Dorn calls the over-sized bird to him, not wanting him to engage the giant just yet. Mainly due to the dwarf's concern with that tiny little issue of the giant having the capability of pulverizing his avian friend into nothing.
The roc retreats to the dwarf.
A flight of arrows announces that the Patrol at the gate have taken note of the giant's approach. At this range, only one of the arrows comes close to hitting, but at least the party knows they are not alone.
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Marikel shakes his head, still reeling from the massive blow.
Iomedae has never promised him an easy life. The Goddess of Honour; he has followed her laws to the letter. The Goddess of Justice; he has trained to fight and kill. And now here he is, no parents, no home and no healing, wounded on a wretched stony battlefield of broken weapons and bodies outside a village in the middle of nowhere that doesn't like the colour his church is painted.
He frowns up at the giant that stands above him, a creature that swings fully grown orcs as if they were simple toys held by an excited baby. Iomedae has never granted him an easy life. Maybe she'll grant him something else.
Marikel charges the giant.
As the roc retreats, the giant swings its chain once again, but the nimble bird dodges the heavy corpse at the end.
While his opponent is still distracted by the roc's movement, Marikel charges in, his sword slashing a deep cut into the giant's thigh. The creature howls in pain.
Impressed by the cleric's actions, "Either the lad has lost his mine or he's just plain crazy. Either way... he's got guts." The dwarf then runs behind the giant to put himself in a flanking position with the cleric.
"Word of warning, Marikel," Levvy whispers over the bond, "I'm going to make you about as big as the giant to even out the odds a little. Then she starts to cast a spell.
The fiery glow in Neddy's eyes fades away and he ducks back under Levvy's cloak.
In Marikel's wake, the dwarf dashes around the other side of the giant before it can react.
Levvy begins casting a spell.
Seeing the brave warriors close with the giant raises Mahath's blood, and he moves in closer. As he does so, he uses his magic to try and level the battlefield some. He casts a minor spell that he hopes will slow the behemoth down, or at least make its flailing slightly less deadly.
Move to E8, cast Grease under the giant. DC 16 reflex save or it goes prone.
Craning its thick neck to keep up with the smaller creatures moving in around it, the giant is unprepared for the layer of grease appearing under its feet and crashes to the ground.
Rather stupidly, the monster pushes itself back to its feet.
Ali takes advantage of the giant's clumsiness and slips her rapier into his overly-large, meaty leg, becoming visible in the process as Mahath's magic fades.
Marikel starts at Alicia's sudden appearance.
"Be careful, please. Move aside."
He raises his sword and slashes again with gritted teeth at the lumbering creature.
"HA! Take that ya clumsy oaf!"
Marikel's sword deflects harmlessly off the giant's broken breastplate; but Dorn's hammer strike redounds with the sound of crushing ribs, and Alicia's deceptively delicate blade pierces the femoral artery with a spurt of blood. Yet somehow, some way, the hulking creature still rises. Having reaching its feet, however, it stands blinking stupidly around itself, unable to regain its equilibrium quickly enough to strike before Alicia reacts.
The sullen blond rogue takes a step away from Marikel--but not without casting a glare his way first--and stabs the cave giant again.
Aiming again at the spurting wound in the giant's leg, Alicia's blade finds it and rips the artery open halfway to the knee. With a gush of blood, the giant collapses heavily enough almost to shake the ground.
Levvy ceases casting her spell. "Ah, I guess that's no longer necessary," she says. "We should make certain there are no more orcs in the vicinity and take care of this catapult."
Alicia shoots Marikel a really smug smirk as she wipes her rapier's blade off on something resembling clothing on the giant, then sheathes it.
Glancing at Levvy, she nods. "Good idea," she says, and jogs back in the direction of the catapult. Once there, she starts looking for the most effective way to disable it for good.
Mahath follows Alicia over to the catapult. He looks at the construct of the catapult to see if he can offer advice on ruining it.
Knowledge (engineering)
He tells her "I am down to cantrips and scrolls, but I'll do what I can to help."
Alicia's mechanically-adept mind considers how to disable the siege engine. It looks to be powered by a tension device not unlike a bow at the top of the frame. Focusing the party's efforts on breaking that cantilever would be much quicker than Dorn's strategy of reducing the entire frame to splinters and would render the device unable to be fired unless and until the part is replaced.
Alternatively, as Mahath realizes, fire would reliably convert the whole thing to ashes.
Relaxing as the giant finally falls, "Alright. Well that went well." He then moves over to the catapult with the others. "I say we just burn it down. Either that or salvage it and give it to the town," he mentions, shrugging. "They might could use it. But it doesn't matter ta me."
As no enemies appear to be in sight, Skyreaver lands and rests.
Alicia shoots Marikel a really smug smirk as she wipes her rapier's blade off on something resembling clothing on the giant, then sheathes it.
Marikel stares at Alicia in disbelief but when she turns away a huge grin crosses his face. He follows her to the catapult, his face settling to his own smirk.
"Not bad, Miss Alicia, not bad."He turns to the others as he arrives.
"The battle still rages. If we can move it, we can use it against the enemy. Everyone help me push it. If that fails, Miss Alicia should have it apart in no time."
Mahath hands a flask to Alicia. "This is alchemical fire. If we are set upon before we get this behind the wall, use it wherever you think will do the most damage to this and get it burning."
Mahath will help push it.
The siege engine's wheels have been locked into place for firing, but it is the work of only a few moments to disengage the mechanisms. Finding the smoothest path back to the front gate is another matter: a rough barricade has been set up to the south of the Barterstones which would have to be dismantled to move the catapult behind their cover; alternatively, the north passage which Marikel and Dorn took is unhindered but would expose the slow-moving group to the battle going on to the northeast.
The unfired stones and the crates around the engine must be shifted as well; when they are examined, the crates appear to be filled with alchemical equipment: three bags of black powder, several fused canisters similar to the grenade thrown by an orc back at the Inner Gate, a sticky-looking bag, and many other items that could undoubtedly be put to use by the defenders or Gorkis Meeson.
"We'll go back by the north passage. It's exposed, but pulling some of the enemy away from the battle won't hurt our troops there."
Marikel smiles and downs his healing potion.
"Besides," he turns to Mahath and Levvy, "it'll give your friends something to shoot at."
Marikel puts away the empty vial and frowns.
"I could use another of them. I'd rather not rely on Mister Rabus' brew just yet."
Marikel mutters a prayer and casts his eyes over the crates.
Levvy pulls out a potion of cure moderate wounds and hands it to Marikel without comment. She goes with him to look at the crates.
"I'm not an expert in alchemy," she says, "but these look like they could be useful. We should get them back into town. It'll be difficult moving both them and the catapult though. We should move them out of the way and deal with the catapult first, I suppose."
She calls out to Dorn, "Dorn! You look strong. Help us move these crates!" She then starts hefting crate aside if she can.
Dorn pulls out his last potion, "Here, lad, here's one for ya. It'll fix ya right up. Well... unless it's faulty and watered down like mine were. I'd be mad about it but we won so I'm good, I'm good," he nods, handing him the potion.
Snapping his attention toward the witch as she calls out his name, he hollers out, "On me way!" and heads that way.
"Thank you, Miss Levvy."
Marikel takes the potion as Dorn hands him the other.
"Thank you, Mister Dorn."
Marikel looks at the two potions and hands Levvy's back.
"Thank you, Miss Levvy."
Marikel downs Dorn's potion.
"Thank you, Mister Dorn."
Marikel, straps his shield to his back, ensures his sword is handy and begins to push the catapult.
The crates are more cumbersome than heavy; a few can be stacked carefully on the catapult's frame, and Dorn and Levvy each take another as Mahath and Marikel apply themselves to the siege engine and begin pushing it around the Barterstones to the north. The apparatus appears well-made: the wheels roll fairly easily, but given no mechanism with which to steer, redirecting it toward the front gate takes some time and effort. As they are struggling with it, a lone figure on horseback approaches from the direction of the battle.
It nears quickly, resolving itself to be Brantos Calderon. "Ho!" he calls ahead. "What's going on here? ...Marikel?" he questions, clearly surprised to see the cleric repositioning a catapult outside the walls. "Is all well? How fares the town?"
"Brantos!?" Marikel successfully does not roll his eyes.
"After holding the lower gate, Chief Defender Frum requested we assail this catapult before it took out an important wall. We wrested it from its owners, defeated a stray giant, and figured it would be best on our side of the wall. How fares your band?"
"Ha! Well done indeed," Brantos laughs. "I was attempting to track down that giant before it could cause any more mayhem. You say you've defeated it?" He guides his horse to take a few more steps past the catapult until he can see the oversized corpse laid out on the ground. "And so you have. Miss Alicia," he greets her. "Master dwarf. Citizens." He nods politely to Levvy and Mahath. "We fare well, well indeed. The Chief Defender and the Patrol Captain are fine leaders of men. They have broken the strength of the Twisted Nail, and the survivors are fleeing ... if we don't cut them down before they escape. If you have this well in hand, my horse can be put to better use hunting orcs?" he asks politely.
"Indeed. If you have no further requests for us, you can go play," Marikel smirks.
"Iomedae guide you." Brantos takes his leave, spurring his horse back toward the northeast.
"Friend of yours?" Levvy asks Marikel.
"After we get this stuff inside, what's next?" Mahath quietly hopes he says 'rest,' but doesn't want to be the one to suggest it.
Days like this are exactly why you drafted those scrolls. he reminds himself.
Dorn returns the greeting from the newcomer with a nod of his own.
The dwarf remains silent until the rider finally takes his leave. "Boy that fella is a peppy one!" he says with a grin. "Friendly, cheerful, pleasant, likes to laugh." He ponders those traits a moment before cutting his eyes toward Marikel. "I'm willin' ta be you probably don't like 'im, do ya, lad?"
"Brantos Calderon is a fine and upstanding Paladin of Iomedae, much loved by his peers and Miss Varvatos," snaps Marikel.
"We share a room in the church." Marikel slams his shoulder into the catapult and continues pushing.
"We'll return to the lower gate, once this is secured."
Alicia snickers in the background and moves to help with the catapult. She knows what's up.
Mahath looks back and forth between the others, gauging their reactions to the encounter. Brotherly rivalry? Lover's spat? Time would tell, but for now it didn't appear to be a risk to their venture. Mahath returns to help pushing as well.
Narrowing his eyes at the healer - and giving a slight grin, "Ah. I see," is all he says as he also helps with the pushing of the catapult.
With some expenditure of effort, the party successfully rolls the heavy siege engine and crates of alchemical supplies behind the palisade. By the time they reach the main gate, a handful of soldiers are straggling in, those who are either wounded or unhorsed and thus unable to participate in chasing down the surviving orcs. The general mood of the retreat is spent but satisfied. Praise for the Chief Defender and Patrol Captain is easy to come by, and Rodrick and Banny can also be heard to be mentioned. The heroism of Brantos Calderon is much admired, with the majority opinion seeming to be that the paladin isn't the arrogant stick-in-the-mud the populace expected him to be. Given Marikel's own actions in defense of Trunau and presuming Tyari's assistance with healing up at the Longhouse, it seems likely that the Iomedaean mission has made some progress in public relations today.
Jawn welcomes Mahath back with an enthusiastic handclasp. "Well done, cousin! When I saw that cave giant closing in on you, I thought you were done for."
Jawn welcomes Mahath back with an enthusiastic handclasp. "Well done, cousin! When I saw that cave giant closing in on you, I thought you were done for."
"A little more reckless than you are used to seeing me, eh? We may all get through this yet!"
Mahath uses the handclasp to pull Jawn a little closer so he can speak a little more quietly. "I don't think this is over yet. I'm going to stick with these folks a while longer; we seem to mesh surprisingly well. Have you heard how the rest of the family is doing? Or how the farm has fared?"
"Have you heard how the rest of the family is doing? Or how the farm has fared?"
Jawn shakes his head. "Too early for news from the outlying farms. I expect they'll send out some teams in the morning to scout the area before allowing anyone to return to their homes. Say, did you say Captain Frum was holding the gate to the Inner Quarter? You might persuade him to send you go back out to aid in the clean-up, and while you're out, if you happened to go in the direction of the farm to see if the barn's still standing or the crops have been burned ... if your group's up for it, that is."
Mahath lets out a sigh. "I'll run it by them, but they've been through a lot today. And whether the barn and crops are still there or not probably won't change now." He gives Jawn a sideways look and adds "Don't you go doing anything too heroic. Barns can be built and crops can be sown."
Mahath turns to the others. "That was my cousin," he tells them. "We still haven't heard if the family farm was put to the torch or not. " He takes a deep breath and adds "I am out of spells until I rest, but I do have some scrolls that I prepared, just in case. If you all wanted more action tonight, we could check with Captain Frum to see if he wants us to make a patrol out that way. But I don't think going out there tonight would change anything one way or the other."
"We will be seeing if Captain Frum requires any more from us. If not then I'm prepared to mention your idea. I've used all of Iomedae's blessings for today, but I can still swing my sword and I'm ready to aid you. The others have accounted themselves well today. I'll not speak for them."
"I've exhausted most of my spells for the day as well," Levvy says. "But we do have a bunch of scrolls to go through here, Mahath. Perhaps if we take a bit of time to go through them before heading out, we might find some that will be useful to us."
Alicia makes a non-committal noise and shrugs. "Don't matter to me."
"I've got nothin' better ta do," the dwarf claims, shrugging.