Wanting the make the trip as swift as possible, Sarril exchanged his favor with Lord Wilfrick to ask for magical teleportation for him and his four companions. Master Juehlim of the Silver Consortium agreed to perform a teleport, but informed Sarril that the town of Hochoch on the border between the Grand Duchy of Geoff and the Gran March would be as far as he would be willing to take them. Word within mage circles is that the black bubble around Istivin was disrupting both arcane and divine magics, and teleporting too close would be dangerous. Hochoch is located on the river Javan, which flows south toward Istivin, and the party could obtain transport by boat after the teleport.
What happened next was unexpected, even for Master Juehlim. While the teleportation was successful, it didn't seem instantaneous like it should have. As the party warped out of existence of the Prime Material Plane, they found themselves floating in an in-between place - somewhere between planes and dimensions, where purples tendrils of mist flowed around them. It felt like eternity in here, as the essence of this. . . place began to eat at their minds. But it wasn't forever, it only felt as if it was. Soon, reality began to penetrate the mist as the sun pushed its way through as the party found itself standing in the middle of a field just down the road from a walled town that must be Hochoch.This was not a town at peace. The party could clearly see two tent cities. One along the southwest wall looked like a refugee camp, while one along the west and northwest was an obvious army encampment. At first glance it looked like the city was under siege, as the army's banners did not match those on the city gates, but further study showed that this army was setup in a defensive position facing away from the city. The party headed down the road toward the city.
The City of Hochoch
As they approached the gates, they could see the walls were heavily manned with archers - far more than reasonable in a time of peace, with a combination of obvious veterans and freshly conscripted men. Nearby, workers were busy patching a section of wall that had collapsed, and the patchwork repair was very rough, focusing on getting the hole filled rather than trying to match the surrounding stonework. In the fields outside of town, facing westward, the army was building additional crude fortifications. Dalron asked the gate guard what was going on.
The gate guard was surprised that the party was not aware of the giant attacks which had been occurring all across Geoff and Sterich over the last 6 months. Being the city furthest east within the Duchy, and somewhat protected by being nestled between the two forks of the Javan River, Hochoch was the last city remaining that hasn't been devastated, hence citizens from around the Duchy were seeking refuge here. It was clear from the hole in the city wall that Hochoch was starting to sustain attacks of its own, and the city was making a last stand. The party announced to the guards that they were here to help with the giant problem, and we told to go see Lord Knight Protector Armstide at the citadel. And so off they went.
On the way through the city, Pontus was feeling upbeat and winking at all of the women he saw on the street. He decided to flip a gold piece to a particularly attractive young woman, but when he reached into his pouch, he pulled out a dead rat. All of his gold was gone. This put the party on high-alert, especially Sarril, who is generally the most nervous party member. His concern was well-placed, as just before the party reached the citadel, the Magic Mouth alarm Sarril had on his bags went off. A halfling who had been reaching into the bag took off running, but Pontus was able to grab him. The party questioned the halfling, using some effective intimidation, and learned that the party had been "marked" by the local thieves guild for reasons unknown - and no amount of protection payment was going to help. While the rest of the party wanted to bang down the front door of the guild and confront the problem head-on, Sarril suggested they just speak to the local lord as quickly as possible and then get out of town. Messing with a thieves guilds is not a can of worms Sarril was prepared to open at this time.
The party eventually made their way to the gates of the citadel where they spoke to the guards outside about their business. As they were removing their weapons to check at the gate, one of the guards inside the gate fired a crossbow bolt at Pontus, which missed. The guard looked horrified and insisted that he was just adjusting the sights when it misfired. Cadwin's keen ears picked up the sound of someone casting a spell nearby, though it was impossible to pinpoint a direction surrounded by all of this stone. Inside the citadel, the party was able to eventually meet with Lord Knight Protector, Sir Horace Armstide, Knight of the March.
Sir Armstide explained that giant raiding parties have been coming out of the mountains for a little more than six months now, attacking villages and cities all throughout Geoff and its southern neighbor, Sterich. The raids began in Sterich, but King Scotti of Keoland sent armies to surround Istivin - mostly concerned about what might come out of the black bubble there - the giants turned their attention further north. Though the bulk of the raids have been hill giants, which are commonly found in the foothills of the Sheldomar Valley, they have recently been bolstered by Frost Giants (believed to come down from the higher peaks of the Crystalmist Mountains) and, occasionally, Fire Giants (from the southern Hell Furnaces). The capital city of Gorna, seat of Grand Duke Owen I, is currently under siege and the rest of Geoff has been devastated, leaving Hochoch the last defensible city within the Ducky. Sir Armstide was sent by Commandant Vrianian of the Gran March to protect Hochoch, which he is able to do, but he does not have the resources to lead any sort of counter-offensive. The party stated they would investigate the source of these invasions and take care of the problem at its source - an offer which met with approval from Sir Armstide. With this, the party was on their way.
Wanting to avoid whatever trouble was stalking them inside the city, Sarril used the Fly spell to transport everyone over the walls within the citadel to a riverbank outside of town to the north. In the meantime, Cadwin went to the druid grove inside the city to see if he could learn the whereabouts of Delvin and Kella (druids from Hommlet, sent by Jaroo to investigate the black bubble). He learned that they did come this way just about a year ago, but haven't been heard from since. He also learned, thanks to his familiar scouting around through the refugee areas, that while the refugees were happy to have Sir Armstide's protection, the citizens of Hochoch were not happy with the current situation at all. They see his presence as an armed occupation from the Gran March, and, although it wasn't immediately obvious to the party, who were treated quite well upon arrival, the city is actually under strict martial law. With all of the surrounding farmlands being effectively wiped out, food supplies were dwindling fast, and severe rationing was being enforced across the city, putting the citizens further against the occupation and the refugees. But none of these political problems would be solved without addressing the current threat, and so off the party went, hoping to track the giants back to their source.
Looking for the Giants
Tracking giants isn't very hard - especially not with a ranger and a barbarian in the party. The problem was figuring out which tracks to follow. Once the party crossed the western fork of the Javan River, giant tracks were everywhere. Some coming from the west, in the direction of the Crystalmists, but most coming from the south, in the direction of the Stark Mounds and the capital city of Gorna. The party headed south, coming into an area with stone monoliths - ancient Flan structures associated with the Old Faith. As the party walked through the area, they were ambushed by six hill giants who popped up out of crude trap doors they fashioned over holes in the ground (DMs Note: I, and the players, recognize how impractical this was for hill giants, but it was written in the module so I ran with it). The giants started throwing boulders at the party on a surprise round, but the ranger and barbarian are rarely surprised in their natural surroundings, and go to act immediately. This is the first time the party got to see Dalron Sharp in action. He immediately threw four daggers at two giants, for an insane amount of damage, dropping them both. Cadwin, who was flying above the party in eagle form, did a dive attack on another giant, with Pontus following up. The battles was over by the end of the second round, with very little damage taken - certainly nothing the two healers in the party couldn't easily fix. It looked like this was going to be an easy module.
DM's Note: Dalron Sharp is a ranger with 18/96 strength who has chosen to specialize in throwing knives as per Unearthed Arcana (or Second Edition rules). Specialization allows him to throw four daggers per round with +1 to hit and +2 damage per throw. His strength bonus (which applies to the thrown weapon) gives +2 to hit and +5 damage per throw, and because he is a ranger, he gets +1 per level (+7) damage against giants. This combined to four attacks at +3 to hit, at 15-19 damage per hit. With four attacks, his chances of rolling critical hits also goes up, and in this case, he rolled at least one critical (double damage) and one near critical (+1d4 damage). There was no doubt about it, this PC was built to kill giants. I also read an article after the session about something called "dart abuse" that became popular in early editions of D&D (https://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-552092.html). While that does appear to be happening here, I've decided to allow it to continue because I want the players to feel good about their characters and do heroic things. Also, they are now likely to encounter enemies employing the same tactics - so its all good. I am, however, putting two limitations on this. First I am only going to allow half strength bonus for thrown weapons, and even then, only at close range (in this case, it would have made little difference). Second, because of the speed at which the daggers are being thrown, the PC must declare all four targets in advance of the attacks. They cannot throw a dagger, wait to see how much damage it does, then throw the next dagger.
Further down the road, the party caught some fresh giant tracks and, feeling good about their chances, decided to chase the group down. There were ten hill giants on their way to a raid somewhere. The giants managed to see them coming, and started throwing boulders from 200 feet away. Fortunately, Cadwin, still in eagle form, was able to start dive-bombing them, forcing at least half of the giants to stop throwing boulders and pay attention to the large talons coming at them. Sarril was also able to move up just a bit and get a fireball lobbed in their direction, causing significant damage. Pontus, with his insane barbarian speed, was able to quickly close the distance, preventing more of them fromthrowing boulders. Sarril, with Dalron riding with him on an Ebony Fly, was able to get in very close before getting his by a boulder, knocking him unconscious. Dalron was able to jump free of the fly and avoid the damage, and next round close the distance on the giants and do his thing while Luapan focused on healing Sarril. Once Dalron was in the midst of the fight, the giants didn't stand a chance, and the battle was soon over. Although it was a close call for Sarril, otherwise, the party did pretty well, and had more than enough healing spells to restore everyone to full hit points.
Big Johan
Wanting a semi-safe place to spend the evening, Cadwin was able to scout out a small village down a side a road that seemed to have avoided the devastation that affected the other towns in the area. The party decided to check it out and found the place to be full of people and there was even an inn where they could get a fresh meal. While sitting at a table waiting for their dinner, the party noticed that a drunken man in the corner was harassing the serving wench. Dalron decided to step in and help, and his sheer size, combined with the backup of the rest of the party, made the man back off and leave the inn. A few minutes later, the server came around with a bottle of wine "on the house" to thank the party for their help, but warned them that the man was one of "Big Johan's men," and their actions may have just doomed the entire village. The party members of course boasted about how they will take care of Big Johan when he comes around, which seemed to anger the rest of the patrons. The party decided to eat dinner, wait long enough for Sarril to study spells (which were wiped from memory when he went unconscious earlier) and then to leave. As soon as they left the inn, they noticed that the streets were clear of people. Men who were previously gambling and drinking under a nearby tree were nowhere to be found. And then the party heard giant footsteps - different than others they had heard. And lots of them. They prepared for battle.
Coming down the street was a frost giant riding on the back of a mastodon - this must be Big Johan. Behind him were six ogres, and beside him was the man from the inn. The man pointed out the party
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| Big Johan |
Normally, this would be enough to scatter his followers, but ogres are stupid and the mastodon just went into a rage at the death of its master. The ogres were easy, but taking down the mastodon took a lot of work. This was a 12-HD animal that attacks 5 times per round. And Cadwin wanted it as a pet. Unfortunately, attempts at casting Animal Friendship didn't work, and the party had to take it down. But it wasn't completely dead. Sensing a faint heartbeat, Cadwin healed the beast to 1 hit point - unconscious, but alive. He then spent the night with the animal, the next day filling up his spell slots with the Animal Friendship spell and casting them over and over again until the animal failed its save. He then healed it completely, and now has a new pet. The rest of the party was offered free meals and rooms for as long as they would like to stay. The village was grateful, but concerned about the next giant that would come along. The next one might not be as willing to spare them as Big Johan was. The next day, the party used the mastodon to help move and get rid of the bodies, then stayed one more night before heading back out.
Attacked in the night!
Continuing south toward Gorna, the party could see that the devastation was getting worse. Along the road, they encountered a band of refugees headed north. They told the party that Gorna, which was a bit more than a days walk away, was completely under siege, and they had to make the long trek to Hochoch. Luapan used the Create Food & Water spell to supply the group before wishing them luck and parting ways. That evening, the party made camp with Cadwin sleeping on top of his mastodon and everyone else sleeping inside a Leomund's Hut.Sleep was interrupted by a group of bugbears emerging from the woods attacking. Bugbears are not something that would usually bother the party, but following up right after were two Fire Giants. Sarril quickly turned the battle in the party's favor, however, by turning the first Fire Giant into a sea bass (for dinner, later). As soon as Dalron emerged from the hut, the battle was over - but just for fun, they decided to cast Dispel Magic on the fish, turning it back into a Fire Giant so that Dalron could kill it. It died easily. So much for their delicious dinner.
Soon, the party was interrupted again by a group of dwarves who claimed to be from the mountains nearby tracking these two fire giants. The dwarves were impressed that the party was able to handle them so easily and agreed to make camp with the party and exchange information. The dwarves were able to tell them that Gorna was, indeed, under siege at this moment by several dozen hill giants. Though they believe the city could withstand the attack for a while, the real devastation was happening outside of the walls. They also confirmed that while raiding parties were coming from the mountains all around the valley, the bulk of the hill giant forces were coming from somewhere in the Jotens, a mountain range south of Istivin in Sterich.
It was now morning of the 16th Day of Harvester, CY 580 and the party is planning their next steps. Head to Gorna and try to break the siege there? Or let the Duke handle that while they go south to investigate the source? Or forget about the giants all together head to Istivin? Or maybe some combination of these thing.
Seriously thinking about filling the portable hole with water to keep things I turn into Sea Bass. Circle of life.
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