Tam slams a bolt of shadowy illusion into one of the other ogres to slow it down.
Mouser cuts the first ogre down as Balmir smacks it hard, and between the two, it drops dead. Turning his attacks to the green one, he manages it stab it in the knee, causing it to stumble low enough that he also stabs it in the ear, ending it's life as well.
Tamxander sees both beasts fall, so redirects his spell to the troll. Both heads seem clouded in blindness.
He moves closer, but carefully since he is blinded.
"I will eat you, every one!" he yells.
Balmir moves with unnatural speed up to the troll and strikes with the hammer.
Toboyn glances to see if the troll is still standing. He (is/isn't), at which point Toboyn (casts/does not cast) a dazzling spear of light at the foul thing.
"You have already dined your last, foul beast!"
Seeing that things are going well so far Somer advances and fires one arrow as he moves.
Tam idly fires a crossbow bolt at the troll, but he doesn't really try that hard as he figures that the team has it handled.
The troll, having two heads, seems to consider each has a different enemy here.
Balmir takes a slight cut, but nothing that concerns him greatly.
Balmir glances at the cut on his arm only for a moment before he swings the hammer at both of the troll's heads.
Balmir misses with the first hit, but manages to connect with the second.
Mouser fairs much better, but then realizes Balmir had already hit it so hard that it was unconscious and just hadn't fallen yet.
Toboyn breaths a (hasty) sigh of relief, "Well, there's only the cleaning up to do now to ensure we aren't found." He (hastily) advances to help drag the two dead between the pews while the others ensure the troll doesn't arise.
Tam shoulders his crossbow, saunters up to the fallen troll, and deploys an acid splash cantrip.
"Ok. Now let's go look at the anvil. It's still tugging at the hammer." Balmir moves to the stairs to the left of the dais.
The nave of the cathedral opens into a huge amphitheater. Three tiers of curved stone benches are arranged in immense horseshoes around the chamber’s centerpiece, a great pit filled with cold black slag. From the middle of the slag pit rises a wide, round platform of black basalt. A great forge, its fire gone cold, sits in the center of the platform, along with a massive iron anvil the size of a cow. The soot-stained ceiling arches far above the chamber floor. A bridge of stone connects the platform to a dais at the rear of the hall, where a towering statue of a stone giant ominously overlooks the entire cathedral.
Eighty feet above the floor, 4-foot-square openings in the walls on either side of the forge connect to chimneys within the cathedral’s side towers, providing ventilation for smoke from the forge. Both the forge platform and the dais at the rear of the room are 15 feet above the sanctuary’s floor. The slag pit surrounding the platform is 20 feet deep, though the slag fills the pit to a depth of 10 feet.
Balmir feels nothing new as her approaches, but something tugs at him - touch the hammer to the forge
"Ahh I see it as well. Quite the place for a blacksmith to work, must be one heck of a forge."
Somer moves with Balmir up towards the stairs to the dais.
"Secret door? I guess we should check it out but first, my hammer wants to touch the anvil. Everyone be ready. I'm going to do it."
Balmir walks to the anvil and directly slams the hammer onto the top of the anvil.
There is a loud "clang!" as he does so, and suddenly Balmir looks as if he just learned kung fu.
Images flood your mind. You are immediately aware of Agrimmosh’s dormant powers, as well as the fact that together, both artifacts (hammer and forge) can be used in a way that neither can accomplish alone—but only if Minderhal’s Forge is first reactivated.
The forge functions as an altar of Minderhal (see page 246 of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods for rules on altars). Any creature (not just a worshiper of Minderhal) can pray at the altar, though accepting the altar’s blessing is both an evil and lawful act. Praying at the altar grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft and Sense Motive checks, or one of the following weapon special abilities (creature’s choice) to one magic weapon carried or wielded by the creature: axiomatic or unholy. This effect is suppressed if the weapon leaves the creature’s grasp, but resumes if the weapon is returned to the creature.
Minderhal’s Forge is also a fully working forge. Any creature using the forge can create magic weapons, armor, or shields as if it possessed the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. If the creature already has that feat, the forge grants a +5 circumstance bonus on the Craft check needed to create a magic weapon, armor, or shields. Crafting any sort of item, whether magical or otherwise, using Minderhal’s Forge takes half the normal amount of time.
In addition, Minderhal’s Forge has 10 charges, which renew at the beginning of each day. A creature using Minderhal’s Forge can expend the listed number of charges to activate one of the following spell-like abilities as a full-round action, which can affect targets within 10 feet of the forge.
• Bull’s strength (1 charge)
• Magic weapon (1 charge)
• Make whole (1 charge)
• Fabricate (3 charges)
• Major creation (3 charges)
• Stone shape (3 charges)
• Stoneskin (3 charges)
• Iron body (5 charges)
• Stone to flesh (5 charges)
Lastly, Minderhal’s Forge can be used in conjunction with Agrimmosh, the Hammer of Unmaking to resize armor and weapons. When a weapon, suit of armor, or shield is placed in Minderhal’s Forge and struck with Agrimmosh, the equipment permanently resizes to match the size of Agrimmosh’s wielder. This power is so strong that magic or even intelligent items are always affected; only artifacts receive a saving throw (Will DC 25 negates) to resist this effect.
Toboyn flinches and looks over his shoulder. "We're trying to fight them one at a time, you know ..."
I am not sure if Balmir just chose not to mention his spoiler or due to the delays has just not thought about it.
In any case, the clanging does not seem to have brought any new notice to you. The secret door remains closed.
Balmir reels as the clang reverberates throughout the chamber. He immediately grabs his head as images and knowledge flood into it. After a few moments the surge seems to stop and his mind stops spinning. "As I said, this is some forge!" He turns to the others who are looking at him. "This is a magical forge, you may have guess. But it's also evil."
Balmir relates all the new information that he received.
"Somehow we need to activate this forge. I'm not sure how.
"Why do we need to activate it if it's evil?"
"I'm not sure. I know my hammer here will become more powerful and that will allow me to kill more giants. So it can't be all bad."
Balmir scowls at the forge.
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Mouser nods. "I'm inclined to try to activate it. Just because it's been used for evil doesn't mean we can't use it for good. If it makes the hammer stronger, fantastic. Maybe we can make some other stuff, too. Let's figure out how to turn it on."
He looks around and then settles on the secret door.
"Should we try there next?" he suggests.
No traps. Way looks clear to head down some stairs.
"Did we not come across tablets that described the lighting of some forge? Perhaps with the blood of a dragon, or a torch lit from its breath ... and something about geodes", ponders Toboyn? "I gathered a bit of dragon's blood, but it was, sadly, only a soot dragon whom we slew. Nothing that might light a forge, I'm guessing."
"Perhaps we should explore the rest of this building before meddling with that? All we need is some commotion and to find there are giants just threw those doors."
He points to the north.
As Mouser approaches the doors, he can hear the ruckus of boisterous voices echoing behind its doors, punctuated with the sounds of cracking wood and smashing pottery. He peeks in.
Rough wooden benches sit alongside huge feasting tables the size of river rafts, stained black with beer and blood. Atop the tables lie greasy piles of chipped wooden bowls of congealed stew, piles of bruised apples and scorched root vegetables, dirty iron cutlery, and the cracked bones of half-eaten meat shanks.
The floors are equally filthy and are littered with rotting straw, food scraps, and puddles of slop. In huge recesses along the outer walls, iron cauldrons suspended by thick chains simmer above blazing fires in massive hearths of soot-blackened stone. Three huge hogsheads stand against the western wall. The hall is uncomfortably hot and reeks of sweat, fetid stew, and stale beer. Rats skirt the room’s fringes, greedily darting from shadow to shadow.
Five giants currently occupy this room: a frost giant, two hill giants, and two ogres. The giants are preoccupied with feasting, fighting, and drinking themselves blind, so they take no notice of little Mouser.
Balmir holds back as Mouser sneaks ahead but his patience runs thin. "What is it? What do you see? I hear a lot of noise from that room."
"If they are close together I will try and blind some of them at the opening as well."
Somer gets ready to cast glitterdust at the first chance.
"I bet there are giants in there. I'm ready to smash them all!"
Balmir takes a tight grip on the war hammer and gets himself ready to storm in.
Balmir rushes the door and slams it open then turns to charge directly at the giants.