Day Three of the Odinsleep (The Plains of Vígríðr - A Perilous Defense)

Day Three of the Odinsleep – 9:50 am

“DO WE HAVE A PLAN OTHER THAN ‘KILL THEM’?” Korbin shouts out above the growing tumult. 

Raven laughs and yells back, “Why complicate things with a plan?”  The moon elf swordsman then mashes the button on his bracer that speeds up time and dashes forward, his feet a blur of motion as he races toward the nearest Jotun.

Ra’ziir growls in frustration as he realizes the Jotun must be resistant to magic following the failure of his fireball spell.  He turns to the Elder Elemental and orders it to take its troops and concentrate their attacks on a single giant at a time until it falls before moving on to the next.  “This will be our most difficult test yet this day!”  The bladesinger draws his sword and takes off running after Raven.

Cedron continues flying along, concentrating on maintaining his chasm’s illusion.  He realizes as he looks down that ‘hundreds of feet’ may have been a bit of bardic exaggeration.  The appearance of cracked earth, while convincing is simply not that large, measuring almost 75’ across and perhaps double that is width.  He reaches into the sack hanging from his belt and pulls forth a small, furry brown ball.  He raises it to his lips and tells it to attack before dropping it in the path of the Jotuns.  The ball expands as it falls, changing color until it is a deep chestnut brown.  Once it hits the ground, the ball expands into the shape of a mighty destrier.  The horse rears up on its hind legs, raking the air with its hooves and shrieks loudly before racing toward the onrushing giants.

Hansuke reaches to a flask hanging from the sash at his waist and pulls out the stopper with his teeth and downs the contents.  The taste of licorice spreads throughout his body and he takes off running like a bolt of lightning, racing across the field in the direction Drax was last seen before vanishing.

Korbin climbs into the air with the stone clutched in his claws, beating his wings furiously to gain both speed and altitude and banks sharply toward the lead Jotun.  The crow from the Aesop Islands tucks his wings in close to his body and drops, diving toward the massive giant and releases his rock.  The stone plummets, striking the giant in the left eye.   A pained howl that rolls like thunder echoes across the battlefield.  The massive giant turns his axe broadside like a flyswatter as wide as a barn as it begins to froth at the mouth, enraged by the crow’s temerity.

The Jotun swings and Korbin continues to dive, trying to get clear of the descending blow but he is struck with the force of an avalanche.  The bird is blasted to the ground and the giant raises his foot and brings it crashing down on top of him.  Bones break beneath the force of the blow and then the giant grinds his heel, digging it into the earth and reducing the talking crow to a greasy smear on the bottom of his boot.  The other Jotuns howl their merriment as they pour on the speed and leap over the gap. 

Arthur raises Lawbringer, its brilliant silver light flares in the presence of evil as he dives toward the Jotun on the party’s right.  The Paladin of Malazzarr and Jotun swing their weapons at the same time, colliding with punishing force.  The giant howls in surprise as the holy blade slices deeply across his knuckles but he smashes the flying knight with his axe, sending the paladin twirling away in a crazy spiral that nearly causes him to crash into the ground.

As Shadow drops toward his chosen foe, the far-left Jotun swings his axe.  Sparks fly as the steel head meets the drow’s iron body and the dark elf wonders for a moment if the giant just dented his spine.  Shadow stabs with Swiftwind as he is struck, digging a deep gouge in his attacker’s gargantuan wrist.

Morn moves back as the giants approach, trying to gauge the distance between them and the city’s Golden Wall.  The bard realizes that at the rate the giants are closing, if the party fails to stop the advance, they could be climbing over the wall and into the city in a matter of moments.

Kysek twists his ring and vanishes from sight once more.  He moves swiftly across the ground, sword and wand in hand toward the rear of the Jotun fighting Shadow.

Drax rises up behind the Jotun Arthur attacked and touches his bracers together.  He instantly accelerates to a phenomenal speed and buries both of his shortswords in the back of the giant’s calves, sawing with the edges of the blades in an attempt to sever the Achilles’ tendon in the back of the Jotun’s legs.  The second sword strikes something important deep beneath the layers of boot leather, pants, and flesh and muscle.  The giant’s ankle gives way and the brute drops to one knee, bleeding profusely from the wounds it just received.

Desmond stays low, bidding his time and begins lining up a shot on his target, waiting for a perfect moment of vulnerability to be revealed.

Grotto’s flight spell finally fails and dwarf drops the last few feet to the ground.  He drops into a roll and comes back up onto his feet and pulls up the hood of his cloak, disappearing from sight and begins running at the Jotun as it wipes its foot on the ground to clean Korbin’s remains off the sole of its boot.

Once the giant has passed him by, Niklas raises his bow and begins firing arrows at the small of its back.  Three feathered shafts fly straight and true, hitting the giant on either side of its spine but the titan is so big that it is difficult to tell if it even felt the blows.

Grog crouches down between the bushes near the center of the group’s staging area and begins to dance and shuffle, calling upon his magic to grant his skin the hardness of stone.

 

 

= = = = = =
• Arthur: 69% health;
• Bubo: 100% health;
• Cedron: 93% health; Major Image (Concentration plus 3 rounds remaining); Heavy Warhorse from bag of Tricks (10 minutes, 0 rounds remaining)
• Desmond: 100% health;
• Drax: 100% health; Greater Invisibility (9 rounds remaining)
• Grog: 100% health; Stoneskin (110 minutes, 0 rounds remaining)
• Grotto: 100% health;
• Hansuke: 94% health; Haste (5 minutes, 0 rounds remaining)
• Korbin: DEAD
• Kysek: 100% health; Stoneskin (67 minutes, 0 rounds remaining); Greater Invisibility (20 rounds remaining)
• Morn: 100% health;
• Niklas: 100% health;
• Raven: 86% health; Bull’s Strength (from Grog, 10 minutes, 9 rounds remaining); Bane Weapon (2 rounds remaining); Haste (17 rounds remaining);
• Ra’ziir: 100% health; Stoneskin (147 minutes, 2 rounds remaining); Elemental Swarm (8 Large Earth Elementals, 1 Huge Earth Elemental, 1 Elder Earth Elemental – by the time the Elder arrives, 128 minutes, 9 rounds remaining)
• Shadow: 82% health; Overland Flight (14 hours, 27 minutes, 9 rounds remaining); Iron Body (DR15/adam, immune to blindness/critical hit/deafness/disease/drowning/electricity/poison/stunning and effects that affect physiology or respiration, Str 21 (+5)/Dex 16 (+3) attack bonus/penalty cancel out, gains +3 damage, ASF 50%, -8ACP, 2 minutes, 0 rounds remaining); Keen Edge (from scabbard: 49 minutes, 9 rounds remaining)
• Spewer: 100% health;