Not as sneaky with a Paladin
Yesterday we played some Pathfinder, sneaking deeper into the giants' lair.
After defrosting the paladin (Dr. Zhivago or something like that) the party spent some time talking to him to figure out what he did and why. He was definitely on board with killing Mokmorren and ending the murder cult.
Unfortunately, he was also loud, and a couple of the more observant party members heard some giants reacting to their talking and coming to investigate. June made an illusion of the altar a few feet in front of the altar so that everyone could hide and let the giants pass, although the lamia and dragon corpses lying all around might have given away that something was wrong.
It didn't matter because hardly anyone else cooperated. Kaito and Altei snuck up to keep an eye on the giants to see if they were really coming, and the Doctor and Elyssie rushed in to attack them as soon as they saw them. Elyssie was trying to knock the giants unconscious, but it didn't work very well between various other peoples' attacks that weren't as good at doing nonlethal damage, and Phoof dominating one of the giants to fight on their side, who apparently either didn't know his own strength or was determined to struggle against the domination even if it meant 'accidentally' killing his own friends. Maybe he didn't actually like them much.
The deal had been to kill 'as few giants as possible' and not 'no giants', though, so it wasn't like they'd broken some sort of blood oath. They moved on.
Next, they came to a tunnel suspiciously draped in furs, floor to ceiling, on both walls. They tried to keep an eye out for traps, but it turned out it wasn't a *trap* so much as a pair of trolls hiding behind the furs and stabbing them with 15-foot-long spears.
The Doctor and Phoof stayed in the middle, defensively. Elyssie pulled out a weapon (gasp!) and slashed a hole in one of the furs so that she could punch the troll behind it, and June used that opening to fill the hidden room on that side with lots and lots of fire. On the other side, Kaito, Noggin, and Ash dueled with the remaining troll until he surrendered.
Kaito: "Drop you weapon and tell us everything you know about Mokmorren!"
He did. Unfortunately, he didn't know much. Still, he seemed cowed enough for them to leave him huddling in the back of his secret chamber while they proceeded onwards. They weren't sure whether the trolls were counted in their promise not to hurt too many giants, but whatever.
After the fur corridor, the tunnel snaked and spiraled downwards until it led to the corner of a suspiciously dry and plain square tunnel. They went left first, at the Doctor's urging, but it was a dead end, and they didn't have any easy way to look past the rockfall without wasting spells.
The other way, they found a room with confusing walls that seemed to (but didn't actually) shift position confusingly, and a rune-encrusted giant sitting on a throne. Some of them moved into the room to interrogate the giant, the Doctor in the lead.
Giant: "You shouldn't be here!" *runes start to glow*
The room flashed as the giant's runes glowed, and everyone inside (except the Doctor, whose paladin power of 'really high saving throws' protected him) was shrunk to small size! This... didn't actually do much. Elyssie had a potion of enlarge person to counteract the effect, and Ash and Kaito were (a) shapeshifters and (b) just as comfortable fighting when small as when fighting at normal size. So the giant didn't actually survive to do anything else.
Doctor: "Huh. I thought the giant would be harder, I was about to smite him. I'm glad I didn't waste it! I guess it's the room itself that's the true enemy..."
An enemy they had yet to defeat!
It's not like the exits vanished, though, so they might be able to defeat the room by leaving it.
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After defrosting the paladin (Dr. Zhivago or something like that) the party spent some time talking to him to figure out what he did and why. He was definitely on board with killing Mokmorren and ending the murder cult.
Unfortunately, he was also loud, and a couple of the more observant party members heard some giants reacting to their talking and coming to investigate. June made an illusion of the altar a few feet in front of the altar so that everyone could hide and let the giants pass, although the lamia and dragon corpses lying all around might have given away that something was wrong.
It didn't matter because hardly anyone else cooperated. Kaito and Altei snuck up to keep an eye on the giants to see if they were really coming, and the Doctor and Elyssie rushed in to attack them as soon as they saw them. Elyssie was trying to knock the giants unconscious, but it didn't work very well between various other peoples' attacks that weren't as good at doing nonlethal damage, and Phoof dominating one of the giants to fight on their side, who apparently either didn't know his own strength or was determined to struggle against the domination even if it meant 'accidentally' killing his own friends. Maybe he didn't actually like them much.
The deal had been to kill 'as few giants as possible' and not 'no giants', though, so it wasn't like they'd broken some sort of blood oath. They moved on.
Next, they came to a tunnel suspiciously draped in furs, floor to ceiling, on both walls. They tried to keep an eye out for traps, but it turned out it wasn't a *trap* so much as a pair of trolls hiding behind the furs and stabbing them with 15-foot-long spears.
The Doctor and Phoof stayed in the middle, defensively. Elyssie pulled out a weapon (gasp!) and slashed a hole in one of the furs so that she could punch the troll behind it, and June used that opening to fill the hidden room on that side with lots and lots of fire. On the other side, Kaito, Noggin, and Ash dueled with the remaining troll until he surrendered.
Kaito: "Drop you weapon and tell us everything you know about Mokmorren!"
He did. Unfortunately, he didn't know much. Still, he seemed cowed enough for them to leave him huddling in the back of his secret chamber while they proceeded onwards. They weren't sure whether the trolls were counted in their promise not to hurt too many giants, but whatever.
After the fur corridor, the tunnel snaked and spiraled downwards until it led to the corner of a suspiciously dry and plain square tunnel. They went left first, at the Doctor's urging, but it was a dead end, and they didn't have any easy way to look past the rockfall without wasting spells.
The other way, they found a room with confusing walls that seemed to (but didn't actually) shift position confusingly, and a rune-encrusted giant sitting on a throne. Some of them moved into the room to interrogate the giant, the Doctor in the lead.
Giant: "You shouldn't be here!" *runes start to glow*
The room flashed as the giant's runes glowed, and everyone inside (except the Doctor, whose paladin power of 'really high saving throws' protected him) was shrunk to small size! This... didn't actually do much. Elyssie had a potion of enlarge person to counteract the effect, and Ash and Kaito were (a) shapeshifters and (b) just as comfortable fighting when small as when fighting at normal size. So the giant didn't actually survive to do anything else.
Doctor: "Huh. I thought the giant would be harder, I was about to smite him. I'm glad I didn't waste it! I guess it's the room itself that's the true enemy..."
An enemy they had yet to defeat!
It's not like the exits vanished, though, so they might be able to defeat the room by leaving it.
prev | next