Against the Giants: Session Three, part one.
Jeez, this was one long session. 5:30 PM on a Friay all the way to I think 4:00 am the next morning. there had to be about two dozen giants in the Great Hall, plus eleven or so of us and 200 orcs. Even with orcs, 200 allied warriors is nothing to sneeze at. Burl brought along three huge boxes stuffed full of Warhammer Fantasy Orcs and Goblins, along with the usual giant repertoire. In case you're wondering, our D&D game uses miniatures and a small map to show the dungeon and where our characters our. It's a little like a game of Miniature Warfare.
http://www.otherworld.me.uk/gallery.html
Otherworld is a pretty good, albiet expensive, store of minis. (albiet, some of them are slightly Not safe For Work. Enter if you will.) Scroll down about halfway to find the giants. Mr. Hill Giant is the one that looks like Abe Lincoln.
My miniature isn't on there... one of these day's I'll upload a pic of it. July, 2009
It is with great anticipation that everyone shows up much earlier than usual; we crack jokes, devise alternative crazy plans, and warn the Gnome player not to do anything stupid. I also remember what was apparently an older player show up, one whom I had not seen before. Apparently he was in the original party waaaaaaay back when, during the Temple of Elemental Evil. (Years ago, for thode without a reference point) The guys playing Great Scott and Coleth welcome him and introduce him to the rest of us. We all ask what this guy is playing, and he pulls out a Gnoll Shaman.
Besides Il Triello, there’s me as the Grey Elf Illusionist, Duorddon the Halfling Gentleman, Rhonda the Grey Elf Ranger/Cleric/MagicUser, Valxian the High Elven Druid, Hwonalon the Gnome Fighter/Thief, Spugnoir the Human MagicUser, Kenneth the Human Ranger, Leia the Human Cavalier, another minor cleric whom I cannot remember, and two DM run PCs, Mongo the Dwarven Fighter and Oaklock the High Elven Fighter/MagicUser.
When Burl arrives we agree that we will begin this session on the top stairs leading up to the 1st floor. The orcs are behind the party; Spugnoir, Coleth, and Scott reacquaint us all with The Plan.
We had found a map of the entire complex downstairs, in the treasure room. Our scouts Hwonalon and Duorddon will go invisible, sneaking around and clearing a path for the party to split up in four groups, to take the north, south, east and west doors about the Great Hall, where most of the giant complex is partying. Each group will have about 60 orcs, armed and armored from the foes slaughtered downstairs. Spugnoir will go ahead of the scouts invisibly, taking a position in a secret passageway that leads to the great hall, from which he can gather a small army about him with a few summon creature scrolls and a summoned Air Elemental. We will hit them simultaneously with the Illusionist announcing the attack with a scroll of Spectral Forces, complete with fog, darkness, and a dragon’s roar. With luck we should overwhelm them with numbers and magic, with minimal losses.
At first the plan goes off with hardly a hitch. A few guards are taken down and the last the scouts see or hear of Spugnoir is him sliding into the secret passageway. Ogres, giants and a few orcs working in the kitchens to the west of the hall (fairly close, taking food and drink, and might otherwise alert the entire complex of our presence) are silently murdered, and it seems that everyone is in position on time.
Tovena’ar’s group approaches the southern doors, two huge, mighty portals. With him are Duorddon, Hwonalon, and the Gnoll Shaman, as well as 70 orcs. The guards of this southern gate have already been murdered in their sleep, and Tovena’ar prepares a few Phantom Armors and a Mirror Image, and reaches for the scroll…