Chapter 9 - "Giants 'Cross the Land"

Throy meets up with Dwapal(P-6); they fly into mountains and go hunting Giants with some success.

At one point, Throy singlehandedly takes out a Frost Giant with two blows.

Riverians start Speak With Dead's on recovered skull.

Rescue 6 Dwarf prisoners and an Elf; the Elf is Frank Bland(R-5) not seen since Giants of the Misty Forest.

During this, Serioge does (52 + 104 =) 156 total points damage in one swing vs. Hill Giants.

Prisoners, and Frank, left with Elves.

Altheas, becoming worried as Throy is long overdue, contacts Diora for a Commune to find out where he is; Diora refuses until reminded how much loot Throy represents.  She learns he is dead, and the location of his corpse, and planeshifts south.  Unfortunately for her, others get there first...

Altheas tells Munin and Serioge the bad news and sends them in as a search party.

Thomasine leaves to take care of the rescued prisoners; she escorts them to Riveria, eventually.

Find Throy-Dwapal corpses during day; fortunately, realize they are bait for an ambush, and ignore.

Sneak in that night and steal Throy corpse and parts of Dwapal.  Retreat, and fly to Rithetwood.

Nyseshi arrives at Verwood with an adventure in mind but can find nobody interested; all active Company characters are in the field. She waits.

Throg arrives at Verwood; Nyseshi grabs him, and they start trying to recruit.

A wandering Bard shows up looking for a job, so Taden(B-5) joins.

Start encountering worshippers of Tseng (goddess of magic); realize they're getting close.

Find an insane woman in forest talking to a rock.  Nyseshi runs off to find the Tseng types met earlier, in hopes they can help, but rest of Party fix her up long before Nyseshi gets back: Fiari of Senwood(F-7) joins.  Party have to fit her out with spare gear as she has no possessions at all.

Get close to Vale; Taden sneakily scouts another campfire nearby, Thistle not-so-sneakily does the same and is lucky to get away.

Meet more Tseng followers (this the other campfire); on hearing what Party is up to they insist on sending a representative, so Studley(MU-2) joins.

Nyseshi finally makes it back by nightfall.

Into mind-bending hallucinogenic mist.  Only Thistle immune; she is a high-enough level MU to resist the wild magic, but nobody knows this and much confusion (and suspicion) results.

Find and enter a ruin, once home to Veridius the Mage.  Weirdness reduced once inside.

A Magic Elemental shows up and makes life very interesting; Party losing until a wild magic effect from the Elemental gates in a rather annoyed Angel that proceeds to pound it to pieces.

Another minor battle causes Thistle to reveal her MU class.

Find a very dangerous open gate to the elemental plane of magic and manage to null it (though not close it); Fiari and Thistle nearly killed in the process.

Nearby, find a significant shrine to the Dwarven goddess Berronar, long forgotten by all.

Party make to leave, but once outside Bonnie gets caught by carnivorous vines and loses a foot.

Back to the Berronar shrine; Bonnie drinks from its pool and gets her foot restored, at cost of all her possessions now and fulfillment of a quest (see Crown of Talarthane) later.

Dig out entry stairs; all to Dwarven shrine found on last visit.

Secret doors leading out of shrine have defenses; Mnestros barely survives, then shrine reduces incurable time from over a week to about 15 hours.

Find and explore an amazingly colourful series of glittering caverns, and remove a few unwanted occupants.

Giants break through into glittering caves from other direction, Party easily defeat.

Find entry into Dwarven temple complex.  Thistle tries to enter, and defenses summon a Dwarven warrior to keep her out.  Tazkar leaps to her aid; between the warrior’s efforts and Thistle shooting him in the back, Tazkar hasn’t a chance: Tazkar killed.  Party then figure out how to get in without violence.

Explore temple complex; Giants leave Party alone long enough to find some Crown pieces, but Mnestros still manages to get mangled again by more built-in defenses.

Tazkar’s corpse left on dais in main temple; it disappears within an hour. (though Party would never know it, the corpse goes to Tazkar’s home temple in Zarim city and is found later, during Zarim Infiltration)

More exploring, more booty, including a very magical book.  Taden opens this, starts reading, and cannot stop; for all practical purposes, Taden leaves at this point.  He is led to the main temple, and left there.

A Giant and some Orcs arrive and die; Party take in their captive, so Stormson Cloud Chaser(R-5) joins.

A long battle against a bunch of very large Rats eventually produces a Crown piece.

Lots of "discussion" over what to do with Taden.

A Frost Giant(WrC-5), 3 Ogres, and a couple of Orcs arrive and provide a good workout.  Rohn clobbered.

Find an exit to another glittering cavern; this one defended by a gigantic crystalline creature that morphs out of floor.  Party try their best but are turned back; they take out their frustration on some doors instead.

Arrive Verwood.  As Throy was Dwapal’s last known companion, Party ask him some questions.

Lots of paranoia takes root when some of Rohn’s old companions (Zakla, Fritter, etc.) see lots of Rohn’s expensive gear on someone who doesn’t look at all like (but is) Rohn.  Arguments follow.

Taden finally finishes the book, gains +1 Int.  A huge argument erupts over how much Taden should have to pay for this: Rohn and Thistle say all (normal value of such a book is about 30K g.p.), Nyseshi and Taden say none, others say part.  Eventually resolves as "part", but Party disbands due to this brawl.

Bonnie retires.  Mnestros leaves to train; reaches Nakki monastery just in time to head out to war.

Stormson, Nyseshi and Taden leave; each would separately end up fighting in War of the Giants – West.

Meet Frank, a one-time Company member now flat broke.  Trilby gives him 100 g.p.

Meet with an Elf general, spend a few days discussing strategies.

Arrange a co-ordinated attack for mid-Jema.  Simpson leaves to recruit in Waterdeep, and to train (to MU-7).

Munin and Trilby to Riverian lands but not to Verwood – yet.

Notice Giants in numbers leaving stronghold near base of volcano; Party sneaks in despite still having no covering diversions elsewhere.

Intentions of stealth abandoned within minutes as bashing Giants much more fun.  At one point, Rohn and Munin simultaneously fumble vs. the same Giant; Marlu fells it with a Magic Missile the same segment!

He’is puts 84 pts. damage into a Fire Giant in one swing; Party leave a trail of corpses, then sack out.

Another series of small battles.  Trilby charms "Longtooth", a gigantic dog, during one of these; meanwhile, Thistle charms "Krall", an Orcish kitchen slave, during another.

At some point along here, Party realize they have lost psyonic contact with the outside world.

Find Elf prisoners; rescue 4 of 8, the rest are killed by Giants.

Giants strike back when Party rests; Krall and Longtooth both killed but no other real harm done.

Giants stumble on Party before praying and studying completed; Marlu killed by a boulder; 2 of the Elves killed by another.  Find another place to finish praying.

Rescue another Elf.

A wall of tentacles attacks.  Leshendra to –11 (saved by Death’s Door), then while being carried out of danger by Chance Leshendra is dropped and goes to –11 again (another Death’s Door).  Everyone else survives, though some painfully.  Sack out.

Trilby and Chance each cast Commune, using magical level enhancement, and get lots of good information.

Start rescuing prisoners.  Carrine the Swift(T-11) joins.  Atlas Terex(Titan) joins.  A pair of Centaurs are rescued; one is female, and this makes Chiron’s day. (and by weight, this is now by far the biggest party ever!)

Atlas proves his worth against a couple of Fire Giants.

Thistle scouts some Ettins and gets mashed.  Party then mashes the Ettins, and various other Giants as well.

A Giants’ tomb produces a giant-size Ghost, soon destroyed.  Trilby sacrifices a Drow gem found here and becomes ultra-powerful for a short time: Marlu resurrected, and Thistle and Atlas both healed.

Wade uphill through complex bashing Giants at every turn.

The Giants fight back: an ambush pushes Party to the limit, and Atlas killed.

Atlas raised by Trilby but cannot move (or be moved) from the main passage he fell in; battered Party have no choice but to stay put.

9 Giants blunder into Party; Thieves’ backstriking pathetic (3 swings total 8 points damage) and Thistle killed for her trouble, but Giants slain.

Spend day resting and curing, then set off.  A minor Giant ambush fails when Leshendra does 120 h.p. damage to its leader in one swing, slaying it.

Find a strongbox with an odd dagger inside; Marlu becomes War Cleric (Tapoketa) on picking this up (so now MU-8/WrC-1); she also becomes rather Evil, but covers well for now.

A band of Fire Giants doesn’t last long, but Party again in rough shape after.  Retreat a long way to rest.

Finally reach top of volcano; Krakatoa the Red Dragon lives here, and tries to parley with Party to better set up an ambush.  But Mrikle ambushes him instead; Chance killed, but Krakatoa soon slain.

Find Krakatoa’s immense hoard; celebration cut short when cloud islands arrive and dock.  Party sneak on to an island and sack out.

Take a small fortress by defeating 4 guardian Cloud Giants.  He’is becomes visible during this; people now realize an axe from dragon’s hoard has made him spectacularly ugly, smelly, etc. (Cha. = 0)

Other Giants cast fortress’ island adrift; invisible Party just fly to another one.

Fly various captives and rescuees to Krakatoa lair and leave them to fend for themselves.

Start scouting islands.  Find palace of Giant queen; Mrikle flies in and scouts, almost gets caught despite every possible precaution.

Explore, find Giant kids, leave alone for now.  Giant pets (2 Wyverns) don’t fare so well.  Islands cast off, recover the one cut loose earlier, and head northeast at high speed.

A well-planned strike kills Goroda, the Giant queen, along with several other Giants and a Human Wizard ally of theirs; Party retreats and hides in Wyvern lair.

Giants sweep into Riveria; Party informed of this via psyonics in a.m.; meanwhile, islands arrive and dock somewhere high in mountains east of Megrim and Goroda’s consort King Fellgjar comes aboard with a horde of attending Frost Giants.

Mrikle, Marlu, Trilby and Atlas fly off to scout; find this dock has a White Dragon guardian so paralyze it, it kills 2 Ogres when it falls on them.  Cause nearby Frost Giants to fight each other, and leave.

Bored Party sorties to take out 2 Cloud Giants, Carrine and Rohn fall in lust during flight there.

Second sortie turns Giants and Dragon against each other; Dragon dies, then one thing leads to another until Fellgjar slain along with various significant allies.

Atlas makes himself king; Giants go along with it for now, so Party moves into palace.

During night a prisoner is rescued: Schurra(NtC-7) joins.

Trilby casts Commune to good effect, then finds a Medusa the hard way: Trilby petrified.  Medusa slain.

Atlas firms his command over Giants and orders islands to cast off; island holding the Frost Giants is soon cut loose and left behind to dissolve, a brief deadly shower of Frost Giants falls near Jaarvikshold later.

Arrive back at Volcano.  Marlu teleports to Verwood, returns with tapestry; rest of Party round up Elves and Centaurs left here a few days ago.  Elves and one Centaur tapestry home; the other Centaur – Alaika – remains and tags along as Chiron’s companion.

Carrine spends day trying to talk Rohn into robbing Party blind and fleeing to the Moonshaes; he balks.

All to Verwood via tapestry except Schurra, Alaika and Carrine for now.

Carrine’s ship arrives at Elistrae.

Party enter town that night, find Carrine with ridiculous ease, capture later and planeshift to Verwood.

Combined force of about 550 Elves, 600 Monks, and 50-odd MU’s attack and annihilate a Giant camp just outside east entrance of Zarim.  They also plug the entrance up with Wall of Force; this doesn’t last long, and the force of Elves left to guard it gets pretty much wiped out during the day.

Remaining units regroup with the 590 Elvish reserves.

Combined force attacks "center camp" with similar result to last one: camp is wiped out, Monks barely take a scratch while the Elves get hammered; all elites lost ("elites become deletes"), and Ancalidon killed.

During this battle, it becomes clear Giants are for some reason specifically trying to kill Elves.

King Richard calls Company to defense of the realm.  About 30 characters tapestry from Verwood to Imdulton in immediate response;    others arrive by various means over the next several days.

By now, Gorlim is already serving with the Dwarves under Dwapal; Grogmac soon arrives and joins.

Richard meets with as many EC’ers as he can.  Zarim Infiltration party is formed, and promptly left to its own devices.  Terrance(F-3) joins; a long-time beta-party member jumps to the big leagues.  All are informed of existence of Volcano party, and of co-ordination with Ancalidon and the Elves.

Kermut is sent to Dwapal as Richard’s spokesman; the Dwarves threw the last one out as they did not find him suitably warlike.

Kermut makes a much better impression on arrival the next day, so they keep him; but still do not listen to anything he says.

The wizard-types are assigned to join Riveria’s guild MUs to provide covering fire.  Rangers are sent out as scouts.  Lars is assigned to Richard’s personal guard, along with Femira.  Just about all other EC’ers with field experience are assigned to units within Richard’s parade-ground-ready army, to inform them what war is really like; this proves very useful.

S’nel’be planeshifts to Vanamore to round up some help from the Dwarves there.

With absolutely no warning to anyone, Dwapal’s Dwarves stage a lightning strike into the Zarim mountains. Despite complete lack of    help from anyone else, they drive the Giants back into the peaks and slowly begin grinding their way toward Zarim city.

Kermut, now with nothing useful to do, returns to Richard and joins his personal guard under Sir Charles.

The wizard-types scramble to provide covering fire for the Dwarves but don’t help very much.

S’nel’be returns from Vanamore with some high-powered (and now, late) help for the Dwarves.

Too late to do much good, Richard begins moving his army to Dashwood.

S’nel’be to Mirabar; returns with Myra and Lusia.  Lusia joins the wizards.

Gorlim killed in one of countless small battles in the streets of Zarim.

By now starting to run out of warriors, Dwarves begin a grudging retreat from Zarim.

Though none who know her realize it, Flasheart arrives in the war zone and begins quietly looting and pilfering when opportunities arise.

Giants invade southern Riveria on a hugely broad front, and meet virtually no opposition other than around Dashwood.  Massive scrambling among Richard’s forces and EC’ers to try and cover as much ground as possible, to little useful effect.

Scoria killed defending a farm near Dashwood.  Zakla killed in the village itself.

Richard continues to redeploy as best he can.  Nigella gets badly wounded while trying to evacuate villagers east of Imdulton; she survives, but cannot be cured.

Sir Charles leaves Richard’s camp and leads a foray into forest east of Imdulton; he has correctly guessed that Giants are using it as a staging area.

Richard’s base camp is overrun.  Femira, Lars and Kermut killed defending Richard, who flees into forest.

Charles, unaware of all this, sacrifices himself and his last two companions to take out 26 Giants.

Riverian defense, disorganized to begin with, becomes a complete shambles.  Over most of the south, the only real opposition the Giants encounter comes from roving wizards (EC and other), a few high-powered Clerics e.g. S’nel’be, and some heroic locals; otherwise, roaming bands of Giants bring death and destruction at every turn.

Eightfast killed near Slapton.  By now, the Rangers have met with some success in Leithorn, picking off small groups of invaders before melting back into forest.

Dwapal’s few remaining Dwarves take Dashwood for their own and hold it against all comers.

Richard’s troops, many concerned about their own homes and families, scatter into isolated groups and try to intercept Giants wherever they can; as fate would have it, this unintentional tactic proves more effective than anything they likely could have done as a large group.

The war’s nadir for Riveria, and turning point.  Richard captured by Giants, who take him to Zarim.  Giant commanders, realizing they too are facing significant attrition, call a general retreat at this point, but not all Giants get the message; and some that do, ignore it.

Some EC wizards get into a battle that goes wrong: Margarette and Lusia killed.  Pearl, who by now has become de facto leader of the wizard brigade, makes sure parts are recovered for later revival.

Somewhere close to Warburton, Throg and Flasheart meet but don’t realize they have associates in common.

Terrance killed defending Imdulton, in perhaps the largest battle on Riverian soil.  The town is not taken, but is horribly damaged regardless.

Giants reach south end of Sapentra High Bridge but local troops prevent crossing, so the Giants instead try to take the bridge down, causing significant damage over the next few days before being driven off.  Elsewhere, Extrickle town is flattened; the few survivors hide in the hills.

S’nel’be tries to find Richard but has no idea he has been captured; does well just to survive.

Nigella killed defending helpless villagers, having never recovered from the pounding she took some days ago.

Giant invasion breaks apart into isolated roving bands; some retreat, others stay and cause havoc.

“We have your King, where would you like him?” message psyonically broadcast to many EC’ers; quickly passed on to Catherine, mourning turns to celebration on the spot, and general Riverian morale goes up by leaps and bounds as news spreads.

S’nel’be meets rescue party south of Imdulton, takes Richard to Riveria city; 80+ other rescuees proceed on foot, arrive Imdulton Canne 5. (see Zarim Infiltration for details)

Richard meets with various EC-ers and introduces Daneeza(WrC-6), who has found a secret way out of (and thus into) the Zarim Peaks.  He calls for volunteers to accompany her back in, and this Party forms. (reluctantly in some cases, e.g. Tamarrik: not the least bit interested in field adventuring, but by the time the Party realize they need an MU she’s the only one they can find, so she gets hauled along)

Daneeza introduces her bodyguard: Dogrib(F-6).  The Party needs a scout, so one is provided by Richard’s troops: Leodran(R-6). Both join.

Fulvin arrives, only just now getting here in response to Richard’s call.  Tylara also arrives, in evening.

Meanwhile, Dwarven invasion has stalled, in part because this Party’s diversions are not in place.

Enter hidden passage into mountains.  A pair of giant bats attack from a chasm; Dogrib fumbles on his first-ever combat swing.

Leodran dragged into chasm; Fulvin heroically dives after him, catches him, and Featherfalls him to the ground a few thousand feet below.  Some brief exploration here reveals this as a long-abandoned part of the Dwarven settlements; Party reunite above and carry on.

Meet and clobber a tough band of raiding Orcs.  At one point, Tylara puts 17+60+14 points into 3 of these in one swing; each had 3 h.p. left beforehand. (in other words, very messy overkill!)

Dogrib proves his worth during this battle, holding a very tough (F-10, AC -3, strong, lots of magic) Orc to a stalemate on a narrow path for enough time that help could arrive.

Sneak into Khazatza, avoid lots of Giants, scout. (there should have been lots more Giants, but all spare hands were at the front preparing to invade Riveria; what Party finds is a token guard-force, but they don’t know this and proceed as if they really are doing something useful)

Take out a few Giants.  Fulvin nearly killed by an Umber Hulk.

Riveria invaded on a broad front in a.m.; Party learns of this via psyonics and now realize they are far too late and far away to provide any distraction at all.  So they carry on regardless.

Find prison camp Daneeza originally escaped from, and clear it out; rescue about 15 prisoners.

A couple of rescuees prove useful: Sinjen(T-6) and Graax the Aaxe(F-10) both join.

Take on a small band of Orcs.  Fulvin takes one to -107 h.p.  Sinjen, still recovering after his rescue, gets clobbered into deep incurability; this would become his normal condition from here on.

Find an urn that teleports user to somewhere deep in a Zarim city warehouse.  Rescued prisoners left in this warehouse, for now.

Take on another band of Orcs.  Tamarrik charms one: "Kung" (Int. 5, Wis. 3; i.e. utterly useless).

A bone on one causes Tovan to become possessed by Gruumsh; Daneeza fixes this.  Graax tries to break the bone; he does, but becomes a Gruumsh Cleric in the process!  This also gets fixed, somehow.

Away team of Tyl., Ara., Dog., Grx, Leo. roam around town breaking heads while others pray and study.

Fulvin scouts Khazatza offices looking for maps; finds Giants instead, goes and gets everyone else.

Mistmaster the Fog Giant (NtC-12) causes problems:
 o Araglas sneaks forward to take out another Giant, is noticed by Mistmaster, and cut off;
 o Mistmaster summons a couple of Air Elementals, and fogs up Party;
 o Akasha flies across chasm to Mistmaster, gets noticed by an Elemental, chased into fog;
 o Rest of Party meet other Elemental, meanwhile Mistmaster turns the roof above Araglas to mud and buries her; she manages to down a potion of Gaseous Form and is immensely lucky to become one big bubble instead of many small ones ( = instant death), she now completely stuck;
 o Fulvin dispels Elemental chasing Akasha but gets her too, luckily her flight effect survives;
 o Second Elemental and Mistmaster soon slain.

Much time and effort spent devising a straw to get Araglas out of mud, eventually successful.

Take out a few more Giants, then find what they were here guarding: a nursery containing 9 baby Giants.

Much discussion about what to do with these; Richard’s people outside think they might be useful for ransom but are not sure (and are busy getting slaughtered), Party told to hold for now.

Akasha turns Tylara mauve; she’s bored.

Try to contact Femira outside and get no response; same goes for Sir Charles. (unknown to Party, both are now dead)  Realizing they are on their own, and with no way of caring for the babies, Party decides to slay them; Graax does the honours.  With this, Khazatza now appears to be empty, so all to Zarim.

2 Fire Giants and a supporting Illusionist draw whole Party into battle; one of the Fire Giants Flreballs everyone, taking both Tylara and Fulvin to -11 (Death’s Door saves both) and Sinjen (again) and Tamarrik well below 0.   Kung killed; nobody cares.  Party barely wins, then looks for a safe place to hide. (and Tamarrik is painfully reminded why she so despises field adventuring)

Find local Ki-Piddli temple relatively undisturbed.  Explore, find a Dwarf corpse on an altar, sack out.

Tovan uses a scroll: Tazkar(WrC-6) raised and joins. (this the corpse found yesterday; see Crown of Talarthane for how it came to be here)

All kinds of Speak With Deads on various people produce conflicting information.

Leaving the incurables (Sin., Tam., Tyl., Ful., Taz.) behind, Party goes Giant-hunting with some success.

Tazkar tells Party where temple’s secret beer stash is kept; Party recovers and broaches.

Tazkar leads the drinking in a.m., then goes with healthies on another raid.  Group gets split up during a battle gone wrong; drunk Tazkar left wandering on his own while everyone else gets back to base.

Akasha tries to study spells but will not pass her telepathy crown off to Leodran while doing so.  Fulvin, by now quite drunk, noisily tries to steal it; Tamarrik takes it for safekeeping; Akasha notices nothing until Fulvin blunders into her.  She stops studying.

Fulvin goes wandering off to explore.  Akasha follows, summons a shadow-Vampire and sics it on him; Fulvin loses 4 levels (to NrC-4/T-5) before Vampire sent off.  Tamarrik sees all this and uses Crown to alert Party; Akasha soon subdued by Graax, and a big argument erupts.  Meanwhile, Tazkar arrives.

Tylara kills Akasha during argument; more mayhem.

Rest, argue, and test items all day.

Tamarrik uses Crown to tell many of Akasha’s death; becomes very annoyed when various Elves refuse to deal with her.  Crown given to Araglas.  Arguments go on until 2 a.m., then vote to put Akasha and Tylara to trial after adventure. (between one thing and another, this trial would never occur)

Tazkar restores ice to temple arena.

Leodran, then Tamarrik, scout the city; both are followed by sneaking Sinjen.  All are shocked to find King Richard is here as a captive of the Giants.  Lots of planning ensues, until late in evening.

Tylara uses Dimension Door device to join Richard in his cage, but Giants take Richard away shortly after.  Problem then becomes how to rescue Tylara.  Giants begin evacuating city, though Party does not realize this for some time.

Start quietly opening cages, until a Drow Cleric in one summons a Drider; Tovan saves several lives with timely Neutralize Poisons, and battered Party barely win.  Meanwhile Graax figures out where Giants have gone, and Party rescue 48 Humans and 8 Dwarves from cages.  Nobody sleeps this night.

Finally get out of mountains.  Tylara psyonically broadcasts “We have your King, where would you like him?” message to all and sundry, setting off celebrations across the land.

S’nel’be and a few others planeshift in that evening to pick up Richard; S’nel’be has lots to say about the Akasha-Tylara-Fulvin situation but most ignore him for now, and it eventually gets (mostly) forgotten.

Araglas looks to buy a Belt of Ogre Strength, tries it on, it’s cursed (Str = 2) and she collapses; seller takes off with her 6,000 g.p.

Alerted via psyonics, Throg finds her later and gets curse removed at a temple.

Araglas arrives Waterdeep, links up with Tylara; together they capture suspicious crewman.

Tylara uses psyonics to charm crewman, soon finds he is the right target but has none of Araglas’ money left (he has gambled it all away).  At Tovan’s long-range urging, crewman is left with local Tymora temple as an eager new acolyte; Araglas etc. set sights on ship’s captain as ship is involved in smuggling.

Find chest up a tree in backyard, and loot.  Then break into house, find a bit more loot and a Guardian Cat that attacks Tovan only as he triggered it.  Kill Cat.  It comes back, bigger.  Throw it in a room and ignore.

Much argument on whether to take a large enchanted mirror and stand; Araglas finally agrees to carry.

Local Thieves interrupt, meanwhile Sinjen sets the house on fire, and everyone flees.  Araglas puts mirror in middle of road to confuse an attacker; it’s heavy and bulky, so she leaves it there and flees.

Tovan attacked by Guardian Cat again (it died in fire, came back, tracked Tovan 400 miles); it’s bigger yet, and hurts him badly.  He hauls it to his temple; Clerics there dislodge and trap it.  They know it still has 7 lives to go and will come back bigger each time; they also pity Tovan.  He gets help.

Pearl polymorphs Cat to a slug; Tymora Clerics throw it in an oubliette, Araglas and Tylara take target practice until Cat has died all 9 times.

Arrive Dragonspear, explore grounds and outbuildings; only opponent is a Wraith, soon destroyed.

A voice tells Party to go away, Party start asking questions instead, so after several more go-aways a massive Lightning Bolt backs up the request.  Sinjen and Jhal killed.  (both voice and spell are Finetra’s, the reclusive wizard first met in Dragonspear Castle I).

A Jhal item blows up, resulting wild magic surge animates all dead in area including Sinjen and Jhal; Tovan destroys these via turning (so Sinjen and Jhal unrevivable, ever), and Party leaves.

2 Giants go off to hunt; Tylara and Araglas follow and slay once well clear of camp, then return.

Whole Party takes out remaining 6, loots (these Giants are dirt poor) and leaves.

A message arrives from Imdulton; someone in their jail claims to be an EC’er and will the EC please deal with it.  Munin and He’is respond, and find Flasheart(T-7) being held for looting.  She ends up in Verwood dungeon with Carrine.

S’nel’be just about goes ballistic, starts talking about Company charters and rules again; few listen.

Thistle raised by Diora.  Lanefan takes beans from still-stunned Leshendra "for safekeeping", and they are soon forgotten…for now…