Session 071

# Summiting the Mountain

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Laelun Toil 2, Day 3**

*The heroes ascend the mountain, and are spotted by a giant who unleashes an avalanche upon them. Narrowly escaping being buried, the party reaches the summit, and finds a large army of fire giants holding their elvish allies prisoner. The heroes reach the summit and begin a battle with the northern fire giant army.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* King Nygäär the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter/Crusader played by Dana
* Esbjörn Fireforge the Fire Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric/Surtr's Chosen played by Greg
* Heiða the Mother Fucking Veleda the Dökkálfar Blooded Dread Necromancer played by Justin
* Vindr Skreevarson the Mongrel Blooded Human Scout/Ranger/Cleric played by Donnie
* Jor the Emberwrought the Giant Blooded Human Transmuter/Beguiler/Human Paragon/Ultimate Magus played by Jason

## A Trap is Sprung

The battle with the roc over, the heroes gathered up their gear, and Nygaar claimed the talons of the massive bird of prey that they had slain. Contemplating the return journey, and what might await them if they left the corpse intact, Esbjorn used his colossal strength to drag the massive bird towards the cliff, eventually heaving it over the edge. Esbjorn panted in exhaustion, overcome by his exertions and the pull of the god rune upon him in these enemy lands sacred to Surtr. Yet knowing they could not linger, the party turned towards the summit, ready to continue their nighttime march up the treacherous mountainside. It began to snow heavily as they set off, and Heida produced the Orb of Storms from her pack, calming the weather and creating a whipping wind behind them as they climbed. After an arduous climb, they stumbled upon something suspicious:

*As you make your way up the mountain, the frigid wind whips around the party. Some two feet of snow buries the already slick and treacherous mountain path. With perhaps an hours march to reach the summit, you suddenly sense movement high above you along the trail. You pause, pondering the steep path before you.*

Peering forward in the low light of the red moon Laelun, Esbjorn spotted the movement of one of his hated foes, the fire giants, high above the heroes on the trail. To their right was a sheer rock face, to their left a cliff that led to darkness and death far below them. As the party scrambled to climb up the steep path and engage with the foe, they heard the tell-tale sound of a horn being sounded by their enemy. Moving quickly, Jor ensorceled his companions with the power of flight, and they flew forward to meet the foe. As they watched, they saw the giant manipulate something on the ground, and then run up the mountain trail. Listening carefully, Vindr heard a cracking deep within the earth, both across the trail and inside the cliff face to their right. Wondering what it might be, he called out to his companions in warning.

Meanwhile, Esbjorn trudged along just above the snow with his magical boots, and came up with a plan to reach the giant more quickly. Pulling out a flaming missile, he hurled it towards the mountain face, high up the ridge. He wanted Droog to travel through the smoke his smoldering boulder caused, and then switch positions with him using the wand of translocation Jor have given the imp. Unfortunately, Esbjorn's massive strength in smashing the boulder into the cliffside had unforeseen consequences; it seemed the strange sound Vindr had heard was an avalanche trap, and Esbjorn's blow made it spring prematurely. Fortunately most of the party was out of the way of the avalanche, which fell from two different directions. Esbjorn himself was the only one who was struck by the trap, and was momentarily buried underneath some four feet of rock and ice. Using his prodigious strength, he was able to easily dig himself out.

Meanwhile, Heida and Nygaar had flown up ahead, and soon found the lone giant who had sprung the trap. The giant was cowering in a nearby cave, and the Aesir Crusader and the Would-Be Valkyrie fell upon him with murderous glee. Coordinating the attacks they had honed from constant hours of training together, the giant soon lay bloody and decimated at the feet of Nygaar, who had unleashed so many attacks with such reckless abandon that even Heida had trouble keeping up with where his flashing weapons swung. As the rest of the party reached the small cave, they watched as Heida granted a momentary semblance of life and intellect to the corpse and began to question it. She soon learned that the sounding of the horn had let the (sizable) army of fire giants at the summit know that danger was approaching, and that there was no way to relay a false alarm.

Peering at one another apprehensively, the party made ready to meet their foes; it seemed there would be no chance for a surprise attack this time. Esbjorn grunted, and carved the symbol of Fireforge into the enemy corpse. Heida drew forth some black pearls, and commanded the soul of the giant to return and serve her in a mockery of its former life as an undead skeleton. Healing one another as best they could, the heroes set off once more, with the fire giant skeleton lumbering close behind them.

## An Army on the Summit

The party made the final push, and found themselves at the summit at last. Standing ready to fight, the heroes eyes widened in dread at the massive force arrayed against them, some thirty giants all told. The molten light of the volcano cast a fiery and pallid glow over the battlefield, and the heroes made out the elvish prisoners chained together in groups of five and pushed up against the edge of the yawning mouth of the volcano. Hastily casting a few spells to prepare, the heroes moved forward to engage the enemy. Jor immediately called on the power of his forebear Jormungandr to cover the flesh of all of his companions in fine, transparent dragon scales in order to bolster their natural defenses. The giants spotted the party as well, and many voices were raised in recognition as calls to slay Esbjorn echoed across the mountaintop.

Nygaar, meanwhile, grimaced at how far away his enemies were, and how long it would take before they were under his blades. Using the power of the Umbrian magical item the Cape of the Mountebank that he had stripped from the corpse of Marlowe Payne, he transported himself, Heida, and Esbjorn into the heart of the fray. Nygaar's move came none too soon; as they found themselves surrounded by fire giants they watched in horror as a string of five elves was hurled towards the edge of the mouth of the volcano, with the elf on the end of the chain scrambling upon the hard scrabble earth to prevent himself and his fellows from being consumed by the fire of Odin's Heart. While Heida and Nygaar engaged with the giants, Esbjorn exploded in rage, making the two nearest giants cower in fear. He then snatched up the closest elf, flinging him and his chained together companions across the summit to safety.

Meanwhile, Vindr and Jor were left behind with another large group of giants, and Vindr fired arrows as quickly as he could, bringing down the first giant of the battle. Jor hovered invisibly high above the fray, watching his outnumbered fellows fight. Pondering what these fearsome servants of Surtr might fear, he finally decided to use illusion seidr to frighten and confuse his enemies. Suddenly, two massive stone constructs, led by an illusory Jor, crested the summit, and moved forward to face the giants. The band of giants engaged in fighting Vindr and Glaer called out and pointed towards the new foes approaching them, some shouting the name Steinvordur in fear and confusion. Jor used his magical whispering to inform his fellows of his trickery, and Vindr sighed with relief and he continued to nock and loose. To the north, Nygaar tripped two giants, slashing into them viciously and leaving their flesh in tatters. Yet so far, only one giant had been slain. The heroes were in a fight for their lives, and one which might well end with all of them (with the exception of Jor perhaps) feasting in Valhalla.

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