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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 4954578" data-attributes="member: 99">The party followed the foosteps that led away from the cave into the higher hills to the north.  After a bit of a hike they came upon a duel between giants.The larger of them towered some 15 feet high and was crudely dressed in untreated animal skins.  It lay about with a club that was clearly no more than a broken off tree trunk.  It was beset by a group of large wolves or hunting dogs while another figure, this one dressed in stitched leathers and standing about 10 feet high, hurled javelins at it.  As the PC's watched, the greater giant dashed the brains from one of the dogs.Eshik surmised that, since the smaller giant was wearing boots and the larger was barefoot, it was the tracks of the larger giant that they had followed from the cave.  And that meant that it was the threat to the Gnomes should they need to pass that way.  Plus it just looked meaner.  They attacked it.It was astoundingly powerful.  It made short work of the other hunting hounds and turned on Astavian and Eshik who had closed within its reach while Zanne and Mialain hurled spells and arrows from afar.  Most of its attacks were directed at Astavian whose Divine Challenge got its attention.  But it would sometimes lay about with its tree club and strike at anybody within reach.  When it struck bones broke.  It was only thanks to the healing of Mialain that either of the warriors lasted the fight.  The giant hunter also closed in to battle the larger giant hand to hand and their combined attacks finally brought the creature low.Without pause the hunter pulled out a hand axe and severed the larger giant's head.  Only then did he rest to catch his breath.  The party stood warily to the side to make sure the hunter had no hostile intentions but he instead seemed thankful to them.  Astavian and Eshik conducted some basic communications with him while Zanne and Mialain performed the Comprehend Languages ritual.Once this easier communication was established they learned that he called his people the "Firbolg" and pointed to the slain giant and said, "Fomori".  He indicated that the relation between the two races were similar to that of the Gnomes to the Spriggans:  The Fomori had once been Firbolg but the Mist had twisted them into an evil mockery.  The Firbolg hunted them whenever they learned that one was near.The party explained as best they could that Gnomes would be coming.  The Firbolg warrior said that they knew of the "wee folk" but had not seen any in many years.  He indicated that resources were scarce and the Gnomes would not be harmed as travelers but there would be problems if they stayed long or were many in number.The PC's asked if he knew where the Eladrin were and the Firbolg pointed further east, "Beyond the Mistvale".  The party told him that they hoped the Gnomes would be able to pass through Firbolg lands and continue on to where the Eladrin lived.  To this the Firbolg only replied that the Mistvale was "haunted by many Mist Demons".As the conversation closed the hunter grimly set about the task of skinning his slain hounds.  The fact that they were not buried reminded the party that resources were as scarce here as they were in their homeland.  The Firbolg shared out some of the meat and also gave the party his large hunting horn, telling them that if they were confronted by any other Firbolg that this would be identify them as a friend.  They parted company and the PC's headed east.As darkness fell they discussed their service to the Gnomes and which of the rockets they should ignite.  Feeling that they had destroyed any reasonable threat that could be anticipated, they decided to fire only the green rocket.  It was of course possible that there could be foes that they had not encountered along the way or that the cave could be inhabited by some new menace in the time it took for the Gnomes to pack up their village and make the trek.  But those were the sorts of dangers that the Gnomes should be used to in these troubled times and nothing out of the ordinary.  They fired the rocket and it shot to an amazing height and exploded sending a vast shower of green sparks streaking across the sky.  The PC's had never seen anything like it and it brought a smile to their faces.That night as they camped their rest was broken by a sudden attack by a pair of large and vicious predatory cats with tentacles sprouting from their backs.  The PC's soon discovered that these creatures were damnably difficult to pin down and strike as they shifted through the shadows, seldom actually being where it looked like they were.  Still aching from wounds suffered by the Fomori, the raking slashes of these tentacles and vicious bites of these foes struck hard.  When they were finally killed the party members were barely standing.Astavian could sense that these were yet more natural creatures of the Feywild that had been corrupted by the encroaching Mist.  Unlike the sharply steep sides of the plateaus from where they came, these rolling hills that stuck out of the Mist had no natural barriers to the predations of these Demons.  As they made their way eastward that day they also climbed toward the ridgeline in the hopes that it would put them as far from such creatures as possible.  This strategy worked as they suffered no further attacks before arriving at the easternmost end of the range some three days later.Before them stood the Mistvale, a valley some dozen miles across inundated by the Mist.  Beyond they could see the land rise somewhat steeply, covered in thick forest.  From what the Firbolg had told them, the nearest Eladrin city lay somewhere in those woods.  But for now it was once more into the Mist...*********So I'd originally planned to use an actual Fomorian in this encounter but I wanted something brutis and non-spellcastery.  But the stats for Fomorians in the MM were not what I was after so instead I reskinned an Ogre Warhulk for the job.  I did the standard decrease in HP (leaving it with 170) and increase in damage so it was hitting for 2d8+15 with that club.  I also gave it a 4-5-6 recharge on the "Flail Hurricane" ability to make it better for fighting a group.  It used that ability 3 or 4 times, attacking everybody within two squares.  Fairly nasty.Of course they had help from a pair of Dire Wolves and the Firbolg Hounder but the wolves were mowed down pretty early on in the fight by that Flail Hurricane.  And the Hounder I had stand off and use a relatively weak ranged attack for the first couple rounds under the guise of being unsure of the party's intentions.  It was very clear that the Hounder would have been screwed had it not been for the party's intervention, which was my intention for the encounter in terms of allowing some diplomacy/information exchange.There was a brief but interesting debate about whether they should fire both rockets (indicating that the way was passable but with some identified dangers) or only the Green one.  I enjoy listening to player perspectives on things like this.  As indicated it was ultimately decided that the PC's couldn't make it any safer than they already had without literally holding the Gnomes little hands the whole way so it was as "safe" as it was going to get.The night attack was of course a pair of Displacer Beasts.  Those guys are the ultimate skirmishers!  Their battlefield mobility and staying power were pretty great with their Displacement causing a 50% miss chance for most attacks.  This plays merry hell with the economy of expendable powers like Encounter and Daily powers because you effectively end up with only about a 25% chance of any of them working.  When you add in the fact that they were doing 1d6+12 with a Tentacle and 1d10+12 with a bite AND could make three attacks whenever they had Combat Advantage (which was most of the time) it was a very nasty encounter.  They ganged up on Mialain and if I recall correctly they even put her unconscious for a round until Astavian dashed in with a Lay on Hands.  Eshik and Zanne did a great job of staying on top of them but they were taking a lot of Opportunity Attacks with that Threatening Reach.  It was a very challenging fight and fun to run as a GM as well.  I did reward them by having the tentacles be useful as ritual components as I recall.</blockquote>

Verification