Hill Giants! (IC)

[raspberrybadger]

The four of you have just eaten breakfast and left the camp for the day. You've begun walking north along a ridge line, with a steep slope to the east and the west. To the east some 80 feet away, a few children are playing some game which appears to involve throwing rocks straight up in the air for maximum height. To the west is a carpet of short plants of various kinds, and then more hills.

One of the children cries out in triumph and the others start laughing.

And then there is utter silence. Even the birds have stopped their noises.

A heartbeat later, some pitch black snake like thing has burst out of the earth between you and the children. Ten feet of it are out of the ground, and at least some of its tail remains below the surface of the soil. And then a stream of black liquid jets from the thing's mouth towards two of the children. Gurta is already 6 feet tall, but she falls face forward when she is hit; most of the skin on her back has been corroded away. Pag was standing behind her, but he fares even worse - there's not much left. Kolg, Boro, and Ar start running away to the east, screaming "Ground Dragon, Ground Dragon!"

You are 60 feet away from the monster, with 10 feet of steep slope (+2 to acrobatics DC, DC 10 acrobatics to not fall if running or charging) and then 50 feet of gradual slope (+1 to melee attacking downhill) between you and it. Roll initiative.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf had seen nothing in his daily oblations the warned him of such danger. The black serpent clearly could avoid his Vision. A demon! The mighty shaman grabbed a hefty boulder from the sack at his wide waist, and bellowed to the children.
"Run! RUUN! Hey, serpent! Fight me!"


Initiative: [roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

Initiative order:

Oolak
Clokglock
Serpent Monster
Kurgu
Gorf

[CasualViking]

Oolak steps up, draws a rock from his bag, breaks into a slow lope, screams at the beast and lobs his rock, sailing over the head of the ground dragon.
Aha! No way I'm charging down there and faceplanting on the slope in front of everyone.

I move 30´forward and draw a rock, rage, throw it, and if I hit, try a free demoralize.

[roll0] vs AC, if it hits: [roll1], if I do damage: [roll2](vs. 10+HD+Wis mod)

[r2d2go]

Clokglok, seeing the ground dragon melt a whole giant, does the only reasonable thing - charge at it, screaming. "BAD DRAGON!"

Not sure if I'm supposed to roll Acrobatics for me or my mount - I think it's my mount, but I'll roll both in case. Looks like it works either way, though :smalltongue:

Hopefully I can be assumed to be on my giant sloth if we're not indoors.

Acrobatics (Clokglok): [roll0]
Acrobatics (Megatherium): [roll1]
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[raspberrybadger]

The charge strikes true and blood sprays everywhere. As the blood hits the skullstick it corrodes everything it touches.

With an awful hiss at the impact the creature turns around to face its attacker. It opens its mouth wide to give another hiss and to show row upon row of teeth. However, those teeth are no match for hill giant skin - not one penetrates when it lunges forward and attacks.

The lance has 20 hp to start, and it takes [roll0] damage after hardness. If that is more than 10 damage the lance gains the broken condition for some penalties until repaired.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf shoved a meaty fist into a sack at his belt, producing a nice round boulder. He heaved the rock toward the injured land-dragon, intent on denting in its skull.
"Die! Eat rocks and die!"


Gorf will move up 15 ft. or so, to within 1 range increment, and heave a boulder at the dragon; subtract 4 if the dragon counts in melee, although the interaction of the lance's reach might be enough that he's in the clear.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Confirmation: 16, +10 damage if it confirms.


Much like Gorf himself, it's a beautiful throw, hitting the beast square on the noggin.

[Cyclopean]

There was no time to spare looking for a rock or log to throw. Bellowing, Kurgu barreled down the slope to strike the monster.


Kurgu charges.
Acrobatics: [roll0]
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[raspberrybadger]

Kurgu slams the thing in the throat, crushing into it with great force. Unfortunately, this time the acidic venom of the thing gets all over the weapon used - and while a giant is hard to poison, it's easier to poison than a lance.

Gurta twitches a little, but Pag is clearly quite dead. The other giant children are running as fast as possible.

Fort save DC 17 or take [roll0] Con damage from poison.

Also, did you forget the -1 from size in your attack bonus? It's a hit either way.

New round, same initiative order:

Oolak
Clokglock
Serpent Monster
Kurgu
Gorf

[CasualViking]

Slightly off to the side, Oolak sees his own opportunity to charge in with an ululating war cry.

Using Panthera on the Hunt (strike as a charge)
Attack: [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

This might not end well.

[r2d2go]

Clokglok, seeing Skullstick start to melt, looks sadly at the lance and wheels around on his mount, riding a distance away in preparation for another charge.

Ride to an angle where I can get a flanking charge next round. Hopefully with 20 foot reach I don't take an AoO?

[raspberrybadger]

Oolak in his fury misses the serpent, but it senses something primal in his charge nonetheless and focuses in on him with a disturbing intensity. Darting in, it strikes him in the leg. Many teeth pierce his skin, and he can feel venom burning through his veins now.

12 damage, and make a DC 17 Fort save vs [roll0] Con damage.

Yet to act this round:

Kurgu
Gorf

[Cyclopean]

Eyes watering from the stinging venom, Kurgu tries to wrestle the creature down rather than strike it again.


I believe you said charging down the ridge gave a +1 to attack? With that, the normal +2 from charging, and the bonus from Kurgu's amulet, she had a total bonus of +4 to her normal +9 modifier.

Kurgu uses Brawler's Attitude to get a +4 to her grapple attempt. I believe she still provokes an AoO.

Fort Save: [roll0]
Grapple Check: [roll1]

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf bellowed with satisfaction as his boulder struck home, but the beast was proving quite durable. He moved further down the incline towards his companions, tossing another boulder as he went.


Gorf will move closer to the fight, within 25 ft. of Oolak. He will toss another boulder on the way, taking a -4 penalty for throwing into melee probably.
Attack: [roll0] (+4 if no melee penalty)
Damage: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

The monster is rubbery, boneless, and slippery and Kurgu fails to get a grasp on it, accomplishing only further contact with the thing's venom.

Another fort save DC 17 vs [roll0] con damage.

Gorf misses badly - his throw looks more like a failed attempt to drop a rock on his foot.

New round.

[CasualViking]

Oolak starts hacking away in a screaming frenzy.

I step around so one of the other can flank on their turn, and use wild fighting. First attack: [roll0], [roll1]. Second attack: [roll2], [roll3]. Demoralize if any of those attacks hit: [1d20+18]. Third attack if demoralize succeeds: [roll4], [roll5]. Still hardness 5, hp 20.

[raspberrybadger]

Oolak's first strike connects, and blood once again flies.

The ground dragon dies hissing under Oolak's frenzy. Quickly, the malevolence goes out of its motion and is replaced by aimless writhing.

The giant children keep running towards the camp, except the one who still lies slowly dying on the ground.

Ref save DC 17 for Oolak or his weapon takes [roll0] damage (before hardness).

Oolak and Kurgu are still poisoned, and will face 1d2 Con damage. If they don't get a heal check, their Fort DC will still be 17.

Oolak downed the thing, so the fight isn't exactly over.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf goes to the dying giant child, retrieving one of his tiny wands. He whispers words of magic power, beseeching the spirits to save a young life.
"Heal... heal... HEAL!"


Gorf will try to Use Magic Device, using his wand of cure light wounds on the dying giant child.
UMD: [roll0] DC 20
Heals: [roll1] hp

[raspberrybadger]

The spirits are clearly with Gorf. Gurta is breathing normally now. She wakes with a start, but calms back down when she sees the ground dragon clearly dead.

I don't think anyone else had the heal skill, so it looks like the poison DCs will be at 17.

Also, if I understand correctly Oolak makes a Wil save to handle the downsides of his barbarian archetype.

[CasualViking]

Oolak looks around huffing madly, drawing back his axe and digging in his heels for another charge. Then he recognizes his fellow giants and throws down his axe with a grunt, slumping down on his haunches and gulping for breath.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf nods with satisfaction as he sees the little one come to.
"More healing? Or can you go home?"

The lumbering shaman waddles over to his embattled companions, seeing multiple wounds as well.
"You are hurt! Poison? Gorf can help!"


Gorf has the Heal skill trained. He can help out with any remaining poison saving throws. I'll toss a few Heal checks here:
1 [roll0]
2 [roll1]
3 [roll2]

[CasualViking]

Oolak gets up, puts some weight on his leg with only a slight wince. "Is just bite, Gorf. Is fine. Don't need magic."

[raspberrybadger]

Gurta is clearly in pain, but she says "Home." with longing in her voice. She has difficulty getting to her feet, but then she starts moving slowly towards the camp.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf walks up to the body of the land-dragon thing. He raises his hands skyward and bellows aloud.
"Oh spirits of rage what sent this thing, be happy and leave us alone! You killed some kids, so that should be enough for now."
Gorf then urinates on the ground around the poisonous, corrosive corpse, to purify the area of lingering hostile spiritual energy.

[r2d2go]

Clokglok rides back over, wrinkles his nose, and picks up a boulder to smash the ground dragon's head to make it stop twitching. Then he wipes off his lance on the ground, drops his anvil on the ground with a thud, and grunts. "Need to fix Skullstick. Then we go?"

Boulder Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Craft: [roll2], [roll3], [roll4], [roll5]

[raspberrybadger]

The rock misses, but the ground dragon stops twitching not much later.

[Cyclopean]

"Thanks, Gorf." Kurgu still felt the poison burning in her, but was certain it would have been worse without the his help. Still a little unsteady on her feet, she went to help Gurta back to camp.

[raspberrybadger]

Just as Kurgu starts moving back to camp, human voices from the other side of the ridge are carried toward you on the wind.

Female: "What's so important? It's them?"
Male: "These are giants we're talking about. Four of them. One not full size, but still. We can't take them."
Female: "There are fates worse than death. We have to do this."
Deeper male voice: "If she says go, I'm going."
Male: "Not again... at least tell me we get to hold the high ground?"

[r2d2go]

Clokglok's ears twitch, and he whispers. "Humans! They do not sound like ones I know. What does Gorf and Oolak and Kurgu think?" He starts to climb back on his sloth, hefting his "fixed" lance and anvil.

[CockroachTeaParty]

"Humans! We should hide and see what they do!"

Gorf went and squatted in the nearby scrub bushes, thinking his plan was very cunning. He ripped up a bush and put it on top of his head, while the rest of his huge torso protruded quite clearly from the rest of the shrubs.


Stealth check: [roll0]

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu nods. "I'll sneak up on them. See if I can hear more," she whispers. Kurgu may not know what they're planning, but it makes her nervous to hear the strangers talking about her and her companions. She starts creeping up the ridge, ready to dart into cover if the humans crest it.


I'm assuming this will take a stealth check--Kurgu gets an additional +1 thanks to her trait.
Stealth: [roll0]

In case you want a Perception roll to see if she succeeds in hearing any more:
[roll1]


Kurgu reasons that if she keeps forgetting how loud her new armor is, it must be quiet enough that the humans won't notice it.

[CasualViking]

Oolak hefts his axe and starts eyeing the terrain for good charge lines, while walking towards the voices. Humans usually have good loot.

[Cyclopean]

"Slow, Oolak," Kurgu urges as the smaller giant passes her. "Stalk like a cat. Catch the humans' secrets."


The stealth approach is ruined, of course, but Kurgu is still going to try and teach her friend to eavesdrop.

[raspberrybadger]

The first thing you see above the ridgeline is a giant pair of antlers rising above the crest, easily 10 feet wide. The antlers are of course immediately followed by the giant elk holding them aloft. In addition to the elk, there is a human in plate armor holding a tower shield in front of him. Behind him stands a human female in a black dress. Behind her there is a human with a drawn bow.

OOC:

Roll initiative.

Initiative of the elk: 3
Initiative of the man with the shield: 8
Initiative of the woman: 3
Initiative of the man with the bow: 16

I've updated the map. The most obvious charging lanes are on the ridgeline itself. The humans are about at F35. That's something like 120 feet from Oolag.

[raspberrybadger]

The man with the bow fires twice at Oolak but misses both shots. He turns to the woman in the dress for a moment and says "I told you this wasn't going to work."

Initiative order:

Man with the bow - went already
Oolak - went just below this
Kurgu
Clokglock
The man with the shield
Gorf
Elk
Woman

[CasualViking]

Oolak runs as fast as his runty little legs will carry him in armor (80'), directly towards the ridgeline.

[Cyclopean]

"Put down the bow, human!" Kurgu cries as she rushes up the ridge. "You know you can't win!"

If she can, Kurgu will Run (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat/#TOC-Run) 120' west. If she can't run, she'll move 60'.

[raspberrybadger]

The man with the bow says to the woman "You know he - woah, that's a girl giant - anyway, when even a giant sees it, it's pretty obvious."

OOC

Clokglock's turn. Also, diplomacy and so on is at least a theoretical possibility in any encounter with things that are intelligent. However, they clearly have not given up yet.

Edit: Also, you can't run on the steep slope bit, but the move action gets you most of the way there.

[r2d2go]

Clokglok rides towards the humans as well, shouting. "Yes, we should be friends! Then I will not need to stab you! See, we stabbed the bad ground dragon, that is good, right?"

Run to G49-H50.

[raspberrybadger]

The megatherium is huge, and used to travel in the hills - it has no trouble navigating the slope at speed.

The man with the tower shield calls out in a deep voice: "Friends, you say. Willing to stab bad things. Will you do as my mistress says? Stab what she says to stab? Then we can be friends. See, I am not stabbing you. We can stab other things."

There is at least this much truth to his words - he maintains his position, taking no offensive action, though he does have a drawn sword.

OOC:

Gorf's action

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf is utterly convinced the humans cannot see him, he is hidden so well. He fishes out a boulder from his sack, as well as some paint he made from berries, excrement, and carrion.


Gorf is retrieving various items from his belongings; this likely takes up his entire turn.

[raspberrybadger]

The giant elk just disappears. One moment it is there, the next, nothing.

The woman hisses something odd, points, and all of a sudden there is this glowing black and purple light all over the three giants closest to her, and the megatherium too. Then she says to the man with the bow "Don't tell me what we can't do", and to the giants in front of her "You see, you do not have to fight my strength. You could do great things for me."

The man with the bow steps back and shoots two more arrows at Oolak, then replies "Now we've started, yes, this is about the only chance." Then he gets ready to continue firing.


OOC:

Oolak, Kurgu, Clokglock, and the megatherium all face a DC 15 Wil save vs blindness.

DC 17 spellcraft to identify what the spell is and what it does.

Oolak takes 12 damage if he makes his Wil save, and 8 more from the other arrow hitting if he does not. He is allowed to start a rage to get the bonus to Wil saves before making that save, if he's not already raging.

New round

Initiative order:

Man with the bow - went already
Oolak
Kurgu
Clokglock
The man with the shield
Gorf
Elk
Woman

[CasualViking]

Oolak stumbles blindly towards the humans, sweeping his axe around him.

[Cyclopean]

Everything goes dark, forcing Kurgu to slow her pace or risk tumbling down into the valley.
"Who are you?" Kurgu asks, straining to keep the fear from her voice as she moves towards the bowman. "Why have you come here, blinding and shooting us?"


Kurgu double moves at half speed. She's trying to close with the archer.

[raspberrybadger]

Oolak and Kurgu move forward on the ridgeline.

The woman stops her argument with her fellow human and answers Kurgu: "I am Thrini. My patron gives me strength to strike you blind, though I can remove that too. My patron tells me you will do something. Something that needs stopped. If you worked with me instead, we could do great things. I am a powerful witch, and you would be much stronger if you worked with me."

OOC:

Clokglock's turn.

[r2d2go]

Clokglok freezes in fear as blindness takes him, putting an arm on his sloth for reassurance. But his sloth is fearful, too - it shakes and does not run into the fight, like it is trained to. He thinks back to Urgor's advice - to make friends with humans, first they must fear fighting more than they fear friendship. He does not shout now, but keeps his voice strong and his eyes still locked on where the big shield-man was. "Then bow-man must stop shooting! If bow-man makes my friend hurt, I must charge, and then we cannot be friends because I will hurt you!"

Holding my turn until I get a response, but if they don't respond well, I'll move to where I remember the caster is, attack, and use Minute Hand to attack again.

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini isn't yelling either, but the volume of her voice has definitely edged upwards. She sounds frustrated as she replies: "Of course, if you join me we won't shoot you. Do you agree to join?"

OOC:

Clokglock needs to make a DC 12 Perception check (free action) as part of his action.

[r2d2go]

"I do not know what joining means, but we can be friends and I can help stab bad things, sound good?" Clokglok begins to lower his lance.

Perception: [roll0]

[Cyclopean]

"We are interested, Thrini. Give us back our eyes, let us talk."

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini responds "Do the rest of you agree?"

OOC:

As a matter of mechanics she can only drop the blindness when it is her turn.

[CockroachTeaParty]

With his friends blinded by fell magic, it seemed time to call upon wisdom. Gorf stuck his finger in his paints, and wrote on the boulder, before hurling it toward the humans.

Written upon the rock in a crude hand was a single word: TALK


Gorf will throw the boulder at the 5 ft. square in front of the caster lady, which typically has an AC of... 5?

Attack: [roll0] with whatever range modifiers apply.

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini stares at the rock as it lands. She reads the word written on it, but does nothing except develop a look of increasing confusion for a moment. Then she replies "I take it that is a giant way of saying yes?"

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu laughs. "It is a Gorf way of saying yes." She turns to Oolak, but of course can't see how he is reacting.

[CasualViking]

Oolak calms down and sheathes his axe on his back.

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini releases the spell and the purple and black stops bleeding out from the giants near her. The blindness lifts in a blink, and she says quickly "We could use some strong giants. There are these Dwarves who need smashing. If we don't, something really bad will happen. If you do that with me, I know this... guy. He can make you a really big magic axe, stuff like that. Plus there is all the beer those Dwarves have. Lots of good loot there. If we leave now we'll be there in a couple of days. You have anything here you need to take?"

Her words come slowly to a stop, and the look of confidence, or fanaticism, or whatever that was fades from her face. In contrast, the human with the bow maintains an incredulous look on his face, while the human with the shield has kept the same stoic watchfulness he's had throughout the fight.

[r2d2go]

"Dwarves, dwarf..." Clokglok's face scrunches up, as if in deep thought. "Urgor knew of them. Said they were like nasty bugs. Hard to catch. Hard to kill. Annoying. What bad things happen if the dwarves are not smashed? I will smash them anyway, because we are friends now, but knowing things is good."

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini looks surprised at the question, but then turns a look full of passion towards Clokglock and says "The seer said lots of bad things would happen. Dwarves, humans, elves, all working together. Angels everywhere interfering with us. Those priests who would stick their nose into everyone's business if they could, tell them what to do - they would be everywhere. They could tell you what to do. They would. Very bad. Dwarves must be stopped. Smashed. We can show you the way."

[r2d2go]

"What about giants and humans? Like we are working together, so giants and humans can work together. Magic-lady sounds against humans and giants working together. Makes bad sense." Clokglok glares suspiciously at the Thrini.

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini crosses her arms and says "Angels do not want Giants to smash people. I want you to smash people. Which is better?"

[CasualViking]

"Her rhetoric is amazing", Oolak thinks to himself. "Adapting to the subjective context with such economy of phrasing". "Angels bad. Smash dwarves. LOOT Dwarves", he concurs.

[Cyclopean]

"Kurgu agrees--but one thing must happen first." She points to Oolak. "Your friend shot my friend. You are a powerful witch, so heal him."

[r2d2go]

Clokglok considers briefly whether his desire to work with humans obliges him to not work with a human and stab it instead. Then he shakes his head to clear the resulting headache, and grunts. "Ok. When Oolak healed, we go."

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf trundled up to the gathering of strange bedfellows, his beneficent gaze sweeping over all he surveyed.
"Kill dwarfs, eh? Dwarfs are tough. Hate giants. You little humans come with us? Or you point us in direction, like thrown rock?"

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini looks at Gorf and says "Yes, Dwarves are tough. We need to be sneaky to smash them. I will come with you. Pardu here is as tough as any dwarf, and strong too. Thorkil here is sneaky. He can find Dwarves for us. I will heal Oolak here, and then we can go."

Having said that she touches Oolak - once with a hand, the other two times with a wand. When she is done, it is like the arrows were never shot.

Pardu still looks wary, but Thorkil has a look of outright disbelief on his face. At a wave from Thrini he disappears into the brush down the slope, while Pardu stays by her side. She makes as if to start down the brush filled slope too, saying "See, Oolak is healed. We go, smash Dwarves, yes? Two days. Then we smash."

OOC:

14 pts of healing.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf rubs his barrel of a jaw with a stained, callused hand.
"Hmm. Gone long time, eh? One moment."

Gorf takes out another boulder, and using his crude paint writes another message on it in the Giant language.

GOING TO DO STUFF
GONE TOO DAYS
LOVE, GORF
AND FRIENDS

He then hurls it in the direction of the giant camp.

"Okay. Gorf ready. Gorf will hear more of these signs and omens the little human witch talks about. Gorf knows about signs. Gorf knows about magic."

Gorf wiggles his fingers as tiny balls of colored light appear and spin around, making an impressive sound. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP4Va75FLBo)

Gorf is using prestidigitation from his magic cloak.

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu tilts her head to the side and frowns in concentration. "We leave in two days? Or we travel for two days to get to dwarves? If we leave now, Kurgu must return to camp so her pigs are fed, watered, and not stolen. Maybe she will return with more giants to smash dwarves."

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini replies "Oh, no need to wait. But it will be a two day journey, so if you need to feed some pigs first, do." Then she turns towards Clokglock and asks "What name do you go by? And do you need anything before we crush some Dwarves?"

[r2d2go]

"I am Clokglok, and I am ready to travel." Clokglok pats his sloth for emphasis, and it snorts, then licks its own nose.

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu returns to camp. After clarifying the message on Gorf's boulder, she arranges for a giant to watch after her pigs in exchange for a share of dwarven loot.

[raspberrybadger]

The camp is still buzzing with the news of the ground dragon attack. Kurgu finds it easy to make the arrangements she needs, and both giants and humans are soon traveling.

As usual, though the local wildlife might be dangerous to humans, things that will go after a group of giants are just not that common. There are some signs that some ogres may have seen your group and fled, and they certainly are not seen again that day.

As night falls Thorkil finds a hill with some large rocks, returns to the group, and points to it. It looks enough like a place giants might set up camp. He simply says "It will have to make do for a camp", assuming that the group will stay there.

[CasualViking]

Oolak looks for food and water.

Survival! [roll0]

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu lays out her bedroll and places her kit on top of it, claiming a spot to sleep for the night. She grabs a boulder and stalks off in the opposite direction of Oolak. Spending a few minutes a short distance from camp was unlikely to yield any results, but she enjoyed the brief solitude.


[roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

Kurgu finds food for two people including herself, and a fresh water source. She also finds a mule deer corpse, drained of blood. It looks suspicious, and not at all good to eat.

OOC

Perception check, heal check, survival check, knowledge nature check, and or knowledge religion check could all be useful for Kurgu and anyone who goes over and looks at the mule deer corpse.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf trundles alongside Kurdu, doing his best to help her efforts gathering food and stuff. When they come across the drained corpse, Gorf picks it up and gives it a loooong sniff. He knows things about dead animals. He keeps one on his belt.


Gorf will Aid Another on Survival: [roll0]
And he'll roll a Heal check: [roll1]

[CasualViking]

"Let's sleep early, rise early and march. Tomorrow we smash dwarves and then we feast." Oolak is not too concerned about a dead animal.

[raspberrybadger]

Gorf helps Kurgu, gathering and carrying food that she locates so she has time to collect an extra giant sized meal for a total of three.

When he examines the mule deer corpse he notices that the corpse is entirely drained of blood. There is a single hole in its hide in the back of its neck from which the blood was drained while the deer was still alive. Clearly this was the cause of death.

Kurgu notices that there are no tracks leading up to the corpse, and there are no signs of a struggle. It is as if the thing was calmly eating and then fell over and never moved again.

Thorkil looks like he's set himself up to take first watch, while the other two humans are preparing for bed.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf strokes his jaw as he picks up the drained deer corpse.
"Hmm. Blood suck. *belch* Gorf knows about these things. Sleep time now! Hooray!"
Gorf then flings the corpse as far as he can to ward away bad luck spirits. He then flops down on the naked earth and begins sawing logs.

[raspberrybadger]

The camp goes to sleep sooner or later, only to be roused by shouts from Thorkil. By the time anyone can see what is going on Thorkil has this thing with bat wings perched on his shoulders sticking some sort of pointy thing into the back of his neck. He is not even struggling.

OOC:

Roll initiative and perception. The moon is up, so hill giants can see just fine.

[raspberrybadger]

Three more of the bat winged attackers come seemingly out of nowhere. Only Gorf had seen them sneaking in, and noone reacts quickly enough to stop them.

One makes for Gorf and leaps onto him, hitting his neck and barely missing tearing out his throat. As it lines itself up to begin sucking out his blood he feels the pain of the injury going away. It is using its long mosquito like mouth to inject something that feels like death and numbness - which is to say, a disturbing lack of anything.

Another makes for Pardu, also nearly tearing out his throat - and he quickly goes entirely stiff.

The last one only gets Clokglock in the leg, but he too begins to feel numbness rather than pain.

The mosquito like thing on Thorkil begins sucking out his blood.

Initiative order:

Attackers (already went)
Oolak
Kurgu
Thrini
Thorkil (can't act)
Pardu (can't act)
Clokglock
Gorf

Gorf needs to make a DC 12 Fort save vs paralysis for [roll0] rounds. He also takes 5 damage. The thing threatened a critical hit but failed confirmation.

Pardu's attacker rolled a 20 as well but failed to confirm, for 4 damage. He is paralyzed for [roll1] rounds.

Clokglok takes 4 damage and needs to make a DC 12 Fort save vs paralysis for [roll2] rounds

Thorkil takes [roll3] Con damage

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf bellows in rage as his rest is interrupted. He attempts to smash the creature with his meaty fists, even as he fights off the numbness.


Fort save: [roll0]
If Gorf can act, he will attempt a slam attack on the blood sucker.
Attack: [roll1] Damage: [roll2]

[CasualViking]

You are not dwarves! AAAARGH!, Oolak bellows as he axes the nearest attacker.
move action to get up and arm myself, 5' step, rage, Strength of Hell (boost) [roll0], [roll1]. Also, intimidate if it survives a hit: [roll2], which i assume does nothing.

[raspberrybadger]

Oolak strikes true. Eerily, the thing shrivels up in a blink of an eye, falling to the ground like deadweight, unmoving.

[r2d2go]

Clokglok shakes his head at the thing on his leg, but as he cannot reach it with his lance, he instead limps at Gorf and starts stabbing at the thing on him. "I help Gorf!"

Fort:
[roll0]

Attack:
[roll1]
[roll2]

Damage:
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu was glad to see Clokglok could still move, but wasn't about to let the bloodsucker pump any more poison into him. She leaps up and swats the monster on his thigh.

I'm assuming I can stand, 5-foot step, and attack? Also, which mosquito-thing did Oolak kill?

Using Power Attack--hopefully being attached hurts their AC.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

Clokglock misses twice. Kurgu hits solidly but does not kill her target. Thrini angles a burning hands spell mostly into the sky so it hits only the damaged one, and it to shrivels and falls to the ground.

The creatures on Gorf and Thorkil make no sound as they suck the blood out of them.

OOC:

Oolak took out the one attacking Pardu

Thorkil takes [roll0] more con damage
Gorf takes [roll1] con damage

[CasualViking]

"Gorf deserves it, so I'm going to help the human", Oolak thinks. He tamps down the rage, and steps over towards the human, lungs gulping for the air he spent screaming and yelling, and swings his axe wildly at the bloodsucker.

Dropping Rage, using Strength of Hell (boost) and Wild Swing. First attack [roll0], damage [roll1]; second attack [roll2], damage [roll3].

[raspberrybadger]

Oolak's target drops. One more of the bloodsuckers remains.

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu moves to crush the last of the attackers with her bare hands.


Assuming she can get within reach with a 5-foot step, she gets two attacks.

Slam 1: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Slam 2: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[raspberrybadger]

The last of the mosquito things shrivels up and falls, as still as the first.

Thrini is about to dash into position to deal with it, and immediately stops and stands there until her breathing starts going back to normal. Then she starts inspecting the various injuries from the fight, casting cure spells, and saying "A little healing and a good night's sleep should fix the injuries, and we can see in the morning if we will need more time for the blood drain to heal. I'm going back to sleep and staying that way." Pardu and Thorkil appear to be engaged in an argument without words, and Thrini seems to have meant what she said. Eventually Pardu takes the watch and Thorkil goes to bed looking upset.

In the morning, Thrini looks bright and eager, Thorkil is on watch again looking unhappy and tired, and Pardu is watching Thrini. Thrini seems to be carefully feeding a black cat.

OOC:

Healing for Pardu [roll0]
Healing for Thorkil [roll1]
Healing for Gorf [roll2]

Any opinions on whether to wait a day for the blood drain to heal?

[CasualViking]

"That cat looks delicious. How long do you have to feed it to get it nice and juicy like that?". Oolaak is fine this morning.

[raspberrybadger]

The cat hisses at Oolak with a depth of evil in its eyes as they focus on him. Thrini simply stares at him like she can't believe he just said that.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf rises from his slumber and breaks wind like a thunderclap. While still a bit woozy from blood loss, he doesn't complain.
"Mmm. Gorf is ready to go. *belch*"

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu is ready to go striding off but looking at Thorkill and Pardu gives her pause. "Are your friends good for fighting, Thrini? We giants are fine, but humans are not so tough."


Kurgu is still recovering from Ground Dragon venom, but she wasn't about to let that stop her before. I vote we press on, since the humans are mostly support anyway.

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini says "They are good for fighting." Then she waves the two humans to get ready to break camp and march.

A whole day passes without incident. Thrini is careful to send Thorkil ahead to scout carefully. The group is able to avoid trouble though - if there are any threats to be seen, he has been the only one to see them. The terrain remains hilly, but mountains appear in the distance.

As night falls, the humans begin setting up camp again. Thrini lets her cat out of her backpack again and begins explaining: "Sometime a few days from now our targets will be returning to their clan - they will not have been kicked out yet. Ironically, they never will be. They should be returning to their homes with quite a good bit of gold or other valuables, and the skills that would have gotten them exiled. That would almost have to be one or more of the ancient combat arts.

Dwarves have an unfortunate tendency to resemble each other, so we will need to stop any group of four dwarves and ask their names, at least ones headed in the correct direction. Since we don't want them alerting anyone as to such a stop, the plan is to kill any such group of four. Any other number of dwarves and we hide well out of sight of the road. Questions?"

This is clearly directed at the two humans, but neither one seems to be in a hurry to ask a question.

[CasualViking]

Oolak holds up four fingers to Gorf: "This many dwarves."

[CockroachTeaParty]

Gorf nods in comprehension.
"Right. Kill dwarves. Sounds good. What do you say, Phillip?"

Gorf brandishes the rotting goat carcass tied to his belt, throttling it by the neck. He holds the disgusting thing to his ear, listening intently.

"Mmmm. *cough* Phillip? Nothing. Maybe in my dreams tonight he will speak."

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini just blinks when Oolak translates, but Gorf... Gorf gets an incredulous stare. It looks like Thorkil is having some difficulty restraining himself from saying something.

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu breaks the tense silence. "It is good that we are fighting dwarf travelers, not dwarves with walls or caves. But, Kurgu wonders about your patron, Thrini. How do they know all these things?"

[raspberrybadger]

Thrini replies "Oh, I am sure the gods know many things. These dwarves might do something big and bad. They do that because the other dwarves tell them to leave next week. The other dwarves can't tell them to leave until they come back. That happens a week from now. So they will come to their home soon. But if we smash them now, they will not be safe, and they will have more gold."

[raspberrybadger]

Seeing no further questions two of the humans go to bed, leaving Thorkil on watch again.

First watch and second watch pass without incident, and now Kurgu is on watch with Pardu. Wearing plate mail and a tower shield he is not exactly stealthy, but he does seem vigilant and disciplined about his watch. Once the others are asleep he comments "Take care, if there is an enemy lurking in these hills, it will strike soon. The Lady Thrini is likely to try to preserve her magic for the ambush on the Dwarves, so if there is a fight we will need to strike quickly, and hard."

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu nods back at Pardu, and spends the next several minutes rehearsing possible battles in her mind. Once satisfied, she turns to him and speaks. "Why do you follow Thrini, Pardu? Are you also for her patron, her gods? Thrini does not seem to like talking about them."

[raspberrybadger]

Pardu flushes, then looks around before answering: "Look, that cat of hers. It's strange, but it knows things. Thrini does too. I sometimes can't believe we've made it this far already, but Thrini is amazing."

With that, a smile forms on his face for a few moments before the frown returns, and he continues:

"I don't like the secrets, but we need them. It's a war. We go back on thousands of years of progress if we lose. That, and we die. I can't explain things the way Thrini can, but I'm not stupid. We win, we get magic swords and everything goes well. We lose, and we die. We run, and we die. So it's not complicated. We follow her, she makes the plan work, we win."

[CockroachTeaParty]

Uninvited, and apropos of nothing, Gorf flops down on the ground near Kurgu. Since people are trying to sleep, he speaks in a whisper, which is still as loud as a grown man talking in a crowded bar.
"Hm. Why you talk with little men, Kurgu? They make war, like ants make war. Red ants and black ants fight. Dwarves and humans fight. This is known."

[Cyclopean]

"Humans do fight like ants," she agrees, "in swarms. Kurgu is wondering why so few humans fight with Thrini. Were they too afraid of giants?" She thought this was the most likely explanation, but looks to Pardu for an answer. "Did they not like the secrets?"

[raspberrybadger]

Pardu takes more than a few seconds to figure out what Kurgu might mean before replying "Most people just do what everyone else does. They don't have ideas, like Thrini does. But it is not just us. There are other groups fighting - that's where the magic weapons come from. I mean, when we kill these dwarves. Plus all the loot we get. That's got to be secret though. Same reason as we have to be secret tomorrow. Kill any dwarf who knows we are here, get out. Secrets protect us."

Pardu looks like he wishes he could cross his arms when saying that, but his shield makes that hard.

[Cyclopean]

Kurgu seems satisfied, but addresses Gorf in Giant. "We need to be careful around the humans, Gorf. They are our friends now, but maybe Thrini will decide we will do a bad thing later and decide to just kill us, not talk to us." She yawns and rubs her eyes. "Want to watch with Pardu? Kurgu is tired."

[raspberrybadger]

Some of the usual night noises already muted when the giants started talking, but even more go silent now.

OOC:



Perception checks vs [roll0]

Pardu's check [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

Suddenly out of the darkness a spider tosses a web, entangling Pardu. The spider is bigger even than giants, even bigger than a megatherium somewhat.

OOC:

Surprise round over,

New round initiative order:

Kurgu
Clokglock
Spider
Thorkil
Thrini
Oolak
Pardu
Gorf

I am assuming someone will yell something so everyone will be awake, but Clokglock and Oolak would start prone. I'll put a map up as soon as I make one.

[Cyclopean]

She had been expecting small dwarves rather than a gigantic spider, but Pardu's advice still rang in her head: hit hard, and hit fast. Skirting a boulder, Kurgu screamed as she charged forward to deliver two quick blows.


Kurgu moves to 5N and uses Flurry Strike. She'll make an Acrobatics check to avoid an AoO (the DC increases by 10 since she's not moving at half speed).

Acrobatics: [roll0]

Slam 1: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Slam 2: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

She gets +2 to damage for using a discipline-specific weapon with a Broken Blade maneuver.

[raspberrybadger]

Kurgu sees the great spider much more clearly as it's almost giant looking face comes close to bite her as she passes. Except for having eight eyes and being a matte black, it could be the face of a relative. The fangs are different too, but at least her breastplate protects her from them.

Having gotten to the spider she finds another defence - fine strands of webbing stretched between rocks, holding her in place. The good thing is that they hold her in place right where she wanted to be, hitting at the spider. Her first attack goes wild, but her second connects solidly, and the thing screams loudly enough to wake anyone that hadn't been woken already. The bad thing is that they hamper her attacks, and her ability to dodge.

[CasualViking]

o0O"Now is not the time to kill the humans", Oolak thinks. "First, dwarves. I'm sure dwarves have loot. Then we see if these humans keep their promise. I don't think they will. I think we need to kill them before they kill us. But humans think giants are stupid. We will surprise them."