GM Zero/GL's Giantslayer! (Inactive)

Game Master GM_Grandlounge

Ulretha pokes the green skinned woman a couple times with his sword to make sure she's not faking.

Then, he searches her for any valuables before turning to the rest of the group where they're crowded around Lidia.

"Nothing like an ambush after a good night's sleep to wake you up," he comments.

He pushes close to Lidia and squats down next to her. "You don't look that hurt to me. I think you're milking it. Hoping someone's going to carry you or hold an umbrella over your head so you don't get sunburned, milady?"

Then, he stands up and steps over her to head toward the exit.

Loot:
goodberries (5)
lesser extend metamagic rod
scroll of call lightning
+1 leather armor
ring of protection +1
holly and mistletoe
pair of faded leather baby shoes
wooden toy rattle
1 gp

Thyste looks at the baby equipment.

”When I was young and stupid, I would have had a lot of jokes about this, but I’ve managed to forget all but one of them.”

Ulretha has seen those berries often enough to know what they are. He hands them to Lidia.

"That's a nice ring," he says, sliding it off her finger.

"I'm pretty sure those shoes would fit you, Thyste," he comments.

Anyone want to take the ring? I can always use a bump to my AC if no one else wants to claim it.

”For sale: baby shoes. Extremely worn, as if the baby has been hiking.”

@Ultretha
I don't mind if you take the ring. Besides, you probably snuck it while Ben was not looking, though then you could have to wait to find out what it is.

After looking over the items and doing the whole detect magic thingie, he says, "I should probably take the scroll and mistletoe, but this armor doesn't fit me and I have better anyway. Kioshi, why don't you take the rod and lend me a charge once in a while. You would get the best use out of it."

Updated loot sheet. Gave Kioshi the rod and the wand of flaming sphere (from the last haul). Gave Ulretha the ring, though someone else might want to claim it like Thyste. Took the druidic scrolls for myself, though, Lidia, if you want some you just have to speak up.

"The baby stuff is odd. The hag probably had baby issues."

FYI: We have 16 wand of CLW charges left.

"Oh, and here, Lidia, you can use this to heal yourself."

He pushes close to Lidia and squats down next to her. "You don't look that hurt to me. I think you're milking it. Hoping someone's going to carry you or hold an umbrella over your head so you don't get sunburned, milady?"

Lidia turns her head and looks at Ulretha, narrowing her eyes at him, but she doesn't argue with him. She pushes herself back up onto her feet using her bow as a crutch. It's clear she's in a lot of pain, but she seems determined now to keep moving.

"Oh, and here, Lidia, you can use this to heal yourself."

Lidia accepts the wand eagerly and begins applying the healing magic to her wounded spots.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Though not fully healed, she stops at this point and hands the wand back to Ben.

"Thanks. I'll be ok now." she says.

"Hey Hildy, if you aren't interested in using that big hammer, maybe I could carry it?"

Thyste doesn’t hear what Ulretha says, but judging by Lidia’s shift in demeanor, can just about guess.

”Don’t mind him, Lids. He’s a pack hunter—and any pack hunter should know that the wounded are most likely to be left behind... and eaten.”

Kioshi nods.

"Of course Ben, I can take the rod. Can we move on?"

As the items are sorted out Ben eyes the corpse speculatively.

"Hmmm. Maybe we should toss this into the compost heap? I wonder if it would decompose nicely. Probably not."

Ben grabs a leg ands starts dragging it towards the exit. Little Buddy, of course, thinks it is a game and grabs on to an arm and starts pulling in a different direction.

"That's why the other members of the pack have to make sure to do everything they can to keep them from getting left behind," Ulretha replies to Thyste.

The Pack, seeing other members playing a game join in. Ulretha does nothing to stop them. Soon, Ben is being tugged in all directions as the hyenas yank on the corpse's limbs.

If nothing else, it'll make her easier to transport...or at least the pieces lighter.

Instead of participating or stopping the game, Ulretha slips the ring on, admiring it for a moment before flexing his fingers.

"I wasn't planning on staying here." grumbles Lidia.

As she impassively watches the hag body being ripped to pieces by wild animals, Lidia rolls her shoulders and rocks her head slowly back and forth to stretch her neck, and clasps and unclasps her hands.

"That rotten hag did something to me. My muscles are feeling droopy again, like after that poison yesterday."

"We really need to have something for that on-hand in the future," considers Thyste. "It's too bad we're far from civilization."

The Pack, seeing other members playing a game join in. Ulretha does nothing to stop them. Soon, Ben is being tugged in all directions as the hyenas yank on the corpse's limbs.

I was hoping that would happen :)

Ben is too busy trying to get the corpse out the door to listen to the conversation. Finally, when a hand gets ripped off, he stops in frustration.

"Little Buddy! Sit!"

For a moment he sits, but the lure is too great when the hyennas keep at it.

"Ugh!"

Figuring he could try to get Ulretha to stop his pack or he could just let them have their free meal, he opts for the later and just steps back, nearly as tired as Lidia but at least with the hope of recovering his strength soon.

Finally, when a hand gets ripped off, he stops in frustration.

"Little Buddy! Sit!"

For a moment he sits, but the lure is too great when the hyennas keep at it.

A few moments later, Lidia's cat trots up, sniffs the hand daintily, then picks it up by the tendon and trots off with it to Lidia, dropping it at her feet and then mrawing up at her.

Lidia is not impressed. "Cheater." she says with a small smile.

Ulretha lets the (expanded) Pack have their fun while he watches Lidia get up and get moving. He nods when she does then checks his new ring again before doing a general pat down of his gear to make sure everything is in it's new place.

If Hildy had taken Aggrimosh, he takes it back from her. She's nice and all, but she didn't stand with him at Trunau.

If she hadn't taken it, or after he takes it back, he offers it to Lidia, hilt first without a word.

Then, with everything settled, in his opinion, he heads for the door.

When he gets there, he looks back and lets out a cackling call that may have some words in gnoll mixed in. Fazingar stops his mauling and looks up but Crezobill doesn't seem to have heard and Onnikka has the air of someone purposefully ignoring someone.

He calls out again, louder and with some distinctive gnoll words as well as the hyenas' names.

Fazingar makes a hurried trot to Ulretha's side as Crezobill jumps and follows, head and tail low. Onnikka gives another, deliberate tug, then one more before releasing the carcass and...is it possible for a hyena to saunter? Seems so as she casually crosses over to her "master" and nonchalantly sits at his feet.

Lidia takes the hammer and examines it closely for the first time, doing a couple practice swings, first one-handed, then with both hands.

"Neat." she declares, then turns and trudges off toward the exit, resting the hammer on her shoulder.

The fun over for the pack, Ben resumes hauling the corpse out of the Druid sanctuary, this time managing to keep control over his excitable companion.

Ready to move on to the wilderness trek back to the ship.

Hildy says to Lidia Yes, Lidia you can have the hammer if you like. If you want, you can take my short bow. It is easier to shoot with the damage we both have."

With that, the group leaves and travels several hours back to the ship the wet ground makes it easy to follow their day-old tracks. You arrive at the coast the riverboat is anchored in the centre of the river. You will have to signal for a farrie.

For most of the journey back to the boat, Lidia brings up the rear, keeping an eye out for anything that might be following, or any signs of anything unusual.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29
Survival: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

But after a few hours, she moves up to speak to Ben.

"Hey, do we still have those magical scales of Abadar?"

"Sloppy," Ulretha chides himself when he realizes how easy it is to backtrack, and therefore track, their path. If someone had been looking for them, they wouldn't have been hard to find.

Remembering almost being eaten by a crocodile, he has little desire to get back into the water, so he's certainly not going to swim to the boat.

"Got any magic to get their attention or do we need to start a fire?" he asks Ben.

If necessary, he starts gathering wood.

"You ever just try yelling?" asks Thyste, who does not try yelling.

Once they reach the riverside, Lidia will put her fingers to her lips and whistle loudly, then wave the big fancy hammer overhead to try and get the attention of the boat.

We lost the scales but I do not recall if we gave an in game explanation. Shall I make one up?

"Or I could just fly over and tell them."

She ponders a smart remark; after all, the Trunauans had been working together for ages now, but it was the actions of a few selfish individuals, Lidia, and a guy with a dinosaur puppy that had made the difference, each of them working with little communication and a magical set of scales from Abadar--

Oh hell, where did we put that? Did that fall into the treasure pile?

(From before we left town!)

We lost the scales but I do not recall if we gave an in game explanation. Shall I make one up?

Absolutely!

But after a few hours, she moves up to speak to Ben.

"Hey, do we still have those magical scales of Abadar?"

"The, uh, priests of Abadar caught wind of the fact that we had the scales. Apparently it is a Big Thing to their church. They said it belonged to the church and not to us. I tried to argue with them but the next thing I knew I was standing there, they were gone, and so were the scales. Like *poof* gone. I think it was later in the day too after that, like a I lost part of the day. Weird. "

In his typical insouciance he adds, "Didn't I mention that? Happened about the same time Kioshi showed up." *chuckle* Couldn't resist adding that. "Oh well, I'm sure they will get much better use out of the scales that we would have."

”See, here I thought that Ulretha had lost them in the treasure hoard back in Trunau,” mumbles Thyste. ”Shows what I know!”

"Didn't I mention that? Happened about the same time Kioshi showed up. Oh well, I'm sure they will get much better use out of the scales that we would have."

Lidia fatalistically accepts this news of the scales' disappearance with a somber nod of the head and a frown. "I don't suppose they offered to reimburse us for finding it for them? Or for all the magical credit we built up inside those things?" she observes sourly, but rhetorically. "Bankers. I don't know much about Abadar or his church, but from what little I know, they make sure they look after the rich and powerful. The rest of us, not so much. Well, easy come, easy go."

Then she spares an annoyed look for Kioshi. Just because.

Lidia* wrote:

But after a few hours, she moves up to speak to Ben.

"Hey, do we still have those magical scales of Abadar?"

In his typical insouciance he adds, "Didn't I mention that? Happened about the same time Kioshi showed up." *chuckle* Couldn't resist adding that. "Oh well, I'm sure they will get much better use out of the scales that we would have."

“Ehh ... what?!? I ... I really don’t know what you are talking about!!?“ he says a little defensively and looks at Ben.

Ben looks a little embarrassed. "Oh, I didn't mean to sound like you were any way involved, just marking the event with a notable occurrence."

"If he had it, we'd have seen it by now anyway," points out Thyste.

Kioshi looks at Thyste with thankful eyes.

“Oh .. eh .. then ok. So what’s the plan now? Do you want to do your bird transformation again Ben to find out what we need to expect?“ he asks to change the subject.

"Well, I think a nice signal fire would do the trick. Going to take about the same amount of time anyway and I'd rather wait here with you guys."

Deluge sets about getting a nice smokey fire going.

How far away is this boat? We should be able to just shout and wave if this is a river.

It is not far you can yell to them.

Bloodtusk takes notice of your conversation and readies about with that he sends it out to you. Back on board, he says, ""You were gone longer than expected. I was not sure how long we were to wait. But, we were not going to leave you behind. Did the raid go well? And who is the extra passenger?"

”It’s complicated! We got some better equipment to storm the fort with, but now we also have to tack a rescue mission onto it because they captured her brother or something! I kind of spaced out during that part but it’s come up a couple times and I think that’s accurate, but she can correct me if I’m wrong!” yells Thyste.

”Also, Lidia started reading a good book and you know how time flies when you’re turning pages!”

"We found a few hurdles like a hydra, a hag, and a number of other minor nuisances. Hildy, here, was wandering in the swamp and joined us after we convinced her we were not a threat. We picked up a few useful items like this scimitar," Ben taps the sword at his side, "and the weapon Ulretha is carrying."

After scratching his chin he adds, "Though I don't know if they are enough to enable us to take a whole fort on. How did things go out here on the ship? No more issues since we found that stowaway, I hope?"

Kioshi raises his arm.

“And, well we came to the conclusion that I am not a traitor and not a witch. Well, some of us at least!“ he says to the captain.

"Jury's still out on that last one!"

When Ben mentions it, Ulretha reaches for the hilt of Gorum's Thorn over his right shoulder as though to protect it.

"We got what we needed. Well, except for something to make us all invisible and silent," Ulretha says.

"That would be useful in conducting a raid and a rescue mission. But, barring that, at least when we get spotted, we'll be able to better protect ourselves."

"Captain, if you don't mind, I'd like to go lie down for a bit. I'm not feeling so good." says Lidia. "And I wonder if I could talk to you about buying a longbow from your armory? My muscles are too damaged to use this one right now." She gestures to her beautiful composite longbow, and it clearly deeply embarrasses her to make this simple declaration.

"Well that is quite a lot for a few days. You should all rest we are one and a half days out. Think about the time of day you would like to raid and we will slow down to speed up accordingly. It is a big fort we have been by it many times. I hear that things get smuggled in there routinely so there may be alternate routes of approach. Hildy, I would like to talk to you if you don't mind. I like to get the story of the people that are on my ship."

Hildy replies, "Fine..." And, they go off to talk.

"Hey, guys, I'm thinking I should scout the place while you all are travelling. I'm just a little worried they might have aerial defenses. What are your thoughts?"

"How good's your eyesight up there?" asks Thyste. "If you keep your distance, a good bird's-eye view of the place would be, like, so helpful."

"Oh, wait, we're on the ship now! Didn't notice. Sorry for yelling earlier," she chuckles. "Anyway, orcs have night vision and I don't think everyone on our side does, so it might actually be better to do this during the day. Are orcs nocturnal? I always feel like they attack at midnight and never seem too tired."

"Of course, I've heard that their night vision only goes so far, like sixty feet or so, so it's not like going at night would be without its advantages-- but if they can see sixty feet and I can see five at best, that's still kind of a problem for stealth."

"Yep, that's about right."

Ben points at his eyes, adding, "About 60 feet in the dark. Which is pretty much useless if scouting from high up. Of course when I change shape I get the shape's sight so, as a dimorphodon, I see best at twilight. Not like I'll have telescopic vision or anything, so no mile high reconnaissance. And a dimorphodon is really slow for a flyer so if they DO have defenses, I'm toast."

After a slight hesitation and a shrug he goes on to say, "But I think it would be worth the risk."

Kioshi thinks for a moment.

”I could make you invisible for several minutes so that you are not detected in your bird form! But we would need to be near the fort so that you travel there in time. What do you think?“

”That does seem to be an improvement,” ponders Thyste.

"I was hoping to scout out their comings and goings for a few hours. Invisibility would be great for a close look but that can come later."