Sasha takes a 5-foot step forward and attacks the giant again.
(lead blades)
Hearing the sickening sound of the giant's weapon clobbering Johan, Martok unleashes a burst of divine energy, the power washing over the ranger's form, hidden within the fog, and quickly mending his wounds and stopping his blood loss as he topples from Thunder's back, leaving the unsuspecting gnome in control of the steed. Corentin and Sasha step up and continue their assault on the giant as Szacha conjures up several images of himself before also engaging in the melee. The magically empowered cavalier misses his attacks, but one of the strikes from the halfling lands on him, tearing another wound open in the giant's leg. The spirits surrounding Szacha crash into the creature and batter it heavily. The crocodile clambers out of the fog, biting at the giant but unable to land a blow on the massive creature.
The giant, leg bleeding badly, winds up to strike at the halfling at his feet, when suddenly his grip shifts on the slippery weapon and it tumbles out of his hands, crashing to the ground. Hands still covered in the slick substance that coated the weapon, the giant cracks its knuckles and launches both fists towards Sasha. The first blow whistles past the halfling's head just as she ducks to avoid the blow, but the second swing connects with her tiny jaw and lifts her several feet off the ground with the force of the blow.
The dwarf casts his fortune hex on Corentyn, hoping he could bring the giant to his knees.
He maintained the chanting and glared at the giant through the mist.
He yells at Johan from atop his horse, "Get close to me and I'll heal you! I told you we should ride together."
Giz pulls out his crossbow and loads it.
Corentin launches another round of attacks focusing a bit more on precision rather than might.
The dwarf casts his fortune hex on Corentyn, hoping he could bring the giant to his knees.
He maintained the chanting and glared at the giant through the mist.
He yells at Johan from atop his horse, "Get close to me and I'll heal you! I told you we should ride together."
The dwarf casts his fortune hex on Corentyn, hoping he could bring the giant to his knees.
He maintained the chanting and glared at the giant through the mist.
He yells at Johan from atop his horse, "Get close to me and I'll heal you! I told you we should ride together."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sasha rolls to her feet and wipes a line of blood from her nose. "Now we have a quarrrel," she mutters, striking back.
negative energy
The group surrounds the giant, slashing and stabbing at every opening. The crocodile's tail slap knocks the giant about and into the readied blades of Corentin and Szacha, each in turn delivering heavy blows against the overpowering creature. Still suffering from the effective arrows of the downed ranger, the creature stumbles down to a knee, only to face the determined halfling as she slashes the beast across the eyes, splitting open its skull and driving it to the ground.
"Johan!"
The dwarf abruptly stops chanting and heads over to the injured young man. "I should be riding with you so I can stay close to you."
He quips as he channels his spirit, "You obviously are still new at this hero business."
He looks around, "How's everyone else? Good job Sasha."
_____________
|
Johan slowly pulls himself from the boggy ground, picking up the bow he dropped when he went down as he does so. There is a Johan shaped impression in the ground from where the giant's attack knocked him off his horse and into the wet turf. He has two massive wounds still from the giant's pole arm, neither significantly closed from the previous two applications of healing magic. Standing shakily he shoulders his bow and moves to retrieve his other bow, which is now broken and useless. I am ok, I think. He seems to be taking inventory of body parts. Better than this bow anyway. I think I made the giant mad. Can anyone fix this?
Accepting the healing from Martok's healing hex Johan with gratitude he moves to check on Thunder and is visibly relieved to find his horse unwounded. Turning to face the party its obvious that even after the healing he is far from ok.
The dwarf shakes his head and looks concerned, "I've taken care of your worst issues and I can channel some more healing but if no one else is hurt then it's more efficient to use a wand of some sort."
He shrugs, "But I don't have wand. Does anyone have a wand we can use?"
After the giant falls Corentin takes a moment to look about for any additional foes before letting the divine energies dissipate. As the fog clears he's glad to see Johan getting back to his feet.
Making his way to Resolute he's tempted to ruffle Sasha's hair but thinks better of it. "Well done Mouse" he says with a respectful nod.
"How are you boy?" he asks his steed when he reaches him. Inspecting his wounds he sees that Martok's earlier healing has taken some of the bite out of the wounds though they still remain. Patting Resolute he says, "Stay here an rest up. We'll be back soon"
"Once we're ready we should turn the lantern to the central stone and see where this gateway will take us. Giz, do you know if these giants are tribal or more solitary? Should we be expecting more of them?"
Giz dismisses his gator back to the higher planes. "Marsh giants are cannibals. Pretty sure there won't be another one around for miles."
Gizsmith goes over to the fallen giant and begins to rifle through its belongings.
Detect magic
"Giant's toes are supposed to great alchemical reagents, but I never could handle the smell."
Gizsmith begins searching the dead giant, sorting through its possessions in an attempt to find something useful on the creature. Inside the creature's massive sack it was carrying the gnome finds a half eaten bird, several large chunks of dried flesh which appears to be from a humanoid, a long gaff hook (large sized), and a shriveled looking hand suspended from a length of vine. Using his magical abilities Gizsmith determines that the shriveled hand indeed appears to be magical.
The shriveled hand appears to be a Hand of the Mage.
"Wait, before you do that. I can channel more healing, at least one more time."
Martok then concentrates and ushers forth a bout of magic for those injured.
He continues, "I can also use my healing hex on those that haven't been blessed this day."
____________
Sasha rises, accepting the praise with grace and humility. She wipes her sword on the giant's clothing before sheathing it. "I could use a little of that healing, as well, if you've any to spare," she says, rubbing her jaw.
"Ha! Fantastic!"
Giz puts the crude shriveled hand necklace around his neck. A look of concentration crosses his face and a rock, some yards distant, floats over to him.
"Well I'm sure this will come in handy!"
As Szacha shines the ghostlight lantern’s light over the menhir, the thick vegetation covering the monolith quickly withers away, revealing a faintly glowing, olive-hued stone. Checking the stone, Gizsmith notes a strong aura of conjuration magic, and confirms it is likely the trigger for some sort of teleportation magic. Corentin, taking a leap of faith that Silvermane's words were true, steps forward and carefully touches the stone, his form wavering for a moment before vanishing completely from sight, a faint smell of fresh earth and newly blooming flowers left in his wake.
One by one the party moves forward to touch the stone, and one by one they vanish out of sight.
As each of you reappears, you behold the same sight. A lone menhir stands in a clearing along with the rest of the party, in a vibrant forest filled with thick, verdant plant life. Exotic flowers drape the standing stone, which pulses with brilliant chartreuse light. A path lined with rose petals leads from the monolith to a giant floral bloom carved from wood. Two carved wooden stamens stretch out toward the pulsating menhir, extending from either side of a set of ornate doors carved into the giant flower. An overpowering fragrance of flowers and sweet grass permeates the air. The sun above sits at its zenith, basking the area in light and warmth. Above the doors seems to be some sort of flowing script, but none of the party seem familiar with the writing.
Corentin is amazed as he takes in the brilliant surroundings.
"Does anyone have a way of reading what's written there?"
"It's not Elven, Giant, Gnome, Halfling, or Orcish," Sasha offers helpfully.
Corentin is amazed as he takes in the brilliant surroundings.
"Does anyone have a way of reading what's written there?"
Momentarily overcome by the sense of peace in the place, Martok almost forgot his magic.
He puffed his chest, "As a matter of fact, I do."
The rat on his shoulder rubbed its whiskers in anticipation as the dwarf intoned the incantation and called forth the spirits of the land.
A gentle breeze picked up and blew on the words, which writhed and rearranged itself so that everyone could read it.
____________
At the completion of his spell, the words on the wooden frame shimmered for a moment, then began to become clearer and clearer to the dwarf, until at last he found he could understand the strange words written upon the wood.
“If you seek peace in nature, welcome. If you seek anything else, beware the wrath of the Vault of Thorns.”
Martok smiles and reads the strange words, “If you seek peace in nature, welcome. If you seek anything else, beware the wrath of the Vault of Thorns.”
"What if we seek to peacefully dominate it to our will? We're still good right?"
"Can't really say if that sounds welcoming or not, though I'm going to guess that since we can only read it through magic we may not be among the former." Corentin says with a wry grin.
Looking at the impressive door he mutters to himself, "Shame Bella is back cooling her heels in Trunau." before asking "Can we tell if there are any magics on the door itself or on those great flower like structures?"
Giz casts Detect Magic at Corentin's request.
"We're here for treasure, right? Anybody see anything useful?"
You definitely feel like you are no longer on the material plane, and this place is strikingly similar to what you have learned about the First World.
Also, the door does not appear magical in nature nor does it give off any detectable auras of magic. Everything here seems completely natural.
"Well everything seems to be "normal". Let's open up the door and get this over with."
Giz takes a moment to cast mage armour on himself.
Opening the double doors, Szacha finds himself looking out over an extensive wooden bridge that stretches across a wide, high chamber and overlooks an exotic garden far below. The air is hot and humid, and a powerful stench of overripe vegetation wafts throughout the massive, domed chamber. As the heat washes over the skald standing in the doorway he finds himself almost immediately breaking out into a sweat. The ceiling overhead is a complex series of star-patterned glass that magnifies the rays of the sun directly above, refracting and reflecting the light in the room until it is almost blindingly bright. At the far end of the bridge, interwoven branches form a doorway.
Looking around Corentin comments, "This place has the feeling of a forgotten garden left to grow wild for too long. It's been a long time since any hand guided the growth here, we should be wary of what might have grown in such conditions."
The cavalier keeps his axe sheathed to free up a hand but seems ready to draw it at a moments notice. Standing just off the bridge he awaits Szacha's signal to advance.