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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 480467" data-attributes="member: 41">Planting 27, CY 59334:  Giants look so peaceful when they’re dead.Returning to their companions, Elijah and C’min step around the heavily lacerated giant bodies and introduce Elenthal to the group.  The dark elf states that he is a specialist in giant-fighting.“Yeah, me too!”  Thrommel gleefully states, admiring the corpse of one of the giants.The six adventurers retrace the scout’s route, and once in their vantage point amongst the trees, they form a plan:  [t]invisibility[/I] spells will be placed upon the three who can’t sneak, and the group will make their way into the fort.  And then?“We kill them all,” Thrommel says.“We kill as many as we can until we have to retreat,” Elenthal corrects him.Thrommel seems ready to argue, but Jespo whispers into the Prince’s ear, and quiets the young fighter.  Fräs purrs from her satchel.“That’s right Fräs,” Jespo chuckles.The group locates an exposed livestock pen, built out from the fort, with an unguarded gate leading into the compound.  The pen is surrounded on three sides by a steep cliff, but the climb proves no trouble, once C’min reaches the top, and can assist the others.Inside the compound, the top of the hill is divided sharply along its center by a ledge, some fifteen feet high.  Beginning at the side of the ledge the heroes stand near, a trio of wooden longhouses sprawl against the cliff, and at the opposite side, rough stairs are carved into the rock against the palisade wall.  All three guard towers are on the raised level, but only one appears occupied, by a lowly orc.  A pair of giants stand on an elevated platform, where they watch over the main gate.C’min creeps through the lower compound, listening at the doors, and returns with the following report:  At least three, but no more than five giants are within the longhouses.  That’s seven giants accounted for, and one orc.“I like our odds,” Thrommel says.“So do I, my Prince, so do I,” Jespo whispers portentously as he pulls a carved gemstone from his pouch.  “This gem will soon be the repository of a giant’s soul, and I will possess the creature’s body thanks to my powerful magics!”  Jespo looks ready to cackle maniacally at this declaration, but is silenced by a hiss from Fräs.“Quite right, Fräs.  Of course,” Jespo whispers.  Jespo turns toward his companions.  “When that giant,” Jespo points toward one of the guards, “raises his fist, it will be your sign to attack!”Jespo clutches his gem between his palms and mutters an arcane phrase, then suddenly, the conjurer of Chendl drops to the ground, limp.  At that moment, the giant he indicated shakes its head, does a little dance of glee, then raises its fist, with an altogether incongruous grin on its hairy, bestial face.Dabus needs no further prompting, and becomes suddenly visible as he calls down a flame strike on the other giant at the gate.  Elijah, C’min and Thrommel fire a volley of arrows into the poor surprised brute, and the giant now possessed by Jespo Crim strikes him a two-handed blow, toppling the brute off the palisade wall, and into the compound proper.The giant on the ground begins screaming, and within moments, the group has finished off the unlucky fellow with ranged attacks.  But the orc on the wall has a bow of his own, and strikes Dabus three times, with devastating effect.  “Gods preserve me!”  Dabus gasps, as the longhouse doors burst open.Of course, C’min was right—five giants emerge from the houses with clubs at the ready and murder on their minds.  What she could not hear through the door, however, is the unnatural (even for a giant) size of one of the monsters.  The thing is easily fifteen feet tall, and his limbs are twisted unnaturally.  Even more disturbing, the creature bears the scars of ritual torture; a sure sign of Iuzian experimenting.“To arms!”  Thrommel yells somewhat unnecessarily, as Elenthal leaps upon the nearest giant, his sword and shield style frustrating the creature.  Thrommel also lays in with his sword, and Dabus levels another blade barrier into the midst of the giants charging toward the group.  If the whirling blades weren’t enough to blunt their charge, the possessed giant (with the mind of an anemic Conjurer) leaps at them from the rear, smashing another giant across the shoulders with his club.Two of the giants turn on their traitorous companion, and the three beasts are soon obscured by a mist of sweat, flailing clubs, blood and spit.Despite Jespo’s success, the adventurers still fighting by the livestock pen are hard-pressed, and the orcish archer on the guard tower proves to be a deadly sniper.  Within seconds, it becomes clear that unless they take cover, the group will be picked apart by his accurate bow-fire before the giants even get a chance to smash the interlopers.The party’s ranks are broken, and Dabus is forced to retreat to a hidden position and heal himself.  The giant possessed by Jespo falls underneath the crushing clubs of his former allies, and suddenly, Jespo Crim’s body shudders, and the Conjurer stands up, breathing heavily.“Why, now I know what Keriann must have felt like!”  Jespo exclaims.“And Little Leaf,” C’min corrects him.“Oh yes, of course Little Leaf, and Egil, for that matter,” Jespo says.“God’s Blood, Crim, shut up and fight!”  Dabus yells, as another volley from the orc punches through his armor.Elenthal and Thrommel have finished their giant, and are creeping along the base of the longhouses, taking cover from the archer while trying to get at another giant without exposing themselves.Jespo steps out into the compound in order to see where Dabus is pointing, and a razor-sharp barbed arrow whistles through his cloak, just inches from puncturing his kidney.  “Take cover, Fräs!”  Jespo yells, as he summons a trio of Heavenly lions right at the feet of the orc sniper.  The orc calmly steps backward, just before he is seized by one of the great cats, and within seconds, two of the lions have fallen beneath his bow fire, but not before they wound him somewhat.Freed from the devastating arrow fire, Dabus is able to weave through the melee, healing his companions, and bolstering them against the giant’s blows.After a few seconds of this, Jespo summons a writhing mass of black tentacles that spring from the top and sides of the guard tower, snatching the orc and the surviving celestial lions, and crushing the life from them.Thrommel and C’min charge forward to assist Elenthal, as the drow proves good to his boast—against giants, he is a fearsome opponent.  By this point, only a pair of giants remain; the unnaturally large creature, and a more ‘normal’-sized brute.  They look dispirited, and perhaps are re-thinking their hasty attack, but they are heartened as a bellowing horn-call sounds from somewhere on the upper compound.“We need to flee!”  Elenthal cries, as he slices into the gangling giant, and dodges an energetic blow.  Thrommel and Dabus move in to assist the dark elven ranger, and the rest of the group support the brawl with missile and spell fire.Within seconds, the sound of giantish yelling comes from the direction of the horn blast, but there are only human and elvish ears to hear the cries.  As swiftly as they came, the Liberators of Tenh retreat down the hillside and into the surrounding woods.------Next:  The Liberators vs. the Steading of the Hill Giant King (Reprise)!</blockquote>

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