GM Bigrin's Giantslayer (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

Chwaer grins, "It can be confusing down here but I can show you how to get there."

Sander moans quietly, not particularly happy about this plan -- but also glad that maybe they don't have to kill an entire giant army.

"Is there anywhere we could hide in the camp for a little while? If I have some time, I could probably brew up something that will help us with the smell."

If I can get some time to craft, it might be worth it. It sounds like some sooth syrup, for example, might be really useful.

Hard for me to respond when Chwaer has ignored what Quill has been saying, so will try to push on.

Quill listens and waits to see what is decided..

Sorry about that. Guess I didn't actually connect the dots.

Chwaer notices that Quill is still looking at her intently and it dawns on her that she hadn't actually laid out all the pieces. She holds up a finger and continues, "so we're all on the same page, we thought we had good information that this Storm Tyrant guy was running things from the Cathedral of Minderhal. That's why we were tying to sneak in there. Though I can see why that might be confusing, what with me being a dwarf and everyone knows how we love to see new architecture. Speaking of, the front of the Cathedral has these columns, I'm calling them Doric after poor Greta's wife. I think that name will catch on ..." She sees the others begin glaring at her and stops herself. "So to answer your questions Quill, yes we knew it was a stupid idea, but we hoped to do exactly what all of you want to do. Remove the threat without fighting every giant in, on, and under the mountain. And since I happen to know where the Cathedral is, I'd like to join you for now." Chwaer nods her head firmly and extends her hand, "shall we go?"

For what it's worth, walls of text are not my usual MO so you shouldn't need to suffer through them any longer.

+1 for the columns joke. You excel at those.

Quill listens to the she-dwarf's explanation. He shrugs, but feels he needs to be clear.

"I just want to be clear, I...I mean, we can't guarantee your safety. We had others join us. I think one of their names was Bieker? He died horribly. And let alone Meowj..." Quill shakes his head, paling in memory. "We're doing the best we can too, but you know, sometimes people around us die. I might die." Quill looks at Chwaer.

"I just want to be front up about that. Also, you should also know, that if we win, you'll want to stay far away from Storn when he gets really worked up after a victory...I...uh...it's kind of scary."

If Chwaer wants to continue, Quill will offer a noodly-armed fist out for a Lastwall fist bump.

Instead of a fist bump, Molly gives Quill a light dope-slap.
"Dieter and Mawj. Though they did die. Mariana just ... vanished on us."

Chwaer grins, "good, now I know you don't intend to half-ass this!"

"Well, I don't plan to let anyone die. I've invested in plenty of healing power, so you lot are in with a decent chance to live."

Chwaer explains that the Cathedral on Minderhal is a little ways outside the tunnel exit, and off to the east. It is well-guarded, but not impenetrable. But, to get there, you will have to be sneaky, not something all of you are well-suited for. The catherdral itself sits up on a plateua carved out of the side of the mountain, and a tall wooden palisade surrounds the plateau. There is a single gate in the palisade. More than that, it was difficult for Chwaer to say, was her time in the valley was mostly spent either hiding under a dung cart or fleeing into th caves.

”What we need is more invisible scouting. Maybe while flying,” Quill looks to Molly and Sander, the two usual providers of such things. We need a map, probably, and a good safe route up there.””

Quill hopes Molly wants to go. Quill will too, but as a last resort (well, before Storn certain, no one wants that).

Chwaer pipes up, "I'm not invisible and can't fly but my party wasn't caught out because of me. I can be pretty sneaky."

All things relative, having not played a sneak char at this level, I *may* be overstating how good a 17 (19 rocky) sneak is?

”Oh, no one is doubting your ability to hide and cower from giants,” Quill says innocently. ”But my companions and I have long used early surveillance to great effect, especially in the valley that lead us to this point.” He explains further. ”I’m sure Molly will have something brilliant to do.”

No pressure.

Storn sighs and starts stripping off his heavy armour while the group plans their advance. He tosses the pieces of armour into the large sack over his shoulder before then producing a weird, sickly looking armour that looks like its made of toenails. He straps that on.

"Hrmph. Gorum frowns upon sneaking but understands that this is a means to an end. Giants will still be stabbed and that's what matters."

Storn will not go but looks expectantly at Molly and the others about scouting.

Chwaer, chastised, leans back against the cave wall, "let me know when I can be useful," she says softly.

"I'm getting low on spells. If Chwaer can tell us a good place to hide, we might want to recuperate and reequip for the coming day. If we don't, I'd like to ask Sander what he's got left for us in the invisibility department."

Sander is out or limited availability until Monday. But we know he has invisibility extracts. Go for it, Molly. Let’s do some scouting, then some resting up, eh?

Quill watches as Sander produces and extract and offers it to Molly. He listens as Sander explains not to backwash into it and that it should last 6 minutes. He also notes that Sander does wash the bottle’s lip after Molly swigs from it before he puts it away.

Molly goes scouting, using her flight hex where needed, and combining her native stealth with the extract's boon.
Before leaving, she encourages Chwaer to roast and eat Quill if she's still hungry. Elf meat is low in carbs, after all!

Fly 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25. Stealth 1d20 + 13 + 20 ⇒ (16) + 13 + 20 = 49. Even though she's invisible, Molly avoids the enemy's line of sight where possible. She also casts Detect magic and maintains concentration until she's back.

Storn hangs back in his weird armour as Molly flaps off to go scout for the Citadel. "Bah! We are all useful in our time. That weird-eyed witch just knows how to fly, I try not to take it personally. Also she barfs spiders. But you, look at that big axe. Very encouraging! We are here to fight and there will be much of that."

Thanks, Quill. That said, I think I do need to rest if there's somewhere we can do so to regain extracts, and hopefully craft up some Soothe Syrup. Don't forget we can't stay here too long, since presumably there will be a change in guards.

Sander waits and watches nervously.

Still out of pocked for a few days.

Hopefully you guys have some ideas now on how to proceed? If you want a safe place to rest, you might try some of the side tunnels that branched off the main one. But yeah, the dead trolls are sure to be discovered at some point.

Molly used both the flight and invisibility extracts to good effect, getting a good look at the cathedral and surrounding grounds. It was not going to be easy sneaking in there, for sure. The wooden palisade that Chwaer had described was about 30 feet tall, with only a single gate that seemed to be barred. The switchback stairs leading up the cliff face were giant-sized, nearly 2-feet tall per step, which would make for hard going, especially for the halflings. The cathedral itself was a large building, and well-used from what she could see.

Molly landed at the cave entrance and began explaining what she had seen to the others, only to be asked if she had seen Kipa while she was out scouting. Apparently the little rogue had gone off exploring on his own.

And that was the last anyone ever saw of him

Aw...

Sander looks nervous, as usual.

"If we wait, I can whip up extracts that could let us all fly over the palisade and straight to the cathedral. But we could be discovered. And who knows if Kipa will raise an alarm before he can make his way back to try to find us..."

Can use fly and invisibility extracts, plus an enlarged Storn, to carry us. And hopefully make the soothe syrup. But adds risk of being discovered.

”Let’s hide the bodies of these trolls...far away...probably back where we came in. Might be the giants will want the extra meat? Do you think?” Quill asks, wanting to help hide the dead.

”Then maybe we can back down one of these tunnels or something place else for a rest,” Quill ponders aloud, his own totally original ideas.

He listens to Sander’s plan and somewhat agrees.

Is there a map that we can see of the Cathedral and possible approaches? If we’re going to fly, might as well approach from another direction? Or land on the roof? Or something?

"Bah, did Kipa just run off on us again? I'm sure he'll be back. Anyways! What Quill said. Take a nap and then proceed. I can embiggen myself and carry the little folk up the stairs at least for a bit. Stone shape spells can help as well."

He leans against the wall, thinking really hard. "Giants don't think we're coming probably. I'm going to talk to Gorum for a while and see if he has advice."

Agreed on resting up. I'm going to comb through the ludicrous number of available spells and see if ther's some useful stuff in there for getting through a valley full of giants lol.

THIS is the best I can get you. The cliff face is on the western side of the map. Wooden palisade is about 100 feet away from the cathedral itself.

Also, rock trolls weigh upwards of 1200 pounds each, roughly twice that of an adult grizzly bear.

"Invisibility is more important. I can fly under my own power and airlift one or two of you," Molly says.

That’s great, thank you.

Quill examines the hastily sketched map.

”Maybe we should try for this back entrance around the back,” Quill points to the lower left corner. ”We might be unseen or unheard there for a bit because it is so big and we might be out of sight.”

Quill will rest when he can rest and make preparations in the morning. He’s ready for whatever Molly and Sander have planned.

Sander nods, in agreement, already looking for a side tunnel that could be safe for them to stay, thinking about what he might need to brew for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, looking at the stupid crafting rules, I think it would take me two days to make a single batch of soothe syrup, even with swift alchemy. If the GM wants to allow me to do better than that, I'll try to brew up at least one dose.

Craft (alchemy) (+8 to craft alchemical items): 1d20 + 14 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 14 + 8 = 41

Sander nods, in agreement, already looking for a side tunnel that could be safe for them to stay, thinking about what he might need to brew for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, looking at the stupid crafting rules, I think it would take me two days to make a single batch of soothe syrup, even with swift alchemy. If the GM wants to allow me to do better than that, I'll try to brew up at least one dose.

[dice=Craft (alchemy) (+8 to craft alchemical items)]1d20+14+8

Given that there are specific rules and feats about accelerated crafting, I'm afraid not.

Chwaer looks at the map, pointing out a few areas that were tricky for her friends, "I think going around the back would be our best option. What do we do about the trolls though? Can anyone soften the ground to let them sink? can we drag them? I don't think I'll be much help there unless we're chopping them up first!"

"Could we just push them over the edge?" Sander asks.

So here's what I can provide: I've got three third-level extracts, which could be one fly and two invisibilities; I could also do up to three alchemical allocations, which would allow that to extend to five invisibilities. So we could all be invisible and fly in on an enlarged Storn's back (I can give him an ant haul if needed); or under your own power if you can already fly (Molly).

A gigantic flying mega-storn with ant haul is all I've ever wanted.

"I'll just throw them in the valley. Dead trolls and giants have to be common around here."

Storn does just that, singing an old Ulfen throwing-trolls-off-of-a-mountainside shanty.

Storn is carrying around an old Ulfen throwing-trolls-off-of-a-mountainside decrepit shack? Oooohhhh. You mean chanty ;)

It was a hard job, but Storn was able to push and drag the dead weight of the trolls out of the cave entrance and push them down the mountainside to the valley floor some fifty feet below. Hopefully, when the bodies were found, no one would care much...hopefully.

Then, huffing and sweating profusely, Storn returned to the tunnel and you set out to find a side tunnel you could rest in for the night. Chwaer was able to use her knowledge of the area from her hide-and-seek experience the last few days to point out a few options. Finally, you buckled in for the night, ready to set off in the morning.

The night passed with no attacks, though your sentry did hear shouts of surprise about halfway through, with the logical explanation of the giants finding out that the troll sentries were missing.

Okay, a new day has dawned. Get your morning routines done, and then tell me what you are planning to do. Right now I assume we are going with the Giant Invisible Storn Helicarrier plan?

Quill waits to Molly (?) and Sander’s plan.

"Do we want to try to sneak past any guards that might be there?" Sander questions. "It might be easier to try to kill them quickly, if we can, then rush for the cathedral."

I'm guessing Storn won't be able to sneak by them, and we don't want a fight to break invisibility.

TIL you can also spell shanty as chanty or chantey.

Chwaer makes herself useful helping break down the camp and staying out of the when possible. She finds herself humming Storn's song throughout the morning.

So fly up and Storn takes out the guards while we stay invis if possible?

Dressed in his gross nail armour and wielding his stupidly big spear, Storn looks ready to move.

"Okay so there are five of us. Molly can fly on her own. If I am enlarged and have ant haul I can probably carry all of you. I just need to be able to fly for long enough to get to the cathedral."

With ant haul and enlarge person my medium carrying capacity is ~1,000 pounds so that should easily get Sander, Chwaer, and Quill.

The big question is how long is the flight? How close do we have to be to successfully make the flight?

Molly lets the group know the distance to the cathedral.

"Y'know," she says, "if we're planning to do this kind of thing more often, it might be wise for me to give you all some flying lessons. More to the point, we need to agree where we're gonna land and try to get in. I'm guessing we won't be able ta see each other once we're dosed with invisi-brew, after all.

Oh. One more thing; be as sneaky as you can. Don't talk until we get to the cathedral, for one thing. There's spells ta pierce veils of invisibility, and from what we heard the Storm Tyrant ain't hurting for Clerics ta cast it for him. Don't just go flying through empty sky if you can avoid it."

With that said, Molly retreats for a discourse with her familiar, Kronug. Once they've finished their chat, the Witch casts a spell on herself.

False life for 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 bonus hp for the next 7 hours. Mage armor for a +4 to AC for the next 7 hours.

Cautiously you moved back towards the cave entrance, and sure enough, the trolls have been replaced. There doesn't appear to be a hue and cry over the missing guards or their bodies, but now there are three enemies guarding the exit to the caves. Another pair of trolls with a cave giant overseer.

You have not been spotted, and so may act in the surprise round

@GM Bigrin: due to false life, Molly currently has 53 hp. ;)

@Team: how do we want to do this? Try to stealth past, fight it out, or use a distraction? For the latter, I can offer Silent image (DC16), Sow thought (DC16), or Twilight haze (DC17).

Round of Surprise

Quill causes his bow to crackle with blue lightning, seeking to hurt those who are evil.

”You guys first. I’ll be right behind you.”

Before heading out, Sander drinks his mutagen and an extract of barkskin and prepare a different set of extracts than his norm see below.

He offers to prep another extract for Storn, which would give him tougher skin. Barkskin? +3 natural armor? Since you take most of our hits, I think that makes sense.

As he gets closer and realizes the guards are out there, he pulls an orc bomb he's been holding onto since Trunau and throws it ahead of his companions. Sorry, I've done my best to find the stats on these damn things, and I can't. Not sure if they're the unerring grenades from early on, but definitely from Book 1.

Waiting a bit to see what the others want to do

Molly sighs when battle is waged - and fixes an eldritch stare on the cave giant!

Evil eye for -2 to AC. Will save DC18 to negate.
Molly's AC becomes 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17

Chwaer moves up swiftly and stands by the wall, planning to attack one of the trolls when it runs by to engage the others.

Stealth + Invis: 1d20 + 19 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 19 + 20 = 52
Move to I15 or I16 if that's not squeezing.

Unless you have some way to do it yourself, I don't think you're invisible yet. My plan was to dole out potions/extracts after this fight, since I didn't think we could avoid it yet.

Oooh that makes more sense. In that case, GM can I move to J12 with Stealth of 32.

Everyone prepares for battle, calling magical strength and defenses into themselves and positioning for the inevitable charge. Then, with nods all around, Storn exploded into action, shouting "Storn the storning storn storns!" and taking up position with his spear braced for impact. Despite knowing what was going to happen, everyone but Quill was taken aback by Storn's sudden explosion of sound and movement.

Round 1

”Dammit Storn! We weren’t ready!” Quill quickly moves to I12 and fires once at yello.

1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 11 + 2 = 21 to hit;
1d8 + 9 + 2d6 ⇒ (4) + 9 + (6, 4) = 23 magic cold iron damage;

quill's arrow found its mark in the yellowish troll, and the giant bellowed for the trolls to get out of the way.

giant delaying

"You were being very boring about getting ready!" shouts Storn in return.

Storn is wearing the giant's nail scale armour so the whole DC 16 will or -4 to attacks and saves thing is in effect. Also still sick but this requires less brain power than pushing out of analysis paralysis lol