Session 188 - The Gray Giant, Ghosts and Goats

General Summary

1^st to 2^nd of Kelen (Third Month of Spring) 724TR

The story so far

The heroes have learned that the mad priest of Ilvir, Xantosa, is hellbent on collecting relics (body parts) of the Crab-Titan Obsidapor. What are his sinister plans? Does he intend to resurrect this ancient monster?

The party has learned the location of one of these relics, Obsidapor's tongue, which is believed hidden on Tarkel Island, possibly at the ruins of Aztark Manor. Unfortunately, Aztark was abandoned after being raised by the giant Ogremong.

This is the continuation of Session 185 - The Eye of Obsidapor.

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Location - Tarkel Island in the Kingdom of Kanday.

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Part 1 - The Wyvern

While Remy pilots the party's small fishing boat through a small series of rocks towards Tarkel Island, they are spotted by a large flying creature, a Wyvern. Abaddon jumps onto one of the larger nearby rocks as it swoops in, and Odin lands several arrows into its thick hide. Enraged, it dives down, stabbing Odin with its painful, poisonous sting. He is badly hurt. Remy Blinks away, only to find without his steering, the boat collides onto the rocks. He thinks better of it and dismisses the spell.

The creature descends for another attack flying straight toward the source of the annoying arrows. Abaddon extends his hands, and for a second, vines project out and catch the Wyvern. Dragged in by the Thorn Whip, the Wyvern focuses on Abaddon instead and falls into his cunning trap. As it approaches at great speed, Abaddon thumps it on the head with his staff. Instead of catching his target in its claws, the Wyvern finds itself momentarily Stunned by the skilled martial artist. The rest of the characters pummel the poor creature before it has time to recover and escape.

As the slain beast sinks into the water, Remy and Odin dive in and hack off its head and tail spike. Later on, on the beach, they carefully wash off the poison.

Part 2 - The Madman

The heroes make their way to the ruined Aztark village, overrun by goats and a confused old geezer. Young Hunberg, as he calls himself, is happily talking to the goats and "invisible" people. The characters have difficulty communicating with him, partly because his vocabulary is limited, but mostly because he thinks the heroes are ghosts.

Eventually getting his attention, he is shocked to find that they are real and panics. "The Master will eat you, he and his ghosts," he stammers, looking up to the ruined keep in the distance. When asked about the Tongue of Obsidapor, he has no clue, only returns questions with a bewildered stare and warnings to "Run, run for your lives."

Part 3 - The Gray Giant and his Ghosts

The heroes stealthfully approach the ruins of the Aztark keep, aided by Odin's Pass Without Trace spell. Keeping their distance, they observe something big moving behind a broken wall, the massive giant Ogremong feeding on a huge raw goat's leg. The giant's muscle body is covered in battle-scarred grey skin, and it wears a dragon or wyvern skull helmet. His face is brutish with reptilian characteristics. Remy inspects him with Detect Magic and discovers something unusual. Much of his gear seems to have a necromantic aura; these include his helmet, belt, cloak, and a shield (under his belt), and a bone comb. Intrigued, the party finds a well-concealed, observation post not far up the hills, and makes camp for the night. They then come up with a battle plan.

Before dawn the next day, the heroes sneak up on the giant. Unfortunately, he does not sleep. He is standing in the broken courtyard staring at the sky. Remy casts Blink and sneaks behind him. As he transitions into the ethereal plane, he is in for a shock, seeing that the items with necromantic aura have spirits or ghosts attached; most are human, although the skull helmet has some form of draconic spirit. Unperturbed, Remy unclasped the giant's cloak and ripped it off his back. Luckily, he blinked away into the ethereal before the startled giant could react. In the ethereal plane, the spirit trapped in the cloak is freed. It flies away to some unknown afterlife.

Remy repeats the trick, appearing behind Ogremong and stealing the shield out of his sturdy belt. Again the soul bound to the shield disappears then Remy notices the remaining ghosts enter the giant's body, hardening his skin. The third attempt to steal an item fails. Orgemong is ready will not be fooled again. As Remy reappears from the ethereal plane, he is smashed and narrowly evades being grappled and thrown against a wall. Remy retreats as other characters attack.

Odin, effectively invisible in darkness, keeps firing arrows into the giant at a range, and some penetrate his rock-hard skin. However, to Odin's annoyance, Ogremong can see invisible creatures and retorts with a breath weapon made of poisonous bones shards. Odin retreats to a safer distance.

Meanwhile, Abaddon attacks directly while skillfully evading most of the giant's attacks. The giant is dangerous, and Remy closes to melee again, but unfortunately, this time, his Blink spell fails him, and he is left standing in front of the giant. Ogremong strikes at him, and again he is forced to back off. The frustrated giant hits Abaddon several times but is unable to grab hold of the slippery warrior. Eventually, the Ogremong falls to the relentless arrows, staff, and magical attacks. The giant roars with pain and falls to the ground dead, releasing the spirits he held captive he was using to boost his strength and supernatural abilities.

Exhausted, the heroes rest and then loot the ruin. Unfortunately, anything valuable has long since been lost.

Part 4 - Angry Goats

Young Hunberg makes an appearance after sunrise with a goat. He is shocked to see Ogremong's headless, arrow-ridden corpse. He goes through a rabid kaleidoscope of emotions, accumulating with him kicking the corpse. "The ghosts are gone, I'm Freeeeeee," he tells his goat and begins to dance with it.

Questioning Hunberg further, they learn that he was once the page of the old lord Aztark manor. Asking if the old lord has a secret location where he would store something valuable, Hunberg vaguely remembers overhearing the lord talking with his trusted retainers about a cave along the island's western coast. He has never seen it.

The party makes their way across the island, finding an eroded rough-cut trail through the rocks. Many oversize aggressive goats guard this route, but they are no real challenge to the heroes. They make it to the west coast and start looking for this alleged cave.

To be continued.

NPC Interactions

Young Hunberg - Goat herder and madman.

Challenges Overcome

1 x Wyvern.

Ogremong - a unique Pradeyalkri giant.

8 x GiantHill Goats.

Rewards

Nothing this week.

Created Content

Nothing this week.

Related Reports

Nothing this week.

Player Character Status

Odin - Human - Level 5 Gloom Stalker.

Abaddon - Elf - Level 5 Open-hand Monk.

Remy - Half-Elf - Level 5 Bladesinger.