Creydon breaks into a stirring rendition of "When the slayers cut down the giants, third scene" as he advances!
Marten moves forward and quickly assesses that the giants are too far away for him to be able to telekinetically fling a dwarf at them. Instead, he opts to buy the party time move closer by casting reverse gravity on the area around the giants. The two giants fall upwards.
Drazh ran forward, staying next to Ferocia. He hoped that the spellcasters would leave some fun for him.
Ferocia and Emriss hurry forward.
Azalia shoots again at the same giant.
On top of the colour and bearing it becomes clear these giants are made of sterner stuff that those you have fought before as they both cast a spell and stop falling upwards.
Creydon
Marten
Drazh
Ferocia
Azalia
Anneka -Blessing of Fervor
Giants Green -43
Hopefully, having occupied the giants until the party can get closer, Marten continues to move forward.
Azalia moves closer.
And then she shoots.
(inspire courage)
(acid, holy, inspire)
Creydon follows just behind Drazh and Ferocia, urging them on!
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Creydon follows just behind Drazh and Ferocia, urging them on!
Hopefully, having occupied the giants until the party can get closer, Marten continues to move forward.
Drazh moves to just below the giants, Ferocia trails a little behind.
Azalia moves closer and then she shoots.
Anneka repositions.
Both of the floating giants gradually float down but stay twenty foot above the ground. As two more giants come out of the cave the floating ones call down to them. The new arrivals pause and cast a spell before advancing into the area affected by the spell.
Creydon
Marten
Drazh
Ferocia
Azalia
Anneka -Blessing of Fervor
Giants Green -70
Azalia shoots again.
(rapid shot, inspire, blessing of fervor)
(acid, holy, inspire)
Creydon stands fast, right behind his dwarven friends, and calls:
"Get on the ground, you cowardly giants!"
Rolling his eyes at his allies' demands that the giants return to the ground while they are under the effects of his magic, Marten moves forward, ends the reverse gravity effect, and casts cold ice strike at the closest giant.
Creydon stands fast, right behind his dwarven friends, and calls:
"Get on the ground, you cowardly giants!"
"You're wizard put us up here moron!" The giants retort mockingly.
The two at the back however prostrate themselves.
Rolling his eyes at his allies' demands that the giants return to the ground while they are under the effects of his magic, Marten moves forward, ends the reverse gravity effect, and casts cold ice strike at the closest green giant.
”Cowards! Ye fly away from me ‘cause ye’re a bunch of milk drinkers! Yer ancestors weep at yer yellow-bellied flight!” Drazh yelled at them.
Getting slightly annoyed... and unaware of the compulsion their peers behind them are under... one of the two giants floating shout back. "YOUR WIZARD CAST A SPELL TO MAKE US GO UP. I USE SMALL WORDS NOW LITTLE DWARF. WE USE MAGIC, MAKE GO DOWN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND PEBBLE BRAIN?"
Azalia shoots again and finishes off the injured cloud giant.
The floating giant pulls himself foward but stays fifteen foot above the ground. "Now hit me with your stunty arms if you can runt? Or use them to hurl a pebble the size of your brain."
A giant of a different sort emerges from the cave. Blue skinned and with white hair like the others his is a darker shade and definitely different. His blow is powerful and swift but Drazh rolls to the side to avoid it. "Get up you idiots!"
Creydon
Marten
Drazh
Ferocia
Azalia
Anneka -Blessing of Fervor
Giants
Having finished off one of the giants, Azalia again moves closer.
And then she shoots, at Red this time.
(inspire courage)
(acid, holy, inspire)
|
Drazh laughed as he dodged the attack. ”Big excused from big cowards! At least one of ye has the stones to face me.” With a grin he launched into a counter attack, his traveling clothes shimmering as they let the glammer fall away. Clad head to toe in gilded mithril armor, he looked every inch a Dwarven warrior. He swung his hammer with lethal intent, the thought of letting any of them live hadn’t crossed his mind.
Ferocia tumbles forward so she doesn't get whacked by the big giant on the approach, then attacks the chatty one on the ground with her claws.
"Get stuck in!", says Creydon to his dwarven friends.
Marten casts sirocco, attempting to slam the two giants in the rear down the staircase.
Fire, and then ice. Marten then follows that up with another cold ice strike directed at the closer levitating giant.
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"Get stuck in!", says Creydon to his dwarven friends.
Marten casts sirocco, attempting to slam the two giants in the rear down the staircase.
Fire, and then ice. Marten then follows that up with another cold ice strike directed at the closer (red) levitating giant.
Ferocia tumbles forward so she doesn't get whacked by the big giant on the approach, then attacks the chatty one on the ground with her claws.
Having finished off one of the giants, Azalia again moves closer.
And then she shoots, at Red this time.
Two of the giants start to come to their senses...
[ooc]Loot
Potions of cure serious wounds (3)
+2 breastplate
+3 greataxe
ring of feather falling
The giants have gathered a total of 1,265 gp in coins, a chest of copper bars worth a total of 500 gp, and a fine cave bear cloak worth 2,ooo gp.
Azalia moves around Drazh as he is standing on the corpses, looting them thoroughly and scooping everything into her portable hole.
Marten, I think you should take this Cave Bear cloak. You would look good in in.
Marten fingers his own cloak to show he already has one.
"This one is moderately useful, but thank you for thinking of my attire, Azalia."
He turns to consider Drazh, who's probably dancing a jig on a giant's corpse.
"I wonder what Karzoug has on these giants that they serve him so loyally."
A few hours later a narrow mountain pass opens into a glacial valley extending north and then turning to the west at the base of the vast mountain at the far end. Filling this valley is an ice capped city of enormous proportions. The near end is mostly blocked by a huge fortress of smooth black stone, with multiple towers rising from its high walls. Exiting the bailey of this fortress is a massive causeway of gold that dominates the city as it travels down the center of the vale. Enormous towers and spires of many-colored stone pack both sides of the central thoroughfare, rising to prodigious heights and givi ng the illusion that the road itself is a valley. The eastern slope of the valley has been partially subsumed by an ancient volcanic flow;-nearly a quarter of the city appears to have been so buried. That section is now little more than a great mass of ice, with the jagged angles and peaks of ruined structures poking through its topmost layer here and there. Where the valley curves slightly to the west, the structures, if anything, grow even larger, becoming truly gigantic as they climb up and over the rocky spur.
At the far end of the valley, the city a buts the lower slope of a truly massive peak. Yet the city builders appear to have taken no heed of this change in slope, for the great causeway merely elevates at a steep angle and continues to climb the incline in a nearly straight line, transforming into an immense stairway. Additional buildings cling precariously to the mountain face alongside the causeway, growing even larger and more impressive as they ascend. The gigantic buildings finally give way a few thousand feet above, but the mighty road continues to wend its treacherous way to just below the mountain's peak. There, a spired citadel looms, its size and proportions truly magnificent. It, too, fails to summit the mountain-instead, its topmost spires end just below the dominant face of a stern man, carved into the peak of the mountain and surveying the city below. The otherworldly quality of this strange panorama is
further reinforced by the sound of the cold winds slicing across the high peaks, making strange cries and shrieks in the thin mountain air.
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"Hmm. Yes. When I become a power-mad dictator, I too will broadcast exactly where my enemies can find me while at the same time flaunting my wealth over the citizenry I menacingly rule over. That definitely seems like the most appropriate way to do things."
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"I'm not surprised with either of you," Ferocia remarks dryly.
The ruined road branches here, a narrower route leading around to the west while the main thoroughfare passes through a looming stone wall flanked by glossy black towers. It seems to be some sort of a n cient gateway to the city proper. A dark mass of gritty, rocky ice presses
up against the fortress's northern face, the ancient lava flow apparently stopped (but only just) by the stone walls.
"I think we should take a look at that ice. It's caught my eye."
At Creydon's words, Azalia goes over and examines the ice closely.
Ferocia shrugs and checks it out.
The ice doesn't seem to be part of the original constructions... perhaps a magical safety feature against the lava that has never been deactivated.
The huge fortress' walls are fifty feet thick and rise to a height of seventy five feet. The square towers extend as high as two hundred feet. It is composed of volcanic glass, its roof and edges once gilt in gold
but now only retaining splashes of colour. Its joint seems are very fine and almost invisible in the dark stone.
The gates fell long ago, leaving an empty gatehouse to provide entry to its bailey. The former garrison blockhouse has partially collapsed, as has much of the northeastern wall. The ancient volcanic eruption did significant damage to these structures, but not enough to completely destroy them.
A smaller gate to the east of the ruined blockhouse once opened into another district, but this is now blocked by a mass of ice.
As you approach you catch the faint whiff of cow manure on the wind...
Creydon sniffs the air.
"Cows. Should be people near those - or near enough."
It does indeed smell like cow manure but from your current position you can't tell much more.
Azalia follows Drazh with her bow drawn, not because she necessarily thinks it is an awesome idea to go cow hunting, but because she can't currently think of a better one.
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”Well then. If a bad smell could stop me, then I wouldn’t be an adventurer.”
"Yes indeed. Too true."
Marten surreptitiously casts life bubble on himself so that he doesn't have to smell the manure.
Creydon gives a "What can you do?" look and then follows Drazh towards the source of rural scent.
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Ferocia follows the others, looking rather unimpressed with her surroundings. Who would wreck a mountain with a fortress and city?
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Azalia looks around for anything valuable or magical... or both, the best of both worlds.
As you move into the area you see an odd site amongst the ruins twelve vaguely humanoid creatures with vultures' heads and wings for arms, and wields an enormous bow in its taloned feet seem to stand sentry in this area or perhaps more like a shepherd. The closest of them is fourty foot away and perched atop an outcropping of ruins twenty feet high. The rest are spread out.
Milling around the area and grazing our two dozen large, horned cattle with a dirty black hide and an aggressive temper. Their horns are wide and sharp.
These foul creatures are a disgusting cross between humanoids and condors. Also known as the Eaters of the Dead, the kuchrimas are the lowest order of the lamia-kin, lacking even standard lamias‘ capability for spell-like abilities. They not only serve the function of common soldiers and scouts, but are also left to take care of the disposal of bodies, garbage, and other waste—most of which they feed upon. This habit results in their foul appearance and disease-ridden bite. Kuchrimas often wield giant bows in their powerful talons, holding the weapon in one talon and pulling the bowstring with the other in order to fire arrows with devastating effect.
Kuchrimas have much in common with the condors they resemble, and are opportunistic hunters and scavengers. Bands of kuchrima hunters might fly dozens of miles from their communal aerie, using their keen sight to locate prey both small and large. In the extreme mountainous areas they inhabit, such meals often take the form of giant rams, mountain aurochs, and even the occasional mountaineer, though these disgusting creatures prefer their meals dead and rotting.
Kuchrimas dwell principally in the thin air among the upper peaks of desolate mountain ranges, where they have gathered in enclaves or “gluttonies.”
Marten
Monsters
Ferocia
Drazh
Anneka
Creydon
Azalia
Aurochs. Be careful, they tend to stampede in large groups.
The vulture like things are Kuchrimas. Disease-ridden. Try not to get bitten.
***
Marten casts slow on 16 of them.
***
***
Marten nods at Azalia, and then turns to Ferocia, indicating the Aurochs. "What do you think?"
"I think hiring disease-ridden ranch-hands is f*#$ing stupid." Ferocia replies, deadpan. "We're here to kill a wizard, not to fight the whole city." She shrugs, then gestures back to the main road. "Let's move on. If they spot us and attack, they'll die regretting it."