Steel Meets Steel

May 31, 2015

PCs present:
Osirian Silvertongue
Zaya
Fluffy
Aelar
'Boy'
Sparrow

Fraenir - The Giant Who Would Be King
XP 1,000

This session begins with the group trying bravely to revive 'Soldier Boy' after being attacked by the Fey Spitter Spiders which the group had just finished overcoming, along with the Hangman Trees and Flying Daggers.  They found him stashed in the bushes completely covered in web and unresponsive.  Fluffy being the healer he is used his formidable skills to first make an incision into the webs, enough to perform CPR using snout to nostril resuscitation but then quickly gets his own claws ensnared in the webs  and had to rely on Zaya to cut him free from 'Soldier Boy's face....repeatedly.

Osirian took to carefully taking a torch to the webbing on the rest of the soldiers body.  Finally after bloodily ripping off the webbing from the soldier's face, which quickly and painfully revives him back into consciousness, the soldier is soon  back on his feet, if a little shakily.

The party then scouts ahead and comes to a large clearing in the woods.  Within the center of the clearing they see casually sprawled upon the ruins of an old tower, a Hill Giant.  On the other side of the clearing the party can just make out a few other giants patrolling the area.  Aelar sends his rat companion through the grass to scout the area and finds along with the giant, an old man in robes laying down near the giant as well as a caged sparrow.

They decide to rest overnight to regain their powers before meeting the giant.  During the night they are awakened by a giant patrolling the area.  Most of the group are expertly hidden, except for Osirian who is laying among leaves.  The giant stops right above the halfling and Osirian holds still for his life.  The giant then proceeds to empty his bladder near, not on, the buried halfling.  The giant moves on and the party is able to continue to rest.

The next morning the group, except the two elves who remain hidden, approach the giant and address him respectfully. They find the giant is Fraenir who has named himself The Great Uniter as he will unite the, usually solitary giants, into an army that will reclaim the land, as he believes the giants were among the first creatures of the world before the arrival of man and other magical creatures.  The old man looks on and tells the group of the disdain for the 'infestation' of the Fey into the world first inhabited by the giants, calling Elves disgusting and full of their own perceived superiority.

A large grey dire wolf then approaches Fraenir as it appears to be his companion.  Around the neck of the wolf is a collar adorned with miscellaneous items, including a black obsidian dagger.  Osirian tries to convince the giant that it would be beneficial for both the group and the giants to join forces to overthrow Amael, the steel dragon, The giant seems more amused by the halfling and his boldness rather than intrigued by the proposal.

Finally, an agreement is struck, the dagger can be Osirian's if he is able to take it from Nekare, the dire wolf.  Osirian begs for 24 hours.  He is given two.  After two hours of contemplation, Osirian and 'Boy' approach the dire wolf and ask if they can first pet it.  As 'Boy' is about to try and stealthily slip the collar off, Nekare sees what is going on and bites down at the boy.  Just before the jaws can clamp shut over 'Boy's head, Osirian teleports 'Boy' out of danger and onto the back of the dire wolf. There 'Boy' is able to use 'magic missile' to break the collar and if drops off, landing before Osirian.

During the excitement of the challenge, Fluffy uses the distraction to force apart some of the vines of the cage holding the sparrow, releasing it to land on his shoulder.
The old man witnesses the deceit and alerts Fraenir.  Fraenir is angered as he has intended to kill this obviously magical creature, who can transform between bird and man form.  Osirian convinces Fraenir of Osirian's own hatred for such creatures and begs the opportunity to torture and kill the creature himself.

Impressed and amused Fraenir lets the group take the dagger.
And thus the group now has a new member and a rough hewn black obisidian dagger.

Amael's Downfall
XP 4,000

The group makes it's way back to the city and stops at the edge of the forest facing the city.  Using 'whispering wind' and a bit of prestidigitation, they call forth Amael to meet them.  A short while later a young boy makes his way to them telling them of Amael's demand to have the group come to the Keep.

There at the Keep they find Amael perched atop what is left of the main keep building while below him is Jamril Songsteel, the Captain of the Order Of The Thundershields, who is now holding his sword to a group of people chained together.  The adventures recognize some of them.  The boy, Gedlong, who was the son of Rickster, the man the group agreed to protect along with other villagers. As well as the young cleric who had entreated the group for help.

Jamril angrily approaches the group but 'Boy' quickly casts 'Memory To Mist' and stuns the evil soldier.  Osirian quickly takes advantage of the situation and delivers the coup-de-grace and slits the throat of the man he swore he would kill.  Thus enraged the dragon takes flight and attacks.  At one point the dragon takes his anger out on the chained villagers and kills all but the young boy, Gedlong. Aelar conjures a stone wall between the boy and the dragon sparing his life while breaking the chains around his wrists.


MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: Arrrggghh. 'Memory To Mist' has become my arch enemy!

What followed was a battle that none could have foreseen.

Between Aelar's spell which reduces all of the dragon's defenses, Osirian possessing the Obsidian Dagger which protects the holder from almost all damage from the dragon's attacks, 'Boy's magic missles, Zaya's hard hitting arrows and Fluffy's constant hinderance using the spirit of Princess, the dragon hardly had a chance.

The group barely takes a scratch, except for 'Boy's epic fail of a spell which blew up in his face.  Zaya boldly jumps on the dragon's back delivering massive damage but the dragon in an attempt to dislodge her takes to the sky and Zaya is barely able to hold on during the dragon's aerial twists, turns and dives.  But hold on she does and when Amael lands she is able to deliver another crushing blow.

Finally, sensing the dragon is down to its last few breaths, Osirian gambles and decides to throw the Obsidian Dagger at the weakened dragon.  It hits and for a few moments it would seem that the dragon will simply laugh it off.  That is until he stops and collapses dead.

Zaya quickly takes to ripping off the steel scales of the dragon.  More trophies for the eager elf. While Osirian rips out the heart of the dragon and, with the aid of several citizens who have now come to celebrate the dragon's downfall, work to remove the head of the dragon.

The city celebrates with much rejoicing while eating roasted dragon's heart.

The group is encouraged to take over Rosegate House which was the residence of the now deceased evil soldier, Jamril.  There they find a large household with servants and are excited to take inventory of their new abode.  Piling treasure after treasure upon the large central table they take stock and are mighty pleased with themselves.

The next day brings a new found energy to reinvent the city, the government and The Order of The Thundershields themselves.

The future will hold many changes.

But what else is new.