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Turn Twenty-Three
Act II: The Hall of Snurre Ironbelly the Foul, Fire Giant King Brief Recap: The adventurers have scouted the entrance to the steading and prepare to enter. Their plan: cast Silence and Invisibility on the fighters and send them in to do the killing. What could go wrong?
Entering the Hall of Snurre Ironbelly the Foul Blade accepts the loan of the Girdle of Giant Strength from Bronk. He straps it on, feeling his armor lighten immediately. The pile of lava, slag, and jutting black rock which houses the Hall of Snurre is a steeply rising hill about 800' at the summit. The party makes their way up the rocky path to the doors of the steading. The path turns into a thirty foot wide gully as it nears the two huge obsidian doors set in the side of the mountain. The fumes near this place are worse than in other places, and hot gusts of steam and foul gases escape from cracks in the ground and cliff walls. As they near the very entrance, Mog chants softly a moment, then casts a spell on Blade. Suddenly the entire party is plunged into deafness. No sound is heard at all. Bronk and Ghotu both grab the edge of the left door and pull. They strain for a moment, then the door begins to slide silently. Blade puts the hood of his Faux Cloak of Elvinkind up, and fades into the color of the stone wall behind him. Chameleon like, he turns black as he steps before the obsidian doors. The party barely sees him slip through. Humphrey stands back from the door to escape the silence spell, and speaks the word of command for Invisibility on his staff: "[Bry insert the command word here.]!" First Ghotu, then Bronk is turned invisible with a touch from the aged wizard's staff. Inside, Blade's eyes must adjust to the dimness. He crouches down inside the door for a moment, Giantslayer sword drawn, and sees metal braziers burning a short distance down the hall, then much farther down (over forty meters) he sees the end of the hall, which opens up to the right apparently. The floor is polished obsidian, and great wall hangings can be seen on both sides of the hall. Just to his left, he sees a curtain concealing a small room. His sword is buzzing with warning and a killing lust. The ugly head of the fire giant guard pokes itself out, peering at the slightly opened door.
The guard is about twelve feet tall, with jet black skin and flaming red hair woven into twin braids that hang down on either side from beneath a steel skull cap helmet. It is covered in a long hauberk of metal plates girded with a thick leather belt. It is a squat creature, being easily half as wide as it's twelve foot height, looking like a great black dwarf. It has an eight foot bastard sword in its fist. Blade wastes no time, and as the giant emerges from the room, Blade moves in for the kill. He decides on a decapitation, for the giant's thick neck is exposed and in reach. With a single swipe, the Giantslayer sword cleaves the head off the giant, imparting unto Blade a strangely satisfying feeling. [80 damage to the giant.] Blade takes a moment to swipe the giant's purse, a slightly large reptile-skinned buckled affair that he can easily conceal beneath his cloak for now. [Keith, please post what Blade does with the purse. He can't search it now.] [I'll just stow it somehwere on myself right now and search it after the melee.] The fighter cleans his sword on the curtain and sticks his arm out the door. The others file quickly in. As they arranged before they entered, Blade leads Bronk and Ghotu down the hall, the two invisible fighters walking with their hands on Blade's shoulders. Ghotu, to Blade's right, has his axe and shield. Bronk has his Vorpal halberd in his left hand. Bibi, Humphrey, and Mog follow a considerable distance behind, ready to rush ahead once combat is joined.
One head of one Ettins, the more dimwitted of that pair, seems to catch a scent. Blade shrugs off the hands of the fighters, another agreed upon signal--to attack. Blade heads to the Ettins on the left (which had caught the scent), while Ghotu and Bronk take the one on the right. The Ettins stares straight at Blade as he walks steadily up, bewilderment twisting both the creature's faces. It does not raise its weapons. One head, the smarter of the pair, opens its mouth to bellow, but no sound is heard--Blade is within 15', and the Silence spell has taken effect. That head blinks stupidly, then tries to howl again with no effect. Discovered, Blade leaps the last few meters at the Ettins, aiming a thrust at the Ettins's chest just beneath the breastbone. One head of the Ettins snarls, the other remains confused, and the monster brings its spear to bear in defense. A short one-handed thrust catches Blade in the shoulder, glancing off his armor. [Blade takes 17 damage, down to 98/115.] In the silence Blade can't hear himself grunt, but he can definitely feel the wind knocked from his lungs. Blade's thrust strikes the Ettins's leather-bound chest and glances off. [18 damage, the Ettins is still healthy.] Meanwhile, Ghotu and Bronk, both still invisible, rush the other totally unsuspecting Ettins, one of whose heads stares vacantly, its jaw slack, the other head looking in the exact opposite direction of the approaching fighters.
Ghotu and Bronk quickly look around the area they have entered. They stand in a great hall, stretching easily two hundred feet long to the east [i.e. to their right as they entered--see the map of the hall, area 2] and forty feet wide. The black stone floor is polished to a mirror surface, luridly reflecting the light from massive braziers and giant torches. Two rows of pillars stretching the length of the great hall are carved with images of dwarves straining to hold up giant black figures atop them. Foul gas and steam shoots from fissures in the walls, which are carved with images in some places and natural volcanic in others. The hall sears with heat, like being in a forge. At the far east end of the hall, two hundred feet away, Ghotu and Bronk see what must be King Snurre himself. This hugely muscled and extraordinarily broad giant sits upon a massive throne of jet black and white banded onyx, inlaid with sard and set with fire opals and rubies. Behind the throne, on the wall above, is the flaming skull, Snurre's personal symbol. He wears a white cloak (reputedly of White Dragon hide) and an iron crown set with many large jewels. Beneath the white cloak is black armor, and a giant sized two handed sword lies across his knees. [King Snurre sits at area 3 on the map.] Ghotu and Bronk turn to check on Blade, and they see that his Ettins is still alive. It strikes at Blade with both spear and mace in a bash-jab combination. Choosing to face the mace rather than the spear, Blade closes with the Ettins, evading the spear thrust but taking the mace on the hilt of his short sword and shoulder [Blade takes 10 damage, down to 88/115]. His left arm tingles as he counter attacks, now inside on the Ettins. The Giantslayer sword almost chooses its own targets, leveling itself and stabbing two quick thrusts between the Ettins's ribs, both piercing the heart [40 damage total]. The creature immediately falls, shudders, and dies. Bibi, Humphrey, and Mog advance to the entrance of the hall, and the entire company sees (but doesn't hear) King Snurre stand and bark orders. Immediately, four fire giants step into view between Snurre and the party. Mog dispels the Silence, and says, "This does no good now." The giants rush toward the adventurers, with Snurre following. The fire giants are obviously his personal guard, and they are armored with chain shirts, each carrying a two handed axe and a throwing hammer. Two large hell hounds flank Snurre as he charges forth. Snurre issues a battle cry in the fire giant tongue. Ghotu, seeing the passageways leaving the hall between the giants and the company, charges to cut off the giants' exit. "Bronk, block that right exit," he says, pointing with his axe. Ghotu intends to feint high, then come in low striking at the first guard's knee. He charges this giant head-on, intending to either break his knee or at least prevent himself from barreling headlong among the oncoming mob. Bronk Rushes over to the other passage and taunts the giant with a rude gesture, ready to cut off another head. He will start swinging at the first one that get's near him. "Wait! Allow the King to come through the throng!" Humphrey says. "Bibi, you and Mog must handle the hellhounds and the remaining guards. Let me handle the King." Humphrey begins to cast a spell. Blade wasn't sure how much good the wizard's scroll was going to do and he didn't intend to wait around to find out. his ginat slayer sword was humming in his hand, glefully awiting its next taste of giant blood. Blade is more than happy to appease it's thirst. He charges at the giants, striking at any bodyguard that come at him, but his ultimate goal is to reach the king. Defending himself as neseccary Balde begins to cut a bloody swath through the resisitance. Bibi targets the hound that is farther back. She casts Charm Mammal. After the spell is cast (if she is not in immediate danger) she begins to speak to the animal calm voice. "It's all right, we are your friend now" as if she was speaking to injured deer. (If or when the hell hound seems calm and the immediate danger has past. Bibi says to the others "please don't hurt him. He is now my friend."
Thae-Rune Ibn, Wrathgiver of the Dark Queen, strides into the chamber. Eclavdra is there, lounging on a couch in what passed for their inner sanctum here, a small room hewn from stone. The room is protected, and they needn't fear intruders. He arrived in the fire giant hall nearly a month ago, after escaping the hill giant fort using the Waypoint Maker, a useful device. He expected the humans and the mage from the south to follow him immediately, and he planned a deadly ambush for them. But no one followed him through the waypoint, and after a week of guarding the spot, the fool Snurre (the name sounded like the Githyanki word for "shit") refused to continue posting giants there. The rocs had carried one off. And there were worse things hunting the mountains. "The stars are in alignment, Eclavdra," hisses Thae-Rune Ibn. "Does Goil-Ward Adz draw near? Use your powers, witch. Tell me. Is this lunar cycle the one?" Eclavdra, a priestess of great power, sits up on the couch and crosses her legs, her lithe body assuming a zazen position. She stares straight ahead, her eyes losing focus. "Yes, I can sense his presence. He projects himself here, through the Gate. I can feel his mind grasping for it." She closes her eyes, concentrating. "He bears the Rod, and its power is blinding, even without the Obsidian Stone." "Good," says The-Rune Ibn. His task was nearly complete. When the High Priest Goil-Ward Adz arrived, they would finally reassemble the Rod of Gith, which was sundered so long ago. The High Priest could use the completed Rod to summon their Goddess, their Dark Queen, to crush all resistance and subjugate the inhabitants of this land. Then he would be able to leave this wretched plane and return to the Astral Realm. Goil-Ward Adz could lead the migration here himself, and the Dark Queen could add this place to her Realm, this Wurld that Goil-Ward Adz and the faithful believed to be their ancestral home, from before the time of the Yllth and the Bondage. Thae-Rune Ibn knew not the truth of such ancient history, and doubted that the clerics of the Dark Queen did either. He was a mage, a Wrathgiver; he did what he did because his Queen commanded him. "When does the High Priest arrive," he asks Eclavdra. "Soon," she answers, eyes still closed. She suddenly opens them, and looks into Thae-Rune Ibn's eyes. "The High Priest arrives before the full moon." The full moon was in three days. It was the time that the Dark Queen could be summoned, when the astronomical and astral requirements of the summoning spell were properly fulfilled. The planets would be in alignment like this only once a year for perhaps another year, maybe a few years at most; after that, the spell could not be fulfilled, full moon or no. It could then be another thousand years before the planets would reassume a proper alignment. The High Priest, Goil-Ward Adz, would want to Summon the Queen as quickly as possible when he arrived from the Astral Plane. "You wonder about those who followed you," Eclavdra says. "You know that they must know our plans." He hated it when she did this, reading his mind when his attention lapsed. He hisses at her, and says, "Careful witch." She stands and moves over to her alter of Gith, turning her back to him. He could rightfully kill her for such an insult. "What does it matter if they know our plans? What can they do?" "They can mobilize their armies, organize their resistance. Our spies have told us they are doing just that, only weeks after the attack on Nosra's steading. This Northern Kingdom has tripled the garrison at Thedrickstand Keep, and even our spies among the southern mages have reported stirrings in their counsels, questioning the wisdom of their inaction since I took the Obsidian stone from under their noses. They suspect. The old fool [Humphrey's Master] knew, and they didn't believe him. Now his lackey has stirred the Northern Kingdom against us." "None of that will matter," says Eclavdra. "When the Dark Queen is here, all resistance will be washed away. There are no Gods in this land, only mortals and demons. There are none who can stand before the Queen." Eclavdra changes her tone slightly, becoming more friendly. "Where is the Obsidian Stone now, Thae-Rune Ibn?" "It is in a safe place," he says, guarding his thoughts carefully. But Eclavdra already knows where the stone is hidden. And soon, if her plans succeed, she will have the stone herself.
Posting Instructions: Snurre and his four bodyguards are nearly 200 feet away down the hall, which is 40 feet wide with two rows of pillars running the length. It will take them one full round to reach us if we stand still, or if we charge we will meet them in combat next round. Spell casters can cast spells over the heads of the fighters because the giants are so large. Note there are exits from this room behind the party, and one on either side of the room between the party and the fire giants (perhaps where fire giant reenforcements can be found). Please post your action for two rounds. If anyone uses missile weapons, please let me know if you are using your magic ones or normal ones (see your character sheets for what kinds of magic you have). Spell casters please indicate the source of your magic (i.e., spell or item).
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