According to your map, the valley where the giants are congregating is 40 miles or so to the southeast from the tomb. It should take about three days to journey there, assuming no major disruptions.
Ettercaps fight:
One of the potions was a single application of Greater Magic Fang spell. The other is a potion of dark whispers. The scrolls were easy enough. One was an alchemist's formula, if he was reading the symbols correctly, for the Blur spell. The other was a scroll of lesser restoration with two copies written on it.
Ettercaps fight 2:
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1
Tomb:
Giant's Nail Scale armor
boots of the winterlands, a beautiful vase, some fist-sized gems, and a small casket that rattled when Kipa shook it. Inside was a small handful of platinum and gold coins.
bronze abacus, a wooden drinking horn, an unbreakable obsidian statuette, and a wooden box
Heartspit and Nargrym's Silver Handmer
elaborately braided dwarven beard (likely Nargrym's) with 3 gold rings and an engraved platinum beard clasp in the shape of a castle sitting atop a cloud
"I guess we need to go Southeast? Unless we want to bring this stuff back to Trunau first, so we don't bring it right to the giants..."
The tomb seemed the best place to spend the night, given that you have surely cleared out the entire place, right? The next morning, you started your trek towards Minderhal's Valley. Near the end of the first day of travel, you reach a small stream that flows from the southeast, the same direction that you re traveling. An overgrown footpath run alongside the stream, allowing you to pick up the pace a little bit.
The sun is sinking low, and you are looking about for a place to stop for the night when you come across a remote cottage. A wisp of smoke trickles from the chimney of the two-story cottage. The building shows obvious signs of recent attack. The door is staved in and there are several large holes in the thatched roof.
As you stare at the building and sneak occasional glances at each other, you hear a loud crash come from within.
"Never a dull moment," Molly sighs. "Onward and forward, gents."
"Oh no," Sander moans. "What now?"
He drinks his mutagen as he follows the others.
Storn grins as he sees the holes and hears the crash. "Good, walking is boring."
He quickly casts a couple of spells. "Shall we?"
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Quill stretches, as if in a trance for a bit.
"If you stick a chicken leg on me I'm going to punch out all of your blood. At once."
Quill wonders why Storn doesn't take the hand and spear, feeling it would the best way to become a warrior of legend. He's surprised actually.
Later some night, Quill will approach Storn, alone.
* * *
Seeing trouble with the cottage, Quill casts Divine Favor as they move closer. He keeps his eyes open for trouble.
Perception
Approaching the cottage, you can hear a gravelly voice muttering in the giant language. More crashing sounds came from inside, as if something was throwing furniture around. Then, above the noise came a sound that no one wanted to hear...the piercing wail of a baby's cry.
Sander rushes forward .
"There's a baby in there!" he says in alarm. "We have to save it!"
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Storn shows his broken-toothed grin at Quill. "We shall. Gorum lead me here for a reason, and a steel hand is a blessing. Molly knows more about magic than I do though and doesn't trust it, so I wanted to learn more before chopping my hand off. You spend your time thinking about feelings and poetry. That's sort of like magic. You trust it?"
Storn stalks forward. "Hrmph. Kipa can you get the baby? We'll see if we can make friends with the giant."
Storn lets Molly speak in her far superior giant to see if the call is answered. In the meantime, he grips Aggrimmosh, channeling his final spell as he enlarges himself, growing to spectacular size. He snaps down his visor, happy to be ready for a fight for once.
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Quill nods. "Yeah, uh, I love, uh feelings and stuff...but uhm, I also love hunting and stuff too. I'm totally into killing deer and elk and stuff, you know...manly stuff. Hunting stuff. I love when I can end the life of innocents," Quill says with an awkward and forced manner.
Trying to immediately switch topics, Quill examines the hand, then remembers the spear.
"Uhm, I'm not sure I can say...but I will help you when your god tells you what to do. I mean, that hand *will* help us against the giants...and that's important, right? I can't speak for your god...but I know that if we want to *hunt* more giants, we're going to need you to use that hand. I'm sure."
Quill swallows hard.
"Yeah, if we're going to hunt the world of giants, you're going to need that hand."
As Storn grows in size, he strides towards the cottage, with Sander and Quill moving also. Molly bellows at whoever is inside the house, but there is no response. Meanwhile, the baby still cries and the sound of furniture and other things being thrown about continues.
Storn realizes as he approaches the house that he might not be able to fit in the building.
"Dammit," Molly sighs -- and she moves forward.
Storn knocks on the roof.
Worried about the baby, Sander rushes through the front door.
I can't just leave a baby in there. Louly would never forgive me!
Kipa
Molly
Quill
Sander
Storn
Sander mounted the porch and shoved his head through the front door. Looking around, he can see that the rocks lobbed through the ceiling have collapsed much of the upper floor. Amid the rubble is a stunted troll using its great arms to scoop debris aside. The sound of the wailing baby come from behind the rubble, and the troll smacks it lips and continues to mutter in the giant tongue. You are close enough to hear that it is saying something about nasty giants chasing off all the meat, except for a tasty snack.
Round 1: kipa, storn, troll, molly, quill, sander
The house is too cramped and destroyed for Storn to fit inside without squeezing.
The entire building is difficult terrain.
"It wants to eat the baby!" Sander yells!
Storn groans as he realizes he is not going to do battle with a giant but instead this stupid troll. He grabs Aggrimmosh again to dismiss the spell while roaring at the troll in his bad giant.
YOU!
”Here we go!
With that Kipa runs to try and get into a better position for supporting.
The giant finally took notice of you, and squeezed its way out of the rubble of the back room. Turning, it swiped at Sander with claws like daggers, cutting deeply into the halfling's arm.
Sander is hit for 9 damage
Round 1: kipa, storn, troll, molly, quill, sander
Round 2: kipa, storn, troll, molly, quill, sander
Here's the map
the entire building is difficult terrain
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Round 1
Quill moves to W9 or W10 and fires a wild shot into the home, trying to hit the troll through all the cover and big headed goons in his way.
to hit; (+giants,-cover)
magic cold iron damage.
AC 19
HP 45/45
Happies: 1/6 used
Ferves: 1/6 used
SacWeap: 0/6 used (+1,swift)
PoP 1: 0/1 used
To Hit: +5 BAB, +4 Dex, +1 WF, +1 Magic +1 PBS -2 DA =+10
Damage: 1d8 + 1 Str +1 magic + 2 weap spec +1 PBS +4 DA = +9
[ dice]1d20+10-2[/dice] to hit; (-rapid,+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+9[/dice] cold iron damage.
[ dice]1d20+9-2[/dice] to hit; (-rapid,+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+10[/dice] cold iron damage.
Molly runs up the porch and draws a bead on the enemy within. The Witch takes a mere moment to focus her martial discipline before she chants words of power and flames shoot from her hand to wash over the Troll!
HP 44/48 (+14 for extract)
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 14
Fort +8 (+4 vs. poison), Ref +9, Will +4 (+2 vs. fear)
CMD 13
Bombs: 0/10; Mutagen: 1/1; Spontaneous healing: 5/15; Blast
Sipping jacket: Bomber's eye (0/7); +10 range increment, +1 to hit
Effects: +4 Con (+2 Fort saves), +2 AC, -2 Cha
Extracts; Blast Finesse ritual: []
1st (5/day): bomber's eye [x], comprehend languages [], detect secret doors [], endure elements [x], shield []
2nd (3/day): alchemical allocation [], barkskin [], perceive cues []
3rd (2/day) fly [], fly []
Sander's wounds start to heal immediately as he ducks away, pulling and throwing a bomb at the troll.
"Yeah, you big ugly!" he yells at it in Giant. "Come pick on something your own size. ... Or at least a bit closer!"
Range: 20'
Realizing he was confused about what was going on, Kipa hails but back to where he can ge into the mix quickly.
FInding a way around th eback, Kipa finds a way to help flank the beast.
Storn lets out a battlecry as he rushes in at the troll, his form blurring as he gets in nice and close.
You converge on the troll and attack. Molly and Sander both burn the creature with fire, something it definitely does not like. Storn leaped into the room, even as Sander was coming out, and ducked to avoid the arrow that went whistling over his head. Quill, whose shot was effectively blocked by Storn, made a sound of anger and began planning his next shot. Meanwhile Kipa snuck around back and opened the door there to try and get behind the troll. The troll, terrified and enraged by the fire, flailed at Storn, but did not connect.
Round 2: kipa, storn, troll, molly, quill, sander
Round 3: kipa, storn, troll, molly, quill, sander
Here's the map
the entire building is difficult terrain
"Let's see you dance, wartface," Molly says - and she hurls a lightning-bolt at the troll!
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Round 2
Quill fires twice again, trying to avoid shooting Storn’s head or Molly’s spell-flailing arms.
to hit; (+giants,-cover)
magic cold iron damage.
to hit; (+giants,-cover)
magic cold iron damage.
to hit; (+giants,-cover)
more magic cold iron damage.
AC 19
HP 45/45
Happies: 1/6 used
Ferves: 1/6 used
SacWeap: 0/6 used (+1,swift)
PoP 1: 0/1 used
To Hit: +5 BAB, +4 Dex, +1 WF, +1 Magic +1 PBS -2 DA =+10
Damage: 1d8 + 1 Str +1 magic + 2 weap spec +1 PBS +4 DA = +9
[ dice]1d20+10-2[/dice] to hit; (-rapid,+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+9[/dice] cold iron damage.
[ dice]1d20+9-2[/dice] to hit; (-rapid,+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+10[/dice] cold iron damage.
Stepping in to help with the smelly foe, Kipa swings both blades in hopes of doing some work. "I think we got him now STorn! WHo do you think smells better. This thing or Quill after trying to talk with that shop girl?"
5 ft step to U4
Flanking with STern
If hit -2 AC vs the party and -4 AC vs Kipa. 4 bleed
If hit -2 AC vs the party and -4 AC vs Kipa. 4 bleed. This does not stack if the first attack hit.
"Quill is the nicest smelling person I've ever met!" roars Storn. "Even his guts smell like flowers. It's disgusting!"
Turning aside the troll's attacks with his armour, Storn swings in with a vicious overhand chop.
HP 44/48 (+14 for extract)
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 14
Fort +8 (+4 vs. poison), Ref +9, Will +4 (+2 vs. fear)
CMD 13
Bombs: 0/10; Mutagen: 1/1; Spontaneous healing: 5/15; Blast
Sipping jacket: Bomber's eye (0/7); +10 range increment, +1 to hit
Effects: +4 Con (+2 Fort saves), +2 AC, -2 Cha
Extracts; Blast Finesse ritual: []
1st (5/day): bomber's eye [x], comprehend languages [], detect secret doors [], endure elements [x], shield []
2nd (3/day): alchemical allocation [], barkskin [], perceive cues []
3rd (2/day) fly [], fly []
Sander waits for the others to act, but if they can't bring down the troll, throws two more bombs.
Sander held his bombs as it became clear that the others had the troll well in hand. Magic, arrow, and sword rendered the troll into so much meat on the floor. In the sudden silence, the baby wailed again, and Kipa jumped as it seemed right beside him. He looked into the rubble of what had once been the kitchen are to see that much of the floor and ceiling from above had collapsed into this room, carrying with it an adult human and a crib. The adult was dead, but the halfling could just see a tiny hand wrapped around one of the crib's bars a few feet back in a tunnel in the rubble. Another ten minutes and that troll would have had its meal.
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Quill is slow to stand down, keeping an eye for other monsters that might have helped in the destruction of this cabin. He’ll leave the baby tending to others as he doesn’t have any experience in them...and would likely to promptly drop the baby on it’s head if he tried to hold it. He suspects that someone like himself poor held a young baby Storn...which explains a lot.
He will examine the cabin for anything that might serve as the baby’s legacy or family heirloom.
Perception - cabin for family treasures, notes about family, etc.
In the rubble, it was difficult to find anything. The only item Quill saw that could possibly be of value or interest was a pearl and silver brooch in a paisley pattern. It was slightly flattened, and one of the pearls had been knocked from its mounting, but there was some worth to it. On the back was etched the initials H.L.
Molly tries to get at the baby as quickly and safely as she can.
As the troll falls to the ground Storn growls as Molly goes to get the baby. "Gah! We're supposed to go kill giants and save the world. Or uh, Trunau. I am not on baby duty. They never latch right."
Pointedly ignoring the squalling infant Storn shoves aside beams and other bits of destroyed house as he helps Quill search. He stares at the earring. "H L? That's not even a word!"
He makes his way over to the parent, trying to see if this parent would match the earring or if there's possibly a second parent who was out for groceries they could foist the kid on.
Sander watches Molly carefully with the baby, not at all certain she's going to be able to take care of it.
"Now what do we do? We can't keep the baby with us? Is there anywhere around here we can take it?" he asks anxiously.
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Quill shrugs, not really having any answers for Storn, or himself.
”I guess we take the baby back to Trunau? Where were we headed anyway?” Quill seems to have forgotten the plan.
Quill rubs his chin, lost in thought.
First we went to the druid’s shadow realm for weapons that none of us are using and for magics that weren’t that good. Check.
Now fought deadly spiders and s*%~ monsters to get the hammer and hand that none of us will or can use. Check.
Now lost in woods with crying baby. Check.
Quill’s eyes go wide.
Maybe Storn shouldn’t be in charge.
"To the Storm Tyrant's forces! Trunau's the complete opposite way!" Sander protests.
Quill shrugs, not really having any answers for Storn, or himself.
”I guess we take the baby back to Trunau? Where were we headed anyway?” Quill seems to have forgotten the plan.
Quill rubs his chin, lost in thought.
First we went to the druid’s shadow realm for weapons that none of us are using and for magics that weren’t that good. Check.
Now fought deadly spiders and s$~! monsters to get the hammer and hand that none of us will or can use. Check.
Now lost in woods with crying baby. Check.Quill’s eyes go wide.
Maybe Storn shouldn’t be in charge.