We finished G2 in today's 4e session. As I've mentioned in and earlier post, it's the sort of adventure that runs a risk of d20-rolling-induced injury.
Between that post and this one the PCs:
As the title says, Grugnur ended up prone (due to a crit from the sorcerer), and piled up with his prone swordthanes (who had fallen prone dodging the ranger's attack with Quarries' Bane (? 20th level Battlefield Archer daily)). He ended up dying when he started the turn with 8 hp left inside the sorcerer's Swords of the Marilith (1d6 + 40-something autodamage).
At about that point, I deployed an idea from Chris Perkins's conversion (which otherwise I hadn't been using) and had Vlaad (my misspelling or misreading of Perkins's "Vaald"), Grugnur's estranged offsider, negotiate a truce. The only other non-minion giants left were the two hunters (operating the arbalests in the Great Hall), one of whom was near-bloodied, blind and prone having been knocked from his platform down to the floor by another crit from the sorcerer.
So the combat turned into a skill challenge, where the PCs got a bit more information and reached an agreement. The giants, under their new leader, are shifting their allegiance from Lolth and the Winter Court to the Raven Queen, giving her her first foothold in the Feywild. Vlaad was able to tell the PCs of a way to reach the Elemental Chaos, namely the Obelisk of Ice (one of the Pillars of Creation) that extends through the Feywild in the vicinity of the Rift. And in exchange, the PCs agreed to protect Vlaad and the other giants from retribution from the Prince of Frost.
Vlaad explained that the Winter Court's eladrin envoys had installed a device - a lever at the back of the Jarl's private caverns - which could be used to send a summons to the Prince of Frost, opening a portal to him. The PCs are planning to use illusion magic to disguise as fomorians (and maybe giants? or eladrins? I didn't pay attention to all the players' planning.) Their story to bring the Prince of Frost through will involve agreements reached over the use of the fomorians' portals.
As the PCs planned and prepared, the new leader of the giants sent underlings through to "ready the device" - the PCs could hear them dragging chests of loot out of the back cavern into others, but they're not inclined to question this, already having more cash loot from this one scenario than the total cash they've seen in the rest of the campaign.
The skill challenge was at 7 successes and 1 failure. The defeat of the Prince of Frost will be the 8th success. Once the PCs have dealt with the Prince of Frost, they will be off to the Elemental Chaos to take the fight to Lolth and Orcus. Though when I mentioned that the Prince, with his undead entourage, will be a level 32 encounter they were a bit less confident - at the moment they have relatively few daily powers left, and 11 surges across 5 PCs (though all but one is at full hp, and the fighter is only about 30 of 200-ish hp down).
Between that post and this one the PCs:
* Reached 27th level;
* Assaulted the giants' line of defence underground, in the corridor/long chamber with the various tunnels off to the east and south, and the main tunnel to the other caves to the west;
* Been surprised by the Gygaxian riches recovered from the dragon cave;
* Dealt with (ie extracted some information from and then defeated in combat) the fomorian envoys and their cyclopes body guards (in place of the ogre magi, ogres and cloud giant in the lower level), who had come from Mag Tureah to discuss the use of their portals for invasion purposes, if Lolth's sorcerers would help take control of them;
* Negotiated with and then dealt with the storm giant prisoner (whom I had reconceived as a solo version of Mirmakuar, the mad priest of the Crushing Wave and Living Glacier, and so an opponent of the giants and Lolth);
* Burst down the door (that I inserted on the map) locking off the great hall and entry caverns, and defeated the Jarl and his bodyguards in a final combat.
* Assaulted the giants' line of defence underground, in the corridor/long chamber with the various tunnels off to the east and south, and the main tunnel to the other caves to the west;
* Been surprised by the Gygaxian riches recovered from the dragon cave;
* Dealt with (ie extracted some information from and then defeated in combat) the fomorian envoys and their cyclopes body guards (in place of the ogre magi, ogres and cloud giant in the lower level), who had come from Mag Tureah to discuss the use of their portals for invasion purposes, if Lolth's sorcerers would help take control of them;
* Negotiated with and then dealt with the storm giant prisoner (whom I had reconceived as a solo version of Mirmakuar, the mad priest of the Crushing Wave and Living Glacier, and so an opponent of the giants and Lolth);
* Burst down the door (that I inserted on the map) locking off the great hall and entry caverns, and defeated the Jarl and his bodyguards in a final combat.
As the title says, Grugnur ended up prone (due to a crit from the sorcerer), and piled up with his prone swordthanes (who had fallen prone dodging the ranger's attack with Quarries' Bane (? 20th level Battlefield Archer daily)). He ended up dying when he started the turn with 8 hp left inside the sorcerer's Swords of the Marilith (1d6 + 40-something autodamage).
At about that point, I deployed an idea from Chris Perkins's conversion (which otherwise I hadn't been using) and had Vlaad (my misspelling or misreading of Perkins's "Vaald"), Grugnur's estranged offsider, negotiate a truce. The only other non-minion giants left were the two hunters (operating the arbalests in the Great Hall), one of whom was near-bloodied, blind and prone having been knocked from his platform down to the floor by another crit from the sorcerer.
So the combat turned into a skill challenge, where the PCs got a bit more information and reached an agreement. The giants, under their new leader, are shifting their allegiance from Lolth and the Winter Court to the Raven Queen, giving her her first foothold in the Feywild. Vlaad was able to tell the PCs of a way to reach the Elemental Chaos, namely the Obelisk of Ice (one of the Pillars of Creation) that extends through the Feywild in the vicinity of the Rift. And in exchange, the PCs agreed to protect Vlaad and the other giants from retribution from the Prince of Frost.
Vlaad explained that the Winter Court's eladrin envoys had installed a device - a lever at the back of the Jarl's private caverns - which could be used to send a summons to the Prince of Frost, opening a portal to him. The PCs are planning to use illusion magic to disguise as fomorians (and maybe giants? or eladrins? I didn't pay attention to all the players' planning.) Their story to bring the Prince of Frost through will involve agreements reached over the use of the fomorians' portals.
As the PCs planned and prepared, the new leader of the giants sent underlings through to "ready the device" - the PCs could hear them dragging chests of loot out of the back cavern into others, but they're not inclined to question this, already having more cash loot from this one scenario than the total cash they've seen in the rest of the campaign.
The skill challenge was at 7 successes and 1 failure. The defeat of the Prince of Frost will be the 8th success. Once the PCs have dealt with the Prince of Frost, they will be off to the Elemental Chaos to take the fight to Lolth and Orcus. Though when I mentioned that the Prince, with his undead entourage, will be a level 32 encounter they were a bit less confident - at the moment they have relatively few daily powers left, and 11 surges across 5 PCs (though all but one is at full hp, and the fighter is only about 30 of 200-ish hp down).