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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 350913" data-attributes="member: 1210">A giant and his dogsThe strong strokes of the giant take the party far and fast.  Soon enough they exit the Gloom, and a ragged cheer rises from the group.  They pause at a small islet long enough to rest and recast the necessary water breathing magic, then continue on their way.  The journey, though very swift, nonetheless takes almost two days; but swift it is, and none of our heroes are about to complain about the time.  After all, they’re out of the Gloom at last- and they were only there for about two weeks.  Still, it seemed an eternity.At last, the giant deposits them on a beach.  “There is a city of your kind a few miles along the coast,” he booms at them, water pouring from him as he retreats into the surf.  “Good luck to you.”  The adventurers wave their farewells, then start towards the city.  It’s already evening, though, so they figure it might be worth finding a good place to rest for the night, rather than traveling through unfamiliar territory.  Then the sound of howling wolves filters down to them from somewhere inland.  Exchanging glances, the party members have a quick debate and decide to try to make the city tonight after all.It just isn’t ever that easy for a band of adventurers, though, is it?They’ve barely begun their tired walk when they hear another howl, this one closer; and soon they hear yet another.  Bolfol and Stone exchange glances.  Nervously, Spukoni hands his ring of the orc to Droidi (“You look weird, we don’t want any trouble at the gates”) and turns Vito back into his normal (non-trollish) form.  Less than ten minutes later, the sounds of growling and crashing seem to leap out at them from a nearby cave- and then a giant, something like 11’ tall, and two huge, feral-looking dire wolves show themselves at the entrance.  Krunkshank gives a cry, pointing, and conjures a wall of fire to separate the party from the giant and the dire wolves.  Its terrible heat burns the beasts and giant, who quickly back off- but the party cannot see them through the opaque flames.  Bolfol sprints into the best shadows he can find while Spukoni hastes himself and casts a mirror image.  Turk drops back, not wanting to start a fight the party might be able to avoid and remembering the last, friendly giants they met.  Unfortunately, the wall of fire has already started the fight.  The party takes a few moments to ready their defenses, waiting tensely to see if anything will emerge through the wall of fire.  But when the attack comes it’s not through the cave mouth.Unknown to the party, the cave has a second exit in its roof.  The singed and angry giant clambers to the top, chuckling softly as it grabs a huge boulder and hurls it, smacking Krunkshank right in the head!  He sees stars as he’s knocked to one knee, but he’s a dwarf, and an earth elementalist to boot; no stupid rock is going to take him down!  Shaking his bloody head, he squints up at where the boulder came from and blasts a flame strike at the giant.  Bolfol silently sheathes his rapier and quickdraws a crossbow, then loads it.  A lightning bolt crackles through the air from Spukoni, who- angered- also assumes his tentacled, wrong-looking pseudonatural form.And the giant, howling and frothing at the mouth as it enters a barbarian rage, hurls itself at Droidi, smashing into him with an enormous tree trunk of a club!  The strange, scaley druid is knocked back, almost flying off of his feet.  Following close on the giant’s heels are his pet dire wolves, and though one takes a crossbow bolt from Bolfol, they begin tearing into the party.  Then the battle with the giant becomes a chaotic mess of blistering spells, swinging weapons, firing crossbows, snarling wolves, and trashing berserk giant!Desperately wounded, Droidi tries to make nice with the wolves, but to no avail.  Turk, meanwhile, has conjured a celestial badger- not much, but it’ll distract the giant for a moment- which drops in a single blow of the berserker’s massive club.  Captain Clambake unleashes a mind blast, hoping to stun the giant, but to no avail; its rage prevents the mental assault from affecting it.  The wolf Bolfol shot savages him with its powerful jaws, dropping him unconscious, then springs towards Spukoni, who tumbles away, blasting the giant with another bolt of lightning and then polymorphing the wolf into a carp.  Clambake vanishes into the time stream as the giant charges at him, and Turk takes the opportunity to lash out with his club- and scores a crit!  The damage is just enough to finish the howling giant, leaving only a single dire wolf to deal with.  And this time, Droidi does manage to charm it, and moments later- after he speaks with the animal- it slinks off, still growling at the rest of the group.“Now I say we rest,” Spukoni says, and the group agrees.Next time: Poppin- nothing like a town that hates adventurers.  Just in time for an election...</blockquote>

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