Reaper Errant Episode #008 can be found here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLj9cdpOPrc&t=368s
We rested in the mountains, and then the next morning headed toward a nearby cave that both appears on a map the group has, and is pointed to by Fathom’s dagger. Before we left camp, Fathom inspected the half-read scroll from the witch’s house and found that it’s now blank. Whatever magic was on it has disappeared.
As we walked along, Abran noticed a trail in the snow like a large animal was being dragged. A little farther along, Pujol found some hair and determined it was an elk. The trail matched the direction we were going, so we just kept following along. We hadn’t gone too much farther when I noticed a female giant ahead of us, standing behind a large rock. She had a boulder in hand and looked ready to throw it at us. I shouted to her (and the group, to let them know she was there). Letting her know she was spotted didn’t diffuse the situation at all, and we all ran for cover behind the trees that were scattered about the area. Next thing, I saw a troll stomping out from behind a tree – lovely, more hostile critters – but then I saw Pujol concentrating, noticed the troll wasn’t making any sound, and realized he’d made an illusion to fool the giant.
Corncob and Abran both shot at the giant and hit her, but she was focused on the troll. She threw her rock at it. It was a great distraction, but sadly, everyone – including the giant – saw the rock pass right through it. Well, it was a great distraction while it lasted. As the giant was turning her attention to other targets, the troll illusion started making rude gestures at her. I assume that was more of Pujol’s work. It seemed to get her riled up again.
Fathom cast a bolt at the giant, and Corn Cob and Abran both shot her again. I snuck forward and shot at her as well, but seemed to get her attention in the process as she started looking for me. While she was distracted looking for me, Gooseneck snuck forward toward her.
The giant spotted me, dropped her rocks, drew her axe, and started running toward me. Good to keep her distracted from Gooseneck I guess, but I did not want to be on the wrong side of that axe. I booked it, trying to keep my distance, and her attention on me while the others attacked, with Fathom and Abran both shooting her again. Gooseneck finally got his chance, but missed. That was bad – she swung at him with her axe, and he immediately fell to the ground.
That seems to happen to him a lot, from what I’ve seen.
We all shot at her again, but it didn’t seem to be slowing her down in the slightest. She ran to Corn Cob, and once again, her axe took him down in one swing. Things were not looking good at all. She threw her axe at me and hit me with it – ow! I grabbed the axe and ran, trying to both keep her from getting it back, and lead her closer to the rest of the group, in better range for the bows and crossbows. A couple more shots, and she finally fell. Whew!
Pujol and Abran went up to start healing Corn Cob and Gooseneck. Fathom searched the giant’s body and found a pouch with 230 silver. Pujol went through her pile of rocks, and found a bunch of gems. Not bad! Gooseneck took a bone from the body to make a weapon.
Just on the other side of the rock, Abran spotted the cave entrance we’d been looking for. Since we were still pretty beat up and it seemed like more giants might live in the cave, we decided to rest outside it for the day and watch what came and went. The rest of the day and the night that followed were uneventful.
The next morning we approached the cave entrance. Abran and the other wilderness-aware people didn’t see any evidence that the giant lived in there. Yay! That’s a good sign. We moved inside, and everything was very quiet and very cold. Fathom held out her dagger, and it pointed deeper into the cave.
We moved on. The floor managed to somehow be both icy and web-like, like water had crystalized into a web-like structure. Corn Cob said we’re all good, unless it’s giant ice spiders. Then the giant ice spiders fell on us. Sigh.
Corn Cob started hitting the ice spiders, but they managed to get him and Abran webbed. Abran immediately broke free. Ab-tastic!
Fathom brandished her dagger, and that seemed to give the spiders pause. She moved up and hit one of them with the dagger, and it did waaayyy more damage than a dagger should have. There’s definitely something up with that dagger.
Pujol and Corn Cob took out one of the remaining spiders, and Gooseneck got the other one. With the spiders all down, we looked up at the ceiling…and quickly wished we hadn’t. It was full of remains of various woodland critters, presumably previous meals. Yuck.
We moved forward. Past that room, the cave was still cool, but at a more naturally cave-like temperature than it had been in that first room. We started to hear a grinding sound, like something digging through solid rock. Corn Cob, being a dwarf, has some experience with such thing and told us there are various critters who can do that. Yay.
Abran scouted forward and saw a three-legged, three-armed critter dragging a stalagmite. Abran called Corn Cob up to take a look, and Corn Cob said it’s an elemental critter that feeds on gems and precious metals. We snuck past it, with Pujol and Fathom feeding it one of the gems the giant had to get by it.
After we passed the rock critter, Fathom’s dagger swung about on its own and started making a weird noise that seemed to unsettled her. She told us that the dagger had an infernal vibe to it. I’m wondering…maybe it would have been good to mention that before we went into the cave???
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