The death giant screams in shock and horror at the extremely painful attack.

<giant>"The hells?!"

It edges carefully away from Raichel, makes a yoinking motion with its hand, and part of Rai's soul gets ripped from her, leaving her stunned!

The giant then points commandingly.  <giant>"Chuul!  Move there!"

May says, "We'll get back to you, hydra. Sorry... we have a soul-stealer on our hands. Tim, did you translate for me? Add that he's way out of his league here."

Timothius says, "Oh right. Sorry."

May rushes up and whacks the giant for a sizeable portion of its hit points.

Timothius says in Supernal, "The kobold warrior said you have nice teeth; she'll enjoy making a necklace out of them. Also you are way out of your league here. I'm adding; you may surrender or perish."

---

Weapon Mayster's Strike v Giant. Hit(44)!
 dmg: 44

Giant HP: 94 - 44 = 50

The Chuul obediently moves to where it was told, then attacks May!  Clamp!  Clamp!  Wiggle wiggle tentacles!  May manages to resist the immobilizing effect of the tentacles, and looks entirely unharmed.

<Deep Speech>"Ohmygosh!  It speaks my language!  Please let us live, master!  We're just doing our job!"

The death giant looks angry, but quite a bit scared of the situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:22, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

Timothius waves a staff at the giant and a seal slaps onto the giant! <Supernal>"I will spare you, if just to ask what you mean by "just doing your job". No killing the giant and the Chuul, please. But I will expect an apology from the Giant for harming my sister's soul."</Supernal>

As if to prove how out of the enemy's league this group of heroes is, Timothius flies towards the giant, unharmed by the hydra snapping at him. When he lands, the giant and the chuul both can feel the peaceful presence.

---

Minor: Peacemaker's Pronouncement! Hydra keeps that -6 to attacks another round!
Standard: Astral Seal v Giant. CRIT(46)!
 -2 defenses. Next ally to hit Giant regains 1d6+10 hp
Move: To inflict his peaceful aura on giant and chuul while "luring" the hydra.
 AoO from Hydra! Hit(34)!
  dmg: 12

Timothius HP: 124+56thp - 12 = 124+44thp

The hydra rages and charges at May and Timothius!  But stumbles and bites its tongues!

  Kyle listens to Timothius's request to not inflict giant death to the death giant.

  So he just shoots it in the knee instead <giant>"Argh! My knee-Argh! My Knees!"</Giant> Whoops, plural.

  Being taller means it hurts their face that much more when it slams into the ground.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:10, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

Mits flies over to be above the two enemies.

"You got it, bro!  Big zap!"

Raichel turns into a lightning bolt and zaps through the enemies! Bazap! Then materializes behind the hydra.

---

Superior Will gives stunned the middle finger: 14 success
Spark Form v Chuul, Hydra. Miss(27), Hit(40)!
 dmg: 37

Chuul HP: 384 - 18 - 15(vulnerable) = 351
Hydra HP: 642 - 37 - 15(vulnerable) = 590

May becomes a whirling dervish of weaponry! The chuul is hit a couple times, but while the weapons only seem to bounce off its armor, the chuul feels harmed as though some of it just outright ignored his carapace.

May lops off one of the Hydra's heads and two more grow in its place! "Oh my! So the stories are true! Umm... so how do we kill this thing?"

---

Lunging Dervish v Chuul, Hydra. Miss(38) Hit(39)!
 dmg: 36
 Miss dmg: 6
 secondary attacks: Miss(35) Hit(40)!
 dmg: 7
 Miss dmg: 6

Chuul HP: 356 - 12 = 344
Hydra HP: 590 - 43 = 547

<deep speech>"Hey!  He said no killing us!"

Clamp!  Clamp!  The chuul rips through May's force field!  But she resists the tentacle attack again.

Timothius says, "The hydra hasn't shown signs of being an intelligent being. You meant for us to keep it alive also? Very well. For now."

He bursts with radiance, causing the hydra and chuul both to be even more vulnerable. He then says, "Pretty sure we're agreed to knock out the chuul first so we can concentrate on the hydra?" He points at the chuul and the chuul feels cut off somehow.

Then chains of radiance burst from the ground and bind the enemies, restricting their movement while making the enemy able to get even more hurt still.

---

Minor: Solar Enemy
 Effect: Increase vulnerability to radiant by 5. Total: +10 to any radiant
  vulnerability.
Standard: Sever the Source.
 Effect: Vulnerable all 10+Wis(7) for total of vulnerable 17 all.
 Side benny: Stacks with solar enemy for vulnerable 27 radiant.
ACTION POINT! +4 non-dmg attacks
Standard: Chains of Blazing Light v Chuul, Hydra. Hit(47)! Hit(46)!
 Effect: dazed. +11 radiant dmg first time they are hit.

  Kyle says "I already miss the enemies who understand that surrendering so we will not attack them, means we will attack them until they surrender. Not before."

  One crossbow bolt for the Chuul, one paci dust for the Hydra.

Minor: Resistive buff.
minor x2: Miss, Hit Chuul. 57 total dmg (after rolling a 1. thanks mods).
Action Point: Paci dust vs Hydra. hits. Thanks to Tim it's also 27 DMG.

Chuul: 319-57= 262
Hyrda: 537-27= 520

The hydra thrashes about so violently, it manages to rub off the pacification dust!

Mits conjures an enormous laser trident.

"Lobster for dinner!"

STAB!  STAB!  STAB!  STAB!  She slices the enemy bloody!

"With a side of hydra."

Raichel fires her furious bolts and.... misses on the first shot. She shrugs and moves on because furious misses half the time anyway. KABOOM! Giant lightning bolt from the sky hits the two monsters, sets the ground on fire, and knocks both monsters onto their backs! "For dinner? Didn't that lobster just talk to us?"

---

Furious Bolts v Chuul, Hydra. Miss(30) Miss(26)
ACTION POINT! 8 dmg to Chuul and Hydra
Vezzuvu's Eruption v Chuul, Hydra. Hit(43)! Hit(42)!
 dmg to Chuul: 63
 dmg to Hydra: 56

Chuul HP: 117 - 8 - 63 = 46
Hydra HP: 369 - 8 - 56- 11 = 294

May says, "Lights out!" and whacks the chuul and the hydra at the same time. The chuul seems to still be standing, so May pushes herself a little harder to squeeze in one more attack on both and BAM! Out goes the chuul!

The hits she landed on the hydra have hurt the hydra a lot, causing another head to grow! "I... didn't slice off a head this time. Oh well!"

---

Come and Get It v Chuul, Hydra. Hit(46)! Hit(46)!
 dmg: 33
ACTION POINT! Resist 10 all
Inexorable Advance v Chuul, Hydra. Hit(40)! Hit(36)!
 dmg: 50

Chuul HP: 46 - 33 - 57 = SOooo KO
Hydra HP: 294 - 33 - 50 = 211

Timothius says, "She's just using metaphors, Raichel. Mittens wouldn't eat someone if she already agreed to spare them."

Things Tim knows Mittens won't do, no matter HOW loony she seems:
1) Give up on adventure
2) Abandon her siblings or friends
3) Eat someone while they are still alive

Timothius holds up his holy symbol and shines light on the hydra, making it writhe in pain! Timothius gets a sad look on his face like he is sorry he made the hydra hurt, but doesn't comment.

---

Shining Symbol v Hydra. Hit(40)!
 dmg: 54
 Effect: -2 to attacks
 Timothius is stunned

Hydra HP: 211 - 54 = 157
This message was last edited by the player at 05:49, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

  "Yes Raichel, it did."  Though the Hydra Cleary was not one of the legendarily poisonous variety, so maybe that could cover the wild animal dining urges rather than 'really bad at begging for it's life' Lobster?

OOC: Hit, Hit, CRIT.
Hydra: 157-123= 34

The trident Mits left buried in the hyrdra's side detonates!  It collapses!  Rai's spirit is restored!

"Woohoo!  Victory fanfare!"

She toots a tin horn.  Once the enemy is tied up and questioned, the hydra is confirmed to be a mindless beast.  The Chuul is discovered to be very close to mindless.  It thought it had succeeded in convincing the group to stop attacking it.  So it fought back when that "agreement" was broken when May and Rai attacked it after being told not to kill it.  It mentions pretty often that it is hungry, it doesn't want to die, it was only following orders, etc.  The death giant is scared and quickly spills what little it knows.

Most of the death giants in Arantor’s employ use
steel predators as guardians and pets. This giant is
experimenting with an alternative. After much trial
and error, he’s trained one of the chuuls that inhabit
Monadhan’s jungles. The chuul fears the caves, however, so the death giant is stuck patrolling far from
base with its pet.

Arantor's lair can be found in the caverns on the other side of the valley.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:19, Mon 18 Apr 2016.

Because Timothius is apparently back to being all kindness and no darkness, he feeds the chuul (pieces of disembodied hydra head from when May DID behead it once), giving it reassuring pets and takes the time to explain why he and his allies continued attacking. And that the chuul will get to live. Timothius genuinely believes the chuul not guilty of anything more than wanting to survive.

The same can be said of the hydra, and Timothius is quick to point out that most of the people who reside here (that is, everyone besides the heroes) deserve to be here and thus, deserve to have this mindless beast on guard and ready to consume them. "Whether for justice or for them to die sooner as a small mercy, the people here do not need fewer dangers. I know it sounds odd coming from me, but that is how I feel about it."

Raichel nods and says, "What about the giant? He kept fighting when you offered surrender."

Timothius looks down at the giant. "....he gave us the information we wanted. If he apologizes to Raichel, as I mentioned, then I say we spare him."

May loots the teeth from the disembodied hydra head. What? That head is dead and the hydra itself won't care or use those teeth.

  "Whatever it's supposed reasons for being here, the Hydra has been placed between a one way entrance to this realm, and further into it.  Even if most of those here deserve it, I'd rather not leave such a poorly handled beast loose."  Standards! Even in the realm of having poor standards.

Mits shrugs.  Then impish grin.  "But if we kill the hydra, two more will spawn in it's place!

"I'm in favor of getting to the part where we stop the ritualist ASAP.  It'll be a long while before these baddies will be healed back up to be much of a threat.  So sparing or killing any of these monsters won't really make much of a difference to our mission either way.  So whatever you all decide is fine with me."

Timothius reverts from his angelic mode and says in a relenting, if annoyed tone, "Killing or not killing the beast makes no difference since we're the first in probably ever to come here on purpose. But in the interest in not having to fight it again later on the off chance we come back this way, I can see your point. Do what you're going to do and let's go."

If the giant apologizes, however, even Raichel will agree to spare him. But she does remove all of his soul-stealing equipment and such like (The Soul Shroud, the Soul Shards in it, and the Soul Dagger).

May doesn't care either way and just takes point when the group is ready to move on.

  Kyle shrugs, and opts not to spend the effort skeletonizing a hydra. "Then let's get on with this trip. Seems we have a lot of stunning to deal with in out future, if more of these giants are playing at guardsmen."

Mits smiles and reaches to hair-ruffle her bro.  "There, see?  Nobody and nothing died."

The PCs reach the shantytown at the center of
Monadhan without too much trouble. Once there,
they must interact with the Shantytown residents in
an effort to learn where the portal onward is.

The simplest way to proceed is for PCs to make DC
22 Streetwise checks. The first success reveals the
Sarissa clue below, and the second success reveals the
Rolain clue below.
If you want to expand the investigation, here are
some factors to consider:
✦ The PCs are epic tier, and the vast majority of
the shantytown residents aren’t. Other than
Kas’s crew (described in encounters T1-T3)
and the death giant patrols that occasionally
come through the shantytown (use the giants in
encounter C7 if you like), no one is capable of
even scratching the characters’ armor, much less
offering an actual challenge in battle.
✦ No one gets to Monadhan without first
committing a betrayal so cruel that it garnered
supernatural imprisonment as a response. Most
of the shantytown’s residents are damaged
goods: insane, depressed, paranoid, or habitually
blaming everyone but themselves for their fate.
Some are wracked with guilt while others deny
that they did anything to deserve their fate.
Either way, few are pleasant to be around.
Whether you play out a detailed investigation or not,
all this effort should get the PCs two valuable pieces
of information:
✦ Sarissa the seer knows about the portal. She lives
in a hut on the edge of the shantytown.
✦ A mysterious figure named Rolain can
supposedly go into Arantor’s lair and emerge
alive.  Rolain can be found at midnight at
the shantytown’s graveyard.

"This place makes Mits uncomfortable."  She doesn't really know what to make of all this and idly paws at her sibs' tails.  And May's too if she leaves it within Mits' reach.

May notices Mitts' idle pawing and lifts her tail high enough to be in easy reach just to play with the cat.

Raichel says, "It gives me relief, knowing that there are certain things people don't get away with for long and wind up in a hell so special it doesn't even exist in the nine hells."

Timothius says, "Maybe so, but we don't deserve to be here. We are only here because we have to be."

May says, "What can your friendly neighborhood kobold dreadnaught do to make you more comfortable, m'lady Mittens? I'll let you borrow any weapons you like if it helps!"