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.