Chapter 25: Chapter 25: A Giant Problem

The trek up the cavern was arduous.  The incline was designed for giants, and even Jace struggled up the steps carved into the stone.  They found several piles of animal droppings that Snowy identified as belonging to cows or sheep, which let them know they were on the right path.  According to Gracie, there should be two stone giants up ahead with about 450 Hit Points each.  They would have a better chance of hitting the fighters, but still not great.  However, knowing that the first round was already skewed hard, they braced themselves for anything when they saw the light up ahead.

Esther hid in the shadows and crept forward.  She reported back that there were three of the stone giants.  Another sneak attack would be best here, but Jace wanted to be in the room when Esther attacked so they wouldn’t all gang up on her.  A lucky crit could kill her outright.  She led him and Snowy back to the lair, and they peeked around the corner.  The creatures were still armed with clubs, with no visible armor or shields.  Should be easy.  Jace swapped his sword for the halberd, dropped his armor totem on the ground, put his Damage Sink totem on a distant wall, and charged into the room.

Snowy howled beside him as the pair streaked in and were fast enough to catch the first giant flat-footed, but Jace saw his stun ability didn’t work.  {Stone Giants are immune to stun and paralyze spells while they are standing on stone,} Gracie informed him.  {As a stone shaman, you can take the same feat in the future if you want.}

Esther attacked out of the shadows, surprising one of the three giants and stealing the attention of the other before she jumped away and led them on a Haste-aided chase, leaving Jace with the one he had already injured.  The giants had 500 Hit Points, and Jace wouldn’t be surprised if a fourth came jumping out of a side passage when they were almost done.  Without his stun ability, Jace shrugged his shoulders and prepared to engage these monsters the old-fashioned way when another idea came to mind.  The giant swung and missed, and instead of attacking back, Jace reached into his weapon and engaged the Trip ability.  The dial appeared as before, though it was flickering slightly now, and Jace noticed that only the 20 was a hit, and it wasn’t even a critical, meaning that rolling a 20 still left him ten short of what he needed to trip this giant.

Still, he swung through the 20, the giant’s foot left the stone, and he cried out in astonishment as his back crashed to the ground.  Snowy howled in glee now that the monster’s head was at an accessible level for her and went to work restructuring his face.  Instead of pressing his advantage, Jace moved past the fallen giant and came up behind one of the monsters trying to track down Esther.  Once again, the 20 was the only number that was a hit, and Jace noticed, as before, that he had to aim lower than the giant’s actual foot to get the strike.  The halberd bounced up off the stone, struck the beast’s ankle at a perfect angle, and the second behemoth fell to the ground.

This time he fell forward, and Esther, who had just avoided a strike from the third giant, laughed in glee.  She jumped down onto the prone creature’s back and managed to wrestle his free hand behind him while sheathing her swords.  As she attempted the grapple, the third giant was about to squash her, caring nothing for his friend’s back, but Jace was there again, enacting his trip attack and sending his third foe to the ground in as many swings.

{Are you having fun?}

“Yes,” Jace answered.  “Quite a bit.”  He sensed the first giant getting up, screaming in pain from Snowy’s attacks, but he took a few seconds to watch Esther work.  The giant had a considerable size advantage over Esther with an enormous resistance to grapple attempts.  Still, the target was prone, and Esther had an unreal bonus to grapple, made even stronger by the necklace she now wore.  It wasn’t a critical success, but she did manage a secure grapple, and with the giant’s face pressed against the stone, he was considered pinned and Helpless.  Jace knew he could enact his weapon’s Coup de Grace ability and kill the monster on the spot, but he figured Esther had other plans.  He was right.

Esther cast Enthrall on the giant.  The spell was usually only effective if she had critically charmed her opponent or gotten a few criticals in her grappling check, but since the beast was helpless, he had no saving throws and was soon entirely in her power.  “Kill your friend,” she whispered into his ear as she sat on his back.

The chaotic beast didn’t fight the command much, and as Esther jumped off him, he rose to face off against the third giant Jace had just tripped.  The shaman smiled at the clever tactic and turned to face the first giant he and Snowy had already reduced to half health.  He took a club directly to the face.

{Lucky 20,} Gracie replied.  {Double crit.}

Jace had stored a critical protection in his illusion necklace, but since he wasn’t wearing it anymore, he took both crits.  Like the ogres he had fought two modules ago, these giants had the throwback ability on a crit.  Jace thought it was stupid, as they could have tripled their damage.  Instead, his Damage Sink totem took over 100 and then 80 more as he smacked hard against the far stone wall.  His head felt foggy after the massive attack, and he knew his Damage totem was almost gone.  He could also no longer feel his armor totem.  That last attack had thrown him too far away.

The numbers on his dial were flickering wildly as the injured giant bore down on him, and Jace realized he had no defensive measures now.  He got a strike first but then took another ride as the club struck him again.  It was another double crit, only this time it was because his +9 to armor was inactive.  The giant hit him sideways this time, and he smashed into the wall where he had placed his Damage totem.  The totem exploded with tremendous force as it tried to absorb almost 100 damage above its limit.  The shock of the hit cracked the cavern wall and sent a spray of rocks in every direction.

Jace took the overflow and dropped to half health.  The wounded giant was below 200 and turned to stalk toward Jace again.  The shaman sprinted back toward his armor totem before turning to face the creature.  He needed two more critical strikes against the beast to kill it and had to wait for several rounds before casting his damage sink totem again.

Snowy still nipped at his heels, and the giant stupidly wasted a strike against the wolf.  He got a critical hit but spent it to send the wolf flying instead of multiplying the damage.  This gave Jace the first strike, and he took advantage of the momentary flanking bonus his familiar gave him to drop the giant’s current health in half.  His second strike did minor damage, and the giant’s second attack did none, as he swung and missed.

Jace hoped he would survive this next round but held his attack in check as he heard Esther’s voice cry out, “Wait!”  He couldn’t see her at first but watched his opponent rear up in pain as the woman grappled onto his back.  Thanks to the flanking bonus Jace gave her, she secured him but didn’t get a critical success to consider him pinned.  Jace helped out by once again tripping the giant.  The dial was all but useless at this point, but he had learned the tripping technique well and either rolled another twenty, or the giant’s reduced mobility from being grappled and flanked allowed him the success.  As soon as the beast was on the ground, Esther latched onto his neck.

At first, Jace assumed she was stealing mana gain, but as the giant’s Hit Points went down, he saw the woman’s go up until she was healed.  She took the next level drain as mana to top off, and when she came up for air, Jace took the giant’s head.  He was full on mana right now and dumped everything into his healing ring to bring him back to a safe level before he and Esther stalked over to the two giants fighting.  The enthralled giant was not the one Esther had sneak attacked, so he had a Hit-Point advantage over his friend.  Both giants had horrible armor classes and did massive damage with each strike, so the fight didn’t last long.

The last giant standing struggled back to his mistress with only a few dozen Hit Points.  Jace felt bad attacking him in this vulnerable condition, but Snowy and Esther didn’t have any problems with it, and soon there were three dead giants on the ground, with no sign of a fourth.

Jace walked away from the bloody scene with mixed emotions and headed toward the light source at the far end of the cavern.  He heard the wind before he saw the night air and the large cliffside pens that held the stolen animals.  Massive stones had been piled as fences to keep the herd together and away from the steep drop-off.  They looked unharmed, and he hoped the villagers would be able to guide them back down the mountain.

Jace enjoyed the fresh air and stood for a while, savoring the peaceful night after a vicious round of combat.  He would need another load of mana dumped into his ring before returning to full health, so he relaxed for a while as his body pulled energy from the stone beneath him.

“Something wrong, boss?” Esther came up behind him.  Jace still heard snowy inside the cavern, recovering her strength through feasting on the bodies.  Esther could only steal health or mana from the giants while they were alive.  “You looked a little hesitant back there.”

What should he say?  Should he criticize her methods?  He knew what he was getting into when he broke the game to allow a vampire to join his party.  “I need a chance to recoup,” he settled with.  “I haven’t always lived a life with such . . . violence.  You and Snowy are more acclimated to this type of fighting.  I need to clear my head, catch my breath, and regen my mana.”

“Okay,” she said.  “We’ll be waiting for you.”

 

---

 

The group had to leave the comfort of the mountain caves as they approached the last trial.  It was early in the fall season, but snow lay thick up here all year long, and the wind whipped it into their faces as they skirted peaks and climbed outcroppings under the starry sky.  Snowy was at home in this weather, and Jace could barely feel the cold, but Esther had her cloak wrapped tightly around her.

Jace had half a mind not even to engage the frost giant.  It was unlikely the monster would ever attack the village himself.  That is what he had minions for.  Plus, the animals were easy to get at now, with the hill and stone giants defeated.  The final boss of this mission would have to retreat into these mountains to build up his forces to attack again sometime later.  Jace didn’t want to get so caught up in the game that he lost sight of what was really important.  They already had all three strength items and enough experience to level up to ten.  They had gotten that before this quest’s first giant kill when Jace found the control collar.  All they were chasing now was the +1 to strength, which may or may not be possible for Jace anyway.  Perhaps it was the completist in him that demanded they finish this.  The game would surely punish him if he left this undone and the villagers at the mercy of an enraged frost giant.

Jace had little time to contemplate this, for as they walked almost an hour in the open air, they were attacked by dozens of monsters.  Goblin troupes, yetis, snow drakes, polar worms, and a host of other creatures native to frozen landscapes lay in wait for the adventurers.  After dealing with the giants in the previous two rounds, none of it was difficult for them.  In the dark of night, Esther needed little help hiding in the shadows and could strike first, continually dispelling or disarming the enemy before they knew they were in danger.  Jace stood as the team’s tank, letting his damage totems take the brunt of the attacks while dealing out 45 damage with each strike, though most attacks were critical.

Perhaps for a group that relied on conventional healing or mana generation to deal damage, the constant onslaught would have been taxing, but Esther and Snowy could generate health or mana from consuming the last enemy in each group, and Jace could always draw strength from the stones around them.  The orc continued trying to trip each enemy, much to Gracie’s disdain.  Sometimes he failed horribly and took a nasty strike in return, and other times polar bears, kobolds, and snow cats looked up at him from their backs as he hacked them to pieces.

Thus, they were still at full strength when they came to a stone and ice edifice that rose like a sheer cliff wall at the top of the mountain.  A wide path led toward the massive steel gate that sparkled in the starlight with a thin layer of ice.  No more guards stood at the entrance; instead, it was a simple entry that led deeper into the stone pinnacle.  Moving from the giant-made structure into the stone of the peak was hardly noticeable, but Jace felt they were now inside the mountain again with not far to go before the owner of this fortress made himself known.  As they walked in, Jace dropped his Armor totem outside of the primary audience hall and placed his other one further inside, finding it hard to choose a stone surface not covered with ice.

The domed chamber was awe-inspiring.  Ice lay thick over everything, making the stonework shine like crystal.  It wasn’t as harmonious with the environment as it would have been had dwarves or gnomes constructed the home.  Stone and ice didn’t get along well, with cracks snaking through the rock as the ice expanded and fractured the structure of the mountain.  It was in no danger of collapsing as the temperature was never likely to rise even close to freezing, and the ice was enchanted to be as firm as any mortar.  A light spell permeated the hall, reflecting illumination through the ice and into every inch of the space as if the sun were shining inside.

Standing in the center of the room was the frost giant.  Fully fifteen feet tall, the monstrosity held a steel banded club and a shield taller than Jace.  His white beard was broad in a grin as he looked at his visitors, the game no doubt giving him the information that all his minions lay dead and these three were responsible.

{He shouldn’t have a shield,} Gracie said in Jace’s head.  Jace also saw he was level 20 and had a whopping 750 Hit Points.  Why start playing fair now?

“What brings you visitors into my realm on such a crisp, clear night?” the behemoth boomed.

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Jace paused at the question.  Could there be a way to negotiate through this?  Convince the giant to go elsewhere?  Maybe even let him take as much of the livestock as he could carry and promise never to return?  He doubted it.  “We come in the name of Cepton,” Jace said but thought he might need to clarify, “the village your giants have been raiding.  We have defended ourselves against them, and their blood soaks into the rocks as we speak.  It does not need to be so with you.  Leave, and never come back.”

The giant laughed.  “Well-spoken, brave, and noble orc.  But why should I do that?  I could instead just kill you and then kill everyone in the village and eat anything I wanted.  Why should I spend the glorious winter hungry?”

“We won’t let you!” Esther shouted.

The giant laughed again.  “Little girl,” he started, not knowing that, according to the game, the fallen angel was likely older than he was.  “I appreciate your moxie, but that will not happen.  You will turn around, tell the villagers you have failed, and never think about returning.  That is as gracious as I am willing to be.  I can see you are formidable, but you don’t stand a chance against me.  All the same, I don’t want to spend the rest of the evening healing from wounds I could avoid.  Turn around and never come back.”

Jace wanted to do it.  Esther didn’t let him.  She exploded toward the giant at a sprint, spending mana to haste herself.  Jace cried for her to stop, and the giant just watched her approach with interest, his club at the ready.  It was 80 feet to the giant, and she had time for an invisibility spell.  She cast it, but the light in the cavern prevented her from disappearing.  She took it in stride and sped across the last 30 feet before the giant as the bearded foe raised his club to strike.

Esther’s foot hit what she thought was polished marble but was instead a patch of the slickest ice in the realms, and she fell to her back, just under the swinging club.  Her speed seemed to double again as she streaked past the giant on a head-first collision course with a heavy chair.  The chaotic ice that had just saved her life now dealt her a critical maneuver failure as she hit the stone furniture.  Only the critical protection Jace had cast into her armor kept her from being stunned for several rounds.  Before the giant could turn to squash her into the floor, Snowy growled in attack, having started her charge right after Esther.

The wolf’s claws bit true into the ice like they were designed to, and she leaped high at the giant.  He raised his shield, and Snowy had no opening.  Instead, she collided hard against the barrier and was thrown back across the room.

Jace was right behind his familiar, the halberd swinging even as the shield was recoiling from the bash against the wolf.  The dial was gone now, but Jace had trained for this moment. And was sure he had lined up a perfect strike.  It was a hit but not critical.

{You rolled a 19,} Gracie informed him.  {His AC is 20, but he gets ten from the shield.  Twice that with the raise shield action.}

Jace realized he could only hit him with an 18-20 and watched as the giant’s Hit Points didn’t change, his damage reduction greater than what Jace could produce.  The giant swung back at Jace and hit him for 63, all going to his totem.  Jace countered with a trip attempt.

[Critical Hit.  Combat maneuver ineffective.]

{You can’t trip him while he is standing on ice,} Gracie reported.

“Everyone back!” Jace cried.  He looked over his shoulder at Snowy and saw the wolf had lost a third of her health from the defensive move.  Before him, Esther was picking herself up off the ice and struggling to find footing.  Instead, she climbed onto a massive chair and then to the top of a stone table.

Jace saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was about to attempt.  “Esther, no!”  He had backed up so he was off the patch of ice and just out of reach of the beast.  The frost giant had no intention of stepping off his protective surface and did not turn his back on Jace to see what the woman behind him was doing, judging correctly who was the more significant threat.  Without a critical, Esther would never get through his damage reduction.

Esther leaped onto his back and tried to grapple him.  Even if he hadn’t been standing on the ice, making him immune to combat maneuvers, he had too much of a size and strength advantage, and the move could never work.  The frost giant harnessed his shield momentarily and reached over his back to throw her to the ground before him.  In the same motion, he swung his club at the woman.  Esther tried to Dodge, but her feet slipped on the ice.  Instead, she held her weapons up in an X, but it was not enough.

He hit her with almost 70 damage and sent her flying across the room.  It was over half her health, but her Death save was 53, and after a good defensive roll, the hit only dazed her.  However, she hit an icicle on the far wall that did another 13 before she slumped to the ground. 

{Jace!} Gracie screamed.  {That icicle gave her a bleeding condition.  She will die in five rounds if you don’t do something.

“How does that work?” Jace asked desperately, daring to turn his back on the frost giant, who laughed in response.

{It does one less damage each round, starting at the initial amount.}

The blow of 13 damage had dropped her to 45 health, and Jace watched as it fell another twelve as Esther struggled to her knees in pain.

“No!” Jace screamed, running over to the woman.  He didn’t know what to do other than scoop her up in his arms and carry her out of here.  He had no way to heal her or stop the bleeding, but he would have to think of something.  He prepared to drop his halberd in anticipation of picking up the woman, not wasting time putting it in his inventory and not caring if he left it here forever.

The frost giant was one step ahead of him.  He cast one of his few spells, and a block of ice sprung up around Esther, entombing her in the center.  The slab was four feet tall and wide and over seven feet long.  Jace kept his weapon for now and brought it over his head in a devastating strike against the ice sarcophagus.  It did no damage.

{Only fire or the giant’s death will free her,} Grace said, panic clear in her voice.

Jace braced himself against the frozen monolith, trying to move or lift it, but even his strength was not enough.  He could only pound on the transparent prison, Esther lying peacefully inside.  As he watched, Esther’s health went from 33 to 22.  She had three rounds left.  “How long will this spell last?”

{Ten rounds,} Gracie said.  {The only good news I have is that time moves at half speed for her in the ice.}

“Great,” Jace said sarcastically.  “She’s dead in six rounds instead of three.  Why did you bring us here?  You knew we didn’t have any fire!”

{Don’t blame me!} Gracie was equally distressed.  {He wasn’t supposed to have a shield and 750 hit points.  Esther should have been able to hide in the shadows, get a critical strike, and dispel his damage reduction.  The three of you should have been able to kill him.}

Down deep inside, Jace knew this wasn’t Gracie’s problem.  He took a breath to calm himself, his voice almost a whisper.  “What happens if she dies?”

{She gets reset.  If you had established a stronghold and she had slept there, you would find her in bed.  As it is now . . . I don’t know.  She will probably wake up in the Gilded Swan.}

“Will she remember me?”

{Jace, . . . I don’t know.}  They both knew what a mess Portsmith was.  Even if she did remember Jace, dozens of players would be after her.  And it wasn’t like the Germans would let him go on a rescue mission.  Once he walked out of this module, he would be at Level 10 and be forced to go straight to Dresher.

“Then I guess she can’t die.”  Jace pushed himself away from the ice block before another round passed.  He turned to face the laughing frost giant and prepared to do the impossible.

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