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Session 35
4/24/2011
Attendees
John Fighter (Adrian)
Ivan the Terrible (Molly)
Ookla the Mok (Dave)
Maldoor (Thaddeus)
Martain of Thracia (George)
E.N. Lightenment (Carl)
Tobias the Awkward (Jed)
Treasure
The treasure chest in one of the giant barracks rooms beneath the hill contained:
- approximately a ton of coin: half silver with the remaining quarters being made up of copper and gold
- potion of dimunition
- Wand of secret door and trap detection (25 charges remaining)
- Cloak of invisibility
- Boots of elvenkind (giant sized and torn)
The party took a turn to sort out gold coins from the mass, taking 200 each for a total of 1,200 gp.
The treasure chest on which the hill giant chief was resting his boots contained:
- 13 packets of assorted semi-precious stones, each wrapped in wax-sealed parchment; writing on the parchment in Common and Hill Giant attests that the value of each packet is sworn at 500 gp
- 8 packets of precious stones, wrapped and certified as above at a value of 1,000 gp each
- 41 packets of ornamental stones, wrapped and certified as above at a value of 100 gp each
- 34 dragon's teeth, recently carved with scrimshaw depicting giants victorious in combat with dragons; each is worth 225 gp
- 22 pieces of giant-sized jewelry, which close examination suggests that less-skilled hands have assembled from human-scale necklaces etc; each is worth 450 gp on average
Other chests in the room contained
- Over a ton of newly-minted gold coins, each piece even larger than the usual standard, stamped with the big-nosed visage of a giant on one side and a mountain peak on the obverse; these were assembled into oiled leather 50-lb sacks, packed into chests that seemed ready for transport
By loading themselves (and Maldoor's shrunken body) fully, the party managed to make it out with 7,140 gp of the estimated ~24,000 in these chests; added to the value of the gold already taken from an earlier chest, and the value of the stones, teeth, and jewelry, the total haul was 44,560 gp.
Fallen Companions
Martain of Thracia
Maldoor
Ivar the Fighting Dwarf
Enemies Slain
1 Cyclops
1 Hill Giant Thane, Naglskoltyr
1 Hill Giantess Thief, Hrymner
Quick Summary
The company moves against the Hill Giants, sneaking into their fortress in search of treasure and mayhem.
Summary
Dear Members of the Grey Company:
I write to you from Smuggler's Run, where I again find myself. Let me tell you of our expedition to the Castle of the Hill giants. We flew north - as directed by Ontussa - and with Celerion's help did find a fortress full of hill giants looming over the human town of Pest's Landing. The giants have ruled over the town for several decades, and there is a well-established fort and logging operation centered on the town. The town itself seems well-guarded and is surrounded by a moat.
We landed in the woods outside the city, undetected except for a single mis-shapen Hill Giant who heard us and was quickly dispatched. Our party became invisible with the help of Tobias' magic and used a tree trunk to bridge the moat surrounding the town undetected. Still invisible we crept to the castle to observe the actions of the sentries. Ookla crept into town and discovered that the humans there seem too cowed or co-opted by the hill giants to help us.
After observation we decided to simply remain invisible, open the front gate and enter the castle using stealth. I cast knock upon the front door to open it and Tobias created the illusion of a closed door in its place. One of the sentries noticed this however; while we got into the castle, the alarm was raised and giants began to hunt for us using dogs. We crept, still invisible, through a dining hall, kitchen, and so on until we found downward stairs. Descending we found a large circular corridor leading to the giants' sleeping quarters. We located the vault previously accessed from the manse of Tizun Thane (a vault now empty and unused after our plundering). Reconaissance revealed to us the chambers of the Thane; we rashly entered to slay him and discover his treasure. Before he could be dispatched, he slew Martin with one mighty blow. Sadly, the thane was not unattended and had been keeping company with a female hill giantess - perhaps a witch, since she was invisible. We discovered her presence when she stabbed me from behind and rudely ejected me from Awesome Planet.
I do not know what happened after I died; let us hope that the others slew the witch and escaped with a large quantity of gold. In any event, while moving through the castle we managed to spy documents and maps which revealed some of the strategies in place for attacking Zekon's Fortress. Perhaps that knowledge will be of use.
Regards,
Maldoor
Post-Mortem Recap
Ivan the Terrible was also killed in the heat of battle, but not before valiantly fighting the giants toe to toe. The Killing Frost kept pecking away at the giantess, sensing where she was through her body heat. Tobias took some cloth and dipped it in the blood of the slain giant and splattered it in the general direction of the invisible giantess, making her easier to see. And Ookla matched her in an invisible chess match by going invisible also, closing the door, and attacking her for massive amounts of damage. But it was Tobias the Awkward who dealt the final blow, bravely breaking invisibility to slay her with his dagger.
With the party cut in half, we did what we could do. Deciding that we didn't need the bodies of our fallen compatriots to resurrect them, and it would take too much time to bury or hide them properly, we left them. Except Maldoor whose body we loaded up with as much treasure as we could, and shrunk using the diminution potion we had recently found. We then carried that, and as much treasure as we could haul (totals unknown as of this point), and got out as quickly as we could. (How exactly that happened was left untold at the table, but in talking afterwards, Tavis and I discussed it. Perhaps EN Lightenment directed the Killing Frost to dig out the passage we found while the others collected treasure. He could have then sent it off to cause havoc and be a distraction while we ran for town. Then perhaps we hid out in town until morning when Tobias could cast another Invisibility spell, and we could leave the same way we got in.)
Carousing at the table
Tobias spent 2,400 gp and earned as much exp
Maldoor spent 1,000 gp and earned as much exp
Ivan the Terrible spend 300 gp and earned as much exp