Deciding that the wintery northlands are getting too hot to be enjoyed fully, the group takes a vacation to the jungles far to the south. Luckily for them, Dalliance remembers the village where they stayed and so the group skips over a long overland journey and a longer sea voyage in favor of a teleport to the final destination. When they arrive they pump the villagers for information. As it turns out, things this close to ‘civilization’ are pretty settled – poisonous snakes and flesh-eating monkeys notwithstanding.
The group sets out on an overland journey with a guide hired from the village. The guide guides them to the next village where the questions and guide-hiring are repeated. Eventually they arrive at a village in the deep jungles near the slopes of a trio of active volcanos. There the villagers report that they are being oppressed by fire giants that live in the smoking mountains.
Scouting via bird forms revelas the obvious entrance into the heart of fire-giantdom. For once the group eschews the usual ‘search for the back door’ routine in favor of a semi-frontal assault.
An earth elemental is summoned to open the door while the party skulks invisibly. As soon as the door opens a horn sounds the alarm and the party springs into action. Slaying the guard they race down the hallway and into the grand hall of he fire giant king. There, the king – clad in plate mail – and his dozen burliest bodyguards – attired in chain jacks and massive shields – and a full dozen more skirmishers await the puny intruders.
As it turns out, most of the puny intruders are packing spells of chain-lightning and all the metal armor turns out to be a bit of a liability as the king crisps under the assault of three massive lightning strikes and the ranks of the bodyguards are quickly decimated, The skirmishers last almost a full ten seconds before violent wizardly death rains down upon them. The few that still stand are dispatched at long range by Barada and the party charges the length of the hall and nto the raised dais and behind the king’s massive throne. There they pause momentarily before finding a secret door and opening it. They follow the hallway full of hell hounds to the king;’s chambers – where they pause briefly to scan for magic, then it is out and on – through a door and into an antechamber. From there it is either into the great hall, through a door or a set of double doors. Elapsed time since first contact about eight minutes…
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