Filmed in the Miracle of Skeletorama!
It was interesting for a human to grow up with elves. Ebin’s parents adventured with Aramil and Felosial Starsliver for several years until Ebin was born. Neither one of the foster parents talked about what happened and as Ebin grew he stopped asking. Ebin learned much from his elven parents, but like most humans, soon grew restless for adventures of his own. Joining the local militia was good for a while. It allowed him to learn how to defend himself and friends. He learned all he could until again he grew restless and yearned to see the world. Then he worked on a few caravans as a guard. It was a means of seeing new places, and meeting new people. However he would only sign up for one-way trips. He’d help get the caravan safely there, then collect his wages and join another caravan going someplace else. After a while this too got boring, so Ebin decided that a little freelance adventuring was a good idea. Being a sword for hire was nothing if not entertaining. At least until the last group he was with tried to kill him because he refused to be a part of a murder. The last Ebin saw of them was when he ducked out the back door of an inn almost 3 weeks southwest of where he is now.
Ebin had been in Yartar for about 3 days when the remains of a caravan showed up with a strange story of trolls, a druid and a dwarf with a bag of snakes. Ebin immediately gathered his things and was going to go out to investigate when someone in the inn mentioned it would be safer to go in a group. Counting Ebin there were 4 going, but not till morning. Although Ebin was anxious to go he decided that help would be best and, as patiently as he could, Ebin waited for morning. It took almost half a day to find the wreckage of the caravan, and the trail left behind was extremely obvious. After 2 days of following the trail it was obvious that there was more going on here than just caravan raiders.
Character sheet: Ebin Starsliver [Human Fighter]
Well, the 3 militia members and I walked for a couple of days heading due north, when I came across this guy sitting on a log. No armor, no obvious weapons, and a rat sitting on his shoulder. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to know a spellcaster when you see one. He introduced me to his friends and we began to talk. Noticing the holy symbols to good deities on a male elf and a female cleric, I began to relax until this female elf started calling me a “Zhent.” Whatever that is, and she kept insisting on looking through my things. At some point during the discussion, I noticed that my 3 friends and the spellcaster had left. That’s about the same time the male elf, Areon I think his name is, yelled something and was off. Following I saw the sorcerer and my 3 friends on the roof of this building. We all ran over only to find out that there wasn’t an emergency yet. After trying a couple of ideas we were levitated and pulled across this river to the roof of another building. I was never so scared in all my life. I got my composure just in time for the sorcerer, Tyan I think it is, to hit the roof of this building with several spells making a lot of noise. That’s when the cavalry came from the first building and started running across the bridge towards us. I shot a few arrows at them, then grabbed my shield and sword and started attacking the creatures that climbed up the wall to get us. One minute everything was great then I miscalculated and was hit by several opponents at once. When I came to they were fighting a hill giant and doing fine, so I downed a few of my potions and I’m ready for more.
Eleasis 7, 1373 DR, near giants’ fortress
They are drawn to us like moths to a flame.
Our camp was rather solemn, for as soon as we safely made it back, Beowulf’s wolf expired, having followed his last instructions to the letter. During my watch, I accepted the onerous task of dividing up what the late druid had been carrying among my companions. I didn’t take anything myself, but it would be impractical to bury it with him. In the morning, I wondered aloud to Tyan why he managed to stay alive as long as he had, and then I remembered he’s been with us less than a week himself. That rat is always whispering stuff to him; survival tips, perhaps.
I turned to Deitricha for a moment and asked if she could commune with her goddess or something before we stormed the fortress again. When I turned back to the sorcerer, there were four more human males standing around him, apparently attracted to the Evermoors by some tales in a tavern in Yartar of the surviving human males from the caravan we’d been tracking. Oddly, they were there to offer their services to us and seemed to think we were rescuing the caravan. They had not passed Rosorc and the caravan survivors in the swamps however.
One seemed to be doing all of the talking— a fellow that called himself Ebin Starsliver who claimed at times to have elven parents. He does not seem to understand the elven language though, which is just as well, since I don’t trust him. He played dumb when I asked him about Zhents in the area, and everyone that has spent any time in the Silver Marches would know about Zhents. Beowulf lived alone in a forest and had even heard of them. Areon assures me that Ebin is just simple-minded— he doesn’t even seem to know where he comes from.
Between arguing with this new human and learning of Deitricha’s possibly-successful divination as to the location of the silver tiger: “beyond the path of water resting with the dead that seeks the living” (why on earth does it have to always sound so cryptic?), Areon had to point out that the three quieter humans (Anders, Marius and Geth) and Tyan had left the camp and were scaling the side of the fortress. Ooops.
We ran to catch up as they were reaching the top— which was actually only a few feet up to what had once been a second story. They’d found a stairwell leading down, but it was completely filled with boulders. We were able to pull away enough for Glitch to squeeze his tiny rodent body into the stairwell so he could look around for us.
The rat described a 30’ by 30’ room with two hill giants in it, clearly watching the stairwell— no doubt they had heard us moving the boulders. They did not see Glitch however. He noticed a door in the distance too, but Tyan called him back up as we had come up with another plan.
Tyan and Deitricha worked out a way of flying us all across the river, over the bridge— he could levitate us, and she had a spell that allows her to fly— so we were levitated by the sorcerer and then pulled by the flying cleric across the water. We arrived safely on the other “tower” and found a stairwell leading down, and also filled with boulders. We moved out enough for Glitch to squeeze through. He got down the stairs without incident, then under a door and, unfortunately, was teleported to a cell elsewhere! We know this because, thankfully, he was uninjured and still able to make contact with Tyan, who in turn started to blast chunks of the roof off to find a faster way into the fortress. I was about to suggest that I talk Glitch through picking the lock to his cell via his human when someone yelled that we were being attacked from the bridge. Firing arrows and bolts did little to slow the hill giants, hobgoblins, and the tentacled blue cats (which I could not hit— they must have been displacer beasts) that were heading our way. I was hit by something hard— by a boulder perhaps— and everything went black.
I came to while being jostled across the roof, apparently Areon had seen me fall and was planning to stash me somewhere safe. Deitricha was somehow managing to keep up with him and heal me; since I was being carried I took the opportunity to use the healing wand on Areon, who, truth be told, looked as bad as I felt. Of course, he put me down when he realized I was conscious.
Tyan was the only one left standing against the onslaught, which now included the ogre mage, and we simply could not leave him there, so we regrouped and ran back towards the fight. The fact that the human male was doing so well against such an opponent may have given me the will to fight harder. Though I rarely engage in melee combat of any sort, I tumbled past the horrid cat creature and stabbed it through the back with my rapier. It dropped on the spot. I turned and pulled out my crossbow, and was able to slay an already quite beaten hill giant. My comrades were having similar successes; even the ogre mage had been slain— or rather, was down for the count. I looted its body quick before dropping a flask of alchemist’s fire on it— the only way to be sure it would stay dead, as it had the ability to regenerate like a troll.
While my friends were chasing the last of the hill giants off the roof, I saw Ebin (who I assumed had died) stagger up from where he’d been laying, throwing back healing potions like they were dwarven ale. I was more surprised that he was alive than he was that his three companions were not— he didn’t seem to notice, in fact.
Regaining our composure from the rooftop battle, I took the time to reflect on the recent goings on. We had been greeted by a trio plus one from the same town that lost those men in the caravan attack. I won’t go into why the attack was successful at this time, sufficed to say that with more thought on someone’s behalf, there would have been more of the caravan to survive.
Anyway, I took the opportunity to convinced these young lads to join in our mission. Well, that was not the words I used, but it was for a good cause, and they would have a chance to get revenge on those who ordered the attack on the caravan. And, technically there was a chance that a member of the caravan had been taken here. I had no evidence to the contrary. And we could use the extra help.
Never mind that, the four of them were happy to help. Although the elves did take an interest in one who seemed to them at least to be a Zhent. And by denying that he was one just made them believe it even more.
As the party discussed the possible Zhent identity for far too long, I asked the other three new fellows to sneak down to the castle to help me scout. I don’t remember telling them all about the giants and ogre mage, but I do remember telling them about the orcs. Or was it the hobgoblins I told them about?
Anyway, they had enough information to be happy to help. Well, we reached the building on our side of the river without any problem. In fact we easily climbed to the roof and had a chance to look about at our situation. The building on this side, while looking worse for wear, was in fact quite sturdy. It had in its past at least one other floor, as did its counterpart across the river. Yet time nor battle have done enough to prevent them being used as a stronghold.
As I thought about our situation the rest of the group arrived from the camp. I guess they decided not to let us have all the fun. After some debate on what the situation was, and with some added information from the cleric, we had a better picture of the situation. Glitch says to trust her, but I have been lied to by too many clerics.
The party looked for a way into the building, other than the hole from the night before, or the front door. I was going to argue more for the front door when Glitch mentioned that he could get in ahead of us and scout. This idea was met well with the group and we searched for a place to sneak the adventurous rat in.
Soon was found what was previously a stairwell that someone had taken the chance to fill with boulders. Glitch easily slid his way in and found two giants waiting with large clubs. The giants were hiding, well, as well as two giants can hide, and watching the ceiling where we were. I called Glitch back after he looked around a bit and we began forming another plan.
Deitricha and I figured out a way to combine our spells to get us across the river and to the roof of the opposite building. We tied a rope to all of us for precaution, then I lifted the party into the air with a scroll I was saving for just such an emergency. Deitricha then cast a spell to make her fly across to the other building, with us in tow.
Once on the other building we scouted once again for a way in. And to the credit of our enemy, they had clogged this building’s stairway with boulders just as well as the other. With a snicker Glitch snuck in again. This time there were no giants at the bottom, instead it was a small 10’ by 10’ room with one door. Glitch snuck over and tried to peek through the crack under the door. In a flash of confusion that quite disoriented both Glitch and me, a spell was triggered and Glitch was teleported to a prison cell.
This will not do, I thought. I retrieved a wand from my backpack that Theona had given me days before and began casting against the floor below me. The next few moments came all at once, I created a large hole and saw movement below. Not wanting to react second I cast a sphere of electricity into the hole. Mind you, most creatures do not survive this spell, most creatures except for the hydra below. It was as I backed up from the opening that the party yelled they were being attacked, something about giants and displacer beasts. And I wanted to help them, really, except the ogre mage that landed behind me and cleaved me nearly in two got the highest priority.
Quickly I raised a globe of darkness and moved slightly away from the ogre mage. Soon I felt the wind of a great swing that was far too close for comfort. I could hear the cries for help from my comrades as their end of the fight turned badly on them. Doing my best to hold my innards in, I began casting my most potent spells at the area I thought the ogre mage to be. Running low on spells and realizing that there were now less calls for help then before I decided that even if the ogre mage cuts me down when I leave the globe of darkness, I had to try and help my friends.
I stepped out to see all four of the people that joined us this morning were down and I didn’t know if they could be saved. Areon was carrying a limp Theona and Deitricha was standing up against two giants and two displacers. I cast my last sphere of electricity where it could do the most damage, killing one of each along with a couple of orcs that I didn’t notice.
It was then that the ogre mage came at me again, and by some miracle its great swing missed me. Areon apparently put Theona down and raced to my aid while Deitricha and the now-mobile Theona fought off the others. Somehow Areon and I finally killed the huge foe. When we once again could look to the others there was just one giant left, and he was running. I summoned a celestial bird to attack it while Areon and the now-standing, and last-surviving member from the town, Ebin launched arrows at it.
As we watch the giant run off into the hills, I was once again wondering how I was going to get Glitch back.
Having won the roof and once again being able to concentrate on my dearest friend Glitch, I informed the party that I could drop us all safely to the bridge bellow and we could enter from there. Someone asked about the hole I made, and what was in there, but I could not be bothered by such things while seeking my friend.
We made our way down and through the door without a problem. The next door was found to be trapped, good thing we have a thief to disarm it. Oh yes, she says she is not a thief, but she sure seems to know her way around a set of thieves’ tools for not being a thief.
Theona opened the second door and we made our way to a set of jail cells. I called to my friend as we knocked on each door. In the last of five, Glitch called out that he was inside. Theona, once again with thieves’ tools, opened the door and let him out. It was so good to see him again. After checking him out for any injuries and giving him a good scolding for getting himself into danger, all of which he was happy to endure, Glitch climbed into my backpack to find his favorite treats.
That being done, we moved on to find a room of sarcophaguses. This seemed to match the cleric’s dream, and proves to us that we are on the right track. We opened each one, ready to battle, only to find dried husks of which were of no danger to us. I then tried listening to the walls to see if I could tell which room had the hydra. After a few questions from the party I realized that I had not told them about the beast. I could see the spirits of the group weaken as I mentioned that I had seen at least five heads for sure, but there may have been more.
A bit more somber we headed out to check for other rooms and the tiger statue that brought us here in the first place. We found a door that when we listened to it, it sounded as if a great beast was moving inside. Being easy to figure, we found the hydra.
To my amazement Glitch once again volunteered to go and take a look. I agreed and set him on the floor, and he bravely climbed under the door. He informed me once under that there was a few doors on the left and one big one on the right. And he even went as far to take a good look at the hydra to confirm it was there. Having exceeded the bravery of several rat generations he came back and I gave him more treats.
I explained to the party that I could go up on the roof and get the hydra’s attention, then signal Glitch to signal them that it was safe to go through and attack it from behind. That was the plan. I got to the roof and was about to cast when I heard Glitch laughing. This is never a good thing. I quickly reached the hole and fired off a spell to try and help, but Ebin had already gone too far and gotten all of the hydra’s attention.
The rest of the party tried to help in what I can only call some of the bravest and stupidest maneuvers I have ever seen. And some were both at the same time. The next thing I know Theona had gotten herself in a corner, separated from the party, Ebin was hiding in the hall, and the hydra was leaving his room to go after him. I used on of my favorite spells, feather fall, to jump through the hole and land behind the hydra. Adding yet another brave yet stupid thing to the list. As my luck would have it, the hydra was more concerned with the three in the hall than me casting spells into its backside. Theona took the opportunity to go and open the door that the hydra was protecting, though she did seem a bit pale when I caught up to her.
The hydra was finally slain, but to add insult to injury the hydra died blocking the passage. My comrades had to go climb up the roof on the outside and then climb down from the ceiling through the hole to join us.
It was then that Theona explained that the next room contained a sarcophagus the size of a giant. Again, an easy one to put together, big vampire, very bad, only a few hours of sun left too. We went up to the roof and made another hole, and did everything we could to break the sarcophagus open, but as the night approached, valor was set aside for common sense, and we retreated to the camp of the previous night up on the hill.
We found two pits, both inhabited. One held a troll, who looked up at us and muttered something in an unknown tongue. None of us could come up with a language in common with the creature, and moved on to the other pit. This one held two of the looted caravan’s guards, looking much worse for wear! Neither was moving, so Areon let himself down into the pit and we helped pull them up.
After a lot of healing, they woke up, understandably confused. They then accused Beowulf of causing all the trouble by getting in their way! Poor Beowulf thought he was helping… after what apologies we could make, we found out that one of the guards spoke troll. He translated for the one in the pit. It turned out that these trolls have been working for some giants who want the silver tiger statue; this troll disagreed with working for others and was imprisoned.
Areon, I think, is pleased to know that we’re on the right path; the statue was taken from the caravan and moved north to the giants within the past few days. We’re getting closer! Next, we found out that the troll is willing to lead us to the giants. Unfortunately, the guard was totally unwilling to go with us as a translator. We couldn’t offer him enough money to come on what he’s sure is a suicide mission!
We let the troll up, and settled in to rest for the evening. In the morning, I prayed for spells to let me understand or speak to the troll, and hoped that being able to communicate a few times a day would be enough. Theona spent her time practicing with her new crystal wand. She managed to cause a wall to collapse! Rosorc, on awakening, decided to go back with the guards. I think he feels responsible for their safety. I’ll miss him, though, and putting flowers in his beard when he sleeps!
Finally, Beowulf settled into bird form to watch over us, and we set out north over the Evermoors. It was a quiet day, to my surprise! I guess nothing wanted to mess with Gral all that much. I tried to exchange a few words with him, so we could learn each other’s language, but I didn’t get far. So, when he stopped late in the day, I had to cast a spell to ask what was wrong. Giants! We quickly followed Gral’s lead and found places to hide.
I found out that my spell let me understand the giants, too, as they passed us. I found out that the giants, too, don’t like to be working for another species! The giants’ leader, “Crank”, is following orders from hobgoblins, and the hobgoblins’ leader, “Grom”, is an utter ass. The giants are tired of collecting items for him. I wonder what part the silver tiger statue plays in all this? I passed on what I’d heard to the others as we set up camp for the night.
The second day passed quietly, although I figured out that poor Gral just isn’t very smart. On the second evening, I even found him trying to eat rocks. I offered him a hunk of meat instead (all the while praying that Rosorc never finds out what use I put his gifts to!). That night Theona woke me, having been warned by Beowulf of humanoids coming our way. Sure enough, almost twenty orcs and a dire boar charged into the middle of our party, howling!
Areon threw an everburning torch onto the ground, and we fought for our lives by its light. Tyan started us off well with a powerful spell that brought their numbers down to ten… while the dire boar attacked Gral, who responded by nearly tearing the thing in half. We were able to get the upper hand pretty quickly, thank Tymora, but we were left with many pieces of Gral by the time the boar was finished off! It was a tense few moments for us to find all the parts and make sure he grew back together, rather than each part into a new troll. One is enough!
At least Gral got a good meal out of the dire boar. We then moved to a new campsite for the rest of the evening. The next morning, we headed north again. This day, we finally reached our destination; looking over a ridge into a river valley, Gral explained that the crumbling fortress below was the giants’ stronghold. The fortress was built on both sides of the river, with a bridge connecting it. It used to have a second story but that had crumbled; there were no windows. The gates were closed, and there was no sign of life.
We discussed our next move, finally deciding to wait for dark and explore the ruins then. Beowulf volunteered to go over the place as a bat, and we settled in to wait. We didn’t wait long! He was soon back, in bird form, and with a tale of being attacked by a goblin and struck by a javelin. He barely got away. The fortress may look quiet, but it’s full of bad guys! We decided to wait the next day out, and sneak down as a group the next evening. I explained our plan to Gral, and gave him another hunk of meat.
Partway through the day, the elves got bored and went “foraging”. I don’t know what they got into, but they came back asking if we’d seen the white dragon! I hope that was some obscure joke on their part… eventually, night fell, and we all worked our way down to the remains of a collapsed tower, hoping it would lead us inside. Areon checked the top of the wall and waved us up, but as soon as we all reached the top, something looked around the corner of the hall and ran off! Areon threw alchemist’s fire into the doorway and we followed up with a charge.
Unfortunately, a pit trap opened up in front of us, and Theona fell in. Hobgoblins came through the flames and threw something into the pit with her, while poor Gral fled the flames… so much for him being useful in a fight. We quickly killed the first wave, and Beowulf was pulling Theona out of the trap, when more hobgoblins started throwing javelins at us! Worse yet, a horn began to blow, so we knew reinforcements were on the way.
Tyan finished off the second wave with a spell, and I healed Theona while Areon charged over the pit and fire and into a room full of hobgoblins. Theona managed to close the pit trap, and Tyan cast a spell at Areon which caused him to double in size. That was quite a sight! Beowulf ran across the pit to back him up, but ran into the reinforcements; ogres! Including one with blue skin that started to cast a spell, even as Areon shouted at us to get back.
We did so, but it wasn’t enough; the blue skinned ogre cast a spell of cold that knocked Areon down and killed Beowulf and his wolf outright. It was an awful moment! Theona and I managed to get Areon back on his feet and fighting, but the ogre cast another spell that made him stop for some reason. Thank Tymora, he went back to attacking when Theona went down! I was healing, shooting crossbow bolts, and ducking the spells that Tyan cast over our heads, when the blue skinned ogre disappeared through a doorway and we turned as one to escape.
We tumbled over the top of the wall, carrying our comrades’ bodies, while Tyan stayed a moment to defend our retreat. He waited until he saw movement, and cast a lightning bolt down the hall. He saw a hill giant in the flash, and did not wait for more. We fled from the ruins and into the night.
Happily, the searchers were unable to discover our hiding place, thanks to Areon’s skill. Sadly, I buried Beowulf and his wolf at dawn. I hope they’ve found peace. Gral, too, seems to be long gone. While I sat down to meditate and pray (especially for some divine guidance), the others were surprised to see a party of humans, apparently headed for the fortress! They quickly agreed to join our party for the safety in numbers, and waited while I cast my divination spell. I asked where to find the silver tiger statue, and got this response:
”Beyond the path of water, resting with the dead, that seeks the living”
Hmm. Well, that seemed to point us to the other side of the bridge, anyway! Healed and refreshed, we headed down to the fortress, this time in daylight. Ebin is a human fighter, and I am ashamed to say that I did not catch the names of the others, only that they are caravan guards. They must be looking for some of the stolen cargo. We tried the locked front door, than walked all about the fortress on our side of the river. Theona found a possible stairwell, much blocked with stones, and we set to clearing them as quietly as possible (though not enough for Areon, who was nervous and cursing most of the day). Once there was a small gap, Tyan sent his rat familiar inside to take a look around. I’m glad he did - there were two hill giants waiting for us!
I thought we should have one person continue to move rocks as a decoy, while the others looked for a different way inside, but we eventually agreed to move to the other side of the river and try to get inside the fortress where the divination seemed to lead. Tyan was able to levitate everyone, and I was able to pull them over, using a rope and a fly spell. Ebin was especially nervous; I wonder if he can swim? An hour of searching on the new rooftop showed us another blocked-up stairwell. We set to clearing it while Tyan used a detect magic spell to look “through” the roof, eventually pointing out an especially “glowy” spot under the southwest corner. We’ll have to keep that in mind! Meanwhile, his poor familiar tried sneaking down the stairwell, but ended up teleported to a cell somewhere else in the building!
Now that we’d set off a trap for sure, Tyan decided to enter the building by an unexpected route. He walked to the middle of the roof, and set off nine shatter charges from a wand right into the stone! Of course, this got the attention of everything on both sides of the fortress; I saw several hobgoblins, two cats with six legs and tentacles, a green-skinned ogre, and two hill giants (surprise!) coming over the bridge and climbing onto the roof with us… or throwing rocks onto the roof at us! Tyan, too, took one look into the hole he’d made in the roof and moved away swearing, which I took to mean it wasn’t much of an escape route.
The battle was long and hard. We fought with spells and weapons and luck, and barely made it. Ebin was the only member of his party to survive! All the evil creatures were killed, except for one hill giant that fled north. I hope we get a little time to finish this search before it brings back more friends!
While Theona stripped the bodies of anything useful (Tyan ended up with some scrolls), we all cast a lot of healing spells on each other. Tyan explained that the hole in the roof was most unwelcoming, so we decided to let ourselves down the side of the building, and try the front door on this side as well. Theona, also, has gotten back into her worry about Zhents. She’s giving poor Ebin the third degree (although I must admit I’m surprised he claims to know nothing about them. Then again, he says he was raised by elves, so what do I know?).
Theona applied her skills to the front door, and it soon opened to show an entryway, and another door. She and Areon headed inside, and she soon had that door open, too. This time, however, they quickly backed out of the building, looking nervous! Something was clicking away inside the doorway, but, eventually, Theona decided it was the trap, even though disarmed. She carefully worked her way back inside, and we carefully followed. The place was a maze of doors and hallways, but we finally found a stretch that seemed likely to be the prison.
Tyan sent a mental request, and soon, we could hear squeaking from his rat! Theona soon had the door open and Glitch was back on his master’s shoulder. We continued our searching, trying to ignore the rat’s antics all over again… Eventually, we found a room full of sarcophagi, which I prayed over and checked for the presence of undead, finding nothing. Sure enough, we lifted the lids to discover desiccated human remains, and moved on.
One room we found had four hobgoblin corpses strewn about it, and the stench of recent death! We looked them over and found huge puncture wounds in their necks, about eight inches apart! The sight filled us with concern; none of us has met a giant-sized vampire, and I doubt any of us want to. Ebin, in fact, quickly decapitated the corpses and shot wooden arrows through all their hearts, “just in case”.
We worked our way toward the middle of the building, finally discovering the room Tyan had put a skylight into. He’d given us some warning to expect a hydra, and, sure enough, that’s what Ebin attacked! Tyan made for the roof while I healed Ebin from his experience. We ended up in a pitched battle, behind, before, and above the creature. To my great relief (after taking five bites at once!), all our attacks overwhelmed it, and it dropped dead. I then took the time to do a lot of healing for us all!
Theona took a look through the next doorway, the one the hydra had been guarding. She found a giant stone sarcophagus, over twenty feet long! There must be a giant vampire here, after all - what a thought! Since it was still daylight, we decided to make an attempt at destroying it’s lair. We climbed onto the roof, and shattered another hole. We threw huge rocks down onto the lid. We racked our brains. Eventually, however, the sun began to sink to the horizon.
Wisely for once, we decided to move away from the fortress and hide for the night. Not a moment too soon, for as the night fell, we heard a horrible howl of rage from the giants’ lair! Areon had done his job well, however, and we were safe until morning. I wonder what we will find when we go back there today?
Eleasis 8, 1373 DR, near giants’ fortress
We managed to loot the ogre mage’s body: large armor and great sword, a few potions and scrolls— no silver cat. Not that I thought it would be that simple. At any rate we needed to find Glitch, so we went down to the bridge level and found a door. I spent the next half hour picking locks and disarming traps, including locks on a row of cells from which one very relieved rat emerged unharmed to climb into our sorcerer’s backpack. We randomly explored a few other rooms: one contained several sarcophagi holding nothing but desiccated humanoid remains, another presented us with four very smelly dead goblins with puncture wounds on their necks. It was alarming to note that the puncture wounds were in pairs, with about 8” distance between the fangs.
It was at about this time that Tyan (perhaps with prodding from Glitch) mentioned that he’d seen a hydra through a hole he’d blasted through the roof in our earlier battle. Apparently, the hydra was guarding a single door in the far wall of its lair, but we could get into the room through an archway opposite that door if the hydra could be distracted or dispatched in some way. Fortunately, Tyan (or Glitch) had a plan; the sorcerer would go up on the roof and distract the hydra, and Glitch would stay below to coordinate the rest of us. Unfortunately, Ebin must consider himself to be quiet and sneaky; he lumbered into the archway with his shield in front of him and the hydra saw him, using at least four of its heads to bite the human male. Ebin jumped back, and argued with no one in particular that he was just “peeking” even though it went against our plan.
Our element of surprise was gone, so I tumbled past the archway, attempting to activate the wand that casts the “enfeeblement” spell at the creature. I was grazed by a set of teeth as I passed the opening. I jumped up and put my back to the wall, expecting another attack, but the darn thing went after Areon and my friends. At least it gave me more time to use the wand. By the time I was able to hit it, the creature was all the way into the hall, so I slipped past it into its den. Tyan was lowering himself into the room, no doubt with the intention of keeping a line of sight to cast spells at the departing beast.
I went to the closed door, quickly decided that it wouldn’t need to be trapped with that thing guarding it, and flung the door open. One look in convinced me to wait for my friends, who had vanquished the hydra but were now engaged in a struggle to get past the monstrous corpse in the hall.
A few minutes later found us all standing in that doorway, looking at the biggest sarcophagus any of us have ever seen— it must have been 20’ long! There was no way visible to conveniently open it, and we weren’t sure we wanted to. We somehow decided that sunlight was what we needed, and so all went back up to the roof to beat the crap out of it in a fashion similar to how Tyan had shed light on the hydra. That took a long time, but we finally had a hole right above the big stone box. We tried to crack open the sarcophagus in the same way we opened the roof, but by the time the sun was starting to set, we’d only managed to chip the lid a bit.
No one argued when it was suggested we leave the fortress and find a place to camp a good distance from the place.
Areon and I split the night watches as usual. I had just started mine when a blood-curdling howl of rage emanated from the fortress. Whatever was in the crypt (should I mention that we all have some vague and horrific vision of a giant-sized vampire?) was stirring, and not at all happy with our handiwork.