At the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

[Magnus]

[Initative tied – actions happen simultaneously!]

Gaerys and the giant opposing him – the largest of the lot -- swing heavily at each other, without regard for their own safety. Gaerys cleaves upward as the giant strikes down. Giantbane claims another victim as it punctures the heart. But the giant’s downward blow crushes the ranger!

(Natural 20 – 14 damage!!!)

Blue continues mauling the giant in front of him, who finally succumbs to the ursine assault. The beast’s ferocity attracts the attention of the giant who had just recovered a stone maul. Clearly doing better with the maul than it did with the spear, the giant scores a hit on the beast.

[5 Damage]

For his part, Ethan smoothly cuts down the young, skinny giant in front of him, who had tried to flee in panic. But the warrior catches a hurled rock in the shoulder, just as he is ducking another. Antheris’s sling bullet misses the whole scene by five feet.

[5 damage]

Seeing red with the rage of a beserkeress, Kjelti attacks the giant in front of her, downing the beefy youth struggling with its spear stuck in the wall.

[NPC: Failed WIS check to make better strategic move.]

Luna charges forward and smashes in the head of one of the giants flinging rocks at Ethan. This leaves only two giants standing!

[Giants break morale and panic!]

Seeing themselves badly outnumbered, the two remaining giants panic and attempt to flee. One gets no further than Blue’s claws, and the other practically thrusts himself upon Ethan’s sword trying to escape the room.

**************************************

[Magnus]

Date: Autumn, 432 ca., Campaign Day 1
Time: 20:26
Weather: 42 degrees, cloudy, dark
Location: STEADING OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF - Hallway
Nearest Safe house: the First of the First Men, 5.5 miles southeast

Magic in Effect:
Antheris:
- Call Lightning (expires in 5.9 turns)
- Protection from Fire (cast on treant)

Vorsyin:
Shield (expires in 7 minutes)

Party Status:

[Ethan -20]
[Gaerys -31]
[Blue -5]

**********************************************

So the party, having their first taste of combat, stood in a quiet room full of the gore of the giants’ bodies and nothing else of interest*. They could still hear the rollicking feast coming from the Great Hall. No alarm had been sounded.

The party was left to make its next move...

[*Don’t bother searching.]

[Zhym]

Gaerys ponders the group's next move. "Perhaps we should drag the other two in here, just to get them out of the hall. Although the blood would remain." He looks towards Vorsyin. "I don't suppose you have any handy-dandy cleaning cantrips?"

After a moment's thought, Gaerys offers a suggestion: "Maybe we should listen at the next door before opening it. We're wasting our time with these women and children, giants though they may be."

"Oh, and Luna, would you be so kind as so heal some of my wounds? Those giant whelps got some lucky hits in." (Gaerys is at 25/56 HP.)

[Oddfellow]

Kjelti Skallgrím
Kjelti finds herself winded and weak-armed after the melee. Shaking the herself out of the fog of war she rises gradually from her crouched fighting stance and gazes somewhat deliriously about. In a matter of minutes, the modest barracks were turned into a charnel house. Her foot almost slides in the filth of the giant eviscerated by Gaerys when she catches herself, grimacing.
"Ridding ourselves of the bodies in the hallway would be wise, and I will do so... But not before a moment of rest." Her brow furrows. "The door to the east of this room should connect with the hallway, I believe. Our next step may be to fight through what lingers in the unexplored room to the south; we would not want to turn our backs to unknown territory as we progress through the steading."
She moves with care over to the eastern door of the bunk-room and leans against the wall, downing some of her waterskin and wiping the sweat and grime from her face as she awaits what the party would do next. After someone volunteers to help her and someone listens at the door, she will move the dead giants in the hallway back into the bunk room.

[Zhym]

Which door did we open? I thought it was the one right under "dead giants" on the map, on the south side of the hall, which would have opened to the room to the south. Or did we open the door on the west side of the hall after it turned to the north?

[drpete]

Ethan Blacktyde

Ethan grabs a loose fur and attempts to wipe the contents of the giant chamber pot off of his back. "Let's keep moving. I agree we don't want to waste our energy on women and children, but we need to find the chief's room, or a council room, and keep our flank clear. Or next move should be the south door, then up the hallway. I'll help with the bodies in the hall."

OOC: We went through the east door on the west hall, and it links or almost links up with the west door on the east hall. Ethan is at 51/71, so still doing ok, though healing wouldn't be bad.

[Magnus]

Date: Autumn, 432 ca., Campaign Day 1
Time: 20:35
Weather: 42 degrees, cloudy, dark
Location: STEADING OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF, eastern hallway, facing south
Nearest Safe house: the First of the First Men, 5.5 miles southeast

Magic in Effect:
Antheris:
- Call Lightning (expires in 5 turns)
- Protection from Fire (cast on treant)

*************************************************************

Blacktyde had clearly seen the inside of a few forts in his time. He quickly gathered accurate bearings and lead the party through the door exactly opposite where they entered. Kjelti, having a similarly accurate read, marched shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

The party had hid the bodies of the two other giants in their room of their fight. In so doing, the party realized that smears of blood and filth on the ground of the Steading would fit right in with the decor. These were hardly the polished obsidian floors of the HALL OF THE FIRE GIANT KING...

The party stood at the door on the southern end of the eastern hallway. Taking a moment to listen, they could hear a pair of dueling deep snores coming from within. The door was a couple of feet short of being plum to the floor so the party could see that the room beyond was dark.

[In addition to any healing that the party might find, I will give Luna (and Antheris) a chance to heal any party members before the next encounter begins since they had a chance to do so in the room. That said, I come from the school where the party should not take the healers for granted. Clerics command respect.]

[Zhym]

Magnus, the .jpg isn't showing up for me.

Also: does Gaerys's sword emit light? If so, how bright? Basically, Gaerys is looking for a light source that won't awaken sleeping giants.

ETA: Wait...the door is a couple of feet short of the floor? Does that mean there's room for someone to crawl under it without opening it?

[Magnus]

Magnus, the .jpg isn't showing up for me.

Also: does Gaerys's sword emit light? If so, how bright? Basically, Gaerys is looking for a light source that won't awaken sleeping giants.

ETA: Wait...the door is a couple of feet short of the floor? Does that mean there's room for someone to crawl under it without opening it?

- I will post a map later. The party is aware of their location, which is also shown on the last map.

- Giantbane is not light emitting. Does anyone in the party have a hooded lantern or other idea? No lightsource is guaranteed not to wake giants.

- A character not in heavy armor can squeeze under the door. I think that's anyone except Kjelti, Luna, and Ethan.

[Zhym]

Gaerys does have a bullseye lantern. Do they work like the ones I used to use when camping—i.e., can you control the brightness by adjusting the wick?

[Magnus]

Gaerys does have a bullseye lantern. Do they work like the ones I used to use when camping—i.e., can you control the brightness by adjusting the wick?

Sure. Also, the beam from a bullseye shines like a flashlight in a single direction.

[Zhym]

Gaerys, hopefully after having been healed, would adjust a bullseye lantern to be as dim as possible while still letting him see well enough to move around. He would slip under the door, along with anyone else who would come with him, and try to quickly and quietly dispatch the sleeping giants.

(Also, to clarify: were there any other doors in the youth dorm other than the one we came in? I wasn't quite sure from the description whether the one was running towards a different door.)

[drpete]

Ethan Blacktyde

Ethan stands across and to the west of the door, hidden from view by any giants coming down the north hallway, and makes sure everyone else is off to that side as well as Gaerys slips under the door.

Ethan is wearing magical chain, so not TOO heavy...

[Magnus]

Ethan Blacktyde

Ethan stands across and to the west of the door, hidden from view by any giants coming down the north hallway, and makes sure everyone else is off to that side as well as Gaerys slips under the door.

Ethan is wearing magical chain, so not TOO heavy...

That works for sliding underneath.

[jdluna]

Gaerys ponders the group's next move. "Perhaps we should drag the other two in here, just to get them out of the hall. Although the blood would remain." He looks towards Vorsyin. "I don't suppose you have any handy-dandy cleaning cantrips?"

After a moment's thought, Gaerys offers a suggestion: "Maybe we should listen at the next door before opening it. We're wasting our time with these women and children, giants though they may be."

"Oh, and Luna, would you be so kind as so heal some of my wounds? Those giant whelps got some lucky hits in." (Gaerys is at 25/56 HP.)

Luna places his hand on Gaerys forehead and prays to the gods to give him some comfort from his woulds. Cast cure serious wounds

[2d8+1] = 14+1 = 15

[jdluna]

Time permitting, Luna also heals Ethan [1d8] = 8
Cast cure light wounds

[Magnus]

Luna administers the healing just before Ethan and Gaerys wiggle under the door. Even the shadows, they can quickly determine that it is a barracks due to the 20 or so bunks and footlockers arranged around the room. There do not appear to be any doors or windows in the room other than the one that they slipped under.

They quickly spot the two snoring giants and quietly slit their throats. They are left to search the room or move on.

[Zhym]

Gaerys silently motions to Ethan to check the bunks on one side as he checks the other side to make sure they're all empty. He doesn't want to be surprised by a rare non-snoring giant.

Assuming the barracks is empty, he'll turn up the brightness on his lamp and open the door for the rest of the party, then look for anything useful in the room.

[Magnus]

Date: Autumn, 432 ca., Campaign Day 1
Time: 20:45
Weather: 42 degrees, heavy rain
Location: STEADING OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF, Barracks
Nearest Safe House: First of the First Men, 5.5 miles southeast

Magic in Effect:
Antheris:
- Call Lightning (expires in 4 turns)
- Protection from Fire (cast on treant)

Luna:
CLW (on EB)
CSW (on G)

***********************************************

Gaerys leads the party through a thorough search of the dozen or so beds and chests in the barracks room. Unfortunately, the search yields no insight helpful to the party's mission, which is unsurprising considering that they are searching a barracks for the rank-and-file. However, the search does turn up a bag with 50 platinum coins and a single portion of a species of mushrooms known by the experienced party to promote healing when eaten.

The remainder of the search turns up a haul of worthless, and often disgusting, items, such as half-eaten food, a string of dried human ears, flea-ridden pelts, and a variety of crude, giant-sized weapons.

As the search is complete, the party hears heavy raindrops again begin to pound upon the roof of the Steading.

[Ethan -12]
[Gaerys -17]
[Blue -5]

[Zhym]

Moving on, then? That call lightning spell won't last forever...

Gaerys will take custody of the platinum pieces and healing mushrooms if no one else does so. Assuming the party doesn't object, Gaerys will listen at the next door to the north, on the west wall of the hallway.