack the giant.
Whitestripe leaps under the pool and bites the giant human !
Sven prepares with a wicked shot, while Whitestripe closes with the giant:
Despite the giant's skill, Whitestripe dodges the attack
The tiger clamps down and tears a section of leg out that contains an artery. The giant begins to bleed profusely.
Round 3:
Bill: Go
Sven: ATK
Zelkin: Buff & ATK
Aiuda: ATK
Baddies: TBD
Red:
Orange: 34
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 192 (7 bleed)
-Posted with Wayfinder
Bill incants a few arcane words as he extends his free hand with his fingers pointed at the orange-tinged gnoll. From each finger, a blast of pure arcane magic erupts and slams into the gun-toting creature. "I figured you could use some help, Aiuda!" he calls out.
Bill slams a quintet of missiles into the gnoll, but the creature takes the hit and fights on.
--------------------
Red: Reload and shoot at Aiuda:
Orange: Reload and shoot at Aiuda
Yellow: Tries to spear Aiuda MISS
Green: Use grit, target Zelkin's touch.
Turquoise: Use grit, target Zelkin's touch.
Blue: Use grit, target Zelkin's touch.
Purple: Double move
White: Double move
The giant loads some kind of shot into his arm with frightening speed. When he fires, a deluge of scrapmetal sprays forth, catching Whitestripe and Zelkin in the blast (Targeting touch)
The giant continues to spray blood from his wounds.
Round 4:
Bill: Go
Sven: Go
Zelkin: Go
Aiuda: Go
Baddies: TBD
Red:
Orange: 53
Yellow:
Green:
Turquoise:
Blue:
Purple:
White:
Gurstweld: 199 (7 bleed)
Zelkin hopes to end the giant before the enemy ends him!
for
for
for
Aiuda takes a few shards from the blunderbussae but her head stays cool as she continues to fire at the gnolls.
Zelkin's next swing shall be spoken of by the bards for ages to come. The giant's belly spills forth as Aiuda's arrows knock his uper body backwards.
The giant hits the ground with a crash.
The gnolls instantly drop their weapons and flee. Anything that can kill the mighty Gurstweld is far too powerful for them. They jump off the walls, preferring their chances with the Wastes than with you.
You take a moment to look about and realize that YOU are the current masters of the Magator Facient...
Out of combat!
With a quick motion Aiuda returns her bow to her shoulder and rushes out to check on Zelkin. "Good work. Could he really have been the mastermind behind the malfunctioning constructs though? Doesn't seem like a plan a giant would pull off on his own. Before we leave this place, let's scour it for any last clues or evidence we can take with us. If nothing else, we can take the head and maybe the canon-arm of that brute with us as evidence of who has been messing with the constructs."
Zelkin goes down to one knee, carefully examining his wounds. He then nods to the ranger. [b]I agree. Perhaps we should sweep this area one more time. There may be more gnolls or ratmen about as well. He then pauses, I wouldn't disagree to making camp but only if we feel the area is secure.
Zelkin starts to heal himself and the party.
A cursory look about the forge shows that there's no one left but you.
Feeling safe, you take the time to scour the area. You don't find much beyond the correspondence with the official. It doesn't seem Gurstweld is much more than muscle. You also have the time to piece together what information you DO have:
As Aiuda looks back over the notes and information gathered, she says, "We have heard the Sultur name mentioned before; Captain Retham's journal noted that the mine had been taken over by their family and now we have more ties with these seals belonging to the Sultur family and many of these documents directly linked to Minister Sultur's banks. That giant could not have been the mastermind; my bet is on Minister Sultur or at least someone in the Sultur family. I think we need to go back to Alkenstar and bring this information to the authorities now that the forge and mines have been shut down. Bill, can you get us there? We can rest in the office for the night if you require rest."
A rest is a good idea. Who know what trouble might be waiting for us in Alkenstar once this information becomes known.
"I can teleport us back to the town at the moment and we can rest there instead of in the office." Bill tells the party. "We can take the information to the authorities in the morning after having a nice hot meal and a warm bed, yes?" he asks.
Aiuda nods at Bill's plan. "That sounds better, yes. Hopefully Sultur does not already have goons waiting for us, although I'm sure it will not be anything we can not handle."
Just let me know when you execute the plan.