You catch your collective breaths, get positioned, and stare at Tahldar's wall of stone for a moment.

All seems to grow quiet from the other side of the wall. The stillness itself is disquieting.

Then, in a flash, you see the form of Haklara fly up from the tunnel below that connects the altar (the tunnel Leo went down previously). He lands on the ceiling above. You step back in surprise and shock. The only good news about this is that you see that Haklara is wounded, definitely not anywhere near full strength.

Haklara is directly above the altar. You are spread around the altars except Tahldar, who is at W10.

Kahan sidesteps towards the other open exit, pulling his sling out as he curses the fact he has no better ranged weapons. He attempts to hit the doppelganger with a sling bullet while working towards the exit.

Shae wastes no time in immediately sending her spear up at the doppleganger with all her strength.

Leo uses his blowgun on the off chance Haklara is vulnerable to poison damage.

Seeking to keep his flying spell going, Tahldar stays in W10, as far away from Haklara as possible.

OOC:  I could throw a dagger, but I won't as I don't want to get close to the dispel magic range.

You estimate that the dispel magic range is between 10 to 15 feet since if it were any larger, it would have dispelled Tahldar's wall of stone spell.

OOC: Surprisingly, great rolls on your attacks.

Kahan hits with his sling, knocking one of Haklara's hands loose as he clings to a stalactite above. Shae's spear finds its mark (critical hit), burying itself in Haklara's neck. Even Leo's blowdart finds its mark, embedding itself in Haklara's thigh.

The doppleganger grasps at his neck, falling from his perch above. If the attacks did not kill him, the 30 foot fall, landing square on his head, certainly does. He lands in the center of the pillared room and you each stand at the side away from him, staring down.

From outside, you hear a crash. Obviously, the giant is still out there.

OOC: Well that was anticlimactic.

Kahan backs away from Haklara as he falls from the ceiling, careful to stay away from his anti-magic field. "We need to move his body before we accidentally disenchant our equipment. Who is carrying the least magical items that can quickly remove them?" the priest asks the others as he checks the operation of his backpack to ensure it still worked.

Tahldar stays put while the other inspect Haklara.  "I need to keep my fly going as long as possible so I dare not go near him.  Someone is going to have to collect the earthgold and it'll probably be easiest flying."

"Maybe someone can just push Haklara aside?  Then we should wait a bit to see if the Giant gets bored and leaves."

OOC:  I suggest we move Haklara to the tunnel south of W10 and wait 5 minutes to see if the Giant leaves the area.

Leo hands Kahan his dagger and then goes over and tries to move Haklara out of the way.

You successfully move Haklara away, conscious that his antimagic aura still exists.

OOC: I thought it was a bit anticlimactic as well, but the dice and fate called the shots on this one, as well as your quick thinking strategies.

You still need to collect the Earthgold, which falls into the lava from above but is essentially encased in a circular tube of lavafall in the area where the giant is at.

The giant is making a ruckus. There does not appear to be any sign of him leaving. You figure he may actually be stuck due to the narrow passageway.

OOC: How tall is the stone wall Tahldar made? Can we see over it if we get close enough to it or is it too high?

Kahan gives Leo back his dagger and thanks him for moving the body before it did irreparable damage to his magical equipment. Approaching the wall, he called out to the giant, unsure if he could even understand him. "We can help you escape if you let us! We have no quarrel with you, you are an unfortunate victim of someone else's sadism," he explained.

Given Tahldar's high level and description at casting, I think it covers the entire area, else Haklara could have spider walked across the ceiling over it. There is still the tunnel that goes under it if you don't want to dispel it.

You call out to the giant, but it either does not understand, does not hear, or chooses to ignore you.

Kahan shrugs and begins crawling through the tunnel. Perhaps seeing things from another angle would give him some clarity into how to best handle their problems.

"Wait." Tahldar says to Kahan.  "Let's try to talk to him.  I have the tongues spell that I can use.  I might be able to get him to calm down."

"I also have the dig spell that I could use to make a way out for him if he's stuck."

He thinks for a moment and adds, "It just doesn't seem right to try to kill him since he's been stuck here so long.  Plus he might kill one or more of us if do fight him."

"And if we're lucky, maybe we can convince him to collect the earthgold in exchange for the dig spell."

"You talk to him, I'll monitor the situation from the other side. I won't do anything until I get some sort of signal, or I'll come back if he notices me," Kahan responds. He hadn't been planning on trying to kill the giant himself, just to come up with a possible way they could.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast mirror image (last 3 turns), then tongues (lasts 1 turn) and will fly cautiously around to the west and north along the flow of lava at W11 and try to parley with the giant.  Sticking to whatever cover he can find.

This way he'll distract the giant from Kahan's tunnel route in case things turn bad.  Hopefully they won't.

Number of images is 4.

14:22, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 4 using 1d4+3.  Mirror Image.

Shae follows Kahan through the tunnel to see what can be done about the giant. He will generally follow Kahan's lead unless things get out of hand. Her ancestral magic spear is at the ready, just in case.

Climbing through the tunnel, you see that the fire giant (or perhaps lava giant) is wading through the lava as though through water. He does not presently see you but is mumbling to himself.

"Humans and elves did this to me. I will kill them all. Their race will come down at my hands. How many years? How many?"

While mumbling, he is looking south down the river of lava and then back to the larger and more spacious dead end to the north.

He then looks south and mumbles, "They must have boats. They cannot stand the heat. I will destroy them. They will be trapped like me."

He takes a step to the south.

Shae sneaks up and prepares her spear. She calls out, "We come in peace. Perhaps we can help you. What do you need?"

Kahan crawls out of the hole with Shae but stays close to it in case things go sideways. "You have likely been stuck here for years, we have only been on this planet for a few days. We mean you no harm, and if we knew you were alive, I for one would have saved you from that fate the moment I arrived here. Please, we can escape this place together! We are not your enemy," he pleads with the giant.

Tahldar waits to see what becomes of his parties parley and remains in the shadows for now.

Shae and Kahan try to speak to the raging fire giant that stands nearly 30 feet tall wading through lava and pounding its fists on the stone walls.

It turns at the voices, eyes narrowing, and then cocks its head to listen to the words. I will use the following for you talking to the giant, who clearly has a vendetta against humans and demihumans: 1/2 CHA check to turn him to your side, and then 1/2 CHA -2 for each additional attempt.

He hears Shae's words (fail) and calls out, "Elves imprisoned me. You shall feel my wrath."

He hears Kahan's response (fail) and simply roars like an angry animal in response, fists clenched. He beings wading toward you through the lava (which is only about 5 steps for him).

Shae takes one more shot at conciliation, "We can cooperate to get us all out of here and then go our separate ways. There is no need for conflict."

The giant looks toward Shae's final plea (critical miss), and then yells in rage, "Do you not see that there is no escape for me because of your kind? I brought here by portal and cannot escape except by same. We shall all die this day!"

He stomps forward, violence in his fiery eyes, with fists clenched.

You now see that the question in the back of your mind is answered. He cannot escape because he was not brought here through natural means. He has been an instrument to be tortured by some unknown reason, caught trapped for countless years, unable to move under the flow of a golden liquid that will not let him age or die--until he has gone quite mad.

"I was sent here by punishment of that Djinn and now will bring down all living I can reach!"

And now you have an answer to that. Some cruel being sent him here with a wish.

Tahldar doesn't like the sound of the Fire Giant's response, but still he is loathe to fight and kill him.  It just doesn't seem fair.

Looking to keep tabs on the situation he moves slowly north, looking to find a vantage point where he can see the giant in the event he attacks his group.