Gundar fails to hit the target, as Belir starts growing.
Lokmoor steps back and stabs at Ulark. But he is clearly staggered from the initial attack and misses by a mile. The heat metal doesn't seem to phase him.
Shocked to see the betrayer still standing, Ingrahild almost dropped her first arrow. It took a further moment to compose herself enough to fire into the swirling melee, but once she did her final arrow was accurately placed.
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You see? Ulark says to the traitor as he easily parties the spear thrust. You've abandoned more than just your clan I see, but your training as well.
for
for
for
With furious swings, Angradd Himself seems to guide Ulark’s sword as he slices into the coward. This is the skill of an honorable dwarf!
The damned traitor seems to know Gundar's every move, avoiding his blade. Gundar takes comfort in knowing that every scrap of attention he can demand, Ulark can make use of.
While Belir, Gundar and Ingrahilde seem to be unable to hit the dwarf (except for that last arrow which did hit), Ulark seems to relish the idea of breaking bones as he hits Lokmorr again and again. As the evil dwarf takes his final breath, his body turns to ash.
Only a red-hot steel hand and spear remain, along with a few other items.
Gear mwk breastplate, Heartspit (Large +1 giant-bane longspear, Nargrym’s steel hand, elaborately braided dwarven beard decorated with three gold rings (worth 50 gp each) and an intricately engraved platinum beard clasp in the shape of a castle sitting atop a cloud (worth 1,300 gp)
Ingrahild and Umlo Nargrymkin are ecstatic to have discovered their ancestor’s tomb and avenged Nargrym’s murder. They have no problem with you using the contents of Nargrym’s tomb—particularly his armor, spear, and steel hand—to aid your giantslaying endeavors. The siblings ask only that you respect Nargrym’s remains and help seal up the tomb afterward. For themselves, Ingrahild and Umlo request a single heirloom to return to their family: Nargrym’s platinum beard clasp, which was crafted from a cloud giant’s ring. Lokmorr has the clasp among his possessions, still attached to Nargrym’s shorn beard.
”Everyone...word needs to be brought back about what happened here. And with this beard clasp, it will he believed. My brother can handle that, and he can ensure that this place is made right. I, though, will remain. Nargrym wouldn’t leave when there are giants about, and neither will I. But, this brings me to this.”
She held up the steel hand and the large spear. ”Nargrym’s hand allowed him to wield this spear. He has left it behind, along with his armor. Are there any here who would make the sacrifice to walk in his footsteps? As ye can all see, I’m nay the kind of lass who wears armor or carries spears. It’s not how my order fights.”
Pleased with the swift pummeling of the enemy, Thozar sinks partially into the ground. This is quite the good time, it feels good to be one with the earth.
As conversation turns to carrying the traditional mantle of the Nargrymkin clan, he remains quiet and pulls out Kragmyr's book of grudges. He patiently flips through the pages to see if this particular grievance made it's way into the venerable pages.
Ulark looks with surprise as the slain dwarf literally disintegrates before them. Well, seem the Gods passed judgement quickly on that one. May Magrim seal the soul in the blackest crypts to match his heart.
The warrior wipes Groum's Thorn clean and sheathes it, then looks towards Ingrahilde. 'Course we'll help re-seal the place. And spread tales to get a few more dwarves out to check on the tomb ever few ages - in case some further sorts ever try to dishonor your kin again. But as for that...
Ulark looks as the metal hand, then glances down at his own. He stands silent for a moment, then gazes back at the archer with steely eyes.
Nargrym was a true legend. A protector of his people to the end and then some. I...I am far from worth enough to claim a place next to him in any tales or books He glances briefly towards the Book of Grudges making its reappearance. But if ye think that I could use his tools to do even a fraction of what your ancestor could, then a pound of flesh is a tiny thing to pay.
He takes his greatsword out again and holds it out towards Ingrahilde with his right hand while also extending his left - as it's her clan's relics, it is only right that she ultimately be a party to this.
Ingrahild nodded. She looked at Ulark with increased admiration. ”Get the hand ready.” She raised the blade. ”You’re a true son of the stone.” She said, and the blade came down...
Thozar looks in, rocky jaw agape, as Ulark so easily decides to remove a hand for a hunk of steel. That's some... dedication...
As the blade comes down, he quickly flows through the floor and next to Ulark, just in case the wound needs to be cauterized.
No. Ulark admits to Belir. But the threat is large, and so are the tools they are presenting us with. As the Forge-Fire shows us, the reactive give evil a chance to thrive and spread. Leaps forward need to be taken, and all tools before us must be used if life's loss can be dodged as a result.
He closes his eyes. Angradd, please let this be as you would want...
Ulark screams in pain as his hand is severed from his arm. The bleeding is fierce, but the simple act of placing the steel hand on the stump causes it to magically attach, ending the bleeding and the pain.
Nargrym Steelhand replaced the hand he lost to a frost giant’s greataxe with this magic prosthesis.
NARGRYM’S STEEL HAND (MINOR ARTIFACT)
SLOT none
CL 20th
WEIGHT 3 lbs.
AURA strong transmutation
Forged from solid steel, this magically animated prosthetic hand is elaborately sculpted down to the finest detail. Nargrym’s steel hand can be used to replace the normal hand of a humanoid creature—it can’t be worn in addition to an already existing hand. When attached to the wrist
stump of a living humanoid creature, Nargrym’s steel hand magically forms a permanent bond to the wearer’s flesh and nerves. Once the hand has bonded to the wearer’s wrist, the wearer gains full control over the hand as if it were part of his own body. The hand has a full range of motion and functions as a normal hand. While worn, Nargrym’s steel hand grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength (treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the hand is worn) and a +5 bonus to CMD against disarm attempts. In addition, the wearer can wield weapons of one size category larger than the wearer’s size without penalty and without altering the weapon’s designation as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon. For example, a Medium creature wearing Nargrym’s steel hand could wield a Large longspear as a two-handed weapon without penalty. However, whenever the wearer of the hand is within line of sight of a creature with the giant subtype, he must succeed at DC 15 Will save or be compelled to attack the giant, as suggestion.
Once bonded to a wearer, Nargrym’s steel hand cannot be removed except by the wearer or after the wearer’s death.
DESTRUCTION
Nargrym’s steel hand is destroyed if it is smashed by a giant wielding a hammer of thunderbolts.
Nargrym Steelhand took this spear from the dead hands of the taiga giant warlord Neveraka, and used the weapon for the rest of his giantslaying career.
HEARTSPIT
PRICE 10,310 GP
SLOT none
CL 8th
WEIGHT 18 lbs.
AURA moderate evocation
Fitted with a menacingly cruel 2-foot-long barbed iron head, this Large +1 giant-bane longspear can skewer an opponent, lodging beneath the flesh and holding fast. On a confirmed critical hit with the spear, Heartspit’s wielder can attempt a combat maneuver check to grapple the target as a free action. This grapple attempt does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the target if that creature is not threatening the wielder. While grappling a creature with Heartspit, the wielder can move or damage the target with the spear only on the wielder’s turn. The wielder is still considered grappled, though he does not have to be adjacent to the target to continue the grapple. If the wielder ends the grapple or the target successfully breaks the grapple, the target takes 4d6 points of slashing damage as the spear’s barbed head is ripped free.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
COST 5,310 GP
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, hold person, keen edge, summon monster I
Other treasure you have recovered in this tomb:
Nargrym's Armor - +2 scale mail
bronze abacus with hematite beads (worth 600 gp)
large drinking horn engraved with entwining oak leaves and silver inlays (worth 135 gp)
ivory measuring rod with carved Dwarven numbers (worth 25 gp)
obsidian statuette of a female fire giant (worth 250 gp)
wooden box containing a set of eight bronze measuring weights (from 1/4 ounce up to 5 ounces)
carved to resemble squatting goblins (worth 130 gp)
sack holding 400 cp
pair of boots of the winterlands
clay vase on an iron stand sculpted to look like a coiled dragon (worth 65 gp)
three chunks of azurite (worth 6 gp each)
golden yellow topaz (worth 300 gp)
small leather-embossed casket holding 2 pp, 35 gp, and 150 sp.
Nargrym Steelhand crafted this scale mail coat from fingernails pried from the hands of hill giants he had slain.
GIANT’S NAIL SCALE MAIL
9,200 PRICE
GP
SLOT armor
CL 7th
WEIGHT 30 lbs.
AURA moderate necromancy
This thick coat of +2 scale mail is crafted from waxy scales of varying sizes with a sickly, jaundiced color—the grime-stained fingernails of dead hill giants. Any creature of the giant subtype who comes within 30 feet of giant’s nail scale mail must succeed at a DC 16 Will save or take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and saving throws for 1d4 rounds. This ability functions as a gaze effect. It is a mind- affecting fear effect, but it does not stack with other fear effects to create stronger fear conditions. A giant who succeeds at the saving throw is immune to this effect for 24 hours. If a giant rolls a natural 20 on its saving throw, it becomes enraged by the sight of the armor. The giant gains the effects of the rage spell for 1d4 rounds and is compelled to attack the armor’s wearer for the duration of this effect.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
COST 4,700 GP
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, fear, rage
Thozar takes in the mass of wealth before him. What a haul this is! "So what's the plan now?" he ask as the party goes through their new goods.
________
Aaaaaaggghh! Ulark lets out a cry despite his efforts as Ingrahild severs his hand at the wrist. The pain flares up, but comes to a sudden stop as the metal hand of the warrior Nargrym abruptly fuses with the stump. Gazing at his new limb in wonder, Ulark starts as the fingers moves and bend at his thoughts. Praise to the flmaes that worked. But still, the thing feels cold. I didn't expect it to be so cold...
Lost in thought, it takes the dwarf a second to register Thozar's words. Ulark looks up at the druid and clenches his 'new' fist. The plan? We take these and head north. That lovesick giantess' target's out there in the Mindspins. Up to us to make sure they don't get any further.
He steps towards Ingrahilde and lays a hand (the flesh one) on the archer's shoulder lightly. That was a good stroke. Nice and clean. Sorry to ask you to do it, but you'd be a fine swordsman if your bow ever fails you.
”Ye flatter.” Ingrahild said, unable to hide her pleasure at the compliment. ”I’m sure that our ancestor would be proud to see this. And to see this gold go towards killing giants. The tools of his trade should not have been locked away, but rather used for their purpose. The mindspin will becomes a giant graveyard by the time we’re through. Ancestors willing.”
According to your map, the valley is about 40 miles southeast from the tomb. It should take you approximately 4 days to reach the valley traveling on foot through the wooded mountains.
Quite at home in the terrain, Gundar prepares to take point as they travel. "None too different than the mountain forests around the hold I were reared in. Except for the damned giants, apparently."
"All I know is that it is better than floating on that Tusker's boat!" Thozar adds. Used to travel in general, he spends time scouting ahead and otherwise just enjoying the view along the way.
On the second day of the journey, after about 18 miles of travel, you reach a small stream that flows from the southeast, the same direction you've been traveling. An overgrown footpath runs alongside the stream, allowing you to set a faster pace. After a few hours, you come upon a remote cottage.
In a small clearing a few hundred feet from the stream, a wisp of smoke trickles from the chimney of a two-story stone cottage. Its front door has been bashed inward, its splintered panels hanging crookedly from a single hinge. Several large chips mar the exterior stonework and a sizable hole has been torn in the thatched roof.
Loud crashing noises come from within.
”Look at the hole in the roof! Must be giants, and I’d bet they’re still there. Let’s go, lads!”
Despite the length of the journey, Ulark found Gundar to be right: the travel was fairly pleasant given the circumstances. And every day he began to feel healthier as the spiders' venom slowly leeched from his system.
The battered cottage unfortunately brought the stakes of their mission back abruptly.
Aye, unstring your bow. he says to Ingrahild before stepping ahead and yelling out:
Let's kill some Giants! Thozar stands in waiting as Ulark's challenge rings out across the gap. "Should be fun, been a little while since we wasted some Giants!"
Can't be sure. Ulark calls back to Belir. Why its better to draw them out here, just in case.
The noise stops, and then you can hear what sounds to be a crying baby.
A few moments later, a large, female troll pokes her head out the door and looks at you with rage clearly visible on her face.
She comes charging at Gundar.
Ingrahild tracker the troll’s movement as it charged, firing arrow after arrow. She didn’t reach for an arrow when she did so. Rather the runes on her bow glowed with a white light, and an arrow formed each time. An arrow which seemed to shatter when it hit giant-kind. The damage done from each blow was far beyond what she could have managed by her own skill. A small smile crept on her face. Gold very well spent.
Thozar chuckles while shaking his head as he pulls out a wand and casually flicks his wrist in the direction of the troll, causing a ball of fire to materialize at it's feet. "Put it down and I'll burn it to ash," he says calmly.
________
You were menacing a baby?!?!?! Ulark roars in unexpected anger as the lumbering green monster rushes forwards. His grip on the spear tightens as he stabs out at the creature.
for
for
Gundar roars back at the troll as it sinks it's teeth in, forcing it off him and bringing his blade around at the same time. "I've got just the thing for you, beastie!"
The troll dodges the ball of fire, but Gundar, Ingrahild, and Ulark each manage to hit with 1/2 of their blows. The combination of that much damage lays the troll down low, and then the ball of fire keeps her from getting back up.
A check of the area indicates giants were here and attacked the cottage, probably dragging away the other residents.
Only one remains, it seems - a whimpering infant girl swaddled in a coarse wool blanket and stuffed into a basket on the second floor of the cottage. Inches from the child, beneath the hole in the roof, a large boulder lies wedged between cracked floorboards.
Ingrahild picked up the baby, taking her out of the basket and holding her close. ”This...is unforgivable. I don’t see blood, so the parents may yet live. We should track them down and rescue them if possible.”
"Uncivilized savages!" Thozar grumbles. "Probably slaves by now... We should follow those brutes and put them down at the least."
”Aye, and let’s hurry. This baby could get hungry at any time, and I sure as Bolka can’t feed it. So lest ye all want a bawlin’ babe every step of the journey, I suggest we get a move on.”
"I don't need both of my hands to kill Giants, Ingrahild. Want me to hold the baby?" Thozar offers. Plenty of babies in a Dwarven family, a human one should be no different.
________
”Aye then. One bundle of baby, thank ye.”
It is a human baby.
A half-mile down the trail from the sacked cottages, you arrive at the edge of a village called Shinnerman’s Fortune. The village’s populace consists almost entirely of prospectors, with individuals claiming large swaths of land along the stream, and the settlement is uncharacteristically spread out. The villagers mostly prospect for gold and silver. Though they are not wealthy, they earn enough to have a stable income, and the surrounding lands provide additional resources. The citizens of Shinnerman’s Fortune thrive upon their independence, both as individuals and as a community. A small council of elders provides what little government the village needs, but the council’s primary function is to represent the villagers as a single business entity for the purpose of trading with outsiders. In all, the residents of Shinnerman’s Fortune are a hardy folk, usually quite capable of defending themselves against local threats.
”Might be able to off-load some of the loot we’ve managed to collect. Elders shoukd even be able to take this baby off our hands. We could save the parents or bring back a symbol of their oppressors’ death in failing that,” he suggests. ”Someone is bound to know about the cottages we just passed through.
”Aye, a good plan. Let’s get to it, with the baby being the priority. Can’t haggle with a screaming wee one.”
You approach, as a small band of villagers quickly gathers to greet you, led by a stern-looking middle-aged woman with graying hair and a burly man with a salt-and-pepper beard wearing worn leather armor. The woman introduces herself as Alderwoman Straya Kraum and the burly man as Alderman Jerak Sneth. The two quickly inform you that they have arrived in the wake of a savage giant attack on the village—a wandering band of giants passed through the region the day before your arrival. Straya describes the brutal raid: after bombarding the village with rocks, the giants rushed into the settlement, indiscriminately attacking those they encountered, maiming or killing a number of villagers.
The giants eventually retreated back into the mountains, but only after seizing livestock and several more people as “tribute” and promising to return for more later. According to Straya and Jerak, there are at least a dozen people whose whereabouts are unaccounted for, most notably Tarram Shinnerman, a descendant of the village’s founder and the speaker of the council. The villagers pray that the giants have not yet eaten the captives and that at least some of them still live, but the threat these giants pose has left these people feeling helpless. Few of the townsfolk are qualified to fight orcs, much less giants. They fear that the giants are going to return soon to exact more tribute, and they plead for you to help find their missing kinfolk
and put an end to the giant threat.
”Right. We’ll do our best. Luckily we’re somewhat experienced at this sort of thing. Right, lads?”
"Ha! Those Giants won't even know what hit them. We'll cut them down to size," Thozar promises. "In the mean time, this baby here was in a ruined house. Picked him up on the way in. Would you care for him while we take care of the Giants?"
________