GM Bigrin's Giantslayer (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

Molly discretely checked the goddess' breasts for a clue to what the ghost had been talking about. She sound nothing there but the bronze the statue was made of. It wasn't until Sander joined her and mentioned that 'breast' was an older language construct for upper chest that they found the hidden compartment, right were a locket would hang on a short chain. Inside was a medallion, embossed with the sword on sunburst symbol of Iomedae.

The double doors to the east of the courtyard lead out into the main encampment of the Twisted Nails orc tribe that is left. Peering through a crack in the door, Kipa can see about a hundred or so orcs in sight.

Sander looks dubious at the thought of that many orcs.

"No, Storn, that's TOO many!" he urgently says in a hushed voice.

"This is going to sound horrible, but ... maybe we use the dam?"

One of you spellcaster types want to check out that amulet?

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

"I know what this is!" says Storn as he looks over the symbol.

---

Over at the door, Storn's boot hovers at the door for a moment and he slowly withdraws it. He sighs. "That is too many orcs. Blowing the dam is a good idea."

Is there anywhere inside the keep we have not explored?

Surprising to everyone, including himself, Storn actually does know what the medallion is - a Glory Medallion.

Keep interior is fully explored, as far as you can tell. If there were any secret rooms or passages, they remain that way. You also didn't explore the barracks areas surrounding and above the main gate, as those too are full of orcs.

Oh, that's a nice item. Sadly I think it's completely useless for us, but I like it. Anyone want to do anything other than blow the dam?

"Uh, we can't go that way. I can handle 3 maybe 4 orcs...uhm...yeah. So...yeah," Quill grumbles at the numbers of orcs. "If we had that skull and could sneak it into the middle of them...that might have helped, but Storn storne'd that."

Quill looks at Sander.

"You think you can blow it? You seemed unsure when we explored the idea beforehand."

"I can add a lightning bolt to the job, now," Molly offers.

"Yeah, I think I should be able to, since if I have to use all my bombs, it should be OK."

Looking around to the others "Well do we walk around & fully clear out these green pests or head out & back? I mean the more we do not, the less we will have to do later. Those things are like damn mushrooms. You leave them alone & they just seem to multiply."

Hey look a 40k refrence. But really, Im ok with either option, just that not clearing them out means we may need to leave the way we came in.... they are at the front gates and all.

"I can add a lightning bolt to the job, now," Molly offers.

"Ooh! How do we get all the orcs to stand in a straight line? Oh!, I know!" Quill's mind works furiously. "We build a Trojan Yak! And we fill it with beer! And when the orcs line up to get their beer, Molly jumps out and zaps the line!"

Quill looks around to see if others want to adopt his very good plan.

"That's for Dwarves, not Orcs," Molly says, succinctly shooting down Quill's plan. "Also, I can't breathe in beer; I'm not a sea hag."

"So are we blowing the dam or stabbing some orcs? Either way works.... but the dam way may damage the fort and make it harder for it to be used again by either side."

Just trying to see what we are doing. If we are going to blow the dam then its all on you Sander since bombs are your thing. If we are going to stab some orcs.... then I have some point sticks that are looking for a new home...

Good question. What are you going to do? And how do you plan on leaving the fort?

I don't think we can take on that many orcs. I say we leave through the sewers (or just scale a wall on the back side) and then blow the dam.

I don't think we can take on that many orcs. I say we leave through the sewers (or just scale a wall on the back side) and then blow the dam.

Seeing others are confused about what they want to do, Quill does what he thinks is best: returning to the pooper to escape this fort of death and doom and poop.

Storn lets out a very loud sigh. "Ugh. FINE. I hope we get attacked by something horribly dangerous on the way out though."

Let's get out of here. Push for the exit through the poop chute.

Kipa shrugs and follows the others.

Despite the relative safety of simply dropping a rope off the cleared parapet, you decided to backtrack and retreat through the sewage tunnel. The trip down the shaft wasn't nearly as bad as the way in, not least because there was no flatulent ogre above. Still, it wasn't pleasant, and the tight fit meant that everyone got at least a little effluent splashed on their face, no matter how hard they tried to avoid it. Still, it was an easy exit, and soon you were all clustered at the grate, staring out into the afternoon light.

The area immediately around the sewer exit appeared to be free of greenskins for now.

Everyone please make me a Fort save

Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

With a sickened look on his face "how many times did I suggest going over the wall before. I mean not right when we were leaving but after fighting the damn ogres on the wall."

Fort save (+4 vs. poison): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Sander nods.

"I should probably check everyone later to make sure we didn't catch anything walking through here, but I think we need to get to the dam first," he says.

To the dam! (And I'll do Heal checks before we rest, in hopes of boosting efforts vs. disease if that's a concern.)

Fort. save 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

"Blow this for a lark. First we blow the dam, then we find somewhere to take a hot bath," Molly says. "Hotter. Scalding! And new clothes."

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 Fort

"Can we rest for the night before hitting the damn? I don't recall how we thought to do it last time," Quill asks, knowing his ability to get to the damn unseen is minimal, but is willing to try again...let alone trying to figure out a way to destroy the damn dam without dying.

Quill will let someone else sneak and scou this time. He's not the best at it and others might be better suited.

Once outside "Give me a bit. Let me go take a look around and see what the situation is with the dam."

With that Kipa heads off to scout the dam & see how best to take it down.

Once he returns to the group "Ok guys here's what I found out....

Basiclly anything DM says I found I tell you all

We just rested. We haven't had a combat encounter since the last time we woke up...

"It's barely noon, Quill. I know it was dark in the sewer, but not so dark you should be confused. Are you feeling OK? Let me feel your head!"

Sander goes to check on the elf and see if he can figure out why Quill is so tired this early in the day.

"Hopefully they won't be paying much attention and we can sneak up. Or ... I guess I could use my potion of unseenness and go by myself..."

The halfling gulps nervously.

"Oh, wait, I can have someone else turn invisible and come with me too!"

Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

"It's barely noon, Quill. I know it was dark in the sewer, but not so dark you should be confused. Are you feeling OK? Let me feel your head!"

Quill exhales in annoyance.

"But if we rest, maybe we'll realize that we can sneak away having succeeded in the main part of our quest and *not* die to a bunch of orcs for no reason at all. There has to be 100s of them down there! That's a lot! And they probably won't be in a line for Molly! I tried to make that happen."

"I don't think it matters if we let the water take care of them, as horrible as that sounds. I mean, they'd kill us all without thinking about it..."

Sorry guys, post coming tomorrow promise!

In the mid-day sun, Kipa could see a lot better than the orcs around the fort could, but the dry moat area where you were in held a LOT of orcs. There seemed to be no way to get to the dam from this side of the wooden palisade without being spotted. your best bet would be to go over the wall, then approach the dam from the lakeside, perhaps swimming to it. From your earlier reconnaissance, this seemed like the plan most likely to work. Getting over the wooden palisade without being spotted would be difficult, though.

"If just a couple of us want to go, I could turn us invisible and we could swim for it..." Sander suggests, nervously.

Or maybe we use a summon from Molly to deliver some explosives?

"I can do the sneaking thing with ease. Swimming is not my thing unless I really have to. Hey Molly, would you be able to summon a furry friend to drop the explosive off for us? Sander would that even work or do you have to set the bomb?"

Hey DM can we get a map of the wider area w/ the damn & such? I am sure you posted it before just dont know when

"I still have three of the orc bombs. If something could bring them over fast enough, that would probably work."

They're from the fighting back in Trunau. I forget what the delay on those was, but I think at least 1 round. They're kind of perfect for this situation.

Fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

OH GOODY.

Whatever Storn catches from unnecessarily going through a giant's toilet, it ain't good.

---

He folds his arms, surveying the area now that he's properly outside, and has once more rinsed himself out with a lot of create water orisons.

"Hrmph, get an eagle or something to drop a bomb would work. I have an obscuring mist spell if necessary, although that gets stuck on me and I should stay well back from the dam."

Quill waits for a plan, he has little to offer and little desire for the plan. He can provide cover if asked, or use his elven eyes to tell people what he sees.

Otherwise, he waits for those who think this is a good idea to plan their plan.

@Sander - good call on those orc bombs.

Do you remember the delay on this, DM? IF we have time on the fuses, a summon monster III from Molly could give us a monitor lizard/giant ant/dire bat to tie them to for delivery to the dam. Obscuring mist could also give us more cover if we need.

Fuse grenades are 1d3 rounds

Don't forget a summoned monster has to be both intelligent and share a language with its summoner to be tasked with anything more complex than "attack the nearest target"

Does anyone speak Auran or know how to cast Tongues? We could whip up some small air elementals and send them off.

I have dragonic... but that may be a bit over kill. WOuld just tieing the bomb to the thing work & give the command "go over there" work? Also, do we know how long the fuse is before OR after we set it? Basicly when is the d3 rolled?

Quill can neither speak Auran or Draconic, but can swear like a sailor in Elven if you need that.

Quill counts his arrows and plans to buy more when they get to someplace, anyplace other than here.

OK, doesn't sound like this summons plan will work. Again, we could send a couple of us invisibly (I can manage two, three if I permanently use my potion of invisibility, which seems worth the investment here). Let's not get hung up for a week here.

My imagination is a little busted right now. Is there a map of the area we can look at? Trying to see if there is a way to get around the whole thing. Also would it just be easier to just go stab them all?

Here's the map

Lots of options, including just walking away. Don't forget you are still inside the palisade at this point, and it is mid-afternoon.

Thank you; the map's a big help!

Options I see are to go in the front gatehouse area (building farthest to the left) and try to hold it against a horde of orcs, which seems dangerous (but, maybe fun?). Or climb over the palisade on the backside out of their site and creep up to the dam from the southwest (maybe under cover of fog?), and try to blow it from there. Anyone have Know (engineering) to help us figure out if we can do that?

Thinking a bit out of the box for Pathfinders "What if we call in a standing army from one of the local areas? Let them clear out the last of the orcs and hell keep the fort for all we care."

Quill waits for a plan, he has little to offer and little desire for the plan. He can provide cover if asked.

Otherwise, he waits for those who think this is a good idea to plan their plan.

Quill does not have any relevant knowledges to help blow the damn dam.

Storn groans loudly. "This is boring and forever-taking. Gorum thanks the prisoners for their sacrifice. We have no idea what's in the water, how to get there, and although maybe we can blow up the dam, nobody here knows how dams work."

I'm loathe to leave half a map unexplored but I think we're running into some longterm analysis paralysis here and don't have a good means of progressing. I'm happy for a change of scenery unless there's a really strong idea that comes up.

Im ok with just leaving & telling the local guard to come clean up the left overs. We just move on to bigger & better stuff

I'm fine with moving on, though I think my plan outlined above (option 2) seems pretty low-risk if we want to try. Definitely don't think it's worth spending much more time on, however, as I believe we've gotten what we came for.

So if we don't bother with the dam at all, do we head back to Trunau?.

Ok, Im just going to move along a bit I guess. I think we are almost all on the Ok to move forward train. If you wnat to stay please let us know. I have no problem killing more orcs, just want to keep moving forward is all

Stretchering a bit Kipa looks around "Ok, well, lets head back to town & send the local garrison or army to clean up the stragglers. With out a leader, those orcs should be easy for them to deal with. Who ever clears it out, can keep the fort for all we care really. That may even bring more armies in to try & do that work for us. So, who do we report back to on this one any way?"

Quill realizes that there is no good way to blow the damn and still live and begins to walk back to the boat or Trunau, whichever works best.

"I think we're done here."