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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1625788" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 165The lead ettin saw the mangled barrier and the huge dwarf behind it, and hesitated.  While the two-headed giants were not cowardly creatures, within their dim minds they knew that they were not as powerful as true giants, and they preferred to attack from ambush rather than rushing headlong into battle with a difficult adversary. Arun was having none of it, however.  “Come on then, you blasted cowards!” he shouted, his words filling the tunnel.  His challenge was accompanied by a withering barrage of missiles from his friends, several of which struck the lead creature. The ettins could not easily retreat, motivated by fear of their masters, and so they charged, their terrible morningstars blasting shards of rock from the sides of the tunnel as they moved single-file through the relatively narrow passage.  The first ettin crashed into the remnants of the portcullis, pushing it aside with a powerful sweep of its massive left arm.  As it forced through the barrier, its right arm, independently controlled by its second head, lifted its morningstar to pulverize Arun with a violent overhead blow. That blow never landed, however.  As the ettin pushed through the gap in the portcullis and straightened to its full height, an arrow vanished into the right side of its hairy, muscled chest, followed a moment later by a hurled javelin that pierced its left side.  The wounds stung it, but even as it began its attack against Arun, the paladin’s massive hammer came around in a powerful two-handed arc that connected mightily with the creature’s side a foot above its waist.  The ettin absorbed the blow, its own counterstroke falling uselessly aside.  It tried to recover, but Arun’s blow, driven by his enhanced strength and own skill, had done too much damage to the interior of the monster.  It stumbled, and fell back hard, both heads gasping out its last as it clutched at its ruined side.  But the doom of their comrade gave the other four creatures time to full enter the fray.  The heavy, ruined gate came crashing down as two ettins struck it, and Arun had to retreat to avoid being crushed under its falling bulk.  Morgan and Hodge, their missile weapons now discarded in favor of sword and axe, rushed in to try and pin them in the relatively narrow opening, to hold the last two at bay and to make it more awkward for them to use their giant weapons.  But the ettins were double the height and many times the weight of the defending warriors, and the two were forced inexorably back as they withstood the powerful swings from those heavy morningstars. Dannel’s bow sang as he fired arrow after arrow from his perch, just above the reach of the ettins.  Some of his arrows stuck in the mangy hides that the ettins wore as armor, but the sheer volume of his barrage meant that many more would score hits.  He targeted the creature on the right, the one facing Hodge, shooting an arrow into its thick arm a moment after it blasted the dwarf with a powerful blow.  Hodge had caught the impact of the spiked ball on his shield, but it was clear from the way that he staggered backward several steps that he’d nonetheless felt it. Zenna had loaded her crossbow, but she knew that the small weapon would have little effect against creatures of this size.  Instead she called upon her magic, speaking the words that evoked a coruscating searing ray that erupted in a bright shaft of flame that she directed at the ettin facing Hodge.  She aimed high at its chest to avoid jeopardizing the dwarf.  The creature was huge and slow, so there was virtually no chance that she could miss. Except that she did.  The line of flame went high, slicing through the air between the creature’s heads.  The ettin was startled but unharmed by the display, and it only took a moment before it refocused on Hodge, lifting both morningstars to strike again, ignoring another arrow that poked painfully into its shoulder. But the arrows and the missed spell had distracted the giant for a moment, long enough for Hodge to recover.  And even as it looked down at him again, it was too slow to react as Hodge ran in, and with a nasty curse took the ettin’s leg off at the knee with a single powerful swing of his axe.  The ettin fell, stumbling into its fellow, who in turn was finding itself equally hard pressed. As Arun had dodged back to avoid the falling grate, Morgan did not hesitate to fill the gap, although the ettin stood more than twice his height.  A heavy morningstar ball came down with a crushing blow that glanced off his shoulder, sending a sharp stab of pain through the cleric’s torso.  But Morgan was once again lost in the glorious song of Helm’s might, and ran in close enough to thrust his sword into the creature’s belly.  The thick layers of hide that the giant wore turned what would have been a disemboweling thrust into a mere scratch, but it was clear from its twin roars that the thrust was painful nonetheless.  The cleric stood his ground as the creature unleashed both of its arms in a pair of attacks that battered him, but when both spiked balls had rebounded from their hits the cleric still stood, battered but determined. “You’ve had yours, giant, now feel the fury of Helm’s justice!” The ettin didn’t like the feel of Helm’s justice, but he was even more concerned by the giant dwarf who rushed back into the fray, bringing with him that massive hammer. The last two ettins found themselves momentarily blocked from entering the melee due to the confines of the narrow crevice and the violence of the melee wrought and wrought upon their companions ahead.  They carried heavy spears, javelins the size of lances that they hurled at the nearest target they could see.  In the case of the one of the left, that was Dannel, dangling from the cliff above.  Fortunately for the elf the ettin was anything but agile, and both spears missed, one bouncing off of the cliff face a pace from where Dannel had positioned himself.  The elf saw the giant, and with his companions doing well against the front two, he shifted his aim to return fire.  Dannel’s assault proved far more effective than that of the giant, and soon the creature had two arrows stuck in its chest, trailing blood.  The last giant was close enough to see Zenna’s fire pass above it, harmless but yet a warning of what might be coming.  It lifted a javelin to fire at her, but its comrade before it was blocking its line of sight.  Then Hodge’s attack took off its leg, and as it fell, the ettin took advantage of the opening to throw.  Zenna had not forgotten to raise her defenses, however, and while the throw was unusually accurate, at the last moment it was turned by the layered defense of her shield and mage armor.   The ettin, frustrated, stepped forward to do battle, but it failed to mark the tiny form that had crept into the tunnel from outside.  It paid for that oversight a moment later, as its next step shot an explosion of pain up through its foot, through its leg, into its body.  Mole had rolled unseen into its path, carefully judging its stride, extending her arm and holding her sword point-up, its hilt braced against the floor, right where the massive foot was descending.  The ettin hopped back in pain, the sword stuck to the crossbar in its foot, trying to avoid putting weight on the injured member.  It never saw Mole, who quietly retreated back into a position of cover just outside of the tunnel entrance, already reaching for her crossbow. It was increasingly clear how this battle was going to end.  Even as Hodge finished the one he’d de-limbed, Morgan sank his sword to the hilt in the one that he and Arun faced, and it crumpled.  The two still in the corridor, one still trying to get at the tiny steel barb sunk into its foot, realized that the speed with which the first three of their fellows had been dispatched boded ill for them, and they started to fall back.  Morgan started after them, but Arun drew them up short, pointing with his hammer up at the balcony that they could not see from this angle, but which knew was above, and the giants that no doubt were waiting for them to show themselves. “We just let them get away then?” the cleric asked angrily.  In answer Arun only glanced at his companions, who were continuing the assault in their own way.  Dannel put his fourth arrow into the ettin he’d been targeting, but as it moved out of sight further down the corridor he turned his aim onto the one still hobbling behind it, adding insult to injury as he sank a shot into the calf of its unwounded leg.  Mole and Zenna were both adding their own fire, although it wasn’t clear if any of their shots scored hits. The cleric looked like he might defy them all and rush off in pursuit anyway, but Arun placed his huge hand upon the man’s shoulder.  “The battle is far from over, priest.  You are seriously injured, and Hodge as well.  Let us take advantage of these few moments, while we have them.”Recognizing the wisdom of the dwarf’s words, Morgan finally nodded.  They withdrew a short distance back to their position of cover, where spell and wand again offered soothing relief from the injuries of battle.  The spell of growth affecting Arun wore off, and he returned to his normal size.  Dannel had returned from his perch atop the cliffs, but he continued to keep a close eye on the tunnel mouth.Their healing power, wielded by Zenna, Dannel, and Morgan, was potent, and it took less than a minute for them to treat the party’s injuries.  “Well, now what?” Mole asked.  “One of them giants still has my sword stuck in his foot, and I want it back.”The companions shared a look.  “As our esteemed knight would remind us, we’ve come this far,” Dannel said.  He’d reloaded his quiver from the spare he kept slung across his back, and now tested his bowstring, making sure it was ready for resumed hostilities. “Them giants’ probably still up there, waitin’ for us to make a move,” “I’m sure they are,” Zenna said.  “In fact, I’m counting on it.”They turned to her.  “So, you have a plan?” Mole said. The wizard shrugged.  “Well, they may be strong... but the way I look at it, you can’t hit what you can’t see.”And she smiled knowingly.</blockquote>

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