Session 23

=October 25th, 2018 - Surprising Stone Giants=

The Dig Site
The session began as the party continued traveling down the Long Road after their drunken night time encounter with a hill giant. The next four days along the road by horseback saw few other travelers and little of significance; however, they did pass more than one abandoned or ruined village. On the fifth day after the hill giant kill, the party came upon the sounds of many greenskins just over a ridge east of the road. The group tied off their horses in the woods nearby and a few of the group quietly went to the top of the ridge. Indeed, there were a number of greenskins around a fifty foot wide crater dug out by dozens of goblins.

Thia counted eight orcs bossing around the group, yelling orders to five ogres who were each pulling ropes attached to something in the bottom of the crater. The goblins looked exhausted, most were lying about with their pickaxes and shovels all around. In charge of them all, towering over and watching the ogres was a single fire giant. This giant did not look like the female that escaped the attack on Triboar. It was male leaning on his greatsword, but did appear to have a Rod of the Vonindod in the sheath on his back - so, it appeared there were more than one of those items.

The party regrouped at the bottom of the ridge and decided to take action. They coordinated a surprise attack starting with Alburt casting a fireball in the middle of the ogres. Rachen and Cadmus would move to engage the orcs while the rest of the ranged tried to pick off orcs and goblin alike. Rachen would engage the fire giant, and once the group eliminated the smaller foes could help focus on the giant. Their surprise attack went well, except Alburt’s fireball did not seem to stop the ogres, and so he used all his fireball’s as the party tried their best to eliminate the orcs as fast as possible. One orc got right up to the warlock Rhogar, whom was able to dispatch him with a dagger to the heart.

Not long after, the remaining greenskins had been felled, and Rachen engaged the fire giant as planned. Through their coordinated efforts the group killed the fire giant, taking as their prize their own Rod of the Vonindod, which weighed about one hundred pounds. The group decided not to leave the adamantine fragment in the crater, which was indeed what the ogres were trying to pull out of the hole. This fragment was shaped different than the first half ring they found, it was a curved plate - larger and much heavier. The wizard Lachlan cast reduce on the plate and the group pulled it from the ground, and out of the crater.

Next, as the plate returned to its normal size, the group used much of their rope to cut lengths to strap around the plate and tie to a few of their horses. The group then continued down the Long Road, with four of their horses together pulling the curved plate like a sled. It was another six days down the road until the group came upon Zymorven Hall. The distinctive black banners with large white letter Z’s were just as Urgala Meltimer described. The hall was a small stone keep atop a short hill, surrounded by a modest village, just off the Long Road.

The party was easily granted an audience with the gray haired Lord Harthos Zymorven in his modest feast hall. Lord Zymorven was clearly once a powerful man, now getting fat, old, and comfortable. Rachen spoke for the party, showed the lord his writ of authority from Lady Silverhand, described their mission, and told of the attack on Triboar. Finally, he told the lord of Urgala Meltier’s suggestion they seek him out and request the use of his giant slayer great sword. Lord Zymorven said he trusted them if Urgala did, and he knows she does because she told the party her true name - something she always kept secret to protect those she loved.

Unfortunately, he told the party the great sword was no longer in his care. His worthless son, Harthal, stole it after he had been disowned. The sword was to be his as inheritance, but when he refused to wed the noble woman Lord Zymorven had arranged for him, he stole the sword and fled with the street thief ‘whore’ he loved. The party asked more about this woman, and where he thought they would have gone. The lord’s steward, Stanley, described the woman named Agatha, and said the two likely fled south to Cresthill, where she hailed from.

Surprising Stone Giants
After bidding farewell, the party spent the night in the small village inn, and then set off back down the Long Road towards Cresthill the next morning. Around midday on the second day out from Zymorven Hall, the party saw in the distance atop a hill the ruins of an old watchtower. An old watchtower being taken down block by block by a pair of stone giants. Nearby, it appeared as if the giants were using the stones to build a statue, which at the moment was a pair of giant humanoid legs. Alburt sent his owl overheard to circle and through its eyes he examined the scene.

There looked to be the fresh bodies of two dead humans near the ruined entrance of the tower. To the south of the tower the giants had stacked the contents from the tower, and a huge pile of wood, piles of stones yet to be reused. Amid the pile of wood, Alburt owl eyes caught the glint of a gold inlaid wooden chest. The party once again decided to stop the giants, while at the same time recovering some treasure. They decided on an ambush once again, trying to focus down one giant first.

As the attack begun, Rufus instead quickly dashed around the hill under the cover of the treeline and circled around the tower, determined to secure the treasure chest. The initial ambush appeared to go well, but the giants were calling out, and not to each other. Seconds later, a third stone giant emerged from the nearby wood throwing boulders at the group and attacking Alburt. The wizard was behind the rest of the group, keeping his distance from the first two giants. This third stone giant clubbed him hard multiple times, knocking Alburt unconscious.

After the first stone giant fell, Cadmus cast healing word saving Alburt from death, and the party was regrouping. Then, just as Rufus was about to reach the pile of wood and the chest next to it, about twenty feet from the halfling a frost giant came running out of the forest. This giant was larger than any the Rufus had seen before, swinging his massive great axe as he ran past the rogue. Rachen called out to the giant, recognizing him as his old friend Harshnag. The giant replied happily, surprised to see his small friend, but he did not slow as he engaged the two remaining stone giants.

Then, from the southern section of woods surrounding this tower clearing, a group of eight or nine sword wielding bandits came rushing towards the group. Clearly thinking they now had the advantage and could kill the group during the rush of combat; however, they didn’t realize the frost giant was on their side. With Harshnag’s help, both the stone giants were killed and the bandit group were half killed, with the remaining fleeing back into the woods. During this final time of the battle, Rufus had quietly snuck down a few of the steps in the stone staircase leading down within the tower. He heard and barley saw even more bandit looking humans down a tunnel talking and looking to ready for a fight.

Rufus returned to the group with the warning of more bandits down the stairs in the tower, and the opened treasure chest. Within, he pulled out the fine pair of leather bracers and gave them to Alburt. A small piece of parchment that had been tied to one said enchanted bracers of defense. Thia, in hearing more enemies were beneath the tower cast spike growth on the top of the stairs. And that is where the session ended, with the group about to take a few moments to regroup and speak with the giant Harshnag.

It was the one hundred and first day since the raid on Greenest.

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