Derrik holds still knowing the beast is just out of his reach.
Undaunted, Tam just lobs another bolt at the creature.
Balmir, still moving extra slow, moves out of the cloud of gas. As he moves he draws the battle axe that, until he acquired agrimmosh, was his constant companion in battle.
Both Tam and Mouser are able to plink shafts into the beast's hide. While it may not seem to be much, Mouser seems to have hit a soft spot that was incredibly painful.
The drake continues to struggle, and finally breaks free from the trap!
Clearly there is no way that Somer will let this thing just fly off. Again he whispers a spell and lets his arrow fly. This time however he tries fire.
"Balmir come back and I can heal your wounds" Derrik calls out as he moves forward.
As Derrik does what he can to get Balmir to safety, Somer ends the situation with a well placed arrow that bursts into a scorching ray of fire, searing through the drake's heart. It falls to the ground with an extremely large thud.
"Whew! Great shot, Somer!" says Tam. He unwinches his crossbow and puts it away.
Balmir finally starts to feel himself moving at normal speed. "Well done, friends. Another agent of evil is dead." He looks to Derrik. "Thanks for the healing." Blood still drips from the wounds on Balmir's arms.
Somer laughs and winces in pain.
"Sucker got me pretty good too. Still better dead then alive with something like that. Derrik, think you could patch me up a bit or should I just a potion or two?" he pauses thinking "Wonder if it has a home around here we should investigate."
Derrik walks over to his companions converting some of his spells into healing. "Milani grant me your blessing to heal my wounded Allies." Derrik then turns to Mouser "Are these related to dragons? Do you think they would have a horde?"
"Thanks Derrik," Balmir says again.
You don't see any way to really track this creature back to its lair, so for now you have nothing but drake meat to show for your troubles.
Your path head needs to be decided. You can continue to follow the main river, or there is a tributary to the east that you can explore instead.
Balmir looks along the main river trail. He is anxious to get to the town but he's more interested in tracking down more giants. If there is a giant cave around it would probably be off the path. He spots the small tributary that heads east and points it out. "We should follow that for a bit. Let's see where that leads. We can always come back to the main path."
"A good plan I think."
"Up to our scout." Derrik says looking at Mouser, "We will try to be quiet so we don't get you noticed, but then again they may just come after us." Derrik smiles.
This is a long journey - the scale on the map is 1 inch = 8 miles, so days turn to nights and back again. It was probably mid-day when the drake attacked, if it makes a diffference.
So you decide to take the smaller tributary, and find end up camping at least once before you find anything of interest. (Point K)
Numerous giant-sized footprints scar the earth around the remains of a large campfire, which lie nestled between an outcropping of large boulders.
"Maybe we are getting closer to a larger gathering of Giants?" Derrik asks as he looks through the campsite with his allies.
"Hmmph. I told you we'd find more giants here." Balmir looks ready to run off to fight them but realizes that he doesn't quite know where they are. He sighs as Mouser heads off. "Hurry back once you find them."
Balmir detects heat rising from the ashes of the campfire, suggesting it was only recently abandoned. Mouser stirs up the smoldering coals discovers the cracked, blackened bones of a Medium-sized humanoid, including an intact human skull and jaw.
He also determines that the giants must have a healthy head start on you, so might not e wise for Mouser to follow them alone.
"We should all be going together on this." Derrik says once the information is passed out.
I am assuming you are following the trail.
One of the trolls starts sniffing the air, detecting someone is nearby, but Mouser is able to give you all the signal to let you gain some surprise!
Somer is a little taken aback but the number of large creatures they have just run into. Thanks to Mousers warning he has a chance to launch some arrows at extreme range. First he quickly calls acid to his arrows using is arcane pool and fires.
[u] Suprise [/u]
[u] Round 1 [/u]
As soon as the arrows are away he quickly draws more arrows, steadies his breath, and lest another arrow fly.
"Crap!" is all that Tam has time to say as the team unfortunately stumbles into a large band of trolls. Then he casts greater invisibility on Mouser.
Derrik moves a head and brings his spear to bear on the Giants that are far away from them.
"Trolls aren't giants, but I guess that's what we've got." Balmir lifts the warhammer off his shoulder and strengthens his grip on it.
The moss trolls charge ahead. "Fresh meat!"
The giantess picks up a large rock, strides forward and throws it at Derrik. But it bounces harmlessly to the side. Still, her range is impressive!
Derrik moves a head again and brace his spear for the incoming giants.
Brace: If you use a readied action to set a brace weapon against a charge, you deal double damage on a successful hit against a charging creature (see Combat).
"Hey mossy! Have a look at this little wonder!" says the tiny illusionist as he starts making mystic passes. Once again glimmering lights appear following his hand gestures, this time off in the midst of the moss trolls, in a swirling miasma of impressively delicate lights.
Balmir moves as fast as his short legs will carry him. He holds agrimmosh, his hands twisting on the shaft in anticipation of swing it at the monsters.
Both moss trolls seem fascinated by the pretty colors, although the female giant just growls at the display.
"Weak minded fools... snap out of it!"
Both back trolls double move forward.
Somer simply moves closer so he can use his spells and launches a simple arrow at the green troll.
The giant storms forward, charging Balmir. Luckily the dwarf is well versed in giant tactics and manages to dodge the strike!
Mouser slices the giantess as she runs by, but she barely notices the deep cut and continues her charge. The troll, though, certainly feels the pain, and thanks to the acid preventing it from regenerating, it perishes.
Tam continues weaving his hands to keep the pulsating lights glowing and swirling and moving...
Balmir snarls at the giant and swings the war hammer with all his strength.