Luce In The Sky With Giants

Treas 27 - Còigeamh 10, 6638; next holiday: Summerset, Siathamh 1 (the celebration before the Summer Solstice on the 35th)

It took a while for me to come up with the title - or rather, to narrow it down. Other contenders were "All's Fae In Love And War" and "If You Can Dodge An Encounter, You Can Dodge A Fae Sword". I tried, and failed, to come up with a title-worthy pun on the fact that the storm giants could host them because their castle had mushroom.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Grogg, the White Mage

After spending a day in Sao Agua - and running into Grogg, a which mage who had somehow become very lost - the party decided to strike off towards the far west, to investigate the crystal scale, and the lost home of the ancient elves.

The going wasn't easy; along the way, they came across a village of trolls, and were able to make the canny trade of two pieces of meat for 500 electrum pieces. Later, they came across a storm giant, who was pulling a thunderstorm behind him and obliterating random objects with lightning bolts. He had a pleasant chat with them, and went on his merry way. He mentioned that he had a brother out in the plains, and recommended visiting the magical mushroom forest, if the party had the chance.

The party edged around a village of orcs, and barely managed to flee from a large village of troglodytes. Several days into their journey, they came across another storm; this storm was much larger, and hidden in a thick fog. Suddenly, the fog cleared, revealing an enormous castle! The party moved forward cautiously, and soon ran into two huge figures - more storm giants! These giants, Choka and Hrooma, invited the tired travelers in for food, drink, and rest (and to meet their son, Chat). The party gratefully accepted. After a Mary-Poppins-esque accent via cloud-walking to the castle itself, the party settled in to trade stories with the giants. The main course was an entire elephant, cooked over a huge fire like a roast pig, complete with a trunk full of apples. Eventually, the party headed to bed.

In the morning, the party debated about using the giants to travel safely to their destination, but the giants declined; it was a family vacation, and they were planning on moving in a different direction.

It wasn't but a day later, however, that the party ran into an army - the remnants of a Winter Fae scouting party! Caranthir attempted to intimidate them, but the paltry force of the party was not enough to match the fair riders, at least in their captain's eye. Even Rig was unable to keep them out of combat. The sylphs fanned out, with a line of cavalry in front of a line of archers; the archers immediately fired on the mercenaries, and destroyed the entirety of Rig's archers. Gróin, meanwhile, charmed the commander; while he wouldn't attack his friends, and the lieutenants refused to stand down, he would not use his considerable magic to assist them. And then... Quetgar. First leaping in front of the second line, then vaulting over their heads, his claws and teeth - hastened by Gróin - tearing through them like blood-soaked tissue. In the blink of an eye, he had shredded half the squad.

After two rounds of combat, Rig's mercenaries were decimated, but still holding their own. The Fae forces were shattered; Quetgar chewed through three squads himself. The others slashed through the haughty faerie-folk, cutting them to ribbons, and receiving few wounds themselves. Two unharmed squads fled, high-tailing it back to Fae lands. The rest were slaughtered. In fact, Quetgar leaped away from the squad he was attacking, snapped the neck of the captain, then returned to bring down an entire squad. His actions terrified the Fae; those who fled will return will tales of horror... whether that is good or bad is yet to be seen.

The Fae dealt with, the party healed their few wounds and moved on...

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 71 Trolls (avoided)
  • 174 Orcs (evaded)
  • 297 Troglodytes (evaded)
  • 4 Storm Giants (befriended)
  • 134 sylphs, 56 sargents, 9 lieutenants, 1 captain (6625 XP)
• Experience from treasure: none
• Total experience: 6625
• Treasure:
  • 500 electrum (traded for 2 pieces of meat)
  • 1 set of silvered banded plate armor (150 gp)
  • 3 sets of silvered chain mail (360 gp)
  • 59 sets of silvered scale armor (5310 gp)
  • Silvered scrap (1455 gp)
  • 80 light horses
• Total worth once sold: 7275
• Total weight: 333 stone
• XP per PC: 697
• XP per Henchman: 349
• The Metal Man refunded 349 in copper.

Why Are You Dragon, Dungeon Wanna Win?

Treas 1-26, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

The party found themselves next to a clearing. The area was an odd, round shape, not as organic of a shape as one might expect. In fact, the trees at the edge of the clearing were bowed, the middles leaning away from the center. Even the grass and weeds grew more sparsely in the middle. From the center of the glen, a faint sound emanated, like wind blowing past a thin shard of glass, or a thin, sharp sword cutting through the air. As the party squinted at the center of the field, most found their gaze misdirected - sliding past to look at trees, or sinking to stare at the ground. Only Rig, Quetgar, and Elenora were able to pierce the veil of illusion.

Speedrun

A'Chiad 15-Treas 1, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

Rig, as noted, headed to Forreston, to sell his wares; Caranthir and Quetgar stayed in Wallace, while Gróin and Llarm headed to Riverbend to study the books (and learn new spells). Quetgar learned what his ring does (finally), and took down a rather angry woolly rhinoceros that the ring summoned. Eventually, the party regrouped in Wallace, then headed out into the chilly winter. Due to luck or cold, there were few travelers on the road, apart from some chilly snakes. Once they reached the forest of the Winter Court of the Fae, however, they began running into quite a number of other creatures. They met - and avoided - an 8-headed hydra, and were greeted by five Sylphs, who sneeringly took their money as tax. The sylphs seemed very much on edge, however, and not in a mood to fight. Others had already told the party that the fae were all abuzz; why, however, they did not know. Something about a hunt?

Luce and Elenora's birthdays went by; Luce, offhandedly, mentioned that she finally turned 18.