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Message: <blockquote data-quote="PHDungeon" data-source="post: 5375322" data-attributes="member: 86320">The Steading of the Hill Giant King:Melek's journal:Well, as the man who fell off the Giant Eagle said on the way to meeting the ground, "So far, so good".I'm really not at all sure what possessed me to go along on this mission to assassinate an Earth Titan, especially given that it was surrounded by an army of Giants. I suspect that "possessed" may actually be the right term for it. Whatever fey power it was that had recently allowed me to learn rituals and gave me insight into the ways of nature may well have been behind it. Or perhaps it was my longing to prove my worth and redeem myself that was responsible. Or maybe my desire to revenge myself on the destroyers of the only home I've experienced for the last dozen years. At any rate, I really don't expect to survive this particular adventure. At least I got to say goodbye to my little sister before leaving. We still do not know what it was that was hidden under the Abbey. Apparently the Abbey is quite ancient and built upon the ruins of buildings older still. It is interesting that the titan seemed to know of the contents. Whatever it is, I suspect it must be of significant importance.In all Councils of War one has to pretend to pay attention to people of much less intelligence than oneself. But a council of war where almost all of the participants are hung over is definitely a joy to be experienced. This was the case at the council I attended just before we left Grimmsburg. Both Jarl Sutur and High Cannon Ericson were thoroughly hung over from the great feast that had taken place the night before- the one we had missed out on to do our scouting of the abbey. Fortunately, there was not really that much to discuss, so their condition hardly mattered. The outcome of the council was no surprise- send us off on a nearly hopeless mission to slay the Earth Titan. Presumably they're hoping that we at least do enough damage to slow thing and its army down. Or maybe the Gods will be with us and we'll manage to slay the Titan before we ourselves perish at the hands of a horde of enraged giants.Dean Danzig's inspirational speech left little doubt that he is a Wizard and not a Bard. A very intelligent man it is true, but he clearly leads the college because of his intellect and power and not because of the force of his personality. So it was that Bjorn, Turak and I, this time with Bella as well, used a linked portal ritual to once again travel to Saltmarsh. After informing Jarl Bloodhair that we intended to destroy the titan, we proceeded to the giants’ steading on the backs of more summoned Giant Eagles. We landed on the roof under the cover of darkness and a conjured storm. We were able to make our way through a smoke hole into the rafters of the steading with little difficulty. The giants were quite obviously very bored, and after seeing how the giants treat their goblin "allies," I've determined to not allow myself to be captured- better to die in combat than to be used as the ball in one of their crude games.Inside the steading, the giants were very obviously not expecting much trouble, but, unfortunately, were mounting a reasonably good watch. There were well over a dozen giants in the part of the steading that was constructed outside the mountain and an unknown number within whatever chambers and tunnels they had carved into the mountain itself.Belladonna and her familiar scouted ahead somewhat, revealing that our quarry was mostly likely somewhere within the mountain itself, though she did not explore deep enough to determine exactly where. There was only one open gate leading from the steading structure into the deeper chambers that had been cut into the mountainside. A pair of stone giants and several hill giants were in the common hall that held the gate. Fortunately, all were in a drunken sleep- all but one stone giant. Several more hill giants were lurking in nearby chambers, but they too were for the most part sleeping.We decided upon a plan that has the small virtue of being less awful than all of the other plans we considered. Belladonna would sneak up to the door, and I would then change places with her by the magic revealed to me by my Fey mentor. Then, between that magic and some divine magic granted to Bjorn we would, with a great deal of luck, be able to silently get everybody into the hallway inside the mountain. From there we would be able to bar the gate and seal out the giants that infested the main portion of the steading.Unfortunately, luck was not with us. I'm a Wizard and a Warlock, well known for my arcane prowess. Unfortunately, I'm less famous for my stealth. Belladonna fulfilled her role perfectly and got me to the door. But as I tried to open it I managed to make enough noise to rouse a Hill Giant. I'd had the foresight to use my Hat of Disguise to disguise myself as an Orc and that was enough to fool the idiot of a Hill Giant. Unfortunately, the Stone Giant wasn't quite so stupid as to believe that an Orc would come into the steading to empty a chamberpot. All hell broke loose.In the ensuing fight we managed to slay a couple of giants in the steading proper and make our way into the mountain, barring the door behind us. The giants started to try to batter open the doors, but they were well constructed of heavy logs and designed to withstand their massive kind. The task was not proving easy for them and would take time. The ruckus we had created drew the attention of several giants residing inside the mountain, and we soon found ourselves in battle with the Hill Giant Chief, a small band of his giant allies and his pet dire tiger. All the while, the giants in the steading proper continued to batter at the doors. The fight was reasonably quick. It took a little time before the Hill Giants thought that it might be better to unbar the door than to fight with us and a little longer still before they remembered that there was a second smaller but completely undefended door at the other end of the U shaped hall that would also allow their allies to enter. Though through tremendous effort on Bjorn’s part we had been able to keep them from unbarring the main door, there was nothing we were able to do to stop a pair of them from getting to the smaller door. As they were throwing off the bar to that door, and as the other giants finally battered down the main door, we finished off the Hill Giant Chief. It had taken many of our most potent spells and resources to win the fight, and we were in no condition to take on the massive force of enemies that was suddenly surging towards us. I urge my allies to rush ahead of me into a tunnel leading even deeper into the mountain. I hung back and cast a stinking cloud spell that I hoped would slow down the giants. I then fled into a tunnel, concentrating on sustaining my spell and moving it along behind me to cover our retreat. I wasn’t at all certain if it would be enough to deter our enemies, but it helped that the giants immediately discovered the body of their dead chief, for at that point a huge argument erupted among them about who would take the chief’s place. Still, I could hear several giants pursuing us into the wide tunnel, which was clearly sloping downward deep into the earth. I kept moving down the tunnel, maintaining the spell and praying to Odin for his blessing.</blockquote>

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