Argust takes down the fire giant!
Brelar moves up a bit and casts chain lightning on the giants!
DC 26 Ref for half.
The giants don't even see the lightning coming and are crisped by the blast!
The giants quickly reload their ballistae and fire!
G1: 40 dmg
G2: 40 dmg
G3: 40 dmg
Argust clicks his heels and runs!
Bert runs for the cliff to the east, the blessing of fervor again hastening his stride.
Invio Brelar will move closer and use the blessings to increase his movement then casting magic missile on giant #1
As the party moves in closer, the giants switch to throwing rocks!
G1: 55 dmg
G2: 40 dmg
G3: 40 dmg
Argust closes on the giant near him and attacks with the benefit of the Blessing!
for
for
Brelar moves up a bit more and casts contagous flames on the 3 giants, one ray at each!
Karn swings and misses but Argust finishes off the western giant! Brelar's first ray misses but the other two hit the remaining giants!
The giants pull out their clubs and move to surround Karn!
G1: 67 dmg
G2: 52 dmg
The magical flames bounce from G3 to G2 and G2 to G1!
Using his Blessing to increase his speed, Argust moves around to attack the south giant!
for
for
As Brelar's flames leap from giant-to-giant, Argust moves in and finishes one off! The last one falls quickly to the rest of the party's attacks.
Bert continues to climb to the top of the cliff.
Brelar looks around at the fallen giants and charred mastodons, "Any more guards for now?"
"I don't see any, and it's not like they're going to be hiding very well. For some reason I'm suddenly feeling kinda hungry."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ha! Giants, ninjas, it don't matter! Argust waits for Karn to do his healing thing while moving next to Brelar. Dunno if these here giants have anything useful but we might as well search 'em.
Each of the giants had a masterwork greatclub and wore +1 hide armor. They also each carried a potion of cure serious wounds and a potion of haste.
Bert looks around from his elevated vantage point.
From above Bert has an excellent view of the hollow: A fifty-foot-tall wooden fortress build on a scale twice what one might expect for humans dominates the landscape . This building, built from enormous timbers, features no windows and only a single hefty door. A flag depicting a giant atop a mound of dead elves and owlbears hangs above the door. braziers containing smoldering coals burn near the entrance to the structure, while three large ballistae sit on the ledge south of the fortress. Beyond, a large mound of rubble slumps before a towering green spire that extends nearly to hundred feet into the sky.
The spur-shaped tower of blue-green metal protrudes from the ground, rising to a height of a few hundred feet. The height seems even greater for the fact that the ground around it has been meticulously chiseled away. Ramps wind down along the spire's sides to a point thirty feet below, where an opening in its side reveals that the structure is at least partially hollow.
Bert climbs back down to rejoin the others. "I think we better clean out this fort, if we don't want to have to fight our way out later."
"Hmm...not so much. I know a bit about cannons, but that's not what we have here. Sorry!"
Aw, that's a shame. It'll be fun ta shoot giants with this here stuff. Hmmm, not as much fun as cuttin' them down with me sword, though!
The wooden walls of the wide timber room in the fort are adorned with dozens of trophies, some of which seem to be still alive judging by their feeble twitching and cries. The majority of the trophies are animals-bears, aurochs, giant lizards, and a few monsters-but here and there hang the mutilated bodies of orcs or humans. A great fire pit lies in the room's center, forming a layer of smoke near the ceiling some fifty feet above, while additional torches guttering on the walls only add to the room's foul scents. Slabs of dubious meat roast slowly over the central fire, while a balcony twenty-five feet above the eastern half of the room looks out over the hall.
Four hill giants and two fire giants stand inside, waiting, but do not attack. "General Stom! They're here!" one of the fire giants calls out.
A female fire giant looks down from the balcony above. "I must compliment your battle prowess." she calls down. "I want no more bloodshed though. I've got an offer. I don't much care for Chief Jubbek and I see you as a way to turn the tides. Storm the chambers below and take out Chief Jubbek and we'll leave without a fight. Which, incidentally, leaves anything you find down there yours as well. I'd rather have my life and the lives of my soldiers here, frankly. Deal?"
The halfling pipes up. "Tell us something about Chief Jubbek."
"He's a dumb brute of a hill giant who favors the morningstar. Quick to anger, cursed with it really. That's why he's got to go."
Bert looks at the others. "You know, 'jaw, jaw' is usually better than 'war, war.' I think we can deal."
Argust looks at the giants, then Bert, then Karn, then back at the giants. Yeeaaah, what says ya won't?
"Well," General Stom says, "I suppose there's no way to guarantee that, is there? Except to assure you that we saw what you did outside and don't want the same to happen to us. We know you could best us in a fight so we won't be likely to jump on you any time soon. Deal?"
Karn doesn't sense anything disingenuous about the fire giant.
Oh! Well, that's prolly true! Right, Brelar? Argust gives a hearty laugh. So, are we gonna do it?
¨The general seems to have a masterful grasp on the situation, yes. I believe there is much we can benefit from each other. How many follow this chief? And are you to be the new chief once we are done?¨
"Not here. We're heading out. Last I knew Chief Jubbek had eight hill giants and a fire giant under his command. Oh, and his pet smilodon, of course."
A who? Argust looks confused. Whatsa Smileadone?
"It's a big cat with nasty sharp teeth, Argust! Watch out for its pounce."
You let the fire giant and her squadron of hill giants leave and they let you go down the stairs to fulfill your end of the bargain.
This thirty-foot-wide chamber appears to have been widened with picks and chisels. More natural-looking tunnels—ten-foot-wide circular lava tubes—extend from this larger chamber to the north, south, and east, while to the west, a roughly caved flight of stairs sized for giants leads upward.
To the south are some abandoned lava tubes and to the north the lava tubes end in a cave-in. It seems you only have one way to go so you head east:
Half emerging from the rough stone floor is a curious pillar of granite. The block has seven sides and rises up through the roof above at an angle. The faces of the pillar still bear the faint markings of runes that have all but worn away with the passage of time.
What's it mean?
Knowledge (something) for Guiltspur? (history?)