Glacier of the Frost Giant Jarl Part II

ICE GLACIER OF THE FROST GIANT JARL PART II

an adventure recap
as penned by the literary talents of Mssrs Sukh, Gray, Rich, PhilM & PJ.

Dramatis Personae

Ulric Von Himmler, a 8th Level Dwarven Fighter/Berserker		played by Rich
Baron Quentin Nibbly-Pibbly, a 8th Level Human Paladin of Osiris		played by PhilJ
Dirkwood Littlelegs, a 10th Level Halfling Thief/Acrobat		played by PJ
Caerendil Elandianor, a 8th/7th Level Half-Elven Bard / Priest of Bragi		played by Gray
Sagacious Rapida, a 7th/7th Level Half-Elven Mage/Priest of Athena		played by Rich
Weedol the Wondrous, a 6th Level Elven Mage		played by Rod
The-Apparition-That-Is-Called-Kell		played by Kell
Brother Kelly, a 8th Level Human Priest of Heimdall		played by DaveG

Oberlauten Von Genchsler, a 8th Level Dwarven Fighter		a NPC Dwarven Hero
Erlan Geobells, a 5th Level Dwarven Fighter		Ulric's Henchman

The much feared Dwarven Fighting Wedge

The Dwarven Fighting Wedge


	Chapter One : The Arrival of the Baron Quentin Nibble-Pibbly Experience The story continues with the party stopping in an empty cavern on the top level of the glacier for a good night's kip & recuperation. Ulric & the Dwarves are still hungry, so they pay another visit to the cavern with the dead Winter Wolves, and kebab a few more chunks of canine flesh using Ulric's Flame Tongue sword as a skewer.... Durkwood seeing the potential to dabble in his favourite pastime - cooking, also rushs to said cavern and prepares & cooks a Flame Tongue kebab. As per usual, after a few nibbles the rotund hobbit decides he isn't really that hungry. He offers the kebab to the Dwarves, who reply only with a stoney 'bring that thing near us and we'll kill you' look. The crestfallen halfling returns to the cavern where the others are resting. The evening passes uneventfully, the dwarves return and assess the defensive qualities of the party's resting area. After examining the structure of the cavern walls & floor and checking the wind direction, they decide that an igloo is the only safe option. Thus they begin construction of a 3 Dwarf Igloo near the Cavern entrance. The priests give what succor they can to the battered & wounded. After 30 secs of this, the rest of the party tell the priests, in no uncertain terms, where they can stick their succor. An informal watch order is established with Brother Kelly taking first watch. After only a few minutes on guard the Priest of Heimdall hears footsteps approaching the Cavern, he brings forth Giantbane, his mighty bastard sword and issues a warning to the other party members. The dwarves however, remain blissfully asleep in their rather cosy (& smelly) igloo. The rest stir slowly, muttering things like "can't get a moment's peace' & 'bloody Frost Giants can't take a joke', etc, etc..... The approaching footsteps are becoming louder, but they are not the deep rumble of a giant's footfall, but more those of a heavily armoured creature. The party prepares what spells & weapons they can muster, the unknown assailant enters the cavern. A deep & booming voice says... "What's happening dudes?" Thus came Baron Quentin Nibble-Pibbly, son of Gervase Nibbly-Pibbly onto the cavern of the ice, where his former comrades-in-arms rested. A disappointed groan echos around the cavern as the party collectively release their breath. "It's you" is the only greeting the noble paladin receives for this majestic entrance. The party sheath weapons & exchange pleasantries... "Hey Baron Quentin, whats been happening?, how are you?, how you been? .... got any healing potions muther-fecker?". But the Baron has not arrived alone, discovering that no hostiles reside in this cavern, the lordly paladin of Osiris sheaths his sword and moves back to the cavern entrance to gesture his companions forward. The waif mage known to the party as Weedol the Wondrous (but known to everyone else as Weedol the Whoreson) scampers forward and is followed by a strange apparition. "Ok Dudes, you already know Weedol the Mage (thats "The Wondrous", cuts in Weedol), and this is "Kell", informs the Paladin casually, while pointing to the unearthy apparition.... The multicoloured feature-shifting creature waves back. The others look at "Kell", then at each other and then back at the Paladin. "What the feck is that!" they exclaim in unison. "Oh, just someone I met" replies the Baron. "Is it Evil?", inquiries Brother Kelly. "Hmm, maybe I should check", agrees Osiris's loins most joyus outpouring. The Baron stares deeply into the apparition-that-is-called-Kell, he sees many images, a reaver, a footpad, a mage summoning eldritch energy, a man of healing, all these and more. His evil sense also spins through the full spectrum of good & evil & PhilM and back again..... "Errmm No" states the Paladin eventually, "definitely no evil there". This verdict seems to completely reassure the party and they quickly resume their pestering of the newcomers for potions of healing, herbal poultices, beer, charcoal brickettes, novelty condoms, etc, etc After depriving the noble Paladin of all healing potions & instrinic healing power, the party sit down and begin to listen, as Osiris's mighty servant imparts upon them, the dire reason of his sudden appearance. "Death!...Yes Death!.." intones Baron Quentin, "savage, bloody & involving many beards..." The party figet and bicker amongst themselves while the shining warrior continues. "...This came to me in a dream, nay a nightmare!, the death of friends!.." In the audience Dirkwood makes funny faces behind Sagacious. "...I awoke and then made all possible speed to join you here.... Sagacious notices and gives Dirkwood a cold stare. "...and blast!, in my haste, I didth forget to bring my enchanted blade 'The Sword of the Iron Legion'... ..but no matter, I had to come....for you are my friends..." The party suddenly begin to listen intently. "...and if death comes for you...then he will have to pass me first." concludes the godly servant solomnly. ...A single tear rolls down the plump cheek of Dirkwood.... Wiping the tear away, the halfling moves towards the saintly warrior and in a voice thick with emotion, replies "Thank you.........got any kebabs?". ...and with that, the party again settle down to rest for the night, leaving Brother Kelly on guard to resumes his lonely vigil. The night passes....towards the end of Brother Kelly's watch, the Priest's acute hearing picks up the sounds of heavy footfalls from the floor of the ice glacier. The Ever Watchful priest again unsheaths his mighty weapon and goes to investigate. Heimdall's servant moves to a ledge that overlooks the glacier below and quickly scans its length. Brother Kelly's god-given eyesight spies 3 hill giants making their way towards a cave entrance at the far end of the glacier. From their bloodied appearance, the Priest decides they must be giants from City of Gorna, here to summon reinforcements. The giants quicky negotiate the distance to the cave entrance & pass out of the range of priest's keen vision. The sound of gruff voices drift towards Brother Kelly, "Blah Blah Get the Beers in Blah Blah It's me boy! Blah Blah Smell Boy Smell Blah Blah" The furore dies down and the glacier quickly returns to it normal wind swept tune. The Priest stays awhile before returning to warmth of the cavern. The rest of night passes peacefully. Come daybreak, Brother Kelly informs the rest of the party of his nightly observations. The rest of the party listen intently, until Sagacious discovers that Weedol the Wondrous has many third level mage spells. The mages (Weedol, Sagacious & Caerendil) quickly dift away from the others and start jumping up and down & giggling like girlies trying on new dresses. After showering Weedol with many sycophantic & frankly untrue remarks about his mage abilities, Weedols relents and allows Caerendil the bard & Sagacious the priest of Athena, access to his spell books. The Priest of Athena is especially pleased with the acquisation of the Lightning Bolt spell... Fully spelled up & healed as much as possible, the party head to the stairs leading down to the icy tomb that is the 2nd level of the ice glacier. The stairs descend and lead out into a massive ice cavern with 2 exits. One leading north, which after extensive investigation (and I mean extensive), is deemed to be a dead end. The other leads south and to untold dangers, of which I shall leave for writing talents of Mss Rich & PJ as they continue the saga.....
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	Chapter Two: Toades and Boulders So the party, having successfully found their way into the lower level, begin a veritable avalanche of secret door searching in the first cavern as we are all convinced that not all of the dead ends can be dead ends. The initial searching proves to be wholly fruitless and to be quite honest, from a dwarven point of view, starts to get a bit boring. So to liven things up we (the dwarves) decide to split the party and wander off to explore the only other exit from the cavern we have'nt fruitlessly searched down. Meanwhile back at the ranch, a lucky dice roll reveals a large boulder cunningly hidden in plain sight on one side of the cavern, the remainder of the party decide to try and move this boulder ........! Back at the dwarves, things look better. We've come to a cavern with dead things and money in it. At the entrance we consider our options, and then decide to go with our usual plan and rush in. By now the bard, bored by the sweating, straining, non boulder movement decides to follow us. Acting with our usual caution we approach an area just around a corner from the entrance.............. ..RIBBIT! At rock central, strength has been tested and found wanting. So Mr Donkey is brought to the fore and after much donkey jokes and witty reparte, he is tied to the boulder ...............rumble, scrape, eeoor, eeeor ...... the rock moves. The paladin is suddenly aware of an awesome evil emanating from inside the recently exposed tunnel, so he has a sudden crisis...shall I go in?..hmmmm might be dangerous, we could put the boulder back. Then suddenly remembering his job spec as a paladin, he rushes into the adjacent ice cavern only to be confronted by a DRAGON. At this point a fair amount of brown cod piece noises are heard and people shuffle hurriedly to try and get as many people as possible between them and the DRAGON. Meanwhile us dwarves are wondering what RIBBIT means. This is soon explained, as errrr 1 errr lots of giant toads decide they want dwarf burger for lunch. RIBBIT! Slap! RIBBIT! We decide unilaterally, that RIBBIT means "Come get some if ye think ye 'ard enough!", so we give them some. A large amount of chopping ensues, toads explode... RIBBIT! Thwack! Slice! RIB....Chop! HA! HA! We discover that the toads have breath weapons but undeterred we give them a good seeing to. Pausing after a short and messy battle to survey our handiwork, we notice the large amount of gold littering the floor..........hmmm. The bard has also entered the cavern and also notices the LARGE amount of gold on the floor.... So taking the only sensible option, we begin to gather up the gold into one big pile because it looks nicer like that. The bard leads us in a rousing rendition of that old favourite dwarf song (number 1 in the charts for 3 millenia) GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD............GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD............... Meanwhile.... PAH! Evil Fiend! Take This!..... Swish... Eat Snake Nibbler!....... Swish... The paladin is attempting to purge evil.....!! (my recollection of these events is sketchy mainly because we were'nt there and gold's more interesting so please feel free to add your comments). The dragon gives as good as it get's, breath weapons to the fore...... Summoning spell PING!. Things look great in the dragon's lair now, there's a sabre tooth tiger and a bear as well, underpants are changed again. Then the air elemental starts to make an appearance and a second dragon........ Sphincters are spasming all round when the hobbit decides reinforcements are called for and he also remembers the ring of air elemental control belonging to the bard...........He legs it......... GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD.....we're having a great time. The bard has done some nancy boy, skirt wearing, magicky stuff and summoned what looks like his butt boy to help us gather the gold. Still when your making a good pile of gold you can excuse these things until you've finished. Suddenly the hobbit runs in, obviously we are a bit concerned because the only time you see him run is when he's being chased by something with big teeth and a hobbit sized appetite. We sense this may interrupt our important task......... [Hobbit] AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!! DRAGONS! BIG TEETH! SABRE TOOTHED THINGIES! BEARS! TWATING! SODDING HELL! IT'S A MASSACRE! THEY NEED YOUR HELP! [Us] Errrrr, any gold in there? [Hobbit] GOLD?..........WHAT! [Us] You know, shiny stuff, buys beer [Hobbit] WHAT! WHAT! I DON'T KNOW! FIGHT! KILL! HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!! We consider the request and then carry on making our pile. The hobbit reconsiders his options...... [Hobbit] DRAGONS STASH! HUGE MOUND! MUCH MORE THAN HERE! [Us] Calm down, calm down sonny. Theres a very nice pile to be made here first, if a job's worth doing etc, etc.... I exercise my renowned charm........"Why don't you come over here and help us tidy up, go on, you know you want to..... [Hobbit] Errrrrrrr.......OK. We carry on enjoying ourselves. As for the rest of the story in the room who knows some other bardy type person can carry on the story..............
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	Chapter Three: Here be Dragons & Remorhaz To recap from Parte 2 we had : ..........At rock central, strength has been tested and found wanting. So Mr Donkey is brought to the fore and after much donkey jokes and witty repartee, he is tied to the boulder ...............rumble, scrape, eeoor, eeeor...... the rock moves. The paladin is suddenly aware of an awesome evil emanating from inside the recently exposed tunnel, so he has a sudden crisis...shall I go in?..hmmmm might be dangerous, we could put the boulder back. Then suddenly remembering his job spec as a paladin, he rushes into the adjacent ice cavern only to be confronted by a DRAGON..... So let me (Dirkwood Littlelegs) pick up the story..... On hearing the words dreaded most by Man and Beast (and Phil Morgan)..DRAGON..the party go smoothly into their tried and tested fighting formation.... ...Yes, they begin to run around in circles whimpering in panic....... ...After a while, as the gravity of the situation dawns Baron Quentin, our trusted Paladin, Brother Kelly our man of God, Weedol the Wondrous our... well our..... anyway Weedol and Sagacious our Mage Priest of Athena, all huddle together and debated how to proceed with the upcoming battle and which spells to bring to bear, etc, etc Given that the Dwarves and the Bard are off in some other cavern, it is left to the legendary halfling Dirkwood Littlelegs to keep an eye on the Dragon... "Come on guys, sort out your spells and get on with it" urges Dirkwood. "The Dragon's not going to sit there all day waiting for us to attack..." Finally a battle plan is drawn. Resist Cold spells are to be cast on Baron Quentin, Brother Kelly, Weedol and Sagacious (as Dirkwood is on point and not whimpering at the back, he is left out of this protective spell casting). Now protected from extreme cold, the quartet have devised a plan so cunning that you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel! Not to dwell too deeply on the more subtler aspects of the battleplan, lets just say it entails the rather cunning strategy of 'everyone charging into the Dragon's Liar and giving said Dragon what for.... A simple plan and with few drawbacks. Unfortunately the party's plans never require many drawbacks...one is usually enough. "Uhhh guys... you call this a plan?" exclaims Dirkwood disbelievingly. "What about getting reinforcements ?.....What about the bard and his helpful singing & poetry to inspire us into combat?....What about getting the feck out of here and calling it a day ? finishes Dirkwood somewhat manically. But no. The die had been cast, as has the spells and without further ado the Paladin stupidly...sorry bravely charges in with Brother Kelly at his side. Weedol and Sagacious follow at a discrete distance behind the charging duo and prepare spells. This leaves Dirkwood...the brave hobbit ponders on the party's prepartions and battleplan and knowing full well how Sagacious casts spells, decides to fly out of harms way and bear witness to the consequences from high above.... The gallant foursome enter the cavern. They make eye contact with the Dragon, who in turn makes eye contact with them. The warriors issue 'roars' before charging forward, the mages state their intentions by striking the mighty wyrm, full on the chest with two powerfully cast Lightning Bolt spells. "That'll show him" laughs Sagacious, in a manner not unlike that of a blood thirsty reaver.... As the spells are being cast...Dirkwood observes the pair of spellcasters. A manic, nay mad gleam, seems to enter the Priest of Athena's eyes... Dirkwood is sure he can see Sagacious mouthing the words, "The power is mine... All mine...." But maybe Dirkwood is mistaken.... "What about the Dragon's inherent magic resistance ?" shouts Dirkwood to the mages below. Once more the vast experience of the Hobbit shows through, as compared to the amateurish antics of the other party members. But the veteran halfling's warning arrives too late. Of the two lightning bolts cast, one dissipates against the wyrm's massive bulk without effect, the other bolt however, miraculously penetrates the foul serpent's armoured hide. The Dragon howls in pain and looks for something to attack. As it happens both Baron Quentin and Brother Kelly are standing right in front of it. "Would you like to strike first ?" asks the Paladin to Brother Kelly "What the feck are you talking about ???? Hit the sodding Dragon!" replies Kelly in a voice rather higher than normal.... Both the Paladin and the Priest of Hiemdall raise their swords to strike.. The Dragon breathes...... A blast of frigid, heat sucking, icy air fills the cavern forcing everyone to save. Everyone that is, apart from Dirkwood Littlelegs who once again, with his vast adventuring experience had anticipated this beastly attack form and is thus hovering in a place of safety. Remarkably everyone saves and takes half damage...which is quartered because of the RESIST COLD protection. Still, after hearing the clatter from the number of dice that the DM has rolled for the breath weapon, there is much muttering and various things are asked by the attacking quartet. Things like 'Was this really a good plan' and 'Where exactly are the smegging dwarves ????' Both the Baron Quentin and Brother Kelly look a little frost-bitten, but they still manage to respond to the Dragon's icy attack by striking mighty blows for good against evil. "Mighty blows indeed holy warriors" observes Dirkwood Littlelegs from up on high.... "However next time hit the Dragon not the floor....." There is much movement of combatants as the melee rages, this denies Dirkwood the Veteran Adventurer, an opening to swoop in and backstab the savage serpent.... The Dragon decides 'to get into character' and to use another item from its arsenal of deadly weaponry....it selects 'Magic' and PING ! A Bear and a Sabre Toothed Tiger suddenly materialise near the mages. Sagacious spins towards the advancing predators and shouts.. "Fck me ! It's a frigging Sabre Toothed Tiger!" "Wise words indeed oh holy one" chastises Dirkwood from above. Once more Sagacious, gets that mad gleam in his eye and whispers the word of power. Another lightning bolt is unleashes from his fingertips and it smites the rarely seen tiger with ferocity. "Die you furry, evil little shit....cries Sagacious trimphantly, then remembering his job spec, adds lamely "Errrmm..Go in peace and bother us no more, feline one". Weedol meanwhile, fires a salvo of Magic Missiles at the Dragon, who is starting to look the worse for wear. Unfortunately the missiles, like the lightning bolt before them, dissipate without effect. The Dragon still recharging his breath weapon, decides to fly up and away from his assailants and disappears around a corner. Both the Baron Paladin and the Priest of Heimdall give chase... The Bear and Saber Toothed Tiger are one round away from sinking hungry sharp fangs into a pair of succulent mages. Weedol and Sagacious both start whimpering and shouting things like... "How the hell did we get into this situation" and "And where the hell are the bloody dwarf bastards?" and also "What the feck is Dirkwood doing flying around..." All in all, the mages have lost sphincter control....big time.... As Baron Quentin and Brother Kelly chase after the Dragon, the airborne fiend can be heard casting another spell. Turning the corner the noble Paladin and ever watchful priest are shocked and dismayed to be confronted by another Dragon. "Leave him to me, I will deal with him myself" wheezes the Paladin... Brother Kelly doesn't have time to ponder why the Paladin is suddenly talking with that rasping and strangely metallic voice, as he himself is suddenly confronted by an Air Elemental. "Shit dude... This is no longer funny..." states the lordly paladin bluntly. Undeterred, the Servant of Heimdall readies himself to meet this new alien threat. He begins by spinning his sword above his head in an impressive manner and then by roaring loudly. Unfortunately what's impressive against normal creatures doesn't impress the air elemental one bit, it whirls towards the Priest of Heimdall with a vengence... Meanwhile, Weedol launches another Magic Missile salvo at the onrushing tiger and in it's wounded state, the legendary feline giant expires. Sagacious casts Burning Hands and sorches the bear where it really hurts. "Burn on this you furry bastard....Uhhhh...Sorry, Creature of the world, but I must protect myself and my friends..." finishes the Priest/Mage hastily. High above this sintillating magical display, Dirkwood the veteran hobbit again wonders at the antics of the so-called priest of Athena. He thinks to himself "Why does the Sagacious appears so confused over what minimal violence means?" and "Is his order really allowed to enjoy inflicting pain on animals?" The stout halfling decides to conclude this analysis at a later date... The mightily singed bear, decides that Weedol looks a lot less painful a target, than the flame producing priest and therefore turns to attack the mage. Also that strange manic look on the priest's face is rather off putting.... At that moment, Dirkwood shakes off his malaise and decides to swoop in to help. However, this is exact moment when the Air Elemental makes an appearance. The experienced adventurer checks his downward trajectory and re-assesses the situation. He remembers from earlier (happier) times, that the absent Bard has a ring of air elemental control and also the fact that now with 2* dragons to fight, that maybe it's time to get the dwarves. Thus the airborne hobbit bravely, and with much heart wrenching leaves his friends to perhaps, die in battle, while he leaves to get help. "Hang in their guys... I'll be back with the Dwarves" shouts Dirkwood as he swoops out of the cavern. "Go for it Dirkwood. We'll hold the 2 Dragons, the Air elemental and the bear without you... Don't worry about us....." chorus the surviving party members, thankfull that they have such a good companion as the noble halfling. The battle continues, both the mages now attack the bear (or was it the other way round ?). Weedol takes a mighty blow and goes down. The fight stops and everyone looks at Sagacious... "What you looking at ? The bear hit him! All right!" The fighting starts again..... The second Dragon breathes on the Paladin. The saintly warrior saves again, but is looking rather battered, with many a dent in his once gleaming armour. The Paladin's riposte penetrates the new wyrm's hide and 'Snake-Nibbler' bites deep. Brother Kelly strikes the Air Elemental with a solid hit. You can almost hear the gods screaming. "He hit! I don't fecking believe it, he hit..." The first Dragon, seeing his mate wounded by the lordly paladin, swoops down and unleashes another icy cold blast at the platemailed warrior. The Baron saves again, but his once mighty strength is quickly leeching away. Sagacious strikes the bear with his Spear of Wounding. Yes a fine weapon for a Lawful good man of the cloth. The Bear starts to bleed profusely. Sagacious strikes again. The Bear roars with pain and strikes the tormenting priest with a bone breaking blow. The ferocity of attack sends the Priest of Athena reeling into uncounciousness, only the fact that his spine is made of jelly saves him from any premanent damage. The wounded bear also breathes it's last as it life blood relentlessly trickles away, the once proud creature limps to a quiet corner of the ice cavern and dies... The Paladin is heroically fighting 2 dragons, but is tired beyond anything he's endured before. Yes, even more tired than when he stayed up all night showing young prospective paladins the joy, pleasures and pain, of being a good and holy warrior of Osiris. In a last ditch effort to call upon some inner strength to help defend himself and the party he utters a war cry that had not been uttered by a Paladin of Osiris for a thousand years.... "By CROM ! You shall perish on my blade! Oh evil serpents!" With strength that seemed to flow from the floor itself, the shining Paladin then roars and strikes a mighty blow which staggers and slays the first Dragon. Brother Kelly is inspired by the paladin's feat and also by the use of such an ancient war cry, however a niggling doubt surfaces..... "One question Baron Quentin, Who's CROM ? Aren't you a servant of the mighty god OSIRIS ?" questions the Priest of Heimdall. "Oh...Well...Uhh... Yes... But it's like this....." Baron Quentin is looking worried and keeps looking skywards. Everyone starts to back away from the Paladin, expecting the inevitable thunderbolt any second. "Well, yes I worship OSIRIS... But CROM is... Well CROM is... " the Paladin drops his head. "the make of my shoes... Yes that's it. My shoes are made by Crom the shoemaker" So in fact the mighty and ancient war cry from the Paladin was in fact "By CROM, THE MAKER OF MY SHOES! You shall perish on my blade! Oh evil serpents!" Everyone looks doubtful, but keeps fighting..... Dirkwood in the meantime, is having a hard job convincing the dwarves that their presence (and more importantly their axes) are needed in the Dragon's lair. The dwarves are reluctant to leave their 'pile of gold making' pursuits, and after a while, even the hobbit finds himself thinking that they do have a point. Finally they agree, after the hobbit has mentioned the word 'GOLD' over and over again and also informed the Bard about the air elemental. They follow the stalwart halfling back to the cave. Make of shoes or no make of shoes, the second Dragon isn't impressed and breathes on the Paladin again. The Baron saves yet again. But is now so hurt that a burning candle or a slap with a wet celery stick could take him out...... Dirkwood, the Dwarves and the Bard burst into the cavern......The Bard charges towards the Air Elemental.... "Leave it to me... I can control it..." shouts Caerendil over the roar of combat. "Pardon?..." replies Brother Kelly and looks around at the bard..... Unfortunately as he turns the Priest's huge fecking bastard sword comes into contact, ever so slightly, with the raging air elemental........ "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screams the advancing Bard. The conjured air elemental disappears with a thunderclap drowning out Caerendil's outburst. The sudden sound barrage dissipates quickly... After the tumult has subsided, Brother Kelly looks back towards the crimson bard and inquires "You say something Caerendil?". "No" is the Bard's muted reply. The remaining Dragon decides to 'bug out and call it even' and retreats up to a ledge and crawls to the back of a cave. "Right Dirkwood is here... Let me at them...." Dirkwood looks around. There are no enemies left... "Oh...." Caerendil casts wall of force over the entrance of the cave that the dragon is in, thus preventing the beast from escaping. The priests start to heal people up, while the dwarves upload their grappelling equipment and start to scale up to the ledge to give the Dragon a good seeing to. However, once on the ledge the dwarves discover that they can't get to the dragon because of the wall of force. The dwarves, not being the brightest bunch and not understanding magic, start hurling themselves at the invisible wall trying to get at the dragon. This keeps them busy while everyone else is healed up. Finally, after everybody is ready to rumble, the bard dispels the magical barrier and the famous dwarven fighting wedge and other party members charge in. The dragon dies in a violent flurry of axes, swords and teeth....(Dirkwood was peckish...) With all the enemy dead, the party begin the long & tedious task of counting all the treasure and generally searching the surrounding area. Sagacious cast Detect Magic and gathers all the magic items together. He discovers that one dagger is magical and after much personal anguish and hitting his head against a cavern wall, decides the dagger can only go to one person. He gives the magic dagger to Dirkwood Littlelegs. Dirkwood is so stunned by this generosity, that he stumbles backwards and accidentally bumps into 14 ancient urns which fall to the floor and shatter into a multitude of tiny fragments..... The dwarves chuckle with amusement at the halfling's misfortune. However this bit of slap-stick comedy leaves Caerendil the bard incensed! "You uncultured swine!, those things were priceless!" chastises the crimson mistral. Dirkwood is genuinely hurt at this outburst from the usually easy going and laidback Caerendil. This leads the normally assured halfling to loose his footing again and tumble into another 15 urns, which, would you believe it, also topple and smash into multitude of tiny pieces. "For the love of Bragi, STOP! you little shit!" screams the now enraged Caerendil. Dirkwood slowly extracts himself from the mound of broken crockery and gingerly skips away, giving a quick 'V' sign to the bard. "If you smash anything else, you halfling turd, I'm gonna blast you into next week" warns Caerendil with a trembling finger.... The halfling moves ever so quietly towards his normal saviours, the dwarves and slowly hides behind them and out of Caerendil's line of sight. "Ok, lets see whats left to appraise", says the mistral as he resumes his look around the Dragon's horde. "HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA CHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!", stumble clatter topple SHATTER clinking sound of a multitude of tiny fragements The bard stares at the dwarves, the dwarves in turn slowly part ranks and stare behind them. They take in the scene of Dirkwood Littlelegs lying in another mound of broken pottery. The dwarves then glance back towards the bard. Caerendil can contain himself no longer and unleashes a salvo of magic missiles into the prone hobbit. The halfing YELPs loudly as the missiles strike his rotund body, but he decides not to pursue the issue and therefore remains on the floor. Satisfied that the hobbit will now think twice before breaking another piece of crockery, the bard resumes h is appraisal work. The dwarves move over to the now smoking hobbit and offer him some beer, beef jerky and some much needed sympathy. Sagacious joins the dwarven huddle and offers them a suit of black and silver chainmail. The priest of Athena explains that it is magical. The Dwarves, renowned for their fervent distrust of magic quickly snatch the armour from the Priest's grasp and after a quick debate, select Erlan to don it. Surprisingly, it fits Ulric's Henchman like a glove and seemed to be made for him. Erlan beams at the other dwarves, Ulric & Von Genschler in turn, beam at Sagacious. The Priest of Athena, remembering that a happy dwarf is a randy dwarf, decides that perhaps now would be an opportune moment to leave. He beams back while retreating quickly. Dirkwood looks up and again ponders life while nibbling on some Dwarf Bread... 'Strange that the dwarven dislike of magic doesn't stretch to magic armour'. After a extensive search and non-stop accounting, the dragon horde is tallied and marked down on various character sheets. Most of the party now seem content to rest and recuperate. Not so the Dwarves, having missed most of the fight in the dragon's lair, they are hungry for more blood. Therefore the short trio decide to leave the cavern and investigate the floor of the ice glacier. Not wanting to miss out on much need experience points, the hobbit, bard and Priest of Athena also tag along. The group find an icy dome near the Dragon's Cavern and within it, a sleeping Remorhaz. Having dealt with one earlier in their adventures, the party are fully aware about how dangerous a Remorhaz can be. Dirkwood is still carrying around 2 remorhaz eggs waiting for them to hatch...... He's hard like that..... The slaughter commences with the dwarves sending a volley of warhammers into the slumbering beast, this is followed by a rain of Magic Missiles launched by the Bard and Sagacious, and then finally Dirkwood flys in to apply the coup de grace with a death defying back stab.... Everyone hits and the Remorhaz dies without even waking up. A job well done...(there is much gnashing of teeth from the DM). A ring and sword are found. The ring is passed to the bard as he's quite fond of rings, in a girlie sort of way and Brother Kelly is given the sword. The bard examines the ring and after carefully studying the ancient runic symbols around it, begins to smile broadly and snigger incessantly. He skips and clicks his heels together, while singing 'Oh Happy Day' as the party make their way back to the Dragon's lair. "You Ok Mr Bard?" inquires Dirkwood. "Never been better, my faithful halfling companion..", replies the bard. "A good ring then?", continues the halfling. "What?" mutters the Bard dreamily, "Oh the ring, no, its just a +1 Ring of Protection".... "Better luck next time hey", finishes Dirkwood. The mistral gives his reply by sniggering again. The party then settle down to rest and have a quick dragon kebab or two.
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	Chapter Four: The Frost Giant Ambush So..the ambush..from your daring reporter on the front line, Caerendil. And lo, the wyrms were defeated. There was much rejoicing and singing of dwarven advanced fighting songs (Ulric and von Genschler only, Erlan isn't a high enough level yet). No sooner had the party recovered from this ordeal, when they were assaulted from the rear by the dastardly Frost Giants, whom had quietly moved a 10 ton rock cunningly disguised as a 10 ton rock and thus overlooked by the party in previous searches of the chamber. There was much panicing from Sagacious who was now on the front line. Brave Caerendil, without hesitation flew off to investigate. In the room behind the rock he discovered 6 giants, two armed with crossbows of a most humongous size (think ballista). Two further giants were poised on the balls of their feet, either side of the entrance, waiting for the chance to pounce on the unsuspecting party, whilst the leader and an associate taunted the dwarves in a most unbecoming manner... Blah Blah Blah Your mother sings off key Blah Blah Blah.... As clever Caerendil prepared to return to report to the party, the dwarves, who hadn't killed anything for some 10 minutes and were thus in a state of some distress charged out of the dragon's lair in a classic fighting wedge, terrible to behold. Caerendil was thus unable to inform them of the ambush ahead. Seeing the dwarves rumble off, the other members of the party formed up in their own classic fighting formation, the reverse wedge, with Kelly and Nibble-Pibbly at the front and Sagacious at the rear, and set off. The ambush was sprung and the dwarves caring not for such technical matters were mightily set upon and oppressed. Verily they were pummelled and yet they did not yield but did indeed take the battle fair to the giants. Following the dwarves inspiring lead the rest of the party did leap into the fray with a mighty cheer. "By the powers invested in me by mighty Heimdall, face death upon the keen edge of my steely blade O' tall and frosty one." cried Brother Kelly. Swish "I am Heimdalls conduit of power. Feel his mighty rage." Swish "That crushing strike against my body scares me not creature of cold for though my body be made of soft and squishy stuff, my soul is a veritable pillar of stone." Swish By Mighty Crom! you frosted fiend, thou will perish on this sword of justice.... Swish ....and when I say Crom, I am of course refering to my shoes... Swish ...and so on. Brave Caerendil meanwhile in a devious tactic had turned the Mirror Image spell upon himself and was distracting one of the giants, cleverly preventing him from engaging the other fighters. Then, seeing one of the giants with the crossbows preparing to fire, he flew at the weapon and attempted to knock the tree-trunk sized bolt from it's perch on the crossbow. Although he used all his strength he could not move it. The giant, angered by the bard's pesky interference, attempted to swot the flying hero. Unfortunately he lost grip of his mighty ballista where upon it flew through the air directly at Dirkwood. The hobbit had just failed miserably to sneak behind the other giant with a crossbow and had subsequently been outwitted by the aforementioned giant who pretended that he had not in fact seen the hobbit and when Dirkwood made his move to backstab the giant, the latter did turn and fire his crossbow at him. The hobbit laughed at the fast approaching sharpened tree limb, made a clever side step manouver and deftly caught the deadly missile with his chest. "That's gotta smart," thought Caerendil. The hobbit reeling with a 400lb pole sticking out of his chest then cleverly dodged the onrushing crossbow. In a daring move, he caught it with his head, a most unexpected tactic which inspired the giant with the crossbow who decided to load up again and see what part of his body the hobbit would catch the next missile with. Meanwhile dwarves were falling before the mighty blows of the giants who were in turn falling before the mighty blows of the dwarves. The other members of the party were giving the remaining giants a right seeing to. They fell back in awe before the Paladins mighty weapon as so many others had done before. The cavern reverberated to the sound of screaming and gushing bowels. The giants were curiously quiet however. In a cunning move, Caerendil threw iron filings into the face of his giant adversary, partially blinding him. Seeing that he was terribly handicapped and with his unguared back beckoning, Sagacious and Brother Kelly did made haste to join the fray with Caerendil who continued to distract the giant while the two priests prepared mighty blows to bring the giant crashing down. Swish... Swish... After this Caerendil decided to leave the unharmed giant to the priests whilst he flew off to distract the giant who was preparing to shoot the bard's good friend, Dirkwood Littlelegs - Urn Bane. The giant turned to attack the bard but could not defeat his cunning magics. The giant's back now bared, Dirkwood, having pulled the crossbow from his hair and having chewed the bolt down to a nub so it couldn't get in the way, leaped! With a couple of precisely placed thrusts, the hobbits sword and dagger severed the life supply to the giants most important organ. Rapidly flying out from between the giant's legs, Dirkwood gave the giant the tinyest of pushes and he collapsed to the floor sending a cloud of ice and snow swirling up into the cavern. The battle was over, the dwarves were down and out. A success by anyone's standards.
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	Chapter Five: I Wish I didn't have to Wish And so, on the afternoon of November 7th, in the year 1564 of our Lord Bob Geldof, it came to pass that the party of adventurers were greatly shagged and weary of the fight, especially Ulric and Von Genscher who were unconscious. The party retreated to the comparative safety of the dragon's lair. There was much gnashing of teeth and emptying of bowels as the brave souls decided upon their next course of action. The mages and priests were depleted of spells and the fighters, those still standing, were suffering from repetitive strain injury of the sword arm. "We must rest!" pleaded the mages, fearful of being defenceless in the face of another attack, "and change our underpants, for they are mightily soiled." Caerendil the Brave stepped forward. "Fear not O' skirt wearing ones," he bade them. "I shall bravely scout ahead and spy upon these giant dudes, in order to ascertain their numbers and whereabouts so that we might slumber in safety." "Thank you brave Caerendil," the party chorused. And so he went forth amongst the caverns and caves and did espy many a giant, ogre and other fearful creatures, before returning to the dragons lair.Upon hearing his report there was much fear and anxiety. "Alas, we are undone." cried Brother Kelly. "Who will save us now?" "Err guys," interrupted Caerendil the Brave. "I might have a solution to our dilemma." "What?", the party replied. "You know how I found this ring thingy on one of the pour souls who fell before the deadly Remorhaz?" "Yes! Well?" "I have applied my extensive knowledge and immense powers of deduction to decipher its cunning runes..." "And? Get on with it you nancy pillock." "Well, I believe it to be a ring of three wishes." "What?" "Yes. I'm pretty sure." "Now you mention it!?" "So what shall we do? It was clear from my patrol that the giants and their kin are preparing to leave, no doubt to support the attacks on the city of Gorna. Forget not that Brother Kelly did espy hill giants entering these very caverns undoubtedly looking for aid. We have a job to do gentlemen and by Bragi's enormous cod-piece we will do it or may we never bury our heads in the unfeasibly large cleavage of a Valkyre and go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" There followed a long, long discussion and the arguments swayed this way and that. Sagacious suggested that a wish be used to prevent any being from leaving the room in which they currently stood. It was suggested that perhaps one should wish for full hit points but the difficult sub-clause of fully rested in order to be able to learn new spells was proving difficult to write. "You cannot have ANDs and similar grammatical forms in your wish." Brother Kelly said. "Alas I fear you are right. The Mighty Being of Light and Wondrous Things that is our DM is a cunning and devious soul and will undoubtedly twist our words to some cunning and devious meaning of his own suiting and we shall be marching up dragon drive without a dwarf. No my friends we must too be cunning, devious, linguistically clever and above all, precise." "Bored." said Erlan quietly. Thus there followed another long debate during which the wind blew and Erlan grew increasingly bored and figity. Being an ignorant soul and superstitious of the potentially huge benefits of the cunning and deviously crafted wish spell that was being formulated by the superior minds of the party, young, honest, devoted Erlan fearing the effects of the proposed magic upon his fallen dwarven comrades delved into his backpack and withdrew a small bottle of a mysterious nature which he quaffed. With his strength boosted to that of 100 dwarves or 1 Ulric, he picked up the unconscious dwarves and did make haste to the exit from the dragons lair. Seeing that the issue of the spell's wording was now at jeopardy, Caerendil the Brave in a flash took upon himself the eonerous task of deciding the vital contents of the wish and promptly, without further ado or messing around, or indeed any faffing of any sort spoke the magic sentence. "I wish that all creatures in these caverns be prevented from moving more that 40 feet from their current position for no more, no less than the period of 5 days. Make it so." In the farthest reaches of the minds of the party a voice was almost but not quite perceptable. It was a most cunning and devious voice which said, "Thank fuck for that." And so it came to pass that the party of brave souls did rest, slumber and masturbate through 5 cold days and nights. Young Erlan tended to his leaders needs and along with help from the priests they were made well again. However due to a slight oversight the dwarves were restricted to a 40' circle which did leave them more exposed to the cold then the rest of the party who were snug in the dragon's lair. Fortunately the dwarves are a tough and resourceful race and did as dwarves will. They winged bitterly like school girls before building for themselves a most condemned looking igloo which nevertheless survived just long enough to see them through the five days of the confinement. The remainder of the party were warmed by the bard's many happy and humorous, sad and wondrous tales, ballards and poems. In addition, being a priest of some standing, the bard was able to cast 'Create Campsite' spells which allowed his magic minions to seek fuel, cook and erect tents for the party. Thus after 5 days the party were rested, re-charged with vigour and ready for the fight. The dwarves sulked at the back of the dragon's lair and kicked the mounds of coins about in a disgruntled manner. With Caerendil the Brave leading them, the party left the confines of the lair. The bard scouted ahead to see what had become of their enemies. The Ogre Magi, resplendent in their strange armour were still stoically testing the confines of their cell, and finding that they were once again free were preparing to leave and seek out the purportraters of the deed. The Ogres, still feeling a tad peckish were finishing off the remains of 4 of their former colleagues, using the finger bones as tooth picks. The visiting Cloud giant, angry at never having been so insulted by his hosts practical jokes before was fuming on the floor, the charred remains of his bed by his feet. The hall of the Jarl was still full of Frost giants who were also finding that they too were now free to leave. Following the report from Caerendil the Brave, the party, with the dwarves still sulking at the back leapt into battle.
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	Chapter Six: Ogres and Ogre Magi So after 5 Days of R & R, the party is ready to continue the purging of the Ice caverns. The Dwarfs seemed to be in a sullen mood with many dark glances at the Bard. The party put this down to 'killing things' withdraw symptoms. The Bard is sent ahead to do some scouting, while flying invisibly. He comes back and reports that ahead is a cross roads with Ogres to the left, Ogre Magi to the right and Frost Giants ahead. The party decide to steam right in, with the Paladin & Brother Kelly in front, the Magic users and Dirkwood in the middle and the Dwarves bringing up the rear and still sulking. Caerendil throws a force wall across the passage ahead and Sagacious casts Evard's Black Tentacles into the Ogre Magi's room. "Lets see them get pass that", thinks Sagacious rather smugly. This leaves only the Ogres to be deal with. Dirkwood flies into the Ogre cavern and heads high towards the ceiling to try and hide in shadows. The Bard of Bragi casts SLOW on the approaching ogres and gets about half of the brutes in the spell's area of affect. Brother Kelly demonstrates his intentions by hurling a spear, borrowed from Sagacious, though the head of another. He and the Paladin then charge in and much killing ensues, with the fighters at the front and Dirkwood backstabbing from behind. At the same time, four Ogre Magi 'appear' outside the ogre cavern. A little know fact (well not known to us anyway) is that they can turn Invisible at will. So they had snuck out of their cave before the Tentacles spell had been cast. They had then waited for an opportune moment to strike. They did so now, with 2 Ogre Magi casting CHARM PERSON on Weedol and Sagacious, and another 2 casting CONE OF COLDs at the Dwarven Wedge, (Ulric, Erlan & Von Genschler), from front and behind. (We did know they had magic). Mr Weedol, with the famous Elven resistance to Charm says to the Ogre Magi near him... "Fancy meeting you here. I have not seen you for a long time". Sagacious gives his reply by stabbing the beguiling Magi with his big spear. The Dwarves looked frost bitten and throughly pissed off, but they continue with their charge towards one of the cold-tormenting Ogre Magi. More chopping in the Ogre cave with Dirkwood dropping one of his swords for every attack out of three. Outside, the Ogre Magi in front of Sagacious turns invisible again, the Dwarves continue their charge towards a visible Magi. Weedol chats about the weather with his new found friend... The Bard flying high above the action finds out another fact about the Magi (well we did not know it), they can fly. Their leader is now up there with Caerendil and is trying to gut the Bard with an Oriental-style halberd. A sort of flying kiss-chase ensues with the wily mistral trying frantically to stay out of harm's way from his beasty oppressor. The Dwarven wedge has reaches one of the Ogre Magi responsible for their 'artic-look' beards. The Dwarves wade in and chop the poor fellow into so much gerbil shit. The frenzy of the attack is such that the Ogre Magi literally explodes. His gory remains splatter the nearby forcewall, coating it mightily in a gruesome rorschachian display. Then, having dispatched one Ogre Magi with ease, the Dwarves wheel in tight formation and look for another target. They lock onto the Ogre Magi talking with Weedol. The Dwarven Wedge picks up speed as it charges towards the monster. The talkative Ogre Magi notices the approaching dwarven formation and decides to unleash it's Cone of Cold. This biting cold ray, kills Erlan outright, knocks Ulric unconscious and leaves Von Genschler as the only surviving member of the once proud wedge. Another Ogre Magi appears next to Sagacious and cast another CHARM PERSON spell at him. Sagacious failed his inherent 30% CHARM immunity roll and so it's simply down to his save. He needs a 10, he rolls a 3. But, the wily priest informs the DM that he has a +4 against charm for high Wisdom, a +2 for his ring of protection and another +1 from his PRAYER spell, so he has in fact, saved....just. This is important as Sagacious has two lighting bolts ready to go. The DM grumbles and mutters things like '..not like this in the good old days...' Sagacious again stabs the hulking fiend for his friendly overtones. The combat continues, the trio in the ogre cavern are making heavy weather of the slowed & stupid creatures, Weedol continues with his conversation with his long lost Ogre Magi friend (Von Genschler is nearing the pair), the bard has been grounded and forced to engage in a titanic blunt stick versus Oriental Halberd combat with the Ogre Magi Leader. Sagacious notices a trail of blood materializing on the floor, moving in the direction of the forcewall. He prepares a Lightning Bolt spell, as it's source can only be one of the injuryed Ogre Magi. Unfortunately, by the time the Priest of Athena has retrieved all the necessary spell components, the bloody trail has moved out of the Priest's vision. Sagacious then turns and spots that the Magi chatting to Weedol is standing in the open and in a clear line of sight. The Mage/Priest of Athena unleashes the bolt at the fiend and the Ogre Magi takes 39 points of damage.... OK Sukh over too you to complete this exciting tale.
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	Chapter Seven: Aftermath ....in last week's episode.... ........Sagacious could not fire his lighting bolt into this melee so spun round looking for a target. He spotted that the Ogre Magi chatting to Weedol, was standing in the open with a clear line of sight. He fired the bolt at him and the Ogre Magi took 39 points of damage..... .....and the Ogre Magi lived still! Abeit charred & blackened by the ferocious bolt of lightning cast by the wise, but impetuous Sagacious. The priest of Athena felt exaltant with his handywork, an emotion which would have been frowned upon by the elders of his order, experienced as it was, from an act of violence. But Sagacious cared not, the recently obtained spell from the mage Weedol had proved its worth, no more would his comrades ridicule his power, no more would he have to endure cries of "tosser" & "nancy boy" from his peers. He had proven himself a powerful mage-priest of Athena, proud and true. That would still the tongues of his associates, that would make them think twice. They would now 'fear' the dire retribution that would befall them if they dared affront him again. As if in a trance, as if time itself was standing still, the power-satiated priest scanned the room quickly, he could see his companions were indeed stunned & looked on in awe. Dirkwood the halfling stood transfixed, his mouth open. Brother Kelly and the Baron Paladin looked on in amazement, half-heartedly parrying blows from the slowed ogres. The others too, all stood silent and rooted, awed by his forcefully unleashing of magical power... ...and Weedol, surely he would offer congratulations for the sucessful casting of one of his premier spells. Sagacious scanned the ice cavern for the elven mage, & then back again, the figure of Weedol could not be seen..... A sudden chill came over the Mage/Priest of Athena, a doubt entered his mind & his power-induced trance quickly evaporated, Sagacious looked across the cavern again, his vision drawn inexorably towards the charred Ogre Mage, who was now, reading himeself to try and fend off the killing blow that was surely coming from remaining dwarf. The priest's vision, suddenly focuses like a hawk, tunnelling bizarrely, on the charred and blackened remains of a backpack....the mage Weedol's backpack.. High above the glacier, in billowing clouds hidden from mortals eyes, a winged clerk wearing a shining toga, reaches over to a red telephone. ...Brr Brr, Brr Brr, yes, it's me, get me Athena, we've got a code 501... Time regains its normal pace as the party members resume the melee. Von Genschler quickly dispatches the blasted Ogre Magi and looks across to Sagacious to see how the death of the elven mage has affected the priest. The dwarf has seen the death of friends before and knows how the sudden grieve and shock can deabilitate even the most powerful warrior. But the dwarf is stunned by the Priest's apparent lack of concern. Sagacious is instead completely calm and has his wits about him, as he notices a Cloud Giant emerging from an adjacent cavern and gracefully moves away. Von Genschler is bone-weary and in need of healing, but the sight of the Priest of Athena containing his grieve so superbly, provides him with renewed vigour. Gripping his axe in both hands and barking an old Dwarven War Cry of "Posh Spice takes it up the Arse!", Von Genschler charges to meet his destiny against the onrushing cloud giant. Meanwhile, Brother Kelly & Baron Quentin have dispatched the slowed ogres but are now meeting stiffer opposition from their unslowed brethren, the pair have been backed against a cavern wall and the ogres have formed a semi-circle of death around them. Dirkwood continues his diversionary 'Guerilla Acrobatics' at the rear of the ogres by pretending to backstab the hulking brutes and then at the last moment, sending his swords sailing to different parts of the cavern. This cunning strategym occupies 3 of the foul creatures. The situation is beginning to look very grave indeed when suddenly Brother Kelly has a thought! ( What another one I hear you cry - DM) He yells to the Paladin over the din of wild swings & embarrassing misses. "Cover me, my comrade, I have a plan!". "Ok Dude", is the Paladin's curt reply as he fends off another blow. The Paladin of Osiris pushes the remaining Ogres back with a flurry of arcing blows & several blood-curdling war cries about his all powerful boots (?) Brother Kelly slips into the respite provided by the gallant paladin and opens his belt pouch and reaches inside... The ogres pound Orisis's Servant mightily, blow after blow rain down on plated-mailed figure. But Baron Quentin gives no quarter, his sword "Snake-Nibbler", already slippery in his grasp from Ogre Blood, replies to every attack with equal ferocity. Brother Kelly produces a gem, the priest stares deep within its facets, and commands "Laclan, heed my call, thine help is required....NOW!". The face of a cloud giant appears within the gem, the giant looks at Brother Kelly and replies "I come!". With that the Priest returns the jewel back into his belt pouch and rejoins his much-oppressed defender. The two godly servants then tear into the ogres ranks with renewed fury. Meanwhile, outside the ogre cavern, the remaining party members regroup and debate how best to help Von Genschler against his new cloud giant adversary. This issue is soon settled when the bloodied and broken body of Von Genschler the dwarf, sails over their heads and strikes the cavern wall above them. The body then falls to the floor with a sickening thud. The party members gaze upon the open, lifeless eyes of the dwarven warrior and then back again at the rapidly approaching giant. Various spell effects are unleashed forthwith, and these coupled with the severe blows already inflicted by the late Von Genschler, stagger and slay the giant fiend. The gigantic body sways and totters, until finally plunging forward..... The party members at ground zero, all dive for cover and remarkably, all make sucessful dexerity rolls.... .all except of course, the prone & unconscious body of Ulric Von Himmler.... A magical mist appears in the cavern and the figure of another giant begins to form within... Meanwhile, after a concerted effort, Brother Kelly, Baron Paladin and Dirkwood have put the remaining ogres to the sword. They emerge from the ogre cavern bloodied but trimphant. The materializing figure is now fully formed, as Laclan the Cloud Giant answers the summoning call of his former saviours. The party look around the cavern for further enemies but find none, they then look upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and much grieving is done. Party members tell Sagacious that it's 'ok' to cry, but the Priest of Athena listens not and maintains his calm and happy exterior. This steely strength of being, brings forth even more grieving, as the Paladins howls, Brother Kelly sobs, and Dirkwood makes sure that all the fallen have all their belongings with them....by rifling through their backpacks/pockets/mouthes/etc. The grieving contines some more, especially when it is discovered that the recently departed have left no wills on how to distribute their wordly goods...... Caerendil the Brave thankfully, brings this self-indulgence to a abrupt end by using the power of his ring and another WISH spell to bring back the souls of the fallen. Back to their earthly bodies, back to their former comrades, and yes back, from spending the rest of eternity in the bosums of numerous & willing valkyrie. And thus it ended.......for now.....
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