Post by Dead Greyhawk on May 25, 2007 6:50:26 GMT -5
“This is too much! We must retreat and regroup!” exhorts Dell. “Our clerics are without prayers, and we mages need to optimize our magics if we must assault a well-defended position.” The carnage that is the Company of the Blue Sun seems to support his caution. Diego, sorely scarred from the near-death burns he received, barely stands with a fraction of his customary health. Al leans heavily on his axe, blood seeping into his bandages. Adrienne and Cedrus are indeed devoid of divine presence, their prayers being worth only the words they mouth.
“No! I lead this company,” growls Raven. “These giants flee before us, like the hill giants did. They are tunneling another hole out of the glacier to flee. We should chase after them and end this. Winthrop is still full of his major magics. We should be able to rush them with a small, invisible group and give them cause to fear us.”
Otto nods in agreement, the worst of his burns having been healed by Cedrus during the battle. “Flying. Make me fly and I’ll be in among them before they know what has happened.” Oaklock eyes the ranger and then nods in acquiescence.
Diego digs through his backpack and reluctantly hands a potion to Otto. “This will make time slow for you. Be careful of your heart,” he says. The potion disappears down Otto’s gullet and he quivers with anticipation.
Dell looks at the others and sees the blood lust rising in their eyes. Sighing, he realizes that his wise council will be for naught. “So, we're going in after the bad dudes right away? No waiting? Sounds like a good plan to me,” he mutters while checking his weaponry. “I can see this is going to go well.”
“Teleportation,” says Oaklock. “We have forgotten about teleportation. I can open a door through the dimensions to flank any defenses giants might have.” Raven thinks this is a great idea. He, with refinements by the others, quickly sketches out a plan in the blood of the ogres. Diego and Cedrus will remain behind, to protect the rear and keep the Company from being flanked. Oaklock will make the Company invisible, after bestowing flight to Otto. The invisible Otto will fly ahead and scout, attacking any giants found. Oaklock will teleport Winthrop and himself past any barriers found, so that the barrier will be attacked from two sides. The rest of the Company will charge forward invisibly and attack from surprise.
The Company quickly makes its preparations, waiting for a scouting report from Otto. Otto flies ahead and back, bringing mixed news. Otto's voice has an unnatural pitch and timbre, and he is difficult to understand. "Joramy'sburningsoulthereareahordeofgiantsbehindatableandweneedtohurryhurryhurryandgetmecloseinamongthemsoIcanstabthemandrunthemthroughandmakethemdeaddeaddead," whines Otto at a high speed. If dogs were nearby, they might cower in pain from the sound of Otto's voice. Otto makes clear that the giants have constructed another barricade in a tunnel around the corner, near where the pale giant fled to. The barrier is high and strong, like the one used to cluster the Company together earlier.
Raven revises his plan. Otto will go over the barricade while the Company shifts it. Cedrus and Diego will come with them, rather than remain behind, so that Raven will not be the sole archer.
The Company carefully strides to the corner. A good half hour has passed, so the strength of the giants must be at its height. A failure in execution will likely doom the Company, so they all must act as a unit, not the Company’s strength. The barricade is visible, lit by the reddish purple light of a glowing beetle trapped in a metal cage mixing with the green luminescence of the glacial ice. A half dozen frost giant warriors, each wearing the armband signifying an elite warrior, man the barricade with boulders and great spears. The barricade itself is enormous, a stacking of bound planks made from the lengths of whole trees, possibly a giantish long-table placed on its side. Perhaps this assault is more foolhardy than originally thought.
Unfortunately, the time for reconsidering is past, as bellows and screams erupt from behind the barricade. A sudden look of shock on the giants’ faces is replaced by that of agonizing pain as they start to topple like trees in a storm. Apparently, Otto has arrived.
“Going long,” says Oaklock, somewhat cryptically. “The blessed shall meet in Arborea.” A blue tear appears in space before him, and he lunges through it, one arm trailing behind him as if dragging a heavy object. The tear dissipates as quickly as it formed, leaving no sign of its presence.
“Well, that’s it then. Let’s go,” says Raven, as he jogs down the icy passage. With the cries of agony erupting from the giants ahead and the invisibility of his compatriots, he is entirely unsure of whether the rest of the Company is with him or not. The surviving giants seem entirely captivated by Otto’s actions, none of them staring over the barricade. Raven squats at the base of the barricade, preparing to heave on the mighty wood. “On three!” he bellows. “One...Two...Three!” The barricade shifts up an inch and backwards two feet, enough to squeeze through as Al, Diego, and Adrienne appear besides him.
Thudding sounds echo off the barricade, as if large objects had struck it heavily. “It’s a killing zone! I’m going over the top again,” quickly cries Otto from behind the barrier. “Move the next one or we’re all dead.” Raven and the others pile through the narrow opening, struggling as they catch on the wood and ice. The area behind the barricade is a charnel house, with giant-sized limbs and the remains of six frost giant bodies strewn about. The barricade blocks entry to a largish cavern with another exit on the opposite side. The exit also is blocked with a barricade. Otto sails through the air, pummeled by thrown rocks, towards the second barricade. Indeed, trapped between the two barricades and open to boulder fire from the frost giants, this cavern would be a lethal killing field.
The giants of the second barricade are well aware of Otto as he flies towards them like a vengeful hummingbird. Their attention is only partly taken by his approach; several of the giants bombard the rest of the visible Company as they struggle to reach the second barricade. Diego and Raven set up arrow fire to support Otto, but thus are unable to lift the barricade with the others. The giants hold the barricade while the Company strains to move it. The distinct crack of lightning echoes from behind the barricade, though none of the giants seem at all fazed by it.
“Lift it! Lift it!” shouts Raven as he fires over the barricade into the massed giants. More giants pile up to the barricade, replacing those that Otto has slain, and a solid barrage of boulders flies over the barricade at the two archers. Diego fares the worst of the two, a boulder sending him flying into unconsciousness. The rest of the Company becomes visible, all hauling on the barricade, but it doesn’t stir. Suddenly, a long sword blade spears through the barricade, nearly impaling Cedrus, and the barricade slides backwards several feet. As a heavy, thick spear protrudes through the barricade adjacent to the sword blade, the Company surges forward through the gap.
Jasper sprints through at top speed and finds chaos behind the barricade. Giants and ogres crowd the barricade, attempting to stop the Company from entering. Al and Adrienne charge the furthest of the giants, the vile cloud giant seen before, while the other clerics and Dell attempt to close with nearest. Otto has done an impressive job of holding the barricade, the frost giant dead mound around him, but it has cost him dearly. The long blade in the barricade is his, driven in deep as a handhold to push against the barricade. The spear passes bodily through him and the barricade. Otto’s body is pinioned by it, but Otto struggles on, trying to drag himself up the shaft of the spear.
Jasper quickly searches for the spear thrower and sees a long stairwell rising up the side of the cavern. Three gargoyles fly in loops near the top of the stairwell, where a platform holding a frost giant and a great arbalest caps the stairwell. The gargoyles dodge and weave among huge chunks of ice being thrown from further back in the room. As Jasper watches, the gargoyles launch a horde of magical bolts towards some distant target, and the frost giant lines the arbalest on the gargoyles. With a great discharge, the frost giant’s weapon launches a huge spear through one of the gargoyles. The three gargoyles all get a look of surprise on their stony faces one that fades as the ice chunks strike home. The gargoyles plummet to the ground, where two disappear and the remaining one takes on the form of Oaklock.
Jasper sprints up the stairs, halberd in hand, at the frost giant arbalestier who hurriedly reloads his weapon. As he ascends the slippery, icy stairs, Jasper can see that a great ice chamber extends beyond this narrow entryway. A great battle must have taken place between the wizards and the giants. Not one, not two, not three, but four huge polar bears lie scorched and dead sprawled around the battered and bleeding Winthrop. Strange piles of ice, as if formed from miniature droplets and icicles, coat the polar bears, sealing their corpses to the ground. A gargantuan frost giant, easily as tall as the cloud giant, clad in a chainmail vest and hefting a massive double-bladed axe, slowly swings at Winthrop, who dashes from side to side. The giant bears a large burn along one side of his body, but his vigor is unmatched. The axe sprays chips from the ground and the icy pillars as Winthrop narrowly avoids being hewn in twain. Winthrop sends burst after burst of magical bolts into the huge frost giant, who shrugs them off like water.
As the arbalestier focuses on the approaching monk, Jasper has no more time to take in the scene. Jasper strikes at the arbalest, knocking it flying off into space. The frost giant roars at Jasper, sweeping him off the stairs and into the air. Jasper twists and turns, reaching for the icy wall. Dragging and scraping against the wall, Jasper slows his fall and slides to the floor, uninjured. Collecting his halberd, he rushes back up the stairs again.
The battle at the barricade slowly shifts in the Company’s favor. The giants are peppered by Raven’s missile fire and hemmed in by Cedrus, Adrienne, and Al, while Dell and Hugh, who screams vengeance in Trithereon’s name, wreak havoc on the giants’ hamstrings and kidneys. When the cloud giant, who directs the efforts of the surrounding frost giants, falls, the morale of the warriors breaks. The large frost giant, who has been singularly unable to hit Winthrop after minutes of trying, calls for the retreat. The frost giants fall back in poor order, each running for themselves, across the large cavern. The large frost giant slowly flees, lagging behind the others, but two well-armored frost giants wait for him at the far end of the cavern, where an ice passage exits the chamber. Winthrop sends a bolt of lightning after the large frost giant, but it neither distracts nor fells him, and the frost giants escape.
The Company occupies the great chamber, victors in this battle, if not the war. As they catch their breath, they take in the grandeur of the cavern, a great meeting hall of sorts. Large pillars support the icy ceiling and various tables and benches line the walls, pushed out of the way for the battle. Several large spaces suggest that the barricades the Company surpassed likely were made from tables currently missing. Caged, red-glowing beetles provide an eerie dim illumination, but a flickering light, stronger and more deeply red, flows out from one end of the cavern. In addition to the passage that the giants fled through, another passageway exits out through the left-hand wall.
Most arresting though is the huge throne that sits at the end of the meeting hall, a throne that glitters in the blood-red light. A huge ivory and bone throne, decorated with skulls, silver and faceted gems sits on a dais up above the floor of the meeting hall, dominating the place. A great white hide, both scaly and leathery at the same time, spreads across the wall behind it, and a huge polar bear skin warms the surface of the dais. An alabaster table and three ivory stools share the throne in subservient positions.
Cedrus pries Otto off of the spear through his abdomen and staunches his wounds while the other priests tend to Diego and Oaklock. Otto hovers on the edge of consciousness, Myrick's ring constantly repairing the damage within him. With the application of many bandages and unguents, the archer is returned to a barely conscious state. Diego struggles to his feet and leans on the nearest surface, holding his insides together as he tries to keep up with the others. Oaklock, though, is very dead. The spear jutting through him is lethal, as would be the crushing blows he took from the thrown chunks of ice and the great fall.
Hugh and Cedrus converse over the elf's body. For this very reason they did not bring back the thieves or the gnome. Hugh still has a series of vials of holy water in a wooden box, but they are much more limited than his consecrated flask. The dwarven rod requires a variable amount of holy essence to restore creatures to life, and elves are likely the most difficult, as they lack a soul. Winthrop joins them, and they decide that Oaklock must be revived. Almost all of Trithereon's blessed water is poured over his corpse, annointing his wounds, and the ritual of the dwarven rod performed. Oaklock coughs wetly, violently, and long. "That must have been a big rock," he mutters. "Thanks for binding my wounds, I feel much better."
"You were dead," states Hugh, baldly.
"Not possible," argues Oaklock querelously. "We higher beings lack souls. Our deaths are final to compensate for our more full lives."
"Regardless," interrupts Winthrop. "You can memorize spells immediately because of some miracle that doesn't involve your higher nature, your lack of soul, or the fact that you are covered in water, without a single injury, and have some interesting holes in the front and back of your armor that line up with each other.
Raven and Dell head over to where the reddish light flickers into the room, while Winthrop and Al watch the passages for the return of the giants. Three rooms branch off from a stone cavern that holds a natural fire pit. Hot charcoal broils a horse, spitted across the fire pit. The rooms beyond the fire pit contain furniture and kitchen utensils, but in the one nearest the fire pit is a metal cage with four men trapped in it. Three of them stir weakly and cry out to be freed, but the fourth remains curled in a ball, rocking back and forth while moaning incoherently. Dell heads over to the cage and begins looking at the lock while Raven questions the imprisoned men.
The captives are former soldiers of the Earl of Sterich, lost in battle. Almost thirty of them were once held in this cage, but these four are the last of them. They are able to tell Raven and Dell of a great hubbub and scurrying that took place over the last half-day, with giants running to and fro, bellowing at each other. The kitchen area was overseen by two hag-like giantesses, with darkened skins and a seeming imperviousness to the hot greases and oils, and several towering ogres. These giantesses took great joy in tormenting the captives, but even they seemed concerned by events. The last the captives saw of the giantesses was them bundling up their belongings in great sacks and packs and heading across the great hall along with other frost giantesses and warriors. With a resounding click, Dell levers the lock open.
“They are trying to escape us,” curses Raven. “How dare they! We must keep the pressure on them.” He surveys the battered Company. “Any chance Otto will be ready to fight soon?” he inquires of the clerics. A blank stare greets his gaze.
“They must have a passage built, or a redoubt of some sort,” comments Winthrop, when told of the situation. “No self-respecting lord would have a castle with no back entrance or secret tunnel to flee through.”
“What about the temples of Nerull we destroyed? They had no secret tunnels to flee through,” asks Al, remembering his and Garvin’s near-death experience in one of them.
“My point exactly!” cries Winthrop, somehow winning that debate.
Raven orders the captives to stay near the fire pit, the only place warm enough for them, in their barely clad state, to survive. He then collects the Company together to press onwards after the fleeing giants. Only fifteen or twenty minutes has passed since their great battle, and Raven hopes to catch them and continue the battle. The rest of the Company seems equally happy with the idea that the giants will just flee the glacial rift, but are also resigned to fact that this final push must be made. No one suggests retreating and hiding to recoup for a future battle. Oaklock wishes for more time, as he has only been able to memorize the least of his magics, but it is not granted.
The icy passage heads forward to where a large boulder partially blocks its exit. Cedrus and Hugh both study the floor and agree that no one has passed this way since the retreat of the bleeding giants. Any foes lie ahead. Jasper stealthily creeps up to the great stone and listens. After a few moments, he waves the others forward.
The trail of blood leads off to the right, into a long cavern adorned with many items. Strange heads and pelts are splayed across the walls and floors. A table with chairs surrounding it occupies an alcove and a plethora of smaller objects, trophies of some sort, sit on icy nooks and crannies between the heads and pelts. The blood trail cuts through the long axis of the room, past another passageway and up several tall stairs that run the width of the trophy hall. A thick curtain, hung floor to ceiling, blocks sight of what lies at the top of the stairs.
Giving no thought to these strange treasures and trophies, Raven leads the Company straight for the stairs and plunges through the thick curtain. The huge giant and his two fell bodyguards stare Raven in the face! Beyond the curtain is the antechamber to a bedroom. A thick screen separates the antechamber from the bedroom itself, but it has been pushed aside. A stream of blood leads across the floor into a narrow crevasse in the left hand wall, partially obscured by a tapestry. The huge giant looks unfortunately quite hale, as a series of empty flasks sit on an adjacent table, between three fine drinking goblets. “Hävittää heiveröinen outo!” screams the huge giant as he hefts a gargantuan shield and axe.
Raven, who has carefully kept arrow to string, sends a shot over the top of the shield scoring a furrow across the huge giant’s face. The giant staggers backwards, rocked on his heels, in surprise. Winthrop, wand in one hand, dashes forward into the gap, gesturing wildly and chanting polysyllabic words. The giants slow, as if suddenly dipped in tar, as the Company vaults into the room. They pummel and beat the gargantuan giant as they react in slow motion. Otto staggers forward, beating aside the great shield. Like a mammoth beset by a swarm of bees, the giant succumbs to the accumulated blows of the Company, never even able to swing once in anger.
His bodyguards, amazed at their failure, beat a fighting retreat to the narrow crevasse. The bulk of one of the giants fills the passage, forcing the Company to face him, while the other flees on down the crevasse. Winthrop thrusts forth his wand and fills the crevasse with steam. The giant bellows in pain, red pustules and boils breaking out along his exposed flesh. With the cloud of steam coalescing as icicles on the passage walls, Raven steps forth and fires arrow after arrow into the chest of the giant bodyguard. The giant keels over into the passage, his lifeblood pouring from his wounds.
Raven leads the others down the icy crevasse as fast as possible, hoping to catch up with the fleeing bodyguard. Dell’s voice echoes from the back of the Company, “Whoa! Hold up!” The Company skids to a halt. “In the ice here, a strange lever sticks out. I can’t see where it goes, or what it connects to. It looks like part of a trap mechanism though! But keep running if you want!” Dell sounds doubtful of the wisdom of such an option. The Company collects around Dell, where he points upwards at a thick iron bar that protrudes well over their heads. Indeed, it appears to rest in a slot in the ice, but nothing connects to the far end of the bar. When Dell pulls on the bar, it moves freely, but doesn’t come out of the wall. “Definitely a magical trap of some sort,” he opines.
Raven grinds his teeth audibly. The frost giants are fleeing and to chase after them begs blundering into some trap that protects this passage. “Alright, we back up and secure this spot. Then we search for others,” pronounces Raven, beckoning the others back to the end of the crevasse. Leaving Diego and Cedrus to watch for stragglers or the return of the giants, the others begin searching through the passageways for signs of life.
“No! I lead this company,” growls Raven. “These giants flee before us, like the hill giants did. They are tunneling another hole out of the glacier to flee. We should chase after them and end this. Winthrop is still full of his major magics. We should be able to rush them with a small, invisible group and give them cause to fear us.”
Otto nods in agreement, the worst of his burns having been healed by Cedrus during the battle. “Flying. Make me fly and I’ll be in among them before they know what has happened.” Oaklock eyes the ranger and then nods in acquiescence.
Diego digs through his backpack and reluctantly hands a potion to Otto. “This will make time slow for you. Be careful of your heart,” he says. The potion disappears down Otto’s gullet and he quivers with anticipation.
Dell looks at the others and sees the blood lust rising in their eyes. Sighing, he realizes that his wise council will be for naught. “So, we're going in after the bad dudes right away? No waiting? Sounds like a good plan to me,” he mutters while checking his weaponry. “I can see this is going to go well.”
“Teleportation,” says Oaklock. “We have forgotten about teleportation. I can open a door through the dimensions to flank any defenses giants might have.” Raven thinks this is a great idea. He, with refinements by the others, quickly sketches out a plan in the blood of the ogres. Diego and Cedrus will remain behind, to protect the rear and keep the Company from being flanked. Oaklock will make the Company invisible, after bestowing flight to Otto. The invisible Otto will fly ahead and scout, attacking any giants found. Oaklock will teleport Winthrop and himself past any barriers found, so that the barrier will be attacked from two sides. The rest of the Company will charge forward invisibly and attack from surprise.
The Company quickly makes its preparations, waiting for a scouting report from Otto. Otto flies ahead and back, bringing mixed news. Otto's voice has an unnatural pitch and timbre, and he is difficult to understand. "Joramy'sburningsoulthereareahordeofgiantsbehindatableandweneedtohurryhurryhurryandgetmecloseinamongthemsoIcanstabthemandrunthemthroughandmakethemdeaddeaddead," whines Otto at a high speed. If dogs were nearby, they might cower in pain from the sound of Otto's voice. Otto makes clear that the giants have constructed another barricade in a tunnel around the corner, near where the pale giant fled to. The barrier is high and strong, like the one used to cluster the Company together earlier.
Raven revises his plan. Otto will go over the barricade while the Company shifts it. Cedrus and Diego will come with them, rather than remain behind, so that Raven will not be the sole archer.
The Company carefully strides to the corner. A good half hour has passed, so the strength of the giants must be at its height. A failure in execution will likely doom the Company, so they all must act as a unit, not the Company’s strength. The barricade is visible, lit by the reddish purple light of a glowing beetle trapped in a metal cage mixing with the green luminescence of the glacial ice. A half dozen frost giant warriors, each wearing the armband signifying an elite warrior, man the barricade with boulders and great spears. The barricade itself is enormous, a stacking of bound planks made from the lengths of whole trees, possibly a giantish long-table placed on its side. Perhaps this assault is more foolhardy than originally thought.
Unfortunately, the time for reconsidering is past, as bellows and screams erupt from behind the barricade. A sudden look of shock on the giants’ faces is replaced by that of agonizing pain as they start to topple like trees in a storm. Apparently, Otto has arrived.
“Going long,” says Oaklock, somewhat cryptically. “The blessed shall meet in Arborea.” A blue tear appears in space before him, and he lunges through it, one arm trailing behind him as if dragging a heavy object. The tear dissipates as quickly as it formed, leaving no sign of its presence.
“Well, that’s it then. Let’s go,” says Raven, as he jogs down the icy passage. With the cries of agony erupting from the giants ahead and the invisibility of his compatriots, he is entirely unsure of whether the rest of the Company is with him or not. The surviving giants seem entirely captivated by Otto’s actions, none of them staring over the barricade. Raven squats at the base of the barricade, preparing to heave on the mighty wood. “On three!” he bellows. “One...Two...Three!” The barricade shifts up an inch and backwards two feet, enough to squeeze through as Al, Diego, and Adrienne appear besides him.
Thudding sounds echo off the barricade, as if large objects had struck it heavily. “It’s a killing zone! I’m going over the top again,” quickly cries Otto from behind the barrier. “Move the next one or we’re all dead.” Raven and the others pile through the narrow opening, struggling as they catch on the wood and ice. The area behind the barricade is a charnel house, with giant-sized limbs and the remains of six frost giant bodies strewn about. The barricade blocks entry to a largish cavern with another exit on the opposite side. The exit also is blocked with a barricade. Otto sails through the air, pummeled by thrown rocks, towards the second barricade. Indeed, trapped between the two barricades and open to boulder fire from the frost giants, this cavern would be a lethal killing field.
The giants of the second barricade are well aware of Otto as he flies towards them like a vengeful hummingbird. Their attention is only partly taken by his approach; several of the giants bombard the rest of the visible Company as they struggle to reach the second barricade. Diego and Raven set up arrow fire to support Otto, but thus are unable to lift the barricade with the others. The giants hold the barricade while the Company strains to move it. The distinct crack of lightning echoes from behind the barricade, though none of the giants seem at all fazed by it.
“Lift it! Lift it!” shouts Raven as he fires over the barricade into the massed giants. More giants pile up to the barricade, replacing those that Otto has slain, and a solid barrage of boulders flies over the barricade at the two archers. Diego fares the worst of the two, a boulder sending him flying into unconsciousness. The rest of the Company becomes visible, all hauling on the barricade, but it doesn’t stir. Suddenly, a long sword blade spears through the barricade, nearly impaling Cedrus, and the barricade slides backwards several feet. As a heavy, thick spear protrudes through the barricade adjacent to the sword blade, the Company surges forward through the gap.
Jasper sprints through at top speed and finds chaos behind the barricade. Giants and ogres crowd the barricade, attempting to stop the Company from entering. Al and Adrienne charge the furthest of the giants, the vile cloud giant seen before, while the other clerics and Dell attempt to close with nearest. Otto has done an impressive job of holding the barricade, the frost giant dead mound around him, but it has cost him dearly. The long blade in the barricade is his, driven in deep as a handhold to push against the barricade. The spear passes bodily through him and the barricade. Otto’s body is pinioned by it, but Otto struggles on, trying to drag himself up the shaft of the spear.
Jasper quickly searches for the spear thrower and sees a long stairwell rising up the side of the cavern. Three gargoyles fly in loops near the top of the stairwell, where a platform holding a frost giant and a great arbalest caps the stairwell. The gargoyles dodge and weave among huge chunks of ice being thrown from further back in the room. As Jasper watches, the gargoyles launch a horde of magical bolts towards some distant target, and the frost giant lines the arbalest on the gargoyles. With a great discharge, the frost giant’s weapon launches a huge spear through one of the gargoyles. The three gargoyles all get a look of surprise on their stony faces one that fades as the ice chunks strike home. The gargoyles plummet to the ground, where two disappear and the remaining one takes on the form of Oaklock.
Jasper sprints up the stairs, halberd in hand, at the frost giant arbalestier who hurriedly reloads his weapon. As he ascends the slippery, icy stairs, Jasper can see that a great ice chamber extends beyond this narrow entryway. A great battle must have taken place between the wizards and the giants. Not one, not two, not three, but four huge polar bears lie scorched and dead sprawled around the battered and bleeding Winthrop. Strange piles of ice, as if formed from miniature droplets and icicles, coat the polar bears, sealing their corpses to the ground. A gargantuan frost giant, easily as tall as the cloud giant, clad in a chainmail vest and hefting a massive double-bladed axe, slowly swings at Winthrop, who dashes from side to side. The giant bears a large burn along one side of his body, but his vigor is unmatched. The axe sprays chips from the ground and the icy pillars as Winthrop narrowly avoids being hewn in twain. Winthrop sends burst after burst of magical bolts into the huge frost giant, who shrugs them off like water.
As the arbalestier focuses on the approaching monk, Jasper has no more time to take in the scene. Jasper strikes at the arbalest, knocking it flying off into space. The frost giant roars at Jasper, sweeping him off the stairs and into the air. Jasper twists and turns, reaching for the icy wall. Dragging and scraping against the wall, Jasper slows his fall and slides to the floor, uninjured. Collecting his halberd, he rushes back up the stairs again.
The battle at the barricade slowly shifts in the Company’s favor. The giants are peppered by Raven’s missile fire and hemmed in by Cedrus, Adrienne, and Al, while Dell and Hugh, who screams vengeance in Trithereon’s name, wreak havoc on the giants’ hamstrings and kidneys. When the cloud giant, who directs the efforts of the surrounding frost giants, falls, the morale of the warriors breaks. The large frost giant, who has been singularly unable to hit Winthrop after minutes of trying, calls for the retreat. The frost giants fall back in poor order, each running for themselves, across the large cavern. The large frost giant slowly flees, lagging behind the others, but two well-armored frost giants wait for him at the far end of the cavern, where an ice passage exits the chamber. Winthrop sends a bolt of lightning after the large frost giant, but it neither distracts nor fells him, and the frost giants escape.
The Company occupies the great chamber, victors in this battle, if not the war. As they catch their breath, they take in the grandeur of the cavern, a great meeting hall of sorts. Large pillars support the icy ceiling and various tables and benches line the walls, pushed out of the way for the battle. Several large spaces suggest that the barricades the Company surpassed likely were made from tables currently missing. Caged, red-glowing beetles provide an eerie dim illumination, but a flickering light, stronger and more deeply red, flows out from one end of the cavern. In addition to the passage that the giants fled through, another passageway exits out through the left-hand wall.
Most arresting though is the huge throne that sits at the end of the meeting hall, a throne that glitters in the blood-red light. A huge ivory and bone throne, decorated with skulls, silver and faceted gems sits on a dais up above the floor of the meeting hall, dominating the place. A great white hide, both scaly and leathery at the same time, spreads across the wall behind it, and a huge polar bear skin warms the surface of the dais. An alabaster table and three ivory stools share the throne in subservient positions.
Cedrus pries Otto off of the spear through his abdomen and staunches his wounds while the other priests tend to Diego and Oaklock. Otto hovers on the edge of consciousness, Myrick's ring constantly repairing the damage within him. With the application of many bandages and unguents, the archer is returned to a barely conscious state. Diego struggles to his feet and leans on the nearest surface, holding his insides together as he tries to keep up with the others. Oaklock, though, is very dead. The spear jutting through him is lethal, as would be the crushing blows he took from the thrown chunks of ice and the great fall.
Hugh and Cedrus converse over the elf's body. For this very reason they did not bring back the thieves or the gnome. Hugh still has a series of vials of holy water in a wooden box, but they are much more limited than his consecrated flask. The dwarven rod requires a variable amount of holy essence to restore creatures to life, and elves are likely the most difficult, as they lack a soul. Winthrop joins them, and they decide that Oaklock must be revived. Almost all of Trithereon's blessed water is poured over his corpse, annointing his wounds, and the ritual of the dwarven rod performed. Oaklock coughs wetly, violently, and long. "That must have been a big rock," he mutters. "Thanks for binding my wounds, I feel much better."
"You were dead," states Hugh, baldly.
"Not possible," argues Oaklock querelously. "We higher beings lack souls. Our deaths are final to compensate for our more full lives."
"Regardless," interrupts Winthrop. "You can memorize spells immediately because of some miracle that doesn't involve your higher nature, your lack of soul, or the fact that you are covered in water, without a single injury, and have some interesting holes in the front and back of your armor that line up with each other.
Raven and Dell head over to where the reddish light flickers into the room, while Winthrop and Al watch the passages for the return of the giants. Three rooms branch off from a stone cavern that holds a natural fire pit. Hot charcoal broils a horse, spitted across the fire pit. The rooms beyond the fire pit contain furniture and kitchen utensils, but in the one nearest the fire pit is a metal cage with four men trapped in it. Three of them stir weakly and cry out to be freed, but the fourth remains curled in a ball, rocking back and forth while moaning incoherently. Dell heads over to the cage and begins looking at the lock while Raven questions the imprisoned men.
The captives are former soldiers of the Earl of Sterich, lost in battle. Almost thirty of them were once held in this cage, but these four are the last of them. They are able to tell Raven and Dell of a great hubbub and scurrying that took place over the last half-day, with giants running to and fro, bellowing at each other. The kitchen area was overseen by two hag-like giantesses, with darkened skins and a seeming imperviousness to the hot greases and oils, and several towering ogres. These giantesses took great joy in tormenting the captives, but even they seemed concerned by events. The last the captives saw of the giantesses was them bundling up their belongings in great sacks and packs and heading across the great hall along with other frost giantesses and warriors. With a resounding click, Dell levers the lock open.
“They are trying to escape us,” curses Raven. “How dare they! We must keep the pressure on them.” He surveys the battered Company. “Any chance Otto will be ready to fight soon?” he inquires of the clerics. A blank stare greets his gaze.
“They must have a passage built, or a redoubt of some sort,” comments Winthrop, when told of the situation. “No self-respecting lord would have a castle with no back entrance or secret tunnel to flee through.”
“What about the temples of Nerull we destroyed? They had no secret tunnels to flee through,” asks Al, remembering his and Garvin’s near-death experience in one of them.
“My point exactly!” cries Winthrop, somehow winning that debate.
Raven orders the captives to stay near the fire pit, the only place warm enough for them, in their barely clad state, to survive. He then collects the Company together to press onwards after the fleeing giants. Only fifteen or twenty minutes has passed since their great battle, and Raven hopes to catch them and continue the battle. The rest of the Company seems equally happy with the idea that the giants will just flee the glacial rift, but are also resigned to fact that this final push must be made. No one suggests retreating and hiding to recoup for a future battle. Oaklock wishes for more time, as he has only been able to memorize the least of his magics, but it is not granted.
The icy passage heads forward to where a large boulder partially blocks its exit. Cedrus and Hugh both study the floor and agree that no one has passed this way since the retreat of the bleeding giants. Any foes lie ahead. Jasper stealthily creeps up to the great stone and listens. After a few moments, he waves the others forward.
The trail of blood leads off to the right, into a long cavern adorned with many items. Strange heads and pelts are splayed across the walls and floors. A table with chairs surrounding it occupies an alcove and a plethora of smaller objects, trophies of some sort, sit on icy nooks and crannies between the heads and pelts. The blood trail cuts through the long axis of the room, past another passageway and up several tall stairs that run the width of the trophy hall. A thick curtain, hung floor to ceiling, blocks sight of what lies at the top of the stairs.
Giving no thought to these strange treasures and trophies, Raven leads the Company straight for the stairs and plunges through the thick curtain. The huge giant and his two fell bodyguards stare Raven in the face! Beyond the curtain is the antechamber to a bedroom. A thick screen separates the antechamber from the bedroom itself, but it has been pushed aside. A stream of blood leads across the floor into a narrow crevasse in the left hand wall, partially obscured by a tapestry. The huge giant looks unfortunately quite hale, as a series of empty flasks sit on an adjacent table, between three fine drinking goblets. “Hävittää heiveröinen outo!” screams the huge giant as he hefts a gargantuan shield and axe.
Raven, who has carefully kept arrow to string, sends a shot over the top of the shield scoring a furrow across the huge giant’s face. The giant staggers backwards, rocked on his heels, in surprise. Winthrop, wand in one hand, dashes forward into the gap, gesturing wildly and chanting polysyllabic words. The giants slow, as if suddenly dipped in tar, as the Company vaults into the room. They pummel and beat the gargantuan giant as they react in slow motion. Otto staggers forward, beating aside the great shield. Like a mammoth beset by a swarm of bees, the giant succumbs to the accumulated blows of the Company, never even able to swing once in anger.
His bodyguards, amazed at their failure, beat a fighting retreat to the narrow crevasse. The bulk of one of the giants fills the passage, forcing the Company to face him, while the other flees on down the crevasse. Winthrop thrusts forth his wand and fills the crevasse with steam. The giant bellows in pain, red pustules and boils breaking out along his exposed flesh. With the cloud of steam coalescing as icicles on the passage walls, Raven steps forth and fires arrow after arrow into the chest of the giant bodyguard. The giant keels over into the passage, his lifeblood pouring from his wounds.
Raven leads the others down the icy crevasse as fast as possible, hoping to catch up with the fleeing bodyguard. Dell’s voice echoes from the back of the Company, “Whoa! Hold up!” The Company skids to a halt. “In the ice here, a strange lever sticks out. I can’t see where it goes, or what it connects to. It looks like part of a trap mechanism though! But keep running if you want!” Dell sounds doubtful of the wisdom of such an option. The Company collects around Dell, where he points upwards at a thick iron bar that protrudes well over their heads. Indeed, it appears to rest in a slot in the ice, but nothing connects to the far end of the bar. When Dell pulls on the bar, it moves freely, but doesn’t come out of the wall. “Definitely a magical trap of some sort,” he opines.
Raven grinds his teeth audibly. The frost giants are fleeing and to chase after them begs blundering into some trap that protects this passage. “Alright, we back up and secure this spot. Then we search for others,” pronounces Raven, beckoning the others back to the end of the crevasse. Leaving Diego and Cedrus to watch for stragglers or the return of the giants, the others begin searching through the passageways for signs of life.
