[pnpgm] Game Update #50b - File #209 - Giant Combat

Scott Adams longshot at darktech.org
Tue Jun 17 05:05:35 CEST 2008


  HT Alias/Player          Character Name    Type    Status/Notes  Sex
  -- -----------------------------------------------------------------
  R1 John Haight...........Arawn.............Druid  .Normal/Alfar  Ma
  ?? Chris Wells...........Ben'dar...........Warrior.Normal/Human  Ma
  R1 Tom Corckett..........Caladan...........Wizard  Normal/Human  Ma
  W2 Marcel Liberty........Chion.............Sailor..Normal/Human  Ma
  -- Tobie Bonahoom........Fremea............Sidh....NormalFaerry  Fe
  Do David Sanders.........Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human  Ma
  R? J H Hooten............Raban.Usherwood...Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
  W4 Wout Broere...........Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human  Fe
  R4 Alex Koponen..........Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human  Fe
     Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra, Boyzdar [Wolf] (Strie'bog),
             
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     Game Update #50b in sequence (file #209)  
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
              
     Admin notes: Part 2 of 2.
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     [Recap]

        [None - previous Update]

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     [New Stuff]

        [Ma 1st, 1633TH. 4th Day of Adventure #4.
         Location: Apprentice Ye Kemu's Balance Domain, Dark Lands

       [Time: 2:21pm]

       [A few brief seconds before the first Giant growl.  Chion wonders
        out loud...]

       Chion: "Given our previous experience, should we perhaps attempt
          to communicate or subdue rather than slay these tallfolk? After
          all, we are in their domain, and not vice versa." [Smiling at the
          serendipitous nature of having the chance at two challenges on
          his first week home. No wonder he doesn't visit as often.] "Also,
          couldn't killing them lead to a challenge if they are someone's
          pets?"

       [Chion grins as just a few days before he learned the Giant tongue
        from Arawn in exchange.  Fate has dealt him a good card today.
        He isn't fluent in the language and tries to form the word he
        needs from the basic alphabet.  In the Kotothi tongue he speaks
        a single word.]

       Chion: "Halt!" [To some it sounds like a sneeze.]

       [Arawn and Fremea glance at Chion and seem to shake their heads.
        They know full well once these 2 sidh are seen no matter how well
        the persuasion they'll likely kill the entire group just to get
        to the sidh.  Sven pulls his battle axe from a sling on the back
        of his horse and twirls it.]

       Sven: "These beasts be no pets!  We kill in self defense!  If they
         were pets they'd likely be with a caretaker."

       [Then the Giant breaks its head through the trees and growls.]

       [Chion raises a hand and repeats his halt command to the open
        forest to the west.  Now directed at the giant.]

       [Ben'dar grabs his pike and levels it ready for a charge.  He growls
        back eager for combat.  But then he recalls the last time he fought
        giants when the Elf came.  Tef'wo was hit in the side by a tree.
        Both Tef'wo and Ben'dar were thrown several feet and hurt.  Tef'wo
        seems to notice and grunts in displeasure.  Ben'dar taps the side
        of the neck with his left arm to calm him.]

       [Raban dismounts off his large horse. ]

       Raban: "I can handle a forest giant without killing it if that is
         what you want. Fighting me would keep it away from the others,
         but if the second one joins in, I could have trouble handling
         both of them. Of course, softening them up a little first will
         help a lot."

       [Arawn slips quietly backwards and seems to fold into the forest
        itself and disappear.  Fremea continues to hover and waits for
        Chion to try to parlay.  Unali walks sideways toward a bunch
        of shrubs.  She speaks softly.]

       Unali: "I will be near."

       [She ducks inside the shrubs and seems to disappear as well.]

       [Kiet moans as the party seems to talk in Marentian forgetting that
        he doesn't know the language.  He knows he should learn the language
        soon or Katai will be the only common tongue.]

       [Kiet quickly dismounts and grabs the large amount of rope on the
        horse's pack and wraps it around his shoulders.]

       [Still no second giant is heard.  The wind moves east to west which
        isn't good for the party.  must be a good ocean breeze.]

       [The Giant blinks its large bulbous eyes in confusion at hearing
        the halt command.  The Giant looks around the party of humans.
        He wrinkles his nose as he sniffs the air.  Fremea who continues
        to hover waiting for combat or discussion knows hiding might not
        work well at this late situation.  The large nose of the giants
        would've picked up her scent or Arawn's.]

       [The Giant shoves a tree to the left making a animal of some sort
        scurry away in fear.  The Giant steps his large tree like legs
        a couple feet forward over the shrubs.  He continues to sniff
        and then finally sees Fremea.  He growls again.]

       Giant: "Winged one!" [At least it sounds like that to Chion might be
         wounded one?  Arawn hears it as Winged one.]

       [The Giant turns and tears a large barrel diameter limb off the
        tree ripping it off the tree.  he growls in anger.]

       [Chion realizes parlay will be futile at this point.]

       [The rest of the party having dealt with Giants know talk is short
        but combat is longer.  They prepare for combat.]

       Turn 1: Phase 1

         [Mana Allocation -]

            [Chion begins to build mana for casting the Gnarish's staff
             internal spell.]

            [Fremea casts mana for a spell.]
            [Arawn casts mana for a spell.]
            [Caladan casts mana for a spell.]

         [Missile Fire - ]

            [Raban now on the ground and having his bow strung raises
             the bow at the giant and fires the larger than normal bow.
             He knows he must protect the women in the group as his
             duty is clear.  The arrow flies and hits the giant in the
             left shoulder.  From this distance it looks like a bee sting
             on a large man.  But red is seen dripping.  The giant roars
             in anger.]

            [At the same time Caladan raises his Composite bow from while
             still mounted and fires.  But the arrow flies wild and misses
             the giant entirely.]

            [Z'leyra raises her sling and knows the distance is long
             but fires at the visible giant.  The stone goes flying
             by its right side missing.]


         [Magic Effect - ]

            [Fremea quickly finishes the word for her luck spell and
             casts it.  She hopes it went off well.]

            [Raban decides to bless himself to give him a slight edge
             in the defense of the females.  He begins to cast the
             spell which will take a few seconds.]

            [Somewhere in the forest Arawn quietly casts his spell
             to repel evil forces.  He hopes the spell works as there
             is no visible signs unless Fremea looks for an aura.]

            [Caladan stares at the giant and finishes his own spell words
             and moves his right hand up and down and in a fist as if
             gathering energy.  He then pulls back the hand and quickly
             snaps it forward directly at the giant.  A large white bolt
             of lightning streaks from Caladan's hands and seems to sparkle
             the air with electrical energy.  The lightning bolt hits the
             giant square in the chest doing massive damage.  A large
             smoking hole is seen in the giant's chest and it seems smoke
             boils organs.  The giant looks down shocked and then collapses
             backwards losing his balance.  He topples to the ground onto
             his back.  The party knows Caladan is more used to Fire magic
             but in a forest its not so wise.  This is only the second time
             the party that knows Caladan has seen him use lightning.  It
             seems his skills have improved since his death.]

            [Chion smirks and continues to chant the words to invoke the
             spell in the staff but knows it takes a few seconds.]

         [Melee and Movement - ]

            [Corona dives down high from the sky and in between a small
             clearing in the trees toward the giant on the ground. A
             lance of fire like a fire dart shoots from his eyes and
             hits the giant in another part of his chest and sizzles more
             skin and ribs.  The party only sees the red lance of fire
             but doesn't see Corona from their angle.]

            [Tef'wo charges forward at the urging of Ben'dar  The horse
             seems to recover its courage and charge 80 feet north
             west through the trees and then turns toward the giant.
             but the horse ends up 30 feet to the giant.]

            [Fremea has never seen a giant before up close only in the
             legends.  But she knows forest giants hate sidh.  With
             a seemingly battle instinct she flies west toward the
             giant and ends up about 20 feet behind Ben'dar about 10
             feet above the ground.]

            [Caladan's firesnake lifts off the horse and hovers and circles
             above Caladan.]

            [Somewhere north of the group in the dark forest Unali
             moves westward.  She pulls out her magical dagger and waits
             for any warning from it.]

            [The Giant growls and roars in anger.  The echo of it seems
             to ripple throughout the forest and makes it seem like
             he is all around.  The wounded giant rolls on his side and
             tries to get to his knees.  He checks his chest and looks
             toward the incoming horse of Tef'wo.  he tries to grasp his
             tree club ready for attack but seems too wounded to stand.]

            [The second giant now makes himself obvious coming out behind
             the trees at M24 and runs north-east toward the party in
             a furious roar.  Chion is surprised to see him coming
             right seemingly toward him.  The giant must've been able
             to get closer without being seen till now.  The giant ends
             up about 20 feet from Chion.]

            [Ben'dar gives a battle howl of the Zen'da warriors.]

            [Arawn finds the forest is light here and hiding among it
             is more difficult even for a Elf.  He slinks past Sven
             and his horse and toward the now second giant.  He stealthy
             raises his magical sword and goes for an attack.  He swings
             the sword at the back of the Giant but amazingly fails to
             strike the target.]

            [Chion sees the giant rushing him and knows he might not have
             time to finish his staff spell.  he reaches into his robes
             and grabs a sai.  Knowing that fighting from horseback isn't
             a thing he is used to.]

            [Caladan notices the second giant and turns toward him.]

            [Z'leyra also notices the second giant and turns that way.]

            [Kiet sees the second giant and his first plan seems out
             of question now so rushes toward and past Chion.  He
             throws down a clump of rope roughly at I36 and runs north
             toward the tree barely rounding it before the phase ends.]

            [Sven swings his horse around without using his horses and
             trots toward the giant and around the tree.  he tries to
             squeeze in between the two and swings his battle axe with
             great skill toward the giant's chest.  The blade hits the
             giant in the left middle stomach region and does 15 points
             of damage.]

                        -----------------------

       Turn 1: Phase 2

         [Mana Allocation -]

            [Chion finishes pushing mana energy for the staff's spell.]

            [Raban finishes his final mana allocation.]

            [Kiet allocates some quick mana for a spell of his own.]

         [Missile Fire - ]

            [Caladan raises his bow toward the giant but knows he
             could hit Raban or Sven so hold's his fire.]

            [Raban aims his bow at the giant but knows he could also hit
             the viking so hold's his fire.]

            [Z'leyra holds her fire as a bad angle and Chion in
             the way of possible strike.]


         [Magic Effect - ]

            [Chion pushes out the spell from the staff and with a magical
             astral web grabs the first giant.  As the staff works Chion
             must see the targets during the spell preparation.  Since he
             didn't see the second Chion he can't count it in the spell
             effect sadly.  But he holds the first Giant in a magical
             web grasp.]

            [Behind the tree Kiet quickly speaks some magical words and
             twists his hands looking at the ropes on the ground.  But
             nothing seems to happen.]

            [Raban finishes his blessing and hope it takes effect.]

         [Melee & Movement -]

            [Ben'dar charges forward on Tef'wo and stops at the kneeling
             Giant.  the Giant growls but doesn't seem to be able to
             move.  Ben'dar grimaces almost wishing he could fight back.
             To kill like this without some fight back seems almost
             shameful...almost....Ben'dar swings the pike toward the
             Giant's head and easily hits slicing through the neck
             doing 16 points of damage.  The head doesn't come off but
             blood sprays to the right of Ben'dar just out of his
             clothing.  The Giant rolls his eyes up and falls to the
             ground slumped onto a bush.  Ben'dar sighs wanting more
             of a fight.  What a waste even for this pitiful creature.]

            [Fremea sees Ben'dar likely kill the Giant and decides she
             isn't needed here.  She whirls and then sees the second
             giant wondering how it got this close.  It must've traveled
             east while she told the party.  She flies toward the Giant.
             She gets behind the Giant's neck and swings her small
             dagger at the fleshy skin.  But at the last second the
             Giant seems to shift and her dagger misses by a half inch.
             She moans in disgust.]

            [Raban gently drops his bow to the ground and before it
             hits the ground the large man seems to jump and charge
             the giant running at a great speed.  He sees Sven on
             horseback and looks like Fremea behind the Giant.  his
             quick thinking knows if he does some things it could hurt
             them so he pulls back on some of his harsher actions.
             With no weapon he charges the giant and with a forceful
             hand martial thrust hits the giant but not in the chest as
             he planned, the giant shifted at the last second, but
             in the left arm.  The Giant roars as the hit seems to
             crack something inside the arm.]

            [Unali scans the distance and see the first giant down.  She
             then sees the others fighting the second.  She decides to
             turn south and run toward the giant rounding one tree.]

            [The giant has 4 targets to choose from - Arawn, Fremea, Sven
             and Raban without moving. But Raban seems to have done the
             most recent damage so in anger he raises his club the size
             of a large branch the size of a dwarf and swings it left
             toward the large man.  The club hits Raban dead center
             of his chest and knocks the breath out of him doing a mild
             6 point wound.  Raban staggers back a foot but seems mostll
             unaltered.]

            [Arawn thrusts again at the large giant but suddenly slips
             on something soft under foot and the sword goes wild in
             his swing missing.]

            [Chion puts his staff in the horse sling and quickly dismounts
             and runs toward the giant.  He finds the place around the
             giant is busy with people but finds a place behind Sven's
             horse and thrusts at the giant's right side.  But the attack
             fails to hit.]

            [Z'leyra dismounts and places her sling on the belt.  She grabs
             her greatsword and decides to join in on the fun.  She heads
             toward the surrounded giant.]

            [Kiet from behind the tree watches the giant surround and
             plans to retry his spell.]

            [Sven still on horseback swings again at the Giant and
             the battle axe hits dead center in the chest slicing
             ribs and tissue doing a massive 31 points of damage.
             Blood and tissue spray outward and just past Raban.]

            [The Giant staggers and his eyes roll up..  He begins
             to stagger and those around him wonder where he'll
             fall.  Suddenly he pitches to the right and back
             straight for Chion.  Chion sees this a half second
             before and leaps straight to the left missing Arawn
             by inches and rolls to the ground just as the giant
             falls to the ground dead.  Sven's horse missing the
             huge body by inches seems to thrust forward a few feet.]

            [The body lands with a loud thump sending up grass and sand.]

            Sven: "That was easy enough1"

            [He grins as he pulls out a rag and cleans his battle axe.]

            Sven: "Tend to your wounds Raban.  Then we must move on."

            [He notices Arawn's face and figures the Druid would want
             to do something like bury the giants.]

            Sven: "If we bury these creatures it would take hours.  How
               many of us have a shovel?  Its around 2:30 or so now.
               If we spend those hours digging a grave for these pitiful
               creatures we'd have to camp here.  I say leave them tot
               the forest scavengers.  I rather not be here at camp with
               scavengers sniffing the blood on the ground all night.
               Not my idea of fun.  We'll need to move on we still have
               some land to cross."

            [After Raban checks out his wounds the party gathers up any
             lost gear and soon heads up.  The party is happy the battle
             ended faster than the last time and with far less damage
             in the party.]

            [The party of ten ride east through the Chaos lands further
             into the evening setting sun.  Six or seven hours later the
             party finally makes camp and sets up the normal watches.
             Dinner is made and the party plans the next day's events.]

            Sven: "Rest well tonight.  For tomorrow if all goes well
              we'll be at our destination.  We've been lucky thus
              far without much hindrance.  Unless its moved, and based
              on my last scan it doesn't seem to have, you will need
              your rest and energy."

             [That night there are no encounters...]

        Actions? Comments?

        Next update...Friday...

        GM: Kiet - The rope bought was 150'.  Never was declared it was
            in strips.  So its all one length of rope.  After this
            combat if you want you can make strips.  Meant to email
            you on this but forgot.  

        GM: As reminder if no EL was given for spells.  I always assume EL0. 

        GM: Ammo Information

              Z'leyra -    -1  Sling Stone
              Caladan -    -1  Arrow
              Raban   -    -1  Arrow

            [Items removed off sheet.]

        GM: Experience -

                Player       CEP     MEP    Expertise   Skill
              Arawn            -      4          4      Repel Evil
              Ben'dar         20      -         10      Pike/Spear
              Caladan          -     84         12      Lightning
              Fremea           -      -          1      Luck [Failure]
              Kiet             -      -          1      Entangle [Failure]
              Raban           45      -         10      Longbow
              Raban            -      5          2      Bless
              Raban           35      -         10      Hand to Hand 

            No EL changes for anyone.  But Congratulations to Raban!
            Now +1 MEL and all the benefits therein.  Remember for
            new players the above is added to sheets now.  But I do
            not do CPs until the end of the adventure.  Its just
            easier that way to handle formulae changes all at once.
            Some experience not shown here for NPCs. 

        GM: Player Damage -

               Player         Damage                Notes
               Raban             6     Club from Giant (Scratch, bruise)

            Let me know who you wish to heal or heal yourself.  The
            best healers are Z'leyra, Arawn and Chion I believe. 
     
        GM: Only 2 phases from 6 for the last Giant combat 3x shorter
            and twice as many giants.  Go figure.  Maybe I should make
            it 50 giants next time? Yeah.  For some that posted actions
            sorry if they didn't go through.  I tried to handle it as
            quickly as it could.  Some simply couldn't be done due to
            the short time. If you have problems or questions on the
            not acted on actions or such let me know.  Arawn the spell
            cast for repel was assumed EL0 so that's touch.  You'd have
            to touch them to repel them.  I tried to even do that with
            some of the combat but didn't work out.  Some rolls were just
            base like Arawn's, Fremea's and Chion's attacks.  Arawn did
            have a fumble (thus the slip).  For new players in my
            universe there is ALWAYS a chance for a fumble or failure
            or super failure or critical success.  Even if a spell with
            toys and such gives you 110% chance of success there is
            always a slight chance of failure.  For the mythos this
            is the Gods feeling that ego and toys may not to be taken
            for granted. :)  Next update we'll move onto the destination.
            Let me know any final actions.  Any retro actions that could
            affect the castle situation will be ignored.  For example,
            you find that you could use that certain item to save the
            party.  Darn forgot it. :)  Any actions for the teleport to
            the castle location let me know.  Thanks. 








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