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An hour passes, and then another. The sun has completely set now and the dusk is starting to creep in. Of the bridge there is no sign. "Soon"is all Redmane mutters whenever anyone asks how far to the bridge.

It is almost completely dark, the trail barely visible ahead of them when a large structure looms out of the darkness. The land falls away and the distant sound of rushing water can be heard, some way ahead and down. The noise of the hoofs changes as the compacted dirt under foot gives way to dressed stone, and the lead wagon rumbles onto the bridge. It is a shame that it is dark, for the sheer dramatic size of the bridge is lost on the travellers.

After only a couple of minutes, as the group are reaching the middle of the bridge, there is a flicker of light some way ahead.

"What the?!" exclaims Redmane, as the flicker of light blooms to show a huge shadowy figure behind what looks like a make-shift barricade. The light comes from flames that seem to be spreading rapidly across the barricade. Having lit it, the figure behind the fire starts to fall back, disappearing into the shadows behind.

At the first flicker of fire in the darkness ahead of them, the various members of the party react in different ways and there is a moment of confusion as various yells and shouts flash between them.

Redmane hauls on the reins of his lead wagon, simultaneously pulling up the brake lever. "These ain't easy to back!" he growls over his shoulder in response to Cleo's yelled suggestion to return the way they had come. Instead, he reaches for his crossbow and starts to cock it, peering forward into the burgeoning light from the fire. From the speed the flames are spreading, it seems clear that the barricade - which appears to be made of a jumble of small trees, roots and all, must have been liberally coated in oil.

Behind the lead wagon, Ryan and Davie also halt their wagons and reach for their own crossbows, clambering into the backs of the wagons to get slightly more cover as they too peer forward, trying to see what is ahead.

Meanwhile, Lucretia dismounts from Thunderbolt, pulling out a potion of haste, readying it to be drunk, asking Merrell to boost him

Ceely pulls an arrow from a quiver and readies her bow, peering ahead where she can just make out some large beings hiding in the trees near the edge of the firelight. It's difficult to tell exactly how big they are - but she fears they may even be giant sized. Vaslin also pulls out her bow and nocks an arrow ready.

Merrell puts on his lion mask, gaining comfort from the magic power it represented. At Lucretia's comment, he offers to cast some spells, looking over the edge of the wagon at his well muscled warrior friend some 40 feet ahead. But Lucretia has changed his mind, and even as Merrell watches, he barks out orders and then quaffs the potion, starting to move more quickly as he starts to delve into his pack, searching for flasks of greek fire. Jumping over the side of the wagon, Merrell hurries towards him and starts to cast a spell to boost Lucretia's strength.

Milo meanwhile also clambers down from the wagon he was in and starts to run forward, telling all that he was going to go and put the flames out. Lucretia yells for him not to do so, filled with his own bravado but not quite yet ready to run forward himself as Merrell finishes his first spell.

Dorn, worrying about the rear, clambers down from the wagon and peers off to the sides and behind the party. On each side of the bridge, beyond the low retaining wall, there is a dark void, with the gentle rippling noise of moving water some way below. From the rear of the party, although the end of the bridge is lost in the darkness behind them, there is the loud sound of something heavy falling, together with the splintering of wood. It sounds very much as if Dorn's concerns have already come to pass and that something - probably a tree, has been thrown across the way.

Blondung yells over his shoulder at Yvandel. "Make some light so we can see the enemy boy!" he snaps at the younger mage from his position on the lead wagon, even as he starts to cast a spell.

Yvandel, sitting on the rear wagon guesses the ex-Zhent was talking to him and quickly begins to cast, summoning a will-o-the-wisp type light that zooms towards the rear enemy rather than those at the front. "We got some behind us as well!" he yells back.

ROUND ONE

From her position on the rear wagon, Cleo can see Yvandel's ball of light fly back down the length of the bridge and illuminate a small uprooted tree lying across the road. She can also make out the head and shoulders of an ugly giant sticking up from behind the bridge side wall - obviously standing on the slope to the side. He is blinking at the sudden light, and holds up a massive hand to shield his eyes from it for a moment. He seems to be peering towards the bridge, and Cleo realises that apart from a slight silhouetting from the fire light at the front of the bridge, she and her companions are in relative darkness now that Yvandel has put a light closer to the giant.

She pulls the bowstring on her longbow and lets fly with an arrow, aiming at the giant some 135 feet away. (OOC: that means -2 to hit due to range ) Yanking a second arrow from her quiver, she draws a fires again, almost before the first arrow has hit. Both arrows fly into the darkness, missing the giant.

"Damn that boy!" mutters Blondung, as he peers towards the fire ahead, trying to make out the giant that had lit the fire and retreated. "We could do with light up front!" he growls. "Wait" he says, to Redmane, the caravan leader taking aim with his crossbow. The man frowns as Blondung starts to cast a spell, then blinks as light blooms from the quarrel loaded into his crossbow. "Make sure it sticks somewhere near the giant" Blondung adds as Redmane takes aim again, squinting as he looks past the bright light towards the darkness.

There is a sharp crack as the crossbow fires, and a streak of light flicks down the bridge, sticking into the ground a short way beyond the shadowy figure of the giant.

On the rear wagon, Ryan looks back wide eyed. "Giants!" he cries out, unnecessarily. Jumping down from the wagon, he moves to the side of the bridge and looks down, as if trying to gauging the depth to the river below.

Ceely, with her better elven vision, can make out the giant lurking in the shadows more easily, but also knows that from her position in the middle wagon, either of the two giants she can see will be difficult targets at this range (OOC: 170 feet to the rear one, -2 for range with longbow). She hesitates, holding her shot, giving the giants the benefit of the doubt since they hadn't actually attacked yet.

Vaslin also can see the two giants more clearly. With her short bow, the range is even more difficult however (OOC: 205 feet to the nearest giant at the front - -6 with a shortbow!) Instead, she prays for a blessing on the party, and a burst of positive energy emits from her, making those closest tingle briefly as they feel Tymora's blessing settle on them. (OOC: 60' radius from Vaslin - gets Ceely, Ryan, Merrell, Lucretia, Milo, Redmane, Blondung and herself of course - those in the rear wagon are too far from her to be affected. Sorry Dorn - you were JUST outside the range... of course, if you had given me exact coordinates for your movement, then maybe the spot I'd placed you might have been in range after all! :-))

Merrell, standing next to the invisible Lucretia, prays that the warrior doesn't start moving again yet and casts a second time, following up his spell of strength with a mage armour spell, reaching out a hand to touch the invisible warrior.

Lucretia breaks into a run, the quaffed potion accelerating his movement significantly as he runs almost all the way to the fiery barrier. (OOC: I've assumed run x3 with speed increased to 50' by haste - so 150 feet straight forward).

Dorn jogs back from where he was next to the middle wagon towards the rear, running up next to Yvandel and Cleo are still on the wagon, heading for the rear barricade and the giant behind it.

On the middle wagon, Davie lowers his crossbow, unable to really see the enemy well enough. "We need to get closer" he mutters to Ceely and Merrell. He climbs back into the drivers seat and grabs the reins, swishing them to get the horses to move forward. The wagon starts to rumble forward, moving up tight to the first wagon.

Back on the rear wagon, Yvandel concentrates, moving the lights he had summoned to a position just in front of the giant's face, highlighting him nicely. Casting again, he creates another light, again sending it down to the rear. "Lets see if there are any others hiding in the darkness!" he says with a grin to Cleo, his teeth gleaming briefly in the darkness.

Milo continues to run forward, skidding to a halt some 50 feet from the burning barricade, coming out of the gloom and into the brighter light. The half hidden giant steps away from the tree slightly, and cocks his arm, before hurling what looks like a hefty stone, directly at Milo. Milo barely has time to flinch as the large boulder strikes him, nearly knocking him over.

Another giant, and then another also step out of the deeper shadows from where they had been hiding in the trees and also hurl stones. This time, Milo is more lucky, and the heavy stones crash into the bridge near to him rather than actually hitting him.

At the other end of the bridge, the giant waves a hand at the insubstantial light floating in front of him, then roars in frustration, dropping a rock before clambering up onto the bridge, a heavy club dangling at his side.

ROUND TWO

Cleo runs off the back of the cart, landing lightly and continuing for several yards before pausing and letting fly with her bow at the giant now on the rear end of the bridge. The arrow whistles just past it, disappearing into the darkness behind.

At the front of the wagon train, Redmane winces as Milo gets hit by the rock. "What is the fool doing!" he hisses under his breath. The second and third hruled stones that missed the Painbearer clattered along the bridge towards them, spooking the horses a bit. "Damnit, we're sitting targets here" Redmane mutters to Blondung.

Back at the rear, Ryan grabs out his crossbow again, shaking as he starts to load it.

"Damn it all!" mutters Blondung, before casting a spell and turning invisible.

Ceely, swaying easily on the moving wagon as if it were simply the deck of a fishing boat, turns away from the giant at the rear, and glances to the front in time to see Milo struck and the three giants now visible. She turns and fires, cursing inwardly as she misses with first one arrow, and then. "I'll get us closer!" grunts Davie, the wagonneer continuing to manouver the wagon past the first one.

Meanwhile, Vaslin, on the wagon to her side, also bends her bow and lets fly at the giant that had hit Milo with the rock. Despite having a good aim, the range is just a little too long, and the arrow misses by a small amount.

Back in the middle of the bridge, Merrell casts a spell to armour himself.

Right at the front, the invisible and hasted Lucretia runs at the fire, attempting to leap the jumble of burning logs. Milo is probably the only one close enough to hear the crack and see the logs shift slightly with a swirl of flame and smoke as he fails to clear the barricade, catching it and tumbling down the other side before rolling to his feet, bruised and scorched in a couple of places. (OOC: Lucretia takes 9 hp damage)

At the rear, Dorn breaks into a run, racing as fast as he can go towards the giant on the bridge.

"Yes!" grunts Davie, as he manages to squeeze his wagon, with Ceely on it, through he gap and further down towards the fire.

At the back, Yvandel casts another spell, blurring as a bunch of copies of the puppetteer spring up around him before the lot of them jump off the cart and disperse slightly.

Meanwhile, a bruised Milo hurries through casting a spell, with a thick fog springing up around him. From the perspective of those still on the main part of the bridge, the light dims and the giants disappear from view as a wall of fog blocks the line of sight towards the southern edge of the bridge.

The three giants to the south, hesitate and glance at each other, lowering their throwing arms as they no longer see their targets.

From the northern end of the bridge, the giant there gives a bellowing roar, and lumbers forward to take up a spot in the centre of the roadway.

Hearing the charge, the three at the front split, with only Lucretia being able to see where they've actually gone. One lumbers almost directly towards him, cocking its arm and peering towards the mist as if readying to throw if something comes out of it. The other two split away to either side of the bridge, trying to get a view point past the fog.

ROUND THREE

Cleo pulls hard on her bow again, letting fly an arrow, shooting directly over Dorn's head at the tall giant. There is a meaty thunk as the arrow embeds into giant's chest, though it barely seems to notice it.

On what was the lead wagon, Redmane glances over his shoulder. "I hope your companions can deal with that!" he says, jerking a thumb at the giant Dorn was about to engage with. "We'll use the fog as cover to get closer" he grunts to Blondung, as he flicks the reins. "I hope your magic will be enough" he adds, glancing at his crossbow lying discarded at his feet.

At the rear wagon, Ryan finishes re-cocking his crossbow and jogs near to Cleo before raising it to his shoulder and also firing at the giant. There is a cracking noise and the bolt spins into the air before dropping to the floor as he'd failed to lay it correctly into the groove. He curses fluently and starts to recock the heavy crossbow.

Blondung suddenly points, spotting a giant at the edge of the firelight off to the side of the bridge, standing at the top of the slope. "Still not close enough!" he curses, scrambling up off the seat and jumping to the wall of the bridge and running forward on the edge for a few yards. Pointing a bone wand at the giant, he blurts the command word and a bolt of lightning lights up everything for a second, stretching out from the tip of the wand to the giant. The giant staggers, roaring as the massive bolt slams into him.

Meanwhile, Ceely just manages to let loose a couple of arrows from her longbow before the edge of the fog cloud obscures her line of sight. The first arrow strikes true, hitting the giant that Blondung had just targeted. The second arrow misses, disappearing into the trees beyond.

Vaslin, with her shorter bow, hesitates, not wishing to waste arrows at such range.

At the north end of the bridge, Merrell hurries to catch Yvandel, Cleo, Dorn and Ryan up, unsure what he could do to help them, but comforted by the feel of the Mask of Nabanion on his face.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end, Lucretia tosses the two flasks of greek fire behind him without looking and steps quickly around the giant, drawing his blades. The two flasks break on the burning tree trunk and there is a flare of flame that roars up higher for a few moments. The giant looks puzzled for a moment, lowering the rock he had readied to throw with his right hand and holding up his club with his left, as if to shield himself from the heat.

A moment later, Lucretia appears beside the giant - slamming his two short swords into the giant. The giant roars in pain, and starts to turn, even as Lucretia again tries to pierce the giant's flesh. A fourth attempt is successful. (OOC: Going back to Luc's orginal rolls - attack rolls 1,2 and 4 were successful, #3 was a miss. #4 was a critical threat, but didn't confirm).

Back at the rear, Dorn does his own damage to the giant. Pulling back his arm, he hurls his battle axe end over end at the giant, the hefty blade slamming into the giant.

On the wagon to the front, Davie continues to drive it forward into the fog, slowing slightly as the horses shy slightly from the supernatural fog before plunging in. Milo can hear the sound of hoofs and the trundle of its wheels coming towards him.

Meanwhile, the multitude of Yvandels run closer to Dorn, before casting a spell. As one, they seem to fade, their colours draining until with a spark of light, it zaps forward into the giant's eyes, even as they all disappear from view.

In the fog he had just created, Milo paces forward towards the lighter part of the fog, stopping just as he starts to sense it clearing ahead of him, the flames just visible as a bright yellow flickering some yards distant. Starting to cast, he summons water from thin air, directing it to appear several yards ahead of him, where he remembered the fire to be and stretching across the width of the bridge. He hears a satisfying hissing noise, and the brightness dims considerably, but not entirely - in one particular spot he can still see the yellow light straining through the mist.

The blinded giant utters a roar of frustration, and charges towards the unarmed Dorn, sweeping its huge club in the air towards where he remembered Dorn to be.

Dorn easily sidesteps the heavy club, glad that the giant can't see him, but his optimism is short lived as the club comes sweeping back, this time cracking him firmly in the ribs and staggering him slightly. (OOC: 16hp damage, Dorn on 58/74)

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the bridge, the giant Lucretia had attacked has no trouble seeing the now visible Lucretia, and drops the rock he had been holding to pull out his club and firmly smack the warrior with it. (OOC: 20 hp damage, Lucretia now on 32/60 - yes, he has regenerated 1!)

The giant Blondung had zapped recovers himself and cocks back his elbow, before launching a sizeable piece of rock towards the exposed ex-Zhent. Blondung, still blinking from the flash of lightning, doesn't see the rock coming, and it strikes him squarely, nearly knocking him from the parapet (OOC: OUCH! Critical - 25 damage! Blondung on 15/40). As the light from the fire dies down somewhat, that giant disappears into the shadows, as does the giant that had moved to the far side of the bridge.

ROUND FOUR

Rear Battle
Cleo fires her bow again at the giant, cursing as she hurries the first shot, missing wildly, the arrow passing just past Dorn and one of the invisible Yvandel's. The second shot she pays much more attention to however, and it strikes the giant squarely in the chest. It grunts in pain, even taking a half-step back from the impact. (OOC: I rolled the Critical confirmation for you Cleo.)

The wagoneer continues to crank his heavy crossbow with shaking hands, all the while muttering curses under his breath.

Merrell however runs past him, the mouth of the lion-mask stretching impossibly wide to issue a deafening roar. The still blind giant stumbles a little, only to be struck twice by Dorn, the dwarf hammering his enchanted axe deep into it's legs. It nearly falls, but manages to catch itself, screaming out in pain. Yvandel, taking advantage of its blindness and his invisibility, runs forward accompanied by his multitude of invisible images to flank it with the dwarf. Once there, he starts to cast another spell, suddenly reappearing as he thrusts out his arm towards the giant.

The giant shakes his head, but seems otherwise unaffected however, and blinking, seems to be able to see again. It sweeps its club again at Dorn, but the dwarf is ready for him, and ducks under it, even managing to avoid the return sweep as well.

Front Battle
Seeing the mage Blondung severely injured, Redmane calls for him to jump back onto the wagon, steering the wagon tight against the wall and partially into the fog till he is close up to where Blondung was on the parapet wall. The injured ex-Zhent jumps across and onto the drivers bench next to Redmane.

Ceely, unable to see any foe in the fog, is relieved to hear Milo's voice ahead and holds her bow ready.

Vaslin, also unable to get line of sight to any of the giants, even though she can hear them off in the dark, also keeps an arrow nocked, but doesn't fire. From somewhere behind them comes the loud roar of a lion - Merrell no doubt.

Davie continues to drive the wagon into the fog, though it slows considerably as the horses move blindly into the fog. Milo, seeing the horses loom out of the fog towards him, sidesteps and tracks his way up the side of the wagon trying to persuade them to return to the rear of the bridge.

Meanwhile, beyond the fog and the barricade, the lone Lucretia battles with the giant on the bridge, stabbing and hacking several times at the giant.
The giant grunts in pain at the wounds, and with an inarticulate grunt, swings its own club again at the beefy warrior. Lucretia manages to avoid the first wild swing, but is caught by the second, the heavy blow nearly knocking the wind out of him. (OOC: 18 hp damage, now on 15/60)

ROUND FIVE

Rear Battle
Cleo fires her bow again at the giant, the first arrow just nicking the giant, the second disappearing off into the darkness.

Ryan raises his heavy crossbow and takes aim, but his hands are shaking too much, and the bolt is wasted, chasing Cleo's arrow into the night.

Merrell summons some globes of light, echoing Yvandel's still active, though no longer moving spell someway behind the giant. The four globes swirl around the severly injured giant as it tries to regain its balance. To Dorn however, the light simply makes it easier for him to see what he is striking, and again the sturdy dwarf hammers his axe into the giant's bleeding legs. The giant staggers and falls to its knees. Stepping up, Dorn plants his axe head deep into its chest and it keels over to crash into the floor.

"Quick! To the other end of the bridge!" exclaims Yvandel, breaking into a run, taking control of his own dancing lights and sending them arrowing down the bridge ahead of him.

Front Battle
Meanwhile at the front of the bridge, Redmane continues to drive the wagon forward into the fog, though there is a crunching noise as it jams up against the other wagon, and he stops it. Blondung still somewhat winded from taking the thrown rock, calls out. "How long will this fog last?" he directs his question to the Painbearer.

"Several minutes!" comes the reply from Milo, before he starts casting a spell to bless the party. (OOC: Just those near the front gain the benefit of the bless - i.e. Redmane, Davie, Ceely, Vaslin, Blondung and Milo himself).

"There are three giants ahead - we should go back to help those at the rear!" he adds having finished.

"Dorn and the others should be able to take care of that one - I need to to see them to target these ones with my spells!" retorts Blondung.

Ceely and Vaslin are both unable to use their bows, since they can't see any targets, their vision blocked by the mist. Vaslin has other options however, and calls out for anyone who needs healing, before casting such a spell on the obviously injured Blondung next to her.

"Thanks" mutters Blondung, still gripping the bone wand in his hand.

Davie abandons the other wagon, scrambling backwards off it. "That's three to many!" he says, fleeing to the rear, all thoughts of crashing through barriers gone from his mind. "The one at the rear is down!" he adds, once he is clear of the fog.

From upahead somewhere beyond the fog, there is a cry of pain from Lucretia, and then a crashing noise, as if of heavy tree limbs are being moved.

ROUND SIX

Guided by Yvandel's dancing light spell, Cleo breaks into a run, haring up the bridge towards the fog bound wagons near the front. Ryan jogs after her but stops as he gets to the rear wagon, climbing aboard.

Merrell on the other hand delves into a pouch, pulling out a wand as he runs towards the body of the giant, a plan that Lucretia would be proud of forming in his mind. He starts to zap himself with the wand of enlarge, and using a huge number of charges in one go, he starts to grow.

Dorn doesn't wait to see the effects, and turns away from the Merrell and the downed giant to break into a run, his short legs pumping hard as he tries to chase the much faster Cleo and the bunch of mirrored Yvandels, who also continue to run down the bridge.

Meanwhile, at the front of the bridge, Redmane looks at the murky shape he can see near him that is Blondung. "What are we going to do?!" he hisses. "The giants won't be fooled by this fog for long?"

Blondung grunts an unintelligible reply and clambers past him to clamber back onto the side wall of the bridge again, running forward a short way, before halting at the edge of the fog - just inside it. Extending his wand of bone, he mutters the command word again, and a new bolt of lightning leaps out, hitting a target invisible to those in or behind the mist. The peal of thunder echoes around the river valley for a moment and Blondung shrinks back as there is a giantish roar of pain and then the sound of thundering footsteps across the bridge. The ex-Zhent ducks as the mist is momentarily parted by the sweep of a massive club through it - only missing him due to his partial concealment within it. "Retreat!" he calls, "there are two more giants climbing onto the bridge!" being the only one who can see the enemy.

As Ceely and Vaslin worry about what to do, Milo casts another spell.

Davie starts to shuffle back - unsure about what to do.

ROUND SEVEN

Hearing Blondung's shout, Cleo pulls up, hesitating in her run across the bridge towards the fog cloud. Behind her, Ryan, now sat in the drivers seat of the rear wagon, having also heard the shout starts to winch his crossbow again. Ahead of Cleo, illuminated by Yvandel's dancing light, Redmane stumbles off the back of the wagon still just visible at the edge of the mist, almost bumping into one of the horses. He starts to untie the horse fastened there.

From up front, there is another flash and boom of thunder, as Blondung unleashes another lightning bolt. A moment later, he comes hurrying out from the rear edge of the fog, walking along the bridge parapet. (Move to AE19) Still inside the fog, Ceely and Vaslin hold arrows nocked, unable to see anyone from their positions on the two wagons.

At the back of the group, the giant Merrell starts to lumber across the bridge, his footfalls making the bridge shake as he charges across, his long strides fast overtaking Dorn (OOC: x4 run to V17) who continues his own steady jog (x3 move to 14N). With his advantage of height, he can just see over the top of Milo's summoned mist-cloud, and can just makes out the heads of three giants - one at the edge of the mist, the other two further back and pushing their way past the barricade.

Davie runs in the opposite direction passing the various Yvandels to head back towards Ryan. The puppeteers slow down and pause, having heard Blondung's yell and readying themselves to cast a spell.

In the fog, Milo moves forward and peeks out of the fog, gulping as he sees two giants on the bridge and moving through the right hand side of the barricade (from his perspective, not the top down map's perspective). He also catches a glimpse of a still twitching giant - downed by Blondung's lightning bolt he suspected. As he backs off into the mist again, using the very spooked horses and the side of the wagon to guide him, he hears the heavy thud of giant footsteps behind him. One of the horses squeals loudly and the wagon Ceely is on lurches violently.

ROUND EIGHT

Cleo holds herself ready, arrow nocked as she moves back slightly, waiting for any giants to emerge from the fog. Redmane finishes untying the horse, and pulls it (and Thunderbolt) away from the rear of what was the lead wagon. Looking back down the bridge, he almost has a heart attack as he sees the huge Merrell racing with giant steps towards him. Cleo starts to worry, remembering the last time Merrell had done this that he had fared worse than the hill giant in a one-on-one confrontation.

Blondung also moves back, the wand no longer in his hand but spell components ready instead. Ceely takes the advice of Blondung, and scrambles down from the shuddering wagon, and also emerges from the mist, moving to Cleo's side, with Vaslin appearing almost simultaneously from the other wagon as well.

Both of them are also surprised to see Merrell in giant form approaching, slowing as he picked his way past the multitude of people now spread across the width of the bridge. [Private to Merrell: OOC: I've moved you up, but you'll not get any actual attacks in this round... next round should be ok though. :-]

Yvandel, with his multitude of images constantly moving around him, steps a little closer before stopping. "I'll try and blind the first one to come through" he mutters to nobody in particular, readying himself to cast a spell.

From within the fog, there is the splintering sound of wood, and the heart rending sound of a horse screaming in its death throws. The rear end of Redmane's wagon disappears as it is pulled through the mist by the panicked horses, despite having its brake set.

The rear of the other wagon on the other hand, seems to protrude more and more from the fog, jerking unevenly as it is broken apart by the still hidden giant.

Milo, unsure what to do and worried about Lucretia, remains close to the mist, but no longer in it. [Private to Milo: OOC: I didn't really see a proper action in your post Phil.]

Finally, as Dorn just about reaches the rear of the group, the shadowy figure of a giant appears at the edge of Milo's unnatural mist, illuminated somewhat by Yvandel and Merrell's Dancing Light spells.

Cleo, Vaslin and Ceely release their held arrows, though only Ceely's arrow actually hits, and Blondung and Yvandel both complete their spells. A lightning bolt shoots out from the older mage's fingers, evaporating the edge of the mist as it slams into the giant just within. All seven Yvandels flash in unison, before the colours leech out of them into a seven beams which zap towards the giant. As the beams leave their hands, all the Yvandels disappear from sight. "He'll only be blind for a short time!" Yvandel's voice rings out of thin air, the puppeteer and his images all now invisible. The giant glares about him, and doesn't appear to be blinded however.

ROUND NINE

Redmane and Davie continues to lead two horses further back down the bridge towards Ryan, even as the giant Merrell casts a spell that seems to have no visible effect, though a sense of anticipation and rightness comes over the mage, and he just knows exactly how to swing the tree-trunk-club he is holding.

Meanwhile, Dorn charges past Milo towards the giant to attack. Seeing him coming, the giant whips its club at the dwarf, crashing hard into Dorn's shoulder [AoO Attack roll 31 vs. AC 21, Damage roll 23] , even as he slams his axe deep into its thigh [Attack roll 22 vs. AC 20, Damage roll 16]. [Private to Dorn: OOC: After I'd done all the rolls and written this - I went to update the map, and actually realised that in theory you couldn't have moved this far this turn. I've also assumed you "charged" - even though technically you couldn't because Milo and others were in the way.]

Behind him, Milo hurries past the archers to stand near to Blondung where he starts to cast a spell. A faintly glowing warhammer comes into being near to the giant, swiping at it but missing [Attack roll 15 vs. AC 20]

Blondung again starts to cast his signature spell, a bolt of lightning blasting across the width of the bridge to strike the giant. [Reflex Roll 15 vs. DC 17, Damage roll 36].

Cleo lets fly at the giant, quickly nocking and firing a second arrow even as the first nicks the giant. [Attack roll 22 vs. AC 20, Damage roll 1]. The second strikes marginally more firmly. [Attack roll 22 vs. AC 20, Damage roll 2]. At her side, Ceely does the same, her first arrow hitting solidly [Attack roll 30 vs. AC 20, Crit confirmed, Damage roll 14], her second missing by quite a wide mark [Attack roll 10 vs AC 20]. Vaslin also fires, just a single arrow, the shaft striking the giant in the chest [Attack roll 25 vs AC 20, Damage roll 6]

The invisible Yvandel, cursing the fact that his previous spell hadn't blinded the giant, chooses a different spell. A golden sparkling comes into being, settling over the giant and a significant area of the mist, causing the entire area to sparkle with golden light and Yvandel (with all his images!) reappears. The giant suddenly clutches at its eyes [Will Save roll 8 vs DC 16], then sweeps its club blindly through the area where Dorn is. Dorn tries to duck, but is unluckly and the heavy wooden club slams into him [Attack Roll 28 vs AC 21, Concealment roll 82% vs 50% miss chance, Damage roll 17].

Even as the first giant thrashes blindly about him, the wreckage of the wagon shifts again, lurching towards Milo and Blondung, the horse tied to its rear backing up and virtually trapping Milo between the cart and the side wall of the bridge, as a second giant, outlined in sparkly golden particles, pushes its way through the fog towards them, the wood of the cart cracking as it clambers onto the top of it. Despite having been caught by Yvandel's spell, it does NOT however appear to be blind [Will Save roll 24 vs DC 16], and as the mist clears in front of it, it sees Merrell. "Arhhs grutha SESSWAH!" it shouts a challenge to the larger giant.

On the other side of the barricade, Lucretia starts to stir.

ROUND TEN

Filled with his sense of rightness, Merrell steps carefully past Vaslin, Cleo and Ceely towards the sole remaining giant, trying to find space for his unnaturally large frame (move to 15AB, the only clear space). As he gets within range, the other giant takes advantage, and smacks his club at him (Attack roll 33 vs. AC 15, Damage roll 16)1.

Despite the hefty blow he had just taken, Merrell recovers quickly and swings his own club with a degree of expertise he normally lacks. The huge lump of wood, which in his giant hand seems if anything a little small, hammers into the giant like a run-away lumber wagon, nearly knocking it down and making the broken cart it is standing on crack further as its weight shifts to keep its balance (Attack Roll 30 vs. AC 20, Damage Roll 52!)2.

To the side, Dorn, glad that the new giant was distracted by the giant Merrell, takes the opportunity to search out a potion and quaff it (27 points back).

Milo, the priest effectively trapped between the broken wagon, the panicked horse and the side wall of the bridge, does all he can to escape, scrambling up onto the side wall like Blondung, and skittering past the rear end of the horse to jump down on the other side. Concentrating enough to get his summoned weapon to change targets, he glances around to see the hammer shaped glowing force smack the giant (Attack roll 24 vs. AC 20, Damage roll 5)

Blondung, scraping the barrel for spells, also moves for a better angle, and then blurts a spell, a fan of fire bursting from his fingers to spray the side of the giant, catching its furs alight (Damage roll 14)

Dropping her bow, Cleo draws her sword and dodges behind Merrell to get closer, risking an attack from the giant and grateful that it was too occupied by Merrell. She strikes at it but fails to connect. (Attack roll 13 vs. 20) [Private to Cleo: OOC: The wagon is broken and extremely unsafe to climb beneath and for that matter, the giant is standing ON it. So I moved you to 15AD instead. Also, because of the move actions, you would only get a standard attack, not a full attack, so I only took your first attack roll.]

Ceely raises her bow to fire, but all she can see is Merrell's prodigious backside, and holds her shot. Although Vaslin has a clearer shot, she hesitates, perhaps unwilling to shoot with Merrell so close to her target. [Private to Vaslin: OOC: No action from Vaslin - why?]

Yvandel, determined to make a difference, casts the same spell again, causing another shower of golden sparkles to settle over the giant and the fogged area. This time the giant drops its club and clutches at its eyes, blinded (Will Save roll 9 vs. 16). With a gutteral roar, it launches itself forward towards where it had last seen Merrell, blindly grappling with the larger giant. Merrell, caught off guard, tries to strike at it with his own club, but misses (AoO Attack Roll 15 vs. AC 20), and finds himself grabbed (Giant STR roll 16 vs. Merrell STR roll 8), the giant's arms crushing the breath out of him (Damage roll 11)3.

As the giant jumps off the broken cart onto Merrell, Cleo takes her chance, and slashes at the giant with her broad sword (Attack roll 25 vs. AC 20, Damage roll 11).

Meanwhile, unseen by the others beyond the mist, Lucretia sits up painfully, unstopping and quaffing the vial of potion (19hp back) he found still in his hand and then delving into his belt pouch for another.

  1. Because of a hang-over from 2nd edition days, when I broke the rules about the wand of enlarge's capability, and allowed Merrell to do this super-size-me trick before, I am ruling that the damage taken is actually reduced to 8 in this case. However, given that there are barely any charges left in the wand of enlarge, and its status is one of a "non-standard" enlarge spell that can't be recharged - I think I shouldn't come across this situation again!
  2. Similarly, the damage Merrell does has been increased here.
  3. Similarly, the damage here is reduced to 4.

ROUND ELEVEN

Merrell grapples with the giant, trying to damage the giant back in return, but fails to get the right leverage. (Merrell STR roll 18 vs. Giant STR roll 21)

Dorn seems too puffed from his various runs back and forth across the bridge to rejoin the fight, and stands still off to the side, merely watching events unfold (OOC: No post from Dorn).

Milo, concentrating hard, carefully aims at the grappling giants, striking hard with the translucent weapon made of pure magical energy. (Attack roll 27 vs. AC 20, Crit roll confirmed, Damage roll 15) The giant grunts as the force based weapon hits him hard, but doesn't let go of Merrell.

Blondung, out of spells, holds his staff ready, but hesitates to move forward to attack, fearful of striking Merrell.

Cleo also holds back, obviously worried about striking Merrell.(OOC: No IC post from Cleo either)

Ceely moves to her right, raising her bow again. Her first shot slices the flesh of the giant rather than sticking in (Attack Roll 26 vs AC 20, Damage Roll 1), and her second arrow flies wide (Attack Roll 18 vs AC 20).

Again, Vaslin hesitates unwilling to shoot with Merrell so close to her target (OOC: No post from Vaslin either).

Yvandel is also pretty much out of spells, and backs off, pulling out the tiny drow crossbow he had gained from Kheizar Dalan. With fumbling fingers, he starts to cock it, his various images all imitating him even as they swirl around him, hiding his true position.

Even as Merrell tries to damage the giant, the giant tries to crush Merrell, gripping him in an massive bear hug. (Giant STR roll 12 vs. Merrell STR roll 6), the giant's arms crushing the breath out of him (Damage roll 9)1. Already seriously injured, Merrell hears some of his ribs cracking before all goes dark. The heavily injured giant releases the limp body and glances around, a rage in his eyes.

Beyond the mist, Lucretia unstoppers and quaffs the second of his potion (30hp back) and then stands up.

END OF COMBAT