Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9853054" data-attributes="member: 16069">There Might Be GiantsPCsDCI Bawg Race: Unknown Class: Rogue Level: 11 Background: City Watch InvestigatorPhreakalus Nevrospastos Race: Human Class: Artificer Level: 11 Background: CourtierThrunorus "Thugg" Garn Race: Half-Orc Class: Barbarian Zealot of Bradlust & Fighter Level: 8 & 3 Background: Mercenary VeteranYen Stonefist Race: Stout Halfling Class: Monk Level: 11 Background: HermitNPCsPiniccarus, Phreakalus' animated puppet 'son'. Just weird.Session 010: Kill Zone!Mission Time: 03:22 to 03:24.Here we go again...[ATTACH=full]428948[/ATTACH]The orc rebellion is in full flow, although the PCs have gone early and are now having to fight their way through the hill giant's kitchen just to get to Nosnra and his buddies in the great hall.Each PC, on their turn- as a free action, can attempt to call another orc out to the fight, DC 11 to call an orc warrior (vanilla orc only with no armour and limited weapons, mostly battleaxes taken from the dead bugbears down below), DC 13 to call forth an orc with a crossbow (there are only seven of these, I think), and DC 15 to call up an Orog (only two). The PC must say which DC he is going for before he makes his roll, and failure is failure- no orc is called.Note, the PCs need to be close to the pantry initially- as the orcs are coming up from below, as the PCs press forward- this imaginary space moves with the front line. New orcs called forth start their actio alongside the PC furthest away from the front line. Although for this fight, as you'll see, there are the attackers- Thugg and Yen, and the artillery- Phreaklaus and Bawg. Two distinct groups. Orcs called forth are named by the Player (same first letter as their PC) and dropped into initiative, and thereafter controlled by the Player/PC that called them.We're about five or six turns into the fracas here, and as seen on the image above, there are a fair few orcs on the rampage, including- Pigbag, Pedro & Peltharr (controlled by Phreakalus = George); Yippity & Yogi (Yen = Kev); Thrakgarr, Trogdarr, Trevor & an an Orog- Tormakk (all Thugg's boyz = Bear). DCI Bawg at this point has only just made it back to the gang, he hasn't been close enough to call any orcs forth as he was mid-recon in the great hall when it all kicked off in the kitchen.Thugg has advantage on his checks to call up orcs, he's the veritable McDaddy of the gang.So, the PCs are just limbering up in the kitchen, because the enemies are fairly light-weight here- hill giant and ogre servants, not a massive threat to the heroes.Although...[ATTACH=full]428949[/ATTACH]All the giants, and giant servants, have been given a couple of extra attacks on their monster sheets in Fantasy Grounds- Throw Anything, and for melee- Beefy Slap. The servants mostly don't have weapons, and so in the image above the young ogre servant has just critted Thugg with a skewer loaded with kebab meat.Thugg is delighted, tearing the skewer from his body and consuming the kebab meat soon after.But in truth...[ATTACH=full]428950[/ATTACH]Yen and Thug are leaving a broad swathe of destruction, obviously it helps that the orcs can (more or less) keep up with the ferocious pair. Although not Yen, at least not later...[ATTACH=full]428952[/ATTACH]It really is a race trying to keep up with the destructive duo.But the rest of the inhabitants of the kitchen (to the south) have already departed, they've rushed over into the great hall (right in the middle of Bingo, Nosnra is furious) to let the assembled giants know that terror and destruction is fast approaching, or else- "Dem Orcs, bad 'uns an udder litul 'uns, dem are cumin wid dem axes 'n dat."[ATTACH=full]428953[/ATTACH]Hill giant sub-chief Grok (well-armed & armoured, and with a massive bag of hit points) goes to see what the problem is...You'll note in the image above, at the top of the corridor DCI Bawg and Phreakalus have been calling forth orcs with crossbows, the artillery in place.But Grok is too quick for them, and soon after he's shouting for reinforcements.[ATTACH=full]428954[/ATTACH]Pickles the hill giant is the first to respond, he gets shot quite a lot on his way to the kitchen.Yen presses the button- the monk is soon after Hasted and using his once/day Eldritch Claw Tattoo, which gives him 15' reach, and yet he's mostly missing. Keep in mind sub-chief Grok is the best armoured hill giant in the steading.[ATTACH=full]428955[/ATTACH]Meantime there's target practice in the corridor, note DCI Bawg has started using his musket, Phreakalus has a magical longbow, and the orcs are using crossbows (mostly badly) but there are hits- hill giants don't have a great AC/Dex.And about a turn or so later and...[ATTACH=full]428956[/ATTACH]Grok is still in fine fettle and the (smart) ogres are coming to join the party, note the ogres are dressed in their finery (with jewelry)- they're all ogre bosses with a few extra hit points, and well armed.[ATTACH=full]428957[/ATTACH]Grok is proving very difficult to hit, although his to hit rolls are alas garbage.Yen has an idea.[ATTACH=full]428958[/ATTACH]He flings one of his (necklace of) fireball beads into the corridor.The inhabitants of the corridor, albeit briefly, burn...[ATTACH=full]428959[/ATTACH]You'll note Yen also takes the time to lay into sub-chief Grok- while running through the hill giant's legs.And then Thugg arrives and burns his last Rage for the day.[ATTACH=full]428960[/ATTACH]Grok is left staggering.And then after a monstrous Crit- 60 plus damage.[ATTACH=full]428961[/ATTACH]Grok is dead! You'll note hill giant Pickles has also taken a beating, while out in the corridor Bumstead is suffering.Oh, and Thugg has called forth Thunderpants, the dwarven smith and former prisoner of the hill/fire giants, who offered to lend his blade to the battle (for hard cash).[ATTACH=full]428962[/ATTACH]Here he is, and Pickles isn't long for this world.The PCs are winning, although there's still a long way to go- believe me.[ATTACH=full]428963[/ATTACH]The PCs and their orc army et al are surging- pushing the hill giants back into the corridor, the killing zone.But, I have a few more hill giants yet to get into combat, and they're not bright folk, and so here they come- streaming into the corridor.[ATTACH=full]428974[/ATTACH]The giants are also trying to get to the orcs (and Phreakalus & DCI Bawg) to the north, this pair are now trying to call up orc warriors to slow the giant's approach. The giants are also using missile weapons (mostly boulders) to try and disrupt the artillery.And...[ATTACH=full]428975[/ATTACH]The orc army is taking a beating, but soaking up lots of attacks that would otherwise be targeting PCs.We're in the grind.[ATTACH=full]428976[/ATTACH]Piniccarus is ordered to slow the giants down, the puppet son of the artificer drops a web into the hallway.Meanwhile, to the north-[ATTACH=full]428979[/ATTACH]The orcs (& the artillery) are keeping the giants at bay. Orcs with an X after their name have a crossbow.But then, back down south, Yen goes bonkers again.[ATTACH=full]428980[/ATTACH]Here he is, the little halfling monk, just before it all kicks off. Keep in mind he's Hasted and has a 15 foot reach for his attacks (six/turn = 2 normal, 3 open hand (with ki point) plus 1 more for haste). The monk is also judiciously spending IP points to do even more things.And so...[ATTACH=full]428981[/ATTACH]Yen kicks a hill giant servant (lowly hill giant) and an ogre boss to death, and then tosses his last fireball bead into the corridor- the web doesn't last but it has already done its job.And...[ATTACH=full]428982[/ATTACH]The hill giant's saving throws are... terrible, they all burn.And yet they're not giving up.[ATTACH=full]428983[/ATTACH]The hill giants are not tactical geniuses, and behind them Nosnra and a few others are kicking them into the fight, and so no-one is giving this up. Tormakk, the orog, dies. Thugg is (momentarily) distraught.And to make matters worse...[ATTACH=full]428984[/ATTACH]Thugg gets hit in the face by a giant sized gravy boat, the skill is called 'Throw Anything' after all.And so here we all are...[ATTACH=full]428985[/ATTACH]It's the end of the session, three-and-a-half hours (minus breaks) of fighting later and we're maybe 12 or so turns into it- there are a lot of combatants in play. The PCs are all in fine fettle still, but nearly half the orcs they called up are dead.It goes on...But the PCs are also aware that they've only killed three hill giants (proper) so far in this fight, although one of them was the sub-chief (Grok), they remember seeing plenty more hill giants (and other giants) in the great hall. The point being- there's lots of enemies (probably) still to come, including chief Nosnra, his wife, the great big twenty foot vampire giant, a stone giant, another named hill giant and a few more plain old hill giants- and others, who have yet to make it to the party.The PCs think, the DM asked, that they're somewhere between a third and halfway through their enemies. In truth, and from an XP POV, I think they're less than 20% of the way through this fight. There are a lot of big guns still to come.But that's the end of the session.Book of the Dead.Sub-Chief Grok, Hill Giant x 1 (Very tough, stats as per Stone Giant- armed and armoured and with near max HP).Hill Giant x2 (Pickles & Bumstead).Ogre Boss x3 (Armed and good HP).Hill Giant Servant x 7 (stats as ogre).Ogre Servant x 6.Until next time.</blockquote>

Verification