7th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 - Into the Hall of the Fire Giant King

I feel like this chapter of the module needs to be played with some background theme music. Something like Hall of the Mountain King, but a heavier and darker (a little less Grieg and the little more Wagner). 

There was no way the party was going to enter this place without resting and recovering spell-power. Unfortunately, they were smack in the middle of the Hell Furnaces - a harsh environment that doesn't support life for anything should of magical creatures connected to the elemental plane of fire. Lava flows were surrounding them on nearly all sides, and volcanic vents were spewing massive clouds of sulfuric gases and ash that made flying overhead impossible. But there was a path that lead up to the doors and the party followed it back down the mountains. Through sheer perseverance, they were able to find a small fissure in the rocks some two miles down the road, where the lava was much less active. Inside this fissure was a small cave just large enough for the party to squeeze inside and hide. The Storm Giantess, Olgani, wished the party well through the blessings of Kord, the God of Storms, and departed.

It was three days later, on the 7th Day of Patchwall, that the party ventured back out. This is how long it took Sarril to identify magic items and refill his Ring of Spell Storing. He also took this opportunity to use his Ring of Three Wishes to use his second wish, this one to bring back his lost familiar, Krek, from the Plane of Concordant Opposition where he had previously been banished. With everyone powered up and ready to go, they headed back to great doors.

There was only one problem with the doors. . . they were huge, heavy, metal doors that required fire giant strength to open. Even the combined effort of multiple strong PCs couldn't get them open. The first plan was to wait outside for someone to come and open the doors. The party waited most of the day without any luck, and while waiting, were attacked by four salamanders. After that, they decided they needed another way in.

With Olgani gone, this required a magical solution. Sarril cast Passwall, creating a party-sized tunnel through the door. That worked well, and, after casting the obligatory Invisibility 10' Radius, into the hall they went. The hall beyond was lined with tapestries on either side. Luapan made a point to look behind all of the tapestries as they passed. All except the first one on the left, which happened to be the one that was covering a secret guard room - more on that later.

Passing what appeared to be a large hall to the right, where four ettin guards were posted by some columns, the party focused on keeping to the left path whenever possible. This led them into a kitchen, where several fire giants were busy cooking. They continued past a door that was barred from the outside, which they decided was best to ignore for the time being, and eventually came to a curtain behind which they could hear the sounds of giants talking. They decided to move the curtain to get a peek, but the curtain was very large and required a bit of effort - effort that was noticed by the alert guards waiting behind. The invisible party sprung into action and began to fight the six fire giants in the room. Though victorious, the party was now visible, wounded, and low on spells. It turns out that fighting fire giants just isn't easy. The party realized they needed to retreat back to their cave to heal up.

Remember that tapestry that Luapan missed earlier? The guard behind it had a large ballista that shoots six spears at a time (it reminds me of something from the Slingshot Channel on YouTube - check it out sometime). He set the ballista up in the hallway in front of entrance, ready to fire on the exiting party. Behind him were two of the ettin guards. On the other end of the hallway were the other two ettins, ready to finish off the party after they took the ballista damage. Six spears flew down the hallway at five party members. Several took damage, though not a lot. Then the ettins moved in. Again, the superior armor class of the party members made it difficult for the ettins to do any serious damage, and the party quickly finished them off before the fire giant at the end of the hallway could reload the ballista. Sarril then cast Boccob's Rolling Thunder down the hallway, stunning the fire giant and one of the ettins and destroying the ballista. After that, the party was able to quickly move down the hall, kill the enemies and escape.

Another two days of rest and restoring spells and back they went. This time, Sarril cast Passwall to the left of the doors, opening up a tunnel into the guard room. Inside was a guard who spent the first round engaging the party, before realizing he needed to sound the alarm. Reaching for the alarm in round two, he was killed before he could do it. Sarril cast Invisibility 10' Radius again to make the visible party members invisible again, and they decided to head straight to the large hallway with the columns.

This hallway turned out to be the throne room, and as they approached the throne, they heard a loud laughing coming from King Snurr, who was very much aware of their approach. King Snurr Ironbelly was sitting on his throne, flanked by two large hellhounds. To his side was a drow elf female and behind him were two fire giant guards. In front of him stood Jarl Grugnir and his four elite frost giant guards, who clearly had escaped to here after their previous fight.

King Snurr told the party he would show them mercy if they dropped their weapons and groveled at his feet. But these are the Bad Ass Motherfuckers, and they grovel to no one. Sarril answered by reading a scroll of Chain Lightning, which ripped through all of the giants and the drow (whose magic resistance protected her from the effects - in hindsight, I think the spell should have ended when it hit the magic resistance, but I let it keep going). The fight was now on.

The frost giants were definitely struggling to be at their full potential in the stifling heat. That helped the party quite a bit, as did the prayer that Luapan put up. The drow responded with Faerie Fire, effectively negating the invisibility and allowing the giants to target the party with throwing hammers. Cadwin, realizing from his previous encounter with the fire giant guards that he can bounce lightning bolts off of these stone walls, cast Protection from Lightning on himself, then fired an 11 die lightning bolt through the jarl and two other giants, bouncing it off the wall and back at him through the same giants again. It was a devastating move that reduced the enemy's numbers greatly. Dalron and Pontus were able to make short work of the remaining giants. At one point, the hellhounds attacked, but the fire protection spells the party had on them negated their breath weapons and effectively neutralized that threat.

Neither King Snurr nor his drow advisor took any aggressive actions. Realizing the fight was not going their way, they began to make a retreat through a secret door behind the throne. The drow cast a spell causing 14 giant spiders to appear and surround the party, allowing her and the king to make their escape.

And here is where we had to end the session, mid-battle. The frost giant and fire giant guards were all dispatched, and the party now has to fight their way through a hoard of giant spiders. It is late morning on the 9th Day of Patchwall, CY 580.