Giant Problems

April 19, 2015

PCs present:
Osirian Silvertongue
Fluffy
Zaya
"Boy"
Alek
and introducing Aelar Mindlasher

The Lair Of The Vampires
2,700 XP

This session continues directly from the last session where the group finds themselves taking a side corridor off of the sewers from where they had to fend off rats, dire rats, ghouls and a carrion crawler. Here they enter a large cold chamber eerily lit and containing several coffins and a large pool of crystal clear water.  The group moves cautiously through the room until they inspect one of the coffins.  Several vampires emerge from the coffins and a more elegantly dressed vampire emerges from the pool of water.

This is when the Captain Of The Order Of The Thundershields, Jamril Songsteel, speaks to the main vampire informing him that he has delivered the group to this crypt for the vampires to dispose of the troublesome group as ordered.  He expects the vampires to destroy the group easily and leaves the room using an unseen switch to close and seal the door behind him as he leaves.  The group is scattered throughout the room when the battle begins.

From the beginning the main vampire, Leo Dilysnia, seeks out the fighter in the group and overtakes him with his hypnotic gaze. Alek then turns to his ally, Aelar and tries to run him through with his sword but luckily Osirian seeing the predicament uses his skills to teleport the elf away from Alek as the fighters sword swings through empty air.

The group eventually finds it's rhythm and begins to hack down the vampires until the vampire, Leo Dilysnia is bloodied and speaks to the group.  He points out the alignment of the two separate parties goals.  That is they both want revenge and freedom from The Order Of The Thundershields.  He tells the group that if they combine their powers they can overthrow the Order.  To convince the group of his honest intentions he releases Alex from his dominating gaze and tells the group things they perhaps didn't know.

• He tells them of Amael Ogonborn, the leader of the Order Of The Thunderhsields.  How he uses his power to rid the city of those who speak against him or The Order.
• He uses them as sacrifices to the Giants as an appeasement from attacking the city along with gold from the cities mines
• He also tells them that the giants are growing unsatisfied by the offerings.

The group debates this among themselves before deciding to continue to obliterate the vampires.
Leo Dilysnia, aware that he is outpowered, transforms into a bat and flies with all due haste towards an opening in the side of the crypt.  The group tries to stop him but are hampered by the remaining vampires which they are finding more difficult to contend with than initially thought.

Leo is able to escape and the remaining vampires keep regenerating from their inflicted wounds. Finally the group focuses attacks on the vampires one at a time until they are overcome.

Searching the room:

• Zaya collects up some oddly glowing mushrooms
• Fluffy finds bracers which the group discovers are Bracers Of Infinite Blades. Bracers from which one can secretly extract a magical dagger.....forever.

After debating for a long time as to what to do and where to go from here they decide on retracing their steps through the sewers and have decided their new goal is to extract revenge on the Order Of The Thundershields.  They find the hidden switch, concealed as a block of stone, which reopens the door leading back into the sewers.

Moving at a brisk pace using the kobold's darkvision as guidance they realize that the rats are still a factor to contend with.  After trial and error they rely on "Boy"'s prestidigitation to create bursts of light to scare away the tide of rats before them.  The move through the sewer and flood of rats like Moses through the parted Red Sea.

An ill Ale To Drink

Once lively with patrons, SoldShort's Inn is now desolate

The group returns to the surface to find themselves among the bustling market street but draw attention to themselves due to their filth encrusted and smelly appearance.  They disguise themselves as Osirian and 'Boy' move through the market collecting up information.  They discover:

•  Since the slaughter at the SoldShort Inn, the inn is to be closed until a new owner takes over. The bidding on the property is to be held privately at the city’s offices which are run by The Order of the Thundershields.
• It is whispered that only the rich are allowed to bid and so the rich keep getting richer. The Order is said to take hefty fee just for the honor of being able to bid.
• A 'wanted' scroll is posted near the inn describing the individuals in the group and claiming that they are responsible for the inn's massacre and that they are all wanted for arrest and it offers a reward for their capture at 100 gold pieces.

On top of that, Osirian cannot find his dog, Diamond, who he had left here at the inn.  Determined to wait, seemingly forever, until the faithful return of his dog Osirian, and the rest of the group, wait near the inn.  Fluffy overhears curious sounds from behind the inn.  When the group investigates they see soldiers of The Order, removing valuables from the inn and loading them up in a wagon.  There in the wagon is the dog.

'Boy' and Osirian, trying to disguise himself as a human child, approach the soldiers by the wagon and feign overwhelming grief at the loss of Osirian's "mother" who had worked at the inn.  'Boy' informs them that the dog is Osirian's as well and now he will loose both his mother and his dog the same day.  Falling to the ground and wailing at the top of his lungs, Osirian, is able to shame the soldiers into returning his dog.

A job well done, Osirian skips away happily.

Now the group must find a place to lay low for the evening.  They pass loud bustling inn's in favor for seeking out something less populated in the more seedier side of town.

MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: I had a few possibilities prepared for the groups places where they could stay. The inn they passed would have worked out fine. They decided to seek out the seedier side of town. You can see how well that worked out for them below. But all in all it was way more fun this way I think.

The Tipsy Worm
900 XP

They find an Inn that seems to promise to sell any unsavory favors that may be sought.  The Tipsy Worm.  Inside there is a wiry, scrawny and greasy old man along with his two hired muscle.  No patrons are in the inn.  They quickly negotiate a price for rooms, baths and food.
They find from innkeeper several interesting tidbits:

• The nearby woods of Juren Forest used to be home to many fey creatures, including elves, until the great Giant War which found the giants victors and the elves either killed off or exiled from the woods.
• The giants now emboldened, attacked the city.  The back then had no military only a number of brave souls who banded together under the leadership of Tramorn Milner, who the people named Tramorn The Protector.  Together they fended off the giants and saved the city.  This group became what is now known as The Order Of The Thundershields.
• After Tramorn passed away, from a wasting sickness, Amael Ogonborn, took leadership of The Order.  Under his leadership The Order became tyrants and thugs no longer worried about protecting the city.
• In order to keep the giants at bay, The Order instead offered the giants sacrifices in both people and gold.  The sacrifices, it is said officially, are prisoners who are condemned murderers and thieves (even though it is also said that The Order allows a thieves guild to run, albeit with a heavy tax)

 Osirian, 'Boy' and Zaya retire to the rooms upstairs to clean up (much needed after trekking through the sewers).  Aelar and Fluffy remain downstairs.

The innkeeper, Trevon, seems excited to have a kobold in the inn, an attractive one at that.  He propositions the kobold with an unsavory business venture.  It seems there are those who would seek out the company of an exotic creature such as Fluffy.  He offers Fluffy a free drink.  Fluffy being Fluffy cannot refuse a free ale (or any ale for that matter).

When Osirian, 'Boy' and Zaya return downstairs, fresher and clean, they cannot find either Fluffy or Aelar.  After threatening the innkeeper, Osirian finds he has two muscular bouncers on either side of him.  Trevon, the innkeeper, states that The Order had come and collected up the missing two and that they are probably in the Order's Keep by now.  The remaining of the group departs, preparing and planning to break the others out of the keep.

That is when Fluffy and Aelar awaken in a cold dark cellar.  They quickly and easily use their magic to free themselves from their chains.  Aelar uses his magic to open the trap door in the ceiling above him and realizes that they are in a cellar directly below the inn.  The trap door opens up in the floor behind the bar and using his magic is able to attack Trevon with psychic damage.

Outside, Orisian, Zaya and 'Boy' barely hear screams off pain from back within the inn.  Suspecting something wrong they rush back towards the inn.  Upon returning Osirian see's Aelar's magical force hiding behind Trevon's head and puts it all together.

Trevon retires to his room with a splitting (psychic damage) headache.  By now Bili and Sal, the bouncers, also realize what's going on and are descending into the cellar to take care of business.  But as Bili starts to climb down, Aelar uses his force powers to pull him down off of the ladder.  Bili is now a dazed, crumpled lump on the floor at the foot of the ladder.  Osirian is able to overpower Sal while Zaya and 'Boy' stealthily enter Trevon's room and together subdue and tie him up.

The group, now reunited, places each of the offenders into the cellar, strips and chains them to the wall.  They close the trap door and leave, but not before carving a scathing note on the door of the inn telling of the atrocities committed by those within.


A Giant Problem
1,200 XP

The next morning the group is heavily debating on their next course of action.  They stand in the nearly empty streets each debating the merits of various courses of action.  That is until they are interrupted by a stream of screaming panic people are running in the same direction.  After a few confusing minutes they discern from the bits and pieces of screamed information, that a couple of giants are hammering away at the city walls at a nearby gate.  Sure enough the group can hear and feel the pounding of the giants against the massive 100 foot tall wall surrounding the city.

Deciding to get more information on what's going on they decide to go against the flow of panicked people the approach the wall where the attack is taking place.  Here they see a few dozen soldiers atop the wall raining arrows down on the giants.  But the massive hammering against the wall continues.

The group decides that they should rally the remaining soldiers nearby to attack directly against the giants by going outside the city walls.  Osirian, strides atop a leaning cart and loudly and persuasively makes an impassioned speech which by the end has the small group of soldiers cheering and with a war cry they leave the city and fight the giants directly.

Outside the city walls they see two large hill giants both hammering at the wall with large boulders. They are riddled with arrows but seem not to care or be bothered much by them.  The battle with the giants sees only a couple of soldiers deaths and Osirian convinces the archers atop the wall to use flaming arrows.  Combined with the massive attacks by the group, the soldiers and the adventurers are easily able to overcome the giants.

Osirian, strides atop the dead giant and makes a speech which seems to absolve the group of their perceived crime (at least to this group of soldiers) and perhaps even convinces a large number of soldiers that their leadership has lost it's way, in protecting the city.  Soldiers cheer for the group and their is much back slapping, hand shaking and even bowing before the elves.

What direction will the party take now.  I have no idea.  I never do.  But can't wait to find out.

DM Note:
This week saw the institution of the new house rule of extras for critical hits and critical failures.  It's funny but now all the rolls of 1 start showing up.  Way more than natural 20s it seemed.  But it definitely added to the tension.