Acid burns at Gundar's skin as he shuts his eyes tight against it and does his best to stumble out of the cloud, opening them only to snap off a shot at the enemy. His crossbow was enchanted to deal with giants, but it could still put steel into other foes...
... when he could hit them.
Using his Smite Evil, Ulark throws his longspear as soon as the drake flies within range.
The drake continues its dive and snaps at Ulark.
Luckily for Ingrahild, she had just the tool for taking care of a foe that thought to hide in the sky.
Unfortunately, all of Ingrhild's arrows deflected off the tough scaly hide of the drake.
Gundar swallows down a potion as he moves forward to engage the creature directly.
Mud continues to slowly ooze out of Earthzar.
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Ulark switches to his longaxe and charges the beast.
The drake bites at Ulark while tail slapping Belir, knocking him prone.
Ulark looks about to fall, but the drake stayed put to double its attacks, so here is your chance!
Frustrated that her lack of skill was leading to her comrade being hurt, Ingrahild doubled her efforts. Now was not the time to watch her arrows bounce off.
The first two arrows strike true and deep, and the drake is disabled (exactly 0 hp).
Ingrahild walked over and put an arrow into it’s skull. ”Roll call! Everyone alright?”
Earthzar continues to have mud ooze out of his rocky veins.
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”Thozar needs help!” Given that she only knew how to kill, not heal, she hoped that another dwarf could get to him soon.
Ulark looks around and sees Thozar bleeding out. Calling upon the divine powers he has been blessed with, he slaps his hands together, rubs them to warm them up, and lays them upon Thozar's broken body, restoring life to the practically dead dwarf.
Meanwhile, Belir shows no mercy and finishes off the drake.
Earthzar sputters, sending pebbles and dirt skyward. "Is it dead? by the Divine the sucked. Thank you Ulark, a little more if you've got some to spare."
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”...Ulark makes a good point. There is a real chance that we may fall here. Someone does need to make the perilous trip to bring word to the clans.” She looked at the Paladin seriously. ”Ye be quite brave to volunteer for such a mission. I hope we meet again.”
At this point, you can continue to follow the river south, or explore up one or more of the smaller tributaries to the north-east.
Thoughts?
"While we are out here, we might as well be thorough," Earthzar suggests to the others. [b]"But let's go together this time, think I've had my fill of Drakes for the day..."[/] he chuckles nervously.
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”Wise. My arrows bounced off of those scales! They are formidable.”
Numerous giant-sized footprints scar the earth around the remains
of a large campfire, which lie nestled between an outcropping of
large boulders.
"Hmmmm... we should be on alert, can't let the Giants ambush us. Search around for whatever the idiots left behind, but be careful," Earthzar warns before searching the camp.
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Ingrid nodded. ”Aye, I follow. Eyes up lads.”
Thozar detects heat rising from the ashes of the campfire, suggesting it was only recently abandoned. Stirring up the smoldering coals reveals the cracked, blackened bones of a Medium-sized humanoid, including an intact human skull and jaw.
”Close, full, and complacent. Soon to be dead as well.”
There is a fairly obvious path of giant tracks leading east.
"True, we don't have to kill them, but we can see what they're looking at, right?" Earthzar points out. He prods the human bones with his foot. "Sick is what this is. Animals and the like? I get it. Don't like it, but I get it. Just shows how even though these giants look like 'people,' they aren't." Spitting gravel on the floor, he is ready to roll out.
”Aye. But if we can wipe out a patrol that would be fewer giants to kill later, aye? So let’s take it on a case by case basis.”
Gundar nods to the east, checking his crossbow. The more dead giants the better.
East it is, then.
You track the giant footprints for miles, and then you start hearing voices up ahead.
You can send a scout up ahead for more info (pending some success with stealth vs their perception), or you can trot right into their midst.
”Thozar can, if he wants. Otherwise let’s just go bust some heads.”
"I had to use all my shaping to escape that drake!" Earthzar explains. "I could go ahead like this," gesturing at his gravely body, "but I don't think they'd be less suspicious if they saw an earth elemental."
"Let's go bust their heads!"
”Right! Y’all heard the dwarf. Time to stack some bodies.” Ingrahild said with a smile.
In that case, you come across the camp. They hear you coming, so the initial distance is about 00 ft.
I am going to assume you all decided to heal while hiking - so go ahead and resolve that first.
Thozar has: CLW (9 charges) CLW (50 charges)
Party at full health. One wand has 41 charges left
The huge giant picks up a small boulder and heaves it at Belir.
Luckily, Belir is well practiced against such tactics, and manages to sidestp out of the way.
She, and the two trolls, move to engage.
”Not a bad shot.” Ingrahild thought as she saw the boulder fly towards them. ”But not good enough.” She raised her bow and took aim at the Giant, ready to show it exactly how a ranged attack should be made.
Three of Ingrahild's four arrows find their mark.
Earthzar looks over at Ingrahild with a grin. Never been more excited to be in boulder throwing distance of a Giant! Who'd think that we would be the ones with the advantage?!
"I'll slow them down Belir!" he shouts across the battlefield. Muttering in Druidic, the plants around their enemies' feet come to life and reach for those who would dare to tread on them!
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