After a good night in town, the whole party wake up with hangovers. They had celebrated their newfound wealth in style, and now it was time to make use of the good will they had generated by recovering the mayor's hat.
Local Events
It's market day in town and the traders have rare and exciting goods on display. 1 extra Rare item is available to buy.
Hard Times
The Thrappled Lemmings donated some of the meat Sir Thiebault had hunted to the local inn who prepared it and fed the group. 1 Ration used to cover upkeep costs.
Campaign Activities
With full bellies, the party were in a good position to make best use of their time in town. Naturally, this meant that they chose to Meet the Locals in the tavern and to Gamble some of their wealth. They met plenty of people, but discovered nothing of interest. Their attempts at engaging in games of chance were equally unsuccessful and they walked away from the card table 2 Marks poorer.
Trade
Lysanthir recouped the party's gambling losses by selling off the spare gear they had. The price was not great, but Marks in the pocket are better than potential Marks tied up in gear in the stash.
Research
Discussions with a local noble result in the offer of a contract. He wants the party to slay a Giant that has been terrorising people in the area and will pay 4 Marks upon receiving proof that the monster is dead. Lysanthir immediately accepts, despite the misgivings of the rest of the party.
"This thing is bigger than all of us! Can we really handle it?" they chorus.
"Of course we can," announces Lysanthir, "We just need to cut it down to size, like eating an elephant. We'll merely eat one bite at a time."
The mixed metaphor and the reference to eating a mythical creature confuses the rest of the Lemmings enough that they shut up while they think about what Lysanthir had actually said. This gives him enough time to get directions to the likely site of the monster's lair just a half day's travel from Haitabu.
Adventure
Before the rest of the Lemmings can gather their scattered wits, Lysanthir sets off in the direction of the monster's lair with the party's savings in his purse. This leaves the rest of them little choice but to follow him in case he ducks into a nearby tavern and spends it all. There is much grumbling and muttering against their leader, but it is water off a roc's back to Lysanthir, who is now thinking of all the gold the merry band will gain from this adventure.
Before long, they are marching through scrub and light woods towards an old burial area. grave mounds are scattered all over, and there are signs that the giant is in this area. The huge footprints are a dead giveaway!
"Fulrad, you are our scout. Scout the area for the giant."
Fulrad grumbled about being only arrow fodder for the party, but moved out quickly enough. As stealthily as he could, he advanced through the scrub to check out the open doorways to the mounds. Reaching the first of the mounds, he peered into the mound, straight into the face of the giant. It was awake and it was angry. He ran back to the rest of the party, pursued by the giant.
The others advanced to the edge of a copse of light trees, and the giant changed direction to deal with them. Reaching Sir Thiebault first, it swung its huge sword at him. He blocked the blow with his shield but was thrown backwards through the air twenty feet. Rising quickly, Sir Thiebault charged back into the fray.
"SCRAG THE GIANT!" he yelled as his battle cry.
His sword carved a grievous wound in the giant's leg. Drogo, using Sir Thiebault as cover rushed in and his axe cut deeply into the giant's flesh. Emboldened by the others' success, Wido charged in, aiming to gain the name of giant-killer. The giant dodged his blow and hit him backhanded with its sword. Wido flew thirty feet through the air and did not move again. Lysanthir then charged in with his sword and caused another wound to the giant. It was bleeding badly now, but seemed unimpeded by its wounds.
Sir Thiebault followed up his earlier success, only to be cast thirty feet through the air by the giant's counterattack. Fortunately, his armour held and was unharmed, unlike Drogo who was thrown ten feet back into a tree by the giant and lay senseless thereafter. Onesipe moved into position to shoot while Fulrad unleashed a volley of arrows that bounced off the giant's thick hide.
Sir Thiebault attacked once more but the giant thrust him backwards once more and he found himself picking leaves off his armour yet again. Lysanthir fended off the giant's initial attack, only to be thrown through the air as he attacked in turn. He lay in a swoon and did not stir again. Meanwhile the missiles fired by Onesipe and Fulrad did not seem to even bother the giant at all.
Onesipe fell next to the giant's attack, and Sir Thiebault found himself flying through the air once more, while Fulrad's arrows did nothing. Sir Thiebault picked himself up and launched himself into the fray once more, only to find himself launched out of it again. He blessed the armour he was wearing for protecting him through all this.
Fulrad closed in on the giant to support Sir Thiebault, who charged yet again. This time, his sword found its way past the giant's defences and he carved another large hole in the aberration. The giant paused and gazed stupidly at the blood that fountained from this new wound before staggering two steps and crashing to the ground dead. Sir Thiebault and Fulrad cheered and then went to check on their comrades and to check the giant's lair.
Looting the lair, the party found two warhammers, 1 Potion of Bear Draught and 4 doses of Misty Water Flower. Not a great haul, but all treasure is useful. Returning to Haitabu, the party collected 4 Marks for slaying the monster and learned that there was a mysterious stranger at Utstein Marknad. Rumour had it that this stranger was worth meeting for various, not quite fully explained, reasons, but that he would be moving on shortly (After Turn 7 of the campaign).
I cannot believe how many attacks I made where the giant won as defender. It all started so well with fantastic rolls to defeat the giant's Toughness, but then the rest of the game was characterised by my party's attack rolls all being terrible, until the very end.
Aftermath
- Lysanthir is wounded and will be out of action for 6 turns.
- Drogo is wounded and will be out of action for 3 turns.
- Onesipe was only knocked out and is better now, although his ears are still ringing.
- Wido was unhurt but his armour was damaged.
- Drogo and Onesipe both went up a level and gained +1 Combat Skill.
Bravo!
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