Zeric's tiny form flickers and delivers a surprising blow as he tampers playfully with S3's head. Not sure what he is seeing, the giant can't avoid the attack.
S1, S2 and S4 make a concentrated attack on the dangerous combination of drow and goliath in the corner, while S3 tries to wreak vengeance on Zeric.
"Well, that's a spectacular entrance. Reminds me of the time old Vaardren burst in on us while we were waiting to ambush some goblins. 'Surprise!' he said. It's good job he wasn't really hurt by lightning, or it would have been his last attempt to surprise people." Guldarin moves over towards the largest concentration of giants. "A shame that he wasn't immune to pirates with large axes. Or drowning, come to think of it." He aims, and the smell of ancient ozone fills the air momentarily.
Guldarin reminisces companionably as he souses the sand giants with a hitherto unknown substance. Sea water proves most effective. His targets both look much the worse for wear as their progress slows.
Greeg roars in appreciation as the Giants begin to surround him and fight in earnest. "Yeah! That's the spirit boys, none of this flitting around and hiding stuff.". He swings his hammer at the Giant who he'd been sparring with since this all began. He was impressed it had survived so long against his hammer, most foes didn't last this long. Still, it was time to show him wh Goliath's were overly cowed by giants and their ilk.
Rev
Greeg's spirits rise as the giants turn on him properly. His hammer wallops down, narrowly missing his target, but he turns undeterred to the next one.
The tide takes Kevaras out of the giants' grasp.
Kevaras finds himself better protected than the Sneak had hoped and slides effortlessly out of the way on the wings of ozone.
Rev
Nayce moves toward the nearest giant, blinding it to his presence.
Nayce rips through the air and appears briefly close to S3 before winking out of sight. Giant blood pools over Hallampour as the battle starts to go decisively towards the heroes.
Still fuming, the rogue stabs at P1, sending the giant crumpling into the dust. Brushing sand off his hands, he moves to the north.
The Drow gestures towards S2 and a flickering halo of purple light surrounds the young giant.
Kevaras gift-wraps S2 in darkfire, all ready for his friends to demolish and boosts Greeg along the way.
With a combination of his normal move and Fey Step, Andaros is now at U9
He casts Lightning Bolt at S1 as the primary target, arcing to S2 and S4. gaining +3 damage from Destructive Wizardry
Attack against Reflex on S1 damage electricity
Attack against Reflex on S2 damage electricity
Attack against Reflex on S4 damage electricity
If he gets hit before his next turn, his Shield will trigger as an immediate interrupt boosting AC and Reflex defense by 4.
As Andaros whips the Dawnblade in a dancing motion sparks begin to play along it's edges. As the blade's motion reaches a crescendo a lighting bolt leaps out striking first one sand giant then arcing to the other two. as he shouts out, "In Corellon's name, I split the sky about you!"
One thing I don't know about, is it possible to crit with spells?
BTW, a miss on any of those attacks is half damage.
So if I'm not mistaken, damage on S1 is 23 plus
Dram causes some water to shoot out from his waterskin and grasps at the giants feet.
Andaros continues to make his mark on the sneaks who look extremely unhappy as lightning arcs around them to devastating effect.
Dram and Dirt, a deadly tag-team, pummel S3 unmercifully. The sneak is now looking very fragile indeed and clearly dares not move in case he falls over.
** spoiler omitted **
Andaros continues to make his mark on the sneaks who look extremely unhappy as lightning arcs around them to devastating effect.
Dram and Dirt, a deadly tag-team, pummel S3 unmercifully. The sneak is now looking very fragile indeed and clearly dares not move in case he falls over.
Zeric assails the mind of Sneak 3, imprisoning it within an endless stream of TV Tropes and Cracked.com articles.
S3's eyes roll up in his head as Zeric fills his brain with incomprehensible babble. Unable to take the pain, he collapses.
S1, S2 and S4 look at each other and come to mutual agreement.
"Better not tell Faez about this."
"He's up at the city, if we leave now, he'll never find out."
Saluting, they withdraw and vanish into the sands. This party is too much for them and Hallampour is safe from their attacks for a while at least.
"They'll think twice about assaulting the city. Without more numbers, anyway," Nayce says grimly.
As the sneaks make their retreat, Andaros dims the light of the Dawnblade and returns it to his sheathe and turns to the adventurers he has encountered.
"Now that was a bracing piece of work. Hail and well met. In the common tongue, I am Andaros of the House of Spring Dawning."
Greeg returned the Giants salute as they withdrew, particulrly giving respect to the one that had struck him so many times and still remained standing.
"Good fight Mjoldgivn. Perhaps we'll try it again sometme eh?
He smiled broadly as the fled the area and turned to his friends. Speaking in common again he shouts loudly RAAAARGH! Great fight my firends. That was ...bracing!"
He moved over and thumped the dark elf heartily on teh back, pulling the blow slightly to avoid denting his armour or hurting the man. He looked thin and fragile, but the way he had fought told the warden differently. "Yeah, wooh. Good fight. He said more quietly, resting on his hammers handle whiel catching his breath back.
Elder Rukoth approaches looking thoughtful.
"I do not wish to seem ungrateful - you have saved us from obliteration - but these are sand giants. A defence like that may well make us a tempting target. They do not normally attack us except as a proving ground for their young ones - as you saw."
Don finishes cleaning his filthy nails.
"No worries about that. Reckon I'll be staying right here." He thoughtfully eyes the women of Hallampour. "I could feel right at home for a bit."
Rukoth nods. "That will help. Friend Andaros, will you join these others in whatever quest they have?"
The winds circling Cronin subside. He closes his eyes briefly, mouths something, and his wounds close except for a small cut on his cheek.
"Yes, a good fight! A nice warm-up for what we will face, Kord willing. And you see, a few words and a few blows, and giants take the hint." Cronin seeminingly ignroes the fact that he himself landed only one blow.
"Andaros, I'm Cronin. Thanks for joining in."
"That was certainly enlightening. Lets see what they are carrying and see if we can find anything of interest."
Andaros reacts the approaching elder. "I think that these giants might be more than youths proving themselves as they mentioned someone by the name of Faez in whom they may be in employ. They spoke more in the manner of mercenaries rather than a ritual of manhood, or gianthood if you will." Andaros turns to Cronin. "I have come to this area as I've heard that this area is particularly rich in artifacts that might advance my own studies. Encounters such as this would indicate that we are each better off combining our efforts rather than going separately. Perhaps if you tell me of your mission here, my skills, such as they are, might be of use."
Rukoth considers Andaros' words.
"Most of them were seeking honour, but not the ones that fled. I have heard of Faez. He rules the sand giants now. Did they say anything else?"
Turning to the gathering villagers, he asks for a feast to be prepared. The donkey is not on the menu, possibly to Kevaras' disappointment.
"One of the giants said of Faez, 'He's up at the city, if we leave now, he'll never find out.' Does that mean anything to you?" Nayce asks.
To Andaros he says, "We have been sent to put a stop to the giant incursions on these cities. Not only do they raid, as you have seen, but appears they may have been involved in poisoning this town's water supply. Their machinations are treacherous and must be stopped."
"Well, there was some suggestion about not returning to a city, from the giants that is, which is where they expect to find this Faez. He sounds as if the giants were scared of him, if they didn't want to go and report to him. I wonder if he might have something to do with your water being poisoned and this plague that we're investigating." Guldarin turns to the newcomer. "I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Guldarin, people call me by all sorts of titles, not always terribly complimentary ones though I'm sure they mean well, and we're here on behalf of the Emir of Ekabba, who wanted someone to investigate some problems in the desert. We've done a little here to help, as the well was poisoned, but we'd like to get to the source, since otherwise it'll probably jsut get poisoned again. Which might be this Faez fellow, but even if it isn't he's likely to know something. I'm sure we can persuade him to be reasonable. Or at least, dangerous people like us can try to persuade him."
The paladin watches the remaining sneaks slink into the distance, sheathing his sword only when sure they are gone.
Yeah, wooh. Good fight.
Kevaras laughs, enjoying the camaraderie displayed by Greeg.
"Yes indeed. We make a great team."
Aware of the animosity between the drow and Andaros' people, Kevaras approaches the eladrin cautiously while gauging his reaction.
"I'm Kevaras Zanorin, humble servant of the Raven Queen, and ardent foe of Lolth."
Turning to the concerns raised by Elder Rukoth, the paladin suggests:
"We should solve the case of the poisoned well first, after the feast of course. Then look for this city. Hopefully we'll draw so much attention that any would-be challengers will seek us out instead of harassing Hallampour."
When first approached by the drow, Andaro's eyes's narrow and his body tenses. His hand reaches for the hilt of his blade, but stops short of drawing it.
"These others have accepted your story, drow and so must I ... for now. Remember this, the Dawnblade has sent others of your kind to their just rewards, and I am not a Feywild sapling. If you ever show cause or any indication that you fall back to the ways of your black-hearted kin, you'll find my eyes open, and my blade ready to add another to that number."
Rukoth watches cautiously as the fey greet each other delicately.
"As for the city they spoke of - well, who knows what lies beneath the sand. Madrissa claims to have seen a tower and she can take you as far as she can. It is the least we can do."
He offers to restock any food supplies used on the way to Hallampour and provides you with enough pure water for the onward journey. Tactfully, he replaces Greeg's emergency tent with something more subtle.
"The stripes will not blend well. I'm sure word of your exploits is travelling even now, but let us not make you a target."
"If you ever show cause or any indication that you fall back to the ways of your black-hearted kin, you'll find my eyes open, and my blade ready to add another to that number."
The drow solemnly nods, "I would expect nothing less."
He looks around, "Say, I wonder where that donkey went? I hope it survived the battle, because I care about all living things, including trees and flowers!"
To Kevaras' relief, the donkey emerges unscathed and trots towards Guldarin.
good to go