A grim look crosses Zekal's face as he see the giants.
"Seems the information was correct."
He moves into the room firing arrows as he moves.
Raising his axe, Nox says "Let's do this." before charging forward at the nearest giant.
Crom moves into the room in front of Zekal and power attacks the giant. "I'm afraid that we's gonna have to kill you, son."
; vital strike and power attack
Wulfrum charges forwards, his body shining a bit and his muscles swelling as he runs up and swings the hammer down at the Blue tunic'd Giant.
A grim look crosses Zekal's face as he see the giants. "Seems the information was correct." He moves into the room firing arrows as he moves.
Raising his axe, Nox says "Let's do this." before charging forward at the nearest giant.
Crom moves into the room in front of Zekal and power attacks the giant. "I'm afraid that we's gonna have to kill you, son."
The blue tuniced giant swings his tree at Crom and Nox and misses both.
misses Cleave
The red tuniced giant steps up and swings his tree at Wulfrum and Nox and grazes him.
misses Cleave
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Zekal barks a quick laugh spouting a single word as the giant misses its 'mighty' swing.
"Pathetic."
He moves further into the room, skirting the walls as her fires more arrows at the giant in blue pants.
Wulfrum shrugs the blow off his shield and swings once again at the Giant. His warhammer shining a bit.
Wulfrum shrugs the blow off his shield and swings once again at the Giant. His warhammer shining a bit.
Shuffling right past Wulfrum, Nox swings his longaxe at the remaining giant.
Crom grits his teeth and power attacks the giant in front of him.
; power attack
; power attack
Zekal barks a quick laugh spouting a single word as the giant misses its 'mighty' swing. "Pathetic." He moves further into the room, skirting the walls as her fires more arrows at the giant in blue pants who drops like a felled tree.
Wulfrum shrugs the blow off his shield and swings once again at the Giant. His warhammer shining a bit.
Shuffling right past Wulfrum, Nox swings his longaxe at the remaining giant and misses.
Crom scabbles over the difficult terrain of the felled giant. Then, he grits his teeth and power attacks the giant in front of him.
Seeing the wily dwarves avoid his strikes, the red pants wearing giant swings his tree at Wulfrum and Crom and grazes him.
misses Cleave
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Seems healing these dwarfs is not going to be an issue. Giant cant even hit them.
Zekal slides a bit further into the room, still keeping his back to the wall and fires two more arrows at the remaining giant.
Nox continues to circle, trying to split the giant's attention, then strikes again.
Wulfrum lets the tree trunk smash against his shield once more and uses the power as he plants a foot to do a little twirl and bring the hammer once more down upon the giant.
Crom steps 5' and power attacks the giant.
; power attack
; power attack
Zekal slides a bit further into the room, still keeping his back to the wall and fires two more arrows at the remaining giant.
Nox continues to circle, trying to split the giant's attention, then strikes again.
Wulfrum lets the tree trunk smash against his shield once more and uses the power as he plants a foot to do a little twirl and bring the hammer once more down upon the giant.
Crom steps up and power attacks the giant.
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Wulfrum looks around at the others noticing at most a scuff in the armor. "Right then, two trees down, next door!" he says somewhat happily before moving up to the door by Nox and preparing to open it.
Speaking quietly.
"Perhaps we should look out this big whole in the wall first."
He peaks his head around the side and thinks small thoughts.
When Zekel gets to the opening, he sees the inner bailey. Right in front of him is a flight of stone stairs heading down into the open courtyard, which is overgrown with thick vegetation.
Four ogres are tormenting an orc. The ogres are in the process of tearing the arms off their plaything amid horrible screams and rowdy laughter. The ogres are quite distracted by their game to notice Zekel.
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
After relaying what he sees Zekal happily follows Wulfrum to the other set of doors.
Wulfrum tilts his head as Zekal walks away and then when he returns with the information, Wulfrum starts to fume. "Codsarnit. You had to tell me that....Now, I can't ignore it. Sonofa...." he started as he started storming towards the hole.
He paused halfway "You lot coming?" he let out angrily.
Zekel also saw that there were walls and towers that looked into the inner bailey. So, if you fight the ogres, you can probably forget surprise.
"I will back you but... it is not the wise move."
He moves towards the door, not the opening.
"Right now, they do not know we are here. That orc is dead but in so Erastil has provided us a distraction. We can move without attention."
"Tallboy here's got a point, cuz. That orc's lost. We can help the others more by not being seen by every giant in the entire fortress. I don't like it any better than you do, but we'll get to those ogres later."
Wulfrum stares at that hole for a bit and spits on the dead Orge nearby. "It ain't right, iffin that'd been another Dwarf we'd do it. Right now that lot is our allies, I don't like it, I'm sure some of you don't either but thats the truth of it." he said standing there and staring at the hole for a few more seconds.
He cursed and turned his back and moved back to the other door and kicked it open in anger. "I'm killing ever last one of those bastards, I ain't taking no parley and there ain't nothing you lot can say to stop it." he said angrily.
Kicking open the door, Wulfrum sees that a huge iron cage fills most of this circular chamber, with several crates, chests, statues, paintings, and other art objects crammed between the cage and the walls of the room. The iron cage (hardness 10, hp 30, break DC 28) has no door, but a thick chain attached to a pulley near the doors allows the entire cage to be raised into the air.
A character with a Strength score of 17 or higher can use the pulley to hoist the cage 5 feet off the floor (alternatively, multiple characters can combine their Strength scores together to lift the cage). Hoisting the cage in this way is a full-round action; a character pulling on the chain loses her Dexterity bonus to AC and can move only 5 feet per round (as a full round action). If the chain is released, the cage falls. Anyone adjacent to the cage when it falls takes 3d6 points of damage and is knocked prone. A successful DC 15 Reflex save halves the damage and negates the prone condition.
Besides a large piece of furniture sitting under a cloth drapery of some sort, inside the cage two magical creatures pace back and forth. They have vaguely humanoid heads, bodies of lions, and wings of dragons (that appear clipped). Their tails end in long, sharp spikes. The female whimpers, "Help us. Please release us."
The males says, "The rope by the door. Lift the cage up."
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Now what is this?
Zekal stays well behind the dwarfs.
"Why are you held here? What do they do with you?"
Wulfrum tilted his head and stared, this was a new one to him. "Gods damnit, do these a@&&~*&@s do anything besides trap and torture people and creatures?" he said sighing as he made his way over to the rope they mentioned and gave the rope a tug.
He grunted and looked rather surprised and looked at the others in disbelief. "Alright...so I'm getting old, someone help me hoist this nonsense up. Ain't nobody man, beast, or other deserves a cage to wait for the fate we know about."
"Those are manticores."
He lets the others know before addressing the manticores.
"We just killed some of your jailers. Best leave carefully and quietly."
He moves closer to the others and whispers.
"Manticores are not know for their kindness or gratitude. They are known to eat alot of meat, mostly the kind that walks on two legs and talks. Keep on guard, they are not known to be smart ether. They may try something once free."
Hopefully they would leave in peace and come across some giants to tear apart.
Crom moves to help Wulfrum hoist the rope. "Now, you know these beasts are just going to try to kill us after we save them, right?"
Wulfrum nodded "Aye, let em try but I'd like to give em the chance to run."
With Wulfrum and Crom hoisting the cage up, the two manticores look for a meal, but they need to clear the cage. As soon as the exit the cage, they see the two down hill giant-sized happy meals. They ignore you and start devouring their former captors. How long do you think that will occupy the magical carnivores?
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
"Well there you go. Someone keep an eye on them while I check the room for any goodies if you would be so kind."
Nerak cast a simple spell and scans the area for anything of interest. Magical or otherwise, searching for anything useful for their assault or in general.
Wulfrum raised a brow at the behavior but said nothing more. There as a good chance they were starved but still, there was plenty of meat and there will be plenty more they'll make killing the Ogres.
He turned and stared at the pair. "There will be plenty more of them large folk dead before the day. It'd be a waste to spend any energy fighting us. I mean look at me, all metal and hair." he said gruffly.
Shrugging as the beast tear into the giants Zekal takes a look into the 'cage' room.
"Doors on the others side and I guess these are good guards. Should we check it out? Would need to tie off the cage somehow."
Nerak does not find anything of magic in the room.
Zekel sees a giant-sized, gem-encrusted silk wedding dress, that is draped like a tablecloth over a large oaken desk inside the cage. Outside the cage among piles of loose coins, he notices a marble bust of a stone giant; a woven 25-footsquare carpet depicting two giants making love; a polished, giant-sized drinking horn made from a mammoth’s tusk; a macabre necklace made from petrified ears; a series of 12 framed drawings or proportion studies of different giants; a gem-encrusted scabbard for a Huge falcata; and a bronze statue of a fierce storm giant riding a dragon; and a partridge in a a pear tree.
Wulfrum and Crom find a way lock the cage in the raised position.
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Wulfrum ushered everyone in and once inside, closed the doors back shut. He proceeded to walk up to the desk, swept the wedding dress off and took the hammer out and proceeded to get behind the desk and push till it was up against the door. At least if the Manticores started looking for more food they'd find it easier to go towards the courtyard and the four Ogres outside.
He looked at the others and shrugged "I've seen worse late at night at a pub, someone will buy it all." he said as he started tossing loot into a pile in the center. "I reckon we'll swing back on the way out and grab it all. Ain't no sense in weighing us all down when there's more bigguns to face."
Wulfrum proceeded on to the set of doors opposite the ones now barricaded and opened them when the others were ready.
Nox follows the others, watching the Manticores warily. To be safe, he directs Gwen in front of him. As he passes Wulfrum's loot pile, he says "Well, I certainly hope someone will buy it. I'd hate to get stuck with some of that."
When Wulfrum sweeps away the gown, he finds many documents. Several of the papers appear to be drafts of a formal letter addressed to “the Storm Tyrant Volstus”:
Crumpled into a ball next to Grenseldek’s final draft is the Storm Tyrant’s response to her letter.To the Great Storm Tyrant Volstus,
You call all giants to bring ruin to the small folk. I, Grenseldek, answer your call, but I am not your soldier. I offer something
better. I pledge my hand in marriage to you. I bring a dowry
and a tribe of giants, ogres, and orcs, and I will serve at your side as queen. Take me and you will not regret it.Your future bride,
Grenseldek,
Glorious Chieftain of the Twisted Hearts
Grenseldek,
I have no interest in your proposed union. Even now, hundreds of giants flock to my banner within Minderhal's Valley. You may bring your trinkets and your tribe and offer them as tribute, and I will consider not killing you outright for your audacity.I give you this one admonition- do not approach me again with such a proposal. You are far below my station, and the very prospect is absurd. If I ever hear such nonsense again, know that I shall take much more than just your “hand.” I am the Storm Tyrant- my word thunders with the might of the sky and my justice strikes swift as lightning. You have been warned.
Volstus
There is also a detailed inventory of Grenseldek’s dowry, and besides cataloging the items found in this room, the list includes several items from Uskroth’s tomb beneath Trunau as future additions to the dowry: most notably, Uskroth’s armor, Uskroth’s hammer, and something called “Uskroth’s rock.” This last item is accompanied by a detailed drawing of a geode half surrounded by scribbled notes hinting that the rock fragment forms half of a treasure map. The depicted geode is not among the papers on the desk, and though it looks similar to the geode half you found in Uskroth’s tomb at the “Battle of Bloodmarch Hill,” it is clearly a different stone. A final note mentions adding “the stuff in the giantkiller’s tomb” to the dowry.
Lastly, a parchment map shows the location of a secluded valley in the Mindspin Mountains south of Belkzen. “My future with Volstus starts here” is scrawled on the back of the map in Giant.
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59
Before the door close Zekal addresses the Manticores again.
"If you go out through that opening there is plenty of food. Ogers make good eating."
Wulfrum picks up the sheets of paper and gives them a once over and gives the general gist for those who can't read Giant. "Looks like we got a scorned bride at this fort...no wonder she's angry. Still, answers a few things. Nerak, take a look at her Dowry list. Some stuff doesn't add up." he says as he hands off the list.
He looks at the map carefully for a few minutes and reads the back. "Huh....Great, another threat to deal with. I'm not sure we're headed back home just yet." he said before rolling the map up and putting it somewhere safe.
Crom shrugs, "I got the perfect gift for the bride - her head split on my ax. I sure hope she likes it! Reckon I'll get Volstus the same thing."
He motions to the torture room. "We gonna kill those ogres or not? If anyone is gonna kill that orc, it's gonna be me."
Wulfrum shakes his head "Aye, there is nothing more we could do for him. Zekal said he was already dead, hopefully the Manticores will have their way with those Ogres before we get to em." he said feeling a bit of satisfaction in the concept.
"There's more doors up here, Crom. Better check this may before we go out into the courtyard." Nox says.
"There is poetry in the prisoners killing the captors don't you think Crom? Lets check these doors and give them time to eat."
Nerak read things over himself, well versed in giant among the many other languages he knew.
"Well I guess we found the other half of the rock map now. But we can get into everything once we have cleared the place out."
He none the less looks through everything in case something else jumped at him in terms of importance.
"Agreed, it looks there may be some value in many of these items. They can help fund our battle for the peoples of Golarion. Lets push on."
Wulfrum nodded and jerked his head to get another dwarf up to the set of doors and proceeded to push open the next set.
Behind the double doors in the back of the treasury, you find a set of stone stairs going up to the next floor. After a quarter of a turn inside the walls of the tower, you reach a landing a single stout looking door.
Hill giant AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21
Crom = AC 25 & 90/90
Lys = AC 21 & 66/66
Nerak = AC 14 & 48/48
Nox = AC 27 with DR 2/- & 84/84
Gwenhyfar = AC 23 & 27/27
Wulfrum = AC 28 & 60/60
Zekel = AC 19 & 51/59