Post by Dead Greyhawk on Aug 6, 2006 19:36:06 GMT -5
The Company in the Glacial Rift of the Frost Giants back to the ice toad temple, by the trash cave. There, with Oaklock on guard, invisibly watching outside, the Company rested and recovered. It is horribly cold without any heat, and Otto finds his fingers numbe and unresponsive.
Oaklock wandered the caves, searching out the frost giants and finding that the caves here above were mainly empty and evacuated. He did find an odd room, with eight frozen people, each bearing some valuable object.
After many hours rest, the Company was rejuvenated. The clerics had many of their prayers and the mages all of their powerful magics. Raven had seen a white dragon depart from the sinkhole, knocking snow from the edge of the rift into the quicksnow, while the Company rested, but it had not returned.
The Company decided to visit this strange room while Cedrus prayed for some of his miracles. They successfully carved free a magical scroll, noting that the ice pillars containing the figures bore the weight of the ceiling. They decided to come back later for the objects the others had.
They pushed down past where they had been ambushed before. The room at the end of the long spiral corridor was ornately carved and had many passages, some dead-ends, leading from it, including one blocked by a boulder. The passage at the end of the cavern led to a room filled with offal and discarded goods and to another filled with rock and ice debris, broken furnishings, and some corpses, giant corpses.
Three hill giants appeared bludgeoned to death, caught under falling ice and rock from the ceiling. Gold coins spilled out from amidst the ice and Otto and Al dug them out. A shield marked with the insignia of Keoland was also found.
Ice toads could be heard croaking from an adjacent passage, and Jasper was sent to watch behind them, for fear of an ambush. While running back to the ornately carved room, he heard a distinct thudding sound, but couldn't identify what it was.
The toads were dealt with with little harm, though Diego was caught in Dell's magical fear. They hid nothing of value. The other two passages leading out of the room with the dead led to a collapsed passage, a hill giant torso extending out from the debris. The giant appeared to have been running towards this room. His sword jammed into the ice by the force of his collapse, an iron tube lay just out of his reach. Inside the tube was a map, annotated in giantish, displaying what appears to be this level of the rift.
Dell, Raven, and Winthrop argue extensively over memorizing a spell to read the map, with Dell eventually acceding. Cedrus prayers for more of his spells while Dell relearns his magics. Many of the Company help in searching the room and find another, hidden
boulderish door in the ornate carvings.
Once cast, the annotations on the map show that the area beyond the collapsed ceiling is vast and contains prisoners and barracks, as well as the Jarl's hall. The boulder blocks entry to coin and food storage. The hidden door opens into a void on the map. Raven suggests any hidden passages wouldn't be kept
The Company decides to open the boulder, and some of the Company ventures in. A large pile of silverish coin is visible. Dell and Jasper find some snow against one wall, and realize there is a significant breeze when the rest of the party is frozen in dragon's breath. A white dragon is here hovering up out of sight.
Many of the Company are injured, but few drop, instead scattering. Otto drags the unconscious Oaklock out, while Diego shoots shafts into the air above. Dell, flaming with a shield of fire, runs over to Raven in time to receive another burst of breath, enough to knock Raven unconscious, though the fire handles the cold for Dell. A third breath drops Al and Diego, but Dell successfully slows the dragon and takes flight.
Knowing something is wrong, the dragon flees up the sinkhole, located over the snow that Dell and Jasper found, with Dell in pursuit. The dragon's flight is fast, and Dell is imperiled at the top of the sinkhole, making it over ground before the dragon can attack him. Below, Otto offers half his potion of flying to Raven, who has been brought conscious by Cedrus. Raven flies up after Dell.
Dell ignites the dragon with fire, enough to wound it grievously, but not kill it. Furious with rage, it foolishly attacks the flaming Dell, grazing him with a claw and opening up it's own arteries. The dragon dies and collapses to the snow.
Raven flies up the sinkhole in time to see a huge draconic corpse plummeting towards him. He scurries back down the shaft and makes it to the ground before the dragon's body slams him into unconsciousness.
The Company spends several hours recovering and healing, searching through the pile of silver, electrum, and platinum coins, marble and alabaster statues, silver boxes, armor, rock crystals, and weapons. Magic is detected, on the scroll recovered from the ice block, the Keoish shield, a set of chainmail, a dagger, and four potions. They are set aside to be taken later.
The Company is at roughly two-thirds health, high on mage spells but low on healing, when the discussion about the secret door is had. The Company decides to open the door, and does so.
The door reveals a sixty foot room with a single exit. At the end of the room are two frost giants, standing behind a large, ten foot wide table, now turned on its side and blocking the exit. The frost giants stand in alcoves and one has an iron horn to hand. Otto is dumbstruck by the sight and suffers a hit from a large boulder.
Otto charges forward and finds that the ice chunks on the ground are exceptionally sharp, lacerating his feet as he hurries to knock the barricade aside. With his strength, he believes he can quickly gain access for the others. Jasper hurries to join him. Otto puts down his sword and Jasper his axe to heave at the table.
Otto and Jasper heave at the table while Raven shoots at the frost giants, who wind their horn. The others more carefully enter the room, avoiding the damaging ice shards. Otto and Jasper's efforts to lift the table fail by the smallest of margins.
Al hurries to join them, as does Hugh, while Diego crowds in to provide cover fire with Raven. The sounds of heavy footsteps can be heard behind the barrier, though nothing can be seen. Al, Otto, and Jasper all heave at the table, and fail to lift the table by the smallest of margins.
Raven and Diego's arrows slay one of the giants, and the other giant tries to fend off the Company by poking over the barrier with a long spear. His efforts do not dissuade the Company, who, with Diego and Hugh's additional strength, are certain to move the table aside.
With such a cluster of the Company's might in an enclosed area, the unthinkable occurs. A ball of fire appears on the Company-men lifting the table. Otto, whose sword is on the ground, is sorely burned and collapses, as does Diego. The others are injured to some extent.
Confusion reigns while Cedrus stands Otto back up. Winthrop thought he saw an object drop from above, beyond the reach of light, but can't see anything. Dell wildly throws a glowing stone, unwilling to expose himself to boulders from a cloud giant further down the passage.
As the barrier is finally shifted, creating an opening towards the waiting Adrienne and Oaklock, another ball of fire erupts on the Company. Otto, still without his sword, is burnt badly, his backpack catching on fire, his ring of water walking melting to his hand, and his collossal spade catching fire, and he collapses to the ground. Hugh, his holywater turning to steam in a great cloud, collapses to the ground. Diego is near death; his skin charring.
Al, his backpack on fire and liquid pouring out of it, grabs Diego and pulls him out of combat, attempting to staunch his wounds. Cedrus, burnt and bloodied, again heals Otto. Raven grabs Hugh and pulls him aside.
Oaklock and Adrienne plug the gap as ogres, unseen behind the ten foot barricade, pour through. The fight is uneven, with Oaklock struggling to cast his spells under such beatings. Adrienne is without prayers, and resorts to her sword. Winthrop, still unable to see a target, casts a fireball against the ceiling of the room. Above, he sees an ogre mage, tethered to the ceiling, holding a necklace with golden globes on it. The fireball clips the ogre mage, causing him harm, but not killing him.
The ogre mage drops another globe of fire onto the Company, one that Otto withstands as he rages. Winthrop is able to slay the ogre mage, filling his body with excess magical bolts to be certain. Al and Otto tear through the ogres while Dell slows the cloud giant. Even with an errant shot by Raven hitting Oaklock, the ogres are routed, their bodies crashing to the ground.
As the ogres and the cloud giant flee, confusion sets in among them, and they fight among themselves and wander aimlessly. Dell smirks as only three of the sixteen ogres escape.
Much binding of wounds and the use of all but one of Hugh's prayers brings the Company to its current shape. Diego lives and is functional, though he looks like he was nigh on to death. Dell was able, using the magical rope, to get to the tethered ogre mage, strip his body, and cut him to the ground, where Hugh burns him to death.
The ogre mage held the necklace, still with two orbs, some strange scroll in an odd language, several valuable gemstones, and an odd box that Dell claims is a puzzle of some type. The frost giants and ogres hold nothing.
The Company secures the entry to this room, using the alcoves and the table as cover. The Company has almost no healing left, perhaps one spell from Hugh and the remains of the chalice, but the Frost Giants must be on the run. This has to be their last gasp effort.
The Company can retreat, leaving the wealth of the dragon behind, to try to recover. They can try to stay here, risking attack. Or they can use the offensive power of the Company in one last attack on the Frost Giants. What will they decide?
Oaklock wandered the caves, searching out the frost giants and finding that the caves here above were mainly empty and evacuated. He did find an odd room, with eight frozen people, each bearing some valuable object.
After many hours rest, the Company was rejuvenated. The clerics had many of their prayers and the mages all of their powerful magics. Raven had seen a white dragon depart from the sinkhole, knocking snow from the edge of the rift into the quicksnow, while the Company rested, but it had not returned.
The Company decided to visit this strange room while Cedrus prayed for some of his miracles. They successfully carved free a magical scroll, noting that the ice pillars containing the figures bore the weight of the ceiling. They decided to come back later for the objects the others had.
They pushed down past where they had been ambushed before. The room at the end of the long spiral corridor was ornately carved and had many passages, some dead-ends, leading from it, including one blocked by a boulder. The passage at the end of the cavern led to a room filled with offal and discarded goods and to another filled with rock and ice debris, broken furnishings, and some corpses, giant corpses.
Three hill giants appeared bludgeoned to death, caught under falling ice and rock from the ceiling. Gold coins spilled out from amidst the ice and Otto and Al dug them out. A shield marked with the insignia of Keoland was also found.
Ice toads could be heard croaking from an adjacent passage, and Jasper was sent to watch behind them, for fear of an ambush. While running back to the ornately carved room, he heard a distinct thudding sound, but couldn't identify what it was.
The toads were dealt with with little harm, though Diego was caught in Dell's magical fear. They hid nothing of value. The other two passages leading out of the room with the dead led to a collapsed passage, a hill giant torso extending out from the debris. The giant appeared to have been running towards this room. His sword jammed into the ice by the force of his collapse, an iron tube lay just out of his reach. Inside the tube was a map, annotated in giantish, displaying what appears to be this level of the rift.
Dell, Raven, and Winthrop argue extensively over memorizing a spell to read the map, with Dell eventually acceding. Cedrus prayers for more of his spells while Dell relearns his magics. Many of the Company help in searching the room and find another, hidden
boulderish door in the ornate carvings.
Once cast, the annotations on the map show that the area beyond the collapsed ceiling is vast and contains prisoners and barracks, as well as the Jarl's hall. The boulder blocks entry to coin and food storage. The hidden door opens into a void on the map. Raven suggests any hidden passages wouldn't be kept
The Company decides to open the boulder, and some of the Company ventures in. A large pile of silverish coin is visible. Dell and Jasper find some snow against one wall, and realize there is a significant breeze when the rest of the party is frozen in dragon's breath. A white dragon is here hovering up out of sight.
Many of the Company are injured, but few drop, instead scattering. Otto drags the unconscious Oaklock out, while Diego shoots shafts into the air above. Dell, flaming with a shield of fire, runs over to Raven in time to receive another burst of breath, enough to knock Raven unconscious, though the fire handles the cold for Dell. A third breath drops Al and Diego, but Dell successfully slows the dragon and takes flight.
Knowing something is wrong, the dragon flees up the sinkhole, located over the snow that Dell and Jasper found, with Dell in pursuit. The dragon's flight is fast, and Dell is imperiled at the top of the sinkhole, making it over ground before the dragon can attack him. Below, Otto offers half his potion of flying to Raven, who has been brought conscious by Cedrus. Raven flies up after Dell.
Dell ignites the dragon with fire, enough to wound it grievously, but not kill it. Furious with rage, it foolishly attacks the flaming Dell, grazing him with a claw and opening up it's own arteries. The dragon dies and collapses to the snow.
Raven flies up the sinkhole in time to see a huge draconic corpse plummeting towards him. He scurries back down the shaft and makes it to the ground before the dragon's body slams him into unconsciousness.
The Company spends several hours recovering and healing, searching through the pile of silver, electrum, and platinum coins, marble and alabaster statues, silver boxes, armor, rock crystals, and weapons. Magic is detected, on the scroll recovered from the ice block, the Keoish shield, a set of chainmail, a dagger, and four potions. They are set aside to be taken later.
The Company is at roughly two-thirds health, high on mage spells but low on healing, when the discussion about the secret door is had. The Company decides to open the door, and does so.
The door reveals a sixty foot room with a single exit. At the end of the room are two frost giants, standing behind a large, ten foot wide table, now turned on its side and blocking the exit. The frost giants stand in alcoves and one has an iron horn to hand. Otto is dumbstruck by the sight and suffers a hit from a large boulder.
Otto charges forward and finds that the ice chunks on the ground are exceptionally sharp, lacerating his feet as he hurries to knock the barricade aside. With his strength, he believes he can quickly gain access for the others. Jasper hurries to join him. Otto puts down his sword and Jasper his axe to heave at the table.
Otto and Jasper heave at the table while Raven shoots at the frost giants, who wind their horn. The others more carefully enter the room, avoiding the damaging ice shards. Otto and Jasper's efforts to lift the table fail by the smallest of margins.
Al hurries to join them, as does Hugh, while Diego crowds in to provide cover fire with Raven. The sounds of heavy footsteps can be heard behind the barrier, though nothing can be seen. Al, Otto, and Jasper all heave at the table, and fail to lift the table by the smallest of margins.
Raven and Diego's arrows slay one of the giants, and the other giant tries to fend off the Company by poking over the barrier with a long spear. His efforts do not dissuade the Company, who, with Diego and Hugh's additional strength, are certain to move the table aside.
With such a cluster of the Company's might in an enclosed area, the unthinkable occurs. A ball of fire appears on the Company-men lifting the table. Otto, whose sword is on the ground, is sorely burned and collapses, as does Diego. The others are injured to some extent.
Confusion reigns while Cedrus stands Otto back up. Winthrop thought he saw an object drop from above, beyond the reach of light, but can't see anything. Dell wildly throws a glowing stone, unwilling to expose himself to boulders from a cloud giant further down the passage.
As the barrier is finally shifted, creating an opening towards the waiting Adrienne and Oaklock, another ball of fire erupts on the Company. Otto, still without his sword, is burnt badly, his backpack catching on fire, his ring of water walking melting to his hand, and his collossal spade catching fire, and he collapses to the ground. Hugh, his holywater turning to steam in a great cloud, collapses to the ground. Diego is near death; his skin charring.
Al, his backpack on fire and liquid pouring out of it, grabs Diego and pulls him out of combat, attempting to staunch his wounds. Cedrus, burnt and bloodied, again heals Otto. Raven grabs Hugh and pulls him aside.
Oaklock and Adrienne plug the gap as ogres, unseen behind the ten foot barricade, pour through. The fight is uneven, with Oaklock struggling to cast his spells under such beatings. Adrienne is without prayers, and resorts to her sword. Winthrop, still unable to see a target, casts a fireball against the ceiling of the room. Above, he sees an ogre mage, tethered to the ceiling, holding a necklace with golden globes on it. The fireball clips the ogre mage, causing him harm, but not killing him.
The ogre mage drops another globe of fire onto the Company, one that Otto withstands as he rages. Winthrop is able to slay the ogre mage, filling his body with excess magical bolts to be certain. Al and Otto tear through the ogres while Dell slows the cloud giant. Even with an errant shot by Raven hitting Oaklock, the ogres are routed, their bodies crashing to the ground.
As the ogres and the cloud giant flee, confusion sets in among them, and they fight among themselves and wander aimlessly. Dell smirks as only three of the sixteen ogres escape.
Much binding of wounds and the use of all but one of Hugh's prayers brings the Company to its current shape. Diego lives and is functional, though he looks like he was nigh on to death. Dell was able, using the magical rope, to get to the tethered ogre mage, strip his body, and cut him to the ground, where Hugh burns him to death.
The ogre mage held the necklace, still with two orbs, some strange scroll in an odd language, several valuable gemstones, and an odd box that Dell claims is a puzzle of some type. The frost giants and ogres hold nothing.
The Company secures the entry to this room, using the alcoves and the table as cover. The Company has almost no healing left, perhaps one spell from Hugh and the remains of the chalice, but the Frost Giants must be on the run. This has to be their last gasp effort.
The Company can retreat, leaving the wealth of the dragon behind, to try to recover. They can try to stay here, risking attack. Or they can use the offensive power of the Company in one last attack on the Frost Giants. What will they decide?