!!Lost Mine of Phandelver Campaign Thread!!

Quote from IAmButADream >>

Nyx yells out as the giant swings at Lyngheid. "I have seen creatures like you before... but last time I had to pay admission!"

OCC: As a reaction before turn 18, Nyx uses Cutting Words to lower the Fire Giants attack roll by 3 . If the roll is 3 or more, then it misses Lyngheid and shes gets her 21 HP back.

Nicely done!  The giant looks confused mid-swing, then realizes that you insulted him, which throws off his aim and Lyngheid manages to catch it on her shield.

And Umbriel guarantees the missiles land!  The Fire Giant drops, his body propping the door open!

What's everyone do now?

"I suggest we all move into the next room, in case that young whelp finds his mother and they both come back looking for trouble. It looks a bit more secure in there, from what I can see at least." 

Umbriel helps some of the slower dwarves along, and gives Droop a thumbs up. 

Nyx ducks over the body and has a quick scan of the next room, her crossbow at the ready.

OCC: Perception  11

The party and the dwarves climb over the slain giant's body into the next room.  The immediate relief from the heat of the previous area is noticeable, you didn't notice how hot it was until you got out of the heat.

The next thing you notice in this room is an enormous wheel made of iron gears and wooden spokes.  The wheel is rigged to the bucket chain that travels throughout the forge.  You see ten dwarves and ten humans collapsed on the floor by the wooden spokes, they are panting heavily.

There are also the bodies of two ogres in the room, and hallways and doorways to the south that you haven't had time to look at.  Immediately across the room is a raised portcullis leading to a chamber filled with gnawed, blackened humonaid bones.

Quote from Gorthmorg >>

"I suggest we all move into the next room, in case that young whelp finds his mother and they both come back looking for trouble. It looks a bit more secure in there, from what I can see at least." 

Umbriel helps some of the slower dwarves along, and gives Droop a thumbs up. 

 The original dwarf nods.  "Aye, not only the mother, but now that the buckets have stopped turning, Duke Zalto himself will be here to see what is going on.  He's probably already on the way."

He looks around.  "We need to move this giant's body and block the door somehow."  He nods to the hallway to the south.  "The duke will be coming from that way, where the slave pens are.  There's more dwarves and humans in there, guarded by hobgoblins.  We should block that hallway somehow, or prepare to fight."

Lyngheid moved in, " The kennels only have one way in or out.  We'd be trapped but the giants could only enter one...or maybe two at a squeeze...at a time."

Lyngheid ran her eyes over the others wounds, " How long will it take the Duke to get here?"

She blew a kiss in Nyxs direction, " Thanks, thought I was history there for a moment."

" Massages are on me."

( If the Duke is going to be 10 mins or so she'll begin a Prayer of Healing.  If not then everyone chug your potions because she's getting low on healing power.)

Baeshra looks to the others, "Wait, do we want to box ourselves in here in the middle of their fortress, or try to retreat back to the entrance and barricade that?" For whatever time he has left on his spell, he'll throw out 12 hp per round to those who need it most.

"We run!"

Ireniana. "If we want to move the body somewhere, I can help." 

While the talk is happening, Nyx searches the bodies.

OCC: Investigation 20

The dwarf replies, "Less than a minute!  They don't like when the bucket chain stops!  There are more slaves in the slave pens too."

Baeshra, you cast the spell about 3 rounds before the fight ended, lets say it's been another three rounds as people shuffled into the room over the giant's body.  So that's 3 sets of 12HP heals you can dish out. 

The discussion about what to do continues...

Umbriel's mood darkens. "I'm almost tapped, but I don't like the idea of leaving anyone behind. Who knows what those vindictive bastards will do if we run and can't get everyone out? It'll be as if we killed them ourselves. We need to stop them here, and now. You," he says, pointing at the lead dwarf. "I never got your name, sir. I apologize. Can any of you fight?"

Umbriel pulls out a dagger and his Dagger of Warning, and offers them up. He then casts False Life on himself for 5 temp HP, and slathers some of the Keoghtom's Ointment on his arms to regain 7 HP. 

The dwarf nods.  "I'm Dulbrek, that's my son Ermdohr.  From clan Gulbrahom."  We're all pretty exhausted, but better than those, and he points to the dwarves and humans lying panting on the floor under the slave wheel.

Dulbrek takes the dagger, and then tosses the Dagger of Warning to Ermdohr.  "It won't be pretty, but we can stab some shins."

"What about magics? Any of you have some powerful stuff left? There's going to be a shyteload of Fire giants here shortly."

" We've got near a dozen Sons and Daughters of Moradin here.  Maybe we should let Zalto go get some more giants to make it even?", Lyngheid grinned, though with her reserves tapped she wasn't as confident as she was projecting.

She called Droop over and handed him her Greater Healing potion, " Your faster on your feet than I am. Use this to get folks back up if needs be."

Off the other dwarves looks, " Aye, he's a goblin.  But he's my goblin, so lips buttoned."

Droop hobbles over, and takes the potion with a nod.  "Droop is tired though!  So exhausted it is slowing your goblin down.  Need some horse flesh."

(Greater Healing Potion added).

Quote from KestrellKestrell >>

Droop hobbles over, and takes the potion with a nod.  "Droop is tired though!  So exhausted it is slowing your goblin down.  Need some horse flesh."

(Greater Healing Potion added).

 

 

" Try some giant? Hellhounds probably a bit too spicy."

"Ireniana, if you and Baeshra can prop those bodies up against the door, that may buy us some time. Nyx, Whistler, if you want to look for a way we can get the non-combatants out of harms way, that would be helpful. Lyngheid, Dulbrek, you might want to start preparing that smaller room for a choke point defense fight. Droop, take a moment and collect yourself. I'll see if there's anything magical in here we missed..."

Umbriel casts Detect Magic and walks around, looking for anything that can be of help. 

( I have no idea where everyones hp is right now...but looking at the damage a single hit from a giant does I think I'm better off picking you up when you go down than buffing you now......of course I could be wrong and it will be my fault when we all die.)

Lyngheid nodded and headed into the kennels to see if the cage doors could be wedged open to further tighten the quarters and what else could be done with what was at hand to reduce the giants ability to move effectively.

History? Dwarven Battle Tactics vs Fire Giants: 18

Nyx, you don't find anything of value on the giant's body or the ogre bodies.

Lyngheid, while walking over to the hell hound kennel, you glance down the hallway that Dulbrek pointed out as where more slaves are and see it extends for a good while before turning to the east.  An iron portcullis at the doorway to the Hell Hound Pen is raised up, you can see two large iron cages, each with a door latched open.  Other than the gnawed and blackened bones, you don't see much else. 

From what you can remember about fighting Fire Giants, you know it's best to hit them hard.  And fast.

Umbriel, your Detect Magic spell doesn't pick up any new sources of magic.  But you notice an office in the south west corner of the room.  A huge obsidian mug sits atop a desk sized for a fire giant.  Iron doors in the western and southern walls lead to storage rooms that contain crates of rations and barrels of water.

Dulbrek replies to Umbriel: "I don't know how long we can hold out if we hole up in one of these rooms.  Zalto is going to be fit to be tied!  But it's better than nothing, I guess.  We'll check on the slave cages." and he and Ermdohr head for the hallway.

Baeshra starts shaking his head, "I have almost no power left, can't even shift any more. I would have trouble facing down even the ones that just fled, if they bring back more and their more powerful leader, very likely I'd be overwhelmed quickly. I still say we're better off taking who we can now and returning to the surface. At least there we could either flee in the skyship or count on it for support from above."

Umbriel looks around at the weary faces of his companions, and realizes just how tired he is, too. "Perhaps... perhaps you're right. We know Zalto is going to be pursuing us, perhaps we should lure him out and to the surface, we may be able to find something there we can use to our advantage. Let's gather who we can. If they're chasing us, they won't have time to hurt the remaining prisoners."