The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – Game Session – 009

Game summary for August 30, 2012, Priscus Venatus campaign, G1: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief adventure; present PCs included Althion Whiteoak (fighter), Ardel Blueback (centaur fighter), Crularin Gellantara (druid), Drake Spellking (human cleric/magic-user), and Emeran Galathar (elf fighter/magic-user) along with henchman Mara Woodstride (elf fighter/magic-user).

The Swords of Greyhawk moved into another cell and discovered a bugbear and hill giant guarding half a hundred orcs!  The group took out both guards quickly and freed the orcs, arming them with lengths of chain as makeshift weaponry.  They sent the orcs scurrying to the caves to await the uprising.

Next the team found a torture chamber filled with horrendous devices.  The team carefully searched the room only to turn up a sack filled with human and elf scalps.

The group returned to the main chamber of this floor and tried to open a door, disturbing the jailer and his pet carnivorous apes!  Crularin hit them with a wall of fire followed by Althion’s javelin of lightning!  Ardel began whittling away while Drake attacked with spiritual hammer.  Mara attempted Melf’s acid arrow but missed her target.  Emeran unleashed the wand of wonder promptly turning himself invisible.  In seconds the enemies were slain.

Back in the main chamber, Crularin and Drake noticed a secret passage leading to a short hallway ending in a trio of levers.  The team played with the levers a bit listening to the sound of scraping off in the distance.  Then, Emeran found another secret door leading to a room filled with manticores released from their cell by the levers!

The monstrous creatures hurled volleys of spikes, and Crularin shifted into a lion form to attack.  Emeran dropped a torrent of rain in the area with the wand of wonder.  Mara then filled the area with steam by unleashing a fireball as Drake fired a lightning bolt.  The area of effect spells did their work, and Althion and Ardel laid waste with sword and axe.

After defeating the manticores, the Swords discovered a room filled with seven chests.  Drake used find traps to determine two had traps on them.  The group opened and ransacked the treasure from the other five.  Unwilling to let potential wealth go, Ardel tried to bash a chest open.  Unsuccessful, he just flung it open triggering a poison needle trap.  The tiny dart pricked his hand, and within seconds the centaur curled up and died!  Emeran blasted his corpse with the wand of wonder to no visible effect.  Undaunted, Emeran opened the last chest just barely avoiding losing his hand to a scything blade!

Drake said a few not incredibly unkind words over the corpse of Ardel.  Then he looted him.

The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – Game Session – 008

Game summary for August 16, 2012, Priscus Venatus campaign, G1: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief adventure; present PCs included Althion Whiteoak (fighter), Ardel Blueback (dwarf fighter), Crularin Gellantara (druid), and Emeran Galathar (elf fighter/magic-user) along with henchman Mara Woodstride (elf fighter/magic-user).

The group continued down the hallway and found several rooms of chained orc slaves.  The team recruited them to the cause and freed them to flee back to the caves and await the uprising.  During the escape, two hill giants attacked!  Crularin softened them up with a wall of fire, and the melee team took them down quickly.

The Swords of Greyhawk then advanced and found the forge.  Within, two fire giants moved to engage.  Althion found himself facing two of them alone momentarily and took a horrendous blow from one of their hammers!  Emeran used the wand of wonder to summon rain which caused dense smoke and steam from the forge, obscuring the battlefield for everyone.  He followed up by using the wand to summon a fearsome mouse who fled down a hole.  Crularin moved up to support Althion while Ardel cut down one of the giants.  Mara used Melf’s acid arrow to injure the other before Ardel, Althion, and Crularin were able to whittle it down.

The team then advanced north and found some bugbears guarding more orc prisoners.  The team fought the bugbears and prepared to free the orcs.

The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – Game Session – 007

Game summary for August 9, 2012, Priscus Venatus campaign, G1: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief adventure; present PCs included Althion Whiteoak (fighter), Ardel Blueback (dwarf fighter), Crularin Gellantara (druid), Drake Spellking (human cleric/magic-user), and Emeran Galathar (elf fighter/magic-user) along with henchman Mara Woodstride (elf fighter/magic-user).

Crularin spoke with the orcs and agreed to find them weapons to use against the giants.  They learned of a nearby forge as well as armed bugbears.  The team opted to try and take the weapons of the bugbears first.  The group moved into the bugbear area and started a fight.

The team unleashed a barrage of spells from magic missile to lightning bolt to fireball as well as numerous charges from the wand of wonder, and the bugbears kept coming!  Wave after wave went down under spell and blade.  Eventually, the group had over a dozen bugbears in a narrow corridor when Crularin sent a wall of fire along one wall, sending waves of scorching heat over the goblinoids.  Emeran used his wand of wonder and dropped a stinking cloud on the enemies and the party.  Mara and Ardel went down in a helpless heap of spastic vomiting.  Fortunately, so did many of the bugbears, and the wall of fire finished them off.

With nearly 50 bugbears slain, the party can arm over half of the orc rebels!

The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – Game Session – 006

Game summary for August 2, 2012, Priscus Venatus campaign, G1: The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief adventure; present PCs included Crularin Gellantara (druid), Drake Spellking (human cleric/magic-user), and Emeran Galathar (elf fighter/magic-user).

Crularin rushed into the room and wrapped the silenced scroll case and rope to the hanging gong to prevent an alarm.  The team then moved forward as the bugbears charged into the silence.  Drake hit one with a magic missile, Crularin hit the other with his spear, and Emeran activated his wand of wonder!  From the ether, a massive rhinoceros appeared and charged the bugbears!  Emeran continued using the wand which resulted in a field of darkness and an area of driving rain.  In the chaos, the team took down the bugbears.

The group then examined the cells and found Mara Woodstride, an elf warrior maiden eager to fight the giants.  They also rescued an engineer but left a crazed man locked away.  The fourth cell contained three skeletons that animated to attack Emeran as he entered.  Drake used his clerical might to destroy the undead in a moment, however.  The final cell contained five energetic but stupid orcs eager to reunite with the orc rebels and fight the giants.  The group finally worked out an arrangement for the orcs to lead them to their caves and unite with them.

The team moved down the hallway, led by the orcs, and used silence to creep forward.  They by-passed a group of bugbears using stealth and met up with the orcs in their cavern where they found nearly a hundred rebels with a handful of weapons.