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the conversation you can hear is not particularly long or interesting. you do pick out comments like "How much longer do you think he'll be?" ... "How should I know? Do I look like a priest?".... "What do you think he needed Durg and Kellor for?" with periods of silence between comments back and forth. they sound like they have been waiting for a while and are getting bored.
Samuel eases down the stairs. He can see into the next room, which is about 50 ft by 50 ft.
The remains of a giant wooden statue, carved to resemble a stooped and ancient beldame, lie broken and scattered across the floor of this chamber. A set of massive iron double doors stands in the south wall, their faces engraved with a procession of humanoid figures. At the top of the doors, the figures are young women in the bloom of youth, but as the parade continues down the doors, the figures age, turning into pregnant matrons, stooped crones, and finally, at the bottom of the doors, into capering skeletons that vanish into a gaping tomb.
The room is occupied by two Frost giants
Making it back up, Samuel describes what he has seen below "It seems there are two of those blue-face, cold blooded giants guarding the deeper levels. There are some statues, some broken, sorted in aging level, some of them skeletons that vanish into a gaping tomb..." the Taldan shudders at the thought of death "I think if we attack them suddenly and with strength, we can take them by surprise before they do realize what is going on."
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"Two? Then why not focus your attacks on the one on the right. I will try to charm the one on the left the moment we step foot in the room. Be careful not to threaten the one I am planning on charming, or else it will throw off my spell easily. You have seen a charmed giant before, so if it works, you should know."
Llewellyn nodded, "OK lets try that, we pile on the one to the right."
Callix nods, "One on the right. Got it."
The group moves in, Letitia and Samuel stealthing ahead to get a drop on the enemies before they could react.
Letitia tries to charm the left (red) Giant first
It shakes its head like it is trying to clear the last of a weird dream from its mind, then turns to the doorway.
Samuel is able to get off one action before the giants react.
Samuel, Ashling, Giants, Letitia, Llewellyn, Callix
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 75/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status: 1 CHA damage
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 59/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 53/61 - AC: 19/15/15 Status:NPCs:
Red Giant: HP: ?? | AC: ??
Blue Giant: HP: ?? | AC: ??
Samuel steps in front of Letitia, resolved to protect the witch.
Then, taking gritted aim at the blue dressed giant's leg, he pulls the musket's trigger "Seems you need a new boot there"
Ashling spends a standard activating her new Ice Armor which forms an icy full plate shape and moving in and to the side.
prior to kicking the fight off, Ashling gains magical armor, and Callix receives the blessing of her Drunken God.
Samuel shoots the legs out from under one of the giants, tripping it. That giant quickly gets to its feet and moves up to Samuel, axe at the ready but can't swing now.
the other one advances on Ashling, swinging its axe
The party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 75/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status: 1 CHA damage
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 59/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 36/61 - AC: 19/15/15 Status:NPCs:
Red Giant: HP: -19 | AC: ??
Blue Giant: HP: ?? | AC: ??
Scowling because her spell yet again fails to take hold, a surge of anger and vindictiveness runs through Letitia. She targets the uninjured giant with one of her most devastating hexes.
Relieved his shot spared Ashling from one attack, Samuel steps back away from reach to quickly reload his musket "Caution Letitia, step behind!"
Raising his now loaded musket, he keeps piling damage on the blue giant, unless Letitia managed to sleep it, in which case, he shots the red one instead.
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"Time to fell some GIANTS!" roared Llewellyn. His sudden savagery lifted your spirts and with a word he suddenly moved next to one of the giants, leaving a kaleidoscopic trail behind him. He thrust out with his longsword, trying to drive the point deep into the meat of the Giant's leg!
Callix rushes forward, calling on the Drunken hero as she does, then tumbling as she closes on the giant, before swinging her blazing axe at the giant.
[ooc]Fervor -> Divine Favor[/dice]
for
Ashling takes the blowbut steps into the giants reach with her Scimitar, whirling like a tornado of blade and ice.
Samuel shoots at the giant again, but his gun jams! must have been some bad powder!
Callix and Llewellyn get in close and mix it up with the red giant, both getting some good hits in
Ashling slices at the giant that came up to her, hitting once.
Then Letitia tries to use a hex, frustrated that her magic has not been strong in this fortress so far.
Once again, the creature just shrugs off the magic.
The giants attack the smaller folk running around their ankles
Ashling is taking a lot of damage but is still going, the others both get hit. the war of attrition is definitely in favor of the hulking giants right now
The party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 45/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status: 1 CHA damage
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 38/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 18/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Red Giant: HP: -59 | AC: 21
Blue Giant: HP: -18 | AC: 21
Llewellyn was carefully circling the giant to hopefully flak with Callix when he took a heavy blow, and noticed Ashling was getting hit even harder. Suddenly fighting two giants at once seemed like a bad idea...
To Letitia, Llewellyn whispered something urgently in the language of dragons.
He then waited to see if she'd act. The turning to the northern Giant, Llewellyn snarled and shouted to it in their language.
"Damned cannon!" Samuel curses as the musket jams, he wants to quick clear the cannon, but there is no time when his friends are being hammered to the ground. Instead, he loads the cannon using a paper cartridge, takes aim at the more injured giant, red, and shots.
And willing to risk his weapon to safe them, he quickly spends another paper to load the cannon once more.
Fortunately the quick load does not ruin the musket.
"Aaaaaaggghhhhh!!!" Letitia screeches in intense frustration at the giant's resilience.
"You will suffer like none have before!!
She spits a spiteful promise at the giant then tears away its resistances and cackles madly as she envisions keeping the giant alive so she can test each of her spells and curses upon it.
Callix winces from the hit and tries to shake it off, before calling on the Drunken Hero to bless her weapon, causing the golden fire to shift to a more amber colour, even as she moves around the Giant to attack his flank.
Letitia lets out some frustration as she curses the giant fighting Ashling
Llewellyn adds on by yelling out some pointed threats about how they will kill the giant.
You can see the fear in its eyes as the magically-enhanced words take hold.
Ashling tries to add on a command spell, but is not able to foc us on the spell while getting hammered by a large axe
Facing the red giant, Samuel fires off two shots, risking severe damage to his gun but managing to hit twice, blasting some serious wounds into the big guy.
Callix follows up with a hit from her axe, slicing deep. the giant falls, just barely injured enough to take it out of the fight.
The hexed giant sees its companion fall, and pulls back. It bangs on the door with the haft of its axe
"We're under attack! they're coming!"
The party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 45/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status: 1 CHA damage
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 38/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 18/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Red Giant: HP: -133 | AC: 21 | dead
Blue Giant: HP: -18 | AC: 21
Axe blazing, Callix spins the axe in her hand and asks, "Didn't see what you cast. Will it break the spell if I attack it?"
"He's terrified. Press the attack!" Letitia shouts, moving forward. She throws another hex at the giant, feeling especially vindictive.
With one of the giants falling and the other scared to the bone, Samuel does find some respite to take care of his beloved weapon. His well skilled hands open the musket and quick clears the flintlock, loading then a new bullet and rapid reloading it with powder from one of his horns "The bloke pied his pants when he saw your jaws Llewellyn"
Rearming the musket, he steps forward and starts to take aim "I do not like the way he is banging that door"
Llewellyn was surprised as anyone when it worked, and with a wink he roared after the giant, sprinting towards him and plunging his sword towards the small of his back!
Ashling will use Command, calling out in the giant tongue Fall! to attempt to make him fall prone
Callix rushes forward at Letitia's urging, bringing the twice-flaming axe to bear on the giant.
for
Llewellyn and Callix push forward, slicing into the frightened giant.
Samuel reloads and fixes his jammed gun.
Letitia tries another hex
This time it works, the giant turns into a very large and still slightly blue-hued pig. its hands turn to hooves and the large axe falls to the ground. his cries of warning come out with an occasional squeel
Ashling piles on, telling it to fall prone.
It complies, laying on the ground
The giant is cornered, humiliated and cowed. but it has nowhere left to flee and fights back rather than give up. it swings at Callix who is hitting it with fire.
Callix finds that even in such a state the giant is very dangerous and she takes a big punch.
The party may act
Global Condition: |Party Condition:
Callix HP: 28/75 - AC: 20/14/16 Status: 1 CHA damage
Letitia: HP: 54(+4)/54 - AC: 18/12/15 Status:
Llewellyn HP: 38/59 - AC: 23/21/13 Status:
Samuel HP: 78/78 - AC: 23/18/16 Status:
Ashling HP: 18/61 - AC: (23/19 if cold)21/15/17 Status:NPCs:
Red Giant: HP: -133 | AC: 21 | dead
Blue Giant: HP: -59 | AC: 21 | half pig, prone, frightened
Callix grunts as the pig slams its hooves into her, bringing her axe up to quickly strike again.
for
for
Letitia cackles loudly, her laugh driving home the degradation that her hexes pressed upon the giant while extending their duration. She didn't like the fact that Callix took another blow, but she still exulted in her hexes laying the giant low.
Still, the giant managed to knock on the door to the next room. Mindful that they may face more giants or worse in the chamber beyond, Letitia pulls out her cauldron and begins the elaborate ritual to call forth more allies.
"A ham-some work Letitia!" Samuel chuckles at the transformation while stepping forward to find a clear shot in the upper parts of the giant.
Then, he rapid reloads the musket in a single move.
Ashling is going to move and cast cure Serious wounds on herself
Callix and Ashling both heal themselves a bit.
Letitia continues hexing the giant, then begins a summon spell with her portable cauldron
Callix gets two big hits on the giant, with a nice little fire bonus
Samuel aims and fires, just close enough that the bullet penetrates the armor the giant is wearing. the shot fells the pig-giant.
things are still for the moment, though you know the giant was able to warn whoever or whatever is on the other side of this big door!
Callix winces, "I don't think I expected the pig-giant to be quite so deadly," she mutters, taking a mouthful of ale to rinse the blood out of her mouth before producing the healing wand.
Samuel smiles with confidence seeing his bullet to fell the giant humanoid.
The Taldan quickly examines the first giant, searching for any clues regarding their plans, before turning his attention to the rest of the group gathered at the west door "Cute deadly then perhaps" he remarks with a wry smile.
"We should move on before someone comes to check what happened here" without further delay, Samuel approaches the door to the west. He checks for any traps or locks, then, if it's not locked, confidently opens it to proceed.
"Pretty sure trouble's coming." remarked Llewellyn as Samuel went to check the door.
To prepare for this, he cast several spells. Firstly he hummed a focusing mantra which sharpened his senses then he sung a short scales and suddenly he was surrounded by multiple images.
The door is not trapped, but it is barred. it is going to take some bashing to get in to the next room. '
Llewellyn suddenly turns into 5 (half)orcs. He hears something in the next room, but it is hard ot make out. sounds like chanting.
Samuel approaches the barred door, his gaze shifting between his companions. A mischievous glint in his eye, he turns to the others and suggests "What if we try a little act, lads?" He smirks as he takes a deep breath, projecting his voice to sound more giant-like.
"" He grins, attempting to mimic the urgency and concern of a giant in distress.
Samuel hopes their act will convince whoever is on the other side to open the door, unaware of the potential dangers that may await them beyond.
"Do you speak Giant?" Letitia hisses.
Samuel glances over at Letitia, his smirk not faltering. "Well, not exactly fluent, but giants aren't particularly intelligent to notice the different, ain't it?" he gets a bit ashamed, but remains hopeful nonetheless "Not sure you can force it open by magic, isn't it?"
It was a good idea but Llewellyn wasn't sure the execution would work. He tried to do his best impersonation of an addled giant, hoping that might explain the language issues...
Seeing her companions setting up for an immediate risk, Callix opts to use more powerful magic to heal herself more quickly.
You feel like the performance put on by Samuel and Llewellyn was a good one, but no one responds, and the door is not opened. At least not yet
Letitia hovers over the cauldron, her hands gesticulating over it as she keeps the powers to call beings from other planes at bay, taut like a drawn bow string. Her face scowls when the bard's bluff is not heeded. Her mind works, trying to come up with a lie that may entice the foes beyond. They were likely more giants or allies, given how one of the giants ran to the door once panicked.
"Try calling out again, but this time say that the hag has learned more about Kostchtchie's prison from Artrosia's records and she seeks an audience," she suggests. "If that doesn't work, you may need to use the adamantine weapons to break down the door."
Samuel, embodying the hag's persona as suggested by Letitia, readies himself for another attempt to communicate through the door. He takes a deep breath and projects his voice, attempting to sound like a female hag, and hoping the promise of valuable information might pique the interest of whoever is on the other side of the door "Hear me, dumb! I, the hag, have delved into Artrosia's records and uncovered vital information about Kostchtchie's prison! I seek an audience to share my findings!"
"Come on, lads, don't be as stubborn as a mule with a headache. Let's not keep the grand unveiling of secrets waiting. Open the door, and we can all have a civilized chat, no need for a lesson in door etiquette!" Samuel anxiously awaits a response, prepared to take action if their latest attempt to communicate fails.
He turns then back to Letitia "I guess they talk with the hag in Common."
While the others try to coax the door open, Callix continues to heal herself.
Letitia puts her face in her palm. "The common tongue is Iobarian in this region."