Dynamic Dungeon

 My players' second session in the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. When they first arrived at the Steading (Upper Level), there was a massive battle in the Baquet Hall. The second session had a follow-up battle in the Marshalling chamber in the first room of the Dungeon level. The original module text from 1979 provides guidance on how to make the dungeon dynamic. It is a sprawling complex, and the giants and their allies are not just going to wait in the chambers to be attacked. As someone who usually runs small dungeons that do not even have wandering monster tables, I appreciated this advice. I did not follow it strictly. I had my own ideas for how things would develop. I am running this game online using Roll20. It meant I did have to ask the players to pause a few times while I busily moved about monster tokens off the immediate map area. On this level, we had ogres, bugbears, an ongoing orc slave revolt, and the survivors from the above level. Most of those survivors turned out to be female giants.

Session 170: In the Dungeon of the Hill Giants

Lakima (human magic user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aldus (human cavalier), Ambro Feyvine (elven thief), Domago (human cleric NPC), Ian of Darkhollow (human cavalier NPC), Aelshara (half-elven magic user/fighter), Luna (charmed Human Fighter NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon have stormed the Hill Giant Steading of Chief Nosnra at the bequest of Duke Robert of Valnwall. After a melee with dozens of giants, the Company is victorious, but Chief Nosnra escapes to the dungeon beneath the Steading.

“He went that way,” Ambro pointed down the hall into the darkness. She floated along, using her Ring of Flying to levitate well above the floor.

“I see a giant before a pair of doors head,” Ambro whispered. Unfortunately, no one in the Company heard her as the veil of silence on Eathwund stopped all sound from entering the area around him.

The Company followed the hallway until all could clearly see the large Hill Giant standing before the doors. The doors were open behind him, and a half-dozen ogres could be seen holding clubs at the ready. Lakima immediately conjured an ice storm in the building directly over the hill giant and the ogres. The storm was brief, but it pelted the monsters with shards of ice. When the storm ended, only the hill giant was still standing. Aldus, Eathwund, and Ian ran forward to confront the giant, but he backed into the chamber shouting and whistling – apparently trying to summon help. The fighters were soon on the giant. A moment later, four dire wolves bounded into the chamber and joined the fight on the side of the hill giant. Lakima cast fear, and two of the dire wolves turned their tails and fled. The remaining wolves and the giant were soon killed by the fighters.

Ambro began searching about the chamber, which looked to be a bunkhouse for hill giants. She found nothing. Lakima waved Eathwund down the hall so he could speak to the other adventurers in the party.

“There is nothing here. Let’s try that door over there,” Lakima pointed.

Ambro checked and opened the door. The chamber was dimly lit by a pair of smoky torches, and a pair of gravely injured orcs lay on filthy skins and furs on the floor.

“Just orcs, and they look helpless,” Lakima dismissed them.

“Does anyone speak orcish,” Lakima asked.

Aelshara admitted that she could speak orcish. She entered and went over to one of the orcs, who was awake but immobilized by what appeared to be a broken leg. After a quick conversation with the orc, she returned.

“It says that the stair to the dungeon is over there,” Aelshara pointed back toward the kitchens, “He thinks that if the hill giants retreated, they would go down into the dungeon.”

The company followed Aelshara as she led them to a small chamber near the kitchen. In a room partially used for storage, they found a stone stair descending into the earth. A flickering torchlight could be seen below at the bottom of the stair.

“I will just scout below and return,” Ambro whispered. She slipped into the darkness and vanished silently down the steps. Soon, she returned looking a little excited and flushed.

“There is an army of giants, ogres, and bugbears in a room down there,” she said excitedly, “And they look like they are ready for us!”

Lakima waved Eathwund to the back of the group while he, Aldus, Luna, and Ian descended the stairs first. As soon as Lakima was out of the influence of the silence spell, he cleared his throat and shouted.

“We don’t want a fight. But we will kill all of you if you resist. Just like we killed all of the giants in the Great Hall. We just want Chief Nosnra!”

There was a rise in the murmuring of voices below in giantish and goblin. After a pause, a halting giant voice shouted back.

“No chief here! You go, or we stomp you puny humans and smelly elves!”

In answer, Lakima cast a fireball spell from his Staff of Power. The ball of fire exploded below and briefly lit up the dungeon. They dozens of giants, ogres, and bugbears illuminated in the glow. Some of the bugbears and ogres immediately went up in flames and collapsed to the floor.

Lakima waved at the fighters in the group, and Aldus, Ian, Eathwund, and Domago raced down the stairs. They were immediately in melee with the giants and their allies. Aldus blew the Silver Horn of Valhalla, and four berserk fighters appeared to fight for him. Thrust into the fight, Aldus and Eathwund found themselves fighting mainly bugbears. Most of the ogres lay dead at their feet, killed by the fireball. Five female hill giants fought against them but used their fists as they had no weapons. One hunch-backed, one-eyed hill giant with a great axe stayed well back of the fight, yelling directions at the bugbears. As Eathwund downed several bugbears, the giant nodded at him and pushed an ogre to one side to challenge Eathwund. Eathwund struck the giant with a powerful blow, and it stumbled back.

“You fight like giant,” the hill giant spoke in poor common speech in surprise.

Aelshara and Ian made it to one side of the fight, with Ian protecting Aelshara and the latter trying to avoid the thickest part of the melee. Then Aelshara spotted a troop of bugbears backed by two hill giants running into the chamber from the south. She tried shouting a warning but realized the other could not hear her. She cast a mirror image, conjuring up four illusions of her form. She cast a web spell, holding four of the bugbears fast. Then the bugbears were upon here. Thankfully, the two giants moved to attack Aldus and Eathwund. But the bugbears attacked Aelshara and, by bad luck or skill, hit her instead of the illusionary doubles several times. She felt her strength waning and looked about for help.

Dungeon Melee

Meanwhile, Lakima cast a cloudkill spell and sent it into the bugbears. A pair succumbed, but most ran out of the cloud coughing. He cast another fireball, killing more bugbears at the back of the melee. Eathwund killed the hunch-back hill giant and found another hill giant taking its place in the melee. Ian tried but failed to fight his way toward Aelshara. All but one of the berserkers fell. Aldus killed the bugbears around him. Seeing Luna protecting Lakima and that Lakima had also summoned his armored protector, Aldus looked about and saw Domago headed toward four images of Aelshara. Aldus made his way through the melee as well to help.

Domago arrived and cast several healing spells on Aelshara, allowing her to regain strength. Then Aldus arrived and signaled her to move back. Lakima cast an elemental guardian, which shocked several of the bugbears. Eathwund killed a pair of hill giants. Looking about, Eathwund saw that the giants were all dead and the bugbears were in disarray. A few tried to run, but Ambro then appeared, flew over the melee, and stabbed the fleeing bugbears from behind. Finally, the last of the monsters fell dead to the floor. A pair of doors leading into the chamber slammed shut, heralding that more monsters were nearby, but they were not willing to enter the fight.

With the fight over, Eathwund moved to the southern passage and set up a watch. Now that Eathwund had moved away, sound returned, and the company was again able to communicate.

“Ambro, check the door,” Lakima said pointing at an open door. He looked about and saw Ambro was climbing over the dead giants a sack in one hand and a bunch of jewelry in the other.

“Put the treasure in my bag of holding,” Lakima said. Ambro looked over and nodded while quietly slipping some of the jewelry into her pockets.

Examining a nearby chamber, they found nothing of interest. Just giant-sized furniture and weapons. The party decided to head down one of the open passages from the chamber. Here, they found a cistern filled with cold, clean water. But it was a dead end. They returned to the chamber and headed north. Here, they found a locked chamber. Ambro was unable to open the lock, but Luna used one of her Knock spells. Inside were large caskets and tuns filled with strong wine. Heading down another hallway, they followed the sound of metal banging on stone. Ambro spotted a stone giant expanding a chamber. The group decided not to attack the giant, so they moved on to find a sleeping chamber. Here, Ambro went to work to check several large chests. On the third, she opened, she found a dozen sacks filled with gold coins. Lakima came over, and Ambro began lifting the heavy sacks out of the chest and dropping them in the bag of holding. After a few sacks, the bag of holding refused to take more.

“I believe it is full,” Lakima said in surprise. He then opened the pouch of holding. It was just able to hold the remaining bags of gold before it was also full.

The party returned to the main hall, where the battle had occurred. Two closed doors from the hallway and the passage to the south remained. Lakima pointed south, as Eathwund was standing nearby, and no one could hear anyone speak.

The group headed south with Ambro, who was a few paces in the lead. Ambro held up her hand in warning and indicated an ambush ahead. Lakima signaled Eathwund to the back and then stepped forward outside the range of the silence spell.

“Step aside or be killed!”

A hail of crossbow bolts greeted his words.

“Bugbears! They have prepared an ambush!” Ambro shouted.

Lakima stepped to the cover of the side passage and waved Aldus, Eathwund, and Ian forward to attack. The passage ended in a T-crossing by another passage. Bugbears armed with maces and crossbows waited on either side of the intersection. Eathwund headed left with Luna, and Aldus and Ian headed right. The fight against the bugbears was over quickly, and all were killed.

The group headed west and then entered a passageway headed north. Up ahead, they saw a chamber with barred cells around its perimeter. A half-dozen bugbear guards and one injured hill giantess waited ready for them. Eathwund, Aldus, and Ian rushed to attack. The Hill Giantess desperately swung upon one of the prison cells, apparently trying to gain help. Her shouts were silenced by the spell upon Eathwund. A dozen orcs emerged from the cell. Weaponless, they tossed themselves upon the giantess and fought with fists and teeth. The giant fell to the floor and was killed quickly. The orcs then launched upon the two remaining bugbears (the other bugbears having been killed by Eathwund and Aldus).

The melee ended. More and more orcs streamed out of the prison cells and confronted the party. The adventurers soon found themselves outnumbered 10 to 1. Lakima assessed the situation and waved Aelshara forward. Then he slapped Eathwund on the shoulder and pointed out of the chamber. Once the zone of silence was gone from the chamber, they could all hear the snorting and heavy breathing of the orcs surrounding them.

“Tell them we are not their enemies!” Lakima said to Aelshara.

Aelshara took a deep breath and began speaking in orcish, at first quietly but building in volume and confidence. The orcs shouted back at her, several talking over each other. The conversation went on for what seemed an overly long time.

“I think I convinced most of them not to attack. I told them that they were free to go and that we killed all of the giants in the Steading above,” Aelshara said.

“Good!” Lakima said, “Good, now ask them if they have seen Nosnra, or any frost giants.”

The party members began to ease back down the hallway in a defensive position. Aelshara began talking to the orcs again. This time, one orc took the lead, seemingly electing himself as the leader.

“They say that they have never seen a frost giant. There are two fire giant smiths who work for Nosnra nearby. They gave me directions,” Aelshara said.

“Right. Let’s get out of here.” Lakima said with conviction.

More and more orcs entered the chamber, freed from nearby prison cells.

The company proceeded as Aelshara directed, taking a passage to the south in silence. Suddenly, they all heard Domago curse as he twisted an ankle.

“The silence spell has finally ended!” Lakima said with relief.

A few moments later, the mirror images of Aelshara and Lakima disappeared.

“The orcs also said that they were imprisoned for leading a revolt against the giants. The giants are very cruel masters to them. They also hated the bugbears who sided with the giants. They say that some of their brothers escaped into natural caves to the east,” Aelshara told the company.

Aelshara pointed down a side passage. She indicated that the smithy was located in that direction, according to the orcs. They could all hear the ring of metal on metal in the distance.

“Sounds like the fire giants are at work,” Lakima said.

Ambro slipped into darkness and moved closer to the sound. A chamber in the distance was brightly illuminated with the glow of fires in a forge. She could see a single fire giant working at a table. The sound of metal on metal continued, so there was more than one giant. Then, she saw a pair of tiny dwarves carrying ingots enter the area. The dwarves barely stood as tall as the fire giant’s boot. Ambro slipped back to the rest of the group.

“I saw one red-skinned giant much bigger than the hill giants we have been fighting,” Ambro began. He was not the one making the noise, so there was likely another. And I saw a pair of dwarves helping them.”

“Likely enslaved,” Aelshara said.

“Right. So, the plan is…” Lakima began as Eathwund dashed off with his sword swinging over his head. He was immediately followed by Ian and Aldus.

The fighters raced into the forge chamber, catching the fire giant by surprise. They saw a huge table set at a giant height, a pair of Fire Giants, and six or seven dwarven slaves wearing rags. The fight was on. Eathwund began pummeling one fire giant while Aldus attacked another. Ian bore the brunt of several attacks from a fire giant armed with a sword. His mind flashed back to another ill-fated encounter with a fire giant as he was struck repeatedly. Suddenly, one of the dwarves released a blood-curdling war cry and grabbed hold of one fire giant’s boot. The fire giant stumbled and toppled over with an enormous crash landing on Eathwund. Eathwund barely held hold of his shield and sword as he struggled under the enormous mass, trying to roll out from under the giant. The giant struggled to his feet. Ambro stabs the giant in the back. Aldus and Ian brought the second giant low. Once the first giant stood up, Eathwund leaped to his feet and drove his sword deep into the giant’s belly. The enormous giant fell again, but this time, it did not get up.

Domago took his staff of healing and used it on Ian several times to heal the young squire. Lakima stood regarding the group with his hands on his hips.

“We needed a prisoner we could question,” Lakima said.

The dwarf, whose antics had almost gotten Eathwund crushed, walked over to him and introduced himself.

“I am Orin Deepdelver. Well met. These fine lads are Thron, Grondar, Brogar, Gromli, Kargan, and Thorek. They are master smiths. They have been covering for me for the past year since I was captured. I know nothing of smithing, but I am a mighty warrior.”

Eathwund grunted in reply, and Orin looked a little offended.

“I am ready to join you in your fight against the hill giant,” Orin continued, “For an equal share of the treasure, of course.”

“We have already killed all of the giants; we need no help,” Lakima said, “You are welcome to accompany us for protection until you can make your way to the exit.”

Lakima then turned to his companions and suggested they try talking to the orcs again about the location of Nosnra. Orin looked on with a peeved expression. As the party left the chamber, Orin brought up the rear, leading the bedraggled dwarven smiths. In his right hand, he clutched a giant-sized hammer, the handle crudely cut down to fit his small stature.

“I’ll crush the skull of any giant I meet,” Orin boasted proudly.

“Just lead your friends to the exit and stay out of our way,” Lakima called back to Orin.

The adventurers headed back toward where they had met the orc slaves. They enter a corridor now full of orcs. The company closed ranks and presented a stern front. Aelshara spotted the orc leader she had spoken to before and began conversing with him again in orcish. Eathwund and Aldus stood on guard. Aldus could make out the orcs, removing a barrier of rocks at the end of the corridor. Orcs were from both sides of the barrier. He surmised it was the entrance to the caves where the orc slaves fled.

“He does not know where the chief is,” Aelshara started,” but he does know that when the chief comes down to this level, he often disappears for a time and then reappears in the marshaling hall. He thinks there is a secret chamber somewhere nearby.”

“Where is the marshalling hall,” Lakima asked.

“It’s the hall where we met and fought the giants when we first entered the dungeon.”

“Right. Let’s check out this hall once more,” Lakima said.