The path north of Fairhill runs along the Coldfell, a rocky, swift stream with its headwaters in the shadows of the Stoneheart Mountains, and darts in and out of woodland with numerous offshoot trails here or there. A few stray clouds drift lazily across the sky, but the weather is fair, warm, and not altogether unpleasant, despite Lannet's occasional protestations.

By midafternoon, the party veers off the main footpath and onto one of its western offshoots, toward wooded hills in the distance. Atop the hill, the party sees what appears to be a circle of stone plinths. This must be the Meloran shrine Shandril spoke of.

There is no easy trail up to the top of the hill. A rocky, scrabbly trail ascends the side of the steep hill, at times a steep staircase, others more akin to bouldering or even mountaineering. Indeed, the going proves to be quite difficult for Clatsi and Lannet, given their small statue. About halfway up, the going becomes quite slow and exhausting.

OOC: Can I get STR or DEX checks from all? Ullie, you may sub a climb walls check. Thanks!

"Hey Clatsi -- need me to carry you?" Ullie needles.

Then more seriously: "Would a rope help?"




18:31, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 4 using 1d20.  Dex check (18).

I took the "may" substitute literally and went with dex check.

Why?  Because my dex check (90%) is slightly higher than my climb check, (86%).

"Why would anyone put a shrine somewhere that couldn't be reached?" Rigya grunted as she struggled up the path.

OOC: Rigya rolled 14 using 1d20.  Dex Check (12) Scrabble.

Clatsi looked up the rocky, scrabbly hillside, shaking his head. He pointed out places on the trail that might be more trouble than others and replied to Ullie, "Rope might help there. And there. And there. I suppose I'd rather climb than be left behind."

He plodded up the trail with more luck than grace. It might have helped that gravity held such little hold on him.

07:25, Today: Clatsi Clatterstones rolled 5 using 1d20.  DEX check (07).

The party treks up the rough hillside and has a few close calls, but everyone eventually makes it to the summit, sweaty, tired, and some even bleeding from a few scrapes incurred along the way.

Atop the hill the party finds a woodland shrine--a ring of standing stones surrounding a cracked stone altar. Prominent runes on each make it quite clear this is the Meloran shrine the party seeks.

A young man carrying a bundle of firewood approaches the shrine a few moments after the party scrabbles over the final ridge onto the top of the hill.

OOC: Enter Lowel...

"Hello travelers!" the young man greeted them. "Join me by the fire with Melora?"

The young man had long black hair plaited into a single braid. He wore scale mail and a shield lay up against his pack near the fire he'd made. A footman's mace swung from his belt.

"That wasn't a very welcoming trail to reach this place," Rigya pointed out in frustration.  Maybe he should have been working on trail maintenance rather than polishing the stones or whatever he'd been doing up here.

"We're looking for help in searching for a lost bard and her group," she explained, giving up on complaining about the trail.  They may as well just get to the point.

"They've been gone some 10 days in their search out to the Old Stoneheart Tower.

"Are you willing to help us?"

"And hello; thank you for the invitation," Ullian adds as he accepts the invitation to get warm by the fire.

Clatsi, grimey and damp from sweat, dragged himself forward to fall on his bottom near Ullian. "Thank you. I'd rather have a bath at this point than a fire, but that doesn't seem to be one of Melora's ammenities up here, does it?" Sure, the little gnome was griping, but it was good-natured griping and it was likely as not he didn't even realize he was saying his thoughts aloud.

The gnome gave Rigya a brief sideways glance. He wondered how this acolyte would respond to such an abrupt request.

"Is there a reward for finding her?" he asked, setting down the pile of wood to stoke the fire. It was a motley crew he'd be joining. The quest sounded fair, but but he was unsure of their trustworthiness if rewards were involved.

“Well, as to that … the father is a smith and he’s offered something. If you join us, the true reward comes later, when we plumb the secrets of the ruined … er, a ruined stronghold, which certainly contains much of great worth!”

"And how will our true reward be divided among us?" he asked pointedly. He knew he brought a lot to the table or they wouldn't have sought him out. He needed to keep Melora's best interests in mind.

"We split what we find equally," Rigya answered the Meloran's question.

She didn't much like camping atop a hill and looked around to see how much daylight they had left to find a better spot.  Though, she certainly didn't want to make their descent in darkness, either.

Sharn had used brute strength rather than grace to get up the mountain.  She looks around, appreciating the view before joining the cleric by the fire.

"I am Sharn Thanatol, thank you, the fire is nice.   We fear the fate of the young lady, it's been nearly two weeks, but decency requires we at least try to discover her.  I do not know much of Melora, but what I've heard, I think would approve of our quests".

The man looked over each of the new arrivals and weighed their words. Their quest sounded fair and good.

"I will agree to help you find this woman," he said after staring into the fire and contemplating the will of Melora.

"However, if she died at nature's hand, I will not abide any vengeance against the Wild."

"Okaay," Ullian says, as the thought of had not occurred to him.

Sharn frowns, "Nature's hand, what do you mean by that?".

"Melora teaches not to condemn the savagery of nature and to live in harmony with the Wild," he explained.

"Should we find this bard was killed by a bear or some other natural beast, we will not hunt it down, but let it be. If your goal is to kill every beast you encounter, then I will be unable to accompany you on your journey."

"Nah, I don't think you have to worry about that.  I'd defend myself if a bear were intent on mauling me, and I'd do what I could to defend the rest of you.  But I'm not going to track a bear for vengeance.

By the way, my name's Ullie."

"I am Lowel, Acolyte of Melora," the man said, returning the introduction. "You may call me Lowel."

"Rigya," the fighter replied simply.  She was still hoping to camp elsewhere if the daylight held.

Though, looking around, she wondered if she could see the tower from where they were.

"The rest of our group are Clatsi and Sharon," she pointed out the little one and big one in the proper order.

"Is there an easy way down from here that we didn't see on the trail we imagined on the way up?"

"Clatsi Clatterstones," the gnome said to Lowel, filling in the blanks, "and Sharon Thanatol. Wizard and warrior." He looked to Ullie and said quietly, "The group is rounding out nicely. This detour might have been worth it, after all!"

"It is nice to meet you all," Lowel replied in an overly loud speaking voice to the gnome. The little one must have been a little hard of hearing as the armed woman had just finished introducing him and the, ah, larger woman?

"Yes," he continued loudly, "there is a path down the other side. I think you must have followed an animal path on your way here."

Perhaps the gnome was quite old. Lowel debated the old gnome's reliability with his hearing impediment.

Lowel, the acolyte of Melora agrees to join the party in search of the blacksmith's missing daughter. The party's ranks have swelled to six and now include two warriors (Rigya and Sharn), two rogues (Lannet and Ullie), a wizard (Clatsi), and a cleric (Lowel). There is ample daylight remaining to find another suitable camping spot, should the party wish to not spend the remainder of the day atop the Meloran shrine.

There are two trails leading up to the shrine. The eastern trail, the arduous one the party ascended, is known as the Path of the Wild and is deliberately challenging. This trail is meant to test one's resolve. The western trail, the Path of Balance, is a reaffirmation of one's willingness to live in balance with the natural world. Followers of Melora believe portents and signs can be gleaned from one's journey to the shrine.

Rigya looks off to the northeast, in the general direction of the ruined tower, in hopes of spotting their destination, but her view is obstructed by a line of wooded hills, at the base of which lies the Coldfell River. From this vantage point she can see the river winds around the hills, disappearing out of sight as it turns northeastward.

Based on the information they gleaned from Lauriel, the tower is two days by foot from Fairhill at a leisurely pace. The party has traveled about half a day.

To camp here or press on?

"This is at least a known place where camping is suitable; perhaps we should camp here and plan to go for two solid days after that?"

"It's too exposed up here if the weather comes up," she pointed out.  "And we'd get there a half day sooner if we didn't lay about here.

"We are in a hurry after all."

Ullie nods.

"Yeah, there's that too.  An extra half day keeps us from getting there at the fall of darkness.  You've convinced me."

The half-orc nods and is glad to be on the way.  She ponders that two people have now called her Sharon, although it's not her given name, it is somewhat prettier, more feminine and less, well, orcish than Sharn.  She decides to leave it along, she kinda likes it.

Lowel seemed disappointed they wouldn't be able to use all of the fire wood he'd gathered, but consoled himself in the fact that other pilgrims would be happy to find it ready.

"It is a nice day today," the Meloran pointed out. "We would regret giving it up if another day were to rain."

Having accomplished what they set out to do, enlist the services of a cleric, the party departs the shrine and continues their journey northward. The trail follows the Coldfell's western banks and eventually veers northeastward. Toward the end of the first day the party finds a suitable camping site, establishes watch rotations, and settles in for the night. Save for the distant screech of an unknown beast to the southwest, the night passes uneventfully.

The group breaks camp early the next morning and continues their journey in hopes of reaching their destination before nightfall. After several hours of travel through wild country, the party follows a stony path into a grassy valley surrounded by wooded hills. The path continues through the valley and then climbs a wooded hill. A large tower in a state of disrepair stands atop the wooded hill. Moments after first seeing the tower, the party hears a beautiful female voice singing a song accompanied by a harp being played rather badly. The voice and harp shimmers through the grassy valley.


Butterfly mine, with pretty wings,
Red and brown and red and blue,
Can't you find any of your flowers?
Butterfly mine, with pretty wings,
Sit yourself down on the swaying straw,
Butterfly mine...

The party is on the stony path leading to the hill, about 500 feet from the tower.

"Well," said Clatsi, satisfied. "That was easy. Follow the tune to find the young woman, and we're done.We must plan now for the important venture. The wizard's ruined keep."

"Nothing's ever this easy," Rigya pointed out to the gnome.  "Let's get closer and see if it's really the one we're looking for."

She pushed forward toward the base of the tower.

"Isn't that the truth of it," Lannie says in response to Rigya's comment. The talkative halfling began their journey filling in space with idle chatter, but over the past day had limited his conversation to the occasional remark about a bird, tree, or plant he saw along the way.

Ullian withholds a look of distaste at Lannet's idle comments and follows with Rigya.

Lowel was content to tag along as he was the newcomer to the bunch and they only needed one person to lead the way.

The path switchbacks up the side of the hill. The cobblestone path is wide enough for a cart to pass, though brush ha grown up on either side and small saplings now sprout here or there, indicating it likely hasn't seen such use in some time.

The beautiful voice and discordant harp become more audible as the party makes their way up the hill:

Only want to reach you,
Only want to get you,
Only want to treasure you!
There, I almost had you,
And then you flew on your way.
Butterfly mine, with pretty wings,
Red and brown and red and blue,
I don't want to frighten you,
Only want to reach you,
Only want to get you,
Only want to treasure you!

Eventually, the party makes their way to the top of the hill. A ruined courtyard, now overgrown with bramble and briar, lies to the south of the tower. Only three sides of the courtyard's walls remain and there are numerous areas where the wall is little more than a pile of stones. Beyond the courtyard, the tower shell rises.

The party stops behind a stand of pine trees to take a closer look and notices a giant, no two giants!

The giants are sitting atop a pile of rubble in the center of the courtyard, their back to the stony path and the adventurers. One giant wears a helm and bobs in time with with the discordant harp. The other giant shakes its head left to right, though trying to clear some bothersome insect from its ears.

Moving position slightly, the group then notices it is not two giants, but one giant, with two heads! The creature is monstrous in appearance, with two misshapen, sloping heads, comically large ears, stringy hair, and a jumble of gray stones for teeth.

The hideous two-headed giant is playing a golden harp, badly. The woman's voice comes from a tower window. Looking up, the party sees a woman with a strong resemblance to the picture of Arialle the smith showed them in Fairhill. Though unlike her comely appearance in the portrait, the woman in the window is now filthy and her hair is a tangled mess.

She continues to sing from the window, while the two-headed giant accompanies her on harp.

One of the giant heads, the non-helmed one, bellows something out unintelligible and causes the playing to stop as the harp crashes to the ground. Moments later, a meaty fist crashes into the non-helmed head and a brief scuffle erupts.

That issue sorted, the two-headed giant picks up the harp and begins to pluck notes, badly, again.

OOC: The party is about 100 feet from the courtyard and two-headed giant and 150 feet from Arialle.

Rigya waved the others back far enough to get them all out of sight and earshot before she spoke quietly.

"I think we know why they haven't returned, now," she whispered the obvious.  "We can't take that thing head on without losing more than a few of us.

"Any clever ideas?"

Ullian smiles a little.

"I think that creature's in love with Arialle!"

After thinking a moment more, he studies the scene before him and tries to discern an answer to the question he asks aloud:

"I wonder if there's a way to circle around and get up to that tower to talk to Arialle.  I'm betting she has information that could be crucial in determining how to proceed.  I think, maybe, if I can get to it, I can climb up."

Regardless of what visual inspection reveals, Ullian then suggests:

"Maybe we should withdraw a little and circle around to the other side?"

"Scouting sounds like a good idea, but I'm sure some of us are better at it than others," she pointed out, looking pointedly at the halfling in their midst.

"We don't all need to go stomping through the brush."

Lannet stammers when Rigya fixes her gaze upon him. "Ullian was the one with the bright idea!" he interjects.

"Maybe we take a looksee together? Two sets of eyes better than one?" he suggests.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:04, Thu 30 Dec 2021.

"If you can contact her, have her sing what we need to know," Lowel suggested. "We can use her song to coordinate our efforts."

Ullian looks at Lannet with a furrowed brow.  He then turns back to Rigya.

"I agree; I was thinking exactly along those lines.  I'll go; if necessary . . . "

He turns back to Lannet.

". . . alone."

And he readies himself to sneak around and to the other side of the tower.

Lannie's jaw drops upon hearing Ullie's announcement. "It's no bother," he quickly responds in a cordial tone. "I don't mind at all. No offense meant. Oh bother..." he stammers as Ullie stalks away.

"What did I say?" he asks aloud, looking for any show of support. If none come, he chuckles and nervously wipes his brow with a handkerchief.

"We should be prepared to act if Ullie is noticed.  I don't think those two heads see eye to eye, if we need to distract them,  I'll approach and talk with them awhile.  Orc's and giants are sorta distant cousins, so they might not squash me right away.  Maybe I can get them arguing with themselves...".

Sharn will be ready to move quickly forward if they giant seems to notice Ullie.

"If you do need to run," Rigya said to the half-orc, "don't bring them right back to us."

She dropped her pack and untied her bow from it's side as she spoke.  "We'll take a few shots at it as it goes past.  Should maybe confuse it for a moment to get a few more shots it."

Leaning down, she flexed the short bow onto it's string and tested the pull.  "Just don't try to go toe to toe with it.  If it got a hold of one of us, I'm sure it would just rip us apart."

Clatsi's eyes were wider than usual behind his spectacles and his voice was more quiet than usual, as well. "I ... I don't think I can put that thing to sleep, even with two spells!" As Ullie moved away, the little gnome hissed, "Wait. I should come with you. If you were to fall ... well, I could soften the landing."

He waited for approval from Greyheart before tagging along.

Before he went -- if he went -- Clatsi said to Lowel, "Oh. That's a clever ruse, with the song." There was some surprise in his voice. "I for one am glad you joined us, Lowel."

[OOC: How tall is the tower? I have a 10 yard range with featherfall.]
 

Lowel dropped his own pack and set his large shield out to be ready. He took a drink of water from his water skin and waited for the situation to evolve.

Ullian smiles at Clatsi.

"I think the risk of me falling is smaller than the risk of you making noise and attracting attention, my friend.  But if you insist; just follow me so you can see where to step and what pace to maintain."

OOC: Despite the bravado, I'm also curious as to the tower's height.

The tower is about 60 feet tall, with the upper portion in a state of great disrepair. However, the window from which Arialle is presently singing is about 30 feet above the courtyard.

"Could somebody just go already?" Rigya said in exasperation as the elf and gnome dithered around.  They'd still have the halfling if the elf fell off the tower, anyway.

"Ullie can handle the scouting on his own and we'll see what's really going on here."

Clatsi hesitated at Rigya's rebuke and he almost held his position, but he said quietly to no one but himself, "Alone. There's a reason we came here together, and it's not to send folks off alone. No. Not acceptable."

The little gnome followed after Ullian Greyhart, trailing by several strides and carefully watching Ullie's feet, and his own, to stay safe and quiet.

Ullie and Clatsi stalk off toward the tower while keeping within the cover of piney woods as much as possible. Arialle continues to sing and the two-headed giant continue to pluck discordant notes in rough approximation of what might pass for a chord.

The pair get a clearer look at the monstrous giant as they draw closer to the courtyard's broken wall. The giant is seated atop a ruined fountain, its statuary long since broken off and discarded elsewhere within the courtyard. The giant would easily be 13 feet tall if he were standing, but at the moment their attention is directed to plucking a beautiful golden harp while admiring the woman in the window. The harp is human-sized and the image of the giant playing the tiny harp would be quite comical, if one could be reasonably certain the two-headed giant weren't aggressive.

The courtyard is overgrown with brush, sapling, and weeds. A ruined gatehouse, its rusted and twisted portcullis cast aside and lying on the ground, stands at the couryard's west end. A dilapidated stable and a few wooden small outbuildings occupy its south side. A row of squat stone barracks, doors and windows long since removed, are clustered just north of the courtyard. The tower rises from the courtyard's west side. A broad double door, presently flung open, allows a glimpse of an entrance hall within.

The elf and gnome continue stalk along the courtyard's north wall and make their way toward the tower. The tower is perched over a rocky precipice on its north, south, and east end. The west side of the tower is open to the courtyard. Arialle is singing from a window on the tower's west side.

Ullie examines the tower and judges it to have plenty of hand and footholds. The issue is the giant will likely be able to see a north, south or west ascent. An east ascent would be out of the giant's line of sight, but one false step and the climber will face certain death. Getting to the east side while remaining below the giant's line of sight will be tricky.

The giant's heads are visible above the broken wall from this vantage point. It is still plucking the harp and gazing at the woman in the window.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 14:14, Mon 03 Jan 2022.

"So," Ullian whispers to Clatsi. "If I should make a misstep on the east side, you can keep me from plummeting to my death?"

Clatsi adjusted his spectacles and gave the tower's east side a very careful examination. He bit his lip and heaved a sigh. "No. No, I don't think I can do that." Then he reconsidered. "Yes. Yes I can do that."

OOC: Well, dang, I just realized that featherfall only lasts for 6 seconds at this level and would only account for 12' of the drop before regular falling occurs. That's a useless spell.
DM, would there be space for a featherfall-assisted landing, or is it a vertical drop?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:44, Tue 04 Jan 2022.

Ullian, filled with (unjustified?) confidence, attempts to sneak over to the eastern side of the tower so he can attempt an ascent.


OOC: It sounded like I might need to roll something to get there unnoticed?

The two headed giant is sufficiently distracted by its harp playing and the woman's beautiful voice that Ullie has little difficulty getting into position to climb the east side of the tower. The elf clings to a very narrow ledge along the tower's north edge and gets into position for a climb within Clatsi's line of sight, but out of the giant's.

Now it's just a matter of getting up there...

OOC: Go ahead and make a climb walls check.

Clatsi scrabbled along carefully to put himself into position to save the day, should Ullian's day need saving.

When the elf started his climb, Clatsi's full attention was on him and he was ready to feather his fall.

With luck, nothing vile would sneak up on the little gnome while he was so occupied.

Ullian licks his lips a little as he attempts his ascent.  He gets part way up when his feet slip and slide a little, leaving the elf to hang precariously for a moment.  But he quickly cycles his feet to regain their purchase on the tower's side.

He pauses a moment to catch his breath and let his heartbeat slow, and then resumes his ascent.




09:26, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 88 using 1d100.  Climb (86).
09:28, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 5 using 1d6.  Hero's Luck (adding 5-30 to climb roll.

Glad I asked that question!

Despite the brief scare, Ullie steadies himself and continues up the side of the tower and eventually reaches the top, the roof of which has partially collapsed and allows access inside the tower shell.

From the vantage point of the partial roof, Ullie sees a winding staircase leading downward onto a landing, likely one level above Arialle. The staircase ends at a closed wooden trapdoor, though this door appears rotted and swollen with moisture. Scores of swallow nests are clustered along the walls and what remains of the ceiling of this upper level and the floor is littered with bird droppings and feathers. The woman's voice is heard on the other side of the closed trapdoor.

Ullie tiptoes his way to the trap door and tries to open it.  Slowly, so as to not startle the maiden below.

Sharn watches and waits, ready to move into action if she is needed.

Ullie disappears over the top of the tower and out of Clatsi and the rest of the party's view...

The elf then stalks down the winding stone staircase along the tower's interior wall and approaches the swollen wooden trapdoor. The door is snug and requires a little effort to pry open, but Ullie does his best to accomplish the task as quietly as possible...

And does so.

The staircase continues down into another chamber, this one looking like a bedchamber dominated by a moldering four poster bed with a moth-ridden canopy and a heap of animal pelts atop the mattress. A large wardrobe stands off to the side of the bed, its doors flung open and the glint of miscellaneous coins can be seen strewn amidst a pile of clothes. A large wooden chest sits at the foot of the bed. Arialle stands a few feet from the chest, her back to Ullie. Arialle is bound by a thick chain attached to a manacle at her left ankle. The chain leads out an adjoining door and down a set of stairs, presumably to the tower's first floor.

Arialle does not stir when Ullie opens the trapdoor.

Ullian glances about to see if there are other dangers about.

If there are none, he whispers: "Arialle, I presume?  Don't move; I'm here to help.  Or try at least.  I gather that two-headed beast has imprisoned you here?"

Arialle startles, as she was unaware of the Ullian's presence (or the other adventurers for that matter) until the moment he whispers to her. The interruption causes her to pause singing for a moment, long enough to raise the ire of one of the giant heads. The giant growls something unintelligible at the woman and she quickly regains her place in the song:

I don't want to frighten you,
Only want to leave with you,
Only want to get out with you,
Only want to to take the treasure with you!
There, you almost had me,
Were it not for the chains that bind me.
Powerful giant, with two separate minds,
One kind, the other cruel
Red and brown eyes and red and blue eyes
I don't want to frighten you,
Only want to leave with you,
Only want to get out you,
Only want to leave with you!

She then begins violently coughing and holds up a hand in a gesture of asking for a moment. She reaches for a nearby waterskin and takes a draught before whispering back as nonchalantly as she can manage.

"Not much time. Friggebolg doesn't speak common. I'm chained to a big rock down below, in the ettin's lair..."

The ettin loudly protests her lack of singing and she resumes her song, this time, lyrics less altered than before.

"That didn't sound like a normal song," Rigya pointed out quietly to those left behind. "But it didn't tell us what to do, either."

At the very least, she did want to escape with them and there seemed to be treasure.

Ullian nods.

Before going to check the chain below, he looks about the room he is in to see if there is a rope . . . bedding . . . something, that can be used to aid in descending the tower on the outside.

Still not certain how to get Arialle out without drawing the ettin's (ettins'?) ire, he then tries to determine how the chain is affixed to Arialle, and whether he can reach what he hopes might be a lock without being seen from below.

He then goes down to see how the chain is affixed to the boulder, also taking care to not be seen from the window.  And while doing so he continues his quest for something rope-like.

Ullie does not find any ropes in the bedchamber, but there are several articles of moth-ridden clothes and a heap of animal pelts on the bed that might serve as an improvised rope, assuming one had time to attempt the feat.

A staircase leads down to the entrance hall. The long, thick chain leads all the down to the first floor, the entrance hall. The entrance hall is in a similar state of disrepair as the bedchamber above; however, this hall is covered in grime and the ettin's filth. The hall is littered with broken crates, destroyed furniture, piles of debris, and miscellaneous rubbish. The smell alone would give this hall away as the ettin's lair, but it's physical state confirms it.

A huge slab of masonry sits in the middle of the hall, within view of the open front door. The slab looks like it may have once been part of a dungeon wall, perhaps a prison? An iron hook is driven into slab. The chain is attached to this slab.

The giant continues to pluck the magnificent golden harp, just outside the front door.

Ullian tries to gauge whether he can get to the slab and release the chain without being seen from outside.

The slab is right in front of the open, double doorway. Getting to it without the giant seeing will be very difficult.

OOC: Anything's possible in D&D...

So, we're probably looking at a successful move silently (to avoid being heard), hide in shadows (to avoid being seen), and a pick locks check. Then hoping the ettin doesn't have a good sense of smell...

"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum..."

Ullian's confidence is high -- but not to the point of foolhardiness.  He'd try if there was no other way, but he decides it's time to report back.

He goes back upstairs.  "Don't say anything, don't change anything you'd normally do.  Don't want to tip the big galoot off," he whispers.

He looks about for a place to secure his own rope so that he (and perhaps others) can use it for entering on the east side.

"I or someone else will be back shortly," he promises, and he then returns down to tell apprise the others of the situation.

. . . but before descending, he stops and looks again at the chain affixed to Arialle's ankle.

"Wait . . . that doesn't look as difficult as I first thought," he murmurs.

He crawls over (so as to not risk being seen by Arialle's suitor) and tries to pick the lock . . .


08:48, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 77 using 1d100.  Pick Locks (44)

. . . but fails.

His heart sinks, not only because he couldn't open the lock and rescue Arialle, but because now that accursed Lannet will have a chance -- and if he succeeds, it will be mighty embarrassing.

"I'll be right back," and then uses his rope to climb down, leaving it hanging for a return trip.

Clatsi watched and waited and finally Ullie descended by rope. He had heard the song, of course, and Ullian filled in the blanks. "The ettin speaks no common tongue. I have a spell for that, to allow me to understand him. But I'd have to touch him. And he wouldn't understand me." He frowned, perhaps wondering if wizardry had been a useful field of study, after all.

"The foolish ettin is in love with Arielle, and has her chained in the tower.  The lock on her ankle is good -- very good.  I couldn't get it open.  The other end of the chain is locked to a boulder on the first floor.  I didn't try to open it because there is no way to get to it without the ettin seeing.  At that point I figured it was best to get everyone's input before doing something potentially foolish.  I did leave my rope hanging on the east side, so anyone can use it -- providing you can get over there without the ettin seeing."

"Anyone know how fast that thing runs?" Rigya asked.  It had longer legs, but looked a little on the heavy side.

"I don't," Ullian admits.  "And I didn't think to ask.  But it's big and has long legs, so even if it can't move them quickly, each step'll cover a lot of ground."

"Does anyone know how to set any traps we could use in the woods here?" she asked.  "If we could get it to chase us a short ways into a trap of some kind, it would give Lannet time to free the girl and get out."

Ullian scratches his chin as he looks about for something that could be used to construct some sort of trap.  "I dunno," he says, doubt clear in his voice. "He's big, so a pit doesn't sound like a great idea.  And his size and strength suggest a snare would be iffy too.  Making something fall on him, like a boulder or tree could hurt him . . . maybe . . . "

"We don't need to kill him," Rigya replied, eying the brute through the foliage, "just slow him down enough so everyone can get away.

"Is there an escape route from the other side of the tower she and Lannet could use while we draw it away in this direction?"

"I wonder if they know common or even orcish, they don't seem to get along, if we could one to try to kill the other, we might stand a chance...".

"They're the same creature," Rigya pointed out.  "You can't have one kill the other without killing itself."

Sharn takes a few steps closer to the vantage point looking out at the Ettin, sighs and brushes the stray hair from her face.

“I never believed in fates or gods bothering to take note of our small  lives, but I begin to wonder, what odds that in my first weeks away from home, my path would lead me here, to this grotesque creature with whom I feel empathy”.

Turning back to face the others,

“I must tell you, I was born much as it is, I had sister, on my left side of our body.  As a mix of races, she was more human, and more beautiful, but as she grew up, she was also cruel and cunning.   We grew to hate one another as we grew, and as we went from girlhood into womanhood, she despised my comely face as she felt I’d ruin her dreams of finding a mate.  Huh, as if two heads wasn’t the real problem.  One day, she went mad and tried to strangle me.   I fought back and luckily, I was always stronger than she, and I choked the life out of her.”
“I won’t say the next year was easy, it took months for her to shrivel up and fall off, and many more before I could control that side of my body.  Even today, my left side sometimes is slow to react, and I do miss her, occasionally, but it was the best thing I ever did.   So maybe, I could convince the better side of that Ettin, to do the same?”

"They certainly argue with each other, and take shots at each other," Ullian points out. "We could try egging them on, but we'd have to speak their language.  And find a way to cover up that it's us.  By hiding or .  . . Clatsi, do you have any invisibility spells, or camoflauge spells, or the like?"

"That sounds like a plan," Rigya agreed with Sharon.  "While you're talking to it, Ullie and Lannet will set the bard free and escape in the other direction.

"Clatsi and I'll watch from here with my bow and if anything goes wrong, we'll distract it while Sharon makes a run for it.

"How does that sound?"

Clatsi shook his head. His magic was not useful here, it seemed.

Sharn glances around as plans are formed.  Pulling off her pack, she digs out her spare pair of nicer clothing and shirt from it.  Taking a knife, she widens the hole for the right sleeve, and cuts another hole down its edge for her arm and then pulls it over her head, armor and all, so it creates a second hole for head on her left shoulder.

"I hope it buys that ridiculous story, if it can understand me.  If I'm going to die trying to con that thing,  you need to promise me you'll get her out, if you can't get the lock, chop off her ankle, her dad and grandkids won't care that she's missing a foot....Clatsi, you said you can do something with languages, can you make me understand it, even if it can't understand me, I hope it can but even if it can't I'll stand a better chance if I know what its saying.  I'll improvise as long as I can, if things don't work out, she's bard, I expect to be remembered in song".

Brave words, she'd played out something like this in her childhood games and fantasies, in those, she did not have the rising fear she felt now.

"The magic only works on me. I -- I'll go with you, if I must. If we can forge a truce, perhaps he'll let me touch him." The little gnome's voice dropped to a whisper at the thought of approaching the two-headed giant.

"What should I be doing?" Lowel asked, having not been assigned a part to play. He had the mace at his waist, but wouldn't last long against that thing.

Clatsi looked again at Sharn. And away. And back again. The story she had told of her strange sister was still sinking in, and Clatsi had no idea what to make of it.

"You should go with Ullie and Lannet in case she's injured," Rigya said to the Meloran Acolyte.  Especially if they had to cut off her leg.

"She seemed fine," Ullian assures everyone; the thought of having to cut off her leg does not occur to him.

Having already found a way to the east side, he leads Lannet and Lowel.

Picking up her pack, Rigya slid into it and grabbed her bow from where it leaned against a tree.

"I'm going to see if there's a better vantage point than this," she said, looking around for a direction to go.  "Everyone finish up and get going.

"If it all goes sideways, we'll meet up at our last camp."

She stalked off in a crouch to see if there were a better shooting position from the pines.  Somewhere she could hit it in the courtyard and continue to hit it as it tried to close on her.  Preferably somewhere where it would be slow going for it to close on her.

"I'll give some time to get into place, and escape with the woman, if I feel you've been noticed or are taking too long, I'll go try to con that Ettin into killing itself".

Sharn gets into position, and will move into the sight of the Ettin at the first sign of the thieves having problems and needing a distraction.

Lowel follows Ullian and Lannet, trying to be as quiet as he can. It wouldn't do to be spotted on the way to their rescue.

Lannet is skeptical of the plan and states as much. "Seems kind of sketchy to me and a lot like putting all our eggs in one hell of a reed-bare basket if you don't mind me saying. I mean, I like eating eggs as much as the next halfling. Over-easy if you have to know, and there's nothing over easy about all this..." he says in frustration.

"Is there any reason why we can't just wait until the big guy has gone to sleep and make off with the girl in the night with them none the wiser?" he asks

With Lannet not following, Ullian stops.



"It is a little crazy, but the Ettin is stupid.  And if we wait until he sleeps, he's likely to go in the tower.  And he may be too close to allow Arialle to be spirited away."

"The beast might also make her sleep with him," Lowel pointed out to the halfling. "Would you rather try freeing her while it's snoring beside you in the dark?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but the thought of dealing with a sleeping and snoring two-headed giant is a whole lot more appealing than having to deal with an awake giant. You know what they say, when the kitty be snoozing, little mice be cruising?"

He looks from party member to party member, hoping for any show of support for a plan that does not involve trying to make off with the girl while the giant is awake.

Clatsi was ready to follow Ullian again to be a cushion, if that was needed, against a fall.

Lannet shakes his head and sighs in resignation. "So be it..." he says a moment later as he links off through the pines toward the ruined tower.

Clatsi, Lannet, Lowel, and Ullie make their way to the far side of the tower while Rigya and Sharn take up positions in the surrounding woods. The two-headed giant continues to pluck the golden harp but their playing has grown more disinterested as time has progressed with just an occasional badly timed flourish to accompany Arialle.

The giant puts the harp aside and begins to gather firewood which he then uses to start a fire in a firepit near the tower entrance. The two heads grumble back and forth a bit, but eventually settle into the task of roasting a rack of deer meat retrieved from within the tower.

Arialle lingers near the window and does her best to nonchalantly scan the surrounding area for signs of her rescuers. She occasionally sings a few snatches of lyrics down to the giant, but is waved away. Apparently the giant isn't interested in music right now and is more focused on properly roasting meat.

Ullian leads the way up the rope he left for just this purpose.

Lannie and Ullie have little difficulty making the climb and are soon within the ruined tower. Arialle gestures out the window toward the courtyard and whispers, "Good. You came back! The giant is cooking dinner now. They usually bicker back and forth while one insists on eating his fill first, the other wanting to serve me first. If we leave now we might have time to get away before they notice I am gone!"

There is a sense of urgency in the woman's voice.

Lannie quickly peeks out the window and then moves to the staircase leading to the entrance hall and does the same.

He returns to the center of the room and examines the manacles while retrieving a long file from his shoulder bag. The halfling goes to work on the lock, turning the file this way and that, before retrieving a smaller then larger file. He is unsuccessful each time.

"Blast it!" he blurts out in frustration. Fortunately, the giant down below is presently arguing about something and doesn't hear Lannie's outburst.

"Tough bugger!" he whispers to Ullie. "Any ideas?"  He looks around the room for inspiration before his eyes settle on a large wooden chest behind a pile of clothes. He tosses the clothes aside and lifts the lid.

The halfling whistles lowly and turns back to Ullie. "Sweet Avandra," he whispers, eyes wide, hands shaking.

The chest is packed with easily over 20,000 copper, silver, and gold coins.

15:04, Today: Lannet rolled 50 using 1d100.

Ullian grins.  "We could try to lift it and drop the chest on the Ettin's head.  But the immediate concern is getting Arialle free.  Arielle, do you know where he keeps the key?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:23, Thu 13 Jan 2022.

Arialle whispers back, "tucked into his loincloth..." And with that, her face twists into revulsion.

Ullian shudders as he tries to avoid figuring out how Arialle obtained that information.

"So if we do incapacitate him . . . we can get the key . . . "

He grabs an end of the chest, just to see if it is liftable (with help, of course.

Ullie attempts to lift the chest and is unable to do so. It doesn't even budge. Given Lannie's diminutive stature and at best average strength, he is not likely to be of much assistance here either.

OOC: The chest weighs about 500 pounds

Lowel hid patiently in the bushes a short distance away from where the rope lead up to the tower window. He looked around to see if there actually were a good escape route that would lead them directly away from the tower. One that didn't follow the path they'd used to get to the tower.

He expected Rigya and Sharon would be using the tower's path to lead the creature away. It wouldn't do for them to then follow on the same path to be spotted.

Clatsi too hunkered down in hiding. If either Ullian or the captive bard took a tumble, he was ready to gentle their fall to earth.

Rigya was a little disappointed that the creature had gone back into the tower, but it didn't sound as though the others had been spotted.

She waited patiently for the others to sneak back out with the bard.  Perhaps Sharon would make it after all.

Ullian looks around, and notices that Lowel did not come up the rope.

"Arialle . . . will he come up here, or pull you down?

And -- can you help me lift this chest?"

"I don't understand," Arialle responds. "Yes. He has come up here. The giany has not...been unkind to me...if that's what you're asking." The woman spoke the last sentence in an uncomfortable tone.

Arialle says she is willing to try to lift the chest and briefly leaves the window to do so. Together, Arialle and Ullie are unable to lift the chest; however, with Lannet's aid the triplet will probably be able to get the chest to the window and toss it outside. However, effectively aiming so that it hits the two-headed giant is anything but certain.

Arialle and Lannet, their eyes wide and alert, look to Ullie for guidance...

"No, I just want to know if he'll fit up here.  'Cause it wouldn't do for him to find us here, so we've got to move, and may not be able to wait for Sharn."

Ullian listens to determine if the ettin is in the tower.

"I'm not sure we can hit the ettin even if he's out there.  I could try to pick the lock at the other end if he's outside.  And distracted.  That might be a better bet than trying to hit him on the head."

The ettin is just outside the ruined tower door that leads into the great hall, about 10 feet distant from the front door. The giant is presently roasting meat on a spit over a firepit while one head hums and the other seems to be concentrating on slowly rotating the meat over the fire.

"Alright, we gotta make a move.  I'm gonna sneak down there and have a go at undoing the chain from down below.  Be ready to distract him if he seems to be gettin' suspicious."


Ullian starts to go, then stops:

"In fact, why don't you try talkin' to him while I do it?  He's used to it, it wouldn't be a surprise or a concern to him, and it might give just enough noise and distraction to tilt the odds in my favor."

He then tries his best . . .

OOC: Is a pick locks roll even in the cards after this?

14:24, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 14 using 1d100.  Move silently (36).


14:25, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 73 using 1d100.  Hide in Shadows (35).

Ullian is not as good at his craft as he thinks he is . . .



15:08, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 88 using 1d100.  Pick Locks (44)

Ullie stalks down to the first floor and stealthily approaches the chain attached to the large slab of wall. The ettin does not notice the elf and continues to fuss with the meat over the firepit. Ullie attempts to remove the chain from the wall but is unable to work the links or lock free!

Ullian thinks unholy curse words with extreme intensity, then creeps back up the stairs.

"No go," he announces sadly.  "Sharn may be able to break it free with brute force, but first we need to remove the ettin as a threat."

He eyes the chest again.  He then asks Arielle:

"Does he ever unchain you?"

"Not since I tried to run away..." she responds, her tone hinting at some recent terror.

"I made it some distance before he discovered I had fled. But he gave chase and is quite fast," she explains.

"The mean head wanted to kill me on the spot and eat me. The kind head prevailed," she whispers.

Ullian comes to the realization that he's done all the failing that he can possibly do right now.

It's time to reconvene and formulate a new plan.

"We are going to have to just break the chain, and for that we'll need a distraction to either to lure him away or to cover the sound.  And I don't have an axe.  So -- we'll need to head back down.

Don't worry; we'll figure something out."

Ullian prepares to lead the other adventurers back down the rope to meet up with the others.

Before going, he asks one last question of Arielle (although he fears the answer):

"Where does he sleep?"

Some of the hope and light flushes out of Arialle's eyes upon hearing Ullie and Lannie were unable to open the locks and will be leaving, without her, to formulate a new plan.

She then gathers her composure and tries to be as helpful as possible. She doesn't have a lot of options and is truly appreciative of the adventurers' help.

"Sometimes the giant sleeps downstairs, sometimes, right here," and she points to a filth-ridden corner of the room with disgust. She further explains she often will try to sing the giant to sleep downstairs, near a fire, to prevent the giant from coming upstairs.

"That's a good plan; we may be able to simply come back while he's asleep, break the chain, and skedaddle."

With that, Ullian heads back to the others, his mind brimming with tentative ideas.

Lannie, Lowel, and Ullie return to their companions as dusk begins to fall over the wooded hills. The ettin has finished roasting the deer meat and is now gorging itself and washing it down with the unknown contents of a large cask. Long shadows begin to dance across the keep, the ettin's hideous form silhouetted on the ruin walls.

At one point the ettin beckons Arialle to come down by the fire, which she does. There, the ettin has her sit on its lap while offering her deer meat.

"OK, here's the deal," Ullian relates to his companions.  "The locks on that thing are so expert that they defy picking.  We have to find another way.

The key is in his loincloth; not sure how we can get it, and I think there's a better way.

The chain itself isn't much.  A good whack or two from an axe could probably break it.  And there's a chance he'll go to sleep downstairs, and if he does I think that's our chance.

We go back to the second floor via the rope.  We block the entrance from the downstairs to the upstairs as best we can, both to muffle the sound and to slow him from getting up there if he tries.  We break the chain, and come back down.

I don't know that there's enough play in the chain for her to get all the way down so that we could try breaking it outside -- which would increase our chances of success, I'd think.  It is long enough for her to go down to the first floor via the stairs inside, though.

I can think of a few bells and whistles to throw in, like someone outside to create a diversion if he should wake up and be headed up . . . or if he comes out and tries to catch us on the backside of the tower."

Ullian stops and looks at the others. "Whaddya think?"

"This sounds like the same plan as before," Rigya pointed out.  "The two of you get her out, Sharon creates a distraction, I'm ready to shoot it, and you two," pointing at Lowel and Clatsi, "do something to help.

"The only difference is that I can't see in the dark."

"The means are different, as are the risks to be ready for.  Not stealth, but force and certain noise.

Plus, I need an axe."

OOC: I'm assuming that this doesn't require weapon proficiency with an axe, just actually having an axe?

"No axe here," Rigya replied to the elf as she looked herself over.  She looked over to see if Sharon had one.

OOC: This is the point where it's nice to have character descriptions in the Cast List that describe what each character can be seen wearing and carrying.

Sharn's bardiche is of sufficient size that it's been seen at least once or twice . . .

"Either Sharn has to go to use her big axe, or I can give it a try.  It's up to her, but since she's going to be involved in making a distraction I think I should give it a try . . . with her permission, of course."

Clatsi certainly has no axe and it was not certain he could lift one.

For his part, he would do the same as before: move to the base of the tower and be prepared to ease the fall of anyone who came tumbling out of it.

Lowel admitted to himself that he indeed wasn't that useful at the moment. Though, it would have been nice if the woman hadn't made it sound as though he were being useless on purpose. His value would appear once someone was injured.

His plan was still to go with the tower group and wait outside, again.  The fewer people that needed to exit the tower in a hurry, the better.

"Well, if you want to borrow her axe-thing," Rigya pointed out to the elf, "you'll have to go down and ask her yourself."

She pointed in the direction of where Sharon had parked herself to distract the two headed giant if the others had needed her.  It seemed she hadn't noticed they'd all reconvened in the pines and was waiting patiently for something to erupt at the tower.

Sharn frowns and retreats back to talk with the others.  After hearing all that went on.

"They'll hear if you cut the chain, then what, it's a fight.  She already escaped and had a lead and said it was fast and knew the area,  we won't have a lead.  We may able just attack by surprise.  I don't know,  sounds like suicide, worse than my plan and it was bad.  If you are going to do it, I can attack with my bow if things go wrong, but here, take a flask of oil, if you set fire to steps, maybe it'll slow it down if things go wrong".

"Well, if we can't do this quietly, let's just walk up and demand that it lets her go," Rigya proposed.  "Then when it refuses, we light it up with the oil and arrows.  I actually have a couple of flasks as well."

She went to her pack to retrieve the flasks.  "Then if someone had a torch, we'd be all set.  And I also have this, but it's probably too small for the chain."

She produced a hand axe from her pack to join the two flasks of oil.

"I think we should couple the plans, and at least try the sneakier approach to see if we can do it without waking the ettin; we can always revert to combat if we must, but I see no reason to start there.

First, I have never tried to break a chain with an axe.  It may take on or two strikes; even it is more than one, spaced out they may not wake him.

Second, I don't know how long the chain is; I'm wondering if there is a way to get this done further away from the stairs on the outside of the tower, even if it is close to the window.  Perhaps on the window.  And, if we use bedding and such to help muffle the sound, that could help our chances.

And if he wakes -- we're no worse off than open confrontation."

Ullian eyes the hand axe, wondering -- despite his lack of experience at breaking chains with axes -- whether that would be sufficient.

Lowel took the two flasks from Rigya and pulled out a torch of his own.

"I can light it when we need it," he said of the torch. He was still planning on heading around the back way to hide behind the tower.

"Well go and try then," Rigya said, trying to shoo the elf and his team on their way back to the tower.

They had a bad habit of standing around staring at one another after stating what they wanted to do.  At this rate, they might win the day when the creature died of old age.

Ullian's chipper demeanor is replaced with an unmistakable look of annoyance -- directed clearly at Rigya -- but he takes the axe and retraces his steps back to the tower.

Taking Sharn's bardiche, Ullie returns to the tower's far side, with Lannie and Lowel in tow.

Darkness has now crept over the land, the firepit in the ruined courtyard casting long shadows against the forlorn tower. The ettin has now finished feeding Arialle and is beginning to drift to sleep near the fire. Unfortunately, the ettin is cradling Arialle in its lap while she gently hums a lullaby. The non-helmed head is snoring. The helmed head bounces up every few moments in an effort to ward off sleep.

Ullie and Lannie climb the wall yet again and return to Arialle's bedchamber. She is not there. She is still downstairs in the courtyard, humming.

Ullian curses the circumstances but, feeling a bit more confident with the ettin asleep and occupied, creeps down the stairs from the inside.

Ullian creeps down to the first floor and attempts to get Arialle's attention without alerting the ettin to his presence. At some point Arialle sees Ullie. She gazes back in the elf's direction, her eyes wide set and alert.

The giant is half asleep, the other half, nodding.

Ullian gestures with his hand, inviting Arialle to leave the ettin and join him.  he then opens his arms and raises his eyebrows, to present a quizzical look.

Arialle slowly extricates herself from the ettin's slumbering caress and hops off his lap and onto the ground, the links of her chain clinking ever so slightly, but enough for the ettin to mumble something unintelligible while shifting.

A few tense moments pass, Arialle completely still, her head sunk low as she waits for the ettin to drift back into a deeper sleep. Sensing the threat of detection has passed, Arialle slowly walks back into the tower's hall and joins Ullie near the doorway. Once she has passed inside, she whispers.

"What now?"

"Upstairs," he whispers.  "We'll go up there and break the chain so we're further from him.  Hopefully that'll make it harder for him to hear, and have a head start.  Then we climb down the rope in the back."

As he says this, Ullian re-assesses the length of the chain with this question in mind: How far down the side of the tower could Arielle get if she climbed out the window while chained?

The chain is at its limit when Arialle is in the bedchamber. She will not be able to climb out the window while she is still attached to the chain.

Once the pair are upstairs, Ullian takes whatever is available -- Furniture, bedding, etc -- and moves it to the doorway to block it and maybe further muffle the sound (even if it's just a little).

He then positions the chain in the position he deems best for trying to break it.

"Once you're free, head for the rope!" he whisper to Arielle.

He looks out to make sure his allies are below, then . . . then he gives the axe a swing . . .

Ariall and Lannue nervously await Ullie's attempt to sever the chain with a strike of the bardiche.

"You got this," Lannie says in a show of support.

Ullie brings the bardiche down hard. The two-handed weapon proves quite unwieldy and Ullie hits the chain with a glancing blow. Sparks fly but the chain does not snap. Redoubling his effort, Ullie swings the bardiche again. This attempt is even worse the first. CLANK!

More sparks fly and the chain chips the axe's edge!

The ettin awakes from theirs slumber and notices Arialle missing. The ettin utters a string of protestations.

Ullie strikes the chain again but also fails to snap the chain! It turns out using a bardiche to break a heavy chain is more difficult than it might appear, especially in unskilled hands.

The ettin jerks its head up toward the open second stor window and growls something in their rough tongue. It begins to move quickly toward the open threshold leading to Arialle's bedchamber...

"Oh no. The giant is coming!" Arialle says in horror.

OOC: 3 Fails on an AC10 attempt, the second being a 1. Wasn't meant to be...

The ettin is ~50 feet from the PCs outside the courtyard. It is moving toward the tower to investigate the loud noise that woke them up. It will likely be able to reach Arialle's room in 1 turn.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

"That wasn't very quiet," Rigya pointed out as she let loose an arrow in the giant's general direction.  Firing by the light of the fire didn't make her aim any better.

She was really counting on the fact she could run faster than the gnome.

OOC: Rigya rolled 4,5 using d20,d6.  Short Bow Thunk!

Clatsi, eyes wide and starting to tear up, stared up at the window, not daring to wipe the tears from his eyes for fear of missing the moment that someone fell or jumped.

He was ready to feather the fall!

Lowel gripped the two flasks of oil he had from the mean woman and prayed to Melora that all would be well.

Sharn grimaces as the creature awakens.  This is going to be tough, and likely painful.

She lets fly with two arrows, but neither comes anywhere close to the ettin.

Ullian looks at Arielle.

"As a blacksmith's daughter, I bet you'd have had better luck than me."

But Ullian tries again, hoping that his allies will distract the ettin long enough . . .


09:26, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 15,1 using d20,d8.

Lannie moves to the rear window in preparation for a hasty retreat should the ettin come bursting into the chamber. "Stop playing around with it and give it a good whack!" he hisses

Ullie strikes the chain with the bardiche again, this time with a little better technique. The axe dents the iron link but not enough to break the bond.

Meanwhile, outside, a few party members fire arrows at the ettin as it moves to the tower entrance, but both fail to connect with the target. The ettin doesn't even notice them as their attention is on the clattering noises coming from Arialle's chamber.

The ettin bounds through the tower entrance and up the stairs. The giant reaches the closed door. Both head bellows out in their native tongue and the door violently rattles as the ettin slams its fist into the heavy door.

"Braug-tok dar gulvog!"

OOC: Ullie did 1 point of damage to the chain.

The ettin is just outside the bedchamber and no longer visible to the party members outside the courtyard.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Seeing his chance, Lowel ran toward the tower with the ettin out of sight and looked for a choke point he could block with flaming oil. Most likely the tower entrance. He carefully poured out the contents of the flasks and ran back to light a torch from the fire.

He didn't want it to burn out early as he was expecting the creature to break into the upper tower first, find them gone, and then backtrack in his direction. That was when he'd drop the torch in the oil to block or delay it's pursuit and run as fast as he could back up the trail they'd first arrived on.

Hearing nobody (including Arielle) suggest they think they could do a better job Ullian tries again.  He's encouraged by his success, minimal though it may have been.

Alas . . .


07:32, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 2,4 using d20,d8

"I can't see anything," Rigya growled to the half-orc. It wasn't exactly true as she could see their cleric dash out into the firelight to do something near the tower entrance.

"Let's cover the exit as there's nothing else we can do from here."

She wasn't about to go in after that thing.

With no target in sight, Sharn notches another arrow, hoping the others will escape out the window and she'll get another clear shot as the Ettin comes back out.

"C'mon! We don't have time to be fooling around!" Lannie hisses at Ullie. "Break the hecking chain already!" the halfling says while edging toward the rear window. He hops up onto the ledge and prepares to make his escape should the ettin burst through the door.

Ullie makes another attempt to break the chain with the bardiche, but he is either not strong enough or not using the right technique. In any case, he hacks it again, with no effect.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the door, the ettin pounds their meaty fist against the door, causing the door to burst open and sending chards of broken wood spraying into the bedchamber. The ettin peers one of its heads into the room, the non helmed one, and growls at Ullie.

It looks like it will be a tight fit for the ettin to squeeze through the doorframe, but not impossible. The ettin certainly looks ticked off enough to try...

Arialle screams and moves away from the ettin as much as her chain will allow.

Those outside hear all of this transpire, but cannot see it.

OOC: The ettin is outside the bedchamber with the door broken down. Ullie and Arialle are in the bedchamber. Lannie is getting ready to go out the window. The rest oft he party is outside the tower, in the courtyard.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Holding his lit torch near the fire, Lowel said a prayer to Melora and ran to the entryway to shout inside.  He stayed clear of the oil he'd poured as he hadn't intended it as a trap for himself.

"Now we'll get him!" he shouted inside as he tentatively looked in.  "Kill the brute and steal his treasure!  Riches for all and double for the one that brings back the left head!"

He couldn't remember which head was which, but it might cause some confusion.

Ullian pleads with the ettin.

"Look!  It's an iron snake!  And it's jaws are clamped on tight, killing her!  Hear how she screams?  We have to get it off!"

With that, he tries again to sever the "snake."

And, model of consistency that he is, he fails again.


07:59, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 6,5 using d20,d8.

"Does that thing even understand what anyone is yelling about?" Rigya said as she kept an arrow ready for any giant's leaving the tower.

Clatsi remains poised to intervene with a featherfall spell and Sharn remains ready to join combat, if either become necessary.

Meanwhile, inside the tower, chaos erupts. The ettin begins arguing with itself. One head clearly agitated and ready to burst through the door and throttle Ullie, the other, ahem, keeping a cooler head about the situation.

The ettin's internal battle then turns physical, as each side of the horrific giant begins grappling the other. All this while shouting at one another and thrashing against the doorframe. One arm attempts to pry off one of the head's helm, the second arm gouges the other head's eyes.

The ettin spills through the doorframe and is now wrestling itself on the floor, a few feet away from Ullie, Arialle, and Lannie. Utter chaos.

Meanwhile, Arialle pleads with Ullie again, "Hurry!"

Lannie has seen enough and is out the window, scaling the side of the tower, and putting distance between himself and the ettin.

OOC: The ettin is inside the bedchamber. Ullie and Arialle are in the bedchamber. Lannie climbing back down the tower. The rest of the party is outside the tower, in the courtyard.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Ullian is committed . . .


09:34, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 14,3 using d20,d8.  Please Break the Chain!

Lowell continued to make a racket at the entrance of the tower to see if he could distract it.

"Let's all get it at once!" he shouted. "Bring up the spears! Archers at the ready!"

Rigya gritted her teeth and hoped the elf knew what he was doing.  If he got the blacksmith's daughter killed, they'd have to carry her body all the way back to her father.  It would be so much easier if she could still walk.

Clatsi remained at post, frozen with either devotion to his task or with fear of being noticed. Lannet was the first out. If he were the first to fall, Clatsi had his magic ready.

Ullie finally manages to execute a clean chopping motion with the bardiche and cuts through the iron chain!

However, the sound of the chain snapping is enough to stir the ettin to a singular purpose, namely, smashing that which seeks to rob it of its possession--the puny elven thief!

The ettin smashes through the doorframe, sending a shower of stone, mortar, plaster, and dust into the now crowded bedchamber. The ettin stomps into the room and looms large over Ullie and Arialle, one face twisted in murderous rage, the other in concerned disbelief. The ettin grabs one of the four bedposts, snaps it off as easily as one would break a twig, and wields the thing like a club, which they obviously intend to use to smash the elf to a pulp.

Lannie makes it down the side of the tower and runs past Clatsi, "They're gone. No time. Let's go!" The little halfling continues running into the woods, a trail of coins marking his wake...

OOC: The ettin is inside the bedchamber and in melee with Arialle and Ullie. . The rest of the party is outside the tower, in the courtyard or along the backside of the tower

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

"Ha ha!" Lowel continued to shout. "We've got him cornered now! Bring up the ballista! Stone the boiling oil!"

He was running out of things to shout and had turned his ruse into a siege. He just wasn't sure which side of the siege he was on. Maybe he should try using different voices to add verisimilitude to his multicharacter performance.

Ullian knows that a face-to-face combat with the ettin is a losing proposition.  There are three other options

One option is almost certain to guarantee he lives for a little while at least; but it may mean everything has been for naught.

One option guarantees that the mission succeeds, even if there is a strong chance he won't live to know it.

The last option . . . well, regardless of the category, it's the one he chooses.

He grabs Arielle by the hand/arm and drags her to the window; as he does he shifts his arms to grab her tightly around her waist/lower back, holding onto that bear hug as if his life depends on it (because it might).

As they reach the window he yells "Clatsi!" and, without breaking stride (both because of the need for speed and to keep Arielle from succumbing to the understandable impulse to resist) he forces himself and Arielle, clutched together, to tumble out the window.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:32, Sat 12 Feb 2022.

Clasti was nothing if not ready for this. As soon as the figures tumbled from the window, the little wizard called forth his spell, so well practiced in the laboratory from balconies, for the first time when lives counted on him.

He stood transfixed, eyes wide behind his spectacles, to watch the effect.

"As long as that guy keeps yelling," Rigya said to Sharn, "I figure they're not all dead yet.

"Just be ready to open fire if it comes back out."

Arialle cries out in surprise when Ullie throws his arms around her in the attempt to throw her, and him, out the window. "Are you daft?!" she yells out just moments before the pair plummet out of the balcony window.

"Aiiiiiiieeek...." Arialle screams as the rogue and songstress plummet downward toward their rocky doom.

Fortunate for them, Clatsi had been waiting for just this moment. Well, maybe not this exact situation, but the quick-thinking gnome quickly intones the required words and tosses a feather into the air.

One feather becomes many and the resulting storm of feathers swirls below Ullie and Arialle, cushioning their fall down the cliff. The pair come to rest in a bed of feathers at the bottom of the cliff, he feathers disappearing moments after landing.

Meanwhile, up above, the ettin juts their ugly heads out the balcony just in time to see the pair at the bottom of the cliff. The ettin shouts in rage and begins smashing its way back through the tower, toward the courtyard exit.

Those outside hear and then see the ettin burst out into the courtyard, obviously intent on giving chase!


OOC: The ettin is at the door leading into the courtyard and visible to Sharn, Lowel, and Rigya. Clatsi is on the back side of the tower. Ullie and Arialle are  at the bottom of the cliff, ~100 feet below. Lannet was last seen running into the nearby woods.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Surprised by the giant's speed, Lowel dropped the torch into the oil at the entrance.  He then backed away defensively, hoping the flames would distract it from his part in their appearance.

OOC: Not sure if two flasks dumped does more damage than one flask or just lasts longer.

Rigya put two arrows into the giant as soon as it appeared in the entrance.  Or rather sent a few arrows careening off the tower's stonework.  It was probably very intimidating to the giant.

OOC:
Rigya rolled 6,6 using d20,d6.  Short Bow Thunk!
Rigya rolled 6,4 using d20,d6.  Short Bow Thunk!

Ullian had intended to land near Clatsi -- but at least he and Arielle landed instead of crashing.

He looks around for a path that will take them back to rendezvous with the others.  If he finds one he grabs her by the hand and urges: "C'mon!"

The Ettin will die of old age before Sharn hits it with an arrow!  Two more arrows zip off into the mist.

Clatsi scampered off after Ullian as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Flames leap up from the ground underneath the ettin, but the effect is not enough to seriously hamper the two-headed giant. It growls in agitation and stumbles through the burning area while a few arrows go whizzing by overhead.

The giant stomps through and free of the burning oil and swings its heads left and right, seemingly aware it has walked into an ambush and desperate to locate its enemies. To its left, the giant sees Lowel backing away defensively. Beyond the crumbled wall it sees Sharn and Rigya, the source of the errant arrows.

The ettin begins bickering with itself. Its language, a pidgin mix of orcish, giantish, goblin, and common, in a mishmash of discordant sounds, but Sharn manages to pick up enough to understand the ettin is debating whether it should kill the ambushers before or after it kills the elf.

A few moments later it seems to resolve the impasse as it tromps off after Lowel. The two-headed giant quickly closes the distance and looms large over the cleric...

Meanwhile, in the backside of the tower, Clatsi searches the rocky slope for a way down to Arialle and Ullie. The way looks treacherous, but possible...

Ullie and Arialle come to rest at the bottom of a steep and rocky slope, well below the tower.

Elsewhere, Lannet begins to feel badly about leaving his companions behind and stalks back a safe distance and prepares to sling stones...from a distance...and ready to run and hide at a moment's notice. He may feel bad, but not bad enough to die on this hill.

OOC: The ettin is now in melee with Lowel. Sharn and Rigya are within missile fire range. Clatsi is on the backside of the tower and can probably see the giant's heads above the crumbled courtyard wall (if he is looking that way, but I am assuming he is looking for a way down the cliff).

The ettin took 1 point of damage from the fire.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 51/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Rigya continued to fire in the giant's direction. Finally striking it solidly with her fifth shot.  She was beginning to worry that she couldn't hit the backside of a giant!

OOC:
Rigya rolled 2,5 using d20,d6.  Short Bow Thunk!
Rigya rolled 17,6 using d20,d6.  Short Bow Thunk!

Ullian, with Arielle in tow, continues trying to find a path back to the others.

Realizing he'd never outrun the creature, Lowel began to chant as he backed away. It was a monotonous sounding sussuration that only he and his predator could hear. The man prayed with all his might or this night would be his last.

Sharn continues her amazing display of inexperience with the use of a bow.  She nearly laughs to herself wondering if she should turn the arrows around backwards, she might do better.

Clatsi continues to scan the bottom of the rocky, wooded cliff for any sign of Ullie and Arialle, but can see neither, as is it is quite dark and beyond the range of the gnome's infravision. However, he does see the semblance of a treacherous trail one might use to climb up or down the cliff.

Meanwhile, back in the courtyard, Rigya puts an arrow into the two-headed giant as it backs Lowel into a wall. The ettin does not seem to take notice of the arrow now sticking out of its bulbous scapula, rather it seems intent on smashing the cleric to a pulp.

It moves to slam its meaty fists into the cleric, but draws back as divine waves emanate out from Lowel. The ettin grunts and turns away from the cleric while scanning the courtyard for the archer. Settling its four eyes onto Rigya and Sharn, the ettin pulls the arrow out of his back and throws it to the ground.

It begins to stalk off in Rigya's direction...


OOC: The ettin is near Lowel. Sharn and Rigya are within missile fire range. Clatsi is on the backside of the tower and can probably see the giant's heads above the crumbled courtyard wall (if he is looking that way, but I am assuming he is looking for a way down the cliff).

The ettin took 6 point of damage from the arrow.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 45/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

Hopefully, Ullian sees the same semblance of a treacherous trail that Clatsi saw; if he does, he begins leading Arielle up it.

"Let's get out of here," Rigya said to Sharn.  It had looked to her like it had only taken a moment to finish off the Meloran.

"We're not going to put a dent in that thing."

Grabbing her pack, she turned to retreat back into the pines as best she could in the dark.  She was at a severe disadvantage and wanted to put as much distance between them as she could.

Praising Melora for her protection, Lowel pulled a new torch from his pack and lit it from the fire before retreating from the courtyard in a direction other than the two headed giant.

OOC: He's off trail, in the dark, with a torch.

"Oh, this is not good," Clatsi said very quietly to himself as he adjusted his spectacles. There were noises and shouting and Ullian with his charge had tumbled gently into the dark, dark spaces below the cliff, and the party was scattered and Clatsi was, alas, alone.

He paused to judge the risks and benefits and moving this way, that way, of staying put, of hiding in the tower itself, and in the end realized that he had not enough knowledge to make an informed decision, and so he at least made a decision.

The little gnome carefully -- very, very carefully -- started down the haphazard trail in hopes of locating Ullie and the smith's daughter. It was not by chance that he was also moving away from the two-headed giant. If he were to slip ... well, Clatsi had magic left to him, and he would float like a feather if he fell.

With the Ettin moving off to hunt the other warrior, Sharn moves quickly toward the tower, staying to the rear of the Ettin as it moves off in search of Rigya.

She will approach the tower entrance and look around hoping to find the discarded golden harp.  If it is there, she'll take it, and head back towards the road they came into this valley from.

When she has a good lead and is hidden again in the woods, she will call out in orcish.

"They've thrown the golden harp in the fire, it'll melt if you don't rescue it!!".

If she sees the creature head back to the fire, she'll continue to head away hoping her diversion will give the others time to escape as well

The ettin stops to retrieve a huge spiked club from near the firepit and then bounds off toward the woods Rigya has just retreated into. The ettin quickly covers the distance and the sellsword sees the dark shadow of the giant smashing through the trees to get at her. The giant can apparently see in the dark because it is heading right toward Rigya. The two heads are conversing with one another, but one is mostly laughing, while the other is pleading its case. In any event, it's clear the ettin is faster than Rigya and will soon be on her.

The ettin now moving away, Lowel lights another torch and retreats into the woods.

Meanwhile, Sharn waits for the ettin to leave the courtyard and enter the woods before she races off across the courtyard and into the ruined tower. She makes it inside the entrance foyer but does not immediately see the golden harp in the darkened tower.

Clatsi begins to climb down the treacherous trail while Ullie attempts to lead Arialle up the same. It makes for slow going on both ends.

Elsewhere, Lannet watches the proceedings from a safe hiding place. No sense in unnecessarily committing himself to a losing cause if it can be avoided.

OOC: The ettin is now within melee range of Rigya. It will take Clatsi 2 rounds to reach Ullie and Arialle.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 45/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |

In a very bad position, Rigya tried to find a large tree and keep it in between herself and the giant.  The creature was inordinately fast and she didn't stand a chance of getting away.

OOC: Perhaps an opposed Dex check?  Rigya wins and it can't hit her.  Rigya fails and it can swing away?

Ullian knows of nothing better to do than to continue trying to rejoin the others.

So that's what he does.

With Arielle in tow.

Lowel kept going in the same direction away from the others. He was going to follow the plan and not get squashed.

Sharn will spend another minute searching for the harp, it's the only thing she can think might call the Ettin off.

Clatsi carefully clambered down the trail, eager to find Ullie but hesitant to call out.

Rigya dances around a large pine tree to keep out of reach of the mighty ettin. The helmed, right head continues to argue with the left, over some unknown disagreement, but the left head seems quite intent on smashing Rigya to a pulp with a huge spiked club. It swings the club really hard. strikes the tree's trunk, and sends a shower of bark and needles onto Rigya. She's still standing. For the moment.

The right arm jerks its army violently in the direction of the ruined tower, while the right head rebukes the left. Unfortunately, Rigya does not understand what they are saying, but it seems the right head may not be as violent as the left.

The giant then cries out in anger as something small, round, and hard strikes him in the head.

In any event, elsewhere, Ullian, Clatsi, and Arialle meet about halfway up the rocky trail. They might be able to hear the sound of Rigya's confrontation above, but are unable to do anything about it just now.

Lowel treks off into the woods, the light of his lantern guiding his steps.

Inside the tower, Sharn notices the golden harp tucked behind a hanging animal skin.

OOC: The ettin is now within melee range of Rigya. It will take Clatsi, Ullie and Arialle one round to make it back to the top of the cliff. Lannie pelted the ettin with a slingstone for 4 points of damage!

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 41/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  11/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  07/07  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |




PCs are UP!!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:49, Fri 25 Feb 2022.

"Good to see ya, Clatsi.  Let's get up there!" Ullian exhorts as he continues the upward trek.

Rigya had thought about trying to lure the giant further into the wood and away from the tower but it's sudden cry made her rethink this plan.  Amazingly, under such stress, she'd been doing a lot of self reflection.  Her choice of companions, leaving the army, other things...

Nonetheless, she decided to at least persevere where she was as using the tree for cover seemed to be having some success.

"You survived the fall. That's nothing short of miraculous, if I do say ... so ... myself." Clatsi hadn't finished the sentence before Ullian and the bard were tromping past him exhorting him to follow, so he adjusted his spectacles, turned around, and hustled up the trail behind them.

"Watch out. From what I heard, that giant is irate. Those giants are irate? How confusing."

Ullie slows up for his shorter/slower friend.

"Sorry about that rush, Clatsi; didn't know if he'd follow down here after Arielle, in which case we'd be trapped.

But we should hurry so we can help the others."

Line

As the trio hurries up the path, Ullie addresses Arielle:

"Any idea as to what'd calm him down, besides giving you back to him?  Something else he wants, something he's scared of -- anything?

Arialle haltingly responds to Ullie's query, her attention largely focused on not slipping and falling down the treacherous, narrow, rocky trail. With it being night and the only light being that of the stars and now a thin crescent of moon, not exactly an easy feat.

"I don't know. The giant seems to be quite confused. The two heads bicker back and forth often. They...have...eaten...many captives." She pauses a moment, lost in the haunted memories.

"They almost ate me too. But the right head, the kind one, convinced the left to let me live, so long as I sing."


She slips on a loose stone but catches herself before she tumbles over the edge. A few moments later, when her heart has steadied. "I don't know that it is afraid of anything..."

Sharn takes a deep breathe, almost shaking but grabs the harp, and the animal skin to wrap it in and runs like she's on fire back up the path.  When she gets to the tree line.

She stops, and catches her wind, before strumming it it and singing, in orcish,

"I claim the golden harp, and I'll take it away,
unless you return to your tower, and sleep through the day.
If you do, it will be here, in full display,
if not, you will ne're ever again hear it play!"

Rigya continues to circle the tree in a desperate bid to stay out of arm's reach of the raging ettin. The makes a few probing jabs, which Rigya deftly avoids, but then the ettin redoubles its effort and grabs hold of Rigya by the left arm and violently wrenches her arm out of its socket before picking her up and slamming her against the pine needle covered earth. She lands with a sickening thud and stirs no more. The left head roars with approval while the left looks on with confusion.

Ullie, Clatsi, and Arialle continue their trek up the dark, rocky pathy and arrive just in time for Ullie and Clatsi to see the commotion in the woods in the aftermath of the ettin's attack against Rigya.

Lowel continues on his trek, the light of his torch visible through the pine trees, and getting farther away from the ruined tower.

Having just seen what the ettin did to Rigya, Lannet decides to lay low for a while. The halfling ducks down beneath some brush and hopes the ettin storms off elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Sharn retrieves the golden harp and returns to the tree line, where she prepares to strum the harp and sing a song...

OOC: The ettin scored a crit against Rigya, max damage of 16, and Rigya is now at -5 and dying (losing 1 hit point per round). Sharn's last post was probably two rounds worth of actions, so we can either assume she will be playing the harp and singing this round, or she can adjust her action if she wishes.

Ullie and Clatsi can likely see the ettin at the edge of their infravision (~60 feet)

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 41/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  -5/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | Dying
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  12/12  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |




PCs are UP!!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:18, Mon 28 Feb 2022.

Upon spying the ettin Ullian puts his hand up to stop the others.  He then cocks his head to better hear Sharn's warbling.

"She's trying to lure it back to the tower -- so we can't go there in case she succeeds," he whispers to the others.  He leads them in a circle around the tower and the ettin's current position toward the forest, keeping the ettin in sight as best he can.

As he keeps a careful eye on the ettin, he whispers to Arielle: "Is that harp anything special to him?"

Line

ooc: now I roll a 20.  Still, I don't think it has to be pretty,  I hope.

Clatsi keeps pace with Ullie and Arialle.

OOC: DM post

Lowel continues to stride away from the ruined tower at a good clip, the torch light the only thing prevented the man from falling and tripping as he makes his way through the woods.

Ullie leads Arialle and Clatsi in the same general direction as Lowel, namely, away from the tower.

Sharn now stands in the courtyard, outside the tower, strumming the golden harp while singing, very badly. The songbird of her generation, she most certainly isn't!

The ettin, fresh from driving Rigya into the ground, turns his head and tosses Rigya aside like a ragdoll upon hearing Sharn's dissonant voice. Rigya falls to the ground with a thud and the ettin exhales angrily when he sees Sharn, not Arialle, standing there with the harp.

This was getting to be all too much for the ettin to process. First, they broke into his home, stole (and probably killed) his pet, shot him with arrows, pelted him with stones, and now these thieves were adding insult to injury by offering of this poor imitation of his beloved pet!

The ettin growls with a ferociousness that rips through the night and carries across the darkened valley. The ettin now seems to be of one mind and angrily stomps toward Sharn...

Meawnhile, a short distance away, Lannie watches this situation unfold and whispers to himself, "Oh, she's gone and got him hopping mad now!" and then quietly stalks over to Rigya...

OOC: The ettin will close into melee with Sharn next round.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 41/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  -6/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | Dying
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  12/12  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |




PCs are UP!!!

Line

Ullie's plan is to (1) steer clear of the Ettin (2) rejoin with the other members of the party and (3) steer clear of the Ettin.

Yes, (1) and (3) are the same.  It's that important.

So, seeing Lannie, and seeing the Ettin go away from Lannie, Ullie decides . . . .

"I think we can get to Lannie and stay clear of the ettin.  Let's go; quiet now!"

Keeping a fearful eye on the ettin and taking care to be as quiet and as out of sight as possible, Ullie creeps toward Lannie.

Clatsi heard the roars and the music -- er, "music"-- but had little idea of what was happening. His heart was trip-hammering in his little chest. And he followed Ullian as quickly and quietly as he could manage.

Sharn nearly froze in fear at first, and then, well almost tore out her short sword and ran towards the Ettin.  Crazy orcish death wish blood.  Her mind raced,  she could not out run an Ettin,  not in armor.   She could see as well as it did but it had two sets of eyes and senses of smell. Thoughts ran swiftly through her mind, unwanted thoughts, her parents, her little brother, and many others flashed by.  Time, the others needed time to get away.

Taking a deep breathe, Sharn took a seat on the far side of the fire pit, and began to gently pluck at the golden harp.   She'd always wanted to learn an instrument, perhaps today was the day.

The ettin crashes through the woods, bounds over the crumbled courtyard wall, and angrily storms up to Sharn, ready to tear the half-orc from end-to-end.

Well, at least half of them are ready to do as much. The other is still grief-stricken at having seen his beautiful prize thrown out the window to what can only be her death. What sort of monsters would do such a thing?

The ettin reaches down and roughly grabs Sharn by the pauldron and seems ready to squeeze the life out of her, but hesitates when the ettin begins arguing with itself again.

A few tense moments pass, Sharn's life hanging in the balance.

Fortunately, the exchange is in a language bearing much similarity to orcish, enough for Sharn to understand bits and pieces of it.

Helmed Head: Gobbledygook

Non-helmed Head: More gobbledygook

Both heads turn in unison toward Sharn. Both seem angry. One seems less so. More sad and confused. In many ways.

Meanwhile, Ullie, Clatsi, and Arialle come upon Lannet who is kneeling over Rigya and doing what he can to prevent the mercenary from dying. He was already annoyed at himself for sticking his neck out on her behalf, now even more when Ullie, Clatsi, and Arialle come stumbling through the woods.

The halfling turns his head sideways and hisses, "Shhh...." in admonishment for the racket they make, at least to his ears, when they arrive.

"I think she's dead," he says hopelessly. "Or will be soon."

Rigya is badly bruised and not moving, though still breathing.

OOC: Rigya is stabilized at -7. The ettin is grappling Sharn.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 41/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  -7/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | Stable
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  12/12  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |




PCs are UP!!!
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:57, Tue 08 Mar 2022.

Line

"She's alive, I don't think she's getting worse.  But she isn't getting better without a lot of rest."

He looks around.

"I don't know if we can get away, but we can't stay here.  At this rate, he's going to pick us off one by one."

He cranes his neck to get a better look at Sharn's situation; and is surprised that she is still alive (apparently) and that there is no melee taking place.  He cranes his ears to determine if something is being said . . .

Angry.

"Good god you are strong, but STUPID. Put me down or...or....or bird song will surely die.  I'm a cousin to you and taste bad, eat me if you want but I won't be treated SO when I came here to help you.  Eat me and choke to death on my bones, IDIOT."

Lowel continues to march through the woods toward the party's agreed-upon rally point. Clatsi, Lannet, Ullie, and Arialle crouch down near Rigya while trying to keep an eye on Sharn and the ettin.

The ettins begins bickering back and forth once again, all the while keeping a tight grip on the half-orc.

Helmed head: Incomprehensible gibberish.

Non-helmed head: More gibberish

Helmed head: Feverish gibberish

The non-helmed head growls and leans in close to Sharn, nose to nose, and grunts something threatening

The ettin squeezes a bit harder, enough to cause Sharn physical pain.

OOC: Rigya is stabilized at -7. The ettin is grappling Sharn.

Gurr-Bolg, the Ettin
AC: 3
HP: 41/52


PC      AC   HP   AP  10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 -1 -2  Notes
Clatsi  10  05/05  1  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |
Rigya    4  -7/11  3  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | Stable
Lowel    5  09/09  4  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 |
Sharn    4  13/13  1  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 | AC 3 w/shield
Ullian   4  12/12  3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 |


<tt>

PCs are UP!!!
</quote>

Line

Ullie makes another bold/dangerous/foolhardy decision -- one in a series he's made.

Wisdom is not his forte. :)


He turns to Arielle and taking each of her hands in his he looks her in the eye and says:

"Look, I'm not going to lose any more companions over this, OK?  We want to rescue you, and we're going to rescue you, but now that you're free you have to help rescue some of your rescuers.

You wanted to be an adventurer, right?  So I know you're brave.  And this is your opportunity to show how brave you are.  And if you're brave, you can tell people how your bravery saved all our lives.

'Sides -- you're the one person here the ettin won't kill."

With that he turns and steps out of hiding, pulling Arielle out into sight with him.

"Hey!" he yells.  "Your caged bird is not hurt; she just wants to be free!"

He does this in a mishmash of orc, common and goblin -- languages he's heard the ettin mash together sufficiently that Ullie got the essence of what the ettin was saying, (Post 180), in the hope that the ettin understands Ullie's homebrewed combination.

He also whispers to the others: "Get Rigya and get out of here.  We'll be alright."

"The bird-song only cares for one of you, the other one, not so much.  I came here to tell you, if you rid yourself of your mean sided head, you have a chance with her.   It can be done, I've seen it happen".

Both ettin heads jerk to the side when Ullie calls out from the nearby woods, though the ettin still maintains a firm grasp on Sharn. The ettin roughly tosses Sharn aside when they notice Arialle emerge from her hiding spot.

The ettin seems even more confused now. The helmed head, Gurr, responds to Sharn, "Cannot be! Where Gurr go, Bolg must go too!"

Bolg, the other head, "No! Where Bolg go, Gurr must go too!"

This causes another rapid-fire exchange of unintelligible gibberish and heavy blows, which results in the ettin tumbling to the ground as each tries choke the other out, gouge eyes, and the like. Sharn is nearly crushed underneath the scrum, but the ettin seems to take no notice of her. Both heads seem intent on taking out their confusion and frustration on the other.

Ullie decides this is the best opportunity he can hope for.  Or at least, there's no reason to stick around.  He has to hope that Sharn can get away now.

Still holding Arielle's hands, he now pushes her back toward Rigya and the others and out of the ettin's immediate sight.  Realizing that the diminutive duo hasn't gotten far with the fallen warrior (due to lack of time as well as lack of height and power), he says to Arielle:

"Quick!  Help me grab her and get her out of here!"

To Clatsi (if he's there given his OOC status, and Lanni if he's not) he says: "Watch Sharn to see if she gets out of there!"

Line

Sharn will try to slip away quietly, not wanting to interrupt the fight going on between the two heads of the giant.

The adventurers slip away from the quarreling ettin and attempt to put as much distance between themselves and the giant before they come to their senses and realize the songbird and potential meals have escaped.

The woods are quite dark and the going tough. Encumbered by their unconscious companion, Arialle, Clatsi, Lannet, and Ullie's are soon drenched in their own sweat, as the sound of the ettin's voices fade into the distance. Ullie manages to leadsthe party to the predetermined rally point, where they find Lowel, waiting in darkness.

Moments after arriving, they hear the distant sound of the ettin's scream. It's quite likely they now realize what has happened...

I read this to mean Sharn hasn't made it yet, so . . .

"Let's wait a bit for Sharn."

Ullian steps 10-15 feet away from the party, hoping to have a better chance of hearing the sound of Sharn approaching -- or worse, the theoretically louder sound indicating that the ettin has found the trail.

And hopefully, his infravision will also provide some help in giving the party an early warning.

With Sharn's arrival, the party's ability to escape seems clearer.

"Sharn, if you're up to it, I think you can carry Rigya.  If necessary we can get that armor off of her and carry her, but I'd rather we didn't; delay and noise are not good right now.

But be careful; she'll be alright, but she's just hangin' on!"

Sharn nods and takes the dwarf and carries her, let's get out of here!!

"Hold on a moment," Lowell said before Rigya was moved. "I may be able to wake her with Melora's wisdom."

He chanted a prayer to restore the health of the badly injured woman.

OOC:CLW 2+5=7 Heal to Rigya

Rigya regains consciousness as a result of Lowel's divine healing. The party are now about a half mile distant from the ettin's lair. It's been a few moments since the party last heard the ettin scream cut through the night air and the monster is likely already on the move.

"Let's get the hell outta here," Ullian encourages, as he grabs Arielle's hand to encourage that she do so and to get the whole momentum thing going.

"If everyone's here," Rigya said, catching her breath and steadying herself against a tree, "let's get as far away as we can."

She stumbled in whatever direction the elf was going in.

Lowel was more than happy to get as far away from the tower as they could.

"Let's just keep walking until the sun comes up," he suggested. "Then make camp."

Although he couldn't quite see her, he knew they had been able to save the girl.

"I'm Lowel, by the way," he said by way of introducing himself to her. "Your father hired us to come look for you."

Sharn continues to help the dwarven woman, lending her part of her strength and balance to help her move along.

The party rallies atop the saddle of two adjoining ridges with the ettin's lair about a half mile distant. As soon as Rigya regains consciousness, the party moves on, eager to put distance between themselves and the angry ettin. With over half the party unable to see in the dark, the party must choose between relying on those with infravision to guide the party or using light sources to speed their travel.

OOC: Just let me know how you plan to proceed and then I need all PCs to make a Constitution check. Thanks

"Just lead us through the dark," Rigya said to those that could see.  "I don't want to give that thing any ideas about following us."

OOC: Rigya rolled 5 using 1d20.  Constitution check.  Success

"As you wish," Ullian says as he does his best to lead the way.


17:44, Today: Ullian Greyheart rolled 2 using 1d20.  CON (15).

Lowel tried not to stumble in the darkness, but didn't argue with getting as far away as possible.

OOC: Lowel rolled 15 using 1d20.  Constitution (15).

Strong, and fit, pretty maybe not, but this is Sharn's element, she can see well enough in the dark and helps to both lead and carry anyone who grows tired.


18:40, Today: Sharn Thanatol rolled 11 using 1d20.  con check (17).

The party races down the wooded hill in the dark, any thought of tiredness driven away by the thought of the angry ettin catching up if they let up for even a moment. The only sound they hear for quite some time is the sound of their footfalls and their racing heartbeat.

They eventually make it back down the broad valley, where the going is much easier, the light reflecting off the shiny grass. They stick to the edge of the valley, just within the cover of the woods and continue their trek southwestward.

An hour passes and the party has yet to catch sight or sound of the ettin. Perhaps they have given the giant the slip?

Though covered in sweat and exhausted, the party continues on, though now at a much reduced pace and with more effort placed on remaining quiet. This continues for another hour and the party soon comes to the southward trail leading back to Fairhill. Still no ettin.

"I'm thinking that if he knew where we were it'd have caught up by now.  So the only way it'll find us is if it changes his direction, hits upon the direction we've gone, and follows it long enough to catch up.  The only way that'd happen is if he's a good tracker or we have bad luck.

But let's keep moving because I don't want to test any of this theory by stopping and waiting to see what happens."

"We can't go on like this forever," Rigya said, trying to gauge the smith's daughter's constitution.  "Let's keep an eye out for a place to camp off the road.  Far enough back that it won't be able to spot us even if it does come this way.

"Now that we're not in harm's immediate way, I'd rather not run into something else in this darkness."

Saying all this, she can barely see the trail in front of her.

Ullian keeps his eyes out for a spot where the party might camp.

"Could we just maybe keep going until we're too tired to go on?" Lowell suggested hopefully. He really didn't want to see those two heads again. Though had they been forced to slay it, he would have been interested to see the bone structure that supported them close up.

Lannet and Arialle readily agree to continuing to flee from the ettin's lair for as long as the party is capable. In the end, this is exactly what the party does. They march through the early hours of the morning, taking brief rests now and then, but always moving southward toward Fairhill.

At one point, a few hours from dawn, the party hears a terrible growl in the distance, but it never grows any closer. Finally, shortly after sunrise, the adventurers can push on no further and succumb to exhaustion. The party finds a secluded place to rest, does their best to hide their tracks, and drift off to sleep, one by one.

Their sleep is uneasy and fitful, but each manages to get a couple of hours of sleep and all awake mid morning, the sun's rays filtering through the canopy onto their makeshift camp. Though they remember establishing watch, nobody remembers who stood watch and in the end, it doesn't really matter. They were unharmed while sleeping and save for an irritated squirrel chittering away at the party, perhaps unhappy to have loiterers so close to its nest, the party has seemingly escaped detection!

The party is still sore and tired when they awake, but at least everyone survived. Arialle is quite thankful and appreciative of her rescuers and expresses her gratitude several times. They still have another solid day of travel ahead of them, but with a little luck, Fairhill awaits.

"I will feel better once we are in the town," Ullian declares.  He does what he can to quickly break camp and prepare for departure.

"I just want to get back to a soft bed," Rigya said as she hefted her pack.  "It was too bad that thing was as strong as it was.  I was really thinking it might have had something hidden away.

"As it is, I suppose we still came out ahead.  All of us above ground and our wayward bard in hand."

"I agree; it would have been really nice to get that chest of gold and whatnot," Ullian laments.

But at least we got out intact, or at least mendable."


Something suddenly occurs to the thief.  He turns to Arielle and asks:

"So what exactly happened to result in you being captured?  And what of those that you set out with?"

"Back up a second," Rigya said, turning incredulously back to the elf.  "There was a chest of gold!"

"Yes," Ullian says ruefully.  "At least some of it was gold.  But there was no way to get it out and also get Arielle out.  I had thoughts of dropping it on the ettin, to solve both issues, but none of us had the strength to lift it."

"You couldn't have just filled up your pockets with what you could carry?" the woman asked, dumbfounded.

"What were you doing up there all this time?" she said, turning on the young woman accusingly. "You couldn't have been sorting gold into a sack to reward any would be rescuers?  What kind of adventurer are you?"

She couldn't believe there'd been a chest of gold sitting there and everyone just kept walking right by.  It was obvious she'd been giving some of her companions too much credit and she'd have to keep a better eye on them.

She had been feeling a little bad that she was the only one getting a reward out of this with the armor, but not so much, anymore. They'd left their treasure behind!

Ullian stops walking.

"What I was doing all this time was finding a way to rescue Arielle, keep myself alive, keep everyone else alive, all so that we can get the reward that you so badly want and that nobody else will benefit from!

I would have been really happy to grab the treasure.  But there was no way to do that and rescue Arielle.  To your point: no, there wasn't time to grab a little treasure and stuff it in my pockets.  And I certainly didn't see you up there making any suggestions on that point.

So I'd stop your complaining, stop your criticizing, stop your superior smugness, and show some damn gratitude!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Tue 12 Apr 2022.

Ullian then trots to catch up with Arielle.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Tue 12 Apr 2022.

Rigya shrugged.  As long as the elf knew the armor was hers, he could make whatever excuses he wanted for having not secured any reward for the others.

"Let us concentrate on getting back to town," Lowel said, marching along. He was just happy could be of some help.

"Once we get close to town, I'd like to take a look at the nearby forests. If you need me again, we'll come up with somewhere outside of town to meet me."

He saw no need to go into town.

Sharn listens to bickering, no one else was out a family heirloom, her bardiche that her mother gave her.   Loaning things to elves, she was taught better.

Lannet remains mostly silent through Ullie and Rigya's argument, only to add, "yeah, it was really big...too big to carry, a shame really..."

"Would have been nice to have time to sift through it to pick out the choice bits," he says. Then, he is quiet, turning his attention to scanning the distance for any sign of Fairhill.

Arialle shakes her head from side to side, her countenance sad and distant. "The party I joined up with set out to explore the ruined tower. When we arrived, it was empty, though there were signs it was inhabited. We thought it might have been held by a small band of ogres and they may have been out hunting..."

She continues and relays that there was some discussion about whether the party should just take the treasure and be off. In the end, they decided to set an ambush and attack the ogres when they returned. Except, it wasn't ogres. The ettin returned, with a few worgs. A fierce battle erupted and Arialle's party was scattered to the woods. The ettin and worgs picked them off one by one.

"The ettin spared my life," she continues, "but not the others..."

She is silent for some time. Later, she picks the tale up and relates the ettin ate her companions and threatened to eat her many times. Then, a few days after she was captured, the ettin found a cursed helm one her party members had been carrying, apparently having previously belonged to another party member who turned evil after donning it. Things go really strange after the ettin put the helm on one of its head, she says.

"It was like the ettin was possessed of two souls. One kindly, the other terrible," she says.

She further relates had it not been for the helm's influence, she likely would have been eaten. "The mean head did not care for music much, though the kindly head did."

Arialle shrinks way from Rigya's tongue-lashing and fights to hold back tears. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction, but the truth was written plainly on Arialle's face. She wasn't an adventurer, at least not a very good one, that much was true.

Sharn sits next to Arialle, and speaks quietly,  "Rigya is just mad, not really at you, soon you'll be home and your father will be so happy.  You survived, and sometimes, that's all you can do.  Hold your head up, you made an Ettin fall in love with you, that's almost impossible".

"Now that we've had our little break," Rigya said sarcastically, "could we please start walking again?"

If she had any better options, she'd ditch this bunch and join a group that knew what it was doing.  The healer just ran for his life, she had no idea if the gnome could do what he said he could, the lockbusters had no interest in gold, and the axe woman, that at least looked the part, only wanted to talk it out!

She totally deserved that suit of armor.

Ullian does not respond in any way to Rigya.  He glances to make sure everyone else is ready to go and then continues the last leg of the journey to town.

The party pushes on and spends the next few hours walking mostly in silence as each member of the group turned over different thoughts in their mind. The expedition had been successful, but somehow, their success had been tainted (for some) by the knowledge a large treasure hoard had been left behind. For her part, Arialle cared little about the ettin's treaure. She was just glad to be free of the brute and headed home.

After a long journey south, the adventurers finally come within sight of Fairhill a few hours before dusk.

"Home," Arialle says in a low tone.

"Yes," Ullian sighs.  "Your father will be very happy to see you safe and sound."

"He may be quite angry at me," Arialle says. "He warned me often about such fool-headed things."

Still, she continues toward her home, nervous about what sort of reception she would receive.

The party is soon at the blacksmith's house. As it turns out, Arialle's fears are misplaced. Her father, alerted to their presence by a barking dog, appears in the darkened doorframe and throws his arms around his daughter and holds her close. Overcome with emotion, it is some time before Voril composes himself and addresses Arialle's rescuers.

"Praise be to the Gods and praise to each of you!" he continues, favoring each with thankful words.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:27, Sat 16 Apr 2022.

"The job is done," Rigya said, making sure the blacksmith understood what she was saying.  "I'll be back tomorrow to discuss the reward."

"We are exceedingly happy that we were able to return your daughter safely.  But, about that reward," Ullian pipes up, addressing the blacksmith. "Well sir, we seem to be in a bit of conundrum about that, as it were.  You see, we can't quite agree on what should come of it.  Only one person can wear it, of course, and some of us can't.  In short, we haven't quite determined how to divide it amongst ourselves in a manner that is fair and equitable."

Ullian scratches the back of his neck sheepishly.

"What I'd think you should do -- that is, what I think might be best, is if you hang onto the armor for a bit until we are in a position to report to you that we have all mutually agreed on its fate.

It woukd be a kindness in your part."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Sun 17 Apr 2022.

Rigya does not look pleased, but does not argue the point she'd already thought settled.

It was late and she headed back to her inn for the night.  They could have their discussion without her as they already knew where she stood.

Voril readily agrees to Ullian's proposal. Beginning work on a suit of armor is the last thing on his mind at the moment, though he will uncertainly honor his commitment.

Voril and Arialle once again thank the adventurers for their bravery and ask them to return as soon as they have decided what they want to do about the armor.

***

With that matter settled, Lannet offers to treat the party to dinner at the Drunken Cockatrice. "It would be my pleasure," he offers with a magnanimous gesture and tone.

"We will," Ullian promises. "In the meantime," he says, looking at Arielle.  "Stay out of trouble."

_________________

Lannet is not Ullie's most favorite person in the world, but right now he's offering exactly what Ullie would like.  So, the elf is only too happy to take Lannet up on his unexpected generosity.

"And it would be my pleasure and relief to accept your offer," he says. "Lead on!"

Lannet leads the party to the Drunken Cockatrice, where they are promptly seated and treated to an outstanding meal. True to his word, Lannet pays for the evening's food and drink and encourages his companions to take their fill of both.

The wait staff gives him a sidelong glance when he says everything is on him, to which he retrieves a small, gleaming, multi-faceted gem from his inner pocket and sets it on the table. The light from a nearby lantern dances magnificently in the gem. "This should more than cover our evening festivities," he says with great confidence.

"Eat. Drink. Be Merry!" he says while offering a toast to everyone's health before drinking the last of his ale.

Pleased to see that he won't be an accomplice to Lannet dashing out on another tab, Ullian does as he's invited.

The party hasn't been gone and "roughing it" for as long as it's felt, but Ullian is happy to be in a warm place with good food and drink.

Sharn enjoys a few drinks and a meal, she is a bit reserved in the public inn, as is usual for her, but seems to relax a little as the meal wears on.

When she gets a chance to talk to just those in the group, she adds,

"It wasn't a complete loss, I managed to tuck away the golden harp before I fled.  I think in a larger town, it might fetch a good price".

"Good, good," Ullian enthuses. "And, we know where more treasure can be had, and unlike before we know what danger accompanies it.  With some planning -- and a cart --, we can probably figure out how to deal with the ettin and get that treasure!"

PM

Ullian is enjoying the food, the drinks, and the company.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Sun 24 Apr 2022.