[Day 5 and Morning Day 6 – Ambushing Giants]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E role-playing game. Game sessions happen once a week. These sessions happened March 25 and April 8, 2024, respectively.]
[SPOILERS! If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]
Player Characters
Marativy – female ratfolk 10th level Ninja
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 10th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 10th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 10th level Wizard
Winston – male ratfolk 10th level Gunslinger
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 10th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 8th level Wizard (Invoker)
Hrefna – female changeling 8th level Omdura
Ariphi – female tiefling 8th level Rogue
Day 5
Morning
Not liking the odds of a direct attack on the conquered Windsong Abbey, the Ratpack decided to ambush giant patrols to reduce their numbers. After a little scouting, the Ratpack located an area surrounded by the rolling hills that the giants seemed to patrol through south of the abbey and set up an ambush. The spell casters were hidden atop one hill while the melee specialists hid in some tall grass along the trail the giants seemed to follow. Winston cast Named Bullet on his first bullet, naming “Giants” as the target.
A patrol of 5 ettins and 2 hill giants followed the rough trail into the ambush site, unaware of the Ratpack. Marativy used her ki to activate Shadow Clones. Gridik cast Lightning Bolt, hitting 2 ettins and one of the hill giants. Templeton cast Haste on the spellcasters [in hindsight, we realized this was unnecessary]. Zitch cast Poison Touch on Templeton, making Templeton’s claws poisonous. Winston fired his Named Bullet, targeting the hill giant leader and killing the giant with one shot. Swamprover cast Fire Ball, catching four of the patrol in the area of effect [my notes are not specific as to what mix of ettins and giants were caught – sorry.]
After the round of surprise attacks, the fight started in earnest. Winston performed a Dead Shot on one of the ettins, hitting three times. Templeton held to allow the giants to get a little closer. Hrefna activated a Protection invocation [increasing PC armor classes by +2 when within 30 feet of Hrefna] and then an Archon Aura [enemies within 20 feet must make a WILL save or have -2 to attack rolls, saving throws, and armor class]. Zitch cast Dimension Door to get closer to the melee team. Templeton cast Haste on Marativy, Roscuro, and Ariphi. Gridik cast Lightning Bolt again, catching the same two ettins and hill giant, killing them. Swamprover cast Lightning Arc on two ettins in the back of the patrol, damaging them. Marativy advanced on the lead ettin, successfully making a sneak attack, poisoning the ettin and causing it to bleed. One of the ettins in the back advanced on Marativy and swung, eliminating a shadow clone. The lead ettin retaliated on Marativy, attacking three times and eliminating another shadow clone but contacting Marativy twice. Roscuro advanced to the lead ettin and struck it with a fist, killing it. The remaining ettin turned and fled.
Not wanting any reports on the Ratpack’s strength to get back, Winston shot the fleeing ettin with a Head Shot and Dead Eye. Hrefna charged the ettin still in combat, hitting it. Zitch advanced and cast Snowball, which was enough to kill the ettin. Templeton cast Evolution [I think], modifying his eidolon for speed and set off after the fleeing ettin. Gridik and Swamprover, having no targets, held their actions. Marativy and Roscuro set off in pursuit of the fleeing ettin. That worthy, seeing he was pursued, tried to run faster.
Winston took a Steady Aim, cast Imbue Arrow on his next shot, and shot the fleeing ettin with a Color Spray bullet, killing the ettin.
The fight being over, Templeton gathered up the body of the ettin that fled and dragged it back to the ambush site. Those who were pursuing the now dead ettin also returned. Zitch started checking the bodies of the giants and ettins, each giant had a club and crude leather armor. The ettins each had metal armor, dual flails, and several javelins. The giant leader’s weapon was a masterwork size Large great club and he had a bag made of green dragon hide that contained 4 giant-sized torches. Dumping the torches, the Ratpack took the dragonhide bag.
At this point the Ratpack heard the sounds of horn, possibly of alarm, from the north and northeast of their position.
End of Session 06
Day 5, Continued
Approximately 10:00 AM
Templeton, with Marativy and Roscuro riding on his back, went to see what the sounding horns were about. He flew up to about 400 feet of altitude and then flew a sweeping arc around to approach from the east.
The trio spotted two groups of giants and ettins doing things. One group [northeast of the Ratpack’s ambush site] seemed to be returning to the abbey after raiding a local village. A second group [north of the Ratpack’s location], comprised mostly of giants, was looting a caravan they had just attacked and eating the people in the caravan as snacks. The trio then headed back to the rest of the Ratpack, first flying west before swinging south. [We were concerned about the giants catching on to our presence too quickly.]
Back with the rest of the Ratpack, the trio reported what they had seen. Too late to save either the villagers or the caravan, the Ratpack decided to go after the village raiders for a bit of avenging.
The Ratpack moved out. An hour or so later the Ratpack lay in wait on the giant’s expected path back from the village raid. The giants were loud and boisterous after the raid, so tracking their position was not difficult. Just as the 4 hill giants and 6 ettins were entering the ambush, Templeton cast Haste on the Ratpack.
Swamprover started the ambush by casting Fireball, landing it on the back 6 targets. Marativy used her ki to activate 6 Shadow Clones. Roscuro used his light crossbow to plink the lead ettin [hoping to encourage the ettin to charge him]. Gridik cast Abundant Ammo on Roscuro’s crossbow bolts [in case the ettin didn’t charge].
Marativy charged forward, sneak attacking the lead ettin [she has the feat allowing her to move normally while using Stealth] and causing him to bleed. The ettin bled and then attacked back, taking out two of Marativy’s shadow clones. Winston shot one of the ettins, hitting three times, once critically, and dropped the ettin. One of the ettins in the back advanced before throwing a javelin at Marativy, eliminating another shadow clone. Zitch took a 5-foot step, put Protective Luck on Roscuro, and cackled [which extends the duration of the Protective Luck]. Templeton pounced on and killed the second ettin while also slashing the lead ettin. Roscuro focused his ki for a burst of movement, closing with the lead ettin before throwing a punch and killing the ettin. One of the giants in the back threw a stone at Winston and Swamprover, hitting both. Swamprover cast Lightning Arc, catching two of the ettins and two of the giants. Hrefna waited. Gridik cast Magic Missile [although I did not note the target]. Ariphi advanced and performed a ranged sneak attack with her dagger on the lead giant for significant damage. The hindmost ettin advanced and threw a javelin at Roscuro, which missed. A different ettin advanced on Templeton and swung at him but missed. Hrefna, now that one of the ettins was close enough, charged the ettin that just missed Templeton and “did the thing” to kill the giant. [“The thing” is a combination of class feature and feats that allows Hrefna to channel a lot of damage into one big attack at the cost of all her current channel energy uses. It is super effective but only once per day.] One of the giants threw a boulder at Templeton and Hrefna, catching Hrefna despite Templeton attempting to Bodyguard Hrefna. The lead giant advanced on Marativy and Roscuro, attacking both but only hitting Marativy. The remaining giant moved to some higher ground and threw a boulder at Swamprover and Winston, hitting both.
Marativy held, waiting on Roscuro. Winston took a 5-foot step away from Swamprover and shot and hit three times the giant on the hill. One of the ettins advanced on Hrefna and hit her. Zitch advanced 40 feet and cackled. Templeton [did something but my notes did not capture what]. Roscuro made a 5-foot step to the lead giant, where Roscuro performed a flurry of blows, hitting 5 time, twice critically, and killed the giant, rather messily. Marativy turned [greater] invisible, switched target to the last ettin, advanced on it, and struck from surprise. The hindmost giant advanced and attacked Hrefna, hitting her critically and dropping her to the ground. Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the giant on the hill and killed it. Gridik cast Magic Missile at the giant that had just killed Hrefna. Ariphi threw down a smoke stick and used the cover to retrieve Hrefna’s body. The last ettin moved to put some distance between him and Marativy, provoking an attack of opportunity from Marativy, allowing her to kill it. The giant who threw a boulder at Templeton attempted to attack the invisible Marativy and failed to connect.
Winston shot and killed the hindmost giant with three hits, one of which was critical. Zitch put a Retribution Hex on the remaining giant. Roscuro advanced on the remaining giant and punched it. Templeton then pounced on the giant and killed it under a multitude of attacks.
With the fight over, Roscuro asked Zitch if he could bring back Hrefna. Zitch stated he could not do it this day, but could the following morning. Roscuro accepted this and pulled out the Body Bag of Holding, carefully placing Hrefna’s body in it.
Zitch started healing the wounded, bringing Winston, Swamprover, and Marativy all back to full health.
Having stored Hrefna’s body, Roscuro them went and searched the bodies of the dead giants and ettins. They had little loot on them. Amongst their weapons [4 great clubs and 12 large flails] Roscuro found a Stone of Alarm, and exotic riding saddle [non-magical], a damaged wizard’s spell book [given to Gridik], and a map to a cache of loot up on the Storval Plateau.
The giant and ettin bodies were piled up and burned [as there seemed to be evidence the enemy forces had a necromancer]. The Ratpack left the pyre behind, returning to their campsite.
Watches were posted that night, but there were no encounters.
Day 6
Morning
Zitch cast Reincarnation on Hrefna. The slender changeling returned as a burly bugbear [with two negative levels]. Zitch cast Restoration on Hrefna to reduce the effects of the Reincarnation [removed one negative level, can be cast again on Day 13 to remove the second negative level].
End of Session 07
Rat Whispers
[The reincarnation renewed a conversation amongst the players as to who would be OK with Reincarnation and who required Raise Dead at the minimum. Zitch’s player made notes so he knows what to do for each character in case it becomes necessary.]
[Sorry this was late. I now write these up only on my personal laptop as work locked down the USB ports on company laptops last year. I kept the files on a thumb drive and used whichever laptop was handy when I had time to write and now I actually need to switch laptops. The downside is my home office is optimized for my work laptop (dual monitors and full-sized keyboard and mouse connected through a docking station. My personal laptop is old enough that it doesn’t have a USB Type-C port to make use of the docking station, so I’m stuck planting it on my limited desk space. On top of that, my personal life has been busy enough getting taxes done that I couldn’t go out to a local coffee shop with wi-fi and write there. First World problems, I know.]
Ratpack
Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions
Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions
Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions
Book 4: Beyond the Doomsday Door – Links to all Book 4 sessions
Last Sessions: Book 4, Sessions 4-5
Next Sessions: Sessions 8 and 9
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