Aric (Saint's Day), Martenin 26th, 838 ID
After having gathered the loot and scouted about the ruined campsite for more signs of giant warbands, the PCs press on for a few short hours towards Ettenhead, when at last the denser forest passes into a vast East-West dell of rolling hills where the trees begin to cede, some of which seem to have been cleared down to the trunks. The PCs use Baro's spyglass to scout out the ruined stronghold ahead, and determine that it is indeed well populated with giant guards...ettins and brown bears on patrol, ogre, troll and hill giant troops within the crumbled walls. Ballyhoo's geased and charmed ogre companion, Mothlok, reveals what information he knows about the mysterious 'Titan of the Glen' who lives somewhere beneath the castle and the Vernal Wall, and also about the 'King of the Surface Ruin' who presides over the giants within the actual stronghold. They also notice a suspicious bush about half way between where they've stopped and the castle. They decide to rest and regain their spells, so Gruulsh takes watch. After a few hours, when darkness has fallen, a suspicious halfling stalks about their campsite, and then confronts the bugbear, telling a tale of his missing sister who has been taken by the giants. Gruulsh agrees to allow him to use their camp to rest and join them in the onslaught the following morning. Aylward and Mudgol are awakened by the chatter and the paladin makes sure this newcomer is 'alright', while the halfling, Gardner Thom, seems excited to be in the presence of the 'hero' of the realm, Mudgol the Undecided.
Tault, Martenin 27th, 838 ID
The PCs gear up for the assault on Ettenhead, but early in the morning notice a suspicious whirring sound from somewhere nearby. Unable to determine its source, they continue their plans, which are to send in the aerial paladin Aylward as a distraction and then teleport two groups into the midst of the castle, beyond the breached front door. After some quick buffing up, Aylward takes flight on Lightwing, and as he approaches he is struck by some flying rocks from the giants within! Taking their cue, the rest of the group teleports and the battle begins. The giants seem unsurprised by the tactic, having somehow known there was a group of enemies in the area, especially after the dire bat and paladin approach. The battle is tense and grueling, the trolls, ettins, hill giants and bears surrounding and beating on our heroes as hard as they can, but it eventually starts to sway in the PCs favor...until one of the ettins alerts a second group of giants, these led by the 'King of the Surface Ruin' himself, a massive, twisted fomorian giant wearing a crown of Eidolorn skulls and helms; coincidentally the brother of the fomorian killed the day before at the campsite, and more imposing. Strangely enough, the mysterious mind flayer that appeared not long before during the fight to liberate Floivin Castle, has once again manifested here, seemingly in cahoots with the giants...what is the connection?!
With this second group entering the chained combat, the fight grows far deadlier, and many of the PCs are brought to the brink of death. Once the 'King' is close enough to mete out destruction, the game changes. Fortunately, Ballyhoo and Mudgol have made use of dimension door and teleport spells to keep the most vulnerable and wounded party members out of harm's way, and they end up saving the day on numerous occasions. After being caught in Baro's vortex of teeth, the elusive illithid decides to gets its tentacles dirty and engage the Tour Taborlan evoker. Alas, the valiant paladin Aylward meets his fate, as the fomorian brings him low with a massive amount of damage that crushes him into paste on the courtyard earth. Enraged, the dire bat Lightwing, who had been sent away from battle to circle around and remain safe, reenters to avenge its fallen companion... but it too, is destroyed by a hill giant. In a last ditch, desperate confrontation, the 'King' also lays low the halfling Thom with another barrage of brute attacks, but then the behemoth is finally destroyed by Mudgol! An end is in sight, with no reinforcements yet arriving from the tunnel purported to run below the keep, and the PCs polish off the last handful of resilient trolls, ettins and hill giants that had survived this far. Unfortunately, the illithid, pressed by Gruulsh, manages to escape once more via plane shifting to who-knows-where...
The battle cleared, the remaining PCs begin to search through the ruins, finding and unlocking a number of iron treasure chests and a lost weapon cache that might have belonged to earlier residents of the stronghold. Mudgol finds a giant eagles' nest containing two unhatched eggs on one of the more intact towers, and decides to leave them along for a moment. Though Ballyhoo searches, there is no evident sign of the 'sister' of Gardner Thom, or any other captives. Simply a lot of old bones and corpses, of both giant and Eidolorn soldier, all over the place, some placed in overt positions as 'warnings', others just haphazardly tossed about. The heroes are beginning to wonder why they bothered with the place, but when repaired it does seem like it will be quite a substantial stronghold with access to Wintersbreath. Baro teleports back to Floivin Keep while Neddyn begins the process of using stone shape to block off access to the large tunnel running beneath one of the north towers. The other PCs bury their dead, and then examine some of the loot they found in the chests. One item is identified, a robe of stars! Back in the city, Baro contacts Commander Hoary and Captain Banghorn with news of the party's success, and plans to return the next day with another teleport, the Captain and a few engineers, while Hoary will commission a team of carpenters, masons and a handful of site guards to make the trek North and begin repairing the stronghold.
PCs: Aylward, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gardner, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Neddyn
NPCs
Mothlok (ogre male): An ogre bandit captured by Lord Ballyhoo, he stands around 8 and a half feet tall with a brooding underbite and large, but beady black eyes, unkempt mutton chops and patches of baldness on his greasy, long-haired head. Mothlok was drilled for information before the storming of Ettenhead, but was unfortunately slain in the battle itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment