GM Zero/GL's Giantslayer! (Inactive)

Game Master GM_Grandlounge

Thyste gives Ulretha a grimacing, warning look.

"I don't have anyone to fight for, really. Except myself. And to be honest, I don't much care if the giants take over this country or that one. Other people would fight them. I could stay out of their way easily enough. But on the other hand, I sorta like it when people look at me and see something aside from a dirty ranger who just straggled in from the swamp to barter some skins for liquor. I suppose that's just vain of me. But I'm only just beginning to realize how much that ... how much people's contempt for me had really been weighing me down and ruining me."

"That's normal. No matter how hard we try we are social creatures. We want to be invited in. But, so often people push us out."

\"There's only one thing about all this do-gooding that worries me. There's a man who's out there, possibly looking for me. He's a half-orc witch who kept me prisoner in Urgir for 5 years. I ran away from him. And I'm scared to death he'll hear about me and come looking for me. I dunno. Maybe if he does, it'll be better to have all of you around me to help me. This is all so new to me, being on a team."

She thinks a moment longer, then adds another rather curious thought. "I'm really glad you have your brother back. I'd give anything to have mine back again." She bites down on the peppermint stick and crunches it up noisily.

"Lidia, there are magics in this world that can find anyone. Literally, anyone. If a witch had you captive eventually they can find you famous or not. Knowing that...I would get so strong, so fearsome, and so well connected that they would not dare come after me. That seems like the path to safety. One other point you are friends with a ghost. People don't die they change and go elsewhere. Or stick around if your Blix. Either way, you will be reunited with your brother. When he asks, 'what have you been doing all these years,' what do you want the answer to be?

"Before this started I would have told you that I'd just be following stories of treasure and wealth. Actually, I might have stopped that after we raided that other tomb. There was enough money there for me to buy a good house, plenty of food and enough servants to live a proper life.

"But now, I have seen Gorum's Glory and he tells me what I must do. I must continue to prove myself against the mightiest and what is more mighty than a giant? I will pit my strength and steel against them until all bow down before my power."

His ears twitch in Lidia's direction, indicating he's listening to her. "Why wait for him to come after you? When we're done with the giants, we'll go into Urgir and drag him out. We'll help you show him why it was a bad idea to keep you captive.

Umlo nods along with Ulretha, "It is good to have Gods on our side. I'm sure they have their gods and demons. And Lidia once we a done with giants my sister and I will follow you toward justice if you need two extra sets of hands."

No one was affected by the mould on the rug. You can take the loot and we are ready to leave whenever the team is.

"Lidia, there are magics in this world that can find anyone. Literally, anyone. If a witch had you captive eventually they can find you famous or not. Knowing that...I would get so strong, so fearsome, and so well connected that they would not dare come after me. That seems like the path to safety."

"I was hoping he thought I was just dead." says Lidia.

"It is good to have Gods on our side. I'm sure they have their gods and demons. And Lidia once we a done with giants my sister and I will follow you toward justice if you need two extra sets of hands."

Lidia shakes her head. "You guys are crazy. There is no way I'm ever going near Urgir again. I don't care if I have the Hammer of the Seven Hells and the Crown of Immortal Powers. There are tens of thousands of orcs in that city, and they aren't all mindless grunts, trust me." Then she shifts her seat uncomfortably. "And I don't want revenge on him, I just never want to see him again. He's the most evil person I ever knew but our relationship is... it's complicated. I don't know what I'd do if I saw him again. Probably just roll up into a little stupid ball. I'll always be 10 years old around him."

"One other point you are friends with a ghost. People don't die they change and go elsewhere. Or stick around if your Blix. Either way, you will be reunited with your brother. When he asks, 'what have you been doing all these years,' what do you want the answer to be?

Lidia doesn't answer this, but it's clear the question hit her like a gut-punch. Her brow furrows and her lips purse and she looks down at her feet, and begins idly gouging some mildew out of a crease in a flagstone with one of her arrows.

"Sometimes the best solution to a problem is to do nothing. The way things work, Lidia's best revenge is time, because evil has it's own rewards. But if it does come to a show down, we'll have your back. Even if it is curled up and on the floor."

Ben is drawn inexorably towards the armor, fascinated by something, anything, made of a creature's nails.

"I wonder if these nails were volunteered or taken. That is a heck of a lot of nails. Do you dwarves know anythign about this armor? Hey, Wizard," Ben intentionally uses the title wizard to reinforce that Kioshi is not a witch, "what can you tell me about this?"

Ben tries a little Detect Magic and spellcraft himself,

spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

But the thing is WAAAAY out of his league.

Though he will use the spell to identify which items are magical and get an aura reading.

"Sometimes the best solution to a problem is to do nothing. The way things work, Lidia's best revenge is time, because evil has it's own rewards. But if it does come to a show down, we'll have your back. Even if it is curled up and on the floor."

"Thanks. You know, it's possible he's dead too. He wasn't exactly popular with the other orcs. I can only hope."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...tell me more about this Hammer of the Seven Hells and the Crown of Immortal Powers. Do you know where they are? They sound like things that we need to go looking for," Ulretha says, cutting to what's really important out of the whole conversation.

He's very interested in the armor, too though. He's wondering if it is tougher than his own.

"I dunno. Some nutbag archmage somewhere is probably working on making them right now with the blood of a thousand virgins and a demon's teakettle and a chunk of the Starstone and the essence of eternity found in the Spooky Temple of Everlasting Screams. With a dash of nutmeg. We'll learn in a month or so that we need to find them to stop the even bigger giants." says Lidia.

Her frankly sarcastic tone makes it clear that these items are not real.

"Don't be greedy Ulretha, you've already got the Doom Sword." She offers him some jerky.

"I dunno. Some nutbag archmage somewhere is probably working on making them right now with the blood of a thousand virgins and a demon's teakettle and a chunk of the Starstone and the essence of eternity found in the Spooky Temple of Everlasting Screams. With a dash of nutmeg. We'll learn in a month or so that we need to find them to stop the even bigger giants." says Lidia.

By the time Lidia is finished, Thyste is full-on cackling.

"We taught her how to do jokes!!! I'm so proud!"

Ulretha takes the jerky and bites off a chunk. He chews thoughtfully then turns to Thyste.

"I think we all know the only solution. The two of us will have to ensure that there are not enough virgins in the world for these items to be made. Unless we can control them. Then, I'm willing to make the sacrifice."

He looks entirely serious for a moment, then barks out a couple laughs (along with a few crumbs of jerky.)

"Have you figured out if this armor is any good?" he asks of Kioshi.

"This is a rather defensible place. Should we camp here, tonight?"

He doesn't seem too upset about the possibility of sleeping in a tomb.

Ben grimaces at Ulretha's suggestion, looking longingly towards the exit.

"You know me. I'd rather sleep in the open air than a building much less a tomb. But I'll stick with you since this area is not safe."

I'm definitely going to get a wand of identify at the next opportunity, even if Ben can't use it. The AP sure likes to throw weird loot at us.

Thyste gives a broad yawn. "You know I'm ready to sleep whenever," she points out. "I've been awake for nearly a whole hour now, so..."

Lidia doesn't answer this, but it's clear the question hit her like a gut-punch. Her brow furrows and her lips purse and she looks down at her feet, and begins idly gouging some mildew out of a crease in a flagstone with one of her arrows.

"You don't have to answer. But, if the question makes you think of anything you want to talk about we can talk, ok?"

With some time Kioshi is able to tell everyone about the armour.

Here

Ben grimaces at Ulretha's suggestion, looking longingly towards the exit.

"You know me. I'd rather sleep in the open air than a building much less a tomb. But I'll stick with you since this area is not safe."

"Yeah, I'm with Ben. This place may have been sanctified to Torag once, but with the spider dwarfs and the crazy assassin guy running around, I feel like there's a lot of Mizzmazz demon stuff here too. I think we should get out of here and put a little distance between us and this place before we camp."

"You don't have to answer. But, if the question makes you think of anything you want to talk about we can talk, ok?"

Lidia nods vaguely but still doesn't answer.

With some time Kioshi is able to tell everyone about the armour.

Here

"Have you figured out if this armor is any good?" he asks of Kioshi.

Kioshi nods.

"Ehh yes, that is Giant's Nail Scale Mail! I told you I am good for something!!" he says a little self-consciously.

"What can you tell us about it, other than that it is made from giant's nails? Unless it is something pretty special I'm going to stick with the heavy stuff I have on."

Hah! Going to make you RP the description!

Ulretha shrugs. "Suit yourselves," he says when about half the group seems squeamish about sleeping in a grave.

He listens long enough to hear Kioshi describe the abilities of the armor then shrugs again. He was right. It's not as good as Uskroth's Armor.

He wonders if any of the rest of them are going to wear it, though. From the shapes of the nails, they're not clippings but were actually torn out of their victim's fingers. He wonders if they were alive when it was done or if it was done after they were killed.

It's a pretty ingenious building material and no more distasteful than dragon scale or leather, honestly but the others may not feel the same way.

If nothing else, Umlo or Hildy should wear it. It belonged to their ancestor, after all.

Once everything is divvied up and accounted for, he shoulders his share of the loot and heads back down the stairs to get out. But stops once he gets there.

"Where are we actually going?" he asks.

"Me and Hildy were just taking about that." says Lidia as she stands up and shoulders her pack. "I think the general plan is to go looking for the giants now. But for the moment, I'll settle for getting out of here and moving a mile or two down the valley."

GM, does the geode map *end* here at the tomb, or does it show a way forward through the Mindspins to where the Storm Tyrant is supposed to be?

As Lidia examines the map it clearly continues far beyond this place much deep in the valley likely a place of great historical significance, why else make a fancy rock map.

Umlo asks Ben, "You going to use grandpa's hand? Your going to need to give up yours. But Grandma turned Grandpa into a pig once and his hand changed with it if you were worried but shape-changing."

The group exits the now silent tomb. Umlo and Hidly take a moment to tidy, say a prayer, and relock the entrance. "Rest well Gramps. We will add some nails to the armour for you."

As you are starting to make your way through the forest Umlo says, "I'm happy to wear the armour. I hear it attracts giants, I'm good at getting my ass kicked and not dying. You should have seen me lose to that bear."

Ben gives the hand a dubious look.

"I... I don't know. Mutilating my body and replacing a natural hand with a steel one seems somehow... unnatural. And you know we druids are all about the natural. I see the value of it, but I don't know that I can get past the distaste I have for the idea."

"We'll just do it while you're asleep," Ulretha says. "You can thank us later."

With a low rumble that substitutes for a laugh when it comes to Ben, he replies "Another joke. Gotta love you guys. Either that or you have some pretty amazing drugs."

"We'll just do it while you're asleep," Ulretha says. "You can thank us later."

Lidia looks at Thyste, cocks her head and lifts one eyebrow to indicate that she's not 100% sure Ulretha was joking.

"I mean, it could be both," Thyste points out. "...But if I had good drugs, I'd either be sleeping even more or much less."

She also isn't strictly certain that Ulretha doesn't mean it... but she also knows that he's not likely to force an artifact of significant power on someone else when he could either sell it or use it himself, so she's not particularly worried.

Ulretha shrugs. "I'd do it myself but it won't help me wield Gorum's Thorn. It would be a waste to let it just sit, though. If you're not going to use it and Umlo wants to, you should let him know. The armor, too. It's not made out of metal so you don't have to worry about offending the trees or dirt or whatever it is druids worry about offending."

In spite of the fact that the hand would be ideal for Ben, I just can't see him lopping off his hand in order to use it. He's just not all that into power and is a druid. In this case RP wins over power gaming, sooo...

"Sure, if Umlo wants to use the items, he's welcome to them as far as I'm concerned. Neither of them interest me."

Straight-up, I think Ben would lose his druid powers if he used it.

Druids are only prohibited from metal armor, so this would be fine but I respect the RP.

Hildy seems to get very tense she grabs the axe from Umlo's belt raises it to the sky and strikes her arm with a thunderous strike. Metal rends bone giving way to stunned silence. In that pause, you hear the soft sound of flesh and blood hitting the floor.

"Brother you always want to be a cook so take the mithril frying pan you love and help that way. I was always the better fighter anyway. Now someone hand me my grandfather's hand before I bleed out."

Once the hand is attached Hildy Stealhand takes some stone ring beads she clearly took from the tomb and braids them into her hair, pulling it back out of her face.

"Let's get out of here."

Umlo remains silent. Unable to change the events that have unfolded be for his eyes.

Feel free to RP the journey.

About a mile away from the tomb you hear a baby crying. In that direction, you see a cottage.

In a small clearing a few hundred feet from the stream, a wisp of smoke trickles from the chimney of a two-story stone cottage. Its front door has been bashed inward, its splintered panels hanging crookedly from a single hinge. Several large chips mar the exterior stonework and a sizable hole has been torn in the thatched roof.

Hildy seems to get very tense she grabs the axe from Umlo's belt raises it to the sky and strikes her arm with a thunderous strike. Metal rends bone giving way to stunned silence. In that pause, you hear the soft sound of flesh and blood hitting the floor.

Lidia can't help but squeak in utter shock at this gory self-mutilation. She stumbles back, mouth gaping open, staring at the quivering severed hand on the floor.

"Desna's tits..." she finally gasps.

Thyste's eyes widen at the sudden barbarity of it; she's seen hands go flying before-- hell, she's seen Ultretha toss a set of orc fingers to his pack as a treat-- but to do it to herself?

The little foxgirl holds up a finger and covers her mouth with her free hand, wrenching her eyes away from the sight.

About a mile away from the tomb you hear a baby crying. In that direction, you see a cottage.

In a small clearing a few hundred feet from the stream, a wisp of smoke trickles from the chimney of a two-story stone cottage. Its front door has been bashed inward, its splintered panels hanging crookedly from a single hinge. Several large chips mar the exterior stonework and a sizable hole has been torn in the thatched roof.

"I'll see if I can pick up some tracks. You guys check the house."

Lidia peels off and trots away from the group, vanishing into the trees...

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 18 + 4 = 28
Survival: 1d20 + 15 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 15 + 4 = 34
Perception: 1d20 + 16 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 16 + 4 = 29

Ben remains stoic through the transformation. He is an accepting fellow by nature, having found that he rarely understands why people do the things they do. Though gory, at least this makes sense in a twisted way.

He is far more disturbed by the cortege lying only a mile from the tomb. Anything that close to something so twisted cannot be normal. Cautiously he approaches the open door.

Ulretha nods respectfully both at Hildy's choice and how she chose to implement it.

"It takes the truly strong to voluntarily suffer to become stronger," he says to her when the deed is done. "May Gorum bless you and your strong right hand."

He eyes the severed arm, his mouth watering. What higher sign of respect can he show for her sacrifice than by gaining some of her strength by eating some of her flesh? But these flat snouts just don't understand and he suspects even Hildy would be offended by his action.

When they get to the cottage, Ulretha draws his sword and marches toward it, though he makes at least an attempt at doing so quietly.

stealth: 1d20 + 11 - 7 ⇒ (14) + 11 - 7 = 18

And watches out for danger.

perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

Ulretha nods respectfully both at Hildy's choice and how she chose to implement it.

"It takes the truly strong to voluntarily suffer to become stronger," he says to her when the deed is done. "May Gorum bless you and your strong right hand."

Lidia's shocked face now turns to Ulretha. She seems about to get on her high horse once again, when she notes that Hildy's own brother seems to tacitly approve this mad self-mutilation, and that Ben doesn't seem moved one way or the other. Helplessly, she looks down again at the severed hand.

"Should we... I dunno... bury it?" she asks uncertainly.

Then she turns to Hildy, her natural curiosity getting the better of her. "What does it feel like? Can you tell it's different? Is it stronger than your old hand?

"Burying would be fine. Less disturbing to most if we do it that way."

Ben is also interested in Hildy's respose to the question.

"Here, try this."

Ben hands over the oversized spear he picked up.

"See what kind of difference it makes."

Ulretha nods respectfully both at Hildy's choice and how she chose to implement it.

"It takes the truly strong to voluntarily suffer to become stronger," he says to her when the deed is done. "May Gorum bless you and your strong right hand."

Hildy nods at Ulretha.

Lidia's shocked face now turns to Ulretha. She seems about to get on her high horse once again, when she notes that Hildy's own brother seems to tacitly approve this mad self-mutilation, and that Ben doesn't seem moved one way or the other. Helplessly, she looks down again at the severed hand.

"Should we... I dunno... bury it?" she asks uncertainly.

Then she turns to Hildy, her natural curiosity getting the better of her. "What does it feel like? Can you tell it's different? Is it stronger than your old hand?

Umlo buries the hand but can barely look at it.

Lidia realizes as they walk that Umlo does not approve but can't undo the mutilation. Though maybe approved and feeling helpless are the same thing.

"Here, try this."

To Lidia and Ben, "It feels much stronger. Everything feels so light." she takes the spear with some reverence and wields the giant-sized weapon with the ease of a rapier. "It feels like I have always had this hand. Now I need to find a large bow to go with it."

Small point, but shouldn't it be 'Hildy STEELhand' and not 'STEALhand'? After all, she's not a rogue. :)

Lidia and Ulethra you hear loud crashing noises come from within. Under the loud noises, you hear something softer anbaby mewling.

Lidia had peeled off to go check the perimeter for tracks and threats, but I can take a hint.

Hearing the baby and the crashing inside the hut, Lidia stops and turns back toward the hut. She lopes back quickly to arrive at the doorway with Ulretha, bow out and ready for action. She bursts through the door...

The sounds within don't much change Ulretha's actions. The only real difference is that he doesn't feel much need to be quiet since the people inside are making so much noise.

He breaks into a trot to get there quicker.

Who you? Leave now there a baby to eat and it's mine. You no have baby."

Who you? Leave now there a baby to eat and it's mine. You no have baby." [/QUOTE

Lidia, sorry assumed you were scouting a head. "peels off and trots away from the group, vanishing into the trees..." I was not sure what the goal was. I will try to ask next time. Also, how did she get the hand? Which steal should it be.

"I'm, like, basically baby-sized," offers Thyste.

She bursts through the door...

Kioshi follows the group to the door.

”A baby? That never happened before!“ he says.

"I am Ulretha, bearer or Gorum's Thorn and his Glory. And since I'm here now, I'll be deciding who gets to eat the baby," the gnoll declares as he enters the wrecked cabin.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30