Mazra’s Giantslayer Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Mazra

It is Retcon time. Kaos pointed out that I did not apply all of Ulfgard's damage. He was right. I picked up only the critical portion. All toll, Ulgard did 89 points of damage in one blow and not 57 points as I had noted in error. That would have been enough to render Ewigga unconscious. So the Green Hag would not have been able to cast Invisibility. The party is Victorious. My apologies for picking up the total damage incorrectly.

What does the party do next?

Can someone get me out of these weeds.
After he is freed from his entanglement. He will suggest cutting the hags head off her shoulders. Then he will cast a detect magic on the hag and the chest. Can someone check that for traps?

After catching his breath Ulfgard looks at the witch.
"I feel like this needs some cool words. Something like. Have you heard about the new game. Witchball. Usually hard to play because its hard to get a ball. But see what is on that neck. But actually... I feel like just cutting her throat and be done with it. Anyone need some grudge to be settled?" And with that he looks at the dwarven woman.

"Yup, crappy thing... I wonder what she was after" says Leira while freeing herself from the weeds.

After registering the corpse of Ewigga the girl follows Kaos and uses detect magic and checks the chest at the other side.
Perception (+1 vs traps): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Disable device: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (3) + 16 = 19
Disable device (unlock): 20 + 16 = 36
And opens the chest once clear.

Looking at Leira and Ulfgard speaks."By the way, what in Asmodeus hairy ass was that thing. Not that it didn´t make a satisfieng crunch when I hit it! But by Torag it was UGLY!"

Looking at Leira and Anga, Ulfgard speaks."By the way, what in Asmodeus hairy ass was that thing. Not that it didn´t make a satisfieng crunch when I hit it! But by Torag it was UGLY!"

Ingrahild looks at Ulfgard and smiles. The female Dwarf Ranger takes her Dwarven Waraxe and severs the Hag's head from its body. The usually verbose Dwarf just gives a positive nod to Ulfgard, then sighs thinking hard about her lost brother.

Leira does not find a trap on the chest. It is locked. The Rogue Arcanist's deftly uses her skill to easily pick the complicated lock. But her heart sinks when she sees the chest empty upon opening it.

Ewigga's sad backstory: One hundred years ago, a woman named Ewigga worked a small farm in Lastwall near Ghostlight Marsh with her husband, and while they barely produced enough crops to survive, the couple was content. The only thing missing was a child. Wanting desperately to be a mother, Ewigga prayed to the gods to swell her belly with life, but years passed with no such blessing. In a desperate attempt to bear a child, Ewigga ventured into the swamp in search of a pair of old witches rumored to hold power over such things. The crones agreed to help the woman, but only in exchange for her first-born daughter, whom they would sacrifice to the demon lord Mestama, the Mother of Witches. With seemingly no other option, Ewigga agreed, and 9 months later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Once the baby was born, however, Ewigga found herself unwilling to hand over her precious child as promised. She convinced her husband to flee, but before they could pack their last bag, the crones—now revealed as vile green hags—arrived and demanded the baby. Desperately, Ewigga begged to take the child’s place, and in a rare display of mercy, the hags agreed, with one condition—Ewigga had to swear herself to the Mother of Witches and join their coven. When Ewigga uttered her last syllable of servitude to the Mother of Witches, she, too, was transformed into a green hag. Loathing her now-monstrous form, Ewigga fled from her husband and daughter into the murky depths of Ghostlight Marsh to join her new “sisters.”

As the decades passed, Ewigga learned the ways of the swamp, becoming a druid. Her coven has become the only family Ewigga knows, and memories of her former life have faded, to the extent that even the few mementos she has kept from those times—a pair of worn baby shoes, a toy rattle, and a single gold piece that she had managed to save as a poor farmer’s wife—have lost most of their meaning, though she continues to hold on to them. Occasionally, Ewigga remembers her daughter when she sees the baby’s shoes or rattle, but just as often, she thinks they’re from some unfortunate child the coven stole from its family. Likewise, she has forgotten the significance of the gold coin she carries—she now thinks of the well- worn gold piece only as a good luck charm, and often flips it to decide her actions.

With the recent demise of her coven sisters, Ewigga has remembered the loss of her previous family with more clarity than she has had in years, and this second instance of loss has struck her hard. Devastated, the hag fled into the Vault of Thorns, where she now debates whether to take her chances and venture deeper into the Vault, or reenter Ghostlight Marsh to wreak vengeance on her coven’s killers. But before she can let a coin toss decide her next action, fate intervenes with the arrival of the PCs in the Vault of Thorns.

Obviously, your characters would not know all this, but there is no reason to keep it from the players. Ewigga represents a mid-adventure path Boss encounter.

Still focused on his detect magic Kaos will begin searching around the room.
perception check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
He will also t a key a look at the sad hag to see if she had anything on her.
perception check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
I am willing to spend the time to take a 20 if that is an option.

Ulfgard joins in the search.

When Kaos cast detects magic on the Hag's possessions, he will find five goodberries, a scroll, her leather armor, a ring and a rod that radiates magic. In addition, he will find holly and mistletoe, a pair of faded leather baby shoes, a wooden toy rattle, and a single gold piece.

With a degree of determination, and this time with Ulfgard's assistance, Kaos notices that the chest looks to have a false bottom.

Will would you look at that. Leira will you check this out?

"Whatever shes was once it is better dead now" says the girl when confronted to the corpse of the hag.

When Leira is almost to let the search go in despair, the appearance of Kaos reasures her the chest thing is totally amiss. Taking all her time to check it Leira opens the false bottom pointed by Kaos.
Perception (+1 vs traps; take 20): 20 + 12 = 32

Haskyll walks by and taps Leira on the shoulder.
May the maker guard you

He then backs away from the others.

Protective touch, Leira has a +2 to saves for the next 10 rounds

Kaos will try to ID the magic item.
spell craft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24Leather Armor
spell craft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7Ring
spell craft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21Rod

Ulfgard helps Koas with the false bottom.

There is not a trap on the false bottom.

If there were a trap, it would be perfectly acceptable to refer to the writer of the AP as sadistic.

When the party opens the false bottom, they will see a ladder that descends down to a ten foot diameter chamber cut into the mound. The chest is false. It is built into the mound as a part of the overall structure.

In the chamber you will find an ironwood breastplate, a Greatsword, a scimitar, a quiver with 11 arrows, three scrolls, two wands, a headband encrusted with peridots, an ironwood crown with a stylized thorn motif, a ceremonial gem-encrusted cudgel, 3 pp, 178 gp, 605 sp, and 2,125 cp.

In addition, Kaos will determine that it is a suit of +1 leather armor. He will not know the nature of the other items.

Convinced that someone will cast detect magic Ulfgard lioks around in wonder

Then he speaks up.Kaos,Ragnir a I think you have some new weapons. No worries, I don't want any of those weapons. Don' t want my bashing beuty to necome jelous, wouldn't we! In the evening he will have a talk with

"I'll be tellin' ya what that was. He lifts his chin at the hag. It be green and ugly, don't need ta be knowin' much more than tha'"

Perking up at Ulfgard mentioning weapons, he takes a look and makes a dismissive gesture, Bah...giant pigsticker and a curved blade suited for a dancer? No f'r me thanks. We should be lookin' at the rest though, no reason t'be turnin' away things that might be provin' ta be useful."

After looking over the Hags things.
The leather looks to have some minor protection magic but the other things are beyond me.
He will then head over to the new weapons and try to assess if any of them are magic with his detect Magic.

Shaking his head in wonder, Haskyll looks around.

I can also be of use to look over things that Anga might not get.

I will update the treasure sheet in the morning. Also, I have a 54% chance of recognizing an artifact.

"Wow!" Leira is astonished by the finding of the Vault of Thrones goodies "So these is the feeling of adventuring and finding treasures..."

The girl uses detect magic as well to help Kaos and Anga sort the magic devices and identify the items.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

She makes a small blessing and takes the arrows "I can make good use of this, and perhaps any scroll you do not want"

"I guess we can sleep here today, end up sorting up things and then plan what to do next" she turns serious "I want revenge"

It is an endeavor to haul the load out from the humus mounds, back across the green house and then climb back up to the upper levels. The party will be exhausted. But the party will look over their haul before sleep overtakes them.

Haskyll looks over the items (54 or less he sees something): 1d100 ⇒ 78

Haskyll does not notice any of the items being an artifact.

Leira looks over the items.

I will use your Spellcraft rolls in the order items were presented, less the +1 leather armor previously identified.

The scroll on Ewigga is a Scroll of Call Lightning. She will not know the properties of Ewigga's Ring or Rod.

The following were also magic:

+1 ironwood breastplate

Leira gets excited when she sees the Greatsword. She recognizes it as GORUM’S THORN.

The orcs of Belkzen are no strangers to fighting giants, and orc priests of Gorum created a weapon called Gorum’s Thorn for their faithful warriors to use against giant-sized foes. PRICE GORUM’S THORN 12,350 GP; SLOT none CL 10th WEIGHT 8 lbs. AURA moderate transmutation This forge-blackened +1 keen greatsword is festooned with religious iconography depicting glorious images of the Lord in Iron. If Gorum is the wielder’s patron, Gorum’s Thorn gains an additional ability: when the wielder confirms a critical hit against any creature with the giant subtype, he can attempt to trip that target as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity and ignoring any size restrictions related to the target. If the trip attempt fails by 10 or more, the wielder is not knocked prone.

Leira will not know the Scimitar's properties.

Leira will determine that 10 of the arrows are +1 Orc Bane arrows.

Another arrow was magic and unidentified. The three scrolls are Call Lightning, Barkskin, Summon Nature's Ally IV. The two wands, and the headband encrusted with peridots are also magic. The ironwood crown (250gp)and gem encrusted cudgel (150gp) are not magic.

Anga gives things a try.

Anga Spellcraft Ewigga's Ring: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24
+1 Ring of Protection
Anga Spellcraft Ewigga's Rod: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Metamagic Rod of Lesser Extend (Three spells per day.)
Anga Spellcraft Scimitar: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19
+1 Flaming Scimitar (Close enough.)
Anga Spellcraft Arrow: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23
An Arrow of Orc Slaying
Anga Spellcraft Wand 1: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14 (Unidentified)
Anga Spellcraft Wand 2: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23
Wand of Greater Fang (12 charges)
Anga Spellcraft Headband: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16 (Unidentified)

Good roll on the Rod. That was what was needed. Only one Wand and Headband remain unidentified.

Spellcraft Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22wand
Spellcraft Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13headband

Did we harvest what we could from the Exbas room?

spellcraft Wand: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17
spellcraft Headband: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Go Figure

spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Can we assist? or does it need to be each individual person rolling alone. If assist then I'll assist Haskyll

Leira trembles as she holds the greatsword "I cannot believe it... I... I think this is Gorum's Thorn. With this sword you can chop giants as if they were rats. We did so well coming here!" she well then explain all the details and history about the blade.

After some good rest, the girl goes back to studying her spellbook and only then she has a breakfast "So what now? Ingrahild, will you help us against the orcs?"

That looks like it maybe a little to heavy for you. Do you mind if I take look at it?

"I was thinking it will fit perfectly in your hands Kaos" says Leira smiley handing the greatsword to him.

Thank you. You are to kind.
Kaos will smile back and take the large blade.

Kaos will determine the remaining wand is a Wand of Flaming Spheres (9 charges).

Since Kaos determined the properties of the Wand, Ragnir would determine that the headband is a Headband of Inspired Wisdom (+2).

Again, close enough!

Day Twenty-Eight

Ingrahild responds to Leira, "Me hates Orcs. But me luk'n fer me brutha." Ingrahild ponders things for a while. "But I hava no idea where me brutha may be. Kil'n Orcs sounds goooood."

The party trudges its way through the Ghostlight Swamp. By the end of the day, the party reaches Captain Bloodtusk and the Keelboat.

The Captain greets the party. He opens a keg of rum. The party sleeps well aboard the boat.

Level 6

Day Twenty-Nine

Please level up in the Discussion thread. Congratulations.

YAY

This headband will suit me, if people do not mind.

might take a bit for me to level

Sounds good to me.

Ragnir hands the headband to Haskyll, "Headband'd suit ye better.

Leira walks around the boat once recovered talking with the sailors "Any news from Trunau, the orcs or the giants?"

She passes the day studying with Anga, she feels she is up to unleashing new powers.
Very busy these weeks, I have a slot during the weekend I plan to level Leira ;)

I will not be able to level or update treasure until end of the month

We can take a break. This is a good break point. Just let me know when you are ready to go. I am working on tokens and maps through the end of the AP.

Kaos will examine Gorum's Thorn.

Image File added.

Cool

The keelboat leaves before dawn and slowly navigates the River Esk. The day was uneventful. The party did not even see other river traffic this day.

That evening as the keelboat anchors on the southern banks, Ulfgard sees a lone wolf foraging for small prey.

Ulfgard will slowly approach the wolf, taking some meat with him. Feeling the call of the wild he carefully offers it to the packless wolf

Looking out over the water, and on the deck, Haskyll looks to see what Ulfgard is doing.

Ulfgard befriends the lone wolf. The lone wolf is no longer alone.

Does Ulfgard give the wolf a name?

Day Thirty

Calrianne grows visibly excited at the mention of Redlake Fort and produces a map of the abandoned border stronghold. The knight informs the party that her ancestor, a man named Fabian Blix, was the fort’s cleric. Fabian died during the final siege of the fort, but one of his sons, "My Great-Grandfather, he escaped through a hidden sewer tunnel," she reveals.

Calrianne’s map shows the majority of Redlake Fort, including the sewer tunnel, which Calrianne believes is submerged. Additionally, the knight says, I would be interested in knowing of Great, Great-Grandfather Fabian’s fate, should the you learn anything about him while you are there."

Just a reminder.....A map of Redlake Fort Lower Level is up. I will use this for gameplay.

Introductions were in order. Leira and Ingrihild get a chance to tell their stories to Captain Bloodtusk. Amazingly, the day was uneventful.

Day Thirty-One

Conall
Using the uneventful day Ulfgard starts to teach the wolf cub some basic tricks. Like do not eat the meat from the spit. No, we do not pee into the sleeping bag.... you know basics.

Around midday Mordea, up in the crow's nest of the keelboat, calls out an alarm, "Another boat! It looks to be a barge."

Captain Bloodtusk races to the bow, "Its the merchant Golgrag!"

The two boats meet up in peace. You will find out that the Half-Orc Golgrag took advantage of the Orc's defeat at Trunau to offer his goods to those inhabitants displaced by recent events, at a somewhat elevated price. He and his crew are willing to barter.