Taking a step back, Zeriax unleashes on the giant facing Morgrym - "Stand fast"
Zeriax has better luck targeting the giant as 3 of the arrows hit home. The giant collapses unconscious as Garith gives the killing blow leaving just the remaining ash giant.
Angry at the death of his friend he steps up and swings his massive club at the paladin.
Power lunge attack for
Iterative for
Slam for
As the other giant steps up to attack, "You're just as dumb as yer brother! Don't worry, you'll be seein' 'im again real soon! IN HELL!" Morgrym taunts as he swings away with the intent to obliterate.
"Hey! Why did the tomato turn red?" Ansha calls to the giant. "Because he saw the salad dressing!"
Will save
The giant falls to the ground laughing hysterically at the funny joke Ansha just said. He is on such a I promised state for the next 2 rounds that it is simple for Morgrym zeriax and garith to take him out.
The monk steps forward, casting a simple spell and peering inside the door.
If he finds no immediate mundane or magical danger, he presses onwards, around the massive corpses, to investigate the room.
Morgrym raises an eyebrow at the sudden change by the giant but that doesn't prevent him from attacking it relentlessly until it stops moving. "Well that was interestin'." He walks over to Ansha with his breaker resting upon his shoulder, looking at her curiously. "'Why did the tomato turn red?', lass? And 'Because it saw the salad dressin''?" he repeats, stroking his beard in thought. Not a moment later a light chuckle escapes. "Okay... that's a pretty good one," he admits, nodding. "I mean, it helped us win so I ain't complainin'."
He then looks over toward the monk, "Ya got anythin', Zeriax?" he asks, moving over to assist in any way he can.
Ansha smirks and nods to Morgrym. "Humor can be deadly," she says. She follows Zeriax and Morgrym to the entrance of the room the giants emerged from, and pokes her head inside to look around for anything of particular interest to her scholarly and/or licentious tastes.
"I cannot quite place what it is, but I hear loud grinding from behind the door..."
The monk approaches the door carefully, to check for traps and what may lie beyond.
A8. The Grinder
The ceiling of this vast chamber rises to a height of sixty feet. An immense machine of some sort occupies the center of the room—a frightening-looking contraption of grinding gears, crushing teeth, twisting belts of leather, and shrieking metal that looks almost organic in places. Yet even this strange machine is overshadowed by the spectacle to the east. Here, the room is sheered off by an immense, floor-to-ceiling curtain of churning crimson-and-black fire and electricity that fills the room with a disconcertingly soft whispering sound.
The curtain of fire is a rift between worlds that connects the Material Plane to the Abyss. Although it appears to be fiery, the portal gives off only a strangely warm exhalation that resembles an almost pleasant tropical breeze. A metallic tang wafts on this breeze, along with the unmistakable stink of rotten flesh. This and the eerie whispers leave little doubt as to the vile nature of the portal. The whispers themselves never quite resolve into intelligible words.
The machine itself is a magical creation built for the
express purpose of grinding raw Nahyndrian crystals and
reducing them to a fine powder. While the crystals are
relatively small and are always fed into the machine one
at a time, their hardness and the power required to grind
the crystals so finely necessitates this unusually large and
noisy device. The eastern end of the machine features a
15-foot-wide “mouth” of teeth that automatically begin
chewing and grinding as soon as any object is placed within
the opening—that this creates a significant hazard when
a small opening for a single crystal would have sufficed is
an indication of the mind-set of demonic design. Once an
object is pulled inside, it passes through the machine and
is pulverized, and is eventually delivered from vents on the 4 west side into a trough for collection.
The 2 ash giants take notice as the door is open and ready to attack as soon as you enter in.
Zeriax
Zeriax
Morgrym
Sir Garith
Ansha
Giants
Zeriax releases a single shot at the closest giant then steps back.
Zeriax launches a perfectly placed arrow right between the eyes of the giant causing it to stagger back and roar aloud. Blood gushes from the wound almost blinding the giant.
Ansha fixes her gaze on the already-injured ash giant, compelling it to stand motionless before her.
will save surge d6
The ash giant barely is able to throw off the effects of the spell that Ansha casts at it. Growling in frustration he moves away from the door to the far side of the room along with its partner. On the far side of the room they are completely obscured by the machine between them and you.
"Beware that machine. They would not hesitate to through one of us into its maw if it served their ends. How should we proceed?"
Narrowing his eyes in the direction the giants ran off to, "At this point, lass, I'd have to say 'very carefully'. And I'd recommend avoidin' the teeth side of that thing. But don't ya worry, there about ta be dead." And with that vow of confidence, Morgrym moves in with his typical amazing speed for a dwarf, raging all the way.