Jurgrindor relaxes slightly but still keeps his guard up. "You learned from hill people, I can tell. Accent like gargling mud. But I speak your littlefolk tongue well enough. Even without my spear, I can still take you on, have no doubt! But you seem smarter than the last batch," he nods at the pile of assorted bodies, "and given the number of 'heroes' I've had to stop here, I don't think there's any point. Those idiot thugs clearly botched this whole job to the Abyss. I don't plan to die for them tonight. Can't get paid if you're dead, ha! Argh, that hurts. I ain't gonna help you or nothing, but if you can get my arm patched up properly, I quit. You can tell that trollbrain Volodmyra if you see her." Indeed, the bandages on his arm are clearly not holding up to the wound; dark blood is already starting to soak through again.

As he sees Sophia is still itching for a fight, Jurgrindor adds, "Look, these fools attacked me. Didn't even talk as much as you are. What was I supposed to do, just let them kill me? Not today. There were some servants that just wanted to head into the hall. I couldn't let 'em through, 'cause that's what I was paid to do, but they're probably still cowering in the washroom there." He nods toward the southern door. "No sport in slaughtering sheep-folk, so they're fine as far as I know. Plus I don't fit through your stupid littlefolk doors too good anyway." He seems quite dismissive of the entire concept of non-combatants.

"Sophia, check on the servants. Confirm he's telling the truth before I patch up his arm." He states while stepping into the room himself.

"I can patch your arm. From the looks of it, it's going to hurt. Do you want to take the bandage off or should I?" He asks the giant flatly.

"You want to... heal him?" she asked incredulously, shaking her head.

"And when you're all fixed up, what stops you from coming at us then? Your word?"

She turned to her companions, but Jurgrindor could clearly still hear and understand her.

"Look, if he's telling the truth about the servants and you both think this is a good idea, I'll go along. But don't be surprised when he turns on us the second he has maximum advantage!"

She did as asked and checked out the backroom, still wary, still holding her weapon out.

The washroom to the south has two huge tubs, as well as an assortment of hanging curtains and dividers to provide some modicum of privacy. What it doesn't seem to contain is any servants at all, living, cowering, dead, or otherwise.

Lena steps up behind you and looks in over your shoulder. "Huh, someone was definitely here not too long ago. See, the floor is still damp, and some bare footprints." But there's certainly no one here now.

You storm angrily back out to demand answers. "What's the big idea? There's no one in there, just some bathtubs!" But Jurgrindor starts laughing (and wheezing considerably) instead. "Ha ha hah, ouch, don't make me laugh! Fair play to sheep-folk, I guess! I wondered why they were so determined to be locked up in there instead of the pantry. I figured it didn't matter. I thought they just wanted the door they could close so they could pretend they weren't prisoners, but there must be a hidden passage or something in there. Man, that's embarrassing. Fooled by unarmed littlefolk. Vrag's never gonna let me live this down. I swear to you though, I never killed no one who wasn't trying to kill me. There's no point to it unless you're getting paid by the head, which we sure are not getting tonight. I'll be amazed if we get paid at all at this rate."

You and Lena didn't see any secret doors, but you can search more carefully if you want or get someone else in to check. Or just assume Jurgrindor is lying and start kicking his ass instead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:48, Fri 18 Nov 2022.

Wilkezag wracks his brain for any recollection of legal precedent that involves Frost Giants.  He's trying to remember if they have a tradition of keeping their word, or if they will promise anything and then just ignore that they said it.

GM should pick one of these and strike out the other.

---

Will recalls his old tutor telling him about a case involving a Frost Giantess who was on trial for dangling a human off a cliff until he agreed to pay her "extortion money."  It turned out in the end that the human had agreed to pay her for work that she had done, but then reneged.  She was only trying to get what was owed her, because, as she said, "JotunFrizzen believe keeping your word is worth your life."  Will encourages Dubh to go ahead and heal the giant.  "He can probably be trusted to keep his word."

---

Will remembers that his mentor, before they had the falling out, told him never to make a contract with a frost giant.  He said, "an agreement with them might as well be written on water for all they care about it."  Will warns Dubh not to help the monster, since "he'll probably turn on us once he thinks he is strong enough."

---

19:54, Today: Wilkezag rolled 26 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 20.  Lore (Legal)  (It's kind of a stretch.).
... but there I go with the natural 20!

GM edit: The sad thing is, Jurgrindor actually means it here. He's more understanding of agreements and contracts than typical frost giants, since he and his brothers have had to survive on their own in littlefolk lands after their exile. But in general, frost giants, like the more common hill and cave giants in this area, are not known for trustworthiness, and apparently you happen to know that!
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:54, Sat 19 Nov 2022.

"What's through there?" she nodded towards the door to the north, the other side of the room from the privy.

"Of course you don't mind if we take a look, right?" she asked while moving to the door, but watching the giant for hostile moves.

Jurgrindor, never very patient at the best of times, has had enough of your waffling and indecision. "If you're not going to help me out here, I'd just as soon take you out and get paid for this after all!" He pushes himself back up into a battle stance and raises his good fist, ready and willing to punch you all down.

It seems like you're converging on a consensus of "don't heal Jurgrindor", and if you don't heal him, he's not going to let you through without a fight.
11:37, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 15 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 6.  Perception for initiative.
11:38, Today: GM, on behalf of Lena Sellenski, rolled 8 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 2.  Perception for initiative.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Sat 19 Nov 2022.

I knew it.  The monsters of the world can't be trusted.  Will, seeing the giant rise up into a hostile aspect, immediately starts to sing, "Nasty Giant, cannot be trusted.
Nasty Giant, is never true.
Nasty Giant, vicious and brutish,
We all can see right through you!"

The final line is delivered with a knife mentally thrown at him.  It clangs off his armor, but at least it distracts him for a moment.

11:51, Today: Wilkezag rolled 16 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 10.  Perception for initiative
11:53, Today: Wilkezag rolled 24 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 17.  Performance for Lingering Performance
11:54, Today: Wilkezag rolled 13,7 using d20+8,d6+5 with rolls of 5,2.  Telekinetic Projectile (Inspired).

Frankly, I think Sophia should get a bonus on the 'Perception for initiative' roll since she specifically said she was "watching the giant for hostile moves."

GM edit: Jurgrindor is a cruel, evil person, not a particularly gloopy slow-flowing liquid.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:46, Sat 19 Nov 2022.

"Alright, I guess we're doing this. Come on big guy, let's dance."

She stepped in with her pick raised and slashed at him, snagging his bandages to pull him off balance, as big as he was. Then again, hoping to land a vicious blow from around and behind when he was off balance.

---

You're right, I skipped the trip, hoping to just put him down, since he's wounded. Not a lot of damage though alas. Though each strike should hit for 7 I think (if they hit) forgot the +1 damage from inspire courage.

Action 1: stride (or step if possible) in  close
Action 2: snagging strike hits AC 20 for 7, and makes him flat footed if it lands...
Action 3: second attack hits AC 15 (but he's flat footed) for 7.

And now we await his 3 action counter attack... yikes!

23:51, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 20 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 11.  snagging strike.

23:52, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 6 using 1d6+4 with rolls of 2.  damage from first attack (slashing).
23:52, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 16 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 12.  attack vs flat footed.
23:52, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 6 using 1d6+5 with rolls of 1.  and second (with backstab +1).

GM edit: I'll wait until tomorrow morning for Dubh to maybe save you here, because yeah, you are going to take a bit of a pounding otherwise. If you get knocked out, your friends have plenty of healing to bring you back. If Dubh can't make it (he did say he had a hard time on weekends), I'll act for him: if he rolls higher initiative than Wil he'll delay until after you and then 3-action horizon thunder sphere Jurgrindor into next week, hopefully. This is the time for the daily spells, folks!

This message was last edited by the GM at 06:31, Sun 20 Nov 2022.

13:49, Today: GM, on behalf of Dubh Oiche, rolled 15 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 8.  Perception for initiative. So close!

Jurgrindor snarls at Wilkezag's spiteful little jingle, and the kitchen knife that clatters off his armor, but he really reserves his vengeance for Sophia. That pick hurts! Two extra holes in his side was not something he needed today. "How dare you! Littlefolk should know better than to fight back!" he screams in your face.
13:55, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 29 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 20.  Demoralize vs. Sophia (DC 13).
Glad I didn't save that for his attacks! You're frightened 2, which reduces pretty much any d20 you roll by 2 for the next turn, and 1 for the turn after that (but it's probably only going to matter for the Reflex save you're about to roll).
This, needless to say, is absolutely terrifying. You can see his teeth. They're not an herbivore's teeth. He then takes a huge breath (obviously paining his ribs slightly) and blasts Sophia and Lena with arctic chill.
13:59, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 12 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,6.  Chill Breath (DC 18 Reflex). Ouch? It's a good thing you don't have anything dangerous coming up! You can make a basic Reflex save (DC 18) for half damage, although remember that Sophia is at -2.
14:01, Today: GM, on behalf of Lena Sellenski, rolled 21 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 13.  Reflex vs. Chill Breath (DC 18).
Finally, Jurgrindor hauls back and slams Sophia with his good fist.
14:05, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 12,16 using d20+10,d8+8 with rolls of 2,8.  Attack Sophia (AC 18).
But he jostles his wounded arm and flinching from the pain causes his swing to go wild. Good thing too, since I rolled maximum damage again!
As he swings, you can see the crude bandage on his wounded arm starts soaking through. It seems he's opened his wound up again.
14:07, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 8 using 1d20 with rolls of 8.  flat check DC 12.
14:07, Today: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 4 using 1d6 with rolls of 4.  persistent bleeding.
[Private to GM: 14:02, Today: Secret Roll: GM, for the NPC Jurgrindor, rolled 2 using 1d4 with rolls of 2.  Chill Breath delay.]

Dubh, seeing the blast from the giant's chill breath, knows he needs to end this quickly before things get even worse. He puts all his focus into a sphere of crackling lightning forming between his hands, concentrating on it until the miniature arcs are just barely contained before launching it at the giant.
14:15, Today: GM, on behalf of Dubh Oiche, rolled 25,10 using d20+8,3d6+1 with rolls of 17,3,2,4.  3-action horizon thunder sphere vs Jurgrindor. Because Jurgrindor is still flat-footed from Sophia's snagging strike, this is a critical hit!
The ball of lightning slams Jurgrindor full in the face, and the monster falls, groaning, "[Language unknown: Traainreaame... has amepresta m....]"
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:42, Sun 20 Nov 2022.

You take a breath after that. Sophia is still chilled through from the giant's breath, and the rest of you are surprised at the suddenness of the fight.

Looking around Jurgrindor's trophies, he doesn't have anything worth keeping, but his victims may. On the various fallen adventurers, you find an assortment of weapons, plus a decent suit of half-plate armor and three bloody but serviceable suits of chainmail. Additionally, you manage to collect up a decent stash of rings and necklaces, plus one of the adventurers was wearing a coyote cloak that still seems to work. The 11 fallen Aldori guards are all fully uniformed; only 2 managed to drink their issued minor healing potions before they were killed. Sophia, you can't put the half-plate on directly (at least wash it first!) but it doesn't cost anything to get it adjusted for you: Lena or Linzi can do it (or Valerie if you ever find her).

Lena mixes up a quick elixir, glares at it suspiciously, then shrugs and drinks it down.
14:28, Today: GM, on behalf of Lena Sellenski, rolled 1 using 1d6 with rolls of 1.  minor elixir of life.
She seems unsatisfied with the result, or maybe just with the taste.

Status check:
Dubh: 17/17 HP
Lena: 10/16 HP
Sophia: 13/20 HP because you made your save
Wilkezag: 15/16 HP
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:17, Mon 21 Nov 2022.

Sophia is terrified fighting a foe this size! Still she jumps out of the way of the worst of the freezing breath, but it still chills her. Fortunately Dubh is able to roast the giant before things got too far out of hand.

Once he falls, she requisitions two minor healing potions from the guards.

"Not like they need them, and I have a feeling things aren't going to get any easier."

---

made the reflex save with 22 rolled in side thread... having issues copying on phone.

There we go! Also used two minor healing potions

15:12, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 6 using 1d8 with rolls of 6.  Whoops last was minor healing potion taking another.

15:12, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 4 using 1d8 with rolls of 4.

15:06, Today: Sophia Akhova rolled 22 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 18.  Reflex with frightened 2 +1 if inspire courage helps with saves..

GM edit: Inspire courage would have improved your Will DC against the Demoralize attempt, but Jurgrindor rolled so high it didn't matter. It doesn't help with Reflex saves. I've marked the used potions off from your party treasury. Also, tense corrections; please try to get used to present tense!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:47, Sun 20 Nov 2022.

I should be /20 with the recent fighter rebuild.
GM edit: Yes, sorry! I was just copy-pasting and forgot. After popping some potions you're full up now, in any case!
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:18, Mon 21 Nov 2022.

After a few minutes of silence, you hear someone knocking on the doors to the great hall. "Hey.... is someone in there? Did you get rid of that giant??"

Just trying to move this along a bit. If you try to open the big doors, you'll discover they're locked or stuck or something. You should definitely not actually move on from this area without checking the pantry first.

"Yeah, he's not going to be trouble for you any longer," she said, eyeing up the half plate. This wasn't going to be pleasant, but armor was armor. But first things first.

She moved to the room to the North, opened the door and welcomed whoever was hiding in there to come out.

Has it been an hour since I tried to treat Lena's wounds?  If so, I fix her right up.
13:21, Today: Wilkezag rolled 23,14 using d20+4,2d8 with rolls of 19,6,8.  Treat Wounds (DC15).

Will lets the others search through the bodies, feeling a little squeamish about such a task.  Meanwhile, he calms himself to refocus which he looks at Lena's new wounds.  Still feeling a little self-conscious about messing up her bandages earlier, he somewhat sheepishly says, "I think I know how to patch this one up."  After a bit of bandaging and a small application of lotion, even the bit of damage that she received from the acid splash is feeling much better.

Once the others have collected up an impressive array of gear, Wilkezag casts a quick Detect Magic over the whole pile to evaluate whether there is anything that sparkles.

He prepares himself to greet the new arrivals.  They don't sound hostile, but it never hurts to be ready.

Picking up the dusty cloak of coyote fur he recognizes it for what it is. "I can use this if nobody else can." He says while shaking it out. "Though if any of you want it, it is not something that I've been pining for." He shrugs before throwing it over a shoulder. He'll examine it more closely later if nobody else wants it.

He tries the door before yelling "The door is stuck. We'll come around." to the person on the other side. "Time to check the larder." He says to his companions, and matches actions to his words.

OOC: I imagine that a common magic item like this could be recognized on sight. Like a cloak of elven kind or boots of bounding and that sort of thing.

The voice on the other side of the door calls out, "It's not stuck, we barricaded it. Didn't want that giant coming back through. We blocked the door to the pantry too. I'll get someone to open the hidden door in the privy for you, hang on. Just come out with your hands where we can see 'em. We don't need any more of those thugs either; they've caused enough problems already." The voice is gruff and male, and sounds quite irritated. You suspect he'd probably had as much trouble as he needed before he even went to bed last night, and now this happens.

In the pantry to the north you find your friends: Amiri, Harrim, and Valerie. They're all unconscious and pretty beat up, but alive enough. Amiri is fully equipped with Keska lying beside her, but Valerie and Harrim aren't wearing their armor, which probably contributed to their defeat at Jurgrindor's hands. It just occurred to me that you should have seen their armor in their room earlier. Sorry about that! It was the southwest guest room. Given your noted propensity to "protect" other people's belongings, I'll assume you grabbed it and brought it with you, so you can hand it over now. You can probably get them back on their feet with a little judicious healing: a minor healing potion or minor elixir of life apiece, or a quick burst heal, would do the trick nicely. You don't think you have the time to spend patching them all up with mundane techniques. (Lena has one minor elixir of life left today if you want to go that route.)

There's nothing magical in the big pile of equipment and bodies except the guards' potions and the coyote cloak, which you've already claimed. It's really a lot of people though. Whatever Volodmyra was paying Jurgrindor, she got her money's worth! One of his brothers must be holding the cash, because he doesn't have any. It's not clear to me whether you're supposed to be able to take and sell Jurgrindor's breastplate, which is the only valuable belonging he has on him. It's only useful to normal-sized people as scrap steel (and even for that it's low-quality), and it weighs 30 or 40 pounds!

Identifying magic items is really dumb in this system. Technically it's a DC 18 check (in this case) that you can only attempt once per day to identify something, but I'm generally going to assume that you'll manage to identify common low-level items like this coyote cloak before it becomes important. For more interesting things, I'll make you roll Nature or Arcana or whatever, or provide circumstantial evidence from Wilkezag's read aura or similar abilities.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:26, Mon 21 Nov 2022.

I think we can spare 3 minor healing potions? Or two and one minor elixir?

"Amiri!" Sophia was elated to see her arm wrestling partner and caught her in a big hug, which with Amiri's wounds and her own breastplate was more than a little awkward.

"Glad you are okay. Nice of you to soften Jurgrindor up for us, not sure we would have prevailed otherwise."

Back in the main room, she set about removing and cleaning as best she could the suit of half-plate. It'd slow her down, but it's be a lot safer behind it than her breastplate.

Wilkezag participates in feeding the healing potions to the group's dinner companions, and greets them warmly as they awaken.  He winces a bit when Sophia greets Amiri.  He worries about the big woman's injuries, but supposes that Sophia is aware and is being careful.  He does what he can to make the three comfortable, and makes sure that they get their equipment back.

As you wake them up, each of your friends immediately asks "Where's the frost giant? What happened? What's going on?" You manage to reassure them that the frost giant is dealt with, and otherwise explain what's going on. They're all feeling pretty hard-used and just want to go back to bed (Harrim hopes the end of the world would show up already so he wouldn't have to live with this headache anymore), so you reassure them that the path back to the guest rooms is clear of enemies.

As she leaves, Amiri sees the corpse of Jurgrindor (which you've presumably shoved into the corner) and salutes him respectfully. "A worthy foe. Keska and I took out his spear and arm both, but I didn't see his other fist coming in from the far side in time. Good going to finish him off. Even with him wounded, that had to be quite a battle!" She pulls an ornate dagger out of her jacket and hands it to Sophia. "Here, I want you to have this. Just promise me: use him to kill something mean, something BIG. That's what he deserves."

You can give Amiri's +1 dagger to anyone; Sophia doesn't have to keep it. This is the gift for reaching maximum influence with Amiri. I gave you an extra Influence point for rescuing each future companion. (You'll find Jaethal and Tartuccio also; they're in the west wing.) Incidentally, this is also enough to move both Valerie and Harrim to "helpful", although it doesn't matter a great deal at this point.

You hear someone calling from the washroom in the south. Sure enough, there's a secret passage that leads to the guest privy on the other side, and from there to the great hall.

This is the end of the scene. I'll leave it open for another day or so in case there's anything else you want to take care of here, but we'll be moving on to the west wing soon.

Whom did we hear calling?  Is there someone in the guest privy?  Or are we just hearing what is in the room beyond?  I didn't follow how that led us to discover the secret door.

While preparing for whatever might be behind the secret door, Wilkezag glances out the window into the courtyard.

It's just someone Ivenzi sent to open the secret door for you, since everyone who looked blew their roll to find it (in fairness, it's quite hard).

It's dark outside. REALLY dark. The storm has slacked a little but it's still pretty miserable. Sunrise is still several hours off.