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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1622830" data-attributes="member: 143">Heh, I hope you give your players lots of rods of resurrection in your campaigns, broc...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> * * * * * Chapter 164They made their way cautiously back to the breach in the canyon wall, weapons in hand, all of their senses alert for any sign of danger.  They knew that even if their enemies were not yet aware of their presence, a wager none of them would have taken, they soon would be. Up close, the portcullis looked even more imposing than it had earlier.  “That’s not gunna come down easy,” Hodge said.  “But it will come down,” Arun said, stepping forward, hefting his hammer.  “If you will let the blessing of Helm aid your efforts?” Morgan said, coming forward to stand beside him.  Arun nodded, and the cleric called upon his patron, infusing the dwarf with strength and enlarging him until he stood nearly ten feet in height, his hammer transformed into a huge maul. Dannel, having reclaimed his magic slippers from Mole, darted up the side of the cliff, finding a sheltered position in a rough niche in the rock where he could fire arrows into the corridor beyond the portcullis from relative security.  The others drew back, but not far, covering their companion as he stepped up to the iron grille. “Moradin, grant your servant the strength to prevail against evil,” Arun whispered in dwarvish.  Already bolstered by Morgan’s spells, he felt a thrill of power as the divine favor of his patron came at his call.  The dwarf laid aside his shield, and took up his hammer with both hands.  The sound of the impact echoed throughout the canyon. Zenna glanced around the edge of the boulder behind which she’d taken cover to see that the first blow had told upon the barrier, with a visible dent in one of the iron bars.  But the dwarf did not stop with one blow.  His arms were a blur as he rained assault upon assault against the portcullis, until the noise coming from the portcullis rivaled the blast of Vaprak’s Voice.  The thought reminded her of something.  Damn, we should have waited until the winds sounded!  But it was too late to remedy that mistake now, and she doubted anyway that anything within a mile could have failed to hear the sound of Arun’s pounding upon the portcullis. In the interval between blows she heard deep voices, coming from above.  The giants, she realized. Not speaking their language, she did not know what they were saying, but she could tell that they were agitated.  And no wonder, with a ten-foot dwarf laying waste to their outer defenses.  Arun lowered his hammer.  The portcullis was a ruin, battered into a wreck of twisted metal, and the dwarf reached out and levered it aside, forming an opening wide enough even for him in his augmented size, if just barely.Then Zenna caught sight of huge forms moving in the corridor beyond, approaching the barrier.  Arun saw them as well, she saw, and he quickly recovered his hammer.  No, don’t charge! she thought, knowing that the giants above were waiting to pulverize an opponent entering the corridor with boulders from above. The dwarf apparently recognized the same thing, and he held his ground, even moving back a pace to force their enemies to wedge through the remains of the portcullis, and to give him room to more effectively wield his hammer.  Morgan and Hodge had moved out of cover to support the dwarf.  Mole had disappeared somewhere, and Zenna belatedly followed the others, keeping an eye on the small opening above in case the giants were somehow able to mount an attack from that unlikely quarter. Dannel opened fire from his high perch, sending arrows into the dark tunnel.  The lumbering figures continued their approach, and as they entered the light, the companions saw what confronted them.  They stood a good thirteen feet tall, clad in mangy, filthy hides, bearing massive morningstars and huge javelins.  And they had two heads.Ettins, five of them, and the canyon walls shook with their coming. * * * * * Coming Next Week: MORGAN'S HELL</blockquote>

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