the NORSE Panthiad

[David]

On 616 / 7 / 8 Common Year, a group of Norse and Dwarven heroes assembled in the name of their gods. A divine competition to kill frost giants without inviting these two faiths? Insulting! To show their worth, these heroes set out to slaughter as many frost giants as possible in a single day and under the same "rules" as the other pantheons.

The heroes of the first group were (by level): Treblo Skymage (Balder), Rhom StrongArm (Thor), Gere Skymage (Balder), Corvin Oakmead (Clangaddin), Brunor (Moradin), Celene (Thor), and Balthazar (Balder). Using the resources of Klarr's heroes (Todar and Annistasia) the heroes protected themselves with resist cold and protection from evil spells and then Treblo teleported without error to the lair of the frost giant leadership -- a mountain retreat sheathed in fog and swirling in snow! There were several small homes, each on a different icy peak and connected to the others via stone/ice bridges.

The heroes set off for the first such home. Just as they were closing on the structure, the giants within spied them and became throwing boulders. Rhom and the dwarves charged, passed quickly by Celene and supported by Treblo and Balthazar's wands. Celene was smashed with boulders and nearly died just as the other three heroes engaged the giants. After a brutal battle, the heroes were victorious and did a quick search of the giant home.

Meanwhile, four more giants charged up, splitting into two groups. Treblo tried a chain lightning but they were too far apart and the damage was minimal. Rhom (now under a fly spell) scooped up the dwarves and they invisibily attacked one group. Meanwhile, Gere lost sight of the others, only to discover that they too could turn invisible. The giants stormed the heroes' location from the backdoor and nearly slaughtered them; Treblo was forced to dimension door to safety outside, where Celene was battling ice trolls (the dwarves and Rhom were likewise occupied). With a bit of luck, however, the heroes took out these two giants as well, taking time to search and heal up a bit.

Then the heroes spied a group of eight more adult giants approaching their location. Treblo launched off another chain lightning this time for devastating effect. The giants retreated back and the heroes charged invisibily, but the giants rallied and charged as well, right into yet another chain lightning that revealed one invisible giant, killed two more, and seriously fried many others. A giant shaman and giant wizard tried to even the score, but Rhom and Celene carved a path of destruction while Corvin and Brunor dodged the giants' attacks and Treblo and Balthazar used spells and wands to finish off the stragglers. Within a few minutes, all the giants lay dead.

The heroes searched and continued on, moving to another mountain top home. There, they met and quickly killed six frost giant children.

Crossing to the next mountain-top home, the heroes spied a pair of young white dragons ahead. One fireball from Treblo stunned one and wounded the other. With only a 20 second delay, the heroes moved on to what appeared to be the giants' castle.

That's when the boulders and spells began to fly! The rock wasn't terribly dangerous, but a hypnotic pattern took out Rhom and Brunor as well as trapped Corvin in Rhom's arms. Celene moved up to help while Gere cast a dispel magic to end the effect. Balthazar leapt at the flying group's waist bringing them to the ground (as opposed to a floating target) while Treblo used a phantasmal force of a wall of ice to give some obscurement and visual cover.

It almost worked, but a color spray cut down Balthazar and while boulders rained into the group. One giantess attacked with a heavily enchanted ball and chain, nearly killing Corvin. Treblo's lightning bolt managed to destroy the giantess' other equipment, but still more giants charged out. Things began to look very bleak. Rhom was smashed to -9. Celene was killed, only saved with Rhom's elixir of health. Brunor had to use his shadow death. Treblo managed a wall of force across the front of the giants' home, cutting off reinforcements. With a bit of luck, he, Gere, Celene, and Corvin defeat the last few giants, gathered the fallen, and teleported home to safety, where they healed up.

Total body count: 26 adult giants plus 3 children for 29 total

[David]

Meanwhile, a second group of Norse and Dwarven heroes assembled to attack a second target. This time Kiro (Sif), Bromly (Berrenor), Durra (Moradin), Mang (Moradin), and Saanau (an elf with a debt to Mang), and Yrsa (Freya) were the heroes. After paying for resist cold spells and getting the aid of Esmerelda (the Norns), the group used a magic mirror to transport to another frost giants' lair.

The heroes entered, leaving the mirror open, and mostly avoided an ice-fall, slaughtered first one then four more yeti, as well as four winter wolves, all without much effort. Next, the heroes found a room with two ice ogres. Unfortunately, the ice ogres surprised Kiro and ripped off BOTH of Durra's legs. Thinking quickly, Bromly saved her friend with a potion of extra-healing before she could bleed out. Meanwhile Mang and Yrsa engaged the ogres long enough for Kiro to recover and help them.

The dwarven cleric carried her friend back to the mirror (with the winter wolf carcasses) and Esmerelda accompanied the group back. Meanwhile, Mang and Saanau searched the ice ogres' lair, only to be nearly surprised by a frost giant, come to investigate all the noise. Mange was nearly killed, and Saanau showed much bravery. Kiro arrived just in time to finish the creature off, but a second came up behind Yrsa, Esmerelda, and Bromly. Working together, the heroes killed this giant too.

The adventurers continued, battling a room full of ice trolls followed by an ice salamander in another room. The group then dispatched a yeti sentry, and reached the frost giants' main hall. There, they battled two more frost giants, but before they could finish them, another adult and a child joined the fray. Things looked bad, but the heroes managed to win out.

Searching the nearby rooms, the group discovered two captive ice elves before locating the giant chief. This massive giant nearly killed Mang, sent Kiro to -9 and almost took out the group before dying. The heroes rescued a human barbarian and then located the chief's treasure room and looted it with some clever use of zone of sweet air. With more treasure than they could carry, the group prepared to leave, but Kiro convinced them to do "one more room".

Seeking out another room, the heroes found themselves against THREE adult frost giants. Luckily, all three were surprised! Saanau used a fireball to soften them up, luckily vaporizing one giant's weapons and armor. Bromly unfortunately drank liquid road and fell helpless. Kiro and Yrsa charged in, as did Esmerelda, Drusilla, Geffin, and the ice-elven warriors. Amazingly, no one died and all the giants fell.

The heroes cut their losses and fled, saving three innocents in the process, killing 9 adult giants and 3 younglings, for a total of 10.5 and a pan-Norse total of 39.5

[Stephanous]

It is worth mentioning here that Mang hid behind Bromly and used her as cover when he saw the three giants, even though he had great AC and 25 hp, which was better than some people who ran in the room. Mang has now been deemed Mang the Coward.

[David]

Later the same day, Treblo, Rhom, Brunor, Corvin, Gere, and Celene returned to the frost giants' palace, using a teleport without error to appear within the castle/fortress. The heroes quickly set about slaughtering the giants on guard and then proceeded to finish off the rest of the inhabitants. Rhom's hammer of thunderbolts and Celene's long sword of giant slaying left a path of death, with Brunor and Corvin picking off stragglers while Treblo, Balthazar, and Gere used spells to soften up the rest.

Room-by-room, the heroes slaughtered the frost giants, even battling a 50' long snow snake. One of the giants turned out to be a powerful wizard, on par with Treblo. He summoned hobgoblins to hold the group off, fired a lightning bolt at them, and even managed to put a Bigby's interposing hand between himself and Rhom, but it didn't hold long. Using Treblo's enchanted elephant, the heroes closed and engaged these last few frost giants. Like the rest of the monsters, the wizard was quickly dispatched. After searching the lair, the group moved on to the next mountain-top home, but were seen en route.

The heroes had another tremendous battle. While Treblo's chain lightning was most effective at thinning the giant's strength, the monsters still managed to inflict heavy wounds on the heroes. Brunor and Corvin both dropped and Rhom and Celene were barely on their feet. Balthazar was terribly wounded and even Treblo was hurt. Finally, besting a large group of giants, the groups located and searched another steading, killing three young frost giants in the process. The heroes headed off to tackle another group of giants, but spied a large force heading for them. In a moment's pause between combats, Treblo gathered up the group and teleported home.

Total kills for this raid: 19 plus 3/2 for a grand total of 60 frost giants -- a higher "pure" total than any group but the Oerdians and all done in a single day!

[David]

After the two parties returned home to rest and recover from their one day assault, each hero from each raid had a dream that night, seemingly personalized to the individual.

Treblo, Gere and their children were marked with a rune from Odin, awaking to find themselves no longer cursed with horsemouth. Similarly, Bromly is visited by Berronor who declares Oerth is once again the cleric's home while Durra is visited by Moradin, who reforges her for Oerth.

Rhom, Celene, Kiro, Yrsa, and Esmerelda all feasted together in Valhalla, with Rhom and Esmerelda each being presented with one of Idunn's apples of youth. Celene was given a copy of Draupnir from Odin, while Freya told Yrsa of a magical ritual to bind Geffn to the priestess as a familiar. Kiro, for his part, was honored by the valkyrie and welcomed into the Norse fold, despite being an ogre magi.

Brunor awoke to find that Moradin had forged him another living arm to replace his missing one. On the finger of that hand was a ring of woven gold threads, crafted from the beard of Berronor. She said he would find his mate wearing a similar ring. With a mission in his heart and the inspiration of Moradin, in a single day, Brunor crafted the finest suit of dwarven plate armor imaginable, complete with customized detailing of a pair of crossed silver hammers on the chest-plate. This was a gift for Corvin from the Morndinsamman.

[David]

[glow=blue,2,300]EPILOGUE ONE[/glow]
Several weeks later on 616 / 7 / 24 (but for us the next day!), Rhom managed to convince Chastity, Treblo, and the other heroes to return to the frost giant lair to finish the monsters off. This time Rhom, Treblo, Chastity, Anastasia, Gere, Brunor, and Corvin teleported without error back to the initial mountain-top home the heroes had first attacked. Instead of giants, however, the group met with a large number of ice trolls at both longhouses.

Moving on to the second target from the first raid, the heroes found themselves battling numerous invisible ice ogres, as well as hidding yeti, and frost giants hurling boulders. Ironically, it was not the giants that proved a challenge, but the stealthy ogres and yeti. Several times the party was ambushed during combat by these foes. Ultimately, however, the heroes were triumphant!

Later the heroes continued on to a second homestead on the second mountain. Again, numerous invisible ice ogres and yeti jumped the heroes while frost giants tossed boulders from extreme range. At one point, once the heroes had a handle on the foes near them, Rhom, Corvin, and Brunor charged the giants, taking heavy boulder fire. Just as the heroes arrived, so too did more giants. While Rhom was able to take out one or two per round, the giants just kept coming. Clearly, the heroes were about to be overwhelmed. Just then Treblo grapped Anastasia and dimension doored to help the heroes. Unfortunately, the giants targetted the wizard killing him.

Anastasia grabbed the mage's body and dashed back through the snow to Gere, who managed to administer her elixir of health just in time to save her husband. Meanwhile, Corvin dropped as cloud giants arrived. Chastity launched fireballs at these new monsters, the blasts detonating well over her allies' heads. Amazingly, the heroes managed to defeat all of these foes as well, but only just. Both dwarves lay dying in the snow, Rhom was barely able to stand, Treblo had to drink not only the elixir but then be time healed and both mages had used many charges from their wands and staves.

Here, however, things were different than previous raids. Using Chastity and Treblo's spells to time heal the group as well as most of Anastasia and Corvin's clerical spells, the party was nearly back to full strength. Catching their breath, they prepared to attack the central palace of the frost giants...with a death count of 40 ice trolls, 21 yeti and another 21 ice ogres, 6 frost giant warriors, 3 female frost giants, 4 pre-teen frost giants, 3 child giants, and 3 cloud giants.

[Artec]

Actually David it is supposed to be silver Battle Axes

[David]

My bad! You can tell I was in a hurry. I actually thought I typed "axes" but oh, well...

[David]

The group continued on (with Anastasia waiting in the bag of holding).

The heroes (Treblo, Gere, Rhom, Bruenor, Corvin, and Chastity) encountered a half dozen ice trolls and yet, plus an invisibile ice ogre, but made short work of them. Then moving on to the central "palace" of the frost giant complex, the group had trouble...

As the Norse and Dwarven heroes charged the wooden structure, boulders began smashing down among them. Rhom, wearing Anastasia's boots of speed, zipped ahead, only to have his foot broken by a lucky shot, forcing him to fall back. Treblo was nailed three times in rapid succession and nearly died. Both dwarves began to take heavy damage as well. Chastity and Treblo used the last of their timeheal spells to restore the fighters, while Gere charged ahead invisibily. From behind the giants, she unleashed first Treblo's elephant figurine and then her own hill giant-servant boon.

This gave the heroes a chance to regroup. Bruenor, who had been charging the whole time, despite multiple boulder hits was near-death as he reached the giants. Treblo unleashed multiple lightning bolts however, which (combined with the elephant and hill giant) gave Bruenor a chance. Meanwhile, Corvin used his rock burst spell several times to deadly effect, not only injuring the frost giants but depriving them of their main weapons! By this point, a freshly-restored Rhom reached the battle and began wading into the frost giants, smashing them down with nearly every hit. Chastity, unfortunately, was hit several times and had to retreat invisibly to save her own life.

As the heroes gained the upper hand, four particularly-large winter wolves arrived and caused Gere and the dwarves trouble. One hit Rhom with its freezing breath full-force and while the damage was minor, the warsmith lost several potions and nearly his metal weapons! The battle raged on, with Treblo lobbing lightning bolt after lightning bolt and with Corvin tossing rock bursts at the giant "artillery". Finally, however, both dwarves were dropped and so too was Gere. Young giants arrived, but quickly died, save for two who fled immediately.

Without the strength to effectively continue, the heroes patched up their wounded as best as they could and teleported home with a body count of 10 more adult frost giant warriors, 3 more adult females, and 4 children, plus 4 winter wolves, 6 ice trolls, 6 yeti, and an ice ogre.

[Stephanous]

A couple of corrections...

Gere never fel, it was Chastity that fell.

Also, Gere was surrounded by several Frost Giants and all alone for several rounds. How about a little pat on the back for the Heroic Cleric of Balder?