Twelve heroes set out, upon pain of execution, to eradicate the giant menace. Eight noble lords of varying lands and 4 of their trusted henchman were guided to a small cave a couple of miles away from their target: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief… Our heroes are: Beek Gwenders of Croodle, ½ Elven 9th level Ranger Frisk the Lyricist, ½ Elven 4th level Bard (F 7, T 6) Blingdinbone Groundshaker, Gnome 4/4 level Fighter/Thief Leaflock of the Gnarly, ½ Elven 5th level Druid Gleepwurp the Eyebiter, Human 12th level Magic User Hershep of Ket, Human 5th level Magic User Johanus the Brave Human 8th level Paladin Grep D’Coutre Human 9th level Fighter Selenef of Celene, Gray Elf 6/6 Cleric/Magic User Gronf Tortjon, Human 5th level Fighter Roaky Swerked, Human 12th level Cleric Cloyer Bulse the Magman, Human 13th level Thief Moving out from the cave at dusk, our intrepid heroes arrive at a small bluff overlooking the Steading grounds. A massive wood timber structure, it was clear even from a couple hundred yards away that they would be unable to burn the structure without much difficulty as the weather in the region seemed to bathe the area with a seemingly endless supply of rain. Moving in to investigate a bit closer, Cloyer Bulse, the lead scout of the party donned his Displacing Cloak and moved through the tall grass that surrounded the fortress. He approached the base of the fortress wall and proceeded to methodically search the base of the fortress around its entire perimeter. Nearly completing the task, Cloyer noticed a large tower with an open but covered observation point at the top. Climbing the tower utilizing his superior skills, Cloyer easily scaled the exterior of the tower and peered in and discovered a snoozing Hill Giant. His first thought was to slip in and slit the beast’s throat while it slept, but he climbed down and returned to his companions to discuss the situation. After a brief conversation, the party decided to split for their approach. The large, bulky armor wearing members would wait in the wood-line 200 yards away and the stealthier group would scale the tower and slaughter the guard in his sleep. Cloyer did the honors and sliced the sleeping giant in the neck, severing the jugular vein. Unfortunately, this did not immediately slay the monster, but it was enough to keep it from yelling. The giant fell out of its chair and flopped on the floor, spraying an unbelievable amount of blood all over the tower interior. Another stab, this time straight into the neck, finally silenced the beast. A quick check around the tower allowed the party to see the stairs descending into the cloak room/ entryway. Once again, Cloyer snuck down the stairs quietly and well concealed to discover two more of the brutish giants near the entry doors; one nearly unconscious from copious alcohol consumption and the other with head bobbing up and down, nearly asleep. Cloyer, this time, snuck up on the still conscious foe and attempted the same thing but did not succeed in the murder. He made a good stab but failed to fell it. The giant, cried out in pain and confusion which aroused the other drunken one. Rather than press the attack, Cloyer, Displaced, retreated back up the steps at the same time that Frisk the Lyricist was coming down to assist. Garbed in his cloak and boots of Elvenkind, Frisk quickly noted that the wounded giant was staggering towards a large pair of doors that clearly led into the interior of the fortress. At the same time that the wounded giant was opening the door, Frisk landed a cruel slice across the creatures back, nearly felling it. Staggering backwards, the giant turned around to confront its attacker only to receive an overhead two handed stab of Frisks longsword straight to the chest. This was more than enough to slay the creature, and it fell dead in the open doorway. Still holding onto his deeply imbedded sword, Frisk “rode” the giant all the way to the ground and ended up astride the fearsome brute. Peering straight ahead into the room behind the open door, he spotted an enormous crowd of giants, perhaps twenty to thirty of them!!! The second Hill Giant was racing up the stairs to try and reach the iron alarm bar to sound it. Blocking his way was Gleepwurp the Eyebiter, who had borrowed his apprentices Boots of Levitation to ascend into the tower. He also wore a Robe of Blending and thought better to use it as this foe charged up the stairs. Cloyer, for some unexplained reason, leapt past the giant and went back down the stairs, leaving Gleepwurp to fend for himself. Ever the resourceful Magic User, Gleepwurp blended unnoticed with the wall and as the giant passed, he cast an enchantment on the beast that held it fast, just as it was about to strike the alarm bar… Shortly, Frisk returned and slew the held giant and the assault team set about securing the tower and entryway. Noticing several doorways into the foyer, frisk placed a magic fire trap upon a door at the foot of the stairs, blockaded the doors to the Great Hall and opened the exterior doors to allow the remaining party members to gain easy access. After a brief discussion and quick ransacking of the foyer and tower areas which yielded a small amount of treasure, the party decided to open a small door opposite its fire-trapped twin. Following the hallway beyond, they quickly came to a door on the left. Checking for noises and traps, the party entered the room to discover a female’s bedroom. They made a quick and quiet search of the chest at the foot of the bed, but left without taking anything (even obvious valuables on a shelf above the bed…). In addition, they somehow missed the sleeping giantess underneath the piles of furs on the bed! Moving on expeditiously rather than being methodical and thorough, the party discovered, but remained hidden from, a room full of juvenile giants. They entered a barracks room and slew two sleeping giants with relative ease, then moved on to discover a room with 4 giantesses, one obviously larger than the other three. A well placed Evard’s Black Tentacles spell cast by Gleepwurp incapacitated and ultimately slew the large giantess and one other. The remaining two begged for mercy and promised to give the party their treasure and take the younglings and leave, never to return. The party readily agreed to this (but never insisted on collecting the treasure!?!) Leaving the females with the juveniles, the party made its way into some sort of trophy hall, which they ransacked but discovered nothing. They opened a door to the South and a giant Cave Bear charged them, moderately wounding Cloyer. Once again, Gleepwurp incapacitated the enemy with a well placed use of Stone Shape, opening a 12 cubic foot hole in the stone floor underneath the bear; allowing for an easy slaughter. They then turned North without any searching of note… heading into what appeared to be Chief Nosnra’s private quarters. Again, discovering nothing of value, they exited and made their way further north to an intersection with a set of exterior-style double doors and a turn to the west. Peeking through the doors, they sight an outdoor courtyard with over a dozen large wolves and wisely decide to back out. They followed the hall west and entered a door into some sort of war room, discovering a large map on the wall – drawn on human flesh! The deciphered the map and realized it was showed which towns and villages had been raided previously and which ones were next… Another door lead to an armory in which they discovered 5 javelins that are suspect as being magical… Back into the war room, behind a large Manticore pelt, a secret door was discovered and a room with stairs leading down lay beyond. Inside this area underneath a pile of logs many scroll tubes were discovered, one containing a detailed map of the entire upper level of the Steading and a note about raids that was mysteriously signed “Eclavdra”! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As some will note, I had the players (all DF'ers), Varrus the Ethical, Adidamps 2, and rob1 use some of the pre-gens plus a few pre-gens that I created as well as 4 henchman that I had prepared prior to the session. I can mention a bit more here than on Dragonsfoot as I don't think my players frequent this site yet... One of the players has been making command decisions without consulting everyone else, in the name of being quick and stealthy. One of the drawbacks of this is that they have forfeited thousands of GPV in gems and jewelry, potions, and ALL the magic items in the main treasury room! They didn't even locate the chain that teleports them to the Rift! I dropped hint after hint and still they didn't take the time to search... Though it seems that the rest of the party has been idle, they have been carrying out important guard missions and securing the party’s perimeter. Luckily, no wandering encounters were rolled and the party has, thus far, fared pretty well. But things were to take a turn for the worse upon descending the stairs... More will be written tomorrow!
