"Daseem needs healing?" Bupkis asks.
"Bupkis tired. We sleep now?"
"I think so. Maybe the giants will simply think these three killed each other. Hopefully they don't look for better guards. We can fall back to the chimera cave."
"The chimera cave is very far away." a body-less voice tells.
Daseem's wounds had largely been healed so he smiled no at Bupkis's offer before by the Grace of Forum almost all his bruising abruptly vanished.
"S-stinky cave!" muttered Daseem. With an offering given to Gorum, Daseem felt that may be they could, "Sneak p-past this lot?"
"Shhhh!" the body-less voice suggests with a nod to the tent right next to them.
Bupkis decides to sneak up and have a look inside the tent.
Inside the tent, Bupkis finds the sprawling life of a whole giant family. About a dozen giants from young to old who are busy cooking, arguing or playing games.
Bupkis sneaks back to report to the rest of the party. "While family of giants in there. Somehow they don't hear fighting outside!", he whispers.
He continues in a hushed voice, "But maybe we leave them and go back to tunnel and rest. Bupkis very tired."
I admit, even I'm running low on stamina. I think I'm still waterlogged.
The group retreats to the dark passage and takes a rest for the night in the room with the paintings. The bats living in the cave are annoying as them passing through every now and then doesn't help with falling asleep. But besides that, nothing happens.
After a sufficient rest the first awake again, not do much from the dawn, but from the hard floor that becomes increasingly unpleasant once the tiredness is gone.
At dawn while the shadows are still long and dark the group sneaks through the valley to leave the camping giants behind. But the giant population gets more and more dense. Finally you find the center of it.
A great stone cathedral sits atop a wide plateau carved into the side of the mountain overlooking the valley. From the grounds below, a flight of huge stairs staggers up the mountain slope. The two-foot rise of each step is carved directly into the mountain face, and tall poles decorated with beast skulls, bones, severed limbs, and similarly macabre decorations are driven into the stone at each corner where the stairs change direction. At the top of the plateau, an immense palisade of trees and slab concrete surrounds the temple. Beyond the battlements rise the cathedral’s cold gray walls, carved from the ancient stone of the mountain itself. Above the monumental structure, three colossal towers climb hundreds of feet into the air. The central spire is tallest, flanked by two smaller towers offset to either side. The spire’s apex is crowned with a carved stone symbol of a huge anvil. Although heavily weathered, the cathedral appears to have mostly withstood the passage of time, though some walls bear the evidence of crude repair work where holes have been filled with ugly patches of concrete or sloppily braced with boulders and tree trunks.
Four stone giants guard the gate in the palisade.
The little goblin tells his comrades, "Bupkis sneaks forward and has a look."
He creeps forward, staying in the shadows, and notes the best route to approach. He presumes that the party will need to infiltrate the stronghold, so he's looking for how his less stealthy companions can approach without everybody seeing them.
As there is a large stair to climb and a palisade at the top of it, with a heavily guarded gate, there is no obvious way to get in unnoticed. All attempts from this side would be in plain sight.
At the back of the cathedral is the steep mountainside which is also not inviting for passage.
Bupkis returns to the party and reports what he saw, "No cover to sneak in. Giant guards on palisade will see us as we approach. Bupkis afraid that more giants will come, and we get overwhelmed!"
Amira casts invisibility on all but Bupkis. "Can you create a distraction?" she inquires.
The group hides at the last turn of the stairs, with only the last flight of very wide stairs before the palisade. Each stair is 10ft deep and two foot high.
Bupkis replies, "Can make object move at a distance. Guards look to see what's happening."
"Can you make it loud to cover for Ivan McClank climbing the stairs?" Amira inquires.
"Hmm. Can launch rock, or louder still, gather power around me. But might attract lots of giants!"
"Can you flee from the giants and lure them inside once we are there?" Amira asks.
"We'll wait there with a nasty surprise for the giants. Hopefully there is no one else inside to back them up."
Bupkis thinks for a moment, "Can run or fly past them." He looks at the others to see what they think of the idea.
It's hard to tell what the others think of the plan, at least from their facial expressions, as they are already invisible.
Ivan puts his shield into place on his back so his hands are free and proceeds to climb.
Ivan manages to surprise everyone as, after tying some rags around his armor makes almost no noise at all!
Whats the plan for after we get in? he whispers as he starts to climb.
"Slaying giants?" Amira replies with a shrug, even no one can see it.
Bupkis snuck forward to a spot where he wasn't directly visible to the guards. Then he started gathering power, making a loud noise as energy swirled around him.
If he had known that stone giants are usually the most peaceful type of giant, he might have questioned the plan of slaughtering them. But he didn't know any better, not understanding the differences between different giant types.
Sneaking about really wasn't something Daseem had practiced, still he recognized the tactical advantages. There was no way he could sneak or climb those stairs in armour so reluctantly he took it off before climbing up, very cautiously .
Menrozzar moved up the stairs as quietly as he could - stalking like this wasn’t really his forte, but hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad.
Two of the rock giants come down the stairs to check on this whirl of dirt that rises out of nowhere. These rock giants are quite fast and manage to come real close. The other rock giants pick up some rocks.
The giants are getting uncomfortably close! Bupkis moves away, travelling parallel to the palisade, then flies into the air, angling towards the higher ground.
As it becomes clear that this whirl is no natural phenomenon, but a goblin, the giants upstairs start throwing rocks at Bupkis.
Amira casts haste on all close to her including herself and moves on to get past the giants quickly.
"Ow, Ow!", Bupkis exclaims as a couple of rocks hit him. The first one deflects of his force ward, but the second one hurts!
Menrozzar keeps moving, trying to be as quiet as possible while he hopes no one else is inside to help the giants. He hopes Bupkis can successfully evade the giants, though. He's worried for the little goblin.
Amira shouts to distract the giants. Then she moves away.
Ivan and Daseem move to the center of the stairs as that is easy to do and postpone to go up the stairs. One of the giants walks inside the palisade, to check what is going on. The other one picks up a rock and throws it at Bupkis.
The other two giants follow Bupkis, swinging their large clubs at him, but he is out of reach already.
Bupkis dodges the rock thrown at him and flies towards the palisade. He sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry at the giants.
with his shield stowed, Ivan proves quite agile for a dwarf. Bounding the stairs with mighty leaps from his muscled legs.
Finally all make it inside the palisade. Beyond the outer palisade lies a 100-foot-wide stretch of trampled field where troops can assemble. Toward the southwest, the stink of sewage taints the air and the ground becomes muddy where the cathedral’s sewage trenches collect into a shallow cesspit covered by stone and sod. A channel leads from the cesspit under the palisade and out to the plateau outside.
Past the field stand the buildings of the temple complex, including the cathedral itself. Time has destroyed some of the original structures, but the giants have rebuilt and repurposed several others. In addition, the giants have erected two huge tents just south of the cathedral. From the center of the main structure rises the cathedral’s great spire, a massive stone tower that climbs over 600 feet into the clouds. The main spire is flanked on either side by two slightly smaller towers.
With all the heavily armored group members hurrying in, another giant follows inside to see what's going on and who is making those noises. One of Bupkis' pursuers moves back to the gate. The other one grabs a rock and throws it at Bupkis.
The other giant inside waits for something to show that he could whack.
Bupkis looks for a place inside the palisade that he can take cover from the rock-throwing giants.
Daseem tries to scramble up the stairs but can't quite get enough height due to his armour and bounces off.