The Battle of The Lea, Part 3 -- Liberation

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About the Saga

The Blackrazors finally reach The Lea and fight a difficult battle with ogres, hill giants, and fire giants. Victorious, the party ends the siege and successfully completes their mission for the Grand Duke of Geoff.


Timeframe


Cast of Characters

Notable Quotes

“I have no compunction about using Lance of Disruption on this prisoner.” – Baldwin

“I do, because you’ll miss.” – Gideon


What Has Come Before

The Blackrazor guild of Obsidian Bay, the Pomarj, has returned to Geoff to help fight the good fight against the giant-kin that has overrun the devastated country. They’ve been tasked by the Grand Duke to assist with the fight against the giants who have besieged The Lea, and they have been battling their way across the countryside to get there. These battles have included defeating a pyrohydra and several warbands of hill giants, ogres, and orcs. Along the way, the guild has picked up a member of the local Steelstormers guild, and together they have finally arrived outside of their destination.


The Saga

Patchwall 9, CY 590

Having camped the night before a safe distance from The Lea so that they could rest and rememorize spells, and so that they could covertly assess the situation at the besieged locale, the reinvigorated Blackrazors thought today would be a good day for an initiation fight. And so, calling in by teleportation their new guild weaponsmaster, and some additional BRs to watch, Tanevir announced that Erilar would fight Tempest. The fight only lasted four rounds, as Tempest used his skills with his whip to keep Erilar from holding onto his weapons long enough to score a hit. When finished, the guild’s clerics healed Erilar. Then Falgar teleported out with the visiting guildmembers and D’Klar, leaving Kannett to join the party. Gnarth, however, hid until the teleportation was over, effectively joining the adventuring party as well before anyone could object to the annoying gnome’s presence. The Blackrazor contingent now stood at: Tanevir, Kalib, Erilar, Troll-Greggor, Baldwin, Kannett, Gnarth, and Gideon.

After the initiation pit-fight, the party’s next order of business was to interrogate the ogre they had captured the day before. From this ogre the Blackrazors learned that the giants invading Geoff are following the orders of their “sky gods”. They learned that the giants talk to the sky gods in the King’s city, and that these sky gods are not like regular giants. In fact, they are many times larger than any giants this ogre has seen, a statement that leads the party to make numerous jokes about the sky gods squishing giants’ heads between their fingers. Learning all this insignificant ogre could tell them, the party quickly slit his throat.

At about 10 o’clock that morning, the party finally got back to business, and began to direct its attention to The Lea. From their reconnaissance they were able to ascertain that the giant forces had amassed around the palisades that surrounded The Lea. The large number of giant-kin was divided into three large contingents equally spaced around the wall, with two of the groups being mostly ogres and orcs, and the remaining group containing most of the giants, including three fire giants. This group was on a slight rise outside of The Lea, and seemed to be leading the siege. Naturally, the Blackrazors decided to attack this group first. The party spelled up and began moving into position to assault the giants and their minions.

Troll-Greggor tried to sneak towards the humanoid forces, but was spotted by the giants, who readied their troops to attack the advancing party. Seeing this, those with magic or long-range attacks opened fire. Tanevir, thinking defensively, threw up a Wall of Thorns between the party and the giants. Gideon used his mind to Mass Concuss the ogres closest to the party. Baldwin cast an ice storm on the fire giants and the ogres closest to them. Invisible and flying, as usual in battle, Tanevir advanced and unleashed a Lance of Disruption on one of the fire giants. Those Blackrazors whose close range attacks were more effective, and who felt a particular enmity towards giantfolk, such as Erilar and Kannett, advanced quickly, drawing the attention of some of the enemy group.

The giant-kin party was initially disrupted by the Blackrazor attack, and scattered a bit. Unfortunately for the guild, they regained their wits (well, what wits they have) and advanced their counterattack. Gideon again reached out with the power of his mind, slaying three charging ogres with another Mass Concussion. Tanevir used the sickly green ray of his Disintegration spell to eliminate a hill giant. The fire giants responded, hurling boulders that explode in Fireballs. One of these exploding boulders hit the running Erilar, as did a second rock that did not explode. Gnarth, standing next to Erilar, dodged the Fireball, and then in a rare wise move, quickly placed some distance between himself and his elven guildmate.

At this point, the remaining ogres and hill giant ran to get around the Wall of Thorns and engaged the Blackrazors, while the fire giants continued to lob spell-charged rocks over the Wall. Having become invisible so that he could close to melee distance with the fire giants, Kalib attempted to hit one of them with a touch-ranged Curse spell. Unfortunately for the cleric of Trithereon, not only did the spell fail but he became visible also. Noticing the enemy in their midst, all three fire giants dropped their boulders and swung their greatswords at Kalib, all landing devastating blows. Tanevir came to Kalib’s aid, throwing a Force Cage around his friend, effectively taking him out of the fight, but by doing so undoubtedly saving him from being slain by the fire giants.

On the other side of the wall, Gnarth sneak-attacked an ogre that has flanked Erilar. Troll-Greggor rended through the ogres that reached him. As the rest of the ogres and hill giant closed, the hill giant reached Kannett on a charge, slamming the Dim ranger mightily. Erilar attacked in whirlwind fashion, dropping two ogres. Kannett tried to defend himself against the hill giant, but missed with his attacks. Gnarth saw this, and moved to help his friend out.

At this point in the battle Tanevir realized the Blackrazors could use some help, and used a scroll to summon three genies to aid them in their fight. The genies immediately began to attack the fire giants, helping the Blackrazors in their attempt to defeat these hearty foes. However, The battle was far from over, momentum pitching wildly from side to side with virtually every attack. Troll-Greggor killed two more ogres that made it around the Wall of Thorns, and another sonic blast was heard as Gideon hit another with his concussive mental attack. One of the fire giants retaliated against the genie that appeared before him, slaying it outright. Another fire giant rocked Kannett with his powerful attacks. Even Gnarth proved to be useful, killing the hill giant and an ogre. His attacks against a fire giant were much less effective, however.

As the battle furiously reached its end, the casualties began piling up. Tanevir utilized a Hold spell to freeze one of the fire giants, who was summarily slain when the genie next to it sliced through its tough neck. At the same time, beyond the Wall of Thorns, Kannett fell, unable to withstand the repeated beatings at the hands of a fire giant. Using his magic to escape from Tanevir’s Force Cage, after healing himself up a bit, Kalib appeared next to the fire giant that dropped Kannett and made short work of it with Justiceseeker. The final fire giant attacked Troll-Greggor, inflicting a Curse upon him that reduced the Blackrazor’s incredible mobility. Before the giant could take advantage of Troll-Greggor’s new condition, however, Gideon used his mental attack to Inflict Pain on the fire giant, dropping him to the ground, barely alive and unconscious. When they see the last fire giant fall, and realize that the attacking party has destroyed an entire one-third of their besieging force, the other two contingents of giant-kin turn tail and run for safety amid the wilds of the brushland of Geoff. Realizing both that the battle is finished and their mission has been successful, the Blackrazors breathe a sigh of relief and tend to their wounds. Once they’ve regained their composure, they waste no time looting the remains of the giants and ogres laying around them. Their haul consists mostly of coin and gems, both in copious amounts. The magic items they did find consisted of two rings (water walking and protection +2), a short sword +1, a potion of levitation, and a scroll with Fireball on it.

Troll-Greggor decided this would be a good time to interrogate the fire giant that lies before him, so he called Kalib over to heal it slightly so that they can beat information out of it. From the dying monster the party learned that the giant’s name is Halgerath. He was the leader of the force of giant-kin besieging The Lea, but he was following the orders of a fire giant named Malendaren, who leads the giant forces from the overrun city of Pregmere. When questioned about the sky gods, all this creature would say was that the sky gods are all-powerful and those, like the foolish frost giants, who oppose the sky gods’ will face their wrath. Because the fire giants have accepted the rule of the sky gods, they bask in their glory and receive their aid to claim the lands of the puny humans. Further questioning, and beating, revealed that the sky gods first appeared to the fire giants five or six turnings ago, matching the time that the giant invasion began again in full force. When the giant lapsed into the repetition of a description of the sky gods (flying, wrapped in light, lashing out with flames), promising revenge on the party, the Blackrazors got fed up and killed the beast.

Collecting themselves, and readying themselves to enter The Lea, the Blackrazors watched as Kalib communed with Trithereon and Raised Kannett from the dead. Trithereon extracted a monetary payment from Kannett to advance the efforts of his church and taxed him an experience level as well. Whole, the adventuring party entered The Lea triumphantly, amid the cheers of the long-suffering residents who had witnessed their salvation by the chaotic devastation of the Blackrazor guild.


Experience

Not available.