Thugs #9 and #8 moves out of cover and fire their heavy crossbows at the last Stone Giant (#3) and manage to hit the giant while Thug #4's shot misses before all three thugs move back into cover.

OOC: The two bolts inflict a combined total of 10 damage.


Autonomous War Machine #1 fires two Lancing Bolts at Stone Giant #3 but both shots miss.
OOC: Autonomous War Machine #1 does not recharge its Explosive Bolt.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Sun 14 July 2019.

"Why must I have such awesome friends?" Jack pines, "I suppose it is my fate and I must accept it."

Two more meteors slam into the last giant while Jack corkscrew attacks with his fancy new sword, ending up flanking with Zerry.

While Thug #5 moves out of cover, misses with his shot, and then moves back into cover, Varis flies over to flank Stone Giant #3 with Jack and uses his Giant Slayer Rapier to attack with Booming Blade before moving back slightly although the precise blow deals enough damage to drop the Stone Giant.

OOC: The Booming Blade inflicted 42 damage due to giant slayer bonus and sneak attack damage which was enough to kill Stone Giant #3.

Zerry twirls on one hoof to face the others, arms spread in a welcoming pose. "Hello! Is everyone OK?"

Lucy flies down next to Zerry and lands.

The Bard amongst those that had sought cover from the four Stone Giants replies to Zerry, "We're fine now. Those four Giants had us pinned down behind these rocks and if it wasn't for the autonomous guards I had with me I think we'd have been dead before you all arrived."

Varis says, “Let's see if they had a clue as to why they were here in the first place.. after all the previous group of giants we dispatched was a group of Frost Giants that had a map to a monastery where they planned to get information from some guard about the location of an artifact that they could use to plunge the world into an eternal winter..”

When Varis searches the four Stone Giants he finds 1,200 gold pieces and a dozen Alexandrite gems, each worth 500pg, along with a bag of dried mushrooms, a small bag of salt, a Bronze Gong, and a Tombstone that no longer has a name carved on it as whatever was previously carved onto it has been worn away. Varis also proceeds with taking the noses off the giants for the 300gp bounty for each Stone Giant but doesn't touch the giant-sized great clubs as they aren't worth taking along with a value under 1gp yet they weigh over 40 pounds each.

The bard responds to what Varis says with, "Actually we're heading to that Monastery, it's called the Monastery of the Distressed Body. While we planned on traveling through the cave behind us, with your airship it would be possible to reach the monastery from the air. Although the guardian would still intercept you to test whether you are worthy to enter the monastery."

Lucy says, "That is good to know. Thanks for the info. It will be crowded with you all on the ship, but if it isn't far from here, I see no problem with taking you all with us. Though I would like to know what your purpose was for heading there."

Zerry climbs all over the giant corpses just so she can say she did. She'll help Varis with the noses if he wants the help. But after that, she is sure to gallop a circle around the recently met/rescued group.

And if the bard is very OBVIOUSLY dressed as a bard, Zerry will ask, "Ooooo are you a bard?"

The bard turns to Lucy and says, "I was bringing my associates to the Monastery of the Distressed Body as they wished to join it. I have made the journey a few times before which is why they entrusted me with these constructed companions to help make the journey a safe one, however with the increase in hostility by giants I fear that further precautions will be necessary. Traveling on your airship would significantly shorten the remaining journey and avoid any possibility of further dangers within the cave system. Sometimes hostile creatures enter the caves. I've heard rumors that a Froghemoth has taken refuges in a remote part of the caves. "

While the bard's clothing doesn't scream 'bard' combined with the equipment including a musical instrument he has with him, he does look like a bard. Thus when Zerry asks, the bard nods as he answers, "Yes I am a bard."

Markus and Elric hang back to keep an eye on things since he isn't sure he can trust the bard and his companions and hopes they don't try something stupid like trying to steal their airship.

  No Zerry, there are lots of dead-oh She means people who probably matter.

  "So you hear a lot about what visitors want from such a place, but what do those who intend to stay there have in mind they consider worth the trip?"

"Wheeee!"

Jack is a tad dizzy from the spinning Zerry trip, so after dismounting, his flourishing bow to the newcomers is on the wobbly side.

"Jack the Bard at your service."

He introduces the others as well, using impressive sounding titles.  Tark, Smasher of Kneecaps.  Zerry Lightningclimber.  Varis Worldstrider.  Marcus RealityRender.  Lucy Mooncrusher.

"I'd love to have a froghemoth for a pet, but I'm afraid time constraints constrain me from going hunting for one.

"Wunna jam on the airship?"

Lucy is happy for Zerry and Jack's excited nature and their anticipation of potential jam sessions... she too would like to join in a musical session, but she nods to what Tark said. "Yes. Tark speaks my mind here; I'm curious what it is the monks do that your companions wish to join their order, and by extension, what your companions expect to be doing once they join."

Zerry grins, holding her fists up to her cheeks with a shrug in excitement. "Jack, Lucy and the new guy gonna share music and stories!"

The bard smiles slightly at the curious nature of the adventurers as he explains "The Monastery of the Distressed Body is a site where people who have had a troubled life can find salvation from the distressing world we live in. Through dedication and hard work, individuals can become more in tune with their true nature and find contentment and happiness." It is clear that the bard has made this explanation several times in the past.

The bard turns to Jack and replies, "And I am Trevor and depending on how quickly your airship moves we may or may not have time to practice our arts on the remainder of this journey."

Varis joins Markus in keeping an eye on the 'passengers' after getting the newly acquired 'treasures' and bounty marks stored away on the airship.

Varis also has Felix join in with Elric in discreetly monitoring the passengers just in case there is trouble.

  "Oh, one of those. Those seem to be real popular, but most settle for more easily accessible locations that this one." It's a lot harder to donate all your worldly possessions to am incredibly vague scam cult when you have to travel to distant mountains, even without the giants.

  Tark expects this one to share just enough similarities to fake religions to be annoying, while also juuuust legitimate enough to be needed.  Like the Order of the Smiling Fist.

Wouldn't that be more a distressed mind than body?  Well I guess if you went with The Monastery of the Distressed Mind you'd sound like a insane asylum.

"Oh there's aalways time for music."

Jack sings the first song to come to mind.

♪♫ "Everyone loves
Magical Trevor
'cause the tricks that he does
Are ever so clever
Look at him now
Disappearing a cow."♬

Lucy listens and plays along with Jack until the song's finish, then claps excitedly and says, "Oo! You know Magical Trevor! I used to listen to that as a little girl! I was thinking of that same tune when Trevor introduced himself. I was gonna suggest Row Row Row Your Boat since we're on an airship, and see how much we could spice it up. Wanna try?" she smiles brightly at Trevor. The halfling side of her upbringing is showing. Lucy, of course, invites and encourages her teammates to join in the music.

Zerry provides surprisingly well-timed, rhythmic hoof clops for the music as the group travels.

The men that Trevor the bard was escorting along with the four 'constructs' he has with him mill about on deck as there isn't much for them to do. A few of the men chuckle at Jack's antics but most are just looking around as they haven't been on an airship before.

As for Trevor himself, he says, "Unfortunately I have to guide this ship to the monastery as we should be able to reach it in an hour or so, but the directions I have are distances and directions through the tunnels so translating that to how the crow flies isn't as simple as just pointing in a direction and saying that way since we have to navigate through the mountains since if we just go higher than all the mountains we'll not find the monastery due to clouds concealing the location."

Markus and Varis continue to monitor the guests while helping to direct the airship along the path Trevor dictates to reach the monastery.

OOC: We'll have one more round of posts before the monastery comes into view.

  Halflings do seem to have mastered the art of all of the party with half the property damage and hangover, yes.

  "If you were given directions with proper distances included, I could work out the overland location easily.  Though, that depends entirely if you were given proper distances, and not 'Walk down incline then walk into yet another tunnel' you see passed off as directions."

Trevor replies to Tark, "The directions I have are mostly in distances and taking left or right turns, although there are a few landmarks within the tunnels that won't be helpful with this rout, the directions should be easy for you to translate."

Jack grins brightly.  "Wonderful suggestion, Lucy!  Glad to hear we were on the same wavelength for that last song."

Considering Jack can loop any contributions and add instrumental accompaniment using magic, what follows is possibly the most epic version of Row Row Row Your Boat that ever was performed.  (( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeCD4bIkQwg ))  He bobs his head happily to Zerry's percussion during the performance.

Zerry is more than happy to show the men around the airship, her cheerful demeanor showing the joy of the deity she follows. She is, in her own way, monitoring the guests just like Markus and Varis.

Of course, Jack appreciating the beat makes Zerry all the happier.

Lucy continues to perform, though perhaps lower energy music for a bit so as to help calm the probably overly excited Zerry as well as calming anyone who is new to an airship. She is oh so happy to be in the team she's in.

Tark being useful for easy directions and such, Lucy says, "Thanks, Tark!"

The 'guests' are quite interested in seeing the airship and while not gentlemen and have minimal educations they are at least staying polite.

Meanwhile, Trevor himself is busy with Tark handling the directions so they don't overshoot their mark and miss the monastery as Trevor speaks up, "See that valley between several of the mountains, the monastery is there," as a gap between several of the mountains comes into view. Although looking at it, the valley seems to be almost more of a crater as it's more of a large depression surrounded by mountains than a lengthy valley.

However, possibly the most interesting bit is what appears to be the monastery itself, as a floating island comes into view. There are several buildings visible on top of the 'island' and a faint roar can be heard, possibly from the wind or some other source.