The adventurers are startled awake several hours after adjourning to their chambers by insistent knocks on their doors. Anxious voices outside their doors accompany the banging, urging the heroes to come quickly. It is now near midnight, but the light of the stars and a full moon provide some visibility.

Outside, the party hears the sound of massive dragonbone horns pealing through the air, accompanied by a rising and thunderous roar. This heralds the event Brindol has come to fear--The Red Hand is on the march!

Defenders throughout the city are racing to the battle stations, the city walls now teeming with Brindol's army. The sound of stone smashing stone now accompanies the thunderous roar. It soon becomes clear the source of this sound--great boulders are raining down from the sky straight into the city walls! Defenders positioned along the walls can't see any siege engines in the distance, but do see several large giants atop a low hill about 500 feet south of the southern gate. The giants are outside of bow range, but close enough to continue pummeling the walls with thrown boulders. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the walls begin to fall!

Lord Jarmaath contacts the party and tells them two groups of hill giants are bombarding different sections of the city wall. He has already ordered one sortie to take out one group but cannot afford to divert a second group from the main battle.

"Defeat these foes!" he implores

Eoni was nonplussed at her rude awakening.  Couldn't they have waited until dawn as she'd planned?

Finding the others stumbling from their own rooms, she pulled on her padded coat and helped the others tighten the straps on their armors.

"There are giants bombarding the city from the south," she informed them.  "We've been assigned to take out one of the two groups.  They're a good ways out so we'll grab some horses from the stable to get in fast."

She really wished Aldara were here.  They could really use her sorcery about now.

After donning her leather armor, Sarah covers her ears to help muffle the sound of the boulder-missiles crashing into the City's walls.  But as the others who have more to prepare get closer to being ready, she scoops up her remaining belongings and prepares to leave.

The last thing she does is pull her new leather cap over her head.  Between that and the crossbow, she looks a little ridiculous.

Vaxfar dons his banded mail and puts the bastard sword on his back.  “I am ready.  What is our plan of attack?”  [Private to DM Pawn: I have memorized the Web spell in place of ESP during our rest. ]

Valthur gathers his weapons and dons his magic chainmail and his helmet. With axe in hand, he bows his head and takes a deep breath to collect his thoughts. Moradin guide this axe. Let its strikes be true tonight... And give us all the strength to stand against these Red Hand scum bags.


He joins the others in time to hear Eoni direct them to the stables. "Horses?" He complains. "Ugh. They're not designed with dwarves in mind... but I guess it's better than riding an owl. At least if I fall off, I won't plummet to my death." Having spoken his piece, he starts for the stable.

Taerix makes sure he has everything he needs, including his new potions. Then he heads with the others to the stables.

"Can I ride with one of you? Horses were never my size...."

"You can ride with me," Eoni replied to Taerix as they made their way toward the stables.  She tried touching the halfling with her staff to see if it had recharged in the little time since it was last used on him.

"We may need to drink some of that healing before we ride," she said, realizing how poorly she still felt herself.

The adventures gather their gear and depart from their chambers. They race down to the stables and gather horses to carry them with great speed to where they are needed most--a low hill about 500 feet south of the southern city gate. There, a group of hill giants is posted and are throwing a seemingly endless barrage of boulders at the city's south walls. Outside of range of even the most capable archer, the giants are free to do as they wish.

The adventurers charge out of the stables, mounted now on sturdy riding horses, bound presumably toward the south gate. Arriving at the south gate, they can readily hear the sound of stone crashing into stone, with the defenders atop the wall seemingly in a panic. The gates are presently closed and a group of soldiers is hastily doing what they can to reinforce the gate with sturdy planks, but it will all be for nothing if something isn't done, and soon!

As the adventures gallop forward, one of the soldiers calls out, "There's nothing we can do! Those damn giants are too far away!"

"I've got a giant strength potion now! I should just throw the rocks back!"

"Just get us out there!" Eoni shouted at the soldiers reinforcing the gate.  "Open these gates or those giants will open them for us!  We'll take care of the giants!

"Open those gates!"

She turned to the scout and said with less volume, "With only one of you and a dozen of them, they'll pound you into paste.  If we have to charge on foot from here, we'll be pounded to paste well before we reach them.  We need to find a way out.

"Once we're out, don't run straight at them.  Spread out and zigzag to make it harder for them to hit us."

She looks around for anyone injured to use the staff on while they wait for the gates to be opened.  She wasn't wearing her tiara and depended on the light around the gate.  She didn't want to be a beacon outside for the giants to target.

Vaxfar readies for battle and is deep in thought as he awaits the opening  gates.  [Private to DM Pawn: How far away are the giants?  Is there a clear view of them? Are they clustered?  I am considering my fireball spell to start, but I need to know if they are within 240’]