GM Bigrin's Giantslayer (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

Storn attackulated the snot out of those merrows, and when he was finished, both were dead. It was a few more moments before the others walked up to him, and a few more after that before the silt cloud cleared enough to look into the room and really search the ogres. Chwaer found that particular duty a bit gross, as the merrow's skin felt soft and a bit spongy, and their hygiene was so bad she could taste their body odor in the water she was breathing. Worse, they didn't seem to have anything on them that was worth anything.

The only objects in the room were a giant-sized statue holding large circular disc, flanked by a pair of menhirs. All were coated by a thick layer of algae. Chwaer moved in and found that the disc was removable, and once she had cleaned the algae away, she could see it was made of some kind of silvery metal, with giant runes etched into the surface. The runes were another ancient dialect of giant.

First, Quill stares at the first dead body of the seaogre.

Second, Quill stares at the second dead body of the other seaogre.

Third, Quill stares at Storn, who had storned the shit out of the seaogres, solo.

Fourth, Quill would move away from Storn, but swimming was already difficult enough as it is. So we waits for that panic to pass, and then proceeds to look around the seaogre lair.

Fifth, Quill stares at the runes, unable to make them out.

*glbbub blibdoolpoolp?* Quill points at the runes, hoping others can translate.

Storn beams at the group he idiotically left behind to go get in fights on his own. "KEEP UP! You're missing the fun."

While people figure out whatever is going on with stuff, he heals himself.

CLW: 6d8 + 6 ⇒ (7, 5, 2, 1, 7, 7) + 6 = 35

That'll put him at full.

Chwaer finally bounds over to Storn and looks up at him in awe. She gives him a big high five and keeps pointing at the merrows and laughing.

She examines the silvery disk but can barely tell it has words on it.
Linguistics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Sander tries to avoid the bodies, glad that Storn was able to kill them before he had to risk being hurt. The man truly must be a favorite of Gorum, the way he's able to kill so many things so quickly and easily.

The halfling shrugs at the disc, not sure what it means. Molly shoulders him aside and starts to explain what it means ... only to realize she's not sure either. She checks it for magic, and decides they can try to figure it out later. Sander tries to gesture that he'll be able to prepare an extract that will help him decipher it in the morning, sharpening his mental acuity, but there's not much he can do now. I'll prep comp languages in the morning He keeps looking around to see if they can find the clay as he wishes he had some easy sort of timepiece so he would know how much time they can remain underwater without his having to worry about drowning horribly.

Molly Linguistics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Storn enthusiastically returns Chwaer's high-five, which is in slow-motino since they're under water. It only makes it more awesome.

"Is that the thing that we're here for? I haven't been paying attention," says Storn as he swims over to look at the runes after the smell of the Merrows gets too much for even him to handle.

It only makes it more awesome.

Lol.

*glub blibdoolpoolp?* Quill burbles underwater as he looks around the room.

1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19 Perception

A deeper inspection of the room by the newcomers shows that you have already found everything of interest there was to find. Despite Sander's worries, there was little chance of your water breathing spell running out any time soon. Of course, soon was a relative concept.

You guys have looked in every room except the one in the NW with the circle in the floor.

Chwaer begins the trudge back to the last area, making sure they're all close to each other now. Once they near the room, she peeks in. I think that puts me at ~N13? On this map?

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22 +2 for unusual stonework.

Quill follows after Chwaer, thinking she might know where to look next.

Sander does as well. He tries to explain again that he'll be able to make out the runes in the morning, but that's not all that helpful right now.

How about some aid another bonuses from people who haven't tried yet?

No one else has Linguistics to aid

The last room was a meditation chamber of sorts. Giantish runes about the place seem to indicate that a blessing would be provided to any who would recite the proper prayers and perform the proper rites of obeisance to one of the giant gods.

There is nothing else in this room.

"Anybody know any Giant gods worth a tinker's damn and willing to go to their knees?" Molly asks. "Wait. Do Giants worship Gorum? Does anyone know?"

*bloopbloop*? Quill asks, trying to convey that they should search everything again, together?

He’s not sure where they have missed and only a slow careful examination might find what they are looking for.

Please keep in mind that - like Quill - you can't readily speak to each other underwater

Let's assume we do that, but afterward head back out and camp for the day. I'll use comp langauges in the morning and then maybe we can figure out if we need to go back in.

Sander tries to think if he knows any giant prayers.

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Are we overthinking this? What are the floors made of?

I think we need to use comp languages on the disc in the morning. I think that will give us a lot of the information we need. I think until we do that, we're just wasting our time. I vote for fast-forwarding to the morning.

I think we need to use comp languages on the disc in the morning. I think that will give us a lot of the information we need. I think until we do that, we're just wasting our time. I vote for fast-forwarding to the morning.

Slight addendum: we have enough air breathing to do a slow search today, then coming back tomorrow (fast forwarding) if we don’t find anything. I don’t we have anything to lose (except our unprotected gear, above).

Quill pantomimes a slow and careful search of all the areas, hoping to find something the party missed.

We're looking for clay? Is it special? Can we dig?

If someone were to cheat and look at that spoiler, it might be a prayer entitled The Blessing of Rosag. Rosag was the WATER element, not clay, which means we probably just need to use that blessing on some water. But we technically don't know that until I can use comprehend languages in the morning. So let's assume we spend the rest of our time searching the temple, don't find anything, then fast forward through the night and let me comprehend languages in the morning.

Information on what we're doing/looking for

Storn shrugs. "All people pay heed to the Lord in Iron, but giants have their own gods they care about more. Let's search the place and if we find nothing, get out of the water and look at the disc when we can."

Yeah, slow search and then come up for air after and camp out.

The slow methodical search doesn't really gain you anything but muscle fatigue and an aching in your lungs from breathing in all the silt that you stir up in the water with your abysmal attempts to swim. Finally, you gave up the search and broke for the surface. A small, smokeless fire helped warm you and dry out your equipment, which you then banked to keep from giving your campsite away. The dark of night gave way to morning with no trouble in between.

Sander, go ahead and officially peek at the spoiler now with your Comprehend Languages.

Quill opts to stay with the gear when the party goes back down for the blessing. He'll still cast the water breathing, but has had enough of the water, the silt that seems to get into every crevasse, and blurry, watery eyes. Instead, he'll guard the gear and generally have some alone time.

And he totally won't be thinking about what it would be like if Marigold Pottersmoot was there with him. Or if they were kissing or skinny dipping or anything. Nothing of the sort.

"It's a prayer!" Sander explains, "called The Blessing of Rosag."

He thinks for a minute.

"So maybe we were wrong? We thought we were looking for Mymrith's clay, but if this blessing was here, it probably means this was dedicated to her. Etena told us Rosag was the Preserver of the Forge, who held the secrets of water—both its ability to temper metal as well as its capacity to quench the sacred flames. She performed the Blessing of Rosag, the final incantation that stoked the fires and sanctified the forge.

"Which means we probably have what we needed here!" he concludes. "So Mymrith's place must be that stone temple in the swamp. Which is probably about 27 miles east of here, if I'm figuring correctly!" Er, I'm not sure I remember my pythagorean theorem that well, but whatever. We know where it is from the mural.

He starts preparing the rest of his extracts, so they group can ride Air Storn again to the new location.

Marking off fly and enlarge already, since I assume that's our usual travel method.

I guess since storn's skeleton counts as a rigid internal structure I should be referring to him as a zeppelin instead of a blimp during this potion of the journey.

Assuming that Sander was right, and that the clay you were looking for was likely in that same temple where Kipa found the blackfire clay, you enlarged and en-flighted Storn and took off. Knowing your flight time was limited, Storn tried to fly as direct a path as possible.

@Sander - Looks like your extracts give roughly 1.36 miles of flight per extract. How many do you have to give Storn for tracking purposes?

Wait, so do we have the clay? If so, I think we have all four elements and can head back to the forge.

The night before, Molly actually scoffs at the little fire and casts one of her new spells. A small house appears, camouflaged to fade into the terrain!

"I'm through roughing it," the Witch declares as she goes inside. "From now on, I'm sleeping in a proper bed again. Anyone who wants in, wipe your feet."

I thought we were missing the clay as well, but could be wrong.

Quill seems happy to have found what the party needed from the lake. He’s ready to move on, and seems less than excited to do any BarnStorning. He will walk and climb and run along as best he can.

You do not have the clay. Kipa only brought out the blackfire clay, which is merely an alchemical item, but he never said what else might be in the temple.

OK. Then that's where we're headed. We can use four extracts, which would only get us a little more than 5 miles, so looks like we're going to have to hike.

Sander breaks into a grin at Molly's house, going in and kicking off his shoes so he can relax.

Storn stares at the house, trying to figure out whether or not he should sully himself by wiping his feet. But town life made him soft. Also he's clean for the first time in months thanks to an extended swim, and so he wipes his feet and passes out on the floor. Before he goes to bed he finally speaks.

"Uh, so we need that clay. Where is it? Was this the wrong temple?"

From the map, it looks like you have about 30 miles of travel in a direct line, much of that over mountain ridges. It seemed prudent to save the flight for those ridges, rather than the weeks of backtracking through the valleys that you took during your first traverse through this area.

With the head of the recruitment camp dead, the giants in the area seem either listless or to be fighting among themselves for power, so you had a fairly easy time of it. Still, it took 4 days to get to the the shrine in the swamplands.

Once more you approach the structure and see what you vaguely remembered from before. A shallow stone channel extends from an arch in the building’s cracked and weathered facade, from which flows a sluggish stream of ruddy mud. A broad stone patio surrounds the channel, with doors on either side leading into the building.

"I sure hope Kipa got out OK," Sander says, remembering the last time they were here.

"At least there were no monsters here," he says happily, reading to enter. After Chwaer makes sure there are still no monsters here.

Quill jogs along, trying to keep up while keeping an eye out for trouble. He isn’t sure that more monsters haven’t moved in, because that’s the kind of monstrously evil things that some monsters will do: move in to pounce on you at the last second.

”We should still be careful. Let’s find the clay so we can get out of these damn mountains,” Quill says as he gets his bow ready.

He keeps an eye out while the scouts scout for trouble.

If there's one good thing about these endless weeks of tromping around the mountains, it's that Storn's beard has grown back to something truly bushy and horrifying after it was melted off a while ago. He is, however, pretty bored with walking and not killing.

"Wherever Kipa is, I hope it's finding a trap before it blows up someone big and amazing and covered in plate mail," says Storn in his best contemplative voice. "Alright let's find this stupid clay."

Without any preamble or strategy, Storn just clanks his way up to the building to start tearing the joint apart. "This forge had better be worth it."

Chwaer is finding she enjoys their new housing arrangement. So much so she's reluctant to enter the new building. She takes a look anyway.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18   +2 for stonewoprk

Storn waited the bare minimum of time for Chwaer to check the door and confirm it wasn't trapped before he smashed it open. Inside, you see waht Kipa must have seent he first time you came through this way.

The interior of the structure is a single large room. Both the walls and the floor, fashioned from tremendous mud bricks, are badly cracked, though the north wall still bears the faded image of a crescent moon overlaying a jagged mountain peak. A large mechanism stands near the center of the room, consisting of a stone pipe that disgorges muddy water onto a great stone slab. The water spills from the slab into a wide catch pool before draining out through a channel in the floor.

A worn workbench runs the length of the western wall and wraps around the northwest corner of the room. A large stone mortar and pestle sit next to a smaller table to the north. Three huge clay statues stand along the eastern wall, while a tall, black-lacquered cabinet with ornately carved doors and iron handles sits in the southeast corner.

here's the map

Quill readies his bow and arrows, counting to make sure he has the right arrows ready for anything. Ayep, checked have ghost salted & adamantine & silver blanched arrow heads, just in case.

”Are you sure we were here before?” Quill asks, not quite remembering any of the details. ”Seems like it was months ago. We should do a better search this time.”

Quill waits for others to enter, and will follow. [/ooc]

Yeah, I guess really only Kipa went in... I don't remember this map at all!

Sander follows along with Quill, moving immediately toward his left, away from the statues.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20

Yep, Kipa went in invisible, grabbed a couple of bricks of blackfire clay, and bugged out

Storn? Molly? Chwaer?

Whoops I'm here!

realizing he's in a temple for giants, Storn grips aggrimosh and there's a 'swup' sound as he explodes in height. Mega-Storn then stalks his way into the room to inspect it, starting with the weird clay-a-ma-tron.

"What's this thing do?"

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

To no one's surprise, Storn's loud and violent assault on the flagstones of the shrine awoke the protectors of the place. The three clay statues against the right wall creaked and splintered as they each took a step forward from their centuries-old resting places.

Round 1

Quill 5’ steps to AD18 and calls upon the power of the Elf that Hunts the world for aid. He opens up against yellow.

1d20 + 11 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 11 - 2 + 3 = 23 to hit; (-rapid, +DF)
1d8 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 3 = 20 cold iron damage.
1d8 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 3 = 15 cold iron damage. (manyshot)

1d20 + 11 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 11 - 2 + 3 = 26 to hit; (-rapid,+DF)
1d8 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 9 + 3 = 14 cold iron damage.

1d20 + 6 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 6 - 2 + 3 = 9 to hit; (-rapid,+DF)
1d8 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 3 = 15 cold iron damage.

Can we get a GMPC Arcana check for Molly on these things? Information about why Quill’s arrows aren’t working as well would be nice and we need active players to make active rolls.

Chwaer grins as Storn embiggens himself and strides into the room. She begins the long run to get anywhere close to being helpful. She darts up to be near Storn, hoping to go unnoticed until they're close enough to engage him.

Move to Y27 and ready attack.

Open to suggestions on how I can be more helpful at the start of combat when I'm a mile away :) Maybe I need a bow.

I'm here. Ready to start casting.

Okay I PROMISE to stop running ahead of the group and keep pace with Chwaer lol.

Maybe you can just carry me up with you :)