Beneath the Steading

Round 1:

Bibi quickly unwraps her amulet. She chooses a stone (the lightest colored one) and clutches it in her hand, uttering a brief invocation. The stone begins to feel warm in her palm, then hot. Before it reaches the point at which it would burn her, it begins to cool, and Bibi feels the energy released by the stone pass through and around her. There is no apparent effect. Bibi quickly puts the amulet away in favor of her bow.

Bruce swings his axe at the hill giant between him and Bronk, just as Bronk brings his halberd to bear from behind the giant. Bruce's axe hits, but the blow is a glancing one. Bronk's halberd also glances off the giant's greaves doing little damage.

The giant swings its halberd at Bruce, as two more also approach to attack. The first giant misses Bruce, but the second connects with its great axe. [Bruce takes 17 damage, down to 42/80 hp.] The blow sends Bruce sprawling backward [toward the east wall], his great axe slipping from his hand. He is briefly disoriented, and blood runs from his brow onto his face. The hill giant moves in for the kill.

The third giant swings at Bronk with what looks like a broken treestump bound with iron belts and barbed wire. The blow sweeps Bronk across the floor into some dead orcs. [Bronk takes 14, down to 60/90.]

Nearest to Blade are a hill giant (with only a single tooth, and that standing straight up in the middle on his lower jaw, his eyes staring in different directions, neither one directly at Blade--which actually makes defending against the giant more difficult) and the fire giant. Blade evades the fire giant for now, striking at the ugly hill giant. He slashes its leg, opening a wound. The giant slaying sword sings in Blade's head with glee. Then Blade realizes what he had taken for glee was actually a shrill warning, and he notices too late that the hill giant had counter attacked. It swings at Blade with an axe and connects. [Blade takes 15, down to 57/106.] Blade is knocked past Ghotu by the blow but keeps his feet.

Ghotu meanwhile advances on that giant and hits it with his battleaxe, opening the wound Blade started into a crippling wound. The hill giant falls, conscious but lame.

The fire giant swings at Ghotu once again, trying for another golf swing attack. The sword barely misses Ghotu, slicing the air between him and Mog, who has moved toward the fire giant. He continues closer and places a hand on it's leg. Mog yells up to the fire giant, "Morten Nosra!" The fire giant pauses a moment, then turns and charges Chief Nosra and his entourage.

"Don't say I never did anything," Mog says to Blade.

"Don't say I never did anything," Blade mocks behind Mog's back.

Round 2:

The hill giant nearest Bruce stands over him and swings with a club. Bibi shoots an arrow at it but misses, and loads another cursing. The giant swings down with a two-handed blow. Bruce rolls over, away from his great axe, as the club smashes and splinters in the floor where he was. As the club is raised again he rolls beneath it onto his great axe. Bruce smells a faint smell of something burning.

Bibi's second arrow hits. It strikes the hill giant in the shoulder and briefly distracts it, as it pauses its attack to brush the arrow out of its hide. The hill giant raises the club for another blow just as Bruce tries to rise to one knee, great axe in hand. The giant pauses, a look of confusion coming to its black bearded face. It then begins running in place, dropping its club and struggling to remove the iron greaves it wears on its legs, which are beginning to smoulder. The metal greaves quickly heat to a bright orange, sizzling and giving off a great stench and smoke as they burn the hill giant. Bruce puts it out of its misery with his great axe, splitting its skull.

Bibi hopes that the gaints strange combustion is linked to her. She moves slightly closer to the combat looking for the best target. [She will fire at the most threatening gaints or Chief Nosra if she can get a good shot.]

"By the Gods, that was close!" Bruce yells, as he attacks the nearest Hill Giant, that is already engaged in combat with someone else, with his Great Axe. "I think we can take the lot of them out if we stick together! Anyone hear me?" he yells.

"How could we not? With that cavernous belly for the words to bounce around in, they are quite loud," says Blade.

"You'd better watch your mouth Blade. By the time I get done with you, if I take an inkling to it, they will be calling you 'Putty Knife." Bruce lets out a horrendous guffaw as he leaps into battle, belly jiggling the whole time like some blood-spattered Santa Claus.

Half way across the room, thirty feet away, Mog says to Ghotu in his raspy voice, "I sent the fire giant to attack Nosra. Once he kill him, he be free of my spell and he come back for us."

Ghotu wastes no time. He leaps on the hill giant he and Blade wounded earlier, finishing him. Then he and the recovered Blade moves to help Bronk.

Bronk swings his halberd at the hill giant with the iron-bound tree stump and hacks into his shoulder. The hill giant returns the blow, and hits. [Bronk takes 14, down to 46/90.] Bronk maintains his feet and brings his halberd around for a second blow, connecting again, but still not felling the hill giant. Ghotu Graver and Blade arrive at that moment. Ghotu hamstrings the giant, and the three fighters quickly finish him off.

Meanwhile, the orcs have slain the wargs and manticores, though at least forty orcs died in the process. Krulek and his killers have one of the hill giants cornered against the east wall and are about to kill it.

See the Battlemap for a diagram of the situation. Please email in your action according to the Manifesto. The hill giants still seem like fighting, and the hooded figure is nowhere to be seen. More orcs are pouring into the room, and it is getting quite smelly.

Check out the Trophy Room for running totals (not including this last couple of turns just yet) of all the creatures killed, experience points earned, and treasure gathered so far on the adventures of . . .