Session #25

Wow, #25
We started playing this on October 1, 2004.
Last night's game date was May 28, 2005.
Almost 8 months for 25 sessions later, and last night was possibly the ...well you'll just have to read and form your own opinion.

Everyone save Brian was in attendance. Brian was at a cottage off with his wife for the weekend.

Next week, Brian is having his last day of school (he's a teacher). So he's out once again. Jeff will be on vacation in Florida. And Joe will be late again, which will most likely be a permanent thing, thanks to his new job.

No new areas were explored last night, as a few intentional and unintentional loose ends were tied up.

So we get to reuse an old map

We last left the party in the vicinity of room J27. They had just rested up in the master bedroom suite inside the troll's lairs.

Now they want to return to the fire giant queen to give her the "home" of the demon (efreeti) and get their weapon back. Well not really. They actually intend to go to her and remove her evil from the region.

Side note: Krieg, being an exalted cleric, was on the verge of losing his exalted status when he let the azer slaves get punished by the fire giant in room J25. That basically means that the exalted feats he is using, would become useless until he properly atoned. This DM contemplated making it worse on him at the time, but let it slide for the time being. Of course, the DM didn't say anything of this to anyone, letting patience and curiosity hold sway.

First the party decides to stop off and talk to the free azers that are mining away in room J39. They asked the azers for help. A less than stellar Diplomacy roll later didn't improve the azers' dwarf-like attitudes. The azers refused to help the party, but told them that the enslaved azers were welcome to return here if they were freed.

The party's response was "Don't you want to help your own kind get freed from their enslavement?"

"If they can't survive, then they don't deserve to be with us here."

So the party moves back to J27 and casts any buff spells with a minute or more duration.

Area J22: The last time the party moved through this region, they had to avoid some falling rocks that a fire giant had warned them about. This time the giant was bracing up the same region. What the players didn't know is that he had caused the first set of falling rocks as a kind of redneck joking around. This time he intended to do it, but the party looked a little too badass. So nothing happened here.

Yet.

Area J19: This area had 3 fire giants working away on crafting some weapons or armor. They remembered the party as they walked through the region. Plenty of hateful stares came from them too. The party paid no attention.

Room J20: The party had the intention of bursting into the room with a level of surprise. That plan was spoiled as one of the fire giant generals spotted them coming down the hallway.
"...Let us see what the adventurer's achieved", he said.
"Do you have the troll leader's home as I had asked? I have your weapon right here."
"Yes queen. We have found the home. But you will not be getting it back and we'll be getting the sword back from your corpse."

Round 1:
Thunderclease steps forward and takes a chunk out of one of the 3 fire giant generals.
Zorak casts Greater Invisibility on himself and maneuvers himself into position to cast Cone of Cold next round.
Krieg casts Prayer.
The 6 chained up azer slaves step back away, and cower near the lava pool.
Dalron gets closer to melee.
The fire giant generals move into position to attack an enlarged Thunderclease. 3 hits later leaves him with 40% hp remaining - including the bonus hp from Enlarge & raging.
The robed fire giant queen stands up from her throne and begins a speach about peace through warfare. It is actually an Enthrall spell with a DC17 save (with a +4 bonus to saves thanks to combat). The azers, Torin, and an invisibile Zorak fail the save and stop in their tracks to listen to the queen speak.
Valden casts Righteous Might on himself and moved into melee.
Torin listens.

Round 2:
Thunderclease downs a giant.
Zorak listens.
Krieg casts Silence on the floor in front of the Queen, ruining the Enthrall spell.
Azers listen.
Dalron tumbles behind a general to for a backstab attempt.
The fire giant generals swing at Thunderclease, both with their full attack action (+20/+15/+10). The first one hits twice bringing Thunderclease down to less than 10hp. The second one hits for nearly 30hp. He then cleaves into Valden, bringing Valden to about 60% hp.
With Thunderclease now dead, the tactics of the entire party fall into disarray.
The fire giant queen moves and attacks Dalron (she is still in the Silence area of effect though).
Valden casts Sanctuary on himself, believing he's the last line of defense for a retreating group.
Torin stays under the effects of the Enthrall spell for this round.

Round 3:
Zorak remains under the effects of the Enthrall spell for this round and the next.
Krieg casts Greater Command on all of the fire giants. "Disrobe". The generals save. The queen does not (and guess what line of humor this led to...ugh). Krieg then begins backing out of the combat.
The azer slaves remain under the effects of the Enthrall spell for this round.
Dalron tumbles back to where he was a round ago.
One fire giant general fails to save against Valden's Sanctuary spell, having no one else to attack, he moves forward to attack the rear echelon of the party - starting with Dalron. The other general does save but only hits once thanks to Valden's ridiculously high through buffing AC. It's 30.
The fire giant queen takes off her robe. (And so it begins...)
Valden casts Divine Power.
Torin moves into a combat flanking position near a fire giant.

Round 4:
Zorak goes through his final round of being charmed.
Krieg, not being sure if the party is fleeing or not, decides to move back to the party.
The azer slaves dive into the pool of lava for safety.
Dalron takes a several swings at the giant near him. Thanks to Torin's flanking, Dalron does about 40% of the giant's hp in damage.
The fire giant general attacking Dalron rolls pathetically (4,2,& 3). The other does some heavy damage to Valden.
The fire giant queen fails her new chance at freedom from the Greater Command spell. She proceeds to take off her weapon belt. (Cue music!)
Valden takes a few swings at the fire giant he is taking on. 25% damage.
Torin gets some nice damage in on the general he and Dalron are double-teaming.

Round 5:
Zorak, now free to act, casts Cone of Cold and strikes the general Valden is facing and the queen. Both fail their save.
Krieg heals Valden.
Dalron finishes off the flanked fire giant he & Valden are double teaming.
The last fire giant general takes another chunk out of Valden, but does not drop him.
The fire giant queen fails another save.
Valden casts a healing spell on himself, defensively of course.
Torin moves to protect Zorak. Just in case.

Round 6:
Zorak casts another Cone of Cold. The general fails his save, but he's so low on hp that it doesn't matter. The queen fails her save and drops.

The party collects their thoughts and prepares for reinforcements.

Note: The queen would have yelled for reinforcements, but never had the opportunity thanks to her being silenced. She was also not a spellcaster, just dressed like one. She also would have discussed terms of surrender with the party, but also, never had the opportunity.

The party was able to talk to the azers. They asked the azers if they knew a back way out of the room. Nope. But the azers did promise them that they knew someone that would tell them where the queen kept her treasure if the party led the azers to safety.

The party healed up the best they could, looted the giant bodies, and Krieg (now Enlarged) picked up Thunderclease's corpse and headed back to...

Area J19: The 3 working fire giants had not heard the last combat as they were too busy working. When the party returned they paused and the party spoke.

"We've slain your queen. Let us pass and none of you shall be hurt."

One botched intimidate roll later and the 3 fire giants picked up one of the new greatwords from their pile and readied themselves for a fight.

What they weren't ready for was an invisible Dalron.
The combat went quite quickly. Zorak nailed all 3 with a Cone of Cold (barely).
Dalron moved to fight the center giant and it didn't last long against an invisible attacker.
The giant on the left tossed a boulder at Torin and then fled for reinforcements. The party was unable to pursue.
The giant on the right tossed a boulder at Valden and moved into melee with him while shouting for help.

The middle giant was finished quickly and the right giant didn't last much longer. They got a few hits in though, draining the party of more spells spells for healing.

The party rushed to get back to the safety of the stairwell that leads to region I. As they approach the bridge to the lava river they notice that is seems to be writhing and undulating more than you would expect. And in fact, the writhing seems to follow the party.

They noticed it, but hoped it was nothing more than an aspect of the lava flow that was new to them.

HA!
Right. Like they'd get off that easily.

They were close to the bridges when hundreds, possibly even thousands, of small winged beings burst from the lava river. They hovered above the river and stated in near unison to the party that they could not corss without paying the price.

"Well what is your price?"

The lava & steam mephits turned their hate-filled towards Zorak and screamed, "Give us the murderer!"
"Murderer! Bring us the murderer!"

Note: Lost? Don't know why they don't like Zorak? Re-read the first fight of session #23 where Zorak cast Cone of Cold into the lava river. The river is nothing but a flow of steam and lava mephits. He killed many of them and their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And why did the mephits act this time instead of when the party last crossed the bridge? The party had protection from the fire giants. The mephits saw the fight and concluded that the party's deal with the giants was off. And the mephits were happy to assist the giants.

Well the party was not about to pay that toll, so they turned an ran back to area J19. The mephits did not follow.

Area/Hallway J22: The party began running down this hallway and met the fire giant again...but he was with the giant that ran away from the last fight. The party thought they had enough resources to deal with 2 giants...barely.

Round 1:
Krieg rushes forward, thinking that he will be joined by Valden.
Valden moves forward, but not into melee. Instead he casts a combat buff spell on himself.
Dalron moves forward to as close as he can get into melee. He increases his AC by going on full defense.
Zorak hits the giants with an Ice Storm spell. He is unable to use a Cone of Cold because of space. And he only has 1 such spell slot open.
Torin moves forward, but will not move directly into melee if it could cost him his life.
One giant takes a 5' step forward to get his full attack action on Krieg. The other must move more than that, so he only gets a single swing. But none-the-less, Krieg has only 10hp by the end of it.

Round 2:
Krieg dismisses his Shield Other spell on Dalron, casts a healing spell on himself on the defensive.
Valden moves forward and heals Krieg some.
Dalron moves forward and goes on full defense once again, hoping to save Krieg's life (think of it as returning one of many favors).
Zorak casts Haste.
Torin moves to just a couple steps out of melee.
The giants attack, but cannot target Krieg without losing their full attack action (he's 15' away). So they go for Dalron, their only other target available. The first giant leaves Dalron with under 20hp. The second giant rolls a natural 20 on his first attack, and then confirms the critical. Damage is 6d6+30. The damage die rolls are pathetic; 3,2,2,1,1,& 1 for a total of 40. But that is more than enough to do him in. Dalron falls into a heap at the giants' feet.

Round 3:
Krieg casts Flame Strike. Only the holy damage of the spell does anything. The giants must save to take 6, failure meaning 11. In other words "not much".
Valden takes a couple chunks out of a giant.
Zorak drops another Ice Storm on the giants. This is enough to barely drop one giant.
Torin moves forward and does some damage to the other.

Round 4:
The second giant falls to the combined attacks of the remaining party members.

Justin: "Haha! You guys suck. Everybody knows that only losers live."

The party quickly heals up. And heads back to the only room they have been to that doesn't get too hot; the luxurious room in the troll area.

The DM let the party know that they were done fighting for the evening.
Jeff (to the DM): "Thanks for the favor."
DM: "Oh don't thank me for that. You've killed everything that could have gotten in your path."

The next morning, Krieg prepared a single Raise Dead spell (they only have enough diamonds for one use). But who will he use it on? The party discussed this for all of 15 minutes while they were...

Leveling!
Krieg is now a level 11 cleric.
Valden is now a level 10 cleric.
Zorak is now a level 11 sorcerer.
Torin leveled, but we will have to wait for Brian to decide what class Torin will level up. (Either ranger or rogue probably.)
And when Thunderclease was raised, he regained his level 10.

Humor note: Thunderclease began the evening with 50,000xp. After being raised, he ended the evening with 50,000xp.

Zorak identified the equipment they looted from the giants. They found a giant-sized suit of chainmail +1, a giant-sized short sword +2, a giant sized dagger +2, a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, a Ring of Greater Energy Resistance (fire), and a great Circlet of Persuasion (+5 to charisma skills and Enthrall 1/day).

Next week, Dale brings in his new PC.

Session #24

The week leading up to this week's game was an unfunny comedy.

We already knew Brian was not going to be able to make it. And Joe made us aware that he was going to be late. Then Dale said he'd be even later thanks to some family matters. And finally, Justin for whatever reason thought we weren't playing.

So we just started a little later than usual and played a little later than usual. So for about 1/2 hour, Aaron and Jeff each played 3 characters.

When the session was in full swing, Jeff was playing Torin, & Aaron was playing Thunderclease.

Jeff & Brian will not be able to make the next session. Brian is missing for a variety of reasons. Jeff has some kind of job-related super-training.

Otherwise, the majority of this session consisted of 1 big fight...

Oh, and Joe did read the blog last week.

Map

The last session ended with Torin scouting a few of the rooms near room J27 and reporting his findings to the party.

The party discussed their options (at this point the players were only Aaron & Jeff, so the discussion was about 5 seconds long). The decision was made to attack the 2 trolls in the northern passageway and push it along. And they wanted to try to get the help from the azers in room J39, since the azers weren't evil and were enslaved by others in the region.

So they sent the invisible Torin back to this room to talk them into assisting them against the trolls.

Room J39: This large room had a large layered pit in it where 4 azers toiled to get the many gemstones present. Twelve other azers walked back and forth along the northern edge, clearing rubble and collecting any newly harvested gems.

Torin snuck up on the nearest azer and spoke to him.

"Don't be alarmed. We need your help with fighting trolls." (Or something to that extent.)

One below average diplomacy roll later.

"Intruders!"

The azer took a blind swing at the invisible Torin and connected. The other azers grabbed some makeshift weapons and came to the sole azer's aid.

Torin ran away.

So the party prepped to fight a couple of trolls.

Jeff: "This will be a quick fight. I won't need Righteous Might."

Hehehe.

Room J30: The party entered this room from the souther corridor. The top edge of that passageway was blocked by 2 trolls, as had been scouted out by the invisible Torin. The smoke of the region prevented vision from reaching any farther w/o getting closer. Previous attempts by Torin to get a closer look resulted in very low Move Silent rolls, which alerted the trolls and forced them to pay more attention.

The party had cast most of their standard buffing spells (Haste, Enlarge, Bless, Prayer, Greater Invisibility, etc.), and they rushed the trolls.

They had thought they would only have to face 2 trolls and this would be a minor blip of a combat...

What they see as they head north through the hallway is a large brass colored room with a large fire in the middle, 10 trolls hunched very close to the fire, and a very large demon bathing in the fire.

The demon delivers the standard Big Bad Evil Guy speech (BBEG) equivalent to "Destroy the intruders and feast on their bones!"

Round 1: Standard positioning and attacks on both sides. Size works against the trolls as the party attempts to set up the standard "Conga line of Death". Valden casts Righteous Might. Zorak drops a Fireball on several of the trolls. The trolls are last on the list of initiative, and so 2 of them get knocked down by the party before they can get some return fighting in. The demon flies up, casts a quickened Scorching Ray at Thunderclease, and then turns invisible.

For most of the rest of the combat, the trolls face a constant stream of setbacks as the party is able to limit the troll's attacking positions. In fact the trolls are almost a footnote in the whole combat. They act as a roadblock for the demon.

Round 2: The party proceeds to pound the trolls. No sign of the demon. The closest members of the party make notice that the trolls seems to be unusually close to the large fire.

Round 3: Continued troll pounding. The bodies of the large unconscious trolls begin to block the combat area, slowing movement. Torin and Dalron, and anyone w/o the ability to face a standing troll, chops up trolls even further. When they hit -100hp, they were considered out of combat, to be easily dispatched at a more convenient moment.

Round 4: The piles of troll bodies gets higher. Zorak attempts to back up a few squares and hits an invisible barrier. The rear party members step into action and take blind swings at what they believe to be the demon. They are correct. The demon had intended to take out the rear of the party, but its plan had been ruined by the confinement of the space. It's plan ruined, and the party more than capable of dealing plenty of damage to it, the demon lashes out with another quickened Scorching Ray this time at Zorak (with a crit), and then turns invisible again and flies off.

Round 5: The party returns to teaching the trolls a lesson. Valden casts Invisibility Purge, rendering the demon, Zorak, and Dalron visible. The demon at the time is above the party about 20' and out of reach of melee weapons. Zorak blasts it with a Cone of Cold, hurting it further.

The demon says "Would Master like me to summon some assistance?"
One of the trolls replies "Uh...yeah."
The demon waves his arms and a large red dragon appears behind the party.
It takes a single swing at Dalron and misses.
Trolls move away from the mouth of the hallway, in preparation for a fiery blast.

Round 6: Thunderclease stays near the main battle while the rest of the party turns to fight this new threat. A couple of Dispel Magic spells dispels the dragon and reveals it to be merely a distracting illusion.

"Would Master like some healing?"
"Uhm...ok."

The demon waves his hands and many of the trolls are healed. It then lands back into the fire.

The trolls return and finally begin to inflict some damage.

Round 7: "Would master like me to finish them off with some lightning?"
"Yes!"

The party gets assaulted with a Chain Lightning, centered on Thunderclease. Low rolling on the DM's part makes the damage laughable. (The DM then "retired" those dice.)

Another Cone of Cold hits the demon.

By the end of the round only 4 trolls remain and the demon has taken over 150 damage.

Round 8: The demon flies off to the side and out of sight of the party, but not after hitting Zorak with a quickened Scorching Ray. It then filled the combat area with a Wall of Fire.

More trolls get a nice nap. But not before getting a chance to return some damage.

Round 9: The demon, having only 10hp left, charges Thunderclease, attacks him, and gets a crit that deals 30 points of damage. This puts Thunderclease pretty low on hp, and his rage is close to ending.

But Valden is able to do the last little bit of damage to the demon. At that point it burns down to nothingness, dropping its equipment on the floor.

Valden, using his flaming greatsword +2, goes around and finishes off any still-twitching trolls.

Krieg and Valden then hand out enough healing to drain them of every remaining spell they have over 1st level.

-----
Changes to this encounter (as later revealed to the players):

There was a pit trap in the hallway. Those who fell in it took 10d6 falling damage and then had to make a saving throw or to be polymorphed into a grey ooze. It felt this was a bit much with a big fight nearby. So I removed it and made some other alterations to the demon.

The demon was really an efreeti. It had less hp than it needed to survive a fight with the PCs. So I gave it +100hp and some spell resistance of 17. But I also weakened its wishes during the fight because a properly used wish could be a TPK. Three wishes guarantees it.

And finally the trolls were heavily changed. Their AC was increased to 24, regeneration increased to 7, and all of their stats had been boosted.
-----

Finding only the demon's sword, armor, and magic ring, the party badly needed rest and began to search for it.

Room J31: This was small but immaculate closet. The party moved on.

Room J33: This room was a bedroom of paradise and decadence. The only thing that worried the party were 2 statues of armored trolls. Smelling a trap, the party sends Dalron into the room to search.

He found a chest under the bed area. He searched it and found a trap. He botched the attempt to disarm the trap and the trap triggered, and so did 4 identical traps. He had to make 5 reflex saves vs. a Fire Trap spell. He succeeded on all but the last 1, taking a mere 16 points of damage.

Inside the chest the party found 900gp, 1000sp, and a jeweled bottle that registers to Zorak as lingering magic, but no longer magical. That's when the party realizes what the demon really was. This was the home of the leader of the trolls.

The party decides to rest in this room as it is comfortable in a temperature in addition to the luxuriousness of it. But they definitely post a guard and stay clear of the statues...just in case.

They wake up refreshed.

Zorak determines the magical abilities of the items they just found; a suit of chainmail +1, a ring of feather falling, and a unholy keen scimitar +3.

Everyone in the party, except Torin, sees the need and duty to destroy the scimitar. They decide to find a suitable place to destroy this evil item.

The party then discusses a deal they didn't like taking, but feel they had little choice in it. They decide to head back to the fire giant queen, and take her down.

The DM, knowing that a situation like this won't take 15 minutes, says "Ok, session over..."

So we'll pick up next week with the party's plan to bring down the big queen.

Session #23

And now it's time for Sean's Movie Reviews:
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
I never read the books. I did listen to one of the books on tape.
I went to this movie not expecting all that much.
I was not disappointed. My wife liked it a bit more than me, but only because of the "Coming of the Great White Handkerchief" bit.

Justin could not make it tonight. He got called in to work. So Brian played his character.

Brian will probably not be able to play for the next 3 weeks. Torin is going to be hurting for some XP after that.

On that note we discussed inviting a new player to the group as we've had a couple people expressing interest. Our group is currently at 7 total. But we consistently have only 6 showing. Joe and Justin weren't there for this, but they have each said before that we're maxxed out on players. A few minutes of discussion and it was decided to not add anyone new for now.

Joe was running late. We called Joe's cellphone and let him know that Dale was running Zorak. That scared Joe pretty good. He made it here in record time.

Joe had also had an awesome day. Apparently his whole day had gone well. Unfortunately for us, Joe is a bit of a spaz. Ok, that's kind of mean, yeah. But when Joe is having a good time he'll sing, chat, humm, chat, whistle, chat, make noise, chat, flip through books, and chat. Now he also had a good D&D night. Usually I just do what I can to bring him back to reality. Tonight, nothing worked. I dealt to him 8 points of constitution damage, 2 point hits 4 times. This was after 2 warnings, and 2 points of smartass damage. I don't think any of it even phased him. I could have killed Zorak and danced on the imaginary grave and Joe wouldn't have been phased. So oh well. Now if you're reading this Joe, mark off the remaining con damage. To the rest of the group, don't tell Joe to read the blog entry. I just want to see if he is reading this thing.
:)

Otherwise, we were also all distracted on our own. (Dale took a couple hp hits from it as well.)

And to make things even worse, the DM became moodier as the night went on. More distractions in the game = less nice DM.

But in spite of all of that, they explored a huge section of the map and got a lot done. The first half of the night was filled with combat.

Take a look
Big map

The party had rested up in the stairwell between regions I & J.

Their next step was to attempt to cross the bridge they saw last session while near...

Room J15: This room was barely recognizable as such. It had been charred black with an occasional fused-to-the-wall bone sticking out. Dalron heard "We shall feast on your soul", whispered into his ear. Then he tried to talk back. And everyone looked at him like he was crazy.
Then everyone took a point of damage from foulness of the area. Valden cast Detect Evil and the room was full of it. Then everyone took another point of damage.
Then everyone left the room.

The party headed towards the bridge along the "river's" edge until they saw the magmin at the edge of their smoke & steam obscured vision.
They saw dozens magmin praying or swimming at the edge of the river.
The party took a few tentative steps towards the bridge, weapons out but down.

Next is the beginning of a sequence of events that lasted 2 1/2 hours...

The halfling-sized magmin rush towards the party. Some walking along the edge of the river and others walking & swimming through the river.
Krieg cast Tongues, hoping to avert combat with 100+ magmin (from room J17).
He then spoke, "We do not seek to fight you."
A single magmin responded while other magmin were maneuvering to surround the party (under the lava), "Why are you here?"
"We are here to explore"
"Heretics! Infidels!"

(No round by round combat this time, sorry.)

The magmin rushed out of the river, having the party all but surrounded. The only escape is to clear path or cross the bridge.

There is also the option to fight.

The party decided to decide after a round or 2.

Krieg attempted a Greater Command spell on the magmin. "Flee". It worked perfectly, but those that ran were quickly replaced.
Dalron dashed accross the bridge. Zorak cast Haste and hightailed it over the bridge as well.
Torin & Thunderclease each took a few swings on the magmin. Thunderclease took down 1 and almost dropped another. Torin was able to nearly drop 1, then drop it the next round. But they each had to save for their weapons or the weapons would melt. That scared them.
Magmin attacked the party, but only got a few hits in. And since most of the party had fire protection spells, it was minor. Thunderclease didn't have such a spell on him, and a magmin lit him on fire.
Krieg and Valden scampered (hehe) onto the bridge.
Torin and Thunderclease were the last to get onto the bridge. Thunderclease was "put out" with a little patting and a protection from fire spell.
Zorak, from the bridge, cast Cone of Cold onto the magmin on the edge of the river and into the river.
The result, the magmin in range were killed, but the area of river that was hit disappeared with a loud scream. We're not talking that it turned to stone, it "poofed". It quickly filled back in, but the party found that to be odd. (Everyone in the party made their save vs. loud noise or go deaf).

That was more than enough for the magmin to run back to their home. It was also enough to get some attention from something else. New combatants entered the combat, but without the party's immediate knowledge.

Island J18: Dalron, Torin, and Krieg were investigating a statue no the souther tip of the island while the rest of the party were healing and getting off the bridge.
The DM rolled 2 d3's, for random targeting. Both rolls targeted Krieg.

Now I want everyone reading this to whistle. Start with a high pitch and then slowly bring it to a low pitch. That's was they heard.

And the Krieg got smacked in the chest with a big burning rock. And then a 2nd. Had he not had a fire protection spell on he would have taken around 60 damage. But he still took 40+. That's 2/3 of his hit points.

The party went back on alert. The next round 2 more burning boulders hit 2 more party members. The party made some decisions based off the information they had:
- The party can only see 60' thanks to the smoke & steam of the area, but not all of the region's denizens have that same problem.
- Giants throw boulders + this is a fire region = probably fire giants (it sounds dumber than it actually was, I think the party is used to me throwing them curveballs....dangit)
- The boulders came from the north (remember, their map at the time was smaller than what you see). That means the boulders came from something on the island or from something over the bridge.

The party consensus, go over the 2nd bridge and either find their new attacker or get some cover.

The broken area southwest of J19 on the map is where the party mostly resides. But the party is not acting as a unified force.
- Torin and Dalron hear metal banging on metal coming from J19, but their vision won't let them see what they hear. So they generally hide and keep watch.
- Zorak stands out in the open, casts Greater Invisibility on himself, and investigates the area.
- Thunderclease, Krieg, and Valden take cover and heal up.
- Later Zorak casts Greater Invisibility on Thunderclease while Thunderclease looks for a backway to their targets.

Eventually Zorak spots 2 fire giants looking for something to throw a boulder at. He surprises them with an Ice Storm spell. They flee back to their area of J21.

When the Ice Storm spell ends, Zorak moves up to find his targets. He finds them hiding in cover. He blasts them with a Cone of Cold and runs away. Thunderclease, knowing what the Cone of Cold means, rushes in to finish off the giants before his rage ends.

While this is happening, Torin hears, "Hey, someone is killin' Grogguk!"

Torin and Dalron freeze in place, but the giants have some really good spotting skills. They're spotted and each takes a boulder to the shoulder :)
The giants close the distance and pull out their giant greatswords.

Thunderclease coup de graces the last of the original giants. Zorak can't see his party members through the smoke, and moves back to where they were to see them concerned about something else. He moves closer while yelling for Thunderclease.

Torin, using his Spring Attack feat, gets a couple of swings with Eight Strikes Fang in (regular attack + haste attack) and then darts away over 30'.

Valden moves closer to the new melee, but can't make the whole distance.

Krieg blasts the giants with holy fire in the shape of a Flame Strike spell. The giants are immune to the fire half of the damage, but they aren't immune to the holy damage that looks like fire.

Dalron, knowing he is the only target, believes that he won't survive the Attacks of Opportunity from running away. So he takes a 5' step back and goes on full defense.

The 2 giants step forward 5' and each gets a full attack round. Now Valden is within the 10' reach of the giants.
Giant #1 has 3 attacks at +20/+15/+10. Dalron has 49hp. Swing #1 hits. Damage is 3d6+15 damage. All rolls are made in front of the party. The DM rolled 3 6's. Dalron takes 33 damage and is in real danger of hitting -10 on another hit. Amazingly, the other 2 attacks miss.
Giant #2 has the same stats. Swing #1 soundly hits Dalron and does 24 points of damage. Leaving Dalron at -8. The giant has the feat Cleave and so he swings on Valden and hurts Valden bad. The 2nd swing from the giant landed squarely on Valden's chest and knocked him down to exactly 0 hp. If swing #3 hit, he was dead for sure (again). The DM rolled a measly 4. Dangit.

The rest of the combat is relatively quick and painless for the party. Zorak gets in and blasts the giant twice with Cone of Cold. Valden healed Dalron and passed out. Then Krieg healed Valden.

Combat over.

The party can still put up a fight, but not much of one. Healing spells are spent like water. Zorak has only a couple useful ice spells left.

And worse, the party must choose to either move forward and hope to find a suitable place to rest or to head back accross the bridge and face the magmin.

While the group is discussing options, a pathetic excuse for an azer fearfully approaches them.

He tells them that he has been sent by his queen and that she would like an audience with them. The party agrees to, foolishly trusting the DM to not screw them over.

The party is led by the flinching azer through area J19 as a very angry fire giant glowers at them while it pauses its smithing of a giant greatsword.

They are then led through the hallway to room J20. The hallway has many paintings of giants killing trolls.

Room J20: The party sees a huge room containing a dozen slave azers, 3 fire giants standing over a large granite table holding a map, and a black-robed fire giantess sitting bored on a granite throne.
She spoke to the party calmly and uncaring, "I know what you are, adventurer's, and I know what you're here to do. For that I could care less, but you have cost me 4 soldiers..."
"But they attacked us..."
"I could care less. You aren't in a position to claim anything. You have two options; we kill you or you kill the demon in charge of the trolls."
The party attempts to bargain for just about anything. She repeats the conditions and the only information the party gets is where the trolls and their demon leader are (northeast) and a guarantee of free passage to their resting place near region I. Plus the party has to leave something with her as collateral, and she asks specifically for Dalron's mystery sword.

He hands it over and they return to their spot. Zorak gets many angry stares from the magmin.

They rest w/o interruption...dangit.

Area J23: A fire giant heaves chunks of iron ore into a very large smelting pot. It barely notes the group's presence.

Area J26: This area is full of rubble but it has a slightly cooler feel to it. The party logics that since trolls are not fans of the heat, this must where the trolls lair at. Torin travels forward and easily makes his reflex save to prevent himself from falling down a pit.
Further investigation shows that the entire area is one big pit trap and the rubble and volcanic ash hide its purpose.
The party turns around, hoping to find another route to their target.

Area J25: A fire giant oversees a group of slave azers hauling chunks of ore. An azer falters and gets a severe lashing from the giant. Krieg vows to get this giant later, but for now he can't.

Area J22: As the party travels down this corridor, a fire giant warns them to be careful, (using a mountain hick accent) lots of falling rocks around here. Shortly afterwards several chunks of rocks rain upon the party.
Some minor damage later and the party gets through the area.

Room J34: A small crater rests in this room. Dalron enters to search the area. Shortly after he does the crater shoots out a small blast of lava filling the room with burning smoke. Dalron easily saves and gets out of the room without a scratch (that don't happen often does it?)
:)

Room J27: This room was investigated by an invisible, scouting Torin. He found that the northmost end of the northern hallway had 2 trolls guarding it and the eastern hallway did not.

Room J29: Torin investigates this room and quickly triggers a trap. He leaves and does not return.

Room J39: Several azer toil here in a mine of some sort.

Torin then returns to the party and tells them what he saw.

We then stopped for the evening.