Session 46

=January 16th, 2020 - Forge of the Fire Giants=

The Mine Pit
The session began after the members awoke who had fallen ill to the poisonous gas released during their lightning strike of the yakfolk village. With some still feeling weak, the group decided to get a good night’s sleep before venturing into the depths of the mountain. Count Blagothkus rose the castle back into the air and kept the sky filled with obscuring clouds and light rain. As usual, the two elves of the party took split shifts to watch for any dangers. In the morning just before dawn the group assembled, and the Count lowered the castle back down with its gate resting on the yakfolk fields.

During the night nothing stirred in the village, which was now only a charred ruin. The only sounds from the village were from the running river and the still-spinning water wheel, and the twenty-foot-tall metal doors into the mountain remained opened. Just inside the door lay the bodies of a few electrocuted yakfolk - none made it to the circular chamber within. The dimly lit room inside was dominated by a metal gantry above a large circular pit in the center. The spinning axle from the water wheel came into the chamber and turned a small network of gears, which continually rotated a sprocket at the top of the pit. Around this sprocket was a thick metal chain that came out and went back down into the hole.

On the side of the room was a smaller hole that had a stone spiral staircase carved going down. As half of the group was about to begin descending the stairs, Alburt cast light upon a rock, and dropped it down the hole. It landed perhaps a hundred feet below with a metal clank, and over the next few minutes appeared to be raising up. The group waited and watched as a metal grate platform rose from the hole and stopped at the top. The party got on, and after about a minute had elapsed and the gears continued to turn, the platform began to lower.

The elevator platform went deep into the mountain, and stopped for one-minute intervals at a number of levels as it progressed. Each stop revealed an open cave tunnel, but the party stayed on the elevator until one of the lowest stops. Here, attracted by the light of the enchanted rock on the platform, a disheveled dwarf appeared around the corner of the tunnel. He had metal shackles tied to his legs and was dragging a container of ore. Rufus quickly sprang to the dwarf and lock picked his bonds. The halfling helped the dwarf onto the platform before it began descending again.

A ‘fire lizard’ as the dwarf called it stuck its head out of the tunnel and breathed fire down at them, but the platform had already lowered far enough away they were just singed. The dwarf was not happy about the prospects of going deeper, towards the fire giants below, but Rachen reassured him they were here to save those captive. The group instructed the dwarf to stay on the platform once they got off, and take it all the way to the top where he should wait for them to return - and other prisoners. The dwarf reluctantly agreed, though it seemed he was suspicious the yakfolk had been dealt with.

Forge of the Fire Giants
The party reached the dark stone brick walls of the fire giant stronghold, which appeared to be a two level complex. Intense heat was coming from the pit well before they reached these levels, but now it was almost unbearable. The entire place was filled with echoes of metal chains clinking about. At the top level, the party waited as the only two exits emerged onto a balcony overlooking a large chamber, or a room with a dozen orcs chipping away at ore. Instead, when the platform reached the bottom level, they finally got off. One of the tunnels led to the large chamber where the incredible heat was coming from, and the other led to what looked like a giant dining hall filled with goblins working away.

The party charged into the dining room and began to obliterate the goblins under the cover of the metal sounds in the stronghold. Alburt used his staff of fire to fireball a large group of them, as well as create a wall of fire to try and block the escape of others. Unfortunately, a small number of goblins escaped down the two exit tunnels from this large room. Instead of chasing after them, the group decided reinforcements would return to this chamber, and when they did the party would be gone - they turned around and went back towards the large chamber. The source of the heat.

The chamber was an open space with its ceiling going all the way up ninety feet to the ceiling of the second level of the complex. The space was dominated by a massive metal furnace, glowing red, and clearly the source of the extreme heat in the area. It looked like Magaera the Dawn Titan had already been released. On the other side of the space, the room was filled with the half-reforged adamantine colossus known as the Vonindod, suspended by enormous metal chains attached to the ceiling. It was a torso, head, and one arm. It was missing legs, and suspended from gantries on the second level around the room was an arm, and the construct’s giant sword. In the room, the fire giant Duke Zalto was playing with his two hell hounds.

The Duke wielded a massive hammer whose head was actually a barred cage that seemed to contain a living prisoner, and as soon as the hounds saw the party they charged at the intruders. The Duke also ran towards the group, as Rachen charged forward to meet him in melee. Alburt unleashed a cone of cold that froze solid one of the hounds and hurt the duke considerably. To combat the extreme heat that was slowly killing the party - and more quickly killing Rachen and Cadmus in their plate suits - Cadmus filled the space with a sleet storm. With the party trying to focus their attacks against the giant it was Rachen, with his giant slayer greatsword, that out maneuvered the lumbering giant and cut deep into his armor, opened up his side, and brought him to his knees.

The party then easily slayed the giant, who had attached to his belt the iron flask that could retrieve the primordial. The group still needed to locate the storm giant’s conch of teleportation, and try to free what dwarves they could, but they had vanquished the fire giant’s leader.

It was the morning of the two hundred and third day since the raid on Greenest.

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